Christopher Tolkien
4 books
Books (4)
Unfinished Tales
1980
Further tales that expand The Silmarillion and The Lord of the Rings. This collection ranges from the time of The Silmarillion to the end of the War of the Ring in The Lord of the Rings. Its many treasures include Gandalf's lively account of how he came to send the Dwarves to the celebrated party at Bag-End, the emergence of the sea-god Ulmo before Tuor, the only story of Númenor before its fall, and all that is known of the Five Wizards. The collection has been edited by Christopher Tolkien, who provides a commentary placing each of the Tales in the context of his father's work.
The Children of Húrin
2007
The ‘Great Tale’ of The Children of Húrin, set during the legendary time before The Lord of the Rings. Morgoth, the first Dark Lord, dwells in the vast fortress of Angband in the North; and within the shadow of the fear of Angband, and the war waged by Morgoth against the Elves, the fates of Turin and his sister Nienor will be tragically entwined. Their brief and passionate lives are dominated by the elemental hatred that Morgoth bears them as the children of Hurin, the man who dared to defy him to his face. Against them Morgoth sends his most formidable servant, Glaurung, a powerful spirit in the form of a huge wingless dragon of fire. Sardonic and mocking, Glaurung manipulates the fates of Turin and Nienor by lies of diabolic cunning and guile, in an attempt to fulfil the curse of Morgoth.
Beren and Lúthien
2017
The epic tale of Beren and Lúthien became an essential element in the evolution of The Silmarillion, the myths and legends of Tolkien's First Age of the World. Always key to the story is the fate that shadowed their love: Beren was a mortal man, Lúthien an immortal Elf. Her father, a great Elvish lord, imposed on Beren an impossible task before he might wed Lúthien: to rob the greatest of all evil beings, Melkor, of a Silmaril. Painstakingly restored from Tolkien's manuscripts and presented for the first time as a continuous and standalone story, Beren and Lúthien reunites fans of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings with Elves and Men, along with the rich landscape and creatures unique to Tolkien's Middle-earth. Christopher Tolkien tells the story in his father's own words by giving its original form as well as prose and verse passages from later texts that illustrate the narrative as it changed.
The Fall of Gondolin
2018
The hidden Elven city of Gondolin is the last great stronghold against Morgoth, the Dark Lord of the First Age. Built in secret and protected by encircling mountains, Gondolin has remained hidden for centuries - but Morgoth seeks it ceaselessly, knowing that its fall would break the last resistance to his domination of Middle-earth. Into this story comes Tuor, a man guided by the sea-god Ulmo on a perilous journey to the hidden city, where he finds love, purpose, and a role in events that will shape the future of Middle-earth. One of the three Great Tales of the Elder Days alongside Beren and Lúthien and The Children of Húrin, presented by Christopher Tolkien from his father's manuscripts in the same evolving-narrative format as its companion volumes.