John D. Rateliff, author of The History of the Hobbit, explores the links between The Silmarillion and The…
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John D. Rateliff, author of The History of the Hobbit, explores the links between The Silmarillion and The Hobbit in this interesting paper that he delivered for the International Congress on Medieval Studies of Kalamazoo (USA) in May 2012.
IN January 1938, just months after the initial publication of The Hobbit, Tolkien was asked a series of questions about his sources for the book. Continue reading “A fragment, detached: The Hobbit and The Silmarillion”
This piece by Tolkien scholar Michael Martinez attempts to shed some light on the ultimate source of the ancient enmity between elves and dwarves.
MANY strongly-worded opinions have been written about the apparent enmity between Elves and Dwarves in The Lord of the Rings, although there is hardly any reference to such enmity in the story. Legolas and Gimli get off to a poor start but eventually become such close friends that it is considered remarkable. Continue reading “What caused the strife between Elves and Dwarves?”
Often, when a lengthy discussion of the Hobbit films takes place, someone asks “What about the other books? What about material from The Silmarillion, or Unfinished Tales? Will these be adapted to the big screen?”
The answer to this question is a simple one. As it stands, the literary executor of J.R.R. Tolkien’s work, his son, Christopher Tolkien, has refused to consider any further licensing of his father’s work for cinematic purposes.
Many fans are quite frustrated by this state of affairs. They know there is interesting material contained in these other sources, such as the well-known “Quest for Erebor.” That one short work alone would illuminate in key ways the motivations and decisions of principal characters in the films. (For the curious, the Quest for Erebor may be found in a shortened form in “Unfinished Tales”, and in a fuller form in the revised edition of Douglas Anderson’s “Annotated Hobbit.”)
Continue reading “Concerning Christopher – An Essay on Tolkien’s Son’s Decision to Not Allow Further Cinematic Licensing of His Work”
Movie spoilers get a bad rap.
Even the word itself, spoiler, comes with connotations of bad. Reminders of food that’s gone off. Anything that spoils entails less enjoyment, not the same amount. And certainly not more. Or so it’s traditionally held.
To which I say, to use a quaint British phrase, “pish and tosh”.
Not because I don’t think it’s impossible for there to be spoilers with an adaptation of a novel that was first published in 1937. There are. Continue reading “In defence of spoilers”
Readers who are skeptical after seeing the title of this piece have a right to be. English professors have been known to find all sorts of things in books which the authors never put there. In addition, at first glance Middle-earth seems a particularly non-religious place. We find no mention of God in The Hobbit, no prayers, Bibles, churches, priests, or ministers — none of the things typically associated with the Christian faith.
Fans also know Tolkien was a Professor of Anglo-Saxon and that his writings were influenced by the myths of Northern Europe which he and his friend, C. S. Lewis, loved to read aloud with the circle of friends that later grew into their famous writing group, the Inklings.
So how might it be claimed that The Hobbit is a Christian story? Continue reading “The Hobbit: an essentially Christian story?”
