The term Middle-earth canon, also called Tolkien's canon, is used for the published writings of
J. R. R. Tolkien
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, ; 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philology, philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''.
From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was ...
regarding
Middle-earth as a whole. The term is also used in
Tolkien fandom
Tolkien fandom is an international, informal community of fans of the works of J. R. R. Tolkien, especially of the Middle-earth legendarium which includes ''The Hobbit'', ''The Lord of the Rings'', and ''The Silmarillion''. The concept of Tolkien ...
to promote, discuss and debate the idea of a consistent
fictional canon
In fiction, canon is the material accepted as officially part of the story in an individual universe of that story by its fan base. It is often contrasted with, or used as the basis for, works of fan fiction. The alternative terms mythology, tim ...
within a given subset of Tolkien's writings.
The terms have been used by reviewers, publishers, scholars, authors and critics such as
John Garth,
Tom Shippey,
Jane Chance Jane Chance (born 1945), also known as Jane Chance Nitzsche, is an American scholar specializing in medieval English literature, gender studies, and J. R. R. Tolkien. She spent most of her career at Rice University, where since her retirement she ha ...
and others to describe the published writings of
J. R. R. Tolkien
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, ; 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philology, philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''.
From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was ...
on
Middle-earth as a whole. Other writers look to
the entire body of work of the author as a "Tolkien canon", rather than a subset defined by the fictional "Middle-earth" setting.
Tolkien's works
![Sketch Map of Middle-earth](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b7/Sketch_Map_of_Middle-earth.svg)
The works on Middle-earth published by Tolkien during his lifetime include ''
The Hobbit'', ''
The Lord of the Rings
''The Lord of the Rings'' is an epic high-fantasy novel by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, intended to be Earth at some time in the distant past, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's boo ...
'', ''
The Adventures of Tom Bombadil'', and ''
The Road Goes Ever On
''The Road Goes Ever On'' is a 1967 song cycle that has been published as a book of sheet music and as an audio recording. The music was written by Donald Swann, and the words are taken from poems in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth writings, ...
''. After Tolkien's death his son
Christopher
Christopher is the English language, English version of a Europe-wide name derived from the Greek language, Greek name Χριστόφορος (''Christophoros'' or ''Christoforos''). The constituent parts are Χριστός (''Christós''), "Jesus ...
published ''
The Silmarillion
''The Silmarillion'' () is a collection of myths and stories in varying styles by the English writer J. R. R. Tolkien. It was edited and published posthumously by his son Christopher Tolkien in 1977, assisted by the fantasy author Guy Gavriel ...
'' with many textual changes to knit several mostly unfinished manuscripts together as a coherent narrative. Further posthumous publications (with text more closely following Tolkien's original) include ''
Unfinished Tales
''Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth'' is a collection of stories and essays by J. R. R. Tolkien that were never completed during his lifetime, but were edited by his son Christopher Tolkien and published in 1980. Many of the tales ...
'', ''
The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien
''The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien'' is a selection of J. R. R. Tolkien's letters published in 1981, edited by Tolkien's biographer Humphrey Carpenter assisted by Christopher Tolkien. The selection from a large mass of materials contains 354 lett ...
'', ''
Bilbo's Last Song
''Bilbo's Last Song'' (at the Grey Havens) is a poem by J. R. R. Tolkien, written as a pendant to his fantasy ''The Lord of the Rings''. It was first published in a Dutch translation in 1973, subsequently appearing in English on posters in 1974 ...
'', ''
The Children of Húrin'', ''
Beren and Luthien'' and ''
The Fall of Gondolin
J. R. R. Tolkien's ''The Fall of Gondolin'' is one of the stories which formed the basis for a section in his posthumously-published work, ''The Silmarillion'', with a version later appearing in ''The Book of Lost Tales''. In the narrative, Gon ...
''.
Christopher Tolkien also published the 12-volume ''
History of Middle-earth
In J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium, the history of Arda, also called the history of Middle-earth, began when the Ainur entered Arda, following the creation events in the Ainulindalë and long ages of labour throughout Eä, the fictional unive ...
'', containing many texts, drafts, and notes by Tolkien (both early and late), together with Christopher's own extensive notes placing these in context.
Further works authorized by the
Tolkien Estate
The Tolkien Estate is the legal body which manages the property of the English writer J. R. R. Tolkien, including the copyright for most of his works. The individual copyrights have for the most part been assigned by the estate to subsidiary enti ...
include ''
The History of The Hobbit'' in two volumes by
John D. Rateliff John D. Rateliff is an author of roleplaying games and an independent scholar. He specializes in the study of the works of J. R. R. Tolkien, particularly his Middle-earth fantasy writings.
Early life and education
John D. Rateliff was raised in Ma ...
and ''The Annotated Hobbit'' by
Douglas A. Anderson
Douglas Allen Anderson (born December 30, 1959) is an American writer and editor on the subjects of fantasy and medieval literature, specializing in textual analysis of the works of J. R. R. Tolkien. He is a winner of the Mythopoeic Award for sch ...
, both with notes and early drafts by Tolkien. Linguistic material by Tolkien concerning Middle-earth has also been published with the permission of the Estate in two periodical publications. The
Qenya and Gnomish Lexicons, in full, appear in ''
Parma Eldalamberon'' Numbers 11–16; other mostly self-contained fragments, notes, and poems appear in various issues of ''
Vinyar Tengwar
The Elvish Linguistic Fellowship (E. L. F.) is a "Special Interest Group" of the Mythopoeic Society devoted to the study of the constructed languages of J. R. R. Tolkien, today headed by the computer scientist Carl F. Hostetter. It was founded by ...
''. All of this material together constitutes a collection which, much like real-world histories and mythologies, contains numerous points of obscurity, omission, or apparent contradiction.
''The Hobbit''
Although Tolkien said that ''The Hobbit'' was conceived separately from his mythological stories, early drafts show that it was set in that world, referring explicitly to characters and places which appeared in his ''
Book of Lost Tales
A book is a medium for recording information in the form of writing or images, typically composed of many pages (made of papyrus, parchment, vellum, or paper) bound together and protected by a cover. The technical term for this physical arr ...
'' which would later become ''The Silmarillion''. The Necromancer was originally Thû, the precursor of
Sauron
Sauron (pronounced ) is the title character and the primary antagonist, through the forging of the One Ring, of J. R. R. Tolkien's ''The Lord of the Rings'', where he rules the land of Mordor and has the ambition of ruling the whole of Middl ...
; Thorin's grandfather was imprisoned in the same dungeons that held
Beren and Lúthien
''Beren and Lúthien'' is a compilation of multiple versions of the epic fantasy Lúthien and Beren by J. R. R. Tolkien, one of Tolkien's earliest tales of Middle-earth. It is edited by Christopher Tolkien. It is the story of the love and adve ...
; the
Elven king was
Thingol
Elu Thingol or Elwë Singollo is a fictional character in J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium. He appears in ''The Silmarillion'', ''The Lays of Beleriand'' and ''The Children of Húrin'' and in numerous stories in ''The History of Middle-ea ...
and his land
Menegroth
In J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional legendarium, Beleriand was a region in northwestern Middle-earth during the First Age. Events in Beleriand are described chiefly in his work ''The Silmarillion'', which tells the story of the early ages of Middle-e ...
.
When he revised ''The Hobbit'' to bring the story of the finding of the Ring in line with ''The Lord of the Rings'', Tolkien retained the original version as the tale Bilbo told to justify his acquisition of the Ring.
''The Lord of the Rings''
''
The Lord of the Rings
''The Lord of the Rings'' is an epic high-fantasy novel by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, intended to be Earth at some time in the distant past, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's boo ...
'' picks up the story of ''The Hobbit'' some sixty years later, with some of the same locations and characters. Tolkien now explicitly linked the story to the ''Silmarillion'' tales, but placed it some six thousand years later in time. This reframing made some details in ''The Hobbit'', such as the goblins' ready recognition of the ancient swords
Orcrist
The Weapons and armour of Middle-earth are all those mentioned J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth fantasy writings, such as ''The Hobbit'', ''The Lord of the Rings'' and ''The Silmarillion''.
Tolkien modelled his fictional warfare on the Ancient a ...
and
Glamdring
Weapons and armour of Middle-earth are those of J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth fantasy writings, such as ''The Hobbit'', ''The Lord of the Rings'' and ''The Silmarillion''.
Tolkien modelled his fictional warfare on the Ancient history, Ancient ...
, difficult to reconcile into a single history.
Other details from ''The Hobbit'' don't quite mesh with ''The Lord of the Rings''.
Frodo and his companions, for example, cover much the same territory in the
Trollshaws as
Bilbo and the Dwarves, but take much longer to reach
Rivendell, and the geography is described differently. Several adjustments to ''The Hobbit'' only increased the discrepancies; and in the 1960s, Tolkien began rewriting ''The Hobbit'' more in the style and tone of ''The Lord of the Rings'', adjusting the journey and landmarks to fit the later story, but ultimately abandoned the effort.
Writings after ''The Lord of the Rings''
According to Christopher Tolkien, despite J. R. R. Tolkien's desire to bring the older ''Silmarillion'' stories to a publishable state, much time was spent instead trying to bring consistency to the works already published. The unpublished manuscripts were left in various states of completion. These older stories had existed and changed over many decades, partly in response to ''The Lord of the Rings''; as he reworked the material, he made substantial changes, up to and including the abandonment of major themes and entire tales, and wholesale rewrites and revisions of otherwise seemingly complete narratives.
Towards the end of his life, the focus of Tolkien's writing shifted from story telling inspired by his philological pursuits to more philosophical concerns, and Tolkien never finished a unified, systematic, and internally consistent narrative.
The ''Silmarillion'' compilation
''The Silmarillion'' was compiled by Christopher Tolkien (long involved in J. R. R. Tolkien's creative process) and published in 1977, four years after Tolkien’s death. It presents an abridged cycle of Tolkien's drafts of his Elvish legends, in the
legendarium that he worked on throughout his life, drawing material from the earliest ''Book of Lost Tales'' to drafts written long after ''The Lord of the Rings''. Most of the original texts have subsequently appeared in the ''History of Middle-earth''. Christopher's goal was a version resembling what he thought at the time his father might have produced.
Christopher observed that absolute consistency among the Middle-earth tales could only be achieved by losing much that was good in them:
"a complete consistency (either within the compass of ''The Silmarillion'' itself or between ''The Silmarillion'' and other published writings of my father's) is not to be looked for, and could only be achieved, if at all, at heavy and needless cost."[''The Silmarillion'', p. 8]
He went on to say:
"My father came to conceive ''The Silmarillion'' as a compilation... and it is to some extent a compendium in fact and not only in theory."
Throughout his commentaries in ''Unfinished Tales'' and the twelve volumes of ''The History of Middle-earth'', Christopher Tolkien points out differences between various versions of the original texts and the final editorial selections and occasional alterations in ''The Silmarillion''. In the Introduction of ''Unfinished Tales'' he observes that such selection was necessary to publishing a unified narrative; but in some cases he later came to feel that he went too far, for example in the ruin of
Doriath:
"I think now that this was a mistaken view, and that the undoubted difficulties could have been and should have been, surmounted without so far overstepping the bounds of editorial function."
Editing for consistency can be seen by comparing the chapter "Of the Voyage of Eärendil" in ''The Silmarillion'' with its corresponding section in the ''History of Middle-earth'' Volume V (''The Lost Road and Other Writings''). The ''Quenta Silmarillion'' of the 1930s was Tolkien's final text for this section, and Christopher carried it forward into ''The Silmarillion'' nearly word for word with editorial modifications—for consistency with other works—primarily limited to nomenclature: Fionwë edited to
Eönwë
The Maiar (singular: Maia) are a fictional class of beings from J. R. R. Tolkien's high fantasy legendarium. Supernatural and angelic, they are "lesser Ainur" who entered the cosmos of ''Eä'' in the beginning of time. The name ''Maiar'' is in th ...
, Lindar to
Vanyar, etc. For example:
From ''The Silmarillion'': "In the front of that fire came Glaurung the golden, father of dragons, in his full might; and in his train were Balrogs, and behind them came the black armies of the Orcs
An Orc (or Ork) is a fictional humanoid monster like a goblin. Orcs were brought into modern usage by the fantasy writings of J. R. R. Tolkien, especially ''The Lord of the Rings''. In Tolkien's works, Orcs are a brutish, aggressive, ugly, a ...
in multitudes such as the Noldor
In the works of J. R. R. Tolkien, the Noldor (also spelled Ñoldor, meaning ''those with knowledge'' in his constructed language Quenya) were a kindred of Elf (Middle-earth), Elves who migrated west to the blessed realm of Valinor from the conti ...
had never before seen or imagined." — p. 151.
From ''The Lost Road'': "In the front of that fire came Glómund the golden, the father of dragons, and in his train were Balrogs, and behind them came the black armies of the Orcs in multitudes such as the Gnomes had never before seen or imagined." — p. 280.
![Alan Lee signing The Children of Húrin](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/66/Alan_Lee_signing_The_Children_of_H%C3%BArin.jpg)
In the continuing development of the published history of Middle-earth, Christopher Tolkien quotes in ''
The Children of Húrin'' his father's own words on his fictional universe:
"once upon a time... I had in mind to make a body of more or less connected legend... I would draw some of the great tales in fullness, and leave many only placed in the scheme, and sketched."
Christopher Tolkien
Christopher John Reuel Tolkien (21 November 1924 – 16 January 2020) was an English academic editor, becoming a French citizen in later life. The son of author and academic J. R. R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien edited much of his father' ...
offers this justification for exercising his editorial authority to produce ''The Children of Húrin'' as a separate book:
"...it has seemed to me that there was a good case for presenting my father's long version of the legend of the Children of Húrin as an independent work, between its own covers, with a minimum of editorial presence, and above all in continuous narrative without gaps or interruptions, if this could be done without distortion or invention, despite the unfinished state in which he left parts of it."
Ethan Gilsdorf reviewing ''The Children of Húrin'' wrote of the editorial function:
"Of almost equal interest is Christopher Tolkien's task editing his father's abandoned projects. In his appendix, he explains his editorial process this way: "While I have had to introduce bridging passages here and there in the piecing together of different drafts, there is no element of extraneous 'invention' of any kind, however slight." He was criticized for having monkeyed with his father's text when putting "The Silmarillion" together. This pre-emptive strike must be meant to allay the fears of Tolkien's most persnickety readers."
Fictional canon for Middle-earth
As a result of the manner of its creation, the secondary world of Middle-earth is complicated. Its creator developed various elements of his fiction over the course of decades, making substantial changes including the abandonment of major themes, facts and entire tales, and undertook wholesale rewrites and revisions of otherwise "complete" narratives. The author's opinions on the relationships of his texts to each other often changed. In his letters, Tolkien comments upon the
intertextual
Intertextuality is the shaping of a text's meaning by another text, either through deliberate compositional strategies such as quotation, allusion, calque, plagiarism, translation, pastiche or parody,Gerard Genette (1997) ''Paratexts'p.18/ref>H ...
relationships of his works:
"I am doubtful myself about the undertaking f finishing ''The Silmarillion'' Part of the attraction of the L.R. 'The Lord of the Rings''is, I think, due to the glimpses of a large history in the background: an attraction like that of viewing far off an unvisited island, or seeing the towers of a distant city gleaming in a sunlit mist. To go there is to destroy the magic, unless new unattainable vistas are again revealed."
The quest by some readers for a consistent
fictional canon
In fiction, canon is the material accepted as officially part of the story in an individual universe of that story by its fan base. It is often contrasted with, or used as the basis for, works of fan fiction. The alternative terms mythology, tim ...
within some subset of Tolkien's writings was noted by Verlyn Flieger. Since the degree of narrative consistency that might be expected from a series of novels is not always found in Tolkien's work, Flieger attributed the need on the part of some readers to find consistency within the stories to the sense of reality that Tolkien strove to instil in his work, although the search for a definitive fictional canon has been seen as ultimately irrelevant to appreciation of his tales.
The desire for a Middle-earth canon arises from the need of some readers to form an internal consistency between the stories, a need related to their "
willing suspension of disbelief
Suspension of disbelief, sometimes called willing suspension of disbelief, is the avoidance of critical thinking or logic in examining something unreal or impossible in reality, such as a work of speculative fiction, in order to believe it for t ...
". Tolkien, in his essay "On Fairy Stories", claimed that no individual fantasy story can be successful without maintaining an "inner consistency of reality". An author, he says:
"... makes a Secondary World which your mind can enter. Inside it, what he relates is 'true': it accords with the laws of that world. ... The moment disbelief arises, the spell is broken; the magic, or rather art, has failed."
W.H. Auden
Wystan Hugh Auden (; 21 February 1907 – 29 September 1973) was a British-American poet. Auden's poetry was noted for its stylistic and technical achievement, its engagement with politics, morals, love, and religion, and its variety in ...
, former student of Tolkien, supports this notion in his review of one of Tolkien's books:
"Of any imaginary world the reader demands that it seem real, and the standard of realism demanded today is much stricter than in the time, say, of Malory."['']New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'', Book Review, '' The Fellowship of the Ring'', October 31, 1954
See also
*
Tolkien fandom
Tolkien fandom is an international, informal community of fans of the works of J. R. R. Tolkien, especially of the Middle-earth legendarium which includes ''The Hobbit'', ''The Lord of the Rings'', and ''The Silmarillion''. The concept of Tolkien ...
*
Tolkien's legendarium
Tolkien's legendarium is the body of J. R. R. Tolkien's mythopoeic writing, unpublished in his lifetime, that forms the background to his ''The Lord of the Rings'', and which his son Christopher summarized in his compilation of ''The Silmaril ...
*
Tolkien research
References
External links
FAQ Tolkien Estate
; Tolkien societies
The Mythopoeic Society
{{DEFAULTSORT:Middle-earth Canon
Canons (fiction)
Tolkien studies
Middle-earth books