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SHIPPEY, Tom. J.R.R. Tolkien: Author of the Century. HarperCollins Publishers.

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Much like George Orwell, Tolkien changed his own name. Tolkien's name was originally German, so he abandoned his German name intending to identify with his mother's side of the family.

"(...just as Tolkien, aware that his own name was originally German, tended to identify himself with his mother's Worcestershire family name of Suffield, Letters, p. 12)." Pg 11

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After the events of becoming a professor of Anglo-Saxon in the University of Oxford, was laboriously marking School Certificate papers. Analyzing each work from each student, Tolkien analyzed the following works alert so his mind wouldn't wander to the strangest places. As he was consciously following the works and moving on to the next work, he found that the page was blank. As for this blank page, he wrote on it," In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit." This then sparked the making of The Hobbit.

"In this circumstance(the strain of which only those who have marked, say, five hundred handwritten scripts on the same subject will fully appreciate) Tolkien turned over a page to find that a candidate:had mercifully left one of the pages with no writing on it (which is the best thing that can possible happen to an examiner) and I wrote on it: 'In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. ' Names always generate a story in my mind. Eventually I thought I'd better find out what hobbits were like. But that's only the beginning." Pg 1-2.

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Tolkien's Symbol of Anachronism in Hobbits

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Tolkien's Symbol of Anachronism in Hobbits

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In writing The Hobbit, the Bilbo's living style and home is synonymously similar of the time period the book was written in. Tolkien lived in the upper-middle Victorian class in the nineteenth century. As he wrote the book, it was similar to England from the dates of 1837.

"It is in fact, in everything except being underground (and in there being no servants), the home of a member of the Victorian upper-middle class of Tolkien's nineteenth-century youth, full of studies, parlours, cellars, pantries, wardrobes, and all the rest...Bilbo must live after the introduction of a postal service - our familiar system dates, in England, from 1937... But the fact is that hobbits are, and always remain, highly anachronistic in the ancient world of Middle-earth." Pg 5-6

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From the Skaldskáparmal, parts of that version by Snorri Sturluson inspired Tolkien into naming the dwarfs. From the parts, Tolkien simply changed the name into his own from the inspiration from the version. He came to the names of Thorin, Dwalin, Dain, as well as  many more familiar names for the characters in the book.

"In the original Old Norse, this contains rather more than sixty names, mostly strung together as a simple rhythmic list, repeated in slightly different in Snorri Sturluson's thirteenth-century guide to Norse mythology, the Skaldskáparmal...Eight of the thirteenth dwarf-names of Tolkien's Thorin and Company are here along with the name of Thorin's relative Dain, his grandfather Thror, and something close to his father Thrain...However Tolkien did not just copy the 'Tally of the Dwarves', or quarry it for names. He must rather have looked at it, refused to see it, as most scholars do, as a meaningless or no longer comprehensible rigmarole, and instead asked himself a string of questions about it." Pg 16

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Tolkien's Idea of Modern Values and Old Values in The Hobbit

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Tolkien's Idea of Modern Values and Old Values in The Hobbit

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Between the chapters of the book, elements consisting of fairy-tales are introduced one at a time by the pacing of the chapters. Through the chapters Tolkien sets up Bilbo, a representation of modern values, will encounter these elements that will set up a confrontation of what us as people would think of when encountering something new. The dwarves, the wizard, and the dragon as well as many other elements challenge Bilbo's modern values to think of what the world has become, as Tolkien as intended in writing through the book.

"None of these divisions, of course, is vital, and it is quite likely that Tolkien did not plan them or pay any attention to them. They do show, however, how Tolkien fed in the fairy-tale elements one at a time, introducing them separately for many chapters...The other aspect of this one-at-a-time presentation, though, is the steady rise of Bilbo's status, and the increasing evenness of the confrontation between the modern values he represents and the ancient ones he encounters. " Pg 21

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Tolkien's Publishing of 'The Adventures of Tom Bombadil' 

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Tolkien's Publishing of 'The Adventures of Tom Bombadil' 

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Tolkien published the "Adventures of Tom Bombadil" poem in The Oxford Magazine in 1934. For many years it was reworked and it became a collection of poems. The two versions are different in both it's direction and the way they're written by the 1934 version read sort of in a way of a narrative.

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J.R.R. Tolkien, an English professor at the University of Leeds, was grading test papers during the summer of 1928 when he scribbled the words, "In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit" on a student's blank answer sheet.

"His effort to discover just what hobbits were and what they were like led him to write one of the most beloved books ever written, The Hobbit, an introduction to the world of Middle-earth," says the Houghton Mifflin Company.

Tolkien worked on "The Hobbit" on and off through the early 1930s, sharing the manuscript with friends, including author C.S. Lewis. A friend of a student convinced the George Allen & Unwin publishing house to look at the book. Sir Stanley Unwin, the company chairman, gave the manuscript to his 10-year-old son to review in 1936.

"Bilbo Baggins was a hobbit who lived in his hobbit-hole and never went for adventures, at last Gandalf the wizard and his dwarves persuaded him to go," wrote young Raynor Unwin. "He had a very exciting time fighting goblins and wargs. At last they got to the lonely mountain: Smaug, the dragon who guards it is killed and after a terrific battle with the goblins he returned home-rich! This book, with the help of maps, does not need any illustrations. It is good and should appeal to all children between the ages of 5 and 9."

The review convinced Stanley Unwin to publish the book. The first copies of "The Hobbit," subtitled "There and Back Again," appeared in English bookstores on Sept. 21, 1937. With its illustrations and maps drawn by Tolkien, the book gained immediate popularity.

By Christmas the publisher had sold out of its first printing of 1,500 copies. The book crossed the pond in 1938 and the American version sold 3,000 copies in the first two months.

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On This Day: J.R.R Tolkien's "The Hobbit" Published

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J.R.R. Tolkien, an English professor at the University of Leeds, was grading test papers during the summer of 1928 when he scribbled the words, "In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit" on a student's blank answer sheet.

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Responding towards Misconceptions of Hobbits

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Responding towards Misconceptions of Hobbits

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After the release of the book The Hobbit , the Observer in January 16th 1938 printed a letter held accounted for marking connections between Tolkien's hobbits and creatures such as bunnies or rabbits. In response to that letter, he rejected the connections between the two by claiming hobbits to be people among the races of the fictional world of Middle-Earth. The comparing between hobbits and other furry creatures were pieces of vulgar trollery as he called it.

"Shortly after The Hobbit came out, on 16th January 1938, the Observer printed a letter from an unknown correspondent suggesting some evidently unconvincing connections between hobbits and other real or rumoured furry creatures... good - humouredly denying the suggestions, and rejecting both furriness and rabbits 'my hobbit... was not furry, except about the feet. Nor indeed was he like a rabbit... Calling him 'a nassty little rabbit' was a piece of vulgar trollery, just as 'descendant of rats' was a piece of dwarfish malice.' ...But whatever else might be said about them, hobbits had to be allowed to be people; not spirits, not animals, but people." Pg 4-5

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From the encouragement of publishing the Hobbit which later became a success in the world of fantasy, Stanley Unwin encouraged for Tolkien to make a sequel to the epic. But from that encouragement, Tolkien wondered what he was going to do. He had many texts already filled with ancient legends associated with The Silmarillion. But through that, he began his work on the sequel that would be known as The Lord of the Rings between the times of December 16th and 19th in 1937.

"The Hobbit itself had been published almost by accident, with a pupil who knew of its existence recommending it to a publisher's representative who encouraged him to send it to Stanley Unwin, and Unwin sr...Once it had come out, had been acclaimed, and Unwin had not unreasonably asked for a sequel, Tolkien must have wondered what to do. The texts he had on hand, and on which he had been working for twenty years already, were versions, in poetry and prose, of the complex of tales associated with the Silmarillion... Told as much, Tolkien, we now know, began work on the sequel which was to turn into The Lord of the Rings some time between 16th and 19th December 1937, in the university's Christmas vacation." Pg 53

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In the development of The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien didn't have a clear plan of it's plot at the moment. He had drafts which would mark what decisions that have been made for the final product. Regarding Bilbo's ring, Tolkien decided that it was time to explain its origin and what it really is. Through the development plan of what its plot would be, Tolkien didn't have a clear idea of what it would be about.

"Yet however neat the final product, at that point in late 1937, and for long afterwards, Tolkien had no clear plan at all, certainly nothing even remotely like the schema outlined at the start of this chapter. It is an interesting, and for any intending writer of fiction rather an encouraging experience, to read through the selections from Tolkien's many drafts now published in volumes VI-IX of The History of Middle-earth (The Return of the Shadow, The Treason of Isengard, The War of the Ring, and Sauron Defeated), and to note how long it was before the most obvious and seemingly inevitable decisions were made at all. Tolkien knew, for instance, that Bilbo's ring now had to be explained and would become important in the story...However Christopher Tolkien notes that more than two years after his father started work on the sequel, he was still 'without any clear conception of what lay before him." Pg 53-54

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In order for him to backtrack to add depth and meaning behind the story of The Lord of the Rings, he had many sources including the Silmarillion and The Hobbit. He would look back on the material and add its stories that have been made and create a sense of the world of Middle-Earth. For example, Aragorn would sing a song of Beren and Lúthien which is a poem from the Silmarillion.

"Tolkien did in fact have several resources when he began work in December 1937. One was the backlog of material which would in the end become the Silmarillion. As mention above, he had already sent some of this to Stanley Unwin, and though it had been rejected for separate publication, he could clearly continue to use it, as he had here and there in The Hobbit, to give a sense of depth and background to his main story. Thus Aragorn, in the chapter ' A Knife in the Dark' (I/11), not only sings a song of Beren and Lúthien, but also gives an extensive paraphrase of the legend concerning them, which had formed a major pat of the package rejected by Unwin."

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Tolkien's Distinctions in the making of The Lord of the Rings

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Tolkien's Distinctions in the making of The Lord of the Rings

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Chapter 2's meeting of the races to discuss the One Ring made Tolkien create the many cultures that made these races. Direct discussion in the chapter had many quotes from several characters sending their message during the meeting set up the appropriate setting and time Tolkien wanted. Tolkien had a grasp of the geography of Middle-earth, and that set up the differences between them by the various distinctions of speech in the dialogue of the chapter.

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In the writing of "The Council of Elrond", Tolkien set up the organization of the plot for The Lord of the Rings. Through the topic of what will be done with the One Ring, the ring that the antagonist of the book, Sauron, is looking for in Middle-earth. Writing through the conversations, he set up by conflicting ideas of whether or not the Ring is really the one that Sauron is looking for. Those ideas then would become connected as retold through the tales in the beginning finding out how the One Ring ended up in the situation in the first place.

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From the following chapter of "The Council of Elrond", Tolkien reaches a level of writing that is complex. From The Hobbit, the ring is introduced to Bilbo by the arrival of Gollum and solves the problem of the story. The intertwining conflicts of Gollum escaping, Saruman changing sides to Sauron, and Gondor under threat of Sauron as well as many more are all caused by the One Ring, which sets up the complexity of the connections between each event.

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Tolkien's Intentions of Mysterious Encounters

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Tolkien's Intentions of Mysterious Encounters

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In a conflict between Gandalf and a creature known as the Balrog, Tolkien's intentions were to play on the reader wanting to know more of the new discovery of the creature. He plays with phrases or titles such as "the Secret Fire... the flame of Anor", and "the dark fire... flame of Udûn" sets up that there is much more meaning between these titles, as a creature of darkness sets up a conflict of discovering what it truly is.

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For the One Ring, Tolkien had the ring be something of a resemblance of a darker image of power. Instead of aiding the quest to take the ring and destroy it, many characters decline of taking it and say that it will corrupt them. Despite the pure-hearted and good purpose of intending to destroy the ring these characters have, Tolkien has the One Ring become the essence of evil erasing all that intention of good.

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In the Lord of the Rings, Tolkien writes that the One Ring is the essence of evil, capable of corrupting the bearer of the ring. Following the story, there are many characters who were once good-hearted people become corrupted by its sheer evil. Tolkien has the following characters Isildur, Gollum, and Boromir become corrupted to the ring. They all fall for the temptation of great power, as this is why many characters like Galadriel or Gandalf avoid to take the ring. Following the concept of the bearers being affected by corruption, Tolkien has a presentation of evil being flawed.

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Changes between the editions of The Hobbit

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Changes between the editions of The Hobbit

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Gandalf, who is a character with significant importance in The Hobbit had undergone changes in the book. The second and third editions, respectively the 1951 edition and 1966 edition, Gandalf's identity was changed by Tolkien from a chief dwarf to the old wizard who is in possession with a staff. All the way to the early drafts of the book, he was a chief dwarf of the company, but was later changed in the first edition as an old man as Bilbo saw him at first.

"As for Gandálfr, or Gandalf, Tolkien seems to have worked out a more complex explanation. In early drafts of The Hobbit Gandalf was the name given to the chief dwarf, while in the first edition what Bilbo sees that first morning is just 'a little old man'...Tolkien made significant changes in both the second and third editions, 1951 and 1966, some of them discussed later on - Gandalf has become 'an old man with a staff'..." Pg 17

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Tolkien intended the Silmarillion to fill the gaps in English Tradition. Despite that, Norse or Icelandic literature seems to be present as well in the Silmarillion. The similarity to Finnish Kalevala would be seen in the book as the Silmarils as an attempt to solve the sampo which is mentioned in the Finnish Kalevala.

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Tolkien had created imaginary languages that are present in his books, as well as names in The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings that would make up the in depth characters of those books. His linguistic knowledge of the knowledge in the language and the importance of names adds a historical feeling of depth in the books. Tolkien would write characters mention other characters that have significant importance in their past in the history of Middle-Earth.

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Through all the books from The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings trilogy, they all metaphorically be applied to real life. Tolkien's concept of corruption through the One Ring, greed through the dragon-sickness, and the concept of Saruman are one of the everyday things that we encounter. The tastes that each of the books have brought into the lives of people has Tolkien have those books bring a possible meaning to each of them. An example would include that Tolkien wrote the Lord of the Rings concept of despite evil being overpowering or corrupting, the pure-hearted can push through.

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In the Peter Jackson film adaptation of Tolkien's work, it sets up the mysteriousness that was present in the book.

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Lord of the Rings - Gandalf vs Balrog [Entire Battle HD 1080p]

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Game Adaptation inspired by Tolkien's Works

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Game Adaptation inspired by Tolkien's Works

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The game follows in the past before The Lord of the Rings. Was released on September 30th, 2014.

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Middle-earth Shadow of Mordor

PC, Playstation 3, Playstation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One

Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor is a third-person action role-playing video game developed by Monolith Productions and published by Warner Bros. Games which takes place in the world of J.R.R. Tolkien's legendarium. The game was released on September 30, 2014 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, and on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on November 18, 2014. Its sequel, Middle-earth: Shadow of War, was released on October 10, 2017.

The game was designed to fill the gap between and The Lord of the Rings, and is described as a story of revenge, slaughter, and mystery set entirely in Mordor, the land of shadow. At its center is Talion, a ranger who loses everything, including his mortal life. Possessed by an immensely powerful wraith, Talion becomes a revenant, rising from the grave to avenge the murder of his family. Meanwhile, the wraith inside him, Celebrimbor, struggles to remember his forgotten past, which will allow him to increase in power.

The game is a significant departure from Tolkien's written works, with many characters and events written specifically for the game. It also incorporates several events from the legendarium, though heavily modified. Due to this, events and characters depicted in the game are not canon.

The game takes place between the events of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit and The Lord of The Rings. The family of Talion (voiced and motion-captured by Troy Baker) , a ranger of Gondor responsible for guarding the Black Gate of Mordor, is killed by Sauron's armies, but Talion is revived with "wraith-like abilities" and heads into Mordor to exact his revenge. Mordor is not yet a barren wasteland in this story. The player will encounter Gollum (voiced by Liam O'Brien) in the game, discovering that Talion and Gollum have a lot in common. Talion discovers that the wraith who revived him is Celebrimbor (voiced by Alastair Duncan), the greatest Elven smith-master of the Second Age and the maker of the Rings of Power, who also seeks revenge against Sauron.

The story involves the Rings of Power, but it is separate from Lord of the Rings canon. The Monolith team worked with Middle-earth Enterprises, Peter Jackson and the artists at the Weta Workshop to make sure that the portrayed settings, characters and story align within canon. (However, Tolkien had stated that, aside from Beren, dead men did not return to life in Middle-earth.) The beginning of the game is set during abandonment of the watch on the Black Gate, despite that watch ending around 1,300 years prior to the game's start date.

Talion, a ranger captain, is part of a Gondor garrison stationed at the Black Gate. The garrison is attacked by Sauron's Uruk forces led by three Black Númenórean captains; the Hammer of Sauron, the Tower of Sauron, and their leader the Black Hand of Sauron (Nolan North). Talion, his wife Ioreth, and his son Dirhael are captured and ritually sacrificed by the Black Hand in an attempt to summon the wraith of the Elf Lord Celebrimbor. However, Celebrimbor (who suffers from amnesia due to his status as a wraith) instead ends up merging with Talion, saving him from death. The two of them set out to uncover Celebrimbor's identity as well as to avenge the death of Talion's family.

Over the course of their travels, Talion and Celebrimbor have multiple encounters with Gollum, who has the ability to see and speak with Celebrimbor due to his prior contact with the One Ring. Hoping that Celebrimbor will lead him to the One Ring, Gollum leads Celebrimbor to relics of his past, each of which restore parts of his lost memories. Celebrimbor gradually recalls how he was deceived by Sauron, in his guise as Annatar the Lord of Gifts, into forging the rings of power. Celebrimbor ultimately assisted Sauron in forging the One Ring, but was able to steal it from him and use its power to raise an army of Orcs to fight Sauron. The Ring ultimately betrayed Celebrimbor and returned to Sauron. Sauron then punished Celebrimbor by executing his wife and daughter, then killing him.

In his search for the Black Hand, Talion allies himself with Hirgon, a ranger deserter who leads a community of Gondor outcasts who have settled in Mordor, and Ratbag the Coward, an Orc who offers to bring Talion closer to the Black Hand in exchange for his assistance in ascending the Orc military hierarchy. Talion helps Ratbag ascend the ranks to the level of warchief by killing each of his immediate superiors so Ratbag can take their position, while also assisting Hirgon in saving outcasts who have been enslaved by Sauron's forces, including Hirgon's wife Eryn. Talion ultimately leads the outcasts in destroying a monument to Sauron, a public act of defiance intended to draw out the Black Hand. The Hammer of Sauron is sent instead though; he executes Ratbag, battles Talion, and is ultimately killed by the ranger.

Talion is then sought out by the warrior Lithariel, the daughter of Queen Marwen, who claims to be able to assist Celebrimbor with his mission. Marwen is the ruler of Núrn, a kingdom of sea raiders located in the south of Mordor. She uses prophetic powers to guide Talion and Celebrimbor to another of Celebrimbor's relics. Later on, she advises them to use Celebrimbor's powers to take control of an army of Orcs, and use them to lead an assault against Sauron. Talion realizes that Marwen is being possessed by the wizard Saruman, and assists Lithariel in freeing her from his control. Talion still carries out Saruman's plan, and leads his army of mind-controlled Orcs in an assault against the Black Hand's stronghold at Ered Glamhoth. Instead of the Black Hand, Talion finds the Tower of Sauron waiting for him. The two battle each other with Talion emerging the victor.

Talion then travels to the Black Gate for a final confrontation with the Black Hand. However, the Black Hand incapacitates him with a spell that also restores the last of Celebrimbor's memories, then kills himself as part of a ritual that pulls Celebrimbor from Talion's body and forces him to merge with the Black Hand. This allows Sauron to possess the Black Hand's body and incarnate in physical form. Celebrimbor is ultimately able to briefly paralyze Sauron from within, allowing Talion to destroy his physical form. With the Black Hand dead, Celebrimbor wishes to depart for Valinor, but Talion convinces him to stay and attempt to overthrow Sauron. Gazing at Mount Doom, Talion declares his intention to forge a new Ring of Power.

Shadow of Mordor is set in a fully open world, and features various role-playing game elements such as experience-points and skills. As the player progresses in the game, Talion will grow stronger, yet so will his enemies.

Talion has various unique wraith-abilities which give him an edge on the battlefield. By stepping into the wraith world Talion can slow down time, teleport over distances and see targets from afar. These wraith abilities can all be leveled up separately, and the player can also unlock more powerful abilities.

There are various ways the player can complete their main objective. For instance, if the player has to kill a high ranking Uruk, he can choose to first focus on his lower ranking footmen, either killing them or turning them into sleeper agents using the domination ability. These agents will then attempt to eliminate their former leader, which may not always be successful. Aside from the main story line, there are various side quests and random events the player can complete within Mordor.

These quests can be completed in various ways. The player can choose to engage in regular melee combat, or instead stealthily move through the shadows, or perhaps use a bow to take out his targets from a distance. Every different play style will give the player different runes, which allows them to either upgrade their Ranger abilities through the Ranger skill tree, or their Wraith abilities through the Wraith skill tree.

When the player dies he will eventually re-spawn, time in the world will pass, and as such the game will change after dying. The enemy who killed you may have achieved a higher rank for killing you, or he may have perished himself.

According to studio head at Monolith, Kevin Stephens, the game will run at 1080p on the PS4.

The game's melee system is inspired by that of the Batman Arkham series. Getting into a good fighting rhythm, using both regular attacks and counter-attacks, will improve the player's combo multiplier.

Weapons in Talion's arsenal can be upgraded using runes, making them more effective. Adding runes to weapons gives them unique bonuses such as health regeneration upon killing enemies. These runes can be obtained by killing enemy captains.

Nemesis system

An original feature of Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor is the Nemesis system. Every enemy players face is a unique individual, differentiated by their personality, strengths and weaknesses. These enemies are shaped by their encounters with the player to create personal arch-enemies who are unique to every game play session. Players must out think each distinctively different enemy they encounter to infiltrate the ranks and dominate within the dynamic world that remembers and adapts to their actions and choices.

Every enemy in the game has their own name, rank, and memory. These enemies will continue to do their own jobs and tasks even when they're off screen; the game progresses in real time even if you do not interfere, and as such an enemy you meet in one game play session may suddenly have achieved a higher rank the next time you meet him.

If the player does not kill an enemy in an encounter, this enemy will remember the player and change their tactics and conversations based on the encounter. The enemy will also grow more powerful and learn new immunities. Killing them will also net the player more experience points.

Development

In August 2013, an artist working at Monolith Productions leaked Monolith was working on a new triple A-title. On Tuesday November 12, 2013 at 18:00 UTC the game was announced with the reveal of the official website, official Fandom community and GameInformer coverage.

The game runs on Monolith's proprietary engine LithTech.

System Requirements

Translations around the world

References

↑ GameInformer - December issue, digital edition

External links

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Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor is a third-person action role-playing video game developed by Monolith Productions and published by Warner Bros. Games which takes place in the world of J.R.R. Tolkien's legendarium. The game was released on September 30, 2014 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, and on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on November 18, 2014.

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Tolkien's Influence on the Fantasy Genre

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Tolkien's Influence on the Fantasy Genre

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This site talks about how he impacted the Fantasy Genre.

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This article, and others about one of the most celebrated writers, is featured in Newsweek's Special Edition: J.R.R. Tolkien-The Mind of a Genius.
Scholars, academics and casual enthusiasts have spilled tons of ink (both of the real and virtual varieties) about the exact definition of fantasy (does an epic poem such as Beowulf count?) and the genre's origins (do Greek myths qualify? Romantic poems from the Middle Ages?). But the overwhelming influence of J.R.R. Tolkien on the genre remains a fundamental certainty. The British author didn't invent fantasy, but he defined it in the minds of millions with his seminal works The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.

The contributions contained in those novels set a template still followed by writers of fantasy, a genre that has only ballooned in popularity since Tolkien's day, largely due to the author's phenomenal success. Not only do fantasy books top bestseller lists around the world, but the genre's reach has extended beyond the printed page to movies and television, with HBO's Game of Thrones (based on George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire books) becoming a cultural touchstone for the 21st century and blockbusters such as the Harry Potter films-not to mention Peter Jackson's adaptations of Tolkien's books-cleaning up at the box office, with the combined box-office gross of those franchises topping $4 billion. All of this is the unintended consequence of Tolkien's phenomenal success as an author and artist.

Tolkien's first mark on the genre came with the publication of The Hobbit in 1937. Although shorter and more light-hearted than its epic big brother The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien's first novel casts a long shadow of its own, redefining the idea of children's fantasy.

"What Tolkien does is take the 'otherworld' fantasy developed in the 19th century and makes it child-sized, melding it with folklore and Norse myth," says Farah Mendlesohn, a scholar of science fiction and fantasy and author of Rhetorics of Fantasy. "That doesn't sound terribly radical, but it was an absolute change." In contrast to stories such as P.L. Travers's Mary Poppins or L. Frank Baum's Oz books, a sense of consequence and reality permeated the world of Bilbo Baggins, despite the inclusion of magic rings and dragons.

The original Hobbit's Dwarven companions are wandering exiles on a mission to recapture their kingdom, and the story ends with a political standoff between Elves, Dwarves and the Men of Laketown that only resolves with the appearance of an Orc army. "Tolkien doesn't play with the kind of whimsy a lot of American fantasy writers, such as E.B. White, did," says Mendlesohn. He also populated his world with characters who grew and changed with the plot, a departure from the more established style at the time in which the protagonist-such as Alice in Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland -experiences a smorgasbord of outlandish adventures, but remains a static figure. "What Tolkien does in that book is create a sense of learning in the characters," Mendlesohn says. "You have a character arc in Bilbo that's tied to the experience of a strange world, which was quite new."

Anyone familiar with the exploits of Harry Potter or Katniss Everdeen can attest to Tolkien's influence on what is now called Young Adult fiction, a genre built upon readers getting sucked into complete, fully fabricated worlds and empathizing with a protagonist who grows and gives a sense of progression.

If The Hobbit was a hint at the shape of things to come, The Lord of the Rings unabashedly heralded fantasy's future. The already richly imagined world of The Hobbit not only expanded in scope but was also given even more depth with characters reciting poems honoring battles thousands of years in their past and hinting at histories that felt as real as our own. The story of a group of flawed, if ultimately good-hearted, allies banding together to combat an ancient and powerful evil proved so popular it's story beats have been struck time and again by fantasy authors ever since-some more blatantly than others.

Author Terry Brooks, for example, who has written 11 fantasy novels in his Shannara series, wrote in the annotated edition of The Sword of Shannara, "I drew on inspiration from the European adventure storytellers Sir Walter Scott, Robert Louis Stevenson and Alexander Dumas, but it was only after reading The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien that I realized the fantasy genre held the ground tapestry I needed to tell the tale of The Sword of Shannara."

Even when fantasy authors purposely eschew the expected plot of "good guys fight the evil Dark Lord," they're aware they're bucking the trend. "Ruling is hard," George R. R. Martin said in an interview with Rolling Stone magazine. "This was maybe my answer to Tolkien, whom, as much as I admire him, I do quibble with." Martin's grim and gruesome world, filled with explicit descriptions of murder, rape and betrayal, may be his refutation of Tolkien's opus, but there's no doubt Martin's wildly popular work-in addition to countless others created since Tolkien's time-wouldn't exist without the sentence: "In a hole in the ground there lived a Hobbit."

This article, written by Issue Editor James Ellis, was excerpted from Newsweek's Special Edition: J.R.R. Tolkien-The Mind of a Genius. For more on the man who crafted one of fiction's most influential worlds, pick up a copy today.

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How J.R.R. Tolkien redefined fantasy stories

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This article, and others about one of the most celebrated writers, is featured in Newsweek's Special Edition: J.R.R. Tolkien-The Mind of a Genius. Scholars, academics and casual enthusiasts have spilled tons of ink (both of the real and virtual varieties) about the exact definition of fantasy (does an epic poem such as Beowulf count?)

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HICKORY - J.R.R. Tolkien's two seminal works have had a profound influence on fantasy writing and popular culture. Tolkien's first book, "The Hobbit: or There and Back Again" was a critical success when it was published in 1937. Between 1954 and 1955, Tolkien published "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy: "The Fellowship of the Ring," "The Two Towers" and "The Return of the King."

While "The Hobbit" was meant to be a children's book, "The Lord of the Rings" was a much more complex work aimed at an adult audience. Tolkien writes in a formal, narrative style, creating an intricate world called Middle Earth, complete with its own mythology and languages. "The Silmarillion," published after Tolkien's death, is an in-depth retelling of the history of Middle Earth.

Tolkien's formula for fantasy forms the framework for most high fantasy written today. Writers such as Robert Jordan, Terry Brooks and David Estes use Tolkien's formula in their writing. Why does Tolkien's writing still resonate with writers and fans alike? For one, the detailed mythology Tolkien created for his imaginary world made his books feel more like history than fiction. Tolkien populated his world with memorable and unique characters with great appeal. The books emphasize the importance of friendship and working as a team over individual glory. There is a strong theme of power corrupting, while love, loyalty, and friendship lead to good. Finally, there is the idea that ordinary people can influence extraordinary events.

The result has been the publication of numerous books by or about Tolkien and film and radio adaptations of his works. The library catalog lists 38 items on Middle Earth and 21 on Tolkien. Here is a sample of those works:

* "Beren and Lúthien"

* "The Book of Lost Tales"

* "The Complete Tolkien Companion"

* "The Fall of Gondolin"

* "J.R.R. Tolkien : Artist & Illustrator"

* "The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún"

* "The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien"

* "Narn i Chîn Húrin"

* "The Silmarillion"

* "The Story of Kullervo"

* "Tolkien : a Biography"

* "The World of Tolkien"

These and many more books on Tolkien and Middle Earth are waiting for you at Hickory Public Library. The Hickory Public Library is a department of the City of Hickory. Both Patrick Beaver Memorial Library and Ridgeview Library are open Monday through Thursday 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Friday and Saturday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

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BETH BRADSHAW Adult Services Librarian Hickory Public Library

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The influence of J.R.R. Tolkien continues

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HICKORY - J.R.R. Tolkien's two seminal works have had a profound influence on fantasy writing and popular culture. Tolkien's first book, "The Hobbit: or There and Back Again" was a critical success when it was published in 1937.

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Film Adaptation in the Development Right Now

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Film Adaptation in the Development Right Now

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There will be a film adaptation taking place in the Second Age of Middle-Earth. Adapting the elements the books have made.

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Production of Amazon's long-awaited, multi-season television adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings" will begin soon.

While Amazon has become an Emmys juggernaut with more intimate series like "Fleabag" and "Marvelous Mrs. Maisel," those kind of character-based stories are not all the streaming service does - or plans to do. And no upcoming series proves that point more than Amazon's long-awaited, multi-season television adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings."

Amazon has kept news about "The Lord of the Rings" as quiet as it possibly can, but IndieWire has compiled a list of the nine must-know details about the upcoming series. From its big shoes to fill as another Tolkien adaptation to its hush-hush casting, below is everything you need to know about Amazon's "The Lord of the Rings."

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'The Lord of the Rings': Everything You Need to Know About Amazon's Big Money Adaptation

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Production of Amazon's long-awaited, multi-season television adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings" will begin soon. While Amazon has become an Emmys juggernaut with more intimate series like "Fleabag" and "Marvelous Mrs. Maisel," those kind of character-based stories are not all the streaming service does - or plans to do.