BurnTalon's Tolkien Web Page

Mabel died in 1904, leaving the boys to the care of Father Francis Morgan, a priest at the Birmingham Oratory. At King Edward's school, Ronald was taught classics, Anglo-Saxon, and Middle English. He had great linguistic talent, and after studying old Welsh and Finnish he started to invent his own elvish languages.

1914 saw the outbreak of the first World War. Ronald was in his final year at Exter College, Oxford: he graduated the following year with First in English Language and Literature and at once took up his commission as a second lieutenant in the Lancashire Fusiliers. Before embarking for France in June 1916, he married his childhood sweetheart Edith Bratt. Tolkien survived the Battle of the Somme, where two of his three closest friends were killed, but later that year he was struck down by trench fever and invalided back to England.

The years after the Great War were devoted to his work as an academic: as a Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford, where he was soon to prove himself one of the finest philoligists in the world. He had already started to write a great cycle of the myths and legends of Middle Earth which was to become the Silmarillion. He and Edith had four children and it was for them that he first told the tale of The Hobbit, published in 1937 by Sir Stanley Unwin. The Hobbit proved to be so successful that Unwin was soon asking for a sequel: but it was not until 1954, when Tolkien was approaching retirement, that the first volume of his great masterpiece, The Lord of the Rings, was published, and its terrific success took him by surprise.

After retirement Ronald and Edith moved to Bournemouth, but when Edith died in 1971, Ronald returned to Oxford. He died after a brief illness on 2nd September 1973, leaving his great mythological work, The Silmarillion, to be edited for publication by his son, Christopher.

The Hobbit - Tolkien's first work as an author, this is the story of the adventure of a hobbit named Bilbo Baggins, traveling with the party of dwarves questing to retake Lonely Mountain. This book is classic Tolkien fantasy, with a lot of interesting names and a slew of cool adventures. I enjoyed this book, though not as much as Tolkien's other books. If you are planning to read LotR, however, I recommend you check this out first, for it leads directly into the trilogy.

The Fellowship of the Ring - This began the epic Lord of the Rings Trilogy with the nephew of Bilbo Baggins, Frodo, coming into ownership of the ring, and his subsequent adventures, which led him into the role of the Ringbearer. Of the three books in Lord of the Rings, this is my favorite, for it is centered around the adventures of Frodo and of the Fellowship.

The Two Towers - The second book in Lord of the Rings, this details the downfall of the treacherous wizard Saruman and the first battles against Sauron. Of the three Lord of the Rings books, I liked this the least, though it was still better than most fantasies I've read. However, it was imperative to understanding the rest of the trilogy.

The Return of the King - The third volume in Lord of the Rings, this concluded the battles of the war and the quest of the Ringbearer. It was based on both war and questing, and this made it immensely enjoyable, though less so than the Fellowship. TROTK was a very good conclusion to the great trilogy.

The Silmarillion - Published by Christopher Tolkien after his father's death, this was the most difficult to read of Tolkien's works. It deatailed the entire early ages of Middle Earth, following the wars, adventures, and loves which created Middle Earth. If you think you have read an epic, but have not read The Silmarillion, then you are wrong. This is the largest and most powerful book I have ever had the pleasure of reading, though it was difficult to wade through. I loved the Silmarillion, and would recommend it to any fantasy or language enthusiast who had enough gutts to take it on.

Unfinished Tales - This is a volume of the unfinished works of Tolkien. It includes many stories of Middle Earth. Of all the works published here, I have liked this one the least so far. It has been too difficult to read, without the power that the Silmarillion had. Still, if you love Tolkien, you would want to read this.

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight - I have actually never read this, but I plan to as soon as I can get my hands on it. Somebody send me a review!

The JRR Tolkien Information Page - a very large, well-organized archive of information about Tolkien and his works.
The Tolkien Society - a large society established to study and provide information about the works of JRR Tolkien
The Dark Side of Tolkien - a page with a truly unique perspective on Tolkien's works, highly recommended that you take a look
The Nazgul - an excellent page devoted to those nine beasties I know you love, the Ringwraiths.
TolkLang - a page about Tolkien and his language study and creation
The World of JRR Tolkien - Tolkien's stories and tales
The Tolkien Timeline - a detailed biography page with descriptions of all the major events affecting JRR Tolkien.
JRR Tolkien Page - Not much more to say
The Tolkien Archives - another collection of resources on Tolkien
Busia's Tolkien Page - another page written about Tolkien, made up mostly of art.
The Tolkien Encyclopedia Project - an effort to create an internet database on Tolkien and his works
The Mirror of Galadriel - a very nice page, well-designed with good content. I recommend you take a look.
Tolkien-inspired Computer Games - an interesting list of all the computer games based on the works of Tolkien.
Talk about Tolkien and Middle Earth - a "Guide to Tolkien discussion on the Web", it has some discussion boards and relatively good content if you want to converse about Tolkien.
MUME - a Middle-Earth multiplayer game. I haven't played it yet, but maybe I'll review it if I get a chance.
The Hobbit-hole of Craigwise Handfast - a very nice, well-designed page worth a look at.

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