Tolkienology
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Tolkienology is a term used by Tolkien fans to describe the study of the works of J. R. R. Tolkien treating Middle-earth as a real world and using academic techniques to determine if 'chronicler' Tolkien has left enough clues to come to some fitting conclusions.
Subjects are treated from several viewpoints: politics, demographics, society, economy, linguistics, geography, cosmology, folklore, etc. As in every other fandom, studies are made with internal logic. Explanations based on literary or narrative reasons are not satisfactory.
This way of thinking is more common when someone is trying to justify some character's motivation in the tales, or find explanation for some less obvious aspects, like 'How old is Legolas?' or 'What is the origin of the Lossoth?'.
Studies have revealed sometimes the great amount of care Tolkien did show to every imaginable detail, even things that are not visible at first, like hair and eye colours. Some have also found some inconsistencies, goofs, and bloopers in the writings, though most of them can be explained internally.
One such very 'deep' mistake is in the Hobbit: In Tolkien's description, the moon rose too late the day the dragon Smaug died, in relation to the season of the year, which is inferred only by careful study of all the astronomic details throughout the whole book.
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[edit] Common subjects
- Tolkienian linguistics: Study of the languages Tolkien designed for Middle-earth, the most complete (and the most studied) being Quenya and Sindarin, two Elvish languages, and the study of the writing systems, the most known being the Tengwar, and possible reconstruction for everyday use (a really huge "Tolkienologic" branch on its own right).
- What Tom Bombadil is, whether balrogs have wings, why the Eagles didn't help on the Quest etc.
- Genealogies of Hobbit families and kings
- The accuracy of Tolkien's calendars and how can they be used today
Some less common themes include:
- Reconstruction of history (of Elven kingdoms, Arnor and Gondor, Rohan or the more unknown lands)
- Morality issues such as whether an omniscient and omnibenevolent Ilúvatar would destroy Númenor, if the 'bad' Dunlendings had any right rivalling the 'good' Rohirrim and if Gondor made genocides.
- Possible census of population about each race.
- Astronomic descriptions in the books (moon phases, positions of stars), and what can we infer about Middle-earth geography from them.
- Strategies of wars and battles, if they were right and what alternatives might have been
- Possible folkloric impressions Hobbits had about places of the Shire and other whereabouts, determined by translating placenames.
[edit] Criticism
As a product of geek sub-culture, Tolkienology is often frowned upon by outsiders. The main claim is that there is no point wasting energy and time on something completely imaginary, like constructed languages, instead of something more real and useful. This way of thinking is criticised even by Tolkien fans, who say that such an analysis ruins the magic of the story and that Tolkien would not approve this kind of treatment to his work.
Tolkienologists on the other hand say that since Tolkien's work was based on European languages, roots, mythology and history, Tolkienology is a simulation of an actual science. It helps fans delve deeper in more serious aspects and get familiarised with real linguistics (eg. Welsh and Finnish, upon which the Elvish languages Sindarin and Quenya, respectively, were based, to a certain extent) and European folklore. Students of Elvish claim that learning of Welsh seemed simpler after understanding Sindarin.
Tolkienists also claim that all they are doing is thinking as Tolkien did while writing his complex works by reverse engineering: since Tolkien took care about details such as the moon phase described in the books, according to the season and geography he had in mind, likewise we can guess his mind and intentions by studying such details. After all, Tolkien originally wrote The Lord of the Rings as an academic exercise; his primary intention was to create a believable, yet fictional, world. As a university professor, debate was part of his working life; Tolkienists would say that he would have been disappointed if no one had analysed his writing more fully.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Lalaith's Middle-earth Science Page
- Other Middle-earth science Information on genetics (eye and hair colours), census, timelines, etc
- Ardalambion A huge site with lots of information about Tolkien's languages. (Very technical!)
