Why people recommend it
The Fellowship of the Ring by John Ronald Reuel Tolkien and Christina Scull is a foundational high fantasy novel that established modern epic fantasy traditions through its rich mythology of Middle-earth. The book frequently appears across diverse podcast platforms as hosts and guests draw upon its enduring cultural tropes and famous lines. On Pod Save America, Dan Pfeiffer utilized a well-known quote to illustrate contemporary political campaign dynamics, while on Modern Wisdom, Chris contrasted complex intellectual reading with the relaxing nature of returning to a classic Lord of the Rings-type story. Theo Von expressed his lifelong fondness for Tolkien's works on This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von, noting how deeply ingrained these stories are within Irish upbringing. The hosts of Stuff They Don't Want You To Know and Stuff You Should Know both referenced iconic elements from the text, utilizing Gollum riddles and comparing modern line-of-sight communication towers to the famous bonfire beacons of Gondor. Furthermore, Robert Evans on Behind the Bastards contrasted the brutal reality of historical violence with fictional heroics, and Lex Fridman compared the monumental impact of scientific achievements to the sheer scale of Tolkien's literary masterpiece during conversations on the Lex Fridman Podcast and StarTalk Radio.
Who recommended it
Mentioned on the show without a named speaker — 10
“But like the Lord of the Rings, you know, what was it? The way is shut. Like the way is not shut.”
“Alternatively, you're reading a relatively simple novel, like 'Who’s the Killer?' or a 'Lord of the Rings'-type story, which is more relaxing. It's interesting that even within the same rest modality, the type of content you engage with matters.”
“I think like I love Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, and all that stuff purely because I think being Irish you kind of grow up loving those things. Yeah, definitely, I would hate to be without that.”
“It's from Lord of the Rings. This is a Gollum riddle.”
“This is not Legolas and Gimli and Lord of the Rings. They're killers; you're just murderers. You are not in a fiction book.”
“I reckon that warrants some comparison to The Lord of the Rings, , , , , , .”
“They are basically creating line-of-sight towers that beam from one to the other, like those bonfire towers in Lord of the Rings.”
“I some people call it science fantasy, even; like they call the Lord of the Rings or The Sword of Shannara, or you know, these kinds of fantasy—the D&D Magic Gathering books that I used to read when I was a teenager—they call them 'science fantasy'.”
“And that was such an incredible, as you've probably seen, interacted with a large number of people; it's a whole world. It's a world that you escape to in the way like your favorite book like Lord of the Rings.”
“Kate, we've, we've kept you way too late, god bless you, I'm gonna let you go in two seconds, I need to fan out, oh my god, Lord of the Rings is one of my favorite book series, I'm so glad you were in it, you were a staple in my mind forever because of that, and as a kid,”