The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien is a selection of J. R. R. Tolkien's letters published in 1981, edited by Tolkien's biographer Humphrey Carpenter assisted by Christopher Tolkien. The selection contains 354 letters, dating between October 1914, when Tolkien was an undergraduate at Oxford, and 29 August 1973, four days before his death. The letters can be roughly divided in four categories: The last category is especially of interest to Tolkien fans, as it provides a lot of information about Middle-earth which cannot be found anywhere in the works published by Tolkien
J. R. R. Tolkien's influences much as the Calaquendi are associated with the Valar. also the werewolves seem to be inspired by werewolves from Völsunga saga as well as Fenris the Warg There are numerous sources from Slavic mythology found in J. R. R. Tolkien's novels. An example is the Istar (wizard) named Radagast and his home at Rhosgobel; both are usually taken to have Slavic sources from the Slavic god, Rodegast, a god of the Sun, war, hospitality, fertility, and harvest. Rhovanion was, also, a name from Slavic origin. The Anduin River, from which "Anduin" was the Sindarin name for The Great River of