Both Rings were round and there the resemblance ceases", wroteJ.R.R. Tolkien about the rings in his epic The Lord of the Rings andRichard Wagner's opera cycle The Ring of the Nibelung. Or didhe? The answer is not as straightforward as many Tolkien fansbelieve, whether they agree with the statement or consider it misguided.Nor is the statement itself as transparently defensive assome Wagner buffs suggest.Much has been said and written about Wagner and Tolkien, asubject that tends to generate a certain amount of heat, mostlydue to the former's controversial status as Hitler's favourite composer.But until now the various, often contradictory opinionsand the facts and perceptions on which they are based were rarelydiscussed at length or analysed in depth. The publication in 2009of Tolkien's The Legend and Sigurd and Gudrún with its partlyWagnerian content reinforced the need for a systematic treatmentof the subject. This book offers one.There is more to both Rings than their common roundness, andthe resemblance between Tolkien and Wagner goes beyond a Ringof Power and some narrative elements: they shared a number ofpreoccupations and interests - nature, nation, the North, deathand immortality, language and above all, myth. This is a bookabout the two great mythmakers of their times, and about whatthey have in common despite everything that separates them.