I think it's a safe bet to say he isn't just talking about general prose or vivid descriptions of the environments. The book is already filled to the brim with such things. My interpretation of this perceived "defect" is that the story had room to tell more which he simply never put pen to paper to do

Which parts of the story stand out to you as perhaps rushed, or in need of greater development? If Tolkien had taken another few years to publish the story, what do you imagine he would have added or expanded upon to make it so that the book was no longer "too short" in his or his contemporaries' eyes?

So, I read the hobbit and LOTR at a ripe young age. Young enough that I hadn't yet had the atheist teen phase. I was so thoroughly impressed with the idea of the Valar and Mayar and Illuvatar/Eru.

The music of the world and the trees of Valinor, the creation of the moon and sun, the personalities of Ulmo and Yavanna spoke to me on a level that I now recognize as being quasi-religious. (Maybe the better word is mythical).

So now I'm older and searching for higher meaning. I'm currently reading the bible, I've discussed the Q'ran with my muslim bestie, I researched a bit into Hinduism, but nothing hits me as hard as the worldview of the Silmarillion.

Is that taking it too far? Is it almost insulting to established religions to take fiction this deeply?

I'm wondering if any of you feel this way about the Silmarillion. I would love to hear people's thoughts on this matter.

Tevildo is technically just a concept of Sauron, and the cats of Queen Beruthiel are probably i think the only felines/cats in the legendarium. Are there any other ones mentioned or shown in the Lord of the Rings? I mean, dogs get more representation with Huan the heroic dog that beat Sauron, Carcharoth the evil wolf and Farmer Maggot's dogs in the legendairum. So did Tolkien had other felines or cats in his books aside from the ones mentioned here?

I just ordered the complete histories of ME boxed sets and #4 was the only one to come in bearing the WM logo. I have doubts whether it's smart to keep this, is it very different from the HC versions? I've seen complaints about differences in the other books but not the recent HoME boxed sets...

I am a little bit confused. Nobody looked surprised when the hobbits arrived and see the destruction.

They met Saruman along the road and the literally made a threat. Also there were visions of a destroyed Shire but instead the made a retour and just had a good time?

And when did Saruman started working the Shire? And why? He knew the ring could have been there?

Read these two passages and gandalf's words and then think of merry and eowyn killing the lord of the nazgul. Obviously they had the magic infused sword of the barrow downs and were fulfilling a prophecy still they are doing what gandalf says cannot be done. They slay a nazgul while the ring still remains. Interesting

‘I am afraid it will,’ said Gandalf. ‘We can’t start until we have found out about the Riders.’ ‘I thought they were all destroyed in the flood,’ said Merry. ‘You cannot destroy Ringwraiths like that,’ said Gandalf. ‘The power of their master is in them, and they stand or fall by him.

‘The Winged Messenger!’ cried Legolas. ‘I shot at him with the bow of Galadriel above Sarn Gebir, and I felled him from the sky. He filled us all with fear. What new terror is this?’ ‘One that you cannot slay with arrows,’ said Gandalf. ‘You only slew his steed. It was a good deed; but the Rider was soon horsed again. For he was a Nazgûl, one of the Nine, who ride now upon winged steeds.

Edit: interesting that the first two comments take different sides. One says had the ring survived the witch king would have regenerated. The other says the barrow blade killed the witch king in a way that would keep him from regenerating

Not sure why this post is getting downvoted it is simply pointing out something interesting it is taking no position

I was always unclear about this. At the end of the second Valar war (the proper name escapes me), Manwë and Tulkas finally cast down Melkor and essentially throw him out of Arda into the void and lock the door behind him. I can never tell whether that was meant to be a literal door or not. But regardless, why would they have kept him alive? That ends up being pretty much the definition of the “sealed evil in a can” trope. We know that Ainür can be killed, or at least forcibly diminished to the point that they lose basically all their power and can never get it back. So why would the Valar risk letting Morgoth keep his power?

Other than the fact that Morgoth is clearly meant to be a Lucifer analog, and God didn’t kill Lucifer in biblical theology, is there any actual in-universe reason for keeping Morgoth/Melkor alive? They didn’t show Sauron or Saruman the same mercy.

God I love a good death scene and fortunately, Tolkien loved to write them.

I read LOTR first so Theoden’s and Arwen’s gutted me first. But when I read The Silmarillion…wow. In a book full of tragedy and death, Morwen’s will always haunt me.

Edit So it’s not from The Silmarillion or Unfinished Tales 🤷🏽 I read everything like 20 years ago

Again, I don’t have my copy of anything save The People’s of Middle Earth…somewhere. So this is taken from somewhere on the internet and I’m pretty sure it’s from Unfinished Tales:

“…Sitting in the shadow of the stone there was a woman, bent over her knees; and as Hurin stood there silent she cast back her tattered hood and lifted her face. Grey she was and old, but suddenly her eyes looked into his, and he knew her; for though they were wild and full of fear, that light still gleamed in them that long ago had earned for her the name Eledhwen, proudest and most beautiful of mortal women in the days of old. 'You come at last,' she said. 'I have waited too long.' 'It was a dark road. I have come as I could,' he answered. 'But you are too late,' said Morwen. 'They are lost.' 'I know it,' he said. 'But you are not.' But Morwen said 'Almost. I am spent I shall go with the sun. Now little time is left if you know, tell me! How did she find him?' But Hurin did not answer, and they sat beside the stone, and did not speak again; and when the sun went down Morwen sighed and clasped his hand, and was still; and Hurin knew that she had died. He looked down at her in the twilight and it seemed to him that the lines of grief and cruel hardship were smoothed away. 'She was not conquered,' he said; and he closed her eyes, and sat unmoving beside her as the night drew down.”

I'll start: I just noticed a symmetry or possible foreshadowing (whether intentional or not) in the words of Gildor at his meeting with Frodo in the woods of the Shire. He says:

"I name you Elf-friend; and may the stars shine upon the end of your road!"

Which for the first time made me think of the star that Sam notices unexpectedly in the gloom of Mordor. In the first, Frodo is receiving the hope and wishes from Gildor with Sam sleeping at his feet. In the latter, Sam is perceiving the star (Eärendil, in all likelihood) with Frodo sleeping beside him and it lends him a glimmer of hope and calm in that otherwise wretched place.

"There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach."

The symmetry of it struck me and I thought it was beautiful, so I was wondering what other new details you have noticed on rereading any of the books that I can look out for on this current read.

(Edited to fix spelling mistake)

Eru Ilúvatar is Tolkien’s representation of God within the setting of Middle-Earth. He is the one who created the Ainur, which consists of at least two subsets, the Valar, and the Maiar.

While some of the answers here represent that there were only seven Valar, this is actually false. There were originally fifteen, all powerful beyond the ken of mortal beings, even those as powerful and ancient as the Eldar or the Ents. These fifteen consisted of the following:

1. Manwë Súlimo.
2. Varda Elantári.
3. Aüle the Smith.
4. Námo ( Mandos. )
5. Vaíre the Weaver.
6. Yavanna Kemantári.
7. Vána the Ever-Young.
8. Ulmo.
9. Oromë Aldaron.
10. Irmo ( Lórien. )
11. Nessa the Dancer.
12. Nienna.
13. Estë the Gentle.
14. Tulkas Astaldo.
15. Melkor.

For me. And this does feel both subjective and objective, I believe that the remaining fourteen Valar, and Melkor himself, stopped seeing him as a Valar, after he became the traitor known as Morgoth, the First Dark Lord, for whom Sauron, as great and terrible as he was, was only the first lieutenant for and a pale imitation of in terms of might, evil, and darkness. Like Sauron in regards to the Maiar, Melkor was considered the greatest of the Valar, and it took a concerted effort from many forces of Light to defeat him, and ultimately, all that could be achieved was his imprisonment, not his death - The Prophecy spoken of and named as Dagor Dagorath, foretells of the Final Battle, the Last Battle of Good versus Evil in Middle-Earth, when Morgoth breaks his shackles of imprisonment and returns to wage war against all of creation. This is also the time when the Valar are sworn to end their self-imposed banishment from Arda, and return from Eä, as no army of elves, men, and dwarves, regardless of how many Sam Gamgees they may possess, can stand against Morgoth when this happens.

Of the Maiar, they number eighteen, at least that are definitively known of and named by Tolkien. Like the Valar, the Maiar are also Ainur, albeit a lesser variety. Each of them is known to have served one of the Valar directly, and due to their numbers being slightly larger than their more powerful brethren, I believe that when one falls, each Valar is allowed to replace them with another - With the caveat being that falling into darkness doesn’t count, but falling in battle/dying does.

1. Olórin, otherwise known as Gandalf the Grey, and later, Gandalf the White, after having been restored to life by Eru Ilúvatar himself after his battle with, defeat of, and subsequent death in the aftermath from, the Balrog known as Durin’s Bane, who was also a Maiar, albeit one fallen to darkness.
2. Alatar the Blue.
3. Pallando the Blue.
4. Aiwendil, or Radagast the Brown.
5. Curumo, or Saruman the White/Saruman of Many Colors.

These five were known as the Istari, who the Valar opted to send down to Middle-earth, or Arda, to fight with and help the Free Peoples in their battles against the Second Dark Lord, Sauron. The exact timing of their arrival in Middle-Earth is unclear. In Unfinished Tales, Tolkien penned it as them arriving in the year 1000 of the Third Age, and yet in the Peoples odyssey Middle-Earth, he instead states they arrived in the year 1600 of the Second Age, around the time the One Ring was forged.

The remaining Maiar that are known are as follows: 6. Mairon/Sauron. 7. Durin’s Bane. 8. Gothmog. 9. Lungorthin. 10. Boldog. 11. Eönwë 12. Arien. 13. Melian. 14. Ilmarë. 15. Tilion. 16. Uinen. 17. Ossë. 18. Salmar.

We also have the oddity that is known as Tom Bombadil. Tolkien himself claimed that Tom is neither Valar, nor Maiar, nor man, nor elf, nor dwarf, nor Hobbit. He suspiciously leaves out and forgoes straight up declaring that Tom Bombadil is not an Ainur, however.

The elves, or Eldar, refer to Tom as Iarwain Ben-Adar, which translates from Sindarin as The Oldest and Fatherless. Glorfindel calls him The First. And Tom himself deems himself the Eldest, and admits that he existed long before the creation of Arda. This directly makes him older than the world that the Valar are known to have created, and thus puts him in the same age bracket as the other known Ainur, the Valar and the Maiar.

He was also a being so powerful as to be able to completely shrug off the effects of the One Ring, and possess complete and utter impunity and immunity to the dark powers that allowed it to possess all else who attempted to wear it and master it, including Maiar like Gandalf, who was terrified of ever even touching it due to fear of corruption, and Galadriel, widely considered the most powerful elf/Eldar of the Third Age, even over Elrond. It should be noted that Gandalf was able to wear and master Narya, the ring of fire, while Galadriel wore and had mastered Nenya, the ring of water. These two made up two of the three Elven Rings of Power. Elrond had the third, Vilya, the Ring of Air.

This scales Tom Bombadil above two of the most powerful Eldar, and one of the most powerful Maiar, despite them being boosted by these rings.

We also have the fact that in Return of the Shadow Volume 6, Christopher Tolkien notes an interesting and important, albeit ultimately unimplemented by Tolkien, feat by Tom. The Nine Nazgūl, in their pursuit of Frodo in the hunt for the Ring, pursue him into the lands and realms that belonged to Tom Bombadil. They are easily repelled, with little effort, in this unfinished draft. Which also aligns with and backs up what is said about him at the Council of Elrond. For Sauron to defeat Tom Bombadil, all else would need to have fallen so that all his attention and might, and that of all his forces combined, could be focused on the task at hand. Gandalf also deems Tom a “most unsafe guardian” for the One Ring, not due to a lack of power or capacity to protect it, but due him simply being too ignorant and careless of the importance of both the Ring and the task of keeping it safe to be able to be trusted to not either misplace it or to lose it.

This would, again, scale Tom Bombadil higher than even Sauron, due to the implication that in a 1v1, Sauron would be defeated, but with his entire army free to wage war against Tom alongside him, he would eventually ( IE, still with great effort and cost ) be able to wear him down and triumph. This scenario has Sauron in possession of the One Ring, as well, as hypothetical as it all was, even in the works of Tolkien.

Knowing how powerful this would scale Tom Bombadil, knowing that he predates the creation of Arda and likely the Valar and the Maiar, and knowing that Tolkien, when giving his answer on who or what Tom Bombadil is very specifically included Valar, Maiar, and all mortal races as something he is not, but also very conspicuously failed to mention or rule out that he could be an Ainur, of which we know there were always implied to be more than just the Valar and the Maiar, and knowing that one of key distinctions between the Valar/Maiar and the Istari is that the Valar and the Maiar swore to retreat to Eä until such time as the prophesied battle of Dagor Dagorath came to pass, and they returned to Arda to fight Morgoth once more alongside all the Free Peoples is that the Istari are Maiar who were allowed to return to fight and guide the Free People against Sauron, while Tom Bombadil is stated to have “stayed behind”. Although never truly from what he was “staying behind” from, I believe that Tom is an Ainur, one that likely predates all fifteen Valar, and likely has access to, or at the very least knowledge of, Eru Ilúvatar’s original song/hymn before it was corrupted by Melkor.

If he was to be proven to be an Ainur, it could also then quite easily be concluded that Goldberry, his wife, could quite likely be the Maiar that was assigned to serve him.

While this post is intended to be as factual as possible, due to the nature of Tolkien’s writings, the unfinished nature of his works and mythos upon his death, and his deliberate vagueness around the existence of Tom Bombadil, a lot of this is conjecture from and educated guesswork drawn from reading between the lines of Tolkien’s published works, his unfinished works, and the various letters, interviews and such he gave throughout his life.

I do however believe that in regards to everything above the talk around Tom, Goldberry, and their possible true identities, in response to the OP’s on another question around the difference between the Valar, the Maiar, and their relative relations to Eru Ilúvatar is factual, accurate, and to the best of my knowledge, true to the works and words of Tolkien himself. If I did make any mistakes, in particular in regards to this section, please feel free to comment with an amendment.

In regards to Tom Bombadil, please be kind, and accept that the truth of the character is largely open to interpretation, and that I am just doing my best to share my opinion as fan who has been devouring Tolkien’s books, writings, and musings, for as long as I can remember.

Peace out, Keiko.

P.S: Reddit had a glitch around allowing my comment originally, so I posted it here. Also the OP on the post I was intending to respond to is from a deleted account.

I know about the names of two Dragons (Gostir and Lhamtanc) that were never used in any tale, but still written and explained in Tolkiens etymologies. Does anyone know more of those unused names (characters, places, etc.) in the legendarium?

I was never fully clear on whether the reason that it is repeatedly said that using the Ring against Sauron wasn’t an option is primarily because it simply wouldn’t work, or more that doing so would effectively just create a new Dark Lord, thereby not actually solving the problem? I think in the case of Gandalf and Saruman at least, it’s canonically the latter. But as for mere mortals like Aragorn, it isn’t clear.

Hi, first time posting on reddit. I am looking for conceptual art work books based on Tolkiens world. I am really liking the look of David Days books. Please let me know what you would recommend.

But the Lost Tale of Eärendel was never written.

Welcome one and all again to the 2024 Read-Along and Discussion of The Fall of Gondolin (2018) here on r/tolkienfans. For Week 46 (Nov 24-30) we will be exploring the chapter, "Conclusion", pp. 240-241.

Christopher Tolkien begins discussions of tying up of the various loose ends of the narratives by his father, "To set out and discuss these often contradictory outlines in their clipped phrases would be contrary to the purpose of these two books: the comparative histories of narratives as they evolved." He then mentions he will next conclude the matter of the remnant of the people of Gondolin reaching the Waters of Sirion.

Morgoth's triumph is now complete.

Questions for the week:

1. None thus far. Might you have some?

Announcement and Index: (Take 2) 2024 The Silmarillion and The Fall of Gondolin Read-Along

I have a firm recall of many years ago seeing a reference, I believe, in HoME, that the "reward" to the Edain of the island of Numenor and the "change" to their nature with their longer lifespan and freedom from illness was actually a restoration of Men's natural status prior to their initial Fall.

I've not been able to find it in recent times when I've gone to find it, however I do not own all of HoME, and certainly not in a searchable e-format like some here, and haven't had the same access via library that I've enjoyed in the past. Google-fu has failed me in this instance. The Arthbeth obviously has a lot of what is written about the Fall but doesn't discuss the Numenoreans.

And so I come to the Rivendell of the internet, r/TolkienFans for counsel. Am I imagining things? Or confusing something that has its origins in David Day or similar's speculation? I obviously want to know if it is something JRRT wrote, or else something Christopher said, rather than less reliable sources of speculation.

......

Edit: Further digging led me to this Letter to Rhona Beare in 1958) that does talk about the relationship of Men's longevity and the nature of the Fall in his tales, without quite having the idea I thought I remembered. As an aside, imagine getting this letter that gives a detailed synopsis of the creation/nature of Arda and of Elves, Dwarves and Men, nearly 20 years before the Silmarillion was published!!

https://www.tolkienestate.com/letters/letter-to-a-reader-rhona-beare-oct-1958/

I'm about to read the Lord of the Rings for the first time after I finish The Hobbit!

I have a trilogy box set of Lord of the Rings books, but I also have a copy of Lord of the Rings where all three books are combined into one.

What's your preferred way to read through?

As a trilogy, or as one huge book?

What do you think the pros and cons are? Or do you think it doesn't change anything at all?

Tolkien's pretty consistent, at least in the Silmarillion, in pluralizing Quenya words as they are in Quenya, 'maiar', 'valar', 'eldar', 'sindar', and so forth. The lone exception is 'silmaril', which he pluralizes as 'silmarils' instead of 'silmarilli'. Why is this? I'll admit that I think 'silmarils' sounds better, but it's weird that he breaks this trend.

Amazon has a lot of Tolkien material in there buy 2 get 1 free sale right now. I've just gone all in on the new Harper Collins box sets to get my Tolkien shelf all to match. So the five of them and the last one due out in June aside, is there anything else worth looking for? I also have Tales from the Perilous Realm, the Lay of Aoutrou & Itroun, Bilbo's Last Song, and the Battle of Maldon which aren't part of any box set so far.

But there are sorts of Atlas's, artbooks, etc out there too. Are any of them worthy editions if I already have all of the material listed above? An author named David Day crops up a LOT. I don't know if he just cranks out material endlessly remixed, or has some rhyme and reason for what he's done. These sort of fan works are tricky like that.

I really love the conceit that The Silmarillion draws from many different fictional sources across Arda. Obviously this is reminiscent of real-life mythological texts like Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda and Apollodorous' Bibliotheca, which similarly draw upon a vast amount of mythic sources and texts in order to create a condensed account of their respective mythologies. Tolkien really adds to the historicity of his own corpus by tapping into the same idea. Having said all that, what are all the fictional sources that Tolkien gives for The Silmarillion? I'll list all the ones that I know of, but please let me know if I leave any out (I think that is likely, lol).

• "Annals of Aman" (Rúmil of Tirion's history of Aman provides much of the material for the "Valinor" section of The Silmarillion).
• "Aldudénië" (A lament composed by Elemmírë of the Vanyar, which is a big source used for the "Darkening of Valinor" chapter, probably along with Rúmil's annals).
• "Noldolantë" (A lament composed by Maglor that provides much of the material used for the "Flight of the Noldor" chapter, also along with Rúmil's annals).
• "Grey Annals" (Pengolodh of Gondolin wrote a detailed history of the Eldar in Beleriand while in Gondolin, and this was the primary source used for all the "Beleriand" chapters of The Silmarillion).
• The three "Great Tales" were written down in Númenor in a great masterwork titled the "Atanatárion", and this was also preserved in Gondor. I'm not certain if this was used as a direct source for The Silmarillion, but it feels possible.
• "The Lay of Leithian" (the primary source for the "Beren and Lúthien" chapter of The Silmarillion, possibly along with Pengolodh's annals and the Atanatárion).
• "Narn i Chîn Húrin" (composed by the Mannish poet Dírhaval of the House of Hador, this would be the primary source for the "Of Túrin Turambar chapter", in addition to parts of the "Grey Annals" and possibly the Atanatárion.
• I'm uncertain where "The Wanderings of Húrin" fits into this. It's possibly part of the "Narn", in which case it was written by Dírhaval. Or perhaps it was recorded in the "Atanatárion."
• "Narn e·Dant Gondolin ar Orthad en·Êl" (titled "The Tale of the Fall of Gondolin and the Raising of the Star", this is the primary source for both "The Fall of Gondolin" and "Of the Voyage of Eärendil" chapters from The Silmarillion).
• "The Lay of Eärendil" is probably what lies behind the "Narn" version cited above. It was also a likely source for the final chapter in The Silmarillion.

I’m fully on my Tolkien ADHD hyperfocus.

Anyway, in The Fellowship of The Ring, when Gildor hosts Frodo and co in Woodhall, he says that they’re far from his halls I think. Otherwise he’d be a better host.

I doubt Tolkien ever said where these halls may be but it got me thinking, which is always a dangerous pastime.

Where were Gildor’s halls? I’d assume somewhere beyond the river Lune. Maybe somewhere else in Eriador?

What do you think they were like? Something like PJ’s depiction of Rivendell? ROP’s Grey Havens? A series of germanic or Celtic mead halls? Greek peristyle mansions? Something hivelike and Minoan? A giant penis shaped tower that other elves just shake their head at and avoid?

Who knows.

Tolkien's first work for his legendarium was a poem about Eärendil. Considering that, taking down Ancagolon and becoming a star, would he be considered the main character? Or maybe Turin, since he will be the one who deals the killing blow to Morgoth? Interested to know what everyone thinks. There are so many badass characters.

Aragorn renames Narsil Andúril which he translates as flame of the west, with the Quenya root words of andúnë and ril, andúnë meaning west and ril representing light. Ril is the same root in mithril and means to glitter or brilliance. Andúnë can be translated as west, it also means sunset(and other related meanings: evening and going down), it's not west as in 90 degrees of left of where magnets point, it's west as in where the sun sets. So another translation of Andúril is brilliant light from the setting sun, which seems to really fit with the whole ending the age with the light defeating the darkness thing and I fail to believe this could be a coincidence when it was written by someone who decided to spend time making names in a language he made up, making puns of the names in a different language he invented, and then translating those puns to English.

Been rereading LOTR this week, and I'm currently at the point where the Fellowship and Theoden meet Saruman's been defeated by the Ents. The description of his soft and seductive voice is one of the creepiest parts IMHO.

Rereading FOTR and I was surprised by this passage in Chapter 10, "Strider":

I was just wondering, when would Aragorn have encountered the Nazgûl before, if they had only recently taken form again after centuries? Did they hunt him while he was crossing Middle Earth hunting Gollum or while he was returning West to Eriador? Do we ever find out any more about where he met them or how he escaped from them?

"‘You  must  not  count  on  that!’  said  Strider  sharply.  ‘They 
will  return.  And  more  are  coming.  There  are  others.  I  know 
their  number.  I  know  these  Riders.’  ‘You  must  not  count  on  that!’  said  Strider  sharply.  ‘They 
will  return.  And  more  are  coming.  There  are  others.  I  know 
their  number.  I  know  these  Riders.’  
....
"



You  may  escape  from  Bree,  and  be 
allowed  to  go  forward  while  the  Sun  is  up;  but  you  won’t  go 
far.  They  will  come  on  you  in  the  wild,  in  some  dark  place 
where  there  is  no  help.  Do  you  wish  them  to  find  you?  They 
are  terrible!’ "

I’ve read the hobbit, and I am going to start lord of the rings soon. I’ve seen the great tales books in stores and they seem interesting and I was thinking about reading them. Ngl I am not super interested in the Silmarillion because I’ve seen it’s basically just a history book and I honestly do not think I would be able to get through it. Can I read the great tales without reading Silmarillion? And are the great tales also ‘history books’, or not so much?

For few of the Noldor whom Morgoth took captive were put to death, because of their skill in mining for metals and gems; and Gwindor was not slain, but put to labour in the mines of the North. These Noldor possessed many of the Fëanorian lamps, which were crystals hung in a fine chain net, the crystals being ever-shining with an inner blue radiance marvellous for finding the way in the darkness of night or in tunnels; of these lamps they themselves did not know the secret. - The Children of Húrin

Assuming that once captured they were stripped of their gear of war, and therefore could not have hidden these treasures. Or am I mistaken, and they must be small enough to conceal on one's person?

Image 79. in Hammond & Scull's The Art of The Hobbit shows the reverse side of Tolkien's well-known "Death of Smaug" sketch, dated 1936. The authors describe it as a place where Tolkien tried out the colours he was using for his sketch and left some calligraphic lines in Tengwar and in Latin, notably "Esgaroth" and "Ezgaroth" (probably a mere slip), "The death of Smaug", and so on.

But the most remarkable among these entries are those Hammond & Scull did not comment on. The central part of the reverse side features the neatly written lines: "In the house of Elrond the half-elfin [sic!] between East and West there is health & mirth at all times and seasons though the wind blows from the mountains", a familiar line that is, however, followed by one not to be expected at this place:

"Elrond, Earendel's son Tuor's son of the house of Hador". [There is a little wave over the E of Earendel that may belong with it.]

This is striking! It may be, as it is claimed, that Elrond's appearance in The Hobbit originally was a mere case of name-recycling, like Glorfindel's appearance in LotR. But the reverse side of "Death of Smaug", if I am correct, shows us that even before The Hobbit was published, the identification of its Elrond with his namesake from the Quenta Silmarillion was fully in place.

Tolkien gets a bad reputation for not representing women properly, or at least he used to. I think if you look at the women in his stories he very much revered women, but at the same time I’m not sure he felt confident writing from their perspective.

In his real life I know his mother inspired his love of languages being his first teacher of Latin and Greek, and that she always put him and his brother first until she died when he was 12.

He met his wife Edith at 16 (?) and they had their own struggles to get married but that was it. She was the love of his life and respected and admired her from the jump pretty much.

I honestly don’t know much more of his biography regarding his wife and daughter but looking at the women in his Legendarium, they may not always be front and center but I think every one of them is some combination of brave, loving and a force to be reconned with.

The only work outside the Legendarium that I’ve read is Leaf By Niggle. Parish’s wife has no dialogue but he’s the center of Parish’s world. His journey through the afterlife isn’t complete without her.

I think a woman that doesn’t get enough attention in discussions of the Legendarium is Morwen. Her pride and tenacity had far reaching consequences. Her taking a horse in Doriath and trying to find Turin on her own - regardless of Glaurung - was amazing. And her death scene was heartbreaking. To see someone so proud - of her family and her ppl - brought so low. To lose everything but have one last reunion. It’s fitting the island should be called Tol Morwen and I hope one, day for whatever reason, we get to see it.

Ok coffee done.

Edit I’m not sure if it got lost in the post but I don’t agree and I think he wrote some incredible women. I think the Silmarillion would definitely change ppl’s minds about his attitude to women but it’s just not as popular. It is my favorite though

What if the sons of Feanor had later sworn a counter Oath? Like "I pledge to Illuvatar that I will NOT seek out the Simarils"?. What are the consequences of having two competing Oaths?

(Or is this an example of Feanor's Incompleteness Theorem?)