Good Morning all, I've had a question on the top of my mind for a while regarding Tolkien and addiction. There seems to be a lot of documentation on Tolkien and his inspirations, but one core theme in The Hobbit and Rings, that doesn't seem to be addressed, is his understanding of addiction in his books. We are all familiar with the concept of 'write what you know'. Tolkien seemed to have a mature and well developed appreciation of what addition was and the impact it would have on Smeagol, Bilbo and Frodo. I was wondering if anyone had come across the source of this exposure. Opium is something that is well established in his time, Arthur Conan Doyle seemed familiar with this, cannabis I wouldn't have thought very common in his environment, perhaps morphine from his WW1 days? Could it be as simple as alcoholism? I ask because it seems a core theme that was written by someone who had experience with addiction, whether personally or through people he knew. Where did this come from?
Addiction isn't a theme in The Hobbit. When he wrote it he didn't know what Golum's ring was. In Lord of the Rings ... I guess you could look it that way if you want, but I think it's more accurate to say the appeal of the ring is temptation for power and evil. There's substances in Middle Earth you certainly can become addicted to, alcohol, but Tolkien enjoyed a good pint and his Shire is his idealised version of the English countryside. He was also a keen smoker too, which the Hobbits indulge in. But I don't think he would have seen either as vices. He seems like the kind of guy who if you said they were he would have just chuckled.
