[SPEAKER_00]: Welcome to the Lord of the Rings lorecast.
[SPEAKER_00]: The show that explores the background of Tolkien's amazing world, from the very beginning.
[SPEAKER_00]: When was the last time you had a serendipitous moment, a happy accident?
[SPEAKER_00]: It happens to all of us.
[SPEAKER_00]: You end up right at the right place at the right time, things line up in a way that you couldn't have ever planned for or scheduled.
[SPEAKER_00]: And sometimes it comes on the heels of something much darker or sad or tragic, but after that tragic thing or after that scary moment, everything seems to line up in just the right way to make things work out better than they would have before.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know if there's a word for that, but that's not just serendipity.
[SPEAKER_00]: and we look at these moments in our own lives and sometimes we think that they're just random chance.
[SPEAKER_00]: Some people ascribe these things to a higher power or maybe it's just good karma, something like that.
[SPEAKER_00]: And there are moments like this in probably every fictional work ever, because well, these moments can be manufactured by an author in those situations.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you don't mind me sharing, there's one that happened to my family recently that is kind of a lot
[SPEAKER_00]: like this and we're going to get into it in this episode with what goes on with Frodo here but just indulge me for just a moment.
[SPEAKER_00]: My daughter is in her mid-twenties and she and her longtime boyfriend are both in between jobs and they are both changing where they're living.
[SPEAKER_00]: They're going through a lot all at once.
[SPEAKER_00]: They don't own a working vehicle anymore.
[SPEAKER_00]: They've been through a lot of changes recently.
[SPEAKER_00]: and they have to try to figure all of this out.
[SPEAKER_00]: And things are working out, they're working on getting jobs.
[SPEAKER_00]: He was able to land a job recently.
[SPEAKER_00]: And they've still been trying to figure out the car situation.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then we find out that his grandfather passed away.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's a sad moment for sure, a tragedy for sure, but also not completely unexpected.
[SPEAKER_00]: He was older and had health issues.
[SPEAKER_00]: So they're traveling to another state for the funeral.
[SPEAKER_00]: and then find out that he left for them is truck.
[SPEAKER_00]: They were able to inherit a vehicle from him in the time that they absolutely needed it most.
[SPEAKER_00]: And it doesn't remove the tragedy and the sadness around the situation, but it does show that light can come from darkness, and sometimes the things that we need in the moment come from surprising places.
[SPEAKER_00]: So maybe you've been through
[SPEAKER_00]: We're talking about a serendipitous moment that happens with Frodo.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's not exactly the same thing as I described happening to my family, but you'll see the similarities as we go through this.
[SPEAKER_00]: Serendipity is a funny thing.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's also a funny word into a movie from, oh, 25 years ago or whatever.
[SPEAKER_00]: But we're talking about a moment that happens to Frodo in this episode, as he's getting ready to leave back end and head off to Buckland.
[SPEAKER_00]: And it's something that the movie's skip over.
[SPEAKER_00]: The movie's skip over a surprising number of things.
[SPEAKER_00]: And we're going to continue to discover that as we work our way through the fellowship of the ring and the rest of the books.
[SPEAKER_00]: But in this moment, there's something that happens that changes photos attitude.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's a slight adjustment.
[SPEAKER_00]: But if this moment hadn't happened,
[SPEAKER_00]: then the entire adventure probably would not have succeeded.
[SPEAKER_00]: And there are some other coincidences here as well, but we're going to get into that as we dig into the details.
[SPEAKER_00]: So let's talk about Frodo leaving back end and the circumstances around that because it's very interesting.
[SPEAKER_00]: Here we go.
[SPEAKER_00]: So it's the day after the birthday party, the very next morning, they're packing another cart to leave and Mary decides that he's going to take this cart and go on ahead.
[SPEAKER_00]: In order to warm the house before Frodo arrives and he heads out with Fredegar Bulger, who they call Fatty, which is a wonderful nickname.
[SPEAKER_00]: Especially since it's a hobbit and hobbits are a little bit round at the tummy, you know, that's sort of thing.
[SPEAKER_00]: But I love the phrase here.
[SPEAKER_00]: It says, someone must get there.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is what Mary is saying.
[SPEAKER_00]: Someone must get there and warmeth the house before you arrive.
[SPEAKER_00]: And it's not one of those phrases I think we use very much in the States, but it makes a lot of sense.
[SPEAKER_00]: Because if you're going somewhere to warm the house, then you're probably warming it more than just one way.
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe the weather's cold and so that means going to the house and putting, I don't know, logs on the fireplace in order to warm the house to make it feel accommodating to the other travelers when they arrive there.
[SPEAKER_00]: But also, if you get to an empty house, then that can feel cold because there's nobody there and you're all alone.
[SPEAKER_00]: So having somebody to arrive
[SPEAKER_00]: Also, in this section, we find out that Falco goes home after lunch, but Pippin stays behind to help, and Sam and Pippin stay behind to help.
[SPEAKER_00]: And this is interesting because we're starting to see that certain characters are standing out a little bit more than others.
[SPEAKER_00]: Fatty and Falco aren't going to be as important to the plot as Mary Pippin and Sam, and they seem to be the ones who step up just a little bit more than the others, but it's kind of a minor thing.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now this entire time, Frodo is still looking for Gandalf.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's still hoping to hang out here long enough for Gandalf to show up because he knows once he starts traveling, he's going to be out in the countryside for a bit and then he will be at a new location and he's not sure if Gandalf is going to show up there or what's going on.
[SPEAKER_00]: But he trusts that Gandalf will show.
[SPEAKER_00]: wizard is never late and all that.
[SPEAKER_00]: So he's been putting off traveling and this is going to play into this in a little bit.
[SPEAKER_00]: We also find that he has some specifics for his journey.
[SPEAKER_00]: It says his plan for pleasure and a last look at the shire as much as any other reason was to walk from Hobbiton to Buckelberry Fairy, taking it fairly easy.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, he knows that he could be in potential danger, but he doesn't think the danger is here yet, and he's trying to process leaving the shire.
[SPEAKER_00]: And this seems like a great opportunity to kind of take it all in.
[SPEAKER_00]: Remember, Frodo likes to go out into the countryside.
[SPEAKER_00]: He likes to wander and see the sights.
[SPEAKER_00]: So this makes a lot of sense for him.
[SPEAKER_00]: He also says, I shall get myself a bit into training to, and he looks at himself in the mirror, and he doesn't really like the reflection.
[SPEAKER_00]: It looks a little bit flabby.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's not in the best shape.
[SPEAKER_00]: So this journey will give him some exercise and a chance to enjoy one last look at the place where he grew up.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then, the Sackfield Baggins is show up, Lubella and her son, Lotho.
[SPEAKER_00]: And Lubella says, hours at last, as she busts into the place, and she's there early, it's not time for her to arrive, but she arrives because she is concerned.
[SPEAKER_00]: It says here, she had come to see that nothing she had paid for had been carried off, and she wanted the keys.
[SPEAKER_00]: She was showing up early on purpose.
[SPEAKER_00]: She's constantly suspicious that other people are going to do bad things to her.
[SPEAKER_00]: And this is a trait of bad people.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is something Tolkien is clearly aware of.
[SPEAKER_00]: People who have nefarious intent assume that everybody thinks like they do.
[SPEAKER_00]: And therefore they assume that they will constantly be under threat of nefarious actions from others.
[SPEAKER_00]: They have no trust.
[SPEAKER_00]: They have no faith in other people
[SPEAKER_00]: are not trustworthy, and she radiates this at every moment.
[SPEAKER_00]: And of course, Frodo's not happy to see her again, and she brings an entire inventory of everything that's supposed to be left to her, and she goes through it.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then we're told this, in the end, she departed with Lotho and the spare key, and the promise that the other key would be left at the Gamjee's in Bagshot Row.
[SPEAKER_00]: She snorted and showed plainly that she thought the Gamjee's capable of plundering the whole during the night.
[SPEAKER_00]: Frodo did not offer her any tea.
[SPEAKER_00]: I love that last line there.
[SPEAKER_00]: Frodo did not offer her any tea.
[SPEAKER_00]: He was like, okay, just get out.
[SPEAKER_00]: And of course, the GAMG's are good people.
[SPEAKER_00]: They're not going to take her stuff.
[SPEAKER_00]: But she's worried that they might just like she would steal the spoons.
[SPEAKER_00]: So we know it's getting on to the afternoon because we know that Frodo and Pippin and Sam have their tea, which is of course a very British thing.
[SPEAKER_00]: But then we find out that Sam is coming to Buckland too.
[SPEAKER_00]: And the reason is to do for Mr. Frodo and look for his bit of garden.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, we know that Sam is going with Frodo because he will be leaving on the adventure with him as Gandalf stated that he needed to do, but everybody else doesn't know that.
[SPEAKER_00]: And this is a good cover for that.
[SPEAKER_00]: It makes sense.
[SPEAKER_00]: Everybody knows that Sam has worked for Frodo and Bilbo before that, and even though that's a business relationship, they've been friends beyond that as well, and everybody understands that this would make sense.
[SPEAKER_00]: It even says that it was approved by the Gaffer, Sam's father, but that he was not excited about having LaBelia as a neighbor, which is kind of funny.
[SPEAKER_00]: They have their last meal at back end, and then in order to just kind of get back at LaBelia a little bit, they leave the washing up for her.
[SPEAKER_00]: They leave dishes in the sink basically, because she, I guess, is buying the dishes and plates and things, but that doesn't mean they have to be clean when she arrives.
[SPEAKER_00]: That sort of thing.
[SPEAKER_00]: Then, Pippin and Sam, quote, strapped up their three packs and piled them in the porch.
[SPEAKER_00]: Pippin went out for a last stroll in the garden.
[SPEAKER_00]: Sam disappeared.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, we find out what Sam's doing a little bit later.
[SPEAKER_00]: But what's important here is that the sun is going down.
[SPEAKER_00]: The meal that they just had, the last meal was, well, dinner or supper, one of those, because Hobbits have multiple meals, and it was the last one they were going to eat.
[SPEAKER_00]: At that location in the evening, we aren't told specifically what name that Bill went by, but it was one of those.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then Frodo decides that he's going to wander around, because they're taking their time.
[SPEAKER_00]: Remember, he's buying time for Gandalf to show up.
[SPEAKER_00]: It says he half expected to see Gandalf come striding up through the dusk, because that's the kind of thing Gandalf does.
[SPEAKER_00]: He shows up right at the right moment.
[SPEAKER_00]: But that doesn't happen.
[SPEAKER_00]: He spent some time looking at the rooms, watching the light of the sunset fade on the walls, and the shadows creep out of the corners, and it grows dark indoors.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is a closing down of this location.
[SPEAKER_00]: It is turning to night physically in the world, but it's also sunsetting on Frodo's occupation of this old home.
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's not unintentional.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now that also means that being inside the home as the lights go down is not particularly comfortable.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so Frodo leaves, he goes outside.
[SPEAKER_00]: And we're told specifically, and remember, every time the stars show up that might mean something, the sky was clear, and the stars were growing bright.
[SPEAKER_00]: So he moves from a dark home, a place that he's leaving to go outside, get a breath of fresh air, to take a look at the stars, even exclaims, it's going to be a fine night, he said aloud, that's good for a beginning.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so we're getting these good signs.
[SPEAKER_00]: Frodo is now outside under the stars.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's always a good thing.
[SPEAKER_00]: And yet, there's something dark happening in the distance.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's not something Frodo was expecting, but he just happens to be, this is the serendipitous moment in the right place at the right time.
[SPEAKER_00]: Even says, I feel like walking.
[SPEAKER_00]: I can't bear any more hanging about.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to start.
[SPEAKER_00]: And Gandalf must follow me.
[SPEAKER_00]: So he decides, okay, no more waiting.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's time to go.
[SPEAKER_00]: But as he turns around, he hears voices.
[SPEAKER_00]: around the corner at the end of Bagshot Row.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now remember, we were just reminded Bagshot Row.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is where the Gaffer is, and he hears the Gaffer's voice, but there's another voice.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's described as strange and somehow unpleasant, but we're not given any more specifics about what that means.
[SPEAKER_00]: And on top of that, he can't really tell what it's being said.
[SPEAKER_00]: He just hears the tone of the voice, which maybe it's whispery, maybe it's gravelly, maybe it doesn't sound like it's coming out of a hobbit's face or body.
[SPEAKER_00]: But then we hear the gaffer and his response.
[SPEAKER_00]: No, Mr. Baggins has gone away.
[SPEAKER_00]: Went this morning, and my Sam went with him.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now maybe this is what he actually believes, or maybe not.
[SPEAKER_00]: That was the plan, and he hasn't been noted here as having been around the rest of the group as they were finishing packing, but then he says, anyway, all his stuff went, which kind of betrays the idea that
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe he knows that there's still hanging around up there, and he's actually trying to protect them because he doesn't trust this strange voice.
[SPEAKER_00]: And we continue to hear his responses to the questions.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, sold out in Ghana, I tell you, why?
[SPEAKER_00]: Why is none of my business or yours?
[SPEAKER_00]: Where to?
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, that ain't no secret.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's moved to Buckelberry or some such place, a way down yonder.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, it is.
[SPEAKER_00]: A tidy way.
[SPEAKER_00]: I've never been so far myself, they're queer folks in Buckland.
[SPEAKER_00]: No, I can't give no message, good night to you.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, this sounds like suspicious replies to questions from somebody that he'd rather not be talking to right now and it feels like he's trying to cover for Frodo a little bit, but also he's okay with sharing what is publicly known.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, the Gaffer most likely does not know that Frodo and Sam are leaving the Shire.
[SPEAKER_00]: He probably wouldn't be okay with that.
[SPEAKER_00]: He would probably have given Sam a talking to and told him that he shouldn't make that decision, but also Sam was told not to share this with anyone.
[SPEAKER_00]: So most likely, the Gaffer is just responding on instinct.
[SPEAKER_00]: And remember, the hobbits are suspicious about other people who come through their land who are from other places, and especially when they start asking questions about the people that care about.
[SPEAKER_00]: So this all tracks, and Frodo doesn't exactly know what to make of this either.
[SPEAKER_00]: Let me read the next paragraph.
[SPEAKER_00]: Footsteps went away down the hill.
[SPEAKER_00]: Frodo wondered vaguely why, and the fact that they did not come up the hill seemed a great relief.
[SPEAKER_00]: quote, I am sick of questions and curiosity about my doings, I suppose he thought, what an inquisitive lot they all are.
[SPEAKER_00]: He had a half of mine to go and ask the gaffer who the inquire was, but he thought better, or worse of it, and turned and walked quickly back to back end.
[SPEAKER_00]: So Frodo hasn't quite figured out that this is a sinister thread.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is exactly the thing that he was warned about.
[SPEAKER_00]: The danger has arrived.
[SPEAKER_00]: And we know this is a ring rath.
[SPEAKER_00]: This would mean instant death to him.
[SPEAKER_00]: If this character had come face to face with Frodo, he would have failed
[SPEAKER_00]: but yet that doesn't happen.
[SPEAKER_00]: The rave believes the gaffer and leaves does not go up the hill.
[SPEAKER_00]: Does not continue looking for Frodo at this location because of course it's in a hurry.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's trying to find him as soon as possible and if he's already on the road to another location, then he needs to leave immediately in order to catch up with him.
[SPEAKER_00]: but we know that that's not the case.
[SPEAKER_00]: And Frodo doesn't quite put this all together yet.
[SPEAKER_00]: Had he gone down to the Gaffer and asked him questions, he would be much more concerned.
[SPEAKER_00]: But on top of all of that, even though he doesn't do that, he still makes a subtle change to his plans.
[SPEAKER_00]: The type of change that makes all of this work.
[SPEAKER_00]: If he hadn't happened to walk outside, exactly at that moment in order to get a breath of fresh air and to look at the stars,
[SPEAKER_00]: He never would have heard this conversation, and if he never heard this conversation, he never would have changed his plans slightly, slightly enough to make sure that he was safe as he traveled.
[SPEAKER_00]: But even more, if he hadn't delayed previously leaving until this night, he wouldn't have experienced this either.
[SPEAKER_00]: In fact, if he had left earlier, he may have been already on the road or arriving in Buckland with ringrace waiting for him and would have had no sense of the danger when he arrived.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is the moment that makes the journey work and we get no sense of it in the movies.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is an only in the book thing.
[SPEAKER_00]: But the tone of this section doesn't change.
[SPEAKER_00]: It doesn't become dark and foreboding.
[SPEAKER_00]: Pippin is back in the porch when he arrives.
[SPEAKER_00]: Sam's not there, so he starts looking for him and calls him Sam.
[SPEAKER_00]: Sam, time, Sam responds, coming, sir, and he comes out from where the beer barrel in the seller was.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's filling up on beer before the journey.
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe to make sure that he doesn't get hungry on the road,
[SPEAKER_00]: I guess we're getting a glimpse of Sam's personality a little bit here.
[SPEAKER_00]: But then Frodo simply says all aboard Sam, and I had to look this up.
[SPEAKER_00]: All aboard, of course, is a phrase that you would usually hear in naval terms, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: Like all aboard the ship before the ship sets sail, that sort of thing.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I believe that's similar to what's happening here.
[SPEAKER_00]: But there's more going on here with that phrase than I think is evident, at least to me in my culture.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now maybe this is a British thing, maybe this is a more old timey kind of thing.
[SPEAKER_00]: But all aboard isn't Sam getting on the boat to leave the house.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's, did you pack yourself full enough and you're ready to ship off?
[SPEAKER_00]: Meaning, did you put enough food or drink in your stomach?
[SPEAKER_00]: I think that's what's really being said here.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then Sam responds, yes sir, I'll last for a bit now, sir, which seems to answer that question.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I believe there's more than just like, you know, get on the bus, we're about to leave.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's, did you pack everything in your stomach?
[SPEAKER_00]: It's basically what's happening.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then Frodo shuts everything down.
[SPEAKER_00]: He locks the door, he gives the key to Sam, tells Sam to take the key down to Bagshot Row to the Gaffer, which again reinforces the idea that Frodo doesn't go and talk to the Gaffer.
[SPEAKER_00]: He doesn't get the direct response or the look in the Gaffer's eyes himself.
[SPEAKER_00]: That doesn't happen.
[SPEAKER_00]: So we tell Sam, take the key down to the gaffer, and then commit us.
[SPEAKER_00]: Specifically, he says, then cut along the row and meet us as quick as you can at the gate in the lane beyond the meadows.
[SPEAKER_00]: Notice, as quick as you can, and here's the real moment.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is the two sentences that change the journey forever.
[SPEAKER_00]: We are not going through the village tonight, too many years pricking and eyes praying.
[SPEAKER_00]: The plan originally was to head the normal path to go through the village to not worry about what other habits saw them because they knew they were all going to go on this journey and it wouldn't be a surprise.
[SPEAKER_00]: but Frodo changes the plan.
[SPEAKER_00]: He is more careful leaving now, and in more haste, that's a very Tolkien word, than he would have been if he hadn't overheard that conversation.
[SPEAKER_00]: And it's a subtle thing.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's only a few sentences here that show that change in plan.
[SPEAKER_00]: We don't get an entire conversation between him and Sam and Pippin, saying, hey, I overheard somebody asking questions.
[SPEAKER_00]: I feel like there might be some danger because he doesn't really pick up on that yet.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so we're going to change the plans.
[SPEAKER_00]: We're going to be more careful.
[SPEAKER_00]: We're going to go more quickly.
[SPEAKER_00]: Any of that.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, eventually, the plans continue to evolve as they learn that they're in more and more danger.
[SPEAKER_00]: But none of that would have happened if they weren't careful or more careful right from the start.
[SPEAKER_00]: And none of that would have happened if they didn't delay leaving to this moment.
[SPEAKER_00]: Everything aligns in a way that is not something that he could have predicted.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is the Serendipitous moment.
[SPEAKER_00]: And it comes from a dark place.
[SPEAKER_00]: If...
[SPEAKER_00]: The ring-rath had not talked to the gaffer and appeared to be somebody who was threatening or suspicious in some way which I don't know that gives me goose bumps because you and I understand what this actually means even if Frodo doesn't understand it yet.
[SPEAKER_00]: This scary moment leads to something better.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I don't think this is a eru eluvitar reaching into the world's sort of thing.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think this is simply characters doing what they're supposed to be doing, having good intentions.
[SPEAKER_00]: We've already had dialogue from Gandalf so far about how
[SPEAKER_00]: what you believe and your intentions for why you're doing things, when they are good, they lead to other good things.
[SPEAKER_00]: The idea that having mercy would mean that the ring would have less chance to take hold over its owner.
[SPEAKER_00]: That sort of thing.
[SPEAKER_00]: Your mindset, your reason for doing things is important in this world.
[SPEAKER_00]: And Frodo and Sam have a good reason for what they're doing.
[SPEAKER_00]: And because of that, maybe you could say that cosmicly their journey is blessed with the serendipitous moment, the mention of the stars makes me feel like that might be a reasonable explanation for this, or maybe things just happened the way they did, and it was random chance.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's tough.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, it's fiction, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, there is clearly an author with an intent.
[SPEAKER_00]: And we can't sit down with Tolkien today and ask him about this.
[SPEAKER_00]: On another note, one of the other moments that happens in this sort of way is at the very end of the story, the mountain doom moment with Frodo and Sam and Gollum.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I'm going to be digging into that in the bonus episode this week, because there is debate out there
[SPEAKER_00]: did Eru reach into the world and manipulate what was happening or not, how did that work out?
[SPEAKER_00]: So I'm going to get into the little bit that.
[SPEAKER_00]: I know that we're jumping ahead in the story, but I read an article recently about that and I thought it would be really fun to cover it.
[SPEAKER_00]: Because it is similar to the theme that's happening here just at the full other end of what's happening in the story.
[SPEAKER_00]: But then we get to the end of the section we're talking about today.
[SPEAKER_00]: Sam follows Frodo's instructions.
[SPEAKER_00]: He runs at full speed back to him and then Frodo says,
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, now we're off at last.
[SPEAKER_00]: said Frodo.
[SPEAKER_00]: They shouldered their packs and took up their sticks and walked around the corner to the west side of Bagend.
[SPEAKER_00]: Goodbye, said Frodo, looking at the dark, blank windows.
[SPEAKER_00]: He waved his hand, and then turned, and following Bilbo, if he had known it, hurried after Paragrin, down the garden path.
[SPEAKER_00]: They jumped over the low place in the hedge at the bottom, and took to the fields, passing into the darkness, like a rustle in the grasses.
[SPEAKER_00]: As usual, if you'd like to join me for the bonus episode this week that I mentioned just a minute ago, then you can sign up on patreon.com slash L-O-T-R-L-R-Cast, not the full name, just L-O-T-R-L-R-Cast, and we have to welcome our newest members.
[SPEAKER_00]: Welcome to Silver Hobbit 414, Karen, with an A-N at the end, not Karen, and Chris K.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm so glad that you're here.
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for signing up and supporting the show.
[SPEAKER_00]: I couldn't do it without all of you and all of our VIP patrons who I'm going to thank at the end.
[SPEAKER_00]: But before we get there, we have a new review on Apple Podcasts.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you'd like to leave a review, I will read it out on a feature episode.
[SPEAKER_00]: You don't have to listen on Apple.
[SPEAKER_00]: You just need an Apple account to log in.
[SPEAKER_00]: Leave a review on there.
[SPEAKER_00]: This one comes from Jose Queervo, who says, new listener catching up.
[SPEAKER_00]: Hi, Tom, though LOTR has had a special place in my heart since childhood.
[SPEAKER_00]: I am just now diving deeper into Tolkien's lore in 2026.
[SPEAKER_00]: I am so grateful to have discovered your podcast.
[SPEAKER_00]: It has quickly become my preferred source of entertainment, during commutes, and gym sessions.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's absolutely why I'm listening to the early episodes when you're giving shoutouts to a single digit number of patrons and reviews.
[SPEAKER_00]: I can't wait to see how much this podcast grows as I keep listening.
[SPEAKER_00]: You deserve all this success.
[SPEAKER_00]: Please keep up the excellent work.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, thank you so much Jose.
[SPEAKER_00]: That was her such nice words.
[SPEAKER_00]: And it is kind of fun to look back and see how things have grown.
[SPEAKER_00]: It is fun.
[SPEAKER_00]: I can't imagine what it would be like to see the show and all the reviews that are there now and all of that and then go back and be like, oh wow, this started as like a tiny little thing.
[SPEAKER_00]: So very cool.
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for taking the time to do that.
[SPEAKER_00]: And by the way, I know Apple isn't everybody's favorite source for listening.
[SPEAKER_00]: In fact, I have the stats.
[SPEAKER_00]: I know how many of you listen on Spotify and other platforms.
[SPEAKER_00]: But these do propagate across the internet still and they do
[SPEAKER_00]: when you look people looking stuff up.
[SPEAKER_00]: So this is extremely helpful still to leave these on Apple.
[SPEAKER_00]: But you can also leave comments on Spotify or whatever platform you're listening to this on or join me on the Discord.
[SPEAKER_00]: Jump into the Discord.
[SPEAKER_00]: Also coming up next week, we have our next patron chat.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm excited to see which of our VIP patrons will show up, and it's always fun to get together with people and just kind of nerd out about things that we love.
[SPEAKER_00]: So look forward to that, that's coming very soon.
[SPEAKER_00]: And now I've got to thank all of our VIP patrons, Fulcrum, David S, Danu Knight, Weaver, Kepenna, Richard J.T.
[SPEAKER_00]: J.T.
[SPEAKER_00]: A.K.
[SPEAKER_00]: Music Lover, Barney D, Azale Razzle, Blade of Anderell, Lori B, Norwegian Myr, Mason Weathertop, Gimli, a Break, Divine Madman, Rosie Rosé, the best-to-spoil.
[SPEAKER_00]: A very old Party Snacks, Norvie Genius, Bruce W. Artemis, Kira-C, DOSS, Hunter T, Silverstar, Silver Hobbit 414, and my name is August West.
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you so much to all of you for your continued support.
[SPEAKER_00]: I hope you have a wonderful rest of your week.
[SPEAKER_00]: And who knows, maybe a serendipitous moment will happen.
[SPEAKER_00]: Let me know if it does.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'll see you next time.
[SPEAKER_00]: Thanks for listening to the Lord of the Rings lorecast.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you'd like to learn more about other fantasy worlds, check out my other podcasts.
[SPEAKER_00]: The Elder Scrolls lorecast, the Witcher lorecast, and more at robotsradio.net.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you'd like to reach out, I'd love to hear from you.
[SPEAKER_00]: Send me a note on Twitter at robots underscore radio, or join our amazing community on the robots radio discord.
[SPEAKER_00]: There are links in the show notes, or just search robotsradio discord, or find the link on robotsradio.net.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'll see you next time.