# 181 - J.R.R. Tolkien and the Long Defeat Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/mythic-mind-4015256/181-j-r-r-tolkien-and-the-long-defeat Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/mythic-mind-4015256/181-j-r-r-tolkien-and-the-long-defeat.md Podcast: [Mythic Mind](https://stenobird.com/podcast/mythic-mind-4015256) Published: 2026-07-13T02:27:22+00:00 Episode link: https://www.spreaker.com/episode/181-j-r-r-tolkien-and-the-long-defeat--72943936 Audio file: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/72943936/f7b5ce73_bc4f_4d2e_ad48_4c19c1815eca.mp3 Processing state: not_requested JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/mythic-mind-4015256/episodes/181-j-r-r-tolkien-and-the-long-defeat Duration seconds: 655 ## Resource What does the future hold? What has been let go by the past? How should we view the moving horizon? In this episode, I draw from Tolkien's letters, The Lord of the Rings, and his essays, "The Monsters and the Critics" and "On Fairy-Stories," to discuss his concept of The Long Defeat. Purchase the entire course, including our recorded live meetings, here: Purchase Course Watch the video of this episode and subscribe to my YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/R-1Yp1Z8dv4 Become a patron of Mythic Mind at patreon.com/mythicmind Listen to all THREE Mythic Mind podcasts: Mythic Mind Mythic Mind Games Mythic Mind Movies & Shows (or become a patron to get all three shows in one ad-free feed) Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/mythic-mind--5808321/support . ## Actions - request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/mythic-mind-4015256/episodes/181-j-r-r-tolkien-and-the-long-defeat/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode. - read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/mythic-mind-4015256/181-j-r-r-tolkien-and-the-long-defeat.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource. A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed. ## Transcript Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.