NPR’s Glen Weldon Talks The Silmarillion and That Ought To Put You To Sleep

NPR’s Glen Weldon Talks The Silmarillion and That Ought To Put You To Sleep

From Sleeping with Celebrities by John Moe

July 1, 2026 · 47 min · Episode 177

About this episode

Glen Weldon discusses the complexities of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Silmarillion and its place in fantasy literature.

You have to be a slight J.R.R. Tolkien nerd to watch the Peter Jackson Lord of the Rings film series. They’re long, there’s three of them, and it helps to know your hobbits from your elves. You have to be even more of a fan to read the dense, lengthy Tolkien books. But then there’s Glen Weldon, co-host of NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour, who has read everything Tolkien many times over including The Silmarillion. That’s the book Tolkien died while writing with extensive arcana of the world of Middle Earth. Here’s the part in the description where I would give you examples but it’s so deep, so thickly layered, such extreme Tolkienness that I kind of zoned out just listening to Glen take this deepest of dives. “The book is structured as a history, with sections on the creation of the world, the gods (Valar), the history of the Elves and Men, and the downfall of Númenor, all centered around the conflict with the first Dark Lord, Morgoth, and the rebellion of the Elf Fëanor,” says Wikipedia, and who am I to disagree? The detail, combined with Glen’s avuncular NPR voice ought to conk you out before you can say, “Celebrimbor.”

People in this episode

Host: John Moe

Guest: Glen Weldon

Topics covered

Keywords

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: NPR, Pop Culture Happy Hour

Books & works: The Silmarillion, Lord of the Rings

Places: Middle Earth

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