Bakgrund till J.R.R. Tolkiens världar – Kalevala och andra källor

The aim of this article is to show how the Finnish language, and especially the epic poetry of Kalevala formed and inspired J.R.R. Tolkien in the shaping of Middle-earth. This article explores the background of Elias Lönnrot and his compilation, and compares it to the way Tolkien’s interrelated and independent stories grew and took form in what posthumously was published in a series of edited collections by his son Christopher. Reading The Lord of the Rings makes it obvious that it is part of a bigger collection of stories, unfinished tales that somehow connects with real history, legend and myth. In 2007 Christopher Tolkien published The Children of Húrin, an edited, long version of the tale of Túrin Turambar, a hero bearing close resemblances to the character Kullervo in Kalevala. This is but the tip of the iceberg, and we know from Tolkien’s fictive Elven language Quenya that it is modelled directly on Finnish, which is also true of lot of other names in his works. In his idea of “Sub-creation” he could combine elements from myth, legend, history and folklore with his fictive world, and make it seem like a primarily world. This article shows how close Elias Lönnrot and J.R.R. Tolkien where in their idea of creating what is known as "National Literature"