10 Mind Blowing Facts You Never Knew About The Lord Of The Rings

6. Tolkien Typed All Three Books With Just TWO Fingers

Peter Jackson Lord Of The Rings
Fox Searchlight Pictures

Even before he wrote three of the cornerstone novels of nerd culture, J. R. R. Tolkien was known as an eccentric by many people who knew him. Sure, when you're a old straight white British man in the 1950's, there's only so eccentric you can be, but Tolkien sure did find a few ways.

From using his bottomless talent for world building and mythology crafting to write letters from Santa Claus to his children as they grew up (which is so adorable in so many ways I don't know where to begin), to one of the more obscure little quirks of his: writing EVERYTHING he ever put to print with just TWO fingers.

That includes all 1200 pages of the Lord Of The Rings Trilogy, as well as the many other books in the Tolkien universe. Any writers reading this are probably clenching their hands in pain at the very thought of the cramps that Tolkien must have experienced doing this.

Whatever his reason for writing in this particular way, it does at least help to explain why every letter on every page of his writing feels so meticulously thought over. Because apparently it was.

Contributor
Contributor

John Tibbetts is a novelist in theory, a Whatculture contributor in practice, and a nerd all around who loves talking about movies, TV, anime, and video games more than he loves breathing. Which might be a problem in the long term, but eh, who can think that far ahead?