Take This One J.R.R. Tolkien Quiz to Rule Them All

Tolkien had no shortage of Middle-earth material. About 10 years after Tolkien’s 1973 death, his son Christopher began publishing volumes of Middle-earth history from his father’s notes. The 12-volume history expands on “The Lord of the Rings” timeline, including language and mythology that didn’t make it into the main story. “Bilbo’s Last Song” is a poem written by Tolkien as a gift to his secretary.

Tolkien and Lewis both belonged to a small, informal writing group at Oxford University known as The Inklings. The three original members — Tolkien, Lewis, and philosopher, poet and author Owen Barfield — created the name as a pun in reference to their vague ideas. The group got together twice a week to talk about whatever they were working on at the moment and critique each other’s work.

Tolkien took a great deal of inspiration from medieval literature. His epic fantasies follow the same structure as many medieval stories, where the main character embarks on a journey, plays the hero, and is rewarded in the end. But Tolkien took plenty of linguistic influence from the Middle Ages, too, including Old English and Old Norse vocabulary and grammatical structures for his invented languages.

Tolkien’s experiences in World War I, including the notoriously brutal Battle of the Somme, informed many of his scenes in “The Lord of the Rings.” Elements such as the road to Mordor and the references to losing close friends are presumably influenced by Tolkien’s time in the war.

Although Tolkien is most famous for his “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy and “The Hobbit,” they are far from his only works. Tolkien wrote several books about Middle-earth detailing its extensive history, landscape, languages, people, and more. He also had a deep interest in medieval literature, and translated texts such as “Beowulf” and “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.” The fantasy series “The Sword of Shannara,” however, was written by author Terry Brooks, and published in 1977.

Now one of the most significant authorities on the English language, the Oxford English Dictionary bears Tolkien’s mark. Thanks to his linguistic expertise, Tolkien was tasked with reviewing some of the dictionary’s “w” words. His involvement included deciphering the etymologies of various words, which have influenced the creation of more modern dictionaries.

Since “The Hobbit” was promised to be of interest to adolescents, 10-year-old Rayner Unwin, the son of Tolkien’s publisher, Stanley Unwin, got the job of reviewer. Rayner was paid the standard shilling for his review, deeming the book suitable for children ages 5-9. After the success of Tolkien’s books, Rayner was known to claim that the payment he received was the publisher’s best-spent shilling.

C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien had no small amount of influence on each other. The two fantasy authors met while teaching at Oxford University, where they created an informal literary society. Lewis, described by Tolkien as the “only audience” for his work, played an integral role in encouraging Tolkien to explore and write about Middle-earth. Lewis went on to write the beloved fantasy series “The Chronicles of Narnia,” which began with “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” in 1950.

Tolkien’s linguistic skills are apparent in his writing, having created two nearly full-fledged languages. He learned four languages by the time he was 12 years old and picked up significant knowledge of several others in his lifetime. Tolkien described language as the foundation for “The Lord of the Rings.” He studied how dead languages transformed into modern ones, and he applied that knowledge to his fiction.

Tolkien created several languages and dialects within the Elvish family while writing the “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy. Two of them, Quenya and Sindarin, are considered complete enough to hold a conversation. Some hardcore fans can even write and speak in these dialects — with online worksheets and pronunciation videos to help — and Tolkien himself said he’d have preferred to write in Elvish if given the choice.