Latest / Mythmakers / The Silmarillion Readathon Livestream Event

Transcript

The Silmarillion Readathon Livestream Event · Mythmakers

0:00
So just while we wait for the formal beginning of our session, people who I can see you
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in the background, this is Zoom so if you want to ask a question or we can promote you
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to actually being on the screen or can use your voice, but the big event of course will
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be the quiz and the quiz is coming up for you to click through when we get there, but
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we've got a couple of things we're going to do first and you can see it live streamed
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on Facebook as well if you're, you know, there's various ways you can see us, but thank
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you to the people who already come and joined us.
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I need to last about 45 minutes so, you know, you will be able to get on with the rest
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of your day and in one of you might be our prize winner, I have to see.
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That's excellent.
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I do do one of these and some of the people who come might remember I did a quiz for the
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Lord of the Rings Reader Fund celebration and the feedback I got was it was fiendishly
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difficult, but a lot of people asked for copies of it because I think they wanted to go
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away and test it out on their friends, so this time I've done more multiple choice questions,
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so everybody has a higher chance of getting to actually answer it, oh Jill, hi, so please
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put your hello's in the chat, Jill is lovely to have you because I noticed that you were
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one of the people who put in a lot of feedback to the, the Summarillion Reader Fund as it
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went along, and that's really, really appreciated.
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So Karen, I'd like to question, Kirsten is one of our elves who works in the background,
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who's really helps us out on the social media, right, and we've got Jacob as well, right,
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so let's make this the official start, having waited for people to join us.
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So welcome everybody to the celebration of our Summarillion Reader Fund, there's people
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joining us live on Zoom, who are going to be participating in our quiz with a chance
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to win a prize, and there'll be people watching on live on Facebook, but you can't join
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in the quiz on Facebook, you'll just have to enjoy watching us, nick over to the link on
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the Facebook and get into the Zoom if you want to actually be part of the quiz.
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And of course those of you watching on catch up, who didn't see us at the time, hello
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to you too, you are in our thoughts, joining me, and my name is Julia Golding, I am the director
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of the Oxford Centre for Fantasy and an author, but also a massive fan of Tolkien, but I'm
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also joined by people who have come through as really good friends to the centre, I always
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enjoy chatting to them, so we've got Paula Calamaris, Paula just want to say hi and who
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you are.
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Hi, I'm Paula Calamaris, I'm an author, I own a small publishing company called Scribes
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Unlimited, we just put out our first book of our new saga, and hi, we love Tolkien, I just
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stopped teaching a class, I'm really good, and so.
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And Jacob, let's say hi, Jacob Renekka, let's say hi, say who you are.
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Hi, yes, Jacob Renekka, Tolkien enthusiast, scholar, creative writer, etc.
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Yeah, and also now working for a company that makes games.
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Yes, very exciting, anyway, but today we are talking about the Silmarillion, so I've got
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three main things I want to do with you, the first thing is I'm going to be chatting with
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Jacob and Paula, who both led, I think one or two chapters each, I also led a couple of chapters
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when someone didn't get back to us, I was kind of quick, quick leader chapter Julia, so I've
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led, I think three in the end, and then I've got my artwork, which I made for the Silmarillion,
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which I wanted to show you and share with you, because it was really fun coming up with images,
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and then we'll do the quiz. Actually, we might get the other way around, we'll do the quiz,
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and whilst they're collating the results, so her brilliant idea, Golding, I will then show
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you the pictures whilst they're collating the results. Anyway, so thank you to all the people
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who are joining us. If you wish to say anything, please put us in the chat and we can involve you
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that way. Okay, so the first question, I have to Paula and Jacob, and to those of you who led a
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chapter, is what was the favourite thing you found in the chapter or chapters that you led?
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Paula, over to you first, because both of you had an early chapter to lead, didn't you?
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Right, I did the first chapter of the Vala Kalenta, and I'm fascinated by origin stories.
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I find them compelling. In fact, I'm teaching at a class this winter on mythological
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origin stories and how they interpret into literature, and I just found that the whole
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concept, because in the Lord of the Rings you don't really have that much religion,
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a worldly disgust. I mean, you have a few hymns to Albara, you have a few things, but there's
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no actual exchange vows in front of the tree and stuff like that, but you don't really have
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religion, and yet the beginning of the Vala Kalenta where they're talking about how the Vala
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and the Maya are helping Eru and Eruvatu, as you want to call them, start the world and begin
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that there are so many other Vala, or Maya, who are anor, who stay with him, and yet this group
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comes to Middle-earth and they become the demigods, the gods who are over there in Valinor,
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and our influentialists are getting this on, and the moon are influential into doing everything,
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and it's the music, and what they are doing and how they're doing it that just fascinates me.
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Yeah, so I think Jacob, you also had origins, didn't you?
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Yeah, I did. Yeah, I had Vala Kalenta.
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But you also led another one a bit later on, I think.
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I did, yeah, yeah, I did one of men, so one of the shortest titles and shortest chapters,
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so those are always great as a student, right? You always want to be a artist, right?
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And the first, the quickest, so you have to do a little bit of research first to know which ones
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you get, but it's incredibly rich, and I think this was something that really,
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kind of focusing in on that chapter of men, was something that kind of colored my reading
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of the Silmarillion this through, which was really, you know, seeing the difference between
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the perspective of humans and elves, right? So for me, I think this time around,
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yeah, that chapter, kind of, because this is all the Silmarillion is from the Elvish perspective,
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right? And so you never really get that Lord of the Rings is from a hobbitish perspective,
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well-flavored by, you know, humans as well, but really it's supposed to be, you know, primary point
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of view is hobbits. So it has a story, and I think it's, I think a lot of people, it's easy to
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connect with Lord of the Rings, because I think we're more hobbitish than we are Elvish,
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socially, and perhaps intellectually, and emotionally, and spiritually, what not.
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But it's an Elvish, so this is really kind of like reframed and said, so here's what elves know
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about humans and how they see humans and the kind of vast difference between those and then kind of
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providing proper framing for the rest of the Silmarillion, and for what went before. So yeah,
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that was something that I think this time around really stood out to me that we see a little bit,
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and I have to bring up rings of power, but like that's, you know, they kind of touched on that theme
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of where the difference in perspective on time, right, with Elrond and Durin, and Durin,
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sure. Feeling abandoned, because his friend, he hadn't been there in 20 years, but for an elf,
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that was kind of a blink of an eye, and you just went out for a few minutes. 20 years, no, exactly,
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I just said that. So that was something that was like really helpful,
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I think in kind of the Silmarillion understanding, the perspective that it's supposed to be
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embodying them. Right, so don't forget everybody that we are going to be having a prize. So
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for those of you who have picked up on your Silmarillion knowledge, so I hope you're all
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polishing it away like you are burnishing your own Silmarillion brains. So I could ended up getting
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by happenstance, because the people who volunteered didn't then reply, I ended up getting
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Baron and Lucian. Yay, I mean, wow, good catch up to find myself leading. And what I really liked
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being reminded about is got some wonderful, wonderful imagery in it. So it happened to be,
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I think it fell on Halloween when we posted that, and there's a really spooky bit, which I hadn't
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noticed about Baron's journey prior to arriving in the Hidden Realm. And I got really interested
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in the idea of this spooky, I almost want to read that bit to you, it's quite early on. So I'm just
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going to have a look, there's this, it says it's like too horrific and all the stories,
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there's a whole world we don't know about Baron, I got really interested in that. But the other thing
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that I loved about it was remembering that very folkloric thing of the trick, where yes, I have
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the Silmarillion in my hand. But by the way, my hand is in the belly of a wolf.
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Kind of, I fulfilled what you, the task you've set me, but in a really different way from how
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we all expected. And that wonderful trick, reversing of expectations I enjoyed. And the other
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chapter ended up with is the very last one, oddly, which is of the rings of power and the third age.
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And well, that's just like, it's a huge sweep, it's like, you know, if you wanted a quick
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quick sort of reminder of what you need to know before you read Lord of the Rings, it's the
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perfect one to read, because it gives all the, all the little details of what the White Council
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are doing. And it's also, it's a palette cleanser after having watched rings of power to remind you
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of the talking version of the same material. So people have criticised us from talking about
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rings of power a lot, but I thought it was really important to talk about it. But now we've
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gone past the rings of power moment, and you want to reset to Tolkien, go back and read that
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chapter and you'll find, okay, yes, I now, I'm back, I've cleared away the inventions of Amazon
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and I'm back at Tolkien. So Karen, would you like to speak, because my trusty team are ready to
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promote you to speaking voice, if you'd like to tell us about the theme you liked.
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Yeah, hi, can you hear me? Okay, very, very well. So yeah, it was the, I had the chapter for the
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flights of the Noodle where everyone was leaving. And there was a really nice theme coming through
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of just the, the loss of treasure. So it wasn't really just focusing on one thing of
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actual treasure like you see in the other books. Later, it's small, the treasure of what it means
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to be at home or what it means to have the environment that you've been in for 20 years, your friends,
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your family, even possessions that you've got. So I really liked how that was getting ripped apart
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and the Nordic having to consider leaving with all of that and the impact that that has on them,
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not just, not just in that situation, but for the future as well because they would have to potentially
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start over, get new friends, get new family, leave people behind that they, they trust.
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And that idea of treasure, I think you reminded me of something Karen, which is, you know,
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how YouTube starts throwing up things you're interested in in your algorithm. One of the things
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it threw up to me recently is a copy of the 1960s, I think 1968, they're about BBC interview with
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Tolkien in colour. Yeah. And I started playing it and one of the things that really struck me is
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he said, I decided I wanted to tell a long tale about someone traveling with a magical object,
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a magical treasure. Yeah. And that idea that it's that holding it in your hand, that magical,
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it seems like really key to him because it, because actually whilst the Lord of the Rings is about
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carrying a magical object, this dangerous magical object, the Silmarillion is about going to get
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them when they've been stolen. So it's clearly really fundamental to the way Tolkien sees fantasy
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as this idea of the treasure. Yeah, it's woven into all the books that he writes, there's always an
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element of that. So yeah. The way that it's divided slightly more, if not just being gold
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this. And don't you say the real treasure is the Shire? Or, yeah,
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a nice chair and a warm book, a warm cup of tea with a book, is a treasure enough.
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Sleeping in a bed. As Brian has said in the chat, if you do want to join in like Karen,
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it has just has, please do raise your hand and he will bring it to my attention and we can have
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you all involved. So that's the favourite thing about the chapter we led. So looking at some
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million as a whole, Paula and Jacob and others, what were your reflections? Because I know you
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weren't first time readers. If anyone is a first time reader of the Silmarillion and wants to put
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that into the chat, that'd be really interesting. But we're all old hands at this. This time going
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back to the Silmarillion, what did you feel and think? So I'll go to Jacob first this time.
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Yeah, one of my favourite parts of the Ina Lindale is you have your threefold
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repetition of the song. Well, there's three different verses really and different reactions to
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those. And then the third one, after we're told that Melchor is trying to do his solo and have
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everybody else conform to the way that he wants to sing the song. Eluvatar weaves everything in
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together. And that there's a theme, there's this kind of thread of sorrow that runs kind of
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prominently through that third theme. And that is really the working out of history as we see it.
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And so I've always loved that. But then actually that image is part of the human experience,
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right? Kind of a grand tragedy, but then ultimately being woven together with good. And if with
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the way it describes Nihanna in the Valiquenta is that she kind of takes weeping and sorrow and
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kind of transmutes it somehow into wisdom. And then Gandalf is kind of a disciple of hers. And
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that's kind of what he does among the people of Middle-earth is showing the sorrow and trying to
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we've wisdom out of that and run it to a positive end. So seeing that theme play out in the
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Silmarillion, I was kind of more sensitive to that. And you know, it's like Galadriel says,
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you know, kind of the long defeat, it's this you know that things aren't going to work out the way
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that the people want them to. But kind of those those kind of many you catastrophes, right? These
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little kind of like happy turning points that something that was a tragedy. Ultimately,
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something is taken from that that's positive kind of woven into the larger picture that allows for
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something incredibly positive to happen and allows other people to really thrive because of that.
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So that was just kind of an example of one thing that kind of followed that thread
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throughout the rest of the Silmarillion just because it's not it's not a happy book.
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You have a little moment to kind of happiness, right? If you're going for like a warm comfort read,
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like this is not the book to do that with. But it's but if you want something that like really,
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I think digs into the deepest and most poignant parts of the human experience,
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namely kind of like loss decline. So how you deal with that and then how that can come out
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for good in the end, I think it's it's an incredible kind of working out of that over a massive
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scale of time. Do you know what makes me happy? Jacob, it's hearing you say, I know Linda, say it again.
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I know, Linda. I'm not almost impossible to say. Anybody else out there? That's the name of
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the very, if you look at the table of contents, there we go. That's the very first thing in the
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that I'm trying to, I've got a background on. There you are. That's how you say that word.
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That was worth coming along. The price of admission, yeah. I know Linda, yeah.
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Yeah. So Paula, how about you? Did you have any new thoughts about the shape of the Silmarillion
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as a whole? Just coming off teaching eight weeks of Lord of the Rings in the last week we spent
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the entire time on the appendices. I tortured my class. I took
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aspects of the Silmarillion that related that whole last of the third age and I had them read that
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as well. I did find, and it just reminded me, not that it was new, but it reminded me of how
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Elrond tells them the elves have their own sorrows and how the perception in Lord of the Rings
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are these immortal beings who are perfect and they've done nothing wrong and everything.
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What I always get from the Silmarillion is how fan or how the others are just so consumed
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by this quest brought to get the stones back to do it, that they destroy their families,
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they destroy their gunslaying alone, always gives me chills.
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Yeah. We do it again. It's a really long running curse that one, because it doesn't actually come to an end.
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Well, arguably it never comes to an end really, but it doesn't come to the end till the chapter
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with Ayrendil. But we're not going to talk about, because that's one of my quiz questions,
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so I'm going to stop. Okay. Well, we've got that talk about that. But I'm just saying that was just
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it just forced it in me and really upset my class. You were tortured and upset class.
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I tortured them with the appendices and I made some videos questions and they were not happy,
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but actually they loved every minute of it. I think we've got 15 new diehard fans.
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So just to let you know, in this case, because I know the Summarillion is harder to grasp. You
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are allowed to answer these with a copy of the Summarillion next to you, just saying. So if you
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want to quickly, you know, dash to your bookshelf and get it, I'll give you like a couple of
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minutes to do that. So just quickly, oh, I haven't said what I thought about the shape.
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What it reminded me, which I did kind of know, you know, you have this knowledge and then you
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forget it, is actually the Summarillion is only one part of the Summarillion that as we understand
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it, that the the story about Numenol or the rings of power and the foundational stories are actually
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out, sit outside and it's a choice of the editor to name it after the Summarillion section.
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So I just needed reminding of that and that reminds us too that this isn't in the shape that
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Tolkien, he did obviously a lot of the writing, but he doesn't get the final say because he's
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already gone by the time this is published. So all those things influence the way the tale is.
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Right, so just very quickly. Yeah. I had the opportunity of listening to Guy Gavry,
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okay, who helped compile the Summarillion and one of the things that he said to me that
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stuck with me that everyone might like to hear is that he was told by Professor Tolkien
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that don't tell everybody everything. Oh, that's right. And they're just stayed with me.
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So Richard, would you like to speak, Brian, could you promote Richard to speaking?
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Hey, Richard, are you able to speak? Yes. Yeah, I was just comparing
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when I first got my copy of Summarillion, I found it very dense. Yeah. And I had the image that
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the Summarillion was the Old Testament and Lord of the Rings was the New Testament because
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it was told more as a story rather than the history and the bigots and the bigots and the bigots.
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Absolutely. I think you're completely right that I must admit the first time I read the
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Summarillion, it was because I was a fan and I felt I had to get through it a bit like
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if I'm doing read a Bible in a year, I feel I've got to get through numbers and I don't know,
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Leviticus and stuff just because it's there. I think it gets more enjoyable. I don't know if
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you feel this Richard, the more you know, the more enjoyable it is and the more you find the good
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stories, the equivalent of the Jonas and the the Ruth. Absolutely. Yeah. Thank you, Richard. That's
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lovely. So just the final question before we go to the quiz, everybody getting their quiz brains ready.
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How do you think putting along the Summarillion alongside Tolkien's works and other fantasy works?
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How do you see it fitting? Is there, for example, is there another fantasy book out there that's
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like this? We're all looking a bit blank. If anybody knows of one, put it. In terms of sensibility,
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I was thinking I was chewing a lot on that question. I think in terms of cosmic scope and sensibility
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and planning and building out world with a long-term plan, I think Brandon Sanderson, not that he's
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doing the same thing, but kind of in terms of his conceptualization of taking his plans to take a
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story and weaving in a few different kind of main categories of characters, stories, and even genres,
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and then having a plan for over, you know, even just with the way of kings that's projected at what
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like 10, 12 book series it's supposed to also tie into some of these other various series that
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is doing. So I think just in terms of scope and like care to world and how different story threads
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are going to be weaving together, I think you see echoes of that and Sanderson's a big Tolkien fan,
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so it's clearly kind of where he was inspired to do that. So yeah, but yeah, that's the closest
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I could think of in terms of just kind of cosmic scope of scale for time period and sensibilities
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with narrative is the closest I could really think of, which is just suggested at McCaffrey's Dragon
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Riders. I haven't read the entirety of that scope, I do know it was taken on by his son, wasn't it,
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I think, and continued. So that is a similarity. You get the sort of like Christopher Tolkien taking
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this on and building the expanding the world and also the sense of the length of time involved.
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How about you, Paula, how do you, if you've seen anything like this anywhere else,
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I can agree with the Dragon Riders, I can, David Eddings tried to create a full scope,
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in 10 books tried to create a full, I think he felt short, but I think that was his intent was to
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create an entire fantasy world with a quest and a king and all of the elements, but
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and again, long lived wizards and a sense of thousands of years passing between things.
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I think he felt short, but they were enjoyable then just weren't.
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Just weren't, just weren't talking. Just weren't talking.
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Richard talking suggesting the June series. I do know what I like, this is confession time.
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I failed in the June series. I read the first one or two, but when the main character turned
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into a worm, I kind of got, I kind of got, I kind of got, put off. So maybe Richard, you could
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encourage me to keep going with it. Yeah, anyway, that was my problem there. Okay, ready for quiz now.
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So quiz team, standby. So quiz users, just a couple of things to be aware of.
26:56
When you hit next, that moves you on to the next question, but it'd be nicer if you do it at
27:06
the same pace as me, if you don't mind, but don't hit submit until you're 100% sure, this a bit
27:15
is like the last box you reach. Don't hit that until you're sure that you've answered all the
27:19
questions you want to answer. And I will tell you the parameters of what's acceptable each time.
27:27
The price is, the person gets a coupon to go and spend in our store. We were thinking,
27:32
should we give them a t-shirt? Should we do this? We do that. But actually, we thought that you
27:35
might like to buy yourself something and a friend something, for example. So we're going to give
27:40
you a coupon. And there's some really great stuff in the store. Not just Oxford Central Fantasy
27:48
theme, but more generally fantasy themed. There's some wonderful, an illustrator I work with
27:55
over here has done a great dragon, for example. So if you're looking for a new image of a dragon
28:00
to wear on your t-shirt, there's one out there. Okay. Oh, so Karen's saying, can we have a link to
28:08
the store? Yes, absolutely. I will ask my team to put that in so you can all go and check it out.
28:13
It's on our website, it's on our Facebook page as well. But we will put it into the chat.
28:18
But let's turn to the quiz. So, elves, could we please have the quiz? There we go. So here we go.
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Question number one, please are the panelists, other leaders, Paula and Jacob, can you now mute
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yourself? Because you probably know all the answers. So we don't want you to sort of be glirting
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them out in the background. Anyway, so here we go. Question number one, as you know, Tolkien is very
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fond of his pairings, his marriages between races. Which of these who come out of the Somarillion
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are not a human and elf pairing. Now, just to be checked, check, sometimes the elf in question
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maybe have a bit of human blood in them. So basically, which one is not human and not elf?
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So, the options are, single and million, barren and Lucian, two war and Idril, an arrogant and
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arwin. Okay, everybody pick one. So now, click on next and that should take you to the next
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quiz question. Who is Finrod? Is Finrod one of the sons of Fianno?
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Is Finrod Fianno's father? Is Finrod Galadriel's brother? Or is Finrod a valar ruling the ocean?
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One in four chance of getting that right.
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I can see Paul is saying, I can't speak. She wants to tell us all. She's desperate to tell us.
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Okay. Question number three, and this is what I almost gave away when I was chatting about a certain
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chapter. Where do the Silmarils end their journey? The final location of them. Is their final location
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in Morgoth's crown? Is their final location in air, fire and water? Is their final location in the
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undying lands, sky and sea? Or is it in barren's hand? The one that ends up in a, yeah, that one.
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Have a pick. I hope this isn't too tricky because at least you've got some answers therefore
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you'd pick from. I think it's quite a hard one now when I was making up the quiz. It was quite hard
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to find fair questions because you know it's quite a naughty book. What's the details?
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Okay. Next question, did you notice the talking dog such the best character? What is the talking dogs
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name? Now I'm going to give you a little clue here. It's a short name. So you won't need all 20
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characters in that box. He only speaks three times. Isn't there someone thinking in the
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Bible about? Is it Balan's ass or somebody who speaks? Anyway, it feels as though it's come from
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the Bible, that idea, but I love the idea of this dog who speaks three times. He chooses his moment.
32:18
All of you have got dogs. Imagine they speak two three times. That mine would be feed me each time.
32:27
But this dog says something a bit more interesting.
32:35
So moving on, don't forget you can quickly flick through your copy of some really,
32:40
and if you're looking to remind yourself. Who kills said dog? Boo is it? Harker off the wolf.
32:52
Galau wrong the dragon. Thorondor the eagle or ungoliant the spider. Just a little sidebar here
33:03
on aren't the animals in Tolkien so good? Just love them. There is a lot to say about all of those,
33:14
but which one kills this wonderful dog?
33:20
Okay, going on. Question number six, what is special about the menal tarmer, which is the
33:30
tallest mountain in Numenor, the island? Is menal tarmer the site of Armenalos the main city?
33:39
If you watched rings of power, that actually did quite a good job at recreating Armenalos cycle.
33:48
Or is it number two, the burial place of kings? Or is it number three, the sole place of worship
33:57
mentioned in Middle-earth? Or is it the location of the palantory, you know, the seeing stones?
34:05
By the way, rings of power, strange thread. He's also a sister. She's left looking and then
34:15
she disappears. Anyway, weird. Oh, Karen's just reminded us that the horse of Achilles talks.
34:22
Oh, so it's classical as well. Excellent. Which of course Tolkien would have known because he
34:29
was an educated man as we can all agree? Okay, I have to fess up here. I got this wrong when I was
34:37
making the quiz. So I hope I've got it right now. In which city did Isldoer settle?
34:48
So you know, there was an Aryan, a Lendil and Isldoer, father and two sons.
34:54
Did Isldoer settle in Minas, a No? Could be careful, you sound a bit weird when you say that.
35:04
Or Minas Ithal. Which ones did he go for? You've got 50, 50 choice. So if you're doing really
35:10
badly and no none of the answers, this is the place to come back and score a point, 50% chance.
35:21
And then the next question that builds on that is, what did that city become? Did it become
35:33
Minas Morgul? Or did it become Minas Tirith?
35:39
Hmm, head scratching. It is there in the Silmarillion.
35:50
So we're over halfway now. What is the name of Airendel Ship? We will forgive you if you
36:02
spell it slightly wrong because we'll be able to tell if you're in the right ballpark.
36:06
And the other thing, if that you have absolutely no idea, you can come up with a witty answer,
36:16
the kind of boat-y-mat-boat face version of what it should be called. And we'll be able to
36:22
see that and we can give you a bonus point for, you know, wit. So it's interesting all these
36:32
stories about the sea, you know, like islands that get swamped by the sea and all this kind of thing.
36:37
Because of course, one of the strange things about Oxford where I'm talking to you from
36:41
is that we are famously as far from the sea in England as you can get. It's kind of
36:47
one of the ironies. There's lots of rivers and they flood, but we're not we're very far from
36:54
the sound of the sea. Maybe, ah, thought, maybe that's why the Hobbits have never seen the sea. Do you
37:01
remember, they've all not been to the seaside? And that's because they live in Oxford, basically.
37:07
There you are. The mystery is solved. Okay, so number 10, this is one of the more difficult ones,
37:16
so we'll do a quick flip through the Somerillion here. Who are L-Rond and L-Ross's parents?
37:24
Again, if you spell it a bit, yeah, we won't mind. But see if you can get it right.
37:36
L-Ross, L-Rond, you all know. Obviously, L-Ross is the person who chose to be human and set up
37:49
the line in Numenor. And because of his parents, that's why the men of Numenor live a bit longer
37:57
than everyone else. Well, quite a bit longer, in fact, than other men. So number 11,
38:11
what do the Valar make to cast light on Valenor? Do they make two lamps? Do they make two
38:19
trees? Do they make a sound in a moon? Or do they make all of the above?
38:35
I'm supposed to be included in the Eru kind of, you know, whoever is running the software program
38:42
behind this, playing the tune. Number 12 is who makes the dwarves?
39:00
Ah, this is a name that may not be of the tip of your tongue, so we say.
39:12
So if you know what his job is, you can say he is the one who does this.
39:22
The Valar of something.
39:33
I can see Karen is already asking me about number 11. I have to ask you why,
39:38
when I give the answer, you can come and give your count of you. How about that, Karen?
39:42
Not that I've given you the answer yet. Okay, so a Lauren, which is Gandalf's name in the West,
39:53
is described as the wisest of them, Maya, from whom does he learn pity and patience?
40:02
Is it Niena, Melian, S-Day, or Nori Brandyfoot, that well-known character from the Summarillion?
40:14
Yeah, Geralt, I agree. Yeah, obviously. That's another conversation, is it about,
40:30
anyway, we'll go there. We're in the middle of a quiz. Control yourself, Golding.
40:35
Right, number 14. Who cuts a Silmaril from Morgoff's Iron Crown with Angrist?
40:41
And this is just such a great bit of prose, that bit.
40:48
So who cuts the Silmaril from Morgoff's Iron Crown?
41:01
So don't hit submit until you're absolutely sure of all your answers because you can't get it back.
41:05
Final question, is who made the three Elven rings all on their own?
41:14
Sorry, it's quite a good chance that you should be able to get this. So forget rings of power,
41:18
ignore that, because there were other people in the room who made them all on their own.
41:25
Don't let that confuse you.
41:27
Okay, when you are happy that you've made all the answers you're going to make,
41:37
press submit and it will go off to be tabulated.
41:46
You've got 30 seconds to do that.
41:48
And whilst we are waiting for the answers to be verified and checked,
41:58
so that voting machines are not being controlled by the ghost of Hugo Chavez or any of that stuff,
42:06
I am going to play you a little slideshow of the art that I did to illustrate each chapter.
42:18
I want to show you this because I was to do this. I got interested in this AI art.
42:28
And I don't know if you've come across this yet, but it's really fun. You can just put in some
42:33
prompts, but I thought you might be intrigued to see what they made of the Silmarillion.
42:37
Obviously, I could have spent hours and really polished up the images, but I thought they gave
42:40
a really nice flavor of the Silmarillion. So this slideshow I'm going to show you is
42:46
taken in order of the chapters. So see if you can tell which chapter we're on.
42:59
So the poll is about to close in 15 seconds. So if you're still humming and hiring over your answers,
43:05
please put them in now. Okay, so here we go. I'm going to play you the slideshow.
43:17
Acab and Paula, some stuff if you can see that. Okay, because if you can see it, it went
43:22
else. Yeah, good. Some of the images really works. Some of them, AI art does is one weird thing
43:32
where it suddenly gives people weird heads and wrong noses. But anyway, I love the atmosphere,
43:39
it creates it. Not this one. That's mouthful, obviously. Here's the Silmarillion.
43:51
Really like this one. This one worked well.
43:56
This is the Flight of the Noodle.
43:58
The creation of the sun and the
44:08
of men. What that's about walking it.
44:12
Fairie Yands.
44:27
You're right for the men or the coming of men. This one. I like the African feel for that.
44:32
The ones got glow on the jacket a bit.
44:34
Baron and Lucian.
44:39
The battle one. The fifth battle.
44:45
Children, I think. It's all of Doria's.
44:51
All of London in.
44:55
Really like this one. Help her out.
44:57
They're into human all going down the
45:06
there we go. So I'm just going to go back and turn that off.
45:14
So there we go. If you can't find images from Silmarillion, you can go.
45:19
Oh, so the question is.
45:27
AI created these says to see yes. Well, obviously my brilliance.
45:32
Because I chose the things to put in the front.
45:37
But I did I did actually have to try a couple of words because the sun
45:41
really is so specific that you can't just type in a Silmarillion. I expect
45:50
it to come out. You had to put in some things to lead it to.
45:55
But I would say that I don't think illustrators for books need worry yet because they aren't
46:02
perfect when he means. But the atmosphere was right for an asset online. And I just thought
46:06
some of them were actually quite successful. And they suggested atmospheres and
46:11
strange versions of things which I actually found quite inspiring. So there we are.
46:19
Thank you Jill. Yes. No, Nancy says not easy to use.
46:24
Yeah, I take my hat off to those people who managed to comb it through so they get the perfect image.
46:28
Okay, so my elves, how are we doing? Do we have a result as yet?
46:38
They stepped out for a short 40 years. They'll be right back.
46:42
We'll see them in a hundred.
46:44
See them on min's. Yeah, so they're working on elf time. So this is this is worrying. We're all going
46:51
to be like you said there was a coupon. Okay. So yeah, I was saying it. Oh, okay, we give the
47:03
answers. Wonderful. So you can mark yourself. But what happens is you can sort of scroll down,
47:11
see how you did, which of these isn't a human and elf pairing? It's single and million because
47:18
million is a Maya and not elf or human. So single and million is the right answer there.
47:26
Who is Finrod? This is a bit um, Trixie. Somebody said Trixie question because of course there's
47:32
lots of F's floating around. And he's oh, here we go. We've actually got everybody's answers here.
47:40
95% of you were correct there. Who is Finrod? Galadriel's brother. Oh, another lot of lots of
47:45
right answers. Can you all see this? Not just me seeing this, yes. Where do the Silmarils and the
47:53
journey that most of you picked the right answer? It's in air, fire and water.
48:02
We've got various people guessing the dog's name. We're all sort of roughly in the right ballpark.
48:08
It's Juan. Woof. I like woof. Good name. Um, who kills the dog? Wow, look at that. Everybody got
48:19
that right. Um, Harker of the wolf. The 5% who didn't answer that's me, by the way, because I
48:28
didn't actually put in any answers as I was going through. Everybody was answering.
48:33
What is the thing special about Menel Tamer? Well, the absolute, um, our meneloss is kind of next
48:40
to it, not on it. Um, as is the burial place for the kings. It's actually reserved as a place
48:46
of worship. And this is one of the downfalls of Numenor is that, um, Saron says, hey,
48:53
be really good idea to, you know, put another kind of altar on the top.
49:00
And it's the sort of the part of the downfall of Numenor. Um, which city did Isldo have settled?
49:09
Well done, everybody. You've got that, Ben. I've got my anus and my itils mixed up and I've
49:13
said this. Yes, it's Minus Ithel. And yes, you're right, most of you. It becomes Minus Morgel.
49:20
What is the name of Air Endel ship? Vingelot is correct. Um, who ordered
49:30
Wingleot Golden Horizon? That'd be a good one. Boat. Well, that's kind of like, yes, I'll call
49:39
my ship Boat. Excellent. Lots of Vingelots there. Um, well done. Who were his parents,
49:48
Air Endel and Elwing? Lots of you getting that right? Well done.
49:57
Um, what do the Valar make to cast light on Valinor? Well, they kind of do all of these
50:06
because we go through the stage when there's two lamps, the stage when there are two trees
50:11
and the stage when the sun and moon comes along. So, but Karen thought that was
50:15
controversial. So, I'm not sure why, but tell us why. And who makes the dwarves?
50:25
The two trees cast light on Valinor, the lamps and the sun and moon on all of Arda.
50:35
Yes, but Valinor is included, subset, isn't it? Yes, but it's not specifically Valinor.
50:42
I know, but I put it in there so that the tree one would be correct. See?
50:52
So, they do make the light of Valinor does include these things. So, I'm okay. I thought I'd
50:57
got that wrong, but we take your point, the lamps and the sun and the moon has got a bigger,
51:05
bigger scope. Okay. Um, where we? Who makes the dwarves? Yes. Um, Ayuli.
51:17
Extra points for Ayuli, the Smith. I am smitting Valar. That that would be correct too.
51:24
We'll allow that a sort of Valar who's the Smith is what I was going for there. Okay. So, who
51:31
does Gandalf learn pity and patience from? Actually, Jacob gave it away and I thought,
51:38
no, Jacob, don't say this in his, but he didn't know I was going to ask his question. It is actually
51:44
Neanna. Well done. And who cuts the Someril from Morgoth's Iron Crown? Baron,
51:54
a lot of you have answered that. And who makes the Elven Rings? Yes.
52:00
And Lucian, we should mention, give Lucian a mention because she's there, Lulling,
52:08
Morgoth milk or to sleep with her, you know, with her barred life's brilliance.
52:14
But I was actually, that's why I was specific about who actually is holding the, the daggery sword
52:19
thing. Did we do the last question? Let me just go back to that. Yes. And the last person
52:28
made the three rings was Kela Brimble, which I think a lot, if you go, I reckon we're going to have
52:33
several winners there. So let's find out if we have an overall winner. Or if we've got several,
52:41
because then we might have to have a tie break. If we have three people will be fine, but if we have
52:48
like 15, then there needs to be a tie break. So just wait for my elves to just wait for the team.
53:01
They're all thinking, oh gosh, they're counting in the background. Ah, Geralt saying that was way
53:07
more doable than the Lord of the Ring ones. Yes. Thank you. That was the point. Because when I did
53:14
the Lord of the Ring ones, I thought, well, you're all going to know it really well.
53:22
So Nancy is saying, at the feet of the mountain, we've built the tombs. Yes, but it's at the feet.
53:32
The feet. I don't count that as, don't count that as a mountain, Nancy. I'm Chris Master.
53:39
I decide. You have to do that. She's coming back at me. No, no, my decision is final.
53:53
Anyway, it's not special to be a burial place of kings. It is special to be the only place of
53:58
worship. How about that? That's a counter answer. There we go. Ah, we have a three-way tie. And I
54:07
think because it's a three-way tie, we can give out three prizes. I think that's a nice way of
54:15
doing it. Yeah, Mary is saying, I'm the boss. Thank you. Nice to feel that I'm in charge of some
54:21
part of my life. Okay, right. What you really want to know is who has won. So we have three winners
54:29
who got 15 out of 15. And they are in no particular order. George, Nadolf, Nadolf, Stuart Taylor,
54:42
and Geralt. So please, could you put your emails into the chat? You can select host and
54:51
handless to make it private so it's not out there for everybody. And then we can email you your
54:58
prizes. But well done. I actually feel a bit relieved that we've got some, because last time it was
55:03
too hard, wasn't it? Maybe it was a bit too easy this time. Who knows? Okay, whilst we're doing that,
55:10
big news for you all. We love doing these reader thons and we thought, what Christmas treat
55:17
could there be but to do the Christmas, Father Christmas letters? So in the week before Christmas or
55:24
just, you know, before we all get into that typhoon that is Christmas entertaining, we're going to do
55:32
one letter a day, but it's going to be a bit different because I'd love volunteers to take on a
55:39
year. So you say, hey, I'll do 1935 or even just just volunteer and do a little video of your
55:49
reaction to that letter. Plus telling us about one Christmas or if you're from a, if you celebrate
55:56
something else at that time of year, one special family tradition that you'd like to share with us.
56:04
Like in the Tolkien house, they sent these letters. I mean, Father Christmas sent the letters,
56:11
obviously, kids. But maybe you've got some other special cake you make or
56:19
funny little quirky family tradition you have. Anyway, details about how to join this in will be,
56:25
how to join in with this will be on our usual social media,
56:29
networks on our website and what have you. So look out for that. We'll start and in the email
56:36
letters from Yoxford Centre for Fantasy. So not yet because we're not even through
56:43
Thanksgiving yet, but after that, we're going to be doing Father Christmas letters when we're
56:49
feeling a bit more Christmassy. Okay, so just Karen's, sorry, sorry, the reason you didn't come
57:02
up as a winner is because of my, my wrongness as a quiz master. But I do decide, so there we go.
57:12
So we've, I can see that we've got Gerald, you give, oh yes, so every,
57:17
so winners have given us that email, so thank you everybody. Okay, that's it. I promise we'd wrap
57:22
it up in 45 minutes. It's now 55 minutes, so we will stop there. Thank you so much for coming.
57:28
That was great fun. Thank you in particular to Jacob and Paula for joining me on the chat.
57:35
And yeah, I really have enjoyed revisiting this summary in this fall, this autumn, so
57:41
I hope you did too. Don't forget, we, we are here all year doing our online courses and in-person
57:49
courses. Next one is in July, if you want to come to Yoxford, so stay in touch and view any ideas
57:56
what you want us to do. Any ideas what you want us to talk about on myth makers are podcasts,
58:02
just let us know because we love your feedback and it helps us come up with new ideas.
58:08
So thank you very much and enjoy the rest of your day. Bye there. Bye everyone. Bye-bye.
58:25
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58:32
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58:39
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