Tolkien's T.C.B.S discussion

Colin Duriez explores one of the greatest myth-makers and fantasy creators of all-time.

It's an intriguing story... the story of a boy who was orphaned at such a young age, found himself finally making a firm set of friends through school, his only stability, and then losing almost all those friends during the war to find himself alone yet again.

Yet, like all incredible artists and genius', it is the fabric of their experience that inspires their works of genius.
Author David N Elkins writes:
The same sensitivity that opens artists to Being also makes them vulnerable to the dark powers of non-Being. It is no accident that many creative people--including Dante, Pascal, Goethe, Nietzsche, Kierkegaard, Beethoven, Rilke, Blake, and Van Gogh--struggled with depression, anxiety, and despair. They paid a heavy price to wrest their gifts from the clutches of non-Being. But this is what true artists do: they make their own frayed lives the cable for the surges of power generated in the creative force fields of Being and non-Being.
Tolkiens works of genius came from exactly this!... and he spent a lifetime daring to confront the darkest and deepest thoughts and despairs of humanity that ultimately lead to the greatest light of courage and wonder

It is heartbreaking and so very real. My great grandparents were in WW1 and sadly one of my great grandfather's died in the Somme, as he went over the top ~ there are so many graves in France, we have never found him except listed in a book. My grandparents were in WW2, my grandmother was an artist and did all the maps as she worked alongside Sir Winston Churchill. My grandfather helped build the airoplanes in the war, and luckily both came home.

There is much sadness and loss in Tolkien's life that readers can relate to, especially when looking back on the great wars and battles in history. Much of his life's experiences and emotion is projected into his work, hence making it believeable and adding realism.