Historical Interviews #1 - J.R.R Tolkien

Taken from the J.R.R Tolkien Facebook page

Hello fellow Lord of the Rings fans! (looking at you Middle Earth Musician :D)

Recently, I came across a special device while clearing out my attic. It looked very much like the one ring. I put it on, and found I had the ability to call upon any deceased person from the past, and speak to them. So naturally (as I was listening to the Fellowship of the Ring audiobook at the time) I decided to call upon J.R.R Tolkien, and interview him. This is what happened.


Me: Hello J.R.R Tolkien!

Tolkien: Hello [Psylova], and please, just call me Tolkien.

Me: Why Tolkien? Wouldn't you rather be called John?

Tolkien: It's only for the purposes of this interview. I'm very proud of my family name! It comes from the German word "tollkühn", which means foolhardy! And calling me John would be boring now, wouldn't it?

Me: Okay then Tolkien! Well, I would first like to talk to you about your early life. What was it like?

Tolkien: Ah, well, my entire life was quite interesting! You see, I was not actually born in England, but in Bloemfontein in the Orange Free State in South Africa. My parents were Arthur Tolkien and Mabel Suffield Tolkien. The climate there did not suit me, and my mother took me and my little brother Hilary to visit her parents in King's Heath in Birmingham, England. My father died when I was four from complications of rheumatic fever, and she decided to stay in England. We moved to the village of Sarehole outside Birmingham, in 1861. I remember that I was called "Ronald" at the time!

Me: Woah! I always thought you were born in English, not South African!

Tolkien: I was born in South Africa, but lived for most of my life in England. So I guess I'm a bit of both? Anyway, my mother died in 1904, and we were sent to live with a relative and in boarding homes.

Me: Why boarding homes? Why could a relative not have permanently taken you in?

Tolkien: Well, you see, my mother was a devout catholic, and this caused a rift between my relatives, who were protestant. She was worried that they would force me and my brother to become protestants if they took us in. So she put us under the care of a catholic priest. At the age of sixteen, I met Edith Bratt, the love of my life, however she was three years my senior. She was also not a catholic, and my guardian forced me to have no contact with her until I was twenty-one. I was faced with a choice to betray the man who had cared for me for many years, or to wait five years. I decided to wait, and I do not regret it. Unfortunately, Edith thought I had lost interest in her. At the age of twenty-one, I found her and confessed my undying love. She broke off her engagement with another man, converted to Catholicism, and we were married.

Me: That's awesome! Speaking of Catholicism, I heard you saw a vision from God?

Tolkien: Yes, and I still stand by that. I was kneeling before the Eucharist, and I was given a vision by god, in which I saw my guardian angel. I am a devoutly religious man, and I try to attend mass whenever possible. I love my God, and I know he loves me.

Me: That's really cool! I am glad you try to attend church whenever possible. I do to, and I know God loves me. Anyway, I heard that you fought in the infamous Battle of the Somme in World War One?

Tolkien: Yes I did. I witnessed firsthand the carnage and devastation of war. I fought in other battles too. My relatives kept hinting (at the beginning) that I should join, but I delayed until I had finished my degree. My wife, Edith, was upset, and so I devised a code by which my letters could get to her, even around the British Army's postal censorship. I contracted trench fever from the lice in the trenches, and had to be removed from combat multiple times. Lucky I did. My entire battalion was killed, and all but one of my closest friends. I still miss them.

Me: I'm sorry to hear that Tolkien.

Tolkien: I am too, but I know that they are in a better place now. I was able to return home (because of illness) and start giving lectures at Leeds University, then Oxford. While there, I started a special writing group called the Inklings, and among it's members was Owen Barfield and my good friend C.S. Lewis. It was at oxford too, that, while grading a paper, I wrote a short line:

                              "In a hole in the ground there lived a Hobbit."

From this, my first book "The Hobbit" was born, and it was published in 1937 and was regarded as a children's book (though I myself did not intend for this). I drew 100 drawings to support the narrative. Later, I would start work on my masterpiece: "The Lord of the Rings". It took me ten years to write. I released "The Fellowship of the Ring" in 1954, and "The Two Towers" and "The Return of the King" in 1955. 

Me: You must be extremely happy about it's success!

Tolkien: Yes, and I kept regular correspondences with many of my fans. However, I was a scholar first and writer second. I spent years rejecting and shredding and criticizing adaptations of my work that I didn't think captured it's epic scope. This was my attempt at constructing a body of myth, and it's success caught me largely unaware. I was also utterly skeptical of most of my fans. I just don't think they can truly appreciate the true majesty of what I've built.

Me: Well, I have a friend who has actually learned elvish, and has probably read the Silmarillion a few times. I myself have read up on some of the things in the Silmarillion. It's awesome Tolkien, and you inspired me to build my own epic fantasy world!

Tolkien: I'm flattered, but don't forget to live in the real world, which is far more fascinating than anything I have created. Stop cosplaying Legolas and go explore the world!

Me: Words to live by. Anyway, could you please tell us about your view on Cars?

Tolkien: Uh... well... I'm not fond of cars. I think they stink up the environment. Oh, do you mean the story? Well, I took the family car on an outing once and crashed it into a wall. I also would rage down the road and when I saw people I would yell "Charge them and they scatter!" as I gleefully forced my way to were I wanted to be. I eventually stopped, and I'm glad. I'm very lucky I didn't kill someone.

Me: Tolkien, I just want to say, that that is awesome.

Tolkien: Not for the people I was making scatter!

Me: That's true. I also heard that you called Hitler a "ruddy little ignoramus". Is this true?

Tolkien: Yes indeed! That blasted Adolf Hitler wanted me to confirm that I was "Aryan" before I could publish the German translation of my book! I told them that I was unfortunate not to have any Jewish ancestors, and that Hitler himself was a... well... "ruddy little Ignoramus!". I also said some other things that were just as nasty!

Me: Three cheers for Tolkien!

Tolkien: Well... thankyou! Is there anything more you would like to know?

Me: No, that's fine! Thank you for joining us tonight Tolkien!

Tolkien: No, It's my pleasure! If you ever need me, just call!'

Me: Thankyou!


Well, there you are! I hope you enjoyed that little interview with J.R.R Tolkien. Here are some more facts about him that he told me:

1. As a baby, he was once kidnapped for a day by a house boy, who was captivated by him
2. He convinced C.S. Lewis to become a Christian
3. Tolkien invented several languages in his early teens, including Quenya
4. He spend a few years getting into debt at Oxford to try and keep up with the richer students
5. He had a great love of beer and talking late into the night
6. He studied classics first, but switched to English literature when he discovered he could study middle english
7. The character of Samwise Gamgee is based off the soldiers he commanded during the war
8. The first work that he wrote was the Silmarillion, which wasn't published until after he died
9. In 1918, he got a job working on the Oxford dictionary
10. He wanted the Lord of the Rings to be published alongside the Silmarillion, almost going to another publisher
11. When Tolkien's son joined the army, he listed his father's occupation as "Wizard!"
12. Tolkien once said 'My political opinions lean more and more to anarchy.'
13. Tolkien credits the work of William Morris as a great inspiration
14. One of his favourite sayings was "Never laugh at live Dragons, Bilbo you fool!"
15. He went to parties dressed as a polar bear
16. He once chased a neighbour dressed as an axe-wielding Anglo-Saxon Warrior!
17. He was known to hand his false teeth to shopkeepers as payment
18. He spoke like Gandalf while giving his lectures
19. One of his students said that "He could turn a lecture room into a mead hall!"
20. He also wrote many scholarly work, including Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics, a modern translation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and A Middle English Vocabulary.
21. He and his wife are buried at the same place, and their shared gravestone reads "Beren and Luthien" as well as their actual names.
22. While a professor at Leeds university, he formed the Viking Club!
23. He invented languages for fun!
24. He first came across invented languages at his early teens, and invented some for fun with his two cousins.

I hope you enjoyed my little interview with John Ronald Ruel Tolkien, author of the infamous Lord of the Rings, and the rest of his Legendarium.

What is the next Historical Interview? I'll give you a hint:

     Buke Shohatto

Anyways, I'll see you later!

Namárie 

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._R._R._Tolkien

http://mentalfloss.com/article/59736/10-things-you-might-not-know-about-jrr-tolkien

http://blog.biographyonline.net/2013/01/30-facts-about-jrr-tolkien.html

https://www.biography.com/people/jrr-tolkien-9508428

https://listverse.com/2014/12/24/10-fascinating-facts-about-j-r-r-tolkien/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tolkien_family

https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/288669-in-a-hole-in-the-ground-there-lived-a-hobbit

http://happyinmyhobbithole.weebly.com/useful-elvish-phrases.html

You should also check this out:

https://www.toptentopia.com/10-popular-but-wrong-ideas-fans-believe-about-j-r-r-tolkien-middle-earth/