The Lord of the Rings books and related stories like The Hobbit and the new installment of the Rings of Power television series are more than just fantasy tales; they are part of an entire universe governed by complex mythological and historical systems that are so compelling they seem like a reality all their own.
But how was it that a person like the British author JRR Tolkien could imagine something so big and so detailed, to the point that he was able to invent entire languages? We can read the answer in Tolkien’s own handwriting, through a text in his posthumous book, “Letters” in whose pages there is a very interesting compilation of letters made by his biographer, Huphrey Carpenter, published in Spanish by the publisher Minotauro.
This is an undated letter, probably written in 1951, in which Tolkien addressed the editor of the prestigious publishing house Collins, Milton Waldman, to convince him to publish the books of “The Lord of the Rings” together with “The Silmarillion”, a book in which he explains, from his own mythology, the creation of that entire universe that has conquered the public through the books, the films and the series.
There, the writer tries to explain how these books are intimately linked, not only by their plots, but by one of his writing obsessions and interests: myths. There he confesses that he always considered that the history of England lacked an authentic mythology, like that of the Greeks, the Egyptians or the Celts, even though they had great legends like that of King Arthur.
“Don’t laugh! But I once (my mohawk has long since fallen) intended to create a body of more or less connected legends, from the broad cosmogonies down to the level of the romantic fairy tale, which I could dedicate simply to England, my homeland,” Tolkien says in the letter, in which he also relates that his ability to create languages was due to a vivid childish imagination and a great sensitivity that he decided to explore to the point that he specialized in philology.
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Later, Tolkien dares to reveal a little about the “allegorical” bases of the mythology he decided to create, trying to reflect on the concepts of the “fall”, “mortality” and “the machine”, in which the creative desire comes into play against the futility of life, obsessive attachment and the intention to corrupt the order to dominate everything.
The letter is long and is practically a summary of all of Tolkien’s work, something like a basic guide that should not be missing from any fan’s shelf.