Month: April 2025

Collections: How Gandalf Proved Mightiest: Spiritual Power in Tolkien

This week, I want to keep unloading my Tolkien-related thoughts, turning from last week's character study to a look at the way 'magic' and spiritual power work in Tolkien's legendarium and in particular to how contests between fundamentally magical beings in Middle-earth are decided. This is a topic that I think even the best adaptations … Continue reading Collections: How Gandalf Proved Mightiest: Spiritual Power in Tolkien →

Collections: Why Celebrimbor Fell but Boromir Conquered: the Moral Universe of Tolkien

This week (and probably next) I want to talk a bit more Tolkien, but in a somewhat different vein from normal. Rather than discussing the historicity of Tolkien's world or adaptations of it, I want to take a moment to discuss some of the themes of Tolkien's work, which express themselves in the metaphysical architecture … Continue reading Collections: Why Celebrimbor Fell but Boromir Conquered: the Moral Universe of Tolkien →

Collections: The Siege of Eregion, Part V: What Tactics?

This is the final part of our five part (I, II, III, IV) series on the Siege of Eregion in Amazon's Rings of Power. Last time, we looked at the orc siege and marveled at both their lack of works and also their nonsensical siege engines, concluding that Adar had launched a siege assault which … Continue reading Collections: The Siege of Eregion, Part V: What Tactics? →