The Tales That Really Matter

05/29/2026

The colossal cheek to ask a question like this barely three days after Pope Leo quotes Tolkien in his encyclical warning against the rampant overuse of AI...honestly, it's worth studying as a cautionary tale, when we are not mercilessly mocking the idea 🤣
Thankfully AI wasn't actually used to bring Christopher Lee to life in actual War of the Rohirrim. But as I wrote in my recent essay "The Hunt for Nostalgia," it was still a pretty dumb and shortsighted choice. Charles Dance is perfectly alive and healthy, and has a great voice not dissimilar to Lee's; he could have given them a whole scene's worth of dialogue, not just one solitary line. And there's the whole "give an inch, and they'll take a mile" argument as well; this is FAR from the first time I've seen PJ nostalgics argue to abuse AI in the service of stretching the movies out as far as they can.

05/28/2026

This was very unexpected news yesterday, but still very welcome 😊 It shows that Amazon fundamentally has confidence in the show and is willing to see it through for the full 5 seasons; and if true, it may show that Amazon learned something from last time and isn't waiting FOREVER to officially renew. While I doubt this means we'll see S4 next year, we probably will much earlier in 2028 than we're getting 3 this year; either a summer release, or back to the typical Labor Day that 1 and 2 had.

Also, this is noteworthy: "Amazon says the Amazon MGM Studios-produced series has attracted over 185 million viewers worldwide and 'is one of the highest performing and most-viewed titles ever on Prime Video.' The first season marked the largest launch of any Prime Video series ever. The second season also performed well, debuting atop Nielsen’s Streaming Top 10 chart in 2024." Considering how we've all heard so. Many. TIMES how "only 40% of viewers finished Season 1 (even though many of those simply went back and DID finish once the season was fully out), that is a welcome number 😏

Prime Video's 'The Lord of the Rings' series is already gearing up for a fourth season, months ahead of the premiere of season three.

05/27/2026

Morfydd Clark, our Galadriel, in some just-released production shots of a new short film she is in: "Static", a pyschological thriller directed by Rachel Ramsay. It was apparently filmed just before Morfydd began work on RoP Season 3, and is currently in post-production; release date and medium TBD.

05/26/2026

"The twentieth-century Catholic author J.R.R. Tolkien, in the words of a protagonist in one of his novels, described our responsibility in this way: “'t is not our part to master all the tides of the world, but to do what is in us for the succour of those years wherein we are set, uprooting the evil in the fields that we know, so that those who live after may have clean earth to till.' The civilization of love will not arise from a single or spectacular gesture, but from the sum total of small and steadfast acts of fidelity that serve as a bulwark against dehumanization. For this reason, it is worthwhile pausing to reflect on some aspects of how we, each in our own way, can cooperate in building the civilization of love."--Pope Leo XIV, "Magnifica Humanitas: On Safeguarding the Human Person in the Time of Artificial Intelligence"

05/25/2026

On this Memorial Day, we remember those who gave their lives for the freedom of others — across every nation, every generation, and every battlefield.

Long before he gave the world Middle-earth, J.R.R. Tolkien knew the reality of war firsthand. He served as a British officer during World War I and fought during the Battle of the Somme, where many of his closest friends were lost. That experience of sacrifice, grief, loyalty, and courage would forever shape the heart of The Lord of the Rings.

Tolkien later wrote:

“My ‘Sam Gamgee’ is indeed a reflexion of the English soldier, of the privates and batmen I knew in the 1914 war, and recognised as so far superior to myself.” — J.R.R. Tolkien, The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, Letter 131 to Milton Waldman (circa 1951)

Today we honor not only the fallen soldiers of America, but all who have laid down their lives in defense of others. Their sacrifice reminds us that freedom is never free.

But above every earthly sacrifice stands the greatest one of all: Jesus Christ willingly gave His life so that we could have spiritual freedom and eternal hope. Soldiers defend our mortal freedom for a season, but Christ gave Himself to save our souls forever.

“And how can man die better than facing fearful odds?” — The Return of the King, quoting the Old English poem The Battle of Maldon

May we never take freedom, sacrifice, or peace for granted. 🙏

05/25/2026

"Those unknown heroes whose whitened bones have been piously gathered here, and whose green graves we now strew with sweet and beautiful flowers, choice emblems alike of pure hearts and brave spirits, reached, in their glorious career that last highest point of nobleness beyond which human power cannot go. They died for their country. No loftier tribute can be paid to the most illustrious of all the benefactors of mankind than we pay to these unrecognized soldiers when we write above their graves this shining epitaph."--Frederick Douglass, "Decoration Day [the earlier term for Memorial Day] Speech," May 30 1871

Wood anemones, the flower that inspired Tolkien's Simbelmynë/alfirin, which grew at the tomb of Elendil and the barrows of the Kings of Rohan, and whose seeds were a token of Bronwyn and Arondir's love.

05/23/2026

“I think it is true that I owe much of this character to Christian and Catholic teaching and imagination about Mary, but actually Galadriel was a penitent: in her youth she was a leader of the rebellion against the Valar...and at the end of the First Age she proudly refused forgiveness or permission to return. She was pardoned because of her resistance to the final and overwhelming temptation to take the Ring for herself.”--J. R. R. Tolkien to Ms. Ruth Astin

05/22/2026

A happy to all who celebrate 🖤 , Here is our beloved Galadriel Morfydd Clark in some of my favorite of the black outfits that she’s worn ever since she really started wearing black in late 2022. But matter what she wears, she is still our radiant Lady of Light 🥹🥰🥲 If Sauron wants a Dark Queen, he can always consult with Rhaenyra Targaryen over at House of the Dragon

05/22/2026

"You have enemies? Why, it is the story of every man who has done a great deed…It is the cloud which thunders around everything that shines…Do not bother yourself about it; disdain. Keep your mind serene as you keep your life clear."—Victor Hugo