Tolkien For Beginners

Introducing Graphic Guides

by Louis A. Markos, Jeff Fallow (Illustrator)

Tolkien For Beginners will introduce the reader to the multilayered depth and breadth of Tolkien’s tales of Middle-earth, what critics, following Tolkien’s lead, refer to collectively as his legendarium. J.R.R. Tolkien sweeps us away to a distant time and place that is at the same time, our own time and place. He takes us to a world where difficult choices must be made and are made, where character is defined by those choices, and where redemption is possible though not always embraced. The Lord of the Rings taps a deep root in the human psyche. There is much death, destruction, and defeat in Tolkien’s world, but there is even more friendship, courage, and hope. What one remembers when one finishes reading The Lord of the Rings is not the vice of the villains, as strong and as well drawn as it is, but the virtue that empowers the heroes to resist it, even at the cost of their own lives. It will be the goal of Tolkien For Beginners to introduce the reader to the multilayered depth and breadth of Tolkien’s tales of Middle-earth. To do justice to the full dimensions of that legendarium, author Louis Markos will speak in two that of the storyteller who loves the stories he tells and that of the critic who seeks to identify and explicate key themes from those stories. In his telling and analysis, he will treat the legendarium both as a collection of secondary-world myths with their own integrity and as a reflection of Tolkien’s Catholic worldview.

224 pages, Paperback

Published September 23, 2022

About the author

Dr. Markos earned his B.A. in English and History from Colgate University and his M.A. and Ph.D. in English from the University of Michigan. At the University of Michigan, he specialized in British Romantic Poetry, Literary Theory, and the Classics.

He has taught at Houston Baptist University since 1991, where he is Professor in English and holds the Robert H. Ray Chair in Humanities.

Reviews

[Airs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Succinct yet deep, a fine balance that isn’t easily managed. Tolkien’s major works are each introduced to us first with a short summary of the plot, then a “Digging Deeper” section that fleshes out its key themes very thoughtfully, all written very palatably for beginners.

Its mention of the Christian themes Tolkien drew so much from is neither lame nor in-your-face, but helped me greatly in understanding the depth and intellect - not to mention character and virtue - of Tolkien so much more. The blurbs chosen to reinforce the analysis were also very well selected, and really entices me to read the works for myself in closer detail.

I was able to gain so much more breadth and perspective on my favourite Tolkien reads in just an evening - not an easy task for a book to achieve at all.

[Jeremy Hayes · Rating 4 out of 5]

A helpful resource tool to study the life and legendarium of JRR Tolkien. A vast majority of the book covers the Silmarillion and was helpful in keeping track of characters and storylines found in that book.

[Hui Ling · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book provides a decent introduction and a good analysis of Tolkien's works. There seems to be some gaps/inaccuracies in Markos' summaries on the Silmarillion. For example, Markos talked about the Teleri and Noldor elves but leaves out the Vanyar.

He wrote that Ilúvatar was pissed with Aulë for creating dwarves but pitied the creations enough to spare their lives when Aulë tried to kill them. My interpretation of this event was that Ilúvatar understood that Aulë had good intentions for creating dwarves, that Aulë desired his own creation to love and nurture, not to dominate and rule out of envy for Ilúvatar's power (unlike Melkor with his orcs and corrupted creatures). Ilúvatar noticed these intentions when the dwarves cowered at the sight of Aulë raising his hammar - the dwarves had free will! And hence they were allowed to live on. Free will is so important in the legendarium.

While I disagree with some of his summaries, I appreciate his analysis. He draws a beautiful link between each Elf x Maiar/Man couple in history, shows how they are connected by blood and destiny, and how their love impacted the history of Arda. He shed light on how Aragorn repented the mistakes of his ancestors - not just of Isildur's but of Númenor's - and how he redeemed his bloodline even till the end of his life, especially at the end of his life. His view on Faramir helped me understand the character more, and I have so much more appreciation for him now.

This was a lovely read.