One of the most hated interview questions among authors is what in their published works was “inspired” by real life. The novelist Jonathan Franzen likes to tell the story of a writer who sarcastically answers such questions with percentages.
“Is your new book inspired by your life?”
“Yes, 26 % of it.”*
The point is that a writer’s work is entirely dependent upon her life, knowledge and experiences. But even the writer may not be able to decisively pinpoint something in her work and say “this chapter was inspired by my own life but this chapter came from my imagination”.
In the case of J.R.R. Tolkien, his life and writing are extremely well-documented. He left copious notes behind and his friends and family have been willing to talk to researchers and biographers. For instance, Tolkien admits the Dead Marshes in The Lord of the Rings “owe something to Northern France after the Battle of the Somme” and that Bilbo and the Dwarves’ journey in the Misty Mountains was inspired by his own experiences hiking in Switzerland.
Other aspects of his work have been directly linked to real-world counterparts, such Beorn’s house which has been decisively traced to Hrolf Kraki’s Hall. Tolkien’s illustrations of Beorn and his dwelling are unmistakably copied from a “Nordic mead-hall” published by his friend E.V. Gordon in An introduction to Old Norse.
The Lonely Mountain was originally called the Black Mountain in early drafts of The Hobbit. The first maps Tolkien drew of the area showed that it was not quite lonely – in fact, it was probably loosely connected to a mountain chain at its north-east corner or to the Iron Mountains, the home of the dwarf Dain and his kin. This idea is retained somewhat in his published maps and text, although the Mountain’s solitary nature became much more prominent as the Hobbit narrative developed.
The prime role of the Lonely Mountain in The Hobbit is the home of the dragon. In Tolkien’s writings dragons are drawn from a tradition depicting them lying on mounds of treasure in prominent lairs. This is the case with Beowulf’s dragon, Sigurd’s Fafnir, as well as “early Silmarillion” dragons like Glorund.
The bad guys in Tolkien’s writings at this stage tend to have major heights for their strongholds, including the Necromancer’s castle and Sauron’s tower in the Luthien myth (Sauron is named Thu at early stages). This idea survived into the Lord of the Rings with the Dark Tower in Mordor and Saruman’s Orthanc in Isengard. In the case of dragon's, they are depicted as more of an animalistic or natural power, so they are in prominent natural landmarks like mountains instead of built landmarks such as towers.
So the dragon lair needs to be prominent, and no height is more prominent than a volcano. Was the Lonely Mountain a volcano or inspired by a real-life volcano? One of the most compelling pieces of evidence is Tolkien’s own drawings, which depicts a noticeable crater at the top.
What kind of mountain has a crater, unless it is a volcano? Case solved, right? Well, maybe not. In the published text no crater is mentioned.
Only its high peak could they see in clear weather, and they seldom looked at it, for it was ominous and dreary even in the light of morning.
There far away was the Lonely Mountain on the edge of eyesight. On its highest peak snow yet unmelted was gleaming pale.
So what conclusions can we draw? John D. Rateliff has a good point to make regarding the geography of Tolkien’s world. Tolkien was writing a legendary history.
The ‘legendary’ part is worth stressing, since Tolkien was writing fantasy, not pseudo-history or pseudoscience… This liberates him from any obligation to make the details of his setting consistent with ‘what geologists may say or surmise’…
So what is the decisive answer? How much of the Lonely Mountain was inspired by mythical or real-life places?
26% of it, of course. ;)
There is a huge wealth of great material regarding Tolkien and his works, but in regards to this question I drew heavily upon John D. Rateliff’s two-volume The History of the Hobbit.
