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On Thursday JRR Tolkien's early story The Story of Kullervo will be published for the first time. The dark tale reveals that Tolkien's Middle Earth was inspired not only by England and Wales… but also by Finland. "Hapless Kullervo," Tolkien called him. Kullervo, an orphan boy raised into slavery, a tragic hero who commits incest in the dark forests of Karelia and hurls himself on his own blade.

The Finnish Epic Behind Tolkien's Lord of the Rings Brian Handwerk for National Geographic News December 19, 2001 Generations of readers have cherished Middle Earth, the fantasy universe sprung from the mind of storyteller J.R.R. Tolkien. Now, his magical world has been brought to life with the premiere of the first film in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Fellowship of the Ring. While the author's imagination was vast, Tolkien's world and its cast of characters do have roots in real-world history and geography, from the world wars that dominated Tolkien's lifetime to the ancient language and legends of ...

    Finnish rune singer Jussi Juovinen Author J.R.R. Tolkien   The One Ring of Sauron, engraved with Elvish writing(© 2001 New Line Productions, photograph courtesy New Line Cinema)   Map of Finland detailing Viena Karelia area(Map from National Geographic Television)   Anthropologist Wade Davis (left) and Finnish rune singer Jussi Juovinen(Photograph by Markku Nieminen)   Map showing modern language groups of Scandinavia   Cultural and Linguistic Conservation What does it mean when one culture changes or vanishes from the Earth? How does a language influence or embody a given culture? And what does it mean to a people,...