individual final project in summer 2022 digital humanities course at University of Bergamo
What are the influences of events, places and previous literature works on the Middle-Earth world? How “far” went Tolkien to create it?
The aim of this map is to show the places that had an influence on Tolkien's creation of Middle Earth.
Source: Garth, John. 2021. I Mondi di J.R.R Tolkien: I luoghi che hanno ispirato la Terra di Mezzo. Oscar Mondadori. (Available also in the English version: The Worlds of J. R. R. Tolkien: The Places that Inspired Middle-earth, 2020)
What are the influences of events, places and previous literature works on the Middle-Earth world? How “far” went Tolkien to create it?
The aim of this work is to show the events, places and previous literature works that had an influence on Tolkien's creation of Middle Earth.
Sources:
Carpenter, Humphrey, ed. 1981. The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien. Houghton Mifflin.
Carpenter, Humphrey. 1978. J. R. R. Tolkien: A Biography. Unwin Paperbacks.
Shippey, Tom. 2005. ...
moreTolkien spent in Oxford many years of his life, both as a student and as a Professor. Between the early 1930s and late 1949 he was also a member of the Inklings, an informal literary discussion group associated with the University of Oxford (many of the members were professors of the University). Is it possible that in their discussions they also talked about their books, receiving suggestions and support during the composition.
Many real places in Oxford were used as an inspiration for places (and names) in Middle-Earth: the inn "Green Dragon" in Hobbiton shares the name with the one located in St Aldates; "The Prancing Pony" in Bree was originally called "The White Horse", a famous pub in Oxford where the Inklings met; the "Golden Perch", where one of the main characters, the hobbit Pippin, wanted to taste the best beer of the East reminds of "The Perch" in Binsey, just upstream from Oxford.
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moreLyme Regis is a holiday place for the Tolkien family. Here Tolkien dedicated himself to the art of drawing and painting. A pencil sketch that dates back to 1928 shows a hill of Lyme (maybe the Tumble Hill) covered by tall trees. These trees are similar to the ones of two other sketches, that depicted places of Middle Earth: the island of Tol Sirion and the forest Taur-nu-Fuin.
The most interesting thing, however, is related to the sketch below. It represents the sacred mountain of Valinor, the Taniquetil. In the foreground is it possible to see a swan-shaped ship, that actually departed from the Swan Harbour. In the elvish language Quenya, the harbour is called Kópas Alqalunten. Kópas might have been inspired by the Lyme Regis harbour of Cobb.
According to Tolkirn himself, based the race of Númenóreans, the noble race of Men of the First Age of Middle-Earth on the Egypts and their monumental tombs. Indeed, it is possible to see similarities between the Noirinan, the Valley of the Tombs of Númenor and the Valley of the Kings in Egypt.
The city of Rome could somehow be compard to the citadel of Minas Tirith, in Gondor. Both have an imperial history, are located in the southern area, have a sea-based economy, have massive walls protecting them, are built on a hill and have seven concentric walls that make them (nearly) invulnerable.
Tolkien wrote in a letter in 1960 that "The Dead Marshes [a place north of Mordor] and the approaches to the Morannon [an entrance to Mordor] owe something to northern France after the Battle of the Somme". In both cases, these are places where a great number of people died while fighting, and perhaps the sounds of artillery, bombs and so on can be compared to the drums used by orcs and goblin in the dwarf city of Moria before attacking the Fellowship.
The name of the Hobbit-hole where Bilbo Baggins, the main character of The Hobbit, lived, "Bag End", was actually the real name of the Worcestershire home of Tolkien's aunt Jane Neave here in Dormston.
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moreBirmingham somehow resembles the the land of Mordor. In comparison with the predominance of nature in Sarehole, Birmingham is "sooty, cloaked in smoke and noise; an area invaded by heavy industries and houses very close to each other". The dark land of Mordor, realm of the Dark Lord Sauron (the enemy in The Lord of the Rings), seems very similar to this description of Birmingham.
Naer Birmingham there is the industrial Black Country. Again, Tolkien stated that he had based the description of Saruman's industrialization of Isengard and The Shire upon the industrialization of England.
Sarehole is a village near the industrial city of Birmingham, untouched by the industrialization of the other cities.
Tolkien said in a interview to a journal that the Shire, one of the regions of Middle-Earth and the place where the Hobbit lived, was actually inspired by the countryside of Sarehole. Moreover, the Hobbits were inspired by children and people of Sarehole.
In the summer of 1911, Tolkien participated in a walking holiday in Switzerland, which have inspired his descriptions of the Misty Mountains and of Rivendell.
«I am.... delighted that you have made the acquaintance of Switzerland, and of the very part that I once knew best and which had the deepest effect on me. The hobbit's (Bilbo's) journey from Rivendell to the other side of the Misty Mountains, including the glissade down the slithering stones into the pine woods, is based on my adventures in 1911: the annus mirabilis of sunshine in which there was virtually no rain between April and the end of October, except on the eve and morning of George V's coronation. (Adfuit Omen!)» (Letter 306 - to his son, 1967)
