Book review: “The Fall of Númenor” by J.R.R. Tolkien

Among hobbits, there is a word mathom. It refers to any object which one collects despite its lack of obvious utility. Fans of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth writings, being naturally of a hobbitish disposition, are more susceptible than most to the collection of mathoms. Thus, an entire publishing industry has developed, bringing forth new Tolkienian mathoms every year.

There are illustrated editions of the more popular works, such as The Lord of the Rings. There are deluxe editions which come with gilded slipcases. And there are facsimile editions designed to replicate the earliest published versions of Tolkien’s hallowed texts. All of these editions have a guaranteed market among Tolkien fans, who generally have no qualms about keeping multiple copies of the same book on their shelves.

But alongside these reissues, a new type of Tolkienian mathom has arisen in recent years. These are volumes which bear fresh titles but consist entirely of extracts from previously published books. The last two volumes edited by Tolkien’s son, Christopher Tolkien, were of this sort. The 2017 book Beren and Lúthien brought together every different version of this tale (previously published in The Silmarillion and across several volumes of Christopher’s 12-volume History of Middle-earth). The Fall of Gondolin, published in 2018, took a similar approach.

The Fall of Númenor is about the Second Age of Middle-earth

Now, following the death of Christopher Tolkien in 2020, a new editor, Brian Sibley, has taken up the mantle. This week, he brings Tolkien fans a new volume, titled The Fall of Númenor, which compiles all of Tolkien’s writings on the Second Age of Middle-earth (the period preceding The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings). The book includes extracts previously published in The Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales, and several volumes of The History of Middle-earth. It also draws on last year’s The Nature of Middle-earth (which compiled Tolkien’s final Middle-earth writings) as well as some of Tolkien’s letters.

Despite being somewhat redundant (as any thorough Tolkien fan will already possess the book’s entire contents across existing volumes), The Fall of Númenor is a particularly beautiful mathom. The cover image by Alan Lee (who is described as “the doyen of Tolkien art” on the book’s dust jacket) is one of the most remarkable of his 30-year, Oscar-winning career in Tolkien illustration. Inside, we are treated to a further 10 full-color pieces of Lee’s art, depicting elements of Tolkien’s legendarium that have rarely been illustrated. In addition, Lee provides over 50 pencil sketches for the chapter headings and endpoints.

Great attention has also been paid to the design of the book, with a pleasing mix of black ink for the main text and blue for the titles, as well as red for the inscription on the One Ring. And the dedication to Priscilla Tolkien, the youngest of Tolkien’s children, who died earlier this year, is a nice touch which will warm the hearts of fans.

The Fall of Númenor is redundant but beautiful

Brian Sibley’s editorial work deserves some praise too. Rather than bring an academic on board, the Tolkien Estate were wise to select a storyteller of Sibley’s calibre for this project, which requires a deft touch to build a narrative out of the disparate elements of Tolkien’s Second Age writings. Sibley, who is best known among Tolkien fans for his work on the 1981 BBC radio adaptation of The Lord of the Rings, has constructed his narrative by following the chronology of the Second Age laid down by Tolkien in ‘The Tale of Years.’ Using this framework, he drops each fragment of Second Age material into its corresponding place within the timeline. It’s a straightforward approach, but it works; it brings a Biblical grandeur to Tolkien’s fictional history, beginning with the genesis of Númenor, its people, its flora and its fauna, before structuring the rest of the narrative around the genealogies of the island’s Kings and Queens.

Though this structure is probably as effective as it could be, the disparate nature of Tolkien’s Second Age writings prohibits this volume from following a single, coherent narrative. There are some jarring skips in time and place; one moment we are learning about the origins of the Númenoreans, and the next we are thrown thousands of miles away for a seemingly unnecessary tangent on the Dwarves of Moria before immediately returning to Númenor again. Similarly, there is an imbalance in the length and detail of the chapters. The story of Aldarion and Erendis (previously published in Unfinished Tales) dominates the book, taking up around a quarter of the main narrative. But while this particular tale may have held a special interest to Tolkien, it seems less relevant within the context of the broader Second Age, especially when key events, such as the Last Alliance of Elves and Men (formed to overthrow the evil Sauron) are skimmed over in relatively few pages.

None of this is Sibley’s fault, of course. He can only work with the material available. So while the narrative does not quite hold together as a coherent whole, Sibley has done an admirable job of stitching together a structure that makes chronological sense. And despite the redundancy of reproducing previously published content, one has to admit that reading it in this new form does offer a fresh perspective on Tolkien’s Second Age.

The Fall of Númenor and The Rings of Power

Of course, the motivation for producing such a volume is inextricably tied to the new Amazon TV series The Rings of Power, which is set in this period and just finished streaming its first series. Rings is the elephant in the room. It goes unmentioned both by Sibley in his introductory matter and by HarperCollins in their press release announcing the book.

Despite this lack of direct acknowledgement, the connection is certain to guarantee sales for The Fall of Númenor, though it will likely be unsatisfying to those who are coming to it as fans of the TV show alone. The book overlaps little with the first season of The Rings of Power and Tolkien’s writing is so dense and replete with confusing character names that it will prove challenging for anyone other than the most lore-soaked fans.

But even without the context of The Rings of Power, Tolkien purists will argue that producing this volume was still a worthwhile endeavor. It may be a mathom, but it is one of the more justifiable ones, enabling fans to see and understand the full scope of Tolkien’s Second Age in a single volume, rather than skipping back and forth between 10 different titles.

Where to Tolkien books go after The Fall of Númenor?

That said, The Fall of Númenor raises an existential question about the future of the Tolkienian project, which has seen almost 40 volumes of work published under his name since his death in 1973. With the release of The Nature of Middle-earth last year, it seems that the well of unpublished Tolkien writings has run dry. This new volume, as well as the final two under Christopher Tolkien’s editorship, suggests the reordering of Tolkien’s text fragments is now the driving creative act behind the Middle-earth publishing industry, as if moving around the puzzle pieces of Tolkien’s unfinished writings will somehow create an original picture and reveal new worlds for readers to explore.

It is a testament to Tolkien’s creativity that his world engenders such continued fascination almost 50 years on from his death. There is perhaps no other author in history who so embodies the show business adage “leave them wanting more.” So far, fans have grown accustomed to getting more. But the Tolkien Estate now faces a challenge in balancing this seemingly limitless demand with the finite material available to them. There are perhaps a few unseen pieces that could be published, such as more of Tolkien’s letters. But at a certain point, there will be only what we have and no more.

While The Fall of Númenor is successful on balance, there is a limit to how much repackaging of existing material can be done. With this in mind, the ravenous Tolkien fanbase may no longer seem like a group of innocent hobbits collecting harmless mathoms, but rather a bloated dragon with an insatiable lust for more treasure.

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