Norse Influences on Tolkien’s Elves and Dwarves

Abstract

The ‘mythology’ of J R R Tolkien, best known through his seminal work The Lord of the Rings [1954-5], has unquestionably had a more profound influence on the fantasy genre than any author before or since. To give a brief overview, Tolkien began what would come to be known loosely as the 'Silmarillion' in 1917 and continued developing his mythology intermittently right up until his death in 1973. In 1937 he published The Hobbit in which the hobbit, Bilbo Baggins, undertakes an adventure with a group of dwarves to recover a hoard of stolen treasure guarded by a dragon. Several years later at the insistence of his publishers, Tolkien began work on The Lord of the Rings which, after some ten years of interrupted writing, was released in three volumes (The Fellowship of the Ring [1954], The Two Towers [1954] and The Return of the King 1955]). The Lord of the Rings recounts Frodo Baggins' perilous journey to destroy the Ring of Power created by Sauron, the Dark Lord. Throughout this period Tolkien was also working on his broader mythology, which was published posthumously as The Silmarillion in 1977. Edited by his son Christopher Tolkien, and Canadian fantasy writer Guy Gavriel Kay, The Silmarillion relates the creation of the world, and the history of the Silmarilli, three jewels composed of the lights of Valinor that are stolen by Morgoth, the first dark lord. Subsequent to The Silmarillion, Christopher Tolkien published Unfinished Tales [1980] and the twelve-volume History of MiddleEarth [1983-1996] which examines the various stages of the development of Tolkien’s 'mythology.'