Tolkien Lore

The world created by J. R. R. Tolkien is one of the main inspirations for the modern role playing game. Castlevania contains many elements from these works.

J. R. R. Tolkien

Tolkien in the 1920s.

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien CBE (January, 1892 – September 2nd, 1973) is best known as the author of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. He was a professor of Anglo-Saxon language at Oxford from 1925 to 1945, and of English language and literature, also at Oxford, from 1945 to 1959. He was a strongly committed Roman Catholic. Tolkien was a close friend of C. S. Lewis, with whom he shared membership in the literary discussion group the Inklings.

In addition to The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien's published fiction includes The Silmarillion and other posthumously published books about what he called a legendarium, a connected body of tales, fictional histories, invented languages, and other literary essays about an imagined world called Arda, and Middle-earth (from middangeard, the lands inhabitable by Men) in particular, loosely identified as an 'alternative' remote past of our own world. Most of these works were compiled from Tolkien's notes by his son Christopher Tolkien.

The enduring popularity and influence of Tolkien's works have established him as the "father of modern fantasy literature". Tolkien's other published fiction includes stories not directly related to the legendarium, some of them originally told to his children.

Works

Novels that make up this universe include:

• The Hobbit
• The Lord of the Rings (volumes: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, The Return of the King)

Works published posthumously:

• The Silmarillion
  • Ainulindalë ("The Music of the Ainur") – The creation of Eä, the world.
  • Valaquenta ("Account of the Valar") – A description of the Valar and Maiar, the supernatural powers in Eä.
  • Quenta Silmarillion ("The History of the Silmarils") - The history of the events before and during the First Age, which forms the bulk of the collection.
  • Akallabêth ("The Downfall of Númenor") – The history of the Downfall of Númenor and its people, which takes place in the Second Age.
  • Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age – A brief account of the circumstances which led to and were presented in The Lord of the Rings.

Elements in Castlevania

The following swords from Tolkien lore can be found in the Castlevania series:

• Luminous (Orcrist)
• Dark Blade (Glamdring)
• Sword of Hador ("Heirloom of the House of Hador", English translation only)
• Ice Brand ("Ice Sword of Mim", English translation only)
• Marsil ("Narsil?", English translation only)
• Mormegil = Gurthang (English translation only)
• Mablung Sword (English translation only)
• Crissaegrim (Valmanway)

Also, although not swords, Symphony of the Night includes other Tolkien references, such as:

• Ring of Varda
• Ring of Feanor
• Nauglamir (necklace of the dwarves)
• Fist of Tulkas
• Elven Cloak - Possibly a reference to the cloaks given to the Fellowship upon their departure from Lothlórien.