HeyJaredRingfolk
Welcome; enjoy your stay. For the love of Tolkien—Lord of the Rings and Middle-earth (and some theology and philosophy here and there).
- Indexed issues, last 90 days
- 6
- Latest publication
- Sep 17, 2026
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- Earliest in this view
- Jul 5, 2026
Latest issues
A Defense of Reading Fantasy; and The Misperception of “Escapism” (opens the original)
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EscapismThere’s a criticism often thrown at fantasy: it isn’t real.After all, why spend your evenings reading about hobbits, wizards, elves, dragons, and imaginary kingdoms when there are bills to pay, dishes to wash, emails to answer, and a whole slew of new problems waiting for you in the morning? I remember becoming more aware of such genre stigmas as I went through grade school. As my friends started reading more sports-related novels, of which I had zero interest (oddly enough, I’m the spor
Announcing Our Newest Read-Through: The Ainulindalë and Valaquenta (opens the original)
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Before Middle-earth had heroes, it had a song—and it’s this song we’re going to look at, and the beings that brought it about, that shaped the beginning of Tolkien’s great legendarium.If you’ve ever read The Silmarillion, you know the depth and complexity of Tolkien’s Middle-earth history book. And, to be fair, it’s a grueling task at times to press through. I love the book—and you likely are fond for it as well if you’ve read it, but that doesn’t minimize the challenge it can be. That said, I’v
Would Sam Have Killed Frodo to Accomplish the Mission? (opens the original)
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I’ve always wondered what would’ve happened if Sam—in the countless moments where his anger and distrust toward Gollum—had killed Gollum before reaching the mouth of Mount Doom. Whether it was earlier in the journey (and for sake of the argument, the hobbits still arrived at Orodruin to destroy the Ring—or—they arrived there exactly the same way, yet in place of Sam’s merciful moment when Gollum attacked them, he had smitten Gollum there—remove Gollum from the equation in the Ring’s final moment
Characters of Middle-earth: Samwise Gamgee (opens the original)
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I’ve asked a few times before writing this article what the people of Substack might want in the next “Characters of Middle-earth” series here on and without fail, “Sam” always is a popular choice. I can’t evade you all forever, and I dearly love Sam, so here’s my best crack at a dive into the best gardener of all time.<a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Is-W!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazo
Characters of Middle-earth: Faramir (opens the original)
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We recently finished our read-through of Tolkien’s The Return of the King. As the book closes, we’re able to fondly look back on the great warrior-heroes whose names thunder throughout the War of the Ring, whose military conquests etch their names among the greats:Aragorn, of course, who not only served as chief protector and guide of the Fellowship, bu… Read more
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