Tolkien and the Norse

The god Thor talks to the dwarf Alviss to prevent him from marrying his daughter Þrúðr; at dawn Alviss turns to stone, just as Tolkien's stone Trolls do in The Hobbit.[1][2][3] Drawing by W. G. Collingwood, 1908

Tolkien derived the characters, stories, places, and languages of Middle-earth from many sources. Among these are Norse mythology, seen in his Dwarves, Wargs, Trolls, Beorn and the barrow-wight, places such as Mirkwood, characters including the Wizards Gandalf and Saruman and the Dark Lords Morgoth and Sauron derived from the Norse god Odin, magical artefacts like the One Ring and Aragorn's sword Andúril, and the quality that Tolkien called "Northern courage". The powerful Valar, too, somewhat resemble the pantheon of Norse gods, the Æsir.

  1. ^ Shippey 2005, p. 86.
  2. ^ Burns 2013, pp. 473–479.
  3. ^ Shippey 2001, pp. 12, 19–20.