Lord of the Rings Mythology Explained
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- Опубликовано: 16 дек 2014
- LOTR Wallpapers at Patreon:www.patreon.com/creation?hid=1...
Special Thanks:
Professor Verlyn Flieger mythus.com/
/ askmiddlearth
Soliloquy: goo.gl/LQEakz
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Artwork:
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Music:
incompetech.com/
The istari's mission really just went like every group project ever, ending with one member doing all the work
I loved Tolkien's description of Morgoth twisting the creations of others: "He can only mock. He cannot make."
This also had a dual meaning, which I love: a mock-up is a plan or facsimile of a full design. Morgoth was derivative and dismissive of the original creations (mocking) but he literally couldn't make anything better (mock).
Didn't he create the dragons and trolls? isn't that a contradiction?
@@w415800 The trolls are corrupted ents, while the dragons, both wingless and winged, are a product of Morgoth's superweapon breeding program.
Like RUclips commenters
@@w415800 All of his servants are either corruptions of other living beings, or Maiar that joined his service and assumed monstrous forms as a result.
Tolkien did so much heavy lifting for the fantasy genre that it’s hard to overstate his impact.
Fun fact: Tolkien changed his mind about the Blue Wizards in his later writings. He retconned it by saying history thought they faded out, but that they actually had an active role in stopping Sauron in the East.
Awesome
Not really a retcon because of how flexible the canon is. Plenty of views on the blue wizards are possibly true. There isn't a single "this is what they are" because tolkien never claimed to be 100% sure about it. He offered a couple different ideas about what they did, but that's it. In one place he says their names are unknown in the west, but then later he says their names are Alatar and Pallando. Look at Celeborn. There has got to be like a million origins given for him. Sometimes hes another elf from Aman who came with Galadriel to middle earth, other times hes a silvan elf, other times hes a Sindar from Thingols court. There isnt a definitive answer
Tolkien framed the stories as he, a professor, finding the Red Book written by Bilbo, Frodo, & others, telling their own stories but also other stories that were told to them. So uncertainty is bred into the narrative.
A very cool way to deal with issues in canon, if you ask me.
never even gave them names!!
I think a lot of people assumed they were trying to help in the east anyway even if it's not solid cannon.
I'm not even a huge LOTR nerd, but I love those illustrations.
I love how you imply that you're a LOTR nerd, just not a huge one. Me too.
Chester Rico same
Damn where can we find these illustrations?
Word...
Same but i really came for the poetic/religious story
Here's a couple of extra facts that people might find interesting. Even though Sauron generally gets a fiery vibe, what with the red eye and the cracks of doom, Morgoth (called Melkor here) actually had a cold domain. He was responsible for making the dragons, but also... Snow! Yeah, odd right? Eru explains that even if Melkor tries to mess up his creation, it will all turn out as Eru intended in the end.
The Dwarves even though they weren't made directly by Eru, did get their sentience from him. After being created by Aule as essentially biological automotons, Eru "adopted" them as his children as well and gave them proper souls.
The reason that Sauron is especially powerful is that Melkor poured too much of his own power into him. That's how Melkor tended to sway Maiar to his side. Being a very high ranking lieutenant, Sauron got a lot of Melkors power.
It's partly because of this giving away power stuff that led to Melkors defeat.
"The Shadow that bred them can only mock, it cannot make: not real new things of its own."
new lotr vids when
oh, snap!
I'm sensing a commentary on the rings of power
why throw a bone to the most toxic parts of the lotr fanbase
@@edlyness4891 That's no way to talk about 100% of the people involved with rings of power, I'm sure they're doing their best to make something...it's just not Tolkien
I actually really like the idea that LOTR and the Hobbit, take place much much after the great epic of the world had already happen, played by lesser folk that those who were in the great epic of before. Something about that is charming and I really like it
That is the underlying depth of the books. There are many, many references to the past and it affects the present and the outcome of the books, but it is never completely revealed.
Damn you Melkor for creating all these internet trolls...
As I recall, none of them created things. None of them could give life. Melkor was no exception. He could only corrupt things.
Joao Correia ITS A JOKE!!!!!🤦🤦
Kind of like the internet!
Corey Jones 👌
We do not say his name. He is like Tom Riddle.
Two thoughts, one minor correction and one clarification on a fascinating point.
One: Melkor did not create dragons and trolls as part of the world through his music as you suggested, but they were created as desecrations of preexisting creatures after he became Morgoth, the Dark Enemy. The trolls were corruptions of ents, as orcs were of elves (if you are confused as to how a troll could be related to a talking tree, Tolkien described the ents less like vaguely humanoid sentient trees, as they are often depicted, and more like large humanoids with many tree-ish aspects of their appearance, such as gangly, knobby proportions, odd numbers of digits and thick, tough hides among them), while the dragons were created much later than any of the other races after many years of genetic engineering.
Two: The fundamental difference in the nature of elves and humans was only vaguely hinted at in the video, but it is an incredibly deep topic. Elves were born of the earth itself, given life by Illuvitar but a part of the world from which they sprang. Their souls are a part of the song that wove the nature of reality itself and their souls and bodies are one, both belonging to the earth, so that they linger on with it forever, their souls remaining even when they are killed of unnatural causes (as you said, their power in the world fades with time, forcing them to leave or dwindle and fade, but they do not leave physical reality, going to the undying lands in Valinor somewhere in space after its separation from the earth. Men are a different story. Unlike all other races, they were not brought forth from the earth, and they are a subject of fascination for all other beings, none of whom knowing from whence they came. Their bodies are of the earth, but their souls are not a part of the great song that created it, coming from elsewhere and departing elsewhere when they die, as their mortal bodies are doomed to decay. While the other races find joy and contentment in the earth, men are drawn to something else beyond this world, something that calls them to an unknown plane only Eru knows. It is theorized by the elves and Valar that they are the true purpose of the creation of the earth, all others merely being intended to prepare the way for them and shepherd them in their infancy before making room for their dominion on the earth, where they can do whatever it is they are meant to do here in this stage of their mysterious journey of life beyond mortality. Men are Eru’s true children, all other races, including elves, are just a part of the world he created for them as their cradle in their eternal journey.
If that's the case, why don't the other races respect the race of men more? They seem to have a fair bit of contempt for em.
If men are the only true children and the elves purpose was too set the stage for their dominion, then why did the valar have no part in that? They allowed elves into undying lands before men were even on earth. It was only because some elves remained and Feanor left that elves were around men at all?
great comment
@@joehilliard4486 The Valar couldn't wait to meet the children of Ilúvatar (in Aulë's case he _literally_ couldn't wait, hence the dwarves), so as soon as they realised the elves had been born they were all over them and, given that they awoke in the far east, in Cuiviénen, far from the two trees of Aman and covered by Melkor's great darkness (and that he'd already found them and begun to turn some of them into orcs), bringing as many of them as possible to the undying lands seemed like the best thing to do (in retrospect, given Fëanor, the Ñoldor, and their shenanigans, this might not have been their brightest idea, but it seemed like the best option at the time).
Men, on the other hand, awakened with the sun, which frightened away the orcs, and the Valar (with the possible exception of Ulmo, who always kept an eye on Middle Earth) were at the time preoccupied with the whole tree debacle and the mess at Alqualondë and other aforementioned Fëanor / Ñoldor / Morgoth shenanigans and, given all that nonsense, they were wary of messing further with Eru's children, lest they made the situation even worse (spoilers: they eventually did just that anyway; though, to be fair, leaving Middle Earth in the hands of Morgoth and the sons of Fëanor would have almost certainly been even worse), so they mostly stayed out of men's lives (again, with the occasional exception of Ulmo).
@@mbpoblet true all great points, thanks Mark you’re certainly right
Imagine spending most of your life creating the single most iconic fictional universe of all time. Absolute legend.
I too wonder what it was like being in the Mediterranean around 1800 years ago.
I’m pretty sure starwars, marvel, and DC would have Toilken beat there. But Book wise then Toikens is the most iconic.
@@theamazingoppo4918 George Lucas, the guy who made Star Wars wasn't even alive when Tolkien was writing. And Marvel and DC are entire companies, not 1 person.
Yeah, after 25 years one piece is still going strong
And he did all that because he wanted something to actually use his conlangs at. The guy was just built different.
Do you remember when this was called "The Lord of the Rings Mythology Explained (Part 1)"?
Pepperidge Farm remembers
I can't tell which part is which any more.
when history gets whitewashed, we are doomed to repeat it.
Gandalf the gay
Do you know why he changed it?
@@ghostcraft9343 Rings of Power TV show?
Gandalf the CGP Grey
Huehuehue
I'm so clever
BADUM TSH!
What do you suppose he has to do to become Gandalf the GCP White?
Alex Pope
idk marry Walter White maybe
I guess that'd make him Gandalf the CGP White
Ondrikus You're god damn right!
Ondrikus Marry him? You're thinking of Dumbledore
I very much appreciate this condensation of so much of Tolkien's rich material into such a comprehensive and concise video! As a Tolkien scholar I do have two minor suggestions, one of which is very easily fixable the other more an interesting topic of discussion. The easily fixed error is the spelling of Saruman's name which in the video was spelled "Sauruman" (clearly echoing Sauron, but Tolkien as an exacting philologist would have pointed out the different linguistic roots of the names to show that the exact spelling is quite important. The "saur" of "Sauron" means "abhorrent" or "abominable" in the Elvish language Quenya, while Saruman translates as "man of skill." I'm sure Gandalf would have suspected Saruman from the beginning if his chosen name meant "abhorrent"!
The other issue is around the creation of creatures. In Tolkien's cosmology only Eru, also called Ilúvatar can bestow sentient life and free will upon other beings through what is called the Secret Fire or the Imperishable Flame that resides only in Eru. So while Aulë made the physical bodies of the Dwarves and Yavanna the forms of the Ents, only Eru can give them free life. This is why Melkor (later Morgoth) did not make Orcs or Trolls but corrupted the sentient beings of Elves and Ents. Balrogs and dragons are both spiritually Maiar corrupted by Morgoth but not made by him, as the video mentioned in reference to Balrogs. I just wanted to bring this up because it was important for Tolkien to differentiate the divine act of creation from what he called sub-creation-or the creativity we are each bestowed with under God that is an inherent human desire. He saw his own work in this context, saying: “Fantasy remains a human right: we make in our measure and in our derivative mode, because we are made: and not only made, but made in the image and likeness of a Maker.”
+Jen the Elf Thanks Jen!
+Becca Tarnas Good job pointing out those flaws ( I didn't even noticed the mispell ) but dragons are not Maiar. A lot olf people think that because they are so powerfull but that's because Melkor litterly put hole chunks of his power in them. That's also why he didn't do a lot for several years after there creasion ( he needed to regenareat from al of it ). btw sorry for the mispell.
+Abel Machielse Thanks so much for this response! For my own research, do you happen to have the citations for where Tolkien writes that dragons aren't Maiar? That's interesting, because it brings up the issue of free will in relation to them. Once Morgoth is cast into the Abyss, how do the dragons continue to create their own actions? Or is there another way they are independent of him? Otherwise wouldn't dragons go the way of the Dwarves before Iluvatar gave them independent life?
+Becca Tarnas I have a book cald the Tolkien Bestiarium and its all about the races. There they specificallie say that he makes them out of snakes. I don't realy know how they were self consience but there were very smart and couldn't be fould. I think its al just because of all of morgoths power that he poured into Glaurung the first drake. He didn't created the rest that was Glaurunfs responsibility.
+Abel Machielse Hmm, that's really interesting! Thank you for the resource and the further detail, I very much appreciate it.
I remember when I was young I watched the entire trilogy and basically considered myself as an expert. Boy was I wrong. Tolkien has created a giant and vast universe where it's so delvable for ages to come. Thanks for the interesting video.
Pausing to note that I appreciate that Melkor singing his discordant note is an F (assuming this is treble clef) while the rest of the Istar are singing in E. E to F is a minor second, the most dissonant interval.
Calling it now, this is gonna be the most popular CGP Grey video ever.
It already has over 301 views
Alex Mallinson Whoah
Grey already has 1.5 million subscribers. He'll definitely have 2 mil by the end of this week.
Alex Mallinson Wow, that's like way more even than there were guys in that movie about Sparta and Leonidas I against the Persians. Sadly I can't quite recall the name of that film though...
Nah. Most disappointing CGP Grey video ever. Loved "The Hobbit" as a teenager, but this is too much. But then I have avoided most of the LotR films. Just read the book: you know that left aligned thing on paper.
Still an excellent scripted video as we expect from him, so I certainly won't be burning my CGP Grey T-shirt.
In Tolkien's vocabulary the singular for Valar is Vala; the singular for Maiar is Maia; and the singular for Ainur is Ainu.
So the R in the end is like the S in english then.
... and the singular of YOU is NERD
@@Mernom If the noun ends in a vowel, otherwise it's usually -i (although there are exceptions)
@@stevegreedo5687 this gave me a good chuckle thanks
@@Mernom As in the Scandinavian languages
I have learned more about the LotR universe in these 4 minutes than I have in hours of trying to watch other explanation videos and many video games. Thank you.
Do you want polytheism or monotheism?
Tolkien: "Yes."
LotR is monotheistic. Everything else is angels or demons or less. There are no gods as powerful as Eru Iluvatar. Not a surprising cosmology seeing as how it’s based on Christianity
@@talongreenlee7704 Monotheism doesn't mean one most powerful god, it means one god. Many polytheistic pantheons have a most powerful or chief god. So in that way, tolkien's universe is more polytheistic than christianity. In Tolkiens mythology there are beings of great power that have Will and desire separate to the chief god. Technically all the saints and angels and such of christianity are supposed to have their wills perfectly aligned with christian god's will, so in essence they are all one will and one power.
@Christopher Rowley As someone who was forced to go Bible studies for over a decade and has read the Silmarillion twice, I disagree with pretty much every single thing you just said. Tolkien’s mythology is monotheistic. Eru Ilúvatar is the one and only god. One thing a little unclear about the video (since it’s a 4 minute summary of a 365 page book) is that the Valar only molded the bodies of the Dwarves, Eagles, and Ents. Only Ilúvatar had the power to give those bodies free life. The Ainur are really pretty much exactly like the Angels. Besides the obvious parallel of Melkor to Lucifer, the Valar would be similar to something like the Seraphim in Christianity. These Angels/Ainur contemplate and adore God directly, as evidence by the fact that none of the Valar besides Melkor added any dissonance to Ilúvatar’s melody. However, the Maiar show a lot of similarity to the lower order angels like the Archangel Gabriel who was demonstrated having a will much more his own and aligned himself with humanity and the citizens of Israel, often disagreeing or even fighting with other lower-order angels who did not value Israel as much.
Sorry if that was rambling or didn’t make sense.
TL;DR Tolkien’s mythology is monotheistic. Full stop.
@@Grauenwolf good points. Plus Charlemagne was very anti-pagan (read about the atrocities he committed in the Saxon Wars) so it makes sense that his version of Christianity would try to subvert anything that appeared similar to his pagan heritage
Jason Schuler As an avid silmarillion fan, allow me to provide a small correction. The majority of the valar did not create the beings associated with them. Yavanna, the vala of nature, for example, did not create ents. She merely put in a request to Eru, who took it upon himself to do so. Only Aule, god of smithing, tried to create beings of his own, and even then he failed. The first dwarves that he made were soulless automatons, until Eru granted them a soul.
Then there is Morgoth, who seems to have created many beings; orcs, dragons, even vampires and werewolves. One commonly accepted theory is that these beings are not independent creatures with unique souls at all, but rather vessels filled with a portion of Morgoth’s own malicious spirit, hence why he grew gradually weaker and weaker over the course of history.
All this coming from a persons imagination. Must of had an incredible mind.
Must have. Must of had makes no sense.
Not exactly, he was a professor and studied Anglo Saxon culture and language , most of the lord of the rings and the hobbit is based on Anglo Saxon mythology, almost all the creatures can be found in Northern European lore , and the names of most of the characters could’ve easily been swapped out or found in works such as Beowulf
It's not difficult to make shit up.
@TheBritishBulldog he's saying that "must of had" is not English. it's "must have had" or "must've had"
123 456, not exactly. All of the books reflect the means of Christianity and Christ. The whole point is to tell what Jesus holds and how corrupt the world is. This isn’t opinion, it’s fact. He had an interview and explained that this was indeed his message and there is much he said about the hidden messages of Christ in his books. All that other crap was to add more detail and imagination to the stories. Tolkien wrote the books because of the war he was in. He wrote the hobbit books while in the trenches of WW1. The whole point is Jesus. So he took what happened in war and put that with is profound belief of Christianity together to create complete awesomeness. That other stuff is for effect
Love the video, but one little inaccuracy threw me off a wee bit. Dwarves were not created in cooperation with Iluvatar. Aule became impatient while waiting for the coming of the "Children of Iluvatar" (men and elves) and so secretly created a race of his own: the dwarves. He could not, however, find out how to give them free will, and as a result they were bound to the will of Aule. Of course, Aule couldn't keep them a secret from Iluvatar (basically God), who became enraged by this and almost destroyed Aule's creations. But as he was about to smite them he was moved by their pleas for pity, spared them, and bestowed the gift of independence on them. They became known as the "adopted children" of Iluvatar, but were put to sleep deep beneath the mountains until the coming of the elves in Arda.
This was one of my favorite bits in the Silm. Ever since I read the Hobbit as a young girl (well had it read too me), I have had a soft spot for the dwarves.
It's been a long time since I've read The Silmarillion, but I'm pretty sure this is innacurate. If I remember correctly, the sole reason Ilúvatar didn't destroy the dwarves was because of their pleas of pity, which demonstrated they were NOT bound to the will of Aule, and had free will. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, please :)
Bruno Bessa
You are correct Bruno. That is the way that I remembered it.
Aule was commanded by Illuvatar to destroy his Dwarven creations. As he lifted his hammer to do so, Illuvatar stopped him, allowed them to live and granted them free will because of Aule's obedience.
That's just the other half Bruno forgot to mention.
Aule was not commanded to destroy them, he did so of his own free will. He stopped because Iluvatar took pity on him and gave them life.
This video simplifies LOTR so well that when my friend showed me these I got so into it that I bought the LOTR trilogy and the Hobbit then the Silmarilian and have read LOTR twice now. I love Tokien so much.
I just got duped hard into thinking there was a new video
That certainly happened
This... was beautiful
Truly!
+tuxcup 可唔可以對啲外國朋友友善啲=_=
yeah
+Guilherme de Souza Dias I like the drawings :) And I liked that Yavanna has been given the looks of a hobbit lady :) with bare feet, "elvish" ear, and a flower in her hair :)
Guilherme Dias I don't like LOTR at all, books or movies. But this video with really cool drawings was epic!
I kinda like the idea that Hobbits are the unexpected result of an unexpected harmony of the songs that created the 3 other major races. Think about it; They have the pointed ears, and nature affinity of the elves, live underground and are short like the dwarves, and are mortal and get stuff done like the humans. But they were unintended, so when they just kinda showed up all the angels were like "WTF? Who made you?" Never realizing that they'd done it without realizing, or as Bob Ross or your parents would say, "Just a happy little accident."
Bob Swanson i
Bob Swanson well, a happy little accident between eleven harmony and humanities. Aüle made the dwarves on his own, separate from Eru's influence until much later, because Aüle wanted someone to share his secrets and crafts with.
Dwarves started as these little fleshy automata until Eru happened upon them, and decreed for Aüle to smite them because they were not part of the plan. Right before Aüle went to strike them down, Eru bade him stop, for it was seen that, despite not being original parts of the "song" the tune of life and soul had come into the dwarves, shown as they began to quake and weep with fear as their creator came to strike them down.
Long story short,.....um, I tangented hard here, but hobbits arent ab elven/dwarven/human kind of spiritual love child,...
Cuz dwarves came later that the other two, though they WERE awake and alive beforehand
Somewhere in LotR it is suggested that hobbits could be the creation of Iluvatar to specifically deal with the Ring and Sauron. That is why they are so resistant to its power. It isn't confirmed, only a suggestion. I think it is in the appendices.
Cant say i enjoy these re-titlings of yours too much
he's sick rn which means he's too exhausted to work on new videos, so he's doing re-titlings to try to still be productive.
Gandalf is essentially a character built around odin in his "wanderer" form often named as "gangleri". The staff, the cloak the hat, all derived from norse myth and expounded upon.
All of his work was inspired by Norse mythology and/or Icelandic traditions and folklore. Gandalf after Odin. In addition, the notion of the rings is very similar to odins ring and the rings of the niflungs, Icelandic houses (at least at one point) were actually built out of hillsides and 2 key components of the volsunga saga where a ring of power and a broken sword reforged. That's just a few commonalities.
Tolkein took inspiration from Western myths. Greek. Norse/Teutonic. Arthurian. Celtic.
@@shawnhietala8601
>All of his work
Not really for example elvish languages are possibly derived from welish and finnish plus alot of middle earth is inspired from anglo saxon history and folklore but yeah there's alot of polytheistic Norse influences but also catholic theology.
To be exact, Tolkien later rejected the idea that Melkor created Orcs by mutilating Elves. He had several ideas as to how they could've been brought about, but was not happy with any of them, so there's really no confirmed story for their origins. The story presented in the Silmarillion is there by Christopher Tolkien's choice simply because he thought there has to be one, even if it's a discarded one.
Cristopher's work is just as important as JRR's imo.
Ultimately, after his father's death, it fell to Christopher to complete and cement the remaining works of his father, and he's done a good job of it, IMHO. Far better than Brian Herbert with regards to Dune. Therefore, I think it's generally agreeable that orcs could have come from elves, much like uruk-hai came from orcs.
Z6U6Z6U PhantommenacePC I'm definitely not saying CT hasn't done a good job. But it's important to realize that the most popularly known version of the origin of Orcs is disputed by the original author himself. CT's only job was to bring JRRT's stuff to the world as coherently as possible, not really to expand or fix the stuff. He was appointed as the editor, not the next-in-line official Middle-earth author. So I don't think it's as straightforward as simply going ahead and stating that Orcs are mutilated Elves.
PhantommenacePC I want to sit down and have a coffee with people like you. Sigh.
Well, the discarted idea was not so far from what probably Tolkien believed, but it's a good theory.
You've had so many people watch this video enough to tell you this is much needed in the form of telling. Please continue and tell the rest of the lore.
Pick up a copy of Tolkien's Silmarillion. It's all there
Eru Ilúvitar's illustration is just so amazing.
You went so fast I had to pause a few times to look at the charts. There's a lot of info packed into this video. Excellent work, cheers.
Although I've read the Silmarillion, or at least the first half, this visual representation greatly helped understand everyone's place in the hierarchy.
Fallen Mango I've read it, but I forgot it now
The creation story is also in the appendixes in (most published versions of) The Lord of the Rings.
My understanding was, and anyone correct me if I'm wrong, no evil things could be 'created'. All of creation went through Eru and Eru was purely good. So anything evil in the world (Middle Earth) was simply twisted versions of what was once good (Elves -> Orcs and Ents -> Trolls). This is why Melkor's work was blasphemous.
No, the Bible says we are wicked because of sin, so good things are and can be perverted by devil.
A raper may pervert a child. A killer my kill a saint. That's the reason there will be a Judgement Day.
sakor88 How do you figure that Good has a nature and substance of its own?
Good just sits opposite evil on the spectrum. Good implies evil, evil implies good.
***** Good and evil not being objective qualities in the real world is irrelevant. If you've read the LoTR books you can see quite clearly Tolkien created the universe with them being objective facets of not only all that lives, but as intrinsic operations of the universe itself. This is a world where something as simple as light and darkness can have fundamental properties.
No idea what you're talking about with the wall of texts you wrote. They're very much beside the point.
Joseph Ang
Tell you what, when people start acting like LotR is a factual account of history, then you can come in here talking about your fictional mythology, too.
sakor88 Yes they became, in his eyes, some sort of beast race raised up from squalor.
just great videos these two! Love how it's put together, to the point and how you don't droll enjoying the sound of your voice. Thanks!!! (I'll come over and comment the other one too!)
I come back to these two videos every Christmas, when I read some of the books. It's become a tradition for me and they feel nostalgically Chistmasy.
"A single dream is more powerful than a thousand realities."
― J. R. R. Tolkien
Stella Maris I’m sorry to say this, but that’s not a Tolkien quote. Apparently it comes from the Ralph Bakshi film poster, and ultimately from an 1828 book by Nathaniel Hawthorne.
Don't believe everything you read on the internet.
--Julius Ceasar
"stupid boomers, they will believe everything said on the internet. Thou should not believe everything"- Jesus
"ur mom gay lol" -Thomas Edison
Reality is more complex than Imagination
What about Tom Bombadil? He's only mentioned in the book, but i'm very curious about him. Even the wizards seem very respectful toward him like he's a higher being.
Valrath823
thanks! that make him kinda cooler :D
he is actually a character in another of Tolkien's works, where he narrates two poems along with Farmer Maggott. He is based on a children's toy his children played with.
The Elves treat him with an unusual amount of respect and even do suggest that he might be the one to hold the Ring. Gandalf handwaves the suggestion by saying that Tom is a most careless guardian as the Ring has no effect on him, and that if Sauron knew he had the Ring he would come himself and destroy Tom's little corner of the Old Forest (so Tom is not as powerful as we think).
He's just too careless to be the holder of the ring and will not leave his bit of land, and remains an enigma to all apart from Gandalf, who calls him a 'moss gatherer' compared to his own 'rolling stone', and the two have a very long meeting off the page, the last thing Gandalf is known to have been doing before Frodo and Bilbo's final journey.
At the Council of Elrond, Gandalf says that Tom Bombadil can't be trusted with the ring because he probably won't get why it's such a big deal and lose it somewhere it can be found again by someone. He also says that if Sauron does get the ring and return to full power that Tom Bombadil will be the last in all of Middleearth to fall.
In other words, holy shit he must be some special kind of magical singing man. People keep referring to him as 'the oldest', even the elves. So most people reckon he must be at least as old as Middleearth itself. Some people think he's the physical manifestation of Eru Illuvatar himself. There are a lot of theories about who or what he might be.
I find this super fascinating.
MadaxeMunkeee There some notes asking Tolkien about him directly and he wouldn't reveal it. He probably didn't decide what to make of Tom. He did say he wasn't Illivater manifestation. But said its better not to say too much otherwise it loses the appeal of mystery.
I've read before (cannot remember where) that Tom is Tolkien himself.
I gotta say man I just can't get enough of this. I've seen it all the way through nearly 20 times. I hope you get all you've ever wanted from life, you're impacting millions of people with fantastic work.
If anyone wants to hear a metal version of the Silmarillion, I can recommend the album "Nightfall in Middle-Earth" by Blind Guardian
2:00 dont you mean how the giant lava monster can hold up against gandalf?
lol
So true, I thought the same
To be fair, Balrogs aren't actually giant lava monsters to begin with. The actual description of the Balrog describes it as man-shaped, but larger, and commanding power over flame and shadow. Strictly speaking, they don't even have wings; the wings described in the book are detailed as being shadows that resemble wings. Peter Jackson made the Balrog look cool and all, but it's given people a false impression of what these creatures were conceived to be.
@@Lodatzor so, you are saying that Peter Jackson made balrogs look like a dragon f!cked a human and had a baby?
@Keadin Mode
The debate really shouldn't even still be open. Balrogs do not have wings. The arguments for them having wings are not very good arguments.
Some people just like to interpret things a certain way, because they saw a visual which imprinted itself in their mind before they read about the actual passage.
:p
Let that be a lesson to you tone deaf people that insiste on singing really really loudly and of key: by singing discordantly you will create all the evil in the world, and cause the death of whole species. So sing with care.
Yeah. This one girl was singing so loudly but out of pitch and out of rhythm, so it sounded really ugly. The worst part is, she got a ton of praise from the teacher for singing loud.
+bazookabullet101 hate it when that happens. 😠
RIP me... I'm pretty tone deaf :P
minimooster: SORRY GUYS
And thus rap was born.
This was a very well-done, and entertaining explanation! Loved it. :)
"Sauroman"
/me twitches
Finally a comment on it Ó_ò
Love the Silmarillion so far. Just started reading it last week, I'm on the 7th chapter, and I wish more people would read it
Yes, spread my word child.
+Sam Neibauer is it easy to understand if my native language isn't english?
+Badaddy I think it has been translated into many languages, LoTR has, so I can't see why The Silmarillion won't have been.
+Eru Illuvatar xaxaxaxaxa
Badaddy Not really unless your first language is a Germanic language. Tolkien used a lot of "hither" and "thou" and older English words, but since they all are similar to many words in other languages that are based off of West Germanic or North Germanic, you might be fine. Just out of curiosity, what is your first language?
Great, great, great video!
Very concise and from what i remember accurate as well. That includes the pronunciations, which can sometimes be just as confusing as the lore itself. great job
I have literally watched everyone of your videos for years and now this finely gets recommended
So, Tolkien basically made his own religion? That man is amazing. #StillBetterThanChristianity
Hahaha, funnily, Tolkien said that this story is pretty much Catholicism. " The Lord of the Rings is of course a fundamentally religious and Catholic work; unconsciously so at first, but consciously in the revision. That is why I have not put in, or have cut out, practically all references to anything like 'religion', to cults or practices, in the imaginary world. For the religious element is absorbed into the story and the symbolism."
I'm not saying it's completely different, just better.
TheRecreator you feel that it's better because it's something different. It's the "grass is always greener" syndrome.
Michael Panggabean I think you are misinterpreting his words. In that quote he says that the book was written without consciously including Catholic symbolism. When the parallels were noticed in the revision stages, he decided to not cut them out. I think what he's saying here is that since he is a Catholic, these themes were bound to appear. It's similar to a politician saying that their faith guides their decisions, even if they aren't consciously thinking about it.
Firebelley and from with part did you think I misinterpret it? I just said that it's pretty much catholic, I didn't say he originally intend it to be a catholic story.
You misspelled Saruman.
Dwarves actually are on a level with the Children of Illuvatar though, since they were specially granted free will by him. They otherwise could not have ever done anything that was not specifically willed by Aule. One alternate theory of the origin of the Orcs (Tolkien himself was never definitive about it) is that Melkor made them in the same way but was forced to grant them -- not exactly _free_ will per se, but at least a measure of autonomy -- by infusing a portion of his own substance into them. Which is why, among other reasons, he was much reduced by the time of the exile of the Noldor. And it also explains why they simply dropped everything and ran at the end of LotR as soon as Sauron's driving will was removed.
Yavanna didn't exactly create the Ents. It was said that her desire for some sort of protection for her larger immobile creations summoned new spirits into the world for that purpose. Tolkien never really gets around to saying anything more about them, which (like the Hobbits) is kind of a seam showing in his integrating the world of _The Hobbit_ with his original myths. The two were never really intended to go together.
Lytrigian I can't remember if I have read this anywhere, but did Yavanna have to get Illuvatar to bring her Ents to life in the same way Aule did with the Dwarves?
Tobberz The ents were made in response to the dwarves, since the trees would be bad at defending themselves against axes.
mikkel larsen I'm referring to a late conception which you'll find only in a volume of the "History of Middle-earth" series. On completing LotR, Tolkien began to re-think Melkor's "career" and his relationship to Arda. What diminished him most in this conception is that he infused the whole fabric of Arda with himself, analogous to how Sauron infused much of himself into the One Ring. (It was probably the idea of the Ring as it developed while writing LotR that gave Tolkien this idea.) It had the advantage of solving a number of different problems within the legendarium at the same time and is for that reason fairly attractive, but he never worked it into any completed mythological work. Which is why I called it "alternate".
+Lytrigian I'm not completely on board with Grey's categorisation of Ainur, Maiar, and Valar. As I understood it, not all Ainur can be divided into Maiar and Valar. The Maiar are those of the Ainur who entered Eä, and the 14 (15) mightiest of them are the Valar, chosen by Ilúvatar to rule. Am I correct?
DanielHAkerman You're right that Grey got it wrong there. No, not all the Ainur entered Ea at the beginning. But what he said about them being divided into two groups is correct for those of the Ainur who *did* enter.
Except that's kind of an odd way of putting it, but if he's trying to say it briefly then I suppose it works. The Valar are the great Powers, the Maiar are their servants and assistants, and some of them (like Osse, one of the Maia of Ulmo) are extremely powerful in their own right.
Excellent! I came here worried something would be screwed up and wrong but you sir...my hats off to you. Well done.
Very nice and those illustrations are absolutely charming.
I wish The Silmarrion went in theaters
+Alatar it won't because Christopher Tolkien won't sell the rights to a filmmaker.
Bobby Amunra How do you know?
I still think it would be an astounding movie unless Peter Jackson becomes a 3 part movie money hog.
+Alatar Actually for this material a Peter Jackson 3 part movie would be far to short. A GoT like series would do it.
Will Bryant
And 1000 more characters, not to mention plot points.
+Alatar I don't think this is feasible. The Silmarilion is a lot of separated stories that some time interconnect with each other directly, some times vaguely. Add to that a much more incredible setting, with more gigantic creatures, armies, etc. and the cost would be monstrous.
You also have to take in consideration the interpretation of those who make those movies. Peter Jackson portrayed elfs as infallible goody two shoes who look at others from the top of their noses (for some reason). But this book shows how fallible and incompetent they are (as much, if not more the humans). That could end on a butchered movie where the director wants his way of seeing things, or a flawed one, where the director can't understand the source material.
You could make the case for a cinematic adaptation of some stories that are concise on themselves, but those have horrible and tragic begging, middle and endings so I don't see those money leeches doing those (hard to sell sad stories when they try to market this big movies to every possible type of consumer).
I am sorry if I went for this long but I really love Tolkien's works so I tend to overreach.
Also fuck the Hobbit movies...
I have always loved that, in the Silmarillion, the origin of evil was pride, and its first fruit was the destruction of harmony. This resonates very strongly with many people's sense of morality, I think. As Gandalf put it, in the beginning, not even the Dark Lord was evil. Of course, he meant Sauron when he said this, but I think this holds true for Melkor as well. The parallels between Melkor and Lucifer are obvious, but I strongly deny allegations that Tolkien intended a Christian allegory by this. It's simply a storytelling necessity when you have a benevolent god and you wind up with a world full of suffering - at some point you've gotta write a rebellious angel or demigod into the story.
You are welcome to your interpretation, friend, and I will stick to mine. :)
I learned from sunday school that pride was the main reason for satan's rebellion aganinst god. but thats just fiction.
sakor88 Although, I can't recall which source was it(or if it really was legit). I also would like to add that Tolkien also tried really hard to make the biblical parallels as Subtle as possible which is something his friend C.S Lewis (yes the authors of Narnia and LotR were friends) did not do and made it his parallels so outright/obvious. This supposedly led to their disagreements over Christianity.
if you have doubts about tolkiens implications in his story telling having catholic allegory, the you should do your research on the day the ring is destroyed. check the day and look up the 'feast of the annunciation', you'll find that they are on the same day (march the 25th). its hard to ignore the fact that the ring of evil is destroyed the same day we (Catholics) celebrate the feast of the annunciation which in the context of theology implicates sin is dead.
"If thats not Satan I dont know what is. Its certainly not a Hindu or Jewish or Islamic belief."
Satan is not a Jewish belief? Then which people wrote the Book of Job? I think you are confused about Judaism if you don't think a tempter-figure is relevant.
i already knew most of this stuff, but i appreciate you taking the time to make these videos.
Nice video - love the layout!! Very informative!!
Hey Grey, wasn't the last Hobbit a wonderful movie?
Just kidding, Grey doesn't read comments.
CGP Grey
So, dont you think this video is a bit unfair? I had to be seriously unpopular at school, and probably ruined my eyesight quite a bit, reading with the light from my hand watch, to know know this information. Now everyone with 5 mins to spare can have it.
Rompo Stotski That's just the amazing power of technology going forward. The time to information ratio will only ever continue to get better.
*****
Haha, I didn't mean for my post to sound so sincere. I'm all for information intensification, and on the other hand, I got much more than just the raw data from reading the books. 'twas just my attempt to amuse Grey...
Rompo Stotski Quite the opposite. This video is likely to make the history of middle earth more attractable for many people. You've read the entire thing. You now posses knowledge that others like to know after watching this video.
***** Wait... Kailvin?
"Thanks dad" was my favorite line
I love that series! I recently rewatched the three movies again with the fam a while ago. LOVED IT!
This video is really entertaining, beautiful and helpful. Thank you.
You missed a prime opportunity to name this vid Lore of the Rings.
Unless that's taken...
Sauron started out as a Maiar of the Valar Aule, the smith god of the Tolkien universe, who also created the Dwarves. Which explains why he had such a knack for creating artefacts of enormous power. He betrayed the Valar, switched sides, became Melkor's/Morgoth's lieutenant and later Middle Earth's new dark lord.
It's really strange that Sauron and Gandalf/Olórin were both Maiar, but their difference in power seemed to be worlds apart. Gandalf almost died fighting a low level Maiar/Balrog while Sauron almost conquered Middle Earth.
Gandalf isn't using all his power. The last time there was a war involving that kind of power a continent sank, which is kinda bad.
@@MySerpentine no Gandalf used his full power when he were fighting Balrog and Nazguls.
Gandlaf/Olorin is a too weak and low level Maia.
In the books, Even Sauron's most weakened form is still too much stronger than Gandalfs true form in Valinor. And Gandalf/Olorin frightened of weakened Sauron too much in Valinor. Lol
@@MySerpentine Even Radagast is more powerful and braver than Gandalf in the books.
@@_semih_ He used all the Grey's power on the Balrog, but the White was a different duty and aspect. Yes, Sauron might have been the stronger, but my point about the danger of using his kind's power at their full still stands.
Olorin reckoned he was weak compared to Sauron (Mairon), and feared him. That is precisely the reason Manwe knew that that humble and wise spirit was exactly the right choice to send as the Vala's envoy to Middle-Earth. OTH, Curunin was a proud being who could not stand the other "inferior" istari. Curiously, Sauron and Curunin were Aule's Maia, with a mind of making things.
Sometimes the best magic is the most subtle. Gandalf and co. had grand magic, but I like the halfling magic too, of the "ordinary, everyday sort." Their magic was so subtle that they even quietly showed up in Middle Earth lore without a second glance.
Awesome job dude! I'm gonna watch the playlist. You may have misspelled Saruman tho ;)
Just finished reading the Silmarillion. It's the most powerful book I've read so far, and made me willing of going deeper and deeper into Arda and Middle Earth's mythology. In my opinion it's way more fascinating than LotR and TH, because they did not manage to give birth to the astonishment the Silmarillion gave me. Moral? READ IT, everybody! :D
Great video! Love that we got a sneak peak!
I’m only seven years late on this gem, ugh. Excellent, once again guys and gals and Grey;) ✌️
This is interesting, I play a halfling in D&D and never heard about that.
0:26
Gandalf the grey and gandalf the white and monty python and the holy grail's black knight...
And Benito Mussolini
Wow!! This video was incredible!
didn't expect to see you here
I try to follow all of CGP Grey's videos.
TheUrbanPrepper nice...
I'm reading the Silmarillion right now. This clears up the confusion I had. Thanks!
I watch this video like twice a year. Great content !!
I love it when the Roosterteeth Podcast introduces me to new channel and I fall in love with it!
Since this mythology has a lot of similarities to Christianity, I'm guessing that there is an afterlife for all of these races. Which means that having a shorter life was actually a pretty good gift cuz it meant they got to be with their god(I forgot his name already) a lot sooner than the other races.
His mythology does have some Christian elements to it, as well as relying heavily on Celtic and Norse mythology.
Elves are bound to the world. The spirits of the dead Elves reside in the halls of Mandos, and remain there until "the end". The spirits of Men also reside in the Halls, but only for a short time before "moving on". To where they go and for what purpose is unknown.
Christanity is only a small part which tolkien was influnced on. He was influnced by many difrent mythologies, folklore and his own personal expirence. He probly was somewhat influnced by his time as a soldier during world war 1
The afterlife is called the Undying Lands that the Elves go off to sail to in the end of the LOTR. Read the Silmarillion book and it will go further into it!
The battles in his novels were heavily influenced on the battles of World War 1. Just, you know...without guns. Wait what?
the afterlife is the halls of mandos (one of the valar), all elves and men that die go there. what's special about men is that they're not tied to middle earth, and after the apocalypse (dagor dagorath), they'll have a significant part in the next creation after that, probably as that universe's equivalent to elves or valar (although that was never stated as nobody but iluvatar really knows his plan). the elves and dwarves, however, will die for good (probably).
the gift of death also meant (like the video touched on) they could forge their own path and influence the world in their own ways, and stay strong even as the world ages. the elves are immortal, but you could say they age as a race together and become weaker over time, until they sail west to the undying lands and hang out with the valar.
I need to write a paper. Your videos are very helpful. Thank you so much❤
I’m a huge LOTR nerd and I loved this video!
YES.
Am I the only one who wants to see a new Middle Earth film adaption?
If anything, the story of Beren and Luthien would be PERFECT for a movie.
Who are they?
Beren and Luthien are from The Silmarillion. You should look it up if you'd like!
Hmmm
Yeah.
I want to see the Children of Hurin. Turin's is an awesome (but oh so tragic) antihero and his story would give people a look at the darker side of Tolkien's legendarium.
I have just begun reading The Silmarillion, and this was a nice video. The book can be a bit confusing at times.
Thanks...super explanatory video. Cleared up a lot...in so little time!
You should do a video on the Politics and History of Lord of the Rings.
buddyltd just the book Lord of the Rings or the entire history of Arda (the world Middle-earth is in)?
Nice to see a new CGPGrey video. But this one is too difficult for me to understand. I'd like to see a video on one or more of these next time; explaining Native American reservations, explaining how NATO works, and/or explaining the Russian Federation (difference between oblasts and republics).
yes yes.. well i understood it, but yes to the Russian Federation.
From the Silmarillion:
*"No theme may be played which has not its innermost source in me, nor may any alter the music in my despite. For he that attempteth this shall but prove mine own instrument in the devising of things more wondrous, which he himself hath not even imagined."*
-Eru Iluvatar
The best quote from Tolkien's best book.
Hey, this is easily one of if not your best video ever. But, he made one mistake. Note that I don’t want to be that one guy who points out every single little detail but I just want to clear a minute incorrect statement. The Ents were not made by Yavana but were actually made by Eru himself. Yavava was worried that the dwarves would plow down all the trees(that you got correct) but instead of her making the ents she goes to eru and asks him to make a species that would protect the trees and be distant from the others. He takes pity and makes the Ents.
Again. This is an amazing video and you did an amazing job writing, researching, and creating this but for everybody else who is here I just wanted to make a correction.
I refuse to read the Lord of The Rings books or watch any of the movies because i've been told that no females were part of the fabled Fellowship of the Ring. Assuming that males and females were created equally in Tolkien's universe, wouldn't it make sense that they bring along some females to help out on the dangerous voyage? It's a good thing that modern day authors like Suzanne Collins exist to write the "Hunger Games" saga. Took long enough for a series to come along with a strong independant female as the protagonist.
Berta Lovejoy, Feminist, Promoter Of Equality, Love, and Peace.
lord of the hunt here
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........('(...´...´.... ¯~/'...')
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Um wtf?
Sounds about as included as Christianity!
Hircine
she's just a copy-cat troll, i've seen accounts like that all over the place
Nice troll :D
Dwarves were basically the adopted Children of Iluvatar, which is one the reasons why Elves and Dwarves don't get along, although that intensified with the dispute over the White Gems of Lasgalen, to which Tolkien never answers as to which side was in the right or wrong. Anyway, Elves view Dwarves as beings that weren't apart of Eru Iluvatar's plan. It's sort of like a rivalry between a couple's trueborn child and their adopted child.
This is AMAZING😍 thank you so much♥️♥️♥️
Radagast wasn't distracted by nature, he was fulfilling his role. As a pupil of Yavanah, he was sent to look after and protect her creations in middle earth, not to fight against sauron
This story has a lot of interesting parallels to the story of the bible, specifically the battle between God and Satan.
+Christopher Teaford Tolkien was christian. I'm assuming he drew from that.
+Ben Hardy Not only a Christian but also a close friend of C. S. Lewis. So... Aslan, Eru and Jesus feel remarkably similar.
+Ben Hardy ha, im just gonna let you know that there is not much in the bible that wasn't told or sung about somewhere else before it. The bible is just one step in a process of handing down myths.
You are right to a certain degree. Tolkien was Christian, and as a Christian could not imagine the beginning of a world apart from creation and a Creator. At the same time, he did not intend any parallels to be drawn (he said so himself): His Creator and creation are still its own world, apart from the Bible.
Yeah, like how satan came about
I bet Aule's dwarves are really happy Manwe decided to create Deus Ex Machina Eagles
Manwe’s just likes to hog the attention by sending his kids whenever things get rough, but when people aren’t in vital danger he don’t care.
Eagles could’ve been useful so many times
This is fascinating! Thanks for this summation!
Please make more of these!!
Okay grey, I know you couldn't cover everything but I do have one question... What drives the eagles to live lives most easily described as "Deus Ex Avian"?
They only get involved if they ABSOLUTELY have to. They aren't Dues Ex Avian, they're just not interested unless they really need to be. which is why they didn't take the hobbits to Mordor in the first place, but fought when it mattered.
Firose Only getting involved when they half to, yet having the power to solve virtually any situation, is the definition of deus ex avian (or deus ex machina if you want to use the original phrase).
In writing terms, it's basically a cop-out to have this kind of ace in the whole every time you write yourself into a corner.
TrueWOPR Another thing is that they don't like to help since they can get shot down. I think they can only fly high enough that arrows can still reach them. They only helped Gandalf because they owed him or something. (I think he saved the king eagle)
Preternatural Genre-savvyness.
It's a survival mechanism, deus ex machina's rarely die.
The Eagles owed Gandalf three favors, I believe. They're like his Blue Eyes White Dragon card- rare but OP as fuck.
I have a human paladin in WoW named Nienna, and one of my hunter pets (a dragonhawk) I named Valaraukar, which is the elvish (I think) name for the Balrogs. I also have ab orc warlock named Valaraukar too. XD I also had a fish named Morgoth. Plus I have my Middle Earth map on the wall next to my bed. ^_^
I love The Silmarillion. It's so amazing and beautiful, and I hope it's never ruined by the media like The Hobbit was.
*an
Great video but wish you would slow down just a little :) had to re-listen a few times albeit I'm listening while working so not 100% focused. Excited to explore your other videos on LOTR. Beautiful illustrations.
Focus on your work dude.
This was very helpful! Big thanks!
RoosterTeeth Podcast brought me here, couldn't be happier with that suggestion.
You know how Twilight inspired 50 Shades of Gray? Same thing with the Bible and LoTR, apparently. Except Tolkien was actually a competent author.
The Bible is incomparable to Tolkien's work of fiction. Though Tolkien does lean much of his mythology upon Christian theology. That is why his work has this unexplainable relevancy, even to people who were never raised in western culture or with Christianity. Also why Tolkien's work is so focused on the concept of purity, a very important part of Christianity. Purity, or holiness, is the measure of one's nearness to God, to the divine, to all that is good and balanced. And his Middle-earth is entirely based upon this cosmological movement from purity to impurity. And what the loss of purity means.
Tolkien takes much of his cue from Christianity, right from the very start of the Silmarillion, by stating that even though everything is extremely beautiful (far more beautiful than our modern day world), it is not perfect, as originally envisioned. This comes from the Judeo-Christian concept of the fall. The Silmarillion is almost an alternative Bible, because it documents the exact same event as the Bible - the gradual movement from a godly world filled with holiness, to the current world ripe for destruction.
Tolkien was never the one to explain things overtly, so that connections could be made between his work and the real world, because he loved to veil things within the fictitious world's own mythology. And he was good at it! But to anyone who studies history, mythology, sociology, psychology, philosophy, spirituality and religion, these things are very clear.
The Silmarillion is a great, sweeping epic that in many ways, is far more moving than LOTR.
But if you want to go to the source of all the themes presented in it, just read the Holy Bible.
There are 2 reasons why most people do not understand the Bible or feel the need to read it.
1) They have a copy where older English is used, such as the KJV, which makes it difficult to understand and truly appreciate the messages and the wisdom. (For this just use the Easy to Read Version (ERV), or the ISV or the ESV. Avoid the NIV and the NASB versions).
2) The second reason why people do not understand the Bible is because they've never truly accepted God into their life, through Jesus. An analogy of this would be: just how the Valar and the Elves of Tolkien's world, after the end of the 3rd Age, exist in a higher plane of reality which cannot be seen by people in the world, the same way the meaning of what is spoken in the Bible has no relevancy to people of the world, who do not actively seek God. They are "blind to the message", like outsiders looking in, not fully and truly understanding. (And in modern day times, some are apt at criticizing or even condemning that which they do not understand. Which is more a reflection on themselves, than on the Bible.)
When one finally accepts God, one finally understands the depth and the beauty of the Bible. There is a definite moment of breaking between realities, of a person who lived life from his/her own ideas, and that moment of reconnecting back to God, whereupon the Bible which once seemed convoluted and impossible, becomes as clear as fresh mountain water.
Then many other spiritual texts decrease in their relevancy. And epic fiction becomes light-weight material, that once was very potent. It's becomes seen as for those who cannot take the full intensity of divine revelation. But need to keep on the outskirts of it because they are not yet ready for it.
Works such as this and Star Wars, are there to keep the concept of God and spirituality in people's mundane lives, but these works have no power on their own. They are merely pointers, and whispers. At most, they may lead one to something, which may lead them to another thing, which may, one day, lead that person to God. But it all depends on the whether the world has killed that person's spark which they were born with.
There is also a very nice document written by Alfred D. Byrd called "Biblical Parallels to The Silmarillion'", which you can get here: www.smashwords.com/books/view/638499 which compares Christianity with Tolkien's mythology.
Enjoy.
Not really tolkien took alot off things from difrent places. He even said he was heavily influnced my norse mythology. So its kinda wrong to say he took things from the bible without mentioning alot of other things. But its one thing we can agree on that he was a briliant author
Well that doesn't mean much. The bible wasn't trying to tell a good narrative.
I agree, the author that was more influenced by Christianity was Tolkien's contemporary and friend, C.S. Lewis. His Narnia series is much more heavily influenced by the Bible and Christianity thanTolkien and LotR were, in fact, it's been widely believed that Aslan is a Jesus analogue.
Would you like to tell me why you are more competent than the average three-year-old?
I love the illustrations in this video, who did them?
I like the detail of the gear in the CGPGrey Logo being yellow, so as to represent the ring.