Christopher Tolkien

Christopher John Reuel Tolkien (21 November 1924 - 16 January 2020) was the third child and youngest son of J.R.R. Tolkien and Edith Tolkien. He was the literary executor of the Tolkien Estate and edited much of his father's work for posthumous publication.[1]

edit] Early life

Christopher Tolkien was named after his father's friend, Christopher Wiseman (he also sometimes used his confirmation name, "John" as seen on his initials of maps of The Lord of the Rings, "CJRT").

Born in Leeds and raised in Oxford, Christopher went to the Dragon School in Oxford and Oratory School in Caversham, Berkshire. Due to a heart ailment, he was forced to stay at home and work with a private tutor. He enjoyed watching stars with a telescope as well as a passion for railways. As early as age four and five, Christopher was concerned with the consistency of The Hobbit.

Last time, you said Bilbo's front door was blue, and you said Thorin had a golden tassel on his hood, but you've just said that Bilbo's front door was green and that Thorin's hood was silver

—Christopher Tolkien, foreword to The Hobbit

Christopher proved invaluable in correcting The Hobbit after its publication and was paid twopence a correction.

edit] Young adulthood

In July of 1943 he entered the Royal Air Force and in November of that year he went to South Africa to train as a pilot. His absence did not however slow his contributions to his father's works as his father continually sent him parts of The Lord of the Rings to go over. In 1945 he returned to England and was stationed in Shropshire and later that year he returned to Oxford.

On October 9th, 1945 his father informed him that the Inklings wished to consider him a permanent member. The task of reading The Lord of the Rings to the Inklings was passed on to Christopher and it was generally agreed that he was a better reader than his father.

In 1954-55 Christopher was delegated the re-drawing of his father's Lord of the Rings maps for publication.

edit] Adulthood

In 1946 Christopher returned to Trinity College to resume his studies and reading English. For a while his tutor was C.S. Lewis. His thesis was a translation of The Saga of King Heidrek the Wise and he received his B.A. in 1949. Christopher also became a lecturer in Old and Middle English as well as Old Icelandic at Oxford. He worked as an editor on Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, the Pardoner's Tale, and the Nun's Priest's Tale. From 1963 to 1975 he was a Fellow of New College, Oxford but resigned when he began to devote his time to his father's literary affairs, and soon afterward moved with his family to southern France.

edit] After his father's death

After his father's death, Christopher embarked on organizing the masses of his father's notes, some of them written on odd scraps of paper a half-century earlier. Much of the material was handwritten, frequently a fair draft was written over a half-erased first draft, and names of characters routinely changed between the beginning and end of the same draft. Deciphering this was an arduous task, and perhaps only someone with personal experience of J.R.R. and the evolution of his stories could have made any sense of it; even so, Christopher has admitted to having to occasionally guess at what his father intended.

With the help of Guy Gavriel Kay he managed to compile The Silmarillion in only four years. During this time he also edited his father's translations of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and Sir Orfeo. He also worked on the Nomenclature of The Lord of the Rings which was first published in 1975 as Guide to the Names in The Lord of the Rings in A Tolkien Compass.

Christopher spent the years after continuing to study his father's works and taking the responsibilities of the Tolkien Estate. He recorded portions of The Silmarillion in 1977 and 1978 which was issued by Caedmon Records, New York. In 1979 he wrote about his father's illustrations and drawings for their publication in Tolkien calendars and Pictures by J.R.R. Tolkien. Through 1980 and 1983 Christopher edited Unfinished Tales, The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, The Monsters and the Critics and Other Essays, and The Book of Lost Tales Part One which was the first volume in his twelve volume series of The History of Middle-earth, the last of which was published in 1996. In 1998 he edited a new edition of Tree and Leaf including the poem Mythopoeia. In 2007, he edited The Children of Húrin. His latest publications have been the editing of The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún (2009), The Fall of Arthur (2013), and Beowulf: A Translation and Commentary (2014).

In 2016, Christopher Tolkien was awarded the Bodley Medal, the Bodleian Libraries' highest honour, for his "editorial work on his father's manuscripts" and his "academic career at the University of Oxford".[2]

In August 2017, Christopher Tolkien resigned from his appointment as director of the Tolkien Estate.[3][4]

Christopher Tolkien died on 16 January, 2020.[5]

edit] Response to adaptations

"...It is a long tale..." — Aragorn

This article or section needs expansion and/or modification. Please help the wiki by expanding it.

...I recognize that this is a debatable and complex question of art, and the suggestions that have been made that I 'disapprove' of the films, whatever their cinematic quality, even to the extent of thinking ill of those with whom I may differ, are wholly without foundation.

—Christopher Tolkien

edit] Family

Christopher's first wife, Faith (1928) took an English degree at Oxford and they had one son, Simon Tolkien. A bust of Tolkien by Faith was exhibited at the Royal Academy: Tolkien paid for its casting in bronze. It is now in the English Library in Oxford.

Christopher's second wife, Baillie (1941) is Canadian, and is the daughter of Winnipeg surgeon Alan Klass, and Helen Klass (née Jacob). She has a BA in English from the University of Manitoba and an MA from Oxford. She worked as J.R.R. Tolkien's secretary and was responsible for the section on poetry in the 1965 index to The Lord of the Rings. She later edited The Father Christmas Letters. She and Christopher have two children, Adam Tolkien and Rachel Tolkien.

edit] Bibliography

edit] Books

edit] Articles

edit] Ephemera

edit] Audio

1977: J.R.R. Tolkien: The Silmarillion: Of Beren and Luthien, read by Christopher Tolkien . New York: Caedmon Records TC1564, 1977. Sleeve notes by Christopher Tolkien. (Sleeve also has photo of CT.)

. New York: Caedmon Records TC1564, 1977. Sleeve notes by Christopher Tolkien. (Sleeve also has photo of CT.) 1978: J.R.R. Tolkien: Of the Darkening of Valinor, and Of the Flight of the Noldor, from The Silmarillion, read by Christopher Tolkien . New York: Caedmon Records TC 1579, 1978. Sleeve notes by Christopher Tolkien. (Sleeve also has photo of CT.)

. New York: Caedmon Records TC 1579, 1978. Sleeve notes by Christopher Tolkien. (Sleeve also has photo of CT.) 1992: The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm’s Son , Read by J.R.R.Tolkien and Christopher Tolkien, HarperCollins Audiobooks.

, Read by J.R.R.Tolkien and Christopher Tolkien, HarperCollins Audiobooks. 2007: The Children of Húrin Audiobook, Preface and introduction Read by Christopher Tolkien. HarperCollins Audiobooks.

edit] Family Tree





edit] See also

History of the Silmarillion vs. History of Middle-earth at thehalloffire.net (Quote a letter of Christopher Tolkien)