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[Loxley]

Welcome one and all to the official |OT| for the discussion of - as the title suggests - the literary works of John Ronald Reuel Tolkien; one of the most important and prolific writers, creatives and academics of the 20th century. Emphasis on literary discussion. In this thread, the focus is on the books we've all come to admire, analyze and critique. But this thread is not only for Middle-earth talk, everything Tolkien wrote is open for discussion. Including his various short stories, poems, and numerous academic articles.

This thread is not for discussing or debating about Peter Jackson's adaptions of The Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit. Those conversations should be relegated to their respective OT's.

**And a special thanks to GAF's very own Tolkien scholar Edmond Dantès for his assistance and input for this OT.

So where to start? How about where most of us did with Tolkien; in a hole in the ground.


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~ The Hobbit, or 'There and Back Again'- Published September, 1937

Set in a time "Between the Dawn of Færie and the Dominion of Men", The Hobbit follows the quest of home-loving hobbit Bilbo Baggins to win a share of the treasure guarded by the dragon, Smaug. Bilbo's journey takes him from light-hearted, rural surroundings into more sinister territory. The story is told in the form of an episodic quest, and most chapters introduce a specific creature, or type of creature, of Tolkien's Wilderland. By accepting the disreputable, romantic, fey and adventurous side of his nature and applying his wits and common sense, Bilbo gains a new level of maturity, competence and wisdom. The story reaches its climax in the Battle of Five Armies, where many of the characters and creatures from earlier chapters re-emerge to engage in conflict.

The Hobbit is considered to be a children's classic and is the seventh best-selling book in history, with over 100 million copies sold worldwide.

~ The Lord of the Rings:

- The Fellowship of the Ring - Published July, 1954
- The Two Towers - Published November, 1954
- The Return of the King - Published October, 1955

The title of the novel refers to the story's main antagonist, the Dark Lord Sauron. who had in an earlier age created the One Ring to rule the other Rings of Power as the ultimate weapon in his campaign to conquer and rule all of Middle-earth. From quiet beginnings in the Shire, a Hobbit land not unlike the English countryside, the story ranges across north-west Middle-earth, following the course of the War of the Ring through the eyes of its characters, notably the hobbits Frodo Baggins, Samwise "Sam" Gamgee, Meriadoc "Merry" Brandybuck and Peregrin "Pippin" Took, but also the hobbits' chief allies and travelling companions: Aragorn, a Human Ranger; Boromir, a man from Gondor; Gimli, a Dwarf warrior; Legolas, an Elven prince; and Gandalf, a Wizard.

The Lord of the Rings is the second-best selling novel ever written, with over 150 million copies sold worldwide.

~ The Adventures of Tom Bombadil - Published 1962

The Adventures of Tom Bombadil contains 16 poems, only two of which deal with Tom Bombadil, a character who is most famous for his encounter with Frodo Baggins in The Fellowship of the Ring. The rest of the poems are an assortment of bestiary verse and fairy tale rhyme. Three of the poems appear in The Lord of the Rings as well. The book is part of Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium and the Middle-earth canon.

The volume includes what W. H. Auden considered Tolkien's best poem, The Sea-Bell, subtitled Frodos Dreme. It is a piece of great metrical and rhythmical complexity that recounts a journey to a strange land beyond the sea. Drawing on medieval 'dream vision' poetry and Irish 'immram' poems the piece is markedly melancholic and the final note is one of alienation and disillusion.

The book was originally illustrated by Pauline Baynes and later by Roger Garland. The book, like the first edition of The Fellowship of the Ring, is presented as if it is an actual translation from the Red Book of Westmarch, and contains some background information on the world of Middle-Earth which is not found elsewhere: e.g. the name of the tower at Dol Amroth and the names of the Seven Rivers of Gondor. There is also some fictional 'background' information of those poems, linking them to the Hobbit folklore and literature as well as their actual writers (some of them were written by Samwise Gamgee).

~ The Road Goes Ever On, a Song Cycle - Published 1967

The Road Goes Ever On is a song cycle that has been published as sheet music and as an audio recording. The music was written by Donald Swann, and the words are taken from poems in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth writings, especially The Lord of the Rings.
The title of this opus is taken from "The Road Goes Ever On", the first song in the collection. The songs form a song cycle, designed to fit together when played in sequence.

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Posthumous Middle Earth Legendarium Publications

Meet Tolkien's son, Christopher:

He's single-handedly responsible for the rest of this section.

After Tolkien passed away in 1973, his son Christopher took over responsibility for The Middle Earth Legendarium, as well as his father's other writings. Ever since, using his father's enormous amount of unpublished documents and manuscripts, he has worked tirelessly to flesh out what his father started - a comprehensive history of Middle-Earth and The Lord of the Rings. To this day Christopher Tolkien remains a staunch protector of his father's legacy and his writings, to the point where many have considered him to be a tad over-protective - however that is obviously up for debate. As a result, he has been on the receiving end of both high praise and harsh criticism from fans and academics alike.

~ The Silmarillion - Published 1977

The Silmarillion is a collection of J. R. R. Tolkien's mythopoeic works, edited and published posthumously by his son Christopher Tolkien in 1977, with assistance from Guy Gavriel Kay, who later became a noted fantasy writer. The Silmarillion, along with J. R. R. Tolkien's other works, forms an extensive, though incomplete, narrative that describes the universe of Eä in which are found the lands of Valinor, Beleriand, Númenor, and Middle-earth within which The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings take place.

The Silmarillion comprises five parts. The first part, Ainulindalë, tells of the creation of Eä, the "world that is". Valaquenta, the second part, gives a description of the Valar and Maiar, the supernatural powers in Eä. The next section, Quenta Silmarillion, which forms the bulk of the collection, chronicles the history of the events before and during the First Age, including the wars over the Silmarils which gave the book its title. The fourth part, Akallabêth, relates the history of the Downfall of Númenor and its people, which takes place in the Second Age. The final part, Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age, is a brief account of the circumstances which led to and were presented in The Lord of the Rings.

~ Unfinished Tales - Published 1980

Unfinished Tales (full title Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth) is a collection of stories and essays by J. R. R. Tolkien that were never completed during his lifetime, but were edited by his son Christopher Tolkien and published in 1980.

Unlike The Silmarillion, for which the narrative fragments were modified to connect into a consistent and coherent work, the Unfinished Tales are presented as Tolkien left them, with little more than names changed (the author having had a confusing habit of trying out different names for a character while writing a draft). Thus some of these are incomplete stories, while others are collections of information about Middle-earth. Each tale is followed by a long series of notes explaining inconsistencies and obscure points.

Unfinished Tales provides more detailed information about characters, events and places mentioned only briefly in The Lord of the Rings. Versions of such tales including the origins of Gandalf and the other Istari (Wizards), the death of Isildur and the loss of the One Ring in the Gladden Fields, and the founding of the kingdom of Rohan help expand knowledge about Middle-earth.

~ The History of Middle Earth:
- The Book of Lost Tales 1 - Published 1983
- The Book of Lost Tales 2 - Published 1984
- The Lays of Beleriand - Published 1985
- The Shaping of Middle Earth - Published 1986
- The Lost Road and Other Writings - Published 1987
- The Return of the Shadow (The History of The Lord of the Rings v.1) - Published 1988
- The Treason of Isengard (The History of The Lord of the Rings v.2) - Published 1989
- The War of the Ring (The History of The Lord of the Rings v.3) - Published 1990
- Sauron Defeated (The History of The Lord of the Rings v.4) - Published 1992
- Morgoth's Ring (The Later Silmarillion v.1) - Published 1993
- The War of the Jewels (The Later Silmarillion v.2) - Published 1994
- The Peoples of Middle Earth - Published 1996

The History of Middle-earth is a 12-volume series of books published between 1983 and 1996 that collect and analyse material relating to the fiction of J. R. R. Tolkien, compiled and edited by his son, Christopher Tolkien. The series shows the development over time of Tolkien's conception of Middle-Earth as a fictional place with its own peoples, languages, and history, from his earliest notions of a "mythology for England" through to the development of the stories that make up The Silmarillion and The Lord of the Rings. It is not a "history of Middle-Earth" in the sense of being a chronicle of events in Middle-Earth written from an in-universe perspective.

~ Bilbo's Last Song - Published 1990

"Bilbo's Last Song" is a poem by J. R. R. Tolkien. It was given by Tolkien as a gift to his secretary Joy Hill in 1966. After Tolkien's death in 1973 Hill showed the poem to Donald Swann, who liked the poem so much that he set it to music and included it in the second edition of The Road Goes Ever On in 1978. The poem was also illustrated by Pauline Baynes, and published as a poster in 1974. In 1990 the text was finally published in book form, reillustrated by Baynes.

The poem is sung by Bilbo Baggins at the Grey Havens, as he is about to leave Middle-earth forever. Chronologically this places it at the very end of The Return of the King, the last book of The Lord of the Rings, although it was written later than the books and was never included in them

~ The Children of Húrin - Published April, 2007

There are tales of Middle-earth from times long before The Lord of the Rings, and the story told in this book is set in the great country that lay beyond the Grey Havens in the North: lands where Treebeard once walked, but which were drowned in the great cataclysm that ended the First Age of the World.

In that remote time Morgoth, the first Dark Lord, dwelt in the vast fortress of Angband, the Hells of Iron, in the North; and the tragedy of Turin and his sister Nienor unfolded within the shadow of the fear of Angband and the war waged by Morgoth against the lands and secret cities of the elves.

Their brief and passionate lives were dominated by the elemental hatred that Morgoth bore them as the children of Hurin, the man who had dared to defy and to scorn him to his face. Against them he sent his formidable servant, Glaurung, a powerful spirit in the form of a huge wingless dragon of fire. Into his story of brutal conquest and flight, of forest hiding-places and pursuit, of resistance with lessening hope, the mythological persons of the God and the Dragon enter in fearfully articulate form. Sardonic and mocking, Glaurung manipulated the fates of Turin and Nienor by lies of diabolic cunning and guile, and the curse of Morgoth was fulfilled.

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~ Roverandam - Written in 1925, Published 1998

Roverandom deals with the adventures of a young dog, Rover. In the story, an irritable wizard turns Rover into a toy, and Rover goes to the moon and under the sea in order to find the wizard again to turn him back into a normal-sized dog. The author wrote Roverandom for his son Michael Tolkien to amuse him upon the loss of his favorite toy — a little leaden dog. The work is in tone a children's story, but contains many allusions and references in the manner of "Farmer Giles of Ham".

~ Leaf by Niggle - Written 1938/39, Published 1945

"Leaf by Niggle" is a short story that follows Niggle, an artist who wants to paint the perfect tree. He starts with just one perfect leaf. As he adds to it and creates a whole tree, through its branches Niggle can see a forest, home to an assortment of wildlife, and beyond the forest, a mountain. As Niggle works on his tree it becomes more and more, and he fears he will not complete it before he must go on his journey. Cutting into his time to complete his tree is his disabled neighbor, Parish, who needs his assistance for an assortment of things. Like many of the townspeople, Parish does not understand Niggle’s work – certainly he cannot see beyond the scribbles that make up Niggle’s tree. One day while fixing Parish’s roof in the rain, Niggle gets sick, which further cuts into his time to complete his perfect tree. Before he knows it he must embark on his journey, and despite knowing it was coming, Niggle is unprepared. What follows is an adventure unlike any other.

"Leaf by Niggle" is often seen as an allegory of Tolkien's own creative process, and, to an extent, of his own life.

~ Farmer Giles of Ham - Written 1937, Published 1949

"Farmer Giles of Ham" describes the encounters between Farmer Giles and a wily dragon named Chrysophylax, and how Giles manages to use these to rise from humble beginnings to rival the king of the land. It is cheerfully anachronistic and light-hearted, set in a fantasy Great Britain of long ago, with mythical creatures, medieval knights, and primitive firearms. It is only tangentially connected with the author's Middle-earth legendarium.

~ Smith of Wootton Major - Published 1967

The book grew out of an attempt to explain the meaning of Faery by means of a brief story about a cook and his cake. This would have been part of a preface by Tolkien to George MacDonald's faerie story The Golden Key. But the story grew from there and became a tale in its own right.

The book was originally called "The Great Cake", but the title was changed to "Smith of Wootton Major" in an attempt to suggest an early work by P.G. Wodehouse.

~ Mr. Bliss - Written Post-Hobbit, Published 1982

"Mr. Bliss" is one of Tolkien's least-known short works, it tells the story of Mr. Bliss and his first ride in his new motor-car. Many adventures follow: encounters with bears, angry neighbors, irate shopkeepers, and assorted collisions.

The story was inspired by Tolkien's own vehicular mishaps with his first auto, purchased in 1932. The bears were based on toy bears owned by Tolkien's sons. Tolkien was both author and illustrator of the book. His narrative binds the story and illustrations tightly together, as the text often comments directly on the pictures.

~ Letters From Father Christmas - Published 2004

Every December an envelope bearing a stamp from the North Pole would arrive for J.R.R. Tolkien’s children. Inside would be a letter in a strange, spidery handwriting and a beautiful colored drawing or painting. The letters were from Father Christmas.

They told wonderful tales of life at the North Pole: how the reindeer got loose and scattered presents all over the place; how the accident-prone North Polar Bear climbed the North Pole and fell through the roof of Father Christmas’s house into the dining room; how he broke the Moon into four pieces and made the Man in it fall into the back garden; how there were wars with the troublesome horde of goblins who lived in the caves beneath the house, and many more.

No reader, young or old, can fail to be charmed by Tolkien’s inventiveness in this classic holiday treat.

~ The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún - Published 2009

Written by Tolkien during the 1920s and the 1930s, inspired by the legend of Sigurd and the fall of the Niflungs from Norse mythology. It is composed in a form of alliterative verse inspired by the traditional poetry of the Poetic Edda, compiled in the 13th century. Christopher Tolkien has added copious notes and commentary upon his father's work.

~ The Fall of Arthur - Published 2013

The Fall of Arthur, the only venture by J.R.R. Tolkien into the legends of Arthur King of Britain, may well be regarded as his finest and most skillful achievement in the use of the Old English alliterative metre, in which he brought to his transforming perceptions of the old narratives a pervasive sense of the grave and fateful nature of all that is told: of Arthur’s expedition overseas into distant heathen lands, of Guinevere’s flight from Camelot, of the great sea-battle on Arthur’s return to Britain, in the portrait of the traitor Mordred, in the tormented doubts of Lancelot in his French castle.

Unhappily, The Fall of Arthur was one of several long narrative poems that he abandoned in that period. In this case he evidently began it in the earlier nineteen-thirties, and it was sufficiently advanced for him to send it to a very perceptive friend who read it with great enthusiasm at the end of 1934 and urgently pressed him ‘You simply must finish it!’ But in vain: he abandoned it, at some date unknown, though there is some evidence that it may have been in 1937, the year of the publication of The Hobbit and the first stirrings of The Lord of the Rings. Years later, in a letter of 1955, he said that ‘he hoped to finish a long poem on The Fall of Arthur’; but that day never came.

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[Loxley]

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~ 'Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics' - 1936

"Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics" was a 1936 lecture given by J. R. R. Tolkien on literary criticism on the Old English heroic epic poem Beowulf. It was first published in that year in Proceedings of the British Academy, and has since been reprinted in many collections, including in The Monsters and the Critics and Other Essays, the 1983 collection of Tolkien's academic papers edited by Christopher Tolkien.

This paper is regarded as a formative work in modern Beowulf studies. In this talk, Tolkien speaks against critics who play down the fantastic elements of the poem (such as Grendel and the dragon) in favor of using Beowulf solely as a source for Anglo-Saxon history. Tolkien argues that rather than being merely extraneous, these elements are key to the narrative and should be the focus of study. In doing so he drew attention to the previously neglected literary qualities of the poem and argued that it should be studied as a work of art, not just as a historical document. Later critics who agreed with Tolkien on this point have routinely cited him to defend their arguments.

The paper remains a common source for students and scholars studying Beowulf and was praised by Seamus Heaney in the introduction to his translation of the poem. Bruce Mitchell and Fred C. Robinson call it in their Beowulf, An Edition (1998) "the most influential literary criticism of the poem ever written". The paper also sheds light on many of Tolkien's ideas about literature and is a source for those seeking to understand his writings.

~ 'On Translating Beowulf' , or 'Prefatory Remarks on Prose Translation of Beowulf, - Published 1940

Tolkien divides his discussion between word choice and poetic meter, addressing a number of related issues, including prose versus verse translations, translating complex and compound words (including kennings), and achieving the right tone in translation, as well as patterns in Anglo-Saxon meter, alliteration, and parallelisms.

~ 'English and Welsh' -1955

English and Welsh is the title of J. R. R. Tolkien's inaugural O'Donnell Memorial Lecture of 1955. The lecture sheds light on Tolkien's conceptions of the connections of race, ethnicity, and language.

Tolkien begins with an overview of the terms "British", "Celtic", "Germanic", "Saxon", "English" and "Welsh", explaining the latter term's etymology in walha. Tolkien also addresses the historical language contact between English and Welsh since the Anglo-Saxon invasion of Britain, including Welsh loanwords and substrate influence found in English, and conversely English loanwords in Welsh. In the final part of the lecture, Tolkien explores the concept of phonaesthetics, citing the phrase cellar door as a recognized beautiful-sounding phrase in English, adding that to his own taste, in Welsh "cellar doors are extraordinarily frequent". Tolkien describes the working of phonaesthetics inherent in the moment of association of sound and meaning.

~ A Secret Vice - 1931

'A Secret Vice' is the title of a lecture Tolkien gave at a conference in 1931. It deals with constructed languages in general, and the relation of a mythology to its language. Tolkien contrasts international auxiliary languages with artistic languages constructed for aesthetic pleasure. Tolkien also discusses phonaesthetics, citing Greek, Finnish, and Welsh as examples of "languages which have a very characteristic and in their different ways beautiful word-form".

Tolkien's opinion of the relation of mythology and language is reflected in examples cited in Quenya and Noldorin, the predecessors of Quenya and Sindarin. The essay contains three Quenya poems, Oilima Markirya ("The Last Ark"), Nieninque, and Earendel, as well as an eight-line passage in Noldorin.

~ On Fairy-Stories - Written 1937, Published 1947

"On Fairy-Stories" is an essay which discusses the fairy-story as a literary form. It was initially written (and entitled simply "Fairy Stories") for presentation by Tolkien as the Andrew Lang lecture at the University of St Andrews, Scotland, in 1939. It first appeared in print, with some enhancement, in 1947, in a festschrift volume, Essays Presented to Charles Williams, compiled by C. S. Lewis. Charles Williams, a friend of Lewis's, had been relocated with the Oxford University Press staff from London to Oxford during the London blitz in World War II. This allowed him to participate in gatherings of the Inklings with Lewis and Tolkien. The volume of essays was intended to be presented to Williams upon the return of the OUP staff to London with the ending of the war. However, Williams died suddenly on May 15, 1945, and the book was published as a memorial volume.

The essay is significant because it contains Tolkien's explanation of his philosophy on fantasy and thoughts on mythopoiesis. Moreover, the essay is an early analysis of speculative fiction by one of the most important authors in the genre.

~ Sir Gawain and the Green Knight - 1925

In 1925, J.R.R. Tolkien and E.V. Gordon published a scholarly edition of the Middle English text of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight; a revised edition of this text was prepared by Norman Davis and published in 1967. The book, featuring a text in Middle English with extensive scholarly notes, is frequently confused with the translation into Modern English that Tolkien prepared, along with translations of Pearl and Sir Orfeo, late in his life. Many editions of the latter work, first published in 1975, shortly after his death, list Tolkien on the cover as author rather than translator.

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(**OP note - This section barely scratches the surface of the number of books out there dedicated to Tolkien's works, I tried to choose some of the more well-known/revered options because I was beginning to break the character limit for a single post lol). I strongly encourage you to explore beyond what is mentioned in this section, there are some incredibly talented authors and artists who have taken a swing and interpreting Tolkien whom I just couldn't fit in here.)

~ J.R.R. Tolkien: A Biography - By Humphrey Carpenter, Published 1977

The only authorized biography of the creator of Middle-earth. In the decades since his death in September 1973, millions have read THE HOBBIT, THE LORD OF THE RINGS, and THE SILMARILLION and become fascinated about the very private man behind the books. Born in South Africa in January 1892, John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was orphaned in childhood and brought up in near-poverty. He served in the first World War, surviving the Battle of the Somme, where he lost many of the closest friends he'd ever had. After the war he returned to the academic life, achieving high repute as a scholar and university teacher, eventually becoming Merton Professor of English at Oxford where he was a close friend of C.S. Lewis and the other writers known as The Inklings.

Then suddenly his life changed dramatically. One day while grading essay papers he found himself writing 'In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit' -- and worldwide renown awaited him.

Humphrey Carpenter was given unrestricted access to all Tolkien's papers, and interviewed his friends and family. From these sources he follows the long and painful process of creation that produced THE LORD OF THE RINGS and THE SILMARILLION and offers a wealth of information about the life and work of the twentieth century's most cherished author.

~ The Inklings: C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, Charles Williams and Their Friends - By Humphrey Carpenter, Published 1979

Critically acclaimed, award-winning biography of CS Lewis, JRR Tolkien and the brilliant group of writers to come out of Oxford during the Second World War. C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien and their friends were a regular feature of the Oxford scenery in the years during and after the Second World War. They drank beer on Tuesdays at the 'Bird and Baby', and on Thursday nights they met in Lewis' Magdalen College rooms to read aloud from the books they were writing; jokingly they called themselves 'The Inklings'.

C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien first introduced The Screwtape Letters and The Lord of the Rings to an audience in this company and Charles Williams, poet and writer of supernatural thrillers, was another prominent member of the group. Humphrey Carpenter, who wrote the acclaimed biography of J.R.R. Tolkien, draws upon unpublished letters and diaries, to which he was given special access, in this engrossing story.

~ Exploring J.R.R. Tolkien's 'The Hobbit' - By Corey "The Tolkien Professor" Olsen, Published 2012

An admirable and thought-provoking consideration of the underlying themes of The Hobbit, following the there-and-back-again progress from its famous first line on through to Bilbo’s return home at the story’s end.

Exploring J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Hobbit” is a fun, thoughtful, and insightful companion volume, designed to bring a thorough and original new reading of this great work to a general audience. Professor Corey Olsen takes readers on an in-depth journey through The Hobbit chapter by chapter, revealing the stories within the story: the dark desires of dwarves and the sublime laughter of elves, the nature of evil and its hopelessness, the mystery of divine providence and human choice, and, most of all, the transformation within the life of Bilbo Baggins. Exploring J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Hobbit” is a book that will make The Hobbit come alive for readers as never before.

~ Tolkien and the Study of His Sources: Critical Essays - By Jason Fisher, Published 2011

Source criticism--analysis of a writer's source material--has emerged as one of the most popular approaches in exploring the work of J.R.R. Tolkien. Since Tolkien drew from many disparate sources, an understanding of these sources, as well as how and why he incorporated them, can enhance readers' appreciation. This set of new essays by leading Tolkien scholars describes the theory and methodology for proper source criticism and provides practical demonstrations of the approach.

~ Tolkien and Welsh (Tolkien a Chymraeg) - By Mark T. Hooker, Published 2012

Tolkien and Welsh provides an overview of J.R.R.Tolkien's use of Welsh in his Legendarium, ranging from the obvious (Gwynfa—the Welsh word for Paradise), to the apparent (Took—a Welsh surname), to the veiled (Gerontius—the Latinizaton of a royal Welsh name), to the hidden (Goldberry—the English calque of a Welsh theonym).
Though it is a book by a linguist, it was written for the non-linguist with the goal of making the topic accessible. The unavoidable jargon is explained in a glossary, and the narrative presents an overview of how Welsh influenced Tolkien's story line, as well as his synthetic languages Quenya and Sindarin.

The study is based on specific examples of attested names, placed in the context of their linguistic and cultural background, while highlighting the peculiar features of Welsh, "the senior language of the men of Britain" (MC 189), that Tolkien found so intriguing.

~ The Art of the Hobbit - Featuring art by Tolkien himself, and written/edited by Wayne G. Hammond & Christina Scull, Published 2012

J.R.R. Tolkien’s complete artwork for The Hobbit, presented for the first time in celebration of the 75th anniversary

When J.R.R. Tolkien wrote The Hobbit, he was already an accomplished amateur artist, and drew illustrations for his book while it was still in manuscript. The Hobbit as first printed had ten black-and-white pictures, two maps, and binding and dust jacket designs by its author. Later, Tolkien also painted five scenes for color plates, which comprise some of his best work. His illustrations for The Hobbit add an extra dimension to that remarkable book, and have long influenced how readers imagine Bilbo Baggins and his world.

Written and edited by leading Tolkien experts Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull, The Art of The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien showcases the complete artwork created by the author for his story—including related pictures, more than one hundred sketches, drawings, paintings, maps, and plans. Some of these images are published here for the first time, others for the first time in color, allowing Tolkien’s Hobbit pictures to be seen completely and more vividly than ever before.

~ Tolkien's World: Paintings of Middle-Earth - By numerous famous Tolkien artists such as Ted Nasmith, John Howe, and Alan Lee, Published 1995

The fantastical world of J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-earth is a land of rugged valleys and strange gothic forests inhabited by wizards and goblins. This world comes to life within the vast vaults of our imagination--and it may unnerve devotees of The Hobbit, Silmarillion, and The Lord of the Rings to physically encounter this world in paint and paper. Can the full evilness of Smaug, that demon of jaws and fire, ever be reproduced in a picture? Thankfully and reassuringly, Tolkien's World does not denigrate our very personal conceptions of this place in any way. An array of talented artists conjure up brilliant images on canvas, inspired by specific passages from the texts. Alan Lee's style is whimsical and enticing--his landscapes of Mount Doom and Tol Brandir are enveloped in a foggy veil, the elf lady Galadriel glows in an strange light standing "tall and pale." In contrast, John Howe's works are bold and dramatic, reflecting terrifying encounters with trolls, dragons, and creatures of "sting and of claws."

~ The Maps of Tolkien's Middle-Earth - By Brian Sibley and John Howe, Published 2003

Best-selling Tolkien expert Brian Sibley (The Lord of the Rings: The Making of the Movie Trilogy and The Lord of the Rings Official Movie Guide) presents a slipcased collection of four full-color, large-format maps of Tolkien's imaginary realm illustrated by John Howe, a conceptual designer for the blockbuster films directed by Peter Jackson. The set includes a hardcover book describing in detail the importance and evolution of geography within Tolkien's epic fiction and four color maps presented with minimal folds, including two (Beleriand and Númenor) never before published in this country.

~ The Lord of the Rings Sketchbook - By Alan Lee, Published 2005

Alan Lee, the Oscar-winning conceptual designer for the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy, discusses his approach to depicting Tolkien’s imaginary world. The book presents more than 150 of Lee’s celebrated illustrations to show how his imagery for both the illustrated Lord of the Rings and the films progressed from concept to finished art. In addition, the book contains 20 full-color plates and numerous examples of the conceptual art produced for Peter Jackson’s film adaptation.

The Lord of the Rings Sketchbook provides a wealth of background information and will be of interest to those who know and love Tolkien’s work, from books to films to DVDs, as well as to budding artists and illustrators interested in how to approach book illustration.

 

[fanboi]

In before Edmond takes over the Thread

 

[bengraven]

In before Edmund.

Edit: great minds I guess.

 

[fanboi]

Oh and why didnt The eagles drop The ring in mount doom?

 

[Edmond Dantès]

One thread to rule them all, One Thread to find them, One thread to bring them all and in the darkness bind them. This is the One thread.

Great thread Loxley, you do justice to Tolkien GAF.

Salute.

 

[Mumei]

I read The Hobbit for the first time in ten years with The Annotated Hobbit in January. And while I am doing 50-50 and the books would not count for the purposes of that, I am strongly considering rereading those as well. I have been reading the last few topics about the expanded Legendarium with a lot of interest.

 

[Ape Gone Insane]

- Also, if anyone has any feedback or would like to see something added to the OP, feel free to let me know.

Nice OP!

Moar Alan Lee/John Howe/Ted Nasmith please. Whatever choice illustrations take your fancy.

 

[Switters]

Wow. Hello. Before the thread gets too big, I was wondering where I could find a comprehensive timeline of the events that lead up to Fellowship. Is there a video?

 

[Edmond Dantès]

Wow. Hello. Before the thread gets too big, I was wondering where I could find a comprehensive timeline of the events that lead up to Fellowship. Is there a video?

Try this.

http://lotrproject.com/timeline/

There are more comprehensive timelines, but they lack the map functionality of this.

 

[Magilla]

Love it. Great job!

 

[Ape Gone Insane]

Wow. Hello. Before the thread gets too big, I was wondering where I could find a comprehensive timeline of the events that lead up to Fellowship. Is there a video?

Have you tried sources like:

http://lotr.wikia.com/wiki/Timeline_of_Arda
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_Arda
http://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Timeline
http://lotrproject.com/timeline/

 

[Branduil]

Oh and why didnt The eagles drop The ring in mount doom?

Why didn't they just throw the ring in the ocean.

Why didn't Sauron just make another ring.

Why didn't Gandalf cast Magic Missile.

Any more I'm missing?

 

[Narag]

Why didn't they just throw the ring in the ocean.

Why didn't Sauron just make another ring.

Why didn't Gandalf cast Magic Missile.

Any more I'm missing?

If Tom Bombadil was so powerful etc

 

[Edmond Dantès]

Why didn't they just throw the ring in the ocean.

Why didn't Sauron just make another ring.

Why didn't Gandalf cast Magic Missile.

Any more I'm missing?

Why didn't the Valar just send Tulkus to eviscerate Sauron?

 

[Ape Gone Insane]

Why didn't they just throw the ring in the ocean.

Why didn't Sauron just make another ring.

Why didn't Gandalf cast Magic Missile.

Any more I'm missing?

Why didn't Eru just clap his hands and make everything better?

 

[twinfin]

Great OP guys,

I remember being blown away as a teenager by the depth of The Silmarillion. I recently revisited The Hobbit, and that simple story is such a richer and more meaningful experience when you have that foundational knowledge of Tolkien's oeuvre

 

[speedpop]

The Hobbit was the first book I had read by him. To this day I still adore it.

I haven't even touched anything else outside of that and The Lord of the Rings. I should fix that problem.

 

[TCRS]

Everytime a Tolkien or LotR thread pops up I want to read The Silmarillion again. What a great book that is. The first quarter is hard to get through, the creation of Arda etc, but once you get to the elves The Silmarillion becomes a massive middle earth bible. Beautiful, heroic, epic, melancholic, tragic stories with so many details and great writing. I even bought The Children of Hurin again because I loved that story so much.

Have to read again, for me the best Tolkien book. Lord of the Ring is nice as well I suppose, but the sheer scale of Silmarillion.. it's just magical.

 

[Loxley]

Oh, I also forgot to mention that I'm going to have a small blurb in there somewhere about Tolkien's new King Arthur book coming this year.

 

[Edmond Dantès]

Speaking of The Silmarillion, the following is certainly one of the highlights of the Quenta.

The Fall of Fingolfin.

Now news came to Hithlum that Dorthonion was lost and the sons of Finarfin overthrown, and that the sons of Fëanor were driven from their lands. Then Fingolfin beheld (as it seemed to him) the utter ruin of the Noldor, and the defeat beyond redress of all their houses; and filled with wrath and despair he mounted upon Rochallor his great horse and rode forth alone, and none might restrain him. He passed over Dor-nu-Fauglith like a wind amid the dust, and all that beheld his onset fled in amaze, thinking that Oromë himself was come: for a great madness of rage was upon him, so that his eyes shone like the eyes of the Valar. Thus he came alone to Angband's gates, and he sounded his horn, and smote once more upon the brazen doors, and challenged Morgoth to come forth to single combat. And Morgoth came.

That was the last time in those wars that he passed the doors of his stronghold, and it is said that he took not the challenge willingly; for though his might was greatest of all things in this world, alone of the Valar he knew fear. But he could not now deny the challenge before the face of his captains; for the rocks rang with the shrill music of Fingolfin's horn, and his voice came keen and clear down into the depths of Angband; and Fingolfin named Morgoth craven, and lord of slaves. Therefore Morgoth came, climbing slowly from his subterranean throne, and the rumour of his feet was like thunder underground. And he issued forth clad in black armour; and he stood before the King like a tower, iron-crowned, and his vast shield, sable on-blazoned, cast a shadow over him like a stormcloud. But Fingolfin gleamed beneath it as a star; for his mail was overlaid with silver, and his blue shield was set with crystals; and he drew his sword Ringil, that glittered like ice.

Then Morgoth hurled aloft Grond, the Hammer of the Underworld, and swung it down like a bolt of thunder. But Fingolfin sprang aside, and Grond rent a mighty pit in the earth, whence smoke and fire darted. Many times Morgoth essayed to smite him, and each time Fingolfin leaped away, as a 'lightning shoots from under a dark cloud; and he wounded Morgoth with seven wounds, and seven times Morgoth gave a cry of anguish, whereat the hosts of Angband fell upon their faces in dismay, and the cries echoed in the Northlands.

But at the last the King grew weary, and Morgoth bore down his shield upon him. Thrice he was crushed to his knees, and thrice arose again and bore up his broken shield and stricken helm. But the earth was all rent and pitted about him, and he stumbled and fell backward before the feet of Morgoth; and Morgoth set his left foot upon his neck, and the weight of it was like a fallen hill. Yet with his last and desperate stroke Fingolfin hewed the foot with Ringil, and the blood gashed forth black and smoking and filled the pits of Grond.

Thus died Fingolfin, High King of the Noldor, most proud and valiant of the Elven-kings of old. The Orcs made no boast of that duel at the gate; neither do the Elves sing of it, for their sorrow is too deep. Yet the tale of it is remembered still, for Thorondor King of Eagles brought the tidings to Gondolin, and to Hithlum afar off. And Morgoth took the body of the Elven-king and broke it, and would cast it to his wolves; but Thorondor came hasting from his eyrie among the peaks of the Crissaegrim, and he stooped upon Morgoth and marred his face. The rushing of the wings of Thorondor was like the noise of the winds of Manwë, and he seized the body in his mighty talons, and soaring suddenly above the darts of the Orcs he bore the King away. And he laid him upon a mountain-top that looked from the north upon the hidden valley of Gondolin; and Turgon coming built a high cairn over his father. No Orc dared ever after to pass over the mount of Fingolfin or draw nigh his tomb, until the doom of Gondolin was come and treachery was born among his kin. Morgoth went ever halt of one foot after that day, and the pain of his wounds could not be healed; and in his face was the scar that Thorondor made.

Great was the lamentation in Hithlum when the fall of Fingolfin became known, and Fingon in sorrow took the lordship of the house of Fingolfin and the kingdom of the Noldor; but his young son Ereinion (who was after named Gil-galad) he sent to the Havens.

 

[genjiZERO]

If anyone hasn't read Beowulf and the Critics I highly recommend it. It helps to see a lot of where he's coming from in terms of creating characters.

 

[Cheebo]

To this day The Hobbit remains my favorite tale in his massive epic of Middle Earth. What a wonderful story.

 

[Battle Born]

Awesome thread, I've been reading the Silmarillion and it's nice to have a place to discuss it, when I finish it.

 

[Watevaman]

Motivation to finish the Silmarillion right here.

 

[kharma45]

Can't wait to be rid of this dissertation and blitz the Tolkien books I've got sitting on my shelf.

Wonderful thread this.

 

[Edmond Dantès]

Oh, I also forgot to mention that I'm going to have a small blurb in there somewhere about Tolkien's new King Arthur book coming this year.

It really quite something that new Tolkien material is still being released many years after his death. Thank you Christopher Tolkien.

 

[ThoseDeafMutes]

Before I clicked the thread, I had to double check the "thread starter' column three times because I was sure it was going to be Edmond Dantes.

 

[Dmax3901]

So I've read The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion, but is The Children of Hurin any good as a book?

 

[whatsinaname]

I just realised the only hard copy from the Legendarium I own is The Silmarillion. (This one with the sleeve missing).

Any suggestions for some nice collector's editions?

 

[Edmond Dantès]

So I've read The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion, but is The Children of Hurin any good as a book?

It's more or less a more fleshed out version of the basic tale in The Silmarillion, combined with the more detailed account found in The Unfinished Tales. It's certainly worth reading even if you're familiar with The Silmarillion version.

 

[Loxley]

It really quite something that new Tolkien material is still being released many years after his death. Thank you Christopher Tolkien.

Most definitely, it's pretty exciting.

While I was figuring out what to include in the OP, it occurred to me that nearly each of the individual sections could have their own thread. Especially the in-progress Authors & Artists on Tolkien section, a lot has been written about the man.

 

[EdmondD]

Great thread. I love Tolkien. The Silmarillion is my favorite work by him.

 

[Candeldandel]

Hooray! It's finally here <3<3 I guess I should mention that The Hobbit was the first Tolkien book that I was introduced to (my mom read it to me when I was a kid), so it will always hold a special place for me, personally.

And Loxley, it looks awesome! I've got quite a few questions I've been compiling for a couple months, so I'm super excited to learn new Tolkien things!! EEE!

And now Edmond has another awesome thread to enrich, too

 

[ascii42]

Sometime soon, I'm going to re-read The Hobbit and LotR. Though I really should read Song of Ice and Fire first, as I've never read that.

 

[Suairyu]

OP is fantastic, but the image is too wide on 720p screens, making horizontal scrolling necessary to read the text.

Could you please reduce the thing a bit?

 

[BrokenEchelon]

Hey there subscription tool, I haven't had a use for you in a long while. Until now.

 

[Altazor]

Great OP, Loxley! It's finally here, and it's awesome

 

[Captain Tuttle]

I've been waiting for this thread, wonderful work Loxley. Thank you.

 

[Loxley]

OP is fantastic, but the image is too wide on 720p screens, making horizontal scrolling necessary to read the text.

Could you please reduce the thing a bit?

I can certainly make it smaller However I won't be able to until tomorrow, as I'm away from my PC until then (posting from my phone).

And thank you for all the compliments on the OP guys, it should be 100% complete by the end of this week, if not sooner.

 

[Little Old Man]

So it begins.

Wonderful OP, I'm certain to be picking up more Tolkein literature in the coming months!

 

[ItAintEasyBeinCheesy]

What I got.

 

[Edmond Dantès]

Potential topics to discuss;

The influences on Tolkien's Legendarium (lore, myths, life experiences)
The lack of religion in the Legendarium, but the obvious influences of certain themes
The origins of Tom Bombadil (Maia, Vala, Nature Spirit, A living embodiment of the Music of the Ainur)
The Balrog debate
Dragon origins
Free will in the Legendarium and Eru's creation of Melkor


Add more fellow Tolkien fans.

 

[EdmondD]

Legendary warriors and battles.

 

[Edmond Dantès]

Legendary warriors and battles.

A fellow Edmond, you sir have fine taste.

 

[ConfusingJazz]

My brother, my friend, and I got into a shouting match over exactly what Tom Bombadil was over Twilight Imperium last week. It then split into what the difference was between the Valar and Maiar were.

It was quite possibly the nerdiest thing I have ever done.

 

[Loxley]

*Quick update on the OP.*

- Reduced the size of the head banner image
- Added images to part 2
- Moved parts 3 & 4 to the second post, as the OP surpassed the 24,000 character limit

Legendary warriors and battles.

I have no problem pimping my favorite character from the Middle-Earth Legendarium; my main-man Glorfindel.

The guy was a total bad-ass. Not many could make the Witch King soil his loins.

"In his final stand, the Witch-King sat upon his black horse before us... As we rode forward, he realized that all hope is lost... His terrifying scream of rage sent the chills of winter to our spines as he turned and fled into the shadows... Earnur struck out to chase him down... But I then realized his power... We thought him as a powerful Black Númenórean but he was a Nazgûl... First of the nine and most fell of the servants of the Dark Lord Sauron... I put up my hand and call out for Earnur... Do not pursue him, he will not return to this land... Far off yet is his doom, and not by the hand of man will he fall."

For the record, I've always just been the camp that prefers to think of Glorfindell of Rivendell and Glorfindel of Gondolin as the same guy.

 

[Edmond Dantès]

My brother, my friend, and I got into a shouting match over exactly what Tom Bombadil was over Twilight Imperium last week.

It was quite possibly the nerdiest thing I have ever done.

What was the conclusion?

Maia? Vala? Nature Spirit? The Music of the Ainur embodied? Tolkien himself?

 

[ConfusingJazz]

What was the conclusion?

Maia? Vala? Nature Spirit? The Music embodied? Tolkien himself?

The end result was drunk, obviously. I think we agreed that the funnest idea was he was evil. The most logical ending was just a nature spirit whose true nature Tolkien hadn't figured out yet himself.

 

[Fou-Lu]

Glorfindel is a boss. I fully agree with him being my favorite Middle-Earth character.