Claim OwnershipThe Tolkien Professor
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© 2025 Signum University
Description
The Tolkien Professor podcast is a series of lectures, discussions, and seminars on the works of J.R.R. Tolkien by Corey Olsen, President of Signum University. All are welcome to enter – even those without any party business!
612 Episodes
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The Day Has Come! The Night is Passing! Tonight we discuss Episode 11, the first episode of the Battle proper. Let the Unnumbered Tears begin to flow!
Join us on the Signum University Discord server: https://discord.com/invite/szXMFAv
Thank you for your support for our Annual Fundraising Campaign. If you missed the campaign event broadcasts, you can watch the recordings here.
• https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLasMbZ4s5vIW4X_6biE7MLLGssLtApH8P
Thank you for your support for our project.
Rings & Realms:The Lord of the Rings-The War of the Rohirrim
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/signumu/ringsandrealms-the-lord-of-the-rings-the-war-of-the-rohirrim?ref=user_menu
Join the SilmFilm team for a discussion of the script for Episode 10 of Season 7. It's time for everyone to say goodbye! And fight dragons.
Join us on the Signum University Discord server: https://discord.com/invite/szXMFAv
Thank you for your support for our Annual Fundraising Campaign. If you missed the campaign event broadcasts, you can watch the recordings here.
• https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLasMbZ4s5vIW4X6biE7MLLGssLtApH8P
Thank you for your support for our project.
Rings & Realms:The Lord of the Rings-The War of the Rohirrim
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/signumu/ringsandrealms-the-lord-of-the-rings-the-war-of-the-rohirrim?ref=usermenu
Tonight the SilmFilm team moves on to Episode 9, "The Death of Laughter". Join us for the uplifting discussion!
Join us on the Signum University Discord server: https://discord.com/invite/szXMFAv
Thank you for your support for our Annual Fundraising Campaign. If you missed the campaign event broadcasts, you can watch the recordings here.
• https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLasMbZ4s5vIW4X6biE7MLLGssLtApH8P
Thank you for your support for our project.
Rings & Realms:The Lord of the Rings-The War of the Rohirrim
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/signumu/ringsandrealms-the-lord-of-the-rings-the-war-of-the-rohirrim?ref=usermenu
Corey Olsen and the SilmFilm writers' team discuss the episode outline of Episode 8, in which we return to Ulfang and the armies of the Emperor of Bree.
Join us on the Signum University Discord server: https://discord.com/invite/szXMFAv
Signum Studios just launched another Kickstarter for a new project:
Rings & Realms:The Lord of the Rings-The War of the Rohirrim
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/signumu/ringsandrealms-the-lord-of-the-rings-the-war-of-the-rohirrim?ref=user_menu
Thank you for your support for our Annual Fundraising Campaign. If you missed the campaign event broadcasts, you can watch the recordings here.
• https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLasMbZ4s5vIW4X_6biE7MLLGssLtApH8P
Tonight, Corey and Marie and Nick discuss episode 6 of season 7: the first episode of the Union of Maedhros summit meeting.
Join us on the Signum University Discord server: https://discord.com/invite/szXMFAv
Nick and Marie join Corey to discuss Episode 7 of Season 7 -- the second half of the Union of Maedhros summit meeting.
Join us on the Signum University Discord server: https://discord.com/invite/szXMFAv
Annual Fundraising Campaign started. https://youtube.com/live/6F9RlxP9ljQ
SilmFilm is back, and tonight we discuss Episode 5, in which Galadriel does diplomacy with the Emperor of Bree.
Join us on the Signum University Discord server: https://discord.com/invite/szXMFAv
Tonight we are joined by our Australian contingent to discuss more original compositions for Season 6!
Please help us reach our goal to fund Rings and Realms Season Two.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/signumu/rings-and-realms-season-2
Join us on the Signum University Discord server: https://discord.com/invite/szXMFAv
It's time for Episode 4 of Season 7. Unions will be forged! Trauma, revisited!
Please help us reach our goal to fund Rings and Realms Season Two.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/signumu/rings-and-realms-season-2
Join us on the Signum University Discord server: https://discord.com/invite/szXMFAv
Tonight the SilmFilm team discusses Episode 3 of Season 7, which gives us an important battlefield death. Not for the last time!
Join us on the Signum University Discord server: https://discord.com/invite/szXMFAv
It’s time to discuss the script for Episode 2 of Season 7! Hurin and Huor return, Maedhros plans, and Galadriel departs.
Join us on the Signum University Discord server: https://discord.com/invite/szXMFAv
This evening on SilmFilm we discuss the Osanwe-kenta -- that is, telepathy -- and how we plan to handle it in SilmFilm.
Join us on the Signum University Discord server: https://discord.com/invite/szXMFAv
It is time to discuss music! Tonight we meet with Phillip Menzies, the SilmFilm composer, to discuss the commissioning of music for Season 7.
Join us on the Signum University Discord server: https://discord.com/invite/szXMFAv
Tonight we discuss the script of Episode 1! Join us in Gondolin for the first episode of the season.
Join us on the Signum University Discord server: https://discord.com/invite/szXMFAv
Tonight the SilmFilm team prepares the casting call for the new Season 7 characters!
Join us on the Signum University Discord server: https://discord.com/invite/szXMFAv
The SilmFilm team plans out the Frame story for Season 7.
Join us on the Signum University Discord server: https://discord.com/invite/szXMFAv
Having planned the outline of Season 7, it is now time to think in a little more detail about the last quarter of the season: the Battle itself.
Join us on the Signum University Discord server: https://discord.com/invite/szXMFAv
It's time to outline Season 7! Let's make a plan.
Tonight we finish the general plot discussions with a consideration of the dwarf and villain plot lines in Season 7. Next stop, episode outline!
Tonight the SilmFilm Team tackles various minor characters and subplots, ironing out the final details of the Season 7 story.
Tonight, the SilmFilm team continues its big-picture planning discussions, considering the Union of Maedhros.
The SilmFilm team begins working through the primary plot elements of the season, beginning with the primary character: Hurin Thalion.
2023 Fundraising Campaign Webathon, at 1pm, Saturday, December 9
Join us for the culmination of our 2023 Fundraising Campaign!
/ signumuniversity
/ signumu
We will celebrate Signum and its programs, checking in on what’s going on around the university. We will have some fun together, celebrating our weekly broadcasts. And most importantly, we will announce and launch our newest program: Signum’s big new publishing endeavor!
Schedule for the day:
1pm What’s up at Signum
4pm Announcement: Official Launch of Signum’s new Publishing System.
6pm Broadcast fun and gaming
Tonight we decide on the subject of the Frame story for Season 7.
What are Galadriel and Sauron up to? Are their activities connected at all? And who are the Easterlings anyway, from a Beleriandic perspective?
It is time to look at the Road Ahead. How do we get from the Land of the Dead that Live to the War of Wrath?
It's time to sit down and think thoroughly through the scope of Season 7!
It's the season finale for Season 6: The Music Episode, with our soundtrack team!
In the penultimate session of Season 6, the SilmFilm team discusses art commissions for Season 6.
Tonight we discuss the finale of Season 6: the trip to Mandos! The Final Escape from Bondage!
Tonight we discuss the penultimate episode of Season 6: the Hunt of the Wolf!
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Tonight is time for casting! It is time to end the suspense for another set of actors hoping for their big break...
In tonight's episode, we'll be discussing Episode 11 -- the healing of Beren (again), some big family unions, and the wedding of Beren and Luthien.
Tonight we descend into Hell.
Tonight, we discuss the Frame narrative for Season 6 -- our overlay of the Aragorn/Arwen meeting with Beren and Luthien.
Join us tonight for a discussion of Episode 9 of Season 6, in which Beren and Luthien figure out their relationship and celebrate it with a hideous transformation.
1It's time to discuss Episode 8 -- the Leap of Beren! Help us iron out what, exactly, Celegorm and Curufin are thinking.
Tonight the team discusses Episode 7: The Luthien and Sauron Showdown!
Tonight on SilmFilm: casting for Season 6, including Beren!
Tonight we discuss Episode 6 of Season 6, which contains the awesome but very-challenging-to-depict-visually Song Battle between Sauron and Finrod!
This evening, we will discuss the draft of Episode 5, in which Beren goes to Nargothrond and Luthien goes to prison.
Tonight is Season 6 Art Commissioning Day. Let's talk about visual design choices for the Beren and Luthien story!
Tinuviel! SilmFilm is back, and just in time for the meeting of Beren and Luthien!
Tonight on SilmFilm, we discuss the score for Season 6, and the musical commissions we have in mind for our staff composer, Phillip Menzies.
Tonight we discuss Episode 3 of Season 6: Beren avenges his father and hits the road!
Time to discuss Episode 2! Betrayal! Violence!
Tonight we discuss Magic and its representation in the Beren and Luthien story!
Tonight we discuss the script of Episode 1 of Season 6! There are ghosts, vampires, frustrated balrogs, desperate outlaws, and the heirs of kings.
Join us tonight for a discussion of the Frame story for Season 6! (Hint: Tinuviel! Tinuviel!)
Tonight we finish the plot outline discussion for Season 6. Time to resolve the issues with the end of the season...
This evening we finish thinking through the arc of the Beren and Luthien story, focusing on the final sequence: To Mandos and Back Again.
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I loved the discussion in episode, as with all the Silmarillion episodes, but if I had any complaints about this episode it's that I do wish there had been a little bit more moderation of the participants. it did feel like one participant was dominating and going on and on.
Hi, are the Hobbit lectures not available anymore? They will not play for me. Thank you
What drew me to this show were the lecture series, class recordings, and interviews with fellow academics. The show had turned into a typical, bland, editorial discussion of the Hobbit films. Corey Olsen is a true academic and I miss his concise, always-on-topic episodes. They used to challenge me to think differently about Tolkien by considering the other works served as his inspiration. Now, instead of a 60-90 learning session, episodes are clocking in at almost 3 hours and are mostly joking around. Add the constant feedback hum of Trish's microphone, background interruptions, and Dave's desperate need to talk about how he loves to be contrary for the sake of being contrary and I just don't enjoy it anymore.
Brilliant! It has rekindled the passion I once had for the written word. I've missed Middle Earth and have just started rereading the Hobbit. I hope to hear more about The Lord of the Ring. I am especially appreciative of the intro and how Mr. Olsen defers to what Tolkien himself states about his writings. It takes a true understanding of literature to not let ego or personal ideology interfere with the reading and interpretation of Great Works.
I enjoy these podcasts, more the ones with Corey in it than Digest episodes. I understand and appreciate Dave and Trish's contributions, but between Trish's manic laugh, frequent interruptions by her screeching or barking animals in the background and mike hangups, I am close to giving up on the Digest episodes. I hope this will be taken as consturctive criticism- it would be nice to maintain a professional quality in these podcasts.