Son expanded Tolkien’s legacy
Christopher Tolkien, who helped edit and publish much of his late father’s lasting works, has died at 95.
Christopher Tolkien, who played a major role protecting and expanding the legacy of his father’s “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy and other works, has died in south France, where he and his wife had lived quietly for years.
The Tolkien Society and publisher HarperCollins UK confirmed Tolkien’s death. The Centre Hospitalier de la Dracenie, a hospital near Cannes, said the son of author J.R.R. Tolkien died there Thursday. He was 95.
Tolkien’s life work was closely identified with that of his father. He helped edit and publish much of the science fiction and fantasy writer’s work after J.R.R. Tolkien died in 1973.
Among the books the younger Tolkien worked on were “The Silmarillion,” “The Children Of Hurin” and other texts that flesh out the complex world his father created.
He also drew the original maps that adorned the three “Lord of the Rings” books when they were published in the 1950s.
Tolkien Society chairman Shaun Gunner said “millions of people around the world will be forever grateful to Christopher for bringing us” so many of his father’s literary works.
“Christopher’s commitment to his father’s works have seen dozens of publications released, and his own work as an academic in Oxford demonstrates his ability and skill as a scholar,” he said. “We have lost a titan and he will be sorely missed.”
Tolkien was born Nov. 21, 1924, in Leeds, England, and grew up in Oxford. He served in the Royal Air Force during World War II. He later became a lecturer in old and middle English at the University of Oxford.
When his father died in 1973, he became the executor of the Tolkien Estate. He was less than enthused by Hollywood’s treatment of the “Rings” trilogy.
“They gutted the book, making an action film for 15to 25-year-olds,” he told Le Monde in 2012.
The newspaper in southern France, Var Matin, said Tolkien and his wife, Baillie, had lived on the edge of the village of Aups since 1975.