Tolkien's Ring

He describes the legends about rings and ancient civilizations, dating back to the earliest recorded history. He dips into legends from all times -- the Celts, Arthurian legend, the Norse legends of gods, elves, dwarves and human heroes, the opera "Ring of the Nibelung," and many others. He includes synopses, analysis, and plenty of speculation.

So what does this have to do with Tolkien? Not much, unfortunately. Day flounders in just about every ring-related legend he can find, and cobbles mythical material from every mythology he can get his hands on. Filler makes up most of this . Just because a legend has a ring doesn't mean it's in any way connected to "Lord of the Rings," or that they are in any way the roots of Tolkien's Ring saga.

As a result, this book is a crazy quilt that will drive Tolkien fans nuts. Tolkien famously drew on Norse and Anglo-Saxon legends for his books, but not a lot else. Arthurian legend (a sketchy source itself) is cited too heavily, as is Celtic legend. What does the Celtic ogre Balor have to do with Sauron? Uh, well, they both have one eye... they're powerful... they're evil... bingo! says Day. Connection made.

Day's scholarly ramblings also have a lot to be desired. He paraphrases things from "Lord of the Rings" without telling readers that he is doing so, and offers his speculation as unadorned fact. He even stoops to trashing Christianity despite Tolkien's devout beliefs. Even legends are misquoted, such as his half-made-up descriptions of the silver horse Grani. No sources, no citations. Those familiar with the background of Tolkien's work will be incensed, and those who aren't familiar will be grossly misled.

The saving grace of Day's book is Alan Lee's exceptional artwork, which is elegant and magical as always. But even Lee's wonderful pictures cannot save a fetid, self-important volume with more fiction than fact.


Handy Addition For Your Tolkien Library   December 23, 2003
 1 out of 1 found this review helpful

I thought this was a really nice little book, easy to read, and full of information on various mythologies and how they may have influenced Tolkien. Tolkien once said that he wanted to develop a mythology for Britain, and his background work in northern European mythology was well-suited. Readers looking for exact, specific references may be disappointed. Christians who want to lay claim to Tolkien's work as a "Christian influenced" work may be disappointed also; there is little of the Bible here since it's influence on the trilogy was minimal.


Writing Not Suited to the Art   May 10, 2003
 6 out of 7 found this review helpful

David Day, in writing Tolkien's Ring, has seemingly changed Tolkien's written word to suit his purpose. Not only does he make many factual errors about the books by the author of the title, but fabricates evidence and deforms Tolkien.

"Sauron of the Evil Eye," says Day, is comparable to "Balor of the Evil Eye," and so forth. Unfortunately, for Day, nowhere in Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings is Sauron called such, thus making the comparison useless. And so on. There are too many such twistings of the original text to cite, too many of Day's own extrapolations quoted as the truth in The Lord of the Rings, for my comfort.

On the plus side, he presents an intriguing collection of stories. Yet knowing how he meddled with Tolkien, I cannot help but wonder if the tales I am reading therein are true to the originals.

The main good thing about this book is Alan Lee's fantastic imagery, which once again shows him to be undeniably the greatest Tolkien artist around. Having portrayed everything from hobbits to bigfeet without ever losing the mythic and ageless qualities inherent in his works, he brings a brilliant touch to the images in this book.

If only the same could be said of Mr. Day's text.