
Third Tolkien Trilogy, THE FALL OF GONDOLIN to Publish on August 30 - ohjeez
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/return-to-middle-earth-for-houghton-mifflin-harcourt-300626713.html
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krupan
"the Noldor, the kindred of the Elves among whom were numbered Húrin and Túrin
Turambar"

Um, not quite. Hurin and Turin were men, not Elves, at least according to The
Silmarillion.

Speaking of which, has anyone who has read the Silmarillion also read The
Children of Hurin or Beren and Luthian? Are they the same stories with more
detail? Do they change the basic stories told in the Silmarillion?

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HaHa31
I have obsessively read the Silmarillion and the Children of Hurin, and they
are overarchingly the same, just in different formats. The Silmarillion is
written like a history book; the Children of Hurin is written like a novel.

I never got through the poem of Beren and Luthian, I am not a poem guy, but
from the bits I have read, it seemed to have the same relationship to the
Silmarillion as the Children of Hurin.

Also, I am unclear if this is a "new" version of the Fall of Gondolin or just
a new printing of the old one. Anyone found a more detailed source?

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hcrisp
It appears to be a combination of "The Coming of Tuor to Gondolin" found in
"Unfinished Tales" and "The Fall of Gondolin" found in "The Book of Lost Tales
2" [1]. The first covers Tuor's journey from Dor-Lomin to Gondolin in detail
but stops there (Christopher Tolkien called it "one of the saddest facts in
the whole history of incompletion"). The second covers the fall of the city
itself in great detail. I read the two in that order recently and enjoyed the
account immensely; it's on the order of Lord of the Rings in terms of a
compelling story, grandeur and beauty.

[1] [https://www.tolkiensociety.org/2018/04/the-fall-of-
gondolin-...](https://www.tolkiensociety.org/2018/04/the-fall-of-gondolin-to-
be-published/)

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colemannugent
In case anyone else was curious like I was, these have been compiled by
Tolkien's son, Christopher Tolkien [1].

Of all the fantasy authors I've read only George R.R. Martin of the ASOIAF
series spends nearly as much time world-building. Even then, Martin is still a
world apart from Tolkien in my opinion.

[1]:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Tolkien](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Tolkien)

~~~
sorokod
Is LOTR universe known to be consistent? Are there glitches in chronologies,
genealogies , geography, etc...? Is there a (graph) dB of LOTR facts?

~~~
quake
It's consistent to a point. There have been several revisions of The Hobbit
and LOTR over the years, but all were done by JRR himself I believe, and were
done for continuity sake and detail. As far as the worldbuilding goes, it's
exceptionally consistent. Considering the bulk of all work put out was done by
JRR, with Christopher Tolkien doing editing passes during compilation. For
instance, the Children of Hurin and The Lay of Beren and Luthien were
described in LOTR and the Silmarillion, but were not included largely due to
length and incompleteness (the Silmarillion is really just a Cliff's Notes
version of the full Legendarium, allegedly).

As far as a timeline goes, several are available, but I would try to steer
away from most wiki sites, as they have been, in the eyes of some, 'polluted'
by the handling of the IP by non-Tolkiens. (ie the movies and games like
Shadow of Mordor)

Geography of Middle Earth is a somewhat complex topic, but the big deal is
that it goes through some drastic changes as part of the Silmarillion called
the War of Wrath. Other than that large shift, the geography is very
consistent. Tolkien really, really loves his maps.

~~~
krupan
Small quibble, The Silmarillion is more of a Bible-esque summary of thousands
of years of history than an easy to read Cliff's Notes, lest anyone be
surprised by how difficult it is to read when they pick it up :-)

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jakebasile
I love Tolkien's The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings and find the world he built
intricate and fascinating, but I'm not sure how I feel about the posthumous
work his son has released. I know they were based off his father's extensive
notes and manuscripts but for reasons I can't put my finger on it seems
somehow cheapened. I have yet to try them so anyone with more informed
opinions on their quality would be welcome to tell me I'm wrong.

~~~
ghaff
For me, it's not so much that they cheapened anything but that I never found
them terribly interesting. Both The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings were great
stories (for the most part) set in a richly imagined world. But that doesn't
mean I want to plod through hundreds or thousands of pages about the
background mythology in great dry detail.

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calibas
Yeah, it's more like a history textbook than a novel.

