Edited by Rachel Heung
"One ring to rule them all, One ring to find them, One ring to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them." (Tolkien, 1954) Everybody recognises this iconic line, regardless of if they’ve watched/read Lord of the Rings. The series is widely regarded to be the founder of modern high fantasy, and has had an immeasurable impact on the fantasy genre as a whole (The Lord of the Rings, n.d.).
The Hobbit, published in 1937, was the world’s introduction to Tolkien's world of Middle Earth. The book focuses on Bilbo Baggins, who journeys with a band of dwarves to recover their treasure from the dragon Smaug (Hall, n.d).
The Hobbit’s sequel, The Lord of a Rings, a fantasy novel written by J.R.R. Tolkien, was published in three parts; The Fellowship of the Ring in 1954, The Two Towers in 1955, and The Return of the King in 1955. In the books, the protagonist, Frodo Baggins forms a fellowship of hobbits, elves, dwarves, and men to destroy a ring. The books were later adapted into movies, directed by Peter Jackson (The Lord of the Rings, n.d.).
Before Tolkien, fantasy works focused on a character who journeys through a fantasy world to return to the modern world. Thus, the fantasy world will not be as important in the story; some works relating to this setting would be Peter Pan, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, etc.
Tolkien’s world of Middle Earth is well-crafted and an improvement of worldbuilding compared to other authors. (Kelly, 2019) On his blog, Brandon Sanderson (author of many popular fantasy books such as Mistborn: the Final Empire, and The Way of Kings) writes that Tolkien “Tolkienized” fantasy- “setting the pillars” for modern fantasy. Though many of the fantasy races/ideas that Tolkien used were not his own, the blending of them has created the well-known genre called fantasy- namely the use of elves, dwarves, wizards, quests, etc. (This Is How Tolkien, n.d.)
Lord of the Rings has inspired a lot of our pop culture, including the game Dungeons and Dragons, as well as influencing many fantasy novels, such as Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin, A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin, The Dark Tower by Stephen King, The Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini (Aravind, 2020).
References
Aravind, A. (2020, September 19). 10 Ways The Lord Of The Rings Changed The Fantasy
Genre. Screen Rant. https://screenrant.com/lord-of-the-rings-ways-changed-fantasy-
genre/
Dhawan, E. (n.d.). 10 Most Powerful Beings In The Lord of The Rings Series. Quirky Byte.
https://www.quirkybyte.com/blog/2017/11/powerful-beings-lord-of-the-rings-series/
Hall, E. F. (n.d.). The Hobbit. Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Hobbit
Kelly, J. T. (2019, November 27). 8 Ways Tolkien Changed Modern Fantasy Forever. James
T Kelly. https://jamestkelly.com/8-ways-tolkien-changed-modern-fantasy-forever/
The Lord of the Rings. (n.d.). Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Lord-of-the-
Rings
This is how Tolkien influenced the Fantasy genre. (n.d.). Wotta Read.
https://wottaread.com/this-is-how-tolkien-influenced-the-fantasy-genre/
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