20 Things You Didn't Know About The Lord Of The Rings
6. Sauron Started Off As A Cat
Well, in a manner of speaking. In Tolkiens earliest writings, Morgoths chief servant a position now filled by Sauron was a massive, ferocious and powerful cat called Tevildo, Lord of the Cats. In an early version of the story of Beren and Luthien, Tevildo played the role that was later given to Sauron, while Tevildo was erased from Middle-earth history. A little later than that, but still quite early on in the development of the legendarium, Tevildo was transformed into Thû, the Necromancer and Lord of Wolves. After a few more name changes, but while maintaining the same general role and idea, his name was eventually decided to be Sauron, and thus the Dark Lord was born.
5. The War Of The Ring Isnt Fantasy, Its History
According to Tolkien, Arda, called Middle-earth in the series, is not a fantasy land: related linguistically to Germanic words for earth, Arda is supposed to be our Earth, and the legendarium documents a period of prehistory rather than fantastical events in another world. Tolkiens works span three periods, and of the final one of these, The Years of the Sun, he details four ages. The Lord of the Rings takes place in the 3,021-year-long Third Age, which ends just as The Return of the King does. Based on this timeline of Arda, according to Tolkien, modern times the 20th century correspond to about the Sixth and Seventh Ages of The Years of the Sun. The timeline grows unclear around the Fourth Age, so there is no exact certainty as far as dates, although some agree that the end of the Sixth Age corresponds with the end of World War II. All of this, really, brings us to two general consensuses: we were all frustratingly born four ages too late, and why on (Middle-)Earth dont they teach this kind of history in schools?
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.
