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J. R. Tolkien a great writer that inspires

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many of us. If you were listening to this podcast, I suppose

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it's because, like me, you feel fascinated by The Hobbit and

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the Lord of the Rings, which are amongst the best known literary works of the 20th century.

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You may also know that talking was not only an author of high fantasy

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literature, he was so, so a critic and scholar of mediaeval

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literature. I would say that many of the characteristics of

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the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit that make us love those works are elaboration

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or developments or features that talking learnt from mediaeval authors.

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In this brief podcast, I will be focussing on one such feature.

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Representations of evil.

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Perhaps like me, you always found talking as monsters to be memorable.

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The round of Moldea. On the terrible smog, the golden.

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Their words in the Lord of the Rings, dragline uncut ahead of endorsee Marillion,

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England. And the root of evil spiders. These are all remarkable

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characters and creatures. And I am sure that most of us would agree that without

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them talking as novels will not be the same, without them talking,

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talkings novels would not be as significant as they are.

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Tolkien's work is so popular and so well known and his style of fantasy has

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become so influential that we may be tempted to think or we might be

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tempted to believe that the way talking portrayed his monsters

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is the only way they could have been portrayed. Well, this is

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actually not the case. Talkings monsters have one special characteristic in common.

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And that characteristic, that quality talking learnt

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from Bill. In these podcasts, I will explain what qualities that makes.

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Talkings monster so memorable. And that talking lane from Babel. But before that, I will

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explain. I will need to explain briefly. Good Bill Willis' on how talking

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understood it. Where they will was an old English poem composed

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in the eighth century, around the year 700. That

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is many, many years ago. And yet this boy and bear will remain fascinating

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and powerful in many ways. The main story that he tells

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is very simple. Around 200 years in the sixth century,

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king of Denmark beginning a very successful, a military, three very successful military and political leader.

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And in order to celebrate his success, he commanded a whole be built

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where his people partied and celebrated the glory of Denmark. Every night.

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Their happiness and their prosperity became famous. But one day,

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their fortunes changed. A monster, a powerful troll

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called Grendell. Who was envious of their happiness decided

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to put an end to that, an attack on every night during many years, Grendel

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attacked the whole of the Danes and killed many of them. Spreading panic.

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I'm bringing the Danes bleach to an end. Cronkite's misfortune became

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well known, and it goes of shame and lamentation until

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a young man in neighbouring Sweden across the sea heard about the Danes problems.

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The young man, as you probably have guessed. Was Balewa.

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A remarkably strong human. Who decided to kill Kröger,

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travelled to Denmark and kill the troll Grendell with his bare hands.

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The troll, unfortunately, had a mother who, as you can imagine, was not very happy about having lost

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her son, Grendel's mother attacks in retaliation

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and kills one of the Danish Kings most trusted counsellors. So

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I've got to thinking, is one more troubled by the new monster attack?

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But they will say, hey, from there, no worries. I'll take care of these new moms there

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as well. And they will goes to court and those mothers, Mia

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and Kilcher, are there to the Danes, as you can imagine, are all very happy again.

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They will troubles back home across the sea and 50 years pass.

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After all these years, they will have become king of his people. The gates in southern

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Sweden. A dragon, then a taxpayer, Will Scheinblum.

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And they will. The famous Munster's land goes to the Dragon Slayer to

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kill it. And even though he manages to kill the dragon, the dragon

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also manages to kill Beowulf.

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That is, of course, much more today, will then yes, this. But what I just said captures

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the fundamentals of the main story. The trolls

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Granda, I'm his mother, are creatures of northern folklore.

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And this is reflected in the tens or in the words. That the characters

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in the story, like their will and croggon used to refer to then.

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Elgon. Giant. Feuilles.

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Troll. Philo. Monastir.

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Sugar, now Spectre's. These

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are some of the words in the beautiful old English language that indicate, without a doubt,

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that the antagonists in the poem are to be identified with

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the monsters of Scandinavian tales and legends. What

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is interesting is that the writer of the point, unlike the characters,

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uses completely different words to refer to these monsters.

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Some of these words that the narrator uses are bailable,

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which means the devil or demon. Harbin, which

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means he even. Hospital, which means

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captive's of hill and ruiner. Those who know

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the secret of Hill. As you can see, these are obviously

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Christian tones. Moreover, the narrator

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also tells us that the monsters, these trolls of northern folklore,

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are the descendants of Cain, the biblical character who killed Abel, and they

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are also, according to the narrator, God is uncertain. The enemies are gone.

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So basically, as you can see, there is a mixture or a blending.

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Of Northern folklore and Christian theology, a V. Representation

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of evil in Bill. The antagonists are both Scandinavian

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POWs and Christian Devils. At the same time.

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Endure critics thought this a weakness of the point. The 8th century, although

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they complained, was unable to distinguish pagan myth and fantasy

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from serious, sober Christian theology. But talking disagreed.

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In a famous lecture that he gave in 1936, Bayer was the monsters and the critics

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talking said that this connexion between the Masters and Christianity

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was not a confusion or, to put it in his own words, an

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inexplicable blunder of taste. Rather, he argued

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that the monster's association with Christian Demons in the poem is an artistic,

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brilliant, functional and very intelligent combination

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that makes Bainwol work as poetry. But

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how? We're talking says is

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that if the monsters had been purely spiritual, if they had

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been only the demons of Christianity, then the porn

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would read as a religious allegory or a homily, and it would not therefore

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be as exciting, as powerful.

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To put in his own words, and I quote. He debate

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with point was still dealing with a great temporal tragedy and not

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yet writing an allegorical homily in verse. Groundling,

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how it's the visible world and it's the flesh and blood of men. He

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enters their houses by the doors. The dragon wheels, the physical fire

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and gold, not Sobel's, he slain with iron in his belly.

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End of quote. So basically, we're talking here saying

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is a bail, well, he's not. Spencer's fairy queen

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in Babel. The antagonists, because of

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their physicality. Precisely because of their material, the nation posed

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a real threat to the character of physical integrity. And this material,

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the nation which is contributed by northern folklore, makes the point

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more thrilling, more stimulating. I'm not a mere Homi.

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At the same time, however, in order for the point to be meaningful,

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to have symbolic power, the monsters up to her

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spiritual dimension attached to them. Imagine

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that Bay will have fought against an irrational animal like a battery, Wolf,

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or against a normal stand, a human rather than against the forces of evil.

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The point then would not be as significant as it is,

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it is then the monster's spiritual background, which is contributed by

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Christianity, by Christian theology. That makes them really powerful

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and meaningful. But make that makes the monster's symbolic.

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I can put it on, I go. In this poem, the balance

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is nice, but it is present. The large symbolism is near the surface,

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but it does not break through nor become allegory, something more significant

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as unstamped a hero and then faced with a full, more evil than any human

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entity of house or real is before us and getting ready in time, walking in great history

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and treading the main lands of the north. End of quote.

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So it is basically the combination between

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reality on the one hand and spirituality on the other. That makes the monsters

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will be great. And this is precisely, I would argue,

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what talking led from that point. That the

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antagonisms have to be both material and spiritual at the same

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time. And this is the quality that the main most 13 talkings

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work. Having common. Think of the backlog

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of media, for example. He is impressive from a physical perspective.

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Tall, menacing, shouting, fire and Douglas brandishing

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firing weapons. Probably, but not certainly wings.

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But the most terrifying thing about the Mylo. Is that such a gigantic creature?

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Is inhabited by an evil spirit, by a naval intelligence. Intel.

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So the Balrog. Is one of the rebellious Miah

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that rose against a at that at the beginning of time, and the same, of course,

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could be said about Saddam Lord. America's lieutenant.

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Is a spirit, and that is the most threatening, you know, Boeing

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and the saying we could say about the works and the Barrow whites.

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Material creatures inhabited or animated by evil, diabolical

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spirits. In a way, it could be said

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that the cosmological background presented in the same Mourilyan

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give significance or symbolic power.

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To the monsters of the Lord of the Rings. Yes, as the biblical background gives meaning

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to the monkeys of knobbing folklore in Babel.

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Before finishing, there is one more point that I would like to make.

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It should be clear by now that talking admired the bear will put its depiction

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of East monsters. But there is one thing that talking didn't like.

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This is we're talking sad about the Portmans Dragon, and I quote.

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Bilbo's Dragon, in one way, she's really to criticise is not

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to be blamed for being a dragon, but rather for not being dragon enough

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plain, pure fairy story dragon. That are in the poem,

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some vivid touches of the right kind. Thien. So somewhere amongst

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Walk Grant, was anyone strong after starting in which

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these dragon real world with rest your life and sort of his own, but the conception

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nonetheless approaches that Iconix rather than Dragoo,

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a person indication of malice, greed, destruction, the evil side of heroic life, and

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of the undiscriminating cruelty or fortune that distinguishes not good or bad the

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evil side of all life. End of quote. So cocaine

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did not completely like or even dislike.

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They will drag them for being too abstract, for being a person irrigation

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and hence for lacking a personality. And this

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is something that he obviously rectified. And he's still worth.

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Single smile. The Terrible in the healthy, for example. On

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long, the problem of goodwill, which does not speak even once,

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slug several dialogues. And in these, he reversed himself to be cruel,

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sadistic, greedy, arrogant, but also self-assured and very, very

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intelligent. Smile has indeed a very interesting personality. From a psychological

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perspective, and I would say that his personality is, in fact not very dissimilar

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from that of very successful people that you may know.

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Another remarkable sample from poking work. Is global.

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The heart of all dragons. Glowering is the main antagonist

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in the story of touring Rumba in the Gwyneth Silmarillion. And in that chapter

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of the Silmarillion in the Story of Asturian. There are from the very beginning,

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many references to the drug. And from the beginning of the story,

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then, a writer vividly describes Loudon's trail of destruction,

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but it takes some time for the Dragon to make his first appearance.

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And finally, when during the hero and gload of the Dragon

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meet for the first time, what we quite naturally expect

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is a brutal fight. But that is not what we get. Instead,

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Guillaume very politely greet touring with the following

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word. Hey, and abhorring. Well,

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I must say, I've always found these to be one of the most powerful moments in talkings

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work. Talking first makes us expect a bestial creature.

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And then he presents us with a cautious, polite, well-mannered and intelligent

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mind. And that is precisely, I would say. What makes Laurel all the more

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Hogle? And in fact, as many of you will know, Glow-Worm

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will bring about four during a fate more dreadful and more tragic

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than that of a deep skin cell. And would these I finish?

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I expect you to have game two ideas for lethal cost. One.

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That there is artistry behind talkings monsters.

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They present an attractive and intelligent combination of materiality

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and spirituality that make them work poetically. Symbolically,

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without becoming allegorical, and these Tolkien learnt

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from the bay of both. To talking found fault

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with the way that they will point depicted his dragon to abstract.

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These mistake talking rectified in his work by providing

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his dragons with truly memorable personalities.

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I also hope to have persuaded you that if you like talking fantasy,

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then you love mediaeval literature and you would like to explore more

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this connexion between Tolkien, a mediaeval literature. I strongly recommend two books to you.

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The road to the left by my dear friend, I'm shooby.

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And the case of Miller discovering mediaeval literature through the fiction of J

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are talking by my colleague Stuart Lee. And Lisa with SoloPower.

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Two weeks, I must say, that I always found very inspiring. And from which I can assure

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you, you will learn a lot. It was love of talking

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that made me read. That made me read and study mediaeval literature. And he was in

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law of mediaeval, indicated McNeilly, southern Spain, where I'm from,

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and come to Oxford to teach and study. And if you follow this path,

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if you study literature, perhaps one day you love it of talking

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and a fantasy will also become a literary scholar. Which is, I think,

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one of the greatest joys. In a human like.