3 books of J. R. R. Tolkien that his son finished after his demise
Have you read The Hobbit? What about The Lord of the Rings? Yes, they both have been penned by none other than English writer and philologist John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, better known as J. R. R. Tolkien. In fact, it is safe to say that no one understood the genre of epic fantasy better than him, at least not in the 20th century.
While he was alive, Tolkien often confessed to being obsessed with myths and legends from his boyhood days and even took up writing ingenious fantasy stories during his college life. In fact, it was during his time at the Oxford that he had come up with the idea of The Hobbit and even created new languages to be spoken by the elfish characters in his books.
Finally, when the highly acclaimed fantasy novel did see the light of the day in 1937, it narrated the story of a small, furry-footed hobbit named Bilbo Baggins and his search for treasure. While the book was not at all meant for children, it gained immense popularity among them, so much so, that the publisher almost forced Tolkien to write a sequel. But Tolkien knew very well that good things cannot be rushed. So, he took his time and 17 years later came up with The Lord of the Rings. Deemed as his ultimate masterpiece, the book was greatly inspired by ancient European folklores and mythologies and comprised of its own fantasy world, with maps, tales and languages.
Apart from these two famous fantasy fictions, Tolkien did write more novels, poems, and essays. However, he was unable to finish a few of his works that was later taken up by his youngest son Christopher John Tolkien, who completed them posthumously. Here’s a sneak peek at them.
Unfinished Tales of Numenor
It is a collection of stories and essays that J. R. R. Tolkien began writing but couldn’t finish. It was later taken up by his son Christopher John Tolkien who edited and published them in 1980. What binds all the works in the volume together is that they are based in the fictional land of Numenor that was pioneered by Tolkien senior himself. It is a large sunken island kingdom located to the west of the Middle-Earth (human inhabited world or the central continent on Earth as depicted in Tolkien’s fictions) where Men (human characters in Tolkien’s fantasy world as opposed to elves, hobbits, dwarves, orcs and other humanoid races) thrive. The stories mainly revolve around the Men and their loss of faith in their One God named Eru Iluvatar and a series of rebellions against Valar or “angelic powers” (One God’s representatives on the Middle-Earth) and its catastrophic effects on the island and its occupants. While the characters and settings were the doing of the father, it was the son who came up with the main plot.
The History of Middle-Earth
It is a 12 volume series of books that was started by J. R. R. Tolkien right before his death but was finished years later by his son Christopher. The books were published in between 1983 and 1996 and has Tolkien’s legendarium at the centre. It refers to all of Tolkien’s unpublished and mythopoetic works that form the premise of The Lord of the Rings. These, compiled and edited by Christopher through decades, show the evolution of Tolkien’s Middle-Earth as a fictional land with its own inhabitants, maps, stories, languages and history. Christopher has often even said that the series revolves more around his father’s creative process rather than being the chronicles of Middle-Earth itself.
The Silmarillon
J. R. R. Tolkien began compiling myths in his book titled The Silmarillon long before his death. However, he never wanted to publish them. All he wanted was to keep adding to the collection. However, his son Christopher decided to edit and publish them posthumously in 1977 with the help of a contemporary fantasy author named Guy Gavriel Kay, who was largely inspired by Tolkien. The book revolves around the fictional universe of Ea that comprises of all fantasy kingdoms in Tolkien’s world from the island of Numenor to the continent of Middle-Earth, the Blessed Realm of Valinor to the fallen kingdom of Beleriand – and their shared myths and legends. Interestingly, Tolkien was writing this book as a sequel of The Hobbit but his publisher was unhappy with it. This is when he came up with The Lord of the Rings.