Title pretty much says it all. I'm looking to read some of the backstories of LOTR but don't know where to start. I've read The Simarilion but that's a little farther back than I wanted to go. I know there are the "History of Middle Earth" books but I'm not sure where to start with those. Any help?
Is anyone here an expert on the books?
- Thread starter Crash1207
- Start date
Help Support Collector Freaks Forum:
goliath
Super Freak
I am no expert on JRR's books, but I would recommend to read after the Lord of the Rings:
1. The Hobbit
2. The Silmarillion
The Hobbit is an easy read telling the story of Bilbo's adventures and his finding of the one Ring some 50 years before the story of the Lord of the Ring starts.
The Silmarillion can be a tough read - specially the first 100 pages or so - but don't be mislead: it is the base to start understanding Middle Earth and its population, the whole history of the war between good and evil and behind the rings of power. It's a bit like reading the bible - at least that's what I felt...
If you are looking for more after that, then you may wanna start looking at the History of Middle Earth books.
1. The Hobbit
2. The Silmarillion
The Hobbit is an easy read telling the story of Bilbo's adventures and his finding of the one Ring some 50 years before the story of the Lord of the Ring starts.
The Silmarillion can be a tough read - specially the first 100 pages or so - but don't be mislead: it is the base to start understanding Middle Earth and its population, the whole history of the war between good and evil and behind the rings of power. It's a bit like reading the bible - at least that's what I felt...
If you are looking for more after that, then you may wanna start looking at the History of Middle Earth books.
I would venture to guess that the great majority of us "older" LOTR collectors started from the love of the books, then tranferring that affection to the Jackson movies. Not an expert by any means, but if you've read the Sil, then suggest going on to the Unfinished Tales. Similar to the Silmarillion in construction...a slew of stories giving a further look into the Middle-earth mythology. Except for a few pages on the actual War of the Rings (the LOTR), most is more of what the Sil had. Then there's the History of Middle Earth (HoME)...but I don't "read" it per se; I use that as reference material for any clarification I might want as I read LOTR and Silmarillion. I view HoME as a history of the evolution of the various stories/plots Tolkien has had published.
Seretur
Elf
The Silmarillion might be a bit too demanding, if all you're looking for is a bit of a background to LOTR. Tolkien actually planned such a volume, but never got around to finishing it; what's left of it is mainly collected in Unfinished Tales, which is therefore your best bet.
It's a compendium of all existing tales of Númenor before its downfall, and all the canonical histories of Middle-earth in the Third Age left at the time of JRRT's death. Plus, it has sections of the tales of Tuor and Túrin from The Silmarillion, but told in a style and scope closer to that of LOTR, therefore making them highly readable.
Of course, The Hobbit is a must, and eventually you'll have to wade through The Silmarillion, which can be a bit intimidating at first reading. You won't find much useful background info on LOTR in The History of Middle-earth series, just a very thorough account of its creation; I find the Silmarillion-related materials in HoMe to be much more rewarding.
But, again: Start with The Hobbit and Unfinished Tales. You can also sample Robert Forster's Complete Guide to Middle-earth, and Hammond & Skull's thorough book of LOTR annotations, LOTR: A Reader's Companion, published just a few months ago.
Both of those helped me a lot with my translations of Tolkien's works.
It's a compendium of all existing tales of Númenor before its downfall, and all the canonical histories of Middle-earth in the Third Age left at the time of JRRT's death. Plus, it has sections of the tales of Tuor and Túrin from The Silmarillion, but told in a style and scope closer to that of LOTR, therefore making them highly readable.
Of course, The Hobbit is a must, and eventually you'll have to wade through The Silmarillion, which can be a bit intimidating at first reading. You won't find much useful background info on LOTR in The History of Middle-earth series, just a very thorough account of its creation; I find the Silmarillion-related materials in HoMe to be much more rewarding.
But, again: Start with The Hobbit and Unfinished Tales. You can also sample Robert Forster's Complete Guide to Middle-earth, and Hammond & Skull's thorough book of LOTR annotations, LOTR: A Reader's Companion, published just a few months ago.
Both of those helped me a lot with my translations of Tolkien's works.
B-Electronic
Burtonite
- Joined
- Sep 10, 2005
- Messages
- 338
- Reaction score
- 0
If you want to read Tolkien's works in a good order, I'd suggest the following:
The Hobbit
Lord of the Rings
The Silmarilion
Unfinished Tales
The History of Middle Earth
Now keep in mind that The Hobbit is very easy reading. Children's level. The Lord of the Rings is somewhat harder. Then comes the difficult reading of Silmarilion. But once you are used to the writting style of it, you'll love it!! Unfinished Tales is again a tiny step higher simply because allthough it has the same writting style as the Silmarilion, it has notes with everything you read, making you go back and forth in the book all the time. The hardest by far is the History of Middle Earth. It has loads of notes, elaborate rants by Christopher on his father's writting style and has a million different versions of the same chapter which can confuse the hell out of you. It's also very "dry" stuff to read. But that doesnt mean its not interresting. Though I suggest you only read it if you truly want to know how the man thinks in his writting.
But I seriously suggest to read the Silmarilion if you can. Its truly a brilliant piece of reading!
The Hobbit
Lord of the Rings
The Silmarilion
Unfinished Tales
The History of Middle Earth
Now keep in mind that The Hobbit is very easy reading. Children's level. The Lord of the Rings is somewhat harder. Then comes the difficult reading of Silmarilion. But once you are used to the writting style of it, you'll love it!! Unfinished Tales is again a tiny step higher simply because allthough it has the same writting style as the Silmarilion, it has notes with everything you read, making you go back and forth in the book all the time. The hardest by far is the History of Middle Earth. It has loads of notes, elaborate rants by Christopher on his father's writting style and has a million different versions of the same chapter which can confuse the hell out of you. It's also very "dry" stuff to read. But that doesnt mean its not interresting. Though I suggest you only read it if you truly want to know how the man thinks in his writting.
But I seriously suggest to read the Silmarilion if you can. Its truly a brilliant piece of reading!
B-Electronic said:
I totally agree. I've read the Silmarillion over five times already and it gets better every time. Just last year I finished all of Tolkiens work (History of Middle Earth, LOTR, Hobbit, Silmarillion, and Unfinished tales) and I just can't get enough of Middle-Earth (Beleriand).
But if you don't want to delve in too deeply into the history of the LOTR then just read the Silmarillion and Unfinished tales, repectively (makes more sense this way). You'll come to appreciate Tolkien and his brilliant mind like most of us here
If you don't feel like reading but are just looking for definitions or a quick recap of events then I suggest you check out this webpage:
https://www.glyphweb.com/arda/default.asp
It has everything related to Tolkiens work and is truely a wonderful website.
One book not mentioned is "The Letters of JRR Tolkien". A collection of letters written by Tolkien dating from around 1917 to just before his death.
They contain many interesting facts on both the writing of LotR and the story itself. For example found in one letter is the fact Tolkien considered Sauron to have a physical body at the time of the War of the Ring, something that many readers of the books (including PJ seemingly) disagree with.
Another "Middle earth" book is "The Adventures of Tom Bombadil" A collection of poems recorded by the Hobbits of the Shire. It can still be bought seperately I believe but can also be found in "Tales from the Perilous Realm" which along with tAoTB contains three short stories (non Middle Earth) by Tolkien.
If by this you mean you are looking for stories from the Second/Third Age then there really is not that much more for you to read, just what's in Unfinished Tales.
The History of Middle Earth Books are a history of it's creation by Tolkien rather than a history of the place itself. Four of the Twelve Books deal with the creation of LotR and have been published together in one Volume at some point.
There is little material in the HoME books that is original (and by this I mean not an earlier/different version of something already published elsewhere) especially from the time period of LotR, two I can think of are an epilogue to LotR from Sam's point of view and the few pages written of the LotR Sequel (both of which can be found online I believe)
Must admit I've never (apart from the odd bit here and there) read the HoME series.
Oh if you've not read the Apendices to LotR they are also worth a read.
They contain many interesting facts on both the writing of LotR and the story itself. For example found in one letter is the fact Tolkien considered Sauron to have a physical body at the time of the War of the Ring, something that many readers of the books (including PJ seemingly) disagree with.
Another "Middle earth" book is "The Adventures of Tom Bombadil" A collection of poems recorded by the Hobbits of the Shire. It can still be bought seperately I believe but can also be found in "Tales from the Perilous Realm" which along with tAoTB contains three short stories (non Middle Earth) by Tolkien.
If by this you mean you are looking for stories from the Second/Third Age then there really is not that much more for you to read, just what's in Unfinished Tales.
The History of Middle Earth Books are a history of it's creation by Tolkien rather than a history of the place itself. Four of the Twelve Books deal with the creation of LotR and have been published together in one Volume at some point.
There is little material in the HoME books that is original (and by this I mean not an earlier/different version of something already published elsewhere) especially from the time period of LotR, two I can think of are an epilogue to LotR from Sam's point of view and the few pages written of the LotR Sequel (both of which can be found online I believe)
Must admit I've never (apart from the odd bit here and there) read the HoME series.
Oh if you've not read the Apendices to LotR they are also worth a read.
One resource which I highly recommend is the "Atlas of Middle Earth" by the late Karen Wynn Fonstad.
While there are certain inaccuracies found by the Tolkien Purists, I still find it a valuable reference for not just the geographical layouts of Middle Earth and it's entire history but in regards to the LOTR, the actual routes taken by the major characters in their quests to save Middle Earth.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0618126996/103-2096405-4087834?v=glance&n=283155
While there are certain inaccuracies found by the Tolkien Purists, I still find it a valuable reference for not just the geographical layouts of Middle Earth and it's entire history but in regards to the LOTR, the actual routes taken by the major characters in their quests to save Middle Earth.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0618126996/103-2096405-4087834?v=glance&n=283155
tomandshell
Blue Flame of the West/Mod
Let me add my thoughts to the previous recommendation for "Unfinished Tales."
The third section of the book is devoted to the Third Age (the Middle-Earth timeframe within which the action of "The Lord of the Rings" is set, and it gives you about one hundred pages of backstory involving the history of Rohan, further details about Isildur's death (like how the shards of Narsil were saved and ultimately ended up in Rivendell), Theoden's son Theodred and the battles at the Fords of Isen, more information about the nazgul and their search for the ring that brought them to the Shire, plus a little more information on the five wizards and the seven palantiri, among other things.
When I first started looking aorund for more backstory, I was overwhelmed by the Silmarillion and the History of Middle-Earth books, but found "Unfinished Tales" to be an interesting and insightful read that gave me a lot of details and added information about the story of LOTR.
The third section of the book is devoted to the Third Age (the Middle-Earth timeframe within which the action of "The Lord of the Rings" is set, and it gives you about one hundred pages of backstory involving the history of Rohan, further details about Isildur's death (like how the shards of Narsil were saved and ultimately ended up in Rivendell), Theoden's son Theodred and the battles at the Fords of Isen, more information about the nazgul and their search for the ring that brought them to the Shire, plus a little more information on the five wizards and the seven palantiri, among other things.
When I first started looking aorund for more backstory, I was overwhelmed by the Silmarillion and the History of Middle-Earth books, but found "Unfinished Tales" to be an interesting and insightful read that gave me a lot of details and added information about the story of LOTR.
Customikey
Super Freak
Some people don't bother to read the Appendices art the end of ROTK. READ THEM!!!
Seretur
Elf
B-Electronic said:
That's why I had them print endnotes as footnotes throughout the Croatian edition of UT.
tomandshell
Blue Flame of the West/Mod
Another recent release is "The Lord of the Rings: A Reader's Companion" by Wayne Hammond and Christina Scull. It is an entire volume of annotations that goes through all of LOTR chapter by chapter & page by page and gives explanations and background info. It's nice to have handy as a reference as you are reading LOTR, but as a reference book it isn't really designed as to be something that you would sit down and read through from cover to cover.
Seretur
Elf
But I have done just that, Tom.
I know. There's no end to my Tolkien nerdiness. (But it was just when my translation of UT was going to print, so I needed to comb it for any enlightening references. And I did find a couple.)
I know. There's no end to my Tolkien nerdiness. (But it was just when my translation of UT was going to print, so I needed to comb it for any enlightening references. And I did find a couple.)
The Dwimmerlaik
Super Freak
First read the Hobbit, then the LOTR book, then the bible of Middle Earth "The Silmarillion" and so on
Lembas Eater
I Need More Tolkien!!!!
- Joined
- Sep 9, 2005
- Messages
- 626
- Reaction score
- 0
I always find these threads AFTER everyone else has already answered!!
"Yeah. What they said."
"Yeah. What they said."
FrodoEyes
Super Freak
I'd love to see a Silmarillion movie.....I know there's lots of stories, but if you interlaced them, you could lead upto a hell of a finish with the valar against Morgoth....have the prologue as the beginning of the world, then focus on Feanor's trip to middle earth....establish Beleriand...follow Beren and Luthien into Angband, have the battles of Nargothrond, Doriath and Gondolin, then finish with Earendils voyage to the valar, culmnating in the downfall of Morgoth, then for the epilogue describe what happened to the land and where the elves and humans went. Blockbuster!
revilal
Freaked Out
- Joined
- Sep 13, 2005
- Messages
- 199
- Reaction score
- 0
Customikey said:
Totally agree. It briefly covers the 1st age and 2nd age, but also there are great snippets of when Aragorn met Gandalf for the first time and Arwens' romance and also the aftermath of the ROTK when Sam joins Frodo at the Grey Havens after Rosie dies, and Merry/Pippin being visited by Aragorn etc
I only happened to read it on my third LOTR reading when I finsihed ROTK in the middle of a 9hour flight and started browsing the appendices for fun. Its as good as the book itself, trust me...
and customIkey.
Similar threads
