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Althoughfantasy had long existed in various forms around the world before his time,J. R. R. Tolkien has been called the "father of fantasy", andThe Lord of the Rings its centre. That novel, published in 1954–1955, enormously influencedfantasy writing, establishing in particular the form ofhigh or epic fantasy, set in asecondary or fantasy world in an act ofmythopoeia. The book was distinctive at the time for its considerable length, its "epic" feel with a cast ofheroic characters,its wide geography, and its battles. It involved anextensive history behind the action, animpression of depth, multiple sentient races andmonsters, and powerful talismans. The story is aquest, with multiple subplots. The novel's success demonstrated that the genre was commercially distinct and viable.
Many later fantasy writers have either imitated Tolkien's work, or have written in reaction against it. One of the first wasUrsula Le Guin'sEarthsea series of novels, starting in 1968, which used Tolkienian archetypes such as wizards, a disinherited prince, a magical ring, a quest, and dragons. A publishing rush followed. Fantasy authors includingStephen R. Donaldson andPhilip Pullman have created intentionally non-Tolkienian fantasies, Donaldson with an unloveable protagonist, and Pullman, who is critical ofThe Lord of the Rings, with a different view of the purpose of life.
The genre has spreadinto film, into bothrole-playing andvideo games, and intofantasy art.Peter Jackson's 2001–2003The Lord of the Rings film series brought a new and very large audience to Tolkien's work. Tolkien's influence reachedrole-playing games as early as 1974 withGary Gygax'sDungeons & Dragons; this was followed by many Middle-earth video games, some directly licensed and others based on Tolkienian fantasy culture. Tolkien's fantasies have been illustrated by artists such asJohn Howe,Alan Lee, andTed Nasmith, who have become known as "Tolkien artists".
J. R. R. Tolkien was a scholar of English literature, aphilologist andmedievalist interested in language and poetry from theMiddle Ages, especially that ofAnglo-Saxon England and Northern Europe. His professional knowledge of works such asBeowulf shaped his fictional world ofMiddle-earth, including hishigh fantasy novelThe Lord of the Rings.[1][2] This did not prevent him from makinguse of modern sources includingfantasy as well;[3] theJ.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia discusses 25 authors whose works are paralleled by elements in Tolkien's writings.[4]
The Lord of the Rings was constructed with several distinctive features. These included its considerable length, remarkable for its time when few genre novels exceeded 65,000 words. This was accompanied by an "epic" feel, created bya combination of features such as its cast ofheroic characters,its wide geography, and its battles. The story is told with allusions to older times, giving bothan impression of depth behind the action, and a past that fades intomythology. The heroes encounter multiplesentient races, including both free peoples likeelves anddwarves, andmonsters liketrolls andgiant spiders. Powerful talismans are deployed, such asswords with their own names,wizards' staffs,magical rings andseeing stones. As for the story, there is aquest, accompanied by many subplots. As if this were not enough, Tolkien gives the plot a moral dimension: the characters have to rely ontheir own courage and luck, believing that theunseen powers will support them.[6]
The Lord of the Rings, and to some extent also his 1937 children's novel,The Hobbit, make use ofmultiple elements to make the fantasy world ofMiddle-earth convincing. These include detailedmaps with a large number of placenames;[7] an impression of depth;[8]a frame story;[9]poetry interspersed with the narrative;[10]family trees;[11]invented languages[12] that had been worked out in detail, complete withscripts;[13]artwork;[14] andheraldry.[15]
The impression of depth in particular helps to make Middle-earth feel like whatTom Shippey has called "a coherent, consistent, deeply fascinating world about which [Tolkien] had no time [then] to speak".[8] As another example, the heraldry helps to convey impressions such as the "evident majesty" of the heroAragorn:[16]
upon the foremost ship a great standard broke, and the wind displayed it as she turned towards the Harlond. There flowered aWhite Tree, and that was forGondor; but Seven Stars were about it, and a high crown above it, the signs ofElendil that no lord had borne for years beyond count. And the stars flamed in the sunlight, for they were wrought of gems byArwen daughter ofElrond; and the crown was bright in the morning, for it was wrought ofmithril and gold.[17]
Mythopoeia is the creation of a fictionalmythology, incorporating traditionalmythological themes andarchetypes within a work of literature.[18] Tolkien was not the first author to create fictional worlds, asGeorge MacDonald andH. Rider Haggard had done so, and were praised for their "mythopoeic" gifts by Tolkien's friend and fellow-InklingC. S. Lewis.[19] Tolkien however went much further, spending many years developing what has been calleda mythology for England, starting in 1914.[20][21] The Finnish scholar Jyrki Korpua argues that Tolkien followed a specific mythopoetic code inhis legendarium, spanning creation (Ainulindalë), world-building (Valaquenta, start ofQuenta Silmarillion), the fall (Quenta Silmarillion), a period of struggle (Akallabêth andThe Lord of the Rings), and the end of the world (as inMorgoth's Ring). Korpua states that this code is both linear and somewhatBiblical, and that it makes use of archetypes.[22] Tolkien created numerous archetypes in his Middle-earth writings. He established as stock fantasy elements, familiar and attractive to readers, the distinct races of Elves, Dwarves, Ents, Trolls, Orcs, and Hobbits.[23]
The Lord of the Rings had an enormous impact on the fantasy genre; in some respects, it swamped all the works of fantasy that had been written before it, and it unquestionably created "fantasy" as a marketing category.[24] Tolkien has been called the "father" of modern fantasy,[25][26][27] or more specifically of high fantasy.[28][29] Tolkien's works brought fantasy literature a new degree of mainstream acclaim; numerous polls namedThe Lord of the Rings the greatest book of the century.[30] The author and editor ofJournal of the Fantastic in the Arts,Brian Attebery, writes that fantasy is defined "not by boundaries but by a centre", which isThe Lord of the Rings.[31]
Diana Paxson states inMythlore that Tolkien had founded a new literary tradition.[6][32] Tolkien's influence, and his literary criticism, greatly popularizedsecondary worlds, as his formative essay "On Fairy Stories" termed them. This led to the decline of such devices asdream frames to explain away a fantastical setting.[33]
It has been said of Tolkien that "most subsequent writers of fantasy are either imitating him or else desperately trying to escape his influence", while "his hold over readers has been extraordinary".[34][35]
The immense success of Tolkien's works started a publishing rush.Lin Carter edited theBallantine Adult Fantasy series from 1969, reprinting Morris, Dunsany, MacDonald, and Mirrlees, alongside some new works.[36][37] Many authors wrote "Tolkienesque" books, with stories rooted in folklore, myth, and magic, set in a medieval countryside.[24] Among these werePatricia A. McKillip'sThe Forgotten Beasts of Eld andJane Yolen'sThe Magic Three of Solatia, Tolkien-inspired fantasies for young adults written in the mid-1970s.[38] Yolen comments that while some of the writing was good, "what began in grace and power easily degenerated into a kind of mythic silliness", with "pastel unicorns, coy talking swords, and a paint-by-number medieval setting with the requisite number of dirty inns, evil wizards, and gentle hairy-footed beings of various sexual persuasions. Tolkien ... would have been horrified."[24]
Fantasy has come to be identified with a bunch of multi-volume Tolkien clones that follow an overly-familiar trajectory... we all know how it goes: a youth (almost always male) is unexpectedly revealed to have a special skill or be a long-lost prince and must then embark on a quest to recovervarious plot tokens before finally defeating the forces of evil. It's a format that accounts for an awful lot of what appears on the fantasy shelves of our bookshops, fromThe Sword of Shannara byTerry Brooks to theHarry Potter novels byJ. K. Rowling. The format may be safe and comfortable, but it represents only a very tiny proportion of what fantasy can do...[39] —Paul Kincaid
In 1977,Lester Del Rey, seeking to mirror Tolkien's work, publishedTerry Brooks'sThe Sword of Shannara. The book was heavily criticised by Carter, Attebery and others for copying the plot and characters ofThe Lord of the Rings wholesale; Attebery wrote that it attempted "to evoke wonder without engaging the mind or emotions", reducing Tolkien's artistry "to a bare formula".[40][41][42][a] Despite this, it gained the sort of breakthrough success that Del Rey had hoped for;[32] it became the first fantasy novel to appear on, and eventually to top, theNew York Times bestseller list.[44]
Guy Gavriel Kay, who had assistedChristopher Tolkien with the editing ofThe Silmarillion, later wrote his own Tolkien-influenced fantasy trilogy,The Fionavar Tapestry (1984–86), complete with dwarves and mages.[32]Dennis L. McKiernan's Silver Call duology was intended to be a direct sequel toThe Lord of the Rings but had to be altered. TheIron Tower trilogy, highly influenced by Tolkien's books, was then written as backstory.[45] Fantasy series such asTerry Pratchett'sDiscworld andOrson Scott Card'sThe Tales of Alvin Maker were "undoubtedly" influenced by Tolkien.[46]
In 1992,Martin H. Greenberg edited afestschrift collection of short stories by 19 fantasy authors including Yolen,Stephen R. Donaldson,Terry Pratchett,Poul and Karen Anderson, andPeter S. Beagle on the centenary of Tolkien's birth. Yolen, commenting that "sometimes it is difficult to remember that there were fantasy books written before J. R. R. Tolkien's work", stated that the stories were not imitations, "for none of us are imitators—but in honor of his work".[24]
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Many writers have made use of Tolkienesque plots, settings, and characters. The plot ofPat Murphy's 1999There and Back Again intentionally mirrors that ofThe Hobbit, but is transposed into a science-fiction setting involving space travel.J. K. Rowling's 1997–2007Harry Potter series, too, is influenced by Tolkien; for example, the wizardDumbledore has been described as partially inspired by Tolkien's Gandalf.[47] Further, Rowling explores the Tolkienian themes ofdeath and immortality, and the nature of evil and how it arises, withLord Voldemort taking the place of the Dark LordMorgoth.[48] S.M. Stirling's"Emberverse" series includes a character obsessed withThe Lord of the Rings who creates a post-apocalyptic community based Tolkien's Elves andDúnedain.[32] The same plot point was used by the Russian writer Vladimir Berezin in his novelRoad Signs (from theUniverse of Metro 2033).[32] The horror writerStephen King has acknowledged Tolkien's influence on his novelThe Stand and his fantasy seriesThe Dark Tower.[32] Other prominent fantasy writers includingGeorge R. R. Martin,Michael Swanwick,Raymond E. Feist,Poul Anderson,Karen Haber,Harry Turtledove,Charles De Lint, andOrson Scott Card have acknowledged Tolkien's work as an inspiration.[32]
Some writers have reacted against Tolkien by creating fantasy that does not fit the expected pattern. Thus,Stephen R. Donaldson'sThe Chronicles of Thomas Covenant has an unloveable protagonist quite unlike a hobbit: John R. Fultz calls Covenant "a whiner, a complainer, a broken man with no hope for himself or the kingdom he was charged with saving."[49] The world that Covenant visits might resemble Middle-earth, as might his quest, but the book's approach, a "dark counterpoint toTolkien's shining heroism", is entirely different.[49]
Philip Pullman'sHis Dark Materials trilogy is according to Pullman "a rival" to bothThe Lord of the Rings and Tolkien's fellow-InklingC. S. Lewis'sThe Chronicles of Narnia.[50][48] Pullman states that he disagrees with Lewis's answer to questions about the existence of God and the purpose of life, and asserts that Tolkien "doesn't touch [those issues] at all."[50] As a result, he finds Tolkien "essentially trivial" and "not worth arguing with."[50]Ross Douthat comments inThe Atlantic that Pullman's "dismiss[ing] theRings saga as 'trivial' tells you a great deal about where his own fantasy saga went wrong."[51] In Douthat's view, Pullman's "compelling and fun" world-building inThe Golden Compass (the first novel in the trilogy), complete with the armoured bear "and the witches, theJules Verne-meets-Tolkien landscape" slowly fades out in the later novels.[51] Pullman has further criticisedThe Lord of the Rings fornot having any strong female characters; in his view "There is absolutely no awareness of sexual power and mystery in the book."[52]
The modern subgenre ofgrimdark fantasy has been described as an "anti-Tolkien" approach to fantasy writing,[53] which British science fiction and fantasy novelistAdam Roberts characterizes by its reaction to Tolkien's idealism even though it owes a lot to Tolkien's work.[54][55]George R. R. Martin, the author ofA Song of Ice and Fire, cites Tolkien as an inspiration,[56] while also stating his aims to go beyond what he sees as Tolkien's "medieval philosophy" of "if the king was a good man, the land would prosper" to delve into the complexities, ambiguities, and vagaries of real-life power."[57]
The scholar of folkloreDimitra Fimi suggests a third group of Tolkien-influenced authors, the British fantasistsSusan Cooper,Alan Garner, andDiana Wynne Jones. In her view, all were, like Tolkien, prompted to fantasy by war; all three attended Tolkien's lectures at theUniversity of Oxford; and all admitted being influenced by "British myth and folklore", the sorts of medieval "intertexts" that Tolkien had used. While Wynne Jones wrote high fantasy, about secondary worlds, Cooper and Garner wrote "intrusion" fantasy, in which thesupernatural or fantastic intrudes into the ordinary world.[58]
The island of Gont, a single mountain that lifts its peak a mile above the storm-racked Northeast Sea, is a land famous for wizards. From the towns in its high valleys and the ports on its dark narrow bays many a Gontishman has gone forth to serve the Lords of the Archipelago in their cities as wizard or mage, or, looking for adventure, to wander working magic from isle to isle of all Earthsea. Of these some say the greatest, and surely the greatest voyager, was the man called Sparrowhawk, who in his day became both dragonlord and Archmage. His life is told of in the Deed of Ged and in many songs, but this is a tale of the time before his fame, before the songs were made. —Ursula Le Guin,A Wizard of Earthsea[59]
In 1968,Ursula K. Le Guin published the high fantasyA Wizard of Earthsea, followed between 1970 and 2001 by her otherEarthsea novels and short stories. It was one of the first fantasy series influenced by Tolkien.[60][61][b] Among the Tolkienian archetypes in the Earthsea books are wizards (including the protagonist,Ged), a disinherited prince (Arren inThe Farthest Shore), a magical ring (the ring of Erreth-Akbe inThe Tombs of Atuan), aMiddle-earth style quest (inThe Farthest Shore), and powerful dragons (like the dragon of Pendor, inA Wizard of Earthsea).[6]
Fimi writes that Le Guin's secondary world, along with its mythology, is "very much un-Tolkienian". It has its own culture, languages, and history, but, she notes, Earthsea does not share the British "flavor" of Middle-earth; Earthsea consists of an archipelago not a continent, hasbrown-skinned protagonists, andTaoist philosophy. Le Guin stated that Tolkien's wizard Gandalf was the "germ" forA Wizard of Earthsea; the character led her to wonder how wizards learnt "what is obviously an erudite and dangerous art? Are there colleges for young wizards?", resulting in the young Ged's going to the island of Roke to study at the School of Magic and ultimately to become the Archmage. In Fimi's view, Le Guin "has navigated her way around Tolkien's legacy with care and a real creative flair."[63]
The fantasy genre has expanded from the written form into film.Peter Jackson's 2001–3The Lord of the Rings film series brought Tolkien to the cinema screen, gaining him, and fantasy in general, a new and very large audience. Its success was followed up by the 2005–10The Chronicles of Narnia film series, adapted from Lewis's Narnia books, and the eightHarry Potter films. The fantasy market accommodated, too, some very un-Tolkien-like films, such asGuillermo del Toro's 2006Pan's Labyrinth, set in post-Spanish Civil War Spain, where a mythical world full of strange monsters intrudes upon the real world.[64] Del Toro was later involved in the development ofThe Hobbit film series,[65] despite having said of Tolkien's Middle-earth that "I don't like little guys anddragons, hairy feet,hobbits .... I don't like sword and sorcery, I hate all that stuff".[66]
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Tolkien's influence extends torole-playing games includingGary Gygax's 1974Dungeons & Dragons.[67] Gygax was obliged, after a lawsuit, to rename some especially Tolkienesque types of character, such as Hobbits (which became "Halflings"), Nazgul (which became "Wraiths") and theBalrog (which became "Balor").[68][69] Many video games inspired by Middle-earth have been manufactured by studios includingElectronic Arts,Vivendi Games,Melbourne House, andWarner Bros. Interactive Entertainment.[70][71][72] Apart from games directly licensed to use Middle-earth material, other developers have developed video games such asBaldur's Gate,EverQuest,The Elder Scrolls,Neverwinter Nights, andWorld of Warcraft "grown from the culture put forth from Tolkien's works."[67]
Tolkien is one of the few authors in any domain not just to have hadhis works illustrated by fantasy artists, in his case includingJohn Howe,Alan Lee,[73] andTed Nasmith, whose work was praised by Tolkien,[74] but to have spawned a named profession, "Tolkien artist".[73] Howe and Lee served, too, as concept artists for Jackson's Middle-earth films.[75] TheBrothers Hildebrandt created many Tolkien artworks in the 1970s, a selection appearing in theirTolkien Calendars.[76][77][78] In Russia,Alexander Korotich created a set ofscraperboard illustrations forThe Lord of the Rings. He also drew illustrations for a collection of Tolkien's fairy tales for the Ural Market publishing house.[79]
Pullman, who has given fantasy literature a memorable heroine like Lyra Belacqua, has also often pointed out how Tolkien's famous book had failed to introduce any strong woman character, and the Narnia series has been 'disparaging towards women'... I've long come to dislike the Tolkien kind of fantasy: I think it shuts out too much of what we know to be real.
Le Guin's Earthsea series, beginning withThe Wizard of Earthsea (1968) is not only amongst the finest examples of post-Tolkien fantasy, it is explicitly and directly influenced by Tolkien himself.
The exhibition presents individual illustrations for "The Lord of the Rings" by J. R. R. Tolkien, created by artist Alexander Korotich from the second half of the 1980s until mid-1997, when the folder with most of the sheets was lost, as well as a number of illustrations for the book "D. R. R. Tolkien. Fairy tales" by the publishing house "Ural market", released in 1993.
