Introduction to The Fall of Númenor & The Second Age
This post is a part of our Book Club reading of The Fall of Númenor: And Other Tales from the Second Age of Middle-earth: January - April 2023
Order the book from Amazon or Blackwells if you don’t already have your copy.
Learn more about this book club here.
The Fall of Númenor Book Club Notes: Part One
Part One: Introduction: “About this Book” through “Before the Second Age”
About this Book
“The Fall of Númenor seeks to present, in a single volume, selections from JRR Tolkien’s posthumously published writings about the Second Age of Middle-earth.”
This collection is not meant to supplant the works edited and published by Christopher Tolkien.
Editorial notes:
The selected passages and extracts are arranged chronologically.
The editor notes that the published texts are treated as being the final version.
Names and dates are amended to conform with those finally adopted.
Editorial interventions are presented in a smaller font size and indented.
Sources this book draws from:
The Silmarillion
The Lord of the Rings and its Appendices
Unfinished Tales
The History of Galadriel and Celeborn
The History of Middle-earth
Sauron Defeated (volume 9)
The Peoples of Middle-earth (volume 12)
The Nature of Middle-earth
Galadriel and Celeborn
The Lost Road and Other Writings
The Letters of JRR Tolkien
The Notion Club Papers
Introduction
The events of The Return of the King point to a deeper story lying under the surface, which the public very gradually became aware of over the years.
“But, for Tolkien, the exploits of Bilbo Baggins and the monumental quest of his nephew Frodo, were but part of a far greater story reaching back into the distant past.”
Letter 91: Tolkien writes about how his story is continually evolving and seems to write itself as he got going
Tolkien had attempted to publish LOTR and The Silmarillion together but was unsuccessful and LOTR was published on its own.
The ‘brief sketch’ mentioned in this section is The Waldman Letter (Letter 131)
“The next cycle deals (or would deal) with the Second Age. But it is on Earth a dark age, and not very much of its history is (or need be) told.”
This statement is curious because so many crucial events take place during the Second Age!
New Sources Becoming Available:
The Return of the King was published with over 100 pages of Appendices which was the only source for those who wished to dive deeper into the Legendarium at the time!
In May 1977, Carpenter published his biography of Tolkien; in September the Silmarillion was finally published after four years of work on Christopher Tolkien’s part.
In 1980, Unfinished Tales was published and provided even more details and its success led to The History of Middle-earth.
Interesting to note that Akallabêth was not written down but had been used by Tolkien when speaking with Christopher
Tolkien’s recurring nightmare is referred to in Letter 257
Tolkien’s attempt at time travel was ultimately unsuccessful but through it, the stories of Númenor came together. The Notion Club Papers were a separate exploration of a time-traveling Atlantean concept.
“It is clear from Christopher Tolkien’s detailed study of his father’s papers that the tale of the Númenóreans and their fate was conceived in complete harmony with ‘The Silmarillion’ and the continually developing history of Middle-earth and the natural and supernatural laws to which it was subject.”
At the end of the introduction, Sibley thanks Christopher Tolkien for his dedication and devotion to his father’s Legendarium: “Without Christopher’s passion, dedication and skill, the story of the Second Age of Middle-earth would never have been told.”
Before the Second Age
The Lord of the Rings has its foundation in The Silmarillion, though readers were unaware of it until much later in Tolkien’s life.
This section is essentially a condensed look at the Waldman Letter. For more detailed notes on this letter, you can read my full overview here.
Myth for England
The stories of the Legendarium arose in his mind as ‘given’ things which he was discovering and recording rather than inventing.
Tolkien’s emphasis on linguistics and invented languages as the core of his world.
Outline of the events of the creation of Arda and the First Age
God and the Ainur are revealed and the world is created through Music
The firstborn (elves) and the followers (men)
Mortality as the gift of Men
The Fall of the Vala Melkor, the Fall of Elves
The fate of the Silmarils
A vision of the breaking and remaking of the world
“As the stories become less mythical, and more like stories and romances, Men are interwoven.”
Connection of the fate of the Silmarils to the family line of Elrond and Elros, bridging the first and second ages.