Корни персонажей Д.Р.Р.Толкиена

1929 - Tolkien gets a daughter

Tolkien now

[Tolkien's Workplace] "The shelves are crammed with dictionaries, works on

etymology and philology, and editions of texts in many languages,

predominant among which are Old and Middle English and Old Norse; but there

is also a section devoted to translations of The Lord of the Rings into

Polish, Dutch, Danish, Swedish, and Japanese; and the map of his invented

'Middle-Earth' is pinned to the window - ledge." (Carpenter 4) [Tolkien's

view of The Lord of the Rings] "He explains it all in great detail, talking

about his book not as a work of fiction but as a chronicle of actual

events; he seems to see himself not as an author who has made a slight

error that must now be corrected or explained away, but as a historian who

must cast light on an obscurity in an historical document." [Tolkien's

Voice] "He has a strange voice, deep but without resonance, entirely

English but with some quality in it I cannot define, as if he had come from

another age or civilization" (Carpenter 5)

The roots of some Tolkien characters

Gandalf

While reading “The Hobbit” and “The Lord Of The Rings” you will meat

such character as Gandalf. He is a magician (or Istary in the “The

Silmarillion”). And like all magicians he wears a long, thick, grey (or

white) beard, a big cone-shaped hat with wide fields and a wide grey

raincoat. This character owes with his existence to Tolkien’s trip to

Switzerland, where in the shop among the mountans he bought a postcard. It

was a reproduction of a picture of a german painter Madlenner, which was

called “Der Berggeist” (it could be translated as “The spirit of the

mountans”). There was an old man with white long beard and cone-shaped hat

with wide fields, who was seating under the tree. Many years later Tolkien

wrote on the other side of this postcard the following: “The prototype of

Gandalf”…

Sam Gamgee

Sam Gamgee is a hobbit (It tells us many things). He is the best

friend of Frodo and besides that, he is Frodo’s gardener. He is very brave,

bonhomous, kind, but careless and light-hearted, and, as all hobbits, he

likes to eat very much. It is very interesting, that the word “gamgee” can

be translated from one of the English dialects as cotton wool and besides

that, it was a surname of a doctor, who had invented 'gamgee-tissue', a

surgical dressing made from cotton wool. But the real character of Sam was

copied from the character of the mere english soldier of the war of 1914.

You already now from the biographical sketch that Tolkien took part in that

war. He battled on the front line in France. And he knows, what the war

is. Later in one of his letters he wrote: “My Sam Gamgee is indeed a

reflection of the English soldier, of the privates and batmen I knew in the

1914 war, and recognized as so far superior to myself”.

Hobbits

Hobbits is a people of Halflings. They live in holes. They are very short,

practical, strait-laced and they like tasty food most of all things in the

world. These creatures were created by J.R.R.Tolkien. He was the first,

who used them in his books. There are two versions about the origin of the

word “hobbit”. V.A. Muravjov keeps one of them. He wrote in his entrance to

“The Lord Of The Rings”, that the world “hobbit” is a mixture of latin word

“homo”, which means “human” and english word “rabbit”. But Humphrey

Carpenter explained the origin of this word in a different way. In his “The

biography of J.R.R.Tolkien” he wrote, that in his youth Tolkien read the

book “Babbit” by Sincler Luis and it influensed him very much. Carpenter

shows us the resemblance of the personality of Babbit and Bilbo Baggins,

the main character of Tolkien’s book “The hobbit or there and back again”.

Tolkien himself told in one of his interview, that his hobbits have no even

a hint on rabbits. That is why I can say, that the second version about the

origin of the word “hobbit” is more correct.

The Shire

The Shire is a country of hobbits. But it also has its roots. From the

biographical sketch we know, that four best years of his childhood Tolkien

spent in the village of Sarehole. And wile reading Tolkien’s description of

the Shire I realized, that it is very close to the Carpenter’s description

of Sarehole. The same water-mill, the same pretty flower-beds, the roads

paved with stones of different colors. We can see the festive tree, which

was decorated by hobbits every holiday. And we know, that in Sarehole there

was a tree, that Tolkien remembered all his life. The first his wise tree.

In hobbits-halflings we can see the same efficient, plain and stiff english

peasants so much loved by Tolkien.

Trees and ents

All his life Tolkien loved trees. In his childhood he dreamed, they

could have mind, speak to each other and even move. And his dream came

true as we can see it in his works (mostly in “The Silmarillion” and “The

Lord Of The Rings”). When professor created reasonable trees, he desided to

creat someone, who will look after them. That is how ents appeared. Ents

look like trees, but they more reasonable, more movable and of course they

are immortal. They are not fidgety, but very wise. Their speech is very

slow and calm. Its manner (“Hrum, Hoom”) was copied with the deep bass of

Luis, the best friend of J.R.R.Tolkien.

The elves

The elves in their appearance, whom we can see in the books of Tolkien

were also mostly created by him. The roots of these characters are very

ramified. Professor read a lot of information about all kinds of elves and

finding something general tried to create something new. Finally he got

immortal creatures, who can be killed only with a sword or they can pine

away to death. They are tall, have perfect eyesight, bright hair and brave

harts. They are wise, because of the memory they keep in their immortal

mind. But elves themselves estimate their immortality as end-around

infinity of analogical events, which exhaust and oppress them. But they

have a dream to return to Valinor, country, where their immortality wont be

so hard and difficult.

Lutien

Lutien Tinuviel (“Tinuviel” could be translated from Quenya as

“nightingale”) is the most beautiful elven virgo in the whole Arda (The

Earth). One day she was singing the hymn to Varda in the forest:

Ir Ithil ammen Eruchin (When the Moon is for us, the

children of Eru,

Menel-vir sila diriel Like sky precious stone

shines and saves,

Si loth a galadh lasto din! Let the flower and the tree

listen in silence!

A hir Annun gilthoniel Oh, queen of the West, which

light the stars,

Le linnon im Tinuviel! I sing to you, it’s me,

Tinuviel.)

Beren, the bravest warrior herd this sounds and loved Lutirn in a

moment. But he was mortal and she was an elf. That is why they could not be

together. But their love was so strong, that Lutien managed to ask the

goddess Varda to help them. And Varda helped them, so Lutien became mortal

and shared the destiny of her sweetheart.

Lutien is a copy of Edith Bratt, the wife of Tolkien. Like Lutien

Edith had hair of the color of raven’s wing, satin skin, shining eyes. She

danced and sang very well. And like the elven virgo, she danced for him in

the forest. And there is a inscription on her tomb: “Edith Mary Tolkien

(Lutien)”

Shelob

Shelob is a brainchild of Ungoliant, a jumbo spider with a beak,

pincers and bottomless stomach. Ungoliant is the evil and concentrated

darkness. She terminated the Two Great Trees Telperion and Laurelin and

deprived the world frome the light that give life.

Shelob is smaller then her mother, but she is even more cruel and

always hungry. This creature lives in a lair on the border of Mordor (the

Dark Land). She has a poison in her stinger, using which she kills and

devours her victims.

In his early childhood, being in South Africa, Tolkien stumbled on a

tarantula. It bit him, and he ran in terror across the garden until the

nurse snatched him up and sucked out the poison. Since that time he began

to afraid spiders. Maybe this made him to create such a creature.

“She”+”lob” is a quite wide-spread model of forming words, like female

animals. For example “she-goat” or “she-wolf”. In this case words should be

written with hyphen. Tolkien took hyphen away and used the received word as

the name of his creature. It looks rather horribly, isn’t it?

Tolkiens view on some events from

The Bible and archaic history

The crash of the Lamps

In the beginning of ages in “The spring of Arda” (“Arda” means “The

Earth”) there was no light at all. The Earth was bare: no trees, no plants,

no animals. The Valar saw, that there was a need of the light. And then

“Aule at the prayer of Yavanna wrought two mighty lamps for the lighting of

the Middle-earth which he had built amid the encircling seas. Then Varda

filled the lamps and Manwe hallowed them, and the Valar set them upon high

pillars, more lofty far than are any mountains of the later days. One lamp

they raised near to the north of Middle-earth, and it was named Illuin; and

the other was raised in the south, and it was named Ormal; and the light of

the Lamps of the Valar flowed out over the Earth, so that all was lit as it

were in a changeless day.” And then plants and trees began to grow. And

Arda filled with different animals and creatures. But when Morgoth (the

lord of darkness and evil) saw the fragrance of Arda in his anger he

decided to destroy this all. He built an unshakable citadel in Utumno and

concentrated all his dark forces there. His power grew and he started the

war. He made his stroke when the Valar where not prepared. “He assailed the

lights of Illuin and Ormal, and cast down their pillars and broke their

lamps. In the overthrow of the mighty pillars lands were broken and seas

arose in tumult; and when the lamps were spilled destroying flame was

poured out over the Earth. And the shape of Arda and the symmetry of its

waters and its lands was marred in that time, so that the first designs of

the Valar were never after restored.”

See, how gracefully professor Tolkien handled the legend of the ruin of

dinosaurs and the fall of a giant asteroid which destroyed everything on

earth! Isn’t he a genius?

The fall of Beleriand

It was the end of the first age of Arda. The forth battle of Beleriand

against Morgoth and Sauron (the “right arm” of Morgoth) finished with a

defeat of the forces of the light, the armies of men, elves and dwarves.

And the only hope of the light was Earendel, the man, who dared to try to

find Valinor and ask the Valar for help (men never were in Valinor and they

where forbidden to go there). He sailed so long, and he was so tired, that

he thought to turn back. But suddenly he saw a big white bird like a white

cloud under the see. There was a shining silmarill on her bosom. The bird

flew on Earendels ship and he saw, that it was his wife, Elwing. Together

they continued their sail and the silmarill lighted their way to Valinor.

When the Valar saw the bravery of this man and his wife (by the way, she

was an elf), the understood, there is something in Middle-Earth, they must

save. That is how the fifth and the final battle for Beleriand started.

This battle was named The War of Wrath. The Valar, with the power of

their fire of anger terminated Angband (the citadel of Morgoth), they

knocked Morgoth down and numbed him with the chain of Angoinor. Sauron was

forgiven and turned into light, he became Majar again, as he was before

Morgoth tempted him.

But in their destructive anger, the Valar didn’t even noticed, that

they had destroyed the Beleriand. Many of Elves where save and settled in

Imladrise, Lothlorien and Mirkwood. But Beleriand was swallowed by the See

and no one could ever see its beauty: “Thus an end was made of the power of

Angband in the North, and' the evil realm was brought to naught; and out of

the deep prisons a multitude of slaves came forth beyond all hope into the

light of day, and they looked upon a world that was changed. For so great

was the fury of those adversaries that the northern regions of the western

world were rent asunder, and the sea roared in through many chasms, and

there was confusion and great noise; and rivers perished or found new

paths, and the valleys were upheaved and the hills trod down…”

Critics say, that this story is the Tolkiens view on the legend about

Atlantis. Who knows, maybe it was really so…

The fall of Numenor

In the end of the second age of Arda after the War of Wrath and the

fall of Beleriand the Valar opened a new land for elected genders of men.

It was an island. And it didn’t belong neither to Middle-Earth nor to

Valinor (the country of the Valar). The Valar decorated it with gardens,

fountains and flowers from Valinor. And this land was named Numenor (The

Western Land).

The life of the inhabitants of Numenor was very long – near 300 years.

But they still stayed mortal men. Hundreds of years passed and their

discontent about their mortality grew. They began to murmur on the Valar:

“Why didn’t they give us eternity, if they love us so much? They told us,

they could not. Maybe, they just don’t want to?” But the Valar really

couldn’t deprive men from death, the Eru’s gift (Eru – the one, who create

the Valar and Arda, elves and men and everything), just because they

couldn’t understand it.

And exactly in this moment, when the faith of men staggered, Sauron,

who betrayed the Valar and turned in the Darkness again, made his stroke.

He tempted men and directed them against the Valar. Finally the king of men

concentrated all his forces and threw his giant army against the Valar. Eru

saw this and made abyss to swallow this army and the isle of Numenor and

men and Sauron: “But Iluvatar (the other name of Eru) showed forth his

power, and he changed the fashion of the world; and a great chasm opened in

the sea between Numenor and the Deathless Lands, and the waters flowed down

into it, and the noise and smoke of the cataracts went up to heaven, and

the world was shaken. And all the fleets of the Numenoreans were drawn down

into the abyss, and they were drowned and swallowed up for ever.”

“There came a mighty wind and a tumult of the earth, and the sky

reeled, and the hills slid, and Numenor went down into the sea, with all

its children and its wives and its maidens and its ladies proud; and all

its gardens and its balls and its towers, its tombs and its riches, and its

jewels and its webs and its things painted and carven, and its lore: they

vanished for ever. And last of all the mounting wave, green and cold and

plumed with foam, climbing over the land…” And the world has changed.

Only those who stayed faithful to the Valar was reminded about

forthcoming cataclysm. They sailed to Middle-earth on ships and founded

several kingdoms their: Gondor, Arnor and Eriador…

This legend intertwines with the Bible Great Flood. As in the Bible we

can see the sin of men and retribution for it. As in the Bible water

swallowed the sinners. And as in the bible there are some people, who

stayed faithful and who was saved and prized for their faith.

How the world changed

When Eru punished men in Numenor and destroyed the island, he changed

the whole world as well: “But the land of Aman and Eressлa (the islands of

Valinor) of the Eldar were taken away and removed beyond the reach of Men

for ever. And Andor, the Land of Gift, Numenor of the Kings, Elenna of the

Star of Eдrendil, was utterly destroyed. For it was nigh to the east of the

great rift, and its foundations were overturned, and it fell and went down

into darkness, and is no more. And there is not now upon Earth any place

abiding where the memory of a time without evil is preserved. For Iluvatar

cast back the Great Seas west of Middle-earth, and the Empty Lands east of

it, and new lands and new seas were made; and the world was diminished, for

Valinor and Eressлa were taken from it into the realm of hidden things.”

Before the fall of Numenor the Earth was flat, but Eru changed her:

“Thus in after days, what by the voyages of ships, what by lore and

star-craft, the kings of Men knew that the world was indeed made round”

By this episode Tolkien managed to conciliate two archaic theories

about the form of our planet. He intended that at first the Earth was flat

and then changed its form. Of course it is just a myth, but who knows,

maybe it was really so…

About wars

In “The Silmarillion”, in “The Lord Of The Rings” and even in “The

Hobbit” we can see wars. In his works Tolkien shows us real war with its

blood, pain and cruelty. Why does he pay so much attention to War? The

answer is simple. In 1916 he was in army and took part in the battle of the

Somme (France). Many of his friends fell in this battle. There Tolkien saw

all sides of the war. This period of his life influenced on his creative

work very much. That is why we can see so many wars in the books of the

professor.

Conclusion

Well, I think, that now, when I have studied many reasons and roots of

different characters of “The Silmarillion”, “The Hobbit” and “The Lord Of

The Rings”, I understood Tolkiens philosophy and his views on things a

little bit deeper. But the views of the Professor on such events, as I have

mentioned in my work, can’t be named allegory, because Tolkien himself

always declined the presence of any kind of allegory in his books. But the

method of his viewing can be called “myth-poetical method”. In his “The

Silmarillion” and “The Lord Of The Rings” we can see all sings of myth-

poetical space, which makes the book fantastic, historical, mythable,

poetical and very informative. Besides, “The Lord Of The Rings” is very

real and vital. And there is no such question for me, on which I couldn’t

find an answer in it.

Well, to my mind, my own experience in the sphere of literature,

tolkienism and just life experience is enough to advise you to read this

book. I think, after such reading, you wouldn’t forget it!

List of used literature

1. J.R.R.Tolkien “The Silmarillion”

2. J.R.R.Tolkien “The Lord Of The Rings”

3. J.R.R.Tolkien “The Hobbit or There And Back Again”

4. J.R.R.Tolkien “The appendix to “The Lord Of The Rings”

5. V. Muraviov an introductory article to “The Hobbit”

6. H. Carpenter “The biography of J.R.R. Tolkien”

7. Pictures by J.R.R.Tolkien, Karen Wynn Fonstad, Patrick Wynne and

frames from the film “The Lord Of The Rings” by Peter Jackson.

Appendix

-----------------------

The map of Numenor

The map of Beleriand

Beren and Lutien

The elven virgo Galadriel

Ent Treebeard

The Shire

Hobbits hole inside

Gandalf the Grey

Ronald with his family in South Africa

Ronald and Hilary

Edith Bratt

Ronald in student years

Ronald in army

Prosessor J.R.R.Tolkien

The spring of Arda

The Change of the world

The Monogram of

J.R.R.Tolkien

Elvish and runic scripts made by J.R.R.Tolkien

“The door of Moria”

by J.R.R.Tolkien

Professor Tolkien

Ronald and Edith

Tolkien

The last photo of

J.R.R.Tolkien

The tomb of Edith Mary Tolkien (Lutien) and John Ronald Ruel Tolkien

(Beren)

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