Episode 97: Lesser-trod Paths with David the Ñoldo
Join us this month for a special Lesser-trod Paths episode with David the Ñoldo! Springing from our last Lesser-trod History episode about The War of the Jewels, David joins us to discuss the dwarves in Tolkien’s legendarium. Looking through a lens of source criticism of secondary world authorship, David challenges us to consider who in the legendarium is writing about the dwarves, where these authors get their sources, and what potential biases are present. David asks us to consider whose history is written down and whose is silenced, and question why.
Citations:
Thank you to our guest, David the Ñoldo!
David’s linktree: https://linktr.ee/davidthengoldo
Voices of Arda Episode 65: David the Ñoldo, May 29, 2026, Season 1 episode 65
https://poddtoppen.se/podcast/1647183649/voices-of-arda-podcast/voices-of-arda-episode-65-david-the-noldo (Accessed July 9, 2026)
David’s Bibliography
Agøy, Nils Ivar, “Viewpoints, Audiences and Lost Texts” in The Silmarillion Thirty Years On, ed. by Allan Turner, p.149-163.
Fimi, Dimitra. Tolkien, Race, and Cultural History: From Fairies to Hobbits
Flieger, Verlyn, Interrupted Music: The Making of Tolkien's Mythology
Hynes, Gerard, "From Nauglath to Durin's Folk: The Hobbit and Tolkien's Dwarves" in The Hobbit and Tolkien's Mythology: Essays on Revisions and Influences, ed. by Bradford Lee Eden, p.20-37
Nagy, Gergely, "The Adapted Text: The Lost Play of Beleriand" in Tolkien Studies: An Annual Scholarly Review vol. I, ed. by Michael D.C. Drout, Verlyn Flieger, and David Bratman, p.21-41.
—"The Silmarillion: Tolkien's Theory of Myth, Text, and Culture" in A Companion to J.R. R. Tolkien, ed. by Stuart D. Lee, p.107-118
Sena, Kenton; Harris, Kaelyn, "Re-enchanting Built Spaces: On Dwarves and Dwarven Places" in Cities and Strongholds of Middle-earth: Essays on the Habitations of Tolkien's Legendarium, ed. by Cami Agan, p.55-81
Tauber, James, Digital Tolkien Project, https://search.digitaltolkien.com/?terms=Naugrim
Tolkien, J.R.R., Gnomish Lexicon in PE11 p.30; Qenya Lexicon in PE12 p.67; Words, Phrases, and Passages, in PE17 p.181, in Parma Eldalamberon, ed. by Christopher Gilson.
— The Silmarillion, ed. by Christopher Tolkien (New York: Ballantine Books, 1979).
— The Lost Road and Other Writings, ed. by Christopher Tolkien (New York: Del Rey Books, 1996)
— Morgoth’s Ring, ed. by Christopher Tolkien (London: HarperCollins Publishers, 2002).
— The War of the Jewels, ed. by Christopher Tolkien (London: HarperCollins Publishers, 2002).
— The Peoples of Middle-earth, ed. by Christopher Tolkien (London: HarperCollins Publishers, 2015)
Trouillot, Michel-Rolph, Silencing the Past: Power and the Production of History, 20th Anniversary Edition.
Walls-Thumma, Dawn, "Attainable Vistas: Historical Bias in Tolkien's Legendarium as a Motive for Transformative Fanworks," Journal of Tolkien Research: Vol. 3: Iss. 3, Article 3.
Available at: https://scholar.valpo.edu/journaloftolkienresearch/vol3/iss3/3
Upcoming events
Tolkien and Middle-earth Online Art Exhibition- August 15, 2026
https://sites.google.com/breecrossroadsartexhibitionevent.com/home/home
The Big Read- Ongoing, every other Monday
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Oxonmoot- September 3-6, 2026
https://www.tolkiensociety.org/events/oxonmoot-2026/
