"Tolkien Mythology" and "the legendarium" are both terms for the entire system of connected, fantastical stories that exemplify the beliefs and philological expertise of J.R.R. Tolkien, and make up the entire extensive background to The Lord of the Rings. These stories comprise what is canonical as well as "precanonical" in all of Tolkien's published works.
For an explanation of the variants of the qualifiers "canon" and "precanon" on this Wiki, see LOTR:Canon.
The stories comprising this Mythology are not true, but many of them are founded in some sort of fact about the natural world or as a way of explaining natural phenomena. J.R.R. Tolkien, who intended his works to be a creative legendarium for the continent of Europe, created them. "A single, fictional, imaginary, fanciful world" is a correct way to describe the legendarium, so use of the grander and wider term "fictional universe" should be halted. When the term legendarium is used, it represents both the final, canonical lore of Arda and lore that is precanonical or semi-invented (such as Tolkien's writings of Eriol and Kullervo).
Tolkien's great mythological tales of Middle-earth are meant to be taken fictitiously, as an ancient history of the Earth, particularly of Europe, from several thousand years before the modern era.
Mythological Roots of Tolkien's Legendarium
It is a well-known fact that Tolkien had an interest in the mythology and linguistics of Northern Europe specifically that of the Germanic people, namely the pagan mythologies of the Norse and English peoples. The other main influence was Finnish Mythology - it played a major role in the creation of The Silmarillion, and the Quenya language was modeled mostly after the Finnish language. Two other examples of linguistic influences were Rohirric, the language used for the Rohirrim which was substituted by Old English (from which English is chiefly derived), and the language spoken in Dale and Esgaroth, equivalent to Old Norse, which is the language of the epic sagas and poems of the Norse.
Many significant events of Middle-earth's history such as Smaug's awakening and rampage, the finding of the Ring, and the reforging of Narsil all have parallels in Germanic Mythology. The epic poetry of Northern Europe's past, such as the epic poem Beowulf and 'Völsungasaga', have also been cited as influencing Tolkien and his legendarium. The rampage of Smaug could in fact be seen to be inspired by Beowulf, in which a cup is stolen from the sleeping wyrm who then leaves his cave for revenge. (His revenge is the climax of the story, and the demise of the protagonist Beowulf).
The One Ring has been said by many to be inspired by the ring in the Norse sage of the Völsungs and its later German version, the High Medieval 'Nibelunglied'; however comments by Tolkien make it unclear as to whether it was a reference to the 'Völsungasaga'. Alternatively the Ring could have been based on a ring of invisibility from Greek Mythology.
Éowyn's disguising as a man in The Return of the King is likely to echo many tales of 'Shield-maidens' and Valkyries from Norse Mythology.
The threads of the legendarium run so deep that even the name of the chief continent, Middle-earth, has its origins in the Norse Mythology also. The name derives from the Old English Middanġeard (Middle-yard, meaning "middle enclosure") which latter became the Middle English Middel-erde (meaning now "Middle-earth" rather than the older sense of "Middle-yard", though it should be noted that in this case it is applied to the same meaning, that of the land of men). This name for our world has cognates in the various other Germanic languages, was known in Norse as Miðgarðr (rendered as "Midgard" in Modern English), and is cognate of the Modern German Mittelerde.
The Creation of Arda
Main article: Ainulindalë
Within the legendarium, the Creation of Arda is attributed to Eru Illuvatar, the One. He is the God in Tolkien's universe, and he speaks it into existence, with the word Eä, which means "It is" in what would become Elvish. Eä is thus the original term for and name of Arda.
Eru had produced from his thought angelic spirits, all good in nature, named the Ainur, and asked them to sing to Him a melodious tune, to which he added his own splendorous themes. The music of this defined the changes and events that would take place on Arda after its approaching manifestation. One of the Ainur was Melkor, whose name later became Morgoth, who was evil, and ultimately from him all evil stems on the plains of Middle-earth and Arda as a whole. Melkor introduced his own evil discords into the main musical theme, disrupting its harmony. In this instance Eru put a stop to the music at once, and manifested Eä immediately.
Some of the Ainur were surprised by the grandeur of this new creation and were obviously attracted to it and wished to experience - so did Melkor, but with wholly different purposes. Eru granted the Ainur with the choice of living in Arda or staying with him in the Timeless Halls, free of physical form and time itself. Some of the Ainur chose to enter Arda, and so did Melkor. Eru's first intentions during the Ainulindalë, or the music created by the Ainur, also called the First Music of the Ainur, was to create a somewhat symmetrical world, flat in nature. But Melkor's discords marred it beyond repair and is supposedly what created the vast mountain ranges and hills.
The Ainur that entered Arda were called the Valar (in singular, Vala). The leader and most powerful of the Valar was Manwë. Melkor, or Morgoth, was also the most powerful Valar during those times until his reign as "Dark Lord" of Arda. Under the Valar were less powerful spirits called the Maiar, amongst whom Sauron was one (the main antagonist of The Lord of the Rings). Maiar were often designated to specific Valar, each Valar having been given a particular skill which the Maiar below him or her would carry out. Sauron was the leader amongst the Vala Aulë's Maiar, whose specific skill was smithery - and from this he would come to have the ability to craft the One Ring an age later.
The Physical State of Arda (Eä)
Arda after its creation was originally flat in shape, containing mainly the continent of Middle-earth and Aman to Extreme West, also called the Undying Lands, where the Valar lived and later on where the Elves lived during the dawn of the Dominion of Men. When the King of Númenor Ar-Pharazôn tried to reach the Undying Lands as a way to become immortal, due to the corrupting powers of Sauron and Morgoth, Eru Illuvatar, at the request of the Valar, removed the entire continent from Arda and reshaped it into a sphere, which is the shape of the Earth today.
Even though Aman was removed from Arda, and all paths on Arda are now bent, there remained a straight path across the sea that only the Elves or those granted special access (like the Ringbearing Hobbits Bilbo, Frodo and Sam, along with Gimli) could travel. In this way those allowed to take this path were able to travel outside the realm of Arda and so pass to Aman. Because this path was only open to the Elves, the mortal races of Middle-earth (Men, Dwarves, Hobbits etc.) were unable to ever again come within sight of the Blessed Realm during life.
Conclusion
The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien said, was a book created with the theme of Death integrated into it.[1] The story gives people a wider perspective into the dangers of greed, malice, lust and power-hunger symbolically through the image of the One Ring.
Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee are two of the characters in The Lord of the Rings who show a willful acceptance of death much before their time, seemingly experiencing memories during their travels to Mordor of never having a return journey back, implying their impression of dying after destroying the One Ring in the Crack of Doom. They return, only for Frodo to leave with Gandalf and Bilbo to Aman or the Undying Lands where Frodo passes away, accepting Eru Illuvatar's Gift. Samwise also makes this journey Westward to the Undying Lands, after living a happy life with Rosie Cotton and conceiving many children.
Tolkien tries to imply the fact that every one of us must accept death as a natural part of our lives on Earth, and must not give into the immoral aspects of life brought about due to the dark presences of Morgoth and Sauron. Tolkien even, as mentioned earlier, attributes Arda as not another fictional dimension of the Earth, but a set of actual events happening about 6,000 to 8,000 years ago in our own history.
Works
Tolkien Mythology is manifested in the following books:
- The Silmarillion
- Unfinished Tales
- The Children of Húrin
- The Hobbit
- The Lord of the Rings
- The History of Middle-earth - a twelve-volume series
References
- ↑ The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, Letter 186