Book – The book of lost tales (2)

Book – The book of lost tales (2)

(= History of Middle-Earth 2/12) 

Author: J.R.R Tolkien, edited and commented by Christopher Tolkien 

Score:9 /10
Year : 1984

Publisher: Del Rey - Balllantine books 

ISBN 0-345-37522-X

Pages (VII-VIII)-391

Language: English 

After the Lost Tales 1's stories, this second volume takes a different turn. It contains 6 chapters, but only four stories, and outlines that Christopher Tolkien found of his father's various notes, for the last two. 

I wasn't fast enough to finish it in 2018, reading tales 1-3 from October to December, interrupted by vacation in London ; reading of Frankenstein ; mental fatigue ; and some external elements. Thus, in January 2019, I read tale 4 and the outlines of 5 and 6, as you'll understand from my notes bellow. 

I'll detail each, with this table of contents, indicating pages for the story, and in (parenthesis) those of Christopher Tolkien's notes and commentaries.

1. Tale of Tinùviel 6-40 (1-6 presentation by C.Tolkien and the link portions between tales, before the tale actually starts at p.6. Then, pages 40-46 are the changes made in a second version of the tale, and lastly C.T notes and comments 47-69). 

This tale's plot would become later chapter 19 in the Quenta Silmarillion, under the title Of Beren and Lùthien, a tragic love story in which Beren, wishing to wed an elven's king's daughter - Tinùviel/Lùhtien - he sent on a quest to retrive a silmaril in order to prove his worth. 

2.Turambar and the Foaloke, 70-115, including C.T presentation and link (116-145) is the earliest form of the tale of Túrin turambar, one of Húrin's sons. In this tale, we encounter some of the most tragic elements Tolkien wrote about, and are part of the curse mentioned in other tales, and developped in the Silmarlion. Túrin appears in said book as well as Unfished tales, and the stand-alone Children of Húrin. The foaloke is a dragon, from an early word-meaning conception of "foa" (= hoard, or treasure) and loke (serpent), in Tolkien's Quenya language. Even as early as 1919, he was preoccupied with this topic of hoarding and the prices to pay for greed... 

3. The Fall of Gondolin, 151-197 (presentation and overview of the writing dates, 146-151) (notes and commenaty 197-222) needs no other details than that knowing Gondolin is a major city in the history of Middle-Earth, and here, it falls, but Tolkien takes his time to bring it about. 

4. The Nauglafring, necklace of the Dwarves, 223-243. (presentation 223 ; notes and comments 243-253)

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This is where the second part of the book, consisting of poems for the last two tales, which JRR Tolkien wrote, and the various outlines he prepared, but not written (much) for these same tales.They are:

5. The Tale of Eärandel. Presenation of the  different outlines for this tale. C. Tolkien divides the tale into 7 segments for these outlines (254-271). Followed by 4 poems in which Eärandel appears (271-280) and the notes (281). 

Eärandel is a key-figure in Tolkien's legendarium, as part of a long tale that brings him to the firmament as part of the 

.This tale is partially concomitant to both Nauglafring and the fall of Gondolin, as some events in each of these stories occur at the same timeframe. The Tale of Eärandel was never completed as can be seen in this chapter, and would have been, I believe, a very long stand alone. 

6. The history of Eriol or AElfwine and the end of the tales. As C.Tolkien describes in this chapter, one of the toughest, but hopefully not most insoluable, portion of his work, in understanding the various outlines his father wrote in the first conception of Middle-Earth's mythology. Here you'll learn more about some of the origins of names in the fiction and their relation to England - as JRR's firstly attempted to create an English myth, after realizing all myths came from elsehwere. 

He details these as much as possible and discusses missing links or contradictory outlines his father had for the stories of Eriol and/or Aelfwine, how his father had conceived them as different people, or the same person, depending on the stage of his writing. 

This chapter spans pages 282-340, including his various notes, references to his father's writings, Christopher's own notes in other books, but also of his father's biographer, and poems JRR wrote during WW1 which bare light on these tales, possible. These poems appear pages 301-307, and the last surviving narrative form for this tale appearences in 319-328. 

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Contrasting with the first volume of the Lost Tales, the second is somewhat easier to read, with an increasing flow from each tale to the next. At least, in the four that are actually narrated.

They include many elements which Tolkien would detail elsewhere, including his views on destructive forces,  greed and treachery. His characterization is active, but ever changing : not only names, but also the nature of specific people are changed between these tales and later conceptions, be it for the Dwarves seen in the Nauglafring as avaricious, vengeful and deceitful, which we'll see greatly changes later on ; or, that of Beren, whose conception has shifted from Elven to human (called Man in this world, created by Tolkien a century ago).

I'm happy to have read the earliest conceptions Tolkien had, but equally happy he didn't keep the English-rooted names, as they appear in the narrative fo Aelfwine (p319-328), because such names made me feel like I was mixing a fictional seaman's adventures with a setting far too close to our reality, whereas in all other tales in the two volumes of Lost Tales, as well as the other Middle-Earth stories, would contain far less evident names, and retain more of the fantasy aspects. 

It's interesting to note that the Nauglafring, although full of action and traits that we think are related to other stories, including the previous in this Tales 2, comprises many differences to later re-tellings, including changes in the names and the magical power of the Queen, a Maia, who seems lessened in this version. The same goes for the King, poorer and keener to try gaining wealths, which he already has in the later, finalized forms of this story.

I loved reading these versions of the tales (both volumes), contrasted to the relevant chapters in the Silmarilion, and in some cases, to the newest released narrative forms (Beren & Tinúviel, and also Children of Húrin). 

Let's finish with a table of contents, this time the title of the chapters and their first page:

Preface (vii-viii)

1. Tale of Tinuviel, 1

2.Turambar and the Foaloke, 70

3. The Fall of Gondolin, 146 

4. The Nauglafring, necklace of the Dwarves, 223

5. The Tale of Eärandel,254

6. The history of Eriol or AElfwine and the end of the tales, 282

Apprendix Names in lost Tales part 2, 341

Short glossary of obsolete, archaic & rare words, 358

Index 361