In Episode 3 of The Bitlings podcast, hosts Kenny Sargent and William Chad Newsom present the third of our five-episode series on The Lord of the Rings.

Stick around to the end for two special Bonus Features. Descriptions of each are below, after the episode summary.

Today’s episode was inspired by a LOTR-themed conversation in which Chad said, “My girls love Boromir.” Kenny, ever watching for interesting episode material for The Bitlings, replied, “Well, let’s get them on the show to talk about that!”

So today, two of Chad’s daughters, Abigail and Kaitlyn, join the Bitlings to talk about Boromir, and why he is so often dismissed as simply, “the guy that tried to take the Ring,” when there is much more to his character than a single moment of failure.

Find out why Frodo called Boromir “a valiant member of our company,” Faramir said of him, ““Whether he erred or no, of this I am sure: he died well, achieving some good thing” and Aragorn said, “few have gained such a victory.”

Learn some of the small but important ways Boromir used his strength to serve others.

And ponder an overlooked fact: Boromir was not the only member of the Fellowship who tried to take the Ring for himself.

Don’t miss our two Bonus Features: these are culled from extra discussion between Kenny, Chad, and guests that happens before or after the episodes are recorded. A brief description of each, along with timestamps for you to click right to the ones you find most interesting, are below:

Bonus 1: “Vain Was Gandalf’s Trust In Me.” Kenny, Chad, Abigail, and Kaitlyn talk about Tom Bombadil, Ilúvatar, leadership, Aragorn, the challenge and opportunity of failure, and the God who answers when we call.

Bonus 2: “He’s Got a King Now.” The gang talks Aragorn and Boromir, book vs. movie, Aragorn’s claim to the throne of Gondor and Boromir’s assessment of that claim. Comparison is made of Aragorn and Boromir to David and Jonathan, and we note the strange and somewhat overlooked fact that Boromir was not the only member of the Fellowship to fall to the power of the Ring.

SPOILER ALERT: You can’t talk about books without talking about them. Expect spoilers on The Bitlings! This is a family-friendly show, but you should shield the ears of children if you don’t want key plot points spoiled for them.

Find Stories You Can Trust by visiting us online: https://www.sargentfamilyproductions.org/

Shop Sargent Family Productions and get started on Kenny’s Generations Saga, or read Chad’s Talking of Dragons: The Children’s Books of J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis: https://www.sargentfamilyproductions.org/shop

Learn more about The Bitlings podcast: https://www.sargentfamilyproductions.org/the-bitlings-podcast

Theme Song: "From Sky to Sky," written and performed by William Chad Newsom

"Constancy Part Two" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Stick around to the end for no less than five special Bonus Features. See descriptions of each below, after the episode summary. In Episode 2 of The Bitlings podcast, hosts Kenny Sargent (founder of Sargent Family Productions and author of the Generations saga) and William Chad Newsom (staff writer at Sargent Family Productions and author of Talking of Dragons: The Children’s Books of J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis) present the second of our five episode series on The Lord of the Rings.

Today, we’ll talk about the oft-overlooked early chapters of Volume 1 (The Fellowship of the Ring) of The Lord of the Rings.

You know, those parts that tend to get left out of movies and radio drama adaptations.

That’s right: the Old Forest, Old Man Willow, Tom Bombadil and Goldberry, and the Barrow Downs.

Why are these chapters important? Is there more there than most folks seem to think? Why are they some of Chad’s favorites now, when he struggled to get through them when he first read the book at age 12?

Find out in today’s episode, “Bombadil in the Backyard.”

AND: we have FIVE Bonus Features for you in this episode: extra discussion between Kenny and Chad that happens before or after the episodes are recorded.

A brief description of each is below:

Bonus 1: “Desire to be Sam…Be Willing to be Frodo.” Kenny and Chad talk about “The Scouring of the Shire” (a great chapter near the end of The Lord of the Rings that Peter Jackson left out of his Return of the King film for some reason), the movie Gladiator, and the aftereffects of Frodo’s uncured wounds.

Bonus 2: Vacation Worldbuilding. Kenny gives a quick tip for how your family can get more out of long road trips, by telling what one of his sons did on such trips.

Bonus 3: “The Final Act.” This one goes all over the place. Kenny and Chad talk about the deep need to see a story through to its ending, and how it affects us when that ending is bad, or simply missing. This leads into a discussion of Kenny’s Generations 2: The D.C. Gambit, the multiple endings of The Lords of the Rings (should The Lord of the Rings have ended with Mt. Doom?), and types of endings in long stories vs. short stories. Find out what all this has to do with detective stories, Charles Dickens, the Netflix show Troll Hunters, character development in the Harry Potter stories, the Avengers Movies, and even a Hallmark Channel mystery series.

Bonus 4: “It Was our Star Wars.” Kenny asks Chad about the way the 1981 BBC radio drama version of The Lord of the Rings affected him in childhood and beyond, and how it gave him a better knowledge of the text, stories, and poems of Tolkien’s great work.

Bonus 5: “Maybe You Will!” Kenny and Chad share their initial reactions at the conclusion of the first Bitlings recording session.

SPOILER ALERT: You can’t talk about books without talking about them. Expect spoilers on The Bitlings! This is a family-friendly show, but you should shield the ears of children if you don’t want key plot points spoiled for them.

CORRECTION: In this episode, I (Chad) quote Tolkien as saying that Tom Bombadil is “the spirit of the English countryside.” More specifically, Tolkien said he is a “spirit of the (vanishing) Oxford and Berkshire countryside.”

Find Stories You Can Trust by visiting us online: https://www.sargentfamilyproductions.org/

Shop Sargent Family Productions and get started on Kenny’s Generations Saga, or read Chad’s Talking of Dragons: The Children’s Books of J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis: https://www.sargentfamilyproductions.org/shop

Learn more about The Bitlings podcast: https://www.sargentfamilyproductions.org/the-bitlings-podcast

Theme Song: "From Sky to Sky," written and performed by William Chad Newsom

"Constancy Part Two" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Stick around to the end for a special Bonus Feature: “Every Game is a Story.” In this premiere episode of The Bitlings podcast, hosts Kenny Sargent (founder of Sargent Family Productions and author of the Generations saga) and William Chad Newsom (staff writer at Sargent Family Productions and author of Talking of Dragons: The Children’s Books of J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis) talk about The Lord of the Rings. Specifically, two important scenes from The Return of the King: The Last Debate, and The Mouth of Sauron.

You can see both scenes in the upcoming (June 2024) theatrical release of the entire Lord of the Rings film series directed by Peter Jackson. Kenny and Chad discuss what they loved about these key moments in the latter part of this epic story, and how well the films do (or don't) in interpreting and adapting them for the screen.

The Bitlings also discuss the vital nature of stories for people made in God's image, and particularly for Christians; how you can decide, among the millions of stories available, which are worth your time; and the Bitlings philosophy of Spoilers. We also do a quick dive into the history of the Inklings (a group that included J.R.R. Tolkien, author of The Lord of the Rings, among others), and why and how our podcast, The Bitlings, is inspired by them.

SPOILER ALERT: You can’t talk about books without talking about them. Expect spoilers on The Bitlings. This is a family-friendly show, but you should shield the ears of children if you don’t want key plot points spoiled for them.

Find Stories You Can Trust by visiting us online: https://www.sargentfamilyproductions.org/

Shop Sargent Family Productions and get started on Kenny Generations Saga, or read Chad’s Talking of Dragons: The Children’s Books of J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis: https://www.sargentfamilyproductions.org/shop

Learn more about The Bitlings podcast: https://www.sargentfamilyproductions.org/the-bitlings-podcast

Theme Song: "From Sky to Sky," written and performed by William Chad Newsom

Music: "Constancy Part Two" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/