Tolkienology is a term used by Tolkien fans to describe the study of the works of J. R. R. Tolkien treating Middle-earth as a real world and using academic techniques to determine if 'chronicler' Tolkien has left enough clues to come to some fitting conclusions. Tolkien fandom is an international, informal community of fans of the works of J. R. R. Tolkien, especially of the Middle-earth legendarium which includes The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit and The Silmarillion. ... J. R. R. Tolkien in 1972, in his study at Merton Street (from by H. Carpenter) John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (January 3, 1892 – September 2, 1973) is best known as the author of The Hobbit and its sequel The Lord of the Rings. ... A map of the Northwestern part of Middle-earth at the end of the Third Age, courtesy of the Encyclopedia of Arda. ...

Subjects are treated from several viewpoints: politics, demographics, society, economy, linguistics, geography, cosmology, folklore, etc. As in every other fandom, studies are made with internal logic. Explanations based on literary or narrative reasons are not satisfactory. Look up Politics in Wiktionary, the free dictionary Politics (disambiguation) Democracy History of democracy List of democracy and elections-related topics List of years in politics List of politics by country articles Political corruption Political economy Political movement Political parties of the world Political party Political psychology Political sociology Political... A demographic or demographic profile is a term used in marketing and broadcasting, to describe a demographic grouping or a market segment. ... For the song by the California punk band Pennywise, see Society (song). ... Linguistics is the scientific study of human language, and someone who engages in this study is called a linguist. ... Cosmology, from the Greek: κοσμολογία (cosmologia, κόσμος (cosmos) world + λογια (logia) discourse) is the study of the universe in its totality and by extension mans place in it. ... Folklore is the body of narratives, including tales, legends, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs current among a particular population, comprising the oral tradition of that culture, subculture, or group. ... Fandom (from the noun fan and the affix -dom, as in kingdom, dukedom, etc. ... Literature is literally an acquaintance with letters as in the first sense given in the Oxford English Dictionary (from the Latin littera meaning an individual written character (letter)). The term has, however, generally come to identify a collection of texts. ... In non-technical terms, no matter what the context (whether scientific, philosophical, legal, etc) a narrative is a story, an interpretation of some aspect of the world that is historically and culturally grounded and shaped by human personality (per Walter Fisher). ...

Common subjects have been:

• History (of Elven kingdoms, Arnor and Gondor, Rohan or the more unknown lands)
• Tolkienian linguistics and writing systems, and possible reconstruction of them
• Morality issues such as whether an omniscient and omnibenevolent Iluvatar would destroy Numenor, if the 'bad' Dunlendings had any right rivalling the 'good' Rohirrim and if Gondor made genocides.
• What is Tom Bombadil, if balrogs have wings, why the Eagles didn't help on the Quest etc.
• Genealogies of Hobbit families and kings
• If Tolkien's calendars are accurate and how can they be used today
• If astronomic descriptions in the books (moon phases, positions of stars) are accurate, and what can we infer about Middle-earth geography from them.
• If strategies of wars and battles were right and what alternatives might have been
• Possible folkloric impressions Hobbits had about places of the Shire and other wherabouts, determined by translating placenames.

This way of thinking is more common when someone is trying to justify some character's motivation in the tales, or find explanation for some less obvious aspects, like 'How old is Legolas?' or 'What is the origin of the Lossoth?'. In the fiction of J.R.R. Tolkien, Arnor, or the Northern Kingdom, was a kingdom of the Dúnedain in the land of Eriador in Middle-earth. ... Gondor is a fictional location from J. R. R. Tolkiens Middle-earth. ... Aragorn and Legolas look upon the plains of Rohan in the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy Rohan, originally Rochand, is a fictional location in J. R. R. Tolkiens The Lord of the Rings. ... The languages of Middle-earth are artificial languages invented by J. R. R. Tolkien and used in his books about Middle-earth, including The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion. ... ... Eru (the One), also called Ilúvatar (the Father of All), is the name in the legendarium of J.R.R. Tolkien for the supreme God, the creator of the angels (Ainur) and the universe (Eä). ... Númenor is a fictional location from J. R. R. Tolkiens universe of Middle-earth and is intended to be his version of Atlantis. ... Dunland is a fictional land from J. R. R. Tolkiens fictional universe of Middle-earth: the land of the Dunlendings. ... In J. R. R. Tolkiens fictional universe of Middle-earth, the Rohirrim were the people of Rohan. ... Gondor is a fictional location from J. R. R. Tolkiens Middle-earth. ... Genocide is defined by the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (CPPCG) article 2 as any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group, as such: Killing members of the group; Causing... Tom Bombadil (also Iarwain Ben-adar in Sindarin) is a fictional character of Middle-earth, created by J. R. R. Tolkien. ... This article deals with J.R.R. Tolkiens Balrogs. ... Hobbits are a race from J. R. R. Tolkiens Middle-earth universe which first appears in the book The Hobbit. ... A calendar is a system for naming periods of time, typically days. ... A strategy is a long term plan of action designed to achieve a particular goal, as differentiated from tactics or immediate actions with resources at hand. ... War - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... For information on the fictional Shire of J. R. R. Tolkiens The Lord of the Rings, see Shire (Middle-earth) A shire is an administrative area of Great Britain. ... In J. R. R. Tolkiens The Lord of the Rings, Legolas Greenleaf is a Sindarin Elf who becomes a part of the Fellowship of the Ring. ... In J. R. R. Tolkiens fictional universe of Middle-earth, Forodwaith was the name both of a region and the people that lived there. ...

Studies have revealed sometimes the great amount of care Tolkien did show to every imaginable detail, even things that are not visible at first, like hair and eye colours... but some have also found some inconsistencies, goofs and bloopers in the writings, ηowever most of them can be explained internally.

One such very 'deep' mistake (that can be discovered only by thorough over-analysis) is in the Hobbit: In Tolkien's description, the moon rose too late the day the dragon Smaug died, in relation to the season of the year. Chinese dragon, colour engraving on wood, Japanese Chinese school, 19th Century A dragon is a mythological creature, typically depicted as a large and powerful serpent or other reptile, with magical or spiritual qualities. ... For the MUD of this name, see SMAUG. In the fiction of J. R. R. Tolkien, Smaug was a greedy, reddish-gold dragon of Middle-earth, who laid waste to Dale and captured the Lonely Mountain (Erebor) with all its treasure, which he gathered in a central hall and slept...

Criticism

As a product of geek sub-culture, Tolkienology is frowned down upon by all outsiders. The main claim is of course that there is no point wasting energy and time on something totaly imaginary, like constructed languages, instead of something more real and useful. Tolkienologists on the other hand say that since Tolkien`s work was based on European languages, roots, mythology and history, Tolkienology is actually a simulation of an actual science. It helps fans delve deeper in more serious aspects and get familiarised with real linguistics (eg. Welsh and Latin, on which the Elvish languages were based) and European folklore. Look up Geek in Wiktionary, the free dictionary Professor Frink from The Simpsons, a stereotypical science geek. ... An artificial or constructed language (known colloquially as a conlang among aficionados), is a language whose vocabulary and grammar were specifically devised by an individual or small group, rather than having naturally evolved as part of a culture as with natural languages. ... This article is about the continent. ... ... One of the most famous quotations about history and the value of studying history, by Spanish philosopher, George Santayana, reads: Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. ... Welsh redirects here, and this article describes the Welsh language. ... Latin is an ancient Indo-European language originally spoken in the region around Rome called Latium. ... Elvish languages are constructed languages used typically by elves in a fantasy setting. ...

This way of thinking is criticised even by Tolkien fans, who say that such an analysis ruins the magic of the story and Tolkien wouldn't approve this kind of treatment to his work. But Tolkienists say that all they are doing is thinking as Tolkien did while writing his complex works. After all, Tolkien originally wrote the Lord of the Rings as an academic exercise; his primary intetion was to create a believeable, yet fictional, world. As a university professor, debate was part of his working life; Tolkienists would say that he would have been disappointed if no one had analysed his writing more fully. Story has several different meanings as outlined below. ...

See also

• Tolkien fandom
• Tolkien research
• Languages of Middle-earth

Tolkien fandom is an international, informal community of fans of the works of J. R. R. Tolkien, especially of the Middle-earth legendarium which includes The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit and The Silmarillion. ... The works of J. R. R. Tolkien have generated a body of academic research, studying different facets such as Tolkien as a writer of fantasy literature Tolkiens invented languages As A Writer Splintered Light: Logos And Language In Tolkiens World Verlyn Flieger (1st Edition 1983, Revised Edition 2002... The languages of Middle-earth are artificial languages invented by J. R. R. Tolkien and used in his books about Middle-earth, including The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion. ...

External links

• Essays on Tolkien's Middle-earth Determining relations between kingdoms, how kingship and magic works etc

• Lalaith's Middle-earth science pages Essays on geography, calendars, demographics and languages

• Other Middle-earth science Information on genetics (eye and hair colours), census, timelines etc