To kick off the second quarter, I've decided to discuss the most iconic writer of the last century. J.R.R. Tolkien, for those of you who have never read his books, is basically the god of literature. Even though he was one of the last English Catholics, he's still the god of literature. Why? Because, quite literally, every fiction writer since Tolkien has taken a leaf (or seven) from his works. For those of you who are saying, "Oh, Brian must be a real Tolkien geek," I have two things to say to you. Number one...yes, you're right. Number two...you must not have read the books. Because the thing about writers (and I don't think I speak for myself) is that they like to read. And people who like to read like to read good books. (This is meant to be sarcastic, but the Internet is new the whole "irony" thing.) I challenge you to find any fiction novel written in the last fifty years that an educated Tolkien geek like me cannot connect to The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings. Just for the heck of it, let's list a few well-known young adult books from this time period, shall we?
1) Harry Potter:
For those of you who think that Harry Potter and his gang are unique, I would say something, but I'd be too busy laughing at you. Don't get me wrong; I grew up on and love the Harry Potter books, but half of J.K. Rowling's plot is word-for-word Tolkien. Let's start with this whole "Voldemort" concept. Vanquished long before the start of the series, by the least likely hero imaginable? Check. Brutal, monstrous murderer who betrayed his own people and started a conflict that lead to hundreds upon hundreds of deaths? Check. Reborn for the series? Check. Who does this remind you of? Well, certainly not the Dark Lord of Mordor, Sauron, who had the exact same thing happen to him fifty years before J.K. took out her pen and started writing. And don't get me started on those Horcruxes; enchanted objects, usually jewelry, that contains part of the life force of a villain. So long as the villain's Horcrux (and Voldemort had seven) remains intact, the villain survives. Gosh, where did J.K. get her original ideas from? Certainly not THE ONE RING, the single most famous literary object in history, which is exactly what the Horcruxes are. The list goes on and on, too; the giant spiders, the dragons, the magic. Dumbledore is an obvious spoof of Gandalf, while Harry himself combines elements of the characters of Frodo and Aragorn. Ron is a sort of Sam-Pippin character, a funny guy who turns out to be vital to the plot. I could go on and on about this, but I don't want to bore you all.
2) Percy Jackson and the Olympians
This series, a childhood favorite of mine, contains fewer Tolkien references than the Harry Potter series. However, there is a big one, one that most readers would overlook, as it has become so ingrained in modern literature; the presence of a female character who is smarter and, in many ways, stronger than the male characters. This element is present in numerous films and books from the last century (I'm looking at you, J.K.). But, as we discussed in class, Tolkien did it first, with the character Eowyn. Owing to a poorly-worded prophecy, she is the lone character who can kill the chieftain of the demonic Nazgul, the Witch-King, who spends a great deal of time boasting how "No man can kill [him]." After four pages of an intense literary battle, Eowyn sticks a sword in his face, shutting him up for all eternity.
3) A Song of Ice and Fire
I'm not sure if all of you are familiar with this series, the inspiration for the top-rated HBO series Game of Thrones. What I do know, and I think those who've read the books would agree, is that the author, George R.R. Martin, certainly did not take many plot elements from Tolkien. However, he does use many Tolkienic (I'm actually surprised that isn't a real English word) devices in the construction of his fictional world. The big one is the creation of a complex history for his world. Tolkien did it first, in posthumously released book called The Silmarillion, which his son found in his desk. Tolkien had written a history for Middle-Earth, incredibly detailed and complex to an impossible degree, several hundred pages in length. You just can't compete with that, and what makes Martin's works great (in this regard, even if you ignore all the other elements that make his works genius) is the simple fact that he doesn't try to. Another way in which Martin tips his hat to Tolkien is the fact that he created a language for the Dothraki, a race of horsemen living in the east of his world. He did call on his fans to help him out; to be fair, Tolkien did base one of his languages (Elvish) heavily on Finnish. But that doesn't change the fact Tolkien created a language for every race, every nation, every group in his books; the grand total includes Elvish, Dwarvish, Rohirric, Entish, Gondoran, the Black Tongue of Mordor, and a few scattered words in several dialects of Orc-Speech. And then Tolkien goes and creates poems and songs, many of which last for pages, out of these languages. Once again, to be fair to Martin, Tolkien was the kind of guy who did this in his spare time because he thought it was fun. I think I would have gotten along pretty well with Tolkien.
Side note: Tolkien drew his stories from Norse mythology, Christianity, his own experiences in the first World War, and...Shakespeare! Many elements from his stories are based on Shakespeare, or his improvements of them. Eowyn's ability to kill the Witch-King, based on poor word choice, is a tribute to Macduff's ability to kill Macbeth in the play of the same name. Another Macbeth reference is present, which requires a bit of backstory: supposedly, as a child, John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, saw a production of Macbeth, and was disappointed when the forest's arrival at the hill was simply the actors carrying branches. According to Tolkien, he decided at that moment that, some day, he would do that scene the way it was supposed to be done. Lo and behold, in the second volume of The Lord of the Rings (one book published in three volumes, the second of which is The Two Towers), Tolkien devotes an entire chapter to the destruction of the fortress of Isengard at the hands of the Ents, a race of giant tree-men (with their own language and history). So, by extension, everybody making a reference to Tolkien is making a reference to Shakespeare! Oh, Shakespeare, how thou art still in culture!
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