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The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien (header)

The Return of the King

The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien (cover)In this seminar, Dr. Corey Olsen – also known as The Tolkien Professor – will discuss the third volume of J.R.R. Tolkien’s classic tale of adventure and heroism in Middle-earth, The Return of the King. The seminar will consist of eight sessions, meeting once per week and spending three sessions each in Books V and VI, with the last two discussions focusing on the Appendices.

Return of the King tells the conclusion of the hobbits’ journeys throughout unknown lands and the culmination of the War of the Ring, in which the surviving free peoples of Middle-earth move boldly against Sauron in an attempt to distract him long enough for Frodo and Sam to slip through the dark lord’s defenses and complete their mission. Like its predecessor, however, there is also a “back again” portion of the story, in which the four hobbit friends – now much grown in both stature and experience – discover that even a their journeys have changed them, the home they left behind has also changed, and not for the better.

This seminar is the first of the series of open classes made possible by the generosity of all the good people who contributed to our recent and successfully completed fundraising. The Return of the King, along with Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card and Tolkien’s Unfinished Tales, were nominated as finalists by the Mythgard council, and the campaign contributors voted in a very exciting election in which over 1,300 votes were cast and which saw The Return of the King edge out Ender’s Game by a single vote. It was like Florida 2000, except fun (no chads were hanged in the election of these books). These seminars are free and open to the public; the first 100 registrants will be able to participate live in the class discussion, and both video and audio recordings of the classes will be made available to everyone through this website, the Mythgard Academy podcast feed and on YouTube.

If you missed our fundraising campaign but would still like to take part in this wild and bracing electoral process to decide what other open courses we will hold over the rest of the year, it isn’t too late! You can join in the action by donating to Mythgard today!

Schedule for The Return of the King

The Return of the King seminar originally took place from October 24 – December 12, 2013, on Thursday evenings (and a couple Fridays).

Class 1: The Board is Set

Read: Book V, Chapters 1-3
Date: October 24, 2013

Class 2: Wrath, Ruin, and a Red Nightfall

Read: Book V, Chapters 4-6
Date: November 1, 2013

Class 3: Hope and Ignorance

Read: Book V, Chapters 7-10
Date: November 7, 2013

Class 4: The Hero of the Age

Read: Book VI, Chapters 1-3
Date: November 14, 2013

Class 5: The Very Wine of Blessedness

Read: Book VI, Chapters 4-6
Date: November 21, 2013

Class 6: Good Endings

Read: Book VI, Chapters 7-9
Date: November 29, 2013

Class 7: The Necessary Background of History

Read: Appendix A
Date: December 5, 2013

Class 8: The Perception of Depth

Read: Appendix B-F
Date: December 12, 2013

Class 9: Open Q&A on the LOTR

Date: December 19, 2013

Artwork for The Return of the King

Artwork for The Return of the King seminar was adapted from “Departure at the Grey Havens” by Ted Nasmith. Used with permission.

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