Welcome to the Lord of the Rings lore cast, the show that explores the background of Tolkien's amazing world from the very beginning. I'm sure you can hear that.

That's the sound of coins, gold coins.

I'm sitting here in the remains of Nargothrond, the ruins of the city.

And now that the dragon is gone, there's just this mass of wealth.

It's like a mound of all the things that you would have acquired over centuries, if you were a elven lord, that is.

The dragon piled everything into this chamber and was clearly nesting in it.

And here, underneath me, is more wealth than anybody would ever know what to do with.

There's a ridiculous amount of gold and silver and gems, all sorts of things.

Heck, even the Noglamir.

Do you remember the Noglamir?

The necklace that the dwarves from Nogrod and Belagost made for Finrod.

Do you remember this?

Finrod brought with him a bunch of gems from Valinor and the friendship between Finrod and many different peoples, but specifically

the dwarves in this case, led to the creation of this beautiful necklace with gems from

the holy city.

It is an object that is beyond priceless.

And here it is, just sitting in the pile amidst all of these other coins and trinkets. And it raises the question, what is the value of wealth?

Really? What is valuable? And I think that this is a question that Tolkien raises in his

writings on many occasions. What is the true nature of value? What things actually have value?

What is the worth of all of this gold, of all of this wealth if it doesn't go with you when you die?

What is the value of any of this if your relationships break down?

If at the end of the day you lose the people that you love.

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