J.R.R. Tolkien

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (1892–1973) was an English writer, philologist, and Oxford professor, best known as the author of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. He is widely regarded as the father of modern high fantasy. Across more than half a century he built Arda and its history, a vast invented world ("legendarium") underpinned by invented languages, mythology, and detailed internal history.

Life

Tolkien was born on 3 January 1892 in Bloemfontein, in the Orange Free State (in present-day South Africa), and was brought to England as a child. Orphaned young, he was raised in and around Birmingham. He studied at Exeter College, Oxford, and served as a signals officer in the British Army during the First World War, fighting at the Battle of the Somme in 1916, an experience that left a lasting mark on his writing.

After the war he worked on the Oxford English Dictionary and then held professorships at the University of Leeds and the University of Oxford, where he was Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon (1925–1945) and later Merton Professor of English Language and Literature. A devout Roman Catholic, he married Edith Bratt in 1916; their relationship is often seen as an inspiration for the tale of Beren and Lúthien. He died on 2 September 1973.

Works

Tolkien's scholarly work included a celebrated 1936 lecture, "Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics", and an edition of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. His fiction, however, made him world-famous.

The Hobbit (1937) — a children's tale of Bilbo Baggins, introducing Smaug, Erebor, and the wider world.
The Lord of the Rings (1954–1955) — published in three volumes, the central work of his legendarium.
The Adventures of Tom Bombadil (1962) — a collection of verse featuring Tom Bombadil.
The Silmarillion (1977) — the mythology of the Elder Days, edited and published posthumously by his son Christopher Tolkien.
Unfinished Tales (1980) and the twelve-volume The History of Middle-earth (1983–1996) — further posthumous compilations of his drafts and writings.

Languages and legendarium

A professional philologist, Tolkien invented languages first and built the world to give them a home. The Elvish tongues Quenya and Sindarin, spoken by the Elves and the Noldor, are the most fully developed. His legendarium spans the creation of the world by Eru Ilúvatar and the Ainur, the Elder Days of Beleriand, the rise and fall of Morgoth, the Downfall of Númenor, and the events of the Third Age told in The Lord of the Rings.

Legacy

Tolkien's work reshaped fantasy literature in the twentieth century and influenced countless authors, games, and films, including Peter Jackson's film adaptations of The Lord of the Rings (2001–2003) and The Hobbit (2012–2014).