Move over, genealogy enthusiasts; Emil Johansson has got you beat. This Swedish student’s passion for the Tolkien universe inspired him to create a family tree for every character in Eä. He’s gotten tons of media coverage lately from amazing places like Time and The Guardian, so it was perfectly lovely of him to take the time to answer a few of our questions about The Lord of the Rings Project.
I read that you’ve been working on this since you were only fourteen years old. What made you decide to take up this huge task, and when did you get the idea to put the family tree online?
I started doing the project when I was about fourteen and it took me a few months, I think, to do the paper version. At first, I started doing small family trees, just for fun. They were very similar to the ones you will find in the appendices of some of the books. After a while they sort of evolved to become this huge family tree and it became sort of an obsession to finish it. I took up the project in November last year. I had been thinking of putting it online for quite some time but I never knew how to do it. I searched the web for some software that would do the tree for me but found nothing that really appealed to me so I decided to program it myself.
Could you tell me about how you go about working on the tree, and how putting it online has changed the way you work on it, as opposed to the way you worked on it during the years when it was on paper?
The website is built around a database with all the characters and their relations in. This allows for very easy updates and a lot of interactivity. When doing a family tree on paper, everything you do is static. This project is not meant to be static. In the future I want the visitor to be able to completely control how he displays the tree. I am currently adding birth and death dates for as many characters as I can. This will hopefully reveal some interesting statistics regarding the population of Middle-Earth.
If you could put yourself anywhere on that tree – replacing an existing character or just jumping into the story as yourself – where would you be, and why?
I would love to live in Middle-Earth as Aragorn. I would not want his life as a king but rather his life as a ranger. Living in the wild has always appealed to me.
How much would I have to pay you to put me in the family tree? I have a hoard of gold! Promise!
Considering the fact that I study and don’t have that much money, not very much. Hehe.
The interactivity of the site is really cool – I like being able to see different races, or different classes within races. Was that part of your initial idea? Do you have more ideas that you’ve not yet implemented but would love to see on the site?
Yes. My initial thought was to make the tree as extensive as possible as a resource for information. I never knew exactly how I was going to achieve that though. I have some updates coming regarding the visual presentation and I’m also adding some additional information to the characters such as if they’ve been kings etc. I very recently accepted the assistance of Shaun Gunner from Tolkien Society when it comes to proof-reading the family tree.
I have a few possible features for the future which I’d like to keep secret as well.
What do you do for fun besides undertaking massive projects like this one? I hear you’re in school for chemical engineering and that you’re also a photographer.
I do some photography, mostly journalism. If you want, you can view my work here: http://ejoh.se . I think I wanted to become a photographer at heart but since the photography industry is so saturated with brilliant photographers I decided to pursue my other interest instead. Chemistry. I love to be around people and helped arrange the reception of new students to university last year. I think part of why I started the project was I had a lot of spare time after doing that.
Is Emil not the perfect companion to have on your travels through Middle-earth? I love that he’s always open for suggestions and comments on his Herculean and helpful task (you can leave them right on his website). You can also follow Emil on Twitter @lotrproject, Facebook, and Tumblr. Emil, we thank you for your time and cannot wait to see what you’ll be up to in the future.
