The Historical Truth of Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings

[Flint]

Okay, I will admit “historical truth” is a massive stretch, but not by as much as you’d think.

First consider that Tolkien was a professor of Anglo-Saxon, English Literature, and History at Oxford University. He was learned in a vast body of myth and folklore. If you accept that tales of legend are based on a kernel of truth, then, by extension, Tolkien would have been in a prime position to reveal these inherent truths in his fictional writings, which were founded in his years of acquired factual knowledge. This point, I concede, requires you to accept an arguable premise. But this isn’t the strongest point I have to make.

The strongest point regarding the historical veracity of Tolkien is concerned with the existence of Elves, Dwarves, Hobbits, and other intelligent, bipedal humanoids who co-existed, and in some cases interbred, with man. This has been proven to be true. Scientifically, verifiably, undoubtedly true.

Elves, Dwarves, Hobbits ACTUALLY EXISTED
Much to do has been made about Indonesia’s hobbits* but this is just a small part of the picture. What we now know is that, as recently as 30,000 years ago, man co-existed with at least three other humanoid species: h. floresiensis, h. neanderthal, and the recently discovered h. denisovans. We did interbreed with them. All human populations which left Africa carry with them today 1% to 4% h. neanderthal DNA. The population of New Guinea carries 5% h. denisovan DNA. This is all from the May 2011 issue of Discover magazine.

I contend that the legends that Tolkien studied carried a kernel of historical truth, passed down in our oral traditions from 30,000 years ago, and that his writings may as well be an accurate description of how these species interacted. With one important exception--the matter of technology. The base level of technology in the “fantasy” genre assumes medieval armor and weaponry. Therefore, Elves and “wizards” are required to have “magic” in order to surpass the abilities of others. If we instead, palce the base level of technology at “stone age” then it is much easier to imagine that Elves and “wizards” were simply slightly more advanced, and had learned some rudimentary forms of metallurgy, etc.

Furthermore, it is natural to assume that in the re-telling of tales, the technology level is re-told at a level that the listener can identify with. Therefore there was a technology “creep” in the re-telling of the legends upon which Tolkien’s writings were based. If we reset the technology level to “stone age,” and then examine the coexistence and interbreeding of intelligent humanoid species (that we know took place at a time about six times more distant that the Old Testament), we can easily see that the world described as Tolkien’s Middle Earth is not as “fantastic” as we had assumed.




*About the hobbits I will say that the theories that they were a dwarfed species, or specimens exhibiting microcephaly, have been largely dismissed.

[Sundae]

Genesis
(for J R R Tolkien)

In the beginning were the words,
Aristocratic, cryptic, chromatic.
Vowels as direct as mid-day,
Consonants lanky as long-swords.

Mouths materialized to speak the words:
Leafshaped lips for the high language,
Tranquil tongues for the tree-creatures,
Slits and slobbers for the lower orders.

Deeds came next, words' children.
Legs by walking evolved a landscape.
Continents and chronologies occurred,
Complex and casual as an implication.

Arched over all, alarming nimbus,
Magic's disorderly thunder and lightning.

The sage sat in his suburban fastness,
Garrisoned against progress. He grieved
At what the Duke's men did to our words
(Whose war memorial is every signpost).

The sage sat. And middle-earth
Rose around him like a rumour.
Grave grammarians, Grimm and Werner,
Gave it laws, granted it charters.

The sage sat. But the ghosts walked
Of the Birmingham schoolboy, the Somme soldier,
Whose bones lay under the hobbit burrows,
Who endured darkness, and friends dying,

Whom words waylaid in a Snow Hill siding,
Coal truck pit names, grimy, gracious,
Blaen-Rhondda, Nantyglo, Senghenydd.
In these deeps middle-earth was mined.

These were the words in the beginning.

U A Fanthorpe

[ZenGum]

A lot of the background stories for Middle Earth - especially those in The Silmarillion - are drawn pretty much directly from Ye Olde Englisshe folk tales that Tolkien had studied and translated.

[Clodfobble]

Originally Posted by Flint

we can easily see that the world described as Tolkien’s Middle Earth is not as “fantastic” as we had assumed.

Except for the giant walking trees, right?

[monster]

FFS he was from Birmingham. He was stoned.

He hung out with C.S. Lewis. He was stoned.

The stories were awesome, but not a work from reality.

Except, maybe, for the two towers -a folly in Edgbaston and a water tower.


And.....The Silmarillion -most of that was his son. And it's crap.

[ZenGum]

You may be thinking of "Unfinished Tales" which was "edited" by his son. I'm too lazy to check but I think Silmarillion was by the father.

[DanaC]

I do know that 'orcs' existed in the Old English world...that was the name given to foreign devils, like the Normans.

[Urbane Guerrilla]

The Silmarillion was indeed John Ronald Reul. Less a polished work than LOTR, and reads like a collection of annals. A handbook to the First and Second Age, if you like, and demonstrated JRRT's faculty for maintaining an ancient-days tone unjarred by modernistic words and stylings that will fray the thread that suspends disbelief. Visually rich enough you could do a series of Silmarillion calendars à la Brothers Hildebrandt. After Silmarillion (the eponymous story is only a portion of the book) the readability of the rest of the entire Tolkien Bookshelf drops off fast, and is only recommended for completists and thesis writing English majors.

I'd thought the classic "fangs" definition was the real orc one, even in the Tolkien scheme.

[ZenGum]

I quite like Farmer Giles of Ham. Short, sweet, fun tale.

[infinite monkey]

Puh.

[Flint]

Ah, I seem to have overlooked that my original inspiration was in FOUR parts. The May 2011 issue of Discover magazine being the fourth. Well, actually, more like the capstone atop years of this line of thinking. I also credit Erich Von Daniken for perverting my mind with these "what if" scenarios; leading me to, in extreme cases, conceive of such psuedo-historical scenarios as "Jesus was the king of vampires" which, I assure you, makes perfect sense in a carefully contrived context. Be it a comic book or an RPG plot.

[ZenGum]

"Jesus was the king of vampires"

Well, he was a King, and having risen from the dead, a well-known zombie, but Vampire? That's a new one.

ETA he must have gone nuts during the gory bits of the crucifixion. All that blood, no way to drink it.

[Happy Monkey]

You join him by drinking his blood.

[Flint]

There's more; the ability to heal, by laying on of hands--what if it runs both ways? One could take energy from a person as well. All goes off without a hitch as long as one doesn't do too much taking and no giving. But, if you have a surplus of taken lifeforce, your own body's essence will atrophy, as happens if you take steroids and your body stops producing its own hormones. In the case of excessive vampirism, your body stops caring about living. You fade from life, pale and cold, and begin to dwell in the shadows.



And yes, it is transmitted by blood, but it isn't a disease--it's the proliferation of a symbiotic
microorganism.