D&D 5E Which parts of D&D came from Tolkien?

[clearstream]

It’s well known that halflings were originally called hobbits before TSR was forced to change the name by the Tolkiens. Same, IIRC, with ents and treants.

What else came from Tolkien?

Orcs?
Our vision of goblins?
Balrog - Balor?
Giant Eagles?
High and wood elves?

I’m sure some were a case of having the same inspiration, and of course plenty of D&D is inspired by a million other things than Tolkien. But I’m curious which elements were adopted from Tolkien specifically.

Possibly the adventuring party itself... the fellowship.
The idea of the honest, adventuring thief?
The immortality of Elves?
A tension between craft and industrialisation.
I agree about the take on dragons.
Half orcs (the uruk-hai)?
The large dungeon (Moria).
Giant spiders.

 

[Parmandur]

Treant/Ent?
Half-elves?
Half-orcs?
Were-bear?
Invisibility rings?
Rope of Climbing?

Wow, I just now got that were-bears are just Beorn...

 

[Rhenny]

Erm...

Oops. Reading failure. My bad. Disregard my error. Lol

 

[ccs]

Weapons with names and magical powers ("Sting")

I'm pretty certain Excalibur, Mjolnir, and some others predate Sting.

 

[Tony Vargas]

Perhaps ironically, since magic was pretty rare in Middle Earth, some particularly potent items not already mentioned:

Staff of the Magi (Gandalf's staff, pre-Balrog)
Staff of Power (Post-Balrog)
Robe of the Arch-Magi (ditto)
Robe of Scintillating Colors ("I am Saruman of many colors!")
the cursed Crystal Hypnosis Ball (Palantir)
Rings of (Improved) Invisibility, Elemental Command, and Shooting Stars.

And, of course, the idea of Artifacts corrupting their bearer.

 

[Rhenny]

I'm pretty certain Excalibur, Mjolnir, and some others predate Sting.

True, but they didn't light up when Orcs where nearby. That's so D&D.

 

[Sacrosanct]

Gygax was pretty well read in folklore. And 90% of what Tolkien wrote was pulled right from existing Anglo Saxon myth and folklore (the whole ring of power/brother betraying brother Smeigel story is almost directly pulled from folklore word for word)

So it can be argued that much of what we think was pulled from Tolkien was in fact not, but Gygax using the same myths and folklore that Tolkien used. Obviously some things are directly pulled from Tolkien’s work, but probably not as much as we credit to Tolkien.

 

[Mark Kernow]

Yes and no. Yes, Gygax and Tolkien both drew from folklore. But no in that a lot of the characteristics of folklore elements that ended up in the game have a flavour that is very much Tolkien's take, and the other variations present in folklore didn't get in. For example in a lot of folklore, elves and dwarves are basically tricky fey creatures out to harm 'mortals', are almost interchangable in outlook and description and even in Norse mythology don't necessarily have animosity towards each other. That isn't D&D's take at all, and the elves and dwarves we accept as standard, along with the halflings and half-orcs are very much Tolkien's take, albeit influenced by the earlier sources.

 

[Hriston]

Fireball
Darkness
Light

 

[Hriston]

Ogres were included to represent Tolkienesque trolls, as opposed to Poul Anderson trolls.

Has anyone mentioned Giant Eagles?
edit: Oops! It's in the OP.