Guess what? TODAY IS MY BIRTHDAY!!! Ok, it is not my birthday, it is a week from today but TODAY I'M STARTING TO CELEBRATE MY BIRTHDAY!!! sounds horns you have any problem with that? ok good and I'm gonna do that doing something I like a lot, no, making fun of dumb people is cool but not that I'm gonna spend the whole week talking about Tolkien works and Tolkien related stuff, hell yeah, and what better way to begin this journey than to talk about the man himself J.R.R. TOLKIEN!!!
Source: GIPHY
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was born in South Africa on the 3rd of January of 1892, Arthur Reuel Tolkien his father, Mabel Suffield his Mother and his little brother Hilary don't laugh Arthur Reuel Tolkien was his family, when he was three years old his mother decided that her sons would be better educated in England so she moved there with them, sadly his father died before he could join them from a rheumatic fever and you though Disney's UP had a sad beginning
Tolkien spends his childhood in Birmingham exploring the Sarehole Mill and Moseley Bog, trips that fueled a love for nature that we can see in every one of his literary works, his mother homeschooled him and his brother teaching them a whole deal of botany which increased his love for everything green, besides he was already reading and writing at 4 years old nerd trait over here, this explains a lot if you think about it
At age 12 tragedy visited the Tolkien family again, this time taking away his mother who passed from acute diabetes, at this moment the Tolkien brothers went to the care of Father Francis Xavier Morgan a close friend of Mabel, Father Francis as Tolkien use to call him, taught the brother the teachings of Christianity and they saw him as a father figure in their formative years, but even in these hard times the children went to King Edward's School where it is said that were excellent and laborious students
Source: GIPHY
At 16 years old he met who would be the love of his life, a 19 years old Edith Mary Bratt, ooooh playaaaaa the couple used to visit teashops and on those balconies their love flourishes, however, Father Fransis disapprove their relationship prohibiting Tolkien to go on with it boooooooooo booooooo until he was 21 years old fearing that his surrogate son would abandon his studies, Tolkien couldn't disobey the man that was pretty much a father to him, this hurt them both deeply, but his love didn't fade away, the very day he turned 21 years old he sent a letter to Edith, her response brought bad news, she accepted the proposal of another man feeling that Tolkien had abandoned her and forgot her love, even with this news Tolkien boarded a train to see her, during hours they talked and walked the countryside, they found out their love haven't diminished and Bratt accepted Tolkien's new proposal, they got married on 22 March 1916 oh man, what a rollercoaster, oh shit I need a break
His life was about to take an ugly turn, The Great War was in full swing and shortly after his wedding he was deployed in the Western Front to fight in the Battle of the Somme one of the most brutal and bloody chapters in human history, no joke here, this was terrible however his battle was shortlived, thankfully! he contracted trench fever a disease transmitted by the body lice that plagued the trenches this emaciated and weakened Tolkien to the point where he was returned to a war post in England, his experience in the war was a major inspiration for his depiction of horrible death and horror in his books
On 3 November 1920 Tolkien left the army and started working for the Oxford English Dictionary THE dictionary in charge of history and etymology of words of Germanic origin thus starting his career as a scholar and writer he was already a nerd, so easy task, right? in the same year he became the youngest professor of the University of Leeds, in 1925 he traveled back to Oxford as Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Pembroke College, during this time he and a couple of writing colleagues formed a literature club called the Inklings and while he was frequently his new nerdy friends was when he started to write The Hobbit
Source: GIPHY
By 1932 he already finished his story and among the very first who read the manuscript was C.S. Lewis, my man didn't have dumb friends, oh no meanwhile a staff member of the publisher George Allen & Unwin managed to get a copy of Tolkien's writings and was so impressed that immediately showed it to their boss that immediately put it to the test, lend the writings to his 10 years old son, this actually happened who gave him a wonderful review and this way The Hobbit was on its way to being published
The Hobbit was a major success, this led George Allen & Unwin to push Tolkien for a sequel, he still was in full charge of his academic duties so he wrote slowly for he used only his spare time to give form to the story of the ring of power, One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them after more than a decade in 1949 the story was finished, finally his great opus was ready to take over the world, however, it wasn't published until 1955
The work poured over The Lord of the Rings can't be underestimated, Tolkien not only built a world with a rich history as a setting and wrote a story, but he also invented languages, his knowledge of nordic fairy tales, Celtic, Greek Finnish, Slavic, Germanic, and Persian mythology, whoa, this guy knew a lot of stuff is notable while reading it as well as his strong Christian background, this story of the struggle of good versus evil is one of the staples of literature, almost all fantasy writers can backtrack their influences to Tolkien, and not just writers, The Lord of the Rings have inspired movies, animations, music albums, heavy metal, YEAH! radio plays, videogames and parodies what? laughing is fun!
In his retirement, he enjoyed a great amount of fame, at first, it was ok and answered letters from enthusiastic fans and even his friend C.S.Lewis nominated him for a Novel Prize noice!!! but with the passing of years fame was too much for him and his wife Edith so they decided to move to Bournemouth to enjoy some peace and quiet even when he knew he would miss his fellow Inklings with which he still had a strong bond, there Edith passed on 29 November 1971, at the age of 82 and Tolkien follow her on 2 September 1973 at the age of 81, they were buried in Wolvercote Cemetery in the same grave under the engraving of Beren and Luthien the couple behind the best love story in Tolkien's legendarium these guys had the best love story, step aside Romeo and Juliet, you got nothing on them
Source: GIPHY
Even after his passing, his legacy didn't end there, his youngest son Christopher Tolkien took upon himself to search and edit his father notes, letter and writings and compiled them to give life to the works his father couldn't finish like The Unfinished Tales, The Silmarillion, best book ever! The children of Hurin, The tale of Beren and Luthien and many more of the wonderful stories Tolkien made over the span of his lifetime, THANK YOU FOR EVERYTHING J.R.R. TOLKIEN!!
Other Sources
J. R. R. Tolkien | Wikipedia
The Hobbit | Wikipedia
The Lord of the Rings | Wikipedia
Tolkien Biography | Tolkien Library
J.R.R. Tolkien: A Biographical Sketch | The Tolkien Society
J.R.R. Tolkien | Britannica
J.R.R. Tolkien: Author of Worlds | Biographics
J.R.R. Tolkien: Author of Worlds | Biographics
THANKS FOR READING!
