The Beginning of The Lord Of The Rings

We’ve all had at least one special book that we’ve loved and reread but when it comes to books that have defined and influenced us that list becomes much smaller. On most peoples lists J.R.R. Tolkien’s epic work The Lord of The Rings would be at the top of the list.

Without it many of the artists and writers we know today would not have been inspired to pick up their brushes or tap at their keys.

It was on this day, 100 years ago, that Tolkien first created the world that the Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings would later spring from. He sat down in 1914 to pen the poem The Voyage Of Earendel The Evening Star;

Éarendel sprang up from the Ocean’s cup,

In the gloom of the mid-world’s rim;

From the door of Night as a ray of light

Leapt over the twilight brim,

And launching his bark like a silver spark

From the golden-fading sand;

Down the sunlit breath of Day’s fiery Death

He sailed from Westerland.

He threaded his path o’er the aftermath

Of the splendor of the Sun,

And wandered far past many a star

In his gleaming galleon.

On the gathering tide of darkness ride

The argosies of the sky,

And spangle the night eith their sails of light

As the streaming star goes by.

Unheeding he dips past these twinkling ships,

By his wayward spirit whirled

On an endless quest through the darkling West

O’er the margin of the world;

And he fares in haste o’er the jewelled waste

And the dusk from whence he came

With his heart afire with bright desire

And his face in silver flame.

The Ship of the Moon from the East comes soon

From the Haven of the Sun,

Whose white gates gleam in the coming beam

Of the mighty silver one.

Lo! With bellying clouds as his vessel’s shrouds

He weighs anchor down the dark,

And on shimmering oars leaves the blazing shores

In his argent-timbered bark.

Then Earendel fled from from that Shipman dread

Beyond the dark earth’s pale,

Back under the rim of the Ocean dim,

And behind the world set sail;

And he heard the mirth of the folk of earth

And the falling of their tears,

As the world dropped back in a cloudy warck

On its journey down the years.

Then he glimmering passed to the starless vast

As an isled lamp at sea.

And beyond the ken of mortal men.

Set his lonely errantry,

Tracking he un in his galleon

Through the pathless firmament,

Till his light grew old in abysses cold

And his eager flame was spent.

— J.R.R. Tolkien

It would be several years before Tolkien would pen The Hobbit (1937) and his epic The Lord Of The Rings wouldn’t follow until 1954. While many have been inspired by Tolkien’s work this early work shows some of his own influences such as Beowulf, the Norse God sagas and Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen operas. He also sited H. Rider Haggard’s She as being an inspiration alongside several British fantasy authors of the time.

We all have our inspirations for our work and tend to often forget that those who inspired us were in turn inspired by others.

Lord of the Rings was, while not my first fantasy series to read, was definitely the first classic. I read the series in 2 weeks and then went through everything else Tolkien had ever written in about 6 months. The biggest part that has influenced me is the world building; Tolkien did this on a massive scale, inventing his own histories and mythology for his fictional world. The world had it’s own laws and logic and functioned in a coherent way. Not only did Tolkien’s work cement my love of the fantasy genre, it pushed me to create my own worlds, my own stories and that’s very important to me.”

– Lyricanna

The immersive world and characters of Lord of the Rings trilogy awoke my deep adoration of fantasy and inspired me to persue my own dreams of writing. J.R.R. Tolkien managed to combined his love for philology and writing and turn it into a masterpiece. If only we were all so lucky.”

– SingingFlames