[rorschach]

Hi Folks

This is probably old hat to all old-time Tolkein fans, but I've never understood all the WWII allegory stuff. Tolkein was a professor of medieval languages, steeped in the history of Dark Age England. From that, can we identify a corresponding point in time in English history where LOTR 'takes place'?

I think that the whole ethos and historical sensibility of the book does point to one period in particular - the lowest point of Saxon fortunes during the Viking invasions in the late 9th century, specifically after the battle of Chippenham (878) where Alfred of Wessex was defeated and his army scattered.

Take or leave these 'parallels'

The Misty Mountains: North-South mountain chain = the Pennines
The White Mountains: East-West mountain chain to the south = The Wessex Downs (OK they've grown a bit in Tolkein's imagination)

The Elves: previous great civilisation now effectively banished to the far western fringes = The Roman-British (Celtic) civilisation defeated by the Anglo-Saxons and confined to Wales etc.
Rivendell/Lothlorien: Enclaves of Elvish civilisation surviving in or near the Misty Mountains. = Celtic Kingdom of Elmet in the West Riding of Yorkshire (OK gone by the time of Alfred but artistic licence here)

The Humans: formerly great kingdoms of men. Northern Kingdom (Arnor) previously pre-eminent, now destroyed = Kingdom of Northumbria, destroyed by the Danes
Southern Kingdom (Gondor) remaining in the south and west of Middle Earth, army fights mainly on foot = Wessex and the traditional Saxon shieldwall
Minas Tirith: Capital of Gondor at eastern end of White Mountains close to threat from Mordor = Winchester, capital of Wessex
Aragorn: King of Gondor but in exile and waiting to reassume power when the forces of Mordor are defeated = King Alfred himself, hiding in the Somerset levels until he can rally forces for the Battle of Ashdown.
The Rohirrim: The 'new humans', rather barbarian, who fight on horseback = The Normans with their mounted knights - an anachronism here but remember these parallels are not meant to be exact.

The humans (Gondor) are the 'good, white' civilisation in the sense of being Christian.

The Baddies: Dark destructive power based in the south and east, determined to destroy the power of Gondor and apparently invincible. = the Danish Vikings who've already destroyed Northumbria and look set to complete the job against Wessex. Utterly evil (i.e. pagan, non-Christian). Centre of power is Mordor =London (note the similarity of the words). Nothing changes, I'm from Yorkshire and I still think of London as the root of all evil. Colour is black = Vikings are commonly associated with this colour, from the black raven standard to the normal dress of Guthrum, the Viking commander at Chippenham.

Of course these are not all exact parallels, but the point is that this was the history that Tolkein knew and loved deeply, and his imagination was surely fired by the desperation and heroism of Alfred's Wessex, even if his greatest sympathy always remained with the Celts (the Elves).
All the modern charges of Racism against Tolkein rather miss the point if we regard his epic as being rooted firmly in the past, The fear and horror that the Vikings inspired in Saxon England is very well caught in LOTR, as is the sense of the end of all things and the potential death of christian civilisation. Saxons had very good reason to be racist against the Vikings, although after Alfred's victory the two races integrated rather well eventually, before the Normans finally turned up and wiped the floor with the true flower of English civilisation. It was a historical accident that WWII occured during the writing of LOTR, and I've always assumed that Tolkein would have written a very similar story even if he'd been born in the Victorian era, say. He always was a man out of tune with his times.

Just my opinion of course, but I'd be fascinated to know what others feel about this.