Things JRR Tolkien has never said, done, written or had anything to do with

Re:Things JRR Tolkien has never said, done, written or had a... by p_l on Sunday February 07, 2021 @07:50AM (#26054668)

I'd love if someone fact checked whether the salt mine of Wieliczka was really the inspiration for Moria (the guides do imply so, based AFAIK on a visit by Tolkien there). It does seem to fall under the "likely inspiration" case (if you ever visit Wieliczka, you'll get it :D)

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Re:Things JRR Tolkien has never said, done, written or had a... by KineticLensman on Sunday February 07, 2021 @08:06AM (#26054763)

> salt mine of Wieliczka was really the inspiration for Moria (the guides do imply so, based AFAIK on a visit by Tolkien there)

Hmmm. Not heard this one. That said, I've read quite a lot of Tolkien biographic material, and I'm not aware that he ever visited southern Poland before writing the Lord of the Rings. He wasn't particularly well travelled before he became famous, and as far as I know he had only visited South Africa (where he was born and left as a very young child), Switzerland (walking holiday) and France (WW1) before the bulk of the LOTR writing occurred. After 1939 a trip to Wieliczka would have involved him entering a WW2 war zone or crossing the Iron Curtain, something I'm certain he didn't do before LOTR was published in 1955.

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Re:Things JRR Tolkien has never said, done, written or had a... by p_l on Sunday February 07, 2021 @09:00AM (#26055062)

The suggestion was that he visited it on a trip before WW1, possibly related to the Switzerland trip? And most importantly, it would be marked as Austro-Hungary territory at the time.

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Re:Things JRR Tolkien has never said, done, written or had a... by KineticLensman on Sunday February 07, 2021 @09:16AM (#26055155)

> The suggestion was that he visited it on a trip before WW1, possibly related to the Switzerland trip?

Again, I don't think so. I just re-read the relevant chapter in Humphrey Carpenter's biography of Tolkien. The 1911 Switzerland trip (when he was aged 19) was just that; and the group of 12 returned to England as soon as the walking was done.

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Re:Things JRR Tolkien has never said, done, written or had a... by p_l on Sunday February 07, 2021 @09:18AM (#26055169)

I guess that it can be marked as untrue tale then. Pity, because it really would fit ;)

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Re:Things JRR Tolkien has never said, done, written or had a... by inglor_cz on Sunday February 07, 2021 @11:31AM (#26056054)

I visited Wieliczka and some visual similarities are striking enough that the hypothesis that Wieliczka inspired at least the filmmakers of the series seems plausible to me.

But there is AFAIK no record of JRRT himself visiting there and Poland would be a very untypical vacation destination of a British guy in the interwar period.

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Re:Things JRR Tolkien has never said, done, written or had a... by randycupertino on Sunday February 07, 2021 @09:01AM (#26055069)

Seeing the salt mines was one of my highlights of my trip to Poland! On my tour any Tolkien connection or inspiration wasn't mentioned, fwiw. Would love to go back when travel is reopened.

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