Tolkien's impact on fantasy

{{Short description|none}} {{use British English|date=February 2024}} {{use dmy dates|date=February 2024}} {{good article}} [[File:PlayIT Show 2015, Budapest, 74 (cropped).jpg|thumb|upright=0.6|A Tolkien fan in a ''The Lord of the Rings'' fantasy costume, Budapest, 2015]]

Although fantasy had long existed in various forms around the world before his time, J. R. R. Tolkien has been called the "father of fantasy", and ''The Lord of the Rings'' its centre. That novel, published in 1954–1955, enormously influenced fantasy writing, establishing in particular the form of high or epic fantasy, set in a secondary or fantasy world in an act of mythopoeia. The book was distinctive at the time for its considerable length, its "epic" feel with a cast of heroic characters, its wide geography, and its battles. It involved an extensive history behind the action, an impression of depth, multiple sentient races and monsters, and powerful talismans. The story is a quest, with multiple subplots. The novel's success demonstrated that the genre was commercially distinct and viable.

Many later fantasy writers have either imitated Tolkien's work, or have written in reaction against it. One of the first was Ursula Le Guin's ''Earthsea'' series of novels, starting in 1968, which used Tolkienian archetypes such as wizards, a disinherited prince, a magical ring, a quest, and dragons. A publishing rush followed. Fantasy authors including Stephen R. Donaldson and Philip Pullman have created intentionally non-Tolkienian fantasies, Donaldson with an unloveable protagonist, and Pullman, who is critical of ''The Lord of the Rings'', with a different view of the purpose of life.

The genre has spread into film, into both role-playing and video games, and into fantasy art. Peter Jackson's 2001–2003 ''The Lord of the Rings'' film series brought a new and very large audience to Tolkien's work. Tolkien's influence reached role-playing games as early as 1974 with Gary Gygax's ''Dungeons & Dragons''; this was followed by many Middle-earth video games, some directly licensed and others based on Tolkienian fantasy culture. Tolkien's fantasies have been illustrated by artists such as John Howe, Alan Lee, and Ted Nasmith, who have become known as "Tolkien artists".

== Context ==

J. R. R. Tolkien was a scholar of English literature, a philologist and medievalist interested in language and poetry from the Middle Ages, especially that of Anglo-Saxon England and Northern Europe. His professional knowledge of works such as ''Beowulf'' shaped his fictional world of Middle-earth, including his high fantasy novel ''The Lord of the Rings''.<ref>{{harvnb|Carpenter|2023|loc=#131 to Milton Waldman, late 1951 }}</ref>{{sfn|Shippey|2005|pp=146–149}} This did not prevent him from making use of modern sources including fantasy as well;<ref name="Buck 2013">{{cite encyclopedia |last=Buck |first=Claire |editor-last=Drout |editor-first=Michael D. C. |editor-link=Michael D. C. Drout |title=Literary Context, Twentieth Century |encyclopedia=J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia: Scholarship and Critical Assessment |year=2013 |orig-year=2007 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-415-86511-1 |pages=363–366}}</ref> the ''J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia'' discusses 25 authors whose works are paralleled by elements in Tolkien's writings.<ref name="Nelson 2013">{{cite encyclopedia |year=2013 |title=Literary Influences, Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries |encyclopedia=J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia: Scholarship and Critical Assessment |publisher=Routledge |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B0loOBA3ejIC&pg=PA366 |last=Nelson |first=Dale |orig-year=2007 |editor-last=Drout |editor-first=Michael D. C. |editor-link=Michael D. C. Drout |pages=366–377 |isbn=978-0-415-86511-1}}</ref>

== Fantasy in Tolkien's hands ==

=== Distinctive features ===

[[File:Sketch Map of The Shire.svg|thumb|left|upright=1.75|Among the devices Tolkien created to make Middle-earth seem real were maps with many placenames, such as of the Shire, the English-sounding<ref>{{cite book |last=Burns |first=Marjorie |author-link=Marjorie Burns |title=Perilous Realms: Celtic and Norse in Tolkien's Middle-earth |title-link=Perilous Realms |year=2005 |publisher=University of Toronto Press |isbn=978-0-8020-3806-7 |pages=26–29}}</ref> home to his hobbit protagonists. (Sketch map shown) ]]

''The Lord of the Rings'' was constructed with several distinctive features. These included its considerable length, remarkable for its time when few genre novels exceeded 65,000 words. This was accompanied by an "epic" feel, created by a combination of features such as its cast of heroic characters, its wide geography, and its battles. The story is told with allusions to older times, giving both an impression of depth behind the action, and a past that fades into mythology. The heroes encounter multiple sentient races, including both free peoples like elves and dwarves, and monsters like trolls and giant spiders. Powerful talismans are deployed, such as swords with their own names, wizards' staffs, magical rings and seeing stones. As for the story, there is a quest, accompanied by many subplots. As if this were not enough, Tolkien gives the plot a moral dimension: the characters have to rely on their own courage and luck, believing that the unseen powers will support them.<ref name="Paxson 1984"/>

''The Lord of the Rings'', and to some extent also his 1937 children's novel, ''The Hobbit'', make use of multiple elements to make the fantasy world of Middle-earth convincing. These include detailed maps with a large number of placenames;<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last=Campbell |first=Alice |editor-last=Drout |editor-first=Michael D. C. |editor-link=Michael D. C. Drout |title=Maps |encyclopedia=The J. R. R. Tolkien Encyclopedia: Scholarship and Critical Assessment |year=2013 |orig-year=2007 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-415-86511-1 |pages=405–408}}</ref> an impression of depth;{{sfn|Shippey|2005|pp=259–261}} a frame story;{{sfn|Flieger|2005|pp=67–73}} poetry interspersed with the narrative;<ref>{{cite journal |last=Marchesani |first=Diane |title=Tolkien's Lore: The Songs of Middle-earth |journal=Mythlore |year=1980 |volume=7 |issue=1 |pages=3–5 (Article 1) |url=https://dc.swosu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1517&context=mythlore}}</ref> family trees;<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last=Fisher |first=Jason |author-link=Jason Fisher |editor-last=Drout |editor-first=Michael D. C. |editor-link=Michael D. C. Drout |title=Family Trees |encyclopedia=J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia: Scholarship and Critical Assessment |year=2013 |orig-year=2007 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-415-86511-1 |pages=188–189}}</ref> invented languages{{sfn|Shippey|2005|pp=131-133}} that had been worked out in detail, complete with scripts;<ref name="Tolkien Estate 2015">{{cite web |last=Smith |first=Arden R. |author-link=Arden R. Smith |title=Writing Systems |url=https://www.tolkienestate.com/en/learning/languages-and-writing-systems/writing-systems.html |publisher=The Tolkien Estate |access-date=26 January 2021 |date=2015 |archive-date=14 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210414115427/https://www.tolkienestate.com/en/learning/languages-and-writing-systems/writing-systems.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> artwork;<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Hammond |editor1-first=Wayne G. |editor1-link=Wayne G. Hammond |editor2-last=Scull |editor2-first=Christina |editor2-link=Christina Scull |title=J. R. R. Tolkien: Artist & Illustrator |publisher=HarperCollins |year=1995 |isbn=978-0-261-10322-1}}</ref> and heraldry.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hammond |first1=Wayne G. |last2=Scull |first2=Christina |author-link1=Wayne G. Hammond |author-link2=Christina Scull |title=J. R. R. Tolkien: Artist and Illustrator |date=1998 |orig-year=1995 |publisher=HarperCollins |isbn=978-0-261-10360-3 |chapter=6. Patterns and Devices |pages=187–198}}</ref>

[[File:Escudo Real de Gondor.svg|thumb|upright|Heraldry of Middle-earth: a coat of arms bearing the White Tree of Gondor ]]

The impression of depth in particular helps to make Middle-earth feel like what Tom Shippey has called "a coherent, consistent, deeply fascinating world about which [Tolkien] had no time [then] to speak".{{sfn|Shippey|2005|pp=259–261}} As another example, the heraldry helps to convey impressions such as the "evident majesty" of the hero Aragorn:<ref>{{cite journal |last=McGregor |first=Jamie |year=2013 |title=Tolkien's Devices: The Herald[r]y of Middle-Earth |journal=Mythlore |volume=32 |issue=1 |pages=95–112, Article 7 |url=https://dc.swosu.edu/mythlore/vol32/iss1/7}}</ref>

{{blockquote|upon the foremost ship a great standard broke, and the wind displayed it as she turned towards the Harlond. There flowered a White Tree, and that was for Gondor; but Seven Stars were about it, and a high crown above it, the signs of Elendil that no lord had borne for years beyond count. And the stars flamed in the sunlight, for they were wrought of gems by Arwen daughter of Elrond; and the crown was bright in the morning, for it was wrought of mithril and gold.<ref>{{harvnb|Tolkien|1955|loc=book 5, ch. 6 "The Battle of the Pelennor Fields"}}</ref> }}

=== Mythopoeia ===

Mythopoeia is the creation of a fictional mythology, incorporating traditional mythological themes and archetypes within a work of literature.<ref name="Merriam-Webster">{{cite Merriam-Webster |mythopoeia |access-date=1 November 2022}}</ref> Tolkien was not the first author to create fictional worlds, as George MacDonald and H. Rider Haggard had done so, and were praised for their "mythopoeic" gifts by Tolkien's friend and fellow-Inkling C. S. Lewis.<ref>{{cite book |last=Lobdell |first=Jared |author-link=Jared Lobdell |title=The Scientifiction Novels of C.S. Lewis: Space and Time in the Ransom Stories |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cCZKg37FDEoC&pg=PA162 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=0-7864-8386-5 |page=162 |year=2004}}</ref> Tolkien however went much further, spending many years developing what has been called a mythology for England, starting in 1914.<ref>{{cite book |last=Carpenter |first=Humphrey |author-link=Humphrey Carpenter |title=J. R. R. Tolkien: A Biography |title-link=J. R. R. Tolkien: A Biography |publisher=Allen & Unwin |year=1978 |orig-date=1977 |isbn=978-0-04-928039-7 |pages=113–114}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Carpenter|2023|loc=#131 to Milton Waldman, late 1951; #180 to Mr Thompson, January 1956 }}</ref> The Finnish scholar Jyrki Korpua argues that Tolkien followed a specific mythopoetic code in his legendarium, spanning creation (Ainulindalë), world-building (Valaquenta, start of Quenta Silmarillion), the fall (Quenta Silmarillion), a period of struggle (Akallabêth and ''The Lord of the Rings''), and the end of the world (as in ''Morgoth's Ring''). Korpua states that this code is both linear and somewhat Biblical, and that it makes use of archetypes.<ref name="Korpua 2015">{{cite journal |last=Korpua |first=Jyrki |title=Constructive Mythopoetics In J. R. R. Tolkien's Legendarium |journal=Fafnir |date=2015 |volume=2 |issue=4 |pages=54–58 |url=http://journal.finfar.org/articles/477.pdf}}</ref> Tolkien created numerous archetypes in his Middle-earth writings. He established as stock fantasy elements, familiar and attractive to readers, the distinct races of Elves, Dwarves, Ents, Trolls, Orcs, and Hobbits.<ref name="Tneh 2011">{{cite journal |last1=Tneh |first1=David |title=Orcs and Tolkien's treatment of evil |journal=Mallorn |date=2011 |issue=52 |pages=37–43 |url=https://journals.tolkiensociety.org/mallorn/article/download/69/63}}</ref>

== Impact ==

''The Lord of the Rings'' had an enormous impact on the fantasy genre; in some respects, it swamped all the works of fantasy that had been written before it, and it unquestionably created "fantasy" as a marketing category.<ref name="Yolen 1992">{{cite book |last=Yolen |first=Jane |author-link=Jane Yolen |chapter=Introduction |pages=vii-ix |title=After the King: Stories in Honor of J.R.R. Tolkien |editor=Martin H. Greenberg |year=1992 |publisher=Tor Books |isbn=978-0-765-30207-6}}</ref> Tolkien has been called the "father" of modern fantasy,<ref>{{cite web |last=Schlagwein |first=Felix |title=How Tolkien became the father of fantasy |url=https://www.dw.com/en/how-j-r-r-tolkien-became-the-father-of-fantasy/a-60316037 |publisher=Deutsche Welle |date=March 1, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Mitchell |first=Christopher |title=J. R. R. Tolkien: Father of Modern Fantasy Literature |url=http://www.veritas.org/media/talks/585 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090620040316/http://www.veritas.org/media/talks/585 |archive-date=20 June 2009 |publisher=Veritas Forum}}</ref><ref name="Oxford Companion">{{Cite book |title=The Oxford Companion to English Literature |year=2000 |editor-last=Drabble |editor-first=Margaret |editor-link=Margaret Drabble |edition=6 |page=352}}</ref> or more specifically of high fantasy.{{sfn|Clute|1997|loc="Tolkien, J. R. R."}}<ref>{{cite web |last1=Sur |first1=Debadrita |title=How J.R.R. Tolkien's 'Lord of the Rings' changed the high fantasy genre |url=https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/how-jrr-tolkien-lord-of-the-rings-changed-fantasy-genre/ |website=Far Out Magazine |access-date=9 July 2023 |date=2 September 2021}}</ref> Tolkien's works brought fantasy literature a new degree of mainstream acclaim; numerous polls named ''The Lord of the Rings'' the greatest book of the century.<ref>{{cite book |last=Shippey |first=Tom |author-link=Tom Shippey |year=2001 |title=J.R.R. Tolkien: Author of the Century |publisher=HarperCollins |isbn=978-0-2611-0401-3 |pages=xx-xxi}}</ref> The author and editor of ''Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts'', Brian Attebery, writes that fantasy is defined "not by boundaries but by a centre", which is ''The Lord of the Rings''.<ref name="Hunt 2013">{{cite book |last=Hunt |first=Peter |title=J.R.R. Tolkien |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |publication-place=Basingstoke |date=2013 |isbn=978-1-137-26399-5 |page=33}}</ref>

Diana Paxson states in ''Mythlore'' that Tolkien had founded a new literary tradition.<ref name="Paxson 1984">{{cite journal |last=Paxson |first=Diana |year=1984 |title=The Tolkien Tradition |journal=Mythlore |volume=11 |issue=1 |at=Article 19 |url=https://dc.swosu.edu/mythlore/vol11/iss1/19 }}</ref><ref name="Shippey 2007">Shippey, Tom (2007) "Literature, Twentieth Century: Influence of Tolkien", in Michael D. C. Drout, ''J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia''. Taylor & Francis, {{ISBN|0415969425}}, pp. 378-382</ref> Tolkien's influence, and his literary criticism, greatly popularized secondary worlds, as his formative essay "On Fairy Stories" termed them. This led to the decline of such devices as dream frames to explain away a fantastical setting.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Clute |first1=John |last2=Grant |first2=John |title=Genre Fantasy |url=https://sf-encyclopedia.com/fe/genre_fantasy |website=Encyclopedia of Fantasy |access-date=13 July 2023 |date=1997 |page=951 "Tolkien, J(ohn) R(onald) R(euel)" |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230713192202/https://sf-encyclopedia.com/fe/genre_fantasy |archive-date=13 July 2023 }}</ref>

== Tolkien-influenced fantasy writing ==

It has been said of Tolkien that "most subsequent writers of fantasy are either imitating him or else desperately trying to escape his influence", while "his hold over readers has been extraordinary".<ref name="James 2012">{{cite book |last=James |first=Edward |title=The Cambridge Companion to Fantasy Literature |chapter=Tolkien, Lewis and the explosion of genre fantasy |publisher=Cambridge University Press |date=26 January 2012 |doi=10.1017/ccol9780521429597.007 |pages=62–78|isbn=9780521429597 }}</ref>{{sfn|Fimi|2020|p=335}}

=== Inspired by Tolkien ===

The immense success of Tolkien's works started a publishing rush. Lin Carter edited the Ballantine Adult Fantasy series from 1969, reprinting Morris, Dunsany, MacDonald, and Mirrlees, alongside some new works.{{sfn|Clute|1997|p=82 "Ballantine Adult Fantasy series"}}{{sfn|Fimi|2020|pp=335–336}} Many authors wrote "Tolkienesque" books, with stories rooted in folklore, myth, and magic, set in a medieval countryside.<ref name="Yolen 1992"/> Among these were Patricia A. McKillip's ''The Forgotten Beasts of Eld'' and Jane Yolen's ''The Magic Three of Solatia'', Tolkien-inspired fantasies for young adults written in the mid-1970s.<ref>"Patricia McKillip and Jane Yolen, both American, should also be mentioned here: the former's ''The Forgotten Beasts of Eld'' (1974) echoes Tolkien in its nuanced prose...the latter's ''The Magic Three of Solatia'' (1974) bears a similar relationship to Tolkien." Jamie Williamson, ''The Evolution of Modern Fantasy: From Antiquarianism to the Ballantine Adult Fantasy Series''. Springer, 2015. {{ISBN|9781137518088}}</ref> Yolen comments that while some of the writing was good, "what began in grace and power easily degenerated into a kind of mythic silliness", with "pastel unicorns, coy talking swords, and a paint-by-number medieval setting with the requisite number of dirty inns, evil wizards, and gentle hairy-footed beings of various sexual persuasions. Tolkien ... would have been horrified."<ref name="Yolen 1992"/>

{{Quote box | title = A safe and comfortable format? | quote = Fantasy has come to be identified with a bunch of multi-volume Tolkien clones that follow an overly-familiar trajectory... we all know how it goes: a youth (almost always male) is unexpectedly revealed to have a special skill or be a long-lost prince and must then embark on a quest to recover various plot tokens before finally defeating the forces of evil. It's a format that accounts for an awful lot of what appears on the fantasy shelves of our bookshops, from ''The Sword of Shannara'' by Terry Brooks to the ''Harry Potter'' novels by J. K. Rowling. The format may be safe and comfortable, but it represents only a very tiny proportion of what fantasy can do...<ref name="Kincaid 2011">{{cite web |last=Kincaid |first=Paul |author-link=Paul Kincaid |title=[Review] The Secret History of Fantasy edited by Peter S. Beagle Tachyon Publications, 384 pages |url=https://www.sfsite.com/01a/sh335.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110109081925/http://www.sfsite.com/01a/sh335.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=9 January 2011 |website=SF Site |access-date=9 July 2023 |date=2011}}</ref> — Paul Kincaid | width = 45% | align = left }}

In 1977, Lester Del Rey, seeking to mirror Tolkien's work, published Terry Brooks's ''The Sword of Shannara''. The book was heavily criticised by Carter, Attebery and others for copying the plot and characters of ''The Lord of the Rings'' wholesale; Attebery wrote that it attempted "to evoke wonder without engaging the mind or emotions", reducing Tolkien's artistry "to a bare formula".<ref>{{cite book |last=Carter |first=Lin |author-link=Lin Carter |title=The Year's Best Fantasy Stories: 4 |publisher=DAW Books |year=1978 |pages=207–208}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Schlobin |first=Roger |title=The Literature of Fantasy: A Comprehensive, Annotated Bibliography of Modern Fantasy Fiction |publisher=Garland Publishers |year=1979 |page=31 |isbn=0-8240-9757-2 |url=https://archive.org/details/literatureoffant003s3/page/31}}</ref>{{sfn|Attebery|1980|p=155}}{{efn|Fimi notes that critics have directly equated elements of ''The Sword of Shannara'' with elements of ''The Lord of the Rings'', such as The Vale with The Shire, Allanon with Gandalf.{{sfn|Fimi|2020|p=336}} }} Despite this, it gained the sort of breakthrough success that Del Rey had hoped for;<ref name="Shippey 2007"/> it became the first fantasy novel to appear on, and eventually to top, the New York Times bestseller list.<ref>{{cite book |last=Mathews |first=Richard |title=Fantasy: The Liberation of Imagination |publisher=Routledge |year=2002 |page=35 |isbn=978-0-415-93890-7}}</ref>

Guy Gavriel Kay, who had assisted Christopher Tolkien with the editing of ''The Silmarillion'', later wrote his own Tolkien-influenced fantasy trilogy, ''The Fionavar Tapestry'' (1984–86), complete with dwarves and mages.<ref name="Shippey 2007"/> Dennis L. McKiernan's Silver Call duology was intended to be a direct sequel to ''The Lord of the Rings'' but had to be altered. The ''Iron Tower'' trilogy, highly influenced by Tolkien's books, was then written as backstory.<ref>[http://theauthorhour.com/dennis-l-mckiernan/ Interview with Dennis L. McKiernan]</ref> Fantasy series such as Terry Pratchett's ''Discworld'' and Orson Scott Card's ''The Tales of Alvin Maker'' were "undoubtedly" influenced by Tolkien.<ref name="Duriez 2003">{{cite book |editor-last=Haber |editor-first=Karen |chapter=Rhythmic Pattern in ''The Lord of the Rings'' |title=Meditations on Middle-earth: New Writing on the Worlds of J. R. R. Tolkien by Orson Scott Card, Ursula K. Le Guin, and others |publisher=St Martin's Press |date=2002}} reviewed in {{cite journal |last=Duriez |first=Colin |author-link=Colin Duriez |title=Journal Article Review: Survey of Tolkien Literature |journal=VII: Journal of the Marion E. Wade Center |date=2003 |volume=20 |pages=105–114 |jstor=45296990}}</ref>

In 1992, Martin H. Greenberg edited a ''festschrift'' collection of short stories by 19 fantasy authors including Yolen, Stephen R. Donaldson, Terry Pratchett, Poul and Karen Anderson, and Peter S. Beagle on the centenary of Tolkien's birth. Yolen, commenting that "sometimes it is difficult to remember that there were fantasy books written before J. R. R. Tolkien's work", stated that the stories were not imitations, "for none of us are imitators—but in honor of his work".<ref name="Yolen 1992"/>

[[File:Gollum s journey commences by Frederic Bennett (detail).jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|Tolkien created or popularized fantasy elements such as heroes, quests, magical objects, wizards, elves, dwarves, and monsters including Gollum. Painting of Gollum by Frederic Bennet, 2014]]

Many writers have made use of Tolkienesque plots, settings, and characters. The plot of Pat Murphy's 1999 ''There and Back Again'' intentionally mirrors that of ''The Hobbit'', but is transposed into a science-fiction setting involving space travel. J. K. Rowling's 1997–2007 ''Harry Potter'' series, too, is influenced by Tolkien; for example, the wizard Dumbledore has been described as partially inspired by Tolkien's Gandalf.<ref>{{cite book |last=Wetherill |first=Louise |title=Ampthill Literary Festival Yearbook 2015 |publisher=Ampthill |year=2015 |isbn=978-1-5175506-8-4 |pages=85–92}}</ref> Further, Rowling explores the Tolkienian themes of death and immortality, and the nature of evil and how it arises, with Lord Voldemort taking the place of the Dark Lord Morgoth.{{sfn|Fimi|2020|pp=344–346}} S.M. Stirling's "Emberverse" series includes a character obsessed with ''The Lord of the Rings'' who creates a post-apocalyptic community based Tolkien's Elves and Dúnedain.<ref name="Shippey 2007"/> The same plot point was used by the Russian writer Vladimir Berezin in his novel ''Road Signs'' (from the Universe of Metro 2033).<ref name="Shippey 2007"/> The horror writer Stephen King has acknowledged Tolkien's influence on his novel ''The Stand'' and his fantasy series ''The Dark Tower''.<ref name="Shippey 2007"/> Other prominent fantasy writers including George R. R. Martin, Michael Swanwick, Raymond E. Feist, Poul Anderson, Karen Haber, Harry Turtledove, Charles De Lint, and Orson Scott Card have acknowledged Tolkien's work as an inspiration.<ref name="Shippey 2007"/>

=== Reacting against Tolkien ===

{{further|Heroism in The Lord of the Rings{{!}}Heroism in ''The Lord of the Rings''|Christianity in Middle-earth|Women in The Lord of the Rings{{!}}Women in ''The Lord of the Rings''}}

Some writers have reacted against Tolkien by creating fantasy that does not fit the expected pattern. Thus, Stephen R. Donaldson's ''The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant'' has an unloveable protagonist quite unlike a hobbit: John R. Fultz calls Covenant "a whiner, a complainer, a broken man with no hope for himself or the kingdom he was charged with saving."<ref name="Fultz 2013">{{cite web |last=Fultz |first=John R. |title=In the Master's Shadow: Epic Fantasy in the Post-Tolkien World |url=https://www.orbitbooks.net/2013/01/07/in-the-masters-shadow-epic-fantasy-in-the-post-tolkien-world/ |website=Orbit Books |access-date=9 July 2023 |date=7 January 2013}}</ref> The world that Covenant visits might resemble Middle-earth, as might his quest, but the book's approach, a "dark counterpoint to Tolkien's shining heroism", is entirely different.<ref name="Fultz 2013"/>

Philip Pullman's ''His Dark Materials'' trilogy is according to Pullman "a rival" to both ''The Lord of the Rings'' and Tolkien's fellow-Inkling C. S. Lewis's ''The Chronicles of Narnia''.<ref name="Intelligent Life 2007">{{cite web |last1=Butler |first1=Robert |author1-link=Robert Olen Butler |last2=Pullman |first2=Philip |author2-link=Philip Pullman |title=An Interview with Philip Pullman |url=http://www.moreintelligentlife.com/node/697 |website=Intelligent Life Magazine |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071205001046/http://www.moreintelligentlife.com/node/697 |archive-date=5 December 2007 |date=3 December 2007 |url-status=dead}}</ref>{{sfn|Fimi|2020|pp=344–346}} Pullman states that he disagrees with Lewis's answer to questions about the existence of God and the purpose of life, and asserts that Tolkien "doesn't touch {{bracket|those issues}} at all."<ref name="Intelligent Life 2007"/> As a result, he finds Tolkien "essentially trivial" and "not worth arguing with."<ref name="Intelligent Life 2007"/> Ross Douthat comments in ''The Atlantic'' that Pullman's "dismiss[ing] the ''Rings'' saga as 'trivial' tells you a great deal about where his own fantasy saga went wrong."<ref name="Douthat 2007"/> In Douthat's view, Pullman's "compelling and fun" world-building in ''The Golden Compass'' (the first novel in the trilogy), complete with the armoured bear "and the witches, the Jules Verne-meets-Tolkien landscape" slowly fades out in the later novels.<ref name="Douthat 2007">{{cite journal |last1=Douthat |first1=Ross |title=Pullman Versus Tolkien |journal=The Atlantic |date=10 December 2007 |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/personal/archive/2007/12/pullman-versus-tolkien/55124/}}</ref> Pullman has further criticised ''The Lord of the Rings'' for not having any strong female characters; in his view "There is absolutely no awareness of sexual power and mystery in the book."<ref name="Dey 2021">{{cite web |last=Dey |first=Simantini |title=Why Do Women Have Such Small Parts in LOTR? asks Philip Pullman, Calls Tolkien's Iconic Book A 'Dead-end' |url=https://www.news18.com/news/buzz/exploring-lack-of-women-in-lord-of-the-rings-philip-pullman-calls-tolkiens-magnum-opus-dead-end-3469850.html |website=News18 |access-date=21 July 2023 |date=24 February 2021 |quote=Pullman, who has given fantasy literature a memorable heroine like Lyra Belacqua, has also often pointed out how Tolkien's famous book had failed to introduce any strong woman character, and the Narnia series has been ‘disparaging towards women’... I've long come to dislike the Tolkien kind of fantasy: I think it shuts out too much of what we know to be real.}}</ref>

The modern subgenre of grimdark fantasy has been described as an "anti-Tolkien" approach to fantasy writing,<ref>{{cite web |title=We Asked Writers How A Game of Thrones Changed Fantasy Forever |url=https://www.barnesandnoble.com/blog/sci-fi-fantasy/20th-anniversary-celebration-of-a-song-of-ice-and-fire/ |publisher=Barnes & Noble |last=DuBois |first=Shana |date=October 20, 2016 |access-date=August 25, 2021 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220407110107/https://www.barnesandnoble.com/blog/sci-fi-fantasy/20th-anniversary-celebration-of-a-song-of-ice-and-fire/ |archive-date=Apr 7, 2022}}</ref> which British science fiction and fantasy novelist Adam Roberts characterizes by its reaction to Tolkien's idealism even though it owes a lot to Tolkien's work.<ref name="Roberts 2014">{{cite book|last1=Roberts|first1=Adam|title=Get Started in: Writing Science Fiction and Fantasy|date=2014|publisher=Hachette UK|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T2rEAwAAQBAJ&pg=PT42|isbn=978-1-4447-9566-0|page=42}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Game of Thrones': Five Inspirations for George R.R. Martin's Novels, From Tolkein {{sic|nolink=y}} to Scottish Massacres |url=http://www.newsweek.com/game-thrones-inspirations-george-rr-martin-hbo-tolkein-scottish-massacres-634498 |work=Newsweek |last=Shaffer |first=Claire |date=October 7, 2017 |access-date=August 25, 2021 }}</ref> George R. R. Martin, the author of ''A Song of Ice and Fire'', cites Tolkien as an inspiration,<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/556384-i-admire-tolkien-greatly-his-books-had-enormous-influence-on |title=Quote by George R.R. Martin: "I admire Tolkien greatly..." |work=goodreads.com |year=2014 |access-date=July 8, 2014}}</ref> while also stating his aims to go beyond what he sees as Tolkien's "medieval philosophy" of "if the king was a good man, the land would prosper" to delve into the complexities, ambiguities, and vagaries of real-life power."<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/movies/news/george-r-r-martin-the-rolling-stone-interview-20140423 |title='Game of Thrones' Author George R.R. Martin |first=Mikal |last=Gilmore |magazine=Rolling Stone |date=April 23, 2014 |access-date=July 8, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140708061804/http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/news/george-r-r-martin-the-rolling-stone-interview-20140423 |archive-date=July 8, 2014 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

=== Using Tolkienian sources ===

The scholar of folklore Dimitra Fimi suggests a third group of Tolkien-influenced authors, the British fantasists Susan Cooper, Alan Garner, and Diana Wynne Jones. In her view, all were, like Tolkien, prompted to fantasy by war; all three attended Tolkien's lectures at the University of Oxford; and all admitted being influenced by "British myth and folklore", the sorts of medieval "intertexts" that Tolkien had used. While Wynne Jones wrote high fantasy, about secondary worlds, Cooper and Garner wrote "intrusion" fantasy, in which the supernatural or fantastic intrudes into the ordinary world.{{sfn|Fimi|2020|pp=337–340}}

=== Reworking Tolkienian conventions ===

{{Quote box | title = Wizards, dragons, adventures ... | quote = The island of Gont, a single mountain that lifts its peak a mile above the storm-racked Northeast Sea, is a land famous for wizards. From the towns in its high valleys and the ports on its dark narrow bays many a Gontishman has gone forth to serve the Lords of the Archipelago in their cities as wizard or mage, or, looking for adventure, to wander working magic from isle to isle of all Earthsea. Of these some say the greatest, and surely the greatest voyager, was the man called Sparrowhawk, who in his day became both dragonlord and Archmage. His life is told of in the Deed of Ged and in many songs, but this is a tale of the time before his fame, before the songs were made. — Ursula Le Guin, ''A Wizard of Earthsea''<ref>{{cite book |last1=Le Guin |first1=Ursula |author1-link=Ursula Le Guin |title=A Wizard of Earthsea |date=1968 |publisher=Parnassus Press |chapter=1. Warriors in the Mist}}</ref> | width = 45% | align = right }}

In 1968, Ursula K. Le Guin published the high fantasy ''A Wizard of Earthsea'', followed between 1970 and 2001 by her other ''Earthsea'' novels and short stories. It was one of the first fantasy series influenced by Tolkien.<ref name="Roberts 2013">{{cite book |last=Roberts |first=Adam |author-link=Adam Roberts (British writer) |year=2013 |title=The Riddles of the Hobbit |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |isbn=978-1-137-37365-6 |chapter=10. The Enigma of Genre Fantasy |quote=Le Guin's Earthsea series, beginning with ''The Wizard of Earthsea'' (1968) is not only amongst the finest examples of post-Tolkien fantasy, it is explicitly and directly influenced by Tolkien himself.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Bernardo |first1=Susan M. |last2=Murphy |first2=Graham J. |year=2006 |title=Ursula K. Le Guin: A Critical Companion |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-313-33225-8 |pages=92–93}}</ref>{{efn|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''.<ref name="Garth 2021">{{cite web |last=Garth |first=John |author-link=John Garth (author) |title=Ursula Le Guin, the language of Earthsea, and Tolkien |url=https://johngarth.wordpress.com/2021/01/22/ursula-le-guin-the-language-of-earthsea-and-tolkien/#_ftn2 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210122223313/https://johngarth.wordpress.com/2021/01/22/ursula-le-guin-the-language-of-earthsea-and-tolkien/ |archive-date=22 January 2021 |url-status=live |publisher=John Garth |access-date=3 February 2021 |date=22 January 2021}}</ref>}} Among the Tolkienian archetypes in the Earthsea books are wizards (including the protagonist, Ged), a disinherited prince (Arren in ''The Farthest Shore''), a magical ring (the ring of Erreth-Akbe in ''The Tombs of Atuan''), a Middle-earth style quest (in ''The Farthest Shore''), and powerful dragons (like the dragon of Pendor, in ''A Wizard of Earthsea'').<ref name="Paxson 1984"/>

Fimi writes that Le Guin's secondary world, along with its mythology, is "very much un-Tolkienian". It has its own culture, languages, and history, but, she notes, Earthsea does not share the British "flavor" of Middle-earth; Earthsea consists of an archipelago not a continent, has brown-skinned protagonists, and Taoist philosophy. Le Guin stated that Tolkien's wizard Gandalf was the "germ" for ''A Wizard of Earthsea''; the character led her to wonder how wizards learnt "what is obviously an erudite and dangerous art? Are there colleges for young wizards?", resulting in the young Ged's going to the island of Roke to study at the School of Magic and ultimately to become the Archmage. In Fimi's view, Le Guin "has navigated her way around Tolkien's legacy with care and a real creative flair."{{sfn|Fimi|2020|p=340–342}}

== Tolkien-influenced fantasy media ==

=== Film ===

The fantasy genre has expanded from the written form into film. Peter Jackson's 2001–3 ''The Lord of the Rings'' film series brought Tolkien to the cinema screen, gaining him, and fantasy in general, a new and very large audience. Its success was followed up by the 2005–10 ''The Chronicles of Narnia'' film series, adapted from Lewis's Narnia books, and the eight ''Harry Potter'' films. The fantasy market accommodated, too, some very un-Tolkien-like films, such as Guillermo del Toro's 2006 ''Pan's Labyrinth'', set in post-Spanish Civil War Spain, where a mythical world full of strange monsters intrudes upon the real world.<ref name="Choudhary 2021">{{cite web |last=Choudhary |first=Sayantan |title=15 Fantasy Movies Like 'Lord of The Rings' for When You're Seeking an Escape From Reality |url=https://collider.com/movies-like-lord-of-the-rings-best-fantasy-films/ |website=Collider |access-date=9 July 2023 |date=13 November 2021}}</ref> Del Toro was later involved in the development of ''The Hobbit'' film series,<ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://hollywoodinsider.ew.com/2008/08/the-hobbit.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080828024418/http://hollywoodinsider.ew.com/2008/08/the-hobbit.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=28 August 2008 |first=Nicole |last=Sperling |title=Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens join Guillermo Del Toro penning ''The Hobbit'' |magazine=Entertainment Weekly |date=19 August 2008 |access-date=20 August 2008 |df=dmy-all}}</ref> despite having said of Tolkien's Middle-earth that "I don't like little guys and dragons, hairy feet, hobbits .... I don't like sword and sorcery, I hate all that stuff".<ref>{{cite news |author=Anon |last2=del Toro |first2=Guillermo |author-link=Guillermo del Toro |url=http://www.salon.com/ent/audiofile/2006/10/12/conversations_toro/ |title=Conversations: Guillermo del Toro |work=Salon.com |date=12 October 2006 |access-date=4 June 2008}}</ref>

=== Games ===

{{further|Middle-earth role-playing games|Middle-earth in video games}}

[[File:E3 2011 - From Aliens Demo Line (5834938502).jpg|thumb|Middle-earth video games at E3 2011 ]]

Tolkien's influence extends to role-playing games including Gary Gygax's 1974 ''Dungeons & Dragons''.<ref name="Perry 2006">{{cite web |last=Perry |first=Douglas |website=www.ign.com |date=18 May 2006 |title=The Influence of Literature and Myth in Videogames |url=https://www.ign.com/articles/2006/05/18/the-influence-of-literature-and-myth-in-videogames?page=1 }}</ref> Gygax was obliged, after a lawsuit, to rename some especially Tolkienesque types of character, such as Hobbits (which became "Halflings"), Nazgul (which became "Wraiths") and the Balrog (which became "Balor").<ref name="Young 2021">{{cite web |last=Young |first=Luca |title=The Lord of the Rings and Tolkien's impact on the fantasy genre |url=https://medium.com/@luca.young000/the-lord-of-the-rings-and-tolkiens-impact-on-the-fantasy-genre-16777c8a2c6d |website=Medium |access-date=9 July 2023 |date=14 September 2021}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://archives.theonering.net/features/interviews/gary_gygax.html |title=Gary Gygax - Creator of Dungeons & Dragons |work=TheOneRing |access-date=9 July 2023 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131206212135/http://archives.theonering.net/features/interviews/gary_gygax.html |archive-date=6 December 2013}}</ref> Many video games inspired by Middle-earth have been manufactured by studios including Electronic Arts, Vivendi Games, Melbourne House, and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://venturebeat.com/2017/06/15/warner-bros-games-are-coming-out-of-the-shadow-of-its-movies/ |title=Warner Bros. Games are coming out of the shadow of its movies |date=15 June 2017 |access-date=3 July 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170704220825/https://venturebeat.com/2017/06/15/warner-bros-games-are-coming-out-of-the-shadow-of-its-movies/ |archive-date=4 July 2017 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/warner-bros-tolkien-estate-settle-80-million-hobbit-lawsuit-1018478 |title=Warner Bros., Tolkien Estate Settle $80 Million 'Hobbit' Lawsuit |website=The Hollywood Reporter |date=3 July 2017 |access-date=3 July 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170703154839/http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/warner-bros-tolkien-estate-settle-80-million-hobbit-lawsuit-1018478 |archive-date=3 July 2017 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Robinson 2015">{{cite book |last=Robinson |first=Carol |chapter=Electronic Tolkien: Characterization in Film and Video Games |title=Medieval Afterlives in Contemporary Culture |editor-last=Ashton |editor-first=Gail |date=2015 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-1-4411-2960-4 }}</ref> Apart from games directly licensed to use Middle-earth material, other developers have developed video games such as ''Baldur's Gate'', ''EverQuest'', ''The Elder Scrolls'', ''Neverwinter Nights'', and ''World of Warcraft'' "grown from the culture put forth from Tolkien's works."<ref name="Perry 2006"/>

=== Art ===

Tolkien is one of the few authors in any domain not just to have had his works illustrated by fantasy artists, in his case including John Howe, Alan Lee,<ref name="FAAB 2021"/> and Ted Nasmith, whose work was praised by Tolkien,<ref name="Hoyt 2009">{{cite web |last=Hoyt |first=Randy |url=http://journeytothesea.com/nasmith-interview/ |title=Illustrating Tolkien: Ted Nasmith Interview |website=Journey to the Sea |date=1 January 2009 }}</ref> but to have spawned a named profession, "Tolkien artist".<ref name="FAAB 2021">{{cite web |title='Here be dragons': Festival in the Shire interviews John Howe  |url=http://www.festivalartandbooks.com/journal2cmy/inthowe.html |website=Festival Art and Books |access-date=15 July 2023 |date=2021}}</ref> Howe and Lee served, too, as concept artists for Jackson's Middle-earth films.<ref name="FOTR SEE">{{cite video |title=The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Appendices |medium=DVD |publisher=New Line Cinema |year=2002}}</ref> The Brothers Hildebrandt created many Tolkien artworks in the 1970s, a selection appearing in their  Tolkien Calendars.<ref name="Hildebrandt Herdling 2001">{{cite book |last1=Hildebrandt |first1=Gregory |author1-link=Brothers Hildebrandt |last2=Herdling |first2=Glenn |title=Greg and Tim Hildebrandt, the Tolkien Years |date=2001 |publisher=Watson-Guptill |isbn=978-0-8230-5124-3 |pages=}}</ref><ref name="Norton Hildebrandt 1991">{{cite book |last1=Norton |first1=Jack E. |last2=Hildebrandt |first2=Tim |author2-link=Brothers Hildebrandt |title=The Fantasy Art Techniques of Tim Hildebrandt |publisher=Avery Publishing |date=1991 |isbn=978-1-85028-161-0}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Tolkien |first1=J. R. R. |author1-link=J. R. R. Tolkien |last2=Hildebrandt |first2=Greg (illus.) |last3=Hildebrandt |first3=Tim (illus.) |author2-link=Brothers Hildebrandt |title=1976 J.R.R. Tolkien Calendar: Illustrations by the Brothers Hildebrandt |date=1975 |publisher=Ballantine Books, Random House |location=New York}}</ref> In Russia, {{ill|Alexander Korotich|ru|Коротич, Александр Владимирович}} created a set of scraperboard illustrations for ''The Lord of the Rings''. He also drew illustrations for a collection of Tolkien's fairy tales for the Ural Market publishing house.<ref name="Uraic.ru exhibition 2013">{{cite web |title=Александр Коротич. Иллюстрации к произведениям Дж. |language=ru |trans-title=Р. Р. Толкина Alexander Korotich. Illustrations for the works of J. R. R. Tolkien |url=http://book.uraic.ru/galereja/vystavki2013/aleksandr_korotich |website=Uraic.ru |access-date=10 September 2023 |date=2013 |quote=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 “D. R. R. Tolkien. Fairy tales" by the publishing house "Ural market", released in 1993. |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161018172900/http://book.uraic.ru/galereja/vystavki2013/aleksandr_korotich |archive-date=18 October 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref>

== Notes ==

== References == {{reflist|28em}}

== Sources ==

* {{cite book |last=Attebery |first=Brian |author-link=Brian Attebery |title=The Fantasy Tradition in American Literature: From Irving to Le Guin |url=https://archive.org/details/fantasytradition00atte |url-access=registration |publisher=Indiana University Press |year=1980 |location=Bloomington |isbn=978-0-2533-5665-9}}  * {{ME-ref|Letters}}  * {{cite book |year=1997 |editor-last=Clute |editor-first=John |title=The Encyclopedia of Fantasy |publisher=Orbit Books |isbn=978-1-85723-368-1}} * {{cite book |last=Fimi |first=Dimitra |author-link=Dimitra Fimi |chapter=Later Fantasy Fiction: Tolkien's Legacy |chapter-url= |pages=335–349 |editor-last=Lee |editor-first=Stuart D. |editor-link=Stuart D. Lee |title=A Companion to J. R. R. Tolkien |date=2020 |orig-year=2014 |publisher=Wiley Blackwell |isbn=978-1-1196-5602-9 |oclc=1183854105}} * {{cite book |last=Flieger |first=Verlyn |author-link=Verlyn Flieger |year=2005 |title=Interrupted Music: The Making Of Tolkien's Mythology |publisher=Kent State University Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q6zgmCf_kY4C&q=Tolkien+%22Red+Book%22+Haggard&pg=PA150 |isbn=9780873388245}} * {{ME-ref|ROAD}} * {{ME-ref|ROTK}}

== Further reading ==

* {{cite journal |editor-last=Fornet-Ponse |editor-first=Thomas |year=2013 |title=Tolkien's Influence on Fantasy - Tolkiens Einfluss Auf Die Fantasy: interdisziplinäres Seminar der DTG 27. bis 29. April 2012, Jena |language=en, de |journal=Hither Shore: Jahrbuch der Deutschen Tolkien Gesellschaft  |volume=9 |publisher=Scriptorium Oxoniae / Atelier für Textaufgaben |location=Düsseldorf |isbn=978-3-9810-6127-7 |oclc=977800457 |ref=none}}

Category:Fantasy Category:J. R. R. Tolkien Category:Issues of cultural influence