World Building and Escapism

I will be frank, I initially had no idea what I was going to write this essay about. I had already written the report for the Fermi Paradox for the Midterm report and The Singularity/Turing test was already discussed in class, and I didn't want to retread ground that had already been covered here. What I didn't realize was that the topic of my essay was staring me right in the face as I pondered what I was going to write about.

I love to write. But I hate figuring out what to write. I hate staring at the blank page wondering where to begin. I hate watching the word count go up and stop for several minutes when I get writer's block. But I've recently discovered that World Building largely solves all of those issues I have. World Building is defined by me as the process in which a writer creates a fictional world, decides how it operates, and crafts it to their liking. World Building is most commonly used for fiction books and media from Star Wars to The Lord of The Rings (the latter of which I will discuss later). It enables you, a single person, to move mountains, wage wars, make Empires crumble and rise all with the stroke of a pen. It is the very embodiment of creation.

One of the earliest and most famous examples of World Building is The Lord Of the Rings and The Hobbit books, written by legendary author J. R. R. Tolkien. But Tolkien didn't just pull this world out of thin air, he had to craft it himself. Tolkien is well known to have taken part in WWI, and if one is familiar with the Great War's brutality and chaos, it is not surprising that a soldier would distract himself from the carnage with hobbies. Most wrote letters to home, some sang songs and hymns and other confided themselves in the security of their religion, but Tolkien was special.

J.R.R Tolkien 

Tolkien first began writing fictional stories set in England that laid out a mythology for his home country. He tried to explain through his mythology how certain words in the English language got their meaning. This project ultimately fell by the wayside as he grew bored of it (which i'm sure many creatives can relate to) but it ultimately served as Tolkien's introduction to the sphere of Wold Building. After the war, (specifically In 1917) Tolkien begun writing The Silmarillion. This book is not as well known as The Hobbit or The Lord of The Rings, but it was the foundation on which he built those more iconic stories. It laid out the History of what came before those famous books and served as a sort of brain storming device for Tolkien. In 1930 Tolkien finally placed the Word Middle-Earth on one of his maps and the rest is history.

Tolkien's first map of Middle Earth

But why did Tolkien World Build in the first place? It is assumed by many that it was largely to entertain his children with fictional stories, and while this is most likely part of the reason why he was motivated to continue this work, I think it is unfair to label it as the sole reason him bearing such a massive undertaking

I think Tolkien made his world to escape the horrors of war and the mundane nature of post-war life. There is also a debate that Tolkien also suffered from PTSD after his service (evidence for this being how he wrote of Frodo's near death experience in the Lord of The Rings and how it effected him), however there is very little evidence for this. I do not believe it is a stretch, however, to imagine that Tolkien did suffer from some mental issues after the war though, whether it be as serious as PTSD or not, as he did lose a few close friends during the war and most likely witnessed some rather horrendous things.

I believe that in an age where we as a species have no land to physically explore ourselves, where the stars lie out of our reach (for now), where we commonly find ourselves bogged down by the struggles of life in a society dominated by immense responsibilities, world building is an excellent way to escape the mundane and transport ourselves to a different world where we are the ones in control, and I highly recommend it to anyone who is a writer, or one who simply yearns for a place to retreat to in times of hardship, where they are truly in control.



Discussion Questions:

Have you ever taken part in World Building, even if you didn't realize it? What did you create?

What are some of your favorite fictional worlds you have read about/watched?

Why do you think we enjoy to create fictional worlds? Is it something ingrained in us as human beings?


Sources:

https://middle-earth.xenite.org/how-did-jrr-tolkien-create-middle-earth/

http://www.tolkienlibrary.com/booksbytolkien/silmarillion/description.htm

http://ptsdasoldiersperspective.blogspot.com/2013/02/the-writings-of-j-r-r-tolkien-tale-of.html

https://www.wired.com/2015/10/see-jrr-tolkien-lord-of-the-rings-middle-earth-illustrations-for-first-time/

https://www.britannica.com/biography/J-R-R-Tolkien
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Comments
Sorry to bog down the blog, but I had just realized I had forgotten to post some comments. here are the two posts I commented on:
 https://cophilosophy.blogspot.com/2019/04/the-morality-of-doctor-who.html
https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2619743764213415433#editor/target=post;postID=3771119096056141943;onPublishedMenu=allposts;onClosedMenu=allposts;postNum=19;src=postname