This was inspired by a post I read in the r/LotR sub. They basically were trying to make the case that modern day AI is comparative with how Morgoth wanted to create.

While the parable isn’t necessarily inaccurate, I feel it to be incomplete. And the reason for that is because Tolkien didn’t hate machines that exist. He had an issue with the modern industrialization of the world, and a lot of it had to do with how much it abused nature by extracting it by the millions. The fact that it subsidized machine-based war was also something he opposed.

However, I don’t see how this means “You are anti-Tolkien if you use AI because of his views on this.” Going by that logic, wouldn’t it be anti-Tolkienian to benefit from any kind of industry at all? Especially institutions like the meat industry. Factory farms themselves require 8000 times more water than AI data centres, which is disastrous for our eco-survival, yet I don’t see anyone claiming “You are Anti-Tolkien for funding these institutions when you buy store-bought meat.”

And hell, if you wanna go full Tolkienian with it, you’re more than welcome to give up your own car just like he did. Largely due to how much he intensely disliked industrialized carbon emitting from what he personally operated.

Why would we single out specifically AI when that’s not even the full extent of what his criticism was?

I thought it would be neat to have a single volume that collected all of the additional narrative pieces about the Third (and Fourth) Ages together. Sort of like the Fall of Numenor did for the Second Age.

I went through the various sources and tried to list out all of the material that would make such a book leaving off the prologues and main narratives of the Hobbit and LoTR. Although HoME has a lot of text about the writing of LoTR, I didn't feel that any of the older drafts offered additional detail or stylistic differences the way that the Book of Lost Tales does for The Simarillion.

Below is my list. What did I forget?

Silmarillion

• Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age Starting with "Thus began the Third Age of the World..."

Lord of the Rings

• Appendix A - I. The numenorean kings * ii - The Realms in Exile * iii - Eriador, Arnor and the Heirs of Isildur * iv - Gondor and the Heirs of Anarion * v - Aragorn & Arwen
• Appendix B - The Tale of Years "The Third Age" onwards
• Appendix C - Family Trees
• Appendix D - Shire Calendar
• Appendix F - Languages and Peoples of the Third Age

Unfinished Tales

Part 3
Part 4 - The Istari

HoME 6 - The Return of the Shadow

XIV Return to Hobbiton - Note 22 Bilbos Will

HoME 12 - Peoples of Middle Earth

• Part Four: Unfinished Tales - XVI The New Shadow

Nature of Middle Earth

• Part Two, VI Descrptions of Characters Fate of the hobbits
• Part Three,
  • X - Rider to the White Rider
  • XXI - From the Hunt for the Ring
  • XXII - The Rivers and Beacon Hills of Gondor

EDIT - Forgot to include
HoMe 9 -Sauron Defeated - Part One XI The Epilogue
EDIT - Adding back in Unfinished Tales references thst disappeared

I'm familiar with most of the answers about blank, unknown or underspecified areas of the late Third Age map of Middle-Earth based on hints from Tolkien's notes and more fragmentary drafting (say, Gandalf's explanation to Boromir of why the Fellowship can't just go down to Minhiriath and Enedwaith and come into Gondor from its coastal west) but I don't recall anything describing what's in that big empty rectangle that runs from south of the River Running, west of the Sea of Rhun, east of Mirkwood, and north of Mordor. I don't have any sense of its terrain, or whether there are any people to speak of at all. Gloin says that the kingdom of Dale now has expanded its authority to south and east of Erebor and Esgaroth but it's not clear how far that goes. I guess the answer is arguably "Rhun" since it's in big letters on the classic map but pretty far over to the East, on the other side of the Sea of Rhun.

Did Tolkien ever have anything to say about that blank rectangle?

Honestly now I can't even remember if tea is ever mentioned by Tolkien but it is for sure Coffee is never mentioned. Tea seams more plausible since Middle Earth is so English. But when I think of Hobbits I just KNOW they would love Coffee in the morning. But maybe the Elves are keeping it a secret to themselves? OR is Coffee a Mordor thing?

Feanor : squared up against multiple balrogs at the same time and held them up for a time until he got tired and overwhelmed

Fingolfin : dueled a weakened morgoth and wounded him 7 times and gave him a permanent leg injury with his dying breath.

Imo : feanor.

Quite recently, people here have been talking about the building and maintenance of roads and bridges in Middle-earth. Since my grandfather was a highway engineer – he laid out the famous road up Haleakala Crater on the island of Maui in Hawaii – I have mor to say on the subject than would fit comfortably in an existing thread. So I am starting my own.

Bridges: The most famous bridge in Middle-earth, at least after Gandalf broke the one at Khazad-dûm, was rthe Brandywine Bridge, otherwise known as the Bridge of Stonebows. In case you have ever wondered what a stonebow is, the OED has the answer:”An arch of stone. Obsolete except as the name of one of the gates of Lincoln.” So much for that. The word in Old Engish is stanboga. It can also mean a natural stone arch, not one built by humans. As in this passage from Beowulf, describing the entrance to the barrow where Beowulf fought the dragon:

>þonne hnitan féðan/stódan stánbogan, stréam út þonan/recan of beorge· wæs þaére burnan wælm/heaðofýrum hát·

This (lines 2545-47) is the only quote for stanboga in the OED. Compare the description in The Hobbit of the Front Gate of Erebor.:

>They did not dare to follow the river much further towards the Gate; but they went on beyond the end of the southern spur, until lying hidden behind a rock they could look out and see the dark cavernous opening in a great cliff-wall between the arms of the Mountain. Out of it the waters of the Running River sprang; and out of it too there came a steam and a dark smoke

In the pictures that Tolkien drew of this scene, the arach at the entrance can be clearly seen.

Roads and Streets: In The Road to Middle-earth – still for my money the best book about Tolkien though originally published more than 40 years ago – Tom Shippeys showed that the description of the arrival of Gandalf and his companions at Meduseld is closely modeled on Beowulf's coming to Heorot. But he didn't exhaust the subject:. Here's a detail he3 didn't have room for: At Edoras Gandalf et al. “found a broad path, paved with hewn stones.” Tolkien surely included this because in the poem, when Beowulf;s men marched from the sea to the hall, Straét wæs stánfáh· stíg wísode/gumum ætgædere. Meaning “The street was paved with stones, the path guided/the men together” (lines 320-21).

“Street” is an interesting word, with a history that surfaces in LotR. It is not Germanic. The Romans, who invented the paved road, called it a via strata. Wherever their armies went, they built roads to a standard pattern, to enable the legions to reach quickly anyplace where the locals might be questioning the benefits of civilization. When the Anglo-Saxons arrived in Britain, they found a network of such roads; not having seen such a thing before, they borrowed the Latin word for it, as straét. (Germanic peoples on the Continent did likewise.)

The best-known of the Roman roads is known as Watling Street; it runs from Kent in the southeast to the borders of Wales, crossing the Thames at London. The sophistication of these Roman roads deeply impressed the invaders. Compare the description of the road south through Ithilien:

>The handiwork of Men of old could still be seen in its straight sure flight and level course: now and again it cut its way through hillside slopes, or leaped over a stream upon a wide shapely arch of enduring masonry; but at last all signs of stonework faded, save for a broken pillar here and there, peering out of bushes at the side, or old paving-stones still lurking amid weeds and moss. Heather and trees and bracken scrambled down and overhung the banks, or sprawled out over the surface. It dwindled at last to a country cart-road little used; but it did not wind: it held on its own sure course and guided them by the swiftest way.

“Road” on the other hand is a native English word (rád). It is from the same Germanic root as the verb “to ride.” Today, when we go everywhere on wheels, we expect thoroughfares to be paved. But in Tolkien's youth there were way more horses than cars, and horses don't like pavement; it hurts their feet. Which is why the way south from Minas Tirith, as Beregond showed Pippin in Book V ch. I, was in built to acc9modate both kinds of traffic: “it was wide and well-paved, and along its eastern edge ran a broad green riding-track.”)

But the old distinction between paved streets and unpaved roads surfaces in TT. As Théoden and his Riders approach Isengard: “After they had ridden for some miles, the highway became a wide street, paved with great flat stones, squared and laid with skill.”

So in Fellowship of the Ring, following the events of Moria and the Fellowship fleeing to the woods of Lothlórien where they are intercepted by Haldir and the Galadhrim.

When the Elves decide to take the Fellowship to Caras Galadhon, they insist that Gimli must be blindfolded because of their laws that Dwarves may not pass freely through the borders of Lothlórien.

As I understand it, all the kingdoms of elves and dwarves have been tenuous and varying since the The battle in the Thousand Caves during the first age and the Galadhrim have stronger reasons than most others to feel this way since Celeborn was a prince of Doriath and both Celeborn and Galadriel were residing in the kingdom of Doriath during the devastating Battle in the Thousand Caves and many of the slain were people Geleborn knew and loved all his life.

But the dwarves of Nogrod who sacked Doriath were Firebeards and Gimli is a Longbeard of the royal house of Durin.

Durin's folk have always had better relations with the elves. The reason that the Doors of Durin responded to an elvish password for friend is because they were created by the combind skill of Celebrimbor and Narvi to better trade and aid between Eregion and Khazad-Dum.

When Sauron sacked Eregion it was the dwarves who came to their aid and they used the same route that the Fellowship took through the Doors of Durin and out the Dimrill Gate to smuggle the survivors of Eregion to Lothlórien.

Legolas and Gimli had their own thing going on because Gimli was an Erebor dwarf and Legolas was a from the Woodland Realm and we all know from the Hobbit how they were.

Had Gimli been a Firebeard, fair enough, blindfold him. But as a Longbeard, Gimli should be a guest of honour held with reverence for his people's good deeds in helping the elves, especially those in Lorien who were refugees from Eregion.

Are the elves just racist and think all dwarves are alike?

The Nazgûl's minds. 'They do not perceive the world of light as we do', says Aragorn.

Gandalf says a wraith 'walks in the twilight'.

Light here is clearly sunlight. We walk under the sun and become 'weary' under the sun, to use the word Faramir uses when talking to Frodo, and die under the sun.

So what's the idea? That the Nazgûl can't see the object under the Sun, just its shadow?

The twilight, that sort of light, happens after the Sun has gone under the horizon. Objects' shadows are at their longest then. The Nazgûl, or rather their perception, are stuck eternally in that state.

Maybe this is what happens when 'thin, sort of stretched, like butter scrapped over too much bread' finally consumes your whole being. Every object goes under the horizon and stretches into a shadow.

This also would explain why the Nazgul were easily lost under the Sunlight; for them it was disorienting, pun intended. The compasses of their perception became unable to tell them where the North was.

The Witch-King was the exception, we're told. Apparently he could perceive the world of light in some way even from the twilight under which he walked.

Which brings Glorfindel to mind. He inhabiting the seen and unseen. Did the Witch-King, or rather the man who became the Witch-King, have a trace, a touch, of elvish blood? In that case he would have been not only a numenorean, but a noble or prince related ultimately to Elros himself.

Mentioned this in a comment the other day and I think it deserves its own post; I think Beren and Luthien's quest for the Silmaril happens on the "Eru works in mysterious ways" level to give Celegorm and Curufin their chances at redemption.

There are pretty big Celegorm and Curufin shaped holes in the questing party – the quest cannot and does not succeed without the Hound of Celegorm and the Knife of Curufin. One entity from each brother, one spot for each of them.

Let's look at how the interactions between Beren and Luthien and Celegorm and Curufin go.

First, Beren approaches Finrod about the quest. Celegorm recounts his oath and essentially threatens a second Kinslaying. "so now dark fear and brooding ire he cast on them, foreboding war of friend with friend [...] or haply battle, ruin, and woe in Doriath where great Thingol reigned, if Fëanor's fatal jewel he gained." {186O-187O}

The thought of, like, going with him to win back the Silmarils themselves does not seem to enter their minds. This can be forgiven at this stage, as it still seems like a suicide mission.

Later, then, Luthien comes to Nargothrond. In the Lay, we get a little aside with Curufin, where he tells Celegorm to go hunting to see if they can find news of Finrod and that, obviously, if he has a Silmaril, it would be theirs to claim – clearly the idea of the quest succeeding is no longer wholly absurd. Luthien finds Celegorm in the woods and gives him specific, actionable information about the quest.

Celegorm and Curufin, instead of taking the chance to reclaim a Silmaril, choose to imprison her instead. "Orodreth knew the purpose dark they would pursue: King Felagund to leave to die, and with King Thingol's blood ally by force or treaty." {25OO}

We should not delude ourselves into thinking this is not a rape threat. In the Lay, it's Curufin who tries to "marry" Luthien, but it changes to Celegorm in later versions, which I think is stronger because it's Celegorm who faces the punishment: Huan, his tool for the the accomplishment of his redemption quest abandons him, because he has refused the redemption.

Still, Huan returns to Celegorm's side and, though the brothers are cast out of Nargothrond, they are given the final chance at redemption when they come across Beren and Luthien in the wild for their third encounter with the questers.

They, uh, they aren't nice about it. They try to kidnap Luthien and murder Beren several times and thus close the door on their own redemption: Huan leaves Celegorm for good and Beren takes Angrist as a prize after defeating Curufin.

The rest of the quest unfolds as you know until Beren and Luthien are at the crown of Morgoth

>To move that helm of iron vast
no strength he found, and thence aghast
he strove with fingers mad to wrest
the guerdon of their hopeless quest,
'till in his heart there fell the thought
of that cold morn whereon he fought
with Curufin; then from his belt
the sheathless knife he drew, and knelt,
and tried its hard edge, bitter-cold

Curufin's knife, Celegorm's hound.

Beren tries for a second Silmaril and Angrist shatters as fate has not given for him to claim this one.

So, discussion question for the class: If Celegorm and Curufin had come on the quest as other interested parties, presumably on the agreement that Beren could show Thingol the Silmaril in his hand and then give it to one of the Feanorians because he's a rules lawyer who doesn't terribly care about the Silmarils outside of them being his bride price, would Angrist still have broken?

Tolkien speaks loudly of fate, but not the exclusion of choice. Celegorm and Curufin chose to be angry at the idea that someone else might ever touch a Silmaril rather than take the gift wrapped chance to fulfill their own Oath. Fate filled in their spots in the quest, but couldn't save them from the consequences of their own wrath and jealousy.

To preface what I am about to write, I want to say that certain questions about Legolas make most sense when we acknowledge that Tolkien was writing a history as he was going along, and creating Middle Earth as he was going along. As far as I know, Lothlorien was created during the writing of The Lord of the Rings, and the fact that Legolas had never been there makes sense if we consider Tolkien had never been there! So I think we have to admit certain inconsistencies about Legolas make more sense if we look outside the story.

One open question is the age of Legolas. I started thinking about this after reading The Nature of Middle Earth, where Tolkien writes (with much inconsistency) about Elvish aging. After reaching maturity in 20 years of the sun, Elves age at about 1 year for every 100 years of the sun. In The Lord of the Rings, in many ways, Legolas still acts as if he was a human in his late 20s or early 30s. As one poster mentioned, he defers to Aragorn, who is 87 but at an apparent age of a man in his late 30s. There is a certain playfulness and youth to the way Legloas acts, and he also doesn't seem to be either very adept at lore, or very well travelled (never having gone to Lothlorien, which is not that far from his father's realm, despite the fact that Elves can travel very fast when they need to). So I can imagine Legolas being "only" 1000 years old, or apparently around 30 years for a Man.

Another thing covered in the Nature of Middle Earth is when Elves have children and families. This is another thing that is inconsistent, but Elves tend to have families when they are "younger"...meaning under 3000 or so! Thanduil was apparently born in the First Age, meaning that by the end of the Second Age he was around 50 apparent years old, and by the end of the Third Age would have been around "80". I think it is still biologically possible for elves to have children at any age, but it would be unusual for an Elf from the First Age to have a first child that late. Of course, we don't know that Legolas was the first. We also know that Elrond and Galadriel, for example, had children very late.

In The Nature of Middle Earth, it also says that Elves avoid having children during times of war. I don't know if Sauron's corruption of Mirkwood would count as a war, but if it does, it makes me think that Legolas would have been born before 1000 TA, or perhaps in the "Watchful Peace" when Sauron was driven out. If it is the second option, it means that Legolas is "only 1000 years old", and would be the equivalent of a Man between 27 and 33. Some of his seeming lack of experience might be because he is a youngest child, with unnamed older siblings. I don't know if "baby of the family" dynamics happen in Elvish families, but it almost seems that is the case with Legolas. Some of it might also be due to his father intentionally wanting to embrace Silvan lifestyles, and Thranduil intentionally didn't think that too much "High Elvish" learning was important for Legolas. Basically, Legolas was a bit sheltered.

So from this, I actually believe that Legolas was born during the Watchful Peace, is "only" 1000 years old, or 30 apparent years as a Man, and may be the youngest child of Thranduil, who has somewhat intentionally sheltered Legolas. I don't believe this with full certainty, but it makes somewhat more sense than Legolas being born early in the Third Age (or even earlier, but I think there are pretty clear reasons why he couldn't be born in the Second Age).

From catalog notes:

J. R. R. Tolkien. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy: comprising The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King. London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd., 1954-1955. 3 volumes, 8vo. In-text illustration by Tolkien in Fellowship ("The Doors of Durin"); folding map by the author's son, Christopher Tolkien, tipped-in at rear of each volume.

Publisher's red cloth, spines stamped in gilt, top edges red; original pictorial dust jackets. FIRST EDITIONS, FIRST IMPRESSIONS.

The Fellowship of the Ring, first edition, first impression, with signature mark "4" on p. 49, first state dust jacket;

The Two Towers, first edition, first impression, with signature mark "4" on page 49, first state dust jacket;

The Return of the King, first edition, first impression, p. 49 variant 3 with sagging text and signature mark "4" present, p. 281 variant 2 with the gap in "Men" closed, first state dust jacket.

EACH IN AN UNRESTORED FIRST STATE DUST JACKET. Overall, an attractive set.

References: Hammond & Anderson A5a.i, ii, and iii.

Provenance: From the collection of David Aronovitz.

Been reading the Silmarillion again and I'm wondering if the varying races of Elves look different. Perhaps it's the teenage years spent playinf DnD and the Elder Scrolls games alongside reading Tolkien, but I associate the Grey Elves as being darker skinned. But there's no mention of it in the text, I think it​'s just an association I have. The Green Elves are named such for the "color of their raiment" according to the chapter I just read. But would the Noldor look different to the Sindar? How about the Avari? Their langauges were sundered and developed uniquely, so would their features? Or would the relatively slow population cycle of Elves not lead to many changes? Tolkien uses colors to describe some of the Elves, but is that moreso for their aura or disposition than skin or stature? Just a thought I had, figured I'd ask the experts.

Like many of us here, I grew up on Tolkien. Yet as I've gotten older, the childhood wonder for his books hasn't gone away, it's grown.

I used to read Aragorn's story as being about destiny, about how we're all meant for greatness. But The Lord of the Rings isn't about being destined to do great things and becoming a great man. Tolkien writes about how important it is to do good things and be a good man

.

All that is gold does not glitter

Aragorn's most heroic moment is when he goes to The Black Gate, not to challenge Sauron himself, but to buy time for Frodo and Sam. The high king returned is not the glittering gold, the two small hobbits are who really matter, yet the mighty king is humble enough to put himself in danger for them with no promise of victory

.

Not all those who wander are lost

Aragorn was supposed to go south to Minas Tirith with Boromir. Instead, the fellowship breaks as Aragorn cries over Boromir's corpse - a stark contrast from the plan Aragorn had built up in his head

Lives aren't linear. The lives we dreamed up as kids don't play out the way we expect. But that doesn't make our lives any less meaningful or us any less valid as people because when it counted Aragorn stopped wandering and took The Paths of the Dead

.

The old that is strong does not wither

Aragorn was 88 when he finally gained Gondor's crown. His coronation has little to do with destiny or birthright, instead coming as a direct result of him refusing to wither before adversity. The long years had been hard on him, but he earns the crown by challenging Sauron in the palantir

Reading The Hobbit as a kid made me want to be somebody. I think most of us all want to be high achievers, to accomplish great things early and often. But that doesn't always happen for us, and yet we're never too old to try new things and find new accomplishments

.

Deep roots are not reached by the frost

Boromir was corrupted by power and tried to take the Ring. But Aragorn knew Boromir was not an evil man at heart, so he gave him a chance to defend Merry and Pippin help now! Go after those two young hobbits, and guard them at the least

Faced with the hordes of Isengard and Mordor, the Horn of Gondor calls drawing the orcs away from the Ringbearer. Though it costs Boromir his life, Aragorn giving him a chance gives Frodo and Sam a window to escape

It's always worth getting to know the people around us. We owe it to ourselves to not assume the worst in them and to be the first to apologize it is I that have failed

.

From the ashes a fire shall be woken

As the fellowship breaks and Aragorn feels small he makes a promise Minas Tirith shall not fall!. And so, at the very moment the Gate of Gondor breaks and The Lord of the Nazgul rides in and all hope appears lost, hope fills Aragorn's sails. Thus came Aragorn, and Minas Tirith does not fall

Our worst moments can become our most important. When it looks like we've lost everything and we've failed, it's time to pick ourselves up and move forward

.

A light from the shadows shall spring

At Weathertop, the Ring nearly falls into Sauron's grasp. At the very moment Frodo is stabbed, Aragorn comes leaping out of the darkness with a flaming brand of wood in either hand, his light driving the Nazgul back

We've all faced shadows in our lives. I know the works of Tolkien have been a light for me in those times. But Tolkien's work, especially Aragorn, shows how we can be a light for others. For all the loss and sadness in Aragorn's youth he still has the strength to be a light for Frodo against the darkest shadows like Tolkien has been a light for me

.

Renewed shall be blade that was broken

Narsil, the blade that cut the Ring from Sauron's hand. Elendil it was that stood alongside Gil-Galad against Sauron himself. By Aragorn's time men and elves no longer had the strength to defy Sauron in any real way

But two small hobbits could, maybe, with some luck find a way to destroy the Ring. When Anduril is reforged, Aragorn does not face the Witch-King or Saruman with it in an epic one on one duel. He shows it reforged to Sauron in the palantir, goading the Red Eye away from Frodo and into a premature strike

The blade that once defeated Sauron in an epic duel instead gets used to spring a trap and so it is that shadow is vanquished forever

Not everything goes the way its supposed to go. But when our lives fall apart, we can put the pieces back together in a new way. It won't be what we dreamed of, but it doesn't have to be worse. Every divorce can be the start of a new relationship, every shattered dream can be the root of new aspirations, a failed degree or lost job can be a pivot into something fresh

.

The crownless again shall be king

What does it mean to be a king?

Aragorn knelt for a while, bent with weeping, still clasping Boromir’s hand

The hands of a king are the hands of a healer

I have no help to send, therefore I must go myself

Aragorn becomes king because he's a good man, not a great one

The book "Tolkien on Fairy-stories", edited by Verylyn Flieger and Douglas Anderson has, in addition to the final published draft of his essay "On Fairy Stories", some of the earlier drafts of the speech at St. Andrews that he turned into the essay. If you haven't read them, here are a couple of gems you might enjoy. They both come from what the editors call Manuscript B.

The introduction in the speech. "To be invited to lecture in St. Andrews is a huge compliment to any man; to be allowed to speak about Fairy Stories is (for an Englishman in Scotland) an honour difficult to sustain. I feel like a mortal conjuror who finds himself, by some mistake, called on to give a display of magic to the court of an Elf-king. After producing his rabbit, he may consider himself lucky if he is allowed to go home in his proper shape, or to go home at all."

And the second is a version that is similar to what he finally went with, but with an interesting twist. "“The Land of Fairy Story is wide and deep and high, and is filled with many kings and all manner of men, and beasts, and birds; its seas are shoreless and its stars uncounted, its beauty an enchantment and its peril every-present; both its joy and sorrow are poignant as a sword. In that land a man may (perhaps) count himself fortunate to have wandered, but its very mystery and wealth make dumb the traveller who would report. And while he is there it is dangerous for him to ask too many questions, lest the gates be shut and the keys be lost. The fairy gold (too often) turns to withered leaves when it is brought away. All that I can ask is that you, knowing all these things, will receive my withered leaves, as a token at least that my hand once held a little of the gold.”

I hope you have enjoyed these.

I'd prefer comments based on LOTR. But if there's nothing useful there, how about not-too-far-fetched speculation?

Bree and the Shire, by all rights, should be closely linked.

The geographical divide between the two communities is small- on the East Road you could travel from the Eastfarthing to Bree a few days. That's not much different from the distance between Buckland to Michel Delving, for example. In addition, the settlements aren't that culturally different. Frodo and company seem comfortable enough after just a few hours in Bree, and likewise the Bree-landers take to the Shire-hobbits quickly enough. It's emphasised how xenophobic people in the Shire are, but I think to someone in Hobbiton, a Bree-lander wouldn't be so different compared to a Bucklander, and Merry mentions that contact between Buckland and Bree used to be regular (if not frequent).

Furthermore, it seems that the Shire and Bree did have plenty of contact historically. It's mentioned that travel between the two used to be more frequent, and the presence of 'Shire' last names among Bree-hobbits suggests intermixing there as well. The connecting road seems to have been maintained with trees planted along the margins. Nor does the trip seem particularly perilous, with the road staying well clear of the Old Forest and the Barrow Downs. In fact given time I would've thought that a strip of development would've appeared along the road, so that eventually the Shire and Bree would be merged into a single continuous settlement. At the very least an Inn along the road seems warranted.

However, evidently things did not turn out this way. We know that both the Shire and Bree are insular communities, so was this a case where they just willingly ignored each other? Given the hints of past connections, that doesn't seem likely. The sundering of communities seems to be a more recent development, and though the book remarks on this no explanation is given as to why.

​Reading The Fall of Númenor intrigued me deeply: how can a society forget the misfortunes of the past so quickly? The Númenoreans received their island as a gift from the Gods for helping to overthrow the tyrant Morgoth, only to allow an internal tyrant, Ar-Pharazôn, to rise among them centuries later.

​To me, the book makes it clear that the "Shadow" is not just an external enemy army, but rather a moral degradation that happens from the inside out.

​Unlike the grand warfare epics, the chapter on Aldarion and Erendis is a tragedy of manipulation and unrealistic expectations. Erendis tries to control her husband's essence, while Aldarion yields to social pressures for a traditional marriage. Their pride and lack of communication created wounds that became an inheritance for future generations (as we see in Ancalimë's coldness).

​The seed of discord was planted right there, in family arrogance, long before Sauron even set foot on the island. Did you also feel this pit in your stomach while reading this chapter? Do you think the ruin of Númenor actually began in these domestic disputes?

​Tolkien's genius shines by showing that Evil does not create corruption out of nothing; it merely amplifies what is already spoiled inside. Sauron is the master of manipulation and does not need vast armies to work Evil: he only needs any bad feeling to take root in a man's heart, for he knows that hate breeds hate. He humbles himself, feigns to be a hostage, and uses flattery as sweet as honey to become the King's official counselor. He does not need brute force; he uses ego, pride, and the fear of death to pit man against man.

​It is terrifying to realize how history repeats itself: human evil is capable of ignoring all the lessons of pain from our ancestors in exchange for empty promises of power and immortality. They turned against the very Gods who blessed them, transforming a paradise into an altar of horrors. When a society punishes those who try to warn about external danger and comes to love conquest and blood more than peace, it has already begun to crumble. The enemy from the outside only won because the one inside had already destroyed the bonds of trust.

​In light of this, what scares you more: Sauron's capacity for manipulation or the ease with which human beings sabotage their own history?

​The book closes with a painful irony. While the majority lost themselves in hatred, Isildur emerges as a breath of hope by risking his life to save the fruit of the White Tree. But the end of the work reveals his own downfall into the shadows. By refusing to destroy the One Ring and calling it "Precious" in his accounts (recalling Gollum and the corruption of his mind), he seals his fate. Tolkien gives us a masterclass here: the Ring is not just a magical object with superpowers; it is a psychological addiction that enslaves the bearer through a distorted sense of entitlement ("a compensation," as Isildur himself justifies it).

​The Fall of Númenor deserves a million stars for reminding us that true danger arises when we allow the craving for control and pride to harden our hearts.

​The debate is open! Which of these dynamics or tragedies in the book had the greatest impact on your reading?

Alright so I've read The Hobbit, LOTR, and The Silmarillion. In that order. This summer I want to read ALL of Christopher's stuff he published, all of the lore works. Whats the best reading order? I have a hardback book called The History of Middle Earth Part one which includes Lost Tales 1 + 2, The Lays of Bereliand, The Shaping of Middle Earth, and The Lost Road and Other Writings. Should I start there? I don't even really know what I haven't read. Any and all help would be appreciated. A reading list is also needed.

The one aspect of Jackson's portrayal that bothered me was the disrespect shown Radagast. A defender of wildlife and nature. Depicting him with bird poop running down his face and beard made him appear as a fool.