Works inspired by J. R. R. Tolkien
The works of J. R. R. Tolkien have served as the inspiration to painters, musicians, film-makers and writers, to such an extent that he is sometimes seen as the "father" of the entire genre of high fantasy.[1]
Do not laugh! But once upon a time (my crest has long since fallen) I had a mind to make a body of more or less connected legend, ranging from the large and cosmogonic to the level of romantic fairy-story... The cycles should be linked to a majestic whole, and yet leave scope for other minds and hands, wielding paint and music and drama. Absurd.
— J. R. R. Tolkien[2]
Art and illustration
The earliest illustrations of Tolkien's works were
In 1948,
Tim and Greg Hildebrandt, usually called
Well-known Tolkien illustrators of the 1990s and 2000s are John Howe, Alan Lee, and Ted Nasmith — Lee for illustrated editions of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, Nasmith for illustrated editions of The Silmarillion, and Howe for the cover artwork to several Tolkien publications. Howe and Lee worked as concept artists in the creation of Peter Jackson's film trilogy. In 2004, Lee won an Academy Award for Best Art Direction on the film The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.[13]
Other artists who have found inspiration in Tolkien's works include
Film
The Narnia film trilogy adapted from the novel series by Tolkien's friend C. S. Lewis were produced due to the popularity of The Lord of the Rings. George R. R. Martin acknowledged Tolkien influenced his Game of Thrones TV series and novels about medieval fantasy, while speaking about a movie about Tolkien's life.[27][28]
An early draft for
Element | Star Wars 1977 | The Lord of the Rings 1954–55 |
---|---|---|
Wise old man | Obi-Wan Kenobi sacrifices himself fighting Darth Vader, then guides Luke through the Force |
Gandalf dies saving Fellowship from the Balrog, then guides Frodo telepathically |
Innocent protagonists |
R2-D2 and C-3PO, carrying stolen data tapes, supported by the team |
Fellowship
|
"Hellish war machine" | Death Star | Mordor |
Enemy troops | Stormtroopers | Orcs |
Evil wizard | Grand Moff Tarkin | Saruman |
Dark Lord | Darth Vader | Sauron |
While working on a Star Wars animated series,
Literature
Fantasy
As early as 1984, Diana Paxson argued in Mythlore that Tolkien had founded a new literary tradition.[34] Since then, many authors have found inspiration in Tolkien's work. Following the success of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings in the 1960s, publishers were quick to try to meet a new demand for literate fantasy in the American marketplace.[33]
Due to a loophole in Russian copyright law, Russian writers were able to publish fantasy novels set in Tolkien's Arda.
From 1980, the term "
Graphic novels
The cartoonist Jeff Smith was influenced by Tolkien, and the mythologies that inspired his works. He has characterized his epic 1,300-page graphic novel Bone as "Bugs Bunny meets The Lord of the Rings. It's a really long fairy tale with some fantasy elements but a lot of comedy."[43]
Parody
The first commercially published parody of Tolkien's work was the 1969 Bored of the Rings, by The Harvard Lampoon.[44] The BBC produced a parody radio serial, Hordes of the Things, in 1980.[45] The Last Ringbearer is a 1999 fantasy novel by the palaeontologist Kirill Eskov in the form of a parallel novel showing the war from the perspective of the people of Sauron's land of Mordor, under the notion that the original is a "history written by the victors".[46][47]
Radio plays
Three
Music
Numerous songs and other musical works, in a wide range of idioms, have been inspired by Tolkien's fiction.
Hard rock and heavy metal
Jack Bruce wrote a song called "To Isengard" on his first solo album "Songs for a Tailor" (1969).[50]
Progressive rock acts which have composed songs based on Tolkien's characters and stories include Rush ("Rivendell"),[51] Camel ("Nimrodel", "The White Rider"),[52] Mostly Autumn (Music Inspired by The Lord of the Rings CD, 2001),[53] Glass Hammer (The Middle-Earth Album, 2001),[54] Bo Hansson (Music Inspired by Lord of the Rings, 1970),[55] and the indie rock band Gatsbys American Dream.[56]
The hard rock and classic metal band
Among the
Many
The symphonic black metal band Summoning states that most of its songs are based on Middle-Earth, with focus on the orcs and dark forces.[65] Battlelore's lyrics are about Middle-earth characters and events in The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion, as well as medieval literature and the Kalevala,[66] as is their pseudo-medieval stage show, in which each member is dressed as "ferocious warriors", "dirty thieves" or "beautiful female elves".[67] The Italian group Ainur (named for Tolkien's Ainur) released Middle-earth themed albums named Children of Hurin (2007) and Lay of Leithian (2009).[59]
Bands and musicians who have used Tolkien's legendarium for their stage names include the progressive rock band
Jazz
Australian jazz musician and composer, John Sangster, made six albums of musical responses to Tolkien's work. He recorded The Hobbit Suite (1973, Swaggie Records – S1340), and Double Vibe: Hobbit (1977); the first of these, with a selection from the second, was released on CD in 2002 (Swaggie CD 404). The later four double albums, The Lord of the Rings: A Musical Interpretation, v. 1, 2 and 3 (1975–77), and Landscapes of Middle-earth (1978), have been re-released on CD, 2002-06: Move Records MD 3251, 3252, 3253, and 3254.[73]
Folk
Sally Oldfield's first solo album, Water Bearer (1978) was inspired by Tolkien's works, particularly "Songs of the Quendi", which quote from his poems.[74]
The folk group The Hobbitons, part of the Dutch chapter of the Tolkien Society, released a CD in 1996 with 16 tracks of settings of Tolkien's poems.[75]
The Irish singer
In 2001, bluegrass and anti-folk artist Chris Thile released an instrumental album titled Not All Who Wander Are Lost, referencing Gandalf's words to Bilbo and Bilbo's poem about Aragorn. One of the songs on the album is "Riddles in the Dark", sharing the title of one of the chapters in The Hobbit.[76] The Celtic foursome Broceliande's album The Starlit Jewel sets to music selected songs by Tolkien.[77][75] Other
Classical / film score
Donald Swann set music in the British art-song tradition to a collection of seven of Tolkien's lyrics and poems, published as The Road Goes Ever On. The work was approved by Tolkien himself, who collaborated on the published book, to which he provided notes and commentary.[79] The songs were recorded by William Elvin (bass-baritone) with Swann on piano, and released in 1967 on an LP by Caedmon Records.[80]
The Norwegian classical composer
Jacqueline Clarke's setting Tinuviel (1983), for countertenor solo, SATB choir, and piano accompaniment has been published in score.[86]
Leonard Rosenman composed music for the Ralph Bakshi animated movie, while Howard Shore composed the music of The Lord of the Rings film series.[87]
Paul Corfield Godfrey has written a large number of works based on Tolkien, the most significant of which is the four-evening cycle on The Silmarillion but also including three operas based on The Lord of the Rings: Tom Bombadil (one act), The Black Gate is closed (three acts) and The Grey Havens. as well as several sets of songs. His third symphony, Ainulindalë, is based on the opening chapter of The Silmarillion, and there is a half-hour setting of The Lay of Eärendil based on Bilbo's song at Rivendell.[88][89]
The
Aulis Sallinen, one of the leading classical music composers of Finland, composed his Seventh Symphony named "The Dreams of Gandalf" in 1996, from music initially meant to accompany a ballet.[93]
Australian musician, Patrick Flegg, late husband of Tolkien illustrator Mary Fairburn, composed a piano suite, Anduin: The Mighty River, recorded by Wendy Rowlands (2001).[94]
Canadian composer Glenn Buhr has written a three-movement tone poem Beren and Lúthien which he has recorded with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra as part of his CD Winter Poems.[95]
Games
Many model-based games, trading card games, board games and
Early
Early board games included Battle of Five Armies (1975) and the series of Middle Earth Games from Simulations Publications, Inc. in 1977, containing the games War of the Ring (strategic, covering all three books), Gondor (tactical, covering the siege of Minas Tirith) and Sauron (covering the decisive battle of the Second Age). More recent games include a game simply entitled Lord of the Rings (2000) and War of the Ring (2004, strategic, covering all three books).[100]
Among role-playing and card games based on Middle-earth, Iron Crown Enterprises made Middle-earth Role Playing game (1982–1999) and Middle-earth Collectible Card Game (1995–1999). Decipher, Inc. created The Lord of the Rings Trading Card Game (2001)[101] and The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying Game (2002), both based on the Jackson films.[100] The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game (2011) is made by Fantasy Flight Games under their "Living Card Game" line.[100] Adventures in Middle-earth (2016) is a D&D-compatible role-playing game released by Cubicle 7.[102]
Fan works
The first piece of Middle-earth
See also
Notes
- ^ The Tolkien scholar John Garth writes that Tolkien's name appears to be hidden in the small amount of the Hardic language of Earthsea in The Wizard of Earthsea. "Sea" is sukien, from suk, "foam", and inien, "feather". "Rock", the material of earth, is "tolk", so, he suggests, the Hardic for "Earthsea" would be Tolkien, for tolk + inien on the same pattern as sukien. Garth suggests that this is a tribute to Tolkien, tolk being the first word of the "Old Speech" that she names, and the first to be handed down both by the Wizard Ged to Tenar in The Tombs of Atuan, and by Tenar to her daughter in Tehanu.[37]
References
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The exhibition presents individual illustrations for "The Lord of the Rings" by J. R. R. Tolkien, created by artist Alexander Korotich from the second half of the 1980s until mid-1997, when the folder with most of the sheets was lost, as well as a number of illustrations for the book J. R. R. Tolkien. Fairy tales by the publishing house "Ural market", released in 1993.
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His one-man Black Metal band was called Burzum, this being the Black Speech word for "darkness", taken from the inscription on the Ring: ...agh burzum-ishi krimpatul, "and in the darkness bind them".
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Symphony No. 7, subtitled "The Dreams of Gandalf", arose out of music intended for a ballet based on The Lord of the Rings. Perhaps because the music was intended for the dance, it's the most energetic and impulsive piece on the disc, full of captivating tunes cloaked in absolutely magical orchestration (Sallinen is particularly adept in his use of tuned percussion). It would be a hit at any concert and at 25 minutes it's not a moment too long.
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[The two program designers Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka were responsible for the game, who set themselves the goal of developing a fairytale adventure game with action elements... ...Takashi Tezuka, a great lover of fantasy novels such as Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, wrote the script for the first two games in the Zelda series].
- ^ "Super Play Magazine Interviews Shigeru Miyamoto About The Legend of Zelda". Super Play (Sweden). Vol. 2003, no. 4. Hjemmet Mortensen. 23 April 2003. Retrieved 2 April 2021.
All ideas for The legend of Zelda were mine and Takashi Tezukas... ...Books, movies and our own lives.
- ^ Stanton, Richard (6 April 2023). "How an 'Adventure Mario' project evolved to become The Legend Of Zelda". GamesRadar+.
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{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ Hunnewell 2010.
- ^ Walls-Thumma 2019, p. 2.
- ^ "TOLKIEN J. R. R. - Works & Related Fandoms". Archive of Our Own. Archived from the original on 22 June 2022. Retrieved 22 June 2022.
- ^ Walls-Thumma 2020, 2.4.
- ^ Abrahamson 2013, p. 55.
- ^ Walls-Thumma 2020, 2.5–2.6.
- ^ Walls-Thumma 2019, p. 5.
Bibliography
- Abrahamson, Megan B. (2013). "J.R.R. Tolkien, Fanfiction, and "The Freedom of the Reader"". Mythlore. 32 (1).
- Walls-Thumma, Dawn S. (2019). "Affirmational and Transformational Values and Practices in the Tolkien Fanfiction Community". Journal of Tolkien Research. 8 (1).
- Walls-Thumma, Dawn S. (2020). "Diving into the lacuna: Fan studies, methodologies, and mending the gaps". S2CID 225711759.
- Hunnewell, Sumner Gary (2010). "Tolkien Fandom Review from its beginnings to 1964" (PDF).
External links
- Ardalambion — Languages of Tolkien
- A Bibliography of Scholarly Studies of J. R. R. Tolkien and His Works by Michael D.C. Drout