Glittering Caves

Patrick and Andrew review their different experiences of the great story and the podcast, their favorite chapters, their favorite characters, and lasting effects.Submit your questions and comments at adeoatus.com/podcast.Support the show at adeodatus.com/donate.

Andrew and Patrick discuss the contributions the Four Travellers make to the renewed Shire - Merry and Pippin’s Lordliness, Sam’s beautiful family life and dedicated leadership, Frodo’s writing of the great story of their adventure. Sam’s healthy wholeness contrasts with Frodo’s lingering wounds which can only be healed by leaving the Shire for good.Submit your questions and comments at adeoatus.com/podcast.Support the show at adeodatus.com/donate.

The Hobbits find the Shire has become a land of Rules and ugliness, but they are ready to ignite and direct a holy spirit of revolt. Patrick and Andrew focus on Merry’s military acumen and draw spiritual insight from Frodo’s Gandalf-like leadership, especially in dealing with the malice of Saruman.Submit your questions and comments at adeoatus.com/podcast.Support the show at adeodatus.com/donate.

The long journey home leads Patrick and Andrew to discuss how the hobbits have been changed by becoming used to being friends with Kings and Queens, Elves and Wizards. Will they find coming home difficult or are they, as Gandalf says, ready to handle any troubles they might find there? Will Frodo, whose sufferings have left scars on him, be able to find rest in the Shire?Submit your questions and comments at adeoatus.com/podcast.Support the show at adeodatus.com/donate.

Patrick and Andrew revel in the joy of the Eagle’s psalm of victory and Aragorn’s triumphant coronation. They discuss ways that the last three chapters can help readers enter into the spirit of Holy Week and Easter. Andrew waxes eloquent on Faramir’s courtship of Eowyn.Submit your questions and comments at adeoatus.com/podcast.Support the show at adeodatus.com/donate.

The discussion begins with Gandalf's awareness that Quest has been achieved, the role of the Eagles, and the drama of Sauron's demise. Patrick and Andrew then delight in the eucatastrophic joy experienced by Sam, Gandalf's fountain of laughter, and the minstrel's singing of Frodo and Sam's accomplishment. They reflect on the taste of heavenly joy Tolkien gives his readers while still remembering that it is only temporal. Submit your questions and comments at adeoatus.com/podcast.Support the show at adeodatus.com/donate.

In this epic climactic chapter, Andrew and Patrick discuss Sam's will to endure, Frodo's dark night of suffering, and the moments of grace that see them through. Sam's pity for Gollum enables the Quest to be achieved; Frodo's heroic resistance to the Ring, though overcome, earns a return to peace and an enduring gift of humility.Submit your questions and comments at adeoatus.com/podcast.Support the show at adeodatus.com/donate.

The roles of Frodo and Sam are reversed after the escape from Cirith Ungol. While Frodo, without hope, can only will to go on, Sam, finding hope in light, water and the beauty of a star, becomes the resourceful and resilient leader. Patrick and Andrew note the doubt that afflicts Sauron in spite of his mighty empire, which in the end is doomed to self-destruction.Submit your questions and comments at adeoatus.com/podcast.Support the show at adeodatus.com/donate.

As they begin the final book of The Lord of the Rings, Andrew and Patrick marvel at Sam's fidelity and hardihood, and reflect on the plain hobbit-sense that allows him to overcome the tempting fantasies aroused by the Ring. This gives them a glimpse of what Frodo will be suffering as they move forward on the long road to Mt. Doom. They contrast the petty squabbling that destroys the orcs with the commitment to the common goal that leads the Free Peoples to take up the task even when they have lost their leaders.Submit your questions and comments at adeoatus.com/podcast.Support the show at adeodatus.com/donate.

Patrick and Andrew discuss the sense of despair that Tolkien leaves us with at the end of Book V and how it seems to undo the hope that had come from victory and healing. Merry struggles with being left behind while Pippin goes to face his death. Aragorn treats the terror of raw recruits with mercy, while the Mouth of Sauron appears as an empty bully.Submit your questions and comments at adeoatus.com/podcast.Support the show at adeodatus.com/donate.

Andrew and Patrick highlight the differences that make the friendship of Legolas and Gimli so unique, discuss the power of terror that the Dead have and of leadership that allows Aragorn to control them, and explore the role that Aragorn and Gandalf play in helping Frodo and Sam on the quest to destroy the Ring.Submit your questions and comments at adeoatus.com/podcast.Support the show at adeodatus.com/donate.

Merry and Pippin each exhibit the maturity their adventures have brought them. Patrick and Andrew liken the effects of the Black Breath to the sufferings of chronic illness, admire how Aragorn's political humility brings about a new order of unity under Gandalf, and note how Faramir, Eowyn, and Merry each respond differently to the healing authority of Aragorn.Submit your questions and comments at adeoatus.com/podcast.Support the show at adeodatus.com/donate.

Andrew and Patrick marvel at the gamut of emotions in this chapter, from the triumphant hope of the horns of the Rohirrim and the eruption of sunlight to the dark despair and terror of being burnt alive. Gandalf's Providential prudence, his pity, and respect for human dignity come out in his intense dialogue with Denethor, who has been led to proud despair by the half-truths of the Enemy.Submit your questions and comments at adeoatus.com/podcast.Support the show at adeodatus.com/donate.

The Rohirrim are aided by the strange, secretive Wild Men of the Woods, to reach the Pelennor Fields in time to save Minas Tirith. The Rohirrim are in their glory - Theoden leads the charge, Eowyn defies the Lord of the Nazgul, Eomer brazenly defies death. Merry rallies to protect Eowyn and Aragorn returns triumphantly from the Paths of the Dead. Submit your questions and comments at adeoatus.com/podcast.Support the show at adeodatus.com/donate.

In this episode, Pippin shows courage in the face of Denethor's mad choice to burn himself and his son, Faramir. Patrick and Andrew reflect on the power of leaders like Faramir and Gandalf to elevate the courage of those who follow them and the power of the Enemy's psychological warfare to destroy it. Finally they explore how Denethor's character corrupted in spite of years of faithful leadership.Submit your questions and comments at adeoatus.com/podcast.Support the show at adeodatus.com/donate.

In this session, we experience the mountains and strongholds of Rohan through Merry's eyes as he learns the disturbing news about his friends taking the Paths of the Dead. We marvel at the character of the Rohirrim, especially their stern loyalty as they face the possible destruction of their people. Patrick can hardly wait to read on!Submit your questions and comments at adeoatus.com/podcast.Support the show at adeodatus.com/donate.

Patrick and Andrew marvel at Aragorn as the hour begins for him to confront Sauron, a  battle he has prepared for throughout his life. They feel Eowyn's pain at being denied the only life of greatness she can imagine and Merry's gratitude to Theoden for giving him a role to play.Submit your questions and comments at adeoatus.com/podcast.Support the show at adeodatus.com/donate.

In this episode we begin the final volume of the Lord of the Rings, following Gandalf and Pippin into the great but decaying city of Minas Tirith. Pippin and his new friend, Beregond of the Tower Guard, look for hope in the face of despair, while Gandalf faces off with Denethor, the powerful but proud Ruling Steward of Gondor.Submit your questions and comments at adeoatus.com/podcast.Support the show at adeodatus.com/donate.

Andrew proclaims these past two chapters his most exciting reading experience ever. Patrick is delighted at how the fight with Shelob glorifies all of Sam’s Samness. Andrew follows the track that leads from Sam’s despair through a mystical experience back to being himself again. They follow Sam from passion for revenge and thoughts of suicide back to clarity about what he must do - and the turn that follows after.Submit your questions and comments at adeoatus.com/podcast.Support the show at adeodatus.com/donate.

Andrew and Patrick delve deeply into the epic spiritual battle between Darkness and Light experienced by Frodo and Sam. The power of a darkness that eats light and memory reminds Patrick of spiritual desolation and Andrew of the disorienting isolation of Hell. They wonder at the will that keeps the hobbits going and at how the touch of the solid sword and the memory of Tom Bombadil leads Sam to remember the saving Light of Galadriel. Patrick feels new-found pity for Gollum, cut off from light and regret by the dominating evil of Shelob.Submit your questions and comments at adeoatus.com/podcast.Support the show at adeodatus.com/donate.

Patrick and Andrew consider Frodo and Sam as models of male friendship, which builds as they rely on each other in adversity and talk with each other about the meaning of their journey. Frodo shows a growing power of will to resist the force of the Ring and the Lord of the Nazgul, while Sméagol experiences a momentary release from the Ring-lust that made him into Gollum.Submit your questions and comments at adeoatus.com/podcast.Support the show at adeodatus.com/donate.

In this two-chapter episode, we learn much more about Gondor, its ancient greatness and current decline. Faramir contrasts Boromir’s warrior mentality with his own nostalgic hope to preserve Gondor’s wisdom and beauty, which lead Andrew and Patrick to reflect on the crisis of Western civilization in our own times. In spite of his own loathing of Gollum, Frodo chooses to save him and follow him to places of terror. Patrick and Andrew contrast the results of Sam’s saying whatever is on his mind with Frodo’s careful and respectful speech.Submit your questions and comments at adeoatus.com/podcast.Support the show at adeodatus.com/donate.

We get our first look at Gondorians other than Boromir, and at Boromir’s brother, Faramir. Frodo impresses them with his careful and courteous speech, while Sam delights at the terror of the great “oliphaunt”.Submit your questions and comments at adeoatus.com/podcast.Support the show at adeodatus.com/donate.

In this episode, Patrick reflects on the new experience of nature he gained from his recent trip to the Badlands of South Dakota, setting the stage for discussing the land of Ithilien, “The Garden of Gondor”. Patrick and Andrew admire Sam’s devotion to Frodo, but debate his wisdom in cooking something “hot from the pot”.Submit your questions and comments at adeoatus.com/podcast.Support the show at adeodatus.com/donate.

Frodo warns Gollum that his road to recovery is endangered by his lust for the Ring, but exercises Providential prudence in choosing to follow him on a new path. Andrew and Patrick discuss the challenges of being kind and tolerant without being stupid. Submit your questions and comments at adeoatus.com/podcast. Support the show at adeodatus.com/donate. 

Sam focuses on the immediate dangers of following Gollum through the treacherous Dead Marshes, while Frodo is absorbed in his interior battle with the Ring and Sauron. Patrick and Andrew discuss Gollum's surprising psychological strength amid rupture, which elicits Sam's fear and disgust and Frodo's spiritual tenderness.  Submit your questions and comments at adeoatus.com/podcast. Support the show at adeodatus.com/donate. 

Frodo struggles with frustration as he tries to lead Sam towards Mordor and Sauron. Andrew reflects on the spiritual insight of Frodo's stern pity towards Gollum, while Patrick experiments with his Gollum voice. Submit your questions and comments at adeoatus.com/podcast. Support the show at adeodatus.com/donate.

If you're following along, we're now halfway through The Two Towers! We hope you're getting more out of The Lord of the Rings with each chapter. In this bonus episode, Andrew and Patrick take a break from The Two Towers to uncover the story behind the story. Listen to learn more about how and why J. R. R. Tolkien began writing his famous trilogy and other tales of Middle-earth.Submit your questions and comments at adeoatus.com/podcast.Support the show at adeodatus.com/donate.

Andrew and Patrick discuss the power of the Palantir, which has overcome Saruman, communicates a demonic temptation to Pippin, and makes Gandalf long to look back in time to the golden age of the Elves. Aragorn, whose hour to claim the kingship of Gondor is coming, asserts his right over its dangerous power. Submit your questions and comments at adeoatus.com/podcast.Support the show at adeodatus.com/donate.

Patrick and Andrew explore the persuasive power of Saruman’s rhetoric of half-truths as he plays victim, arouses fears, promises rescue, nearly severing Theoden and Rohan from Gandalf’s leadership. But Gandalf’s laughter proves more powerful, and his merciful risk almost overcomes Saruman’s pride.Submit your questions and comments at adeoatus.com/podcast.Support the show at adeodatus.com/donate.

Patrick finds a foretaste of heaven in the triumph over Saruman, while Andrew rejoices  in the hobbits’ Catholic-like enjoyment in food and drink, smoke and laughter. They marvel at the Ents’ power revealed in the massive destruction of Isengard. Andrew likens his feelings of pity for Wormtongue to Dante’s pity for the souls in hell. Submit your questions and comments at adeoatus.com/podcast.Support the show at adeodatus.com/donate.

Patrick rejoices in the return of the hobbits to the narrative and in the joyful, humor-filled reunion of the Company. He and Andrew discuss the Glittering Caves of Aglarond and how the different reactions of Gimli and Legolas are like their own different reactions to The Lord of the Rings. They reflect on the futility of Isengard’s pretentious flattery of Mordor, which still gives a fearsome anticipation of what Frodo and Sam will face, and on Gandalf’s foibles.Submit your questions and comments at adeoatus.com/podcast.Support the show at adeodatus.com/donate.

Andrew helps Patrick to appreciate some of the moving scenes of the battle - Aragorn’s challenge to the orcs, the horns echoing, the King’s desperate but glorious charge, Erkenbrand’s sunrise attack. They discuss the importance of leaders communicating courage, confidence, and joy to their soldiers. Andrew notes the many artistic renditions Tolkien’s descriptions have inspired and directed.Submit your questions and comments at adeoatus.com/podcast.Support the show at adeodatus.com/donate.

Andrew finds great political and human interest in this chapter: what a corrupt political order is like, the sadness of old people losing their judgment, the threat of despair, the power of lying half-truths. Patrick is reminded of drama triangles and the choices presented at the beginning of the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises. They reflect on the spiritual importance of courtesy.Submit your questions and comments at adeoatus.com/podcast.Support the show at adeodatus.com/donate.

Patrick questions Andrew about Gandalf’s resurrection, who has been sent back with new powers to lead the final war against Sauron. Andrew admires Aragorn's humility in recognizing Gandalf’s superiority. They reflect on Gandalf’s claim that Sauron cannot imagine anyone rejecting the Ring.Submit your questions and comments at adeoatus.com/podcast.Support the show at adeodatus.com/donate.

Patrick marvels at Tolkien’s playful imagination of what it would be like for a tree to wake up while still being a tree, and confesses that he now looks at trees differently. Treebeard gives us a new look at Elves and Men and invites us to look more deeply inside other creatures. Andrew highlights the wise warnings implicit in the sad story of the Entwives.Submit your questions and comments at adeoatus.com/podcast.Support the show at adeodatus.com/donate.

Tolkien’s mastery of multiple narratives and perspectives is on display as we share the hobbits' chaotic experience of captivity. Patrick wonders at the quarrelsome factions among the orcs, whose ugly, vicious way of life is in stark contrast to the peaceful life that gives strength to Merry and Pippin. Andrew witnesses that the Lord of the Rings helped him to dream of better life that he could share with his children.Submit your questions and comments at adeoatus.com/podcast.Support the show at adeodatus.com/donate.

The Hunt for Merry and Pippin begins.Patrick extols the manifestation of Aragorn’s greatness as he declares his titles before Eomer of Rohan. Facing the imminent threat of war, Eomer chooses to trust Aragorn. Andrew dwells on Legolas and the beautiful power of Elvish magic.Submit your questions and comments at adeoatus.com/podcast.Support the show at adeodatus.com/donate.

Patrick and Andrew discuss Boromir’s shame and repentance and the new appreciation of him that Tolkien gives us through the songs of Aragorn and Legolas, expressing Gondor’s longing for its heroic captain who will never return. Aragorn fights his own sense of failure in making a Providential choice to try to save Merry and Pippin from the Orcs.Submit your questions and comments at adeoatus.com/podcast.Support the show at adeodatus.com/donate.

Patrick is surprised by the dramatic fall of Boromir to the Ring’s temptation. Andrew remarks on how Boromir’s reasoning is corrupted by his desire, while Frodo is able to recognize how his emotions are keeping him from making the decision he know he has to make. Patrick admires the insight which Sam has because of his sincerity, humility, and deep loyalty.Submit your questions and comments at adeoatus.com/podcast.Support the show at adeodatus.com/donate.

Patrick connects the travels of the Fellowship with his experience of hiking in the Smoky Mountains, which he found often boring yet also therapeutic, a time of silent thought yet also of growing closer to his companions. The hobbits encounter the awesome and terrible Gates of Argonath, their first experience of the greatness of the civilization of Gondor. Andrew dwells on the magical passage of time in Lothlorien.Submit your questions and comments at adeoatus.com/podcast.Support the show at adeodatus.com/donate.

Patrick and Andrew discuss each of the gifts that Galadriel gives to the Company - for aid, for remembrance, and for hope. As the Company returns to the ordinary world, they bear with them the memory of the healing beauty of Lothlorien but also a terrible sense of loss and longing.Submit your questions and comments at adeoatus.com/podcast.Support the show at adeodatus.com/donate.

Andrew and Patrick admire how Galadriel sympathetically wins over Gimli, question why she tempts each of the members of the Company, analyze her own temptation for the Ring, and celebrate her humble renunciation of all she loves. They also dwell on how the hobbits and the Galathrim share similar loves for their lands. Submit your questions and comments at adeoatus.com/podcast.Support the show at adeodatus.com/donate.

Patrick and Andrew share a post from Grace Steele of Tending Roses about how she got through The Lord of the Rings, followed by thoughts on Faerie Tales from Jonathan Pageau of The Symbolic World on fairy tales.Learn more about Grace Steele at Tending Roses www.gracesteele.net/blog/lord-of-the-ringsSubmit your questions and comments at adeoatus.com/podcast.Support the show at adeodatus.com/donate.

Andrew considers this one of the hardest chapters to get into, especially for readers with little experience or love of the natural world. Still he urges readers, especially those who are obsessively mission-driven, to lend themselves to Tolkien’s pacing and experience the healing contemplative encounter with the preternatural beauty of ordinary things which is the special charism of the Elves. Submit your questions and comments at adeoatus.com/podcast.Support the show at adeodatus.com/donate.

Patrick and Andrew discuss Gandalf’s possibly foolish choices, Aragorn’s rational leadership, Frodo’s and Sam’s courage under fire, Gimli’s reverence for his fallen people, the Balrog as a match for Gandalf, and the Secret Fire.Submit your questions and comments at adeoatus.com/podcast.Support the show at adeodatus.com/donate.

Tolkien ramps up the excitement in this chapter; Patrick appreciates how his story alternates the restful with the stressful. They discuss Gandalf’s leadership style - his temper, his care, his power, his defense to the decisions of the Company, especially of Frodo. Andrew loves the magic of the Gates, but Patrick is more taken with Frodo’s psychological struggle with despair and the need for all the hobbits to grow in spirit in order to achieve their Quest.Submit your questions and comments at adeoatus.com/podcast.Support the show at adeodatus.com/donate.

Andrew and Patrick use the map to review the journey, and reflect on the special harmony between Elves and the natural world, even those who, like the Dwarves, delight in using it to make beautiful things. They then consider each of the Fellowship, noting a range of maturity in the hobbits, Aragorn’s readiness for the defining mission of his life, Boromir’s strengths as a heroic captain, and the traditional animosity that lies between Legolas and Gimli.Submit your questions and comments at adeoatus.com/podcast.Support the show at adeodatus.com/donate.

Andrew gives the backstory of the Wizards, who are incarnate emissaries of the angelic governors of the world, sent to encourage and aid those who resist Sauron. They must resist their own temptation to coerce others to do the good; Gandalf’s extraordinary patience saves him where Saruman falls. Patrick is struck by Frodo’s Marian-like “Fiat” in accepting the mission to destroy the Ring, whose humility makes him more fit for the task than a Hero would be.Submit your questions and comments at adeoatus.com/podcast.Support the show at adeodatus.com/donate.

Patrick wonders whether in this chapter, like the Shadow of the Past,Tolkien gives too much information, which can overwhelm his reader; Andrew goes through some of the details. They discuss the Providential character of the Council and of the wisdom that Elrond and Gandalf exhibit. Boromir, the great military leader in Gondor’s wars against Sauron and heir to its ruler, clashes with Aragorn, now revealed as the King who will replace him. Submit your questions and comments at adeoatus.com/podcast.Support the show at adeodatus.com/donate.