The Quill #7: Recommended Reads #1

When people have conversations about their favorite books, it can sometimes be easy to forget about the authors who created them. After all, our favorite stories are born from the minds of these incredibly gifted and imaginative individuals. So, in a sense, it could be said that we aren’t discussing our most-loved books as much as we are our favorite ideas from the people who produced them. In this edition of The Quill, we wanted to hear about our contributors’ favorite authors, and why their ideas resonate with readers all over the world.

 Anybody who knows me personally knows how much I love The Lord of the Rings, and I would be remiss not to talk about its author. Born on January 3^rd, 1892, J.R.R. Tolkien is the mastermind behind the world of Middle-earth, the diverse characters who inhabit it, and the unique languages that those characters speak. In many ways, Tolkien could be seen as the “godfather” of modern fantasy, primarily due to his popularization of many traits and tropes that we associate with the genre today. The versions of species such as Elves, Dwarves, and Orcs that we’re familiar with were first seen in Tolkien’s works. He even invented Hobbits, otherwise known as “halflings” in other media.Yet despite these groundbreaking innovations in the fantasy genre, Tolkien didn’t come up with most of these ideas on his own. Like any great writer should, he found inspiration in the works that came before him. Throughout his life, Tolkien was an avid studier of mythology, whether it be Greek, Norse, Roman, or Celtic. The aforementioned species — with the exception of Hobbits — were all drawn from ancient myths in some capacity, but there were more robust borrowings as well. For example, a theoretical apocalyptic event in Middle-earth’s canon, known as Dagor Dagorath, was directly inspired by Ragnarök, a catastrophic event in Norse mythology that would see the world burn following a battle of gods and heroes. Additionally, the well-known character Gandalf was loosely based on Odin, the all-father of the Norse pantheon. The Valar, powerful spirits who oversaw Middle-earth, were also created with Greek gods and goddesses in mind. Finally, there is the flooding of Númenor, a city whose fate directly mimics the Greek myth of Atlantis.

But of course, while Tolkien is known for his masterful worldbuilding and love for mythology, there is nothing that represents who he was better than the languages of Middle-earth. Tolkien possessed a love for everything related to language from a young age, and he began developing his own languages for fun by the age of 13. This passion eventually led him to work as a professor at the University of Oxford, where he taught Old English and English literature for over three decades. However, his most notable linguistic work once again comes in the form of The Lord of the Rings, as he developed 15 unique languages that were spoken by Middle-earth’s inhabitants. These include the Elvish languages of Quenya and Sindarin, the Dwarven language of Khuzdul, and the Black Speech of Mordor, spoken by Orcs and other dark beings. These languages are what set Tolkien’s work apart from many other fantasy stories, and they help to make Middle-earth feel more like a fully functioning world of its own.

Although it’s been over 50 years since J.R.R. Tolkien’s passing, his influence on the fantasy genre cannot be understated. Works such as Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time, Terry Brooks’ The Sword of Shannara, Christopher Paolini’s Inheritance Cycle, and Brandon Sanderson’s The Stormlight Archives have all taken inspiration from Tolkien’s work in some capacity. As an aspiring fantasy author myself, I find much of my inspiration within the pages of The Lord of the Rings, and my own love for mythology intersects with Tolkien’s in many ways. So, if I’m ever asked who my favorite author is, my answer will always be Tolkien, and I doubt that that will ever change.