What the right gets wrong about Tolkien

Today, Explained

Vox

Daily News, Politics, News

4.4 • 9.5K Ratings

🗓️ 12 September 2025

⏱️ 28 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Many far-right conservatives think The Lord of the Rings is about them. They may love Tolkien, but it's very possible Tolkien would not have loved them back. This episode was produced by Peter Balonon-Rosen with help from Ariana Aspuru, edited by Jolie Myers, fact-checked by Laura Bullard, engineered by Patrick Boyd, and hosted by Noel King. Ian McKellen as Gandalf with Elijah Wood as Frodo in "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring." Photo by New Line/WireImage. Listen to Today, Explained ad-free by becoming a Vox Member: vox.com/members. Transcript at vox.com/today-explained-podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Twenty-four years ago, a nation on edge after the attacks of September 11th went to the movies.
0:07.0	One does not simply walk into Mordor.
0:09.0	To watch the Fellowship of the Ring.
0:11.0	Americans saw themselves in J.R.R. Tolkien's tale of good and evil and hobbits.
0:17.0	I don't think he knows about second breakfast, pip.
0:20.0	What about elevensies? Luncheon about second breakfast, Pip. What about the levensies?
0:22.2	Luncheon, afternoon tea.
0:24.4	Dinner?
0:25.0	Supper.
0:25.8	He knows about them, doesn't he?
0:28.1	And why not?
0:29.2	A fellowship of good guys and good elves and good dwarves
0:32.5	trying to restore peace to the world by destroying the one ring.
0:37.1	Americans love and love to be the good guys.
0:40.8	Then in the great political upheaval of the last decade or so, some people on the right claimed
0:45.3	the mantle of the Lord of the Rings as their own. But did they misunderstand the message?
0:51.0	Coming up on today, explained from Vox, why those books and those movies still
0:55.3	resonate in a nation still on edge. Support for today explained comes from Adio. Adio is an AI
1:03.5	native customer relationship management platform that Adio says is built for the next era of
1:10.0	companies. A powerful data structure
1:12.7	adapts to your business model, sinks in all your contacts in minutes, and enriches your
1:17.6	business with actionable data. Adio says it also allows you to create those email sequences,
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Vox, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Vox and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.