Browsing the Compleat Middle-Earth Library - Page 7

People invariably identify Middle-earth with the world of The Lord of the Rings. This book is Tolkien's literary masterpiece, and it will stand on its own merits for centuries to come. But because of the numerous contradictions between the various primary and secondary sources, I have long maintained that The Lord of the Rings should be regarded as the most authoritative source of information on Middle-earth. Nonetheless, I find myself increasingly compelled to qualify that valuation. For example, when people ask about the Avari, I have to explain that there were no Avari when Tolkien first wrote The Lord of the Rings. There were West-elves (Eldar) and East-elves (Wood-elves). But today, most Tolkien readers are familiar with The Silmarillion and the concept of the Avari. It's impossible to reconcile The Lord of the Rings with Tolkien's clear intent to make the East-elves into at least a subset of Avari (who mingled with Nandor). The 2nd edition of 1965 was published with the 3rd edition of The Hobbit, and some significant changes were introduced into the canon with that edition.

These poems offer the reader an opportunity to explore Middle-earth through the poetic traditons of its characters. There are some notes provided by Tolkien, but the bulk of the material is presented as genuine Hobbit-lore or folklore. Of course, in reality, the poems were written by Tolkien for other purposes. He created the collection to please his beloved aunt Jane Neave, who died only a few months after the book was published. Some aspects of the Middle-earth canon are derived only from this collection, and for that reason there are people who feel (inexplicably, in my opinion) they are not authoritative additions to the canon. You can still get this collection of poems and notes in The Tolkien Reader.

Tolkien was approached by Donald Swann in the early 1960s with music Swann had composed for some of Tolkien's songs in The Lord of the Rings. Tolkien so appreciated the compositions that he endorsed them. Although the music itself offers little insight into Middle-earth, it represents the first sanctioned extension to Middle-earth, and Tolkien provided notes which established historical and linguistic elements not documented anywhere else. This was the last of the primary sources.

Secondary texts

• The Silmarillion

  Although an immense success when it was first published, and despite the fact that it has never gone out of print, The Silmarillion is a disappointment for too many reasons to list here. It is a superb narrative and represents a monumental effort by Christopher Tolkien to bring his father's most cherished collection of stories to print. Nonetheless, Christopher spent the years 1980 to 1996 explaining and apologizing for the many editorial decisions and alterations he made to the texts. On first read, this book stands out as extremely Biblical, and it is almost universally condemned for offering no more information on Hobbits. People really enjoyed the Hobbit stories. The Silmarillion thus demonstrates further that Middle-earth supports diversity in narrative form and theme.