J.R.R. Tolkien — #100FavouriteAuthors

The Creator of The Greatest Epic Fantasy

2 min readMay 24, 2017

He fought in the First World War.

Tolkien didn’t want to fight though. In a letter to his wife, Edith, he wrote, “Gentlemen are rare among the superiors, and even human beings rare indeed.” In those days, apparently, a man’s intellect wasn’t considered good enough for society – it was his physical courage that mattered. Of course, it was a time of war, but it makes you think, doesn’t it?

I’ve always wondered what character from his books he modelled on himself.

Gandalf? One of the elves? The adventure-seeking Bilbo? The more innocent Frodo? I’m pretty sure one of these guys was inspired by the man himself. He looked a lot like Bilbo in his old age (check picture above). It’s a question we’ll never get the answer to, alas…

I read Lord of the Rings for the first time in 2000.

I was in school back then. I remember how long it took me to finish the book the first time – about 6 months. Ever since, though, I read the book at least once a year – it’s like therapy for me. The only other Tolkien book I’ve read is The Hobbit – but that only once. There’s something about Lord of the Rings… something precioussssss. I can’t exist without it.

I am a firm believer that the movies did his vision great justice.

Something the Harry Potter movies never did. They were quite off Rowling’s original vision. Peter Jackson did a great job of keeping the universe’s ethos intact through all three films.

I wonder what the old man would’ve made of it though.