Sauron Defeated
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- Author：J.R.R. Tolkien
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Summary
In the first section of Sauron Defeated Christopher Tolkien completes his fascinating study of The Lord of the Rings。 Beginning with Sam's rescue of Frodo from the Tower of Cirith Ungol， and giving a very different account of the Scouring of the Shire， this section ends with versions of the hitherto unpublished Epilogue， in which， years after the departure of Bilbo and Frodo from the Grey Havens， Sam attempts to answer his children's questions。
The second section is an edition of The Notion Club Papers， now published for the first time。 These mysterious papers， discovered in the early years of the twenty-first century， report the discussions of an Oxford club in the years 1986-7， in which， after a number of topics， the centre of interest turns to the legends of Atlantis， the strange communications received by other members of the club from the past， and the violent irruption of the legend into the North-west of Europe。
Closely associated with the Papers is the new version of the Drowning of Anadûnê， which constitutes the third part of the book。 At this time the language of the Men of the West， Adûnaic， was first devised， and the book concludes with an account of its structure provided by Arundel Lowdham， a member of the Notion Club， who learned it in his dreams。
The second section is an edition of The Notion Club Papers， now published for the first time。 These mysterious papers， discovered in the early years of the twenty-first century， report the discussions of an Oxford club in the years 1986-7， in which， after a number of topics， the centre of interest turns to the legends of Atlantis， the strange communications received by other members of the club from the past， and the violent irruption of the legend into the North-west of Europe。
Closely associated with the Papers is the new version of the Drowning of Anadûnê， which constitutes the third part of the book。 At this time the language of the Men of the West， Adûnaic， was first devised， and the book concludes with an account of its structure provided by Arundel Lowdham， a member of the Notion Club， who learned it in his dreams。
Reviews
Robert Frank
，
While it’s cool to see how the end of Lord of the Rings came together， the highlights are The Notion Club Papers which is a much more in depth The Lost Road。 Also the Drowning of Anadûnê plays off the Notion Club Papers as well as The Fall of Númenor。
Matias Cerizola
，
El Fin De La Tercera Edad。- J。R。R。 Tolkien"Bien， aquí， queridos amigos， en las playas del Mar， termina por fin nuestra comunidad en la Tierra Media。 Id en paz。 No os diré: no lloréis， porque no todas las lágrimas son malas。"El Fin De La Tercera Edad es la cuarta y última entrega de La Historia De El Señor De Los Anillos， una serie de libros que gestó Christopher Tolkien en la que nos comparte y analiza las distintas etapas de la escritura de El Señor De Los Anillos y las diferencias con lo El Fin De La Tercera Edad。- J。R。R。 Tolkien"Bien， aquí， queridos amigos， en las playas del Mar， termina por fin nuestra comunidad en la Tierra Media。 Id en paz。 No os diré: no lloréis， porque no todas las lágrimas son malas。"El Fin De La Tercera Edad es la cuarta y última entrega de La Historia De El Señor De Los Anillos， una serie de libros que gestó Christopher Tolkien en la que nos comparte y analiza las distintas etapas de la escritura de El Señor De Los Anillos y las diferencias con los primeros borradores hasta la versión finalmente publicada de la historia。En este último libro encontramos los borradores de el último tramo de la aventura， con todo lo referente a la Torre de Cirith Ungol， la vuelta a la Comarca con una versión distinta del saneamiento de ella y quizá lo más importante （o por lo menos lo que a mí me gustó mucho） un par de versiones de un epílogo en el que Sam comparte historias con sus hijos previo a una visita importante cercana a la Comarca。Sin dudas estos libros no son una lectura para acercarse a Tolkien; son publicaciones que apuntan al fanático y conocedor de la Trilogía original， que quiera profundizar su conocimiento y disfrutar de un recorrido desde la gestación hasta la publicación de una de las más grandes historias de la alta fantasía。🤘🤘🤘Libro leído para la #tolkienreadalong2019 。。。more
Bil Thompson
，
Great conclusion to the Lord of the Rings。 I love the epilogue glad it wasn’t part of the original but it’s nice to read a little more with our spoiling what I think is a perfect ending。
Ancillar
，
The first part of this book is the fourth and final part of the History of the Lord of the Rings （a somewhat awkwardly named subset of the History of Middle Earth）， and contains a real treasure: the epilogue to the LoTR， which tolkien was （to my mind tragically） talked out of including in the published version。 whoever is responsible for that is guilty of a special kind of evil。 anyway， skip to the final draft and read that first， then do the others if you like。The next part is the Notion Club P The first part of this book is the fourth and final part of the History of the Lord of the Rings （a somewhat awkwardly named subset of the History of Middle Earth）， and contains a real treasure: the epilogue to the LoTR， which tolkien was （to my mind tragically） talked out of including in the published version。 whoever is responsible for that is guilty of a special kind of evil。 anyway， skip to the final draft and read that first， then do the others if you like。The next part is the Notion Club Papers， an unfinished exploration of story ideas tying modern man to the legendary histories of Middle-Earth， with a special focus on extending the themes introduced in the Lost Road: the fall of Numenor as experienced in dream/memory by special father/son pairs down to 20th-century England。 I'll call it "tantalizing" in that， subject to a great deal of further development， it might've become a good story。 it is not especially entertaining or fulfilling to read。The last part is a series of forensic drafts and annotations documenting the shift in the backstory previously referred to as "The Fall of Numenor" （FN） into a （less Quenya- and more Adunaic-flavored） version called "The Drowning of Anadune" （DA）， told from the perspective of legendary history as transmitted among Men。 The shifts are basically equivalent to detaching the core of FN from the Lost Road materials and reattaching it to their successor， the Notion Club Papers。 From a canon perspective （or just from a storytelling perspective）， the texts are generally fully redundant both with their FN predecessors given in HoME 5 （The Lost Road） and the subsequent "Akallabeth" in the published Silmarillion。 From the perspective of creating a documentary reconstruction of Tolkien's process and products， it is especially frustrating that instead of simply printing the most recent recension of DA， he chose to give us DA II （the second draft of four） in full， followed by two point-by-point changelogs indicating the path taken from there， through DA III， to DA IV， which is not explicitly printed。 At the end of this third part is an article presenting notes on the Adunaic （Numenorean） language， reference to which was apparently slated for introduction by Arry Lowdham into future iterations of the Notion Club Papers （which never got written）。 。。。more
Mitch Milam
，
Do you know who else was defeated？ Me！！
Noelle
，
The Notion Club Papers is rambly af but you can just tell Tolkien enjoyed writing it。 In a lot of his other drafts you can just tell he labored so hard to write it and there isn't much "fun" to it。 The Notion Club Papers is rambly af but you can just tell Tolkien enjoyed writing it。 In a lot of his other drafts you can just tell he labored so hard to write it and there isn't much "fun" to it。 。。。more
Caleb Jore
，
Sauron Defeated is definitely one of the more interesting History of Middle-earth volumes。 It contains a fairly mixed bag of material， not all of which deals directly with Middle-earth， but it's written by Tolkien so what's not to love？I thoroughly enjoyed the Epilogue。 There's nothing like reading a new chapter of a book from an author who's been dead for decades。 The epilogue takes away from the sadness of the ending of LotR， which is both good and bad。 I wish Tolkien had developed the story o Sauron Defeated is definitely one of the more interesting History of Middle-earth volumes。 It contains a fairly mixed bag of material， not all of which deals directly with Middle-earth， but it's written by Tolkien so what's not to love？I thoroughly enjoyed the Epilogue。 There's nothing like reading a new chapter of a book from an author who's been dead for decades。 The epilogue takes away from the sadness of the ending of LotR， which is both good and bad。 I wish Tolkien had developed the story of Elessar's visit into a full book。The Notion Club Papers were fairly interesting。 They really started picking up in Part Two but were becoming unnecessarily complex。 Thus， it is not one of the more grievous of Tolkien abandonments （looking at you， Tuor）。Overall， a decent volume。 I am looking forward with eager hype to Morgoth's Ring， which I intend to start on Tolkien Reading Day。 The road goes ever on！ 。。。more
Martti
，
On the title page it says that it's The History of The Lord of the Rings part 4， but actually that is true only about the first third of the book - which easily might have been a final 140 pages of the part 3。 140 pages is not that much。 Feels like an unnecessary drag or filler for commercial purposes。 Furthermore， this book might have been called much more accurately the history of Silmarillion， specifically the history of Númenor， which is what the second and third part of the book largely dea On the title page it says that it's The History of The Lord of the Rings part 4， but actually that is true only about the first third of the book - which easily might have been a final 140 pages of the part 3。 140 pages is not that much。 Feels like an unnecessary drag or filler for commercial purposes。 Furthermore， this book might have been called much more accurately the history of Silmarillion， specifically the history of Númenor， which is what the second and third part of the book largely deals with。Yet again I am amazed of the constant changing of the names from draft to draft to the final version。 There probably was some logic in there for Tolkien， but it feels just so arbitrary。 Especially as his names usually mean something literally。 In the Middle-earth that seems like a must and if the parents got the name somehow a bit wrong because they're not seers， the name was later changed to something more appropriate to the function of the beholder。 Like a pair of socks。 But ok， you can say it's their culture， just a bit weird to the reader。And then there's the middle part of this HOME volume 9 where JRRT takes time off from writing LOTR in the 1940s and starts fiddling around with a new story - The Notion Club Papers， taking place in the 1980s of UK。 So you could say he was writing a speculative fiction of the near future！ What a surprise。Of course it almost has no connection to the Middle-earth and is a very boring account of an academic club who talk about their dreams and about adventures in dreams。 But they try to convey the notion of dream-traveling to other times and places。 Supposedly real places。 Maybe JRRT read some HP Lovecraft Dream Cycle stories？ Randolph Carter and the Silver Key。 Or maybe Edgar Rice Burroughs Mars stories where another Carter also travels space and perhaps time in a dream-like method？ But seems that JRRT wanted a bit of variety as an author from the depths of high fantasy。 But sadly in the current form it's just another unfinished draft that lacks a strong ending。 Well， actually also the beginning and the middle。Basically also Christopher Tolkien agrees that maybe the middle part is not that relevant in the HOME series， but he doesn't have a better place to put it and since he has this 140 pages of LOTR history to finish and leftover room in the book。 On the other hand HOME is essentially a series of JRRT leftovers and drafts that he might or might not have wanted published， so for the academical research it might have it's place in the history。 。。。more
Tamsyn
，
The last section on Adunaic was rough going， but very interesting to see the ebbs and flows of the Numenor story。 Best part was the end of the textual history of LOTR， including the epilogue。 Onwards to the next volume！
Terry
，
The history of the writing of the Lord of the Rings comes to a close with _Sauron Defeated_ （well， with the exception of the appendices which get discussed in _The Peoples of Middle Earth_， but I think we can consider that a slightly different thread）。 This volume is broken up into two major sections， only one of which directly relates to the writing of the LotR。 The first section gives the final details about the development of the story of the LotR from the destruction of the ring at Mount Doo The history of the writing of the Lord of the Rings comes to a close with _Sauron Defeated_ （well， with the exception of the appendices which get discussed in _The Peoples of Middle Earth_， but I think we can consider that a slightly different thread）。 This volume is broken up into two major sections， only one of which directly relates to the writing of the LotR。 The first section gives the final details about the development of the story of the LotR from the destruction of the ring at Mount Doom to the return of the hobbits to the Shire， while the second gives us a completely different story that further develops the tale of Numenor which composed in 1945-46 when Tolkien had taken a long hiatus from writing the LotR。 I must admit that I found the second section much more compelling， even surprising and enlightening， in a way that the first simply couldn’t compare to。 That’s not to say that there weren’t interesting nuggets to be gleaned from the first section， such as the fact of just how late the character of Arwen Undomiel and her role in the story came about， or the significant changes in the fate of Saruman and the exact nature of what would become the scouring of the Shire， and the inclusion of an unpublished epilogue to the story， but the second section was just so different， and in many ways seemed to give us a glimpse into Tolkien the man and the artist， that I couldn’t help but be mesmerized by it。 The only obvious link between the two sections that would warrant their inclusion in the same volume of the History of Middle-Earth （aside from convenience） is found in the title， since both deal with a time in which the defeat of Sauron in different parts of Tolkien’s legendarium is central。 The second half of the book presents a story called _The Notion Club Papers_， which is an interesting amalgamation of several things: in part it appears as something of a parody of a group of pseudo-Inklings， perhaps giving the reader a glimpse into what kind of meetings Tolkien and his literary friends had; it morphs into what could be considered a continuation， or revision， of the earlier abandoned _Lost Road_ in which the story of the Fall of Numenor continues to develop and take on new features as it is mysteriously communicated to a modern day audience; and finally it also gives us the perhaps most complete glimpse we are likely to get of Tolkien the language-maker as we witness the birth and development of the Numenorean language of Adunaic。 I was surprised at first with how point-blank Tolkien’s apparent caricature of the Inklings was。 We start off with a title （“Beyond Lewis or Out of the Talkative Planet”） that lets the reader know that Tolkien’s initial purpose （apparently） was to put C。 S。 Lewis in his sights and give a fictional （though perhaps no less serious for all that） critique of his （at the time） newly published work _Perelandra_ and its related prequel _Out of the Silent Planet_。 In my view none of the Inkling characters presented here come across in what could be called a truly positive light （though it’s certainly not character assassination either）， and while Tolkien explicitly states that one should not look for one-to-one correspondences between the fictional and real Inklings， he certainly seemed to be taking at least some of the less than flattering characteristics of his friends and putting them on display。 The Notion Club Papers starts with a discussion of the problem of convincingly portraying in a science fiction story the mechanism for getting one’s protagonist onto an alien world。 To a modern reader （or me at least） this seemed an odd point of contention since the use of the tried-and-true space ship/rocket seems to me to be unproblematic， but I suppose in the days before the moon landing or any real results in attempted forays into space this may have seemed like nothing more than a pipe-dream。 Apparently Tolkien felt that Lewis’ solution in both of the then published Cosmic trilogy was less than ideal。 This debate soon shifts gears， though， as one member monopolizes the conversation by going into an in-depth description of his recent forays into the manipulation and use of dreams as a valid way to actually travel through time or space。 The ‘dream frame’ is an old literary device often used by medieval authors， though its use here brought more contemporary authors such as E。 R。 Eddison and especially David Lindsay （in his _Voyage to Arcturus_） to mind for me。 I couldn’t help but see this section as giving some real insights into Tolkien’s working process， esp。 in regards to inspiration as he had often， albeit in a much more oblique way， made reference to the feeling that he was more of a transcriber of his stories looking for the ‘real’ tale as opposed to someone making things up purely from his imagination。 I always took this to be simply metaphorical， but the way in which the process is presented， and the conviction and detail with which it is outlined here， made me think that perhaps there was a bit more of the esoteric to Tolkien’s own method than I would have at first credited。 Of course Tolkien would no doubt be shocked and dismayed at my immediate desire to ascribe such a large auto-biographical element to The Notion Club Papers， and certainly always warned against the dangers of reading biography into a writer’s work， but in this case I really couldn’t help myself。 The fact that I doubt Tolkien ever meant for this to be published to the wider public beyond his intimate friends （if at all）， and that it deals with several elements of his personal life in a very close way， may mean that he was willing to be more transparent than he otherwise would have been。 Of course， I could just be reading way too much into it， but I can’t help but think that the work as a whole really does give us a glimpse into some of the inner workings of the mind of Tolkien the artist。As the meetings develop a new pair of members take center stage， detailing their own successful forays into the deep past using this dream method， out of which comes the burgeoning tale of the Fall of Numenor。 It turns out that both characters are actual descendants of characters in the old tale （shades of the Lost Road here） and are picking up what I can only call the psychic resonances of the story （which nonetheless manages to break into the ‘real’ world in a very physical way）。 There’s a lot going on here， but I think the most significant elements are the drastic changes to the Silmarillion legendarium that take place， most surprisingly in the paucity （or complete disappearance） of the Elves。 In the end Christopher Tolkien has what I think is a very valid explanation for this: that his father was likely trying to convey the story of Numenor （which was still very much within the context of his Middle-Earth legendarium） from a purely “mannish” perspective that had been eroded by time and thus， even with the implied dream/time travel element in the story， many of the ‘true’ elements that included the Eldar and their battles with Melkor were lost in the mists of time。 One might wonder why Tolkien returned to this tale of Numenor when he was in the very midst of writing what would （though unbeknownst to him） become his magnum opus。 Part of the answer appears to lie in the fact that at the time Tolkien underwent what might have been a breakdown due to professional （and perhaps personal） pressures that left him with a severe case of writer’s block。 Added to that may have been the fact that， as his new tale， ostensibly nothing more than a sequel to _The Hobbit_， became subsumed into his greater legends of the Silmarillion （something to which it had not really been connected to before） he needed to figure out how to make the divergent aspects of each gel。 In some ways the tale of Numenor became central to this as it sets up the situation in Middle Earth at the time of the LotR and has direct links with the story of Aragorn and the kingdom of Gondor which was rapidly taking shape。 I would also argue that the apparently recent inspirations around the Numenorean tongue Adunaic， which are interwoven into the tale and very much form a basis for the whole story itself， gave him the push he needed to write something new。 The importance of Tolkien’s languages， and linguistic creation， to his story writing process （always stressed by him， but I think often misunderstood or overlooked by many readers） thus comes through very clearly。 I will admit that the final section of the book， in which the excruciating details of Adunaic’s grammar and linguistic structure are detailed， was more or less skipped over by me。 I really do not have a linguistic mind， but for those who do I imagine this would be a real treasure trove of information and insight。This was， for me， one of the best entries in the History of the Lord of the Rings segments of the HoME series， though ironically less because of it’s depiction of how the LotR itself was developed， than because of a new （though related） story and the insights it seemingly gives to Tolkien the man and the artist。 Recommended。 。。。more
Bookworman
，
Full disclosure: I only read “The Epilogue” chapter which is about Samwise and his family。 Very satisfying！
Mythlee
，
Parts of this were interesting， but I have very little interest in the grammar or phonology of invented languages， and that's what the book closes with。Here's something from p。 433 that I liked: But members of the royal house seem often to have lived to be close on 300; while kings seem normally to have been succeeded by the grandsons （their sons were as a rule as old as 200 or even 250 before the king 'fell asleep'， and passed on the crown to their own sons， so that as long and unbroken a reign Parts of this were interesting， but I have very little interest in the grammar or phonology of invented languages， and that's what the book closes with。Here's something from p。 433 that I liked: But members of the royal house seem often to have lived to be close on 300; while kings seem normally to have been succeeded by the grandsons （their sons were as a rule as old as 200 or even 250 before the king 'fell asleep'， and passed on the crown to their own sons， so that as long and unbroken a reign as possible might be maintained， and because they themselves had become engrossed in some branch of art or learning）。 And there's some interesting discussion of fairy-stories at 169-170。 That's where we see probably the best or most famous quip from the Notion Club papers， Guildford's claim to have determined "the only known or likely way in which any one has ever landed on a world。" He teases the others， in response to their inquiries， that "it's not private， though I've used it once。" The big reveal？ His method is "Incarnation。 By being born。" 。。。more
Michael Joosten
，
This is the one book of the HoME I have hardly ever read （i。e。 "only twice"）。 It was one of the last I read， since the local libraries did not have a copy of it， and it wasn't the one I wanted to read THE MOST （that would be The Wanderings of Húrin and Other Writings）。 The Notion Club papers and everything to do with them--in other words， two-thirds of this volume--stand apart in Tolkien's work as close to parody and the material is densely linguistic in a way that even Tolkien does not always r This is the one book of the HoME I have hardly ever read （i。e。 "only twice"）。 It was one of the last I read， since the local libraries did not have a copy of it， and it wasn't the one I wanted to read THE MOST （that would be The Wanderings of Húrin and Other Writings）。 The Notion Club papers and everything to do with them--in other words， two-thirds of this volume--stand apart in Tolkien's work as close to parody and the material is densely linguistic in a way that even Tolkien does not always reach to。 It went over my head at sixteen in the same way the Silmarillion did at ten。 If only because of my late exposure to it （here and in its predecessor， The Lost Road）， Tolkien's time travel attempts might be the most prominent parts of his mythology that have little traction on me。 。。。more
Ciaran Mcgrath
，
Combining some of Tolkien’s most readable ephemera （the LotR epilogue and The Notion Club Papers） with some of his least approachable （an Adunaic grammar， anyone？）， this is an uneven read but very much worth it in the high points。 Kudos to The late Christopher Tolkien for putting all of this together and giving readers a look at how Tolkien created his world and stories， version by version。
Richard
，
Sauron Defeated picks up pretty much where The War of the Ring left off， following the evolution of The Lord of the Rings from about halfway through The Return of the King until the end of the published book—and beyond。 As such， it makes sense to read this part of the volume immediately after finishing its predecessor。 Whereas that book did not include quite so much "new" or at least alternative content as the first two volumes of the History， much of the material to be found here is quite start Sauron Defeated picks up pretty much where The War of the Ring left off， following the evolution of The Lord of the Rings from about halfway through The Return of the King until the end of the published book—and beyond。 As such， it makes sense to read this part of the volume immediately after finishing its predecessor。 Whereas that book did not include quite so much "new" or at least alternative content as the first two volumes of the History， much of the material to be found here is quite startling: first， with the Scouring of the Shire， which is significantly different in its early drafts to the final version， particular in the much greater leadership role given to Frodo; and secondly with the eventually unpublished Epilogue， two versions of which are given here。 Tolkien was persuaded to omit it， a decision which "he seems both to have accepted and to have regretted" but which was in my opinion certainly the correct one: its glimpse of Sam amongst his children only just avoids being twee， as well as unnecessary。And so ends The History of The Lord of the Rings （with few adjustments that are puzzlingly undocumented: when and why did Trotter finally become Strider， for example？）; but not this volume， which continues with two more tangentially-related texts。 The Notion Club Papers is an oddity， an unfinished novel set mainly in a "future" 1980s， but begun during the writing of The Lord of the Rings。 Its first part was （for me） a hint， and a fairly dull one， that Tolkien was at his best writing within a fantasy world rather than in a contemporary setting; its second is a much more interesting glimpse into Tolkien's attempts to connect his legendarium， especially the Númenórean legend， to history。 The downfall of Númenór is also the subject of the third section of Sauron Defeated: all of the versions of the legend are beautifully told， and interesting， as are the insights into Tolkien's attempts to work out the theoretical underpinnings of his world that follow them。 The detailed notes on the structure of Adûnaic， the language of Númenór， that close the book are likely to appeal to only the most determined Tolkien fans and specialists。 For me， to know that they exist was enough！ 。。。more
Nonethousand Oberrhein
，
The eagles will always come at the endThe volume where Sauron gets defeated twice！ An incredibly moving epilogue of the Lord of the Rings， and lots and lots of pages on the Fall of Numenor creative work。 We are here confronted with a more mature author that despite the thousands of pages written is still struggling getting “the story right”。 The reader will pass from a domestic setting in Fourth Age Shire， to the imagined ‘80s following a writers club in Oxford （any resemblance to actual Inkling The eagles will always come at the endThe volume where Sauron gets defeated twice！ An incredibly moving epilogue of the Lord of the Rings， and lots and lots of pages on the Fall of Numenor creative work。 We are here confronted with a more mature author that despite the thousands of pages written is still struggling getting “the story right”。 The reader will pass from a domestic setting in Fourth Age Shire， to the imagined ‘80s following a writers club in Oxford （any resemblance to actual Inklings is purely intentional！）， to several versions of the Drowning of Anadune。 A sunning and riveting mix for any Middle-earth enthusiast。Here below my reviews to the previous volumes of the History of Middle-earth:Vol。1: Sit down and listen Vol。2: Heroics of a young authorVol。3: The poet of Middle-earthVol。4: Sketches and Annals of the First AgeVol。5: A glimpse of NúmenorVol。6: When Trotter led the wayVol。7: From Rivendell to RohanVol。8: How the King returns 。。。more
Thijs
，
A very enjoyable part that finishes off the History of the LoTR。 Although that part makes up only 1/3rd of the entire book。 The next two parts might be even more intriguing then Tolkien's usual stuff。 The Notion Club Papers is a story unlike any other I've read。 It's part autobiography about Tolkiens time in the Inklins， part surreal scifi dream spacetravel， part philological language creation course and part mystery discovery of an ancient mythical land。Oh yeah， it's one awesome mess。The last 1 A very enjoyable part that finishes off the History of the LoTR。 Although that part makes up only 1/3rd of the entire book。 The next two parts might be even more intriguing then Tolkien's usual stuff。 The Notion Club Papers is a story unlike any other I've read。 It's part autobiography about Tolkiens time in the Inklins， part surreal scifi dream spacetravel， part philological language creation course and part mystery discovery of an ancient mythical land。Oh yeah， it's one awesome mess。The last 1/3rd of this book is basically the telling of the legend of the Drowning of Numenor， but written or remembered as by Humans many years later， and it's quite interesting with the conceptions in that regard。 All in all， an amazing book。 。。。more
Sarah Zama
，
The final book in The History of the Lord of the Rings is quite different from all the others。 It can be said it is divided into three distinct parts:The final instalment in the examination of the first drafts of The Lord of the Rings。 Which I adored。 The original Scoring of the Shire was so surprising。 That's the part I enjoyed the more， together with the emergence of Arwen as a character， though I'd have loved to see a lot more of that。The whole of The Notion Club Papers， which Tolkien wrote d The final book in The History of the Lord of the Rings is quite different from all the others。 It can be said it is divided into three distinct parts:The final instalment in the examination of the first drafts of The Lord of the Rings。 Which I adored。 The original Scoring of the Shire was so surprising。 That's the part I enjoyed the more， together with the emergence of Arwen as a character， though I'd have loved to see a lot more of that。The whole of The Notion Club Papers， which Tolkien wrote during a long pause in the drafting of LotR and was an elaboration of a time-travel novel he had started years before， The Lost Road。 It is quite evident that Tolkien never meant to publish this work and it was intended for his fellow Inklings， who even appear as characters inside the work。 There's a lot of inside jokes in The Papers， and I'm sure that we readers can only grasp a minimal part of it because we were not part of that group。 The first part of the papers addresses the theory of storytelling， much like Tolkien did in On Fairy Stories， but in a much more academic way。 This makes it quite hard to read， but still very interesting。 The second part of the Papers slowly slips into a story where time-travel happens in dreams。 The third part is those dreams written down。 It contains the bulk of the story of the Second Age - The Fall of Numenor - which Tolkien had originally created in The Lost Road。 This is the part of the book I enjoyed the most。 Yes， I've always loved the story of Numenor and loved to see her evolved though many different drafts。 It was also fascinating to see Tolkien consider to change his already written Silmarillion， as in The Drawing of Anadune he experimented with the creation of his words， the names， the role of the characters。 It is a demanding book to read， but I think it's well worth the effort。 。。。more
Nathan Albright
，
If previous volumes of this series that I have read have been odd metafictional experiences by which one sees some of the manuscript editing that takes one away from the stories themselves and examines how it was that Tolkien gradually conceived of his story and put it together piece by piece， this one ups the ante considerably。 And if you are a fan of Tolkien's writing， this is something that makes sense to enjoy， because Tolkien was so detailed about linguistics and geography and the larger w If previous volumes of this series that I have read have been odd metafictional experiences by which one sees some of the manuscript editing that takes one away from the stories themselves and examines how it was that Tolkien gradually conceived of his story and put it together piece by piece， this one ups the ante considerably。 And if you are a fan of Tolkien's writing， this is something that makes sense to enjoy， because Tolkien was so detailed about linguistics and geography and the larger world in which the story is a part that it makes sense that many of those who would find his stories compelling are going to find this book compelling as well， even if it includes a metafictional experience that gives a big of mixed prophecy on the literary world in which Tolkien was a part。 Rather than simplifying the experience of Lord of the Rings， this book complicates it even beyond the levels that it had previously been complicated with thanks to the previous writings of the series。 If you like very complicated inside jokes that point to the Lord of the Rings in Tolkien's other writings， this book will be a special pleasure， if an unusual one。This particular book， like its predecessors， is more than 400 pages in length。 That said， only about the first third of the book or so is made up of material from the Lord of the Rings directly。 This is the first part of the book， which discusses the end of the third age， showing the story of Sam and Frodo in Mordor （1）， the tower of Kirith Ungol （2）， the land of shadow （3）， Mount Doom （4）， the field of Kormallen （5）， the steward and the king （6）， many partings （7）， the homeward trip of the hobbits （8）， an interesting variant on the scouring of the shire （9）， the Gray Havens （10）， and an epilogue that had Sam talking to one of his daughters that was unfortunately removed from the final book （XI）， as well as some drawings。 The second part of the book， which makes up a majority of the contents， are the two parts of the Notion Club papers as well as some major divergences between the earlier versions of the second part of the story， which have their own interesting textual history。 Finally， the book ends with the third version of the Fall of Numenor as well as three forms of the Drowning of Anadune as well as a theory of the work and a humorous metafictional report on the work。What is perhaps most enjoyable about this particular book is the way that it provides the reader with the chance to see Tolkien's Notion Club Papers， which are among the most intriguing metafictional works that can be imagined。 Tolkien not only wrote stories that are connected to deeper myths， and not only does this work provide a manuscript history of how The Lord of the Rings came to be， which is all very interesting itself， but this book also manages to show that Tolkien could imagine his work and the work of his friends like C。S。 Lewis and Charles Williams being only of interest to fans of obscure fantasy literature in the same way that he and his friends were similarly passionately interested in obscure fantasy literature from the past themselves and inspired by it。 This allows Tolkien to jokingly write about a future where people sat around and talked about his own linguistic games in the Lord of the Rings， something that people actually do and something that this book is a sign of， which ought to remind us that Tolkien would likely have been amused or gratified at the way his work and that of C。S。 Lewis has lasted far longer than he might ever have expected it to。 。。。more
Michael Pryor
，
Fascinating， comprehensive， painstaking。
Melissa
，
This one was overall a mixed bag for me， loved Part I， the end of the history of LOTR， Part II with the The Notion Papers was so-so for me， it definitely had interesting sections but probably wasn’t one I’ll go back and re-read， then ended with Part III where Tolkien expanded and developed his early Númenorean legend as his Atlantis-esque retelling story shifted and grew to fit into his growing legendarium of interrelated tales。 I couldn’t help but think of his Leaf by Niggle short story again。
Artnoose McMoose
，
Again， this is from the History of Middle Earth series， so you’d have to be a full-on Tolkien geek to want to attempt this。This volume begins with the final part of the early drafts of the Lord of the Rings。 The next section is The Notion Club Papers， an unfinished time-travel novel Tolkien wrote as a way to retell his Numenor story。 He wrote it during a pause in writing LotR， and ended up finishing that instead of Notion Club， which I’m happy about。 The final third of this book is yet another r Again， this is from the History of Middle Earth series， so you’d have to be a full-on Tolkien geek to want to attempt this。This volume begins with the final part of the early drafts of the Lord of the Rings。 The next section is The Notion Club Papers， an unfinished time-travel novel Tolkien wrote as a way to retell his Numenor story。 He wrote it during a pause in writing LotR， and ended up finishing that instead of Notion Club， which I’m happy about。 The final third of this book is yet another retelling of the Numenor story where Tolkien is figuring out whether the world was made round at the fall of Numenor or whether it was always round。 。。。more
Stephen Poltz
，
I have to admit book nine is the first History of Middle Earth （HoME） book that I haven’t finished。 I read about 385 pages out of about 440。 The last fifty odd pages were very dry， almost textbook-ish， reading。 I skimmed through it and got the general idea of what it was about。 In general， the book was very dry compared to the other books in the series。 It was in three parts: the conclusion of The Lord of the Rings， the Norton Club Papers， and the Fall of Numenor。 The Norton Club Papers was part I have to admit book nine is the first History of Middle Earth （HoME） book that I haven’t finished。 I read about 385 pages out of about 440。 The last fifty odd pages were very dry， almost textbook-ish， reading。 I skimmed through it and got the general idea of what it was about。 In general， the book was very dry compared to the other books in the series。 It was in three parts: the conclusion of The Lord of the Rings， the Norton Club Papers， and the Fall of Numenor。 The Norton Club Papers was particularly difficult to read， it being different than anything else Tolkien or his son Christopher published so far。 Thank goodness for the Tolkien Professor’s podcast on this book。 While I haven’t finished all seventeen episodes yet， it really helped me a lot in understanding the Norton Club papers。 I found the majority of the book to be dry and not as interesting as the first eight in the series。 Even though I’ve been a big fanboy of these books， this one nearly had me stopped in my tracks。 Come visit my blog for the full review…https://itstartedwiththehugos。blogspo。。。 。。。more
Anna C
，
Up 'til now I've been totally game for whatever rabbit holes Christopher wants to take me down， but this is the first volume of HoME （of the 8 I've read so far） where I just hit a brick wall。Now， the first section of the book covers the end of RotK and the various epilogues， and it's sublime。 But it has no relation to anything else in "Sauron Defeated，" so was even published separately （and rated separately by me）。Everything else in "Sauron Defeated" after that first section is。。。。 well。。。 yeah。 Up 'til now I've been totally game for whatever rabbit holes Christopher wants to take me down， but this is the first volume of HoME （of the 8 I've read so far） where I just hit a brick wall。Now， the first section of the book covers the end of RotK and the various epilogues， and it's sublime。 But it has no relation to anything else in "Sauron Defeated，" so was even published separately （and rated separately by me）。Everything else in "Sauron Defeated" after that first section is。。。。 well。。。 yeah。 The Notion Club Papers seemed out of place， a very niche interest in what is already a very niche 12-part book series。 I almost wonder if the most appropriate place for them would have been as an extended appendix to Humphrey Carpenter's book on the Inklings？ The first set of Notion Club Papers isn't even about Middle Earth at all， but a nearly 100-page discussion of Lewis's 'Out of the Silent Planet' books。 We do *eventually，* *finally* get to relevant material in the second set of papers， but these still would have benefited from a lot of cutting and excerpting。 I kept reading through to the end mainly for the notes on Adunaic， because I'm a linguistics nerd。 I've read Ruth S。 Noel's book on Tolkien's language construction， and I've been able to follow all the linguistics discussions in the rest of HoME， but this is the chapter that finally defeated me。 I think you honestly need grad-level philology training to understand that。A bit of a frustrating read， tbh。 Heavy skimming。 。。。more
Warren Dunn
，
This is probably the most difficult of the History of Middle-Earth books， and if it wasn't for the fascinating story of Frodo and Sam traveling through Mordor to finally destroy the Ring， the rating would be much， much lower。http://ossuslibrary。tripod。com/Bk_Fan。。。 This is probably the most difficult of the History of Middle-Earth books， and if it wasn't for the fascinating story of Frodo and Sam traveling through Mordor to finally destroy the Ring， the rating would be much， much lower。http://ossuslibrary。tripod。com/Bk_Fan。。。 。。。more
Morphé Soui
，
a very important book in understanding Middle-earths ！
Brian
，
No I didn't read all of this， and probably most of it is boring， but it includes an alternate ending which is a must-read for all Tolkien-lovers。 In this version， Sam tells his children about what happened after the events of the book and it's truly lovely and would have worked really nicely in the book （though the ending Tolkien went with is amazing too）。 That alone is worth the price of admission。 Please go read this。 Please， please， please。Oh， and I skipped the last half of the book: all I wa No I didn't read all of this， and probably most of it is boring， but it includes an alternate ending which is a must-read for all Tolkien-lovers。 In this version， Sam tells his children about what happened after the events of the book and it's truly lovely and would have worked really nicely in the book （though the ending Tolkien went with is amazing too）。 That alone is worth the price of admission。 Please go read this。 Please， please， please。Oh， and I skipped the last half of the book: all I want is Lord of the Rings， thank you Christopher Tolkien， you genius scholar of Middle Earth。 The first bits are not particularly good， although Tolkien repeats the intriguing idea of Frodo hearing a soothing voice tempting him to claim the ring， and then Frodo repents instantly but cannot take off the ring。 Gollum has to intervene， in some versions repentantly。 And Frodo tells the Witch King to throw himself into Mount Doom and it does （that would have been cool）。 There isn't that much fun stuff until we get to the Scouring of the Shire。 It seems that it too was unplanned and that initially a ruffian named Sharky was to be at the back of it， but Tolkien "discovered" that it was Saruman， based on a careless line in which Merry invites Saruman to the shire when they meet and give him tobacco。 At any rate， Gandalf goes with them to the Shire in some versions， and in others Frodo himself kills quite a few ruffians and even kills Sharky， striking the last blow in the war of the ring。 I almost wish that this had been how it happened， because the Frodo we see in the books is really tortured almost out of his masculinity。 I do find it interesting though that some of the earlier drafts would have been closer to Frodo's perspective in the ending， but that Tolkien felt the need to distance himself from the hobbit the more like Jesus he became。Also， since we're talking about The Return of the King， why not observe that Tolkien chose to make the final confrontation on Mount Doom an illustration of the Lord's Prayer。 Jackson's changing of the ending， almost nonchalantly， always seemed to me to be the worst crime in adapting the books （even more so than Frodo and Sam's parting）。 It's kind of like getting to the end of the Iliad and having Priam steal Hector's body， or like coming to the end of the Aeneid and having Turnus assassinated， or like coming to the end of Dante and seeing a non-Trinitarian God。 Anyway， that's my two cents against the movies: they really don't capture the nobility of the characters or the theme of human sinfulness and the need for divine mercy。 。。。more
Ben Vedder
，
It has the Notion Club Papers and a previously unpublished Epilogue to the Lord of the Rings。 That deserves five stars and an earnest reading recommendation。
Maximiliano Bravo
，
He llegado al final de este hermoso trabajo acometido por Cristopher Tolkien。 A pesar de lo que pensabaen un comienzo y aunque sabía ya que estos no eran libros para "engancharse" creo que tienen un gran valor。 La forma tan precisa y detallista en que se presenta la evolución de El Señor de los Anillos， es un documento sumamente escencial para quienes desean estudiar el trabajo de Tolkien como autor。 Tambien dan una idea cabal a cualquier autor en problemas de lo dificil que puede llegar a ser e He llegado al final de este hermoso trabajo acometido por Cristopher Tolkien。 A pesar de lo que pensabaen un comienzo y aunque sabía ya que estos no eran libros para "engancharse" creo que tienen un gran valor。 La forma tan precisa y detallista en que se presenta la evolución de El Señor de los Anillos， es un documento sumamente escencial para quienes desean estudiar el trabajo de Tolkien como autor。 Tambien dan una idea cabal a cualquier autor en problemas de lo dificil que puede llegar a ser escribir y como sólo a patir de la pasion y del esfuerzo se puede concretar una obra maestra como es El Señor de los Anillos。 。。。more
Rebecca
，
The book is split between the final part of the LOTR books and something called The Notion Club Papers and some more about Númenor。 I took a break after reading the part about LOTR （of which the versions of the Scouring of the Shire and the different epilogues were very interesting） because I had no idea what the Notion club Papers were and didn't think they'd interest me as much。Boy was I wrong！ When I finally read it， I couldn't put it down any more！ I LOVED the Notion Club Papers a lot。 I lik The book is split between the final part of the LOTR books and something called The Notion Club Papers and some more about Númenor。 I took a break after reading the part about LOTR （of which the versions of the Scouring of the Shire and the different epilogues were very interesting） because I had no idea what the Notion club Papers were and didn't think they'd interest me as much。Boy was I wrong！ When I finally read it， I couldn't put it down any more！ I LOVED the Notion Club Papers a lot。 I liked the discussions being held by the fictitious members （about sci-fi and dreams and such）， as well as the whole mystery about the dream visits and the mysterious words and images appearing to some members。 It was intriguing。 On top of that， it was hilarious as well。 It truly is a pity it was never smoothed into a complete work because I would have loved to read it in full。As is true for every HOME book: not for everyone but if you love to read about Tolkien's work and his thought-process then the first and last part are for you。 As for the Notion Club Papers， it might not be but I say give it a shot。 I did and I regretted not doing so sooner。 。。。more
Reference
google book https://www.google.com/search?tbm=bks&q=Sauron Defeated
hathitrust digital library https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/ls?q1=Sauron Defeated&field1=ocr&a=srchls&ft=ft&lmt=ft
The British Library https://bll01.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/search?query=any,contains,Sauron Defeated&tab=LibraryCatalog&search_scope=Not_BL_Suppress&vid=44BL_INST:BLL01&lang=en&offset=0