Influences on the Lord of the Ring

Influences on the Lord of the Ring

The Lord of the Rings by John Ronald Reuel Tolkien is one of the greatest books of the twentieth century. The trilogy consists of the three parts: "The Fellowship of the Ring", "The Two Towers" and "The Return of the King". The trilogy was written from fantasy novel The Hobbit and consistently grows into The Lord of the Ring. J.R.R. Tolkien wrote the trilogy in a stage between 1937 and 1949 during The World War II (Lord of the Ring).

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was born in Bloemfontein, South Africa, on January 03, 1892; after his father died, his family moved to England, where his mother died from diabetes that influenced his very much; in 1911, he joined the Exeter College in Oxford, after which in 1916 he came as second lieutenant on the Somme in France (Lord of the Ring). During World War I, Tolkien began to record the terrible impressions of the war that could be reflected in the trilogy:

After finishing at Oxford in 1915, Tolkien himself left for the French front, almost immediately to be involved in the Battle of the Somme. He was spared almost certain death only because he contracted trench fever and sent back to England. (Wood n.p.).

Furthermore, because The Lord of the Ring was written during World War II, which enhanced greatly the level of evil around the world, there were and are some speculations that the characters of the trilogy such as Saruman and Sauron were influenced by Hitler and Stalin.

During The World War 2, Soviet Union and United States were allies in the fight with Hitler's Germany. That was one of few moments during the whole history when these two superpowers had warm relationships. Inside the country American government used popular culture to show Soviet leader as their friend, Stalin was called by opinion makers friendly as "Uncle Joe" and they "portrayed him as a kindly, if stern, father figure, the sort of patriarch who always had the best interest of the family in mind. In the movie Mission to Moscow, Hollywood characterized him as a thoughtful, pipe-smoking, farsighted political leader concerned with collective security, Nazi aggression, and the prosperity and well-being of his country. However reality in Soviet Union was opposite, Stalin's machine executed millions of innocent citizens, destroyed intelligence class, Stalin ordered Molotov to sign very unfair act with Germany to divide Poland. And also during the war Stalin was not really as "the sort of patriarch who always had the best interest of the family in mind," because executions continued even within the soldiers on the battlefields.

Following the World War II, The Lord of the Ring describes the tyrants, imaginary characters Sauron and Saruman are could meant to Hitler and Stalin respectively, where the ring could meant to symbolizw the atomic bomb, and the Mordor is could meant to Nazi Germany.

Tolkien strongly denied that the trilogy was an allegory for World War I or II because he though that neither war, nor atomic bomb could provide any influence on his trilogy:

I should like to say something here with reference to the many opinions or guesses that I have received or have read concerning the motives and meaning of the tale. The prime motive was the desire of a tale-teller to try his hand at a really long story that would hold