Influences on J. R. R. Tolkien
J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy books on Middle-earth, especially The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion, drew on a wide array of influences including language, Christianity, mythology, archaeology, ancient and modern literature, and personal experience. He was inspired primarily by his profession, philology; his work centred on the study of Old English literature, especially Beowulf, and he acknowledged its importance to his writings.
| Date | Possible Influences | Elements |
|---|---|---|
| c. 1900 | First World War Battle of the Somme Tanks |
Mordor Metal dragons at Gondolin |
| Victorian era | Bag End, Hobbit lifestyle | |
| Modern literature William Morris Rider Haggard's She |
Dead Marshes, Mirkwood Saruman's shrivelling death | |
| c. 1800 | Antiquarianism | Poems, maps, scripts, artwork, genealogy |
| c. 1600 | Shakespeare Macbeth |
Prophecy of Witch-King's death |
| c. 1400 | Late Medieval | Cosmology, magic, named weapons, heraldry, interlaced narrative |
| c. 1000 | Early Medieval Crist I Beowulf Sigelwara |
Eärendil, light Elves, Ents, Orcs; Rohan Silmarils, Balrogs, Harad |
| c. 400 | Romano-British Temple of Nodens |
Rings of Power; Dwarves |
| c. 100 | Christianity The One God The Devil |
Eru Ilúvatar Melkor/Morgoth |
| c. 400 BC | Classical era Atlantis Ring of Gyges Orpheus and Eurydice Oedipus Prometheus |
Númenor The One Ring Beren and Lúthien Túrin Turambar Fëanor |
| c. 1000 BC | Bronze to Iron Age Uffington White Horse Hallstatt culture |
Rohan's horse-culture Barrow-wight's treasure |
| c. 5000 BC | Neolithic Pile Houses of Europe Barrows |
Esgaroth (Lake-town) Barrow-downs |
He was a gifted linguist, influenced by Germanic, Celtic, Finnish, Slavic, and Greek language and mythology. His fiction reflected his Christian beliefs and his early reading of adventure stories and fantasy books. Commentators have attempted to identify many literary and topological antecedents for characters, places and events in Tolkien's writings. Some writers were certainly important to him, including the Arts and Crafts polymath William Morris, and he undoubtedly made use of some real place-names, such as Bag End, the name of his aunt's home.
Tolkien stated that he had been influenced by his childhood experiences of the English countryside of Worcestershire and its urbanisation by the growth of Birmingham, and his personal experience of the First World War.