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Friday, March 29, 2024

WW1’s 100th Anniversary and its influence on JRR Tolkien and The Lord of the Rings

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It is hard to believe that 100 years today one of the greatest wars in history started. Widely believed that it would be over by Christmas, few could have guessed that 4 years and nearly 39m casualties later ….

take a moment on that number.. 39 Million casualties.. in 1911 the population of Britain was 45,370,530… sort of puts things in perspective doesn’t it? A cold, heart wrenching, melancholic perspective. We are a lucky generation, that despite the current troubles we we will never have to go through this.

…the war would have raged on and that its aftermath would have touched the lives of nearly every family in Europe and started the snowball that was to become World War 2.

It is therefore hard to imagine that some of our closest literary and geek treasures are products of such devastation and cruelty.Sadly it is from this dark pit that J R R Tolkien found inspiration for the Silmarillion and Lord of the rings; something that the BBC have explained in great piece to commemorate this centenary.

Check out the link below:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/guides/zgr9kqt?intc_type=promo&intc_location=orb_promo_footer&intc_campaign=worldwarone_portal&intc_linkname=footer_iwonderlord

Finally, and I know it is not Lord of the Rings related, but I thought I would leave you with this poignant clip from the last episode of Black Adder goes Forth.. even slap stick comedy at its best manages to capture the pure devastation that was “going over the top”



Matt Geary
Matt Gearyhttps://www.geek-pride.co.uk
From N.Ireland but now living in Manchester, England; Matt is the founder and CEO of Geek Pride. Interests: Photography, Music, Art, poetry, Military History, Model making and painting and of course gaming (table top and computer)

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