In addition to the revenue generated is Middle-earth’s influence on forming a cultural narrative: hobbits, orcs, dwarves (rather than dwarfs) and much more are now ingrained in the imagery of Western culture.
Tolkien found a publisher and the influence of his imaginary work, primarily centred in The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, is now a world-wide enterprise that has inspired a multi-billion dollar industry in literature, film and games. We now know that quite the opposite happened. He wrote in 1951, “nce upon a time (my crest has long since fallen) I had a mind to make a body of more or less connected legend… and yet leave scope for other minds and hands, wielding paint and music and drama. He was having trouble finding a publisher for the The Lord of the Rings and the realization that his major artistic effort may never reach its full audience loomed large.
Tolkien once lamented, in a now famous letter (to a potential publisher) that his goal of creating an artful secondary world set in a faerie realm of his invention seemed then to be fading.
