 Cover of the first edition. It featuresTolkien's drawing of aNúmenórean helmet. | |
| Editor | Christopher Tolkien |
|---|---|
| Author | J. R. R. Tolkien |
| Illustrator | Christopher Tolkien (maps) |
| Cover artist | J. R. R. Tolkien |
| Language | English |
| Subject | Tolkien's legendarium |
| Genre | Fantasy |
| Publisher | George Allen & Unwin |
Publication date | 1980 |
| Publication place | United Kingdom |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover andPaperback) |
| ISBN | 9780048231796 |
| Preceded by | The Silmarillion |
| Followed by | The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien |
Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth is a collection of stories and essays byJ. R. R. Tolkien that werenever completed during his lifetime, but were edited by his sonChristopher Tolkien and published in 1980. Many of the tales within are retold inThe Silmarillion, albeit in modified forms; the work also contains a summary of the events ofThe Lord of the Rings told from a less personal perspective.
The collection received a cautious welcome from scholars and critics. They noted Christopher Tolkien's warning that a good knowledge of the background was needed to gain much from the stories. Others noted that the stories were among the best of Tolkien's writing; Warren Dunn expressed a wish for the whole of the history in such a format. The book, with its commentary, was commercially successful, indicating a market for more of Tolkien's work and leading to the 12-volumeThe History of Middle-earth.
On "The Quest of Erebor" in Part Three, Christine Barkley comments that the perspective is the knowledgeableGandalf's, contrasting sharply with the HobbitBilbo Baggins's narrower point of view inThe Hobbit.Peter Jackson used the story to enrich the narrative for his 2013 filmThe Desolation of Smaug.
UnlikeThe Silmarillion, also published posthumously (in 1977), for which the narrative fragments were modified to connect them into a consistent and coherent work, theUnfinished Tales are presented as Tolkien left them, with little more than names changed (the author having had a confusing habit of trying out different names for a character while writing a draft). Thus some of these are incomplete stories, while others are collections of information aboutMiddle-earth. Each tale is followed by a long series of notes explaining inconsistencies and obscure points.
As withThe Silmarillion, Tolkien's sonChristopher edited and publishedUnfinished Tales before he had finished his study of the materials in his father's archive.Unfinished Tales provides more detailed information about characters, events and places mentioned only briefly inThe Lord of the Rings. Versions of such tales, including the origins ofGandalf and the otherIstari (Wizards), the death ofIsildur and the loss of theOne Ring in theGladden Fields, and the founding of the kingdom ofRohan, help expand knowledge about Middle-earth.
The commercial success ofUnfinished Tales demonstrated that the demand for Tolkien's stories several years after his death was not only present but growing. Encouraged by the result, Christopher Tolkien embarked upon the more ambitious twelve-volume work entitledThe History of Middle-earth, which encompasses nearly the entire corpus of his father's writings about Middle-earth.
The scholarPaul H. Kocher, reviewingUnfinished Tales inMythlore, noted that all the stories are linked to eitherThe Silmarillion,Akallabeth orThe Lord of the Rings, and extensively annotated, mainly by Christopher Tolkien. In Kocher's view, the stories contain "some of Tolkien's best writing" (and he summarized them in some detail), though he found much of interest in the editorial material also. He noted the revised map with the additional place names used in the tales, and that the book does not addressTolkien's poetry.[4]
The independent scholar Douglas C. Kane writes that Christopher Tolkien chose to include not just narrative tales, despite the book's title, but "a taste of some of the descriptive and historical underpinnings of those heretofore uncharted vistas", and that indeed he suggested he might "dive even deeper into the history ofhis father's legendarium", as he eventually did with his 12-volumeThe History of Middle-earth.[5] The Tolkien scholarCorey Olsen notes that Christopher Tolkien chose to present the incomplete tales as they were, adding a commentary to help readers grasp how they fitted in to his father's Middle-earth legendarium. Olson comments that the book's commercial success demonstrated the existence of a market for more of Tolkien's writings, opening up a route to publication ofThe History of Middle-earth.[6]
The Christian philosopherPeter Kreeft wrote inChristianity & Literature that many readers had felt disappointed byUnfinished Tales, as some had felt aboutThe Silmarillion.[7] Perry Bramlett adds that the book is not for the reader new to Tolkien, nor even one who has read onlyThe Hobbit "or perhaps some or even all of theLord of the Rings." He notes Christopher Tolkien's warning that the stories "constitute no whole" and that much of the content "will be found unrewarding" to those without a good knowledge ofLord of the Rings. More positively, he citesDavid Bratman's comment[8] that much of it is as well-crafted as any of Tolkien's writings, and that readers who foundThe Silmarillion "a little too high and distant" would welcome it.[9]
Thescience fiction author Warren Dunn, writing in 1993, described the book as engaging, and that every section contained "something of interest", but he cautioned that it required "an intimate knowledge" ofThe Silmarillion,The Lord of the Rings, and its appendices "for full enjoyment" of the book. He commented that "I really do wish we could have seen the whole history like this, even if it took up twelve volumes to get through the first, second and third ages before theLord of the Rings!"[10]
Christine Barkley, writing inMythlore, notes that the point of view inThe Quest of Erebor is Gandalf's, sharply contrasting with Bilbo's far less well-informed point of view inThe Hobbit. That book, she states, uses a third-person, limited-knowledge narrator, supposedly written from Bilbo's diary after the adventure. Where Bilbo is interested in food and comfort, and sometimes other familiar things such as riddles, she writes, Gandalf is concerned with defending the West against the Shadow (Sauron). Further, theQuest actually pretends to be Frodo's memory of a conversation he had with Gandalf, rather than Gandalf actually writing, so there is uncertainty about how much of what Gandalf said may have been recorded. And when Frodo asks if he has now heard the full story, Gandalf replies "Of course not", so the narration is explicitly incomplete. From the reader's point of view, the point of the story is to explain howThe Hobbit fits into the background ofThe Lord of the Rings, or more precisely, in Barkley's words, "why Bilbo was included in the dwarves' plans at Gandalf's suggestion."[11]
Frank P. Riga and colleagues, also inMythlore, write thatPeter Jackson used theQuest to enrich the story when transformingThe Hobbit from novel to film for his 2013 film adaptation,The Desolation of Smaug. Among other things, the film opens with the meeting between Gandalf and Thorin atThe Prancing Pony. Elements of Gandalf's motivations and previous discussions with Thorin also find their way into the 2012 filmAn Unexpected Journey as dialogue, particularly in the meeting held in Bilbo's house. In their view, theQuest "closely and thoroughly connects the action ofThe Hobbit with the larger, cosmic concerns of its sequel, showing how the Dwarves' struggle to regain their homeland became crucial in frustrating Sauron's plan to attackLorien andRivendell." They explain that the quest had to succeed, or the actions described inThe Lord of the Rings could not have occurred. Jackson used the connections, they state; for instance, making Saruman order Gandalf to stop the quest, and making Gandalf refuse, supported byGaladriel.[12]
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