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I was linked to this today:

At first, I assumed that it was faked/cut together, but now I think it's real, and that he really did say this while alive. I never knew that he addressed the Eagles in any way, the least of all in audio format.

The main problem I have is that the clip just ends after that last "shut up". What was the context in which he said this? Did he really not say anything afterwards to elaborate? "Shut up" could well mean either of these things:

  1. "I have no idea and I don't want you to talk about it because it embarrasses me."
  2. "Just read the book, you idiot! It's right there! I'm not going to dignify that dimwitted question with an answer at this point."

Which one was it? I truly cannot tell if he's making a joke or being genuinely upset, and in either case, what he meant to convey. Also, it's still possible in my mind that this is some sort of "cut" and he didn't really say it like that at all - or maybe the entire clip is "AI generated."

JRE
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Rhonin Markell
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    It sounds to me like a modern person doing an impression of Tolkien (a younger person doing a fake shaky voice to sound old), not Tolkien's actual voice (which among other things was significantly deeper, listen here). Can't find anything definitive, but this youtube comment and some of the replies to it say the same thing. – Hypnosifl May 15 '22 at 13:55
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    This is not a recording of Tolkien. – ibid May 15 '22 at 14:43
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    It could be a good idea to include in the question a transcription of [the most important parts of] the video, in case it later becomes unavailable. – lfurini May 15 '22 at 15:53
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    Youtube is such a reliable source of information... – Amarth May 15 '22 at 17:23
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    The capitalization in the title confused me; I was expecting to hear Tolkien explaining why he thought "Witchy Woman" was a better track than "Peaceful Easy Feeling". ;-) – Nate Eldredge May 16 '22 at 18:21
  • @NateEldredge "Welcome to the Hotel Eisengard-yeah! Such a lovely place..." – Machavity May 16 '22 at 19:24
  • @Machavity: Well, I tried to be a little more historically accurate; Tolkien was alive when Eagles was released, but died before Hotel California. – Nate Eldredge May 16 '22 at 19:26

3 Answers3

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The clip you linked is not an actual recording of J.R.R. Tolkien. It is a person on YouTube doing an impression of Tolkien as a joke.

I thought this was pretty obvious by both the voice (which sounds more like "generic British old person" than actually Tolkien), and by the content (which isn't something he'd be saying).

But if that isn't enough, the person who uploaded it has since uploaded another video admitting that it was fake.

So I just wanted to address something. I get a lot of comments on the video that I did - it was an impression - it was called 'Tolkien explains why they didn't fly the eagles to mordor'. A lot of people are still talking in the comments. Most people do know it's just an impression - it's not real, but other people are saying that it is real, that they they know what tolkien sounds like, and I'm just here to put those to rest. It is not real, it is just an impression I did. If you want proof:

[in Tolkien voice:] The-the way I-I-I do the the voice for Tolkien is

I kind of close off the back of my throat a little bit

[in Tolkien voice:] at the English accent, I th-th-throw in a little bit of the stutter and that's basically how I do the Tolkien impression. And if you do believe that it's an actual interview clip from the professor himself, um you know, um, ... shut up!

ibid
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If you scroll down into the comments below that video, you'll learn that the individual who posted it (Asher Puls) has stated that this is a satirical impersonation.

JD It’s a shame that this isn’t an actual recording of him, I still believe that this is something he’d say

S7: Are you sure it's not?

Asher Puls: it's not. It's just an impression I did

Valorum
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The Creator here! Yes. This was simply a joke video I made in 5 minutes while bored at work one day. I honestly didn't expect it to blow up like it did. But no, it is not an actual recording of the Professor.

Asher Puls
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