True ‘titan’ of fantasy literature
Christopher John Reuel Tolkien Scholar and son of author JRR Tolkien BORN NOVEMBER 21, 1924 DIED JANUARY 15, 2020, AGED 95
DESCRIBED as “Middle-earth’s first scholar”, Christopher Tolkien won wide acclaim for the skilful way he edited and published posthumous works by his father JRR Tolkein, whose trilogy of The Lord Of The Rings books became an Oscar-winning film franchise.
One of his most notable successes was publishing The Silmarillion following his father’s death in 1973.
Christopher Tolkien worked as a lecturer in old and middle English and old Icelandic at Oxford University, after serving in the RAF during the SecondWorldWar.
His knowledge helped him when he was appointed literary executor to the Tolkien Estate. He carefully sorted through 70 boxes of unpublished works left by his father and was able to publish The History of Middle-earth series, which ran to 12 volumes.
Other works include The Children Of Húrin, and Beren And Lúthien which gave readers a rich insight into the world of dwarves and elves so brilliantly created by his father.
Regarded as a “titan” of fantasy literature, Christopher also had the skills necessary to draw original maps of Middle-earth.
But he was famously critical of the The Lord Of The Rings films, saying in an interview in 2012: “They gutted the book, making an action film for 15 to 25 year-olds.”
Such criticism was perhaps unsurprising. JRR Tolkien’s third and youngest son was immersed in his father’s written world. “I grew up in the world he created. For me, the cities of Silmarillion are more real than Babylon,” he once said.
He had lived in France since 1975 with his second wife Baillie, with whom he had two children, Adam and Rachel. He also had a son, Simon, with his first wife, Faith Faulconbridge.