Yesterday, Thursday 16 January 2020, it will unfortunately be remembered as the day of Christopher Tolkien’s death. Although this has no direct connection with the world of role-playing games, in our opinion a tribute was a duty. His work, in support of that of his father, has allowed many people to develop a passion for classic fantasy. A passion so strong that could push someone to try to live similar adventures in first person, perhaps thanks to the RPGs.
The journey doesn’t end here. Death is just another path, one that we all must take. The grey rain-curtain of this world rolls back, and all turns to silver glass, and then you see it… White shores, and beyond, a far green country under a swift sunrise.
Gandalf (The Lord of the Rings – The Reuturn of the King)
A long and successful life
Christopher John Reuel Tolkien was born in Leeds on 21 November 1924, together with two other brothers and a sister (Priscilla, the only one of the four still alive). Their parents were Edith Bratt and the famous J. R. R. Tolkien, mainly remembered for The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. During his lifetime he joined the Royal Air Force during the Second World War and then became an English language teacher. Later he mainly dealt with the management of his father’s immense literary heritage. This until 16 January 2020, when he died at the age of 95 at the Dracénie hospital in Draguignan.
A contribution to the pillars of modern fantasy
The most fascinating aspect of his life is certainly the literary one. Until the day of his death, Christopher Tolkien contributed to his father’s wonderful work. Even during the young age he assisted and advised him in the drafting of the works. Since the death of his father in 1973 he has also dealt with the management of copyright and the revision of many writings. They sometimes had inconsistencies and unclear or missing parts; and who better than he could know how to fix it? Thanks to his work, a great number of texts are available for us. Among them we can mention: The Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales, The History of Middle-earth, The Children of Húrin, The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún and more.
Now the most thorny and confusing question: copyright. With the death of Christopher Tolkien there is nothing certain about what will happen to the ownership of the literary empire founded by his father. As long as he was alive, Christopher helped to complete and spread them, but now the situation will have to change necessarily. The hope is that his sister Priscilla takes care of it in a similar way, without giving birth to shameful family wars for mere economic issues.
A rolistic tribute to Christopher Tolkien’s death
We would like to recommend some role-playing games that pay homage to this great man and to Middle-earth. It won’t be much, but dedicating a session (or even a campaign) to him could be an ideal method to thank him for his precious work. The most famous options that we suggest are: Adventures in Middle-earth, The One Ring (TOR) and Middle-earth Role Playing (MERP).
