Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth

Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth, or Unfinished Tales, is a collection of stories and alternate narratives by J.R.R. Tolkien that were not completed in his lifetime, but edited and concluded by Christopher Tolkien, and first published in 1980. The tales are set in Arda.

Publication & editions[]

Unlike The Silmarillion, in which narrative fragments were modified to form a consistent and coherent work, the Unfinished Tales are presented as Tolkien left them, with little more than names changed. Thus some of these are incomplete stories, while others are collections of "factual" information about Middle-earth. Each tale is followed by a long series of Christopher's notes explaining inconsistencies and obscure points. In a few of the tales (written after The Lord of the Rings had been published and found success), Tolkien reaches back to rationalize or correct certain facets of his world that originally had been different, or mysterious.

As with The Silmarillion, Christopher Tolkien edited and published Unfinished Tales before he had finished his study of the materials in his father's archive. Despite shortcomings in editorial consistency, Unfinished Tales provides detailed information about characters, events and places mentioned only briefly in The Lord of the Rings. Tales include alternate accounts of the origins of Gandalf and the Wizards, the death of Isildur and the loss of the One Ring in the Gladden Fields, and the founding of the Kingdom of Rohan.

Of particular note is the tale of Tar-Aldarion and Erendis, the only known story set within Númenor before its fall. A map of Númenor is included.

Unfinished Tales had commercial success, demonstrating that demand for Tolkien's stories several years after his death grew on. Considering this, Christopher Tolkien began to embark upon the more ambitious twelve-volume work entitled The History of Middle-earth which encompasses nearly the entire corpus of Tolkien's Middle-earth writings.

A special Deluxe Slipcase Edition was released by HarperCollins in 2013. In 2020, an "Illustrated Edition" of the book was released by Houghton Mifflin, featuring art by John Howe, Alan Lee, and Ted Nasmith. (These illustrators had separately provided cover-art for prior publications, in 1996, 2001, and 2003 respectively.)

Contents[]

Part One: The First Age:

• "Of Tuor and his Coming to Gondolin"
• "Narn i Hîn Húrin (The Tale of the Children of Húrin)"

Part Two: The Second Age:

• "A Description of the Island of Númenor"
• "Aldarion and Erendis: The Mariner's Wife"
• "The Line of Elros: Kings of Númenor"
• "The History of Galadriel and Celeborn"

Part Three: The Third Age:

• "The Disaster of the Gladden Fields"
• "Cirion and Eorl and the Friendship of Gondor and Rohan"
• "The Quest of Erebor"
• "The Hunt for the Ring"
• "The Battles of the Fords of Isen"

Part Four

• "The Drúedain"
• "The Istari"
• "The Palantíri"

Translations[]