Unfinished Tales of Numenor

Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-Earth by J.R.R. Tolkien
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is one volume that I am glad to have read. It has stories going all the way the first age all the way through to the third age where in the Lord of the Rings occurs. During the first age the reader is treated to an account of how Tuor found the city of Gondolin after having escaped Morgoth;s slave camp. Led by Ulmo , the sea God and elves Tuor is charged with delivering a message. But does Thingol the King of Gondolin heed that message. The second story is the tragic tale of Turin son of Hurin. Hurin a grat warrior is captured by Morgoth and forced to watch the down fall of his children through a crystal ball. Some of you maybe familiar with the tale of “children of Hurin” Well this is another version of the story.
The second age is about the Island of Numenor. Gifted to men after the first age for fighting against Morgoth. The island was pentacle shaped with a central mountain in the center used for worshipping Eru Illuvatar. The royalty lived for a very long time but were not immortal like the elves. The land was rich in forestry and things were pretty mellow with people travelling by horse and there were plenty of crops. The tale of “Aldarion and Erendis” tells how Aldarion heir to the throne goes about travelling by ship on long extended voyages to the Middle Earth. The man is in love with the sea. His extended voyages strain relations between him and his family especially with Erendis his wife. Things get to a point where she raised the daughter on her own and the daughter ended up becoming queen. It must be noted that Aldarion helped men and elves against the forces of Sauron. The next chapter tells the list of kings and queens and finally how the shadown of Sauron brought about the downfall of Numenor. Greed and oppression of men in the Middle Earth turned people against N umenor.
The second age also has a section about Lady Galadriel. Telling how she left Valinor in anger against Manwe’s permission, she held an endless grudge against Feanor and Noldor for going against the Valar. She travels over the Misty Mountain and with Cereborn they found their kingdom. She refuses Manwe’s invitation to return and only finally returns after Sauron is defeated and the elves go off to Valinor. “The disaster of Gladden Fields tells of how the rings were made and how one man named Isuldur defeats Sauron and steals his ring. He dies in a river and loses the ring. We all know that Gollum finds it. The tale then tales Cirion and Erol. Erol fights with Gondor against Sauron and the wainriders. For this he is given Rohan as a land to rule over as kings and the riders from that realm are called the Rider’s of Rohan .

Things sequay with the “Quest of Erebor” This story gives a lot more background the “Hobbit” especially if you are perplexed about the mentioning of the Shadow in the Hobbit movies. I never remembered reading about that in the Hobbit the first time. Aparentally Gandal knew what was up. He chose Bilbo for a reason as he knew his ultimate destiny to hand the ring to Frod. The hunt for the ring tells how the witch king became the leader of the nine riders. But they have no will of their own save for Suron’s. They are used for quickness. When they captured and tortured Gollum after he lost the ring to Bilbo he was tortured and questioned . Fiortunately for the Hobbits Suaron really never heard of Hobbits.
The last part of the book tells about the people of Halth, a warrior group of people who have a female warrior queen. Going further it deals with the origin of the wizards, communication stones and other denizens of the Middle Earth. A must read for Tolkien fans.


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