[ Daily Tolkien ] The History of Middle Earth

This paper explores the form and usage that history took in the societies of Middle Earth. That all J.R.R Tolkien's writings on Middle Earth can be viewed as a history, composed from many sources, was a revelation to me. The Lord of the Rings is actually presented to us as a history of the War of the Ring composed by the Shire Hobbits, called The Red Book of Westmarch.¹ I hope to provide herein an understanding of how the history that has been revealed in Tolkien's works would have actually have been preserved and communicated by the people of Middle Earth.

The various races that are principally featured in the tales of Middle Earth, Elves, Hobbits, Dwarves and Men, all had poets, minstrels, scribes and loremasters.² These individuals were responsible for learning, composing, and conveying knowledge of the past.

Such peoples who had the skill and use for written history, would naturally create archives. The ancient and sophisticated Dúnedain kingdoms had dedicated archives of books and scrolls in their cities, and one of these are described by Faramir of Minas Tirith: ³

"We in the house of Denethor know much ancient lore by long tradition, and there are moreover in our treasuries many things preserved: books and tablets writ on withered parchments, yea, and on stone, and on leaves of silver and of gold, in divers characters."

Not every people would have actually kept a written history (especially primitive or small communities). Take for example The Shire: few of its traditions and history were in written form until the Fourth Age, when interest in recording the past and creating archives first began.⁴ But this did not preclude them preserving knowledge of the past, as the main sources for history were oral, and in this form were more widely disseminated and accessible than written history.

Anyone therefore wishing to learn the history of something would have to pay heed to both parchment and spoken word, as it was normal to have a mixture of written and oral history, Note the comment on Bilbo's 'Translations from the Elvish':

"These three volumes were found to be a work of great skill and learning in which, between 1403 and 1418, he had used all the sources available to him in Rivendell, both living and written." ⁵

Blbo had no doubt carefully listened to the nightly recital and songs about the elder days. He had also the opportunity to question persons who could recall the age about which he wrote.

This brings us briefly to the special situation of 'history' among the Elves: Events long centuries ago in Men's reckoning seemed but a little while ago to Elven minds; For some it was the memory of events they had directly participated in. By the end of the Third Age, only a minority of those who remained in Middle Earth had been alive in the First Age, but these individuals, such as Ciran and Elrond, provided a unique access to the past.

It is stated in the introduction to the Appendices of The Lord of the Rings that 'The legends, histories, and lore to be found in the sources are very extensive". These sources consisted of rhymes, songs, lays, annals, chronicles and stories. The characteristics of each is outlined below.

The 'Rhymes of Lore' were short verses containing small parcels of information. The following example refers to the founding of the Realms in Exile after the fall of Númenor and would reveal to the inquisitive the origin of the palantiri and the White Tree of Gondor.

Many rhymes contained general, rather than historical, information, and the original meaning of some of them was lost over time. However they were still intelligible to learned persons.⁶

Songs and lays are present in copious number in the Lord of the Rings. They provide heroic stirring accounts of the past. See for example the translation of the Fall of Gil-Gilad, rendered by Sam Gamgee.⁷ We are able to read in the Red Book verses of songs composed in the early Fourth Age that are based on the events of the War of the Ring; this provides a good way of testing the general accuracy of such works. Take for example From dark Dunharrow: ⁸

Any scholar compiling an account of the War of the Ring is usefully informed of the approximate number of warriors that Theoden brought to the battle of the Pelennor Fields, the length of time the journey took and the route they followed. The events of Druadan Forest and the battle are not covered, but the other facts are accurate (the number of troops given in The Red Book are five thousand, five hundred and sixty Riders '...and many hundreds of other men with spare horses lightly burdened').⁹ This would indicate that songs were a valuable source for learning of the past.

The description annal and chronicle is sometimes used interchangeably, but the following distinctions can be observed. Annals were short, crisp factual notes in chronological order. Each entry was for a specific year and recorded the most significant events for that year. Such accounts were probably kept by individual lordships, courts, and households, with the types of events recorded reflecting the interest of the author. Some would be updated on a yearly basis, from current news and knowledge of events; others (like The Tale of Years) were composed in retrospect, using oral and written sources.¹⁰

Chronicles were formal narrative histories. Examples include The Book of the Kings, The Book of the Stewards, the Akallabeth, and The Chronicle of Cirion and Eorl. The first two were the house chronicles of the rulers of Gondor, probably maintained on a yearly basis by scribes with first hand knowledge. In addition, we are told chroniclers drew on other sources, such as lays and legends to create their accounts.¹¹

An example of the general style and accuracy of such works is provided in Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age. This is a chronicle of the whole Third Age in the Westlands. It was written in the Fourth Age but unlike much of the works in the Silmarillion or Red Book, it does not seem to be the work of one of the Hobbit adventurers, as the author writes in a distant tone about the members of the Fellowship and their deeds. Although the chronicle is generally accurate, its epic style does reveal some inaccuracies:

"For Frodo the Halfling, it is said, at the bidding of Mithrandir took on himself the burden, and alone with his servant he passed through peril and darkness and came at last in Sauron's despite even to Mount Doom; and there into the Fire where it was wrought he cast the Great Ring of Power, and so at last it was unmade and its evil consumed."¹²

We know that Frodo was overcome, at the last, by the dominance of the One Ring and that it was Smeagol who inadvertently brought about the destruction of the Ring. But such details were probably not known outside the Fellowship, and besides, do not make for good stories and so did not make their way into the songs and legends composed about our Hobbit heroes and upon which our author may have partly based his account.

Stories and legends were generally tales of individuals from the past. They include the Narn I Hin Hurin, 'The Tale of Aldarion and Erendis', and 'The Tale of Aragorn and Arwen'. The first was composed by Dirhavel of Dor-lomin in the First Age, the last by Barahir, grandson of Faramir, in the Fourth Age. The Númenorean author of the second tale is unknown.

Legends in our own time (such as Cúchulainn or King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table) are regarded as unhistorical folk tales containing a grain of truth. However, in the case of Tolkien's tales, we cannot doubt their intended accuracy, unless he has willingly slipped in some errors or discrepancies.

More problematic are tales that were never fully completed by the professor, or for which several versions exist for part of the tale. But even here the problem can be wrapped up in the guise of divergent versions of the story emerging within the cultures of Middle Earth as tales were copied, summarised or translated, with errors and additions creeping in over the ages. ¹³

The stories of Middle Earth were rich and manifold. Not all were historical, or accurate to the time in which they were set. Doubtless, legends came into been which, though entertaining, were only loosely associated with real events: One can picture the tales told to the children of the different races about giants, dragons, and the kings of old. Reading a surviving extract from 'The Tale of Amroth and Nimrodel' we find the statement

"Of what befell Nimrodel nothing is said here, though there were many legends concerning her fate." ¹⁴

One legend of Dol Amroth was that a prince of that land had wedded Nimrodel, a fate Tolkien described as 'evidently improbable'. However, Tolkien did not try to impose an absolute truth on the offspring of his tales. Improbabilities and competing versions were allowed to exist. They were part of the rich mythology/history that any living society acquires.

Returning to the main discussion of this section, legends varied in authenticity and value. But they were a crucial repository of the past and were treated as a useful source for history and incorporated into formal chronicles.

The discussion of the different types of sources raised some points about accuracy. Another issue is the scope of the sources. The majority of Tolkien's work on Middle Earth covers the Westlands and people who opposed the Darklords. Furthermore, they do not specifically deal with all the topics that latter day scholars might be interested in, such as demographic, economic and cultural history (though such details can be carefully gleaned). The information we have is limited to what Tolkien chose to explore and write about his creation. In a reply to a reader's query on the meaning of 'Aragorn', Tolkien noted the difficulty in translating the names of the kings of Arthedain and explained that

"...it would need more historical records and linguistic records of Sindarin than exist (sc. than I have found time or need to invent!) to explain them." ¹⁵

But for our purposes, the scope of the sources can be presented as reflecting the interests and experiences of the Hobbits, and the nature of the sources they had access to. Hence there is a strong emphasis on Elven, Dúnedain and Rohirrim lore, with notes on the Shire and Durin's folk. What falls outside their focus is knowledge of the East or South, plus wild or enemy Men in the Westlands (such as the Lossoth, the Folk of Angmar, or the Dunlendings).

This gap in the sources is understandable as the Hobbit adventurers did not travel in those places, and the records of such lands and peoples among the sources they had access to was generally limited to that of conflict with the Rohirrim or Dúnedain. Thus, we will search in vain for songs of the Lossoth, histories of the eastern Dwarven Houses, or legends of the Haradrim.

Similarly, the works that the scribes and minstrels produced reflect a narrower range of themes from what historians currently explore, but this was a natural influence of the age they lived in. The history of the Westlands of Middle Earth was largely forged by great lords, ladies, and adventurers and the wars they waged with the Darklord or his minions. Consequently, much of its lore revolves around these individuals and the conflicts that involved them.

Tolkien treated his work as a survival of lore from an earlier age of our world.¹⁶ What knowledge of the past that comes down to us today represents a haphazard and incomplete survival of all that happened or was recorded. Though he regular refers in the tales of Middle Earth to places and people of learning, Tolkien also makes reference to the loss of knowldege. Even before the beginning of the Dominion of Men, knowledge in Middle Earth had been seriously depleted by the ravages of time and war.

The destruction caused by the relentless onslaught of Morgoth on the peoples of the First Age and the ultimate flooding of Beleriand can only be guessed at. Looking to the end of the next age, Númenor provides a pensive example of how a people's history and other learning could disappear. Discussing a surviving tract on that land, Tolkien notes:

"The account of the Island of Númenor that here follows is derived from descriptions and simple maps that were long preserved in the archives of the Kings of Gondor. These represent indeed but a small part of all that was once written, for many natural histories and geographies were composed by the learned men in Númenor; but these, like nearly all else of the arts and sciences of Númenor at its high tide, disappeared in the Downfall."¹⁷

This is the context for the four or so works about that land that are extant. In reality this small number is simply attributable to what Tolkien chanced to write, but we can share the sense that what we are reading represents an incomplete survival of lore from an earlier age of our world.

The civil wars of the Northern Kingdom and its long war with Angmar, which ended in the collapse of the kingdom, must have accounted for a substantial share of the realm's archives and lore. However, we know that some store of books survived and were deposited in Imladris, and knowledge of its past was preserved by the loremasters of the Rangers.

We can deduce from all the above is that any people or kingdom that suffered a downfall (such as Khadzad-dõ m or the original Kingdom of Dale) experienced the loss of knowledge, whether through the death of their loremasters and minstrels, or the destruction of documents.

Even the extensive archives of Gondor, most of whose core lands where never overrun by enemies, did not escape destruction of its store of the past. Apart from the Kin-Strife in the TA 1400s (which hinged on city assaults) and the loss of Ithilien before the War of the Ring, there was also the destructive role of time and changing fortunes: The 'decay of Gondor' resulted in

"...the waning of interest in or knowledge of ancient history among all but a few even of the high men of the realm, except in so far as it concerned their genealogies: their descent and kinship." ¹⁸

Evidence of this decline in knowledge is provided by Faramir's reference to ancient works in Gondor's archives that no one could any longer translate.¹⁹ Incidentally, it is interesting to note here the narrow function which history served in the latter days of Third Age Gondor, that of recording family history, a key use of history by noble families in many cultures.

A further indication of the level of knowledge of the ancient past is provided by a comment on knowledge of the palantÍ ri revealed in such sources as in the rhyme 'Tall Ships and tall kings' above. Tolkien mentions that

"...the Seven Stones of old were by the people generally forgotten, and the rhymes of lore that spoke of them were if remembered no longer understood; their operations were transformed in legend into the Elvish powers of the ancient kings with their piercing eyes, and the swift birdlike spirits that attended on them, bringing them news or bearing their messages."²⁰

That general knowledge of the ancient palantÍ ri was obscure is no surprize; what is more telling is that in the centuries after the kingship ended in Gondor, legends only loosely based on fact had sprung up about the powers of the old kings. This reveals a distorted understanding of ancient lore among the ordinary folk of Gondor.

Poor knowledge of the past was not uncommon: the ancient stone carvings at Dunharrow were a mystery to the Rohirrim, and the Shire Hobbits had only a vague memory of their wanderings before they entered Eriador. A classic example is Barleyman of Bree's ignorance of Fornost Erain, the ruined capital of Arnor; to him the overgrown mounds were 'Deadman's Dyke', whence none but a rogue would go.²¹

The examples above show that the sources for history were disparate and not always accessible: from narrowly focused family history and half-understood rhymes of lore, to secrets locked in untranslatable scrolls or hoarded in personal archives. This situation would seem to contradict the ready knowledge of the past among the leading figures encountered in The Lord of the Rings. But we are in the presence of the Wise throughout the journeys of the Fellowship, and their learning was uncommon, hence their honourific title.

The way knowledge of the past could be lost and recovered is illustrated by the careful work required for the Council of Elrond to uncover the truth about Isildur and his Ring. Gathered at the table were folk of five races, all with varying information of the events. Among them are Elrond the Halfelven, who participated in the events that led up to the taking of the Ring; Aragorn, Isildur's Heir, Gandalf; and Boromir, of the house of the Stewards of Gondor. Various accounts are known by the individuals: Elrond recollects from memory about the War of the Last Alliance, the final duel with Sauron, and the taking of the Ring by Isildur. His tale touches on events that have been concealed:

Wider knowledge of Isildur's subsequent activity in Gondor and his death en route to Imladris are also related. But it is only personally enquiry among ancient documents by Gandalf in the personal archives of the Stewards of Gondor that provides the evidence needed to prove Bilbo's ring is the One.

"..there lie in [Denethor's] hoards many records that few now can read, even of the lore-masters, for their scripts and tongues have become dark to later men."

One of these records is a scroll written by Isildur, describing the Ring.²² No one present, bar possibly Gandalf, had the full story; this required piecing together varied information from Elrond, and the Dúnedain of the North and South. In conclusion, the Council's reconstructing of the past from memory, legends and old records reveals the nature of historical knowledge in Middle Earth.

2 There are various references to loremasters, minstrels, scribes and songwriters, e.g.

LOTR App. E II, p.1091 (Daeron, loremaster and minstrel of King Thingol of Doriath)

12 SIL "Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age", p.366 (Frodo and Sam's quest)

13 Christopher Tolkien's foreword to The Silmarillion and his note in the introduction to

TH - The Hobbit (Unwin Paperbacks, 1985) - References are by Chapter and/or Page

Unf - Unfinished Tales (Unwin Paperbacks, 1985) - References are by Part, Section and/or Page

Sil & QS - The Silmarillion (Unwin Paperbacks, 1979) - References are by Page

Letters - The Letters of J.R.R Tolkien (HarperCollins, 1995) - References are by letter number

LOTR - The Lord of the Rings (HarperCollins, 1995) - References are by Book, Chapter and Page

Background information contained in LOTR's Appendix A and the Tale of Years is sometimes used without reference.

The Daily Tolkien articles by various authors	The Tolkien Virgin articles by Mark-Edmond
ARTICLES 01-10	ARTICLES 01-10
ARTICLES 11-20	ARTICLES 11-20
ARTICLES 21-30	ARTICLES 21-30
ARTICLES 31-40	31) The Hobbit - Chapter 8
ARTICLES 41-50	32) The Hobbit - Chapters 9 and 10
ARTICLES 51-60	32) The Hobbit - Chapters 11 and 12
ARTICLES 61-70	33) The Hobbit - Chapters 13 and 14
71) The Division of Arnor	34) The Hobbit - Chapters 15, 16 and 17
72) Have you been to Valinor lately?	35) The Hobbit - Chapters 18 and 19
73) Charting the Shire lines	36) FOTR - Book 1 - Prologue & Chapter 1
74) The Quests of Middle-earth
75) The wars of the Glorfindels
76) Harondor ~The Strategic Role of South Gondor~
77) Does Barliman have a beard? And...
78) The History of Middle Earth

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