TOLKIEN LIGHTING UP THE DARKNESS GN (C: 0-1-2) For fans of The Hobbit & Lord of The Rings looking to learn more about the genius behind their favorite epics. JRR Tolkien was not always the old Oxford professor pipe in the mouth, refining his extraordinary work. In 1915, at age 23, he leaves for the front with his high school friends, whom he loves like brothers. They take part in the Battle of the Somme, which ultimately kills 450,000 people. The horror of war will brand his relationships to friendship, love, and creation. This graphic novel explores the youth of the author of The Lord of the Rings and his traumatic experience of the battlefields of the First World War, which will forge the imagination of his literary work.