The Complete Tolkien Companion

by J.E.A. Tyler, Kevin Reilly (Illustrator)

For all those who journey to Middle Earth, here is the complete guide to its lands, legends, histories, languages, and people. The Complete Tolkien Companion explains, translates, and links every single reference―names, dates, places, facts, famous weapons, even food and drink―to be found in J. R. R. Tolkien's world, which includes not only The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings but also The Simarillion and many other posthumously published works. A detailed explanation of the various Elvish writing systems, together with maps, charts, and genealogical tables, bring the remarkable genius of Tolkien and the unforgettable world and wonder of Middle Earth to life with focus and accuracy. First published in 1976, this is an indispensable accompaniment for anyone who embarks on the reading journey of a lifetime.

Genres: Fantasy, Reference, Fiction, High Fantasy, Science Fiction Fantasy, Novels, Writing

736 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1976

Reviews

[Care]

This is the ultimate one that I recommend. David Day has a good one as well but it's not as all encompassing as this faithful companion. This book is seriously the forgotten member of the Fellowship. 😂
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This book is an alphabetic encyclopedia of every person, place, event, and lore-tidbit Tolkien mentions in any work based in Middle-earth and his other stuff. An absolute must for forgetful Tolkien fanatics. Other series that deserve guidebooks? I'd love ones for Harry Potter, Witcher, and Nevernight! Those series have fascinating backstories, lots of characters and locations that I'd benefit from looking up in a book.

[Matthew Harvey]

Everyone must pay homage to the first world-builder. Amazing for anyone who loves the Lord of the Rings characters and Lore.

[Jennifer]

Ci sono libri che si leggono, e libri che si tengono accanto. Il grande libro di J.R.R. Tolkien appartiene senza dubbio alla seconda categoria. Non è solo una guida, ma un compagno di viaggio per chi, come me, torna continuamente nella Terra di Mezzo con lo stesso stupore della prima volta. Tyler riesce in un’impresa tutt’altro che semplice: dare ordine all’immensità del mondo tolkieniano senza svuotarlo della sua magia. Anzi, pagina dopo pagina, la magia si rafforza, perché tutto appare più chiaro, più profondo, più vivo. Ho apprezzato moltissimo l’attenzione riservata ai personaggi secondari, terre lontane, riferimenti storici che spesso restano sullo sfondo durante la lettura dei romanzi. È proprio lì che questo libro dà il meglio di sé, permettendo di cogliere quanto Tolkien avesse costruito un mondo coerente, stratificato, quasi reale. Non è una lettura da divorare tutta d’un fiato, ma un volume da aprire e richiudere, da consultare mentre si rilegge Il Signore degli Anelli o Il Silmarillion, o semplicemente da esplorare per il puro piacere di perdersi tra nomi, mappe e storie antiche. Ogni voce è un invito ad approfondire, a ricordare, a tornare. Per me, questo libro è diventato uno strumento prezioso: un ponte tra la narrazione e la comprensione profonda dell’opera di Tolkien. Lo consiglio a chi ama la Terra di Mezzo non solo come scenario di grandi avventure, ma come mito moderno, ricco di echi, memorie e significati che meritano di essere ascoltati con attenzione.

[Jen3n]

I'm pretty fond of this book. It is the height of my geekiness. It's an encyclopedia of words, places, families, and histories from the writings of JRR Tolkien. I'm interested in both useless knowledge and world-building, so this was right up my ally. Plus, of course, I really enjoyed reading the Lord of the Rings books when I was a little girl.

With this book I traced family lines and saw that Arwyn and Aragorn were direct cousins (ew). I read "lost" poems. I discovered the Hobbit holidays.

I didn't go so far as to lean Elvish, though. everyone has to draw a line somewhere.

In short, this little tome put me, for a little while, back into a comfortable old book-world from my childhood. It's worth four stars just for that.

[Lili P]

The information in this book is gold! I treasure it so much! It has everything I want to know and more!

[Garron]

Excellent encyclopedia to read alongside any of the Tolkien books. A few small characters appear to be missing, but I was able to cross refrence most of those without issues through other characters.

[Johan]

This book is the pinnacle of Tolkien information. It contains so much Lore and background information it's almost a must for every reader of Tolkien's Middle-Earth adventures. I have leafed through it a hundred, if not a thousand times and still grasp at it every time I need to look up some information that's crawling at the back of my mind. As a lover of Lore this book quenches and reignites my lust for knowledge again and again.

This is a fairly advanced version of the Companion that goes from the fact that you at least read the books and there aren't many alternatives to this book but for smaller children or people who get frustrated by the many references that will have you leaf though and through this book over and over again -> Tolkien: A Dictionary by David Day is a little more user friendly but also a little less informative.

[mirbass]

A "must" for any Tolkien fan, this reference book covers nearly all of the people, places, creatures, etc., found in Tolkien's works. I have found it especially helpful as I plow through The Silmarillion...

[Anne Mariane]

Dear LOTR fans, you must have this book!

[Jamie]

Basically a massive appendix to Tolkien's fictional universe. If you're a huge Tolkien fan you'll love this, if not skip this one.

[Abi Schuetze]

Exceptionally helpful. I would recommend this book to any Tolkien fan. You could always use wikipedia, but isn't a physical reference just so much more preferable?

[Esther]

Reading Tolkien can be daunting. This helps A LOT.

[Hannah Steenberg]

Love this book! One of the most valuable books on my bookshelf, it has ended many an argument! I can't express how valuable this book was to me the first time I read the series, I found myself flipping through just enjoying reading all the character background stories. So thankful that this book was written!

[Beth]

One is probably not intended to read this encyclopedic work cover to cover, but I did. I learned a lot about the details and history of Middle Earth before the War of the Ring through the constant repetition of things. In any case, this would be an excellent reference for anyone studying the other books.

[Ralph Laitres]

A must have book for those who enjoy reading and collecting the works of Tolkien.

It is a guide to Tolkien's Middle Earth legends, history, languages, and peoples.

The Companion contains every known fact, name, date, and etymological allusion from Middle Earth.... a must have.

[Charity U]

Excellent Tolkien companion! Delightful. :)

[Artnoose McMoose]

Encyclopedic knowledge about all things Arda. More as a reference than something to read cover-to-cover.

[Wendelle]

exhaustive

[Adam Carter]

Any questions you may have can be answered in this volume. Very detailed on common and rarely mentioned topics. Read it with any other Tolkien book to understand the harder to grasp things better.

[Scott Doherty]

"Middle-earth is a wonderful place, but you can get lost there"

It was back when i was first reading The lord of the rings nearly 20 years ago that my friend Az introduced me to The Tolkien Companion. He said it was like a Middle-earth encyclopedia with everything more that i wanted to know. It not only tells you epic character history's but gives the background of everything in Tolkien's world. every location, name, famous weapons and battles. it expands on The Silmarllon, The Hobbit, The lord of the Rings and Unfinished Tales. It has maps, family trees even food!

Its amazing reading about the things that happen to a character "off scene" if that makes scene. This book adds to the richness of Tolkien's story by pulling together all of the treads of his amazing tapestry,. It is worth buying if you are a fan and to me feels like the completion of the set. I may not use it each time i reread Tolkien's works but its there with added info and i have never failed to find something new each time i flick through it 20 years later.

[Lizzie]

I received this yesterday so have obviously only flicked through it (hence not setting a 'read' date) but it is a must-have for any nerdy Tolkien or Middle-Earth fan. It is quite addictive reading "just one more" entry, and I am really looking forward to my next reread of Lord of the Rings as I will have this book by my side to constantly look things up! It seems very comprehensive and the explanation in the Foreword about the author's approach (their sources of information, what they've left out etc) makes sense. It's a lovely book, too, nice cover and chapter headings. So although I can't really comment on the content itself in any detail, from what I've read so far I am very happy with it.

[Rossrn Nunamaker]

This is not a cover-to-cover read, but if there is a name or place in Middle-Earth, you will find it here.

Tyler does an excellent job of providing appropriate detail based on the significance of each entry.

I use this at times while reading one of his works and wanting more background and detail on a character or term. At other times, I may just want to take in a small bit of Tolkien so I'll pull out this book and randomly open to a page and read a few entries.

Considering the vast numbers of individuals, races, languages and terms, this Companion is very helpful as one can't possibly remember it all.

[Wiktoria]

Encyklopedia powstała przed wydaniem "Silmarillionu" i pozostałych książek z serii "Historia Śródziemia", więc hasła dotyczące Pierwszej Ery i wydarzeń opisanych w pośmiertnych tekstach Tolkiena są oparte wyłącznie na informacjach dostępnych we "Władcy Pierścieni" i "Hobbicie" oraz na domysłach autora na podstawie tych danych, które w większości przypadków nie znalazły potwierdzenia w później opublikowanych książkach z tolkienowskiego Legendarium. Natomiast hasła dotyczące "Władcy Pierścieni" i "Hobbita" są dosyć dokładne i stanowią szybką powtórkę tolkienowskiej wiedzy. Obecnie książka jest raczej ciekawostką niż niezbędnym elementem biblioteczki tolkienisty.

[Berin Kinsman]

It deserves more than a 4 even if it isn't a 5. This is a starting point if who just want a quick answer about people, places, or objects in Middle Earth and prefer to have a reference book instead of being terminally online looking at wikis. I am already annotating the hell out of mine with info from Tolkien's books and appendices, and other biographies and books on LOTR scholarship. It's a book that I will only make more useful over time.

[Paul Hebron]

Part of a collection of Tolkien books which were gifted to me. Reasonably thorough companion to JRR Tolkien's Middle Earth, at least to a non-expert eye. Made me want to revisit Middle Earth sometime in the near future. Very easy to digest, especially handy reading out sections to my 5 month old daughter when feeding.

[Rochelle]

I have seen and used many guides to Tolkien's worlds and works but this one remains my favourite. THE COMPLETE TOLKIEN COMPANION (as well as it's earlier incarnation: THE NEW TOLKIEN COMPANION) is by far the best and most thorough, detail-wise, that I have found.

A+++ and highly recommended.

[Eric Petro]

Quite comprehensive! I kept this handy when re-reading the Silmarillion recently, along with Karen Fonstad's Atlas of Middle Earth. I would have missed a lot of nuance without being able to quickly reference names, terms, etc. Highly recommend.

[Patricia]

Excellent resource!

[Jordan Maynard]

A very good helper for Tolkien fans

[Hannah Frome]

Indispensible for anyone reading beyond the core legendarium.