Today is the day to celebrate all things Middle-Earth and the vast, fantastical mythology created by J.R.R. Tolkien in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. It’s among the best-selling, most beloved book series of all time and a cinematic phenomenon to match. How much do you know about hobbits and their creator?
Results
Looks like you need to brush up on your Hobbit knowledge! Luckily, Thunder Bay Press has you covered with our 7-book boxed set—The World of Tolkien.
#1. Why is Sept. 22, specifically, Hobbit Day?
#2. Which of the following isn’t one of the seven official Hobbit daily meals?
#3. Just how tall is a brave hobbit supposed to be, anyway?
#4. When does The Hobbit take place?
#5. J.R.R. Tolkien wrote The Hobbit and most of The Lord of the Rings while working as a professor at the University of Oxford in the U.K. What was his area of expertise?
#6. Which major work of the English collection did J.R.R. Tolkien have nothing to do with?
A) Tolkien helped research the first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary, the definitive record of the language. He worked on the “W” section, from waggle to warlock. The epic poem Beowulf dates to around the 8th century A.D., and it’s a formative text of English, the oldest surviving manuscript in the language. Modern interest in Beowulf, and the notion of its importance, stems from Tolkien’s 1936 lecture (then book), Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics. He never worked on a King Arthur tome, but he was inspired by that collection of British myths while writing his books about Middle-Earth.