J. R. R. Tolkien

J.R.R. Tolkien

Background

John Ronald R Tolkien was an English writer and poet born in Bloemfontein, South Africa on January 3, 1892 to September 2, 1973. His father, Arthur Reuel Tolkien, died when Tolkien was 3 years old and his mother gave Tolkien many different types of literature to read. Tolkien grew up loving to read especially European myths and legends. However, Tolkien was force to join the army as a common soldier and later a lieutenant during World War I. Tolkien was injured one time and took some notes that later created the roots of his world, Middle Earth. Tolkien became a professor after the war and taught Old and Middle English. These languages helped inspire him to write and publish The Hobbit in 1937. Tolkien's big success on the book made his publisher ask Tolkien to write a sequel which took Tolkien 10 years to complete the novel The Lord of the Rings. This book was so big that it was separated into 3 parts: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King. Tolkien helped raised the popularity of fantasy literature that helped other fantasy writer let their books be known.

Influences

Religious Influences

Tolkien's works on the two books, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings has some Christian influences. Many people believe that Tolkien has some religious influences because of the themes in the stories. These include: death and immortality, repentance, justice, hope, authority, and self-sacrifice. Tolkien mentions the Lord's Prayer in The Lord of the Rings to relate with Fredo's struggle against power hunger of the One Ring.

Nordic Influences

Odin

Tolkien was greatly influence by Norse/Nordic mythology and legends. Tolkien used to read and translate Old Norse. He got the idea of the One Ring by listening to Richard Wagner's opera series, Der Ring des Nibelungen which was talks about a ring and a broken sword. Nordic influences allowed Tolkien to create his famous Middle Earth elves and dwarves. The elves and dwarves of Middle Earth were inspired by several opera song such as the Völuspa. Tolkien The famous character, Gandalf the Grey, was inspired by the Norse god, Odin. Gandalf is really similar to Odin such as Odin's belief of justice, knowledge, truth, and insight.

Warfare Influences

Lieutenant J.R.R Tolkien

Tolkien served in the British Army during WWI and later became the second lieutenant. Before the war, Tolkien lived a peaceful life without any trouble. However, when he was sent out to battle in WWI, his life experience changed. Tolkien was tossed from his comfortable life to a dangerous and hostile surroundings. This will reflect to Tolkien's character in The Hobbit, Bilbo Baggins, who lived a fun and peaceful life in Middle Earth. But then he joined Gandalf and a group of dwarves and encounter many dangers in his journey. When Germany invaded Poland and started WWII, Tolkien served as a British codebreaker. Tolkien uses the start of WWII and its damage to the European world to echoed with his character Sauron who is trying to take over Middle Earth in The Lord of the Rings.