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Alex Crim

Dr. Vaccaro

Senior English

14 April 2019

The Importance of Influences in Tolkien’s ​The Silmarillion

J.R.R. Tolkien, the author of ​The Hobbit​, ​The Lord of the Rings​, and ​The Silmarillion​,

took more inspiration from mythology and put them in his writings than he did from real world

events such as World War I. Tolkien was influenced to create a new mythology for England

since much of its original mythology was lost when the Normans invaded. This invasion was in

1066 according to documented history. Originally, he planned on only creating a mythology for

England, but Tolkien ended up creating one for the planet as a whole. ​The​ ​Silmarillion​ contains

most of the mythology that Tolkien came up with. His influences include material from the

mythology from several countries and peoples besides England’s. Radagast and several other

names have origins from Slavic mythology. The story of Atlantis from Greek mythology was a

huge influence to the island of Numenor. The Valar can easily be compared to the gods of

Asgard from Norse mythology. Turin Turambar has many parallels to Kullervo, a hero from the

Finnish epic Kalevala. Christianity was also an influence, as the conflict between God and Satan

is quite similar to the conflict between Eru and Melkor. Tolkien was also inspired by World War

I. It was during the war that he started several of the tales that eventually became ​The

Silmarillion​. Tolkien participated in the Battle of Somme.

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The majority of the sources all fit into two main schools of thought, biographical and

archetypal. Biographical is how the author’s work connects to their personal experiences.

Tolkien’s experience in World War 1 shaped his view of battle and influenced how he wrote

​ rchetypal is how the work has connections to other myths

about war in ​The Lord of the Rings. A

and stories and how it uses archetypal characters, symbols and images. ​The Silmarillion​ has quite

a few archetypal characters and draws heavily from other myths legends. Maria Artamonova

argues that a discovery of a new Old English epic or story is very unlikely, but Tolkien's

legendarium can be treated as such. Matthew Bardowell claims that when Tolkien was using the

Kalevala as an inspiration, it influenced several mythic oppositions, not just several parallels

between characters and plots. Lionel Basney suggests that calling the genre of fantasy escape

literature is an ethical charge and that people expect literature to reflect the human nature of

belief and action, he also argues that ​The Lord of the Rings​ is a good example of this and that

Tolkien was escaping from the post World War I world. Patrick Grant claims that Tolkien's work

embody and inherent morality that he got from Christian traditions, and he compares him to

Milton, the author of ​Paradise Lost​. Margaret Hiley states that Tolkien didn't just copy myths

and legends and merely reformat them, but that he used them to inspire a new mythology.

Norman Swazo argues that ​The Silmarillion​ is not merely a creation story, but also an allegory

with a deeper meaning inspired by Christian influences. Niels Werber suggests that the different

races in Middle Earth such as orcs, elves, ents, and balrogs and their war can be compared to the

different peoples and countries that participated in the World Wars. Elizabeth Whittingham

explains that Tolkien was inspired in writing ​The Silmarillion​ by the idea of hope and how evil

can be turned good, mirroring several ideas from the bible.

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Tolkien's influences from War World I were very important to his works as they shaped

many of the battles and several of the characters. Tolkien participated in the war until he was

injured. He was in the Battle of Somme. His works would still be great without the influence of

war, but they would be nowhere near the same without the inspiration from Europe's many

myths and legends. Tolkien was influenced by the Finnish, Celtic, Norse, Slavic and Greek

mythologies as well as Christianity. The myths and legends shaped Middle Earth as a whole.

World War I only shaped the battles and a few characters. In a way Europe’s myths influenced

what was written, and the war influenced how it was written.

Finnish myths were a very large influence, specifically the epic ​Kalevala​ and the tale of

Kullervo. Kullervo heavily influenced the story of Turin Turambar. Both heroes end up in love

with their sister who later drowns herself upon finding out and later Kullervo and Turin both kill

themselves with their swords.

Norse mythology was also very influential in ​The Silmarillion​. The Calaquendi and

Moriquendi are direct parallels to the light elves and dark elves of Norse mythology. In Elvish,

quendi means elves and mori and cala mean light and dark respectively. The gods and their

powers are also very similar to the roles of the gods in ​The Silmarillion.​ Tolkien’s werewolves

could also have been inspired by the Norse myths as wolves and canine like creatures such as

Fenris were important to them.

Slavic myth was a much smaller influence, but still noticeable in some of the names.

Radagast, one of the five istari, cares for the plants and animals of Middle-Earth. His name is a

direct reference to the Slavic god of harvest and fertility Rodegast. One of the rivers, the Anduin,

also has a name of Slavic origin as the Danube river was very important to the Slavic people.
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Celtic tales tell of the ​Tuatha Dé Danann who upon arriving at Ireland burned their ships

and fought the peoples currently living there. This is very similar to the exile of the Noldor in

The Silmarillion​, who upon arriving at Middle-Earth also burned their ships and fought with the

peoples who were already living there. Celtic tales also tell of Nuada Airgetlám, whose name

means silver hand, who lost a hand in battle and had it replaced with a hand of silver. In ​The

Silmarillion​, the name of the elven blacksmith who forged the rings of power has a name that

also means silver fist, Celebrimbor. The tale of Beren and Luthien also has many parallels to the

Celtic story of Culhwch and Olwen.

Greek mythology was a very important influence for Tolkien’s story of man. Greek

mythology tells of an island called Atlantis that was very wealthy and powerful, but they were

too greedy and their lust for power eventually caused Poseidon to sink their island with tidal

waves and earthquakes. In ​The Silmarillion​ Tolkien tells of an island called Numenor, or in

elvish Atalante, that had men who were much taller and lived quite a bit longer than the men

who dwelt on the continent of Middle-Earth. The Numenoreans also were quite wealthy and

power, but Sauron led the majority of them astray in a lust for power and conquest that

eventually caused the Valar to sink Numenor and make the world round in the changing of the

world.

Christianity, of which Tolkien was a part, was another large influence to ​The Silmarillion

as a whole in the belief that good will always triumph over evil. The creation story of the Bible,

specifically the part where Lucifer leaves God and takes a third of the angels with him because

he wanted more than what God had given him is very similar to the beginning of ​The
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Silmarillion​ when Melkor leaves Eru Iluvatar and takes many of the Ainur with him for the same

reasons as Lucifer.

All of these mythologies and tales helped influence what was written by Tolkien. Tolkien

took what he liked and what he wanted and put it together with his own ideas the same way an

arborist can take the roots of one tree and branches or many others when he is grafting a tree. In

this case, as Tolkien was a Christian and the fact that good did triumph over evil the Christian

influences provided the roots and all the other myths and epics were the branches that are

connected to it.

When the First World War began, unlike most of the other men, Tolkien did not

immediately enlist. Instead he entered a program that would allow him to finish up his college

degree before he enlisted. After enlisting, he joined the 13th reserve battalion where he trained

for 11 months before being deployed to France in June of 1916. Tolkien then participated in the

battle of Sommes a month later. In October that same year, Tolkien came down with trench fever

which he had gotten from lice and was sent back to England for treatment. The trench fever

probably saved his life, as it took him out of battle and away from the frontlines. Tolkien lost

quite a few of his closest friends in the war, several of whom died in the battle of Sommes. His

experience on the frontlines would greatly affect Tolkien and his writings, as he had seen battle

and bloodshed firsthand.

The experience of being in the war gave Tolkien what was needed to accurately depict

war in ​The Silmarillion​ and later ​The Lord of the Rings.​ Tolkien wrote about several wars in ​The

Silmarillion​ including the battle between Melkor and Eru Iluvatar at the beginning, the several

kinslayings and the wars that the Numenoreans participated in among others. Tolkien not only
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wrote about the battles themselves and about those who participated in them, but how the war

affected the different characters and peoples of Middle-Earth. Tolkien was able to also accurately

depict how someone would feel losing a loved one to war, or the weight war has upon those

participating in it. World War I influenced how Tolkien wrote his stories.

J.R.R. Tolkien, when writing the ​The​ ​Silmarillion​, was influenced by the many myths and

legends of Europe as well as World War I. While the myths and legends were certainly a larger

influence in his stories, they were both necessary. The myths influenced what he wrote, and the

war influenced how he wrote. Going back to the analogy with the tree, Christianity is the main

influence or the roots, and the other mythologies were the branches that were grafted on to it.

The war however is what shaped the tree to make it look the way it does. Both were necessary,

but war could not shape the tree if there was no mythology to influence Tolkien in the first place.

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