Tolkien

John Ronald Reuel (J. R. R.) Tolkien was born on 3 January 1892 in Bloemfontein, in the Orange Free State (then an independent Boer republic, in what is now South Africa). His family had emigrated to London from Germany in the mid–18th century, as refugees from the invasion of Saxony by Frederick the Great of Prussia, during the Seven Years' War. His father managed the Bloemfontein branch of a British bank, but died in South Africa in 1896, while the young Tolkien was on an extended holiday in England with his mother and younger brother. They never returned to South Africa, but settled in Birmingham. Tolkien served in France in the First World War (after finishing his degree at Oxford). After the war his first job was at the Oxford English Dictionary; he then took up a post as Reader in English Literature at Leeds University, and moved to Pembroke College, Oxford, in 1925. He moved to Merton College in 1945, retired in 1959 and died in Bournemouth, Dorset, on 2 September 1973, aged 81.

Tolkien was a close friend of C. S. Lewis, and they were the two most prominent members of an informal literary discussion group known as the Inklings. Tolkien is said to have been a major influence in Lewis's conversion from atheism to Christianity – although as a devout Catholic he is also said to have been disappointed that Lewis chose to join the Church of England. Lewis's Narnia books were not published until the 1950s, but they soon outsold Tolkien's Middle–Earth tales.

Timeline

Title	Book	Film
The Hobbit	1937
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey		2012
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug		2013
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies		2014
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring	29 July 1954	2001
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers	11 November 1954	2002
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King	20 October 1955	2003

Other published works include:

Title	Written	Published
On Fairy-Stories (essay)		1947
Farmer Giles of Ham	1937	1949
The Adventures of Tom Bombadil		1962
Tree and Leaf	1945-7	1964
Smith of Wootton Major		1967
The Father Christmas Letters	1920-42	1976
The Silmarillion		1977
Unfinished Tales (of Númenor and Middle–Earth)		1980
Mr. Bliss		1982
The History of Middle–Earth (12 volumes)		1983–96
Roverandom	1925	1998
The Children of Húrin	1910s	2007
The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún		2009
The Fall of Arthur (narrative poem)	1930s	2013
Beowulf: a Translation and Commentary	1920–6	2014

Everything up to and including The Father Christmas Letters was written for children, as were Mr. Bliss and Roverandom. The posthumously published works (from The Father Christmas Letters onwards) were edited by Tolkien's son Christopher.

The Books

The facts in this section all come from the books, and can be asked without reference to the films – although most if not all of them are true in the films as well.

Continent in which they are set

Middle–earth

The Hobbit

Subtitle of The Hobbit

There and Back Again

Lord of the Rings

Birthday on which Bilbo disappeared, at the beginning of the first book		Eleventy–first (111th)
The region where the hobbits lived		The Shire
The four quarters of the Shire are known as		Farthings
The river that separates the Shire from Buckland and the Old Forest – forming, for the hobbits, the boundary between the known and the unknown		Baranduin (Brandywine)
Frodo's servant and companion – formerly a gardener and associate of Bilbo		Samwise (Sam) Gamgee
Peregrine Took, one of the Hobbits in the Fellowship, is better known as		Pippin
Frodo’s sword (or knife), given to him by Bilbo		Sting
Originally known as "the Grey", but returns after death as "the White"; also known as Mithrandir ("the Grey Pilgrim")		Gandalf
Gandalf’s sword		Glamdring
Gandalf’s horse		Shadowfax
Inn where the Fellowship meets Strider		Prancing Pony at Bree
Landlord of the Prancing Pony		Barleyman Butterbur
Strider turns out to be an alias for: a confidant of Gandalf and an integral part of the quest to destroy the One Ring and defeat the Dark Lord Sauron; leads the Fellowship following the loss of Gandalf in the Mines of Moria		Aragorn
Mysterious character who helps the Fellowship on their journey through the Shire: described as "master of wood, water and hill"; first appears when Merry and Pippin are trapped by Old Man Willow		Tom Bombadil
Guardians of the Forest and Shepherds of Trees; powerful giants, half men and half trees		Ents
Leader of the above creatures		Treebeard
Giant spider, into whose lair Gollum leads Frodo, in the hope of recovering the Ring when she attacks Frodo – defeated by Sam Gamgee with Frodo's elvish light and sword		Shelob
Deep valley where the Elves still lived in peace – location of the hall of Elrond Halfelven		Rivendell
a.k.a. Black (or Dark) Riders, Ring–wraiths, or The Nine		Nazgul
The main antagonist: chief lieutenant of Morgoth, the first Dark Lord; forged the One Ring		Sauron the Great
"Black Land" or "Land of Shadow" ruled by Sauron		Mordor
Leader of the Istari (wizards sent to Middle–Earth in human form by the angelic Valar to challenge Sauron); eventually desires Sauron's power for himself and turns renegade		Saruman
Volcano in Mordor where Frodo must destroy the One Ring – a.k.a. Orodruin		Mount Doom (Cracks of)
Hobbits' name for the mumak – a beast of burden, used in battle by the people of Hadar (the Middle–earth equivalent of an elephant)		Oliphaunt

Films: The Lord of the Rings

Both trilogies were largely shot in (country)

New Zealand

The characters listed below are not necessarily the major characters in the films; they're just the ones I think are most likely to come up in quizzes. In many cases this is because they are major characters, but in others it's because they're played by a well–known actor.

The Fellowship of the Ring

Hobbits:

Frodo Baggins		Elijah Wood
Merry (Meriadoc Brandybuck)		Dominic Monaghan
Samwise Gamgee		Sean Astin
Pippin (Peregrine Took)		Billy Boyd

Others:

Aragorn – a.k.a. Strider – a man		Viggo Mortensen
Boromir – a man		Sean Bean
Gandalf – Maia (wizard)		Ian McKellen
Gimli – a dwarf		John Rhys–Davies
Legolas – an elf		Orlando Bloom

Others

Bilbo Baggins (in Fellowship of the Ring and Return of the King)		Ian Holm
Arwen – daughter of Elrond (an elf)		Liv Tyler
Lord Elrond		Hugo Weaving
Lady Galadriel		Cate Blanchett
King Théoden – King of Rohan		Bernard Hill
Voice of Treebeard – also Glóin, father of Gimli (see above)		John Rhys–Davies
Sméagol / Gollum		Andy Serkis
Voice of Sauron, and of the One Ring (also of the Mouth of Sauron)		Alan Howard
Saruman		Christopher Lee

Films: The Hobbit

Bilbo Baggins		Martin Freeman
Thorin Oakenshield – leader of the Company of Dwarves, who aim to reclaim the Lonely Mountain from the dragon Smaug		Richard Armitage
Bofur – one of the 13 dwarves of Thorin's company		James Nesbitt
Radagast the Brown – one of the Istari (wizards)		Sylvester McCoy
Sauron – a.k.a. The Necromancer; also the voice of Smaug		Benedict Cumberbatch
Dáin II Ironfoot – King of Erebor – a dwarf		Billy Connolly
The Great Goblin		Barry Humphries

The following actors reprise their roles from the Lord of the Rings trilogy:

Gandalf the Grey		Ian McKellen
Saruman the White		Christopher Lee
Lord Elrond		Hugo Weaving
Lady Galadriel		Cate Blanchett
Legolas		Orlando Bloom
Gollum		Andy Serkis
Frodo Baggins, in the Prologue and Epilogue		Elijah Wood
Bilbo Baggins, in the Prologue and Epilogue		Ian Holm

© Haydn Thompson 2017–23