Background History: The Books

Once the Hobbit had been released it became an instant hit with the fans across the country, and later on world wide when printing had become more advanced. The trilogy when it was first published was released in 6 different book, each trilogy being split into 2 separate books themselves. Due to the fact the The Hobbit was originally a children's fantasy book set in Middle Earth Tolkien moved these books on a step making them for a wider audience so that older generations could enjoy them more as there was a more complex story to it and it introduced so many more characters into the picture; each with there own confusingly spelt name that you don't ever have a chance of being able to say. The books were written in stages, during the war, between 1937 and 1949 until it was finally published for the first time from 1954-55.

^{Influences:
Throughout the books development, Tolkien too inspiration from a number of sources. He personally had great interests in philology, religion (particularly Roman Catholicism), fairy tales, Norse and general Germanic mythology, and also Celtic, Slavic, Persian and Finnish mythology. Some locations that where featured in the books where also considered to be inspired by Tolkien's childhood in Birmingham and there are also hints to the Black Country. It is also said that The Shire and its surrounding were based on the countryside in and around Lancaster.}