This paper develops my earlier work on Tolkien and the Gothic in English literature, further unravelling Tolkien’s use of Gothic motifs of national identity. The account of the Gothic is primarily historicist, combining cultural and political understandings of the term, in contrast to more theoretical approaches that frequently characterize Gothic criticism, concluding with remarks on the Freudian ‘Uncanny’. These observations indicate how, when ‘uncanny’ effects or episodes of psychological trauma appear in Tolkien’s writing, they can only be properly understood as being founded in a deep and nuanced appreciation of the historical Gothic.