Who was J.R.R. Tolkien’s wife and longtime literary companion?

J.R.R. Tolkien’s wife and longtime literary companion was Edith Bratt.

Tolkien met Edith Bratt in Birmingham when he was a teenager, and they married on 22 March 1916. Their relationship was interrupted while Tolkien was studying at Oxford, partly because his guardian instructed him not to pursue romance before he came of age. Tolkien and Edith later reunited and remained married until her death in 1971.

They had four children: John, Michael, Christopher, and Priscilla. Christopher Tolkien became an important editor of his father’s unpublished writings and posthumously published texts from the legendarium.

Edith is often linked to the characters Lúthien and Arwen because Tolkien regarded her as an inspiration for Lúthien. The couple’s shared grave in Oxford bears the names Beren and Lúthien, reflecting the importance of that fictional love story. Edith should not be confused with Mabel, Tolkien’s mother, or Priscilla, his youngest child.