J.R.R. Tolkien
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Yes, the Master himself. John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was born on the 3rd of January 1892 in Bloemfontein in South Africa. In 1895 his mother brought him and his brother to England for a holiday, during which his father died. He was brought up in Birmingham by his mother, who became a Roman Catholic. He started school at King Edward's in 1900. In 1904 his mother died. In one of the houses he and his brother lodged in after that, he met Edith Bratt who was also an orphan, who he married later, in 1916. He finished school in 1911 and was accepted by Exeter College, Oxford. That is, in a nutshell, the life of Tolkien. |
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But that is just a little information about the man behind the books, the books which changed the history of writing, the founder of fantasy as we know it. Of course the best known books are The Lord of the Rings. Tolkien even made a little poem about it:
The Lord of the Rings How very true. I haven't met anyone who had a neutral opinion about LOTR. You either love or hate it. But those were not his only books, of course. The Hobbit, The Silmarillion, the adventures of Farmer Giles, and so on. Personally I don't really like The Silmarillion. Don't "booo" me or anything, everyone is entitled to their opinion. I liked The Hobbit, especially Smaug, and I just loved Lord of the Rings. As a matter of fact, I never read it until I started playing AD&D. Then a friend saw all the things that were so alike: the Elves, the Halflings and so on. So I was interested and started to read the books. My opinion: "oh wow". Absolutely marvelous, well written, good characters, and a kick- ass Wizard named Gandalf. Gandalf rocks! Tolkien made me have a real big interest in more fantasy novels: The Death Gate Cycle, the books by Tad Williams and so on. Some were really nice surprises, some of them sucked. If someone wishes some recommendations: just mail and ask me, I have plenty. And so I started to read lots and lots of books, started playing more roleplays, and started going to Live action Roleplay (LARP). A few years later, I was the Organiser of Special Events of the Belgian Tolkien Society Elanor. Unfortunately, they just wanted a scapegoat for when things went wrong, and used personal things against me in the society, so I left. By now I'm applying for Organiser in two other societies (English and Dutch societies) who WILL appreciate what I do. Three Rings for the Elven-Kings under the sky, Seven for the Dwarf-Lords in their halls of stone, Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die, One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne, In the land of Mordor where the shadows lie, One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them In the land of Mordor where the shadows lie. And now I am done with the big introductions. This page is under construction, and it always will be. Somebody wants me to put something in here about the Elves? Mail me, and I will put it in here. Somebody wishes to know more about Tolkien himself? Again: mail me, I'll put it here. This page is for all of you. I can't put everything I know about Tolkien or his books in here, I would be out of space in no time. Are you interested in Tolkien or his books? Let me know, and we can work on this page together!!
Randall
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EDITH MARY TOLKIEN
LUTHIEN
1889 - 1971
JOHN RONALD
REUEL TOLKIEN
BEREN
1892 - 1973