This new quiz continues our current series on Tolkien by looking at the author himself, the man who invented Middle Earth, its history, and perhaps above all its languages. Tolkien was a respected scholar and teacher of languages who found both professional interest and literary inspiration in stirring medieval narratives like Beowulf and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Eventually that inspiration merged with his love of the English countryside to produce the hobbits of the Shire, and the whole wide landscape of Middle Earth and its peoples.
This quiz is published on May 13, 2019, in the week scheduled for the release of the biopic Tolkien. It is based on the author’s childhood and early career, and that is the part of his life on which we focus as well. We haven’t seen the movie yet, but we are happy to assume without evidence that our quiz paints a picture of the man that is paradoxically far more vivid and visceral than anything mere celluloid could hope to achieve. Try the Tolkien quiz right now!