After his father died, his family settled near Birmingham in a rural area called Sarehole, which later inspired settings such as the Shire in his fiction. Tolkien's mother, Mabel, taught him, and he developed a strong love for languages, excelling in French, German, Latin, Greek, as well as Old and Middle English.

During World War I, Tolkien served as a lieutenant and fought in the Battle of the Somme, where he contracted trench fever and was later discharged. After the war, he pursued an academic career, becoming a professor of Anglo-Saxon and English language at Oxford University. Tolkien was a founding member of the Inklings, a literary group that included C.S. Lewis, where members shared and critiqued their writings. He began creating his complex Middle-earth mythology during this time, culminating in his best-known works, "The Hobbit" and "The Lord of the Rings." His writings significantly shaped modern fantasy literature, and his posthumous publications, edited by his son Christopher, further expanded his legendarium.