For many people, the English writer JRR Tolkien (1892-1973) is above all the author of the Lord of the Rings, the films directed and produced by Peter Jackson from 2001 to 2003. But what most people are unaware of, is that this immensely successful novel is only the tip of a monumental corpus, started in the 1910s, and which he pursued to the day he died in 1973. Translated to over sixty languages, Tolkien's books have deeply marked the imagination of millions of readers throughout the world. However, in a period of triumphant Hollywood blockbusters, part of the mystery may be fading away, something that is attached to a unique type of literary creativity. This documentary goes back to the origins of his tremendous creations and offers an opportunity to rediscover the surprising personality of The Hobbit author. Who was this quiet and scholarly man who taught languages and old English literature at Oxford? Where did his new worlds come from? Tolkien's life is revealed in this marvellous adventure of the mind. This film is also available in French.