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New Tolkien Book Released 'The Children of Hurin'
Zoolander writes "Christopher Tolkien has completed the last book of J.R.R. Tolkien from notes left from his father." The ultimate question is how much of a quality difference will there be; for instance the difference between Dune and Dune: House Atriedes is a pretty big gap. But in my experience, Christopher Tolkien has always taken a good, cautious approach when it comes to his father's work so here's to hoping.
Heard about this on the radio. According to 'the experts' it features several large battle scenes, and "would make a good movie".
Go figure.
I read the three Lord Of The Rings books and The Hobbit. Can someone tell me what other Tolkien books take place in the same Middle Earth "universe", and how do they relate to the ones I read? That is, are they prequels, sequels, or parallel stories?
Do any of the hobbits, Gandalf, the Shire, or any other "Rings" characters appear in the other books?
I "read" silmarilion when I was in high school, didn't like it at all and failed to spend the time slowly going through it to take everything in. Going through it again in my mid-twenties and having an exponentially greater appreciation of it, even more so than Lord of the Rings.
Like a wine fine, you have to let it age a bit.
TÚRIN TURAMBAR DAGNIR GLAURUNGA
Over the past three years I've really gotten into Tolkien's writing (The Silmarillion being my fave), but I've never been a big fan of Turin's story. It's certainly tragic, and nothing ends well, which normally I like. It's just that Turin is fairly unsympathetic. He's headstrong, foolish, and something of a prick. Hard to root for, despite his occasional heroic deeds. Now Hurin -- I'd love to see more of Hurin. Anyone who can tell Morgoth off to his face is the very definition of tragically heroic.
I for one am a huge fan of Turin's story. It always gives me the shivers, when I read it anew. And actually Children of Hurin is a story about Hurin also, if I remember correctly, after Turin's death the story talks about the final fate of Hurin and Morwen. I hope that Christopher Tolkien will include it. The last stand of Hurin in Nirnaeth Arnoediad is one of my favorite episodes, along with the Fingolfin's fight with Morgoth. Now then I think about it, without Turin, the Silmarillion would lose some charm, because with this story Tolkien shows the horror of Morgoth.
It's not so much that Bombadil is neutral, just that the affairs of the mortals are so far below his care. It's not that he doesn't care about mortals themselves, he saves the lives of the Hobbits after all, but that they are as children to him with their little squabble over some bauble. Bombadil *could* get involved with the ring issue, but they have a Wizard and some other strong guys, and people can't come running to the gods or the spirits of nature or whatever the heck Bombadil is every time they have a little problem to deal with. They need to deal with this thing themselves. He turns out to right, doesn't he?
It's like how after the Ring is destroyed how Gandalf just laughs about everything. Gandalf *could* help the hobbits with their little problem in the Shire, but he knows they can handle it, and the world can't go running to him whenever it has a problem. He turns out to be right, too.
See, in this mythology that Tolkein put together it's very important that each set of players confront and defeat its own direst enemy. The humans and hobbits must defeat Saruman in the Shire. Gandalf and the humans must defeat Saruman's boss, Sauron. When you start reading the appendices and other materials, you find out how far back this pattern goes. Gandalf's folk were minor players in the fight against Sauron's boss. As the humans are to Gandalf, so Gandalf is to his superiors, the gods.
Thus we see what Bombadil *must* be. He is the corporal manifestation of a god. Supposedly, there are even enough clues to figure out which gods he and Goldberry are.
Only when we see how the pattern of conflict reaches back into deepest history to the creation of Middle earth does it mean anything that it ends in the Shire with the death of Wormtongue.
Gandalf's folk were minor players in the fight against Sauron's boss. As the humans are to Gandalf, so Gandalf is to his superiors, the gods.
Right. In fact, IIRC, there's even something like "THE God", which doesn't interfere in the conflict between the various gods. It's clear from the stories that God (upper-case, THE god) has planned the conflicts to have a purpose which no one but himself can see.
And this is part of why Gandalf holds back his full power. He is acknowledging that he can't just go around solving other people's problems for them, since the problems, conflicts, fighting, and resolution all play a part in this unknown plan. He doesn't know what the plan is, but he knows it exists. This is part of the reason he doesn't stop Gollum, for example. He knows Gollum still has a part to play. It's also very related to the metaphor of the ring, and why Gandalf can't take possession of the ring. He must restrain himself from abuse of power in order to play his proper role. The ring represents undue power and the thirst for undue power, and so taking possession of it would represent the sort of abuse of power many characters in the story are trying to avoid.
When Bombadil fails to be affected by the ring or tempted by it, he is displaying a closeness to God which would be impossible were he not a greater being than he seems. This is also relevant in terms of Hobbits, since they show a remarkable resistance to the ring, indicating that they, too, are greater than they appear.
(Sorry. Geeking out.)