Tag Archives: The Lord of the Rings

When Tolkien reinvented Atlantis and Lewis went to Mars

Posted on 31 March 2017 by John Garth

Discovering the dates of The Fall of Númenor and Out of the Silent Planet A few months ago I revealed what I think is an exciting new find about the origins of J R R Tolkien’s Atlantis story, The Fall of Númenor, the … Continue reading →

Posted in Chronology of composition | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 17 Comments

Unseen Tolkien: sex, infertility, adultery and the birth of Galadriel

Posted on 16 November 2016 by John Garth

The encounter between mortal man and immortal enchantress is always fateful in Tolkien’s Middle-earth. In The Lord of the Rings, for instance, Boromir fears the Elf-queen Galadriel and ignores her wisdom, then dies for his sins. The Lay of Aotrou … Continue reading →

Posted in Book news and reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Why World War One Is at the heart of Lord of the Rings

Posted on 29 July 2014 by John Garth

It’s sixty years since the publication of J.R.R. Tolkien’s first volume of The Lord of The Rings. Why was he so inspired by the Great War—and a group of schoolfriends? War runs like iron ore through the bones of Tolkien’s … Continue reading →

Posted in 100 years of Middle-earth, Tolkien in the First World War, Tolkien’s creative spirit | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Sam Gamgee and Tolkien’s batmen

Posted on 13 February 2014 by John Garth

Tolkien, like a good poker player, kept his cards close to his chest, and gave very little away about the impact of experience upon his fiction. He could be less guarded in private, as Humphrey Carpenter revealed in his 1977 J.R.R. … Continue reading →

Posted in 100 years of Middle-earth, Tolkien in the First World War, Tolkien’s creative spirit | Tagged , , , , | 9 Comments