This is the third part of a series taking a historian’s look at the Battle of Helm’s Deep (I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII. VIII), from both J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Two Towers (1954) and …
Collections: The Battle of Helm’s Deep, Part VIII: The Mind of Saruman
This is the eight and last part of a series taking a historian’s look at the Battle of Helm’s Deep (I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII) from both J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Two Towers (1954) and Peter Jackson’s …
Collections: The Battle of Helm’s Deep, Part VII: Hanging by a Thread
This is the seventh part of a series taking a historian’s look at the Battle of Helm’s Deep (I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII. VIII) from both J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Two Towers (1954) and Peter Jackson’s 2…
Collections: The Battle of Helm’s Deep, Part II: Total Warg
This is the second part of a series taking a historian’s look at the Battle of Helm’s Deep (I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII. VIII), from both J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Two Towers (1954) and Peter…
Collections: The Battle of Helm’s Deep, Part IV: Men of Rohan
This is the fourth part of a series taking a historian’s look at the Battle of Helm’s Deep (I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII. VIII) from both J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Two Towers (1954) and Peter …
Collections: The Battle of Helm’s Deep, Part V: Ladders are Chaos
This is the fifth part of a series taking a historian’s look at the Battle of Helm’s Deep (I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII. VIII) from both J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Two Towers (1954) and Peter Jackson…
Collections: The Battle of Helm’s Deep, Part I: Bargaining for Goods at Helm’s Gate
This is the long-awaited first part of a series (I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII. VIII) taking a historian’s look at the Battle of Helm’s Deep from both J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Two Towers…
Collections: The Battle of Helm’s Deep, Part VI: Is This a Good Sword?
This is the sixth part of a series taking a historian’s look at the Battle of Helm’s Deep (I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII. VIII) from both J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Two Towers (1954) and Peter Jackson’s 200…
Collections: The Siege of Gondor: Part VI: Black Sails and Gleaming Banners
(Note: Thanks to the effort of a kind reader, this post is now available in audio format! The playlist for the entire series may be found here.) This is the sixth and final part of a six part serie…
Collections: The Siege of Gondor, Part V: Just Flailing About Flails
(Note: Thanks to the effort of a kind reader, this post is now available in audio format! The playlist for the entire series may be found here.) This is the fifth part of a six part series (I, II, …
Collections: Nitpicking Gladiator’s Iconic Opening Battle, Part I
This week and for the next two weeks (I, II, III), we’re going to take a close look at arguably the most famous and recognizable Roman battle sequence in film: the iconic opening battle from …
Collections: Teaching Paradox, Crusader Kings III, Part IV: Emperors, Soldiers and Peasants
This is the last part of a four part series (I, IIa, IIb, III, IV) examining the historical assumptions behind the popular medieval grand strategy game Crusader Kings III, made by Paradox Interacti…
Collections: Teaching Paradox, Crusader Kings III, Part IIb: Cracks in the House of Islam
This is the back half of the second part of a four part series (I, IIa, IIb, III, IV) examining the historical assumptions behind the popular medieval grand strategy game Crusader Kings III, made b…
Collections: The Nitpicks of Power, Part II: Falling Towers
This is the second part of a three part (I, II, III) look at the issue of of historical realism in Amazon’s Rings of Power, following on our more substantive discussion of the major worldbuil…
Collections: The Gap in the Armor of Baldur’s Gate and 5e
This week we’re taking a bit of a detour to critique some video-game armor, in this case the armor of Baldur’s Gate III. I have been meaning to do a general critique of the Dungeons and…
Collections: The Fremen Mirage, Part I: War at the Dawn of Civilization
This week’s post is the first in a four part series (II, IIIa, IIIb, interlude, IV) looking at what I’m going to term the Fremen Mirage (a play on Le Mirage Spartiate, which we’ve…
