From an obvious novice in the study of Tolkiens' work. I am very impressed and happy I stumbled upon this thread.
I Learned lot. Alas I am going to have ot go back and reread the entire series of books. I had no idea just how vast it all was.
And I never knew the book Silmarillion existed.
Many of the thing Sauron referred to I did not know existed.
Is there som sort of list off all the related workes by Tolkien? SOmthing I could follow to know all the history as well as you do?
Like the letters you referred to, were those part of a collection?
Originally posted by Cowboyography
must read Tolkien, LOTR Trilogy including Appendixes, Hobbit, Silmarillion, and finally the Lost tales of Tolkien...........I havent found any other works, You Sauron?
I'd suggest first
LoTR +appendices
then
Hobbit and
The Silmarillion (<- those are, I think the most important)
Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth
-------------
Then you have the Letters (not directly about Middle-earth), there are also some other informative secundary works like the Atlas by Fonstad or Fosters Encyclopaedia;
Also veeeery interesting are the twelve books of "The History Of Middle-Earth" (and N° XIII, the Index) (and, yes, it's the first two books of the History which are called the Lost Tales)
Useful also some elvish dictionaries, some Biography (Carpenter for example), Bored of the Rings or the Pictures By JRRT or the Adventures of Tom Bombadil (to keep ontopic 😉 )
and of course you can chose of a wide range of other books like Weapons and Warfare, the Making-Ofs of the Film and so on, there is enough stuff to spend your money on... though I do not possess many of those listed up there ^^ I still have 32 books by and about Tolkien... makes my sick when I think of how much that cost 😱
The problem is that most Tolkien-books are pretty expensive 🙁 especially in German, the English prices are better.
Once again. Im repeating myself here, but:
His nature is quite complicated. People far wiser than me have not been able to decipher what he is. If you do a search on Google, you'll find a buttload of essays. Most of them are quite interesting to read.
Tolkien said in his letters:
"And even in a mythical Age there must be some enigmas, as there always are. Tom Bombadil is one (intentionally)."
I don't know what he is, but it is my guess, that he is some sort of spirit of nature, a part of the world from the time it was created.
In contrast, if Tom is a nature spirit, then no vow of poverty has been taken, and there is no natural pacifist view. According to the nature spirit thesis, as Veryln Flieger puts it in Splintered Light, published in 1983: "Tom Bombadil, on whom the Ring has no effect, is a natural force, a kind of earth spirit, and so the power over the will which the Ring exerts simply has no meaning for him" (p. 128, note). As a natural force, Tom has the same status as a falling rock or the wind or the rain - he is blind activity with no direction or purpose. As such he is not a moral agent, and cannot therefore make moral decisions. The moral dimension is thus completely absent. Tom is immune to the influence of the ring not because of his high moral character, but because he is not capable of having a moral character at all.
This quote was taken from this essay , wich is a mouthfull, but worth the read (Atleast the parts I have read are interesting and well-founded). Also check this one .
I'm not really sure what he represents outside of the Tolkien mythology, but it would be an interesting study.
Originally posted by Exa
I'd suggest first
LoTR +appendices
then
Hobbit and
The Silmarillion (<- those are, I think the most important)
Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth
-------------
Then you have the Letters (not directly about Middle-earth), there are also some other informative secundary works like the Atlas by Fonstad or Fosters Encyclopaedia;
Also veeeery interesting are the twelve books of "The History Of Middle-Earth" (and N° XIII, the Index) (and, yes, it's the first two books of the History which are called the Lost Tales)
Useful also some elvish dictionaries, some Biography (Carpenter for example), Bored of the Rings or the Pictures By JRRT or the Adventures of Tom Bombadil (to keep ontopic 😉 )
and of course you can chose of a wide range of other books like Weapons and Warfare, the Making-Ofs of the Film and so on, there is enough stuff to spend your money on... though I do not possess many of those listed up there ^^ I still have 32 books by and about Tolkien... makes my sick when I think of how much that cost 😱The problem is that most Tolkien-books are pretty expensive 🙁 especially in German, the English prices are better.
well i would firstly read the hobbit before lotr (background information)
then onto lotr which you will understand better, then work your way into the silmarillion, unfinished tales next, and lastly lost tales 1-2
^^there are alot more than that, but everything you relly need to know is in there^^