How could all of those things and interesting details be thought up by one man
2007-01-14 09:06:58 · 7 answers · asked by Anonymous in Arts & Humanities ➔ Books & Authors
"The Middle Land," "The Central Kingdom," etc. are names that appear time and again in history. Being humans the ethnocentric beasts we are, people always referred to their own nations as the "Middle" something.
So J.K.K. took the idea from that. "Middle Earth" is just Europe. And Europe's greatest invaders (Arabs and Mongols) are the Southrons and Easterlings.
2007-01-14 09:23:01 · answer #1 · answered by tlakkamond 4 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Middle-earth is the literal translation of the Middle English term middel-erde, which developed from Old English middangeard. The term refers to the real world, specifically the habitable lands of men between heaven and the underworld. Less formally, the term "Middle-earth" often refers to the 'mortal' lands where the stories of author J. R. R. Tolkien take place, as opposed to Aman, where the angelic Valar live together with most of the High Elves.
Tolkien said that his Middle-earth is our Earth, but in a fictional period in the past; estimating the end of the Third Age to about 6,000 years before his own time.[1]
The history of Tolkien's Middle-earth is divided into several Ages. The novel The Hobbit and the main text of The Lord of the Rings deal exclusively with events toward the end of the Third Age and conclude at the dawn of the Fourth Age, while The Silmarillion deals mainly with the First Age.
The site below has more information regarding his childhood education and his life.
2007-01-14 20:26:05 · answer #2 · answered by vampire_crazy2003 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
How could JK Rowling think up Hogwarts and all that she write of in Harry Potter? How could Dan Brown, Steve Barry, Marion Zimmer Bradley, C. Funke, or any other of the millions of brilliant writers come up with their stories? It is an impossible question to answer. Our job is to absorb, enjoy, be entertained and maybe to take a little bit of those special lands to heart. Tolkien was brilliant beyond compare and truly a man before his time. It is a shame that there will never be another book with the depth and richness as Lord of the Rings from him. It is by far one of his best pieces of work. Every time I re-read it I discover new passages and get more from it. Truly a timeless book well worth the effort and time to read it again and again.
2007-01-14 19:13:57 · answer #3 · answered by Barbiq 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
His close friend was C.S. Lewis (The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe etc.). I am sure they bounced some ideas off each other from time to time. Plus while writing LOTR, Tolkien's son Christopher was off fighting in World War II, and JRR would mail his son rough drafts of whole chapters to read and respond to.
His works are amazing though.
2007-01-16 20:23:55 · answer #4 · answered by buccaneersden 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
A good deal of his ability stems from his language training. Tolkien was a fantastic linguist. He first derived the languages that each of his peoples would speak. Then, using his knowledge of language and history, he was able to construct his world.
Also, he was trying to construct a mythology for England. Tolkien's knowledge of myth and how it relates to language was also quite good. May I recommend an essay called (I think) "On Faerie" In it, Tolkien discusses the necessary components, allure, and perils of fantasy writing.
2007-01-14 17:51:39 · answer #5 · answered by peacedevi 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋
He worked on the books for a long time. He was a professor of languages and read the Kinvalla in Finnish. He read a lot of other books and loved medieval stories and folklore.
2007-01-14 17:20:23 · answer #6 · answered by redunicorn 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
he found a formula for questions and began to build from the first world view onward.
2007-01-14 17:11:52 · answer #7 · answered by Conway 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋