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The Story of Kullervo

The Story of Kullervo

FantasyLiterary Fiction
Pages
192
Published
2015
Language
English

Synopsis

Tolkien's earliest surviving attempt at retelling a story from world mythology: a prose rendering of the tale of Kullervo from the Finnish Kalevala, composed around 1914 when he was a student at Oxford. Kullervo is a cursed hero of vast strength and terrible fate -- enslaved, accidentally wronged, and driven through a series of catastrophes by a doom he cannot escape or understand. The story is significant in the history of Tolkien's imagination for two reasons: it is the direct ancestor of the Turin Turambar legend in The Silmarillion and The Children of Hurin, and it reveals the Finnish sources Tolkien was drawing on at the very beginning of his mythological project. Published posthumously in 2015, edited by Verlyn Flieger with Tolkien's lecture notes and commentary.

Prose complexity
6/10

Vibe

DarkMelancholicAtmosphericThought-Provoking
BetrayalSacrificeFamily SagaQuestRevenge

Genres

Fantasy Literary Fiction Mythology

About the author

J
J.R.R. Tolkien

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was born in Bloemfontein, South Africa in 1892 and raised in England after his mother brought him home at age three. Orphaned before he was thirteen — his mother died a devout Catholic convert — Tolkien went on to study Old and Middle English, Germanic languages, Welsh, and Finnish at Oxford. He graduated in 1915, married Edith Bratt before shipping out to the Western Front, and fought in the Battle of the Somme. Nearly all of his closest friends were killed. He contrac...

Characters

KullervoProtagonist

A cursed hero of superhuman strength who is enslaved, humiliated, and driven by fate through a series of catastrophes he cannot escape -- the Finnish mythological model for Turin Turambar.

All characters in The Story of Kullervo

Frequently asked questions

  • What is The Story of Kullervo?

    Tolkien's earliest surviving prose retelling of a myth -- a version of the Kullervo story from the Finnish Kalevala, written around 1914. It was published posthumously in 2015.

  • How is Kullervo related to Turin Turambar?

    The Children of Hurin character Turin Turambar is consciously modelled on Kullervo. Both are cursed heroes of great strength driven by inevitable doom, enslaved, and ultimately destroyed by fate. The Story of Kullervo is the first draft, so to speak, of what became The Children of Hurin.

  • Do I need to know the Kalevala to read this?

    No -- editor Verlyn Flieger provides extensive context. However, reading the Kalevala version of the story alongside Tolkien's retelling is illuminating.

  • Is this a complete story?

    No -- Tolkien's prose version breaks off before its conclusion, following the same fragmentary pattern as many of his works. The published edition includes his lecture notes and commentary which fill in the complete shape of the myth.

  • Is this part of the Middle-earth legendarium?

    No -- it is a retelling of Finnish mythology, not a Middle-earth story. It is significant as the source material for a Middle-earth narrative (Turin Turambar) rather than being set in Middle-earth itself.