Welcome to Litsy!

I can't believe it's been two weeks since last l posted. This must be the longest hiatus l had on here.

I've been rereading The Lost Road and again l enjoyed it a lot.
Such a shame Tolkien never finished it.

Besides, it was indeed here that Numenor was created, so in a way, some of it found its own way.
And honestly, the Second Age is just marvellous!

After my first full week of teaching in person since March, this introvert is very grateful for a quiet three day weekend. Today that includes sunshine, hammock time, and reading Tolkien. I find the possibilities of mixing his own mythology with history and legends in the drafts and notes for The Lost Road fascinating.

#Reread

Time for some more Tolkien rereading . . .

Hi #FellowshipOfTolkien
Since we are in between books, l'd like to ask you something.

This is the thing: the Eä Tolkien Society of Spokane, Washington (USA) found my article about The Notion Club Papers on Medium, and since their September online conference will focus on Númenor, they asked me to be a guests on that discussion (I am shocked, but also so excited!).

I have enjoyed each of these History of Middle Earth books and there were some wonderfully detailed aspects in a few of these revisions. I also especially enjoyed The Lost Road, although it is really only the beginning of the story.

#YearofTolkien

It‘s been a long week already with lots of school stuff going on, but tonight I‘m making some time for Tolkien and Gandalf (the cat). Slowly working my way through the etymologies this evening. The introduction to this section just amazes me all over again with the amount of work and dedication involved.

#YearofTolkien #CatsofLitsy

And with that, I add 1 more to my shelf of completed Tolkien books (not including the library loans).

Again I am reminded, how lucky his son is & in fact we are, that Tolkien lived & worked in the time he did, no computers & often when paper was scarce. Without those two facts there would be very little creative process to unearth. As it was, much of it survived, & thanks to the time & dedication of his son, is available to us.

#YearOfTolkien

“I do not guarantee the exact correspondence of every tree”. CT makes me 😂when he tells how he meticulously replicated every fine detail, but hey the trees might be off, don‘t say I didn‘t warn you.

Also reading these sections, where penciled additions have faded over time & are impossible to read, does anyone else start thinking about advanced imaging technology & how many more layers might be able to be peeled away now? Just me?
#YearOfTolkien

Well there you go melisse = Melissa, if Middle Earth says that‘s the meaning, I‘ll take it! 😂

#YearOfTolkien

Hmmm Khal-....Khalessi... I would say maybe the language of the Dothraki Horse Lords is a distant relative of Middle Earth, but since I know George RR Martian loved Tolkien growing up, I‘m betting there was some strong influences there. 😉

#YearOfTolkien

Again I am reminded, how lucky his son is & in fact we are, that Tolkien lived & worked in the time he did, no computers & often when paper was scarce. Without those two facts there would be very little creative process to unearth, changes would have been made to the file completely overwriting earlier versions, and interesting scraps like this discarded. As it was, it all survived, often written on the backs of other dated letters.
#YearOfTolkien

Wow, even the stuff I can‘t quite wrap my head completely around, like the complexities of the evolving fictional languages of Middle Earth, I can still be amazed by Tolkien‘s work.
#YearOfTolkien

#YearOfTolkien

With all the excitment about visiting the Tolkien exhibition l forgot to post about finishing this.

I really enjoyed it, especially the first part about the unfinished The Lost Road. That would have been an epic story if Tolkien had really written it. Not that l complain about him writing LotR instead 😆
I also liked reading the updated versions of the Silmarillion. Some parts were richer than the published book.

I love weekend mornings when I‘m home by myself for breakfast with a book. This morning I‘m having toast from the loaf of sourdough bread I made yesterday.

I haven‘t been keeping up well with my Tolkien reading since the start of school, but I hope to catch up today. I‘m looking forward to reading the last couple chapters of the Quenta Silmarillion.

#YearofTolkien #readandeat

#YearOfTolkien

Although the end of The Silmarillion isn't as sad as the end of The Lord of the Rings, it is nonetheless an ending filled with melancholy. I'm especially sorry for the two brothers, Maedhros and Maglor, such awesome characters.
Instead l'm happy to see that Earendil and Elwig's story becomes more positive with every new revision.

Now that I‘ve finished the earlier version and appendixes in The Shaping of Middle Earth, I‘m read to tackle this version in our current read. 😉👍

#YearOfTolkien

With school starting and a few rainy days I‘ve had little time for reading and no time for the hammock. So, tonight I took a walk and then specifically made time to read a chapter outside before it got dark. I‘m truly enjoying yet another version of the Quenta Silmarillion.

#YearofTolkien

#YearOfTolkien

This first part of The Children of Hurin is one of my favourite. Some awesome characters here (yeah, fine, l'll confess that l love both Morwen and Beleg).
I also like Thingol quite a lot. He acts wise and generous, which are not adgectives that we normally associate with him.

#YearOfTolkien

I really enjoyed reading this version of the Nirnaeth Arnoediad because somehow it felt different to the others l've read. Not in the sense that the battle is different, but the feeling. There are many details that l hadn't read before.

Always one of the greatest episodes of The Silmarillion.

Though it isn't quite time to get back to work yet, l'm travelling by train to Verona, today. I'm bringing a friend with me.

#YearOfTolkien

I don't think l've ever read such a detailed account about the Men who are not the Three Houses of the Elven-friends, not even in the Silmarillion.

Even we fans often forget that Men more often sided with Morgoth than against him and that the Houses of Beor, Hador and Haleth are rather the exception than the rule.

#YearOfTolkien

Busy chapter today.
I've always found Fingolfin's solitary challenge at Morgoth one of the most awesome episodes of The Silmarillion.
The House of Finwe abounds in awesome characters, but l think that Fingolfin is one of the wisest, more coragiuos and inspiring.

#YearOfTolkien

I'm loving to see how Tolkien's legendarium slowly approaches what we know. I also like to see how it becomes progressively diverse.

#YearOfTolkien

The geography of Middle-Earth always confuses me (because l'm too lazy to actually look up a map 😆) and fascinates me at the same time.
And l love all these names (do l sound crazy?). They have such lovely sound and they all are descriptive, so that even the mere name add depth to the geography.

#YearOfTolkien

Well, try Google Fingon and Mahedros and you'll find almost only queer images of them.
I'll admit that the version in the Silmarillion, where Fingon and Mahedros know each other from Valinor and Fingon goes looking for Mahedros when he learns of his friend's torment may indeed be read as a queer relationship.
I wouldn't say the version in the Lost Road suggests anything such.

What do you think of these two awesome characters?

#YearOfTolkien

To Hildorien there came no God to guide the Men or to summon them to dwell in Valinor; and Men have feared the Valar, rather than loved them, and have not understood the purpose of the Power, being at variance with them, and are strife with the world.
Ulmo nonetheless took thought of them, aiding the councel and will of Manwe; and his messages came often to them by stream and flood.

#YearOfTolkien

"Then Anar rose in glory and the snow upon the mountains glowed with fire, and there was the sound of many waterfalls; but the servants of Melko fled to Angband and cowered in fear, and Fingolfin unfurled his banners."

In can almost see Fingolfin's blue banners billowing in the wind as the first sun rises over Middle-Earth and he reaches the shores of Beleriand after the Hell of Helcaraxe.
Majestic!

#YearOfTolkien

Boy, what a chapter! The Flight of the Noldor is easily one of the most intense chapters in the Silmarillion and l appreciate this even more now that l've seen its genesis through many versions.
Stakes get ever higher and everybody's reasons ever more complex and entangled.
In this version the intersting idea that even the Valar might have erred appears. It really isn't about who's right or wrong, it's about the complexity of life

[Morgoth] looked upon the glory of the Valar, and greed and malice were in his heart; he looked upon the fair Children of Iluvatar that sat at the feet of the Gods, and hatred filled him; he looked upon the wealth of gems and lusted fir them; but he hid his thoughts and postponed his vengeance.

#YearOfTolkien

And sadly, here we have the first torch carrying mob incited to violence by a charismatic orator who was swayed by the whispers of hate and discord to magnify and spread their power.

This scene always makes me sad, think how much bloodshed could have been prevented if Fëanor had only realized his words helped his enemy. ?

#YearOfTolkien

I‘ve been switching from book to book throughout the day. I listened to an audiobook while working around the house, caught up through chapter 3 of the Quenta Silmarillion for #YearofTolkien, and then I settled in the hammock for a few more chapters of Sense & Sensibility. Overall, it‘s been a very good reading day. 📚

#YearOfTolkien

I'm utterly speechless.
You think, what can these stories give me more, l've already read so many different versions. Then this chapter happens and it's like reading it for the first time.
Out of all the previous versions, this is so cohesive, so strong, so real and so beautifully written.

Totally loved it.

#YearOfTolkien

Maybe it's me, but it seems that the poetic language and images that l always associate with The Silmarillion are finally entering Tolkien's working copies.
This account of the creation of the Two Trees is almost moving.

#YearOfTolkien

Loved this new incarnation of the Valaquenta. It's the cleanest so far and the Valar's personality really shine here.

#YearOfTolkien

I always wondered what it is that a philologist does. What is the use of someone studing words?
Then l read a few of Tolkien lectures... and l was shocked. I suddenly realised: a philologist is someone who reconstruct humanity's history studing the languages. It's an incredibly fascinating matter.

Here Tolkien moves on reverse: He creates a people's history by creating their languages.

"Mighty are the Ainur, and mightiest among them is Melko; but that he may know, and all the Ainur, that l am lluvatar, those things that ye have sung and placed, lo! I have caused to be"

I'm a bit behind in the #YearOfTolkien but l hope to catch up in the next couple days.

I got so caught up in my audiobook about Tolkien and the other Inklings that I forgot to read anything actually by Tolkien the last few evenings. Tonight I‘m making up for it by reading in the hammock while also grilling supper. The Lhammas is about the historical development of the languages within the mythology. I just wish this chart was larger and more easily readable in my copy.

#YearofTolkien

#YearOfTolkien
Considering that the Battle of Unnumbered Tears never appeares in Tolkien's papers other than in synopsis form,it takes up a considerable space in the Annals of Beleriand. I'm convinced that Tolkien had a complete story in mind, probably too complex and ambitious to jot down. Since the first time l read it in the Silmarillion l thought there's a lot of story material in that short chapter.
It's a crime that story was never written.

#YearOfTolkien

DWARVES! Finally they come into the play! I never expected them to have come into the their own so late and once again l wonder whether The Hobbit play a part in Tolkien's increased interest in them. So far, they had been shadows moving on the background of the story.

I also lived the decriptions of the different people of Beleriand. I could easily imagine Middle Ages people moving and keeping the land just the same way.

I think this hammock may quickly become my new favorite reading spot. What a lovely way to spend a quiet Friday evening!

@sammisho I decided it was worth it. Now if I can just manage to grade papers here too once school starts.

#YearofTolkien

There‘s not a lot of new in this version of the “Annals of Valinor” compared to what I‘ve already read, but the word choice of this more detailed description of Feanor caught my attention tonight.

“Feanor was the mightiest Gnome of all that have been, wordcrafty and handcrafty, fair and strong and tall, fiery of mood and thought, hard tempered, undaunted, master of the wills of others.”

#YearofTolkien

I really like the smoothness of this version of the Annals of Valinor. It is the version we have become familiar with, if not the one we know from the Silmarillion. These are the version Tolkien work with while he worked to Lord of the Rings. I'm so eager to read about that major work.

#YearOfTolkien

I was also pleasantly surprised to see “The Seafarer” mentioned in this chapter about the “unfinished chapters”. This one stuck with me the first time I read it in HS English class, it‘s been translated a few times, but this was the closest I could find online to the one I read then. I guess there is a reason why I throughly enjoyed Tolkien‘s verse in these History of Middle Earth books, especially the Lays. 😉

#YearOfTolkien

Anybody else read this in the “unwritten chapters” and think of Vikings (the TV series), maybe that was just me, but it‘s nice to know they pulled at least some of their plot lines from history.

#YearOfTolkien

I finished the unwritten chapters of The Lost Road this morning. I find it fascinating to consider this story concept that would have further melded together ancient legends with Tolkien‘s own imagined world. I was also constantly thinking that at some point I have to add reading more of Tolkien‘s translations to my list, specifically this one I own and Beowulf.

#YearofTolkien

Caught up with my backlog on my #YearOfTolkien read along. I really liked this side story background and once again find myself wishing he‘d have written even more of it.

#YearOfTolkien

"With the entry at that time of the cardinal idea of the Downfall of Numenor, the World Made Round and the Straight Road into che conception of Middle-Earth, and the thought of a 'time-travel' story in which (...) Alfwine would be both 'extended' into the future, into the XX century, and 'extended' also into a many-layered past,my father was envisagin a massive li king of his own legends with those of many other places and times"?

Lazing around with a couple friends this hot afternoon 😆

#YearOfTolkien
#CatsofLitsy

And tonight, let's see the eclipse!

I read the Numenorean chapters of The Lost Road with breakfast and only wish that we could see this personal story of a father and son set during the downfall of Numenor to completion. The details of this story are beautiful and the emotion is intense.

#YearofTolkien #ReadandEat

#YearOfTolkien

I mean, Ronald, you're killing us. You sure are killing ME! I'd love to read such story...