India, March 25 -- Tolkien Reading Day, celebrated on March 25 each year, marks a dramatic moment in modern literature. In JRR Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, it is the day when the One Ring is finally destroyed in the fires of Mount Doom, bringing an end to Sauron's shadow over Middle-earth. The moment is one of relief, renewal and hope. "The Shadow has departed," Tolkien writes, "and the Third Age of the world is ended."

For fans, the day offers an excuse to return to the sweeping landscapes of Middle-earth: the rolling hills of the Shire, the caves of Helm's Deep, and mysterious forests overrun by ancient trees. But the remarkable thing about Tolkien's imagined world is that it didn't emerge from nowhere; much of it grew quietly from...