what were the 3 mythologies that inspired tolkien?

Answer 1

There may be more than three.

Germanic - many characters have names found in German myth and early German history. The Nibelung Lied a central myth to German folklore shares many elements with the Lord of the Rings including the Ring itself.

Norse myth is similar to German myth but many distinctive Norse characteristics such as dark elves and light elves also appear in Tolkien's work.

Many Celtic myths also inspired Tolkien and he based his Sindarin elvish language upon Welsh.

Finally Finnish mythology also probably influenced him. He based the Quenya elvish language on Finnish and elements of the Finnish Kullervo myth appear in the Silmarillion.

Answer 2

Tolkien wasn't simply inspired by myth, he was inspired by historical events. The tale he tells is the oldest tale ever told and which continues to be written even now. It is based in Greek mythology. You've got the hero (Jason-Greek and Frodo-Tolkien)
They both set out on a task (Jason - Golden fleece, Frodo- Mordor) They loose their mentors (Jason - Heracles Frodo-Gandalf) Are you getting the picture now. These tales have been told in tales and films ranging from Rocky to Harry Potter!

The interesting thing about Tolkien is that he mixes in a little history. The forces from Mordor roughly equate to Hitler's army (just think of the time he was writing?) One of the battles is very much like Agincourt. I also think that there was a deep Celtic influence there too.

Hope this helps a little.

Answer 3

Norse, Teutonic, and Celtic.

There was also a smattering of Old English mythology.

Tolkien believed that all mythologies had common themes and origins--part of the reason for writing the Hobbit was to explore this. However his first love was always Germanic mythology.

btw, Tolkien adamantly denied that there was ANY modern allegory in his works. He deplored any attempt to find parallels between LotR and anything to do with then-current events.

Answer 4

Celtic mythology was one of them