He was a gifted linguist, influenced by Germanic, Celtic, Finnish, Slavic, and Greek language and mythology. His fiction reflected his Christian beliefs and his early reading of adventure stories and fantasy books. Commentators have attempted to identify many literary and topological antecedents for characters, places and events in Tolkien's writings. Some writers were certainly important to him, including the Arts and Crafts polymath William Morris, and he undoubtedly made use of some real place-names, such as Bag End, the name of his aunt's home.
Tolkien was a professional philologist, a scholar of comparative and historical linguistics. He was especially familiar with Old English and related languages. He remarked to the poet and The New York Times book reviewer Harvey Breit that "I am a philologist and all my work is philological"; he explained to his American publisher Houghton Mifflin that this was meant to imply that his work was "all of a piece, and fundamentally linguistic [sic] in inspiration. ... The invention of languages is the foundation. The 'stories' were made rather to provide a world for the languages than the reverse. To me a name comes first and the story follows."[7]
Tolkien began his mythology with the 1914 poem The Voyage of Earendel the Evening Star, inspired by the Old English poem Crist 1.[8][5] Around 1915, he had the idea that his constructed language Quenya was spoken by Elves whom Eärendil meets during his journeys.[9] From there, he wrote the Lay of Earendel, telling of Earendel and his voyages and how his ship is turned into the morning star.[10][11][4][12] These lines from Crist 1 also gave Tolkien the term Middle-earth (translating Old EnglishMiddangeard). Accordingly, the medievalists Stuart D. Lee and Elizabeth Solopova state that Crist 1 was "the catalyst for Tolkien's mythology".[8][5][6]
Tolkien was an expert on Old English literature, especially the epic poem Beowulf, and made many uses of it in The Lord of the Rings. For example, Beowulf's list of creatures, eotenas ond ylfe ond orcnéas, "ettens [giants] and elves and demon-corpses", contributed to his creation of some of the races of beings in Middle-earth, though with so little information about what elves were like, he was forced to combine scraps from all the Old English sources he could find.[14]
He derived the Ents from a phrase in another Old English poem, Maxims II, orþanc enta geweorc, "skilful work of giants";[15] The Tolkien scholar Tom Shippey suggests that Tolkien took the name of the tower of Orthanc (orþanc) from the same phrase, reinterpreted as "Orthanc, the Ents' fortress".[16] The word occurs again in Beowulf in the phrase searonet seowed, smiþes orþancum, "[a mail-shirt, a] cunning-net sewn, by a smith's skill": Tolkien used searo in its Mercian form *saru for the name of Orthanc's ruler, the wizard Saruman, incorporating the ideas of cunning and technology into Saruman's character.[17] He made use of Beowulf, too, along with other Old English sources, for many aspects of the Riders of Rohan: for instance, their land was the Mark, a version of the Mercia where he lived, in Mercian dialect *Marc.[18]
Several Middle-earth concepts may have come from the Old English word Sigelwara, used in the Codex Junius to mean "Aethiopian".[21][22] Tolkien wondered why there was a word with this meaning, and conjectured that it had once had a different meaning, which he explored in detail in his essay "Sigelwara Land", published in two parts in 1932 and 1934.[19] He stated that Sigel meant "both sun and jewel", the former as it was the name of the sun rune *sowilō (ᛋ), the latter from Latin sigillum, a seal.[20] He decided that the second element was *hearwa, possibly related to Old English heorð, "hearth", and ultimately to Latin carbo, "soot". He suggested this implied a class of demons "with red-hot eyes that emitted sparks and faces black as soot".[19] Shippey states that this "helped to naturalise the Balrog" (a demon of fire) and contributed to the sun-jewel Silmarils.[23] The Aethiopians suggested to Tolkien the Haradrim, a dark southern race of men.[a][24]
In 1928, a 4th-century pagan cult temple was excavated at Lydney Park, Gloucestershire.[26] Tolkien was asked to investigate a Latin inscription there: "For the god Nodens. Silvianus has lost a ring and has donated one-half [its worth] to Nodens. Among those who are called Senicianus do not allow health until he brings it to the temple of Nodens."[27] The Anglo-Saxon name for the place was Dwarf's Hill, and in 1932 Tolkien traced Nodens to the Irish hero Nuada Airgetlám, "Nuada of the Silver-Hand".[28]
Shippey thought this "a pivotal influence" on Tolkien's Middle-earth, combining as it did a god-hero, a ring, dwarves, and a silver hand.[25] The J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia notes also the "Hobbit-like appearance of [Dwarf's Hill]'s mine-shaft holes", and that Tolkien was extremely interested in the hill's folklore on his stay there, citing Helen Armstrong's comment that the place may have inspired Tolkien's "Celebrimbor and the fallen realms of Moria and Eregion".[25][29] The Lydney curator Sylvia Jones said that Tolkien was "surely influenced" by the site.[30] The scholar of English literature John M. Bowers notes that the name of the Elven-smith Celebrimbor is the Sindarin for "Silver Hand", and that "Because the place was known locally as Dwarf's Hill and honeycombed with abandoned mines, it naturally suggested itself as background for the Lonely Mountain and the Mines of Moria."[31]
Tolkien was a devout Roman Catholic. He once described The Lord of the Rings to his friend, the English Jesuit Father Robert Murray, as "a fundamentally religious and Catholic work, unconsciously so at first, but consciously in the revision."[32] Many theological themes underlie the narrative, including the battle of good versus evil, the triumph of humility over pride, and the activity of grace, as seen with Frodo's pity toward Gollum. In addition the epic includes the themes of death and immortality, mercy and pity, resurrection, salvation, repentance, self-sacrifice, free will, justice, fellowship, authority and healing. Tolkien mentions the Lord's Prayer, especially the line "And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil" in connection with Frodo's struggles against the power of the One Ring.[33] Tolkien said "Of course God is in The Lord of the Rings. The period was pre-Christian, but it was a monotheistic world", and when questioned who was the One God of Middle-earth, Tolkien replied "The one, of course! The book is about the world that God created – the actual world of this planet."[34]
The Bible and traditional Christian narrative also influenced The Silmarillion. The conflict between Melkor and Eru Ilúvatar parallels that between Satan and God.[35] Further, The Silmarillion tells of the creation and fall of the Elves, as Genesis tells of the creation and fall of Man.[36] As with all of Tolkien's works, The Silmarillion allows room for later Christian history, and one version of Tolkien's drafts even has Finrod, a character in The Silmarillion, speculating on the necessity of Eru Ilúvatar's eventual incarnation to save Mankind.[37]
A specifically Christian influence is the notion of the fall of man, which influenced the Ainulindalë, the Kinslaying at Alqualondë, and the fall of Númenor.[38]
Tolkien was influenced by Germanic heroic legend, especially its Norse and Old English forms. During his education at King Edward's School in Birmingham, he read and translated from the Old Norse in his free time. One of his first Norse purchases was the Völsunga saga. While a student, Tolkien read the only available English translation[40][39] of the Völsunga saga, the 1870 rendering by William Morris of the Victorian Arts and Crafts movement and Icelandic scholar Eiríkur Magnússon.[41] The Old Norse Völsunga saga and the Middle High GermanNibelungenlied were coeval texts made with the use of the same ancient sources.[42][43] Both of them provided some of the basis for Richard Wagner's opera series, Der Ring des Nibelungen, featuring in particular a magical but cursed golden ring and a broken sword reforged. In the Völsunga saga, these items are respectively Andvaranaut and Gram, and they correspond broadly to the One Ring and the sword Narsil (reforged as Andúril).[44] The Völsunga saga also gives various names found in Tolkien. Tolkien's The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún discusses the saga in relation to the myth of Sigurd and Gudrún.[45]
Tolkien was influenced by Old English poetry, especially Beowulf; Shippey writes that this was "obviously"[46] the work that had most influence upon him. The dragon Smaug in The Hobbit is closely based on the Beowulf dragon, the points of similarity including its ferocity, its greed for gold, flying by night, having a well-guarded hoard, and being of great age.[47]
Tolkien made use of the epic poem in The Lord of the Rings in many ways, including elements like the great hall of Heorot, which appears as Meduseld, the Golden Hall of the Kings of Rohan. The Elf Legolas describes Meduseld in a direct translation of line 311 of Beowulf (líxte se léoma ofer landa fela), "The light of it shines far over the land".[48] The name Meduseld, meaning "mead hall", is itself from Beowulf. Shippey writes that the whole chapter "The King of the Golden Hall" is constructed exactly like the section of the poem where the hero and his party approach the King's hall: the visitors are challenged twice; they pile their weapons outside the door; and they hear wise words from the guard, Háma, a man who thinks for himself and takes a risk in making his decision. Both societies have a king, and both rule over a free people where, Shippey states, just obeying orders is not enough.[48]
The figure of Gandalf is based on the Norse deity Odin[49] in his incarnation as "The Wanderer", an old man with one eye, a long white beard, a wide brimmed hat, and a staff. Tolkien wrote in a 1946 letter that he thought of Gandalf as an "Odinic wanderer".[33][50] The Balrog and the collapse of the Bridge of Khazad-dûm in Moria parallel the fire jötunn Surtr and the foretold destruction of Asgard's bridge, Bifröst.[51]
The "straight road" linking Valinor with Middle-Earth after the Second Age further mirrors the Bifröst linking Midgard and Asgard, and the Valar themselves resemble the Æsir, the gods of Asgard.[52]Thor, for example, physically the strongest of the gods, can be seen both in Oromë, who fights the monsters of Melkor, and in Tulkas, the strongest of the Valar.[49] Manwë, the head of the Valar, has some similarities to Odin, the "Allfather".[49] The division between the Calaquendi (Elves of Light) and Moriquendi (Elves of Darkness) echoes the Norse division of light elves and dark elves.[53] The light elves of Norse mythology are associated with the gods, much as the Calaquendi are associated with the Valar.[54][55]
Some critics have suggested that The Lord of the Rings was directly derived from Richard Wagner's opera cycle, Der Ring des Nibelungen, whose plot also centres on a powerful ring from Germanic mythology.[56] Others have argued that any similarity is due to the common influence of the Völsunga saga and the Nibelungenlied on both authors.[57][58] Tolkien sought to dismiss critics' direct comparisons to Wagner, telling his publisher, "Both rings were round, and there the resemblance ceases."[59] According to Humphrey Carpenter's biography of Tolkien, the author claimed to hold Wagner's interpretation of the relevant Germanic myths in contempt, even as a young man before reaching university.[60] Some researchers take an intermediate position: that both the authors used the same sources, but that Tolkien was influenced by Wagner's development of the mythology,[61][62] especially the conception of the Ring as conferring world mastery.[63] Wagner probably developed this element by combining the ring with a magical wand mentioned in the Nibelungenlied that could give to its wearer the control over "the race of men".[64][65] Some argue that Tolkien's denial of a Wagnerian influence was an over-reaction to statements about the Ring by Åke Ohlmarks, Tolkien's Swedish translator.[66][67] Others believe that Tolkien was reacting against the links between Wagner's work and Nazism.[68][69][b]
Tolkien was "greatly affected"[38] by the Finnish national epic Kalevala, especially the tale of Kullervo, as an influence on Middle-earth. He credited Kullervo's story with being the "germ of [his] attempt to write legends".[72] He tried to rework the story of Kullervo into a story of his own, and though he never finished,[73] similarities to the story can still be seen in the tale of Túrin Turambar. Both are tragic heroes who accidentally commit incest with their sister who on finding out kills herself by leaping into water. Both heroes later kill themselves after asking their sword if it will slay them, which it confirms.[74]
Like The Lord of the Rings, the Kalevala centres around a magical item of great power, the Sampo, which bestows great fortune on its owner, but whose exact nature is never made clear;[75] it has been considered a World pillar (Axis mundi) among other possibilities.[76] Scholars including Randel Helms have suggested that the Sampo contributed to Tolkien's Silmarils that form a central element of his legendarium.[77] Jonathan Himes has suggested further that Tolkien found the Sampo complex, and chose to split the Sampo's parts into desirable objects. The pillar became the Two Trees of Valinor with their Tree of life aspect, illuminating the world. The decorated lid became the brilliant Silmarils, which embodied all that was left of the light of the Two Trees, thus tying the symbols together.[78]
Like the One Ring, the Sampo is fought over by forces of good and evil, and is ultimately lost to the world as it is destroyed towards the end of the story. The work's central character, Väinämöinen, shares with Gandalf immortal origins and wise nature, and both works end with the character's departure on a ship to lands beyond the mortal world. Tolkien also based elements of his Elvish languageQuenya on Finnish.[75][79] Other critics have identified similarities between Väinämöinen and Tom Bombadil.[71]
Influence from Greek mythology is apparent in the disappearance of the island of Númenor, recalling Atlantis.[82] Tolkien's Elvish name "Atalantë" for Númenor resembles Plato's Atlantis,[83] furthering the illusion that his mythology simply extends the history and mythology of the real world.[84] In his Letters, however, Tolkien described this merely as a "curious chance."[85]
Classical mythology colours the Valar, who borrow many attributes from the Olympian gods.[86] The Valar, like the Olympians, live in the world, but on a high mountain, separated from mortals;[87]Ulmo, Lord of the Waters, owes much to Poseidon, and Manwë, the Lord of the Air and King of the Valar, to Zeus.[86]
Tolkien compared Beren and Lúthien with Orpheus and Eurydice, but with the gender roles reversed.[80]Oedipus is mentioned in connection with Túrin in the Children of Húrin, among other mythological figures:
There is the Children of Húrin, the tragic tale of Túrin Turambar and his sister Níniel – of which Túrin is the hero: a figure that might be said (by people who like that sort of thing, though it is not very useful) to be derived from elements in Sigurd the Volsung, Oedipus, and the Finnish Kullervo.[38]
Fëanor has been compared with Prometheus by researchers such as Verlyn Flieger. They share a symbolical and literal association with fire, are both rebels against the gods' decrees and, basically, inventors of artefacts that were sources of light, or vessels to divine flame.[88]
The extent of Celtic influence has been debated. Tolkien wrote that he gave the Elvish language Sindarin "a linguistic character very like (though not identical with) Welsh ... because it seems to fit the rather 'Celtic' type of legends and stories told of its speakers".[90] Some names of characters and places in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings have Welsh origin; for instance, Crickhollow in the Shire recalls the Welsh placename Crickhowell,[91] while the hobbit name Meriadoc has been suggested as an allusion to a legendary king of Brittany,[92] though Tolkien denied any connection.[93] In addition, the depiction of Elves has been described as deriving from Celtic mythology.[94]
Tolkien wrote of "a certain distaste" for Celtic legends, "largely for their fundamental unreason",[95] but The Silmarillion is thought by scholars to have some Celtic influence. The exile of the Noldorin Elves, for example, has parallels with the story of the Tuatha Dé Danann.[96] The Tuatha Dé Danann, semi-divine beings, invaded Ireland from across the sea, burning their ships when they arrived and fighting a fierce battle with the current inhabitants. The Noldor arrived in Middle-earth from Valinor and burned their ships, then turned to fight Melkor. Another parallel can be seen between the loss of a hand by Maedhros, son of Fëanor, and the similar mutilation suffered by Nuada Airgetlám / Llud llaw Ereint ("Silver Hand/Arm") during the battle with the Firbolg.[97][98] Nuada received a hand made of silver to replace the lost one, and his later appellation has the same meaning as the Elvish name Celebrimbor: "silver fist" or "Hand of silver" in Sindarin (Telperinquar in Quenya).[99][31]
Arthurian Legends
The Arthurian legends are part of the Celtic and Welsh cultural heritage. Tolkien denied their influence, but critics have found several parallels.[100][101][102][103] Authors such as Donald O'Brien, Patrick Wynne, Carl Hostetter, and Tom Shippey have pointed out similarities between the tale of Beren and Lúthien in The Silmarillion and Culhwch and Olwen, a tale in the Welsh Mabinogion. In both, the male heroes make rash promises after having been stricken by the beauty of non-mortal maidens; both enlist the aid of great kings, Arthur and Finrod; both show rings that prove their identities; and both are set impossible tasks that include, directly or indirectly, the hunting and killing of ferocious beasts (the wild boars, Twrch Trwyth and Ysgithrywyn, and the wolf Carcharoth) with the help of a supernatural hound (Cafall and Huan). Both maidens possess such beauty that flowers grow beneath their feet when they come to meet the heroes for the first time, as if they were living embodiments of spring.[104] The Mabinogion was part of the Red Book of Hergest, a source of Welsh Celtic lore, which the Red Book of Westmarch, a supposed source of Hobbit-lore, probably imitates.[105]
Gandalf has been compared with Merlin,[106] Frodo and Aragorn with Arthur,[107] and Galadriel with the Lady of the Lake.[100] Flieger has investigated the correlations and Tolkien's creative methods.[108] She points out visible correspondences such as Avalon and Avallónë, and Brocéliande and Broceliand, the original name of Beleriand.[109] Tolkien himself said that Frodo's and Bilbo's departure to Tol Eressëa (also called "Avallon" in the Legendarium) was an "Arthurian ending".[109][110] Such correlations are discussed in the posthumously published The Fall of Arthur; a section, "The Connection to the Quenta", explores Tolkien's use of Arthurian material in The Silmarillion.[111] Another parallel is between the Arthurian tale of Sir Balin and that of Tolkien's Túrin Turambar. Though Balin knows he wields an accursed sword, he continues his quest to regain King Arthur's favour. Fate catches up with him when he unwittingly kills his own brother, who mortally wounds him. Turin accidentally kills his friend Beleg with his sword.[112]
Slavic
There are a few echoes of Slavic mythology in Tolkien's novels, such as the names of the wizard Radagast and his home at Rhosgobel in Rhovanion; all three appear to be connected with the Slavic godRodegast, a god of the sun, war, hospitality, fertility, and harvest.[113] The Anduin, the Sindarin name for The Great River of Rhovanion, may be related to the Danube River, which flows mainly among the Slavic people and played an important role in their folklore.[113]
History
The Battle of the Pelennor Fields towards the end of The Lord of the Rings may have been inspired by a conflict of real-world antiquity. Elizabeth Solopova notes that Tolkien repeatedly referred to a historic account of the Battle of the Catalaunian Fields by Jordanes, and analyses the two battles' similarities. Both battles take place between civilisations of the "East" and "West", and like Jordanes, Tolkien describes his battle as one of legendary fame that lasted for several generations. Another apparent similarity is the death of king Theodoric I on the Catalaunian Fields and that of Théoden on the Pelennor. Jordanes reports that Theodoric was thrown off by his horse and trampled to death by his own men who charged forward. Théoden rallies his men shortly before he falls and is crushed by his horse. And like Theodoric, Théoden is carried from the battlefield with his knights weeping and singing for him while the battle still goes on.[114][115]
Scholars including Nick Groom place Tolkien in the tradition of English antiquarianism, where 18th century authors like Thomas Chatterton, Thomas Percy, and William Stukeley created a wide variety of antique-seeming materials much as Tolkien did, including calligraphy, invented language, forged medieval manuscripts, genealogies, maps, heraldry, and a mass of invented paratexts such as notes and glossaries.[116] Will Sherwood comments that these non-narrative elements "will all sound familiar as they are the techniques that [Tolkien] used to immerse readers into Arda."[117] Sherwood argues that Tolkien intentionally set about improving on antiquarian forgery, eventually creating "the codes and conventions of modern fantasy literature".[117]
Thomas Kullmann and Dirk Siepmann write that The Lord of the Rings imitates "epic poetry from ancient Greece, Ireland and England; early modern romances, folklore and fairy tales; rhetorical traditions and popular poetry", adding that the tradition Tolkien uses most is none of those, but the often overlooked influence of "nineteenth- and early twentieth-century novel-writing."[118]
Claire Buck, writing in the J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia, explores his literary context,[119] while Dale Nelson in the same work surveys 24 authors whose works are paralleled by elements in Tolkien's writings.[120] Postwar literary figures such as Anthony Burgess, Edwin Muir and Philip Toynbee sneered at The Lord of the Rings, but others like Naomi Mitchison and Iris Murdoch respected the work, and W. H. Auden championed it. Those early critics dismissed Tolkien as non-modernist. Later critics have placed Tolkien closer to the modernist tradition with his emphasis on language and temporality, while his pastoral emphasis is shared with First World War poets and the Georgian movement. Buck suggests that if Tolkien was intending to create a new mythology for England, that would fit the tradition of English post-colonial literature and the many novelists and poets who reflected on the state of modern English society and the nature of Englishness.[119]
Tolkien acknowledged a few authors, such as John Buchan and H. Rider Haggard, as writing excellent stories.[120] Tolkien stated that he "preferred the lighter contemporary novels", such as Buchan's.[121] Critics have detailed resonances between the two authors.[120][122] Auden compared The Fellowship of the Ring to Buchan's thriller The Thirty-Nine Steps.[123] Nelson states that Tolkien responded rather directly to the "mythopoeic and straightforward adventure romance" in Haggard.[120] Tolkien wrote that stories about "Red Indians" were his favourites as a boy; Shippey likens the Fellowship's trip downriver, from Lothlórien to Tol Brandir "with its canoes and portages", to James Fenimore Cooper's 1826 historical romance The Last of the Mohicans.[124] Shippey writes that Éomer's riders of Rohan in the scene in the Eastemnet wheel and circle "round the strangers, weapons poised" in a way "more like the old movies' image of the Comanche or the Cheyenne than anything from English history".[125]
When interviewed, the only book Tolkien named as a favourite was Rider Haggard's adventure novel She: "I suppose as a boy She interested me as much as anything—like the Greek shard of Amyntas [Amenartas], which was the kind of machine by which everything got moving."[126] A supposed facsimile of this potsherd appeared in Haggard's first edition, and the ancient inscription it bore, once translated, led the English characters to She's ancient kingdom, perhaps influencing the Testament of Isildur in The Lord of the Rings[127] and Tolkien's efforts to produce a realistic-looking page from the Book of Mazarbul.[128] Critics starting with Edwin Muir[129] have found resemblances between Haggard's romances and Tolkien's.[130][131][132][133] Saruman's death has been compared to the sudden shrivelling of Ayesha when she steps into the flame of immortality.[120]
Parallels between The Hobbit and Jules Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth include a hidden runic message and a celestial alignment that direct the adventurers to the goals of their quests.[134]
Tolkien wrote of being impressed as a boy by Samuel Rutherford Crockett's historical fantasy novel The Black Douglas and of using it for the battle with the wargs in The Fellowship of the Ring;[135] critics have suggested other incidents and characters that it may have inspired,[136][137] but others have cautioned that the evidence is limited.[120] Tolkien stated that he had read many of Edgar Rice Burroughs' books, but denied that the Barsoom novels influenced his giant spiders such as Shelob and Ungoliant: "I developed a dislike for his Tarzan even greater than my distaste for spiders. Spiders I had met long before Burroughs began to write, and I do not think he is in any way responsible for Shelob. At any rate I retain no memory of the Siths or the Apts."[138]
On publication of The Lord of the Rings there was speculation that the One Ring was an allegory for the atomic bomb; Alan Nicholls wrote that "The closeness of its analogy to the human situation gives it a dreadful reality and relevance. It is a prose-poet's rendering of the mental twilight of the modern world, darkened as it is by the black power ... of the atom bomb".[155] The poet and novelist Edwin Muir disagreed, writing that it could not directly equated with the hydrogen bomb, as it "seems to stand for evil itself".[155] Tolkien insisted that the book was not allegorical,[156] and pointed out that he had completed most of the book, including the ending, before the first use of atomic bombs.[157] However, in a 1960 letter, he wrote that "The Dead Marshes [just north of Mordor] and the approaches to the Morannon [an entrance to Mordor] owe something to northern France after the Battle of the Somme",[158] and, in the foreword to The Lord of the Rings, that the First World War was "no less hideous an experience" for its young participants than the Second.[156][154] In September and October 1916, Tolkien took part in the Battle of the Somme as a signals officer, before being sent home with trench fever.[159][160][161] Tolkien scholars agree that Tolkien responded to the war by creating his Middle-earth legendarium.[162][163][164][165] Commentators have suggested multiple correspondences between Tolkien's wartime experiences and aspects of his Middle-earth writings. For example, the metallic dragons that attack the Elves in the final battle of The Fall of Gondolin are reminiscent of the newly-invented tanks that Tolkien saw.[166] Tolkien's fellow-InklingC. S. Lewis, who fought in the 1917 Battle of Arras, wrote that The Lord of the Rings realistically portrayed "the very quality of the war my generation knew", including "the flying civilians, the lively, vivid friendships, the background of something like despair and the merry foreground, and such heavensent windfalls as a cache of tobacco 'salvaged' from a ruin".[167]
Tolkien was a core member of the Inklings, an informal literary discussion group associated with the University of Oxford between the early 1930s and late 1949.[168] The group shared in Colin Duriez's words "a guiding vision of the relationship of imagination and myth to reality and of a Christian worldview in which a pagan spirituality is seen as prefiguring the advent of Christ and the Christian story."[169] Shippey adds that the group was "preoccupied" with "virtuous pagans", and that The Lord of the Rings is plainly a tale of such people in the dark past before Christian revelation.[170] He further writes that what Tolkien called the Northern theory of courage, namely that even total defeat does not make what is right wrong, was "a vital belief" shared by Tolkien and other Inklings.[171] The group considered philosophical issues, too, which found their way into Tolkien's writings, among them the ancient debate within Christianity on the nature of evil. Shippey notes Elrond's Boethian statement that "nothing is evil in the beginning. Even [the Dark Lord] Sauron was not so",[172] in other words all things were created good; but that the Inklings, as evidenced by C. S. Lewis's Mere Christianity, book 2, section 2, to some extent tolerated the Manichean view that Good and Evil are equally powerful, and battle it out in the world.[173] Shippey writes that Tolkien's Ringwraiths embody an Inkling and Boethian idea found in Lewis and Charles Williams, that of things being bent out of shape, the word wraith suggesting "writhe" and "wrath", glossed as "a twisted emotion"; even the world became bent, so men could no longer sail the old straight road westwards to the Undying Lands. All the same, Shippey writes, Tolkien's personal war experience was Manichean: evil seemed at least as powerful as good, and could easily have been victorious, a strand which can also be seen in Middle-earth.[174] At a personal level, Lewis's friendship greatly encouraged Tolkien to keep going with The Lord of the Rings; he wrote that without Lewis "I should never have brought The L. of the R. to a conclusion."[175]
Notes
^In drafts of The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien toyed with names such as Harwan and Sunharrowland for Harad; Christopher Tolkien notes that these are connected to his father's Sigelwara Land.[24]
^The DVD of Peter Jackson's film of The Return of the King ends with a quotation of the Siegfried theme from the Ring of the Nibelungen; the scholar of film and film music Kevin J. Donnelly writes that the reference is ambiguous, being possibly a musical joke, perhaps a comment on the similarity of the two stories, or maybe an oblique allusion to "the troubling racial imaginary of Tolkien's world and Peter Jackson's trilogy of films".[70] See also Music of The Lord of the Rings film series.
^Lee, Stuart D. (2020) A Companion to J. R. R. Tolkien, Wiley: Philology 13-14 Christianity 446-460 Mythology 244-258 Old English 217-229 Modern literature 350-366 War 461-472 Invented languages 202-214 Art 487-472 Poetry 173-188
^ abJ. R. R. Tolkien (1989), ed. Christopher Tolkien, The Treason of Isengard, Unwin Hyman, ch. XXV p. 435 & p. 439 note 4 (comments by Christopher Tolkien)
^J. R. R. Tolkien, "The Name Nodens", Appendix to "Report on the excavation of the prehistoric, Roman and post-Roman site in Lydney Park, Gloucestershire", Reports of the Research Committee of the Society of Antiquaries of London, 1932; also in Tolkien Studies: An Annual Scholarly Review, Vol. 4, 2007
^Armstrong, Helen (May 1997). "And Have an Eye to That Dwarf". Amon Hen: The Bulletin of the Tolkien Society (145): 13–14.
^Byock 1990. "The source for this quality seems to have been a relatively insignificant line from the Nibelungenlied, which says that the Nibelung treasure included a tiny golden wand that could make its possessor the lord of all mankind. [1]"
^Chism, Christine (2002). "Middle-Earth, the Middle Ages, and the Aryan Nation: Myth and History during World War II". In Chance, Jane (ed.). Tolkien the Medievalist. Routledge Studies in Medieval Religion and Culture. Vol. 3. Routledge. ISBN0-415-28944-0.
^ abGay, David Elton (2004). "J.R.R. Tolkien and the Kalevala: Some Thoughts on the Finnish Origins of Tom Bombadil and Treebeard". In Chance, Jane (ed.). Tolkien and the invention of myth: a reader. University Press of Kentucky. pp. 295–304. ISBN978-0-8131-2301-1.
^Carpenter 2023, #257 to Christopher Bretherton, 16 July 1964
^Stanton, Michael (2001). Hobbits, Elves, and Wizards: Exploring the Wonders and Worlds of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 18. ISBN1-4039-6025-9.
^Shippey 2005, pp. 193–194: "The hunting of the great wolf recalls the chase of the boar Twrch Trwyth in the Welsh Mabinogion, while the motif of 'the hand in the wolf's mouth' is one of the most famous parts of the Prose Edda, told of Fenris Wolf and the god Týr; Huan recalls several faithful hounds of legend, Garm, Gelert, Cafall."
^Hooker 2006, pp. 176–177, "The Feigned-manuscript Topos": "The 1849 translation of The Red Book of Hergest by Lady Charlotte Guest (1812–1895), ... The Mabinogion, ... is now housed in the library at Jesus College, Oxford. Tolkien's well-known love of Welsh suggests that he would have likewise been well-acquainted with the source of Lady Guest's translation. ... Tolkien wanted to write (translate) a mythology for England, and Lady Charlotte Guest's work can easily be said to be a 'mythology for Wales.'
^Flieger 2005, p. 42 "To Bilbo and Frodo the special grace is granted to go with the Elves they loved – an Arthurian ending, in which it is, of course, not made explicit whether this is an 'allegory' of death, or a mode of healing and restoration leading to a return."
^Rogers, William N., II; Underwood, Michael R. "Gagool and Gollum: Exemplars of Degeneration in King Solomon's Mines and The Hobbit". In Clark & Timmons 2000, pp. 121–132
^"Lord of the Rings inspiration in the archives". Explore the Past (Worcestershire Historic Environment Record). 29 May 2013. Andrew Morton, used this catalogue as one of his sources and reproduced it in full. He discovered that the farm was owned by Tolkien's aunt in the 1920s and was visited by the author on at least a couple of occasions. The name is probably all that was used, as the farm bears little resemblance otherwise to the Hobbit dwelling of the books.
^Manni, Franco; Bonechi, Simone (2008). "The Complexity of Tolkien's Attitude Towards the Second World War". The Ring Goes Ever On: Proceedings of the Tolkien 2005 Conference. The Tolkien Society.
^Carpenter 2023, #226 to Professor L. W. Forster, 31 December 1960
^Kilby, Clyde S.; Mead, Marjorie Lamp, eds. (1982). Brothers and Friends: The Diaries of Major Warren Hamilton Lewis. Harper & Row. p. 230. ISBN0-06-064575-X.
Simek, Rudolf (2005). Mittelerde: Tolkien und die germanische Mythologie [Middle-earth: Tolkien and the Germanic Mythology] (in German). C. H. Beck. ISBN978-3406528378.
Señorío de la Casa de Rubianes Armas de los señores de la Casa de RubianesPrimer titular García de Caamaño de MendozaConcesión Carlos I de España4 de febrero de 1535Linajes de Caamaño, de Mendoza, de Oca, Gayoso, OzoresActual titular Beatriz Ozores y Rey[editar datos en Wikidata] El señorío de la Casa de Rubianes es un señorío jurisdiccional otorgado al fundador de Villagarcía, posteriormente convertido en título nobiliario español.[1] El mayorazgo fue fundado ...
لمعانٍ أخرى، طالع جورج والتون (توضيح). جورج والتون (بالإنجليزية: George Walton) معلومات شخصية الميلاد سنة 1749فرجينيا الوفاة 2 فبراير 1804 (54–55 سنة)أوغوستا، جورجيا مكان الدفن جورجيا الجنسية الولايات المتحدة الأمريكية مناصب عضو مجلس الشيوخ الأمريكي[1] ...
Coupe du monde de combiné nordique 2017-2018 Généralités Sport Combiné nordique Organisateur(s) FIS Éditions 35e édition Date du 24 novembre 2017 au 23 mars 2018 Épreuves 28 Site web officiel fis-ski.com/nordic-combined Palmarès Vainqueur Akito Watabe Deuxième Jan Schmid Troisième Fabian Riessle Navigation 2016-2017 2018-2019 modifier La coupe du monde de combiné nordique 2017-2018 est la 35e édition de la coupe du monde de combiné nordique, compétition de combiné no...
Brasão de Armas da Casa de Portocarrero Alonso Portocarreiro XIII Senhor de Moguer (? - 1622) foi além de XIII Senhor de Moguer o V Marquês de Villanueva del Fresno, senhorios da Casa de Portocarreiro . Foi filho de João Portocarreiro foi o XII Senhor de Moguer e capitão-General das galés do Reino de Portugal corria o ano de 1621. Veio a casar com Isabel da Cueva, filha de D. Álvaro de Bazán, Marquês de Santa Cruz de Mudela, militar que desbaratou a armada luso-francesa de D. Antóni...
Частина серії статей на тему:ІсламАллахАллах Єдинобожність • Історія • Термінологія П'ять стовпів Благодійність Молитва Паломництво до Мекки Піст Символ віри Ключові особи Пророки ісламу Магомет Його сподвижники і нащадки Халіфи Книги і закони Коран Сунна Хадис Мазг�...
Chinese snooker player In this Chinese name, the family name is Zhao (赵). Zhao XintongZhao at the 2016 Paul Hunter ClassicBorn (1997-04-03) 3 April 1997 (age 26)Xi’an, Shaanxi, ChinaSport country ChinaNicknameThe Cyclone[1]Professional2016–Present Currently suspended until 1 September 2024Highest ranking6 (May 2022)Century breaks136Tournament winsRanking2 Medal record Men's Snooker Representing China Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games 2017 Ashgabat Singles 2017 ...
أولمبيك مارسيليا الاسم الكامل نادي أولمبيك مارسيليا اللقب Les Phocéens (الفوكايا) Les Olympiens (الأولمبيون) الاسم المختصر OM تأسس عام 1899 (منذ 124 سنة) الملعب ستاد فيلودروم، مارسيليا(السعة: 60،031) البلد فرنسا الدوري الدوري الفرنسي 2021–22 الثاني الإدارة المالك فرانك ماكورت (95%) مارجريتا ل�...
1920 film by George Terwilliger The Fatal HourWid's Daily advertDirected byGeorge W. TerwilligerWritten byJulia BurnhamBased onplay by Cecil RaleighProduced byMaxwell KargerStarringThomas W. RossWilfred LytellCinematographyLouis J. DunmyreProductioncompanyMetro PicturesDistributed byMetro PicturesRelease date November 1, 1920 (1920-11-01) Running time60 minutesCountryUnited StatesLanguageSilent (English intertitles) The Fatal Hour is a lost[1] 1920 American feature-leng...
This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.Find sources: Foxbat film – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (June 2019) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) 1977 Hong Kong filmFoxbatDVD coverDirected byPo-Chih LeongScreenplay byLes RobertsTerence YoungStory byPhilip ChanPo-Chih LeongProduc...
2012 video gameUFC Undisputed 3Cover art featuring former UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson The Spider Silva, who won a fan vote to appear on the cover of the game.Developer(s)Yuke'sPublisher(s)THQComposer(s)Pride FC music composed by Yasuharu TakanashiPlatform(s)PlayStation 3, Xbox 360ReleaseNA: 14 February 2012EU: 14 February 2012AU: 16 February 2012JP: 1 March 2012Genre(s)SportsMode(s)Single-player, multiplayer UFC Undisputed 3 is a mixed martial arts video game featuring Ultimate Fightin...
Religious procession in the Philippines Intramuros Grand Marian ProcessionThe procession in 2023, with the image of Our Lady of the Pillar of ImusAlso calledIGMPObserved byIntramuros, ManilaLiturgical colorWhite, Gold and BlueTypeCultural, CatholicSignificanceIn honor to the Blessed Virgin Mary, Preparation for the feast of the Immaculate Conception and Gathering of all canonical and episcopal crown Marian images and icons throughout the PhilippinesCelebrationsHoly MassProcessionsObserva...
List of longest words in the English language The identity of the longest word in English depends on the definition of a word and of length. Words may be derived naturally from the language's roots or formed by coinage and construction. Additionally, comparisons are complicated because place names may be considered words, technical terms may be arbitrarily long, and the addition of suffixes and prefixes may extend the length of words to create grammatically correct but unused or novel words. ...
Novel written by Yoon Ha Lee For the 2011 film, see The Dragon Pearl. For the 2017 TV series, see Legend of Dragon Pearl. This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these template messages) An editor has performed a search and found that sufficient sources exist to establish the subject's notability. These sources can be used to expand the article and may be described in edit summaries or found on the talk p...
2010 American filmFree Willy: Escape from Pirate's CoveDVD coverDirected byWill GeigerScreenplay byWill GeigerStory byCindy McCreeryBased onCharactersby Keith A. WalkerProduced by David Wicht John Stainton Laura Lodin Starring Bindi Irwin Beau Bridges CinematographyRobert MalpageEdited bySabrina PliscoMusic byEnis RotthoffProductioncompanies ApolloMovie Beteiligungs Film Africa Worldwide Warner Premiere Distributed byWarner Home VideoRelease dates March 11, 2010 (2010-03-11)...
American non-profit organization The Climate MuseumEstablishedJuly 2015 (2015-07)LocationNew York City (not yet constructed)Coordinates40°45′20″N 73°58′17″W / 40.755658°N 73.971375°W / 40.755658; -73.971375DirectorMiranda MassieWebsitewww.climatemuseum.org The Climate Museum is a nonprofit organization in New York City and the first museum dedicated to climate change and climate solutions in the United States.[1][2] Its mission is ...
2020 song by Justin Bieber featuring Post Malone and Clever ForeverSong by Justin Bieber featuring Post Malone and Cleverfrom the album Changes GenreTrapLength3:40LabelDef JamSongwriter(s) Justin Bieber Austin Post Joshua Huie Jason Boyd Louis Bell Bernard Harv Harvey Ali Darwish Billy Walsh Producer(s) Poo Bear Harv Audio videoForever on YouTube Forever is a song by Canadian singer Justin Bieber featuring American rappers and singers Post Malone and Clever. This track marks Bieber and Malone...
This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these template messages) This article may have been created or edited in return for undisclosed payments, a violation of Wikipedia's terms of use. It may require cleanup to comply with Wikipedia's content policies, particularly neutral point of view. (April 2021)This biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reli...
Brand name of adhesive bandages and related products This article is about one brand of adhesive bandage. For the musical ensemble, see Band Aid (band). For other uses, see Band Aid. Band-AidProduct typeAdhesive bandage/dressingOwnerKenvueCountryU.S.IntroducedJune 1920 (invention)MarketsWorldwideTagline I am stuck on Band-Aid brand 'cause Band-Aid's stuck on me! (US)[1] Stays on until you want it off (Aus)[2] Websitewww.band-aid.com A close-up of an open Band-Aid Band-Aid is a...
In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Robles and the second or maternal family name is Pezuela. Manuel Robles PezuelaProvisional 28th President of Mexicoby the Plan of TacubayaIn office24 December 1858 – 23 January 1859Preceded byFélix ZuloagaSucceeded byJosé Mariano SalasMinister of War and MarineIn office16 Jan 1851 – 18 Jun 1852PresidentMariano Arista Personal detailsBorn23 May 1817Guanajuato, GuanajuatoDied23 March 1862 (aged 44)Ciudad Serd...