The revolutionary English polymath William Morris's influence on the development of the genre of fantasy fiction is today widely recognized as profound, with his The House of the Wolfings (1888) and especially his The Roots of the Mountains (1889) directly and greatly influencing English fantasy author J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit (1937) and The Lord of the Rings (1954-1955). Alongside Morris's two innovative fantasy novels is a third, stranger work:

The Folk of the Mountain Door, an unfinished book he worked on until his death in 1896. Its contents display yet another Morris innovation: a pagan fantasy wherein the benevolent gods Odin and Frigg of Old Norse mythology relay prophesy and advice to an aging king about a dying world. Presenting one of Morris's most obscure and yet most interesting works, this unique edition contains enigmatic material from the historic record that inspired him, alongside original commentary and Morris's horror retelling of a Danish folktale.