Review of 'Shaping of Middle-earth', HoMe 4
With NZ a little over three weeks away, insomnia seems to plague me more and more often. I am being very good at finishing everything on time, but my brain, well, it's going into overdrive a bit :) Therefore, while I drink my wonderful chamomile tea, I'll write up a review on HoMe 4, which I just finished.
It was definitely a lot less dry than HoMe 3, which was all verse and mostly repetition of what we've already seen in the series. The first two-thirds of the book consist of the earliest Silmarillion, being split up into a 'Sketch' (which Tolkien sent to a Reynolds) and composed between 1926 to 1930, and then a twice as long 'Quenta', mostly composed in the earlier 1930s.
A lot of it is just continued development of the whole Age of the Trees and First Age of Middle-earth, with Tolkien slowly moving away from what eventually becomes known as Beleriand as the remnants of England, though he was still holding onto this notion at least slightly by the time of the 'Quenta', as Elfwine/Eriol of England was still writing notes about it. In this time period we see a lot of final names for characters and very important coming into play, such as Beleriand itself, and the name Middle-earth actually appears for the first time (rather than Great Lands or Hither Lands). Basically all the names in the Lay of Leithian and the Tale of the Children of Hurin are solidified, with exception to the Dragon and Felagund still not being also Finrod (that name still belonging to who would turn into Finarfin). There are other names of less important areas or of battles very close to what would be their final form, but not quite there.
The last third of the book deals with the first Silmarillion map (you can definitely see the similarities and where it would grow still) as well as the overall timelines of the Years of the Trees as well as what would end up being the First Age. Tolkien's first 'First Age' after the sun rose was *really* short, only about 250 years, while in the end it ends up being 590 years (and however many thousands of years the Elves woke up... what conversion you use for Valian Years depends on which writings of Tolkien you go with, I tend to prefer 1 Valian Year = ~10 years of the sun... makes the First Age a little less than 5k years, rather than over 60k since the Elves woke). But I digress. Parts of it were also his writings translated, as he wrote them, into Old English. Since I could not read them at all, I more or less skipped them. They may be of more interest to someone who can actually read Old English.
What strikes me really interesting is how many important, key parts and players from the Silmarillion and LOTR are there, and yet how many are yet *not*. For instance, Sauron is still mostly called 'Thu', Galadriel, Celeborn, and Cirdan are still entirely non-existent, and the Valar are still often called 'Gods'. There is also a lot of 'magic' in the work, rather than enchantment or other words Tolkien ended up using in the future.
One large aspect of the world that is still underdeveloped is Dwarves. By this time Tolkien is thankfully moving away from them being mostly evil, but their lack of creation story and personality keeps the story of Nargothrond's gold and the Nauglamir much weaker than what they ended up being. I have grown rather fond of Dwarves over the course of my time RPing with some wonderful Dwarvish characters and with the continuing 'Hobbit' films (BALIN!), so seeing them develop into a people with actual personalities is wonderful.
The fifth book deals with the beginning of Numenor, so I am looking very much forward to that. The fifth will also be the last one I read until I leave the country. Whether I read more Tolkien or take a brief break and read something else remains to be seen.
My chamomile is done, and so then is this entry. I will post again soon!
It was definitely a lot less dry than HoMe 3, which was all verse and mostly repetition of what we've already seen in the series. The first two-thirds of the book consist of the earliest Silmarillion, being split up into a 'Sketch' (which Tolkien sent to a Reynolds) and composed between 1926 to 1930, and then a twice as long 'Quenta', mostly composed in the earlier 1930s.
A lot of it is just continued development of the whole Age of the Trees and First Age of Middle-earth, with Tolkien slowly moving away from what eventually becomes known as Beleriand as the remnants of England, though he was still holding onto this notion at least slightly by the time of the 'Quenta', as Elfwine/Eriol of England was still writing notes about it. In this time period we see a lot of final names for characters and very important coming into play, such as Beleriand itself, and the name Middle-earth actually appears for the first time (rather than Great Lands or Hither Lands). Basically all the names in the Lay of Leithian and the Tale of the Children of Hurin are solidified, with exception to the Dragon and Felagund still not being also Finrod (that name still belonging to who would turn into Finarfin). There are other names of less important areas or of battles very close to what would be their final form, but not quite there.
The last third of the book deals with the first Silmarillion map (you can definitely see the similarities and where it would grow still) as well as the overall timelines of the Years of the Trees as well as what would end up being the First Age. Tolkien's first 'First Age' after the sun rose was *really* short, only about 250 years, while in the end it ends up being 590 years (and however many thousands of years the Elves woke up... what conversion you use for Valian Years depends on which writings of Tolkien you go with, I tend to prefer 1 Valian Year = ~10 years of the sun... makes the First Age a little less than 5k years, rather than over 60k since the Elves woke). But I digress. Parts of it were also his writings translated, as he wrote them, into Old English. Since I could not read them at all, I more or less skipped them. They may be of more interest to someone who can actually read Old English.
What strikes me really interesting is how many important, key parts and players from the Silmarillion and LOTR are there, and yet how many are yet *not*. For instance, Sauron is still mostly called 'Thu', Galadriel, Celeborn, and Cirdan are still entirely non-existent, and the Valar are still often called 'Gods'. There is also a lot of 'magic' in the work, rather than enchantment or other words Tolkien ended up using in the future.
One large aspect of the world that is still underdeveloped is Dwarves. By this time Tolkien is thankfully moving away from them being mostly evil, but their lack of creation story and personality keeps the story of Nargothrond's gold and the Nauglamir much weaker than what they ended up being. I have grown rather fond of Dwarves over the course of my time RPing with some wonderful Dwarvish characters and with the continuing 'Hobbit' films (BALIN!), so seeing them develop into a people with actual personalities is wonderful.
The fifth book deals with the beginning of Numenor, so I am looking very much forward to that. The fifth will also be the last one I read until I leave the country. Whether I read more Tolkien or take a brief break and read something else remains to be seen.
My chamomile is done, and so then is this entry. I will post again soon!