 | |
| Editor | Christopher Tolkien |
|---|---|
| Author | J. R. R. Tolkien |
| Language | English |
| Series | The History of Middle-earth |
Release number | 12 |
| Subject | Tolkien's legendarium |
| Genre | High fantasy Literary analysis |
| Publisher | Allen & Unwin (UK) |
Publication date | 1996 |
| Publication place | United Kingdom |
| Media type | Print (hardback and paperback) |
| Pages | 512 (paperback) |
| ISBN | 978-0261103481 |
| Preceded by | The War of the Jewels |
The Peoples of Middle-earth (1996) is the 12th and final volume ofThe History of Middle-earth, edited byChristopher Tolkien from the unpublished manuscripts of his fatherJ. R. R. Tolkien. Some characters (including Anairë, the wife ofFingolfin) only appear here, as do a few other works that did not fit anywhere else.[1]
Each volume ofThe History of Middle-earth bears on the title page spread an inscription by Christopher Tolkien inFëanorian letters (inTengwar, an alphabet J. R. R. Tolkien devised for the High-Elves), that describes the contents of the book. The inscription in Volume XII reads: "This is the last volume of the work of Christopher Tolkien in which he has collected a great part of all that his father John Ronald Reuel Tolkien wrote of Middle-earth andValinor. In this book is traced the devising of the history of the later ages in the Northwest of Middle-earth after the Great Battle and the Fall ofMorgoth."
This section focuses on covering the development of the Prologue and Appendices ofThe Lord of the Rings as well as theAkallabêth, along with themes and ideas associated with them. It is by far the most substantial section of the book, consisting of nearly 300 of the book's 480 text pages. It includes early drafts of the novel's Prologue and the appendices onlanguages,family trees, and calendars, as well as the history of theAkallabêth, "The Tale of Years" (chronologies of the Second andThird Ages), the heirs ofElendil, and the making of Appendix A.
Materials mostly postdating 1969, consisting of the essays "Of Dwarves and Men", on the development of the languages of these races; "The Shibboleth ofFëanor", on the linguistics of theElvish language ofQuenya and giving etymologies for the names of the princes of theNoldor; "The Problem of Ros", exploring the suffix "-ros" found in certain names such as Elros andMaedhros; and some "last writings" addressing the subjects of theIstari (Wizards),Glorfindel ofGondolin andRivendell, andCírdan the Shipwright.
A brief narrative going back to theBook of Lost Tales period, presenting information provided by Pengoloð of Gondolin toÆlfwine of England in regard to thesundering of theElven tongues.
Two stories written in the 1950s.
"The New Shadow" is a sequel toThe Lord of the Rings, set a little over a century later in the time of King Eldarion,Aragorn's son. The editor mentions (p. 409) that Tolkien wrote three versions of the beginning of this story, but all were abandoned after a few pages.
"Tal-Elmar" is set in theSecond Age and tells of theNúmenórean colonization ofMiddle-earth from the point of view of the Wild Men. The title character and protagonist, one of the ancient inhabitants of the lands ofGondor, is partly descended from Númenórean settlers.
Charles Noad, inMallorn, comments that the book "at long last" provides Tolkien's account of the "reincarnation" ofGlorfindel, a character who appears both inThe Silmarillion and (thousands of years later) inThe Lord of the Rings.[2]
Noad writes that "Christopher Tolkien warned that a history of the Appendices would prove 'both far-ranging and intricate'; and so they have." Noad describes the situation with the Appendices forThe Lord of the Rings as a "debacle". He notes Tolkien's unpreparedness for publishing the extensive Appendices that he had hoped would accompany the narrative ofThe Lord of the Rings as putting him in a weak position to defend their inclusion. In the event, he had to compress them extremely heavily, which was "a pity": and he did not "re-expand" them in the second edition. Noad comments that given this much trouble with the Appendices, it was "extraordinarily optimistic" of him to imagine that he could have publishedThe Silmarillion at the same time.[2]
Noad remarks, too, on theNote on the Shire Records which Tolkien added to the 2nd edition Prologue, as it "dismantledthe framing mechanism forThe Silmarillion that had survived for the past half-century." The frame story had involved Eriol orÆlfwine of England who had visitedTol Eressea and been briefed by an Elf, Pengoloð; the wandering mariner had written it all down and it had come into Tolkien's hands. But theNote has insteadBilbo Baggins's three volumes of "great skill and learning", written from the library atRivendell, mainly describing "the Elder Days", i.e.The Silmarillion. So, Noad writes, Bilbo's work "makes Ælfwine's tales redundant." He wonders why Tolkien would have made this major change, since having Ælfwine for ancient times and Bilbo for the later ones was "perfectly reasonable and coherent". Noad suggests that perhaps Tolkien thought thatthe Straight Road was no longer available by the 20th century, so that the traveller could not have used it. Or perhaps, he suggests, Tolkien had at last dropped the "old dream" of providinga mythology for England, linking the legendarium to English history.[2]