Lord of the (Cosmic) Ringpiece (WDPLaSS 21)

Let's see how Jordan deals with what is obviously intended as fiction, for a change. The same way he deals with everything else.

[Martymer]

This will be my last video for a while, as I'm going on vacation. I'll be back in a couple of weeks!

[KingCrocoduck]

I like the "spirit" scientific method at the end, and I think the entire subject deserves a unifying theory in the form of an equation.
I hereby present the Formula About Patchman (FAP):

Spirit Science = (Drugs + Imagination - Critical Thinking Skills)(bastardization of science and/or fiction) - Intellectual Curiosity

[woopwoop]

Jordan is using The Lord of The Rings as a source of evidence for his nonsense? Look Jordan, when we say to religious people that if they're going to cite nonsense mystical books then they might as well cite Lord of the Rings, or Harry Potter etc we didn't mean that you should actually do that!

[TelenTerror]

Sometime I'm going to find a Lovecraft collection with stuff like Dreams in the Witch House and Dunwich Horror and the others which deal with the how dimensional divide thing, and I'm going to mail it to Jordan.

[callmecalicoo]

Don't let this kid near Neon Genesis Evangelion.

[redcaboodle]

It's not EruIlluvatar - it's Eru, whom the Elves call Illuvatar. Tolkien does that a lot, having different names for entities, depending on who is talking about them. Makes sense, actually.

[ruzhongx.]

I think we all know what happened here: Jordan watched CGP Grey's videos on Lord of the Rings, heard the Christian themes that are the basis for the story, smoked a joint or did a line, and crapped out an article. Just sad really.

[GigaBoost]

Oh wow, I didn't realize that wasn't Jordan's voice for quite a while. I was wondering why he'd stopped using Patchface and was just reading text...

Good job on that one, the reading in this video was very well done. Usually it tends to be only barely bearable, but there was a good kid of speed and brevity this time.

I always look forward to new WDPLASS.

Have a nice vacation Marty!

[mschedler]

Silmarillion... Once... Understandable (that was one difficult read). I do still love to re-read the Hobbit (still a kid at heart I guess). I can get through it in a few days. Tolkien's ability to describe his subject so well that the reader can visualize it is incredible. Talented Author and a Professor... brilliant.

[helixplays]

LOTR and the Hobbit do have a 'hidden' message. These were both cautionary tales about the nature of greed and the lust for power. From the dragons horde, the dwarf's lust for gold, the hold that the ring had over Frodo, Aragorn's hesitation to take the crown, Boromir's betrayal, the destruction of nature around Saruman's tower etc. etc. All feed into an overarching theme cautioning men about how the desire to become more wealthy and powerful must result in self destruction.

Of course Spirit Sci-fi-ence has no interest in lessons that can't be spun into some goofy woo woo schlock nonsense.

[Fraterchaoraterchaos]

the really really sad part is, Tolkien himself has explained how he pilfered the Bible and other ancient myths, even going into great detail about what ancient languages he derived his various ancient tongues from. We already know, from Tolkien himself, that this is fiction, and was meant as nothing more than fiction... anyone who tries to say it's more than fiction is a moron.

And BTW, I've read the Silmarillion at least four or five times cover to cover...

[robertwlester]

someone pay dawkins to read out a few lines of spiritscience, it would be hilarious

[anthonybarcellos]

1.0 Silmarillions seems like a good nerdism measure. I'm at 1.25, I think.

Have a nice vacation.

[captaingrub]

Martymer I am a huge fan of yours. Interestingly this may be the first time Jordan has ever come close to being sort of right. After all LOTR is loaded with sub textual allusions to history, parallels to actual mythologies etc. See as a work of art Jordan can actually have a point for once whereas in describing science he is woefully inane. My own personal feeling is that LOTR is based on two completely separate metaphors, the emergence of mankind from the ancient prehistoric world into the modern world, and on a completely different level it is a metaphor for WWII (with a bunch of archetypes from mythology added). In the WWII metaphor America is Gondor, Rohan is Europe in general but more specifically English, the Hobbits are the prolitariate - the bravery of the common man, the enemy is a double axis on two fronts Isengard and Mordor, the intellectuals flee into the west, etc.

[DontSayHastur]

I have to say that as I aged I gained a huge appreciation of the Hobbit's "childish simplicity" and found myself going back to it more often than to LotR.

[AndrewTheEternal]

I'll be honest; now I kind of want to hear Jordan talk about how the Warhammer Universe relates to his particular brand of detachment from reality. Particularly Necoho.

[Thitadhammo]

So you've read the Silmarillion. Once. Thar makes you about a level 1 nerd. Congratulations.

Just kidding. You're one of my heroes. Keep the good stuff coming.

[juliankirby]

“I fuckin hate allegory” paraphrased quote by J.R.R. Tolkien

[eugenebutler]

This is a series of books, written by a devout Catholic, about the suffering caused by human/dwarf/elf/angel-wizard ambition and how it can only be undone through a combination of Hobbit-like humility and the grace of Eru. This subtext is so obvious and unavoidable it's basically just the text. Spirit Science-man's claim that LOTR is some kind of gnostic invitation to self-transmute into a god and co-create a wonderful new universe is so crazy wrong (Thinking that Superman is a comic about brave human hero Lex Luthor standing up to the evil alien menace levels of wrong) that it's difficult to believe that he's making a good faith effort to summarize the series or that he ever read any of the books in the first place.

[DustinVMusic]

Jordan got Melkor's motives kinda wrong. He wasnt evil because he did'nt want to simply "sing and play in harmony" like he's some kind of immature douche. Melkor became evil because was searching endlessly for the Secret Fire, which was the thing that gave any creation a soul and therefore the ability to act as an independent creature. Unfortunately, the Secret Fire resided with Eru itself, and was thus not up for grabs by discovering it. During his times of searching, Melkor began conjuring his own concepts of what the universe, and the world of Arda...and life in general should be like, which contradicted the plans of the rest of the Ainur. Then, once the Ainur began singing the world into existence, Melkor began weaving a dissonant theme into it, which represented his own designs. Then he is utterly embarassed by Eru when Eru proclaims that despite his great power, everything Melkor has done is only for Eru's own glory. The world of Arda was thus already laced with Discord, and Melkor went down to live there, festering a great anger toward Eru and everything it made in its designs (Elves, Men).