D (15:28)

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E (16:00)

buying a car online on Autotrader right now?

D (16:02)

Really?

E (16:03)

At a playground. Yeah, really.

D (16:04)

Look at these listings from dealers.

E (16:06)

Wow, your search can really get that specific. Really? And you just put in your info and boom. Car's in your budget.

D (16:13)

Mom needs a second.

E (16:14)

Honey, you can really have it delivered.

D (16:16)

Really? Or I can pick it up at the dealership. One sec, sweetie. Mommy's Buying a car.

C (16:21)

Mommy, look.

E (16:22)

I think your kid is walking up the slide.

C (16:24)

Kyle. Again. Really?

D (16:26)

Autotrader buyer, car online. Really.

C (16:29)

Gandalf, as we said, is this sort of wise archetype of the sage. He's also said a kind of a Kissinger sort of a. An intelligence handler figure who has an immense amount of knowledge. But he's also a member of a secret order. And this comes up later on we know that he's a member of the Order of the Secret Fire. He's a keeper of the flame of Arnor. And Gandalf will be consistently associated with what? With fire. And this is important because the different wizards in this world whether it's Radagast or whether it's Saruman or whether it's Gandalf, right? They are elemental in their associations. Gandalf is associated with fire, the flame of Arno, the Keeper, the secret secret flame. Radagast the Brown is associated with earth animals etc he speaks to them, hence the brown. So you have Gandalf the White. He's also. When Gandalf is sort of reborn as Gandalf the White it's through the white flame that he's reborn. Saruman is air and breath. He engages in weather control. He builds towers up into the air to the sky. And he eventually wants to become Saruman the mini colored, right? So he wants to master all of the elements and have all the powers. He is very much an intellect which again intellect is the higher of the faculties again closer associated with air or mind voice. He uses a very hypnotic voice and magic power that he has through his words. And so that's also again air and utilizes mind control, right in the case of when he mind controls the king of Rohan. So there are then these elemental associations that I think are necessary. And again this is not surprising because as I said, one of the key elements here is Neoplatonism and the Neoplatonic associations that are associated with, you know, classical sort of magical texts. And that's something that I don't hear anyone else talking about. Also, by the way, when we get into the Silmarillion we'll see the Neoplatonic idea of the creation myth with the Valar and others, right? That's also part of this Neoplatonic structure that undergirds both the Space Trilogy and Lord of the Rings. And perhaps you could argue as well Narnia because of course Aslan sings reality into existence and we'll see that with Iluvatar's creation of Middle Earth as well. Now, to get back to the Lord of the Rings, the Dwarves are seeking their homeland. So I think there is probably an analogy, again thinking of World War II, right, to some elements of the history of the Jews. I don't think that Tolkien is intentionally trying to be some sort of a Zionist. I think more so he's concerned with the fact that the future technocratic antichrist, sort of power that would rise in the world. And again, Lewis is making this point with volume 3 of the space trilogy is something that would be against all of the races playing them against one another. And that's exactly what we see Sauron and Saruman doing. So the Dwarves are eager to get back to their homeland. They're very interested in jewels and gold, again suggesting certain Middle Eastern peoples. We have a introduction of the dragon, which is the archetype, again from scripture, of the serpent that invades Eden. In the story, of course, we know eventually the Hobbit is a kind of. Excuse me. The Shire is a kind of Eden. And it eventually is threatened by the evil that's rising in Mordor. The sorcerer, the Necromancer, who I think we will discover is Sauron. But here the dragon is immediately associated with. He devours men and dwarves, right? The dragon is essentially a completely malevolent force with no goodwill or intentions and is a pure force of destruction. But it's also connected with the association that it has to gold, because for whatever reason, dragons have to sort of, you know, make they crib and a bunch of gold, right? Gold all over my crib. Gold all over my bed. Isn't that right, Jamie? And so. The story here then is how to get back into the mountain. We have this prophecy, as we'll learn later, of the return of the King of Foreign Oakenshield, the Return of the King under the Mountain, mirroring again the return of the King of Aragorn at the end of Lord of the Rings. So again, there's a lot of parallels to the later trilogy. But again, remember, Tolkien was himself intelligence. He was for two years working in intelligence espionage cryptography at Bletchley Park. And I think that's an. It's a key element that many people have not understood about this trilogy or about the books, because that would obviously influence what he's doing. That's why he's so interested in not just language and linguistics, but symbology and symbolism, runes, etc. And history itself, Nordic history, ancient Slavonic myths, ancient, you know, Nordic tales, all of that plays a role in influencing this series. So as they embark on their journey. We find them engaging in the standard sort of fantasy adventure stuff that you would expect. A lot of this, by the way, comes out of mythology, too. There's references to trolls, the elves. But one thing I thought that was interesting was as they embark on the journey and they engage in these sort, it's very similar to Odysseus, right? So when Odysseus is on his journey, he's constantly sort of tempted with giants and battling them, or when he's, you know, tempted by the Sirens to be, you know, distracted from his course. So quite a few elements of classical literature kind of pop up here, whether it's Virgil or whether it's Homer. You can see a lot of parallels to ancient Western literature as well. But the. The elves are also engaged in, if you didn't catch it, a vast intelligence network. In fact, it's even explained that the elves have intelligence before anyone else. They know everything that's going on. They even sing songs about Bilbo and his journey. And Bilbo doesn't even know how they knew this, presumably maybe through Gandalf. But again, they know everything that's going on. They don't exactly know when they get to the woodland elves, but the earlier elves that they meet before, when they go to Rivendell, right, the Elrond and his elves are singing songs about them and they have the intelligence necessary to decode the map. That is a map drawn up by Thorin's relatives. And Elrond is also, again, a kind of wise sage, wise man, handler. He's spoken of as knowing extensively, various languages, symbols, runes, etc. So very much like Tolkien himself. I think Tolkien saw himself as an Elrond or as a kind of a Gandalf character, again, being a master linguist, being a translator, and working for British intelligence at Bletchley Park. So also interesting is times, dates and seasons that come into play when they mention Durin's Day. You know, this is a world where there are ritual holidays, and those ritual holidays are connected to the sun and the moon, the signs and the seasons. This is obviously part of liturgy, because in Genesis we have the statement that God set the luminaries in the sky for times and seasons. So in a way, the planets and the celestial spheres are like a giant clock. And so the whole universe is sort of a clock that at certain conjunctions has a religious connotation with it. In terms of the religious calendar. In the Orthodox Church, we have the Orthodox Church calendar. Of course, Tolkien himself being a traditional Catholic who was A big fan of the Latin Mass, he also understood this same type of a worldview. The reality and life itself is liturgical. And that's why Durin's Day is really important because there's a conjunction that's going to occur between the sun and the moon at the same time it said. And there will be a thrush who is, you know, knocking his acorns or whatever. And that's a sign that it's an opening for this doorway. At other times it doesn't open. We also find them encountering rock giants or Titans. This could have reference to Kabbalistic mythology. Of course we have the character Gollum himself could also have some degree of Kabbalistic reference or influence. I mean I know that in the story the name Golem is because he sort of needs to clear his throat. Let me clear my throat. Right. But it also could be a double reference to the Jewish medieval myth of the Golem which is the mind controlled entity that is used by the sorcerer or the wizard to do his bidding. And that makes sense too because if you think about it really he, Gollum is essentially a multiple personality, right? He's possessed, he has a split personality. He's always talking to himself, talking to the precious. He has this dark demonic side and he has this sort of normal, almost remnant of who he really was before he became this sort of goblin creature. But again Gollum is MPD did. And there's something else again that I'm gonna, I will bring up when we get to you know, Lord of the Rings and what's, what's the name? Is it Andrew Wheel, which is the, the sword that has to be put back together again? That's, that exists in like you know, classic mythology and that kind of stuff. Arthurian mythology with the lady of the Lake. But the Titans again out of mythology, the magical swords and objects that are necessary. We think about this as sort of crazy in the modern world but in the Orthodox Church we still think this way. We still think of this pre modern way because we think of objects like relics, holy objects, icons, etc. We still think in this way in our church we still think in a liturgical way. And the Lord of the Rings world, Middle Earth resonates with us because it is a universe re impregnated with meaning and mystery and magic so to speak. And by magic I just mean simply the spiritual world. And when we eventually get to under the mountain on this journey and you know, Bilbo is separated from the rest of the, of the crew when they're battling the goblins. We have that statement that goblins know technology, Tolkien says, and they created the machinery that the humans use nowadays to kill at a mass scale. It's almost like Tolkien perhaps believes that the technology that we have perhaps comes from the demonic world. It's an influence that we got from the demonic world. And this does parallel with Genesis 6, right? Now, keep in mind, we had just seen him talking about the Titans, rock giants having this sort of battle when the hobbits, or excuse me, when Bilbo and the dwarves are on their journey and they have to take a different path through the mountain. And then it moves from the Titans to immediately discussing the goblins that know technology and helped to create the implements of war. Human WMDs. What a wild statement. Again, as if the. The technology that we have comes from this ancient, almost pre diluvian world, before the Flood world. Perhaps there's an association with Tolkien and the pre Diluvian, you know, Anunnaki Nephilim type of world where we had things like Titans, which by the way, the Deuterocanonical text mentioned about 4 or 5 times actual references to the Titans or the giants. So the Deuterocanon actually confirms that Genesis 6 is about humans and angels creating some strange race which again parallels again because the Uruk Hai are a. An abominable inter spliced genetic experiment that are created. But as we said, Gollum is essentially possessed because he's addicted to the ring. And the ring recalls, as we know, the Ring of Gyges, which is book two of Plato's Republic. And this is a story that's told in order to introduce the idea that really having power is. Is destructive unless you have virtue or you have limits on that power. Right. Virtue would be a way to act with that power in a virtuous or a good way versus using your power in some nefarious, villainous way. And so in the story of the Ring of Gyges, if the guy has the ability to be invisible, well, he goes and he bangs the queen and kills the king. Right? And so the point is that without virtue, raw power like that will rot the soul. But also the Ring of power is symbolic in many other ways. And we'll get into more of that when we get into the Lord of the Rings where the focus turns to the ring itself as the sort of. It's sort of the silent antagonist of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. But it's also 360. Right? So if the ring is something that's 360 and it's all directions. It's not four directions, it's every direction. So in every direction, the ring represents total dominance of time and space. And this, I think, is even referenced obliquely in the beginning of the Silmarillion. We'll get to all that later. But there is a pull again, not just from ancient classical texts of the west, like Homer, but also from Plato's Republic, again, which tells us that it is Neoplatonic influence as well. He wouldn't be pulling from the Republic if there weren't also perhaps Neoplatonic influence when we get to Iluvatar creating and the Balar. Now, magical technology is what we're talking about here. So the ring has the ability to also sort of transcend time and space. You become invisible. And we'll know, we'll find out later that it has other powers associated with Sauron. But just like the Palantir Stones, Peter Till's Palantir there is the idea of espionage and spying and perhaps the elves, if I recall. I think the elves have a relationship to the Palantir Stones. And I know the elves have relationship to the rings too. But ultimately you could say a magical technology for espionage to rule Middle Earth. Sounds exactly like the world that we live in today. Again, super pathetic, prophetic. And I think Tolkien And Lewis, again, C.S. lewis's space trilogy, volume three, they knew about the plan to use technology influenced by demonic powers to create a technocratic total surveillance state to enslave the earth and to depop. And I think both Tolkien and Lewis are warning about that. That's what's so amazing about these prophetic literary works. We also have some older references to thinking of the world not just in terms of. By the way, I mentioned there's a magic sword, obviously. We have Glamdring and Orcris, the Glob, the Goblin Cleavers, Beater and Biter. And they're. They're magical Elven swords. Magic. And if you think about it, you may not know this. There's actually a reference to magic sword in the Maccabees. We'll talk about that when we get to Lord of the Rings. But again, Deuterocadon influence that I've never heard anybody talk about. Oliphants also coming out of the Deuterocanon. Time and space being transcended with tech. But also references to races, the races of Middle Earth, including the dwarves, the elves, the men, races of abominable things or things that shouldn't exist, like the Uruk Hai, the goblins and the Orcs, clearly they have a reference to the demonic. I think they absolutely, absolutely represent demonic entities. But we also have amongst the natural world the animal races or the species. Right. The noble race of the Eagles of the mountains has the. The Is led by the Lord of the Eagles. Beorn is this sort of premodern, sort of skin changer, skinwalker type of character who is not really a magical being, so to speak. He's more of a natural being who has a kind of a natural magic, so to speak. He's a force of nature, perhaps a Lord of the bears or something like this. But he knows and speaks the tongue of bears. This is akin almost to Narnia, where the animals have a language as well. And he comes from a time quote before the giants or before the Titans. So he's a sort of a preternatural figure, perhaps like Tom Bombadil and Goldberry. We'll get to that debate later on. But he does speak the tongue of bears, which is fascinating because a recent Japanese Spurg scientist dude did multiple years of research on birds and has basically proven that birds have a language and they have actually different specific sounds, like 15, 20 different sounds for specific things like warning of a snake or warning of this other predator or food. It's a fascinating thesis that he's presented in a series of videos. I'll try to remember to link that below. Below. But I thought that was neat because, well, that's kind of what Tolkien and Lewis were saying is essentially that the animals have a language. Perhaps there's mysteries of nature that Tolkien and Lewis understood that we haven't even understood yet. Right. That we have, that we're just now beginning to perhaps discover. But Beorn is also immediately associated with the bear. He is a bear man. Or instead of a werewolf, he's kind of a bear wolf, perhaps man, bear, pig, and he keeps bees, which is fascinating because he's again one of these creatures that helps them on their journey who's immediately associated and connected to nature. And you get this theme throughout both Narnia and Lord of the Rings, that there's a battle between what's natural to man and the natural world and man's synthesis and harmony, which was originally there in Eden even to not eat the animals before the fall. Right. Now that relationship is allowed by God after the fall for human sustenance in our sort of fallen biological bodies. But originally, death was not even natural or needed for the animal world. And so there is this Return to Eden theme that's constant throughout. And the rightful rulership amongst man, just like amongst the animal kingdom. The animals have a Lord of the Eagles, right? A Lord of the bearers or whatever. Likewise, where's the King of the Men? Well, we know that Christ is of course prophet, priest and king and certainly that would be part of Louis's symbology. But of course Aragorn or Strider is the rightful king by the time of the Lord of the Rings. But even here we have a rightful king in Thorin Oakenshield who will return to be the King under the Mountain. Beorn again is a character, I think, presaging a kind of Tom Bombadil, right? And this is everybody's favorite mysterious character in Lord of the Rings. Tom Bombadil and Goldberry. What are they? Who do they represent? We'll get to that when we get to the Lord of the Rings. But progressing as we said, we talked about the elemental wizards. Gandalf representing Fire, the flame of Arnor, the keeper of the Secret Fire. Radagast being the wizard associated with Earth and animals. Saruman being Air. So you have Earth, fire, air and then water, which is fascinating because there are references to the Blue Wizards. So this lets us know that he is intentionally doing the four fold elemental structure and then perhaps also the ether or something. Maybe that's Saruman is something like that as well. Or Sauron, who knows? But the Blue Wizards, we don't know a lot about them. They were just kind of referenced in passing Alatar and Palando. They are the Unknown Wizards of the East. And they are then blue associated with water. So that's the four elements right there. And we begin in the first half to have a reference to the Necromancer right in the south and his Dark Tower. So we have at this point the idea that there are good towers. There is originally the tower of Saruman. Gondor has its towers, etc which as I said, is kind of Byzantium. But we also have a inversion of that, which is the Dark Tower tower. And that of course would definitely influence Stephen King's Dark Tower series. Stephen King was open about that. He said when I wrote Gunslinger, it was, you know, Westerns I liked. And Lord of the Rings. Well, the, the towers are, are inversions of one another, right? And so likewise you have the tree, the White Tree of Gondor. And originally there was going to be, in the Satanic cult episode that he never wrote, the New Shadow, there was going to be a Dark Tree of Evil, right? Or perhaps referencing the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and something like that. But he said that it was going to be a evil tree in the hearts of men. So perhaps not even necessarily a literal tree, we don't know. But that's what's in the background, of course, in Lewis's or, excuse me, in Tolkien's mind here. So the other thing I thought was interesting too is as you might imagine, we're going to see a obvious progress not just in the humility of the characters, right? Because the. One of the key points of Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit is that humility is really what wins against evil. Evil has no humility. Satan, his followers, their chief sin is and begins in pride. And the humble Hobbit is a being that you are absolutely unsuspecting, right? You would never expect that this sort of cowardly, you know, luxury loving creature would venture all the way into Smog's, you know, crib or all the way into Mordor. And that's exactly the genius of Gandalf's plans in both stories, both adventures and at the same time, it's a learning curve, an ascetic struggle for Bilbo and for Frodo and Sam as they go on this aesthetic journey. Because throughout this journey they are craving the amenities of the Shire, right? Second breakfast, elevensies. They want their dainties, their treats, right? They want their pipe weed, they want their warm bed. And they're constantly going through the struggle of overcoming the passions. And in fact, people were telling me, as I mentioned I was going to do this, that a lot of orthodox priests and people have recommended reading Lord of the Rings throughout Lent because you kind of go on that journey with Bilbo, with Frodo and Sam. And I remember the first time I read Lord of the Rings and you know, when they're just struggling through the marshes and they're so miserable and wet and hungry, you could almost feel that, you know, back when I read that when I was in, you know, sixth or seventh grade, I was just like immersed in that. And I think that's telling because you never forget that imagery and just like you never forget when the Ringwraiths show up, right? It's just powerful, creepy imagery when you're a kid reading that. And then now as you're an adult, to reflect on it. And you see even in your lifetime as a kind of a journey, think about your lifetime like Bilbo or Frodo's journey right towards the end, towards the. The final battle with death, the final confrontation and overcoming the passions. Because the Ring, as you know, Essentially excites all of those passions, selfishness, hatred, anger. And the more that you use it, the more it takes you over, just like Gollum. So will Bilbo be Gollum, will frodo be Gollum, etc. Right. They have to overcome that temptation to pleasure and to worship and love the self. And that's really what Sauron is sort of offering here. Now, this concludes the first half of the Hobbit. There's a lot more to say about the Hobbit. We're going to do part two very soon. I'm almost done with it. We have just a couple more hours left as we ride and listen to it on the road. Yes, I've read it. I read it twice when I was a kid, so I don't feel like I'm cheating listening to it when we're driving for eight hours a day. And so, yes, we will get to more of this and then we will get deep into the lore of this big bad baby, this behemoth here, which is probably the best version that I've seen. I also have. I have, I think, four different versions. This one I like a lot because it has all the Alan Lee art in it, but also there are other, you know, good versions that I think come from the what's his. Christopher, his son's editions, etc. So it's going to be a fun series. This is the Kicking it Off first half of the Hobbit. Hopefully you enjoyed this. I will also bring on people like Tim Gordon. Tim Gordon, for example, has done courses where he teaches symbology in the Lord of the Rings. He has a lot of interesting Christian symbology that he brings in. Prophet, priest and king play a role in his analysis. So we're going to hear his take on it. It's going to be, I think, a good deep dive series. And I want you guys also underneath to comment on things that I missed because I know a lot of you guys are Nerd of the Rings people. A lot of you guys have read it many times. You probably read more than me on this. So fill me in on details that I'm not aware of, other connections and associations. I know that even the elven lore with some of y' all Chad nerds goes super deep. Some of y' all nerds can even freaking speak Elvish. Probably all I can do is they're taking the harbors to Isengard, which is a pretty good Lego list, I would say. Otherwise, hit like and share. Tell me what I missed below and remember to head on over to Chalk.com C-O Q.com the best in supplementation on the Internet Chalk.com use the promo code J60 to get 60% off all those great chalk products and sign up for that subscription. It's a great discount you can get the Tongkat elite coming on the regular. But listen, you can unsubscribe at any time. Also, if you like this symbolic analysis, you can get in the shop@j'sanalysis.com com signed copies of Esther Hollywood 1, 2 and 3. 1000 plus pages on film symbolism, literary symbolism, espionage, all that tied into your favorite movies. And they're all signed copies.