Title of the Six Books in LOTR
Gern Blanston
I'm wondering if anyone knows the original titles of the six books of
LOTR (one of the essays in the book "A Tolkien Compass" mentions them
but then does not list them). Thanks in advance for any info.
Sincerely,
Brian
Bill O'Meally
"Gern Blanston" <blan...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:blanston-5F86B4...@news.bellatlantic.net...
Tolkien apparently changed his mind on this a few times, but the ones I
have are:
I. The Ring Sets Out
II. The Ring Goes South
III. The Treason of Isengard
IV. The Ring Goes East
V. The War of the Ring
VI. The End of the Third Age
--
Bill
"Wise fool"
Gandalf, THE TWO TOWERS
the softrat
wrote:
Yes, someone who has read HoME would know.
the softrat ==> Careful!
I have a hug and I know how to use it!
mailto:sof...@pobox.com
--
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someone is out there, beating on a dead horse."
--bob
Conrad Dunkerson
> "Gern Blanston" <blan...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:blanston-5F86B4...@news.bellatlantic.net...
>> I'm wondering if anyone knows the original titles of the six books
of
>> LOTR
> Tolkien apparently changed his mind on this a few times, but the ones I
> have are:
> I. The Ring Sets Out
> II. The Ring Goes South
> III. The Treason of Isengard
> IV. The Ring Goes East
> V. The War of the Ring
> VI. The End of the Third Age
If I recall correctly those are the names used on the 'Millenium
Edition' set. They came from one of Tolkien's letters;
"Would it not do if the 'book-titles' were used: e.g. The
Lord of the Rings: Vol. I The Ring Sets out and The Ring
Goes South; Vol. II The Treason of Isengard, and The Ring
goes East; Vol. III The War of the Ring, and The End of the
Third Age?'"
Letter #136
However, as remarked in the note to this letter, elsewhere
JRRT used;
The First Journey & The Journey of the Nine Companions
The Treason of Isengard & The Journey of the Ringbearers
The War of the Ring & The End of the Third Age
And while writing them he grouped portions of the text
under such names as;
The Return of the Shadow & The Fellowship of the Ring
The Treason of Isengard & The Ring Goes East
The War of the Ring & The Return of the King (or The Land
of Shadow)
What were the names REALLY? I think it is impossible to
tell from the sources cited above. JRRT might not ever
have finalized the names as they weren't going to be used
for publication. Some of the possibilities were used as
names for the three volumes and thus dropped out of
consideration for the six book names. If JRRT had been
able to publish the entire story in one volume titled The
Lord of the Rings it is only guesswork what the names of
the six books might have been.
My favorites are;
The Return of the Shadow & The Fellowship of the Ring
The Treason of Isengard & The Ring Goes East
The War of the Ring & The Return of the King
The Ring Goes East seems kind of weak in comparison to the
others, but I like 'The Journey of the Ringbearers' even
less and I don't think JRRT gave us any other names for
it... save 'Book IV', which in truth might be the only
'official' / 'canonical' name.
BTW, JRRT also considered 'The Shadow Grows' for Volume I
and 'The Ring in the Shadow' or 'The Shadow Lengthens' for
Volume II. As well as various of the 'book names' listed
above having been considered as 'volume names'.
I think that is the complete list of book / volume names
(along with 'The Two Towers' of course) which we know were
ever considered / used.
Gern Blanston
Sincerely,
Brian