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| Christopher Tolkien, Keeper of His Father’s Legacy, Dies at 95 | Christopher Tolkien, Keeper of His Father’s Legacy, Dies at 95 |
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| Christopher Tolkien, the son of the writer J.R.R. Tolkien who guarded his legacy and brought forth monumental posthumous works like “The Silmarillion,” a collection of his father’s writings, died on Wednesday in France. He was 95. | Christopher Tolkien, the son of the writer J.R.R. Tolkien who guarded his legacy and brought forth monumental posthumous works like “The Silmarillion,” a collection of his father’s writings, died on Wednesday in France. He was 95. |
| His death was confirmed by Daniel Klass, Mr. Tolkien’s brother-in-law. | His death was confirmed by Daniel Klass, Mr. Tolkien’s brother-in-law. |
| Long after his father died in 1973, Mr. Tolkien worked to keep alive the stories and characters that he created in “The Hobbit” (1937) and “The Lord of the Rings” (1949). | Long after his father died in 1973, Mr. Tolkien worked to keep alive the stories and characters that he created in “The Hobbit” (1937) and “The Lord of the Rings” (1949). |
| He was his father’s literary executor but played a far more expansive role than that title usually implies. While Tolkien was writing “Lord of the Rings,” he was also creating a vast world of legends and mythologies that he meant to accompany the book. But Tolkien was a notorious perfectionist and never able to put this world in publishable form before he died. | He was his father’s literary executor but played a far more expansive role than that title usually implies. While Tolkien was writing “Lord of the Rings,” he was also creating a vast world of legends and mythologies that he meant to accompany the book. But Tolkien was a notorious perfectionist and never able to put this world in publishable form before he died. |
| His son spent four years organizing and compiling the myths and legends that his father had created and produced them in 1977 as “The Silmarillion.” | His son spent four years organizing and compiling the myths and legends that his father had created and produced them in 1977 as “The Silmarillion.” |
| “This opened up a wealth and depth of Tolkien’s imaginative world that was breathtaking,” Corey Olsen, a Tolkien expert, said in an interview. | “This opened up a wealth and depth of Tolkien’s imaginative world that was breathtaking,” Corey Olsen, a Tolkien expert, said in an interview. |
| But Tolkien fans and scholars wondered how much of “The Silmarillion” had been the work of the father and the work of the son, said Mr. Olsen, who is president of the online university Signum, which specializes in Tolkien studies. | But Tolkien fans and scholars wondered how much of “The Silmarillion” had been the work of the father and the work of the son, said Mr. Olsen, who is president of the online university Signum, which specializes in Tolkien studies. |
| In response, Christopher produced the 12-volume “History of Middle-earth” (1996), a compilation of drafts, fragments, rewrites, notes in margins and other unpublished material his father had written. | In response, Christopher produced the 12-volume “History of Middle-earth” (1996), a compilation of drafts, fragments, rewrites, notes in margins and other unpublished material his father had written. |
| “Christopher showed how his father’s ideas grew and developed over time,” Mr. Olsen said. The volumes reveal not just Tolkien’s mind at work, he said, but provide a case study of the creative process. | “Christopher showed how his father’s ideas grew and developed over time,” Mr. Olsen said. The volumes reveal not just Tolkien’s mind at work, he said, but provide a case study of the creative process. |
| Christopher is also credited with creating the widely acclaimed 1954 map of Middle-earth, the land in which the sprawling stories were set, that is now held by the British Library. | Christopher is also credited with creating the widely acclaimed 1954 map of Middle-earth, the land in which the sprawling stories were set, that is now held by the British Library. |
| Like his father, an Oxford linguist, Mr. Tolkien spent much of his life devoted to, and surrounded by, books. Both men were scholars of Old and Middle English and both lectured at Oxford. But while the elder Tolkien was a specialist in Chaucer and Anglo-Saxon sagas, the younger editor was an authority, above all, on the reams of writing that his father produced. | Like his father, an Oxford linguist, Mr. Tolkien spent much of his life devoted to, and surrounded by, books. Both men were scholars of Old and Middle English and both lectured at Oxford. But while the elder Tolkien was a specialist in Chaucer and Anglo-Saxon sagas, the younger editor was an authority, above all, on the reams of writing that his father produced. |
| “He has been treating this extraordinary archive as if it had been discovered in a sealed tomb,” the Houghton Mifflin editor Austin Olney said after meeting Mr. Tolkien at his home in England around 1980. By then, Mr. Tolkien had published almost a million hardcover copies of “The Silmarillion” and several more books were about to emerge from the vaults. | “He has been treating this extraordinary archive as if it had been discovered in a sealed tomb,” the Houghton Mifflin editor Austin Olney said after meeting Mr. Tolkien at his home in England around 1980. By then, Mr. Tolkien had published almost a million hardcover copies of “The Silmarillion” and several more books were about to emerge from the vaults. |
| For decades, Mr. Tolkien continued finding new work to exhume — and annotate — most recently a romance written as epic poems in 2017 and “The Fall of Gondolin” in 2018. | For decades, Mr. Tolkien continued finding new work to exhume — and annotate — most recently a romance written as epic poems in 2017 and “The Fall of Gondolin” in 2018. |
| Tolkien fans responded on social media to the news of Mr. Tolkien’s death with an outpouring of emotion and gratitude for his devotion to completing the picture of the world that his father set out to create. | Tolkien fans responded on social media to the news of Mr. Tolkien’s death with an outpouring of emotion and gratitude for his devotion to completing the picture of the world that his father set out to create. |
| “Takes a humble man to dedicate his life to someone else’s work,” wrote one person on Twitter. “I think of all the books that might never have been published without Christopher’s input. Some of those books define how we now view the professor’s legacy.” | “Takes a humble man to dedicate his life to someone else’s work,” wrote one person on Twitter. “I think of all the books that might never have been published without Christopher’s input. Some of those books define how we now view the professor’s legacy.” |
| Though the tales of Middle-earth waxed and waned in popularity, they were all but cemented in popular culture in the 2000s, with film adaptations that garnered Academy Awards and hundreds of millions of dollars in revenues. The movies were not the first adaptations, but they helped bring the stories to a new audience. And their success has in part inspired a forthcoming series on Amazon — the rights to which reportedly cost $200 million. | Though the tales of Middle-earth waxed and waned in popularity, they were all but cemented in popular culture in the 2000s, with film adaptations that garnered Academy Awards and hundreds of millions of dollars in revenues. The movies were not the first adaptations, but they helped bring the stories to a new audience. And their success has in part inspired a forthcoming series on Amazon — the rights to which reportedly cost $200 million. |
| But even as Mr. Tolkien burnished his father’s legacy and brought it into the 21st century, he could be intensely protective of it. In 2012, the Tolkien estate filed an $80 million lawsuit against Warner Bros. over the digital merchandising of products from “The Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit.” The suit accused the company of causing harm to Tolkien’s legacy, and was eventually settled on undisclosed terms. | But even as Mr. Tolkien burnished his father’s legacy and brought it into the 21st century, he could be intensely protective of it. In 2012, the Tolkien estate filed an $80 million lawsuit against Warner Bros. over the digital merchandising of products from “The Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit.” The suit accused the company of causing harm to Tolkien’s legacy, and was eventually settled on undisclosed terms. |
| Last year, the Tolkien estate disavowed a film based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s life and experience in World War I, saying the family did “not approve of, authorize or participate” in the project. (The younger Mr. Tolkien served with the Royal Air Force in World War II and was stationed in South Africa, according to the Tolkien Society.) | Last year, the Tolkien estate disavowed a film based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s life and experience in World War I, saying the family did “not approve of, authorize or participate” in the project. (The younger Mr. Tolkien served with the Royal Air Force in World War II and was stationed in South Africa, according to the Tolkien Society.) |
| Christopher Tolkien was born in Leeds, England, on Nov. 21, 1924. | Christopher Tolkien was born in Leeds, England, on Nov. 21, 1924. |
| Later in life, Mr. Tolkien became a French citizen and lived a private life with his second wife, Baillie Tolkien, at the foothills of the Alps in southeastern France. | Later in life, Mr. Tolkien became a French citizen and lived a private life with his second wife, Baillie Tolkien, at the foothills of the Alps in southeastern France. |
| In addition to Ms. Tolkien, he is survived by his sister Priscilla and three children, Simon, Adam and Rachel. | In addition to Ms. Tolkien, he is survived by his sister Priscilla and three children, Simon, Adam and Rachel. |
| Speaking by phone on Thursday, Mr. Klass said he always admired his brother-in-law’s work ethic and devotion to completing his father’s work.“A person of his substance and his character will leave a huge hole in a lot of people’s lives,” he said. | Speaking by phone on Thursday, Mr. Klass said he always admired his brother-in-law’s work ethic and devotion to completing his father’s work.“A person of his substance and his character will leave a huge hole in a lot of people’s lives,” he said. |
| Emily S. Rueb contributed reporting, and Alain Delaquérière contributed research. |