Basis for LOTR

[Homicidalheathen]

http://www.bartleby.com/81/10772.html

[Shade Everdark]

Tolkien used much of Norse/Scandinavian mythology coupled with Christian myth. The influences on the ring itself probably come from Die Nibelungenlied, an early 13th century German edition of works that probably originated in Iceland (as far as I've been able to discover).

[n0Mad]

That and Tolkien was a professor of Beowulf and other literature at either Oxford or Cambridge or something like that so his work was heavily influenced by that.

[Homicidalheathen]

Is it shamful to admit I watched number 2 for the 3rd time the other night? Well, I skipped the corny long ending.

[cthulhu63]

If you read Tolkien's scholarship while he was at Oxford, it's farily evident where he got many of his ideas. As a linguist specializing in the Old Germanic (which includes Olde English) and Scandanavian tongues, he knew all of those old legends.

[DarkVampire]

He was very fond of Anglo-Saxon history as well. Rohann was his idea of the Anglo-Saxons in his book. Finland and particulary the book called Kalevala where inspirations to his writing of the elves and their languages.

[paradox]

tolkien was a a great scholar and a very gifted writer. his love of words, IMO, is what truely makes his works so great. the fact that the languages were among the 1st aspects he developed in his world is part of what lends such authenticity to Middle Earth, as well as attention to detail and landscapes. i know some folks find his descriptions long-winded and boring, and to be honest i can see their POV, but to me thats what gives his tales such fullness.

every day i appreciate more and more the importance of truely understanding languages, their roots and their changes. that might sound a little odd or obvious, but its true.

[Homicidalheathen]

I am reading up on Germanic stuff which is helping me appreciate winter more. Ice gods......frost goddesses......

What is a hobbit? A troll.......no. A fairy? No. Not elves. Not Gnomes.....I wonder what he based them on.

Hobbit: Small people who live in tribes and act gay with each other hehe.

[DarkVampire]

Hobbits= Halflings.

German/Norse mythology is a wonderful thing to read.

[paradox]

hobbits were "little people" ie, not dwarfs or fairies etc, but just normal everyday country people. tolkien wasnt keen on technology and grew up in the english countryside. the hobbits were his ideal community/people. country-folk and yeomen were probably the biggest influence in them, IMO.

[paradox]

BILBO!

[Homicidalheathen]

LORDY I thought I was having an acid flash back for a minute there.

BILBO!

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[DarkVampire]

:blink

WoW.