
The bi-weekly podcast for serious Tolkien fans. Hosts Jonathan Watson and Michael Grumbine of TheOneRing.com (the internet’s longest Tolkien community since 1999) read through The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion, and every Age of Middle-earth — chapter by chapter. Plus conversations with artists, creators, and scholars–and honest commentary on what Hollywood keeps getting wrong abo... more
| Publishes | Twice monthly | Episodes | 170 | Founded | 4 years ago |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of Listeners | Categories | Entertainment NewsNewsBooksArts | |||

Get the Exploring Tolkien App to listen to every episode, a Tolkien calendar, the latest news, and member exclusives!
Is evil REALLY in control? Tolkien pursues this in this chapter–for the first and only time Morgoth reveals himself in a long disc... more
Get the Exploring Tolkien App to listen to every episode, a Tolkien calendar, the latest news, and member exlcusives!
This is my favorite interview from the December 2, 2003 roundtable discussions for The Return of the King! Bernard Hill was such a... more
Get the Exploring Tolkien App to listen to every episode, a Tolkien calendar, the latest news, and member exlcusives!
“Day shall come again”–but for now, it’s the Battle of Unnumbered Tears. In this episode, we walk through Chapter 2 of The Childre... more
Get the Exploring Tolkien App to listen to every episode, a Tolkien calendar, the latest news, and member exlcusives!
Turin’s tragic journey starts here. In this episode, we examine the opening chapter of The Children of Húrin, exploring the founda... more
People also subscribe to these shows.





Production quality has suffered, making it difficult to listen to.
Fell into this podcast a couple months ago after the glowing review of the greatest show ever made, episode aired early April. This episode started my journey to binge every single podcast episode. I became a member and have greatly enjoyed my experience with the extra content and joining a new community of Tolkien enjoyers.
Best podcast to both escape into fantasy worlds and explore philosophy most applicable for today. No longer a freeloader. Definitely worth the $4.
I enjoy listening to you guys talking about your love of all things Tolkien
In a world that seems intent on subverting Tolkien’s stories, it’s incredibly refreshing to hear Michael, Jonathan and Dan appreciate Tolkien’s world for what it is, without imposing their own world views on it. I’ve never heard anyone delve so deeply into Tolkien’s universe: a must-listen-to if you’re a real Tolkien fan!
Key themes from listener reviews, highlighting what works and what could be improved about the show.
How this podcast ranks in the Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube charts.
Apple Podcasts | #46 | |
Apple Podcasts | #139 |
Recent interactions between the hosts and their guests.
Listeners, social reach, demographics and more for this podcast.
| Listeners per Episode | |
|---|---|
| Gender Skew | |
| Location | |
| Interests | |
| Professions | |
| Age Range | |
| Household Income | |
| Social Media Reach |
A rigorous, chapter-by-chapter deep dive into Tolkien's legendarium, with emphasis on lore, language, and literary analysis. Listeners can expect thoughtful discussions on editing choices, mythic structures, and how adaptations influence perception, alongside occasional news bits, map talk, and cross-references to related works. The show stands out for its scholarly yet accessible tone, long-running format, and active community features that invite participation from both newcomers and seasoned readers alike.
Rephonic provides a wide range of podcast stats for Exploring Tolkien. We scanned the web and collated all of the information that we could find in our comprehensive podcast database. See how many people listen to Exploring Tolkien and access YouTube viewership numbers, download stats, audience demographics, chart rankings, ratings, reviews and more.
Rephonic provides a full set of podcast information for three million podcasts, including the number of listeners. View further listenership figures for Exploring Tolkien, including podcast download numbers and subscriber numbers, so you can make better decisions about which podcasts to sponsor or be a guest on. You will need to upgrade your account to access this premium data.
Rephonic provides comprehensive predictive audience data for Exploring Tolkien, including gender skew, age, country, political leaning, income, professions, education level, and interests. You can access these listener demographics by upgrading your account.
To see how many followers or subscribers Exploring Tolkien has on Spotify and other platforms such as Castbox and Podcast Addict, simply upgrade your account. You'll also find viewership figures for their YouTube channel if they have one.
These podcasts share a similar audience with Exploring Tolkien:
1. The Prancing Pony Podcast
2. The Ancients
3. Chesterton's Gateway
4. No Dumb Questions
5. The Briefing with Albert Mohler
Exploring Tolkien launched 4 years ago and published 170 episodes to date. You can find more information about this podcast including rankings, audience demographics and engagement in our podcast database.
Our systems regularly scour the web to find email addresses and social media links for this podcast. We scanned the web and collated all of the contact information that we could find in our podcast database. But in the unlikely event that you can't find what you're looking for, our concierge service lets you request our research team to source better contacts for you.
Rephonic pulls ratings and reviews for Exploring Tolkien from multiple sources, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Castbox, and Podcast Addict.
View all the reviews in one place instead of visiting each platform individually and use this information to decide if a show is worth pitching or not.
Rephonic provides full transcripts for episodes of Exploring Tolkien. Search within each transcript for your keywords, whether they be topics, brands or people, and figure out if it's worth pitching as a guest or sponsor. You can even set-up alerts to get notified when your keywords are mentioned.
Recent guests on Exploring Tolkien include:
1. Bernard Hill
2. Sean Astin
3. Austin Robertson
4. Elijah Wood
To view more recent guests and their details, simply upgrade your Rephonic account. You'll also get access to a typical guest profile to help you decide if the show is worth pitching.