LoTR and viking history - similarities

Number24

Many Norwegians see many paralells and influences from our history and folklore in LoTR, especially the movies.
The drawings here are made in late in the 19th century to illustrate Norwegian history and folklore. The pictures are obviously from LoTR. This is not far fetched in any way. Tolkien was a proffessor of northeren European litterature and probably owned copies of the books the illustrations are from. I couldn't find the drawing of the folklore figure called "Tælen", but he is a wretched creature who lives in a damp cave without sunlight. In the drawings he is the spitting image of Gollum. Gandalv is a chieftain in the book most of the drawings are from.



From a viking age building























The god Odin is often called "Odin the Grey"

AlphaOmegaSin

This has prompted me to re-read his Novels -{

Silhouette Man

Interesting post. I have collectable copies of some of them but I have yet to read any of them. Not seen the films either.

Thunderpussy

I think Game of Thrones, lifts plenty of bits of mythology from many backgrounds.

Number24

I think you confuse Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones, TP. But you are right. LoTR is lifted from many sources. Mainly Tolkien's briliant imagination, but also Norwegian history and folklore. I'm sure Tolkien was influenced by Snorre Sturlason's "Heimskringla - or The Cronicles of the Kings of Norway". I even think it likely the filmmakers studied the illustrations of his book, because of the simmularities.

Thunderpussy

) I'm so used to hearing about TGOT, that I sometimes get confused.
I'm also very tired after a long day.

Silhouette Man

I believe that the rise of Adolf Hitler in Germany was another contemporary evil influence on Tolkein's writing too of course.

AlphaOmegaSin

Has anyone seen the underrated 1978 animated LOTR Film?

Barbel

Yes, it was a pity they never got around to a Part Two.

Number24

Silhouette Man wrote:

I believe that the rise of Adolf Hitler in Germany was another contemporary evil influence on Tolkein's writing too of course.

I think the rise of Hitler somehow inspired Tolkien. In the movies there are shots like the urukai army parading in front of Saruman that reminds me very much of the nazi Nurenberg rallies.
It's also not a stretch to say Stalin and the Soviet Union may have been an influence.

Hardyboy

Actually, the biggest influence on Tolkien was medieval (specifically Anglo-Saxon) literature. No surprise, since he was a professor of medieval lit--and, according to his students Kingsley Amis and Philip Larkin, a bloody dull one. In fact, Tolkien said that the greatest tragedy in British literary history was the Norman invasion of 1066, because until that time the Britons were on the verge of developing their own vibrant literature; but the Normans injected it with French romance and destroyed it. Tolkien tried to make TLOTR into what British literature would have been if the Normans had never invaded. It's no surprise that there would be Viking connections to Tolkien's work, though, since the Angles and Saxons worshipped the same gods as the Vikings and had many cultural similarities.