UNFINISHED TALES OF NUMENOR AND MIDDLE EARTH

UNFINISHED TALES OF NUMENOR AND MIDDLE EARTH by J.R.R. Tolkien. Edited by Christopher Tolkien. Illustrated by Alan Lee, John Howe, and Ted Nasmith

Somehow this ended up being the week that two Tolkien books were finished, so you're going to see a lot of Tolkien on this week's posts!

It has been a while since I read the Lord of the Rings series, but when I saw J.R.R. Tolkien's Unfinished Tales of Numenor and Middle-Earth at the bookstore, it went in my pile! Now before we really dig into this one, I have a confession to make. There are people out there in the world who LOVE Tolkien. They learn the Elvish language, they can keep all the places and people straight, they remember the history, and the genealogies. I do enjoy Tolkien, but I am not on that level. Sometimes my brain short-circuits and there might be a slight stream of smoke that comes from my ear that lets everyone in the surrounding vicinity know that my brain is really trying to keep all the connections made. BUT I'll tell you why I do enjoy it. They are some of the ultimate adventure stories. They are stories where Hobbits, Dwarves, Elves, Man, etc throw themselves all in for the cause of righting wrong deeds. There are characters who give the ultimate sacrifice for causes they believe in and Tolkien writes in such a way that you can imagine yourself alongside the journey and the struggle. It really is a parallel for today's world in which we must constantly be battling back the darkness that wants to continue to infiltrate our world.

So on to Unfinished Tales. First published in 1980 and then republished in 2020 with the addition of several beautiful illustrations (more on that later), Unfinished Tales provides additional information on some of the characters and adventures from Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. There is a large section devoted to Galadriel and her history, the Black Riders, the 5 wizards, how Gandalf convinced Thorin about taking Bilbo on the journey of reclaiming Misty Mountain, and more. With 439 pages plus a lengthy index that follows, this book has a lot of extras to enjoy.

When I closed the cover after reading Unfinished Tales, I was really struck with how much Tolkien put into creating the history, lands, and characters of his LOTR/Hobbit series. These books were not just a series that were written and then done. He created an entire in-depth world of several lands and covered many generations of characters. It takes a certain type of person, but they really are a wonder to read!

About the Illustrations! There are three Illustrators that contributed to this book: John Howe, Alan Lee, and Ted Nasmith. All three have amazing credentials, and it is clear why they were chosen to illustrate Unfinished Tales. Since there are three, I'm not going to elaborate much. I wrote about John Howe in my King Arthur post, so you can check that out for additional information.

HEADS UP/SPOILER ALERT ON ONE TALE- There is a slight heads up to share. There is a tale where unknowingly a brother and sister end up marrying. When they find out, they commit suicide.