The recently released
National Geographic DVD special on the
movie Fellowship of the Ring shows
evidence that the Kalevala greatly influenced
J.R.R. Tolkien's writtings about
Middle-Earth. It seems Tolkien was fascinated by the Kalevala during
university and many of the
finnish myths have significant equivalence on Tolkien's ficcional myths.
On the DVD, they show the last
elder who remembers most of the Kalevala by heart and the village that kept the legend alive for centuries. It quite interesting, as it seems the finnish tales were greatly responsible for the
elvish culture, looks and
songs. The DVD comes in the killer set of the
extended version of the movie (and before anyone asks, I'm not in any way financially involved with
New Line Cinema nor
Peter Jackson).
Much more info on this @
The Mythological Origins of The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales