Episode 12
Tolkien Would Hate This Podcast Part 2: Sexuality & Queerness
Hosts & Guests
Alicia
(she/they) A queer Tolkien scholar and Zelda nerd interested in adaptation, audience reception, and biography.
Grace
(she/her) An acquirer of books, a queer-rights activist, serves as as the Subscriptions Steward of the Mythopoeic Society, and is a Professional Nerd (okay, technically it’s an unpaid internship).
Leah
(she/her) Just another weird Tolkien geek living in the Grey Havens (also known as Seattle WA) with two rabbits and far too few books.
Resources
Books
Allan Bérubé, Coming Out Under Fire: The History of Gay Men and Women in World War II.
Stephen Bourne, Fighting Proud: The Untold Story of the Gay Men Who Served in Two World Wars.
Humphrey Carpenter, J.R.R. Tolkien: A Biography.
Gay Histories and Cultures: An Encyclopedia. Ed. George E. Haggerty, John Beynon, Douglas Eisner.
Clyde S. Kilby, Tolkien and the Silmarillion.
Huw Lemmey, Ben Miller, Bad Gays: A Homosexual History.
Mary Renault, The King Must Die.
Mary Renault, The Bull from the Sea.
Graham Robb, Strangers: Homosexual Love in the Nineteeth Century.
J.R.R. Tolkien, The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien. Ed. Humphrey Carpenter.
J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings.
J.R.R. Tolkien, The Silmarillion. Ed. Christopher Tolkien.
J.R.R. Tolkien, Unfinished Tales of Numenor and Middle-earth. Ed. Christopher Tolkien.
Articles
“6 MAY 1933: Looting of the Institute of Sexology”. Holocaust Memorial Day Trust.
David M. Craig,”‘Queer Lodgings’: Gender and Sexuality in The Lord of the Rings”. Mallorn.
“Gender & Sexuality shifts in the 1920s-1940s”. Investigating Psychology: CHIPs.
Ty Rosenthal, “Warm Beds Are Good: Sex and Libido in Tolkien’s Writing”. Mallorn.
About This Episode
In the second part of our ‘Tolkien Would Hate This Podcast’ series, Leah, Grace, and Alicia examine the world in Tolkien’s time as it relates to sexuality and queerness, and JRRT’s own opinions, experiences, and relationships with them. Listen to Grace’s theory that polyamory could have prevented the events of The Silmarillion, and the evidence that Tolkien stayed up late in the bath reading a book of gay poetry that included references to glory holes. #ReleaseTheTolkienSmut
CW: sexual assault, rape, homophobia, suicide, HIV/AIDS
Related Episodes
Episode 28 – Writing a Book Chapter! (or “Why We Didn’t Record Much in 2025”)
Learn more about the process of academic publishing as Leah and Grace recount their first times writing for academic publishing, guided by Alicia’s experience. Thank you for sticking with us! We have so much more in store for you.
Episode 27 – The Redemption of Lobelia Sackville-Baggins: Petty Thief to Folk Hero
Is Lobelia Sackville-Baggins actually the villain she’s made out to be in “The Hobbit” and “Fellowship”, or simply a victim of narrative bias? Plus JIRT’s “mommy issues” and a contrast of Lobelia as an ‘Aunt’ archetype with biographical information about Tolkien’s own family.
Episode 26 – Tolkien Adaptations Part 3: “The War of the Rohirrim” with Janet Brennan Croft
A discussion about “The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim” with the film’s credited “Tolkien Expert”, Janet Brennan Croft! We discuss her approach to encourage lore accuracy and consistency in the film’s script, explore queer readings of the film, and even the history of Japanese tentacle “art.”