The Lost Road and Other Writings

The Lost Road and Other Writings – Language and Legend before 'The Lord of the Rings' is the fifth volume of The History of Middle-earth, a series of compilations of drafts and essays written by J. R. R. Tolkien in around 1936–1937. It was edited and published posthumously in 1987 by Christopher Tolkien.^[1]

Book

Inscription

The title page of each volume of The History of Middle-earth has an inscription in Tengwar, written by Christopher Tolkien and describing the contents of the book. The inscription in Volume V reads "Herein are collected the oldest Tale of the Downfall of Númenor, the story of the Lost Road into the West, the Annals of Valinor and the Annals of Beleriand in a later form, the Ainulindalë, or Music of the Ainur, the Lhammas, or Account of Tongues, the Quenta Silmarillion or History of the Silmarils, and the history of many words and names."

Contents

The Lost Road and Other Writings contains the following pieces:

1. The Early History of the Legend — an introduction to the following two pieces, detailing how Tolkien's correspondence with C. S. Lewis led to the writing of The Lost Road.
2. The Fall of Númenor — an early draft of what would become the
   Akallabêth
   .
3. The Lost Road — an unfinished time-travel story written in late 1936 that connects Tolkien's other tales to the 20th century.
4. The later Annals of Beleriand.
5. The later Annals of Valinor.
6. The Ainulindalë — an early version of the Ainulindalë (the Music of the Ainur).
7. languages of Middle-earth
   .
8. Quenta Silmarillion — a draft of the
   Quenta Silmarillion
   .
9. Elvish tongues
   , contemporary with writings up to that time.
10. Appendix
    1. The Genealogies
    2. The List of Names
    3. The Second Silmarillion Map

Approach

Further information:

Time travel in The Lord of the Rings

The Lost Road itself was the result of a joint decision by Tolkien and

Third Age, and finally the Fall of Gil-galad

, before recounting the prime legend of the Downfall of Númenor and the Bending of the World.

The story starts with Alboin, a child in 20th century

Valar, trying to convince him of Sauron's

corruption and negative influence over the king Tarkalion (Ar-Pharazôn). Herendil argues that Sauron has enlightened the Númenorians after his imprisonment and ascension to being the king's advisor, portraying the Valar as villains for keeping immortality from the species of men.

Elendil tells him the true history of

Arda up until that point where mortality was a gift rather than a curse, and discusses how militaristic Númenor is becoming, despite not having any enemies, to foreshadow the attempted invasion of Aman. Herendil agrees to join the rebellion against Sauron in the safety of their house. The story breaks off at the end of the fourth chapter.^[4]

The novel explores the theme of the "Straight Road" into the West, now open only in memory because the world has become round.

Tolkien reworked and expanded some of the time travel ideas from The Lost Road in The Notion Club Papers, which was also left unfinished.^[5]

Reception

The Tolkien scholar

Mallorn in 1995, comments that reactions to Christopher Tolkien's works are split "between those who find the series a tribute to Tolkien's imagination, and those who merely ask Why?"^[6] He quotes Valerie Housden's 1988 review of The Lost Road and Other Writings from Vector as "typical": "A must for Tolkien freaks and those preparing doctorates, my cat and I agreed this book was a good excuse for a snooze on a rainy afternoon."^[6] Hammond replies that the "fan response" to The History of the Lord of the Rings implies a wider market than that.^[6]

References

1. ISBN 978-1-4766-1174-7
   .
2. ^ Carpenter 2023, Letters #257 to Christopher Bretherton, 16 July 1964, and #294 to Charlotte and Denis Plimmer, 8 February 1967
3. ^ Flieger 1983, pp. 19–20, 61, 119.
4. ^ Nerd of the Rings (30 July 2022). "Tolkien's Time Travel Story - Númenor & The Lost Road". Youtube. Retrieved 28 October 2022.
5. ISBN 978-0-87338-699-9
   .
6. ^
   JSTOR 45320436
   .

Sources

• ISBN 978-0-35-865298-4
  .
• ISBN 978-0-8028-1955-0
  .