The son of literary great J.R.R. Tolkien — author of “The Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit” — has died.
Christopher Tolkien, himself a well-regarded author known as the “cartographer” of Middle Earth, passed away at 95 years old, the Tolkien Society confirmed.
He was responsible for carrying on his father’s legacy, helping to publish posthumous maps and other mythic works from the “The Lord of the Rings” universe, most notably 1977’s “The Silmarillion,” a favorite among obsessives of the books.
Both “The Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit” went on to become top-selling movies, starring actors such as Orlando Bloom, Cate Blanchett, Elijah Wood and Andy Serkis as famous and infamous Smeagol and Gollum. Amazon has signed on for a series based off “The Lord of the Rings,” which doesn’t yet have a release date, but reportedly cost the streaming service $250 million.
Most recently, Christopher edited and released “The Fall of Gondolin,” another posthumous J.R.R. publication, in the preface of which he announced it would “indubitably” be his final work.
Tolkien Society Chair, Shaun Gunner, shared a statement about the sad news Thursday.
“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 said in the statement. “Christopher’s commitment to his father’s works have seen dozens of publications released, and his own work as an academic in Oxford demonstrates his ability and skill as a scholar.
“Millions of people around the world will be forever grateful to Christopher for bringing us ‘The Silmarillion,’ ‘The Children of Húrin,’ ‘The History of Middle-earth‘ series and many others. We have lost a titan and he will be sorely missed.”
Christopher, the third son of J.R.R., drew the famous “The Lord of the Rings” maps, which accompanied the beloved books. His father passed away in 1973, leaving behind a trove of documents that helped him build the worlds described in “The Hobbit” and “The Lord of the Rings.” Christopher would spend much of his adult life compiling the documents into books and stories that allowed fans to dive deeper into the fantasy series.
“He gave us a window into Tolkien’s creative process, and he provided scholarly commentary that enriched our understanding of Middle-earth,” Tolkien scholar Dimitra Fimi told the Sun. “He was Middle-earth’s cartographer and first scholar.”