|
Tolkien took 12 years to write Lord of the Rings. It was published 4 years after its completion in 1954.
The 11th century poem "Beowulf" inspired Tolkien to write the Lord of the Rings.
Tolkien carefully chose the date when the Fellowship began their journey to destroy the One Ring: the 25th of December, the same day that the Virgin Mary gave birth to Jesus Christ.
Tolkien invented his own explanation for the etymology of "elf." He said it comes from the word "el" which means "star" because, according to him, Elves were found under the stars by one of the Valars, shortly after the god of Middle-Earth had created them.
The elves don't count their years as humans do. For them, it would be like watching seconds ticking away on the clock. One elf-year is equivalent to 144 human years.
Tolkien said that, in time, the bodies of the elves started mirroring all their exquisite qualities, which is why the elves sometimes look as if they are shining with light.
As a part of the Hugo-awards (the most considerable awards in the world of science fiction literature), the Gandalf award is presented for long and faithful service. The first to ever win this award was Tolkien himself.
On a wandering-trip to Swizerland, Tolkien found a postcard of a man with a long, white beard, a big, pointy hat and a cloak. This image later developed into Gandalf.
In the 1960's, The Beatles wanted to make a movie of the Lord of the Rings. Frodo should have been played by Paul McCartney, Sam Gamgee by Ringo Starr, Gandalf by George Harrison and Gollum by John Lennon.
The name Gollum comes from the terrible, swallowing-sound the poor creature makes. His original hobbit-name, Sméagol, is old-english for "caveman" or "cave-digger."
Sméagol's best friend is named Déagol, the old-english name for "secret." It's a very suitable name, as his murder is Gollum's secret.
Many readers notice that Bilbo's last question to Gollum in The Hobbit wasn't even a riddle. He simply asks him what he has got in his pocket. It's not really fair and Tolkien excused Bilbo by saying that he was very nervous.
The word "hobbit" is supposed to be Tolkien's translation, for the readers' sake, from Vestron, the language spoken by the hobbits, who used the word "kuduk" to describe themselves.
The inspiration for the character Tom Bombadil was a puppet which was stuck in the toilet. The puppet belonged to one of Tolkien's sons, and after Tolkien had "saved" it, he wrote a poem dedicated to Tom. In the poem the character meets Goldberry, a waternymph. (A pretty bad joke, thinking about what the poor puppet experienced.)
Tolkien suggested that Frodo's adventure happened approximatly 6000 years ago, according to our time-line.
Tolkien pronounced his name "Toll-keen," not "Toll-kin" as some people think.
The names of all the kings of Gondor begin with Ar-, which means "royal" or "noble" in their original language. Aragorn means "noble tree."
Legolas is the only one in the Fellowship who prefers the bow and arrow as a weapon. This has its origins in ancient myths about elves who shot arrows down from Heaven. The myths came from tales about ancient gods who threw bolts of lightning.
Just as Lord of the Rings is supposed to be a translation of Bilbo's and others' tales, Tolkien said that Silmarillion came from elven books that Bilbo found.
In 1992, when Tolkien would have become 100 years old, the Tolkien Society and Mythopoeic Society honored him by planting two trees in a park in Oxford.
Tolkien's most famous love story is, without doubt, the story about the human Beren and the beautiful Lúthien Tinuviel. Tolkien loved his wife endlessly and in his eyes, she posessed the same unearthly beauty as Lúthien. He never used the name "Lúthien" for his wife, though. But when she died, he asked to have the following carved into her gravestone:
Edith May Tolkien
Lúthien
1889-1971Two years later, when he died himself, he was given a gravestone next to her, with these words:
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien
Beren
1892-1973
Tolkien considered writing a sequel to Lord of the Rings called The New Shadow, which would take place a hundred years later. After having defeated evil, people in Gondor were beginning to feel bored over all the tranquility. As a reaction, cults that worshipped darkness began to form, a palace-revolution was planned, but Tolkien decided not to go through with it. It wouldn't have been about fighting pure evil, only the evil parts of the human race.
Just as Tolkien carefully chose the date when the Fellowship set out from Rivendell, he was just as careful with choosing the date when the One Ring was destroyed: March 25th, the day Jesus Christ died and defeated Satan.
Even though Lord of the Rings is described as a trilogy, it wasn't Tolkien's intention to write three books. His publisher simply decided that it was too long for just one book.
Tolkien wished that he could have written Lord of the Rings entirely in elvish, but he didn't invent words enough to make it possible. However, he did invent enough to make it possible to have a simple conversation.
|
