Beowulf and Middle-earth

Literary analysis

J. R. R. Tolkien, a fantasy author and professional philologist, drew on the Old English poem Beowulf for multiple aspects of his Middle-earth legendarium, alongside other influences. He used elements such as names, monsters, and the structure of society in a heroic age. He emulated its style, creating an impression of depth and adopting an elegiac tone. Tolkien admired the way that Beowulf, written by a Christian looking back at a pagan past, just as he was, embodied a "large symbolism"[1] without ever becoming allegorical. He worked to echo the symbolism of life's road and individual heroism in The Lord of the Rings.

The names of races, including ents, orcs, and elves, and place names such as Orthanc and Meduseld, derive from Beowulf. The werebear Beorn in The Hobbit has been likened to the hero Beowulf himself; both names mean "bear" and both characters have enormous strength. Scholars have compared some of Tolkien's monsters to those in Beowulf. Both his trolls and Gollum share attributes with Grendel, while Smaug's characteristics closely match those of the Beowulf dragon. Tolkien's Riders of Rohan are distinctively Old English, and he has made use of multiple elements of Beowulf in creating them, including their language, culture, and poetry. The godlike Valar, their earthly paradise of Valinor, and the Old Straight Road that allowed the elves to sail to it, may all derive from the Scyld Scefing passage at the start of the poem.

## Context

[edit]

Further information: Beowulf, J. R. R. Tolkien, Middle-earth, and J. R. R. Tolkien's influences

Beowulf is an epic poem in Old English, telling the story of its eponymous pagan hero. He becomes King of the Geats after ridding Heorot, the hall of the Danish king Hrothgar, of the monster Grendel,[a] who was ravaging the land; he dies saving his people from a dragon. The tale is told in a roundabout way with many digressions into history and legend, and with a constant elegiac tone, ending in a dirge. It was written by a Christian poet, looking back reflectively on a time already in his people's distant past.[3]

J. R. R. Tolkien was an English author and philologist of ancient Germanic languages, specialising in Old English; he spent much of his career as a professor at the University of Oxford.[4] He is best known for his novels about his invented Middle-earth, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. A devout Roman Catholic, he described The Lord of the Rings as "a fundamentally religious and Catholic work", rich in Christian symbolism.[5]

The Tolkien scholar Tom Shippey, like Tolkien a philologist, called Beowulf the single work that most strongly influenced Tolkien, out of the many other sources that he used.[6] He made use of it in his Middle-earth legendarium in multiple ways: in specific story-elements such as monsters; in Old English culture, as seen in the kingdom of Rohan; in the aesthetic style of The Lord of the Rings, with its impression of depth and its elegiac tone; and in its "large symbolism".[7]

## People

[edit]

### A philologist's races

[edit]

Beowulf's eotenas [ond] ylfe [ond] orcneas in line 112, "ettens [and] elves [and] demon-corpses" helped to inspire Tolkien to create Orcs, Elves, and other races.[8] Cotton MS Vitellius A xv – f134r in British Library

Tolkien made use of his philological expertise on Beowulf to create some of the races of Middle-earth. The list of supernatural creatures in Beowulf, eotenas ond ylfe ond orcnéas, "ettens and elves and demon-corpses", contributed to his Orcs, and Elves, and to an allusion to Ettens in his "Ettenmoors" placename.[8] His tree-giants or Ents (etymologically close to Ettens) may derive from a phrase in another Old English poem, Maxims II, orþanc enta geweorc, "skilful work of giants".[9] Shippey suggests that Tolkien took the name of the tower of Orthanc (orþanc) from the same phrase, reinterpreted as "Orthanc, the Ents' fortress".[10]

### Characters

[edit]

Beowulfian: Bödvar Bjarki shifts shape to fight in the form of a bear, as Tolkien's Beorn does.[11] Painting by Louis Moe, 1898

The word orþanc occurs again in Beowulf, alongside the term searo in the phrase searonet seowed, smiþes orþancum, "a cunning-net sewn, by a smith's skill", meaning a mail-shirt or byrnie. Tolkien used searo in its Mercian form *saru for the name of Orthanc's ruler, the wizard Saruman, whose name could thus be translated "cunning man", incorporating the ideas of subtle knowledge and technology into Saruman's character.[10][12]

An especially Beowulfian character appears in The Hobbit as Beorn; his name originally meant "bear" but came to mean "man, warrior", giving Tolkien the chance to make the character a were-bear, able to shift his shape. A bear-man Bödvar Bjarki exists in Norse myth, while it is Beowulf himself whom Beorn echoes in the Old English poem. The name "Beowulf" can indeed be read as "the Bees' Wolf", that is, "the Honey-Eater".[11] In other words, he is "the Bear", the man who is so strong that he snaps swords and tears off the arms of monsters with his enormous bear-like strength. Shippey notes that Beorn is ferocious, rude, and cheerful, characteristics that reflect his huge inner self-confidence—itself an aspect of northern heroic courage.[11]

## Monsters

[edit]

Further information: Tolkien's monsters

Scholars have compared several of Tolkien's monsters, including his Trolls, Gollum, and Smaug, to those in Beowulf.[13][14][15]

### Trolls

[edit]

Further information: Troll (Middle-earth) and Grendel

Tolkien's wordless[13] trolls have been compared to Grendel, a monster in Beowulf.[13] Illustration of Grendel by J. R. Skelton, 1908

Beowulf's first fight is with the monster Grendel, who is often taken by scholars as a kind of troll from Norse mythology. Tolkien's trolls share some of Grendel's attributes, such as great size and strength, being impervious to ordinary swords, and favouring the night. The scholar Christina Fawcett suggests that Tolkien's "roaring Troll" in The Return of the King reflects Grendel's "firey [sic] eye and terrible screaming".[13] Noting that Tolkien compares them to beasts as they "came striding up, roaring like beasts ... bellowing", she observes that they "remain wordless warriors, like Grendel".[13]

### Gollum

[edit]

Further information: Gollum

Gollum, a far smaller monster in Middle-earth, has also been likened to Grendel, with his preference for hunting with his bare hands and his liking for desolate, marshy places. The many parallels between these monsters include their affinity for water, their isolation from society, and their bestial description.[16] The Tolkien scholar Verlyn Flieger suggests that he is Tolkien's central monster-figure, likening him to both Grendel and the dragon; she describes him as "the twisted, broken, outcast hobbit whose manlike shape and dragonlike greed combine both the Beowulf kinds of monster in one figure".[14]

Flieger's comparison of Gollum with Grendel and the Beowulf dragon[14] Grendel  | Gollum  | the Beowulf dragon

|
|

Man-eating | Cannibalistic, eats goblins, hobbits if no fish to eat | —
"Outcast, a wanderer in the waste, of the race of Cain" | Murderer, outcast | —
Unable to bear the sound of human pleasure with harp music | A small corner of his mind could still enjoy "a kindly voice ... but that ... would only make the evil part of him angrier in the end"[17] | —
— | Greed for the Ring | Greed for treasure
— | Transformed by greed for ring into a creeping thing, his OE name Smeagol meaning "creeping" | (Fafnir changed himself into a dragon to guard his gold and his ring)
— | His name for the ring, "Precious", is OE māþum | māþum is dragon's hoard

### Smaug

[edit]

Further information: Smaug

Tolkien made use of the Beowulf dragon to create one of his most distinctive monsters, the dragon in The Hobbit, Smaug. The Beowulf dragon is aroused and enraged by the theft of a golden cup from his pile of treasure; he flies out in the night and destroys Beowulf's hall; he is killed, but the treasure is cursed, and Beowulf too dies. In The Hobbit, the eponymous Hobbit protagonist Bilbo accordingly steals a golden cup from the dragon's huge mound of treasure, awakening Smaug, who flies out and burns Lake-town; the allure of gold is too much of a temptation for the Dwarf Thorin Oakenshield, who is killed soon afterwards.[18][19] On the other hand, the Beowulf dragon does not speak; Tolkien has made Smaug conversational, and wily with it.[20] Scholars have analysed the parallels between Smaug and the unnamed Beowulf dragon:[15]

Lee and Solopova's comparison of Smaug and the Beowulf dragon[15] Plot element  | Beowulf | The Hobbit

|
|

Aggressive
dragon  | eald uhtsceaða ... hat ond hreohmod ... Wæs þæs wyrmes wig / wide gesyne

"old twilight-ravager ... hot and fierce-minded ... that worm's war was / widely seen"

| Smaug fiercely attacks Dwarves, Laketown
Gold-greedy
dragon  | hordweard

"treasure-guardian"

| Smaug watchfully sleeps on a pile of treasure
Provoking
the dragon  |

wæs ða gebolgen / beorges hyrde,
wolde se laða / lige forgyldan
drincfæt dyre.

"was then furious / the barrow's keeper
wanted the enemy / with fire to revenge
precious drinking-cup."

| Smaug is enraged when Bilbo steals a golden cup
Night-flying
dragon  |

nacod niðdraca, nihtes fleogeð
fyre befangen

"naked hate-dragon, flying by night,
wreathed in fire"

| Smaug attacks Laketown with fire, by night
Well-protected
dragon's lair  |

se ðe on heaum hofe / hord beweotode,
stanbeorh steapne; stig under læg,
eldum uncuð.

"the one who on high heath / hoard watched
steep stone-barrow / the path up to it
unknown to any."

| Secret passage to Smaug's lair and a mound of treasure in the stone palace under Mount Erebor
Accursed
dragon-gold  | hæðnum horde

"a heathen hoard"

| The treasure provokes the Battle of Five Armies

## Culture of Rohan

[edit]

Further information: Rohan (Middle-earth)

### Names, language, and heroism

[edit]

Tolkien made use of Beowulf, along with other Old English sources, for many aspects of the Riders of Rohan. Their land was the Mark, its name a version of the Mercia where he lived, in Mercian dialect *Marc. Their names are straightforwardly Old English: Éomer and Háma (characters in Beowulf), Éowyn ("Horse-joy"), Théoden ("King"). So too is their language, with words like Éothéod ("Horse-people"), Éored ("Troop of cavalry"), and Eorlingas ("people of Eorl", whose name means "[Horse-]lord", cf. Earl), where many words and names begin with the word for "horse", eo[h].[21][22]

There are even spoken phrases that follow this form. As Alaric Hall notes, "'Westu Théoden hál!' cried Éomer" is a scholarly joke: a dialectal form of Beowulf's Wæs þú, Hróðgár, hál ("Be thou well, Hrothgar!") i.e. Éomer shouts "Long Live King Théoden!" in a Mercian accent. Tolkien used this West Midlands dialect of Old English because he had been brought up in that region.[12]

The royal palace of Rohan, Meduseld, is a Viking-style mead hall, like Hrothgar's hall, Heorot, described in Beowulf. Depicted is a reconstructed Viking longhouse in Denmark.

Théoden's hall, Meduseld,[b] is modelled on Beowulf's Heorot, as is the way it is guarded, with visitors challenged repeatedly but courteously. Heorot's golden thatched roof is described in line 311 of Beowulf which Tolkien directly translates as a description of Meduseld: "The light of it shines far over the land", representing líxte se léoma ofer landa fela.[23]

The war horns of the Riders of Rohan exemplify, in Shippey's view, the "heroic Northern world", as in what he calls the nearest Beowulf has to a moment of Tolkien-like eucatastrophe, when Ongentheow's Geats, trapped all night, hear the horns of Hygelac's men coming to rescue them; the Riders blow their horns wildly as they finally arrive, turning the tide of the Battle of the Pelennor Fields at a climactic moment in The Lord of the Rings.[24][25]

### Alliterative verse

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Further information: Poetry in The Lord of the Rings

Among the many poems in The Lord of the Rings are examples of Tolkien's skill in imitating Old English alliterative verse, keeping strictly to the metrical structure, which he described in his essay "On Translating Beowulf".[12][26][27] The Tolkien scholar Mark Hall compares Aragorn's lament for Boromir to Scyld Scefing's ship-burial in Beowulf:[28]

Mark Hall's comparison of the "Lament for Boromir" with the ship-burial in Beowulf[28] Beowulf 2:36b–42
Scyld Scefing's funeral | Hall's translation | "Lament for Boromir"[29]
(floated in a boat down the Anduin
to the Falls of Rauros)

|
|

þær wæs madma fela
of feorwegum     frætwa gelæded;
ne hyrde ic cymlicor    ceol gegyrwan
hildewæpnum     ond heaðowædum,
billum ond byrnum;     him on bearme læg
madma mænigo,    þa him mid scoldon
on flodes æht    feor gewitan. |                         There was much treasure
from faraway     ornaments brought
not heard I of more nobly     a ship prepared
war-weapons     and war-armour
sword and mail;     on his lap lay
treasures many     those with him should
on floods' possession     far departed.  | 'Beneath Amon Hen I heard his cry.
There many foes he fought.
His cloven shield, his broken sword,
they to the water brought.
His head so proud, his face so fair,
his limbs they laid to rest;
And Rauros, golden Rauros-falls,
bore him upon its breast.'

## Style

[edit]

### Impression of depth

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Main article: Impression of depth in The Lord of the Rings

The many digressions in Beowulf must have given its listeners a powerful impression of looking into a noble pagan past.[30] Illustration by J. R. Skelton, c. 1910

A quality of literature that Tolkien particularly prized, and sought to achieve in The Lord of the Rings, was the impression of depth, of hidden vistas into ancient history. He found this especially in Beowulf, but also in other works that he admired, such as Virgil's Aeneid, Shakespeare's Macbeth, Sir Orfeo, and Grimms' Fairy Tales.[31] Beowulf contains numerous digressions into other stories which have functions other than advancing the plot, in Adrien Bonjour's words rendering "the background of the poem extraordinarily alive",[32][c] and providing contrasts and examples that repeatedly illuminate the key points of the main story with flashes of the distant past.[32] Tolkien stated in The Monsters and the Critics that Beowulf:[30]

> must have succeeded admirably in creating in the minds of the poet's contemporaries the illusion of surveying a past, pagan but noble and fraught with a deep significance – a past that itself had depth and reached backward into a dark antiquity of sorrow. This impression of depth is an effect and a justification of the use of episodes and allusions to old tales, mostly darker, more pagan, and desperate than the foreground.[30]

In addition, Tolkien valued particularly the "shimmer of suggestion" that never exactly becomes explicit, but that constantly hints at greater depth. That is just as in Beowulf, where Tolkien described the quality as the "glamour of Poesis",[33] though whether this was, Shippey notes, an effect of distance in time, the "elvish hone of antiquity", or a kind of memory or vision of paradise is never distinguished.[34]

### Elegiac tone

[edit]

Further information: Decline and fall in Middle-earth § Fading

The Lord of the Rings, especially its last part, The Return of the King, has a consistent elegiac tone, in this resembling Beowulf.[35] The Tolkien scholar Marjorie Burns describes it as a "sense of inevitable disintegration".[36] The author and scholar Patrice Hannon calls it "a story of loss and longing, punctuated by moments of humor and terror and heroic action but on the whole a lament for a world—albeit a fictional world—that has passed even as we seem to catch a last glimpse of it flickering and fading".[37]

## "Large symbolism"

[edit]

Shippey notes that Tolkien wrote of Beowulf that the "large symbolism is near the surface, but ... does not break through, nor become allegory",[1] for if it did, that would constrain the story, like that of The Lord of the Rings, to have just one meaning. That sort of constraint was something that Tolkien "contemptuously" dismissed in his foreword to the second edition, stating that he preferred applicability, giving readers the freedom to read into the novel what they could see in it. The message could be hinted at, repeatedly, and they would work, Shippey writes, "only if they were true both in fact and in fiction";[1] Tolkien set out to make The Lord of the Rings work the same way.[1]

### A learned Christian's heroic world

[edit]

Further information: Christianity in Middle-earth and Paganism in Middle-earth

Another theme, in both Beowulf and The Lord of the Rings, is that of the good pagan pre-Catholics such as Aragorn, who would on a strict interpretation of Christianity be damned as they had no knowledge of Christ.[38] Tolkien stated in a letter to his friend the Jesuit priest Robert Murray that he had cut religion out of the work because it "is absorbed into the story and the symbolism".[5] George Clark writes that Tolkien saw the Beowulf poet as[39]

> a learned Christian who re-created a heroic world and story in an implicitly Christian universe governed by a God whose existence and nature the poem's wiser characters intuit without the benefit of revelation. Tolkien's Beowulf poet was a version of himself, and his authorial persona in creating [The Lord of the Rings] was a version of that Beowulf poet.[39]

### Contrasted heroes

[edit]

Further information: Heroism in The Lord of the Rings

Flieger contrasts the warrior-hero Aragorn with the suffering hero Frodo. Aragorn is, like Beowulf, an epic/romance hero, a bold leader and a healer-king. Frodo is "the little man of fairy tale", the little brother who unexpectedly turns out to be brave. But the fairy tale happy ending comes to Aragorn, marrying the beautiful princess (Arwen) and winning the kingdom (Gondor and Arnor); while Frodo gets "defeat and disillusionment—the stark, bitter ending typical of the Iliad, Beowulf, the Morte D'Arthur".[40] In other words, the two types of hero are not only contrasted, but combined, halves of their legends swapped over.[40]

Flieger's analysis of heroes in Beowulf, fairy tales, and The Lord of the Rings[40] Beowulf | Fairy tale hero | Aragorn | Frodo

|
|
|

Bold hero, victorious | — | Battle of Helm's Deep,
Battle of the Pelennor Fields | —
— | Small beginnings:
Little man sets out on quest | — | Hobbit sets out not knowing where he's going
Bitter ending | — | — | Defeat and disillusionment after the quest
— | Happy ending:
Returns home rich, marries princess | King of Gondor and Arnor
Marries Elf-princess Arwen | —

### The road of life

[edit]

Further information: The Road Goes Ever On (song)

The symbolism of the road of life can be glimpsed in many places, illuminating different aspects. Tolkien's poem The Old Walking Song is repeated, with variations, three times in The Lord of the Rings. The last version contains the words "The Road goes ever on and on / Out from the door where it began. ... But I at last with weary feet / Will turn towards the lighted inn". Shippey writes that "if 'the lighted inn' on the road means death, then 'the Road' must mean life", and the poem and the novel could be speaking of the process of psychological individuation. Beowulf, too, concerns the life and death of its hero.[41][42][43] Flieger writes that Tolkien saw Beowulf as "a poem of balance, the opposition of ends and beginnings":[40] the young Beowulf rises, sails to Denmark, kills Grendel, becomes King; many years later, the old Beowulf falls, killing the dragon but going to his own death. In Flieger's view, Tolkien has built the same values, balance, and opposition into The Lord of the Rings, but at the same time rather than one after the other.[40]

### Lost paradise

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Main article: Old Straight Road

A crux at the start of the poem concerns the origin, and fate, of Scyld Scefing. Line 44 uses the plural pronoun þā ("those") for whoever it was that sent Scyld in a boat to the Scyldings, and who receive his funeral ship when they send him off. The cosmology of this story is not explained, beyond the cryptic statement that "those" had sent Scyld as a baby into the world. Shippey notes that the pronoun is, unusually for such an insignificant part of speech, both stressed and alliterated, a heavy emphasis (marked in the text):[44]

The Scyldings let Scyld's funeral ship sail by itself back to whoever he came from  Beowulf lines 43–52 | John Porter's "literal" 1991 translation[45]

|

Nalæs hī hine lǣssan / lācum tēodan,
þeodgestrēonum, / þon þā dydon
þē hine æt frumsceafte / forð onsendon
ǣnne ofer ǣðe / umborwesende.
þā gǣt hīe him āsetton / segen geldenne
hēah ofer hēafod, / lēton holm beran,
gēafon on gārsecg; / him wæs geōmor sefa,
murnende mōd. / Men ne cunnon
secgan tŏ sōðe, / selerǣdende,
hæleð under heofenum, / hwā þǣm hlæste onfēng.

In no way they him less / with gifts endowed,
with folk-wealth, / than those did,
who him at outset / forth sent
alone over waves / infant-being.
Then yet they set up / standard golden
high over head, / they let sea carry,
gave to ocean; / in them was gloomy heart,
mourning mind. / Men not can
say for truth, / hall-counsellors,
heroes under heaven, who that cargo received.

In The Lost Road and Other Writings, Christopher Tolkien quotes from one of his father's lectures: "the [Beowulf] poet is not explicit, and the idea was probably not fully formed in his mind—that Scyld went back to some mysterious land whence he had come. He came out of the Unknown beyond the Great Sea, and returned into It". J. R. R. Tolkien explains that "the symbolism (what we should call the ritual) of a departure over the sea whose further shore was unknown; and an actual belief in a magical land or otherworld located 'over the sea', can hardly be distinguished."[46]

Shippey comments that a ship-burial must have meant "a belief that the desired afterworld was across the western sea", and that Tolkien mirrored this with his "Undying Lands" of Valinor that once lay across the sea from Middle-earth. In short, the Beowulf poet had "what one can only call an inkling of Tolkien's own image of 'the Lost Straight Road'."[44] He asks who the unnamed beings were, and whether the ship was to sail into the West on a Lost Road to return to them. They are plainly acting on behalf of God; being plural, they cannot be him, but they are supernatural. He suggests that Tolkien considered their nature, as godlike mythological demiurges, and that this perhaps prompted him to create the similar Valar, given that Tolkien habitually "deriv[ed] inspiration from a philological crux".[44]

## Notes

[edit]

1. ^ Beowulf also rid Heorot of Grendel's mother.[2]
2. ^ Meduseld means "mead hall" in Beowulf.[23]
3. ^ Nagy cites Bonjour, Adrien (1950). The Digressions in 'Beowulf'. Basil Blackwell. OCLC 1031688621.

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b c d Shippey 2005, pp. 104, 190–197, 217.
2. ^ Liuzza 2013, pp. 17, 147–149.
3. ^ Liuzza 2013, pp. 11–36.
4. ^ Carpenter 1977, pp. 111, 200, 266.
5. ^ a b Carpenter 2023, Letter 142 to Robert Murray, 2 December 1953
6. ^ Shippey 2005, p. 389.
7. ^ Shippey 2005, pp. 104, 192–193, 217.
8. ^ a b Shippey 2005, pp. 66, 74, 149.
9. ^ Shippey 2005, p. 149.
10. ^ a b Shippey 2001, pp. 88, 169–170.
11. ^ a b c Shippey 2005, pp. 91–92.
12. ^ a b c Hall 2005
13. ^ a b c d e Fawcett 2014, pp. 29, 97, 125–131.
14. ^ a b c Flieger 2004, pp. 141–144.
15. ^ a b c Lee & Solopova 2005, pp. 109–111.
16. ^ Nelson 2008, p. 466.
17. ^ Tolkien 1954a, "book I, ch. 2"
18. ^ Sommerlad, Joe (2 October 2017). "The Hobbit at 80: What were JRR Tolkien's inspirations behind his first fantasy tale of Middle Earth?". The Independent. Archived from the original on 12 November 2020. Retrieved 7 February 2021.
19. ^ Evans 2000, pp. 30–32.
20. ^ Shippey 2005, pp. 99–102.
21. ^ Shippey 2001, pp. 90–97, 111–119.
22. ^ Kennedy 2001, pp. 15–16.
23. ^ a b Shippey 2005, pp. 139–143
24. ^ Tolkien 1955, book V, ch. 4.
25. ^ Shippey 2001, pp. 212–216.
26. ^ Carpenter 2023, Letter 187 to H. Cotton Minchin, April 1956
27. ^ Lee & Solopova 2005, pp. 46–53.
28. ^ a b Hall 2006, pp. 46–47
29. ^ Tolkien 1954 book III, ch. 1
30. ^ a b c Tolkien 1983, p. 27.
31. ^ Shippey 2005, pp. 259–261.
32. ^ a b Nagy 2003, pp. 239–258.
33. ^ Tolkien 1983, p. 248.
34. ^ Shippey 2005, p. 61.
35. ^ Shippey 2005, p. 239.
36. ^ Burns 1989, pp. 5–9.
37. ^ Hannon 2004, pp. 36–42.
38. ^ Shippey 2005, pp. 224–230.
39. ^ a b Clark 2000, pp. 39–40.
40. ^ a b c d e Flieger 2004, pp. 122–145.
41. ^ Shippey 2005, pp. 210–211.
42. ^ Liuzza 2013, p. 13.
43. ^ Reynolds 2021, pp. 1–10.
44. ^ a b c Shippey 2022, pp. 166–180.
45. ^ Porter 2008, pp. 14–15.
46. ^ Tolkien 1987, pp. 95–96

## Sources

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* Burns, Marjorie J. (1989). "J.R.R. Tolkien and the Journey North". Mythlore. 15 (4): 5–9\. JSTOR 26811938. Archived from the original on 14 February 2021. Retrieved 21 June 2022.
* Carpenter, Humphrey (1977). Tolkien: A Biography. New York: Ballantine Books. ISBN 978-0-04928-037-3.
* Carpenter, Humphrey, ed. (2023) [1981]. The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien: Revised and Expanded Edition. New York: Harper Collins. ISBN 978-0-35-865298-4.
* Clark, George (2000). "Tolkien and the True Hero". In Clark, Sir George; Timmons, Daniel (eds.). J.R.R. Tolkien and His Literary Resonances: Views of Middle-earth. Santa Barbara, California: Greenwood. pp. 39–52\. ISBN 978-0-31330-845-1.
* Evans, Jonathan (2000). "The Dragon-lore of Middle-earth: Tolkien and Old English and Old Norse tradition". In Clark, Sir George; Timmons, Daniel (eds.). J.R.R. Tolkien and His Literary Resonances: Views of Middle-earth. Santa Barbara, California: Greenwood. pp. 22–38\. ISBN 978-0-31330-845-1.
* Fawcett, Christina (2014). J.R.R. Tolkien and the morality of monstrosity (PhD). University of Glasgow. Archived from the original on 3 February 2021. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
* Flieger, Verlyn (2004). "Frodo and Aragorn: The Concept of the Hero". In Zimbardo, Rose A. & Isaacs, Neil D. (eds.). Understanding the Lord of the Rings: The Best of Tolkien Criticism. Houghton Mifflin. pp. 122–145\. ISBN 978-0-61842-251-7.
* Hall, Alaric (2005). "Lord of the Rings, Lecture 4: 'Hobbits?' said Théoden. 'Your tongue is strangely changed.'". Alaric Hall. Archived from the original on 31 December 2005. Retrieved 7 February 2021.
* Hall, Mark F. (2006). "The Theory and Practice of Alliterative Verse in the Work of J.R.R. Tolkien". Mythlore. 25 (1): 41–52\. Archived from the original on 7 March 2021. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
* Hannon, Patrice (2004). "The Lord of the Rings as Elegy". Mythlore. 24 (2): 36–42\. Archived from the original on 8 February 2021. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
* Kennedy, Michael (September 2001). "Tolkien and Beowulf – Warriors of Middle-earth". Amon Hen (171): 15–16\. Archived from the original on 9 May 2006.
* Lee, Stuart D. & Solopova, Elizabeth (2005). The Keys of Middle-earth. London, England: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-1-13745-469-0.
* Liuzza, Roy M. (2013) [2000]. Beowulf: facing page translation (2nd ed.). Peterborough, Ontario: Broadview Press. ISBN 978-1-55481-113-7. Archived from the original on 25 February 2022. Retrieved 8 July 2021.
* Nagy, Gergely (2003). "The great chain of reading: (inter-)textual relations and the technique of mythopoesis in the Turin Story". In Chance, Jane (ed.). Tolkien the Medievalist. Abingdon-on-Thames, England: Routledge. pp. 239–258\. ISBN 978-1-13443-970-6. Archived from the original on 17 June 2020. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
* Nelson, Brent (2008). "Cain-Leviathan Typology in Gollum and Grendel". Extrapolation. 49 (3): 466–485\. doi:10.3828/extr.2008.49.3.8.
* Porter, John (2008). Beowulf: Text and Translation. Anglo-Saxon Books. ISBN 978-1-898281-48-1.
* Reynolds, Pat (2021). "Death and funerary practices in Middle-earth" (PDF). The Tolkien Society. Archived (PDF) from the original on 23 November 2020. Retrieved 12 February 2021.
* Shippey, Tom (2001). J. R. R. Tolkien: Author of the Century. HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-26110-401-3.
*   * Shippey, Tom (2005) [1982]. The Road to Middle-Earth: How J. R. R. Tolkien Created a New Mythology (Third ed.). HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-261-10275-0.
* Shippey, Tom (2022). "'King Sheave' and 'The Lost Road'". In Ovenden, Richard; McIlwaine, Catherine (eds.). The Great Tales Never End: Essays in Memory of Christopher Tolkien. Bodleian Library Publishing. pp. 166–180\. ISBN 978-1-8512-4565-9.
* Tolkien, J. R. R. (1954a). The Fellowship of the Ring. The Lord of the Rings. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. OCLC 9552942.
* Tolkien, J. R. R. (1954). The Two Towers. The Lord of the Rings. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. OCLC 1042159111.
* Tolkien, J. R. R. (1955). The Return of the King. The Lord of the Rings. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. OCLC 519647821.
* Tolkien, J. R. R. (1983). The Monsters and the Critics, and Other Essays. London: Allen & Unwin. OCLC 417591085.
* Tolkien, J. R. R. (1987). Christopher Tolkien (ed.). The Lost Road and Other Writings. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 0-395-45519-7.

* v
* t
* e

Beowulf

* Old English
* Alliterative verse
* Kenning

Clans
(characters)|

* Geats
* Beowulf
* Heardred
* Hygd
* Hygelac
* Hundings
* Scyldings
* Æschere
* Healfdene
* Heorogar
* Hrothgar
* Unferth
* Scylfings
* Eadgils
* Eanmund
* Ohthere
* Onela
* Ongentheow
* Waegmundings
* Ecgþeow
* Weohstan
* Wiglaf
* Wulfings
* Wealhtheow
* Monsters
* Grendel
* Grendel's mother
* The Dragon

Translating
Beowulf|

* List of translations
* Seamus Heaney
* Beowulf: A New Verse Translation
* J. R. R. Tolkien
* Beowulf: A Translation and Commentary
* "Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics"
* Beowulf and the Critics
* "On Translating Beowulf"
* "Sellic Spell"
* Finn and Hengest

Scholars|

* Nora K. Chadwick
* Michael D. C. Drout
* Robert D. Fulk
* Kevin Kiernan
* Leonard Neidorf
* John D. Niles
* Geoffrey Russom
* Tom Shippey

Related|

* Adaptations
* Anglo-Saxon paganism
* Battle of Finnsburg
* Beowulf and Middle-Earth
* Heorot
* Hrunting
* Nægling
* Nowell Codex

* v
* t
* e

Middle-earth

* J. R. R. Tolkien
* Bibliography
* Canon
* Legendarium
* Outline

Works|

| In Tolkien's
lifetime|

* The Hobbit (1937)
* The Lord of the Rings (1954-55)
* The Fellowship of the Ring
* "The Shadow of the Past"
* "The Council of Elrond"
* The Two Towers
* The Return of the King
* "The Scouring of the Shire"
* "The Tale of Aragorn and Arwen"
* The Adventures of Tom Bombadil (1962)

|

Posthumous|

* The Silmarillion (1977)
* "Ainulindalë"
* Unfinished Tales (1980)
* The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien (1981)
* Bilbo's Last Song (1990)
* The three "Great Tales"
* The Children of Húrin (2007)
* Beren and Lúthien (2017)
* The Fall of Gondolin (2018)
* The Fall of Númenor (2022)

History of
composition|

| History of
Middle-earth|

* [1–2] The Book of Lost Tales (1983–84)
* Ælfwine
* [3] The Lays of Beleriand (1985)
* [4] The Shaping of Middle-earth (1986)
* [5] The Lost Road and Other Writings (1987)
* The Etymologies
* Lhammas
* [6–9] The History of The Lord of the Rings (1988–92)
* The Notion Club Papers
* [10] Morgoth's Ring (1993)
* [11] The War of the Jewels (1994)
* [12] The Peoples of Middle-earth (1996)

|

Others|

* John D. Rateliff
* The History of The Hobbit (2007)
* Carl F. Hostetter
* The Nature of Middle-earth (2021)

Fictional
universe|

| Peoples,
monsters|

* Ainur
* Maiar
* Balrogs
* Wizards
* Valar
* Dragons
* Ancalagon
* Smaug
* Dwarves
* Eagles
* Elves
* Half-elven
* Noldor
* Sundering
* Ents
* Hobbits
* Men
* Beornings
* Drúedain
* Dúnedain
* Orcs
* Trolls

|

Characters|

* First and Second Ages
* Celebrimbor
* Eärendil and Elwing
* Elendil
* Fëanor
* Fingolfin
* Finwë and Míriel
* Gil-galad
* Húrin
* Isildur
* Lúthien and Beren
* Melian
* Morgoth
* Thingol
* Tuor and Idril
* Túrin Turambar
* Ungoliant
* Third Age
* Elrond
* Galadriel
* Gandalf
* Glorfindel
* Goldberry
* Gollum
* Saruman
* Sauron
* Tom Bombadil

Places|

* First and Second Ages
* Beleriand
* Númenor
* Valinor
* Third Age
* Bree
* Esgaroth
* Gondor
* Harad
* Isengard
* Lonely Mountain
* Lothlórien
* Mirkwood
* Mordor
* Moria
* Rivendell
* Rohan
* The Shire
* Bag End

Objects|

* Mithril
* Palantír
* Red Book of Westmarch
* Rings of Power
* One Ring
* Silmarils
* Two Trees of Valinor
* List of weapons and armour

Analysis|

| Elements|

* Artwork
* Family trees
* Heraldry
* Languages
* Adûnaic
* Black Speech
* Elvish
* Quenya
* Sindarin
* Khuzdul
* Valarin
* Westron
* Maps
* Tolkien's poetry
* Scripts
* Cirth
* Sarati
* Tengwar

|

Themes|

* Anachronism
* Ancestry as guide to character
* Architecture
* Christianity
* Cosmology
* Round World dilemma
* Death and immortality
* Decline and fall
* Dreams and visions
* Economy
* England
* Environmentalism
* Evil
* First World War
* Forests
* Frame stories
* Hell
* Heroism
* Light
* Luck and fate
* Magic
* Mental illness
* Modernism
* Moral dilemma
* Music
* Naming of weapons
* Northern courage
* Old Straight Road
* Paganism
* Plants
* Psychological journeys
* Quests
* Sound and language
* Time
* Trees

Literary|

* Tolkien's impact on fantasy
* Influences
* Beowulf
* Celtic
* Classical world
* Finnish language and literature
* Medieval
* Modern
* William Morris
* Norse
* Philology
* Shakespeare
* Prose style
* Ambiguity
* A mythology for England

Geographic|

* The Atlas of Middle-earth
* Journeys of Frodo
* A Map of Middle-earth

Adaptations,
legacy|

| Artists|

* Pauline Baynes
* Cor Blok
* Anke Eißmann
* Brothers Hildebrandt
* Jenny Dolfen
* Mary Fairburn
* Donato Giancola
* John Howe
* Tove Jansson
* Alexander Korotich
* Alan Lee
* Tom Loback
* Margrethe II of Denmark
* Ted Nasmith

|

Composers|

* Bo Hansson
* Johan de Meij
* Symphony No. 1 The Lord of the Rings
* Howard Shore
* Music of The Lord of the Rings film series
* Music of The Hobbit film series
* Music of The Rings of Power TV series
* Blind Guardian
* Nightfall in Middle-Earth

Settings|

* Donald Swann
* The Road Goes Ever On
* Poems and Songs of Middle Earth
* The Tolkien Ensemble
* An Evening in Rivendell
* A Night in Rivendell
* At Dawn in Rivendell
* Leaving Rivendell

Other media|

* Impact
* Middle-earth Enterprises
* Works inspired by Tolkien
* Fan fiction
* Film
* Calendars
* Video games
* Things named after Tolkien and his works

Literary
criticism|

* The Complete Guide to Middle-earth
* A Companion to J. R. R. Tolkien
* Interrupted Music
* Master of Middle-Earth
* Picturing Tolkien
* A Question of Time
* J. R. R. Tolkien: Author of the Century
* The J. R. R. Tolkien Companion and Guide
* J. R. R. Tolkien Encyclopedia
* The Lord of the Rings: A Reader's Companion
* Perilous Realms
* The Road to Middle-Earth
* Splintered Light
* Tolkien and the Invention of Myth
* Tolkien's Art: 'A Mythology for England'
* Tolkien: A Look Behind The Lord of the Rings
* A Tolkien Compass
* Tolkien: Maker of Middle-earth
* Tolkien, Race and Cultural History
* Tolkien's Legendarium
* Tolkien and the Great War
* The Worlds of J. R. R. Tolkien
* The Ring of Words: Tolkien and the Oxford English Dictionary

* v
* t
* e

The Hobbit

* J. R. R. Tolkien
* Hobbit (word)
* Legendarium
* frame stories
* Middle-earth
* artwork
* Beowulf
* maps
* naming of weapons
* psychological journeys
* runes

Editions|

* English-language editions
* The Annotated Hobbit
* Translations

Characters|

* Bilbo Baggins
* Wizards
* Gandalf
* Radagast
* Dwarves
* Thorin Oakenshield
* Balin
* Goblins
* Trolls
* Gollum
* Eagles
* Beorn
* Elves
* Elrond
* the Elvenking
* Smaug
* Bard the Bowman
* The Necromancer
* Wargs

Places|

* Eriador
* The Shire
* Rivendell
* Rhovanion
* Mirkwood
* Esgaroth
* Lonely Mountain

Related works|

* The History of The Hobbit
* Bilbo's Last Song
* There and Back Again (novel)
* The Hobbit pinball machine
* The Hobbit Strategy Battle Game
* "The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins"

Adaptations|

| Radio|

* The Hobbit (1968)

|

Film|

* Gene Deitch's The Hobbit (1967)
* Rankin/Bass's The Hobbit (1977)
* Soviet The Hobbit (1985)
* Peter Jackson's series
* An Unexpected Journey (2012)
* The Desolation of Smaug (2013)
* The Battle of the Five Armies (2014)
* original characters

Music|

* An Unexpected Journey (soundtrack) (2012)
* The Desolation of Smaug (soundtrack) (2013)
* The Battle of the Five Armies (soundtrack) (2014)

Video games|

* The Hobbit (1982)
* The Hobbit (2003)
* Lego The Hobbit (2014)

* Category

* v
* t
* e

The Lord of the Rings

* J. R. R. Tolkien
* Constructing The Lord of the Rings

About|

* Volumes
* The Fellowship of the Ring
* The Two Towers
* The Return of the King
* Stories
* "The Shadow of the Past"
* "The Council of Elrond"
* "The Scouring of the Shire"
* "The Tale of Aragorn and Arwen"
* Translating
* list
* Swedish
* Reception
* Impact
* Literary
* Fandom
* Fan fiction
* Oxonmoot
* Tolkienmoot
* Works inspired
* Tolkien's impact on fantasy

Elements|

| Languages|

* Black Speech
* Elvish
* Quenya
* Sindarin
* Khuzdul
* Westron

|

Poetry|

* A Elbereth Gilthoniel
* Namárië
* Song of Eärendil
* The Man in the Moon Stayed Up Too Late
* The Road Goes Ever On
* A Walking Song

Other|

* Artwork
* Family trees
* Heraldry
* Maps
* Proverbs
* Scripts
* Cirth
* Tengwar

Analysis|

| Themes|

* Addiction to power
* Ancestry as guide to character
* Architecture
* Company of the Ring
* Death and immortality
* Decline and fall
* Divination
* Dreams and visions
* Economy
* England
* Environmentalism
* Evil
* Feudal allegiance
* Forests
* Hell
* Heroism
* Luck and fate
* Magic
* Mental illness
* Moral dilemma
* Music
* Naming of weapons
* Northern courage
* Paganism
* Plants
* Prophecy
* Psychological journeys
* Quests
* Race
* Sexuality
* Sound and language
* Time
* Trees
* Women

|

Influences|

* Antiquarianism
* Beowulf
* Celtic
* Christianity
* Classical world
* Edwardian adventure stories
* First World War
* Norse
* Medieval
* Modern sources
* Modernism
* William Morris
* A mythology for England
* Philology
* Shakespeare

Techniques|

* Anachronism
* Character pairing
* Editorial framing
* Frame stories
* Pseudotranslation
* Impression of depth
* Narrative structure
* Interlacing
* Storytelling
* Prose style
* Ambiguity
* Epic Pooh

Peoples|

| Maiar|

* Balrogs
* Sauron
* Wizards
* Gandalf
* Radagast
* Saruman

|

Free
peoples|

* Dwarves
* Balin
* Gimli
* Elves
* Galadriel
* Glorfindel
* Half-elven
* Arwen
* Elrond
* Legolas
* Thranduil
* Ents
* Treebeard
* Hobbits
* Bilbo
* Frodo
* Merry
* Pippin
* Sam
* Men
* Beornings
* Drúedain
* Dúnedain
* Aragorn
* of Gondor
* Boromir
* Denethor
* Faramir
* of Rohan
* Éomer
* Éowyn
* Théoden
* Wormtongue

Monsters|

* Barrow-wight
* Gollum
* Nazgûl
* Witch-king of Angmar
* Old Man Willow
* Orcs
* Shelob
* Trolls
* Wargs
* Watcher in the Water

Other|

* Eagles
* Goldberry
* Tom Bombadil

World|

| Geography|

* Middle-earth
* Eriador
* Bree
* Old Forest
* Rivendell
* The Shire
* Bag End
* Gondor
* Harad
* Lothlórien
* Mirkwood
* Moria
* Mordor
* Rohan
* Isengard
* Undying Lands

|

Battles|

* Helm's Deep
* Pelennor Fields
* Morannon

Things|

* Mithril
* Oliphaunts
* Palantírs
* Phial of Galadriel
* Rings of Power
* One Ring
* List of weapons and armour

Related
works|

* The Hobbit
* The Adventures of Tom Bombadil
* Errantry
* Fastitocalon
* The Sea-Bell
* Donald Swann
* The Road Goes Ever On
* Bilbo's Last Song
* The Silmarillion
* Unfinished Tales
* The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien
* The History of Middle-earth
* The Children of Húrin
* The History of The Hobbit
* Beren and Lúthien
* The Fall of Gondolin
* The Nature of Middle-earth

Adaptations and derivative works

Books|

* Bored of the Rings (1969)
* The Last Ringbearer (1999)
* Muddle Earth (2003)

Illustrations|

* A Map of Middle-earth
* Pauline Baynes
* Barbara Remington
* John Howe
* Alan Lee
* Margrethe II of Denmark
* Ted Nasmith

Theatre|

* Fellowship! (2005)
* The Lord of the Rings (2006)

Music|

* Bo Hansson
* Music Inspired by Lord of the Rings (1972)
* Johan de Meij
* Symphony No. 1 The Lord of the Rings (1988)
* Led Zeppelin
* "Ramble On" (1969)
* "Misty Mountain Hop" (1971)
* "The Battle of Evermore" (1971)

Radio|

* The Lord of the Rings (BBC, 1955)
* The Lord of the Rings (NPR, 1979)
* Hordes of the Things (1980)
* The Lord of the Rings (BBC, 1981)
* Der Herr der Ringe (1992)

Film|

| Animated|

* The Lord of the Rings (Bakshi, 1978)
* The Return of the King (Rankin/Bass, 1980)
* The War of the Rohirrim (Kamiyama, 2024)

|

Peter Jackson
series|

* The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
* The Two Towers (2002)
* The Return of the King (2003)

Music|

* "Concerning Hobbits"
* "Into the West"
* "May It Be"

Approach|

* Production
* Hobbiton Movie Set
* Peter Jackson's interpretation
* Picturing Tolkien
* Tolkien on Film

Other|

* Sagan om ringen (1971)
* Khraniteli (1991)
* Hobitit (1993)
* The Rings of Power (2022)
* music

Fan-made|

* The Hunt for Gollum (2009)
* Born of Hope (2009)

Video games|

* Journey to Rivendell
* Game One
* Game Two: Shadows of Mordor
* War in Middle Earth
* Vol. I (1990)
* Vol. I (SNES)
* Riders of Rohan
* Elendor
* Vol. II: The Two Towers
* The Fellowship of the Ring
* The Two Towers
* The Return of the King
* War of the Ring
* The Third Age
* Game Boy Advance
* The Battle for Middle-earth
* Tactics
* The Battle for Middle-earth II
* The Rise of the Witch-king
* Conquest
* Aragorn's Quest
* War in the North
* Lego The Lord of the Rings
* Guardians of Middle-earth
* Shadow of Mordor
* Shadow of War
* Gollum
* Return to Moria

| The Lord of the Rings Online|

* Mines of Moria
* Siege of Mirkwood
* Rise of Isengard
* Riders of Rohan
* Helm's Deep
* Mordor
* Minas Morgul
* War of Three Peaks
* Fate of Gundabad
* Before the Shadow

|

Tabletop role-
playing games|

* Middle-earth Role Playing
* The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying Game
* The One Ring Roleplaying Game
* Adventures in Middle-earth

Board games|

* Middle Earth
* War of the Ring
* Gondor: The Siege of Minas Tirith
* Sauron
* Lord of the Rings
* War of the Ring

Card games|

* Middle-earth Collectible Card Game
* The Lord of the Rings Trading Card Game
* The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game

Other games|

* Middle-earth Strategy Battle Game
* Lego The Lord of the Rings

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