We sit down with Agnes Callard (Philosophy, Chicago) and Robin Hanson (Economics, GMU) to discuss the second installment in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Two Towers! We talk about the film as a transitional piece that deals with the transformations of its main characters, the addictive and corruptive capacity of power, and wonder about who the hero of the film is and what that tells us about the notion of heroism. We consider Tolkien’s religious inspirations as well as (drawing on Charles Mills’ recently published essay) the racist shorthand he drew on to characterize good and evil. Will the heroes (and us) survive the night at Helm’s Deep? Tune in to find out!
Agnes loves Gollum so much she has the official Gollum promo shirt!
Listen to Agnes and Robin’s podcast, Minds Almost Meeting!
Read Charles Mills’ essay, “The Wretched of Middle-Earth: An Orkish Manifesto”
I can’t do this, Sam.
Frodo Baggins
Cows in the Field 