The Lord of The Rings and The Hobbit were both written by John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, a writer, poet, and philologist. He was a major scholar in the English language and specialized in Old and Middle English. He was born on January 3, 1892, in Bloemfontein in South Africa. He is the eldest child of Arthur Tolkien, an English bank manager, and Mabel, his wife. He only had one sibling, his brother, Hilary Arthur Reuel Tolkien. Both were taught by their mother at home. Tolkien was able to read and write fluently at the early age of four. His mother would allow him to read as many books as he wanted. At the age of 12, his mother died of acute diabetes at Fern Cottage in Rednal, England. His mother assigned their guardianship to her close friend, Father Francis Xavier Morgan before her death, who helped bring them up as good Catholics. After the death of his mother, Tolkien grew up in Edgbaston, Birmingham in England, and attended King Edward’s School and then, later on, St. Philip’s. When he won a Foundation Scholarship in 1903, he returned to King Edwards. In his early teens, Tolkien and his cousins invented a language called Nevbosh. In 1909, he composed “The Book of Foxrook”, a sixteen-page book of the earliest example of one of his invented alphabets appeared. Tolkien met Edith Mary Bratt when he was sixteen. She was then three years her senior. He met her when he and his brother, Hilary moved to another boarding house, the same as hers, in Duchess Road, Edgbaston. The two were officially in a relationship in 1909. His guardian, Father Morgan did not support him being romantically involved with Edith who was older than him and was also a Protestant. Because of this, Father Morgan prohibited Tolkien from meeting and talking to Edith until he was 21. When Tolkien turned 21, he wrote a letter to Edith and asked her to marry him, however, Edith already accepted the proposal of one of her closest friends’ brother, George Field. Although Edith explained to him via letter that she only accepted the proposal because she felt, “on the shelf” and wasn’t confident that Tolkien still cared for her. In 1913, Tolkien traveled to Cheltenham to meet Edith. The two talked and Edith decided to accept Tolkien’s proposal by the end of the day. She then wrote to Field and returned the engagement ring. Edith converted to being a Catholic when she got engaged to Tolkien. They got formally engaged in January of 1913 and got married in March 1916 at St. Mary Immaculate Catholic Church in Warwick. In 1914, Tolkien did not volunteer for the British Army when Britain entered the First World War. He decided that he would complete his degree first, delaying his enlistment. In June 1916, he was sent to the British Expeditionary Forces. To pass the time while he was waiting for his unit, he composed a poem entitled, “The Lonely Isle,” inspired by his feelings during the sea crossing to Calais. During this time, he also wanted to keep track of Edith’s movements, so he developed a code. In 1916, Tolkien was part of the assaults on the Schwaben Redoubt and the Leipzig Salient. This became a very stressful time for Edith as she feared for her husband’s life. Edith was also able to track his movements on a map of the Western Front. In 1916, Tolkien contracted trench fever which is a disease carried by lice. He contracted the disease during his battalion’s attack on Regina Trench. On November 8, 1916, Tolkien was invalided to England, while some of his school friends were killed in the war. During Tolkien's recovery stage, he started working on his book called, “The Book of Lost Tales,” starting with, “The Fall of Gondolin,” but it was never completed. Tolkien was able to somewhat recover from his recurring illness throughout 1917 and 1918. However he was never deemed fit for general duty, and he was only able to do home service at different military camps. It was around this year that Edith and Tolkien had their firstborn, John Francis Reuel Tolkien. Tolkien got promoted to the rank of lieutenant in 1918 and was taken off active service in 1919 with a temporary disability pension. He left the army in November 1920 but retained his rank as a lieutenant. Tolkien worked at the Oxford English Dictionary and worked on the history and etymology of words of Germanic origin beginning with the letter W. This was his first civilian job after World War I. He also worked as a reader in the English language at the University of Leeds, produced, “A Middle English Vocabulary,” and a definitive edition of, “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” with E.V. Gordon while he was at Leeds. He returned to Oxford in 1925 as a Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon, with a fellowship at Pembroke College. It was during this time that he wrote, “The Hobbit” and the first two volumes of, “The Lord of the Rings.” Tolkien also wrote a translation of “Beowulf” starting in the 1920s and finished in 1926 but never published it. It was only in 2014, 40 years after his death when his son edited and published it. Edith and Tolkien had their last child and only daughter, Priscilla in 1929. He got into the habit of writing letters to his children yearly as if they were from Santa Claus, and some of them were compiled and published as, “The Father Christmas Letters” in 1976. He also sent illustrated versions of this to his four children– John Francis Reuel Tolkien, Michael Hilary Reuel Tolkien, and Priscila Mary Anne Reuel Tolkien when they were young. While in Oxford, Tolkien also founded “The Inklings”, a group of friends in Oxford of similar interests. During his retirement years, he also became a consultant and translator for, “The Jerusalem Bible,” particularly the Book of Jonah. He got so busy with other commitments that he only managed to offer criticisms of other contributors, despite being initially offered a larger portion to translate in, “The Jerusalem Bible.” When “The Hobbit” was published in 1937, it immediately became a success. It was so well-received that Stanley Unwin, a British publisher, asked Tolkien for a sequel. Tolkien took the challenge to create a sequel for it, prompting the start of the epic novel, “The Lord of the Rings.” It was initially published in three volumes in 1954-1955. Tolkien was also supported by his group, The Inklings, while writing, “The Lord of the Rings” which took around ten years to complete. He also received support from his friend, C.S Lewis, author of, “The Chronicles of Narnia,” and also a member of, “The Inklings.” “The Lord of the Rings” became popular during the 60s and has been one of the most popular fiction novels of the 20th century. It was hailed as people’s “favorite book of the millennium” in a poll done by Amazon to its customers in 1999. According to a survey done by the BBC in 2003, “The Lord of the Rings” is also one of the best-loved novels in the UK, while Australians voted it as “My Favourite Book” in a survey done by the Australian ABC in 2004. A poll conducted in the same year, also showed that “The Lord of the Rings” is a favorite work of literature by 250,000 Germans. Tolkien also compiled a collection of his remaining unpublished works, notes, and commentaries in a series he called, “The History of Middle-Earth” which comprised twelve volumes. Tolkien made an agreement with the Department of Special Collections and University Archives at Marquette University's John P. Raynor, S.J., Library in Milwaukee, Wisconsin regarding the sale of drafts, proofs, and other materials of his published works including, “The Lord of the Rings,” “The Hobbit,” and “Farmer Giles of Ham.” In 1959, Tolkien retired and moved to Bournemouth together with Edith. Tolkien returned to Oxford when Edith died on 29 November 1971. He stayed in rooms provided by Merton College. On September 2nd of 1973, Tolkien died and was buried in a single grave with Edith at the Catholic section of Wolvercote cemetery in the northern suburbs of Oxford. Tolkien’s estate donated papers containing, “The Silmarillion '' to the Bodleian Library at Oxford University. In 2018, The Bodleian Library held an exhibition of Tolkien’s works including 60 more which were never seen in public before. “The Lord of the Rings” has been so popular that it was reprinted and translated into many different languages. It has inspired numerous works – from books to paintings, as well as on media such as television, radio, film, theatre, and even video and board games. Its popular film series, directed by Peter Jackson and produced by New Line Cinema has gained millions of fans around the world. Together with Christian Rivers, Philippa Boyens, and Fran Walsh, he began storyboarding and screenwriting in 1997. It was first released in 2001, “The Fellowship of the Ring,” followed by “The Two Towers” in 2002 and The Return of the King'' in 2003. The three-series film cast actors Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Liv Tyler, Viggo Mortensen, Sean Astin, Cate Blanchett, John Rhys-Davies, Christopher Lee, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan, Orlando Bloom, Hugo Weaving, Andy Serkis, and Sean Bean. The three films were shot in New Zealand from October 1999 - December 2000 and were shot at over 150 locations, with a $281 million budget. “The Lord of the Rings,” film series is one of the highest-grossing of all time at $2.991 billion dollars. The film has been a huge success and gathered 30 Academy Award nominations and won 17 out of the 30. “The Fellowship of the Ring” won 4 out of 13 nominations at the 74th Academy Awards, “The Two Towers” won 2 out of 6 nominations at the 75th Academy Awards, and “The Return of the King” won all of its nominations at the 76th Academy Awards. The United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress selected “The Fellowship of the Rings” for preservation for it being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". Aside from its theater success, the trilogy was also released for home media on DVD, Laser Disc, Blu-Ray Disc, and Ultra HD Blu-ray in 2020. “The Hobbit’s” first film series was also directed by Peter Jackson with its first part released as, “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” in 2012, “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug” (2013), and “The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies” (2014). The trilogy cast Martin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins, along with several other actors James Nesbitt, Evangeline Lilly, Ken Stott, Lee Pace, and Luke Evans, with several actors of their same roles from The Lord of the Rings– Cate Blanchett, Orlando Bloom, Ian Holm, Christopher Lee, Hugo Weaving, Elijah Wood, and Andy Serkis. It was also well-prepared for, with scenes filmed at the studio and sets constructed for the shoot. Each of the dwarfs' costumes is composed of six wigs and eight beards. – all were worn by the actors, even the stunt doubles and stand-ins. The first film premiered in Wellington, New Zealand in November 2012, while the second film premiered at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, California in December 2013. The third film premiered at the Odeon Leicester Square in London in December 2014. “The Hobbit Trilogy” was just as successful as “The Lord of the Rings,” being one of the highest-grossing films of all time at $2.938 billion dollars. It also gathered several nominations and won several awards. Aside from its theater and film success, “The Hobbit” also inspired video games and toys. In October 2011, US Toy Company, The Bridge Direct partnered with Warner Bros. Consumer products on toy rights of “The Hobbit” worldwide. These include playsets, swords and other accessories inspired by the characters and weapons in the film, and action figures as well. These hit the shelves in October 2012 and were on display by retailers like Toys R Us, KMart, and Walmart. Two months later, Warner Bros. and Lego partnered to develop playsets of, “The Hobbit” as well as, “The Lord of the Rings.” These were released in December 2012. In November 2012, “The Hobbit: Kingdoms of Middle Earth” was released as a game available on Android and iOS and in March 2013, “The Hobbit: Armies of the Third Age” was released as an online game via the web and via the Facebook app. These were also developed by Warner Brothers in collaboration with Kabam, an interactive company. Mobile and online games released include: “The Hobbit: Dwarf Combat Training” (2012), “The Hobbit: Kingdoms of Middle-earth” (2012), “The Hobbit: Armies of The Third Age” (2013), “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug – A Journey through Middle-earth” (2013), “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug – Barrel Escape” (2013), “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug – Spiders of Mirkwood” (2013), “The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies – Orc Attack” (2014), and “The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies – Fight for Middle-earth” (2014). Another video game was also released in December 2021 called Guardians of the Middle Earth and was made available for Playstation 3 and Xbox. The game was developed by Monolith Productions. In 2014, they also developed, “Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor” which acted to overlap between, “The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.” The video game was made available for play on PlayStation 4, Microsoft Windows, and Xbox One in October. The game was also made available on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in November 2014. The Tolkien Society, an educational charity and a literary society promoting the works of Tolkien organized the Tolkien Reading Day in 2003 which is celebrated every 25th of March in schools around the world. To honor Tolkien's work, Pembroke College and Oxford University also have an annual lecture on fantasy literature. Peter Blake also included Tolkien In The Beatles’ “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club '' album cover in 2012, as he admired Tolkien’s works and to celebrate the British cultural figures of his life. In 2019, an American film directed by Karukoski with the title, “Tolkien” is about his early life and his works. It was first released in the United Kingdom on May 3, 2019, and in the United States on May 10, 2019. The film starred actors Nicholas Hoult, Lily Collins, Colm Meaney, and Derek Jacobi and grossed $9 million with a budget of $20 million. However, it was said that the family and estate of Tolkien did not authorize the making of the film. Tolkien’s workplaces, the places that he visited, and other places associated with him and his childhood were also commemorated with blue plaques, a permanent sign installed in the United Kingdom. Four of them were in Birmingham where he had lived, one in Westpark, Leeds for his first academic appointment, one in North Oxford where he also lived from 1930-1947, and one in Bournemouth where he regularly stayed from the 1950s-1972. Most of these commemorations were issued by The Tolkien Society and the Birmingham Civic Society. The Oxford Oratory Church of St. Aloysius Gonzaga also held a mass on September 2nd, 2017 for Tolkien’s beatification to be opened.