1. Tolkien started to create Middle Earth long before he thought up the story that would be set in that locale. Tolkien, who had an academic background in Germanic and Norse language and religions, started creating a mythology and elven languages in 1917 – over a decade before he ever thought about the characters that would appear in his stories. In fact, he created such an expansive universe that it spawned the whole spin-off Dungeons and Dragons series. He has even influenced the English language in the same way as Shakespeare did, with words such as tween and spellings like dwarvish rather than dwarfish. Dwarves (as opposed to dwarfs) play a major role in the books, and you can read more about them here. In The Hobbit especially, dwarves are a key plot point, as Bilbo travels with thirteen of them – one of whom is the king.
Tolkien also took much of his inspiration from the real world. Middle Earth may be fictional, but much of it is based loosely on medieval history and British mythology. Additionally, whilst living in Birmingham, Tolkien took inspiration from Chamberlain Tower on the University of Birmingham’s campus. At night, the clockface was brightly illuminated, and it is from this that it is thought Tolkien drew the idea for the all-seeing Eye of Sauron…
Read full story here: http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/tgc/2013/12/12/9-things-you-should-know-about-the-hobbit/
