Customer Reviews

The Treason of Isengard: The History of The Lord of the Rings, Part Two (The History of Middle-Earth, Vol. 7)

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The advent of DVD technology increased what many of us expect to get out of a movie. When I buy a movie I love on DVD, I expect to get as much extra data as possible. I want to see the original drafts of the script, I want to hear the director and writer talking about the movie, I want to see a 'making of' documentary and all the deleted scenes that never made it to the final version.

This is *precisley* what you get with this compendium of Christopher Tolkien's History of Middle Earth. Unlike the previous volumes that cover the actual internal history and chronology of Middle Earth in the same way the books of Lost Tales did, this series details the *writing* of the Lord of the Rings. We *see* Tolkien's thought processes as he figured out what happens next. We watch as Aragon shows up with the unlikely name of Trotter. We watch Frodo get moved around so much that, by the time he's recognizable to us as the character in the novel, he's had several names and other characters have had his name!

We see the *entire plotline* surrounding Saruman's defection from the Council, one of-if not *the*- major subplots of the novel arise out of Tokien's problems with the Nazgul. If the Nazgul are going to chase Frodo and Co. around on the way to Rivendell, Gandalf *can't be there*. Otherwise he'd just smack the Nazgul around. Ok, where can Gandalf be? Hmm. . .he'd have to be *captured* by someone if he couldn't make it to defend Frodo. And so the entire notion of Saruman takes form.

This is more than just a fascinating examination of the development of a famous novel; it's a lesson on how books are written. About the endless series of compromises that must be made to get the story into print.

Two points you should consider, though. This is not *fun* to read, it's not remotely entertaining. It's not *meant* as entertainment, it's mean as a scholarly examination of the development of a novel. Christopher Tolkien is occasionally casual; he'll say; "Then father wrote something I honestly can't figure out and doesn't make any sense to me." Fair enough, but that's about as engaging as this gets. If you pick this up, be prepared to read it like a textbook.

Secondly, Christopher Tolkien is necessarily bound by the things his father thought were important. Gargantuan volumes of text are devoted to following his father's obsession with working out the precise timeline, often down to the hour and minute, things occurred in the story. I don't think this is going to be interesting to anyone except another Tolkien scholar. I don't think the timeline is that important in the first place, so I can't honestly say that it was interesting watching its development.

But you shouldn't let these two things stop you. Some advice; skip the parts that are boring to you. Each book has a hell of an index. Start leafing through it, looking for interesting subjects. I was fascinated by the development of the Palantir. Much time is spent talking about the different drafts, but we don't need to know when the different drafts were written, or why, just that there *were* different drafts. I was able to learn a lot about the development of the Palantir just by reading that section, without understanding the nature of the different drafts of the story.

The whole series is filled with this stuff. It's worth it alone for the development of the poem Errantry, which Bilbo recites in the house of Elrond. Great stuff!!

Probably the most accessible volumes of the admittedly very dry HISTORY OF MIDDLE-EARTH series to the general reader, this box set covers the evolution of Tolkien's masterpiece, THE LORD OF THE RINGS. This is a graduate level look at what goes in the making of a literary masterpiece. As you read through this box set, you see Tolkien's imagination at work, toying with ideas, names, possible plot lines, and just the general struggle to get through the work. This is not a fun, entertaining read that you pick up; this is a scholarly look out the evolution of one of the most significant novels of the twentieth century, and an opportunity almost never granted to readers. The biggest weakness of this set is it does not include THE PEOPLES OF MIDDLE-EARTH, which details the evolution of the appendices, as well as giving the full text to THE LORD OF THE RING's aborted sequel, THE NEW SHADOW. A strange omission, especially since the last volume is so slim

Throughout the series, Christopher Tolkien illuminates how directionless his father truly was, and how little he actually knew when writing THE LORD OF THE RINGS. What is truly startling about these books (and the most encouraging) are how much was unknown when Tolkien begun the first chapter. Indeed, for the half of FELLOWSHIP, Tolkien was largely raiding his own, pre-existing larder, sending the hobbits through already exisiting situations that Tolkien had envisioned in his poetry (see Tom Shippey's AUTHOR OF THE CENTURY for more about this).

The changes are absolutely phenomenal. We see a great number of name-shifting throughout the original hobbits. We watch the evolution of Aragorn, originally a rustic hobbit of Bree, turn into the very heir of Isildur himself, come to reclaim the vacant throne of Gondor. We see Treebeard, a malignant, evil character originally, become one of the key players in winning the war of the ring. We watch Tolkien work through the problem of Gandalf's appearance as the hobbits set out from the Shire; Tolkien was just as puzzled at what happened to Gandalf as the hobbits were. His disappearance led to the birth of the treacherous Saruman.

The other three books (including the slim volume THE END OF THE THIRD AGE, ordinally published as the first part of SAURON DEFEATED) gives us further insight into the creative process at work. As new lands emerge (Lothlorian, Rohan, Fangorn), Tolkien's shifting conceptions and outlines often fall by the wayside when he writes that part of the story. No one appears more surprised at the Palantir crashing upon the feet of Orthanc than Tolkien, though he instantly knew what this mysterious seeing stone was. Faramir, Boromir's younger brother and one who beats back the desire of the Ruling Ring, succeeding where his brother failed, appears in Ilthilien, unknown and unannoucned. We see a very different Helm's Deep, as well as the evolution of the Paths of the Dead and the story of Denethor. The Shire's Scourging is also quite different, with Frodo taking a much more dominant role in the uprising to reclaim the hobbits' homeland. Christopher spends a lot of time on Tolkien's continual cross-checking of the internal chronology of the work, right down to the very phases of the moon. This effect cost Tolkien a lot of labour, and, like his actual constructions of his imaginary languages, have never been done so well in other fantasy works.

One of the biggest revelations comes during the last book, when we finally get to read the long lost epilogue about Sam and his family. Tolkien wisely cut this; the epilogue's presence would have destroyed the deeply meloncholy, emotionally charged departure at the Grey Havens and Sam coming home to Rosie with one of the book's best lines. "Well, I'm back," brings the entire quest back home, but we all know Sam, or any of us for that matter, can never truly come back after going through such harrowing and challenging experiences as he and the rest of the Fellowship went through. However, it is very refreshing to see Sam's large family a lot closer up than we get to in the finished work. Quite sentimental, it shows Tolkien had quite the soft spot for those hobbits of his.

Overall, a stunning, and almost never given, opportunity to watch one of this century's most important writers go through the creative process. This set gives the most encouragement to aspiring and struggling writers, for it shows, first and foremost, that writing is a process, not a finished product. Highly recommended for the serious Tolkien student and fan, and for writers interested in watching a master at work.

This three-book set (plus a small fourth book) is an amazing look at the thought processes of one of the greatest writers of this century. The reader sees how a loose jumble of ideas was molded into possibly the most complex cosmology of all time.
In the beginning of Tolkien's conceptions for the Lord of the Rings, it was to be just a sequel to the Hobbit. Frodo was named Bingo, the name Frodo was assigned to another character, and Aragorn and the Nazgul were nameless characters hovering on the edge of Tolkien's imagination.
However, these books are definitely not for those who have just watched the movie...and probably not for those who have only read the books once. Only a truly devoted Tolkien fan will find them anything but boring.
But if you have read the books a lot, are deeply interested in the chronology, geography, etc. as it developed, this is an enthralling insight into literary genius, as well as a manual for those of us interested in doing a little writing of our own.

Like the previous reviewer said, this series is not a "story", but rather an insiders look at the process that Tolkien went through to get THE LORD OF THE RINGS onto the page. Lots of Middle Earth lore is included, which many readers will definitely find interesting and enlightening.

I found the writer's process more interesting. There are story ideas, character's names that changed, and plot points that get rearranged.

The book can get laborious at points. But, again, this is not a story, but rather a backstage look at the detailed work Tolkien devoted to this marvelous trilogy.

. . .to the History of Middle Earth Collection.

"The Treason of Isengard" is the seventh volume in Christopher Tolkien's masterful "History of Middle Earth" series, and the second volume in the subset within that series dedicated to the history of "The Lord of the Rings". As I've suggested in a previous review, all those prospective authors out there should "read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest" what Christoper has done in these volumes. He has provided an in-depth, graduate-level seminar in the process behind writing a novel. For this reason alone, the book is valuable.

But the book's value far exceeds its mere literary merit for those who truly love Middle-Earth. (Although I disagree with much of what Peter Beagle has written about "The Lord of the Rings", I can sympathize with his desire to go to Middle-Earth! I wish I could, as well!

This book details the material that eventually became the end of "The Fellowship of the Ring" and the first part of "The Two Towers". In it, we see the earliest forms of the visit to Lorien, the fall and repentance of Boromir, and the events leading up to the fall of Isengard (which is related in the next volume). Of particular interest:

Tolkien still struggles with how to portray the Ents. Originally, Treebeard was Giant Tree Beard -- and an enemy.

The numerous illustrations provided throughout the book. I found particularly interesting the various stages of development that

Orthanc underwent.

The Appendix on runes. Apparently, the runic inscription on Balin's tomb in Moria led Tolkien into an elaborate description of runes and their types, who used what, etc. Some of this material made it into the Appendix of "The Lord of the Rings" -- but not all of it.

Altogether, and enjoyable read. I fervently wish that more effort was concentrated on Tolkien scholarship than on fandom -- but such is the way of the world, I suppose.

Five Stars -- and well worth it.

In the seventh volume of The History of Middle Earth Christopher Tolkien takes us from Hobbiton to Fangorn as his father first wrote it. It is sometimes simply amazing to see how much work JRR Tolkien put into LOTR. In this book you will see the countless revisions, thanks to Christopher's indespensible notes, along with early sketches of Orthanc, Minas Morgul, and Moria. I would recommend this book to any Tolkien fan who wants to learn more about The Lord of the Rings.

If you like textbooks, or learning about the history of tolkien, this is for you. Also if you ever plan to write any papers on him, its also for you. If you're looking for stories, this is not for you.

J.R.R. Tolkien worked until the end of his life on Middle-Earth, with its elves, hobbits, dwarves, human Men, and mythical kingdoms and lands. Of course, he produced the epic classics "The Hobbit" and "The Lord of the Rings," and the posthumous "Silmarillion," but that was only after massive rewritings, notes and revisions.

After his death, his son Christopher Tolkien did the world an enormous favour. He scraped together all of Daddy's notes and letters, annotated them extensively, and published them as the History of Middle Earth. "The History of the Lord of the Rings" goes a little further -- it shows us how the classic story evolved, the characters changed, and how all those steps were needed.

The earlier drafts of "Lord of the Rings" were dramatically different from the book we know and love. Aragorn was once a hobbit called Trotter, Frodo was called Bingo and was once Bilbo's son rather than his cousin. Frodo ended the series as a reknowned warrior, and Treebeard was a bad guy. Things like the palantir were added into the storyline as it progressed. Scenes were changed, lines were crossed out, and subplots were added.

"The History of the Lord of the Rings" also lets readers in on something else: The process of book-writing. Many writers just let the story guide them, and Tolkien was one of those -- his story was practically alive, changing itself as he wrote it. As a result, he had to keep going back to change things, and inventing subplots to keep the main plot going. It might have driven a lesser writer crazy.

As outlined by Christopher Tolkien, we see J.R.R. Tolkien painstakingly revising, reworking, and adjusting his opus, until it finally worked out into the "Lord of the Rings" we know and love today. At times Christopher Tolkien takes it too far by rambling about his father's notes and revisions. But Tolkien's old notes speak for themselves.

Perhaps the most rewarding part of this set is the slim "End of the Third Age," which contains the last revisions and notes for "Return of the King." At the end of it is the epilogue, which for some reason was cut out of the final book. In it, we get to see Sam and his loving family several years later, when peace and prosperity have returned to the Shire.

"The History of the Lord of the Rings" is a rewarding read for fans of the original book, and for those who want an inside look on the writing process. It's a necessity, to fully appreciate the plot of "Lord of the Rings."

I never realized how interesting it would be to read a detailed, almost blow-by-blow, account of the creation of a masterpiece. Christopher Tolkien has done all Tolkien scholars, both professional and amateur, a great service by detailing his father's often tortuous development of Middle Earth especially Rohan, Saruman and Isengard, and the creation of Treebeard and the wonderful Ents. Also versions of Frodo and Sam's further journey that are very different from what makes it into "The Two Towers" are fascinating. Those who think that Mr. Tolkien has only done this for the money should look again at these works (if indeed they even looked at them at all). No person in his or her right mind would go through this amount of detailed work just for money. No amount of money would be enough to pay for work of this magnitude.

Once more Christopher Tolkien has done a valuable service for literary historians and anyone interested in the craft of writing in his elegant overview of his father's struggles in creating the Lord of the Rings. His recounting of his father's writing is a fascinating saga in its own right, chronicling his father's subtle changes in the personas of characters as diverse as Boromir and Treebeard. Of special note is how significant Boromir's role might have been if he hadn't died in battle at the end of "The Fellowship of the Ring". I was also intrigued with Tolkien making numerous changes in his depiction (and indeed, names for) of Gondor and Lothlorien, among others. There is a excellent overview on Tolkien's map of Middle-earth, noting its significant changes over the years from the 1920's until it assumed its present form for the Rings trilogy. At the end of this lengthy tome is a fine introduction to runes and how they underwent their own transformation while Tolkien was at work writing the Rings trilogy.