Did Tolkien get the idea of using rings from Beowulf

[Vorondil]

In my re-read of Beowulf I noticed that it sometimes adds ''Ring-Giver'' as a title for Hrothgar (Who is a king). So it seems that rings where sometimes given out by a king to their loyal councilors and followers. Do you wise people think this a possible inspiration for Tolkien using rings in LOTR?

 

[Fingon_Findekáno]

I feel like I’ve heard of that before, from a book that talked about inspirations for Tolkien, but I’ll have to go back and look that part up.

 

[Squint-eyed Southerner]

It was common among Germanic leaders to give rewards to followers in the form of rings, but also other gold items like torcs.

They could be viewed as somewhat equivalent to modern military medals, but were also a form of wealth.

One source for Tolkien was undoubtedly the Volsunga Saga, which features a cursed ring, but really, magic rings are found in so many traditional stories -- especially folk and fairy tales -- that trying to identify a single source would probably be a mistake.

 

[Ent]

Ent believes he's also read Tolkien's inspiration came from several former works, Rings being a 'relatively common theme' in existing lore. As he was trying to develop an 'Englandish' lore, he actually borrowed many things from elsewhere.

It would be hard to pin it down to a single source such as Beowulf...though he did do a translation of Beowulf of his own..

(Ent will try to find sources for this later today.)

 

[Squint-eyed Southerner]

And remember, the ring first appeared in his own "fairytale". It didn't become the One Ring until he started writing the sequel.

 

[Elthir]

Indeed if Bilbo had found magic shoes I think The Lord of the Shoes would have been a different story.

I apologize.

 

[Squint-eyed Southerner]

Probably would have featured more dancing.

 

[HALETH✒🗡]

Speaking about Tolkien and Beowulf, the funny episode from Tolkien's teaching experience is worth mentioning. When Tolkien as a university professor entered a classroom, the first thing he used to say to his students was "Hwaet" (it's how Beowulf in the Old English language begins). But most of the students didn't understand it and thought he was simply saying "Quiet!" to the audience.

 

[Elthir]

Probably would have featured more dancing.

I've already cast Jean B. for the film.

 

[Ent]

 

[Elbereth Vala Varda]

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Well isn't that the truth... 🤣

 

[Squint-eyed Southerner]

Just be glad Bilbo didn't find a magic

 

[Elbereth Vala Varda]

Just be glad Bilbo didn't find a magic
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Oh no... This is eggsactly what derailed the last few threads...

 

[Ent]

THERE IS THIS..... intriguing entry in Wikipedia... (not that it is always to be trusted, but SOME references are provided for confirmation.)

"Proposed sources of inspiration for the Rings of Power range from Germanic legend with the ring Andvaranaut and eventually Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen, to fairy tales such as Snow White, which features both a magic ring and seven dwarfs. One experience which may have been pivotal was Tolkien's professional work on a Latin inscription at the temple of Nodens; he was a god-hero linked to the Irish hero Nuada Airgetlám, whose epithet is "Silver-Hand", or in Elvish "Celebrimbor", the name of the Elven-smith who made the Rings of Power. The inscription contained a curse upon a ring, and the site was called Dwarf's Hill.

The Rings of Power have been described as symbolising the way that power conflicts with moral behaviour; Tolkien explores the way that different characters, from the humble gardener Sam Gamgee to the powerful Elf ruler Galadriel, the proud warrior Boromir to the Ring-addicted monster Gollum, interact with the One Ring. Tolkien stated that The Lord of the Rings was an examination of "placing power in external objects".[1]"

The article is fairly long, for one with time to peruse its prattle for pertinence and precision.


(another effort to shoo Godzilla away here... 😁

 

[Radaghast]

Probably would have featured more dancing.

I imagine there would be a climactic showdown between Frodo and Sauron that would go something like this...

 

[Radaghast]

Just be glad Bilbo didn't find a magic
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Gollum would've eaten it.

 

[Ent]

Ent doesn't really want to stop all the eggcellent fun dancing around the thread.
Just wants to be sure Aethelwulf's question gets eggceptionally well addressed, and he feels he's received eggstensive and eggspert input and responses along the way.

 

[Elbereth Vala Varda]

Thanks, Ent! You really are eggscelent! Always provide a good resource for those of us who don't want to crack the books open but still want to hear the answer shelled out to us.

 

[Ent]

Wow, you really eggstracted some yolk out of that one, @Elbereth Vala Varda ..! Nice.

 

[Radaghast]

Ent doesn't really want to stop all the eggcellent fun dancing around the thread.
Just wants to be sure Aethelwulf's question gets eggceptionally well addressed, and he feels he's received eggstensive and eggspert input and responses along the way.

View attachment 22647

Fair e(gg)nough.

My 2 cents: In my humble opinion, asking if Tolkien took the idea of rings from Beowulf or Nibelungenlied (or what have you) is kind of like asking if he took the idea of dragons from older stories (such as Beowulf). Rings and dragons are universal symbols that have basically become part of the fabric of folklore and mythology. We don't know who made the first ring or who imagined the first dragon.

That said, one can't deny that Tolkien was influenced by such stories.