When did J.R.R. Tolkien begin writing The Lord of the Rings trilogy? What inspired him to write the books?

The Lord of the Rings was written over a period of several years in the 1950s. (The books began to catch on in a major way in the USA in the 1960s, which made the royalties really roll in, and by the 1970s, there was soon a whole fan culture that had formed around Tolkien’s works.)

The roots of “the Lord of the Rings’ are two immediate sources:

Tolkien had been working on stories set in his “legendarium” (the history of Middle Earth going back to the most ancient times) through his adult life. However, he NEVER FOUND A PUBLISHER until some of these stories were finally published after his death (1973) as “The Silmarillion”… but Tolkien had spent most of his life as a failed popular writer.

The turning point was “The Hobbit,” published in the 1930s. In that book, Professor T was able to bring in a few characters from his earlier tales, notably the character of Elrond, who went back to the “First Age,” but the Hobbit was mostly a separate story. “The Hobbit” was about “goblins,” wolves, a dragon, and a man who magically changed into a bear. In short, “The Hobbit” was an intelligent children’s story, not an epic

The Hobbit, appearing in the 1930s, was instantly successful — more than the publisher probably anticipated — and throughout the 1930s and 1940s, its popularity only grew. And so the publisher more and more asked Tolkien if he could produce “a new Hobbit book.”

In the 1950s, he finally did. But this time, Tolkien decided that now… with the success of ‘”The Hobbit” behind him… he could produce a more ambitious book, one that (in way) continued the story he began in “The Hobbit” (because it started out with Bilbo and Gandalf) but went off in more ambitious directions. In these new directions, Tolkien was able to integrate more elements from his earlier writings.

For example, the shadowy unseen villain in “The Hobbit” known only as “the Necromancer” turns out in LOTR to be Sauron — who was a very important bad guy in the First Age of Middle Earth, for Sauron originally served Morgoth, the ultimate bad guy in Tolkien’s writings. This was one of the ways in which Tolkien drew a connection between all his stories set in Middle Earth. Sauron took some part in all of them.

And Tolkien had another major ambition — or rather influence — that became apparent in The Lord of the Rings. Although Bilbo’s magical ring was an important artifact, and helped Bilbo overcome several dangers, Tolkien borrowed from old mythology to make the ring of far greater significance still.

Because this Ring became like the Ring of the Nebelungs in Wagner’s “Ring Cycle,” itself based on an old Scandinavian epic, the Elder Edda. The Ring was a thing of great beauty and allure, which (unfortunately) dragged its bearer to his doom. And that wasn’t the only source. The Ring of Gyges, described in Plato’s Republic, of all place, was a magical artifact that granted invisibility…. but for that very reason, enabled and encouraged its bearer to perform evil.

Tolkien wrote the Lord of the Rings, therefore, for several reasons:

To connect with, and then expand, the story lines he had started with “The Hobbit” (for LOTR does take up where “The Hobbit” left off).

To connect with all his earlier writings, at least in places, so that we learn more about the Elves and get intimations of their ancient history.

To elevate the themes and stakes into a very adult, almost horrifying story, raising it, almost, to the level of an ancient epic.