J. R. R. Tolkien

Fairy tales are considered works of fiction because of the fantastically unrealistic locations, characters, and events. However, I know of a place that is equally utopian, yet deemed to be a part of our shared reality. I’ve even been there. I’ve seen nature at its purest, met people at their kindest, and experienced a kind of personal growth that has changed the course of my life forever. This Shangri-la is not found in a James Hilton novel, but rather in Wake Forest, North Carolina. While its…

The typical reader of fantasy literature wouldn’t expect to find symbols for Christianity in a book. But a reader of a work by C.S Lewis can expect just that. Lewis was a poet, scholar, and above all, one of the most renowned authors of fantasy literature during the 20th century. He was best known for The Chronicles of Narnia series, and specifically, The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. He was a devout Christian and was a defender and teacher of the faith. His faith and life experiences had a…

Clyde Staples Lewis, author of the well-loved Chronicles of Narnia series, was born to Albert James Lewis and Flora Augusta Hamilton Lewis in 1898 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Lewis was the younger of two sons; he had a brother, Warren Hamilton Lewis, who had been born in 1895. Lewis went by the nickname of “Jack”, a name which he apparently gave himself and which stuck (Biography.com). When he was 10, his mother died of cancer, and he and Warren were sent to Wynyard School in England. After…

important role in The Hobbit, was Bilbo’s advisor and knowledgeable figure. He persuaded Bilbo to go on the journey with the dwarves because he knew that Bilbo was capable of defeating Smaug. After Gandalf leaves the group at the edge of Mirkwood (Tolkien Ch. 7), Bilbo has realized his new found courageousness and cleverness, thanks to Gandalf. Gandalf notices Bilbo’s growth and realized he does not need his physical presence to guide him to the home of the Elvenking or Smaug’s lair. In the end,…

J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit has various settings throughout the novel, often taking place in the fantasy world of Middle Earth during the Third Age, which many believe the author based off of Britain in the Middle Ages. Bilbo Baggins, along with a rather colossal group of dwarves wanting to reclaim their gold from the dragon Smaug, travel through: Bags End, the Lone-Lands, Rivendell, the Misty Mountains, Mirkwood, and the Lonely Mountain. This audacious novel begins with the venturesome Bilbo…

Lewis paper Fantasy writing at the center of everything is a story that cannot possibly happen our world. It creates whole new worlds and realms of mysteries that could only possibly take place in novels and come from ones imagination. This is very noticeable in C.S. Lewis’ books and especially in the Chronicles of Narnia. From Aslen breathing on the statues bringing life back into them to Aslen being resurrected back to life, these great writings show how great fantasy writing can be and the…

Ronald Reuel Tolkien was born on January 3, 1892, in Bloemfontein, South Africa. When he was only 3 years of age his mother brought him and his younger brother, Hilary, to live in England, where she was originally from. Tolkien's father died soon after, whilst he was still in South Africa by himself, thus the family remained in England. During the summer of 1896 his mother found them a home in the hamlet of Sarehole, which is located just outside the city Birmingham (Curles). Tolkien and his…

Lewis had a talk with J.R.R. Tolkien and Hugo Dyson. They wanted to discuss Lewis’s views on God (Davenport, 62). Lewis said that he “Couldn’t see how the life and death of someone else [Jesus Christ] 2,000 years ago could help us here and now” (Davenport, 63). Lewis’s father had just recently died from cancer, which made him question, if God did exist, why He would do something like that. Lewis, Tolkien, and Dyson talked until 3:00 in the morning, and when Tolkien left, Dyson discussed more…

them or hate them. They will either go down in history or vanish into the mist. The “Lord of the Rings” (LotR) trilogy is one of the most notorious series ever, written about an unassuming hobbit named Frodo who goes on a journey to save the world (Tolkien). In contrast, the “Shadow Wars” trilogy is completely unheard of, despite being written by the writers of Star Wars and The Uncanny X-men. The Shadow Wars (SW) trilogy is written about a Nelwyn named Willow Ufgood (or Thorn Drumheller) and…

He is trying to persuade the audience that he uses a fictional world where everything is related to magic, but also in some certain way that can be related to the human beings in a real world. The fictional world that the Tolkien has created in his novel is the replication of the real world that is only possible to create with human mind and inevitably such as Hobbits who are kind of the race of Men with the hairy feet and languages spoken that he used in the novel are found…