Review of "The Fall of Númenor" by Lyra

Review of "The Fall of Númenor"

Tolkien's literary legacy truly is the gift that keeps on giving. Whenever you think that your collection is finally complete, a new publication is announced. At first glance, The Fall of Númenor appears to be yet another addition to Christopher Tolkien's extractions of the Great Tales: we are promised the story of the Akallabêth, previously published in The Silmarillion, as well as supplementary versions from different periods of Tolkien's creative process. And indeed, the book delivers on that. The cover design and illustrations by Alan Lee likewise make it fit neatly in a row with The Children of Húrin, Beren and Lúthien, and The Fall of Gondolin.

At the same time, The Fall of Númenor deviates from the approach taken by these earlier publications. Brian Sibley, the editor, first made a name for himself in the Tolkien fandom by adapting The Lord of the Rings for BBC Radio in 1981. Back then, he made the decision to break up the original structure of the novels, which after the breaking of the Fellowship follows the adventures of Merry and Pippin for the length of a whole book and only then tells readers how Frodo and Sam have been faring in the meanwhile—only to abandon them at the Tower of Cirith Ungol to return to events in Rohan and Gondor before at long last recounting the final leg of the journey to Mount Doom and the destruction of the Ring. Fearing that this approach might work on the page, but not for the spoken word, Sibley synchronised the timelines for the radioplay, presenting the events chronologically and switching from character to character as necessary.¹ For The Fall of Númenor, instead of following Christopher Tolkien's example of tracing the development of the story manuscript by manuscript, Sibley likewise has chosen to tell the story—or rather, stories—chronologically. As his starting point, he has used "The Tale of Years" of the Second Age (as first published in Appendix B of The Lord of the Rings) as his starting point.

Númenor and more

The title of The Fall of Númenor is somewhat misleading. "The Tale of Years" covers not merely the downfall of Númenor but the entirety of the Second Age, from the foundation of the Grey Havens to the first victory over Sauron, and the same is true for the book. Accordingly, readers learn about events in Middle-earth just as much as they find out about Númenor. Painstakingly collecting the information scattered across the various posthumous publications, from Unfinished Tales to The Nature of Middle-earth, several books of the History of Middle-earth to the Letters of J.R.R.Tolkien, Sibley has expanded on the minimalist entries in "The Tale of Years" wherever possible—sometimes briefly, when there are only a few lines expanding on the reign of this or that royal to go with a name, and sometimes at length, as in the case of Tar-Aldarion, whose story (originally published in Unfinished Tales as "Aldarion and Erendis") has been split across several entries. Editorial remarks are clearly marked through indentation and the use of a smaller font size and generally limited to providing context and pointing out connections and references.

What's new?

Accordingly, there is very little truly new content in this book, and its strength lies instead in the unifying approach to the disjointed materials about the Second Age. The core of the book is preceded by a general introduction, a short explanation of Tolkien's creative process and motivation, and a summary of the main events of the First Age, and followed by a brief overview of the Third Age before The Lord of the Rings. To accompany the texts, Alan Lee has provided beautiful illustrations, some depicting scenes rarely touched even by the most adventurous fan artists. My personal favourite is "Galadriel leads the Elves through Moria", which shows the beauty of Moria at the time of its glory. Aside from the ten full-page watercolour illustrations, each chapter is accompanied by at least one elaborate pencil miniature. As a charming little detail, there is a recurring little frieze and sceptre for the entries concerning the kings and queens of Númenor. And of course it would hardly be a book on Middle-earth and beyond if it didn't also come with maps. 

Losing The Lost Road

There are many things to be said for Sibley's approach. It turns the otherwise highly heterogeneous material into a fairly cohesive whole, puts the events and characters into their chronological context, and gives the book the flavour of a historical chronicle. So far, looking into the Second Age meant going on a scavenger hunt through at least six separate books—a scavenger hunt now made very nearly obsolete. Unfortunately, however, the chronological approach also means that things that do not fit within that chronology had to go. This applies especially to the experimental and unfinished time-travel stories The Lost Road and The Notion Club Papers, despite their significance for the development of the Númenor story and the rare glimpse at the vocabulary and syntax of the Adûnaic language—the time-travelling aspect and the modern characters hardly fit into the chronology of "The Tale of Years." The Númenórean chapters of The Lost Road have been relegated to the appendix of The Fall of Númenor for the sake of completeness, but the earlier chapters as well as the entirety of TheNotion Club Papers are left out entirely. Sibley acknowledges the omission openly and recommends reading the longer texts in the History of Middle-earth books where they were published by Christopher Tolkien.

Conclusion

Despite the missing material, and despite the fact that the new book doesn't offer any strictly new information, it is nonetheless an immensely useful publication. For the first time, nearly all of the key material about the Second Age is presented in a single volume, making it that much easier to appreciate just how much information Tolkien actually provided about the Second Age in general and Númenor in particular. Whether fans are simply curious about an often overlooked time period in the history of Middle-earth, wish to find out how the material invented by the showrunners of The Rings of Power ties in—or doesn't tie in—with Tolkien's ideas, or want to find information about an event in the Second Age for the purpose of creating fanworks, The Fall of Númenor provides a clearly arranged chronicle. Together with the lovingly created illustrations, The Fall of Númenor is a valuable addition to any collection of Tolkien's writing, lacking only an appendix on language for perfection.

Works Cited

1. Brian Sibley, "The Choices of Master Sibley," Mallorn 17 (1981): 7-10, 33.