Tolkien and middle earth

Beregond · 01-15-2005, 03:42 PM

Why did tolkien go into so much history of middle of middle woith the appendices and the silmarillion? I have heard that it had somthing to do with his 3 best friends who whwere killed in ww1.

inked · 01-15-2005, 04:24 PM

Beregrond,

The Silmarillion as we know it came first actually. The LotR grew out of that in an attempt to write a sequel to THE HOBBIT. Tolkien says in LETTERS that the attempt to write a HOBBIT sequel found itself emmeshed in the older mythology. That mythology arose to give his invented languages a setting and out of a desire to subcreate a mythology of England that was pre-Saxon invasion.

The availability of the background, its inexorable rise into the LotR, and the pursuit of correcting/revising was a major concern after his retirement in 1959. I really think if you have access to it, a reading of THE LETTERS would set you on the right path to understand the connections. It was quite a thrill for me to read those. Of course, I had read THE HOBBIT and LotR years before THE SILMARILLION was available. The on reading it, I had many of the same questions. So, that's why I recommend it (THE LETTERS, I mean).

There is no doubt that many of JRRT's experiences with his friends and WWI are involved in all his works. He actually began writing the Sil materials in the trenches of WWI.

01-15-2005, 03:42 PM	#1
Beregond Hobbit Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: England Posts: 28	Tolkien and middle earth Why did tolkien go into so much history of middle of middle woith the appendices and the silmarillion? I have heard that it had somthing to do with his 3 best friends who whwere killed in ww1.

01-15-2005, 04:24 PM	#2
inked Elf Lord Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: sikeston, MO, usa, earth, sol Posts: 3,114	Beregrond, The Silmarillion as we know it came first actually. The LotR grew out of that in an attempt to write a sequel to THE HOBBIT. Tolkien says in LETTERS that the attempt to write a HOBBIT sequel found itself emmeshed in the older mythology. That mythology arose to give his invented languages a setting and out of a desire to subcreate a mythology of England that was pre-Saxon invasion. The availability of the background, its inexorable rise into the LotR, and the pursuit of correcting/revising was a major concern after his retirement in 1959. I really think if you have access to it, a reading of THE LETTERS would set you on the right path to understand the connections. It was quite a thrill for me to read those. Of course, I had read THE HOBBIT and LotR years before THE SILMARILLION was available. The on reading it, I had many of the same questions. So, that's why I recommend it (THE LETTERS, I mean). There is no doubt that many of JRRT's experiences with his friends and WWI are involved in all his works. He actually began writing the Sil materials in the trenches of WWI. __________________ Inked "Aslan is not a tame lion." CSL/LWW "The new school [acts] as if it required...courage to say a blasphemy. There is only one thing that requires real courage to say, and that is a truism." GK Chesterton "And there is always the danger of allowing people to suppose that our modern times are so wholly unlike any other times that the fundamental facts about man's nature have wholly changed with changing circumstances." Dorothy L. Sayers, 1 Sept. 1941 Last edited by inked : 01-15-2005 at 04:27 PM. Reason: clarification of pronoun antecedent

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