History of the LOTR (series)

[Lord of the Nazgul]

Hey, has anyone else ever read the History of the LotR series:huh: It includes (in order) the following books:

~The Return of Shadow
~The Treason of Isengard
~The War of the Ring:grin:
~Sauron Defeated

[Tar-Ancalimë]

actually youre probably talking about the History of Middle-Earth. which includes several more than that. 12 volumes actually. i started the first one but how boring... anyway they arent by tolkien. just his son :huh:

[Lord of the Nazgul]

You're actually partially right on both things. The History of the Lord of the Rings is a series within a series cause it is also part of the History of Middle-earth. Most of the books consist of stuff written by J.R.R. Tolkien and it is finished by Christopher, but thanks for replying.:thumbs:

[Tar-Ancalimë]

uh thats weird, ive never heard of that before. anyway most people on the net refer to HoME? yes they do. and the writings by Tolkien are only a bit in between editing by christopher. while here and there interspered between thigns only crazy tolkien schalors would care about there are wonderufl parts, on the whole its not worthwhile for people who enjoy tolkien's writings rather than wanting to read commentary about it or analizing it...imho.... it is nice to have a few of those serious scholars on the forums, but it doesnt seem to me like a topic for enjoyable discussion..... esp since those who have read HoME do not come here that often...and when they do they stick to the serious threads

[Lord of the Nazgul]

I I agree with you. It's not too much of a story, more of a telling-what-my-father-wrote-about type of thing.

[Tar-Ancalimë]

oh, yes. like i said, i started the first one --book of lost tales I-- and then put it down rather quickly. however there are some brilliant parts, which stand alone and are better without all the commentary among them. i am no scholar nor do i have the time to be! id rather just read the writings of Tolkien, though i can appreciate the work that chris put into them and the material it gives.

[Catz]

yeah HoME is basically just fragments of manuscript by JRR put together by his son. They do have some very interseting items in them, but you must remember that they are VERY strongly slanted to how CT thought the story developed. Rather than simply present the material, CT has "edited" it ie: presented one version as the "most authentic" or given arbitrary dates to fragments that are really undateable outside certain limits......which to my mind destroys a great deal of the books value as a research tool since it is very difficult to seperate CTs opinions from the intentions of his father
Oh and the History of the LOTR isnt really a series in its own right......its just the part of HoME that deals woth LOTR
:catz:

[Chaos Mage]

I just looked it up and you could buy all twelve of them online for about 150.00


1) The Book of Lost Tales 1 (6.99)
2) The Book of Lost Tales 2 (6.99)
3) The Lays of Beleriand (6.99)
4) The Shaping of Middle-Earth (6.99)
5) The Lost Road & Other Writings (6.99)
6) The Return of the Shadow (11.20)
7) The Treason of Isengard (11.20)
8) The War of the Ring (11.20)
9) Sauron Defeated: The End of the Third Age (20.97)
10) Morgoth's Ring: The Later Silmarillion 1 (20.97)
11) The War of the Jewels: The Later Silmarillion 2 (21.00)
12) The Peoples of Middle-Earth (21.00)


I don't have any of them yet, but I'm thinking about it. I really like "Unfinished Tales" and if these are anything like that then it might be worth buying. I haven't made up my mind yet though.

[Catz]

they arent really like the UT CM.......the UT are laid out as stories....HoME is laid out as CTs commentary interspersed with bits of manuscript, often more than one version....its a hard read
:catz:

[Losshiroth]

Is there a difference between History of Middle Earth and History of the Lord of the Rings? I know Ive seen both at one point or another. From what I hear, there's an unfinished and abandoned sequel to LoTR that Tolkien started but never finished. Can anyone confirm this? I think its in Morgoths Ring

[Lord of the Nazgul]

As an answer to your question, Losshiroth, HoLotR is part of HoME. And no I can not confirm that. Morgoth's Ring is part of the Silmarillion which is not a sequel.

[Galadrien_Tindomiel]

I havn't read those ones specifically, but I have read The Lost Tales 1 and 2 and the Unfinished Tales which are a part of the History of Middle Earth. ANd in response to what someone else wrote they were written by JRR Tolkien but were edited by his son.

[Pastor of Muppets]

To anyone would has read the entire series; I understand that one, or several of the books, contain character names, events, etc. that we originally a part of the LotR trilogy, but than taken out,and changed. Would anyone be so kind as to share some of this with us?

[Black Rider]

i tried to read them but i just couldn't get past Christopher Tolkien's nonsense babble. i really don't like him at all.

[Catz]

thats what the whole series IS POM..........the books chronicle the writing of the Sil and LOTR, including many plot devices, characters and sequences that never were included in the books, usually because JRR changed his mind......he was a very intuitive writer and didnt tend to plan where things were going........this sometimes meant he had several ideas for one event going at one time......theres just way too much stuff to go into here.......things like character names......the species of characters.......Strider for example, started life as a hobbit called Trotter, and Frodo was for a very long time the cousin of the hero of LOTR, Bingo Baggins
:catz:

[Voroturiön]

I have:
Unfinished Tales
1) The Book of Lost Tales 1
2) The Book of Lost Tales 2
3) The Lays of Beleriand
4) The Shaping of Middle-Earth
5) The Lost Road & Other Writings
11)The War of the Jewels

I consider these works to be essential. Especially for those serious students of the Elves and Quenya.

Does anyone have the "Peoples of ME"? If so, how is it?