The Lord of The Rings

[Steven]

I'm wondering what is the order of books in The Lord of the Ring's universe. I read something that their is more then The Lord of The Rings books set in Lord of the rings land (or whatever it's called.) Is this the case? Which is the first book set in the LOTR universe?

 

[Que-Ever]

The silmarillion.

 

[bbson john]

The Hobbit

 

[Que-Ever]

*cough*

The silmarillion.

 

[giant384]

the hobbit is the only one i know of

 

[pvtbones]

The Silmarillion is like reading a freakin' bible (or course thats it's purpose...)

the order from my memory is:
Silmarillion
The Hobbit
The LOTR books

 

[JNightshade]

Yup, that's right. The SIlmarillion is essentially the bible of Tolkien's world. The other books are the actual story (as far as I know).

 

[Zephos]

The Silmarillion is a good read though, finished it a couple weeks back.

 

[Dan]

There's also a book of Tom Bombadill (sp?) poetry, also very boring.

 

[Steven]

Thanks guys.

 

[gick]

I hated the Silmarillion. Boooooooring.

Apparently he wrote most of it while getting the shit shelled out of him on the Somme, so its not suprising that its not up to his usual standard.

 

[15357]

I hated the Silmarillion. Boooooooring.

]

QFT.

 

[MiccyNarc]

The Silmarillion basically provides the backstory for all of Middle Earth and the Tolkein universe. I'd hardly describe it as "boring"

 

[Mr-Fusion]

I can understand why it'd be boring to some people. Most whored out capitalist writers would never write something like that. They'd follow a pre-planned whored out structure for character development, plot development, intercutting between plot devices etc. Silmarillion is, as other people have said, a big mish mash of the history of middle earth. No real structure. Just story after story, but fascinating imo.

Similar to the Christian bible, it has a genesis. The creation of everything. The Lucifer equivalent who wanted to go his own way. Arch-angels=Valar. Morgoth=Lucifer. I know Tolkien hated allegory but here it is so obvious.

Everything basically starts with the creation of 3 jewels called silmarils. An elf named Feanor created them. The jewels reside in Valinor. Morgoth and a giant spider Ungnoliant (an ancestor of Shelob i believe) go to Valinor to steel them. In the process Morgoth slays Feanors father. Feanor finds the jewels missing and his father dead then goes completely nuts, in Tolkiens words it's awesome. Overcome with rage he assembles an armada to invade middle-earth and retake the jewels from Morgoth. Thus beings the war between elves and Morgoth. Morgoth corrupts many things including another angelic-like being you know as Sauron. He serves a lieutenant i believe a petty underling.

So that's the shit.

 

[FoB_Ed]

the Silmarillion is a damn good book. It was hard to read at first but then it just got really interesting. It can be slow sometimes, but some of the stories just kick ass

 

[DEATH eVADER]

Apparently he wrote most of it while getting the shit shelled out of him on the Somme, so its not suprising that its not up to his usual standard.

Either that, or he was too bored waiting to be sent over-the-top :bounce:

 

[VictimOfScience]

Its better to read the Hobbit first, then LOTR, then the Silmarillion. That way the stories of the Silmarillion mean a lot more to the reader. All great reads though.

 

[destrukt]

I think I would suggest Silmarillion, The Hobbit than LOTR.

Though, if you read the Silmarillion last, you won't be as incredibly confused by a lot of the things and it would mean more as victim said, even though it predates the other books.

What's the go with the The Hobbit movie ? Last time I heard some studios where fighting over the license or something . .

 

[VictimOfScience]

What's the go with the The Hobbit movie ? Last time I heard some studios where fighting over the license or something . .

Still fighting afaik which completely sucks since Ian Holm isn't getting any younger!!

 

[ComradeBadger]

I loved the Silmarillion.. was a great read

I'd recommend reading it last though, simply because it'd make it easier to understand.

 

[Raxxman]

History of middle earth is around as well

its about 50 odd chapters.