The legendarium (also called Tolkien Mythology) is the corpus of connected, fantastical stories imagined and written by J.R.R. Tolkien, making up the history of Arda, and the entire extensive background to The Lord of the Rings. This legendarium was developed in evolving, complex stages over almost six decades of Tolkien's life. Before the induction of The Hobbit into the legendarium, the majority of these writings, revealing a vast ancient and First Age history of Arda, were named the "Silmarillion". These tales and their settings changed through many stages of development throughout Tolkien's life, and the final versions of many of them were selected and published together as The Silmarillion by Tolkien's son, Christopher, after his death.
Tolkien imaginatively intended these stories to be a creative legendarium for Europe; they are meant to be taken fictitiously nonetheless.
In use, legendarium refers to what includes the "final", canonical lore of Arda, lore here considered "precanonical" (such as that of Eriol), and Tolkien's revisions of various matters from after the publication of The Lord of the Rings. Tolkien's classic tales such as "Leaf by Niggle" and "Roverandom", and Medieval retellings such as "The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun" and "The Fall of Arthur", are excluded from this.
For an explanation of the variants of the qualifiers "canon" and "precanon" on this Wiki, see LOTR:Canon.
Mythological roots
It is well-known that Tolkien had interest in the mythology and linguistics of Northern Europe, specifically the pagan mythologies of the Norse and English peoples. The other main influence was Finnish Mythology - it played a major role in the creation of The Silmarillion, and the Quenya language was modeled mostly after the Finnish language. Two other examples of linguistic influences were Rohirric, the language used for the Rohirrim which was substituted by Old English (from which English is chiefly derived), and the language spoken in Dale and Esgaroth, equivalent to Old Norse, which is the language of the epic sagas and poems of the Norse.
Many significant events of Middle-earth's history - such as Smaug's awakening and rampage, the finding of the Ring, and the reforging of Narsil - all have parallels in Germanic Mythology. The epic poetry of Northern Europe's past, such as the epic poem Beowulf and 'Völsungasaga', have also been cited as influencing Tolkien and his legendarium. The rampage of Smaug could in fact be seen to be inspired by Beowulf, in which a cup is stolen from the sleeping wyrm who then leaves his cave for revenge. (His revenge is the climax of the story, and the demise of the protagonist Beowulf).
The One Ring is said by many to have been inspired by the ring in the Norse saga of the Völsungs and its later German version, the High Medieval Nibelunglied; however comments by Tolkien make it unclear as to whether it was a reference to the Völsungasaga.
Éowyn's disguising as a man in The Return of the King is likely to echo many tales of 'Shield-maidens' and Valkyries from Norse Mythology.
The name of the chief continent of Arda, Middle-earth, has its origins in Norse Mythology also. The name derives from the Old English Middanġeard (meaning "middle enclosure") which later became the Middle English term Middel-erde (meaning now "Middle-earth" rather than the older sense of "Middle-yard"). This name for our world has cognates in the various other Germanic languages: Miðgarðr in Old Norse (rendered as "Midgard" in Modern English), and Mittelerde in Modern German.
The Creation of Arda (Eä)
Main article: Ainulindalë
The Creation of Arda and all of the known world is attributed to Eru Illuvatar, "the One". He speaks the universe into existence, with the word Eä meaning "It is". Eä is thus the original term for and name of Arda, counting the Earth, the Void, and different specific regions of the skies and heavens.
Eru had produced from his thought angelic spirits, all good in nature, named the Ainur, asking them to sing to Him a melodious tune, to which he added his own splendorous themes. The music of this defined the changes and events that would take place on Arda after its approaching manifestation. One of the Ainur was Melkor, whose name later became Morgoth, who was evil, from whom all evil would stem in Middle-earth and Arda as a whole. Melkor introduced his own evil discords into the main musical theme, disrupting its harmony. In this instance Eru put a stop to the music at once, and manifested all of Eä immediately.
Some Ainur were surprised by the grandeur of this new creation and longed for experience in it - so did Melkor, but with wholly different purposes. Eru granted the Ainur with the choice of living in Arda or staying with him in the Timeless Halls, free of physical form and time itself. Some of the Ainur chose to enter Arda, and so did Melkor. Eru's first intentions during the "Ainulindalë", or the music created by the Ainur, also called the First Music of the Ainur, was to create a somewhat symmetrical world, flat in nature. But Melkor's discords marred it beyond repair and is supposedly what created the vast mountain ranges and hills.
The Ainur that entered Arda were called the Valar (in singular, Vala). The leader and most powerful of the Valar was Manwë. Melkor, or Morgoth, was also the most powerful Valar during those times until his reign as "Dark Lord" of Arda. Under the Valar were less powerful spirits called the Maiar, amongst whom Sauron was one (the main antagonist of The Lord of the Rings). Maiar were often designated to specific Valar, each Valar having been given a particular skill which the Maiar below him or her would carry out. Sauron was the leader amongst the Vala Aulë's Maiar, whose specific skill was smithery - and from this he would come to have the ability to craft the One Ring an age later.
The physical state of Arda
Arda after its creation was originally flat in shape, containing mainly the continent of Middle-earth and Aman to "Extreme West", known as the Undying Lands, where the Valar lived and later on where the Elves lived during the dawn of the Dominion of Men. When the King of Númenor Ar-Pharazôn tried to reach the Undying Lands as a way to become immortal, due to the corrupting powers of Sauron and Morgoth, Eru Illuvatar, at the request of the Valar, removed the entire continent from Arda and reshaped it into a sphere, which is the shape of the Earth today.
Even though Aman was removed from Arda, and all paths on Arda are now bent, there remained a straight path across the sea that only the Elves or those granted special access (e.g. the ring-bearing Hobbits Bilbo, Frodo and Sam, along with Gimli) could travel. In this way those allowed to take this path were able to travel outside the realm of Arda and so pass to Aman. Because this path was only open to the Elves, the mortal races of Middle-earth (Men, Dwarves, Hobbits etc.) were unable to ever again come within sight of the Blessed Realm during life.
Works
Tolkien Mythology is manifested in the following publications:
- The Silmarillion
- The Hobbit
- The Lord of the Rings
- The History of Middle-earth - a twelve-volume series
- Unfinished Tales
- The Children of Húrin
- Beren and Lúthien
- The Fall of Gondolin
- The Nature of Middle-earth
References