Bret Devereaux Talks Orc Battle Tactics

Bret Devereaux is an ancient and military historian at the University of North Carolina at ...

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Bret Devereaux is an ancient and military historian at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and is here to discuss military tactics of some of fiction’s biggest battles from The Lord of the Rings to Game of Thrones. Can David contain his excitement? Does Sarah understand anything being said?

Show Notes:

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  1. Michael Treschow

    Fantastic conversation. More like this would be great. But that Bret hadn't watched The Last Kingdom (and Sarah had!), was astonishing, though certainly that account of Alfred etc (both on Netflix and in Cornwall's books) doesn't live up to history very well, much less to Tolkien's narrative genius. (Very interesting side-note is that Tolkien's "Notion Club Papers" is partially set at the court of Edward the Elder, Alfred's son and Æthelflæd's brother). One small correction for David, Æthelflæd was never a queen. She was the Lady of the Mercians, and the de facto ruler of Mercia after her husband's (Æthelræd's) death, and technically under the authority of her brother Edward. But the West-Saxons didn't much go in for the title of Queen, even as a consort to a King, as Bishop Asser explains in his Vita Alfredi.

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    Nolan Smith

    More more more of this content please!!!

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  3. Clark Monson

    As an admirer of Tolkien's work for more than a quarter century and a Middle-Earth nerd of (literally) epic proportions, I absolutely loved this episode.

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  4. Paul Homchick

    This is one of the best podcasts I have ever heard. Congratulations!

    And, you don’t have to know anything about Lord of the rings or Game of Thrones to enjoy it (because I don’t).

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  5. Tom.Wales

    So, David... the companion piece is to do a Good Faith podcast, perhaps with Curtis and a historian or theologian, on Christian motifs, ideas and symbolism in fantasy fiction. It would be another humdinger!

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  6. Ewan

    Can we please have Bret as a regular guest? I'd suggest at least monthly. Or maybe weekly. Or maybe just add him as a co-host.

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    Dana Garvey

    The August nerdery is just too much darn fun! As a former military flyer and logistician, I've bored my wife innumerable times in movies and watching TV over the years saying "that airplane would have been out of fuel, bullets and missiles about 30 minutes ago, or "nothing can go that far that fast" to "where are they getting their fresh water?" Professor Deveraux was just terrific. August has lent some serious horsepower to the "Flagship Podcast" argument. Thanks Sarah and David; keep up the fantastic work!

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      Ted Gale

      . . . and, as a former military flyer and logistician, I bet you have a field day with the nonsense from the Star Wars franchise, with tiny one-man craft making interstellar hops, spaceships flying around like there's atmosphere, etc. etc. . . .

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        Dana Garvey

        I see your point, but I suspend disbelief because it is all so fantasy driven. I do laugh though, at what horrific marksmen the Stormtroopers are.

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  8. Michael in Ohio

    Truly epic podcast! A monthly guest appearance perhaps?

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    Jaclyn Brown

    Also, in addition to the Dispatch Book Club, can we have a Dispatch D&D campaign?

    (And I bet in this group, I won't have someone mansplain to me, a Catholic molecular biologist, how religion and science are incompatible. While trying to hit on me.)

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    Jaclyn Brown

    Best AO podcast episode ever.

    I'm sending this episode to all my fiction writing friends. They all enjoy the research part of writing, but it can help to listen to another expert.

    Dr. Devereaux's comments helped me understand while I watch GOT once through and set it aside, while I still play Skyrim, Oblivion, and Morrowind. We're taking over 15 years of Elder Scrolls RPGs. There's something off about the secularism is the GOT setting. Why take the time to create a pantheon that like four people utilize? In Elder Scrolls, almost everyone is religious (and your choice of career is not dependent on gender). In a series with thousands of characters, there's like five atheists. (You, the player, can role play as one as well, but you end up talking to a lot of supreme beings. Sometimes you end up as one.)

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