Reviewing Jokien with Tolkien in 2025 and Previewing JwT in 2026
Plus: a chance for you to give input on the newsletter via a reader survey!
Mae govannen!
As 2026 begins, it’s the perfect time to survey the things that were, things that are, and some things that have not yet come to pass…
By which I mean, of course, that in today’s newsletter we will review some milestones and the five most popular posts from Jokien with Tolkien in 2025 as well as look ahead to Jokien with Tolkien in 2026! (Plus, if you make it to the end, you’ll have the chance to participate in a reader survey to let me know what you’d like to see more of in Jokien with Tolkien)
But first, a very happy (belated) birthday to the Professor himself! J.R.R. Tolkien’s birthday was January 3rd.
2025 Milestones and Accomplishments
In 2025, Jokien with Tolkien:
passed 15,000 subscribers!
Ran our second annual Middle-earth March Madness tournament
Hosted a Read Along through The Children of Húrin for Extended Edition members
Wrote a guest post for the Official C.S. Lewis Substack!
Shared 64 newsletters (that’s an average of more than one a week!), including 8 excellent guest posts
None of this would have been possible without you who are reading this newsletter. Thank you! Thank you for reading, for your feedback and comments and input, for sharing, and for all your support. I love writing this newsletter and love that there’s folks out there like yourself who love reading it. I cherish the space you give me in your inboxes and in your week: thank you!
So what were the posts that you all loved the most? Here they are:
Top 5 Most Popular Jokien with Tolkien Posts of 2025
1. 🎥 All 10 LOTR and Hobbit Films Ranked
Far and away my most popular post of the year! Following the release of The War of the Rohirrim, I ranked the ten The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit films from worst to best. A fun exercise that generated a lot of interesting conversation!
2. No Peace in Middle-earth As White Oliphant Gift Exchange Goes Terribly Wrong
2025 started off strong (the #1 article above was published Jan 9, 2025) and it also ended strong! My final newsletter of the year shot up to second on this list in seemingly no time at all as we all enjoyed a humorous take on the Council of Elrond with a holiday twist.
No Peace in Middle-earth As White Oliphant Gift Exchange Goes Terribly Wrong
RIVENDELL—A local White Oliphant gift exchange went awry this Yule season when the assembled partygoers at the Company Holiday Party of Elrond devolved into a heated argument that left all present shaken and disturbed.
3. The Pony, The King, and The Hobbit
It’s always lots of fun when there’s a LOTR and The Chronicles of Narnia, as this post illustrates. Here’s a taste:
FRODO: Is he—quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a ranger.
BUTTERBUR: Safe? Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.
4. 10 Reasons Return of the King is an Easter Movie
This piece functions as a follow-up to my 10 Reasons The Lord of the Rings is a Christmas Movie and explores the connections between ROTK, eucatastrophe, and Easter.
5. J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis Wrangle over Worldbuilding
Remember what I said earlier about it always being fun to have a Narnia and Middle-earth crossover? Well the same can be said for my series of imaginary conversations between Tolkien and Lewis. This one takes aim at their decidedly different approaches to creating Narnia and Middle-earth:
Top Guest Posts of 2025
This year we had some wonderful guest posts and I wanted to highlighting a few of them here (though be sure to check out all the Guest Posts here):
Amy Mantravadi’s close reading of Éowyn’s character arc, Is Éowyn Alright?, struck a chord with readers, becoming not just one of the most-read and engaged-with guest pieces in JwT but one of the top posts in this newsletter’s history!
MaryAnn McKibben Dana wrote up her thoughts after seeing The Two Towers in theaters and encouraged us to “End with the Gritty Middle” by doing what’s right and true right where we are whether or not we think a eucatastrophe is coming.
Marc Sims wrote a three-part series on Rejecting Despair and following Tolkien’s guide to defiant joy. You can find the first part here: Reject Despair, Embrace Folly
Call for submissions for 2026!
As this previous section makes clear, I like to occasionally feature guest posts here on Jokien with Tolkien and this is your annual reminder that I’m accepting pitches!
If you have an idea for an article for Jokien with Tolkien, I’d love to hear it. It can be serious or humorous (or somewhere in-between).1
If you’re interested, please review the submission guidelines and then follow the instructions to submit your pitch/draft.
Jokien with Tolkien in 2026
Now we turn to the future and what 2026 holds in store for this newsletter. I’ll keep it on the brief side since this newsletter already has a lot going on in it, but I still wanted to look ahead together some today.
In 2026, my goal with Jokien with Tolkien is to do less and do it well. The past few years I have held myself to a strict weekly schedule, with very, very few exceptions. But going into this year, I’m backing off that slightly.
I’ll still aim to have a minimum of one free newsletter and one paid newsletter a month. Some months I’ll send more and you’ll hardly notice a difference from now! But I also won’t send out a newsletter just to keep to an arbitrary goal that I’ve set for myself, especially if it comes at the expense of other projects I’m working on or doesn’t leave me enough time to work on other topics for this newsletter.
A few topics that you can expect to see again that are favorites from past years:
More Lord of the Rings Valentines!
The 3rd Annual Middle-earth March Madness! (Who will join Samwise and Éowyn in the club of champions?)
A giveaway for Tolkien Reading Day (March 25th) and for Hobbit Day (September 22nd)
Humor pieces and thoughtful essays
A Lord of the Rings and Star Wars crossover for May 4th
Rings of Power reviews (if season 3 airs this year…)
I’ll of course try some new things (or to resurrect things I’ve done or attempted in the past), but I also want to zero in on what you all enjoy about this newsletter.
And if you’re still reading, it means you’re invested in this newsletter and in this community and I’d love to hear from you! What do you want to see more of this coming year (or for the first time)?
Do you want another read-along? If so, what book(s) would you be interested in?
Do you have particular topics or scenes from Tolkien’s works that you’d like to see explored?
Any other insight or input for me?
Respond either by leaving a comment or by completing this Reader Survey:
Whatever else comes our way this year, I am thankful for you, friends, and for the love we share for the works of J.R.R. Tolkien (and their adaptations).
Namárië! Go with goodness!
📚 You can read more of my writing by reading my books! My latest is a collection of essays on The Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion, and more of Tolkien’s works (and their adaptations). You can find it and more of my books on Amazon or Gumroad
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🏹 Chosen as a Substack Featured Publication in 2023
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❌ All typos are precisely as intended
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🗃️ Can’t wait till next week for more content? View the archive
🎯 🎯 Interested in writing a guest piece? Check out my submission guidelines. Want to sponsor an issue? Email me at JRRJokien@JRRJokien.com
Obviously I love to share others’ takes on Tolkien. But if you have an idea for an article that focuses on Narnia, Star Wars, Earthsea, Arakkis, or any number of other closely related sci-fi/fantasy universes that you’d like to pitch as a “Through the Wardrobe” guest post, I’m open to that as well!)