Unfinished Tales of Numenor and Middle-Earth

472 pp. "A New York Times bestseller for twenty-one weeks upon publication, Unfinished Tales is a collection of narratives ranging in time from the Elder Days of Middle-earth to the end of the War of the Ring, and further relates events as told in The Silmarillion and The Lord of the Rings. The book concentrates on the lands of Middle-earth and comprises Gandalf's lively account of how he came to send the Dwarves to the celebrated party at Bag-End, the story of the emergence of the sea-god Ulmo before the eyes of Tuor on the coast of Beleriand, and an exact description of the military organization of the Riders of Rohan and the journey of the Black Riders during the hunt for the Ring. Unfinished Tales also contains the only surviving story about the long ages of Númenor before its downfall, and all that is known about the Five Wizards sent to Middle-earth as emissaries of the Valar, about the Seeing Stones known as the Palantiri, and about the legend of Amroth. Writing of the Appendices to The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien said in 1955, 'Those who enjoy the book as a 'heroic romance' only, and find 'unexplained vistas' part of the literary effect, will neglect the Appendices, very properly.' Unfinished Tales is avowedly for those who, to the contrary, have not yet sufficiently explored Middle-earth, its languages, its legends, it politics, and its kings." CONTENTS: Introduction; THE FIRST AGE: OF TUOR AND HIS COMING TO GONDOLIN; Notes; NARN I HIN HURIN: The Childhood of Turin; The Words of Hurin and Morgoth; The Departure of Turin; Turin in Doriath; Turin among the Outlaws; Of Mim the Dwarf; The Return of Turin to Dorlomin; The Coming of Turin into Brethil; The Journey of Morwen and Nienor to Nargothrond; Nienor in Brethil; The Coming of Glaurung; The Death of Glaurung; The Death of Turin; Notes; Appendix; THE SECOND AGE: A DESCRIPTION OF THE ISLAND OF NUMENOR; Notes;. ALDARION AND ERENDIS: The Mariner's Wife; Notes; THE LINE OF ELROS: KINGS OF NUMENOR; Notes; THE HISTORY OF GALADRIEL AND CELEBORN and of Amroth King of Lorien; Notes; Appendices (A: The Silvan Elves and their Speech; B: The Sindarin Princes of the Silvan Elves; C: The Boundaries of Lorien; D: The Pord of Lond Daer; E: The Names of Celeborn and Galadriel); THE DISASTER OF THE GLADDEN FIELDS; Notes; Appendix (Numenorean Linear Measures); CIRION AND EORL AND THE FRIENDSHIP OF GONDOR AND ROHAN: The Northmen and the Wainriders; The Ride of Eorl; Cirion and Eorl; The Tradition of Isildur; Notes; THE QUEST OF EREBOR; Notes; Appendix (Note on the texts, and extracts from the earlier version); THE HUNT FOR THE RING: Of the Journey of the Black Riders according to the account that Gandalf gave to Frodo; Other Versions of the Story; Concerning Gandalf, Saruman and the Shire; Notes; THE BATTLES OF THE FORDS OF ISEN; Notes; Appendix; THE DRUEDAIN; Notes; THE ISTARI; Notes; THE PALANTIRI; Notes; Index.