A Look At Middle Earth From A Different Time: Prelude

When a self-styled scribe chooses to turn his gaze upon the literary works of a titan of yesteryear, it is easy to fall into an error of declaiming on the errors of the masters of bygone years while waxing long on how he himself would have done so much better. The fallacy of such pride of course is that the works he excoriates exist and have existed and been exalted for years upon years, while the critic has nothing to show in return. I do not then lay a criticism upon J. R.Tolkien, but point out only how the decades that divide us have shaped my views differently from him and make it harder to accept Arda exactly as he saw it; but at the same time, bowing before his genius in creating that world and acknowledging that few others, least of all myself, have achieved a fraction of his success.

To say that I an a fan of Tolkien is a little bit of an understatement. Tolkien, I believe, created the modern concept of the fantasy world, bridging the gap between the dimly remembered pagan worlds and the bustling modern one and making it acceptable to live one's life in a world of elves and orcs, dragons and wizards, and above all, hobbits. I have often thought, and have heard it speculated elsewhere, that Tolkien did not set out to create a fantasy world, but rather created languages and wove a world that explained the linguistic notes he'd written. He drew on the wealth of European mythology and mingled it with Christian myth to create a unique world of magical imagination, and such was the eventual siren song he composed that his world lives on, inspiring millions in future generations and inspiring even online multiplayer video games.

The very use of elves hearkens back to Celtic and Norse lore, but re-established those ancient myths on a new and solid foundational narrative. He created the modern fantasy world and set the elves, orcs and dwarfs in  roles that have endured for centuries. The mythic games from Dungeons and Dragons to World of Warcraft have largely followed the outlines set forth by Tolkien, and it is no coincidence that the modern author to create a fantasy world that rivals Middle Earth chose to flip the nature of elves at Hogworts upside down, a bold stroke of independence and literary genius. Tolkien cast a wide net, drawing on so many disparate themes and weaving them together, be it the lost king with the legendary sword that hearkens back to Arthurian legend, the wise wizard counselor with some hint of Merlin though far more willing to take up his sword in battle or the prophecies of old that come true in most unexpected ways; while I doubt that Tolkien drew much on Indian mythology, the hubris of the Witch King and his sudden uncertainty just before his fall resonate strongly with any student of India's own rich mythic traditions.

The Lord of the Ring and its companion book, the Hobbit, actually give you but a tempting glimpse of the greater world he had created. The mysterious Numenorians, precursors to the Dundedin, are mentioned but in passing, while the antecedents of Elrond, the Witch King, Isildur and even Sauron are whispered but never fully described within the story itself. Middle Earth sits before us like a blushing maiden, her face tantalizingly revealed and simultaneously hidden behind a gauzy veil, her beauty hinted at and made all the greater by its limited exposure to our gaze; we are enraptured by what we see, but we thirst all the more by the promise of what is hidden. And that greater world was no hollow promise, for Tolkien had in fact created a rich and complete world within which his fans may wander and revel or simply sit and muse. The master storyteller understood that that not every detail must be spelled out and that the greatest stories are those that give us a framework in which we may weave our own themes, using our own imagination to paint upon his larger canvas; a call back almost to the song of the Ainur, when the music of the children of Eru created Arda, and each one's notes were invited forth by the directions of Eru but neither compelled nor predirected. We have the glory and mystery of Middle Earth before us, with its history and its contours, but we may sit and debate the nuance of each event for a century and never tire, each new day and each new voice bringing fresh perspective.

It is no coincidence that much of the lands of Arda before the Third Age are destroyed, so that stories of the first and second age and the ages of the two trees are a mythology to the world we know as we walk itwith Bilbo and Frodo. Tolkien also left the east of Arda uncharted on purpose, an area that he hinted may hold mysteries galore, its very borders and extents open to imagination. Of the five Istari who come to Middle Earth to help the free peoples overcome the darkness, two of them head East and appear no more in the story, but the very lack of detail of their destiny is pregnant with possibilities. And that is the genius of Tolkien, to create a world that we may share and truly share as our own; we are invited to learn Middle Earth's mysteries not from him but from the answers hidden within ourselves and revealed as we explore that world with him.

Tolkien was a devout Christian, as was his good friend C. S. Lewis, and the tenets dear to him permeate his works and echo the ideas of that religion in myriad ways. He was also an Englishman who lived through the twilight years of the Raj and his stories reflect his world and its norms. Neither of these are negatives, far from it; I merely use them to point out that the world that Tolkien created a hundred years ago must necessarily be different from a world that he might create were he to do it today and that the way I, an Indian, an atheist and a child of late twentieth century, view it must also be different. In what way, and how different is mere speculation, and quite pointless and it is not my intention, in further discussions, to criticize Tolkien's world. I am too much a fan and too aware that he has done what no one else had done before to impose my own ideas upon his work, ideas that would likely have never been given room to grow but for the world that Tolkien established for all we dreamers. He didn't just give us the richness and lore of Middle Earth, but forged a path for all dreamers to follow, a path where the possibilities are as endless and as unconstrained as our imagination can conceive. And for that we can be eternally grateful.