September Books 23) The War of the Jewels, by J.R.R. Tolkien with Christopher Tolkien

The end’s in sight; only one volume left of this exploration of Tolkien’s incomplete writings to go. The War of the Jewels brings together some final notes from the Silmarillion and a few other essays. The first chunk, the Grey Annals, is yet another attempt to retell the Silmarillion stories but this time taking a year-by-year approach; it also has much more detail on the Dark-Elf Ëol and his fathering of Maeglin than I remember before. There’s also a long section on the tragic wanderings of Húrin after the deaths of his children which I don’t remember from elsewhere, though it may have been in the Tale of the Children of Húrin. Various essays include some reflections on the origins of the races other than Elves and Men, more Elvish linguistics and the story of the Elves’ awakening. Several comments from Tolkien junior reflecting on how he now wishes he had done the Silmarillion a bit differently.

One thought on “September Books 23) The War of the Jewels, by J.R.R. Tolkien with Christopher Tolkien

  1. The best way to fix it is to make it more work to run an all male conference. If it takes quotas to kick-start equality, let’s get quouta-ing

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