About J.R.R. Tolkien

J.R.R. Tolkien lived from 1892 till 1973. At the centenary of his birth in 1992 the British Royal Mail issued a Prestige Booklet.


He was born in Bloemfontein in South Africa, but returned to England as a young boy. His parents died early. He went to University, and he also served in the First World War.
In 1925 he became Professor at Oxford, first Professor of anglo-Saxon at Pembroke College, and then, from 1945 until his retirement in 1959, Merton Professor of English Language and Literature.
He is best known as the author of The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion.

The Hobbit Cover illustration by J.R.R. Tolkien	The Lord of the Rings Cover illustration by J.R.R. Tolkien	The Silmarillion Cover illustration by J.R.R. Tolkien

In addition to his academic writings, he also wrote other books of fiction. Some of them used his own drawings as cover illustrations. Others had cover illustrations by Pauline Baynes.

At the fiftieth anniversary for the publishing of The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers, in 2004, the British Royal Mail issued a set of stamps with Tolkien's drawings.

We have provided an article about alphabet formation in Middle-earth

If you want to read more than just Tolkien's own books:
A Chronological Bibliography of the Writings of J.R.R. Tolkien
compiled by Åke Bertenstam at
http://www.forodrim.org/arda/tbchron.html

One of Tolkien's chief interests was linguistics. Academically he did research on the literary and linguistic tradition of the English West Midlands. For his own enjoyment he created languages, which then became the core in his fiction works set in Middle-earth. The most developed ones were Quenya and Sindarin.

To study his languages, go to Ardalambion (The languages of Arda) at www.ardalambion.com or at www.uib.no/People/hnohf/index.html

You can find a good overview of elements of Quenya at Lambė Eldaiva - The Language of the Elves

The signature Aikanaro has made a page of Quenya resources (currently only partially moved over from GeoCities, which now is closed)

At The Blade That Was Broken there is a language section



Try the discussion board Minas Tirith at http://www.minastirith.com

or

the discussion board Entmoot at http://www.entmoot.com


These discussion board both do Role Playing Games - joint efforts of writing fan fiction.
One such RPG story is The Theft of Umbar.


Peter Jackson's films based on Tolkien's books are well known. Isle of Man issued a stamp set to celebrate the release of the "Return of the King" movie.
Other people have started "less official" projects, non-commercial fan film projects, making no money from their endeavours.
One such project is Born of Hope.



 

This film tells the story of Aragorn's parents, Gilraen and Arathorn. It expands on what Tolkien says about them in the few paragraphs where he mentions them.
If you want current information on the project, you can check out their website. The pictures above are available as wallpapers from the website.
From 1st December 2009, the film will be available for viewing from the Born of Hope website.

Another such project is The Hunt for Gollum.



 

This film tells how Aragorn hunts for Gollum, while Frodo keeps the ring secret and safe, and Gandalf wonders what its secret really is.
The project has a website which tells about the progress of the film and offers poster art and other pictures.
The film is available for viewing from The Hunt for Gollum website.



Footsteps of Spring
by Henning Janssen (displaying a young Luthien)
Posted with the artist's permission

Resources in Norwegian:
Les den norske Tolkien-siden min.