Christopher Tolkien, son of legendary author J.R.R. Tolkien, has died at the age of 95. A lifelong protector, editor, and literary executor of his father’s celebrated catalog of works, Christopher Tolkien’s passing marks a sad day for the Tolkien estate and mourners around the world.
Christopher Tolkien was born in Leeds, UK to J.R.R. and Edith Mary Tolkien on November 21, 1924, the youngest of three sons. Receiving an elite education from an early age, Tolkien attended both the prestigious Dragon School at Oxford and The Oratory School. During World War II, he enlisted with the RAF in 1943 and was stationed in South Africa. In 1945, he was commissioned as a pilot officer with the RAF Volunteer Reserve before transferring to the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve where he remained until the war’s end. After returning to England, he attended Trinity College and later became a lecturer at Oxford. Tolkien further followed in his father’s footsteps when taking up the mantle as his literary executor after his death in 1973, correcting old Middle-earth maps and editing numerous incomplete manuscripts into finished works, including The Silmalrillion and The History of Middle-earth.
On January 16, the Tolkien Society (a charity and literary society dedicated to the works of J.R.R. Tolkien) confirmed Christopher Tolkien’s death at 95. Upon learning of his passing, Tolkien Society chair Shaun Gunner said, “All of us in the Tolkien Society will share in the sadness at the news of Christopher Tolkien’s death, and we send our condolences to Baillie, Simon, Adam, Rachel and the whole Tolkien family at this difficult time.” Gunner commended Tolkien’s “commitment to his father’s works” and demonstrated “skill as a scholar” in life, concluding, “We have lost a titan and he will be sorely missed.” In a separate tweet, the Tolkien Society offered a final epitaph for Tolkien, stating simply, “Christopher was Middle-earth’s first scholar. Namárië.”
Having retired from his decades-long long post as his father’s literary executor in 2017, Christopher Tolkien’s death will not affect any ongoing or future adaptations of the Lord of the Rings media franchise. Tolkien was a vocal critic of each of Peter Jackson’s film adaptations of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, and his retirement has left many wondering if Jackson would return to Middle-earth for a movie based on The Silmalrillion. Last year, that theory was put to the test well after Tolkien stepped down from his role in the family estate when a J.R.R. Tolkien biopic the estate did not authorize was wholly disowned by the Tolkiens in Christopher Tolkien’s well-earned absence.
Christopher Tolkien leaves behind an illustrious legacy as a loyal son, veteran, editor, and scholar of the highest order. His combined contributions to not only Tolkien scholarship and his father’s bibliography, but also to Western literature and culture, cannot be understated, and he will be sorely missed.
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Source: The Tolkien Society, The Tolkien Society/Twitter
