JRR Tolkien reads from The Hobbit for 30 Minutes (1952)

https://www.openculture.com/2026/01/j-r-r-tolkien-reads-from-the-hobbit-for-30-minutes-1952.html

by bookofjoe • 7 months ago

322 132 7 months ago

krupan• 6 months ago

This is so good. You can tell that Andy Serkis based his gollum voice off of this.

I wonder what Tolkien would say of so much of the symbolism from his novels being used to bootstrap a horrible dystopian control grid? Would he approve or disapprove? The way that orcs are dehumanized you have to wonder.

usrnm2• 6 months ago

The way that orcs are dehumanized

Orcs aren't human, though. If anything, they were deelfized

gambiting4• 6 months ago

>The way that orcs are dehumanized you have to wonder.

If anything, it's their portrayal in the Rings of Power that is idiotic(trying to humanize them) - they aren't human, they don't have families or friends or internal lives and psychological doubts going through their heads - they are meant to be a force("force" like in "force of nature") of evil, not a misunderstood and exploited race of intelligent beings.

For an actually interesting take on "hey what if the orcs are actually intelligent people" there is The Last Ringbearer by a Russian author, presenting LOTR from the perspective of Mordor(it's not a good book, but was an amusing read)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Ringbearer

I will however agree with you that it's truly insane how we have a global survailence company that is used to spy on citizens and destroy democracies worldwide that is literally called Palantir. Like, no one working there is seeing it?

avadodin• 6 months ago

are we the baddies?

klondike_klive• 6 months ago

There must be some pretty industrial strength compartmentalising going on.

Cthulhu_• 6 months ago

Palantir, Anduril, Istari, and there's even a home security one called Sauron, you can't make this shit up.

Back in my day, LotR names were used for cool metal bands like Gorgoroth, Amon Amarth, Cirith Ungol, Carach Angren, Burzum, etc.

Ntrails2• 6 months ago

we have a global survailence company that is used to spy on citizens and destroy democracies worldwide that is literally called Palantir. Like, no one working there is seeing it?

The Palantir are not evil creations in the book iirc. They were used by the great kings to see whatever they wished.

Heck, even in the book Aragorn uses the Palantir to make a critical decision turning the tide of battle.

Finbel• 6 months ago

It sounds like Tolkien didn't quite agree with the simplified take that Orcs are "just" a force of evil

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tolkien%27s_moral_dilemma

mwcz5• 6 months ago

I've not seen Rings of Power and I don't plan to, but I'd just point out that the Silmarillion describes the origin of orcs as being an exploited race of intelligent beings, elves who were captured and tortured until their forms became what we know as orcs.

"... all those of the Quendi [elves] who came into the hands of Melkor, ere Utumno was broken, were put there in prison, and by slow arts of cruelty were corrupted and enslaved; and thus did Melkor breed the hideous race of the Orcs in envy and mockery of the Elves, of whom they were afterwards the bitterest foes."

bell-cot5• 6 months ago

Like, no one working there is seeing it?

"It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it!" - Upton Sinclair (1878 - 1968)

"Because Pharaoh is paying daddy, and we need the money." - Unknown laborer at the Pyramid of Djoser, c. 2660 BC, explaining to his son why he's making a giant pile of rocks in the desert.

the_af6• 6 months ago

For an actually interesting take on "hey what if the orcs are actually intelligent people" there is The Last Ringbearer by a Russian author, presenting LOTR from the perspective of Mordor(it's not a good book, but was an amusing read)

I found The Last Ringbearer a book good! Of course it's not in the same league as LotR, it's not engaging in vast myth- and world-building, but it's a well-written, fun book that manages to be engaging. Even knowing it was an alternative take to LotR, I wanted to know what happened!

For everyone who has not read it, it's not simply a "let's retell LotR, only from the perspective of the Orcs". It's a brand new "adventure" so to speak, which shifts the point of view but also describes new events. It starts at the end of the War of the Ring, with Mordor defeated.

bananaflag• 6 months ago

I'll just leave this here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tolkien%27s_moral_dilemma

ParentiSoundSys3• 6 months ago

Fascinating thank you. I was only aware of the surface level concern around the orcs.

mwcz5• 6 months ago

That's both a very good description of Tolkien's struggles with orcs, and a writing style that feels out of place in an encyclopedia. The Halls of Mandos are described as a halfway house.

bell-cot5• 6 months ago

J. R. R. Tolkien, a devout Roman Catholic, created what he came to feel was a moral dilemma for himself with his supposedly evil Middle-earth peoples like Orcs [...] so killing them would be wrong without very good reason. Orcs serve as the principal forces of the enemy in The Lord of the Rings, where they are slaughtered in large numbers in the battles of [...]

Admitting that there's a very wide diversity of beliefs under the "Roman Catholic" banner - historic Roman Catholic armies have been eager participants in well-documented battles for the past 1,500 or so years. I'd assume that Tolkien would have had a wide variety of perfectly historic Roman Catholic arguments to chose from, to justify his fictional slaughter.

(If I recall, the orcs slaughtered in LoTR are pretty much all soldier or near-soldiers. Do orc women, children, or other non-combatants ever appear in the story?)

In many ways, that Wikipedia article feels like a Hays Code-era whitewashing of Roman Catholicism.

KineticLensman5• 6 months ago

Tolkien’s orc dialogue in TLOTR is actually very humanised in some ways – the orcs moan about their bosses, complain about rival teams, are concerned about completing their tasks, being punished for failure, etc, etc. When they aren’t fighting, they come across as petty functionaries in a totalitarian state.

FridayoLeary• 6 months ago

It's a fantasy novel written primarily for entertainment. It's hard enough to write dwarves and elves, orcs are a necessary plot device. If you want you can imagine them as pitiable creatures who have been deprived of free will and have no choice but to act the way they do and loath themselves for it.

the_af6• 6 months ago

It's a fantasy novel written primarily for entertainment

On one hand, you're right.

On the other, it's unfair to Tolkien and to the scholars who study his work. He spent a lot of his life and effort towards developing this world, he deeply pondered the moral implications and theology of his world, and for all his denial of there being any analogies to the real world, you can see he considered them (he did describe modern men in the modern world as "Orc-ish", etc).

All of this to say we cannot just dismiss it as "it's a fantasy novel".

gregw23• 6 months ago

Do you mean the palantir or the rings?

gregw23• 6 months ago

I find Tolkein's depictions on his original jacket covers of the Rings of Power and the one ring and the "all seeing eye" that accompanies them quite evocative:

https://imgur.com/CZSNpiS

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/8e/The_Fellowshi...

rdtsc2• 6 months ago

I wonder what Tolkien would say of so much of the symbolism from his novels being used to bootstrap a horrible dystopian control grid?

What is that referring to? Some new LotR adaptation or some new game?

The way that orcs are dehumanized you have to wonder.

Why would they be humanized, they are not human?

cgh2• 6 months ago

I think the OP is referring to the company Palantir.

Angostura2• 6 months ago

Is there a version minus the music?

grumbelbart22• 6 months ago

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0c6mcEPhhRg&list=PLMMxav_zz6...

Angostura2• 6 months ago

Thank you so much

mihaic• 6 months ago

I can't believe Angostura prefers grumbelbart2's link to OPs...

wewewedxfgdf2• 6 months ago

This is the most magnificent audio version ever recorded of The Hobbit - by Nicol Williamson in the early 1970's.

Zip file with mp3 in it:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1b2aPKgVVguOKMOOqWskaliOviYr...

Best enjoyed on a rainy afternoon in an armchair with a cup of tea.

wigster• 6 months ago

nice - gandalf meets merlin. do love Nicol Williamson

nihakue• 6 months ago

Excellent, but my favourite has to be the Rob Inglis recordings (of both The Hobbit and LOTR). The songs are top notch, and his voice is perfect, esp. for the tone of the Hobbit. https://archive.org/details/TheHobbitAudiobook/The+Hobbit/Ch...

mwcz5• 6 months ago

Martin Shaw's recording of the Silmarillion is similarly wonderful.

grumbelbart22• 6 months ago

but my favourite has to be the Rob Inglis recordings

Impressive, very nice. Let's see Paul Allen's recording.

subpixel• 6 months ago

These really blew me away. I have a theory that he recorded the narration and dialogue of each character individually and then it was all edited together - it seems impossible to switch back and forth between such incredible character deliveries on the fly. Or perhaps this is just how that kind of work is done. Regardless, an amazing job.

twoodfin• 6 months ago

Loving this thread.

My Tolkien audio of choice will always be the BBC production of LOTR:

https://archive.org/details/lord-of-the-rings-10_202401

Fantastic cast, including Ian Holm—Bilbo in the Jackson films—as Frodo.

dtgriscom2• 6 months ago

Goodness gracious; I remember having a copy of that in my teens. Wonderful.

loloquwowndueo2• 6 months ago

If you’re sitting on an armchair not really doing anything else, why not just read the book?

Reserve audio versions for when you genuinely can’t look at the book because you’re doing something else.

fsiefken• 6 months ago

hi loloquwowndueo, i was thinking the same thing, but then I thought why you would prefer reading a book while sitting instead of listening - is it about efficiency and that if you CAN read one should (you use the imperative) read? I also have this view, but when I was young and an avid reader I also enjoyed radio stories immensely as my imagination was also activated. As in the past we were an species with a predominantly oral cultural transmission, arguably more 'embodied', there could be something to say for attending a theatre version in preference of a book. On the other hand, reading often is faster, but it's indirect, you translate the symbols into your imagination yourself, on the upside you perhaps train your mind more. So both have their advantages, one is not necessarily better. I notice I am often looking through a lense of efficiency and then make choices where I loose a certain experience - sitting in the dark listening to someone telling a story instead of reading can be equally wonderful.

daeken• 6 months ago

Some people just prefer to listen. I read well and I read quite quickly -- I don't know how many books I've physically read, but it's gotta be in the high hundreds at least -- but over the past ~10 years I've switched primarily to audiobooks. Rather than being something that I enjoy while I'm doing something else, I typically do something mindless with my hands (weave chainmail, cross stitch, sew) in order to give my full attention to the book.

copperx• 6 months ago

What kind of virtue signaling is this?

My memory works much better when I hear something than if I read it, when it comes to non technical stuff.

gwbas1c• 6 months ago

I generally prefer reading, but I don't judge people who prefer listening. My wife sometimes plays audiobooks for our kids, I read them.

noahjk• 6 months ago

The Hobbit was specifically written to be read out loud, if I remember correctly.

Would you also suggest to the families in the 30s & 40s that listening to the popular radio shows while sitting in the living room could have been a better experience if they had just read the transcript, instead? Or that they should have been multitasking during the shows, else it was a waste of their time?

rhyperior• 6 months ago

Haven’t you ever experienced having a story read to you, and falling into deep immersion and visualization?

cush3• 6 months ago

Honestly, you probably don't even take reading seriously if you're reading the book. If you're sitting on an armchair not really doing anything else, you should be reading from clay tablets, as Tolkien would have wanted.

senderista• 6 months ago

Andy Serkis's audiobook of The Hobbit is pretty amazing.

eunoia• 6 months ago

His full Lord of the Rings audiobook is likewise incredible.

CGMthrowaway• 6 months ago

In case people dont want to download a 250MB zip just to check it out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yy91aWaC9ag

alex11383• 6 months ago

Of course he didn't live to see the Peter Jackson movies but I think I've heard his son didn't like them

ekianjo3• 6 months ago

The Hobbit movies had nothing to do with the books.

alex11383• 6 months ago

Sorry, I meant LOTR

mwcz5• 6 months ago

The M4 fan edit was quite good.

bombcar5• 6 months ago

We know what Tolkien felt about other earlier adaptations and even have some suggested comments.

I think he’d have serious issues with things but not necessarily what everyone picks up on.

haunter• 6 months ago

My favorite recent LotR media:

There is a Lord of the Rings MMO (like World of Warcraft) and a guy made a video recording a walk from the Shire to Mordor. Like you can just walk from the Shire to Mordor in the game. And it's almost 10 hours long in real world time to do that! But on top of that the whole journey is narrated by the Lord of the Rings audio book, with the relevant parts of the journey.

https://youtu.be/LYipECdYpXc

Incredibly relaxing

dtgriscom2• 6 months ago

A nice, relaxing trip to Mordor.

vhtr2• 6 months ago

Oh man, something to watch and listen to in the evenings to come, thank you!

I don't have experience with the LotR Online outside of small clips here and there, but for the past 5 years or so I have been enjoying a bit more retro LotR "mmorpg", a free-to-play MUD that has been in development since 1991 or something: https://mume.org/

In MUME (Multi-Users in Middle Earth) getting from Bree to Mordor by walking won't take you 10 hours, but maybe 10 minutes at most. However, the trip and the destination will be full of dangers, whether it's from pve or pvp side of things.

As a side note, MUME is being developed by volunteers, and I believe the game itself is still ran on some Swiss University servers, where it all began, heh.

vitorfblima• 6 months ago

Back in the day I used to log in to a MUSH called Elendor (telnet).

It was simply magical and I have many good memories venturing through middle-earth and meeting fellow chars.

SockThief• 6 months ago

That is so good! Thank you!

Do you happen to know where does the narration by Andy Serkis come from? Is it a game? An audiobook?

cpburns2009• 6 months ago

Andy Serkis did a narration of the Lord of the Rings books a few years ago. My guess is it comes from that.

SketchySeaBeast• 6 months ago

Andy Serkis has versions of The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion all on Audible.

bombcar5• 6 months ago

It’s my book and they’ll walk if I tell them to!

Aromasin• 6 months ago

I recommend trying to visit the ArdaCraft minecraft server. They're trying to faithfully recreate the LotR world at 1:58 scale, and I've spent some time attempting to do the whole walk over some evenings the past few months. It's absolutely incredible the amount of love and detail has gone into crafting the world.

FergusArgyll• 6 months ago

He simply walked into Mordor?!

russellbeattie2• 6 months ago

Ha! I watched it for a little while on 2x and it was very cool. Then Frodo hit the river and dives in, swimming across with perfect freestyle form like Michael Phelps!

I literally guffawed and thought, "Well, that's one good way of avoiding the dark riders." Makes that dramatic jump to the barge a little less intense. ;-)

chiph• 6 months ago

It's about a 12 minute walk in Austin, from Hobbiton Trail to Mordor Cove.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/EgUb7EXTaHguiPKJ7

usrnm2• 6 months ago

But why, couldn't he just fly there on an eagle?

mexicocitinluez• 6 months ago

People who don't like "On The Road" should listen to Jack read it in his own voice.

weslleyskah• 6 months ago

It is amazing how Lord of the Rings persists in the world.

Christopher Lee reading the Children of Hurin is also fantastic.

nelblu• 6 months ago

tangential comment, but if anyone is interested in one of the best (imo "legendary") audio books on LOTR look no further than Phil Dragash : https://archive.org/details/tlotrunabridged.

elcritch• 6 months ago

Okay who’s going to clone this using AI and have it read the entire book? Anyone?!

willdotphipps• 6 months ago

I drink in his old local. A bit weird in there I would imagine if you're an American. Although I am a bit American and it is a bit weird in there.

linksnapzz2• 6 months ago

What, the bird & baby?

harywilke• 6 months ago

Ranged Touch's Shelved By Genre podcast is doing an entire year on The Hobbit + Lord of the Rings. https://rangedtouch.com/2026/01/02/the-hobbit-part-1/

russellbeattie2• 6 months ago

I listen to a lot of Audiobooks and some authors are really, really not suited to read their own works of fiction.

Some are definitive, however. If you haven't heard Douglas Adams read all his books [1], you're definitely missing out. They're harder to track down, and not the best quality as most are copied from old tape cassettes, but I love listening to the genius at work.

Yahtzee Croshaw reading his books is fantastic [2]. As is Patrick Rothfuss reading The Slow Regard of Silent Things [3].

A more recent author I listened to was Adrian Tchaikovsky reading Service Model [4]. He was so good, I checked to see if he had theater training! Really great.

1. https://youtu.be/F_tcznHREXE

2. https://www.youtube.com/live/NNpQROC7dWA

3. https://youtu.be/wm6T7uUr_C8

4. https://youtu.be/Myl1ChiFGTw

JRR Tolkien reads from The Hobbit for 30 Minutes (1952)

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