Lord of the Rings: The Animated Musical | HistoryExtra Mini Documentary

I had originally intended this post to cover the Tolkien Society Seminar 2025 held online on Saturday, October 18. However, since the event took place from 4:45 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Eastern Time, and I had already scheduled in-person history events for that day, I decided to watch the replays when these are posted to the Tolkien Society YouTube channel. Instead, I will talk about a mini documentary by the BBC-run YouTube channel HistoryExtra that I have been meaning to watch for seven months. The animatic is still scheduled to appear next week, and my discussion of the conference will appear after the recordings are posted to YouTube.

Because of the YouTube algorithm demanding clickbait titles, the mini-documentary is called The REAL history behind Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit and more. The host was James Osborne, a HistoryExtra employee who studied archaeology and has experience as an entertainment journalist. Like other mini documentaries produced by HistoryExtra, the presenter narrated the information in a levelheaded yet engaging tone while bold, white, all caps titles gave a rhetorical question at the beginning of each section. Topics included WHERE DID TOLKIEN GET HIS IDEAS FROM?, WHAT INSPIRED TOLKIEN?, WHAT HAPPENS IN BEOWULF?, HOW DID OLD NORSE SHAPE TOLKIEN’S WORLDS?, and WAS TOLKIEN A GENIUS?. While I appreciated the use of questions to oriented the viewer, I found the titles difficult to read due to the size of the text, the capitalization, and the contrast.

Osborne emphasized that Tolkien did not create “original ideas” as much as the author synthesized existing ideas from European history and folklore. Favorite sources included the Battle of Hastings in 1066 and the legend Beowulf. Tolkien gave a groundbreaking lecture on Beowulf in 1936 around the same time he began creating what the documentary caption called “the Elvish language” but more accurately could be called a family of Elvish languages. Osborne presented a basic review of Beowulf: a warrior turned king who killed the monster Grendel, the monster’s unnamed mother, and a dragon looking for a thief who stole his gold. Osborne believed “direct reflections” of Beowulf are seen in The Hobbit, especially the final phase of the story including the dragon. The argument would have been stronger if Osborne had cited inversions of Beowulf in The Hobbit, such as Bilbo being a small and anxious homebody instead of a tall and brave warrior, sparing the life of monstrous Gollum rather than killing him, and choosing a quiet life at home rather than becoming a powerful ruler. Beside Beowulf, Osborne referenced Old Norse mythology. He focused on the legends of Hrólfr Kraki, which include the stories of Bodvar Bjarki son of Bjorn who became a bear to fight a battle, just like Beorn in The Hobbit, and a dangerously beautiful ring thrown into the sea only to later be retrieved, much like the One Ring from the river.

For Tolkien’s interest in European history, Osborne cited the Anglo-Saxons of Mercia or the Mark as the inspiration for Rohan, who also called their country the Mark. He noted the Old English names used for favorite Rohirrim characters. Figures from the Real World included Alfred the Great King of Wessex and his daughter Æthelflæd, Lady of the Mercians, who led her fellow warriors into battle against the Welsh and the Vikings. Archeological discoveries such as the Sutton Hoo burial ship within a barrow in Suffolk, England, contributed to understanding material culture of the time. Similar to other sources I have read and watched, Osborne did not discuss the existence of Rohan as a place in Brittany, France, which allude to Rohirrim having Celtic Breton influence along with Anglo-Saxon. My one pedantic complaint for this section is that Osborne described Eowyn as a person who “disguised herself as a warrior”, which goes against the text. Eowyn was a warrior, but since women were not permitted to take part in a battle, she took on the persona of a man to fulfill this position.

Perhaps the strongest line came in the conclusion section: “To step into Middle-earth is to travel to a world shaped by the echoes of real history and real myth reimagined by Tolkien”. However, this solid phrase was quickly followed by a reference to Mark Twain, a writer from different time and country. The sudden shift disoriented me even as someone who has read the books of both authors. While Osborne was trying to demonstrate how many authors speak of reworking history and legend to create their own stories, the quote did not add enough to his point to justify the disorientation.

As for the production of the documentary, I appreciated the photographs and videos of Tolkien from the BBC archives showing him at his home or at Merton College, Oxford where he worked. The modern sketches of historic events, photographs of archeological discoveries, and a reference to the Bayeux Tapestry led to a better understanding of how people dressed during the periods described. However, the documentary leaned heavily on images and video licensed from Peter Jackson’s LOTR and The Hobbit, and in one instance the poorly reviewed new anime about the Rohirrim, rather than Tolkien’s own illustrations or widely circulated fan art available for license and approved by the Tolkien Estate. Meanwhile, the music centered around a cello solo, perhaps referencing the film score written by Howard Shore. While I understand that the movies remain the most recognizable pop culture reference to the original work, these are now over twenty years old and from their release received criticism for the portrayals of characters and changing of the original message. It is time to move on.

As for accessibility, the captions on this video were very bad, apparently autogenerated and not always aligning to what the speaker was saying. Not only were Old English and Norse words were spelled incorrectly, but also Tolkien’s name was misspelled in most instances while Middle-earth was stylized as Middle Earth. The channel clearly has the budget for professional captions and should consider investing in them. Overall, this was a decent overview for people looking to brush the surfaces of Tolkien studies before embarking in their own research. The pacing of the video was spot on, with Osborne covering a wide range of information in about eleven minutes. This is an ideal introductory teaching tool for high schoolers and undergraduates in a Tolkien studies class, or for adults who have just discovered the books and want to understand more. Adults with my level of understanding may feel underwhelmed, but that is why other video resources like the Tolkien Society YouTube channel exist.

Watch the full video here: