The second volume of The History of Middle-earth
focuses on The Lord of the Rings, whereas the first volume centered around the
First Age and the mythology of The Silmarillion and the Gods.
I think this second volume will appeal to
anyone who has read The Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit, but perhaps wouldn’t
consider themselves hardcore fans, as I think the first volume was certainly one
for the die-hard contingency due to its ‘heavy’ tone and unfamiliarity. It was, at times, pretty difficult reading
owing to the sheer grandness of the mythology and the multitude of names.
This second volume was nicely structured
and easy to read, Christopher Tolkien introduces each chapter describing his
father’s notes before following with the first draft of the various chapters of
The Lord of the Rings. It was fascinating
to read about how Tolkien developed his story chapter by chapter, without
really knowing where to go with the plot.
In fact, it was obvious from his letters that he was never really
interested in writing a sequel to The Hobbit.
He enjoyed writing about hobbits because they were personally amusing to
him and nothing more. I was also surprised
by the large gaps Tolkien took between writing the manuscript, and how he wrote
the chapters often on the back of examination scripts of the students he
taught. I think Christopher Tolkien
deserves a lot of credit for his work decoding the quite often ineligible
writing of his father and the lack of any order to the notes.
It
was also great to read how the ring-bearer was originally Bilbo’s son, Bingo
and that Strider was called Trotter. It
was also originally penned as being Gandalf the hobbits met on the road after
leaving Hobbiton before Tolkien, in a moment of inspiration, changed it to the
Black Riders. As a fantasy writer, I
know how difficult, yet enjoyable at the same time, it is to control the
timescales and interplay between events.
This is why I’m in complete awe of how Tolkien created and coordinated
the perfect fantasy story involving so many characters, over hundreds of miles
and over such a length of time.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who
loved Lord of the Rings, but coming in at a whopping 2,000 pages be prepared to
spend a hefty amount of time reading it!
