Alas also to my favourite cut Dwarf Burin son of Balin. I still hope he existed in Moria, but was just never mentioned in the Book of Mazarbul. This book, or series I should say, cover the writing of the Legendarium from its conception through various intermitten stages to his final work. In 2 regards is this work highly interesting: In the journey the material went through from the primitive initial story to the final (latest would be more accurate) word Tolkien wrote on it, which was often not the final word he intended. The second regard is the vast amount of new material and writings that have never been released and are simply amazing, eye opening and very enriching. Unfinished Tales doesn't even come close to covering it all. Ambar: Foster relates the Elvish words ambar ("world") and umbar ("fate"). In the entry of Ambar, he mentions it is a concept related to fate of the world. The manuscript Words Phrases and Passages later showed that while the two words are indeed related (through the root MBAR "settle"), they are distinct in meaning.

The Complete Guide to Middle-earth, published by Ballantine Books. This is the revised and expanded edition, incorporating content from The Silmarillion (1977). The book length is almost doubled, extending the number of entries from 2276 to 3257. However, as it does not include information on post- Silmarillion material (i.e. Unfinished Tales and The History of Middle-earth), this edition contains some statements contradicted by later publications.Navigable diagram of Tolkien's legendarium. Most of it is in The History of Middle-earth, though that includes 4 volumes on The History of The Lord of the Rings. The first two books introduce readers to The Book of Lost Tales, a mythology for England from which Tolkien drew ideas that eventually became the 'Silmarillion' mythology. The next three books follow the history of the emerging early mythology usually known as The Silmarillion. The discussion of the published book is deferred until book ten. Books six through nine discuss the development of The Lord of the Rings, book nine's second half discussing the story of Númenor (the first versions of which were covered in Book Five). Book ten and eleven discuss the Annals of Beleriand and Annals of Aman, works which were developed together with the Silmarillion tradition and which also served as source material for the published Silmarillion. Book twelve discusses the development of the Appendices to The Lord of the Rings, followed by some assorted essays from Tolkien's last years of life. Star of Elendil: The royal symbol Elendilmir, and the Star of the Dúnedain given by Aragorn to Samwise Gamgee, are considered to be the same. This was not agreed by Christopher Tolkien. [10]

Though not officially labeled as such, Unfinished Tales and The Nature of Middle-earth are often considered the unofficial thirteenth and fourteenth volumes of the series. [ citation needed] If part one of The Book of Lost Tales was dedicated to Valar and to the World creation concepts, second part is dedicated to 6 pivotal stories for The Silmarillion substance. I enjoyed in the first version of the story of Beren and Luthien, where Sauron is mentioned for the first time, but in form of demon Tevildo - prince of cats. Also, tale about Turin is slightly different than the one in final version. The story about the fall of Gondolin is narrated in all its majesty and details. Also, full version of the creation of the Nauglafring (i.e. Nauglamir) is present in this book, as well as slaying of king Tinwelint (Thingol), that is different than the one in final version, and more logical and consecutive.Tolkien was a professor at the Universities of Leeds and Oxford for almost forty years, teaching Old and Middle English, as well as Old Norse and Gothic. His illuminating lectures on works such as the Old English epic poem, Beowulf, illustrate his deep knowledge of ancient languages and at the same time provide new insights into peoples and legends from a remote past. The History of Middle-earth ( The Book of Lost Tales Part One [1983] • The Book of Lost Tales Part Two [1984] • The Lays of Beleriand [1985] • The Shaping of Middle-earth: The Quenta, The Ambarkanta, and The Annals [1986] • The Lost Road and Other Writings [1987] • The Return of the Shadow: The History of the Lord of the Rings, Part One [1988] • The Treason of Isengard: The History of the Lord of the Rings, Part Two [1989] • The War of the Ring: The History of the Lord of the Rings, Part Three [1990] • Sauron Defeated: The History of the Lord of the Rings, Part Four [1992] • Morgoth's Ring: The Later Silmarillion, Part One: The Legends of Aman [1993] • The War of the Jewels: The Later Silmarillion, Part Two [1994] • The Peoples of Middle-earth [1996] • Index [2006]) The Notion Club Papers: Part autobiography about Tolkiens time in the Inklins, part surreal scifi dream spacetravel, part philological language creation course and part mystery discovery of an ancient mythical land. Wrapped up in Tolkiens writing style. What's not to love? The Hobbit (1937) • The Lord of the Rings ( The Fellowship of the Ring: Being the First Part of The Lord of the Rings [1954] • The Two Towers: Being the Second Part of The Lord of the Rings [1954] • The Return of the King: Being the Third Part of The Lord of the Rings [1955]) • The Adventures of Tom Bombadil and Other Verses from the Red Book [1962] • The Road Goes Ever On: A Song Cycle [1967] This is not an easy read and should not be the first book to read if you're new to Tolkien, in fact, it should probably be last, after you've read The Hobbit, Lord of the Rings, then The Silmarillion and probably Unfinished Tales.

Most of the content consists of earlier versions of already published works by Tolkien, while other portions are completely new material. These books are exceedingly detailed, to the point of documenting scraps of paper (of J.R.R. Tolkien's) that had been erased multiple times with many footnotes. Christopher Tolkien thoroughly documents the history of the writing of the Middle-earth stories, with as much detail as his father documented the fictional history of Middle-earth itself. A standard entry in the book consists of: a name; the language it belongs to; its translation from Elvish, Adûnaic, and sometimes Old English when known; and known dates when a character flourished; the first lines of the entry usually give a general definition of the topic, like race, heritage, and role (in case of a character), leading to a chronological description or biography. The last paragraphs of the entry give a physical description or characteristics of the character with some speculations; the final paragraph gives the topic's alternative names, epithets, translation to other languages, and/or redirects to other entries.

Gollum: Foster mentions that Déagol was Sméagol's cousin while this is not mentioned in the texts. Tolkien went only as far as to suppose he was "evidently a relative (as no doubt all the members of the small community were)" [13] A thirteenth volume was published in 2002, The History of Middle-earth Index. This book has completely integrated all the indices from the set in one large index. The wanderings of Hurin, especially in Brethil. Oh the awefulness of Tolkien never having having reworked the Nauglamir and further! The Silmarillion will never read the same for me, alas.

Second only to this, I shall say that this tome is only for the die-hard Tolkien fans. If you haven't read at least the Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales, this book is not for you (yet). The Guide is generally inclusive and there is no limitation to the topics it covers; it includes even obscure and little explored topics, like individual entries on each single name of the Tengwar. Many entries are simply epithets and only redirect to the names of their main entries.

Edgecomb, Kevin P. (2022) "A Publication History of The Complete Guide to Middle-earth by Robert Foster," Journal of Tolkien Research: Vol. 14: Iss. 1, Article 2. Available at: https://scholar.valpo.edu/journaloftolkienresearch/vol14/iss1/2 (Accessed 19 July 2022) J.R.R. Tolkien; Humphrey Carpenter, Christopher Tolkien (eds.), The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, Letter 246, (dated September 1963) Bilbo's Last Song [1974] • The Silmarillion [1977] • Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth [1980] The Tale of Luthien and Beren in verse form is a thing apart. How I wished it was finished in full.