Queenyforever
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FACTS FROM THE BOOKS
FACTS FROM THE BOOKS
From their clothes to their horses, Tolkiens Riders of the Mark are based on descriptions of Anglo-Saxons. Their emblem, a white horse on a green background, comes from a huge carving in a chalk hill not very far from Tolkiens home. More then 100 metres long, you can still see it today.
It took Tolkien twelve years to write The Lord of the Rings. Four more years passed before the first volume finally appeared in 1954
Tolkien said that over time the bodies of Elves come to reflect their magnificent qualities. That's why Elves sometimes seem to glow.
The elves do not count their lives by solar years, as humans do. One of their years equals 144 human years.
Treebeard's blustery speaking style is meant as a private joke; it mimics the voice of Tolkiens friend C.S.Lewis, author of 'The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe'.
Tolkien carefully chose the date that the Fellowship begins its mission to overthrow Sauron; 25th December, the same day the Virgin Mary gave birth to Jesus.
Tolkien also picked a significant date for the rings destruction. Sauron is defeated on the 25th March which once marked what we now celebrate as Good Friday; the day Christ died to overthrow Satan.
In The Lord of the Rings films, all the actors learned real Elvish words, including Tolkiens pronunciation.
As part of the Hugo Awards (the most prestigious in science-fiction writing) The Gandalf Award is given for lifetime achievement. The first author to receive the honour was Tolkien.
While on a hiking trip in Switzerland, Tolkien found a postcard showing a white-bearded mountain man, wearing a wide-brimmed hat. That image sparked the creation of Gandalf.
In the 1960's, the Beatles rock band wanted to make a film of Lord of the Rings. Paul McCartney would play Frodo, Ringo Starr would play Sam, Gandalf by George Harrison and John Lennon would play Gollum.
Gollums original name, Smeagol, is Old-English for 'burrower', or 'digger'.
The word Hobbit is supposedly just a translation by Tolkien, for our sake, from the language Westron (common speech) which Hobbits used. Their word for themselves is actually 'Kuduk'.
The languages Tolkien knew included Ancient Greek, Latin, Gothic, Old Norse (Old Icelandic), Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Anglo-Saxon (Old English), Middle English, German, Dutch, French, Spanish, Italian, Welsh and Finnish.
By the time Tolkien began working on the Oxford English Dictionary, the project was already up to the letter 'W'. Among his assigned words were 'warm' 'wasp' 'water' and 'winter'. The sources he found for those words can still be found in the dictionary today.
Tolkien said he wished he could have written Lord of the Rings entirely in Elvish. He didn't create that many words, but he did invent enough to let you have a simple conversation in it, Some people even write poetry in it.
Tolkien estimated that Frodos adventure in Lord of the Rings took place about 6000 years ago, by our calendar.
Tolkien pronounced his name Toll-keen, not Toll-kin.
'Tolkien' comes from the German word for 'foolhardy'. Supposedly, it was given to the family after a daring military escapade by one of Tolkiens ancestors. Tolkien wasn't convinced the story was true, and didn't think the name described him.
'Strider', the name by which many know Aragorn, was originally Trotter, and he was originally a Hobbit. It took Tolkien a long time to figure out his proper role in the story.
Sauron was the Lord of 20 rings; 9 for Humans, 7 for Dwarves, 3 for Elves, and the One Ring, to rule them all.
Most of the rings are gold. All except the One Ring are set with a jewel.
The origin of Tom Bombadil is a doll that had been stuck in a toilet. The doll belonged to one of Tolkiens sons. After 'rescuing' it, Tolkien championed Tom in a poem. That's where the character first meets Goldberry, a water nymph (a pretty bad joke, considering what happened to the doll!)
Tolkien considered a sequel to Lord of the Rings called 'New Shadow', set a century later. After defeating evil, Gondorians would become bored with goodness. In reaction, cults would arise to worship dark powers. A palace rebellion would be planned. But he dropped the idea. It wasn't about fighting great evil; just nasty human nature.
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