A Tolkien story to fall asleep to. I read The Choices of Master Samwise from The Two Towers, along with the letters Tolkien wrote while he was writing it in 1944. This one's a bit different for the channel. I've been enjoying "lore to fall asleep to" videos, so I've made one. Get comfy, turn the lights down, and tell me in the comments if you'd like more like this. With The Rings of Power coming back for season three, there's more Lord of the Rings on our screens than ever, and I think that's great. But I keep wondering whether we're getting any closer to understanding the man who created it. So I've taken one chapter, the last chapter of The Two Towers, and followed it through Tolkien's letters. Sam thinks Frodo is dead and has to decide, on his own, whether to carry on. Tolkien wrote it in May 1944, in the middle of a war, while his son Christopher was training with the RAF in South Africa. The first time he read it aloud, to C.S. Lewis, Lewis cried. Along the way I talk about:- the letters Tolkien sent Christopher while he was writing the chapter- the morning he read it to C.S. Lewis- Letter 131, where Tolkien says Sam rises to "supreme heroism" at this exact moment- the ordinary soldiers Tolkien said Sam was largely based on, and the school friends he lost in the First World War- Frodo's failure at Mount Doom, mercy, and the scene Tolkien called the most tragic in the whole story- Faramir, Charles Williams, and what the battles in The Lord of the Rings are actually for- why all of this is so hard to film, and how Peter Jackson's films handled Sam's choice THE READINGS, IN ORDERThe Two Towers, "The Choices of Master Samwise" (Book IV, chapter 10)The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, Letter 66, to Christopher Tolkien, 6 May 1944The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, Letter 131, to Milton Waldman, 1951 (two passages)The Lord of the Rings, Foreword to the Second EditionThe Two Towers, "The Window on the West" (Book IV, chapter 5)The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, Letter 93, to Christopher Tolkien, 24 December 1944 ALSO MENTIONEDThe Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, Letters 5, 70, 72, 191, 246 and 267 - the letter numbers are the same in every edition of The Letters, including the 2023 one.The Two Towers, "The Stairs of Cirith Ungol" (Book IV, chapter 8)The Fellowship of the Ring, "The Shadow of the Past" (Book I, chapter 2) READ THE LETTERS YOURSELFLetter 131, to Milton Waldman:https://www.tolkienestate.com/letters/letter-to-milton-waldman-publisher-1951/Letter 246, to Eileen Elgar:https://www.tolkienestate.com/letters/letter-to-eileen-elgar-september-1963/John Garth on Sam Gamgee and Tolkien's batmen:https://www.theonering.net/torwp/2014/02/26/87195-sam-gamgee-and-tolkiens-batmen WATCH NEXTYou Need to Worry About Tolkien. Here's Why.https://youtu.be/Zg-24YWjtEE?si=WS0vSjd8HEGFq09hEvery Tolkien Halloween Monster, Explainedhttps://youtu.be/VNa5CF-neAI?si=IxuT3-2TMRKRiBy_Reasons NOT to Paint With Me, Demonstrated Live on Samwise Gamgeehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbQZDPP2CeoTolkien Tours playlisthttps://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLewL5YSeuzLF_Ry-mWfmymD-wUEw42C7j #tolkien #lordoftherings #loretofallasleepto #samwisegamgee AJM Nerdcore is part of the Digital Fox Talent creator network: digitalfoxtalent.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
