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Book Home  Books Information History of The Lord of the Rings
History of The Lord of the Rings
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The History of The Lord of the Rings
is a 4-volume work by Christopher Tolkien that documents the process
of J. R. R. Tolkien's writing of his masterwork The Lord of the
Rings (LotR). The History is also numbered as volumes 6 to 9 of
The History of Middle-earth. Some information can also be found
in volume 12, The Peoples of Middle-earth (concerning the appendices
and a soon-abandoned sequel to the novel).
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Although at first brush this might seem like four volumes
of difficult reading, it has some saving graces. The Lord of the Rings
has been enormously popular since its publication, some sales numbers
showing it outdone only by the Bible, and any aspiring fantasy writer
should like to know how he did it. Second, Tolkien began writing his
sequel to The Hobbit without any idea of where he was going with the
story, and in the 15-year genesis there were many twists and turns
before the story took on its published form. Third, the gigantic backstory
of the legends of Middle-earth that became The Silmarillion were mostly
written before LotR was penned, and one can see how the tale of here-and-now
adventure is stitched into the memories of ages long past. Finally,
there is an intimate note, in that the young Christopher participated
in the writing of LotR, giving feedback, helping draft maps, etc,
and this history includes his personal recollections of the process.
(HoME 6) The Return of the Shadow(1988) begins with
the initial composition, and goes through to the episode in the Mines
of Moria.
(HoME 7)The Treason of Isengard (1989) continues to the meeting with
Théoden king of Rohan.
(HoME 8)The War of the Ring (1990) continues to the opening of the
Black Gate.
(HoME 9) Sauron Defeated (1992) finishes the story, which only takes
about 1/3 of the volume. The remainder consists of The Notion Club
Papers, and another draft of the Drowning of Anadune.
In general, the books are organized as chapters corresponding to the
chapters in the final LotR, with additional chapters describing the
"First Map", the "Second Map", and other matters.
Each chapter begins with some context, then the text of a first or
second draft, possibly some alternate drafts if there were especially
large changes, and interspersed with extended discussion of confusing
or contradictory situations. The end of each chapter includes a set
of notes about points of interest, such as words that were used originally
and then partially erased or struck out.
The drafts can be somewhat jarring to read; while much
of the plot will be familiar, the characters are often quite different.
For instance, Aragorn in his "Strider" guise is called "Trotter"
instead - and he's a hobbit instead of a man - and he has wooden feet
- because he had once been to Mordor and been tortured there. We find
out that the hobbits travel east initially because that was the part
of the world that had been mapped out, because of The Hobbit, and
that the areas to the south were literally being mapped out only a
few miles ahead of the fellowship.
Still, even though publication of the drafts exposes
some of the improvised carpentry behind the stage sets, for the Tolkien
enthusiast they offer a fuller understanding of the story, and a renewed
appreciation for Tolkien's creativity.
Of particular interest to fans is the dropped Epilogue
to LotR, in which a middle-aged Samwise Gamgee is reading the story
to his children.
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