J. R. R. Tolkien: Difference between revisions

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'''John Ronald [[Odd Name Out|Reuel]] Tolkien''' (1892-1973). English linguist (born in Bloemfontein, South Africa), university professor (Leeds and Oxford), Anglo-Saxon historian, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_the_British_Empire CBE], and writer. The man who brought [[High Fantasy]] (and, it could be argued, literary [[Speculative Fiction]] as a whole) to the modern public. His most famous complete works are his tales of "Middle-earth": ''[[The Lord of the Rings (Literature)|The Lord of the Rings]]'' and its prefatory novel, ''[[The Hobbit (Literature)|The Hobbit]]''. A later work, ''[[The Silmarillion (Literature)|The Silmarillion]]'', was published in 1977, shortly after he died. In 2007, a fourth book about Middle-earth was edited from many manuscripts to form a consistent narrative, and published as ''[[The Children of Hurin (Literature)|The Children of Hurin]]''.

 

 

'''Tolkien's Legendarium'''

* [[Cash Cow Franchise]]: With all of the books about Middle-earth out, along with several movies (with a live-action, two-part Hobbit coming in 2012/13), several games, and tons of merchandise based on films and books, quite a bit of money has been made on Tolkien's world.

* [[Changing of the Guard]]: Between ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''

* [[The Corruption]]

* [[Con Lang]]

* [[Fantasy Pantheon]]

* [[Fantasy World Map]]

* [[Five Races]]

* [[Franchise Zombie]]: As explained above, ''The Lord of the Rings'' came into existence only because the publishers wanted a sequel for the immensely popular ''Hobbit'' while Tolkien was more interested in working on his legendarium. Tolkien avoided the negative effects of this trope by incorporating both ''LOTR'' and ''The Hobbit'' into his mythos that was part of the (then unpublished) ''Silmarillion''.

* [[Happily Married]]: To Edith, whom he considered his "Luthien."

* [[Healing Hands]]

* [[Hidden Elf Village]]

* [[High Fantasy]]

* [[Humans Are Warriors]]: All humans except the men of Bree are warriors. Hobbits also avoid warfare, but even these get a few good blows in from time to time.

** The Edain, the three main human tribes allied to the Elves fit this exactly. They got to Elven country by hacking their way through Morgoth's servants. They were allowed land in exchange for fighting for the Elves, which they did with great vigor.

* [[I Gave My Word]]

* [[I Have Many Names]]

** But Thingol got himself killed eventually, and Melian wandered off to, most likely, Fade Into Nothingness.

* [[Inhumanly Beautiful Race]]: Elves in Tolkien's works are almost invariably described as being good looking. The three best looking females in Middle-earth are all Elves. The Valar also count, although they cheat, since their bodies are artificial and custom-made, so their beauty is limited only by ego and imagination.

** For that matter, it's hard to keep from feeling wistful when reading the many fragments of unfinished stories and poems collected by his son Christopher in ''[[The History of Middle Earth (Literature)|The History of Middle Earth]]''. There's even a whole volume of them entitled ''Unfinished Tales.''

* [[When Trees Attack]]: The Ents were created because Tolkien had seen a production of ''[[Macbeth (Theatre)|Macbeth]]'' as a child and was disappointed when it turned out that the forest itself didn't actually attack.

* [[World Building]]

* [[World Shapes]]