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22nd May '13 4:35:00 AM Thande

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Creator/JRRTolkien was subject to AttentionDeficitCreatorDisorder and perfectionism, with the result that ''Literature/TheHobbit'' and ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' are rare among his works in that he actually finished them -- though even then continually making notes for revised second editions. The vast majority of his works were in a disorganised array of disparate parts written across more than 50 years when he died in 1973. His son Christopher Tolkien put together the published version of ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'' in 1977 using some of these parts, but later decided to present more of the source materials as he found it -— with commentary —- to demonstrate how the conception of Middle-Earth had evolved across the years.

The result was ''The History of Middle-Earth'', 12 volumes covering the evolution of Tolkien's legendarium from 1914 to 1973. The content ranges from earlier forms of the ''Silmarillion'' legends and early drafts of ''The Lord of the Rings'', to otherwise unpublished narrative texts (some more complete, some less), to essays about the history of the world, its cultures, languages, and more. Along the way, we are also introduced to previously unknown and interesting offshoots of the legendarium, such as Eriol the Mariner of ''The Book of Lost Tales'', Alboin and Audoin of ''The Lost Road'', the cast of "The Notion Club Papers" and many more.

Volumes I and II of ''The History of Middle-Earth'' are also known as ''The Book of Lost Tales''. These were initially published on their own, and only after the conception of ''The History of Middle-Earth'' were they were re-published as the first two instalments of that series.

Not for the faint-hearted by any means, but a must for anyone who wants to really understand Middle-Earth inside and out.

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The result was ''The History of Middle-earth'', 12 volumes covering the evolution of Tolkien's legendarium from 1914 to 1973. The content ranges from earlier forms of the ''Silmarillion'' legends and early drafts of ''The Lord of the Rings'', to otherwise unpublished narrative texts (some more complete, some less), to essays about the history of the world, its cultures, languages, and more. Along the way, we are also introduced to previously unknown and interesting offshoots of the legendarium, such as Eriol the Mariner of ''The Book of Lost Tales'', Alboin and Audoin of ''The Lost Road'', the cast of "The Notion Club Papers" and many more.

Volumes I and II of ''The History of Middle-earth'' are also known as ''The Book of Lost Tales''. These were initially published on their own, and only after the conception of ''The History of Middle-earth'' were they were re-published as the first two instalments of that series.

Not for the faint-hearted by any means, but a must for anyone who wants to really understand Middle-earth inside and out.

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10th May '13 8:48:09 PM karategal

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Not for the faint-hearted by any means, but a must for anyone who wants to really understand Middle-earth inside and out.

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Not for the faint-hearted by any means, but a must for anyone who wants to really understand Middle-Earth inside and out.

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** Played with in ''Morgoth's Ring''. Ælfwine, the Anglo-Saxon seaman who finds Eressëa, is told that today there are two groups of Elves still remaining in Middle-earth, the Lingerers and the Unbodied. The Lingerers are simply Elves that stayed until their [[OurSoulsAreDifferent souls burnt up their bodies]] and live in an aethereal form. The Unbodied are those that refused the summons to be judged by Mandos when they died. Lingerers tend to be gentle and harmless but flawed creatures that hang around wild lands as GeniusLoci, but sometimes visit mortals in dreams. Unbodied are actual ghosts and are not only likely to deceive mortals maliciously, but try to [[DemonicPossession steal their bodies]]. In a way Lingerers are like "Seelie" and Unbodied like "Unseelie".
* FramingDevice: ''The Book of Lost Tales'' is presented as a series of stories told to a mariner (Eriol or Ælfwine), who stumbles upon the island of Tol Eressëa and learns the Elves' history, which he then brings back to his human kindred. This doubles as a LiteraryAgentHypothesis frequently repeated throughout the Middle-earth stories.

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** Played with in ''Morgoth's Ring''. Ælfwine, the Anglo-Saxon seaman who finds Eressëa, is told that today there are two groups of Elves still remaining in Middle-Earth, the Lingerers and the Unbodied. The Lingerers are simply Elves that stayed until their [[OurSoulsAreDifferent souls burnt up their bodies]] and live in an aethereal form. The Unbodied are those that refused the summons to be judged by Mandos when they died. Lingerers tend to be gentle and harmless but flawed creatures that hang around wild lands as GeniusLoci, but sometimes visit mortals in dreams. Unbodied are actual ghosts and are not only likely to deceive mortals maliciously, but try to [[DemonicPossession steal their bodies]]. In a way Lingerers are like "Seelie" and Unbodied like "Unseelie".
* FramingDevice: ''The Book of Lost Tales'' is presented as a series of stories told to a mariner (Eriol or Ælfwine), who stumbles upon the island of Tol Eressëa and learns the Elves' history, which he then brings back to his human kindred. This doubles as a LiteraryAgentHypothesis frequently repeated throughout the Middle-Earth stories.

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16th Mar '13 2:57:57 PM ArcadesSabboth

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adding diacritic

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16th Mar '13 2:56:22 PM ArcadesSabboth

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* ReincarnationRomance: Since Tolkien was a devout Catholic, he believed that marriage is "for life." As described in "The Laws and Customs of the Eldar" (''Morgoth's Ring''), elves' lives are meant to last until the end of Arda, and so are their marriages. [[TakeThatUs Unlike many humans]], they actually ''do'' mate for life. Reincarnated elves inevitably desire to reunite with whomever they had married before they died. This really, really sucks for those who lived in Middle-earth, since the Valar ''don't'' send anyone back there after "re-housing."[[note]]Glorfindel, Beren, and Luthien were the ''only'' exceptions, because they're special and awesome. Except in some versions where the Valar commonly sent the rehoused back to wherever they had lived.[[/note]] It can also be a serious downer for the bereaved spouse if a married elf refuses reincarnation -- just look at what happened to Míriel's family!
* {{Satan}}: Morgoth (Melko, Melkor). The "Athrabeth Finrod ah Andreth" and some of JRRT's letters explicitly identify the two.

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* ReincarnationRomance: Since Tolkien was a devout Catholic, he believed that marriage is "for life." As described in "The Laws and Customs of the Eldar" (''Morgoth's Ring''), elves' lives are meant to last until the end of Arda, and so are their marriages. [[TakeThatUs Unlike many humans]], they actually ''do'' mate for life. Reincarnated elves inevitably desire to reunite with whomever they had married before they died. This really, really sucks for those who lived in Middle-earth, since the Valar ''don't'' send anyone back there after "re-housing."[[note]]Glorfindel, Beren, and Lúthien were the ''only'' exceptions, because they're special and awesome. Except in some versions where the Valar commonly sent the rehoused back to wherever they had lived.[[/note]] It can also be a serious downer for the bereaved spouse if a married elf refuses reincarnation -- just look at what happened to Míriel's family!
* {{Satan}}: Morgoth (Melko, Melkor). The "Athrabeth Finrod ah Andreth" and some of JRRT's letters explicitly identify the two, though most narratives don't.

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16th Mar '13 2:53:00 PM ArcadesSabboth

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6th Feb '13 12:00:04 PM Lophotrochozoa

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Moved from The Silmarillion

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28th Jan '13 11:24:48 PM ArcadesSabboth

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* IntangibleTimeTravel: Having agreed with Creator/CSLewis that the two would write companion [[Literature/TheSpaceTrilogy space-travel]] and time-travel stories, JRRT twice tried to start a story revolving around this trope, but never finished. The first attempt is "The Lost Road" that gives its name to vol. V. The second is "The Notion Club Papers" in vol. IX. Both versions of the story tell of a father-son pair in England who experience repeated intangible Time-Travel dreams/visions, taking them back to past father-son pairs with the same names in older languages, who experience the same dreams/visions, recursively going back until reaching the original Elendil and son in Númenor and witnessing its downfall. It was going to involve around half-dozen pairs of Englishmen, numerous mythical events, speaking in tongues, deciphering the Númenórean language, and possibly watching Ælfwine see or even travel the Strait Road to Eressëa. JRRT even considered including (pessimistic) references to his own unfinished ''Silmarillion'' manuscripts being uncovered.

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* IntangibleTimeTravel: Having agreed with Creator/CSLewis that the two would write companion [[Literature/TheSpaceTrilogy space-travel]] and time-travel stories, JRRT twice tried to start a story revolving around this trope, but never finished. The first attempt is "The Lost Road" that gives its name to vol. V. The second is "The Notion Club Papers" in vol. IX. Both versions of the story tell of a father-son pair in England who experience repeated intangible Time-Travel dreams/visions, taking them back to past father-son pairs with the same names in older languages, who experience the same dreams/visions, recursively going back until reaching the original Elendil and son in Númenor and witnessing its downfall. It was going to involve around a half-dozen pairs of guys, numerous European myths, speaking in tongues, deciphering the Númenórean language, and possibly watching Ælfwine see or even travel the Strait Road to Eressëa. JRRT even considered including (pessimistic) references to his own unfinished ''Silmarillion'' manuscripts being uncovered.

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28th Jan '13 11:15:23 PM ArcadesSabboth

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and more typos

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** Played with in ''Morgoth's Ring''. An Anglo Saxon seaman who contacts elves is told that Earth today there are to groups of Elves still remaining, the Lingerers and the Unbodied. The Lingerers are simply Elves that stayed until their [[OurSoulsAreDifferent souls burnt up almost all of their bodies]] and are present in an aethereal form. The Unbodied are those that refused the summons to be judged by Mandos when they died. The first tend to be gentle and harmless, but flawed creatures that hang around wild lands as GeniusLoci, but sometimes visit mortals in dreams. The second are actual ghosts and are not only likly to deceive mortals maliciously but try to [[DemonicPossession steal their bodies]]. In a way Lingerers are like "Seelie" and unbodied like "Unseelie".
* FramingDevice: ''The Book of Lost Tales'' is presented as a series of stories told to a mariner (Eriol or Ælfwine), who stumbles upon the island of Tol Eressëa and learns the Elves' history, which he then brings back to his human kindred.

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28th Jan '13 11:11:03 PM ArcadesSabboth

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finally got that link right

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28th Jan '13 11:10:36 PM ArcadesSabboth

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* TheFairFolk: Subverted; the ''Lost Tales'' say that the Celtic notion of evil elves is due to conflicts and misunderstanding, and that the more positive English view is correct. To take one example, Tolkien plays with the idea that eating fairy food traps you in their land forever -- the Elves of Tol Eressëa drink something called ''limpë'', but warn the human traveller Eriol against drinking it, for his heart will forever be filled with their own sadness and he will be compelled to fight for their causes against his own kindred.
** Played with in Morgoth's Ring. An Anglo Saxon seaman who contacts elves is told that Earth today there are to groups of Elves still remaining, the Lingerers and the Unbodied. The Lingerers are simply Elves that stayed until [[OurSoulsAreDifferent souls burnt up almost all of their bodies]] and are present in an aethereal form and the Unbodied are those that refused the summons to be judged by Mandos when they died. The first tend to be gentle and harmless, but flawed creatures that hang around wild lands as GeniusLoci, but sometimes visit mortals in dreams. The second are actual ghosts and are not only likly to deceive mortals maliciously but try to [[DemonPossession steal their bodies]]. In a way Lingerers are like "Seelie" and unbodied like "Unseelie".

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* TheFairFolk: Subverted; elves don't experience life the way we do, but they're ''mostly'' human and certainly comprehend our moral concepts.
** The ''Lost Tales'' say that the Celtic notion of evil elves is due to conflicts and misunderstanding, and that the more positive English view is correct. To take one example, Tolkien plays with the idea that eating fairy food traps you in their land forever -- the Elves of Tol Eressëa drink something called ''limpë'', but warn the human traveller Eriol against drinking it, for his heart will forever be filled with their own sadness and he will be compelled to fight for their causes against his own kindred.
** Played with in ''Morgoth's Ring''. An Anglo Saxon seaman who contacts elves is told that Earth today there are to groups of Elves still remaining, the Lingerers and the Unbodied. The Lingerers are simply Elves that stayed until their [[OurSoulsAreDifferent souls burnt up almost all of their bodies]] and are present in an aethereal form. The Unbodied are those that refused the summons to be judged by Mandos when they died. The first tend to be gentle and harmless, but flawed creatures that hang around wild lands as GeniusLoci, but sometimes visit mortals in dreams. The second are actual ghosts and are not only likly to deceive mortals maliciously but try to [[DemoninPossession steal their bodies]]. In a way Lingerers are like "Seelie" and unbodied like "Unseelie".

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