Tolkien fandom Tolkien fandom Tolkien fandom is an international, informal community of fans of the works of J. R. R. Tolkien, especially of the Middle-earth legendarium which includes "The Hobbit", "The Lord of the Rings", and "The Silmarillion". "Fandom" is a term used to describe a specific type of fan subculture. "Tolkien fandom" in this sense sprang up in the United States in the 1960s, in the context of the hippie movement, to the dismay of the author (Tolkien died in 1973), who talked of "my deplorable cultus". A Tolkienist is someone who studies the work of J. R. R. Tolkien: this
J. R. R. Tolkien "Shireplitis tolkieni". In 2004, the extinct hominid "Homo floresiensis" was described, and quickly earned the nickname "hobbit" due to its small size. In 1978, Paleontologist Leigh Van Valen named over 20 taxa of extinct mammals after Tolkien lore in a single paper. In 1999, entomologist Lauri Kaila described 48 new species of "Elachista" moths and named 37 of them after Tolkien mythology. It has been noted that "Tolkien has been accorded formal taxonomic commemoration like no other author." Since 2003 The Tolkien Society has organized Tolkien Reading Day, which takes place on 25 March in schools around the world. There