“Blessed are the legend-makers ... ”
What Tolkien has made continues to speak, and that is why he is still remembered.
“ … we make in our measure and in our derivative mode, because we are made: and not only made, but made in the image and likeness of a Maker.” (J.R.R. Tolkien: On Fairy Stories)
“And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good.” (Genesis 1:31)
September 2, 2024 — On this anniversary of the death of the great author and legend-maker J.R.R. Tolkien, I wanted to share some snippets from a 1962 interview with the Professor. What Tolkien has to offer here, in my opinion, is a great description of what it means to be a creative (in his words, a “sub-creator”). And although it has now been 51 years since his death, his work continues to inspire new generations of literary, musical, screen and gaming adaptations as well as new content. It would seem that his closing remark (although in his humility he would never have presumed to believe such a thing during his life) was especially prescient about the enduring legacy of his own creative contribution. What Tolkien has made continues to speak, and that is why he is still remembered.
The following is taken from a 1962 interview with J.R.R. Tolkien by John Bowen, filmed for BBC TV’s Bookstand.1 It has been edited and condensed for both clarity and flow.
Bowen: “You took 14 years to make this story?”
Tolkien: “Quite so, yeah. But that is partly out of the fact that, uh, I’m a meticulous sort of bloke.”
Bowen: “What started it? There must have been a point at which quite suddenly, like God, you chose to make the world like that.”
Tolkien: “Because, as I’ve said elsewhere, being made by a Creator, one of our natural factors is wishing to create. But since we aren’t creators we have to sub-create. We have to rearrange the primary material in some particular form which pleases.”
Bowen: “If you were to be remembered as the man who made The Lord of The Rings, would you rather be remembered as a man who said something or as a man who has made something?”
Tolkien: “I don’t think you can distinguish. A made thing, unless it says something, won’t be remembered.”2
“And I heard a voice from heaven say, ‘Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.’ ‘Yes,’ says the Spirit, ‘because they will rest from their labors, for their works follow them.’” (Revelation 14:13)
Blessed are the legend-makers with their rhyme
of things not found within recorded time. [...]
In Paradise they look no more awry;
and though they make anew, they make no lie.
Be sure they still will make, not being dead,
and poets shall have flames upon their head,
and harps whereon their faultless fingers fall:
there each shall choose for ever from the All.
—from J.R.R. Tolkien: Mythopoeia 📷 Photo: Screenshot of the original BBC archive footage; 🎨 Text art by MD Sub-creaTions, using the font Hammond Roman, a font of my own making based upon the typeset from Tolkien’s typewriter of choice, the Hammond Varitype.
J. R. R. Tolkien 1962 BBC Interview on Archive.org
I made a point to snap the screenshot of the expression on Tolkien’s face right after he says: “A made thing, unless it says something, won’t be remembered.”