Lord of the Rings the facts A article written in 2007 This is Continued from Lord of the Rings Part One
Publication
For publication,
due largely to post-war paper shortages, but also to keep the price of the first
volume down, the book was divided into three volumes: The Fellowship of the Ring:
Books I & II, The Two Towers: Books III & IV, & The Return of the
King: Books V & VI plus six appendices. Delays in producing appendices, maps
& especially indices led to these being published later than originally hoped
— on 21 July 1954, on 11 November 1954 & on 20 October 1955 respectively
in the United Kingdom, slightly later in the United States. The Return of the
King was especially delayed. Tolkien, moreover, did not especially like the title
The Return of the King, believing it gave away too much of the storyline. He had
originally suggested The War of the Ring, which was dismissed by his publishers.
The books were published under a 'profit-sharing' arrangement, whereby Tolkien would not receive an advance or royalties until the books had broken even, after which he would take a large share of the profits. An index to the entire three-volume set at the end of third volume was promised in the first volume. However, this proved impractical to compile in a reasonable timescale. Later, in 1966, four indices, not compiled by Tolkien, were added to The Return of the King. Because the three-volume binding was so widely distributed, the work is often referred to as the Lord of the Rings "trilogy". In a letter to the poet W. H. Auden (who famously reviewed the final volume in 1956), Tolkien himself made use of the term "trilogy" for the work though he did at other times consider this incorrect, as it was written & conceived as a single book. It is also often called a novel; however, Tolkien also objected to this term as he viewed it as a romance ("romance" in this sense refers to a heroic tale).
A 1999 (Millennium Edition) British seven-volume box set followed the six-book division authored by Tolkien, with the Appendices from the end of The Return of the King bound as a separate volume. The letters of Tolkien appeared on the spines of the boxed set which included a CD. To coincide with the film release, a new version of this popular edition was released featuring images from the films, such as:
I
- Frodo climbing the steps to Bag End
II - Aragorn & Arwen in Rivendell
III - Gandalf in Moria
IV - A swan boat from Lothlórien
V -
A Black Rider from the 'Flight to the Ford' sequence
VI - The tower of Cirith
Ungol (although this image featured in many of the promotional books (e.g. the
'FotR Photo Guide') from the first film, it did not feature in the films until
Return of the King)
Appendix - Frodo's hand holding the One Ring
This
new imprint also omitted the CD.
The individual names for books in this series were decided posthumously, based on a combination of suggestions Tolkien had made during his lifetime & the titles of the existing volumes:
Book
I: The Return of the Shadow
Book II: The Fellowship of the Ring
Book III:
The Treason of Isengard
Book IV: The Journey to Mordor
Book V: The War
of the Ring
Book VI: The Return of the King
Appendices
The name of
the complete work is often abbreviated to 'LotR', 'LOTR', or simply 'LR' (Tolkien
himself used L.R.), & the three volumes as FR, FOTR, or FotR (The Fellowship
of the Ring), TT or TTT (The Two Towers), & RK, ROTK, or RotK (The Return
of the King).
The titles The Return of the Shadow, The Treason of Isengard & The War of the Ring were eventually used by Christopher Tolkien in The History of The Lord of the Rings.
Publication history
The three parts were first
published several months apart, in 1954 & 1955 by Allen & Unwin. They
have since been reissued many times by multiple publishers, as one-, three-, six-
or seven-volume sets. The two most common current printings are ISBN 0-618-34399-7
(one-volume) & ISBN 0-618-34624-4 (three-volume set). In the early 1960s,
Donald A. Wollheim, science fiction editor of the paperback publisher Ace Books,
theorized that The Lord of the Rings was not protected in the United States under
American copyright law because the U.S. hardcover edition had been bound from
pages printed in the United Kingdom, with the original intention being for them
to be printed in the British edition. Ace Books proceeded to publish an edition,
unauthorized by Tolkien & without royalties to him. Tolkien took issue with
this & quickly notified his fans of this objection. Grass-roots pressure from
these fans became so great that Ace books withdrew their edition & made a
nominal payment to Tolkien, well below what he might have been due in an appropriate
publication. However, this poor beginning was overshadowed when an authorized
edition followed from Ballantine Books to tremendous commercial success. By the
mid-1960s the books, due to their wide exposure on the American public stage,
had become a true cultural phenomenon. Also at this time Tolkien undertook various
textual revisions to produce a version of the book that would have an unquestioned
US copyright. This would later become the Second Edition of The Lord of the Rings.
Years later the copyright theory advanced by Ace Books was repudiated & their
paperback edition found to have been a violation of Tolkien's copyright under
US law.
The books have been translated, with various degrees of success, into dozens of other languages. Tolkien, an expert in philology, examined many of these translations, & had comments on each that reflect both the translation process & his work. To aid translators, Tolkien wrote his "Guide to the Names in The Lord of the Rings". Because The Lord of the Rings purports to be a translation of the Red Book of Westmarch, translators have an unusual degree of freedom when translating The Lord of the Rings. This allows for such translations as elf becoming Elb in German — Elb does not carry the connotations of mischief that its English counterpart does & therefore is more true to the work that Tolkien created. In contrast to the usual modern practice, names intended to have a particular meaning in the English version are translated to provide a similar meaning in the target language: in German, for example, the name "Baggins" becomes "Beutlin," containing the word Beutel meaning "bag".
Influences
The
Lord of the Rings began as a personal exploration by Tolkien of his interests
in philology, religion (particularly Roman Catholicism-but rather as an attempt
to create a mythos un-related to it), fairy tales, as well as Norse mythology,
but it was also crucially influenced by the effects of his military service during
World War I. Tolkien detailed his creation to an astounding extent - he created
a complete fictional universe (Eä), of which the Earth (Arda) was only part;
Middle-earth was actually only a continent of Arda. He also devised a huge amount
of detail, including genealogies of characters, languages, writing systems, calendars
& histories. Some of this supplementary material is detailed in the appendices
to The Lord of the Rings, & the legendary history woven into a large, Biblically-styled
volume entitled The Silmarillion. Many parts of the world he crafted, as he freely
admitted, are influenced by other sources.
Tolkien once described The Lord of the Rings to his friend, the English Jesuit Father Robert Murray, as "a fundamentally religious & Catholic work, unconsciously so at first, but consciously in the revision." There are many theological themes underlying the narrative including the battle of good versus evil, the triumph of humility over pride, & the activity of grace. In addition the saga includes themes which incorporate death & immortality, mercy & pity, resurrection, salvation, repentance, self-sacrifice, free will, justice, fellowship, authority & healing. In addition the Lord's Prayer "And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil" was reportedly present in Tolkien's mind as he described Frodo's struggles against the power of the One Ring.
Non-Christian religious motifs also had strong influences in Tolkien's Middle-earth. His Ainur, a race of angelic beings who are responsible for conceptualising the world, includes the Valar, the pantheon of "gods" who are responsible for the maintenance of everything from skies & seas to dreams & doom, & their servants, the Maiar. The concept of the Valar echoes Greek & Norse mythologies, although the Ainur & the world itself are all creations of a monotheistic deity — Ilúvatar or Eru, "The One". As the external practice of Middle-earth religion is downplayed in The Lord of the Rings, explicit information about them is only given in the different versions of Silmarillion material. However, there remain allusions to this aspect of Tolkien's writings, including "the Great Enemy" who was Sauron's master & "Elbereth, Queen of Stars" (Morgoth & Varda respectively, two of the Valar) in the main text, the "Authorities" (referring to the Valar, literally Powers) in the Prologue, & "the One" in Appendix A. Other non-Christian mythological or folkloric elements can be seen, including other sentient non-humans (Dwarves, Elves, Hobbits & Ents), a "Green Man" (Tom Bombadil), & spirits or ghosts (Barrow-wights, Oathbreakers).
Gandalf the "Odinic wanderer", from a book cover by John Howe.The
Northern European mythologies are perhaps the best known non-Christian influences
on Tolkien. His Elves & Dwarves are by & large based on Norse & related
Germanic mythologies. Names such as "Gandalf", "Gimli" &
"Middle-earth" are directly derived from Norse mythology. The figure
of Gandalf is particularly influenced by the Germanic deity Odin in his incarnation
as "the Wanderer", an old man with one eye, a long white beard, a wide
brimmed hat, & a staff; Tolkien states that he thinks of Gandalf as an "Odinic
wanderer" in a letter of 1946. Specific influences include the Anglo-Saxon
poem Beowulf.
Tolkien may have also borrowed elements from the Völsungasaga, the Old Norse basis of the later German Nibelungenlied & Richard Wagner's opera series, Der Ring des Nibelungen, also called the Ring Cycle — specifically a magical golden ring & a broken sword which is reforged. In the Völsungasaga, these items are respectively Andvarinaut & Gram, & very broadly correspond to the One Ring & Narsil/Andúril. However, Tolkien once wrote in response to a Swedish translator's claim that the One Ring was "in a certain way" Wagner's Ring, "Both rings were round, & there the resemblance ceases." Finnish mythology & more specifically the Finnish national epic Kalevala were also acknowledged by Tolkien as an influence on Middle-earth. In a similar manner to The Lord of the Rings, the Kalevala centres around a magical item of great power, the Sampo, which bestows great fortune on its owner but never makes its exact nature clear. Like the One Ring, the Sampo is fought over by forces of good & evil, & is ultimately lost to the world as it is destroyed towards the end of the story. In another parallel, the latter work's wizard character Väinämöinen also has many similarities to Gandalf in his immortal origins & wise nature, & both works end with their respective wizard departing on a ship to lands beyond the mortal world. Tolkien also based his Elvish language Quenya on Finnish.
Shakespeare's Macbeth also influenced Tolkien in a number of ways. The Ent attack on Isengard was inspired by "Birnam Wood coming to Dunsinane" in the play; Tolkien felt men carrying boughs were not impressive enough, & thus he used actual tree-like creatures. The phrase "crack of doom" was actually coined by Shakespeare for Macbeth, with an entirely different meaning.
In addition The Lord of the Rings was crucially influenced by Tolkien's experiences during World War I & his son's during World War II. The central action of the books — a climactic, age-ending war between good & evil — is the central event of many mythologies, notably Norse, but it is also a clear reference to the well-known description of World War I, which was commonly referred to as "the war to end all wars".
After the publication of The Lord of the Rings these influences led to speculation that the One Ring was an allegory for the nuclear bomb. Tolkien, however, repeatedly insisted that his works were not an allegory of any kind. Nevertheless there is a strong theme of despair in the face of new mechanized warfare that Tolkien himself had experienced in the trenches of World War I. The development of a specially bred Orc army, & the destruction of the environment to aid this, also have modern resonances; & the effects of the Ring on its users evoke the modern literature of drug addiction as much as any historic quest literature.
Tolkien states in the foreword to The Lord of the Rings that he disliked allegories & that the story was not one, & it would be irresponsible to dismiss such direct statements on these matters lightly. Tolkien had already completed most of the book, including the ending in its entirety, before the first nuclear bombs were made known to the world at Hiroshima & Nagasaki in August 1945.
While connections between the Ring & 'nuclear' weapons are sometimes drawn, Tolkien had developed the nature of the Ring prior to public knowledge of such. However, it is clear that the Ring has broad applicability to the concept of Absolute Power & its effects, & that the plot hinges on the view that anyone who seeks to gain absolute worldly power will inevitably be corrupted by it. Some also say that there is clear evidence that one of the main subtexts of the story — the passing of a mythical "Golden Age" — was influenced not only by Arthurian legend, but also by Tolkien's contemporary anxieties about the growing encroachment of urbanisation & industrialisation into the "traditional" English lifestyle & countryside. The concept of the "ring of power" itself is also present in Plato's Republic, Wagner's Ring Cycle, & in the story of Gyges' ring (a story often compared to the Book of Job). Some locations & characters were inspired by Tolkien's childhood in Sarehole (then a Worcestershire village, now part of Birmingham) & Birmingham. It has also been suggested that The Shire & its surroundings were based on the countryside around Stonyhurst College in Lancashire where Tolkien frequently stayed during the 1940s.
Critical
response
Tolkien's work has received mixed reviews since its inception, ranging
from terrible to excellent. Recent reviews in various media have been, in a majority,
highly positive. On its initial review the Sunday Telegraph felt it was "among
the greatest works of imaginative fiction of the twentieth century." The
Sunday Times seemed to echo these sentiments when in its review it was stated
that "the English-speaking world is divided into those who have read The
Lord of the Rings & The Hobbit & those who are going to read them."
The New York Herald Tribune also seemed to have an idea of how popular the books
would become, writing in its review that they were "destined to outlast our
time."
Not all original reviews, however, were so kind. New York Times reviewer Judith Shulevitz criticized the "pedantry" of Tolkien's literary style, saying that he "formulated a high-minded belief in the importance of his mission as a literary preservationist, which turns out to be death to literature itself." Critic Richard Jenkyns, writing in The New Republic, criticized a perceived lack of psychological depth. Both the characters & the work itself are, according to Jenkyns, "anemic, & lacking in fiber." Even within Tolkien's social group, The Inklings, reviews were mixed. Hugo Dyson was famously recorded as saying, during one of Tolkien's readings to the group, "Oh no! Not another fucking elf!" However, another Inkling, C.S. Lewis, had very different feelings, writing, "here are beauties which pierce like swords or burn like cold iron. Here is a book which will break your heart."
Several other authors in the genre, however, seemed to agree more with Dyson than Lewis. Science-fiction author David Brin criticized the books for what he perceived to be their unquestioning devotion to a traditional elitist social structure, their positive depiction of the slaughter of the opposing forces, & their romantic backward-looking worldview. Michael Moorcock, another famous science fiction & fantasy author, is also critical of The Lord of the Rings. In his essay, "Epic Pooh," he equates Tolkien's work to Winnie-the-Pooh & criticises it & similar works for their perceived Merry England point of view. Incidentally, Moorcock met both Tolkien & Lewis in his teens & claims to have liked them personally, even though he does not admire them on artistic grounds.
More recently, critical analysis has focused on Tolkien's experiences in the First World War; writers such as John Garth in Tolkien & the Great War, Janet Brennan Croft & Tom Shippey all look in detail at this aspect & compare the imagery, mental landscape & traumas in The Lord of the Rings with those experienced by soldiers in the trenches & the history of the Great War. John Carey, formerly Merton Professor of English Literature at Oxford University, speaking in April 2003 on the BBC "Big Read" programme which voted Lord of the Rings "Britain's best-loved book", said that "Tolkien's writing is essentially a species of war literature; not as direct perhaps as Wilfred Owen, or as solid as some, but very, very interesting as that — the most solid reflection on war experiences written up as fantasy." Other recent analysis has focused on minority criticisms within The Lord of the Rings.
The Lord of the Rings, despite not being published in paperback until the 1960s, sold well in hardback. In 1957, it was awarded the International Fantasy Award. Despite its numerous detractors, the publication of the Ace Books & Ballantine paperbacks helped The Lord of the Rings become immensely popular in the 1960s. The book has remained so ever since, ranking as one of the most popular works of fiction of the twentieth century, judged by both sales & reader surveys. In the 2003 "Big Read" survey conducted by the BBC, The Lord of the Rings was found to be the "Nation's Best-loved Book". Australians voted The Lord of the Rings "My Favourite Book" in a 2004 survey conducted by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. In a 1999 poll of Amazon.com customers, The Lord of the Rings was judged to be their favourite "book of the millennium." In 2002, Tolkien was voted the ninety-second "greatest Briton" in a poll conducted by the BBC, & in 2004 he was voted thirty-fifth in the SABC3's Great South Africans, the only person to appear on both lists. His popularity is not limited just to the English-speaking world: in a 2004 poll inspired by the UK’s "Big Read" survey, about 250,000 Germans found The Lord of the Rings to be their favourite work of literature.
The book has been adapted for radio three times. In 1955 & 1956, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) broadcast The Lord of the Rings, a 12-part radio adaptation of the story, of which no recording has survived. A 1979 dramatization of The Lord of the Rings was broadcast in the United States & subsequently issued on tape & CD. In 1981, the BBC broadcast The Lord of the Rings, a new dramatization in 26 half-hour installments.
Three film adaptations have been made. The first was J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings (1978), by animator Ralph Bakshi, the first part of what was originally intended to be a two-part adaptation of the story (hence its original title, The Lord of the Rings Part 1). It covers The Fellowship of the Ring & part of The Two Towers. The second, The Return of the King (1980), was an animated television special by Rankin-Bass, who had produced a similar version of The Hobbit (1977). The third was director Peter Jackson's live action The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, produced by New Line Cinema & released in three installments as The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002), & The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003).
A scene from the 2006 Toronto, Canada musical.The Lord of the Rings: The Return
of the King was the second film to break the one-billion-dollar barrier, after
1997's Titanic, & like Titanic, won a total of 11 Oscars, including 'best
film' & 'best director'. The live-action film trilogy has done much in particular
to bring the book into the public consciousness.
In 1990, Recorded Books published an unabridged audio version of the books. They hired British actor Rob Inglis — who had previously starred in one-man stage productions of The Hobbit & The Lord of the Rings — to read. Inglis performs the books verbatim, using distinct voices for each character, & sings all of the songs. Tolkien had written music for some of the songs in the book; for the rest, Inglis, along with director Claudia Howard, wrote additional music. The current ISBN is 1402516274.
There have been several stage productions based on the book. Three original full-length stage adaptations of The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), The Two Towers (2002), & The Return of the King (2003) were staged in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. A stage musical adaptation of The Lord of the Rings (2006) was staged in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Influences on the fantasy genre
Following the massive
success of The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien considered a sequel entitled The New
Shadow, in which the Gondorians turn to dark cults & consider an uprising
against Aragorn's son, Eldarion. Tolkien never went very far with this sequel,
& the few pages which were written can be found in The Peoples of Middle-earth.
Instead, Tolkien returned to writing & revising his Silmarillion story, though
he died before he could finish this. The Silmarillion was published posthumously
by Tolkien's son & literary executor, Christopher Tolkien, in 1977. Christopher
Tolkien published further parts of his father's legendarium in Unfinished Tales
(1980) & The History of Middle-earth, a 12-volume series published from 1983
to 1996, of which The Peoples of Middle-earth is part.
The enormous popularity of Tolkien's epic saga greatly expanded the demand for fantasy fiction. Largely thanks to The Lord of the Rings, the genre flowered throughout the 1960s. Many other books in a broadly similar vein were published, including the Earthsea books of Ursula K. Le Guin, The Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks, the Thomas Covenant novels of Stephen R. Donaldson; the "Wheel of Time" books of Robert Jordan, & in the case of the Gormenghast books by Mervyn Peake & The Worm Ouroboros by E. R. Eddison, rediscovered.
It also strongly influenced the role playing game industry which achieved popularity in the 1970s with Dungeons & Dragons, a game which features many races found in The Lord of the Rings, most notably halflings (another term for hobbits), elves, dwarves, half-elves, orcs, & dragons. However, Gary Gygax, lead designer of the game, maintains that he was influenced very little by The Lord of the Rings, stating that he included these elements as a marketing move to draw on the popularity the work enjoyed at the time he was developing the game. The Lord of the Rings is also suspected to have influenced the creation of Magic: The Gathering as well as various video games, including Final Fantasy IV, Ultima, Betrayal at Krondor, Baldur's Gate, EverQuest, The Elder Scrolls, RuneScape, Neverwinter Nights, & the Warcraft series, as well as, quite naturally, video games set in Middle-earth itself.
As in all artistic fields, a great many lesser derivatives of the more prominent works appeared. The term "Tolkienesque" is used in the genre to refer to the oft-used & abused storyline of The Lord of the Rings: a group of adventurers embarking on a quest to save a magical fantasy world from the armies of an evil dark lord, & is a testament to how much the popularity of these books has increased, since many critics initially decried it as being "Wagner for children" (a reference to Der Ring des Nibelungen) — an especially interesting commentary in light of a possible interpretation of the books as a Christian response to Wagner. The book also helped popularize several spellings concerning elves & dwarves (i.e. using -ves instead of -fs for plural forms; this had already appeared in The Hobbit).
The work has also had an influence upon such science fiction authors as Isaac Asimov & Arthur C. Clarke. In fact, Clarke (who found only Frank Herbert's Dune comparable ) makes a reference to Mount Doom in his work 2010: Odyssey Two. Tolkien also influenced George Lucas' Star Wars films.
Impact
on popular culture
Main articles: Middle-earth in popular culture & Works
inspired by J. R. R. Tolkien
The Lord of the Rings has had a profound &
wide-ranging impact on popular culture, from its publication in the 1950s, but
especially throughout the 1960s & 1970s, where young people embraced it as
a countercultural saga. Its influence has been vastly extended in the present
day, thanks to the Peter Jackson live-action films. Well known examples include
"Frodo Lives!" & "Gandalf for President", two phrases
popular among American Tolkien fans during the 1960s & 1970s, The Lord of
the Rings-themed editions of popular board games (e.g., Risk: Lord of the Rings
Trilogy Edition, chess & Monopoly), & parodies such as Bored of the Rings
(produced for the Harvard Lampoon), the VeggieTales version - Lord of the Beans,
the South Park episode The Return of the Lord of the Rings to the Two Towers,
& the Mad Magazine musical send-up titled "The Ring & I" in
which the characters sing their parts to the tunes of popular music hits.
In particular, the book, along with Tolkien's other writings, has influenced many musicians. The British rock band Led Zeppelin made four compositions that contain explicit references to The Lord of the Rings - namely "Ramble On", "The Battle of Evermore", "Misty Mountain Hop", & "Over the Hills & Far Away" (with others, such as "Stairway to Heaven & Kashmir", alleged by some to contain such). Another British rock band, Camel, made a triptych on their second LP Mirage – tracks entitled "Nimrodel", "The Procession" & "The White Rider". The band Rush made a song called "Rivendell", about the joys of staying at the Elven haven (found on their album Fly by Night, 1975). The band Styx released the song "Lords of the Ring" on their 1978 album "Pieces of Eight". The German power metal band Blind Guardian have made several compositions such as "Lord of the Rings", & have also produced a Silmarillion-inspired album, Nightfall in Middle-Earth. Their song The Bard's Song (In the Forest) contains the line "Tales of Hobbits, Dwarves, & Men", a clear reference to the series. 1960's Guitarist Steve Took also took his pseudonymn in honor of the hobbit character Peregrin Took.
Nearly the entire discography of Austrian black metal band Summoning is inspired by Tolkien's works. Swedish keyboardist Bo Hansson released an album entitled "Music Inspired by Lord of the Rings" in 1970 (1972 in the UK & US). The Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish also reference the book in many of their songs, most notably in "Elvenpath". The Norwegian black metal band Gorgoroth took their name from the Plateau of Gorgoroth in Mordor. The Swedish death metal band Amon Amarth borrowed their name for the Sindarin equivalent for Mount Doom (though they draw their influence from Norse mythology). The defunct California-based band Cirith Ungol took their name from the mountain cavern found in The Two Towers. Black metal musician Varg Vikernes of Mayhem & Burzum adopted the name Count Grishnackh from an Orc character in The Two Towers. Burzum also means "darkness" in the Black Speech, the language developed by Sauron. Enya wrote an instrumental piece called "Lothlórien" in 1991, & composed two songs for The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring - "May It Be" (sung in English & Quenya) & "Aníron" (sung in Sindarin). Some say Lord of the Rings is a great work, as it says even the smallest creature can defeat the greatest evil, with Thomas Jerfferson, style democratic republican Yeoman, ways in opposition to king style tyrants and such. With the hobbits as like children being a hope for the future and egalitarian, defenders of freedom, and equality and democracy and republican equality all that, and peasant freedoms. With The House of Commons yes Commoners, like Bilbo, The French Republic and USA, being against the Kaiser in his area of the war. You can interprete books in any way you wish, as people do to Christianity, so I will interprete it that way, even if people do moan about that when they do not moan about cruel interpretations, that are are bad, so a good utipian one, is better, for utopian socialism. What a great vision, even if Tolkein for all I know was right wing, who cares, maybe he was left wing, it does not matter, I shall interprete it the way I want to , and see as the best way for my ideas. So moan all you like about that, it just shows how stupid you are, and how evil you are. I say to moaners, to others I say yehh I like your view well done.
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