Suggestions: Find yourself a map of Beleriand (Fonstad's "Atlas of Middle-Earth is the best thing ever), also consult the family tree of Finwë when needed.
Speaking of maps, you'll probably be a very happy camper if you reward your new achievement (and prep for the Silmarillion) by spending around $20 for this atlas. Helps with not just locations, but populations, battles, journeys, and even timelines. Indispensable and so readable you'll sit with it just turning the pages, not only for reference.
And congratulations on completing your first read of Hobbit and LOTR! Be sure to check in here as you go while reading the Silmarillion. First-time readers have a special honored place here :-)
The HoMe books are really just the collected earlier, abandoned and alternative drafts of the main 'canon' material that makes up the contents of the Silmarillion and LOTR. There are some very interesting bits and pieces that are only found in them, but yeah I'd read the main books again first. Also, if you want a quick path to a deeper understanding of the whole mythos, add to your list one more book, the Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, which does in fact touch on this and a whole lot of other fascinating core details.
OP, this is the correct answer right here.
And even if you aren't looking for a whole book, you should still get Fonstad's Atlas. It's a bargain and gives you way more info than a mere book of maps. I once read it nearly cover to cover.
https://www.amazon.com/Letters-J-R-R-Tolkien-J-R/dp/0618056998 An Amazon link to The Letters of Tolkien Unfortunately I can't help you I asked because I plan to do the same after I finish with the Witcher and I wasn't sure about the order
Not exactly an Encyclopedia, but The Atlas of Middle Earth by Karen Wynn Fonstad is excellent.
Everything is incredibly well sourced (including showing you exactly where in the texts she gets her information) and I personally consider it the most accurate and "essential" book on Middle Earth not written by a Tolkien. It has a ton of information, and maps to accompany all of it. It is a lot more than just maps though.
Looks like you can snag it used on Amazon for less than $10 too. https://www.amazon.com/Atlas-Middle-Earth-Revised-Karen-Fonstad/dp/0618126996
This one? I didn't know of this, thanks! I read (or rather am reading) the penguin version, which thankfully also has a fuckton of footnotes.
This, OP. Buy it. It's cheap. It's indispensable. It's interesting enough to sit and read by itself.
As others have said recommended I'd start with Silmarillion first, though I'd also recommend picking up The Atlas of Middle-Earth to have close by so you can reference as needed when reading.
/u/italia06823834 mentions it in that post, but I just want to reiterate, if you're interested in maps of Tolkien's works I highly recommend Karen Wynn Fonstad's The Atlas of Middle-Earth. It's only $16 and it's well worth it.
i'm a huge Tolkien fan too. if you read his letters https://www.amazon.com/Letters-J-R-R-Tolkien-J-R/dp/0618056998 it discussed this and says that a different letter was probably sent to the German publisher. the one that you quoted was in Tolkien's publishers files which means it wasn't actually sent.
When somebody types Letters, in italics, they are referring to this book:
> it seems like there are some really valuable Tolkien insight into the lore.
Absolutely. There’s a tremendous wealth of info on the Legendarium buried in them.
> Is there a good reliable place for me to find them to read and take notes on?
They’re collected in *The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, edited by Humphrey Carpenter with a little help from Christopher Tolkien. You can buy it here, or from any other reputable retailer.
There is indeed! It would be this one here.
I know there are a few different listings for Tolkien that use "Tolkien+Letters" in the title, so I feel ya.
Seriously, just buy Fonstad's Atlas right now. Look how cheap it is! You won't have to do any printing and you'll get not just maps, but explanations of the maps. And SO MANY MAPS. All the maps. Maps of places, maps of populations, maps of battles! You will end up reading this thing on its own like a regular book. If you love Tolkien you need this book.
Never fear. We know how Tolkien felt on this issues... he was very vocal in his opinions & wrote many letters making his views clear.
His son Christopher once went to South Africa under apartheid during WWII & was shocked at the poverty & misery of POC & the indigenous people there.
He wrote his father, to which Tolkien replied:
"As for what you say or hint of 'local' conditions: I knew of them. I don't think they have much changed (even for the worse). I used to hear them discussed by my mother; and have ever since taken a special interest in that part of the world. The treatment of colour nearly always horrifies anyone going out from Britain & not only in South Africa." (Letter, April 19, 1944).
So he wasn't into racist, colorist apartheid at all.
He was also vocal in rejection of white supremacy & anti-Semitism. His German publisher before the war once dared wrote him to ask if he was "Aryan." Tolkien fired back (while slamming their abuse of the word Aryan): "I am not of Aryan extraction: that is Indo-Iranian... But if I am to understand that you are enquiring whether I am of Jewish origin, I can only reply that I regret that I appear to have no ancestors of that gifted people." (Letter, July 29, 1938)
Tolkien was raised & lived in a racist, imperialist & colonialist UK. He was not perfect; he was human. However for a person of his time, he was extremely progressive.
He was also an environmentalist & was against nuclear weapons from their very invention.
https://www.amazon.com/Letters-J-R-R-Tolkien-J-R/dp/0618056998
We're all obligated to chime in here because OP is a new reader and might not get the joke :-)
OP, avoid all the works of David Day like the plague, he will lead you astray. But do go ahead and buy the wonderful Atlas of Middle-earth by Karen Wynn Fonstad, you won't regret it!
I haven’t seen all editions of LOTR, obviously, but all of my copies have the same small maps. If you really want a good resource for tracking their travels, I’d recommend “The Atlas of Middle-earth” by Karen Wynn Fonstad.
The Atlas of Middle-Earth (Revised Edition) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0618126996/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_WV6A129ZBPV2JRDPXGEZ
This was made by Karen Wynn Fonstad, a geographer/cartographer and serious Tolkien student. It's from her Tolkien atlas, which is not infallible but is widely praised and seen as one of the best resources we have. She based her work on not just the published "canon" but also on the additional materials that came out in HoMe.
I don't think you can rely at all on any game maps, except for in-game use. Those "fantastic details" aren't necessarily accurate, and if anything is "not covered in the books" then it is inaccurate by default, as in "made up." Not that that makes them bad per se - I'm sure in the game it's loads of fun - but the game is no more accurate in terms of maps than it is terms of story.
The only non-Tolkien-authored source that might be useful for out-of-game convos like this one would be Karen Wynn Fonstad's Atlas of Middle-earth. It's not flawless but it's the best thing out there and based on tons of indepth research. If you're into maps (which it seems like you might be) it's a page-turner, maybe you'd enjoy it!
To add to this, OP if you're interested in the battles of Beleriand specifically, I highly recommend Karen Wynn Fonstad's Atlas of Middle-earth, which contains not just the dates and details of the battles, but also maps of where in Beleriand they took place, including mapping out of the movements of armies against one another. I'm not usually overly focused on the battles but I found those pages endlessly fascinating. (If you get this, go for the paperback or the Kindle, not the hardcover, which is an early obsolete edition.)
Karen Wynn Fonstad's THE ATLAS OF MIDDLE-EARTH is a great resource for discussing the possible geology of Middle Earth. She is a cartographer and geologist.
Mine has a red cloth cover and a plastic vinal cover over that. It was published by the Penguin Group. 2002
This is the one:
I’ve heard great things about the <em>Atlas of Middle Earth</em>.
Not sure if it has specifically what you’re looking for, but it’s very scholarly and highly praised in the Tolkien community.
A copy of The Atlas of Middle-Earth is very useful to refer to while reading. The maps are much more detailed than those published in the Silmarillion (while being completely backed up by published works) and the movements of characters and armies are often overlaid.
If you have a kindle, you need this: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Masters-Horror-Weird-Supernatural-Stories-ebook/dp/B07BKMW5YW
Includes lots of works by authors you list, and hundreds of others.
Otherwise, I would direct you towards...
Arthur Machen Clark Ashton Smith E F Benson Edgar Allen Poe
All of these are in the ebook I linked.
Pretty much everyone here should be referring you to the one and only best option: Karen Wynn Fonstad's Atlas of Middle-earth, revised edition. The embedded link will take you right to its Amazon page. It's inexpensive and extremely well-researched, and you can get it in either paperback or Kindle format.
He did eventually change his tune on this, but that was changed during the revisions. I am not sure if he released versions of the books before these revisions occurred so you might have a version that pre-dates this decision by him. But, even with his change of heart it's specifically NOT allegory. That didn't change. It's just that he says its fundamentally a Catholic book.
The quote: "The Lord of the Rings is of course a fundamentally religious and Catholic work; unconsciously so at first, but consciously in the revision. That is why I have not put in, or have cut out, practically all references to anything like 'religion', to cults or practices, in the imaginary world. For the religious element is absorbed into the story and the symbolism"
This is a quote from the collection of letters published in The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien. You can buy that book and read tons of letters he wrote people covering tons of additional information on concepts or decisions he made during the writing, as well as his speculation on things that were never codified in the books themselves.