The Father of Modern Fantasy that Inspired Tolkien (And a Chance to Win a Free Book!)

“The Dead Marshes and the approaches to the Morannon owe something to Northern France after the Battle of the Somme. They owe more to William Morris and his Huns and Romans, as in The House of the Wolfings or The Roots of the Mountains.” - J.R.R. Tolkien

I've written before on this blog about William Morris, and how the industrial revolution inspired the original fantasy game, and I pointed you (at the bottom of that post) toward a couple of online editions of his books. One of the books I didn't mention at the time was The House of the Wolfings. And now's the perfect time for me to do just that.

Warriors, dwarves, gods, epic battles, magic armor, and a ring. If this all sounds a familiar, it’s for good reason. In The House of the Wolfings, the first of the author’s many great fantastic romances, William Morris weaves the traditional with the supernatural, and establishes a precursor to the modern epic fantasy genre. Based on a translation of an old Norse saga, Morris reconstructs a portrait of the lives of the Germanic Gothic Tribes galvanized into action againts the attacks of imperial Rome. Thiodolf, the leader of the Wolfings, is one of two men chosen as War-Dukes to lead the tribes against their enemies. Thiodolf may be supported by his lover the Wood-Sun and their daughter the Hall-Sun (both of whom are related to the gods), but he also possesses a dwarf-made mail-shirt that, unbeknownst to him, bears a curse.

Based on two different editions of the book (both over 100 years old), I've taken the text (which resides in the public domain) and put together an edition of the book perfect for the gamer's bookshelf (and at a better price than almost any other current print edition I've seen around).

SO WHAT'S THIS YOU SAY ABOUT A FREE COPY?
Well, William over at Ramblings of a Great Khan is doing a Roman-themed adventure design contest. And given the theme of the contest, and the subject of Morris's book, it seemed like the perfect prize for me to donate to the cause (in addition to all the other cool prizes William already has lined up, like PDF copies of the 43 AD RPG, roman numeral dice, and custom illustrations courtesy of his wife). But you've got to hurry, because the contest deadline is the end of this month.

Some free eCopies of the book can be found at these locations:
- an audio version at Archive.org
- the 1890 Roberts Brothers edition (various formats)
- text version of the 1910 1904 Longmans, Green, and Co. edition

How the Industrial Revolution Inspired the Original Fantasy Game: A Brief Timeline

As a graphic designer and a teacher of graphic design history, I've been familiar with William Morris (no, not the Hollywood agent) for quite some time, but only recently discovered his connection to the roots of the original fantasy game. What follows is a brief timeline of documented connections that links the Industrial Revolution to the birth of RPGs.

c. mid-to-late 1800s: The Industrial Revolution
Due in great part to the development of steam power (fueled primarily by coal), many jobs that were previously performed by manual labor become mechanized. And, as it seems to go in "industrialized" nations, the continuing goal is to get costs (and prices) lower and lower. The long and short of the Industrial Revolution... speed goes up, costs go down, and quality gets thrown out the window. (There's a saying in the business world, "Good, fast and cheap. Pick two.") Like many other products, book design becomes a casualty in the growing world of mass production.

November 1888: Emery Walker Gives an Illustrated Lecture on Printing
Present at the lecture was William Morris who, though interested in printing for quite some time, was inspired both by the lecture (focusing on a return to the quality and dedication to the craft of pre-Industrial Revolution printing) and Walker's collection of 16th century typefaces (from the masters at the birth of the printing industry as a whole.) This evening became the catalyst for Morris's founding of the Kelmscott Press.

1891: William Morris Founds the Kelmscott Press
More important (for this discussion anyway) than Morris's contributions to book and typography design (like the typeface Chaucer), was the subject matter of the books Morris published, some of which were written by Morris himself. In this context, the most important of them is The Story of the Glittering Plain (written and published by Morris in 1891), which is possibly the first modern fantasy story to unite the ordinary world with the supernatural. More importantly, by doing so, Morris broke with a tradition in these types of books, in that they were previously based in real worlds and time periods. Morris was one of the first writers to have his novels take place entirely in a land of fantasy.

c. 1910s: J.R.R. Tolkien Takes Up Writing
Among his many inspirations in poetry, prose and subject matter alike, Tolkien cites the work of William Morris. It was some of these works from which Tolkien took hints for names like "Dead Marshes" and "Mirkwood." Tolkien particularly cites The Well at the World's End (sounds like the name of a module, doesn't it?), written and published by Morris in 1896.

c. 1937/1954-55: The Hobbit is Published/Lord of the Rings is Published
If you're not familiar with this part, you've either been living in a cave under the Misty Mountains or you never venture further than the edge of your shire.

1966-1970: Chainmail, Gygax, Arneson, Yadda, Yadda, Yadda
And this is the part where everybody else comes in.

FOR FURTHER READING (I feel like Lavar Burton should be here for this):
The Story of the Glittering Plain - William Morris, 1894 Kelmscott Press edition
The Well at the World's End, Vol. I - William Morris, 1896
The Well at the World's End, Vol. II - William Morris, 1896

Pictured at top, a Walter Crane illustration from The Story of the Glittering Plain (1894 edition.)