Tolkien shouted his responses loudly in Latin shortly after church services were translated to English in the 1960s, and was upset about having less Latin in liturgies, but this has more to do with his love of language than it was about him protesting anything. This new form of the mass that many fans thinkRead More
Gollum: A Character Study
Sméagol was born in 2430 TA and is a creature who obtained the One Ring. By obtaining the One Ring, his lifespan would be preserved until the moment of the Ring’s destruction. He was most known for his desire of the One Ring in two instances: (1) when Bilbo found it in The Hobbit, andRead More
The significance of the friendship of JRR Tolkien and C.S. Lewis
Tolkien was widely known for his friendship with C.S. Lewis. They had both lived in Oxford and were part of a literary group, The Inklings. Meeting Tolkien had met Lewis in 1925 – though at the time, Lewis was a man in question, “a Northern Irishman of Protestant family who had been raised to disruptRead More
Tolkien’s Views on Shakespeare
It is commonly believed that Tolkien disliked, or had strong opinions of, William Shakespeare. However, there seemed to be a lot of nuance. We would see that there were some plays he enjoyed and some he gave criticisms of. One which he enjoyed was a live play of Hamlet calling it a “very good performance”Read More
The Love Story of Sam and Rosie
“‘So that was the job I felt I had to do when I started,’ thought Sam [just steps away from Mount Doom]: to help Mr. Frodo to the last step and die with him? Well, if that is the job then I must do it. But I would dearly like to see Bywater again, andRead More
In defense of Fall of Númenor
The Fall of Númenor, which was released in 2022, is a book that features Tolkien’s work on Númenor. However, there have been questions about whether it is really necessary considering that a lot of the information you can also get from Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales, History of Middle-earth, or letters of JRR Tolkien, aside from theRead More
Why are there so many songs in LOTR?
LOTR and The Hobbit are known to have a lot of songs. This is a common criticism of the books – that there are just too many songs in Lord of the Rings. While it is certainly left up to the viewer whether that is true or not, the songs happen to hold a significanceRead More
Was Smith of Wootton Major a Middle-earth tale?
In Tolkien’s letter # 309a, it is stated that this book (Smith of Wootton Major) that Tolkien sent a child, Philip Neal, “is not about the same time or country” as The Hobbit. We would know that it is not about The Hobbit, but it is unknown whether it would be based in Middle-earth orRead More
Who created the Hobbits?
It is commonly stated that Tolkien made hobbits a reflection of himself, which could be evident whether intentional or not. “On a blank leaf I scrawled: ‘In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.’ I did not and do not know why.” (Letters) Tolkien’s (generation of) idea of hobbits The first edition ofRead More
The Life and Downfall of Sauron
Sauron, the titular character of Lord of the Rings – was born sometime before the Ainulindalë as one of the Maiar. Before creating the One Ring, Sauron was of the Maiar of Aulë remaining mighty in the lore of them but later became only less evil than Melkor the Morgoth of Arda. Sauron later hadRead More