DZ-Tolkien

J.R.R. Tolkien was a fantasy writer who wrote many books, such as "The Hobbit", "The Lord of the Rings", and "The Silmarillion". He was a great writer, worshiped by many and his books are considered the Holy Bibles of fantasy. Many people regard him as the best fantasy writer of all time, however, there are those who argue differently. []

1. Tolkien originally wrote "The Hobbit" for his children, until a London Publishing firm employee saw it and urged him to publish it and it became a very popular novel.

2. While writing "The Lord of the Rings", Tolkien received constant support from his closest friend Lewis, the author of "The Chronicles of Narnia".

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3. In a list of best fantasy writers, Tolkien made second place while George R.R. Martin made first. However, this list was created based on the creator's opinions, so that is why you will find Stephan King on the list, but not David Eddings.

4. Many people have said when asked if Tolkien is arguabily the best fantasy writer of all time, they say "what is there to argue about?"

5. There are many great fantasy writers out there who wrote stories so well that they themselves became legends. My personal favorites are Tolkien and David Eddings.

6. It's all people's opinion, but when it comes to fantasy authors, Tolkien is always at the top of their list.

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7. Tolkien is a legendary writer because he created a world as big and mysterious as our own. When he created even ruins of a small castle in Middle-earth, he created the history behind those ruins. He would write why the castle crumbled, or that it was haunted by evil spirits, or something.

8. Other writers would just write that the character found these ruins of a castle and the character encounters a giant and runs, and the castle is never mentioned again and we know nothing about it.

9. Tolkien's world of Middle-earth helped us escape from our world and enjoy the peacefulness within it. 10. Tolkien poured a lot of magic into his books to create something that we couldn't find anywhere else. 11. Tolkien's stories create an Odyssey, where we feel like his world is real and we never want to leave. [].

12. Tolkien has been established as the "father of modern fantasy"

13. He drew the story of "The Hobbit" from a trip to Switzerland in 1911, calling it an adventure.

14. His work drew from Finnish mythology, Greek mythology, the Bible, Anglo-Saxon, etc.

[] Awards received:

15. 1938 New York Herald Tribune Best Juvenile Story of the Season The Hobbit

16. 1957 International Fantasy Award at the 15th World Science Fiction Convention The Lord of the Rings

17. 1972 J R R Tolkien was honoured as a C.B.E. (Commander of the Order of the British Empire)

18. 1978 Locus Award - //The Silmarillion//

19//.// 1978 Gandalf Award - //The Silmarillion// [] Regarding "The Lord of the Rings":

20. It is known to the benchmark for fantasy novels to come.

21. This review also says that this series' story shall stick to you forever.

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22. While there a real good number of famous fantasy writers here, Tolkien has taken the number one spot.

23. Robert E. Howard made second place for creating maybe the best fantasy character ever: Conan the Barbarian. 24. Piers Anthony made fourth place for his most popular series: "The Incarnations of Immortality" which is one of the very best fantasy series in history.

25. Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman made number sixteen on the list. They both co-created and co-authored many great novels, mainly the DragonLance series.

26.David Eddings made seventeenth place with his famous series: "The Belgariad" and "The Mallorean" which had rich, well-designed characters who didn't even get along with each other.

[] 27. Anne McCaffery's series: "The Dragonriders of Pern", has been debated whenever it's science fiction or fantasy though it seems to be a combination of both.

28. The Dragonriders of Pern has dragons, a feudal system, and other fantasy elements, but the story takes place on a colony world with other planets. Nevertheless, it is still a great series to read. 29. McCaffery's Dragonriders series has won the Nebula Award for best novella in 1969.

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30. David Eddings's first series, "The Belgariad", captured the charm of a classic type of fantasy story. The story itself told of Garion, an orphaned farm boy, who goes on a quest with his aunt Polgara and grandfather Belgarath to recover the Orb of Aldur, and save the universe from the wrath of the evil god Torak. Along the way, Garion learns of his true identity and his destiny as well. The five book series was well-received by many and was a classic. 31. David Eddings followed up with The Mallorean, the sequel to The Belgariad which followed on Garion rescuing his son from the evil Zandramas before she can succeed Torak as the "Child of Dark". The series received awards just as The Belgariad had. []

32. Piers Anthony is most famous for his series "Xanth", and "The Incarnations of Immortality".

33. His Incarnations series revolved around ordinary people who find themselves having a job as one of the Incarnations: Death, Time, War, Fate, Nature, God, and the Devil. Each of these mortals must work their job with limits. For example, Zane accidentally killed Death, so he must take over the office and help people pass on when they die. 34. The Incarnations series has much humor with its future that has both technology and magic, which surprisingly, does not create opposing sides like Republicans and Democrats in America.

35. Anthony's series constantly ponders questions regarding the nature of life. 36. It is interesting to note that the showtime series: "Dead Like Me" was inspired by "On a Pale Horse", the Incarnation book of Death

37. Tolkien's books seemed like ordinary fantasy novels much like say, Eddings, where they do not usually stray from the border rules of fantasy, yet they are considered the best in fantasy writing.

38. Writers like McCaffery and Anthony weren't afraid to stray away from the classic kind of fantasy (rescuing a princess, defeating an evil creature, fulfilling a prophecy, etc) and try something new. McCaffery, as I've said, combined fantasy and science fiction and Anthony wrote novels with life's opinions and questions. 39. David Edding's Belgariad series had different characters of different races traveling and working together, giving you a sense of peace. However, the characters did not have each others interests at heart, and a few of them even argued with each other. 40. It is interesting to note that Tolkien did not write many books as say McCaffery or Anthony, yet they all had incredible influence on many people, especially The Lord of the Rings. 41. After I read a couple of Tolkiens books and Eddings's Belgariad and Malorean, I myself am inspired to write my own fantasy novels. That's the kind of influence Tolkien had on his readers.

42. When you look at all the entertainment media out there, Tolkien's work has been incorperated into movies, animated films, games of all types, and even radio shows. There was one or two animated Hobbit films, the big budget Lord of the Rings films, board games, video games, and so on.

43. There is much talk that The Hobbit is being made into a featured film like the Lord of the Rings was.

44. It is interesting to note that Tolkien's best friend, C.S. Lewis, released The Chronicles of Narnia before Tolkien released The Lord of the Rings. However, Tolkien was the one who perfected the fantasy genre.

45. I won't give Tolkien all the credit, but other authors did great and won recognization from other authors. Eddings was recognized by Piers Anthony: "Eddings' Belgariad is exactly the kind of fantasy I like. It has magic, adventure, humor, mystery, and a certain delightful human insight."

46. Tolkien said he didn't like Lewis' Narnia series because he felt they had too much allegory, yet Lewis said THe Hobbit would instantly become a classic treasure.

47. Robert E. Howard created Conan, King Kull, and the WW1 era adventurer and soldier of fortune Francis Xavier Gordon.

48. Howard was also an early contributor to H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos and wrote some of its finest tales including “The Black Stone”.

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49. Author Fritz Leiber coined the term, "Sword & Sorcery" to describe Howard's genre epitmozed by the Conan stories one generation after Howard.

50. The IOS game, "Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP", was influenced by Howard's stories, The Legend of Zelda, Beowulf, and other histories with supernatural elements.

51. Unlike many Tolkien games, "Sword & Sworcery EP" had its own original story.

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52. Howard is known as the Father of the Sword & Sorcery sub-genre.

53. Howard's character, Conan, has been compared to many poular icons such as Dracula, and James Bond.

54. Conan was transformed into a few films, animated TV shows, and games.

55. Howard's influence with the Sword & Sorcery genre can only be matched by Tolkien himself.

56. Howard can be compared to other American masters of the weird, gloomy, and spectral such as Herman Melville, and Jack London.

[] 57. Howard's genre, Sword & Sorcery, is a sub-genre of fantasy and historical fantasy.

58. It is often characterized by sword-weilding heroes engaged in exciting and violent conflicts.

59. It often has elements of romance, magic, and the supernatural involved, and tend to focus on personal battles instead of world-endangering matters. 60. It draws from mythology and classical epics such as The Odyssey and the Norse sagas.

61. The genre itself has been defined by Howard's tales of "Conan the Barbarian", and "Kull of Atlantis".

62. There have been authors who weren't afraid to venture off the beaten path in fantasy. McCaffery combined fantasy and science fiction as I've said before.

63. I myself have noticed that my fantasy novel seems to be a combination of classic fantasy and Sword & Sorcery fantasy: the world needs to saved from evil, the character strives to become stronger, he falls in love, and there's a lot of personal things mixed in. 64. Many fantasy writers have said that they probabily wouldn't have wrote novels if it wasn't for Tolkien himself.

65. Tolkien's work has left stamps imbeded in many, leaving great influence. [] 66. Terry Brooks' //The Sword of Shannara// and Dennis L. McKiernan's //The Iron Tower Trilogy// were both heavely influenced by Tolkien. 67. Many people have wrote fantasy similar to Tolkien's, while trying very hard not to imitate him. 68. Tolkien created a giant world, while writing the main plot of his stories.

69. He created work outside the limits of fantasy while keeping it a fantasy story. _

70. Tolkien's works are well-received by so many that they get many released book versions.

71. For example, The Hobbit was released as a paperback, then a hard cover, then many of those specially designed hard covers that go inside a beautifully designed box.

72. The Lord of the Rings itself, had many redesigned versions from separate books-in-a-box, to completely, combined tomes of magical writing. (My dad owns two or three Lord of the Rings box collections and two Hobbit box collections. 73. When you look at the entire history of Middle-earth, nothing can compare to the beautifully designed world Tolkien created. Middle-earth is the kind of world that many wish to go to for a vacation or when they die.

74. Many readers and even fantasy authors consider Tolkien to be even the God of Fantasy.

75. Tolkien's work, especially The Hobbit, and the Lord of the Rings, are considered to be Holy Bibles among readers.

76. When people talk about their favorite fantasy writers, Tolkien is always in at least the top three or five.

77. The thing about Tolkien is that when people think fantasy, they usually think Tolkien and Middle-Earth.

78. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with thinking that say Howard is the best fantasy writer, or that George R.R. Martin is better than Tolkien.

79. It's all opinion, but Tolkien created the most influentual fantasy stories of all time, which inspired other authors like Eddings.

80. George R.R. Martin wrote "Song of Fire and Ice" where he started out as a science fiction writer.

81. Tolkien is jsut so great that people hold ceremonies on the day The Hobbit was released into stores, or having drinks, celebrating the day he began writing the Lord of the Rings or something. That's how great he was, to have large numbers of devoted fans celebrate even after his death. 82. Some of the people that Tolkien influenced were: Terry Brooks, Raymond Feist, David Eddings, and Dennis L. McKiernan. They drew their work heavily from Tolkien.

83. When you look at the Lord of the RIngs films, they were planned very carefully, and had a lot of attention and detail put into. It shows that since the novels were richly detailed and valuable treasures, that the films had to be done exactly right. The films themselves even followed the novels as close as possible. (although fans were quite dissappointed that Tom Bombadill didn't make it into the first film.)

84. It is true that many fantasy authors draw their stories from other authors or entertainment media.

85. Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman drew their stories for the DragonLance Chronicles just from playing Dugeons & Dragons with their friends.

86. Others tried copying Tolkien's magic by writing stories like his. David Eddings was one of those, who created a surperb series of fantasy.

87. This is a little off topic, but Shigeru Miyamoto, creator of The Legend of Zelda series, drew his inspiration of the game from his childhood when he explored a nearby forest infested with strange creatures, lakes, and caves. He, like Tolkien, created a world that people could immerse themselves into.

88. Christopher Paolini, author of the Eragon series, drew heavy inspiration from the Lord of the Rings and Star Wars. He first started writing the first of the series when he was 15 years old.

89. Tolkien's influences can also be seen in TV shows and games, like Game of Thrones.

90. The thing is that Tolkien is considered a god-like figure in fantasy writing.

91. People like him only appear about every 100 years.

92. While he only wrote 28 books, not as many as other fantasy novelists, they are considered far surperior than those written by other authors.

93. Tolkien is truly an amazing author when it comes to fantasy. period.

94. Whenever you ask a fantasy author how they came up with their stories, they tend to say they were inspired by Tolkien.

95. There's no denying Tolkien is probably the greatest fantasy author in the world's existence.

96. While many great fantasy authors have earned their place in fantasy history, Tolkien has earned his place at the top of the heap.

97. There are little or even no one who can beat Tolkien when it comes to fantasy writing.

98. Many readers regard Tolkien as the one who got them to start reading fantasy novels in the first place.

99. Tolkien was known for his excellent depth into his characters.

100. When Tolkien created a character, he wrote a history behind it, giving it a perticular personality.

101. Tolkien always put thought and effort into his world of Middle-Earth, even if a particular place wasn't in the current story, like for example, in the Hobbit, Mordor is never mentioned, but Tolkien created it along with the rest of the world.

102. Tolkien won many awards for his novels of Middle-Earth.

103. There is practically no way anything can be compared to the land of Middle-Earth that Tolkien created.

104. Tolkien is as famous as maybe George Washington.

105. Actually, he's probably more famous than Washington.

106. Off topic again, I want to say the weirdest inspiration for a novel was Douglas Adam's "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy", which he came up with from being drunk in a field on a vacation trip in Austria. He had a book called "Hitchhiker's Guide to Austria" and many things like the famous "Don't Panic" originated from Austria.

107. Tolkien's idea for the Lord of the Rings originated from when readers wanted another story about Hobbits which Tolkien believed there was nothing else to tell.

108. He talked about it with his family and picked up his pen and began to write for 12 years.

109. 12 years? Yes, the Lord of the Rings took 12 years to write.

110. Tolkien was still teaching, and he had family matters to attend to, and his healthwasn't the best. But it was mainly because he look at every sentence and word and made sure it was exactly right with the story.

111. It is quite amazing that Tolkien wrote hsi novels even while his health was not at his best. It shows the dedication he had for his work and for his readers.

112. Tolkien's idea for the Silmarillion originated from his sadness of the environment and the deaths of his friends and he transformed it all into mythology.

113. Tolkien had planned a squel to the Lord of the Rings called The New Shadow, but he cancelled it because it was basically told in the downfall of Númenor and he felt like it wasn't worth doing.

114. Its interesting to note that Tolkien invented all but two of the riddles in the Hobbit.

115. The two were: "Thirty White Horses", and "No-legs".

116. Tolkien turned some of the battlefields of the World Wars into locations in Middle-Earth, like the Dead Marshes and Morannon.

117. Tolkien created Middle-Earth based on our own Earth, except it takes place in a imaginary time long ago.

118. Tolkien is the best, end of story.

119. He is a legend, a god practically.

120. Read some of his novels. Bye!