20 Things You Didn't Know About The Lord Of The Rings
8. The Ents Destruction of Isengard Was Based Off Of Shakespeare
Well, more or less. Those of us familiar with Shakespeares Macbeth know of the famous prophecy of Macbeths death, which includes the following lines:
Macbeth shall never vanquish'd be until Great Birnam wood to high Dunsinane hill Shall come against him.
In Macbeth, what essentially happens is an army of men, not trees, disguises itself with branches to appear as though the Birnam wood is moving to Dunsinane (spoiler alert: Macbeth does indeed get vanquishd). Now, Tolkien, upon reading Macbeth, found himself bitterly disappointed with this development, hoping that he would get to see an actual army of trees march down to Dunsinane hill. He thought it was a waste of such a premise, and he longed to do the admittedly awesome idea of a tree army justice. It speaks to both the professors temperament and dedication that he did eventually create a setting and an entire race in order to see trees actually march down to war, as we all saw and cheered for when the Ents and Huorns laid siege to Isengard. So Tolkien finally did the scene properly in his eyes because, really, what did old Will know anyway?
7. Gandalf Was Taken From Old Norse Poetry
Middle-earth is rife with beings that are rather peculiarly named by our standards here on regular Earth, so it isnt a huge surprise that Professor Tolkien didnt just pull out appropriate-sounding words from thin air to give life to the people of his world. Its fairly well-known that Tolkien was heavily influenced by Nordic and related mythologies, where many of the races and characters have their origins. Accordingly, in a section of the Poetic Edda, a collection of Old Norse poetry, called Dvergatal (meaning Catalogue of Dwarves) is the source of most of Tolkiens dwarves' names, as well as the beloved wizard. In Norse mythology, Gandalf is a Dvergr, or dwarf, who is a protective, magical spirit. Tolkien has also mentioned Gandalfs relation to the Norse god Odin, the Wanderer, an old man with a white beard and staff who spreads knowledge and truth. Other characters named from the Dvergatal include: Durin, Thorin, Thrain, Thror, as well as nine of Thorins Company.
Canadian student. Spends probably an unhealthy amount of time enthusing over musicals, unpopular TV shows, and Harry Potter. Main life goal: to become fluent in Elvish.
