The Peoples of Middle-Earth

The History of Middle-Earth #12

by J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (Editor)

When J.R.R. Tolkien laid aside The Silmarillion in 1937 the extension of the originall 'mythology' into later Ages of the world had scarcely begun. It was in the Appendices to The Lord of the Rings that there emerged a comprehensive historical structure and chronology of the Second and Third Ages, embracing all the diverse strands that came together in the War of the Ring. The difficulty that he found in providing these Appendices, leading to the delay in the publication of The Return of the King, is well known, but in The Peoples of Middle-earth Christopher Tolkien shows that early forms of these works already existed years before, in essays and records differing greatly from the published forms. He traces the evolution of the Calendars, the Hobbit genealogies, the Westron language or Common Speach (from which many words and names are recorded that were afterwards lost), and the chronological structure of the later Ages.

Other writings by J.R.R. Tolkien are included in this final volume of The History of MIddle-earth, chiefly deriving from his last years, when new insights and new constructions still freely arose as he pondered the history that he had created. This book concludes with two soon-abandoned stories, both unique in the setting of time and place: The New Shadow in Gondor of the Fourth Age, and the tale of Tal-elmar, in which the coming of the dreaded Númenórean ships is seen through the eyes of men of Middle-earth in the Dark Years.

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Classics, Reference, High Fantasy, Epic Fantasy, Science Fiction Fantasy

482 pages, Paperback

First published September 2, 1996

About the author

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien: writer, artist, scholar, linguist. Known to millions around the world as the author of The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien spent most of his life teaching at the University of Oxford where he was a distinguished academic in the fields of Old and Middle English and Old Norse. His creativity, confined to his spare time, found its outlet in fantasy works, stories for children, poetry, illustration and invented languages and alphabets.

Tolkien’s most popular works, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings are set in Middle-earth, an imagined world with strangely familiar settings inhabited by ancient and extraordinary peoples. Through this secondary world Tolkien writes perceptively of universal human concerns – love and loss, courage and betrayal, humility and pride – giving his books a wide and enduring appeal.

Tolkien was an accomplished amateur artist who painted for pleasure and relaxation. He excelled at landscapes and often drew inspiration from his own stories. He illustrated many scenes from The Silmarillion, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, sometimes drawing or painting as he was writing in order to visualize the imagined scene more clearly.

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.

Tolkien was born in Bloemfontein, South Africa, in 1892 to English parents. He came to England aged three and was brought up in and around Birmingham. He graduated from the University of Oxford in 1915 and saw active service in France during the First World War before being invalided home. After the war he pursued an academic career teaching Old and Middle English. Alongside his professional work, he invented his own languages and began to create what he called a mythology for England; it was this ‘legendarium’ that he would work on throughout his life. But his literary work did not start and end with Middle-earth, he also wrote poetry, children’s stories and fairy tales for adults. He died in 1973 and is buried in Oxford where he spent most of his adult life.

Reviews

[Linda ~ they got the mustard out! ~ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Here we are at the end of all things.

Christopher finishes the HoME with a return to LOTR, of sorts. In specific, the Appendices and the various writings that shaped them, as well as giving us glimpses of two of Tolkien's attempts to writing more in Middle-earth in his later years.

There are some brief parts that I skipped, in particular "The Shibboleth of Fëanor" and the "Problem of Ros", which was a dissection of the various names of some of the elves and men in their various languages, and an examination of sorts of how those changed over time. Which could definitely be of interest, especially if you need to know this information, but it wasn't holding my interest at this time.

In writing the Appendices, and bemoaning his page limits for them, whatever those limits were, you can see how Tolkien went back to some of his earlier conceptions and tweaked them or expanded them, or discarded them, as he figured out what information was pertinent to understanding the events of LOTR. (All of it. All of the info was pertinent! But page limits, curse them, we hates them!) 😂 It's also apparent that if you've only read the Unfinished Tales and none of the HoME, you wouldn't see the various times that he realized he'd made mistaken assumptions with UT that didn't pan out once he had all of his father's writings and notes in front of him.

Of most interest to most, I would think, would be the two stories that Tolkien made very abrupt attempts at but never got further than a few pages. The one most know about: "The New Shadow", which would have taken place at some point after Aragorn's reign (and possibly after Eldarion's reign) as a new dark power rises. Tolkien eventually abandoned this, stating it was too depressing and would be only a thriller and not worth writing. (And while I agree with him, I don't doubt it would have been a thrilling thriller. What little there is hints at a lot.)

The other story I haven't heard about before, and that is "Tel-Elmar", which would have taken place when Sauron was still around and actually given us the perspective, at least in part, of the Easterlings or the Harad. It's a true shame this didn't get very far. Maybe Tolkien would have finally figured out whatever happened with the Blue Wizards. And it would have been a chance to show how the "enemy" of our "heroes" from LOTR would have put up their own resistance to Sauron, or even why some would have sided with Sauron because the Westrons weren't always the good guys. (One fault of the movies is that the only time you see humans among the enemy is when you see the Haradrim attacking Minas Tirith, so people who only watch the movies incorrectly label it racist. For whatever reason, they didn't have the Dunlanders working with Saruman at Helm's Deep.)

Along with various hobbit family trees (so much more fun than your own family trees, am I right?) and different versions of the stories and tales of years, there's also a rather detailed essay on how the various calendars worked (I still think we should adopt the Hobbit calendar in the real world; it just makes things so much simpler), how Tolkien "translated" the various names from Westron, his latest conception of Elven reincarnation (and was there only one Glorfindel or two), and other geektastic tidbits.

I'm glad I finally read these beyond the History of LOTR, but wow, it was a journey and I did wonder if I'd be able to make it at times. Other than War of the Jewels, these were mostly insightful and always intriguing to get a rare glimpse into the inner workings and evolution of one of the greatest storytellers of our time. And bravo to his son for his decades of dedication to this project. May they both rest is peace.

[Mitch · Rating 4 out of 5]

If any fantasy author claims to have created a better world than Tolkien, just slam all 12 copies of HoME down on the table and tell them to take a damn seat.

[Max · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this final installment of the History of Middle Earth series. This part mainly focuses on the appendices of the Lord of the Rings, so many of the favourite characters are in this volume. There was some problem with finishing the appendices in time when the Return of the King was published and when you read this book, it's apparent why. They're so detailed and there is a lot of it.

Great book, one of the better ones of the series. As always, only for hardcore Tolkien fanatics, it might be a bit boring for the casual reader.

[Ettelwen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Netušila jsem, že můžu Středozemi propadnout ještě víc.

[Kyriakos Sorokkou]

χρόνος ανάγνωσης κριτικής: 1 λεπτό και 33 δευτερόλεπτα

Ο Τόλκιν ήταν τελειομανής μέχρι αηδίας που όσο ήταν εν ζωή έκδωσε
σε μορφή βιβλίου μόλις 2 μυθιστορήματα (Χόμπιτ,
Ο άρχοντας των δαχτυλιδιων),
3 διηγήματα Ο γεωργός ο Γίλης απ' το Χαμ,
Ο αγρότης ο Τζάιλς απ' το χωριό, Το φύλλο και το δέντρο)
και 1 ποιητική συλλογή (Οι περιπέτειες του Τομ Μπομπαντίλ)

Το 1977, 4 χρόνια μετά τον θάνατό του ο γιος του Κρίστοφερ
έκδωσε σε μορφή βιβλίου τους κύριους μύθους από την Πρώτη Εποχή
της μυθολογίας του σΤο Σιλμαρίλλιον. 
3 χρόνια αργότερα (1980) μύθοι που δεν συμπεριλήφθηκαν στο Σιλμαρίλλιον
εκδόθηκαν ως Ατέλειωτες ιστορίες.

Το 1983 θα ξεκινήσει ο Κρίστοφερ Τόλκιν να εκδίδει την Ιστορία της Μέσης-γης,
κάτι που θα ολοκληρωθεί με τον 12ο τόμο το 1996.

Συνοψίζοντας, κάποιος το 1974 διαβάζοντας το Χόμπιτ και τον Άρχοντα
και ήθελε να μάθει περισσότερα για τους μύθους της Μέσης-γης,
ο μόνος τόπος για αυτό ήταν να διαβάσει τα Παραρτήματα του Άρχοντα
(με τα οποία ασχολείται αυτός ο τόμος).
Κάποιος το 1979 διαβάζοντας το Χόμπιτ και τον Άρχοντα,
αν ήθελε να μάθει περισσότερα για τους μύθους της Μέσης-γης
θα έπρεπε να διαβάσει το Σιλμαρίλιον,
ενώ κάποιος το 1982 θα διάβαζε και τις Ατέλειωτες Ιστορίες.

Μέχρι το 2006 ο ίδιος κάποιος μπορούσε να διαβάσει επιπλέον
και την 12τομη Ιστορία της Μέσης-γης την οποία τέλειωσα προχθές,
μετά από 1 χρόνο και κάτι μήνες ανάγνωσης.
Ένα δύσκολο εγχείρημα που δεν συστήνω.

Από το 2007 μέχρι το 2022 έχουν εκδοθεί άλλα 5 βιβλία που ασχολούνται
με την Ιστορία της Μέσης-γης:
3 μεταφρασμένα και στα Ελληνικά (Τα παιδιά του Χούριν,
Μπέρεν και Λούθιεν, Η Πτώση της Γκοντόλιν)
και 2 αμετάφραστα για την ώρα στα Ελληνικά: (Η φύση της Μέσης-γης
και Η πτώση του Νούμενορ).

Διαβάζοντας μαζί με το Σιλμαρίλλιον και τις Ατέλειωτες Ιστορίες
τα προαναφερθέντα 5 βιβλία έχεις διαβάσει το 80%
της ακαδημαϊκά δυσνόητης Ιστορίας της Μέσης-γης.

Από το υπόλοιπο 20% το μισό αποτελείται από τα 2 ημιτελή
μυθιστορήματα του Τόλκιν: Ο Χαμένος Δρόμος
και Τα έγγραφα του Νόσιον Κλάμπ που σχετίζονται με την 2η εποχή,
όπως και 2 ημιτελή διηγήματα: το Ταλ-Έλμαρ όπου βλέπουμε
την άφιξη των Νουμενόριανς στην Μέση-γη από την οπτική γωνιά
μιας πρωτόγονης φυλής και την Νέα Σκιά, που διαδραματίζεται
στην 4η εποχή και είναι ουσιαστικά ένα ανολοκλήρωτο σίκουελ για τον Άρχοντα.

Το υπόλοιπο μισό του 20% που δεν υπάρχει εκτός Ιστορίας της Μέσης-γης,
είναι οι ατέλειωτες σημειώσεις και σχολιασμοί του Κρίστοφερ Τόλκιν
που επαναλαμβάνονται με σισύφεια επανάληψη,
καθώς και δοκίμια γλωσσολογικής, φιλοσοφικής, και κοσμολογικής φύσεως
του Τόλκιν που αφορούν τους πολύ λίγους.

Τελειώνοντας αυτή τη σειρά ένα έχω να πώ:
διαβάστε τα 7 προαναφερθέντα βιβλία αν καίγεστε όπως εγώ να μάθετε
για τους μύθους της Μέσης-γης και αφήστε την 12τομη ιστορία
σε περίπτωση που θέλετε να κάνετε μεταπτυχιακό ή διδακτορικό στον Τόλκιν.

[Neil R. Coulter · Rating 5 out of 5]

And here we are: the final volume of the History of Middle-Earth. For this last entry, Christopher Tolkien goes back to the Lord of the Rings, showing his father's development of what became the Appendices. I remember after finishing the four volumes of the History of the Lord of the Rings (volumes 6-9 of the History of Middle-Earth) feeling that it didn't seem quite finished. The History of the Lord of the Rings felt weighted heavily to the side of Tolkien's beginning of the story, with a rushed, incomplete account of the finishing. So I was happy to go back, in Volume 12, to the finishing touches of the Lord of the Rings. Also, it happens that there are a lot of fascinating details in the writing and revising of the Appendices (though others in my family did not always share my excitement about the ways that Tolkien translated Hobbit names into the published form).

The middle of the book, with a long section on phonological changes in Quenya and Sindarin, was a bit of a slog for me. Interesting as a reference for Tolkien's linguistic creation, but not as engrossing (for me at this time, at least) for simply reading start to finish.

I'd hoped that the end of the book would include some kind of reflections from Christopher, looking back over his own journey through the decades he's worked on his father's unpublished material. I would've enjoyed even a brief Afterword, something of a "Here's what it feels like to be at the end of this project." But no, there's nothing like that; the book just ends. In some ways Christopher has shown himself to be rather unsentimental (though one might suggest that the entire History project is thoroughly sentimental). But the last section of the book brings me back to what attracted me to Middle-Earth to begin with: not phonology, geography, or calendars, but story. My interest in digging deeper into Tolkien's creative process got me through many pages of detail about minute changes to maps, the logic behind linguistic choices, changes in the numbers of days in each month for different peoples of Middle-Earth, and so forth. But I first loved Middle-Earth because of the stories. And so I think it's beautiful that the History series concludes with two unfinished stories--one from after the death of Aragorn, and one from earlier, when the Numenoreans were landing on the western shores of Middle-Earth. I liked seeing that even at the end of his life, Tolkien himself was pushing out the borders of the storytelling, finding new places to learn about and new narrative perspectives on the history of his subcreation.

This has been a wonderful journey through the development of Middle-Earth. Parts of the books I'll go back to occasionally, and I do think I will someday read through the entire series again.

[Mary Catelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is more about the writing of The Lord of the Rings -- to be more precise, of its Appendices. It fares wide and far over the whole of Middle-Earth. From scraps about making Celerimbor a descendant of Feanor, which made it necessary to work out which of his sons married, to Tolkien working out the "original" hobbit names that were "translated" to the forms in LOTR, down to the solemn observation that "Lobelia" is merely his best guess as to the flower she was named after. Ideas he played with, such as the question of whether Tar-Miriel was unwilling to marry Ar-Pharazon, and the story where one of Feanor's twin sons died at the Burning of the Ships.

[Michael Joosten · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Peoples of Middle-earth was the first volume of the HoME I bought with my own money--indeed, the first Tolkien book I bought with my own money, having previously subsisted off the books my Dad owned or what the local library offered. Of the HoME volumes I had not yet encountered, it was the most interesting--at least in its final pages, where it was like an addendum to Unfinished Tales, which might just be the best posthumous book by Tolkien (depends on my mood, but it'd be a real difficult choice deciding if it was that or the 77 Silm going to a desert island "if I could only take one").

In event, the third or so of the book that follows the history of the Appendices doesn't disappoint, and the History of the Appendices, which sounds like something only a Tolkien fan who drinks ALL the Kool-Aid would love, is something this Tolkien fan-who-does-indeed-drink-all-the-Kool-Aid does, indeed, love.

This volume is arguably the first, and only, one of the HoME to add things about the Third Age that can be taken as canon--things cut from the Appendices: the Boffin and Bolger genealogies, more "true Westron" names, the genealogy of the House of Dol Amroth. The essays, "Of Dwarves and Men" and "The Shibboleth of Fëanor" are, despite their incomplete states, too good to have been left out of Unfinished Tales, and "The New Shadow" and "Tal-Elmar" would be worth the price of admission alone.

There is a potential for great sadness reaching the end of The Peoples of Middle-earth, for though the proverbial wastebasket is not quite emptied when you get there, this is the last of the major bits of new material on Middle-earth (SPOILER: I am REALLY excited to see what's in "The Nature of Middle-earth"). It doesn't just wrap up the project started in 1982, but the project started in 1977: The Silmarillion was the true "first volume" of the HoME, the sine qua non of the series. After Tal-Elmar's shores, Christopher Tolkien brings no more new Middle-earth to us: there are some repackagings and some non-Middle-earthen pieces, but the works of Arda, the works generated and inhabited by "Elvish and Gnomish" are here wrapped up.

But--and maybe this is how conditioned I am by Tolkien, that I think this way--this doesn't feel like a heartbreak to me. Instead, there is a dwindling, a fading, and it seems fitting to me that the last "new Middle-earth" I had is a tale in which the Eldar are only a rumour and in which the fictional languages are not Quenya or Sindarin or Adûnaic but some unlovely names belonging to a forgotten tribe of the Dark Years. It is fitting, after twelve volumes, that it doesn't end in narrative, but in a narrative that dwindles to speculation and outline, and that it is endcapped finally by Christopher Tolkien's numbered footnotes.

[Carlos Bennett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Uno de mis favoritos de la serie. Probablemente porque complementa los Apéndices (que son uno de mis textos favoritos), y porque tiene los únicos textos de la cuarta edad, posteriores al Señor de los Anillos. De verdad una joya.

Reflexión general sobre los 12 volúmenes de "La historia de la Tierra Media". Mucho se ha dicho de que gran parte del valor de El Señor de Anillos está en la sensación que Tolkien crea de que hay algo más grande detrás: una mitología. Se mencionan a la pasada personajes, historias, canciones que aluden a algo más grande, algo que está bosquejado en el Silmarillion. Pero pese a que Tolkien es uno de los más grandes influenciadores en la historia, esto en realidad no logra funcionar de la misma manera en nadie más.

Si se mencionan nombres o historias antiguas a la pasada, que no están desarrolladas en ninguna parte y que no están incluidas en el arco mayor, la mitología se siente pobre, antojadiza, puesta ahí para espesar un poco un mundo que en verdad es liviano. Si la historia-marco por el contrario se cuenta en un libro con todo detalle (como lo que hizo GRR Martin con Fire and Blood, o las precuelas de DUNE, etc)... pues deja de ser mitología. Pasa a ser más historia.
En Tolkien, uno sabe que hay un mundo pensado tanto al detalle como también en sus grandes arcos, pero además es un mundo que no está totalmente definido: esta descrito en cientos de manuscritos, algunos que se contradicen, con nombres que cambian, sutiles diferencias en la historia, detalles anotados a pie de página... es un verdadero mito, al que solo se puede acceder por los trabajos de arqueología que hizo Christopher Tolkien. Esto puede ser un poco extra-literario (o meta-literario), pero es parte de las circunstancias irrepetibles que convierten al mundo de Tolkien en lo que es. Es magia.

[Sam · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection of tales and notes adds to the background of each of the main races and peoples of Middle Earth from Hobbits to Orcs as well as tales of individual stories and fireside tales. As ever there is plenty of commentary and notes to accompany each section which I did find disruptive and again would have preferred to the back of the book so I could refer to them when I was ready but again many may not have an issue with this. Despite this though Tolkien's huge imagination comes through in leaps and bounds as you find out more about the family trees, origins and history of the People of Middle Earth.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m not going to lie, I struggled with the beginning of this one, the language and family tree developments have never been my favorites, or the calendars and dating discrepancies, BUT by the second half of Part I, when more stories started mingling in with that info then it really picked up for me. So if you are also lagging with this one, it does pick up!

And with this one, I can officially say I have finished all of The Histories Of Middle Earth! Whew!

[Jeremy Raper · Rating 3 out of 5]

For serious Tolkienites only. This is more like a history book on Middle Earth, and is not similar to The Hobbit or The LOTR.

[Matias Cerizola · Rating 4 out of 5]

Los Pueblos De La Tierra Media.- J.R.R. Tolkien

"Pero los días se oscurecían en la Tierra Media, a medida que el poder de Sauron se acrecentaba, y en Mordor la Torre Oscura de Barad-dûr se erguía, más alta cada día y más fuerte. Y aunque Aragorn y Arwen se encontraban a veces, pasaban sus días separados. Pues se aproximaba la época de la Guerra del Anillo y el final de esa edad del mundo…"

Los Pueblos De La Tierra Media es la novena y última entrega de la serie de libros editados por Christopher Tolkien, en dónde se presenta de forma cronológica y se analizan los escritos no publicados de John referidos a la Tierra Media.

En esta oportunidad Christopher nos comparte los últimos escritos de su padre, incluyendo mucha data sobre la concepción del prólogo de El Señor De Los Anillos, cómo de sus apéndices; árboles genealógicos de los hobbits; la historia de Aragorn y Arwen; un ensayo sobre los enanos; y entre muchas otras cosas, un cuento inconcluso titulado La Nueva Sombra que transcurre en la Cuarta Edad, posterior al Señor De Los Anillos. Sin dudas esta entrega está dentro de las más interesantes de la serie.

Párrafo parroquial: este es el último libro de la extensa lectura conjunta que comenzó en el año 2019 e incluía la lectura completa del canon de La Tierra Media, sumando en total 24 libros que, aunque atrasado casi un año del esquema original, tuve el placer de leerlos todos. Gracias a @fisicalectora por organizar está locura, y también a todas las personas lindas que conocí por esta LC y que con algunas de ellas sigo interactuando como el primer día.

🤘🤘🤘🤘

PD: todavía queda mucho más Tolkien por leer y releer.

[Hana]

I'm not the kind of Tolkien fan who feels the need to read every word the man ever wrote, but there are some really interesting gems to be found in his peripheral writings that add a lot of nuance to the 'canonical' works.

This is the last volume of the History of Middle Earth set and seems to mop up some of the last bits that Christopher Tolkien couldn't fit in anywhere else, so I understand it's more fragmentary than some of the other volumes. I picked this one up because it has a lot of the interesting colonialiam bits - I must admit to skimming/outright skipping over some of the bits on timeline, family trees, etc which I just don't really care about, but the story of Tal-Elmar was super interesting and really complicates the picture of the Numenoreans. Similarly the idea that the Dunlendings were hostile to the Numenoreans because they destroyed their forests, not just because they were primitive savages, is important context that I feel like the Peter Thiel-types who claim to be Tolkien superfans would do well to understand...

[Michael Pryor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unparalleled, unmistakable, unsurpassed.

[Taylor Simpson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is it, at long last. After literally years of reading this series (off and on--it doesn't actually take years to read it), I've finally closed the last page of the final volume: the twelfth book in the History of Middle-earth series--The Peoples of Middle-earth (PMe).

Before talking about this specific volume, the unfamiliar may appreciate a brief rundown on what the HoMe series consists of. (Those already familiar can skip down to the 'OVERVIEW COMPLETE' line.)

The premise of this series is essentially J.R.R. Tolkien’s son, Christopher, publishing the notes of his father in such a way as to show readers the progression and development of the mythology and tales of his legendarium. He started drafting what would later be known as The Silmarillion far back in the days before he even knew what a hobbit was, and worked on this larger, grander work off and on literally into the last month of his life. As a result, he left behind REAMS of notes and jottings and scribbles and letters and everything in between, spanning decades of thoughts and reconsiderations and re-reconsiderations concerning both the older myths as well as the most prominent and complete work of The Lord of the Rings. As a labor of love, Christopher Tolkien endeavored to sift through, sort, and organize (to the best of his ability) all of this information and attempt to publish it as a kind of literary history of it all (hence the title of the series).

So, the HoMe series is BASICALLY a collection of drafts of stories that we have published more fully and completely elsewhere–namely, The Silmarillion and The Lord of the Rings. I repeat this to emphasize the fact that its target audience is not only incredibly small, but also incredibly singular in their interests. THIS STUFF IS NOT FOR PEOPLE WHO JUST CASUALLY LIKE THE LORD OF THE RINGS (movies or book). Now, that isn’t to ‘gatekeep’ or anything–it’s just an attempt at honesty. Even as someone who LOVES Tolkien’s work and reads The Silmarillion for fun annually, some of the HoMe is quite dry and even boring–admittedly, I skipped a few sections here and there! That’s just how detailed and meticulous the Tolkien offspring was in compiling his father’s notes: it’s even too much for some hardcore fans!

However, HoMe does have an audience and I find myself numbered among them. Over the course of the last several years I have picked my way through this series very slowly, relative to my undying love for Tolkien’s work and the veracity with which I have devoured his more completed stuff. Nonetheless, I’ve set my face towards finishing the series and the end of the tunnel is in sight! (The inevitable, and likely much quicker, re-read is also in sight!)

-----OVERVIEW COMPLETE-------

The twelfth (and final) volume of the series is much of the same as the previous ones, but that also implies a certain amount of the new and unexpected! Interestingly, after exploring the later writings and development of the Silmarillion material in the last two books, this final one jumps back to The Lord of the Rings to examine the development of things like that book's Prologue and Appendices. As with much of the HoMe series, this section is pretty straightforward: quite a bit of repetition of information as various drafts are scrutinized and compared, but there is also a ton of little tidbits of intrigue scattered throughout that are so fun to discover and consider. Tolkien left very few stones of his own crafting unturned. Everything from the Prologue to the information in the Appendices about the languages, calendars, family trees, and 'Tale of Years' annals were all deeply considered and re-considered in the course of their creation. This comprises well over half the volume.

In the last half of the book, as with the other, latter volumes of the series, we are treated to a variety of smaller essays and unfinished stories relating to various aspects of Middle-earth that Tolkien was still pondering in his last few years of life. There's an essay relaying details about the history of the relation between Dwarves and Men (and their languages in particular); another essay reveals that one of the main feuds and conflicts of the entire legendarium was actually greatly influenced by the alteration of one phonetic minutia--of course it would be!; and the last few chapters of parts two and three deal with the origins and life details of some prominent secondary characters (like Glorfindel, Cirdan, and Galadriel).

Finally, in maybe the most interesting part of the book, the last section contains the only extant writings of a potential sequel to LotR(!). Called The New Shadow, this partial first chapter indicates the beginnings of more of a political thriller story, seemingly, set roughly 100 years after the end of the prior novel. Tolkien never made any significant advancement on this work, and likely stopped because he didn't like the direction in which it was heading (as indicated by his letters on the matter). Utterly fascinating stuff, and a terrific way to round out the HoMe series (even though there is one unrelated chapter after this sequel draft).

In the final analysis, the more I've read of the HoMe series, the more I've fallen in love with it. The early volumes, when I was less familiar with the subject matter and the style of Christopher Tolkien’s documentary approach to it, were more of a slog to get through at times. Of course, there are slower and less interesting parts of the latter volumes, but there are also so many more unique gems of Tolkienian information to be mined from their pages. I won’t go so far as to say these are perfect books, or that every Tolkien fan ‘needs’ to read them, but they are so extraordinary, and I doubt there are many (if any) literary projects quite like them. I recommend any hardcore Tolkien fan with a good deal of patience to take a look at these volumes if they have a chance.

[Tommy Grooms · Rating 5 out of 5]

Much of the final volume of the History of Middle-earth series shows Tolkien at his niggling zenith, as he works out timelines and linguistic history in an attempt to make his work a cohesive whole. Most of the history consists of minor developments that aren't inherently interesting (other than showing the kind of strain he was under in finalizing the appendices of The Lord of the Rings), but his linguistic work in this volume demonstrates better than any other how much Tolkien's philology drove his storytelling. His final writings include an abortive sequel showing the rise of a new orkish cult and a tale showing the arrival of the Numenorians from the eyes of the men of Middle-earth: both woefully short. It's bittersweet to finish the last of Tolkien's Middle-earth material on Tolkien Reading Day, and I can only express awe at the size and scope of his legendarium.

[Josh Shearer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tolkien is classic. Compiled by his son Christopher, J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Peoples of Middle Earth" gives an interesting look at the cities and races present in Middle-Earth. A wonderful collection of facts, short stories, and interesting data to help any fan glean a little bit more about their beloved elves, dwarves, humans, trolls, or whomever else in whom they express interest.

[Zachames · Rating 5 out of 5]

With every new Tolkien volume I read, it becomes more and more apparent that he was not simply a fantasy author but one of those rare artists whose art seems to have a soul all its own.

[Ryan Creech · Rating 5 out of 5]

how tf do you read this

[Glorfindel · Rating 5 out of 5]

The story of how I came back is very interesting

[Craig Childs · Rating 3 out of 5]

J.R.R. Tolkien continued to modify his legendarium until his death in 1973. The 12th and final volume of The History of Middle-Earth curates his late-stage writings and concludes Christopher Tolkien's "literary excavation" of his father's life's work.

I. Prologue and Appendices

Two-thirds of this book is devoted to the evolution of the Prologue and appendices. (Due to space limitations, it includes no drafts of Appendix E: Writing and Spelling.) Several key conceptions emerged as Tolkien wrote the appendices:

The final names of the three Eldar divisions becomes Vanyar, Noldor, and Teleri.

When Aragorn, descended in long line from Eärendil, weds Arwen in the third union of Men and Elves, the lines of all the Kings of the Eldar -- Ingwë, Finwë, and Olwë and Elwë-- are united. Since Lúthien was, through her mother Melian, descended also from the Mayar, the people of the Valar, the line contains divine blood.

Galadriel is Fëanor's niece. (She joined him in the Exile but then opposed him after the kinslaying at Alqualondë because her mother was Teleri.)

Elrond became Galadriel’s son-in-law when he married her daughter Celebrian. (Arwen spent much time with her grandmother in Lothlorièn, which is why she did not meet Aragorn during his childhood in Rivendell.)

The Noldor adopt Sindarin, the language of the Gray Elves, when they returned to Middle Earth in exile. Their previous language Quenya is reserved only for formal occasions and written lore.

The Common Speech is derived from the language of Men. It is based not on Adunaic but the language spoken by men of the western shore when the Númenorean kings crossed the sea in the Second Age.

Publishers cut the Bolger and Boffin family trees out of Appendix C: Family Trees (Hobbits). Presumably they felt including genealogies of the “minor” hobbits was overkill.

II. "The New Shadow"

This is a 9-page opening to a sequel set in in the 105th year of the Fourth Age. A new mysterious evil, possibly with ties to the old Númenorean rebellion, is arising in the east among the Haradrim… This is woefully bad. Thank goodness Tolkien realized this and abandoned this project quickly.

III. Late Writings (1968-1973)

These later writings contradict established canon in many places (Tolkien's memory was not as retentive as it once was), but nonetheless they contain much of interest to fans:

"The Shibboleth of Fëanor" uniquely illustrates Tolkien's creative process which often derived stories out of consideration of phonology. This begins as an essay explaining why Elves replaced the ƥ in Quenya with s. This leads to discussion of Fëanor's anger towards his mother Miriel after she abandoned Finwë, which in turn fuels his ultimate rejection of the Valar.

One question has puzzled readers for decades: Why did Arwen have to die? Why could she not sail to Valinor after the death of her husband Aragorn, maybe on the same ship with Legolas? Tolkien supplies three different (but not necessarily mutually exclusive) explanations:

1. Elves can only die of wounds and deep grief. Arwen gave her heart wholly to her husband and so died of heartbreak when he passed.

2. The Half-elven could only have immortality as long as their forefather Elrond remained in Middle Earth. When he departed, Arwen had to make a one-time irrevocable choice between sailing to the Undying Lands or becoming mortal.

3. Immortality was tied to the power of the Three Rings. When the One Ring was destroyed, the Three Rings lost their potency. Thus, any elf who remained behind in Middle Earth became was destined to eventually die.

One of Tolkien's changing conceptions over time was Galadriel's role in the Exile of the Noldor. He establishes with finality that she fell under the Doom of Mandos and was barred from returning to Valinor. However, she was pardoned at the end of the First Age because of her aid in fighting Morgoth. Of course, she refused the pardon and remained in Middle-Earth until the final defeat of Sauron.

Tolkien provides a sixth variant of the prophecy that Turin will return at the end of days to smite Morgoth forever. I wish Christopher had retained this in Silmarillion. It is similar to the role of Heimdall at Ragnarok.

Tolkien establishes that Glorfindel of Gondolin, who slew a balrog, is reborn as the same Glorfindel that rescues Frodo in the Third Age.

As a rule, Christopher Tolkien took great pains to enforce consistency across his father’s published works. However, he allowed one significant continuity error to persist. Gandalf explicitly establishes the ancestry of the White Tree of Gondor when Aragorn finds the new sapling. Each successive tree is planted from a seedling of the former, so:

Telperion of Valinor → Celeborn of Tol Eressëa → Nimloth of Númenor → White Tree of Gondor.

In Silmarillion, an extra generation is added between Telperion and Celeborn. This is Galathilion of Túna. This tree is not a seedling from Valinor, but rather it is created in the image of Telperion, breaking the physical genetic line. This latter conception was J.R.R. Tolkien's wish. It was only a proofreading mistake that he did not catch the omission in Return of the King.

3 stars.

[Richard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like most of the books in this series, the twelfth and last volume in The History of Middle-earth is strictly for Tolkien enthusiasts—even more so than some of the others, in fact, as most of The Peoples of Middle-earth is concerned with the writing of the Prologue and Appendices to The Lord of the Rings: a supplement to material already supplementary. Unless you already live and breathe that material, it is rather difficult to see how Tolkien's extensive revisions and excisions led to their finally published version: there are a lot of trees and I found myself wishing that Christopher Tolkien had taken a step back now and then to give us a clearer sense of the wood. Deciding on a reading strategy - perhaps skimming through the Prologue and Appendices of the published Lord of the Rings in advance, or at least having them to hand - might be advisable to get the best out of this section. I found the expanded information on the real names of hobbits to be the most interesting part here.

The miscellaneous writings that make up the second part of the book are also quite hard work, especially in the linguistic and geneological focus of "The Shibboleth of Fëanor" and "The Problem of Ros", but the insights into Dwarvish history and culture given by the essay "Of Dwarves and Men", and the snippets about Glorfindel and Círdan the Shipwright are intriguing. Rather than providing a sustained series of major revelations, though, the volume as a whole feels like a mine of nuggets of Middle-earth trivia-treasure that need some effort to tease out. If you really want to know 1) how long Sméagol had the Ring; 2) which of the races of Middle-earth liked mushrooms; 3) what the seven clans of the dwarves were called; or 4) what Celebrimbor's ancestry was, then this is the book for you. Answers below! Readers who have also seen the recent Amazon Rings of Power series may also be glad to know that, whether or not you like what they did with it, its creators certainly seem to have done some extensive reading in the depths of Tolkien's back-catalogue:

That Olórin, as was possible for one of the Maiar, had already visited Middle-earth [before the Third Age] ... is likely, but nothing is said of this. (p. 381)

The book closes with two unfinished drafts. The first, "The New Shadow", is the beginning of Tolkien's attempt to write a sequel to The Lord of the Rings, abandoned (probably wisely, in my view); the second, "Tal-Elmar", written from the perspective of one of the Wild Men in the Second Age, feels a little like Smith of Wootton Major in style—it's a pity that Tolkien did not finish it.

With this volume, then, I have finally finished The History of Middle-earth, fourteen years after starting it, and 33 years after purchasing the first volume in the series! It is certainly a prodigious feat of scholarship, occasionally exhausting, but well worth reading for any committed Tolkien fan. I imagine that I might skim through the best bits again in future, although a cover-to-cover re-read is unlikely.

1) Tolkien starts off with Gollum having the Ring for nearly 2,400 years, but by the publication of The Lord of the Rings this has been whittled down to less than 500.
2) Hobbits end up being the only folks who eat mushrooms, although Tolkien flirted with the idea of having the Drúedain like them, too.
3) Longbeards, Broadbeams, Firebeards, Ironfists, Stiffbeards, Blacklocks, and Stonefoots.
4) "Like Gil-galad, Celebrimbor was a figure first appearing in The Lord of the Rings whose origin my father changed again and again" (p. 317). The History of Middle-earth in a nutshell!

[Milo · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is curious to end this volume, and so this entire history, on ‘Tal-Elmar’, one of the least representative (and most obscure) of Tolkien’s unpublished stories. Perhaps stranger still given the proximity of ‘The New Shadow’ – the barely-started sequel to The Lord of the Rings – that would surely be a tantalizing finish for the history of an unfinished mythology. But perhaps that decision was intentional; perhaps Christopher wished not to imply that ‘The New Shadow’ was the final incompletion of his father, and a sign of a future not to be. Instead, we must face ‘Tal-Elmar’, one of two Tolkien stories told from the Easterling perspective, existing quite outside the precise historical narrative of Middle-earth. If ‘The New Shadow’ implies a wholly new (and unknowable) horizon, ‘Tal-Elmar’ looks back on what we now consider familiar – on the substance excavated by Christopher for the past quarter-century – and finds even there such deep pits yet undug. These late volumes of the History concern this feeling frequently: on the half-sketched potential of a world necessarily outgrowing its maker; of a man whose ideas seemed increasingly to outnumber both his capacity and his productivity. We are left with so many allusions, pointing this way and that. A man simultaneously attempting to write himself out of difficult metaphysical corners, while simultaneously adding (often considerably) to the material as it exists; and – in the case of ‘Tal-Elmar’ – adding yet more difficult questions. How are the Easterlings to be expressed from within? How are the Númenóreans to be expressed from without? Much as with his late disquisitions on Orcs, Tolkien threatens to unravel his mythology by complicating it; every new furrow cut requires in its wake yet more thinking on the very basis of its cutting. But it is a gratifying order in which to work: to begin philologically, extend narratively, and at last justify metaphysically. As though one cannot begin with abstract fundamentals without first giving these fundamentals the attachment of reality. For the world to be understood, first it must exist.

[Nonethousand Oberrhein · Rating 4 out of 5]

Shibboleths and family trees
The last of the twelve volumes of the JRR Tolkien’s writing collection curated by his son Christopher takes us in the labyrinthic pages of the Lord of the Rings appendices. Through annals, linguistic essays and family trees the reader will have to keep his bearing, following the stylistic choices and understanding the creative process that boiled down to the published material. A final glimpse into the Fourth Age and a new impending doom for the human race reveals a new, unexplored direction to follow for our Middle-earth fantasies.

Here below my reviews to the previous volumes of the History of Middle-earth:
Vol.1: Sit down and listen
Vol.2: Heroics of a young author
Vol.3: The poet of Middle-earth
Vol.4: Sketches and Annals of the First Age
Vol.5: A glimpse of Númenor
Vol.6: When Trotter led the way
Vol.7: From Rivendell to Rohan
Vol.8: How the King returns
Vol.9: The eagles will always come at the end
Vol.10: Life, Death and Arda in-between
Vol.11: Understanding Silmarillion

[Derek · Rating 2 out of 5]

Admission: the whole reason I sought this this out was the ten pages of "The New Shadow", a Lord of the Rings sequel that never got off the ground. It was at the end of the volume and boy did I have to work for it, encountering again the reaction I had when first attempting The Silmarillion some thirty-odd years ago: "WTF have I gotten myself into?"

This is a scholarly analysis with an archaeological bent: Christopher Tolkien sometimes qualifies manuscripts based on the scrap paper it was done on, or the newsprint it was wrapped in, or even a characterization of the typewriter used. It's a deep, biblical-scale effort to extract meaning out of every word and to present the differences and homework to the reader, who had darn well better care about all of it.

The overall impression is that the scale of the legendarium is absolutely breathtaking, but on the side of it is the dark question about how Tolkien the Elder spent time crafting the phonology of Quenya, for instance, concerned with apparent contradictions introduced in the language over the course of his decades of doing this stuff. It is absolute minutia, and you wonder what it would be like if Tolkien had spent that time polishing and finishing the astonishing stories that Christopher Tolkien had to panel-beat into shape for later publication.

No, I didn't read the notes. My eye did catch on a reference to H Rider Haggard in one, but I couldn't figure out how it figured into the topic.

Can you image devoting your professional life to the organization and interpretation of your father's voluminous output?

[Henry Watson · Rating 4 out of 5]

History of Middle Earth is quite a journey. Across 12 volumes it is part expanded lore, part commentary, and part unconventional biography. It is a unique look into the mind of one of the world’s great authors. This final volume largely concerns the development of the appendices to The Lord of the Rings, alongside additional writings from the final years of Tolkien’s life. There are certainly insights to be gleaned here, especially concerning the nature of dwarves, which cannot be found elsewhere. I was personally fascinated by Tolkien’s extended commentary presenting himself (fictionally) as a translator of the Lord of the Rings and other works from their original language into our English. It’s a mad, wild notion that deepened my understanding and appreciation of how this remarkable author saw Middle Earth. There is also tantalizing new material on the history of the kingdom of Arnor, and the wars with the Witch-King of Angmar early in the Third Age. The snippet of the late story of Tar-Elmar is intriguing, and shows Tolkien exploring more deeply how these great histories impacted common folk on the ground.

I read these 12 volumes over the course of nearly 5 years, collecting physical copies as I went. I feel a strong sentimentality towards that journey, and a little sad that, as Christopher Tolkien writes on the last page of this last volume, “There is no more.”

[Lala]

Note: I only read one section in this collection, so that will be the only one that I am reviewing.

Unfinished Tales:

-The New Shadow- An abandoned sequel to the Lord of the Rings. Over a hundred years have passed since the destruction of the ring. Borlas, who was alive during the events of the trilogy, has a discussion with a young man named Saelon on the finer points of good and evil, until Saelon mentions that men have been growing discontented of late.

-Tal-Elmar- Tel-Elmar is the beloved son of Hazad, and bears a striking resemblance to his mother, whom Hazad captured. When their home village is invaded by the strange Númenóreans, Tel-Elmar decides to treat with the invaders, who reveal their plans to conquer the land before taking the young man hostage.

The New Shadow is not very long, and disappointing overall. Having the great evil that was not really defeated is a tired concept, and one I'm glad Tolkien decided to abandon as it would cheapen the stakes in the original. Tal-Elmar was by far the more interesting story, especially as there are whole areas and cultures of Middle-Earth that were not explored, and viewing the Númenóreans through the eyes of a people they deemed needed to be destroyed was intriguing.

Personal history: Purchased secondhand copy.

[Edin Najetovic · Rating 4 out of 5]

This volume shows Tolkien under pressure to finish the appendices, and actually doing so. The timelines and writings for the appendices are not up to snuff for the professor, but that turns out to be a good thing in this instance: it gets finished in an almost utilitarian way.

The later writings show the same musings as in the volumes before, bereft of final purpose and wracked with doubt - I suspect linguistically it was more interesting than mythopoeically. Characters in the legendarium become increasingly more black and white, to the detriment of the mythology. The abortive unfinished tales on offer are inconsequential and rightly abandoned, they show connection in feel with other stories like the lost road and the notion club papers.

The last book in the series, the scholarship is again excellent if a bit scattered and rushed. Christopher is clearly starting to reach the end of his rope here. It's been a real journey reading these and I'm thankful for it. Now on to the scholarship of other men to complete my Tolkien scholarship. History of the hobbit and nature of middle earth to go

[Rob · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my second foray into the History of Middle Earth series. I started with Volume X: Morgoth’s Ring based on many recommendations. The same people suggested this volume, the final one in the series, and its predecessor as other good ones to start with. I agree!

This volume tackles the formation of the Appendices found at the end of Return of the King. It is loaded with details - some of them very interesting and others far more detailed than I can really comprehend. One detail that I really enjoyed was a further elaboration of Hobbit words that the “in universe” author of The Lord of the Rings translated from. Did you know that Frodo Baggin’s “real” name is Maura Labingi? This is the level of metaphysical depth that is unheard of in modern fantasy and impossible for Hollywood to capture.

Of course one of the biggest draws for this volume is Tolkien’s initial attempt at a sequel to The Lord of the Rings. While it is only a few pages long, it is a tantalizing story that is so disappointing in its brevity. There is also a story of the coming of the Numenoreans told from the perspective of the natives point of view.

Well worth the read.