The Legendarium

After a year and a half away, The Legendarium is back on the microphones. Craig is joined by Panda, Little Red Book, Kyptan, and Cesky from The Legendarium Green Team for a loose, question-driven reunion episode featuring recommendations, old podcast memories, friendship, burnout, favorite episodes, terrible reviews, crickets at Mariners games, and the fate of a never-to-be-released Wind and Truth episode. Along the way, the crew talks about how The Legendarium has shaped friendships over the years, books that were more fun to discuss than read, series they’ve changed their minds about, and some of the episodes they’re proudest to have made. And no, this isn’t goodbye. If you’ve missed the camaraderie and book discussions of The Legendarium, make sure you’re also listening to The Legendarium Green Team, where the conversation has very much continued. Links & References The Legendarium Green Team Books, games, and series mentioned MIO: Memories in Orbit Robert Jackson Bennett’s Ana Dolabra mysteries Matt Dinniman’s Dungeon Crawler Carl series Mark Lawrence’s Library Trilogy / The Book That Broke the World Susanna Clarke — Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell H.G. Wells — The Time Machine Robin Hobb — The Farseer Trilogy Iain M. Banks — the Culture novels N.K. Jemisin — The Broken Earth Trilogy J.R.R. Tolkien — Leaf by Niggle Terry Brooks — Magic Kingdom for Sale—Sold! Matthew Woodring Stover — Heroes Die / The Acts of Caine Brandon Sanderson — Wind and Truth Legendarium episodes referenced #46. The Time Machine #204. Assassin's Apprentice #370. The Blade Itself #292. The Fifth Season LotR Summary Poems (VIDEO) #420. Tolkien & Beowulf with Tom Shippey #181. Leaf by Niggle #308. Magic Kingdom for Sale—Sold! #352. Heroes Die (ft. Scott Lynch) Thanks to everyone who submitted questions on Discord—and thanks for still being here. The original Legendarium feed isn’t disappearing, and Episode 442 isn’t a farewell. What comes next may look a little different: occasional group episodes, Author’s Shelf conversations, solo episodes, or whatever else sounds interesting enough to get Craig back behind a microphone. Until next time.

Martha Wells stops by for another installment of The Author's Shelf. Together, she and Craig discuss The Tiger's Daughter, the 2017 novel by K. Arsenault Rivera. Check out Martha Wells' new projects: https://www.marthawells.com/ Support the show on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/legendarium Check out the archives at https://www.thelegendarium.com/ Join the Discord community: https://discord.com/invite/FnCSsxx

Author Katie Hallahan drops by for a conversation with Craig about her experience going from game designer to author. What does she value in fiction and storytelling, and how did that impact both areas of her professional life? Visit Katie and check out her books here: https://www.katiehal.com/ Support the show on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/legendarium Check out the archives at https://www.thelegendarium.com/ Join the Discord community: https://discord.com/invite/FnCSsxx

Ryan, Todd, and Craig reunite for a discussion about Todd's experience with the Wheel of Time. And because they came with a real purpose in mind, of course you know that they won't stick to that at all. Buckle up for Rings of Power, adaptations, Star Wars, and pretty much anything else that crosses their distractible little minds. Support the show on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/legendarium Check out the archives at https://www.thelegendarium.com/ Join the Discord community: https://discord.com/invite/FnCSsxx

This episode was originally published on June 8, 2020 Craig, Ryan, and Megan reunite for the final part of the Lord of the Rings. Well, except for the appendices, and there will be an episode on that as well, it turns out. Anyway, for this one, they unlock the real meaning behind the Field of Cormallen scene, discuss why Frodo couldn't be the one who destroyed the Ring, and get one more verse recap from Craig. Support the show on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/legendarium Check out the archives at https://www.thelegendarium.com/ Join the Discord community: https://discord.com/invite/FnCSsxx Twitter: https://twitter.com/LegendariumPod MUSIC: "Adventure Time" and "The Seven Seas" courtesy of https://www.philter.no/

Daniel Greene joins Craig and Ryan for this installment of the Author's Shelf series. Daniel selected Mort, the fourth installment in the Discworld series. Why did he select it? Actually, Daniel isn't quite sure, and he and the guys spend an hour trying to figure that out. Subscribe to Daniel's YouTube channel ...and buy his book Visit TheLegendarium.com to hear past episodes Join the Discord community Support the show on Patreon

This episode was originally released on May 3, 2020 Ryan, Megan, and Professor Craig (whose elbow patches are back from the shop and in better shape than ever) tackle book 5 of The Lord of the Rings. There are battles and ghosts and pirates and dramatic suicides, among many other exciting things, so Craig kicks off the discussion with ... 5 minutes about word order in the hobbits' speech. Riveting stuff, rest assured. Support the show on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/legendarium Check out the archives at https://www.thelegendarium.com/ Join the Discord community: https://discord.com/invite/FnCSsxx Twitter: https://twitter.com/LegendariumPod MUSIC: "Adventure Time" and "The Seven Seas" courtesy of https://www.philter.no/

This episode was originally published on April 14, 2020 Craig, Ryan, and Megan reunite remotely for the next installment of their Lord of the Rings series of podcasts. Up today, Book 4, or the latter half of The Two Towers. In these ten chapters, we follow Frodo, Sam, and Gollum through the Emyn Muil, the Dead Marshes, Ithilien, and Shelob's Lair. The panelists will discuss the split nature of the narrative, Sam's place in the reader's experience, and why Gollum's final betrayal is possibly Tolkien's best writing in all of The Lord of the Rings. Support the show on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/legendarium Check out the archives at https://www.thelegendarium.com/ Join the Discord community: https://discord.com/invite/FnCSsxx Twitter: https://twitter.com/LegendariumPod MUSIC: "Adventure Time" and "The Seven Seas" courtesy of https://www.philter.no/

In this episode, author James Kennedy stops by to chat with Craig about predestination in speculative fiction. He's got four basic categories of determinism, and they walk through each, with a fine-toothed, good-humored comb. Originally released on August 22, 2022 Check out James Kennedy's website And his new book, Dare to Know Support the show on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/legendarium Check out the archives at https://www.thelegendarium.com/ Join the Discord community: https://discord.com/invite/FnCSsxx Twitter: https://twitter.com/LegendariumPod

Originally published January 11, 2015. Craig and Ryan tackle their first game of Dungeons and Dragons and they are natural....ly poor at figuring it out at the start. Join the Legendarium crew at HaJoMaJe games for the abbreviated adventure into never winter and the quest for the best 401k option available to adventurers.

Originally released October 31, 2019 Do video game movies always suck? Maybe not. But they're never actually good, either. Why is that? Craig and Kyle are joined by Adam Sherlock from Deep Dive Film School to spend, oh...maybe 5 minutes teasing out the answer to the question at hand, and 45 minutes just laughing about terrible video game movies. Check out Sherlock's show, Deep Dive Film School, in audio or video form. Support the show on Patreon Join the conversation on Reddit Music: "The Seven Seas" courtesy of https://www.philter.no/

Originally released August 18, 2020 Ryan joins Craig and spins the Wheel of Tangents for the first time ever! They answer over a dozen questions submitted by patrons, including tough-to-visualize elements of books, their favorite love stories, and what they'd be reading if they weren't making a podcast. Support the show on Patreon Music: "The Seven Seas" courtesy of https://www.philter.no/

This episode was originally released on March 16, 2020 Craig, Ryan, and Megan (no Kyle today) talk about book 3 of The Lord of the Rings, being the first half of The Two Towers.They take on the entrelacement writing technique Tolkien employs, Aragorn's character arc (yep, he has one!), and the nature of the palantiri. Craig is of course back with his recap poem, but Megan decides to one up him by singing on this episode. Trigger warning. Support the show on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/legendarium Check out the archives at https://www.thelegendarium.com/ Join the Discord community: https://discord.com/invite/FnCSsxx Twitter: https://twitter.com/LegendariumPod MUSIC: "Adventure Time" and "The Seven Seas" courtesy of https://www.philter.no/

Originally released May 25, 2020. Veronica Roth, bestselling author of the Divergent series and the brand-new, adult-oriented fantasy Chosen Ones, joins Craig and Ryan to discuss her pick for the Author's Shelf podcast series. Veronica had the guys read Dark Lord of Derkholm, a 1998 fantasy parody by Diana Wynne Jones. The trio has a good time picking apart a few of the key characters and themes of the book, and Veronica enlightens the group on the personal connection between Jones and Tolkien. Visit Veronica's website and check out Chosen Ones Support the show on Patreon Join the conversation on Reddit Music: "Adventure Time" and "The Seven Seas" courtesy of https://www.philter.no/

Originally released April 26, 2020 Craig is joined by author Maram Taibah to discuss the assertion, "Great art has an age floor but no age ceiling." They get into contextual issues, content issues, and what place YA fiction has to play in this discussion. They also talk about Maram's book, Weathernose , and Craig gets an education on "children's steampunk." Check out Maram's website and Instagram Buy Weathernose Support the show on Patreon Join the conversation on Reddit Music: "The Seven Seas" courtesy of https://www.philter.no/

This episode was originally released on January 27, 2019 Craig and Ryan welcome a new panelist, Brandon Sanderson (maybe you've heard of him?). The three of them discuss The Truth, the 25th book in Terry Pratchett's Discworld series. Spoiler alert, technically, because we range all over the story, as usual. But as we mention during the show, this isn't the type of book with which you should be overly concerned about spoilers; it's delightful and hilarious regardless of what you know about it. Enjoy the episode! Support the show on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/legendarium Check out the archives at https://www.thelegendarium.com/ Join the Discord community: https://discord.com/invite/FnCSsxx Twitter: https://twitter.com/LegendariumPod MUSIC: "Adventure Time" and "The Seven Seas" courtesy of https://www.philter.no/

What in the h-e-double-hockey-sticks is this book, anyway? Craig brings Drew back for one final discussion on Matthew Stover's Acts of Caine series. They wrap up with book 4, Caine's Law, which is a book about ... something. The guys will try to figure that out. Support the show on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/legendarium Check out the archives at https://www.thelegendarium.com/ Join the Discord community: https://discord.com/invite/FnCSsxx Twitter: https://twitter.com/LegendariumPod

This episode was originally released on March 1, 2020 Craig, Ryan, Megan, and Kyle discuss the second book in The Lord of the Rings--or to put it another way, the second half of The Fellowship of the Ring. They get into lots of listener questions, like whether the Rivendell chapters are too long, whether balrogs should have wings, whether the fellowship sufficiently mourns Gandalf, and much, much more. Enjoy! Support the show on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/legendarium Check out the archives at https://www.thelegendarium.com/ Join the Discord community: https://discord.com/invite/FnCSsxx Twitter: https://twitter.com/LegendariumPod MUSIC: "Adventure Time" and "The Seven Seas" courtesy of https://www.philter.no/

This episode was originally released October 27, 2019. The Ladies of the Legendarium are back! And this time, Stephanie, Megan, and Kate are joined by Sara Hanks to discuss Michael Ende's classic book, The Neverending Story. There's laughing and crying, and a whole lot of love -- old and new -- for this particular book. Support the show on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/legendarium Check out the archives at https://www.thelegendarium.com/ Join the Discord community: https://discord.com/invite/FnCSsxx Twitter: https://twitter.com/LegendariumPod MUSIC: "Adventure Time" and "The Seven Seas" courtesy of https://www.philter.no/

This episode was originally released October 17, 2019. Weeks Week begins on Monday with the release of The Burning White, but we thought we'd get a jump on it by airing a few minutes of Brent Weeks spinning The Wheel of Tangents. Brent answers eight questions scientifically designed in a lab to help us get to know one of our favorite authors a little bit better. (Narrator: "There was, in fact, no lab.") Enjoy! Support the show on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/legendarium Check out the archives at https://www.thelegendarium.com/ Join the Discord community: https://discord.com/invite/FnCSsxx Twitter: https://twitter.com/LegendariumPod MUSIC: "Adventure Time" and "The Seven Seas" courtesy of https://www.philter.no/