Appendix B - Third Age
Gregory Hernandez
Third Age might be a bit superfluous, as the events covered overlap with the
narrative part of the Lord of the Rings, the introduction to Third Age
quickly sets that to rest. It begins with a bang as several revelations are
made. 1. The Wizards (Istari), such as Gandalf, Radagast and Saruman, who
are part of the tale to greater or lesser part and are a natural part of the
landscape, are mentioned as having only come to Middle Earth at the
beginning of the Third Age; that is, after the Disaster of the Gladden
Fields, when Isildur gave in to weakness and did not destroy Sauron's Ring.
2. Gandalf is said to have owned one of the lesser rings, one belonging to
the Elves, given to him by Cirdan the Shipwright of the Grey Havens.
Context is also given to the waning of the elder races of Middle Earth, such
as the Elves ("they attempted nothing new, living in memory of the past"),
and the Dwarves ("their ancient treasures were plundered, and they became a
wandering people"). Along with what we learn of the waning of the Onodrim
(Ents), in the narrative of the LotR, this presents the ascendancy of Man in
a fuller (pseudo-historical) context.
Because of the concise nature of the Tale of Years, some things become
apparent that otherwise might not be clear, such as the exact years and in
accordance with what other events the Tale of Aragorn and Arwen occurs In
addition, other facts are given that do not appear in the narrative LotR,
such as Saruman using the palantir and falling under Sauron's sway only in
the year preceding Bilbo's farewell party, the event that kicks off the Lord
of the Rings proper.
In addition to Cirdan, Aragorn, Arwen (mentioned above), the Tale of Years
makes clear much of the material presented in Appendix A. Thus we get to
see how the events of the Southern and Northern Kingdoms of Numenorean heirs
played out in context with one another, as well as the reemergence of
Sauron.
Much of the history of the Hobbits (called Perrianath) is clarified in the
Tale, and Saruman's growing suspicion and jealousy of Gandalf is detailed.
He sets spies to watch Gandalf and notes his interest in the Shire. It is
because of this that Saruman sets spies in Bree and elsewhere. If Gandalf
was interested in the Perrianath, he wanted to know why. Of course he does,
and so takes up his dark role in the events of the Lord of the Rings.
In the Tale of the Third Age, we see the rise and fall of Gondor, and the
fall and rise of the Numenorean heirs.
Bill O'Meally
> For those who think that reading the Tale of Years as it pertains to
> the Third Age might be a bit superfluous
<snip>
Never. I refer to it often. :-)
--
Bill
"Wise fool"
Gandalf, THE TWO TOWERS
-- The Wise will remove 'se' to reply; the Foolish will not--
ste...@nomail.com
> 2. Gandalf is said to have owned one of the lesser rings, one belonging to
> the Elves, given to him by Cirdan the Shipwright of the Grey Havens.
Gandalf does not own "one of the lesser rings". He is the
bearer of one of the three Elven Rings of Power, and this
is told to the reader in the main narrative.
Stephen
Stan Brown
<greg...@earthlink.net> wrote:
>The Wizards (Istari), such as Gandalf, Radagast and Saruman, who
>are part of the tale to greater or lesser part and are a natural part of the
>landscape, are mentioned as having only come to Middle Earth at the
>beginning of the Third Age;
A third of the way through, actually: "When maybe a thousand years
had passed, and the first shadow had fallen on Greenwood the Great,
the Istari or Wizards appeared in Middle-earth."
--
Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Cortland County, New York, USA
http://OakRoadSystems.com
Tolkien FAQs: http://Tolkien.slimy.com (Steuard Jensen's site)
Tolkien letters FAQ:
http://users.telerama.com/~taliesen/tolkien/lettersfaq.html
FAQ of the Rings: http://oakroadsystems.com/genl/ringfaq.htm
Encyclopedia of Arda: http://www.glyphweb.com/arda/default.htm
more FAQs: http://oakroadsystems.com/genl/faqget.htm
Gregory Hernandez
"Gregory Hernandez" wrote:
>
>>The Wizards (Istari), such as Gandalf, Radagast and Saruman, who
>>are part of the tale to greater or lesser part and are a natural part of
>>the
>>landscape, are mentioned as having only come to Middle Earth at the
>>beginning of the Third Age;
> "Stan Brown" responded:
> A third of the way through, actually: "When maybe a thousand years
> had passed, and the first shadow had fallen on Greenwood the Great,
> the Istari or Wizards appeared in Middle-earth."
>
I know. That struck me as well. I thought they were there long before
that. Surprising the things you come up with on a closer reading of the
material. Like I say, the Tale of Years really helped me get a grip on some
of the people and events presented in Appendix A as well.
One thing, I was trying to recall where I read about Tolkien's (unused)
names for the individual books of the Lord of the Rings, but haven't been
able to find it. I was wondering if someone could tell me where they are? I
thought it was listed in the trilogy, but I guess I'm wrong.
Greg
Bill O'Meally
> One thing, I was trying to recall where I read about Tolkien's
> (unused) names for the individual books of the Lord of the Rings, but
> haven't been able to find it. I was wondering if someone could tell
> me where they are? I thought it was listed in the trilogy, but I
> guess I'm wrong.
They're in _Letters_.
Stan Brown
<greg...@earthlink.net> wrote:
>
>One thing, I was trying to recall where I read about Tolkien's (unused)
>names for the individual books of the Lord of the Rings, but haven't been
>able to find it. I was wondering if someone could tell me where they are? I
>thought it was listed in the trilogy, but I guess I'm wrong.
In /Letters/, numbers 140 and 143 according to the FAQ.
Gregory Hernandez
>
>> One thing, I was trying to recall where I read about Tolkien's
>> (unused) names for the individual books of the Lord of the Rings, but
>> haven't been able to find it. I was wondering if someone could tell
>> me where they are? I thought it was listed in the trilogy, but I
>> guess I'm wrong.
> "Bill O'Meally"responded:
> They're in _Letters_.
I've never owned letters, only LOTR, the illustrated silmarillion and the
annotated Hobbit. I felt sure I ran across the reference to the the titles
in one of those books. Also, as I understand it, the letters give an
alternate set of titles. So he had two sets of titles for the indiv.
"books".
Bill O'Meally
> I've never owned letters, only LOTR, the illustrated silmarillion and
> the annotated Hobbit. I felt sure I ran across the reference to the
> the titles in one of those books. Also, as I understand it, the
> letters give an alternate set of titles. So he had two sets of
> titles for the indiv. "books".
It doesn't seem likely that the titles for the books in LotR would be
found in either Silm or _The Annotated Hobbit_. Also, I don't know of
any editions of LotR where these titles appear, but I could be wrong.
Perhaps you got them from HoME? Tolkien did toss a few different titles
for the books around, so your recollection appears to be accurate.
Conrad Dunkerson
> Also, I don't know of any editions of LotR where these titles appear,
> but I could be wrong.
The Millenium Edition set has six books using the individual titles.
> Perhaps you got them from HoME? Tolkien did toss a few different titles
> for the books around, so your recollection appears to be accurate.
A summary of the different title variations is available here;
http://groups.google.co.uk/group/rec.arts.books.tolkien/msg/0041bc9d5d1070b1
Bill O'Meally
> A summary of the different title variations is available here;
>
> http://groups.google.co.uk/group/rec.arts.books.tolkien/msg/0041bc9d5d1070b1
Thanks Conrad, I had forgotten about that thread. Two years ago, almost
to the day. :-)