The Origins of Tolkien's Middle-earth For Dummies®

by Greg Harvey

J.R.R. Tolkien's novels of Middle-earth – The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings trilogy, and The Silmarillian – have become some of the most famous, and most beloved, literary works of the twentieth century. And the Lord of the Rings films by director Peter Jackson have re-ignited interest in Tolkien and his works, as well as introduced his stories to a new generation of fans.

Even if you've never read the novels and have only seen the films, you know that the world of Middle-earth is a complicated one. Tolkien took great care in representing this world, from creating new languages to including very particular cultural details that add to the richness of the world's fabric. Many other books have been written about Tolkien and his works, but none have come close to providing the kind of reference needed to comprehend the world of Middle-earth. That's what veteran Dummies author and unabashed Tolkien fan Greg Harvey attempts to do in The Origins of Tolkien's Middle-earth For Dummies.

As the author says in his introduction to the book, this is not an encyclopedia or quick guide to all the diverse beings, languages, and history that make up Tolkien's Middle-earth. Nor is it a set of plot outlines for the novels. Rather, what you'll find in The Origins of Tolkien's Middle-earth For Dummies is a basic guide to some of the possible linguistic and mythological origins of Middle-earth, plus a rudimentary analysis of its many themes and lessons for our world. This book can help enrich your reading (or re-reading) of Tolkien's novels, and it will challenge you to think about the themes inherent in Tolkien's Middle-earth and their implications in your own life.

Here's just a sampling of the topics you'll find covered in The Origins of Tolkien's Middle-earth For Dummies:

Exploring the main themes in Tolkien's works, including immortality and death; the heroic quest; love; fate and free will; and faith and redemption Investigating the diverse lands of Middle-earth – including the Shire, Gondor, and Mordor – and their significance Examining the different cultures of Middle-earth, such as Hobbits, Elves, Men, and those wily Wizards Touring the history of Middle-earth Understanding Tolkien's creation of new languages to enrich the story of Middle-earth Top Ten lists on the battles in the War of the Ring, online resources, and the ways the films differ from the novels

So, whether you're reading Tolkien's novels or watching the films for the first time, or you've been a fan for many years and are looking for a new take on Tolkien's works, The Origins of Tolkien's Middle-earth For Dummies can help you enhance your reading or viewing experience for years to come.

Genres: Fantasy, Reference, Fiction, Literature, Science Fiction Fantasy

361 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 10, 2003

Reviews

[H (trying to keep up with GR friends) Balikov · Rating 4 out of 5]

Harvey is no dummy. Four stars if you are looking for a great introduction to Tolkien -- including and beyond The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings.
This isn't just a fact compendium. Be advised that Harvey has his point of view that is evident from time to time.
Pluses:
Well organized
Well indexed
Plenty of trivia
Nicely subdivided into easy-to-digest bits

Must be time for elevensies.........I'm taking a break

Definitely worth pulling down from the Tolkien shelf from time to time.

[Dawn Livingston · Rating 5 out of 5]

I saw the three Fellowship of the Rings movies and The Hobbit movies but never read all the books. I guess I'm one of the few to read them and not be fascinated. I just found them difficult to read.

I got this book because I know I'm missing stuff because I haven't read the books and there was one thing in particular that puzzled me; aspects of Arwen and Aragorn's relationship as well as confusion over where the ship is going at the end of Return of the King. And then there were questions answered that didn't occur to me to ask covering the history, the races, individual people and Tolkien's inspirations and point of view.

I personally don't need to own this book and I may or may not read it again, but you may want to own this book if you're a fan of the movies, the books, Tolkien, mythology, Christianity, language.

The one thing I didn't like is that the author didn't stay hidden. I didn't need to know his religion, him stating something as his opinion. I would have preferred him to have said stuff like: "It might be that...", "One might think...", "It's possible that..." I usually prefer my authors to remain hidden except for memoirs, biographies, auto-biographies, etc.

[taarak · Rating 3 out of 5]

Better than Cliff Notes but peppered with the author's own bias (as opposed to Tolkeins), this is still a decent primer in familiarizing oneself with how the Silmarillion and the LOTR trilogy relate to one another.

[Leslie D. Soule · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a great book. I feel like I understand The Silmarillion a million times better now.

[Joe · Rating 1 out of 5]

I could have written a better book!

[Nathan Albright · Rating 5 out of 5]

As someone who has read a few books in this particular series [1], and other series like it, I often ponder whether such a book like this is necessary.  I mean, it was certainly a good read, and it covered areas of the legendarium of the world of Middle Earth that I did not know well, despite having read quite a bit of material in that universe from Tolkien.  And by quite a bit, I mean the Fall of Gondolin and the Children of Hurin as well as the Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit and various other reference materials.  There are enough fans of Tolkien who would be interested in knowing some of the larger context of that world and how it connects with Tolkien's own religious beliefs and personal life that this book is certainly one that has a lot of readers.  And so it is likely that the profitability of the book and its sizable possible audience is justification enough to write a book like this one.  Books have been created for far worse reasons than this one was, and with far less achievement, it should be remembered.

Coming in at more than 300 pages, this book is a bit heftier than it first appears, and it is divided into six parts and 26 chapters, each of which has a hilarious cartoon on it for the reader to appreciate.  After a foreword and introduction, the first part contains two chapters that deal with the geography of Middle-earth (I), with the worlds (1) and lands (2) of that universe.  The second part spends a great deal of time discussing the various beings of Middle-earth (II), with chapters focused on the divine Ainur (3), elves (4), humans (5), dwarves (6), hobbits (7), wizards (8), neutrals like Beorn, Tom Bombadil, and Treebeard (9), and Sauron and his minions (10).  After that there are two chapters about the history of Middle earth (III) dealing with the Valerian ages (11) and the first three ages and then some (12).  The author discusses the languages of Middle-earth (IV) by looking at Tolkien's appreciation of languages in general (13) and the tongues he invented (14).  Several chapters fill the author's discussion of the themes and mythology of Middle-earth (V), including the struggle between good and evil (15), immorality and death (16), the heroic quest (17), chivalry and true love (18), fate and free will (19), faith and redemption (20), the mythos of the ring (21), ecological themes (22), and sex and gender (23).  Finally, the book ends with the usual part of tens (VI), including battles in the War of the Ring (24), online resources about Middle-earth (24), and differences between the books and movies (25), as well as an index.

A few things are very clear from the way the author went about this particular work.  For one, the author is certainly a big fan of Middle-earth and very familiar with its diverse texts, and has a high degree of praise for the way that Tolkien was so dedicated about creating not only a series of novels but also placing into it linguistic puns and a great deal of serious study and his own religious worldview.  It is also clear that the author wishes to promote a certain agenda of his own, including some criticism of the generally traditional gender roles portrayed in the series and a certain amount of Buddhist thought and practice that the author wants to support, and even gnostic ideas about God and various emanations.  If this book is not perfect, and if there are some parts of it that I find problematic, there are certainly many aspects of this book that were very enjoyable to read and that will help someone to better understand the world of Middle-earth.  This book accomplishes what it sets out to do.

[1] See, for example:

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2016...

[Melissa Kidd · Rating 4 out of 5]

I highly enjoyed this book. I was on a big Tolkien fan kick for a while the past month, partly due to the new release of The Hobbit movie, which sparked a re-watching of all the other movies as well, which then caused a domino effect of moving further out in fanfiction and eventually to reference books when I came across too many references I was curious about. That all led me to the the 823 decimal place in the library where I found this book. I needed something simple that would explain the history behind the references and that's exactly what this book gave me, in addition to all the other interesting facts that I didn't even know to look for. I had no idea there was so much history behind the stories I had read (barely) and watched. Another thing this book did for me was to get me excited to read The Silmarillion, which is on my TBR-Best 20th fantasy list. It also makes me want to look into rereading The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Now that I know the history and can understand the references I feel like I would get a lot more out of the books, and even the movies. I'm actually really looking forward to it. One problem I had with the book with it's many typos. Bad editing on the publisher/editors part there. If you don't know the intricate history in Tolkien's world, I recommend this book. It explains it all in a fairly interesting and easily understandable way.

[Bernie4444 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well done Greg Harvey

When you travel to a foreign land you want to carry a guide to help you. It should contain maps and terms. More than that you want enough information to feel comfortable and that you have been there before, not just some dictionary of terms.

Well, this is your true guide from names to themes to understanding the ages and the aged. As with all guides even if you know the information it is nice to have it presented differently to give you new insights. One such presentation is the periodic depictions by "The 5th Wave" One of my favorites is the one with the lumberjack with his arm around the young female ENT; parents looking on say "I'm sure he is a nice lumberjack. I just don't like the idea of our daughter dating one."

Bottom line is that reading any of Tolkien's books will be more enjoyable if you do not have to stop and look things up or gloss them over and miss some concepts in exchange for reading time.

[Marsha Altman · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you're wondering how this insanely specific "For Dummies" book was written, here's what I think happened: the author was contracted for a bunch of books "For Dummies" on computers when that was a popular trend, and then the LOTR movies came out, and being a huge Tolkien fan, he asked his publisher if he could do one on Tolkien and they said, "Sure, whatever." It does explain a lot of mythology and connection to the real-world mythologies Tolkien studied, but it is also complicated, because the Silmarillion is a very complicated book so you're just going to do get that. But he does his best. I think the latter half, where he's talking about the themes and is past most of the lists of names, is better reading.

[Dave Stone · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good, if you don't mind dry

As someone who has yet to read The Silmarillion (I'm getting around to it, I swear) There was a lot here I didn't know in a nicely digestible form.
...But the author's personal interpretation of what I do know casts suspicion on what he had to say about the rest.
Anyway, I listen to college lectures for fun. That made this feel very familiar.

[Diana Long · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I saw this book on Kindle I wondered if I needed it to take a deep dive into all of the works done by Tolkien......and indeed the answer is absolutely... I read this cover to cover and know I will refer to it over and over again. I highly recommend this to those that are fans of this fantastic author or plan on some point in time reading his works.

[Daniela · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was so surprised by this book: it’s much more than I expected it to be. After having read the Silmarillion just beforehand it was so nice to look into all of Tolkiens world from a bit of a removed view. My highlight: this book provides much info on the kinds of Nordic/germanic or Anglo-Saxon myths and tales Tolkien modelled his world after.

[Autumn Maisy Raquet · Rating 5 out of 5]

i would love to read this book it's looks good

[Valerie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book if you're interested in the back story of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings! Some chapters can be monotonous but overall it's entertaining.

[Jonathan Grant · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of interesting stuff here - pity it's a bit of out of date - couldn't find that old Tengwar website.
Could have done without the Top 10 things at the end though.

[Stephen Piegan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice companion for reading LOTR.

[Kitap Yakıcı · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is steeped in meaningful coincidence, which is kind of odd, considering it is a "For Dummies" book, not exactly the first place I would search for a synchronicity or two. I purchased it at the local Gooodwill for $.75 and later that same evening received an unexpected invitation from friends to see The Hobbit. Some of the info from this book (written before the release of The Return of the King) helped set the "extraneous" material from Jackson's Hobbit into the larger context of Tolkien's mythos and confirmed my positive opinion of the latest film.

The real strangeness involves the author, Greg Harvey. He earned his undergraduate degree at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where I have worked for over eight years. Stranger still, he was working on his Master's degree in the Humanities in the area of Philosophy and Religion with a concentration in Asian and Comparative Studies (PAR-ACS) at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco, at the same time I was there doing doctoral coursework in the same field! (To my recollection, we never met.)

All of that made this a hard book to review "objectively." Luckily, the book is excellent on its own merits, in addition to resonating oddly with my own particular life circumstances. Harvey explores Tolkien's world-canon with a broad understanding of philosophy, religion, literature, and languages, and uncovers many insights along the way. This is a definite recommendation for the fan of TLOTR who wants to dig a little deeper, but maybe not go all the way and read The Silmarillion.

[Aaron Masters · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is actually a very good introduction to Tolkien's larger legendarium, identifying and defining the various groups and characters clearly and accurately. It also contains a brief overview of the invented languates, which are a vital part of the works and of Tolkien's creative process. The later sections are devoted to thematic studies on topics such as gender, which are encouraging if for no other reason than that Tolkien's works so are so rarely treated to the same style of literary criticism as are those of most other great 20th Century authors. Obviously those looking for more in-depth analysis must look elsewhere, but this is a worthy beginning, and not to be underestimated.

[Susan Ferguson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting reading. I picked up several things I had not noticed before - and, of course, one or two I disagreed with. On the whole, a very good read for those interested in Tolkien's works. The only fault I had to find - which wasn't much - was the comparison of the books to the movies only covered the first two movies. Apparently when this was written, the third movie was not yet out. But that's a minor detail and not of much importance except as a curiosity.

[Pamela · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a fantastic resource for those that found themselves at times confused by the incredible complexity of the world that Tolkien created. The history of the Elves and how they arrived in Middle-Earth is made a lot more understandable. In fact, I recommend keeping this handy if you are reading The Lord of the Rings for the first time. It is a great reference.

[David the Ñoldo · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good overview of the Tolkien legendarium. I liked a lot of the authors identification of the parallel stories that Tolkien used, though I found it odd that he saw the Akallabêth as a simple Tolkien Atlantis story, whereas it resembles the Old Testament Books of Kings far more than Atlantis. All in all though, I'd recommend it to someone who just finished the major works.

[Lilla · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great source for a crash course in the Legendarium.

[Katie Clements · Rating 4 out of 5]

Can't believe I'm giving this a 4 star rating, but there it is. KT=DORK. I was re-reading the books, yet again and found this a delightful companion along with my "Tolkien guide from A-Z". Yep.

[Erik · Rating 3 out of 5]

Long story short, wanted more backstory on Middle Earth while reading LOTR but didn't want to slog through The Silmarillion.

[Tracey-anne McCartney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Informative book. I loved it.

[Dsweet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Couple of innacuraces confusing the films with the books but enjoyable read nonetheless.

[Clarke · Rating 5 out of 5]

A hilarious and insightful look at Tolkien...for those who don't know anything about him.