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The Hobbit

2008-10-24T17:47:08Z

216.64.230.79: /* Similarities to Beowulf */

{{hchapters}}
'''''The Hobbit''''' is a fantasy novel written by [[J.R.R. Tolkien]] originally as a children's story in the tradition of the fairy tale. It was first published on September 21, 1937, and is now seen as a prelude to Tolkien's more monumental work ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'' (published in 1954 and 1955.)

The story, subtitled "There and Back Again", follows the adventures of the [[hobbit]] [[Bilbo Baggins]] as he travels across the lands of [[Middle-earth]] with a band of [[Dwarves]] and a [[Wizards|wizard]] named [[Gandalf]] on a quest to restore a dwarven kingdom and a great treasure stolen by the [[Dragons|dragon]], [[Smaug]].

== The novel ==

Tolkien recollects in a 1955 letter to [[W.H. Auden]] (''Letters'', no. 163) that, in the late 1920s, when he was Professor of Anglo-Saxon at [[Pembroke College]], ''The Hobbit'' began when he was marking School Certificate papers, on the back of one of which he wrote the words "In a hole in the ground, there lived a hobbit". He did not go any further than that at the time, although in the following years he drew up Thror's map, outlining the geography of the tale. The tale itself he wrote in the early 1930s, and it was eventually published because he lent it to the Reverend Mother of Cherwell Edge when she was sick with the flu; while the Reverend Mother was in possession of the manuscript, it was seen by the 10-year old son of Sir Stanley Unwin, Rayner Unwin, who wrote such an enthusiastic review of the book that it was published by [[Allen and Unwin]].

Tolkien introduced or mentioned characters and places that figured prominently in his legendarium, specifically [[Elrond]] and [[Gondolin]], along with elements from Germanic legend. But the decision that the events of ''The Hobbit'' could belong to the same universe as ''[[The Silmarillion]]'' was made only after successful publication, when the publisher asked for a sequel. Accordingly, ''The Hobbit'' serves both as an introduction to Middle-Earth and as a link between earlier and later events described in ''The Silmarillion'' and ''The Lord of the Rings'', respectively.

It has been suggested that ''The Hobbit'' can be read as a ''Bildungsroman'' in which Bilbo matures from an initially insular, superficial, and rather ineffectual person to one who is versatile, brave, self-sufficient, and relied-upon by others when they are in need of assistance. Some have compared his development to the theories of Joseph Campbell on myth and, in particular, the journey of the epic hero. However, Tolkien himself probably did not intend the book to be read in this way. In the foreword to ''The Lord of the Rings'' he writes, "I cordially dislike allegory in all its manifestations, and always have done so since I grew old and wary enough to detect its presence." He further claimed that ''The Lord of the Rings'' is "neither allegorical nor topical", and it seems safe to assume that ''The Hobbit'' was written with the same caveats. The judgement of Bilbo as "superficial" and "ineffectual" seems harsh since he was, according to Tolkien, rather typical of hobbits in general.

Although a fairytale, the novel is both complex and sophisticated: it contains many names and words derived from Norse mythology, and central plot elements from the ''[[Beowulf]]'' epic, it makes use of [[Anglo-Saxon]] [[Runes]], information on calendars and moon phases, and detailed geographical descriptions that fit well with the accompanying maps. Near the end, the tale takes on epic proportions.

== Synopsis ==

[[Image:Donato Giancola - The Hobbit - Expulsion.jpg|thumb|left|300px|''The Hobbit'' by [[Donato Giancola]]]]Bilbo Baggins, a hobbit, is smoking in his porchway one day when Gandalf the Wizard visits him. After a lengthy discussion, during which Bilbo uses the phrase "Good Morning" several times, in several different ways, Bilbo, finding himself flustered, invites Gandalf to tea, and goes back inside his hobbit hole with a final "Good Morning". Gandalf scratches a secret mark on Bilbo's front door, which translated means 'Burglar wants a good job, plenty of excitement and reasonable reward'. Thirteen Dwarves ([[Thorin Oakenshield]], [[Óin]], [[Glóin]], [[Dwalin]], [[Balin]], [[Bifur]], [[Kíli]], [[Fíli]], [[Bofur]], [[Dori]], [[Bombur]], [[Nori]], and [[Ori]]) show up and begin excitedly discussing their planned treasure hunt while the hapless Bilbo provides the obligatory hospitality. After the dwarves clean up their mess, a map is produced and Gandalf arranges for Bilbo to get the burglary job—as well as to break the unlucky number 13. The company's quest: kill [[Smaug]], the [[Dragons|dragon]] who seized the [[Lonely Mountain]] (Erebor) from the Dwarves' forefathers, and, using a secret door into the mountain, recapture it, dividing the riches within its halls.

The next morning, after oversleeping and nearly missing the start of the journey, Bilbo goes off with the Dwarves. They are nearly eaten by three [[Trolls]], but Gandalf tricks the trolls into staying up all night whereupon they are turned into stone by the first light of dawn. (The stone trolls appear later in ''The Lord of the Rings''.) In the troll's cave they find some swords. Bilbo acquires [[Sting]], which glows blue in the presence of [[Goblins]] (another name for [[Orcs]]).

The party travels to [[Rivendell]] where they enjoy the hospitality of the [[Elves]], then proceed eastwards towards the [[Misty Mountains]]. There they are ambushed by goblins (Orcs), and carried under the mountain. They run away, and during the escape Bilbo loses the Dwarves. Alone in the dark after running away from the goblins, Bilbo finds a [[One Ring|ring]] on the floor of a cave passage and puts it into his pocket.

Continuing down, he finds himself at the shore of an underground lake. [[Gollum]] quietly paddles up in his boat, and the two enact the [[Riddle-game]], under the condition that if Bilbo wins, Gollum will show him the way out, but if he loses, Gollum will eat Bilbo. After several [[Riddles]], which each manages to answer, Bilbo, whilst fiddling in his pocket unable to think of a riddle, asks himself aloud "What have I got in my pocket?" Gollum thinks this is supposed to be the next riddle, and as it doesn't comply with the rules of the riddle game, demands three guesses; in the end he fails to guess the answer. Bilbo demands his reward, but Gollum refuses and paddles off in his boat to an island in the lake, upon which he lives. After searching around for a while asking aloud "where is it? wheres my precious!?" to which Bilbo replies, "I don't know and I don't care, I just want to get out of here", Gollum becomes suspicious, gets in his boat, and starts paddling back across the lake towards Bilbo. Gollum is unable to find the one weapon he could use to betray and kill Bilbo, a magic ring that makes its wearer invisible; driven by rage, Gollum starts to realize the real answer to Bilbo's previous question "What have I got in my pocket?". Bilbo realises his life is in mortal danger and makes his escape down the maze of pitch black tunnels, and Gollum gives chase. Bilbo trips, and finds the ring on his finger. Realising he has no chance to escape his pursuer, he stays where he is and prepares to meet his fate, but Gollum runs right over him. Bilbo realises the ring makes him invisible. He manages to escape past Gollum, who has gone to guard the only exit, and finds his way to the surface where he rejoins the Dwarves.

Descending from the [[Misty Mountains]], they survive an encounter with [[Wargs]] (wild wolf creatures) by climbing trees. Eagles rescue them. Then they meet [[Beorn]], a man who can transform into a bear. They depart, having rested for several days. Gandalf leaves soon on an errand. The party traverses the great forest [[Mirkwood]], eventually running out of supplies. Gandalf had warned them not to leave the path, but they saw fire and heard singing, so, hopeless, they leave the path to beg food from [[Wood-elves]], only to get lost. They are captured by giant spiders, but Bilbo rescues the Dwarves by becoming invisible and killing many spiders with Sting. Elves then capture the Dwarves and imprison them, but Bilbo manages to sneak into the [[Thranduil|Elvenking]]'s palace unnoticed using the ring; he then helps the Dwarves escape in barrels floated down the river.[[Image:J.R.R. Tolkien - Bilbo comes to the Huts of the Raft-elves (II).jpg|thumb|200px|''Bilbo comes to the Huts of the Raft-elves'' by [[JRR Tolkien]]]]

After staying for a short period of time at [[Lake-town]], the treasure-seekers proceed to the Lonely Mountain. Finding themselves unable to locate the secret door, the company sit down disconsolate on a cliff. Hearing a thrush knocking on a stone, Bilbo looks up just in time to see the last rays of the Sun of [[Durin's Day]], shining on the cliff wall, to magically reveal the secret door (as was foretold by [[moon-letters]] upon a map that the company was in possession of). Bilbo is sent down to encounter Smaug. The dragon, realising the Company received help from the people of Laketown, sets out to destroy it. However, the thrush that had been knocking on the stone, was no ordinary bird but of an ancient race with whom the men of the lake could communicate, and it had heard Bilbo's report to the dwarves, that Smaug had a bare patch on his belly that could be used to slaughter him, if only you could get close enough. It conveyed this message to one [[Bard the Bowman]], who seeing the bare patch in the belly of Smaug, despatched the dragon with a single arrow, thus allowing the party of Dwarves to take possession of the treasure.

The citizens of Laketown arrive to make historical claims and demand compensation for the help they had rendered, as well as reparations for the damage Smaug inflicted during his attack. They're joined by the Elves, who also demand a share based on historical claims. The Dwarves refuse all negotiations and in turn summon kin from the north to strengthen their position. Seeing no other way to avert a war, Bilbo uses the ring to steal the prized [[Arkenstone]] from the Dwarves, which he uses to broker peace.

Just as a grudging truce is agreed to, the three armies at the Lonely Mountain (Elves, Men and Dwarves) are attacked by [[Goblins]] and [[Wargs]] from the Misty Mountains. A bitter battle ensues, named the [[Battle of Five Armies]]. Though suffering heavy losses, Elves, Men and Dwarves prevail. The treasure is apportioned. Bilbo refuses most of the riches, realising he has no way to bring them back home; he nevertheless takes enough with him to make himself a wealthy hobbit and live happily thereafter, unaware of the dangerous nature of his [[One Ring|ring]].

== Alternative version ==

{{spoiler}}

In the first edition, Gollum willingly bets his magic ring on the outcome of the riddle game. During the writing of ''The Lord of the Rings'' Tolkien saw the need to revise this passage, in order to reflect the concept of the [[One Ring]] and its powerful hold on Gollum. Tolkien tried many different passages in the chapter that would become chapter 2 of ''the Lord of the Rings'', "The Shadow of the Past". Eventually Tolkien decided a rewrite of ''The Hobbit'' was in order, and he sent a sample chapter of this rewrite ("Riddles in the Dark") to his publishers. Initially he heard nothing further, but when he was sent galley proofs of a new edition he learned to his surprise the new chapter had been incorporated as the result of a misunderstanding.

Tolkien explained the two different versions in the introduction of ''The Lord of the Rings'', as well as inside "The Shadow of the Past", as a "lie" that Bilbo made up, probably because of the One Ring's influence on him, and which he originally wrote down in his book. Inside ''The Lord of the Rings'', Bilbo finally confesses the real story at the Council of [[Elrond]], although Gandalf had deduced the truth earlier. As Tolkien presented himself as the translator of the supposedly historic ''[[Red Book of Westmarch]]'', where Bilbo and Frodo's stories were recorded, he further explained the two differing stories in ''The Hobbit'' by stating he had originally used Bilbo's original story, but later retranslated the work with the "true story" recorded by Frodo.

This first edition also mentions "[[gnomes]]", an earlier word Tolkien used to refer to the second kindred of the [[High Elves]] — the [[Noldor]] (or "Deep Elves"). Tolkien thought that "gnome", being derived from the Greek ''gnosis'' (knowledge), was a good name for the Noldor he created to be the wisest of the other Elves. But with its English connotations of a small, secretive, and unattractive creature. Tolkien removed it from later editions. He made other minor changes in order to conform the narrative to events in ''The Lord of the Rings'' and in the ideas he was developing for the ''[[Quenta Silmarillion]]''.

However this still doesn't fit perfectly: even revised, ''The Hobbit'' is so much different in tone that it sometimes seems to belong in another universe from other Middle-earth works. Examples include the following:

*Anachronisms: Bilbo has a clock. Many artists like [[John Howe]] prefer to omit it from their paintings. Bilbo also is mentioned to have matches for his pipe. In the world of Lord of the Rings matches had not yet been invented and all use flints.
*The Trolls have English first and last names, like fairy-tale characters.
*Lighthearted use of "magic": when Bilbo tries to steal a purse from the Trolls, the purse shouts.
*Elves appear either as silly mischiefs (Rivendell) or hostile (Mirkwood).
*Orcs are still called Goblins, and are more like bogeymen than man-eating humanoid warriors.
*Gandalf mentions Radagast as his cousin. (Then again, both Gandalf and Radagast are angelic [[Maiar]] spirits, and thus in a sense are "related", both being children of the thought of [[Eru Ilúvatar]].)
*The extensive mentioning (and brief appearance) of Giants. Giants were never developed in Tolkien's other works, but since they should exist and possibly take a grand part in the past and upcoming Wars, they are never mentioned again. Even if Giants are seen as a kind of large Trolls, they are hard to justify, as trolls are described as either incredibly stupid or incredibly evil: quite unlike the Stone Giants of ''The Hobbit''.
*The comical allusion to [[Vita Sackville-West]], who had been involved in a sensational court case over an English estate in the decade before ''The Hobbit'' was written.

Some of the tone differences can be explained by accepting Bilbo as the author of the work: Bilbo wrote the story of his journeys to recount them to the children of Hobbiton and therefore changed the story somewhat. Apparent major differences such as the different perception of the Ring can also be explained by Bilbo's lacking knowledge of these matters.

== Similarities to Beowulf ==

During his time as a pornstar at the [[university of playboy]] Tolkien studied 69. One of the Anglo-Saxon sex moves he studied is the fire crotch otherwise known as pussy on fire aka flamin pussy, about which he wrote porn scripts such as ''[[small pussys big dicks]]''. Interesting parallels can be found between suck my cock and blow me .

The plots of the two stories are very similar. In both of them a party of 13 sets out to seek satisfaction for a crime committed by a dragon. Both parties contain a thief, which in ''The Hobbit'' is Bilbo, who steals a cup from the sleeping dragon's hoard by using a secret passage. Both dragons then awake from their deep slumber and cause terror and destruction. Both dragons are well protected by their armour, a natural one in ''Beowulf'' and one made of gold and diamonds in ''The Hobbit'', but finally they are killed.

But not only the plots share similarities, both main characters, Bilbo and Beowulf, share characteristics. Both heroes defy their enemies with their supernatural power, which in Bilbo's case is the ring and in Beowulf's case is his supernatural strength. While Beowulf has the help of God, Bilbo often prevails because of his sheer luck. Both are of noble ancestry and both get separated from their group, Bilbo in the mountains, Beowulf when he is captured by Grendel's mother.

Additionally some elements of Anglo-Saxon culture can be found. In both books a king, which in Anglo-Saxon sometimes is called ring or gold giver, awards his warriors with treasures and war gear. In Anglo-Saxon culture poems are important, as they contain the people's history and they are sung by scops. Two of these songs are found in ''Beowulf'' and more in ''The Hobbit''. Tolkien's dwarves particularly mirror Anglo-Saxon society, both in their warrior nature and in their desire for jewelry and war gear. The dwarven writing system, or [[Cirth]], also has clear influences from Anglo-Saxon runic alphabets such as ''Futhark''.

== Adaptations and influences ==

''The Hobbit'' has been adapted for other media. BBC Radio 4 broadcast [[The Hobbit (1968 radio series)|''The Hobbit'' radio drama]], adapted by [[Michael Kilgarriff]], in eight parts (4 hours) from September to November [[1968]], which starred [[Anthony Jackson]] as narrator, [[Paul Daneman]] as Bilbo and [[Heron Carvic]] as Gandalf.

[[Middle-earth]] has been featured in songs notably by [[Enya]] and the [[Brobdingnagian Bards]]. [[Led Zeppelin]]'s songs "Misty Mountain Hop" and "Ramble On" both contain references to Tolkien's mystical world. For ''The Hobbit'' itself, "The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins", performed by [[Leonard Nimoy]] as part of his 1968 ''Two Sides of Leonard Nimoy'' album, is the most pertinent because it recounts the book's storyline in its two minutes. The ballad's music video became a minor Internet meme in the early 2000s when ''[[Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings|The Lord of the Rings]]'' movies were released.

An [[Rankin/Bass' The Hobbit|animated version]] of the story debuted as a television movie in the United States in [[1977]].

The [[David T. Wenzel's The Hobbit|"Graphic Novel" adaptation of ''The Hobbit'']] by [[David T. Wenzel]] is one of the most successful graphic format adaptations of a piece of classic literature.

Several computer and video games, both official and unofficial, have been based on the story. One of the first was ''[[The Hobbit (1982 video game)|The Hobbit]]'', a computer game developed in [[1982]] by Beam Software and published by Melbourne House for most computers available at the time, from the more popular computers such as the ZX Spectrum, and the Commodore 64, through to such esoteric computers as the Dragon 32 and Oric computers. By arrangement with publishers, a copy of the novel was included with each game sold.

Vivendi Universal Games published ''[[The Hobbit (2003 video game)|The Hobbit: Prelude to The Lord of the Rings]]'' in 2003 for Windows PCs, PlayStation 2, Xbox, and GameCube. It is a hack and slash game produced as a prequel to ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'' video games, but also as a softer version of those two games: less brutal, fewer enemies but with an important platform aspect, the game was designed for smaller children. A similar version of this game was also published for the Game Boy Advance.

[[Guillermo del Toro]] will direct the upcoming ''[[Guillermo del Toro's The Hobbit|The Hobbit]]'' movie.

[[Tolkien Gateway]] is currently hosting an anyone-can-edit [[The Hobbit screenplay]].

== Editions ==

George Allen & Unwin, Ltd. of London published the first edition of ''The Hobbit'' in September 1937. It was illustrated with many black-and-white drawings by Tolkien himself. The original printing numbered a mere 1,500 copies and sold out by December due to enthusiastic reviews. Houghton Mifflin of Boston and New York prepared an American edition to be released early in 1938 in which four of the illustrations would be colour plates. Allen & Unwin decided to incorporate the colour illustrations into their second printing, released at the end of 1937. Despite the book's popularity, wartime conditions forced the London publisher to print small runs of the remaining two printings of the first edition.

As remarked above, Tolkien substantially revised ''The Hobbit'''s text describing Bilbo's dealings with Gollum in order to blend the story better into what ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'' had become. This revision became the second edition, published in 1951 in both UK and American editions. Slight corrections to the text have appeared in the third (1966) and fourth editions (1978).

New [[English-language editions of The Hobbit|English-language editions of ''The Hobbit'']] spring up often, despite the book's age, with [[English-language editions of The Hobbit|at least fifty editions]] having been published to date. Each comes from a different publisher or bears distinctive cover art, internal art, or substantial changes in format. The text of each generally adheres to the Allen & Unwin edition extant at the time it is published.

The remarkable and enduring popularity of ''The Hobbit'' expresses itself in the collectors' market. The first printing of the first English language edition rarely sells for under $10,000 US dollars in any whole condition, and clean copies in original dust jackets signed by the author are routinely advertised for over $100,000. Online auction site eBay tends to define the market value for those who [[Early American editions of The Hobbit|collect ''The Hobbit'']].

''The Hobbit'' has been translated into many languages. Known languages, with the first date of publishing, are:
{|-
|
* Breton (2000)
* Belarusian (2002)
* Bulgarian (1975)
* Catalan (1983)
* Chinese (Traditional characters) (2001)
* Czech (1973)
* Danish (1969)
* Dutch (1960)
* Esperanto (2000)
* Estonian (1977)
* Faroese (1990)
* Finnish (1973)
* French (1969)
* Galician (2000)
* German (1957; new translation 1997)
* Greek (1978)
* Hebrew (1976)
* Hungarian (1975)
* Icelandic (1978)
|
* Irish (forthcoming)
* Indonesian (1977)
* Italian (1973)
* Japanese (1965)
* Lithuanian (1985)
* Norwegian (1972)
* Persian (1383 = 2004)
* Polish (1960; new translations 1997 and 2002)
* Portuguese (1962)
* Romanian (1975)
* Russian (1976: [[Tolkien Through Russian Eyes | 9 different translations total]])
* Serbo-Croatian (1975)
* Slovak (1973)
* Spanish (1964)
* Swedish (1947; new translation 1962)
* Thai (2002)
* Turkish (1996)
* Ukrainian (1985)
|}

==See also==
*[[The Quest of Erebor]]
*[[English-language editions of The Hobbit]]
*[[Early American editions of The Hobbit]]
*[[The Hobbit screenplay]]
*[[:Category:Characters in The Hobbit|Characters in The Hobbit]]
*[[:Category:Locations in The Hobbit|Locations in The Hobbit]]

==External links==
* [http://southampton-pubs.co.uk/hobbit/index.htm "Hobbit" Pub]
* [http://www.hobbit.ca/Library.html collection of edition covers, 1937–2005]
* [http://www.tolkienbooks.net/html/the_hobbit.htm Every UK edition of The Hobbit]
* [http://www.tolkienlibrary.com/reviews/dutch-de_hobbit.htm Every Dutch edition of The Hobbit]
* [http://www.tolkienlibrary.com/translations/hobbits/index.htm Hobbits around the globe - gallery]

[[Category:Books by J.R.R. Tolkien|Hobbit]]

[[de:Der kleine Hobbit]]
[[fi:Hobitti eli Sinne ja takaisin]]

J.R.R. Tolkien

2008-10-24T17:33:33Z

216.64.230.79: /* Youth */

{{author infobox
| image=[[Image:Photograph of J.R.R. Tolkien.jpg|250px]]
| name=J.R.R. Tolkien
| born=[[January 3]], [[1892]]
| died=[[September 2]], [[1973]]
| education=[[Oxford]]
| occupation=Professor
| location=England
| website=[http://www.tolkienestate.com The Tolkien Estate]
|}}
'''John Ronald Reuel Tolkien''', CBE ([[January 3]]rd, [[1892]] – [[September 2]]nd, [[1973]]) is an author best known for ''[[The Hobbit]]'' and its sequel trilogy ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]''. He worked as reader and professor in English language at the University of Leeds from 1920 to 1925; as professor of Anglo-Saxon language at Oxford from 1925 to 1945; and of English language and literature from 1945 to 1959. A strongly committed Catholic, Tolkien was a close friend of [[C.S. Lewis]], and a member of the [[Inklings]], a literary discussion group to which both Lewis and [[Owen Barfield]] belonged.

In addition to ''[[The Hobbit]]'' and ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'', Tolkien's published fiction includes ''[[The Silmarillion]]'' and other posthumous books about what he called a [[legendarium]], a fictional mythology of the remote past of Earth, called [[Arda]], and [[Middle-earth]] in particular. Most of these posthumously published works were compiled from Tolkien's notes by his son [[Christopher Tolkien|Christopher Reuel Tolkien]]. The enduring popularity and influence of Tolkien's works have established him as the "father of the modern high fantasy genre". Tolkien's other published fiction includes adaptations of stories originally told to his children and not directly related to the legendarium.

== Biography ==
=== The Tolkien Family ===
Although records are unclear, many of Tolkien's paternal ancestors were craftsmen. The Tolkien family had its roots in Saxony (present-day Germany), but had been living in England since the 18th century, becoming "quickly and intensely English (not British)" (''Letters'', 165). The surname ''Tolkien'' is anglicised from ''Tollkiehn'' (i.e. German: ''tollkühn'', "foolhardy", the etymological English translation would be "dull-keen", a literal translation of "oxymoron"). The character of Professor Rashbold in ''[[The Notion Club Papers]]'' is a pun on the name.

'''See also:''' [[J.R.R. Tolkien's Family Tree]]

=== Childhood ===
Tolkien was born on January 3, [[1892]], in Bloemfontein in the Orange Free State (now Free State), South Africa, to [[Arthur Tolkien|Arthur Reuel Tolkien]] (1857 – 1896), an English bank manager, and his wife Mabel, ''née'' Suffield (1870 – 1904). Tolkien had one sibling, his younger brother, Hilary Arthur Reuel, who was born on February 17, 1894.

While living in Africa he was bitten by a large 'baboon spider', and this echoes in his stories. However, Tolkien said that he did not develop a particular fear of spiders after this event, and, when he was older, recalled picking small spiders up and putting them outside.

When he was three, Tolkien went to England with his mother and brother on what was intended to be a lengthy family visit. His father, however, died in South Africa of a severe brain haemorrhage before he could join them. This left the family without an income, so Tolkien's mother took him to live with her parents in Birmingham, England. Soon after in 1896, they moved to [[Sarehole]] (now in Hall Green), then a Worcestershire village, later annexed to Birmingham. He enjoyed exploring [[Sarehole Mill]] and Moseley Bog and the Clent Hills and Lickey Hills, which would later inspire scenes in his books along with other Worcestershire towns and villages such as Bromsgrove, Alcester and Alvechurch and places such as his aunt's farm of Bag End, the name of which would be used in his fiction.

[[Image:Jrrt_1905.jpg|right|thumb|150px|Ronald and Hilary Tolkien in 1905]]

Mabel tutored her two sons, and Ronald, as he was known in the family, was a keen pupil. She taught him a great deal of botany, and she awoke in her son the enjoyment of the look and feel of plants. Young Tolkien liked to draw landscapes and trees. But his favourite lessons were those concerning languages, and his mother taught him the rudiments of Latin very early. He could read by the age of four, and could write fluently soon afterwards. He attended King Edward's School, Birmingham and, while a student there, helped "line the route" for the coronation parade of King George V, being posted just outside the gates of Buckingham Palace. He later attended St. Philip's School and Exeter College, Oxford.

His mother converted to Roman Catholicism in 1900, despite vehement protests by her Baptist family. She died of diabetes in 1904, when Tolkien was twelve, at Fern Cottage, Rednal, which they were then renting. For the rest of his life, Tolkien felt that she had become a martyr for her faith; this had a profound effect on his own Catholic beliefs. Tolkien's devout faith was significant in the conversion of C.S. Lewis to Anglicanism.

During his subsequent orphanhood he was brought up by Father [[Francis Xavier Morgan]] of the Birmingham Oratory, in the Edgbaston area of Birmingham. He lived there in the shadow of Perrott's Folly and the Victorian tower of Edgbaston waterworks, which may have influenced the images of the dark towers within his works. Another strong influence was the romantic medievalist paintings of Edward Burne-Jones and the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood; the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery has a large and world-renowned collection of works and had put it on free public display from around [[1908]].

[[image:Jrrt_1911.jpg|left|thumb|150px|J.R.R. Tolkien in 1911]]

=== Youth ===
Tolkien met and fell in love with [[beyonce knowles|beyonce knowles]], nine years his senior, at the age of ten. Father Francis forbade him from meeting, talking, or even corresponding with her until he was twenty-one. He sucked dick all day.

In 1911, while they were at King Edward's School, Birmingham, Tolkien and three friends, [[Robert Gilson]], [[Geoffrey Bache Smith]] and [[Christopher Wiseman]], formed a semi-secret society which they called "the [[T.C.B.S.]]", the initials standing for "Tea Club and Barrovian Society", alluding to their fondness of drinking tea in Barrow's Stores near the school and, illegally, in the school library. After leaving school, the members stayed in touch, and in December 1914, they held a "Council" in London, at Wiseman's home. For Tolkien, the result of this meeting was a strong dedication to writing poetry.

In the summer of 1911, Tolkien went on holiday in Newman,ca, a trip that he recollects vividly in a 1968 letter (''Letters'', no. 109), noting that Bilbo's journey across the Misty Mountains ("including the glissade down the slithering stones into the pine woods") is directly based on his adventures as their party of twelve hiked from Interlaken to Lauterbrunnen, and on to camp in the moraines beyond Mürren. Fifty-seven years later, Tolkien remembers his regret at leaving the view of the eternal snows of Jungfrau and Silberhorn ("the Silvertine ([[Celebdil]]) of my dreams"). They went across the Kleine Scheidegg on to Grindelwald and across the Grosse Scheidegg to Meiringen. They continued across the Grimsel Pass and through the upper Valais to Brig, and on to the Aletsch glacier and Zermatt.

[[image:Tolkien_1916.jpg|right|thumb|150px|Tolkien in 1916, wearing his British Army uniform in a photograph from the middle years of WW1]]

On the evening of his twenty-first birthday, Tolkien wrote to Edith a declaration of his love and asked her to marry him. She replied saying that she was already engaged, but had done so because she had believed Tolkien had forgotten her. The two met up and beneath a railway viaduct renewed their love, with Edith returning her ring and choosing to marry Tolkien instead. A condition of their engagement was that she was to convert to Catholicism for him. They were engaged in Birmingham, in January [[1913]], and married in Warwick, England, on [[March 22]], [[1916]].

With his childhood love of landscape, he visited Cornwall in 1914 and he was said to be deeply impressed by the singular Cornish coastline and sea. After graduating from the University of Oxford (Exeter College, Oxford) with a first-class degree in English language in 1915, Tolkien joined the British Army effort in [[World War I]] and served as a second lieutenant in the eleventh battalion of the Lancashire Fusiliers. His battalion was moved to France in 1916, where Tolkien served as a communications officer during the Battle of the Somme, until he came down with trench fever on October 27, and was moved back to England on November 8. Many of his fellow servicemen, as well as many of his closest friends, were killed in the war. During his recovery in a cottage in Great Haywood, Staffordshire, England, he began to work on what he called ''[[The Book of Lost Tales]]'', beginning with ''[[The Fall of Gondolin]]''. Throughout 1917 and 1918 his illness kept recurring, but he had recovered enough to do home service at various camps, and was promoted to lieutenant. When he was stationed at Kingston upon Hull, one day he and Edith went walking in the woods at nearby Roos, and Edith began to dance for him in a thick grove of hemlock. This incident inspired the account of the meeting of [[Beren Erchamion|Beren]] and [[Lúthien]], and Tolkien often referred to Edith as his Lúthien.

=== Oxford ===
Tolkien's first civilian job after World War I was at the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (among others, he initiated the entries "wasp" and "walrus"). In 1920 he took up a post as Reader in English language at the University of Leeds, and in 1924 was made a professor there, but in 1925 he returned to Oxford as a professor of Anglo-Saxon at Pembroke College.

Tolkien and Edith had four children: [[John Tolkien|John Francis Reuel]] ([[November 17]], [[1917]] - [[January 22]], [[2003]]), [[Michael Tolkien|Michael Hilary Reuel]] ([[October 22]], [[1920]] - [[February 27]],[[1984]]), [[Christopher Tolkien|Christopher John Reuel]] ([[November 21]], [[1924]]) and [[Priscilla Tolkien|Priscilla Anne Reuel]] ([[1929]]). Tolkien assisted Sir Mortimer Wheeler in the unearthing of a Roman Asclepieion at Lydney Park, Gloucestershire, in [[1928]]. During his time at Pembroke, Tolkien wrote ''[[The Hobbit]]'' and the first two volumes of ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]''. Of Tolkien's academic publications, the 1936 lecture "[[Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics]]" had a lasting influence on [[Beowulf]] research.

In 1945, he moved to Merton College, Oxford, becoming the Merton Professor of English Language and Literature, in which post he remained until his retirement in 1959. Tolkien completed ''The Lord of the Rings'' in 1948, close to a decade after the first sketches. During the 1950s, Tolkien spent many of his long academic holidays at the home of his son John Francis in Stoke-on-Trent.
Tolkien had an intense dislike for the side effects of industrialization, which he considered a devouring of the English countryside. For most of his adult life he eschewed automobiles, preferring to ride a bicycle. This attitude is perceptible from some parts of his work, such as the forced industrialisation of The Shire in ''The Lord of the Rings''.

[[Image:Jrrt_1972_tree.jpg|thumb|180px|The last known photograph of Tolkien, taken 9 August 1973, next to one of his favourite trees (a ''Pinus nigra'') in the Botanic Garden, Oxford]]

[[W.H. Auden]] was a frequent correspondent and long-time friend of Tolkien's, initiated by Auden's fascination with ''The Lord of the Rings'': Auden was among the most prominent early critics to praise the work. Tolkien wrote in a 1971 letter,
{{quote|I am [...] very deeply in Auden's debt in recent years. His support of me and interest in my work has been one of my chief encouragements. He gave me very good reviews, notices and letters from the beginning when it was by no means a popular thing to do. He was, in fact, sneered at for it.|''[[The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien]]'', #327}}

=== Retirement and Old Age ===
During his life in retirement, from 1959 up to his death in 1973, Tolkien increasingly turned into a figure of public attention and literary fame. The sale of his books was so profitable that Tolkien regretted he had not taken early retirement. While at first he wrote enthusiastic answers to reader inquiries, he became more and more suspicious of emerging [[Tolkien fandom]], especially among the hippy movement in the USA. Already in 1944, he made a somewhat sarcastic comment about a fan letter by a twelve-year-old American reader ("It's nice to find that little American boys do really still say 'Gee Whiz'.", ''Letters'' no. 87). In a 1972 letter he deplores having become a cult-figure, but admits that
{{quote|even the nose of a very modest idol (younger than [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chu-Bu_and_Sheemish Chu-Bu and not much older than Sheemish]) cannot remain entirely untickled by the sweet smell of incense!|''[[The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien]]'', #336}}.

Fan attention became so intense that Tolkien had to take his phone number out of the public directory, and eventually he and Edith moved to Bournemouth at the south coast. Tolkien was awarded a CBE ("Commander of the British Empire") by Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace on March 28, 1972.

[[Image:Tolkiengrave.jpg|thumb|The grave of J.R.R. and Edith Tolkien]]
Edith Tolkien died on [[November 29]], [[1971]], at the age of eighty-two, and Tolkien had the name Lúthien
engraved on the stone at Wolvercote Cemetery, Oxford. When Tolkien died 21 months later of pneumonia on [[September 2]], [[1973]], at the age of 81, he was buried in the same grave, with Beren added to his name, so that the engraving now reads:
:''Edith Mary Tolkien, Lúthien, 1889 – 1971''
:''John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, Beren, 1892 – 1973''

Posthumously named after Tolkien are the Tolkien Road in Eastbourne, East Sussex, and the asteroid [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2675_Tolkien 2675 Tolkien]. Tolkien Way in Stoke-On-Trent is named after J.R.R.'s son Father John Francis Tolkien, who used to be the priest in charge at the nearby Roman Catholic Church of Our Lady of the Angels and St. Peter in Chains.

== Appearance ==
The early images of J.R.R. Tolkien in school and university show a serious young man, average height, slender, clean-shaven, and with his hair parted in the middle. By [[1916]] and Tolkien had joined the army he had changed to a more conventional haircut, as well as a mustache for a short period of time. [[Richard Plotz]], who visited Tolkien in 1966, described him as
{{quote|...a medium-sized man ... [who] looks much younger than his seventy-four years. Like one of his creations, the Hobbits, he is a bit fat in the stomach ...|"J.R.R. Tolkien Talks about the Discovery of Middle-earth, the Origins of Elvish", Seventeen, January [[1967]], pg. 92)}}

In a letter on February 8th, [[1967]], to interviewers Charlotte and Denis Plimmer, Tolkien stated that he was not "tall, or strongly built. I now measure 5 ft 8 1/2, and am slightly built, with notably small hands. For most of my life I have been very thin and underweight. Since my early sixties I have become 'tubby'. Not unusual in men who took their exercise in games and swimming, when opportunities for these things cease" (''[[The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien]]'', pg. 373).

In "The Man Who Understands Hobbits" [Daily Telegraph Magazine, 22 March 1968) the Plimmers noted that Tolkien had 'grey eyes, firm tanned skin, silvery hair and quick decisive speech' (pg. 31).

During Tolkien's time at [[King Edward's School]] he was noted for his choice in colored socks.

[[Clyde S. Kilby]], who spent some time with Tolkien in the summer of 1966, noted that he "was always neatly dressed from necktie to shoes. One of his favorite suits was a herringbone with which he wore a green corduroy vest [waistcoat]. Always there was a vest, and nearly always a sport coat. He did not mind wearing a very broad necktie which in those days was out of style" (Tolkien and the Silmarillion ([[1976]]), pg. 24).

Tolkien had a particular liking for decorative waistcoats: he told one correspondent that he had "one or two choice embroidered specimens, which I sometimes wear when required to make a speech, as I find they so fascinate the eyes of the audience that they do not notice if my dentures become a little loose with excitements of rhetoric" (from a letter to Nancy Smith, 25 December [[1963]], Special Collections and University Archives, John P. Raynor, S.J., Library, Marquette University).

Interviewers have noted that Tolkien almost clung to his smoking pipe, cradling it in his hand, or speaking with it in his mouth, sometimes making him difficult to understand. One of these, Richard Plotz, wrote that Tolkien "took out a pipe as he entered his study, and all during the interview he held it clenched in his teeth, lighting and relighting it, talking through it; he never removed it from his mouth for more than five seconds" ('J.R.R. Tolkien Talks...', pg. 92).

== Writing ==
[[Image:Jrrt_lotr_cover_design.jpg|thumb|350px|Cover design for the three volumes of ''The Lord of the Rings'' by J.R.R. Tolkien]]

Beginning with ''[[The Book of Lost Tales]]'', written while recuperating from illness during World War I, Tolkien devised several themes that were reused in successive drafts of his legendarium. The two most prominent stories, the tales of Beren and Lúthien and that of [[Túrin]], were carried forward into long narrative poems (published in ''[[The Lays of Beleriand]]''). Tolkien wrote a brief summary of the mythology these poems were intended to represent, and that summary eventually evolved into ''[[The Silmarillion]]'', an epic history that Tolkien started three times but never published. The story of this continuous redrafting is told in the posthumous series ''[[The History of Middle-earth]]''. From around 1936, he began to extend this framework to include the tale of ''The Fall of [[Númenor]]'', which was inspired by the legend of [[Atlantis]].

Tolkien was strongly influenced by Anglo-Saxon literature, Germanic and Norse mythologies, Finnish mythology, the Bible, and Greek mythology. The works most often cited as sources for Tolkien's stories include ''Beowulf'', the ''[[Kalevala]]'', the ''[[Poetic Edda]]'', the ''[[Volsunga saga]]'' and the ''[[Hervarar saga]]''<sup>1</sup>. Tolkien himself acknowledged Homer, Oedipus, and the Kalevala as influences or sources for some of his stories and ideas. His borrowings also came from numerous Middle English works and poems. A major philosophical influence on his writing is King Alfred's Anglo-Saxon version of ''Boethius''' ''Consolation of Philosophy'' known as the ''Lays of Boethius''. Characters in ''The Lord of the Rings'', such as Frodo, Treebeard and Elrond make noticeably Boethian remarks.

In addition to his [[Mythopoeia|mythological compositions]], Tolkien enjoyed inventing fantasy stories to entertain his children. He wrote annual Christmas letters from Father Christmas for them, building up a series of short stories (later compiled and published as ''[[The Father Christmas Letters]]''). Other stories included ''[[Mr. Bliss]]'', ''[[Roverandom]]'', ''[[Smith of Wootton Major]]'', ''[[Farmer Giles of Ham]]'' and ''[[Leaf by Niggle]]''. ''Roverandom'' and ''Smith of Wootton Major'', like ''The Hobbit'', borrowed ideas from his legendarium. ''Leaf by Niggle'' appears to be an autobiographical work, where a "very small man", Niggle, keeps painting leaves until finally he ends up with a tree.

Tolkien never expected his fictional stories to become popular, but he was persuaded by a former student to publish a book he had written for his own children called ''The Hobbit'' in 1937. However, the book attracted adult readers as well, and it became popular enough for the publisher, George Allen & Unwin, to ask Tolkien to work on a sequel.

Even though he felt uninspired on the topic, this request prompted Tolkien to begin what would become his most famous work: the epic three-volume novel ''The Lord of the Rings'' (published 1954–55). Tolkien spent more than ten years writing the primary narrative and appendices for ''The Lord of the Rings'', during which time he received the constant support of the Inklings, in particular his closest friend C.S. Lewis, the author of ''The Chronicles of Narnia''. Both ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings'' are set against the background of ''The Silmarillion'', but in a time long after it.

Tolkien at first intended ''The Lord of the Rings'' as a children's tale like ''The Hobbit'', but it quickly grew darker and more serious in the writing. Though a direct sequel to ''The Hobbit'', it addressed an older audience, drawing on the immense back story of Beleriand that Tolkien had constructed in previous years, and which eventually saw posthumous publication in ''The Silmarillion'' and other volumes. Tolkien's influence weighs heavily on the fantasy genre that grew up after the success of ''The Lord of the Rings''.

Tolkien continued to work on the history of Middle-earth until his death. His son Christopher, with some assistance from fantasy writer [[Guy Gavriel Kay]], organised some of this material into one volume, published as ''The Silmarillion'' in 1977. In 1980 Christopher Tolkien followed this with a collection of more fragmentary material under the title ''[[Unfinished Tales]]'', and in subsequent years he published a massive amount of background material on the creation of Middle-earth in the twelve volumes of ''[[The History of Middle-earth]]''.
All these posthumous works contain unfinished, abandoned, alternative and outright contradictory accounts, since they were always a work in progress, and Tolkien only rarely settled on a definitive version for any of the stories. There is not even complete consistency to be found between ''The Lord of the Rings'' and ''The Hobbit'', the two most closely related works, because Tolkien was never able to fully integrate all their traditions into each other. He commented in 1965, while editing ''The Hobbit'' for a third edition, that he would have preferred to completely rewrite the entire book.

The John P. Raynor, S.J., Library at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, preserves many of Tolkien's original manuscripts, notes and letters; other original material survives at Oxford's Bodleian Library. Marquette has the manuscripts and proofs of ''The Lord of the Rings'' and ''The Hobbit'', and other manuscripts, including ''Farmer Giles of Ham'', while the Bodleian holds the ''Silmarillion'' papers and Tolkien's academic work.

''The Lord of the Rings'' became immensely popular in the 1960s and has remained so ever since, ranking as one of the most popular works of fiction of the twentieth century, judged by both sales and reader surveys. In the 2003 "Big Read" survey conducted by the BBC, ''The Lord of the Rings'' was found to be the "Nation's Best-loved Book". Australians voted ''The Lord of the Rings'' "My Favourite Book" in a 2004 survey conducted by the Australian ABC. In a 1999 poll of Amazon.com customers, ''The Lord of the Rings'' was judged to be their favourite "book of the millennium". In 2002 Tolkien was voted the ninety-second "greatest Briton" in a poll conducted by the BBC, and in 2004 he was voted thirty-fifth in the SABC3's Great South Africans, the only person to appear in both lists. His popularity is not limited just to the English-speaking world: in a 2004 poll inspired by the UK’s "Big Read" survey, about 250,000 Germans found ''The Lord of the Rings'' (''Der Herr der Ringe'') to be their favourite work of literature.

== Languages ==
Both Tolkien's academic career and his literary production are inseparable from his love of language and philology. He specialised in Greek philology in college, and in 1915 graduated with Old Icelandic as special subject. He worked for the Oxford English Dictionary from 1918. In 1920, he went to Leeds as Reader in English Language, where he claimed credit for raising the number of students of linguistics from five to twenty. He gave courses in Old English heroic verse, history of English, various Old English and Middle English texts, Old and Middle English philology, introductory Germanic philology, Gothic, Old Icelandic, and Medieval Welsh. When in 1925, aged 33, Tolkien applied for the Rawlinson and Bosworth Professorship of Anglo-Saxon, he boasted that his students of Germanic philology in Leeds had even formed a "Viking Club".

Privately, Tolkien was attracted to "things of racial and linguistic significance", and he entertained notions of an inherited taste of language, which he termed the "native tongue" as opposed to "cradle tongue" in his 1955 lecture ''[[English and Welsh]]'', which is crucial to his understanding of race and language. He considered west-midland Middle English his own "native tongue", and, as he wrote to W.H. Auden in 1955 (''Letters'', no. 163), "I am a West-midlander by blood (and took to early west-midland Middle English as a known tongue as soon as I set eyes on it)".

Parallel to Tolkien's professional work as a philologist, and sometimes overshadowing this work, to the effect that his academic output remained rather thin, was his affection for the construction of artificial languages. The best developed of these are [[Quenya]] and [[Sindarin]], the etymological connection between which are at the core of much of Tolkien's legendarium. Language and grammar for Tolkien was a matter of aesthetics and euphony, and Quenya in particular was designed from "phonæsthetic" considerations. It was intended as an "Elvenlatin", and was phonologically based on Latin, with ingredients from Finnish and Greek (''Letters'', no. 144). A notable addition came in late 1945 with [[Adûnaic]], a language of a "faintly Semitic flavour", connected with Tolkien's Atlantis myth, which by ''The Notion Club Papers'' ties directly into his ideas about inheritability of language, and via the "[[Second Age]]" and the [[Eärendil the Mariner|Eärendil]] myth was grounded in the legendarium, thereby providing a link of Tolkien's 20th-century "real primary world" with the mythical past of his Middle-earth.

Tolkien considered languages inseparable from the mythology associated with them, and he consequently took a dim view of auxiliary languages. In [[1930]] a congress of Esperantists were told as much by him, in his lecture ''[[A Secret Vice]]'', "Your language construction will breed a mythology", but by 1956 he concluded that "Volapük, Esperanto, Ido, Novial, &c &c are dead, far deader than ancient unused languages, because their authors never invented any Esperanto legends" (''Letters'', no. 180).

The popularity of Tolkien's books has had a small but lasting effect on the use of language in fantasy literature in particular, and even on mainstream dictionaries, which today commonly accept Tolkien's revival of the spellings ''dwarves'' and ''elvish'' (instead of ''dwarfs'' and ''elfish''), which had not been in use since the mid-1800s and earlier. Other terms he has coined, like legendarium and [[eucatastrophe]], are mainly used in connection with Tolkien's work.

== Works Inspired by Tolkien ==
In a 1951 letter to [[Milton Waldman]], Tolkien writes about his intentions to create a "body of more or less connected legend", of which:
{{quote|The cycles should be linked to a majestic whole, and yet leave scope for other minds and hands, wielding paint and music and drama.|''[[The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien]]'', #131}}

The hands and minds of many artists have indeed been inspired by Tolkien's legends. Personally known to him were [[Pauline Baynes]] (Tolkien's favourite illustrator of ''[[The Adventures of Tom Bombadil]]'' and ''[[Farmer Giles of Ham]]'') and [[Donald Swann]] (who set the music to ''[[The Road Goes Ever On]]''). Queen [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margrethe_II_of_Denmark Margrethe II of Denmark] created illustrations to ''The Lord of the Rings'' in the early 1970s. She sent them to Tolkien, who was struck by the similarity to the style of his own drawings.

But Tolkien was not fond of all the artistic representation of his works that were produced in his lifetime, and was sometimes harshly disapproving.

In 1946, he rejects suggestions for illustrations by Horus Engels for the German edition of the ''Hobbit'' as ''"too Disnified"'',
{{quote|Bilbo with a dribbling nose, and Gandalf as a figure of vulgar fun rather than the Odinic wanderer that I think of.|''[[The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien]]'', #107}}

He was sceptical of the emerging [[Tolkien fandom|fandom]] in the United States, and in 1954 he returned proposals for the dust jackets of the American edition of ''The Lord of the Rings'':
{{quote|Thank you for sending me the projected 'blurbs', which I return. The Americans are not as a rule at all amenable to criticism or correction; but I think their effort is so poor that I feel constrained to make some effort to improve it.|''[[The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien]]'', #144}}

And in 1958, in an irritated reaction to a proposed movie adaptation of ''The Lord of the Rings'' by Morton Grady Zimmerman:
{{quote|I would ask them to make an effort of imagination sufficient to understand the irritation (and on occasion the resentment) of an author, who finds, increasingly as he proceeds, his work treated as it would seem carelessly in general, in places recklessly, and with no evident signs of any appreciation of what it is all about.|''[[The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien]]'', #207}}

He went on to criticise the script scene by scene ("yet one more scene of screams and rather meaningless slashings"). But Tolkien was in principle open to the idea of a movie adaptation. He sold the film, stage and merchandise rights of ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings'' to United Artists in 1968, while, guided by scepticism towards future productions, he forbade Disney should ever be involved:
{{quote|It might be advisable [...] to let the Americans do what seems good to them — as long as it was possible [...] to veto anything from or influenced by the Disney studios (for all whose works I have a heartfelt loathing).|''[[The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien]]'', #13}}

United Artists never made a film, though at least [[John Boorman]] was planning a film in the early seventies. It would have been a live-action film, which apparently would have been much more to Tolkien's liking than an animated film. In 1976 the rights were sold to [[Tolkien Enterprises]], a [[Saul Zaentz]] company, and the first movie adaptation (an animated rotoscoping film) of ''[[Ralph Bakshi's The Lord of the Rings|The Lord of the Rings]]'' appeared only after Tolkien's death (in 1978, directed by [[Ralph Bakshi]]). The screenplay was written by the fantasy writer [[Peter S. Beagle]]. This first adaptation, however, only contained the first half of the story that is ''The Lord of the Rings''. In 1977 an animated TV production of ''[[Rankin/Bass' The Hobbit|The Hobbit]]'' was made by [[Rankin/Bass]], and in 1980 they produced an animated film titled ''[[Rankin/Bass' The Return of the King|The Return of the King]]'', which covered some of the portion of ''The Lord of the Rings'' that Bakshi was unable to complete. In 2001-3 ''[[Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings|The Lord of the Rings]]'' was filmed in full and as a live-action film as a ''trilogy of films'' by [[Peter Jackson]].

== Bibliography ==
''See also [[Books|Books by J.R.R. Tolkien]]''
=== Fiction and Poetry ===
* 1936 ''Songs for the Philologists'', with [[E.V. Gordon]] et al.
* 1937 ''[[The Hobbit|The Hobbit or There and Back Again]]'', ISBN 0-618-00221-9 ([[Houghton Mifflin|HM]]).
* 1945 ''[[Leaf by Niggle]]'' (short story)
* 1945 ''[[The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun]]'', published in ''Welsh Review''
* 1949 ''[[Farmer Giles of Ham]]'' (medieval fable)
* 1953 ''[[The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth, Beorhthelm's Son]]'' published with the essay ''Ofermod''
* ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]''
** 1954 ''[[The Fellowship of the Ring]]'': being the first part of ''The Lord of the Rings'', ISBN 0-618-00222-7 (HM).
** 1954 ''[[The Two Towers]]'': being the second part of ''The Lord of the Rings'', ISBN 0-618-00223-5 (HM).
** 1955 ''[[The Return of the King]]'': being the third part of ''The Lord of the Rings'', ISBN 0-618-00224-3 (HM).
* 1962 ''[[The Adventures of Tom Bombadil]] and Other Verses from the Red Book''
* 1967 ''[[The Road Goes Ever On (book)|The Road Goes Ever On]]'', with [[Donald Swann]]
* 1964 ''[[Tree and Leaf]]'' (''[[On Fairy-Stories]]'' and ''[[Leaf by Niggle]]'' in book form)
* 1966 ''The Tolkien Reader'' (''The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorthelm's Son'', ''[[On Fairy-Stories]]'', ''[[Leaf by Niggle]]'', ''[[Farmer Giles of Ham]]' and ''[[The Adventures of Tom Bombadil]]'')
* 1966 ''Tolkien on Tolkien'' (autobiographical)
* 1967 ''[[Smith of Wootton Major]]''

=== Academic Works ===
* 1922 ''A Middle English Vocabulary''
* 1924 ''[[Sir Gawain and the Green Knight]]'' (with [[E.V. Gordon]])
* 1925 ''Some Contributions to Middle-English Lexicography''
* 1925 ''[[The Devil's Coach Horses]]''
* 1929 ''[[Ancrene Wisse and Hali Meiohad]]''
* 1932 ''The Name 'Nodens' '' (in: ''Report on the Excavation of the Prehistoric, Roman, and Post-Roman Site in Lydney Park, Gloucestershire''.)
* 1932/1935 ''[[Sigelwara Land]]'' parts I and II
* 1934 ''[[The Reeve's Prologue and Tale|The Reeve's Tale]]'' (rediscovery of dialect humour, introducing the Hengwrt manuscript into textual criticism of Chaucer's ''The Canterbury Tales'')
* 1936 ''[[Beowulf: the monsters and the critics|Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics]]'' (lecture on [[Beowulf]] criticism)
* 1939 ''[[On Fairy-Stories]]'' (Tolkien's philosophy on fantasy, given as the 1939 Andrew Lang lecture)
* 1944 ''[[Sir Orfeo]]'' (an edition of the medieval poem)
* 1947 ''[[On Fairy-Stories]]'' (essay, very central for understanding Tolkien's views on fastasy)
* 1953 ''Ofermod'', published with the poem ''The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth, Beorhthelm's Son''
* 1953 ''Middle English "Losenger"''
* 1962 ''[[Ancrene Wisse]]: The English Text of the Ancrene Riwle''
* 1963 ''English and Welsh''
* 1966 ''[[Jerusalem Bible]]'' (contributing translator and lexicographer)

=== Posthumous Publications ===
* 1975 Translations of ''[[Sir Gawain and the Green Knight]]'', ''[[Pearl]]'' and ''[[Sir Orfeo]]''
* 1976 ''[[The Father Christmas Letters]]''
* 1977 ''[[The Silmarillion]]'' ISBN 0-618-12698-8 (HM).
* 1979 ''Pictures by J.R.R. Tolkien''
* 1980 ''[[Unfinished Tales]] of Númenor and Middle-earth'' ISBN 0-618-15405-1 (HM).
* 1980 ''Poems and Stories'' (a compilation of ''[[The Adventures of Tom Bombadil]]'', ''The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm's Son'', ''[[On Fairy-Stories]]'', ''[[Leaf by Niggle]]'', ''[[Farmer Giles of Ham]]'' and ''[[Smith of Wootton Major]]'')
* 1981 ''[[The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien]]'' (eds. [[Christopher Tolkien]] and [[Humphrey Carpenter]])
* 1981 ''The Old English Exodus Text''
* 1982 ''[[Finn and Hengest]]: The Fragment and the Episode''
* 1982 ''[[Mr. Bliss]]''
* 1983 ''[[The Monsters and the Critics]]'' (an essay collection)
** ''[[Beowulf: the monsters and the critics|Beowulf: the Monsters and the Critics]]'' (1936)
** ''[[On Translating Beowulf]]'' (1940)
** ''[[On Fairy-Stories]]'' (1947)
** ''[[A Secret Vice]]'' (1930)
** ''[[Sir Gawain and the Green Knight]]''
** ''[[English and Welsh]]'' (1955)
* 1983–1996 ''[[The History of Middle-earth]]'':<ol type="I"><li>''[[The Book of Lost Tales 1]]'' (1983)</li><li>''[[The Book of Lost Tales 2]]'' (1984)</li><li>''[[The Lays of Beleriand]]'' (1985)</li><li>''[[The Shaping of Middle-earth]]'' (1986)</li><li>''[[The Lost Road and Other Writings]]'' (1987)</li><li>''[[The Return of the Shadow]]'' (The History of ''The Lord of the Rings'' vol. 1) (1988)</li><li>''[[The Treason of Isengard]]'' (The History of ''The Lord of the Rings'' vol. 2) (1989)</li><li>''[[The War of the Ring]]'' (The History of ''The Lord of the Rings'' vol. 3) (1990)</li><li>''[[Sauron Defeated]]'' (The History of ''The Lord of the Rings'' vol. 4, including [[The Notion Club Papers]]) (1992)</li><li>''[[Morgoth's Ring]]'' (The Later Silmarillion vol. 1) (1993)</li><li>''[[The War of the Jewels]]'' (The Later Silmarillion vol. 2) (1994)</li><li>''[[The Peoples of Middle-earth]]'' (1996)</li></ol>
** ''Index'' (2002)
* 1995 ''[[J.R.R. Tolkien: Artist and Illustrator]]'' (a compilation of Tolkien's art)
* 1998 ''[[Roverandom]]''
* 2002 ''Beowulf and the Critics'' ed. Michael D.C. Drout ("Beowulf: the monsters and the critics" together with editions of two drafts of the longer essay from which it was condensed.
* 2007 ''[[The Children of Húrin]]'' ed. Christopher Tolkien

=== Audio Recordings ===
* 1967 ''Poems and Songs of Middle-Earth'', Caedmon TC 1231
* 1975 ''J.R.R. Tolkien Reads and Sings his ''The Hobbit'' & ''The Lord of the Rings'', Caedmon TC 1477, TC 1478 (based on an August, 1952 recording by George Sayer)

==Awards==
This list contains awards or recognitions given to J.R.R. Tolkien, it does not include awards given to his individual publications.
* D. Lit., in University College, Dublin (1954)
* Commander of Order of the British Empire (1972)
* Doctorate of Letters by Oxford University (1972)
* 6th "best postwar British writer" (The Times, 2008) [http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/article3127837.ece]

==Other names==
J, John, Ronald, Tollers, JRsquared, Ruginwaldus Dwalakôneis, Arcastar, "Eisphorides Acribus Polyglotteus, orator Graecorum", N.N, Fisiologvs, Kingston Bagpuize, Oxymore, Raegnold Hraedmoding

== References ==
* ''Biography'': Carpenter, Humphrey (1977). ''J.R.R. Tolkien: A Biography'', New York: Ballantine Books. ISBN 0-04-928037-6
* ''Letters'': Carpenter, Humphrey and Tolkien, Christopher (eds.) (1981). ''The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien''. ISBN 0-618-05699-8
* ''HoME'': Tolkien, Christopher (ed.) (12 volumes, 1996-2002), ''The History of Middle-earth''

== Further Reading ==
A small selection of books about Tolkien and his works:
* Anderson, Douglas A., Michael D. C. Drout and Verlyn Flieger (eds.) (2004). ‘’Tolkien Studies’’, Vol 1
* Chance, Jane (ed.) (2003). ''Tolkien the Medievalist'', London, New York: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-28944-0
* Chance, Jane (ed.) (2004). ''Tolkien and the Invention of Myth, a Reader'', Louisville: University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 0-813-12301-1
* Flieger, Verlyn and Carl F. Hostetter (eds.) (2000). ''Tolkien's Legendarium: Essays on The History of Middle Earth'', Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press. ISBN 0-313-30530-7. DDC 823.912. LC PR6039.
* O'Neill, Timothy R. (1979). ''The Individuated Hobbit: Jung, Tolkien and the Archetypes of Middle-earth'', Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. ISBN 0-395-28208-X
* Pearce, Joseph (1998). ''Tolkien: Man and Myth'', London: HarperCollinsPublishers. ISBN 000-274018-4
* Shippey, T. A. (2000). ''J.R.R. Tolkien — Author of the Century'', Boston, New York: Houghton Mifflin Company. ISBN 0-618-12764-X, ISBN 0-618-25759-4 (pbk)
* Strachey, Barbara (1981). ''Journeys of Frodo: an Atlas of The Lord of the Rings'', London, Boston: Allen & Unwin. ISBN 0-049-12016-6
* Tolkien, John & Priscilla (1992). ''The Tolkien Family Album'', London: HarperCollins. ISBN 0-26-110239-7
* White, Michael (2003). ''Tolkien: A Biography'', New American Library. ISBN 0451212428
* ''The Inklings: C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, Charles Williams and Their Friends''. Humphrey Carpenter (1979), ISBN 0395276284
* ''The Inklings Handbook: The Lives, Thought and Writings of C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, Charles Williams, Owen Barfield, and Their Friends''. Colin Duriez and David Porter (2001), ISBN 1902694139
* ''Finding God in the Lord of the Rings'''. Kurt D. Bruner and Jim Ware (2003), ISBN 084238555X
* ''Tolkien and C.S. Lewis: The Gift of Friendship''. Colin Duriez (2003), ISBN 1587680262

==Notes==
# As described by Christopher Tolkien in ''Hervarar Saga ok Heidreks Konung'' (Oxford University, Trinity College). B. Litt. thesis. 1953/4. [Year uncertain], ''The Battle of the Goths and the Huns'', in: Saga-Book (University College, London, for the Viking Society for Northern Research) 14, part 3 (1955-6). See [http://www.tolkiensociety.org/tolkien/bibl4.html publications by and about Christopher Tolkien]
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[[Category:Tolkien Family|Tolkien, J.R.R.]]
[[Category:Authors|Tolkien, J.R.R.]]
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[[Category:Inklings|Tolkien, J.R.R.]]

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