The Old Tales: How Norse Myths and Old English Literature Contributed to The Creation of Middle-Earth

History often resembles myth, because they are both

ultimately of the same stuff.

J.R.R.Tolkien

This time we are going to talk about Tolkien’s academic interests that served him well in his attempts of creating his own universe with its unique history, peoples and languages.

As you found out in the previous article John Tolkien was a professor of Old English and Literature. He was a lucky man to work in the field he was utterly keen on, thus, making his life an exciting mixture of endless discoveries and devoted scrupulous studying. Among the most striking and beloved spheres of Tolkien’s interest were Norse mythology and Old English folklore and literary pieces. These preformed Tolkien’s vision on his future creations: from the fictional universe to the worldview of his characters.

Most of us know Tolkien only as the creator of the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings, although he was much more than just a writer.

John R.R. Tolkien was a true scholar. He devoted almost his entire life to education, a huge part of which he taught at one of the best universities in the world – Oxford.

Tolkien was a linguist, a philologist, and a translator. His knowledge and achievements in the fields of his competence  are still considered outstanding. Tolkien was a persevering and consistent man by nature. As painstakingly and meticulously as he created his legendarium and its heroes, he devoted himself to the realm of study and analysis, reaching heights unattained before.

Among Tolkien’s most notable scholarly achievements, the translation of the legendary Anglo-Saxon epic poem “Beowulf” and its close examination from linguistic and historic perspectives shine the brightest.

This particular piece of ancient literature played a crucial role in the creation of Middle-earth.

The authorship of this work, as well as the overwhelming majority of manuscripts of that period (8th-13th centuries), is unknown, and the poem itself was not printed until the beginning of the 19th century.

The plot of this epic literary work takes place in Scandinavia, but the exact moment of time when the events transpired has not yet been established. It is only known that the story unfolds among the Anglo-Saxon people even before their resettlement to the British Isles. The main character, Beowulf, is a brave and valiant military commander who, as the plot develops, fights three monsters that terrorise and kill innocent people and disrupt the life of several Norse kingdoms.

Beowulf's victories over these beasts perpetuate his glory for eternity.

As soon as you open the text, details that were previously associated only with Tolkien's books immediately catch your eye. Some are fruits of Tolkien’s deep inspiration, but others remain to be direct and unchanged borrowings…

What seems notable to me is the variety of things that Tolkien derived from Beowulf. To list all of them would be impossible unless steeping in analysis of Tolkien’s creations for endless months. But there are a number of borrowings that are visible and comprehensible even for a mere mortal.

For instance, take a look at some of the names of characters from Beowulf:

Frōda, Eomær, Grendel

They appear to be extremely familiar, don’t they? The first two are direct names of Tolkien’s heroes Frodo and Eomer and the third one is similar-sounding to a number of other characters’ names.

Names of many elves, orcs and other creatures are derived from this exact literary piece, too.

Furthermore, the villain who brought death to Beowulf was a dragon. The dragon that stole gold and gems and slept underground, protecting his treasures until accidentally awakened with a severe desire for revenge. He had no name yet we know someone exactly like him – Smaug. The central antagonist of Tolkien’s The Hobbit or There and Back Again was created on the foundation of Beowulf’s beast.

Aside from the names and single prototypes, the Germanic tribes from the epic poem served as a model for the whole human race of Middle-earth. Language, culture, way of life, values – Tolkien drew his heroic nations from historically real peoples, relying on Beowulf as a cradle of information and images.

What also appeared to be curious to me is Tolkien’s usage of alliterative verse, which is the form of writing in Beowulf, in his poetry included in LOTR and The Hobbit.

Let me brief you: alliteration is a literary device that is characterised by intentional repetition of initial consonant sounds of closely standing words. Alliterative verse is a verse where each line contains a case of alliteration.

This kind of verse was the principle of narration in Old English poetry representing a crucial literary tradition of Germanic languages. Tolkien made various successful attempts in his books at composing poetic units utilising this type of verse

The manner of composition and the ambience of both verses are very similar, denoting Tolkien’s competence in the field and his artistic genius.

He endeavoured to imitate the soul of the nation that lived centuries ago and accomplished his aim masterfully, as you can judge from the given abstract.

Aside from Beowulf, which, without any doubt, greatly influenced Tolkien and Middle-earth, there are other epic literary pieces that found their reflections in the texts of the saga:

The protagonist of an Old English epic poem “Wanderer”, a lonely soldier who lost everybody and everything in a war and passes through 5 severe stages of grief, was a modelling image for every true warrior in LOTR and The Hobbit (take Aragorn as the most striking example). Men of honour had to suffer from internal pain way greater than from any physical wound. That is the mark that Tolkien decided to bestow his heroes with.

Apparently, the greatest allusion to Tolkien’s academic engagements is Middle-earth itself. The name is derived from Germanic languages and folklore from the area of modern Scandinavia. It existed in Norse mythology (Miðgarðr – a realm of mortal humans; one of nine realms in Norse mythology) and was frequently mentioned in Old English literary pieces (Middilgard) as well.

This fact is an excellent example of how complicated it is to differentiate between mythology and literature of those times, as the latter was fully based on the motives of mythos, and sometimes the only distinction was the written form. At least, that is the case of Old English literary works and Norse mythology.

Völsunga saga is yet another outstanding phenomenon of Norse legends, numerous traits of which can be spotted in Tolkien’s works. Völsunga saga is a 13-century Icelandic epic heroic saga about the history of Scandinavia narrated through the chronological evolution of the Völsunga clan. The key “borrowings” from this literary piece that Tolkien made are a magical ring and a legendary “resurrected” sword.

Many scholars have contributed to the solution of Tolkien’s mythical jigsaw. Signs of Greek, Finnish, Celtic mythologies have been found. And even concepts of Arthurian legends have been widely identified.

An indispensable thing which we are to note and understand here is the fact that Tolkien’s creations overlived him. Being such a broad and subtle structure, Middle-earth resembles many ancient tales and legends, that were encrusted into it both intentionally by the author or merely by a coincidence.

Nevertheless, the more you learn about the author's sources of inspiration, the more ambiguous the feelings towards his close adoptions and derivations become. It drives us to a question:

Why would such an extraordinary writer as John R.R.Tolkien use so many borrowings?

I would reckon that the above-mentioned query is of paramount importance for us as readers and amateur experts of Tolkien as well as central for our course.

Memorise it and always keep in mind as we are going to seek all the possible hooks and clues to answer this controversial question throughout the remaining articles along with those concluded.

Thank you for your interest and persistence, dear curious reader!

Soon we will dive into another enthralling journey and discover new depths of fascinating worlds of John R.R. Tolkien.

Karima Lakekhal

References

1. Beowulf: A metrical translation into modern English / ed. Clark Hall J.R. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 2014.
2. Tolkien J.R.R. The Lord of the rings. London, England: HarperCollins, 2014.
3. The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica. Vǫlsunga saga // Encyclopedia Britannica. 2018.
4. Pearce J. Tolkien: man and myth: a literary life. – Ignatius Press, 2019.

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