John Ronald Reuel Tolkien

A Scholar, a Poet, a Professor, a Husband, and a Father, John Ronald Reuel Tolkien will also be well remembered for his passion in philology and creation of several languages, the maker of MiddleEarth, and novelist of three great, precious masterpieces: The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings & The Silmarillion.

Throughout his life, Tolkien had a great understanding and had self-experiences with several foreign languages, but he had a much deeper interest in the languages of Northern Europe, both ancient and modern.  When Tolkien was creating Middle-Earth, it was A Continuing and Evolving Creation. (The Tolkien Society: Essays on the History of Middle-Earth; edited by Verlyn Flieger and Carl F. Hosteller).  That took an enormous time of repetitious writing, but being a young boy interested in myths and fairytales, a world of extraordinary adventures were created.  Tolkiens fantasy had finally come to reality one day as he was correcting exam papers.  He came across one blank paper.  He wrote on the top of that paper, and it read, In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. (The New York Times: J.R.R. Tolkien Dead at 81; Wrote The Lord of the Rings, Sept. 3, 1973).  From that simple thought brought forth the beginning of a great epic tale.

At a young age, Tolkien had been fascinated with all types of languages.  Even the most simple, but innocent things excited Tolkien about languages.  While gazing and looking out the window, he would feel a jitter of interest seeing train wagons passing by because of the words that were printed on the sides of those wagons.  They were names of places in Wales.  He had no idea of how they were pronounced, but just seeing them, so eager and curious of knowing how they sound gave him a desire of unknown meaning that he felt special about.  Being a child, having the ability to sense like an adult the desires of his heart, that proved to Tolkien that he had a most unusual sensitivity to the sounds, and appearances of words, and how they filled for him the places that music has in many peoples lives.  Indeed the response that words awakened in him was almost entirely emotional. (J.R.R.Tolkien in Oxford: Tolkien as a Lecturer at Oxford by Humphrey Carpenter).

Tolkiens mother, Mabel, discovered an extraordinary desire in her son, John Ronald.  Knowing her role as a mother, she nurtured and taught Tolkien few languages like Latin, Greek, and French.  Tolkiens mother became his first teacher, and his passion of Philology & Adventure was accredited to her because of her unconditional love and concern.

In November of 1904, Tolkien lost his mother to diabetes. With that stage of life, Tolkien had to rely on his faith.  Tolkien felt deeply depressed with the fact of having to lose both of his parents.  Tolkien knew it would be hard, but through a close family friend by the name of Father Francis Morgan, they were cared for.  Father Francis took the two brothers in and became their guardian.  Father Francis asked the boys Aunt Beatrice if she could care for her nephews, who were in need of family support.    She said she would just provide a roof over their heads and nothing more.  In this part of their lives, they looked to Father Francis, depending on him to bring some spiritual healing and to bring their lives back into focus again. 

Tolkien gradually became very mature.  Tolkiens life was now balanced.  For school, it was his a refuge,  a place he found interest in.  Tolkien enjoyed school, and he had a small group of close  friends.  Christopher Wiesman was Tolkiens best friend.  They were both ranked the highest kids in their class.  They were both inseparable.  Tolkien & Wiesman was always together, even growing up, Tolkien & Wiesman attended the same classes.  Tolkien & Wiesman grew close, but never really knew what brought them together.  Tolkien & Wiesman, both had an interest in Greek language.  While in school, Tolkien came across so much information about languages, specifically on the Anglo-Saxon, and their language.  This was the time Tolkien started to create his languages. 

Tolkien and his brother, Hilary, disliked living at their Aunt Beatrices home, so Father Francis moved them and placed them in their Music teachers home.  Here was the place Tolkien met his childhood-sweetheart, Edith Bratt, who he later married.  Tolkien & Bratt secretly hid their relationship by going to teashops, and even bike trips to the countryside.  Tolkien was getting distracted and losing his focus on his education.  Tolkien applied to Oxford University, but was not accepted because he was always distracted with thoughts of Edith and his creation of the new style of dialects.

In 1911, Tolkien attended Exeter College in Oxford.  Tolkien discovered numerous of languages.  His interest fell on the Finnish language, and worked on it with several other languages like Germanic, Gothic, and Welsh.  The language Tolkien created was called Quenya or high-elvish, and he based it around the Finnish & Welsh languages. 

Tolkien decided to study Old & Middle-English when he was halfway through school at Exeter College in Oxford.  Tolkien felt confident with his decision he made because he knew quite a bit, and was familiar with it from studying it earlier in the school year.  At least he got to do what he liked doing best.  Tolkien called this the mad hobby, the making of languages. (J.R.R. Tolkien in Oxford: The great man himself by Humphrey Carpenter).  In 1915, Tolkien started to create other languages, just like Quenya language.  The words and sounds became clearer, and the flow of words was Harmonious & Graceful to hear.  That was the way the Elves & Fairies had to sound.  Tolkien was pulled to the entire history of the Northern Traditions, which motivated Tolkien to expand his readings of myths & epics, especially to some modern authors who were exactly in Tolkiens shoes.  Tolkiens knowledge, without doubt, led to the construction of various opinions about myths, and their dealings with languages.  Tolkien never realized that through poetry and the study of Anglo-Saxon, he was to learn the old dialect that was spoken by his mothers ancestors.  Tolkien was deeply touched by the West Midlands through his mother because he believed that the West Midlands regions had been the home of his mothers family, the Suffields, for generations.  (J.R.R. Tolkien in Oxford: Tolkien as a Lecturer at Oxford by Humphrey Carpenter).

The world that Tolkien created tells of tales of good against evil in this tremendous setting of Tolkiens imaginary Middle Earth. The whole series of The History of Middle-Earth was a remarkable achievement and makes a worthy and lifelong tribute to one mans creative events and to anothers expounding devotion. It reveals far more about Tolkiens invented world than any of his readers in the pre-Silmarillion days could ever have imagined or hoped for. Understanding the shape and nature of Tolkiens imaginative art as it developed over his lifetime surely depended on a comprehensive study of the History, and how Middle-Earth is portrayed in all its greatness.  The majority of Tolkiens work Middle-Earth covers the Westlands and people who opposed the Dark lords.   The stories of Middle-Earth were fruitful and rich.  In creating Middle-Earth he needed certain types of races to make this creation a success.  Tolkiens choices were perfect because each race fitted well in and created an atmosphere that made Middle-Earth appear real.  Each race served a purpose.  Tolkien chose Dwarfs, Elves, Hobbits, Wizards, Trolls, Ents, Men, (evil people) Orcs, Ringwraiths, and Dark Lords, especially Hobbits.  Tolkien placed Hobbits in a land called The Shire patterned after the English countryside Tolkien had discovered as a child from his homeland in South Africa.  Tolkien once said, If you really want to know what Middle-Earth is based on, its my wonder and delight in the earth as it is, particularly the natural earth. (The New York Times: J.R.R.Tolkien Dead at 81; Wrote Lord of the Rings, Sept. 3, 1973). 

At a young age, Tolkien had an interest in fairytales, myths, and epic stories.

When WWI came, Tolkien and his friends were called in battle.  But Tolkien was sent back because he was suffering from trench fever.  When the war was over he found out only one of his friends survived the war.  It was his best friend, Christopher Wiesman.  Wiesman gave Tolkien something that their groups of friends were working on, which was the vision of their group.  It was a myth that was created for England by Tolkien and his friends.  The project was called The Book of Lost Tales.  Later the information increased and the name was changed to The Silmarillion.  The Silmarillion contained the mythological beginning of Middle-Earth.  The Silmarilion was a project that started way before The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings, but was never completed by Tolkien.  It was later published in 1977, four years after Tolkien passed away.  Tolkiens third son, Christopher Tolkien, continued his works.

When The Hobbit was created, it was told of a hobbit named Bilbo Baggins.  He was gently pressured into going on an adventure to steal back treasures from a dragon that was blocking it and just sleeping on it.  The Hobbit sounded more like a childrens book, but it was never intended to do so.  However, the Lord of the Rings surely sounded more maturer, more like young adult reading book.  Its main focus was about Bilbos heir, Frodo Baggins, who accepted the assignment of destroying a ring that brought Middle-Earth to the will of the ring that was forged by the Dark Lord, Sauron, from the Land of Mordor.

One of Tolkiens close friends, C. S. Lewis, wrote something that later he told Tolkien about.  He wrote, that the dark side of Lord of the Rings was very much like the first World War.  He gave examples such as the sinister quiet of the battlefront when everything is prepared, the quick and vivid friendships of the hobbits journey and the unexpected delight when they find a cache of tobacco.  No, Tolkien says; there is a parallel between the hundreds of thousands of goblins in their beaked helmets and the gray masses of Germans in there spiked ones.  Goblins die in there thousands.  This, he agrees, makes them seem like an enemy in a war of trenches.  But as I say somewhere, even the goblins werent evil to begin with.  They were just corrupted.  Ive never had these sorts of feelings about Germans.  (The New York Times: The Prevalence of Hobbits by Philip Norman, Jan 15, 1967).

  In the beginning the Orcs were not bad at all, but they were just corrupted.  That meant that the Orcs were once Elves, but they were fooled and tricked and they fell to the dark side.  Being tortured, mutilated and possessed for years, now they were at a position of following commands and having no second thoughts cross their minds.

As Tolkien began teaching at Oxford as the Anglo-Saxon professor, The Hobbit slowly, but  surely, was taking form.  It began one evening as he was grading exam papers; Tolkien came across a blank page.  Tolkien assumed it was a sign to write something, and with that sign he began to work of The Hobbit.  The complete manuscript The Hobbit came across two publishers, George Allen and Sir Stanley Unwin.  Because of Unwins sons interest in The Hobbit, Unwin decided to publish it.  It turned out that The Hobbit became a great success.  It became a best seller.  Tolkien was not only well known as a scholar in Philology, but for the publishing of The Hobbit in 1925.  In the 1930s, he started on the sequel to The Hobbit, which was called The Lord of the Rings.  Tolkien was approached one day by Sir Stanley Unwin to make a sequel to The Hobbit.  It took ten years plus to finish the trilogy.  In 1954-1955, the Lord of the Rings was published and was a huge success.  Having found  fame and fortune they were both a blessing and a bane for Tolkien.  He enjoyed the popularity of his work.  Yet, he was burdened with work responded to his adoring public.  (A Biography J.R.R. Tolkien).  In 1957, Tolkien was supposed to come to the United States to be honored by different universities such as Marquette, Harvard and several others.  The trip was cancelled because his wife, Edith, was very sick.

In 1959, Tolkien retired as a professor at Oxford University.  Tolkien and Edith moved back to Bournemouth in 1966.  Edith was getting sick again, but this time it was getting worse.  In 1971, Tolkien lost his childhood sweetheart, which Tolkien had a hard time to cope with.  He moved back to Oxford, and two year later, he died from pneumonia on September 2, 1973.  Tolkien was buried together with Edith at Wolvercote Cemetery in Oxford.

Many people admired Tolkien, and his works.  Here is a quote from Sir Stanley Unwin, Tolkiens publisher.  Tolkiens admirers compared him favorably with Milton, Spenser, and Tolstoy.  His English publisher, Sir Stanley Unwin speculated that The Lord of the Rings would live beyond his and his sons time than any work he had ever published. (The New York Times: J.R.R. Tolkien Dead at 81; Wrote The lord of the Rings, Sept. 3, 1973).  Sir Stanley Unwin was right because of a man by the name of Peter Jackson learned Tolkiens works, and now we are able to feature a piece of history, and enjoy one mans vision in our own homes.  Peter Jackson has globally widened Tolkiens creation, which starting in a small town in England and spreading to all corners of the world.

The reason why I chose to do research on J.R.R. Tolkien is because he changed my life.  When the previews of The Lord of the Rings came out I had a feeling of excitement and interest come over me.  When I went with a friend to see it, it just stole my heart.  I was so into the movie that all of a sudden it was over.  I could not bear the feeling leaving it was just in me.  That never happened to me before with a movie, not just being attached to it, but deeply involved with everything.  A week later, I was working at the BYUH Bookstore I just felt an urge to buy The Hobbit not yet The Lord of the Rings.  I bought it and read it like crazy.  The Hobbit was the first novel I have ever completed in my life.  It brought something out me, that I never thought I had the desire to pursue it.  I was reading, especially enjoying it.  My whole life, I would start a book with excitement but then I would just fall asleep and loose interest in it.  I would not look back at the book or find anything that drew my attention to that specific book.

 Its taken me one week and a half to complete and it was worth it.  I had a better understanding of Fellowship of the Ring.  I felt I knew just a bit of the history that some people wonder about even to this day.  After I completed The Hobbit, I wanted to write a letter to Peter Jackson, who is the Director of The Lord of the Rings Trilogy.  I wanted thanked him and tell Peter Jackson job well done, and I think that J.R.R. Tolkien would have been well pleased.  I wanted to express my feelings of how the movie made me feel, and how each character that was chosen specific; they played their roles so well that they were actually leaving that life.  Till this day my feelings for this great Man, and all is great accomplishments over the years like Lord of the Rings even the History of Middle-earth in all it Greatness, it hasnt changed, but just greatly expanding each day from its continuous account.