Comparing Sturluson, Tolkien, Rowling
Fun video that shows the similarities between Potter and Tolkien: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KmXPcSxz2g
And here's Theoden's Helm's Deep speech: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/JjuK1rmmG6E
Tolkien did not merely borrow themes from Old Norse material; he reused names, roles, and mythic structures, often with only minimal adaptation. Below is a non-exhaustive but solidly attested list of Middle-earth characters and places that appear in name or recognisable form in Old Norse sources, especially those attributed to Snorri Sturluson.
Core textual source
- Prose Edda (c. 1220), especially Gylfaginning and Skáldskaparmál
- Supplemented by the Poetic Edda (Codex Regius)
- Tolkien explicitly acknowledged these texts and taught them professionally.
Direct name borrowings (near-identical)
Dwarves (this is the big one)
Almost all of Tolkien’s dwarf-names come directly from the Völuspá dwarf-catalogue.
Tolkien Old Norse source
Gimli Gimli – a heavenly hall in Gylfaginning
Thorin Þorinn
Balin Balinn
Dwalin Dvalinn
Fíli Fíli
Kíli Kíli
Bifur Bíforr
Bofur Báfurr
Bombur Bomburr
Óin Óinn
Glóin Glóinn
- Tolkien did not hide this; he said explicitly that he lifted them.
- Gimli specifically- In Norse myth: Gimli is not a dwarf, but a radiant hall that survives Ragnarök. It is a place of moral renewal, light, and peace after catastrophe. In Tolkien: Gimli becomes the most spiritually elevated dwarf. He is the only dwarf allowed into Lothlórien. He abandons the hoard-obsession stereotype. He sails West — an almost eschatological reward
Gods → characters / functions
Tolkien Norse analogue
Gandalf Odin (the Wanderer)
Sauron Loki + Surtr (deceiver + apocalyptic fire-lord)
Saruman Fallen counsellor archetype (mirrors treacherous gods/jötnar)
Gandalf in particular:
Grey cloak
Staff
Wide-brimmed hat
Wanderer with secret knowledge
Name itself from the dwarf-list (Gandálfr = “staff-elf”)
This is textbook Odin-imagery filtered through a Christian lens.
Peoples & cosmology
Tolkien Norse
Middle-earth Midgarðr
Elves (Light/Dark) Álfar / Dökkálfar
Dwarves as earth-bound smiths Dvergar
World-ending war Ragnarök
Even the tone — heroic pessimism, doomed courage, honour without victory — is Norse, not Celtic or Classical.
Why this makes historical sense
Old Norse texts were written down in the High Medieval period
But they preserve much earlier oral material
Tolkien worked fluently in:
Old English
Old Norse
Gothic
He viewed himself as re-mythologising England, which lost its pagan epic cycle after Christianisation
Middle-earth is effectively a synthetic pre-Christian mythic past.
Here is one of the clearest cases where Tolkien is echoing diction, not just mood.
The Old Norse source: Völuspá (st. 45–46, Codex Regius)
A standard scholarly translation (Bellows / Larrington-style wording):
“Brother will fight brother,
and slay each other;
hard is the world, great whoredom,
an axe-age, a sword-age,
shields are cloven,
a wind-age, a wolf-age,
ere the world sinks.”
Key phrases (Old Norse):
skildir klofnir — shields are split
sverða öld — sword-age
vindöld — wind-age
Rhythm: short, pounding half-lines, parataxis, no connective tissue
Tolkien’s reworking: Théoden at the Pelennor Fields
(The Return of the King, Book V, ch. 5)
**“Arise, arise, Riders of Théoden!
Fell deeds awake: fire and slaughter!
Spear shall be shaken, shield be splintered,
**a sword-day etc etc
