Like his father, Christopher Tolkien was a philologist and fellow of Oxford University. Growing up, he became fascinated by language (particularly Germanic languages) and his father’s stories of Middle-earth. This upbringing inspired Christopher to pursue an academic career, but something else followed. His passion for language and firsthand experience with his father’s work enabled him to understand the ideas underlying his father’s Middle-earth mythology.
Christopher Tolkien was the third son of J.R.R. Tolkien and Edith Tolkien. He was born in 1924 and showed a close interest in his father’s stories from a young age. According to one of his siblings, at four years old, Christopher’s father read aloud from The Hobbit and Christopher commented on a discrepancy from an earlier part of the story his father read.
Christopher grew up Catholic and respected his father’s faith. He appreciated that although Christian themes could be found in The Lord of the Rings, the epic fantasy book is a myth written for people of all worldviews set in a pre-Christian age. Tolkien stated in a letter that The Lord of the Rings was a work of fantasy latent with Christan theology. Though Christopher never publicly stated his worldview, he expressed great respect for his father’s Christian faith in interviews and print.
Christopher kept offering helpful critiques of his father’s work as he grew up. During his World War II service, he regularly corresponded with his father about his work.
After returning home in 1945, Christopher became a member of the Inklings. The group started in the 1930s and included C.S. Lewis and his brother Warnie, as well as J.R.R. Tolkien, Charles Williams, Hugo Dyson, Robert “Humphrey” Havard, Owen Barfield, and various other writers and academics who lived near the Oxford area. The Inklings read many of their works to each other, including The Lord of the Rings and Lewis’ Space Trilogy. Christopher made several contributions to the group, including reading his father’s works aloud for constructive criticism.
Christopher received a degree in English in 1949.
In 1954, he saw some of the work he had given so much feedback on reach audiences: The Fellowship of the Ring was published. The Two Towers followed four months later, and The Return of the King was published the next year. The high fantasy work took a few years to become a publishing sensation but had a huge impact. It is considered the breakthrough work that made fantasy literature mainstream and convinced many critics it could be literary. Today, Tolkien courses are taught at colleges, numerous Tolkien societies exist around the world, and J.R.R. Tolkien is considered the father of modern high fantasy literature.
Christopher taught at Oxford colleges from the 1950s through the early 1970s, lecturing on Old English, Middle English, and Old Icelandic. A key change in his career came when his father died in 1973, and Christopher became a key part of his father’s literary estate. Christopher retired from teaching in 1975 and devoted his time to editing and publishing his father’s works.
One of Christopher’s first goals was publishing The Silmarillion. The multifaceted work combines ideas from Celtic, Norse, Greek, Hebrew, Finnish, and Egyptian mythology to produce a creation account for Tolkien’s Middle-earth.
Tolkien began working on The Silmarillion during WWI, and after finishing writing The Lord of the Rings, he focused on finishing The Silmarillion. Initially, Tolkien wanted The Silmarillion published with The Lord of the Rings as a single volume. However, post-WWII paper shortages, Tolkien’s busy academic life, and his constant revisions kept this from happening.
With the help of Guy Gabriel Kay, Christopher edited his father’s drafts of The Silmarillion to create a single volume. It appeared in 1977.
Under Christopher’s leadership, the Tolkien estate released many of his father’s never-before-seen works. The History of Middle-Earth, 12 volumes explaining the back story of his father’s mythology, was published between 1983 and 1996. Various children’s books appeared, including The Father Christmas Letters, Mr. Bliss, and Roverandom. New editions of his father’s scholarship about classic literature—such as his book on Beowulf, The Monsters and The Critics—were also released.
One of the more unique books that Christopher edited was Pictures by J.R.R. Tolkien in 1979, highlighting his father’s gift as a visual artist. While growing up, his mother gave him his love for languages and illustration, being a gifted artist herself. An updated version of the book was released in 2021 by HarperCollins.
In 2001 Peter Jackson’s first film version of The Lord of the Rings premiered, followed by The Two Towers in 2002 and The Return of the King in 2003. Although the public reception of the films was quite popular, Christopher expressed his disapproval on the grounds that the films did not do the book justice. Whether or not Tolkien would have approved is up for debate. Despite Christopher’s disapproving opinion, the film trilogy made almost three billion dollars, won many Oscars, and introduced many people to the books. The debate about whether the films helped or damaged the books’ reputation initially created a rift between Christopher and his son, Simon. However, they reconciled in the early 2010s.
The business side of the estate work changed in 2011 when it reorganized into The Tolkien Estate Limited. Christopher continued editing his father’s work until his final years, his last book appearing in 2018. His final published works included his father’s translations of Beowulf and the Norse legend of Sigurd and Gudrún, as well as the Middle-earth story The Fall of Gondolin. He stepped down as director of the Tolkien Estate in 2017, with his sister, Priscilla, and other family members staying on board. He passed away at 95 years old in 2020. Tributes include a moving recognition of Christopher’s work and legacy by William M. Fliss, released in Mythlore.
Christopher’s sister Priscilla became the literary executor of the Tolkien estate from 2020 until her death in 2022. Christopher is survived by his wife, Baillie Class, along with many children and grandchildren.
Besides Tolkien studies, Christopher greatly contributed to linguistic and mythological studies by translating the Icelandic poem “The Saga of King Hendrik the Wise.” A fascinating essay about the Goths and the Huns was included in the publication.
“Of The Ruin of Doriath” in The Silmarillion was written solely by Christopher because his father never finished it. Knowing enough about his father’s mythology and having access to its various drafts gave Christopher enough material to finish the chapter.
Christopher’s son Simon is a prolific writer who has released eight works of fiction so far. His first book, the thriller Final Witness, was published in 2002. His most recent book, the WWI historical fiction novel No Man’s Land, was published in 2016. Simon currently resides in Southern California.
Christopher’s nephew, Michael George Reuel Tolkien, is the author of several books of poetry and has contributed letters to the Tolkien Society’s publication, Mallorn. He currently resides in the United Kingdom and is one of the board members of the Tolkien Estate Limited.
Royd Tolkien is Christopher’s great-nephew. Royd played one of the ranger extras in Peter Jackson’s trilogy. Royd also wrote a memoir called There’s a Hole In My Bucket: The Journey of Two Brothers. The memoir is about the loss of his brother, Mike. While grieving Mike’s loss, Royd discovered a bucket list that Mike left behind. The book combines humor with grief as Royd details how he sought to complete each item on the bucket list.
Photo Cedit: © Getty Images/Dina-Saeed
Justin Wiggins is an author who works and lives in the primitive, majestic, beautiful mountains of North Carolina. He graduated with his Bachelor's in English Literature, with a focus on C.S. Lewis studies, from Montreat College in May 2018. His first book was Surprised by Agape, published by Grant Hudson of Clarendon House Publications. His second book, Surprised By Myth, was co-written with Grant Hudson and published in 2021. Many of his recent books (Marty & Irene, Tír na nÓg, Celtic Twilight, Celtic Song, Ragnarok, Celtic Dawn) are published by Steve Cawte of Impspired.
Wiggins has also had poems and other short pieces published by Clarendon House Publications, Sehnsucht: The C.S. Lewis Journal, and Sweetycat Press. Justin has a great zeal for life, work, community, writing, literature, art, pubs, bookstores, coffee shops, and for England, Scotland, and Ireland.
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