The Lord of the Rings has entranced the public for years. As a friend of C.S. Lewis, as well as a high officer in the British Royal Army, it’s true that Tolkien had carved a prestigious role for himself in history. But who was J.R.R. Tolkien personally? And how did his experiences play a role in his writing today?

Tolkien was born on January 3rd,1892 to a middle-class family. When he was three, his father died in South Africa. Without a source of income, the family was forced to move to Birmingham. His mother, Mabel, taught him at an early age. Under his mother’s influence, he read many books, such as Treasure Island and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Eventually, his mother died and so he attended King Edward’s School, then St. Phillip’s School soon after that. While there, he enrolled in the Officers Training Corps, where he was posted outside Buckingham Palace. He soon started at Exeter College in Oxford, where he graduated with honors.

In 1914, when World War I began, Tolkien decided to delay enlistment. Inevitably, he was posted to France, where he would later recall how his own subordinates were killed, sometimes “a dozen a minute.” From the Battle of the Somme to his ambush at Regina Trench, there’s no doubt Tolkien saw a plethora of human suffering. He himself was stricken with trench fever. He contemplated suicide, but fortunately, due to health problems, had left the military. Tolkien spent the remainder of the war going from one hospital to another.

During this time, he started working on what would later become The Book of Lost Tales. It would represent the English mythology he wished to craft, even though he would later abandon the project. Eventually, Tolkien left the army as a lieutenant and found work as a reader for the University of Leeds. From there, he translated works such as Sir Gawain and Pearl. He’s also worked as a professor for Pembroke College, as well as a private tutor for St. Hugh’s College and Lady Margaret Hall. He went on to translate Beowulf, where he would use these scenes for his own Middle-earth. In fact, W.H. Auden, a former student of Tolkien’s, even compared his voice during his lectures on Beowulf to that of Gandalf.

He soon served in World War II as a codebreaker, though he was later discharged. He then went to Merton College in Oxford, where he worked as a professor until his retirement. He completed and published The Lord of the Rings. When he did retire, he garnered national attention. Book sales were so high he even regretted not retiring sooner. However, the fame grew stale in Tolkien’s eyes as he started to detest his cult status. He and his wife moved to Bournemouth. He eventually died on November 29th, 1971, where he was buried at Wolvercote Cemetery in Oxford.

Tolkien had many influences in his life that he used for his books, one of which included early Germanic mythology and English mythology. Such influences included Beowulf, Poetic Edda, and Prose Edda. Tolkien was inspired to create these high classical stories in order to carve out a mythological tradition for England. What’s more, because he grew up in Roman Catholicism, his imagination was nourished with figures such as Thomas Aquinas.

Tolkien is well loved by many fans across the world. From his fantasy stories to his teaching style, to his fanciful imagination, Tolkien has managed to enthrall the world with the world he created. He continues to be celebrated today, even after his death.