Christopher Tolkien

• 1. A Son's Wartime Wings

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  Christopher Tolkien was born on the 21st of November 1924 in Leeds, England. He entered Trinity College at Oxford University when he was only seventeen years old. His academic journey ended abruptly after a year and a half of study. Military service called him away from his books in July 1943. He joined the Royal Air Force as a fighter pilot shortly thereafter. Flight training took him to South Africa at the start of 1944. He earned his wings and received his commission in January 1945. A posting to Market Drayton in Shropshire followed that spring. He switched to the Fleet Air Arm by June 1945 while still serving. Christopher resumed his degree studies in April 1946 during active duty. He left military service at the end of that same year. He completed his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1948. Gabriel Turville-Petre supervised his Bachelor of Letters thesis in 1953.

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• 2. The Barn And The Silmarillion

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  J.R.R. Tolkien died in 1973 leaving behind vast quantities of unpublished manuscripts. Christopher moved these papers to an Oxfordshire home where he converted a barn into a workspace. Guy Gavriel Kay assisted him with this massive editorial task starting in 1975. They discovered how complex the material truly was within two years. Christopher resigned from New College in September 1975 to work exclusively on editing. He relocated to France to continue the project for forty-five years. The first volume of The History of Middle-earth appeared between 1983 and 1996. Charles Noad noted that this twelve-volume series changed reader perspective entirely. It shifted focus from The Lord of the Rings back to the original Silmarillion texts. A single-volume edition of The Silmarillion had been published in 1977 before this larger project began. Unfinished Tales followed as another publication in 1980. Most source texts used to construct The Silmarillion were eventually published through this History series. Christopher edited twenty-four volumes based on his father's posthumous work.

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• 3. Translations Of Norse Sagas

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  Vincent Ferré noted early debate regarding whether Christopher acted merely as editor or also as author. Christopher stated in his 1977 foreword to The Silmarillion that he selected and arranged text to produce coherence. Randel Helms argued in 1981 that the final shape of The Silmarillion represented invention by the son not the father. Christopher disagreed with this assessment in an 1983 foreword to The Book of Lost Tales. He admitted later that publishing without a frame story had been an error. Tom Shippey expressed reluctance to view The Silmarillion as anything other than late work by J.R.R. Tolkien. In 2012 Christopher confessed he had invented some passages himself during the editing process. He described dreaming about his father searching anxiously for something lost. That dream revealed The Silmarillion was what his father sought. Ferré concluded Christopher should be viewed as a writer in his own right alongside being an editor.

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• 4. The Authorship Debate

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  The choices made in constructing narrative threads remain distinctive marks upon the book.

  His first marriage occurred in 1951 to sculptor Faith Lucy Tilly Faulconbridge. They separated in 1964 before divorcing two years later. Her work appears in the National Portrait Gallery today. Simon Mario Reuel Tolkien became their son who is now a barrister and novelist. Baillie Klass married him in 1967 after his divorce. Adam and Rachel were born into this second union. The family moved to southern France in 1975 where she edited Father Christmas Letters. Christopher acquired French citizenship during these years abroad. Disapproval arose when his son Simon advised on the Lord of the Rings trilogy. They eventually reconciled with Simon dedicating one novel to his father. Christopher died on the 16th of January 2020 at age ninety-five. Draguignan in Var, France served as the location of his death.

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