Leaving a legacy that dominates a culture for decades is a rare talent. Nearly fifty years after his death the genius of J.R.R.Tolkien is still capturing attention with a new Amazon TV series The Rings of Power out.
Tolkien’s achievement in The Lord of the Rings was to create a mythology, a high fantasy world with a detailed history for Middle-earth, a complete language for his elves and a set of archetypes for a whole range of fantastical creatures. His books went on to generate a vast sub-culture of fans for other-worldly mediaeval fiction, films and video games and inspired later writers.
Tolkien was born 3 January 1892 10 pm Bloemfontein, South Africa, and moved to England when he was three after his father died. His mother died when he was 12 and he was put under the guardianship of a Roman Catholic priest. WW1 interrupted his studies and he returned from the front line with trench fever, which cut short his military career. He became a philologist and professor of Anglo Saxon at Oxford. Along with serious academic writings, he started work on The Lord of the Rings and eventually became successful and almost a cult figure.
He had a serious Capricorn Sun in his entertaining 5th house which was sextile Mars in Scorpio and, if the birth time is accurate, that was inconjunct the Midheaven and widely inconjunct Pluto Neptune in Gemini. His prominent Neptune Pluto in the 9th house which rules higher education and publishing fits an academic and a fantasy writer – and his Neptune Pluto was in a communicative Air Grand Trine to Venus in Aquarius and Saturn in Libra.
His Jupiter and Moon in Pisces were square his Pluto Neptune giving him confidence and an active imagination. Jupiter trine his Mars gave him vitality and an appetite for adventure.
His 4th house Mercury in Capricorn gave him an interest in his roots and lineage and no doubt spurred on his interest in creating a mythology for England. His Mercury was sextile Uranus and inconjunct Neptune Pluto, channelling even more energy through that iconic and supernaturally-inclined combination.
Not surprisingly his leaving-a-legacy for history 17th harmonic is strong; as was his writer’s 21H; and even more so his global reputation 22nd harmonic.
A fascinating man.
You will notice that his Mercury almost exactly squares Saturn. I suppose this gave him the tenacity to undertake not only The Hobbit and LOTR, but the numerous volumes that became The Silmarillion and so forth. Anyway, I wanted to mention that Tolkien was notoriously both an unlucky and very reckless driver. He eventually gave up driving, partly because of various mishaps but also because he saw the damage it was doing to his beloved English countryside.
A fascinating anecdote, thank you for sharing it! I wonder if, in addition to the Mercury-Saturn square, the Mars and South Node in the 3rd house didn’t help his driving either! And yeah the Mercury-Saturn types I know have mental stamina and are interested in the minutiae that would be needed to create a rich fantasy world. (Married one!) Thanks for this!
Thanks. Mars in the 3rd is notorious for speedy driving and being accident prone from recklessness.