Okay, I just had to come out with this one. Know the answer? Here’s the question: What place on earth inspired Tolkien to write his famous trilogy, Lord of the Rings?
I’m listening…
3 Comments »
The URI to TrackBack this entry is: http://sotho.blogsome.com/2007/01/20/inspiration/trackback/
RSS feed for comments on this post.
Leave a comment
Line and paragraph breaks automatic, e-mail address never displayed, HTML allowed: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <code> <em> <i> <strike> <strong>
You write the most thought provoking questions and comments, R. I ran to Google again and research turned up the possible answer as Birmingham, England. Who would have thought?
Comment by annieelf — 21 January 2007 @ 5:52 am
I heard different, Annie. I heard it was my very own Lesotho/South-Africa, especially the Drakensberg mountains whose name literally means ‘Dragon mountains.’ Some links? Sure…
“Sunset over the Drakensberg Mountain range, northeast of Lesotho. Tolkien (a South African) got his ideas about Middle Earth from this mountain range. You can see why.” See the picture captioned by the preceding quote here
“The Drakensberg mountains…yes, apparently, the inspiration for Tolkien’s novels and setting of middle earth…spectacular! we finished the hike by stepping across the watershed into Lesotho…very cool.”
“When South African writer J.R. Tolkien wrote The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy his dreams were most likely filed with memories of home and the “Dragon [Drakensberg] Mountains”. When Europeans first came to this area they reported seeing & hearing dragons in the mysterious mountains (most likely summer thunderstorms and climatic changes) but they also reported finding strange tracks in the mountain moss.”
“It is no wonder that J.R.R. Tolkien was inspired here. Apart from the jagged stone-gilt edges of the mountains, the valley walls have a running line of gothic-like rock ‘towers’ looming portentously. Each has a name and these naturally-sculptured formations give a surreal feel to the place. Having brought a copy of Tolkien’s “The Hobbits” (prelude to the “Lord of the Rings” epic) on the trip, riding into the Pass added an otherworldly sense of déjà vu, reminiscent of the mystical descriptions of Misty Mountains in the book.”
Pictures of the Drakensberg here.
And others. If I go on the spam filter will kill the comment. Cheers.
Comment by Rethabile Masilo — 21 January 2007 @ 3:45 pm
I defer to your links, R. And by the time I looked at the pictures (especially of the houses and field of yellow flowers) I was convinced.
Comment by annieelf — 22 January 2007 @ 4:05 am