R.I.P.

Christopher Tolkien, Son of ‘Lord of the Rings’ Author J.R.R. Tolkien, Dies at 95

Tolkien helped bring forth his father’s posthumous works and kept the characters from the ‘Lord of the Rings’ and ‘The Hobbit’ alive.

Christopher Tolkien—the son of Lord of the Rings author J.R.R. Tolkien who brought forth his father’s posthumous works—died in France at the age of 95, according to The New York Times. After the elder Tolkien died in 1973, Christopher Tolkien worked to keep his father's legacy and characters from Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit alive. He spent four years compiling stories his father had written to produce the The Silmarillion in 1977. He also produced the History of Middle-earth—a 12-volume collection of his father's of drafts, rewrites, notes, and other unpublished works—and an acclaimed map of Middle-earth in 1954 that is currently held by the British Library. He is survived by his wife, Baillie Tolkien, his sister and his three children.