Reading order

From Tolkien Gateway

New Tolkien fans are usually puzzled with the complexity of the works and the best order in which to read the works. The most famous works take place late in the legendarium's history, with hints to the backstory. The stories that comprise the background are relatively complex and have no obvious links to the most famous works. Furthemore, the stories-chapters-essays overlap each another, or take place simultaneously, differing only in the extensiveness of the details.

Hardcore fans read the works more than once. For example one can read The Lord of the Rings first, then The Hobbit and sometime later The Lord of the Rings again, in light of the backstory seen in The Hobbit. However, it should be noted that although The Hobbit is a book written to stand alone, literarily speaking it is the prequel, or better yet, "Part 1" of The Lord of the Rings, because it tells how the all-important One Ring enters the events of The Lord of the Rings, and in fact the two main characters of The Hobbit, Bilbo and Gandolf, are important players in The Lord of the Rings precisely because their deeds in The Hobbit lead to the events of The Lord of the Rings. Confused yet? It gets even better. There are three books to The Lord of the Rings, and it was not intended that they should each stand alone. Tolkien only wrote one book called The Lord of the Rings, but his publisher believed that no one would buy such an enormous book and insisted it be broken into three parts:

1) The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
2) The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
3) The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
These are not three individual books, they are one novel broken into three tomes merely for the sake of preventing a strain on the reader's biceps.

There can be various approaches:

Publication history

This is one of the most famous and popular approaches.

  • The Hobbit
People can start with The Hobbit, as an easy and lighthearted fantasy story, which Tolkien wrote first, without having much backstory or historical details in mind.
  • The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings is the natural sequel of The Hobbit and completes the story. However it has many allusions to the greater world and ancient history of Arda.
Published after Tolkien's death, it provides the cosmogony and earlier stories of Arda. It can give the reader insight about the world they already know and shed a lot of light on just what in the world they are talking about.
These books provide additional and extensive details about several aspects of the greater History.

Rough chronological order

A less common approach is to read the saga in chronologically accurate order:

  • The Silmarillion

The Silmarillion can be a complex and tedious reading for someone not already acquainted with Tolkien, however it describes the beginnings of his world.

  • The Children of Húrin

This book gives an extended version of the story of Túrin, featured as a part of the Silmarillion

  • Unfinished Tales

Parts of this book give insight about Númenor, the Second Age (mentioned in the Silmarillion) and early Third Age, with elements that will play their role in the Lord of the Rings.

  • The Hobbit

Although only indirectly related to the Silmarillion, it is the next larger story in the world history of Arda.

  • The Lord of the Rings

The conclusion of the story of the Hobbit as well as things mentioned in the Silmarillion (such as Sauron and the Line of Númenorean Kings); Tolkien's stories of Arda end here.

Exact chronological order

Ainulindalë
Valaquenta
Of the Beginning of Days
Of Aulë and Yavanna
Of the Coming of the Elves and the Captivity of Melkor
Of Thingol and Melian
Of Eldamar and the Princes of the Eldalië
Of Fëanor and the Unchaining of Melkor
Of the Silmarils and the Unrest of the Noldor
Of the Darkening of Valinor
Of the Flight of the Noldor
Of the Sindar
Of the Sun and Moon and the Hiding of Valinor
Of Men
Of the Return of the Noldor
Of Beleriand and its Realms
Of the Noldor in Beleriand
Of Maeglin
Of the Coming of Men into the West
Of the Ruin of Beleriand and the Fall of Fingolfin
Of Beren and Lúthien Lay of Leithian
Of the Fifth Battle: Nírnaeth Arnoediad
Of Túrin Turambar The Children of Húrin
Of the Ruin of Doriath
Of Tuor and the Fall of Gondolin Of Tuor and his Coming to Gondolin
Of the Voyage of Eärendil and the War of Wrath
Akallabêth Aldarion and Erendis

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