Why Tolkien Borrowed from Norse Mythology
Explore the deep Norse sources that shaped J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium, from the Völsungasaga to Beowulf, and the way it transformed fantasy.
J. R. R. Tolkien (1892–1973), the English philologist, writer, and professor at Oxford, drew on Old Norse language, mythology, and heroic literature as a primary source of his fiction, especially The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion. The Norse borrowings in Tolkien’s work are deep, deliberate, and structural: the dwarves of the Norse Eddas reappear in his own dwarves; the dragon Smaug echoes Fafnir; the cursed gold of Andvari is the model for the One Ring; the name Gandalf echoes the name of a dwarf in the Völsunga saga; the figure of Middle-earth is the direct descendant of the Old English Middangeard; the trees of the Valar and the Ents are echoes of the great World Tree of Norse cosmology. Tolkien’s use of Norse sources was part of a lifelong philological engagement with the Old Norse language, the Eddas, the sagas, and the wider Germanic heroic tradition, and the influence is one of the principal reasons that his fiction feels ancient, dense, and rooted in a deeper past.
Tolkien’s Academic Background
Tolkien was, by training, a philologist. He studied English language and literature at the University of Oxford, with a particular interest in the older Germanic languages. He became a professor of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford in 1925, and he held the chair of English Language and Literature at Merton College from 1945 until his retirement in 1959. His academic work included editions of the Old English poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and the Middle English poem Pearl, and his academic publications dealt with Beowulf, with the Old English heroic tradition, and with the broader Germanic mythology.
The academic background is the foundation of the fictional work. Tolkien’s knowledge of the Old English, Old Norse, Gothic, and Old High German languages gave him a unique access to the older Germanic mythology, and his reading of the Prose Edda, the Poetic Edda, the Völsunga saga, and the Nibelungenlied was deep and sustained. The fictional work is, in many respects, a product of the academic work, and the two are inseparable.
The Norse Sources for The Hobbit
The most explicit Norse borrowings in The Hobbit (1937) are the dwarves, the dragon, and the gold. The thirteen dwarves who accompany Bilbo Baggins on his quest are, in many respects, the descendants of the dwarves of the Völsunga saga and the Prose Edda — the master smiths who forge the gods’ weapons and who, in the Norse tradition, are sometimes friends and sometimes enemies of the gods. The names of the dwarves in The Hobbit (Thorin, Balin, Dwalin, Bifur, Bofur, Bombur, Fili, Kili, Oin, Gloin, Nori, Dori, Ori) are drawn from the Old Norse Þulur (a list of dwarf-names preserved in the Prose Edda).
The dragon Smaug, the central figure of The Hobbit, is the most direct Norse borrowing in the work. Smaug is, in many respects, the descendant of the dragon Fafnir of the Völsunga saga, the dragon who guards a cursed gold, who is killed by the hero, and whose death is the cause of a great chain of vengeance. The name “Smaug” is derived from the Old Norse smáglóð (“small ember”), but the figure is, in spirit, the descendant of Fafnir.
The cursed gold of The Hobbit is, in turn, the direct descendant of the cursed gold of the Völsunga saga. The gold of the dragon’s hoard, in both stories, brings death to whoever possesses it, and the death of the hero is the consequence of the taking of the gold. The image of the cursed gold is one of the most famous in the Norse tradition, and it is one of the principal sources of Tolkien’s fiction.
The Norse Sources for The Lord of the Rings
The Norse borrowings in The Lord of the Rings (1954–1955) are deeper and more structural. The image of the One Ring is the most explicit: the ring is a cursed object that brings death to whoever possesses it, that has the power to enslave its wearer, and that can only be destroyed by being cast into the fire in which it was forged. The ring is, in spirit, the direct descendant of the ring Andvaranaut of the Norse tradition, and the image of the cursed gold is one of the principal sources of the central image of Tolkien’s fiction.
The figure of Gandalf is another direct Norse borrowing. The name “Gandalf” appears in the Völsunga saga (and in the Þiðreks saga) as a dwarf, and the figure of Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings is, in many respects, the descendant of the Norse figure. The figure of the wise old wizard, the helper of the hero, is, in the Norse tradition, the figure of Odin, and Tolkien’s Gandalf has clear echoes of Odin: the wide-brimmed hat, the grey cloak, the staff, the wisdom, the wanderer, the helper of the hero in the moment of need.
The figure of Middle-earth itself is the most famous Norse borrowing. The name is the direct descendant of the Old English Middangeard (the world of humans), and the concept of the world of humans as the central, bounded, vulnerable place in a wider cosmos is the direct descendant of the Old Norse concept of Midgard. The image of the world surrounded by a wider cosmos, the world supported by a great tree, the world threatened by a great enemy, is the image of the Old Norse Midgard, and the reading matches Tolkien’s explicit statements about the sources of his fiction.
The Norse Sources for The Silmarillion
The Norse borrowings in The Silmarillion (published posthumously in 1977) are the deepest. The image of the Two Trees of Valinor echoes the image of the great World Tree of Norse cosmology, and the image of the Silmarils (the three jewels made by the elf Fëanor) echoes the image of the three treasures of the Norse tradition. The image of the creation of the world in The Ainulindalë (the first part of The Silmarillion) echoes the image of the creation of the world in the Völuspá and in the Gylfaginning of the Prose Edda: the world is created by a divine song, the world is shaped by the divine powers, and the world is eventually destroyed by a great enemy.
The figure of Morgoth (the central enemy in The Silmarillion) is, in many respects, the descendant of Loki and the figure of the great enemy of the Norse tradition. The image of the great enemy, who is bound but not destroyed, who breaks free at the end of the world, and who is the cause of the destruction of the cosmos, is the image of the Norse cosmic pessimism, and Tolkien’s Morgoth is, in spirit, the descendant of that image.
The image of the end of the world in The Silmarillion is, in turn, the direct descendant of the Norse Ragnarok. The image of the great battle, the destruction of the world, the death of the gods, and the new world that rises from the ashes is the image of the Norse Ragnarok, and the reading matches Tolkien’s explicit statements about the sources of his fiction.
The Norse and the Finnish Sources
In addition to the Norse sources, Tolkien drew on the Finnish tradition. The most famous borrowing is the figure of Tom Bombadil, who is sometimes said to be derived from the Finnish tradition, and the figure of Lórien (the forest of Galadriel), which is named after the Latin laurus but is often associated with the Finnish word lorea, “a place of enchantment.” The Finnish borrowings are part of the broader philological engagement, and they have been a focus of modern interpretation.
The most famous Finnish borrowing is the language of the Quenya and Sindarin, the two principal languages of the elves. The Quenya is, in part, derived from Finnish, and the phonology and the structure of the language are based on the Finnish model. The Sindarin is, in part, derived from Welsh, and the structure of the language is based on the Welsh model. The two languages are part of the broader philological engagement, and they have been a focus of modern interpretation.
The Norse and the Anglo-Saxon Sources
In addition to the Norse sources, Tolkien drew on the Old English tradition. The most famous borrowing is the figure of Beowulf, the great Old English epic, and the figure of Grendel, the great monster. The figure of Grendel is, in spirit, the descendant of the Norse trolls, and the figure of Beowulf is, in spirit, the descendant of the Norse hero.
The most famous Old English borrowing is the figure of Middle-earth itself, the central image of Tolkien’s fiction. The name is the direct descendant of the Old English Middangeard, and the concept of the world of humans as the central, bounded, vulnerable place in a wider cosmos is the direct descendant of the Old English concept of the world.
The Norse and the Wider Fantasy Tradition
Tolkien’s use of the Norse sources is, in turn, the foundation of much of the modern fantasy tradition. The figure of the dwarf, the elf, the orc, the wizard, the cursed gold, the great battle at the end of the world — all of these are, in part, the descendants of Tolkien’s use of the Norse sources, and they have been the foundation of much of the modern fantasy tradition.
The most famous modern adaptations of Tolkien’s borrowings are in the Dungeons & Dragons tabletop role-playing game, in the Warcraft and World of Warcraft video game series, in the Final Fantasy video game series, and in many other modern works of fiction. The Norse tradition has drawn attention from modern fantasy, and Tolkien’s use of the Norse sources is one of the principal reasons for the modern focus.
The Norse and the Christian Tradition
Tolkien was, in addition, a devout Catholic, and the Norse borrowings in his work are part of a broader Christian framework. The image of the world as a place of beauty, the image of the world as a place of corruption, the image of the world as a place of eventual restoration — all of these are part of the Christian framework, and the Norse borrowings are part of the framework. The reading has been treated in modern scholarship, and it has been the subject of modern interpretation.
The image of the One Ring is, in this sense, a Christian image: the ring is a symbol of the corruption of power, the ring is a symbol of the need for sacrifice, and the ring is a symbol of the eventual restoration of the world. The image is part of the Christian framework, and the Norse borrowings are part of the framework.
The Norse and the Modern Imagination
The Norse borrowings in Tolkien’s work have had a major impact on the modern imagination. The image of the dwarf, the elf, the dragon, the cursed gold, the great battle — all of these are, in part, the descendants of Tolkien’s use of the Norse sources, and they have been the foundation of much of the modern imagination.
The image of the Norse in the modern imagination is, in this sense, the image of Tolkien’s reading of the Norse. The image of the Norse as a place of wisdom, of heroism, of great beauty and great terror, is the image that Tolkien gave to the modern world, and the image has been the subject of modern interpretation. The reading matches with Tolkien’s explicit statements about the sources of his fiction, and it has been treated in modern scholarship.