John Ronald Reuel Tolkien grew up with a great passion for nature and words. He lived a childhood filled with the morals of the Roman Catholic Church. Tolkien's mother imbued in her son a deep love of language and words. Tolkien immersed himself in schoolwork and studying languages. He loved all languages, both real and imaginary. Tolkien also studied history, and was acutely aware of the absence of any native English mythology. After the Norman invasion in 1066, most of England's natural lore was replaced by that of the invaders. Tolkien wanted to create an alternate mythology for England to fill the void he so intensely felt.

Tolkien began work on Middle Earth, creating an entire world with varied cultures, languages, and races. He used this parallel universe as a basis for his major work, Lord of the Rings. Since then, Lord of the Rings has been called an...