The Fascinating Life of J.R.R. Tolkien

J.R.R. Tolkien did more than just write a series of best-selling, award-winning fantasy novels. He created worlds, legends, religions, and languages, and by doing so, brought people together from across the world. His works are revered, studied, loved, and held dear by millions of people, and it’s no secret why.

The man himself, though, is less familiar to many. This year, on his birthday, why not learn a little more about the man behind the literary behemoth that is Middle Earth and its stories?

Tolkien Was Born in South Africa

Tolkien, whose full name was John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, was born in what is now the Free State Province of South Africa. Born on January 3rd, 1892 to mother Mabel Tolkien and father Arthur Reuel Tolkien, he was their first child. They later welcomed Hilary Arthur Reuel Tolkien, his younger brother, in 1894.

Tolkien’s father was employed in South Africa at a British bank.

He Didn’t Go by John

Despite his first name being John, Tolkien actually went by Ronald. The other names, John and Reuel, were family names. Both of J.R.R. Tolkien’s grandfathers were called John, and Reuel was his father’s last name. So Tolkien became Ronald.

It Was His Mum Who Fuelled His Passion for Language

Tolkien’s mother introduced him to basic Latin before he started school. When he began his studies, it became quickly noticeable that he had a knack for languages.

As an adult, Tolkien could speak 35 languages. This included Middle English, Old English, Greek, French, Spanish, Old Norse, Welsh, Medieval Welsh, Finnish and German.

Tolkien Had Been Making Up Languages Since He Was a Boy

One of the most impressive parts of the world-building and creating that Tolkien did when he wrote The Hobbit and its accompanying texts was creating the languages that his characters spoke. But it turns out that he’d been doing it since he was a boy.

Tolkien’s cousins, Mary and Marjorie Incledon, invented a language that they called Animalic when they were very young. It primarily used animal names. They soon grew out of it, though. After that, Marjorie and Tolkien invented a language they called Nevbosh.

Tolkien Grew Up an Orphan

Mabel, Tolkien’s mother, moved with her sons to England in 1895. Arthur, Tolkien’s father, died in early 1896, still in South Africa. He had planned to travel to join his family, but caught rheumatic fever and never got the chance.

Mabel raised her two boys alone until 1904 when she died of diabetes. Tolkien was only 12, and his brother 10. Their care was given to a family friend, Father Francis, a man Mabel knew through her ties to catholicism.

Tolkien and His Wife’s Story is Beautiful

Tolkien met his wife, Edith Bratt, when he was 16 and she was 19. They met at one of the houses that Tolkien and his brother stayed in following their mother’s passing. Bratt and Tolkien quickly became friends, and their relationship soon developed into more.

Father Francis, though, Tolkien’s guardian, disapproved of the relationship. He insisted that Tolkien focus on school, and even went so far as to forbid the two youngsters from talking until Tolkien came of age.

As soon as Tolkien became old enough, he sought Edith out and asked her to marry him, just like that. She agreed, despite being engaged already, and left her fiance for Tolkien. They got married with Father Francis’ blessing, shortly before the First World War.

He Fought in World War One

Tolkien signed up to fight in the war, specializing in signaling. He was sent to the front in France in 1916, during the Battle of the Somme. There, he experienced trench warfare.

While in France, Tolkien caught Trench fever and was eventually sent back home. He spent the rest of the war there, unwell. His experiences and the war as a whole had a long-lasting effect on him, with Sam Gamgee from the Lord of The Rings being based on the ‘English soldier, the privates and batmen [he] knew in the 1914 war’.

When Writing, the Languages Came First

Tolkien wrote and developed an entire Elvish language he called Quenya. It was very sophisticated, and soon it led to the development of another, Sinadrin. Having two languages, he wanted to create the history and the worlds to go with them. This, combined with an ambition to make a mythos for England, led to the creation of The Silmarillion.

The First Line of The Hobbit Was Inspired by a Name

When grading exam papers, a student had left one of the pages with no writing on it, and JRR Tolkien spoke about it, saying he wrote ‘in a hole in the ground, there lived a hobbit’. Immediately after, he realized he’d ‘better find out what hobbits were like’.