History Creator / JRRTolkien

* FamousAncestor: According to Tolkien's aunt and father, The family could supposedly trace their ancestry back to the Hohenzollerns, the royal family of Germany itself. Allegedly, the name "Tolkien" came from their ancestor George von Hohenzollern, who distinguished himself during the Siege of Vienna and got nicknamed "Tollkühn" (meaning "Fool-hardy" in German) for his boldness.

* FamousAncestor: The Tolkiens could trace their ancestry back to the Hohenzollerns, the royal family of Germany itself. Supposedly, the name "Tolkien" came from their ancestor George von Hohenzollern, who distinguished himself during the Siege of Vienna and got nicknamed "Tollkühn" (meaning "Fool-hardy" in German) for his boldness.

* ChristianFiction: The Catholic faith is a very strong influence in Tolkien's work in general, and he called ''The Lord of the Rings'' in particular a "fundamentally religious and Catholic work; unconsciously so at first, but consciously in the revision". That said, he specifically eschewed allegory and sought to be subtle about any Christian allusions.

Tolkien's languages and Middle-earth Legendarium were all written primarily for his own amusement. He was never a professional author (someone whose only job is to write books, plays etc.) His actual job was as a linguist and professor of philology and literature at Oxford University. He was also highly accomplished at his day-job and was particularly fond of ''Literature/{{Beowulf}}'', an Old English Epic Poem which he liked to recite to his students.[[note]]He argued, correctly, that the poetic form of Beowulf was intended for oral recitation and students would miss the proper experience if they didn't hear it recited and only read or translated it[[/note]] Let's just say there aren't many authors who kept interfering with the foreign translations of their books (correctly, see for instance the article on translator Creator/AkeOhlmarks) to point out how the translators aren't translating things properly into ''their own languages''...

* ''The Fall of Númenor'' (2022)

** Tolkien credits his survival immediately following the spider bite to his black nanny, who snatched him up and sucked out the poison.

** [[TearJerker Aegnor/Andreth]] (StarCrossedLovers), Finduilas/Túrin (one-sided, [[Analysis/LoveTriangle Type 5]] with Gwindor->F->T), Lúthien/Beren (married and mortal), Idril/Tuor (married and immortal), Arwen/Aragorn (married and mortal), Mithrellas/Imrazôr (married until she pulled a MissingMom), Melian/Thingol (angel and immortal elf -- Thingol died, but we can assume he was probably reincarnated).

Now, since the trilogy is the most popular and well-known of Tolkien's works, this means it's easy for people to get the wrong impression. This being said, Galadriel (who is noted as having had a very strong ambitious streak in her youth) is shown to be just as susceptible to the One Ring's power as anyone, although she is one of the handful who resist its power. And Celebrimbor's mistakes in Eregion are briefly discussed at the Council of Elrond.

* LeftJustifiedFantasyMap: The Middle-earth focus on the northwest coast of the largest continent, which equals Europe. The Great Sea is the Atlantic. (And yes, it ''actually is'' Europe and the Atlantic, despite Tolkien's failure to make the landmass resemble the real world.)

'''[[Franchise/TolkiensLegendarium Tolkien's Legendarium]]'''

'''Other works'''

--->'''J.R.R. Tolkien''': ''We were all Orcs in the Great War''.

-->-- '''The Guardian''', concerning ''Literature/TheSilmarillion''

** [[TearJerker Aegnor/Andreth]] (StarCrossedLovers), Finduilas/Túrin (one-sided, [[TriangRelations Type 5]] with Gwindor->F->T), Lúthien/Beren (married and mortal), Idril/Tuor (married and immortal), Arwen/Aragorn (married and mortal), Mithrellas/Imrazôr (married until she pulled a MissingMom), Melian/Thingol (angel and immortal elf -- Thingol died, but we can assume he was probably reincarnated).

* AlwaysChaoticEvil: Tolkien himself was troubled by the UnfortunateImplications,[[note]]whether modern-day concerns about racist implications were present as well, his specific concern was that as a practicing Catholic, he found it distasteful in the extreme to write in a race that was barred from any hope of redemption or salvation by the dint of merely being born[[/note]] but having evil creatures warped by the Dark Lords was essential to the narratives he'd constructed. He never found a satisfactory explanation of what orcs were corrupted from and how they could ''all'' be evil. To his credit, he managed to give each Orc that had a name a unique if still evil personality, and Elrond mentions that ''all living beings save for elves'' were found on both sides in the final battle against Sauron. This presumably includes Orcs and trolls.
** Sometimes after the publication, [[EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep the Professor]] admitted that miserable living conditions turn people evil, based on his UsefulNotes/WorldWarI experience.

* ArtistDisillusionment: Although Tolkien's works were huge with the Counterculture of TheSixties, he cared very, ''very'' little for the numerous fans he came in contact with and who [[MisaimedFandom considered his works as representative of said movement]].
* AttentionDeficitCreatorDisorder: Not so much because there were too many projects, but because Tolkien was a perfectionist and had a day job as a university professor. Christopher Tolkien only retired in 2018 after around four decades of publishing the works never released in his father's lifetime. He himself died two years later at the age of ''95''.

* CastsNoShadow: The man in the poem "Shadow Bride."

* FixFic: The march of the Ents was inspired by the scene in ''Theatre/{{Macbeth}}'' when "Birnam Wood doth come to Dunsinane." When he first saw the play as a young boy, he expected that the trees themselves would attack Dunsinane, and was very disappointed when that wasn't the case.

* HappilyMarried: Tolkien got married to his first love, Edith Bratt, and they remained happily married until her death. They discovered early on that they really didn't have that much in common (she was more of an urban socialite, whereas he famously preferred the quiet countryside. They ended up compromising), but the love was real and Tolkien thought that a marriage took work to be happy and fulfilling, and his works have plenty examples (Beren and Lúthien, Aragorn and Arwen, Faramir and Eowyn, Thingol and Melian...). John Ronald and Edith are buried together in Wolvercote Cemetery at Oxford. Their headstone reads: ''Edith Mary Tolkien. Lúthien. John Ronald Reuel Tolkien. Beren.''

* InterspeciesRomance: [[TearJerker Aegnor/Andreth]] (StarCrossedLovers), Finduilas/Túrin (one-sided, [[TriangRelations Type 5]] with Gwindor->F->T), Lúthien/Beren (married and mortal), Idril/Tuor (married and immortal), Arwen/Aragorn (married and mortal), Mithrellas/Imrazôr (married until she pulled a MissingMom), Melian/Thingol (angel and immortal elf -- Thingol died, but we can assume he was probably reincarnated).

--> ''"I will not say 'do not weep', for not all tears are an evil."''

* RavenHairIvorySkin: Both [[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings Arwen]] and [[Literature/TheSilmarillion Lúthien]] were described as not only having dark hair, pale skin, and grey eyes, but also as the most beautiful women of their eras. This is mainly because [[AuthorAvatar Tolkien's wife Edith had these features]], and [[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments he was open in expressing his love towards her]].

** Tolkien also sent a StronglyWordedLetter to Creator/AAMilne, complaining about the AdaptationDecay from ''Literature/TheWindInTheWillows'' in ''Toad of Toad Hall'' and saying that his children were appalled. Somewhat HilariousInHindsight as Tolkien fans are famously equally stringent about AdaptationDecay in Tolkien's own works.

* TurnTheOtherCheek: Several of his characters (Fingolfin, Bilbo, Frodo...) try to be forgiving and merciful even when their lives are threatened. This is directly discussed by Gandalf when remarking on how Bilbo spared Gollum - and in the end, he was proven right to do so, as Gollum was, inadvertently, critical to the destruction of the Ring.

* WritingByTheSeatOfYourPants: For ''The Lord of the Rings'', as shown by ''The History of Middle-earth''. For instance, Faramir's introduction was completely unplanned, and Aragorn was going to be paired with Eowyn until Arwen was created.

* NoPronunciationGuide: Not his invented names or languages but his ''surname'', which is pronounced "Tol-keen".

Tolkien's languages and Middle Earth Legendarium were all written primarily for his own amusement. He was never a professional author (someone whose only job is to write books, plays etc.) His actual job was as a linguist and professor of philology and literature at Oxford University. He was also highly accomplished at his day-job and was particularly fond of ''Literature/{{Beowulf}}'', an Old English Epic Poem which he liked to recite to his students.[[note]]He argued, correctly, that the poetic form of Beowulf was intended for oral recitation and students would miss the proper experience if they didn't hear it recited and only read or translated it[[/note]] Let's just say there aren't many authors who kept interfering with the foreign translations of their books (correctly, see for instance the article on translator Creator/AkeOhlmarks) to point out how the translators aren't translating things properly into ''their own languages''...

Although he regarded himself as an amateur artist,[[note]]when the publisher who'd accepted ''The Hobbit'' asked him to send illustrations, he did so, accompanied by a letter stating "The pictures seem to me mostly only to prove that the author cannot draw."[[/note]] many of his story notes were accompanied by drawings and paintings. His focus was on landscapes and maps of the setting. He allowed many of his works to be published with his books, including the cover art, maps, and full-page illustrations for the early editions of ''Literature/TheHobbit''. One of the best collections of his artwork can be found in ''[[Literature/JRRTolkienArtistAndIllustrator J. R. R. Tolkien: Artist and Illustrator]]'', published in 1995. In 2019, the Morgan Library & Museum in New York presented an exhibition of his art, ''[[https://www.themorgan.org/exhibitions/tolkien Tolkien: Maker of Middle-Earth]]''.

* ConstructedWorld: Arda, the world containing Middle-Earth and the Blessed Realm.

* DirectLineToTheAuthor: The Middle-Earth books are translations of the writings of Bilbo (who wrote ''Literature/TheHobbit'' and translated ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'' out of Elvish), Frodo and Sam (who wrote ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings''), and the Anglo-Saxon sailor [=Æ=]lfwine (who stumbled upon Tol Eressëa in the Middle Ages and learned of the Elder Days from the Elves).[[note]][=Æ=]lfwine was written out of the published ''Silmarillion'' by Christopher Tolkien, but since he appears in JRRT's writings after ''[=LotR=]'', he apparently never abandoned the idea.[[/note]]

* {{Doorstopper}}: ''The Lord of the Rings'' isn't a trilogy, it's a single book too large for most publishers to bind in a single volume. When you add ''The Hobbit'' and all the posthumously published material on top, Middle-Earth will fill a whole shelf of a bookcase.

** ''The Lord Of The Rings'' ends up with the end of the domain of the Elves and the beginning of the Age of the Men. The High Elves left Middle Earth forever. The knowledge and lore of the Ancient World became lost, and gradually the last remnants of that world disappeared and were forgotten altogether.

** With the exception of the Shire itself, which was modelled on the idealized 19th-century English countryside, the cultures of Middle-Earth are roughly equivalent to those of Dark Age Europe based on political situations and cultural aspects.

** The Dwarvish language is inspired by Semitic languages and their displacement throughout Middle-Earth draws comparisons with the Jewish diaspora, but the Dwarvish culture resembles more that of Early Middle Ages Germanic peoples: metalworkers, builders, axe-armed.

* FantasyWorldMap: Tolkien started making these for Middle-Earth not long after he started writing the stories.

* HiddenElfVillage: Elves often end up surviving only in these -- in Beleriand they were killed everywhere until the last survivors were holed up in places such as Doriath, Gondolin, Nargothrond, and the Isle of Balar. In the Third Age, the few High Elves who hadn't abandoned Middle-Earth to sail West were hiding in Rivendell, Lothlórien, and the Grey Havens.
* HighFantasy: Often consider the TropeCodifier, though in reality the "magic" in the Middle-Earth legendarium is exceedingly subdued compared to the likes of ''Literature/HarryPotter'', ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'', or ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons''.

* IGaveMyWord: Many characters in Middle-Earth are very serious about keeping their sworn word ... even when they've sworn to do something horrible that they know is wrong and want to avoid doing.

* InhumanlyBeautifulRace: Elves in Tolkien's works are almost invariably described as being good looking. The three best looking females in Middle-Earth are all Elves. The Valar and Maiar also count, although they cheat, since their bodies are artificial and custom-made, so their beauty is limited only by ego and imagination.

* NarrativePoem: Some stories of Middle-Earth are told, in their longest and most detailed form, as poetry.

** Elves do, however, appear to be this in ''The Lord of the Rings'', since it isn't concentrating on Elvish history, and so most of their bigger mistakes are found elsewhere. Besides, most of the especially wicked, stupid, and foolish elves had gotten themselves killed before the end of the Third Age, while the rest have mellowed out. The elven leaders in ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings'' -- Elrond (Rivendell), Thranduil (Mirkwood), Galadriel and Celeborn (Lothlórien), and Círdan (Grey Havens) -- have all lived to see the decline of their race in Middle-Earth, and are trying to do what is best for their people while offering what assistance they can to the other races. Also, considering that Galadriel, Celeborn, and Círdan lived through the entire war against Morgoth that destroyed Beleriand, and that Elrond saw what the folly of his people could do (he lived through one of the elven civil wars as a small child, surviving the last Kinslaying, and witnessed Sauron co-opting Eregion), they had all probably wised up to not repeat the mistakes of the past.\\

** The final victory over Sauron in ''The Lord of the Rings''. The destroying of the Ring led to the final waning of 'magic' in Middle-Earth and the departure of the remaining Elves to the West.

%% * TragicHero: Several in Middle-Earth, such as Túrin Turambar.
* TranslationConvention: None of our real-world languages exist in the Middle-Earth stories, and so the common TranslationConvention applies. When not convention-translated, names and speech make use of either Tolkien's constructed languages, or of a real-world language used as stand-in for a fictional one. The latter ones are not chosen randomly, but to represent the relation between the respective "proper" languages, or a certain image. Languages regularly replaced by stand-in languages in the text are: "Westron" a.k.a. the "Common Speech" is ''always'' rendered as English (as it is the Third-Age-novel's POV-character's language), the Rohirric language by Anglo-Saxon a.k.a. Old English (to appear vaguely familiar to the hobbits' Westron-English), and the language used by the Dwarves[[note]]i.e. ''not'' Dwarvish as such, which is much more like an Afro-Asiatic/ Semitic language. The Dwarves refuse to speak their own language in the presence of outsiders, except for the occasional battle cry and place name. They even use names derived from the language of Dale rather than let non-Dwarves know their True Names[[/note]] and the Men of Dale by Old Norse. Information on the "translation" and what these languages "really" look like, can be found [[AllThereInTheManual in various appendices and additional texts]].

* VillainDecay: Tolkien's conception of evil is that it is intrinsically a diminishing, self-destructive force. Most of his villains begin with far-reaching plans or even noble goals, but they end up wasting their power with [[EvilIsPetty petty, useless acts of destruction]]. Morgoth goes from wanting to steal Creation to just trying to make everybody's lives miserable. Sauron goes from wanting to conquer the world in order to repair it to a power-hungry tyrant. Saruman goes from being an older-than-Earth angelic being that plotted to take over Middle-Earth with his cunning, technology, and a massive army to employing ruffians to harass hobbits out of spite.

* WorldShapes: Arda, the world containing Middle-Earth, started out flat. Only after the events that led to the downfall of Númenor (the world's Atlantis equivalent) was it made round. Later Tolkien decided this was stupid because Middle-Earth is supposed to be the real world, but his attempts to write a round-world creation story were consistently less beautiful than the flat-world versions.

In 2012 [[http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/06/tolkien-snubbed-by-nobel-prize-jury-papers-reveal/?_r=0 disclosed documents]] revealed that C. S. Lewis nominated Tolkien for the UsefulNotes/NobelPrizeInLiterature, but the committee [[AwardSnub rejected him]] on the grounds that his prose "has not in any way measured up to storytelling of the highest quality." Make of that what you will.

[[http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/06/tolkien-snubbed-by-nobel-prize-jury-papers-reveal/?_r=0 Recently disclosed documents]] revealed that C. S. Lewis nominated Tolkien for the UsefulNotes/NobelPrizeInLiterature, but the committee [[AwardSnub rejected him]] on the grounds that his prose "has not in any way measured up to storytelling of the highest quality." Make of that what you will.

* ''The Fall of Gondolin'' (2018)

* ''Beren and Lúthien'' (2017)

Tolkien's languages and Middle Earth Legendarium were all written primarily for his own amusement. He was never a professional author (someone whose only job is to write books, plays etc.) His actual job was as a linguist and professor of philology and literature at Oxford University. He was also highly accomplished at his day-job and was particularly fond of Beowulf, an Old English Epic Poem which he liked to recite to his students.[[note]]He argued, correctly, that the poetic form of Beowulf was intended for oral recitation and students would miss the proper experience if they didn't hear it recited and only read or translated it[[/note]] Let's just say there aren't many authors who kept interfering with the foreign translations of their books (correctly, see for instance the article on translator Creator/AkeOhlmarks) to point out how the translators aren't translating things properly into ''their own languages''...

** A second attempt at the time travel story was ''the Norton Club Papers'' which concocted an entire fictitious history of the titular group. It used a similar premise of the protagonist's dream of a past life in Númenor,but was dropped before the narrative could go to Númenor.

** There's a rumor that Tolkien and Lewis got each other into a dare to produce a {{science fiction}} story. Lewis ended up producing ''Literature/TheSpaceTrilogy'', but Tolkien never got around to fulfill his part. Apparently it was supposed to be some sort of time travel story visiting multiple historical periods, but that's about all.