Brandon Sanderson has highlighted an unusual piece of J.R.R. Tolkien memorabilia: a sketch of Helm’s Deep drawn on the reverse of a student’s examination paper. The anecdote, shared after Sanderson’s Tolkien lecture at Oxford, illustrates how Tolkien developed parts of Middle-earth alongside his academic work, rather than solely as a full-time author.

Tolkien became a professor at Oxford’s Pembroke College in 1925 and wrote The Hobbit and the first two volumes of The Lord of the Rings during that period; The Hobbit was published in 1937. Sanderson said the student paper was not returned after marking, leaving Tolkien space to use its blank reverse for the Helm’s Deep drawing while working out the setting’s layout.