The Complete Guide to Middle-earth
| The Complete Guide to Middle-earth | |
|---|---|
| File:The Complete Guide to Middle-earth.jpg | |
| Author | Robert Foster |
| Publisher | Random House Publishing Group |
| Released | Originally 1971 |
| Format | Hardcover |
| Pages | 569 |
| ISBN | 0345465296 |
The Complete Guide to Middle-earth is a reference book for the fictional universe of J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-earth, compiled and edited by Robert Foster.
Originally published in 1971 as A Guide to Middle-Earth, before the publication of The Silmarillion, the first edition contained only information from The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. In 1978, a new edition (The Complete Guide to Middle-earth: from The Hobbit to The Silmarillion), containing material from The Silmarillion, was published.
A revised edition was published in 2001, as one of many reprints intended to ride the commercial wave of The Lord of the Rings: The Motion Picture Trilogy.
Editions
Detailed information on the early editions.[1]
- 1971: A Guide to Middle-Earth. Baltimore, Md.: The Mirage Press. xiii, 284, [7] pp., geneal. tables. 22.5 × 14.5 cm. (The Voyager Series, V-105) (The Anthem Series, A-1009)
- 1974: Paperback edition: New York: Ballantine Books. 283 pp., geneal. tables. 18 cm. ISBN 0-345-24138-X (pbk)
- 1978: The Complete Guide to Middle-earth: from The Hobbit to The Silmarillion. New York: Ballantine Books. xvi, 575 pp., geneal. tables. 18 cm. ISBN 0-345-27975-1 (pbk)
- 1978: British edition: London: Unwin Paperbacks. xii, [i], 441, [8] pp. 19.5 × 13 cm. ISBN 0-04-803001-5 (pbk): £1.50; ISBN 0-04-803002-3 (hbk)
Accuracy
No edition of the book includes info on post-Silmarillion material (i.e. Unfinished Tales and The History of Middle-earth series) and therefore in points it is outdated or in error.
- Tar-Aldarion: Foster speculates that the tragic relations with his father and wife were because he left no male heirs. The later published text Aldarion and Erendis elaborated this situation.
- Ambar: Foster relates the Elvish words ambar "world" and umbar "fate". In the entry of Ambar, he mentions it is a concept related to fate of the world. The Etymologies showed that the two have different Roots; a distinct word ambar is actually linked to the root for "home".
Possible Inaccuracies
- Bladorthin: Foster supports the usual misunderstanding that Bladorthin's spears were not delivered because he died early; while the text mentions those events closely to imply that they are connected, it doesn't really mention his death as a reason.[2]
- Dolmed: Foster suggests that the mountain was destroyed at the end of the First Age when the Gulf of Lune, broke through the Blue Mountains; while the text doesn't mention anything about it.[3]
- Gollum: Foster mentions that Déagol was Sméagol's cousin. Tolkien only said only that he was "evidently a relative (as no doubt all the members of the small community were)"[4]
- Gwaihir: Foster reproduces the fan conception merging the character of the Great Eagle to that of Gwaihir, whereas nowhere it's implied in Lord of the Rings that Gwaihir is Lord of the Eagles.
- Mearas: Foster mentions the singular of mearas as meara (cf. entries for Shadowfax and Snowmane) while the correct Old English form is mearh.[5]
References
- ↑ Bertenstam, Åke: A Chronological Bibliography of Books About Tolkien
- ↑ Andreas Möhn, "Who was the King Bladorthin?"
- ↑ Hiswelókë, "Mont Dolmed & cités naines"
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien; Humphrey Carpenter, Christopher Tolkien (eds.), The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, Letter 214, (undated, written late 1958 or early 1959)
- ↑ Wiktionary, "mearh"
