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UNFINISHED TALES
of Númenor and Middle-earth
BY
J.R.R. TOLKIEN
Edited by Christopher Tolkien
HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd.
1 London Bridge Street
London SE1 9GF
This edition 1998
First published in Great Britain by George Allen & Unwin 1980
Copyright © The J.R.R.Tolkien Copyright Trust and C.R.Tolkien 1980
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Source ISBN: 9780261103627
Ebook Edition © MARCH 2009 ISBN: 9780007322572 Version: 2017-10-26
Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth is a collection of narratives ranging in time from the Elder Days of Middle-earth to the end of the War of the Ring, and comprising such various elements as Gandalf’s lively account of how it was that he came to send the Dwarves to the celebrated party at Bag-End, the emergence of the sea-god Ulmo before the eyes of Tuor on the coast of Beleriand, and an exact description of the military organisation of the Riders of Rohan. The book contains the only story that survived from the long ages of Númenor before its downfall, and all that is known of such matters as the Five Wizards, the Palantíri, or the legend of Amroth.
Writing of the Appendices to The Lord of the Rings J. R. R. Tolkien said in 1955: ‘Those who enjoy the book as a “heroic romance” only, and find “unexplained vistas” part of the literary effect, will neglect the Appendices, very properly.’ Unfinished Tales is avowedly for those who, on the contrary, have not yet sufficiently explored Middle-earth, its languages, its legends, its politics, and its kings.
Christopher Tolkien has edited and introduces this collection. He has also redrawn the map for The Lord of the Rings to a larger scale and reproduced the only map of Númenor that J. R. R. Tolkien ever made.
Contents
I: OF TUOR AND HIS COMING TO GONDOLIN
I: A DESCRIPTION OF THE ISLAND OF NÚMENOR
III: THE LINE OF ELROS: KINGS OF NÚMENOR
IV: THE HISTORY OF GALADRIEL AND CELEBORN
I: THE DISASTER OF THE GLADDEN FIELDS
II: CIRION AND EORL AND THE FRIENDSHIP OF GONDOR AND ROHAN
V: THE BATTLES OF THE FORDS OF ISEN
It has been necessary to distinguish author and editor in different ways in different parts of this book, since the incidence of commentary is very various. The author appears in larger type in the primary texts throughout; if the editor intrudes into one