History Literature / TheHistoryOfMiddleEarth

The precursor ("Volume 0", if you will) to the series was ''Literature/UnfinishedTales'', published in 1980. ''Unfinished Tales'' was edited and presented in the same style but is arranged according to in-universe chronology, unlike the ''History'' proper. The series was eventually followed by the two-part ''The History of The Hobbit'' by John Rateliff, published in 2007, and ''The Nature of Middle-earth'' by Carl Hostetter, published in 2021. The former shows the evolution of ''The Hobbit'' both before and after its publication (Tolkien having abandoned an attempt to rewrite it entirely to hew closer to the later geography of Middle-earth). The latter has been called the "unofficial Volume XIII"[[note]]There is an official Volume XIII, but it is just a comprehensive index of the entire series.[[/note]] and features previously unpublished musings on Elvish ageing, marriage, sex, the nature of time and the calendar, and Tolkien's later attempts to rework his fictional cosmogony so that the world was never flat, to more closely reflect the real world.

* FurAgainstFang: Both races -vampires and werewolves- work for the same masters -Dark Lords Morgoth and Sauron-, but [[TeethClenchedTeamwork they can not stand each other]]. Werewolves despised vampires, considering them “rats with wings” and vampires regarded wolves like big bullies. It is less evident in ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'', but when you read the meeting with [[SavageWolves Carcharoth]] in the ''Lay of Beren and Luthien'', the text makes clear that Carcharoth is shocked at seeing a vampire and wolf together as wolves hate vampires.

* AstralProjection: Used as a means of space travel by Arundel Lowdham in ''The Notion Club Papers''. The story is partly written as a commentary on and criticism of Tolkien's friend C. S. Lewis' Literature/TheSpaceTrilogy novels, and Tolkien - who disliked the idea of spaceships - was using this to suggest an alternative for how such an adventure could take place.

* CatsAreMean: Actually mythologically justified in the ''Lost Tales'':
--> Indeed afterward Melko heard all and he cursed Tevildo and his folk and banished them, nor have they since that day had lord or master or any friend, and their voices wail and screech for their hearts are very lonely and bitter and full of loss, yet there is only darkness within and no kindliness.

* CompositeCharacter: Sauron grew from a combination of three characters from the ''Lost Tales'' - he has the name of the wizard Tu (Tu -> Thu -> Thaur -> Thauron -> Sauron), the position of Fankil/Fangli (TheDragon to Melko), and the narrative role of Tevildo Prince of Cats in "The Tale of Tinuviel."
** Oddly enough Tu started out as a figure opposed to Fankil, who ended up becoming humanity's enemy after they attacked his Elves.

* AstralProjection: Used as a means of space travel by Arundel Lowdham in ''The Notion Club Papers''. The story is partly written as a commentary on and criticism of Tolkien's friend C. S. Lewis' The Space Trilogy novels, and Tolkien - who disliked the idea of spaceships - was using this to suggest an alternative for how such an adventure could take place.

** Tevildo the Prince of Cats in "The Tale of Tinuviel" (whose role was later filled by Sauron) is a reference to the European folktales of [[FantasticFoxes Reynard the Fox]], which includes Tibert the Prince of Cats. More explicit in one draft where his name is Tiberth instead of Tevildo. The folkloric Tibert was also known as Tybalt, and Shakespeare's [[Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet Tybalt the Prince of Cats]] was a reference to him also.

* AllMythsAreTrue: In particular with ''The Book of Lost Tales'' and still to a lesser extent later. As Tolkien's friend Creator/CSLewis would go on to do with ''[[Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia Narnia]]'', the works reconcile the idea of pagan gods with Christian theology, and include stories based on those from Myth/NorseMythology. The short explanation is that the gods are actually angelic beings delegated by God to build and maintain the world, and to oppose {{Satan}}.

* ActionGirl: Idril Celebrindal fights in the ''Lost Tales'' account of Gondolin's fall.

The precursor ("Volume 0", if you will) to the series was ''Literature/UnfinishedTales'', published in 1980. ''Unfinished Tales'' was edited and presented in the same style but is arranged according to in-universe chronology, unlike the ''History'' proper. The series was eventually followed by the two-part ''The History of The Hobbit'' by John Rateliff, published in 2007, and ''The Nature of Middle-earth'' by Carl Hostetter, published in 2021. The former shows the evolution of ''The Hobbit'' both before and after its publication (Tolkien having abandoned an attempt to rewrite it entirely to hew closer to the later geography of Middle-earth). The latter has been called the "unofficial Volume XIII" and features previously unpublished musings on Elvish ageing, marriage, sex, the nature of time and the calendar, and Tolkien's later attempts to rework his fictional cosmogony so that the world was never flat, to more closely reflect the real world.

A precursor to the series is ''Literature/UnfinishedTales'', published 1980, which is edited and presented in the same style but is arranged according to in-universe chronology, unlike The ''History'' proper. They were finally followed by the two-part ''The History of The Hobbit'' by John Rateliff, published 2007.

Creator/JRRTolkien was subject to AttentionDeficitCreatorDisorder and perfectionism, with the result that ''Literature/TheHobbit'' and ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' are rare among his works in that he actually finished them -- though even then continually making notes for revised second editions. The vast majority of his works were in a disorganised array of disparate parts written across more than 50 years when he died in 1973. His son Christopher Tolkien put together the published version of ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'' in 1977 using some of these parts, but later decided to present more of the source materials as he found it -- with commentary -- to demonstrate how the conception of Middle-earth had evolved across the years.

Volumes I and II of ''The History of Middle-earth'' are also known as ''The Book of Lost Tales''. These were initially published on their own; Christopher Tolkien wrote at the time that the overall title ''The History of Middle-earth'' might have been "over-optimistic." In the event, the first two volumes sold well enough that the publishers kept extending the contract, ultimately to 12 volumes.

Volumes I and II of ''The History of Middle-earth'' are also known as ''The Book of Lost Tales''. These were initially published on their own; Christopher Tolkien wrote at the time that the overall title ''The History of Middle Earth'' might have been "over-optimistic." In the event, the first two volumes sold well enough that the publishers kept extending the contract, ultimately to 12 volumes.

* ElvesVsDwarves: The ''Lost Tales'' present the origins of the conflict, as in ''The Silmarillion'', but the Dwarves are presented as another evil race comparable to Orcs (the influence of Myth/NorseMythology being obvious). It wouldn't be until ''The Hobbit'' (originally not part of Middle-Earth at all) that they got to be sympathetic characters -- and indeed given the Wood-elves of that book were essentially a recycled version of Tinwelint's folk from the ''Lost Tales'', it can even be considered a PerspectiveFlip.

Even some of the names of the Notion Club members are references to Tolkien's own life. One of them is named John Jethro Rashbold (Tolkien's own first name was John; Jethro is a name closely associated in the Old Testament with Tolkien's middle name Reuel; and "Rashbold" is a calque on the name Tolkien, which comes from the German ''Tollkühn'', meaning 'foolhardy'), and another is named Ramer, an old dialectal word for "raving madman" -- JRRT had written a poem called "Looney" not too many years before. Alvin Arundel Lowdham has two names that connect to Tolkien's mythology: Alvin comes from the Old English ''Elfwine'', "Elf-friend", and it's implied he's the "reincarnation" of another Tolkien character by that name; Arundel is the modern-English form of ''Earendel'', the name that inspired Tolkien's first poems about Middle-Earth and eventually emerged as Eárendil in ''Literature/TheSilmarillion''.

** Played with in ''Morgoth's Ring''. Elfwine, the Anglo-Saxon seaman who finds Eressëa, is told that today there are two groups of Elves still remaining in Middle-Earth, the Lingerers and the Unbodied. The Lingerers are simply Elves that stayed until their [[OurSoulsAreDifferent souls burnt up their bodies]] and live in an aethereal form. The Unbodied are those that refused the summons to be judged by Mandos when they died. Lingerers tend to be gentle and harmless but flawed creatures that hang around wild lands as GeniusLoci, but sometimes visit mortals in dreams. Unbodied are actual ghosts and are not only likely to deceive mortals maliciously, but try to [[DemonicPossession steal their bodies]]. In a way Lingerers are like "Seelie" and Unbodied like "Unseelie".

** According to ''Morgoth's Ring'', Morgoth spread his evil essence into all the physical matter of Middle-Earth, thus [[ShapeshifterModeLock becoming a shadow]] of his former self. Fortunately the evil in Arda's matter normally stays dormant, unless aroused by malice.
** In the earliest versions of the Middle-Earth stories, before JRRT decided that evil beings like Morgoth cannot create new life from nowhere, the Orcs were made of stone, with hearts made of pure hate. Thû (a predecessor to Sauron) was apparently just made of hate.

* OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame: Dwarves were originally just another evil race similar to Orcs, derived closely from Myth/NorseMythology. It wasn't until ''The Hobbit'' that they became a primarily 'good' and sympathetic race -- and that version of them wasn't originally intended to be part of Middle-Earth at all.

* ReincarnationRomance: Since Tolkien was a devout Catholic, he believed that marriage is "for life." As described in "The Laws and Customs of the Eldar" (''Morgoth's Ring''), elves' lives are meant to last until the end of Arda, and so are their marriages. [[TakeThatUs Unlike many humans]], they actually ''do'' mate for life. Reincarnated elves inevitably desire to reunite with whomever they had married before they died. This really, really sucks for those who lived in Middle-Earth, since the Valar ''don't'' send anyone back there after "re-housing."[[note]]Glorfindel, Beren, and Lúthien were the ''only'' exceptions, because they're special and awesome. Except in some versions where the Valar commonly sent the rehoused back to wherever they had lived.[[/note]] It can also be a serious downer for the bereaved spouse if a married elf refuses reincarnation -- just look at what happened to Míriel's family!

* SdrawkcabAlias: Beren and Finrod Felagund, while masquerading as Orcs in some of the earliest versions "[[Literature/TheHistoryOfMiddleEarth The Lay of Leithian]]." Felagund gives his own name as Dungalef and Beren's as Nereb [[spoiler:when they're captured by Sauron.]] Those aliases were useless because he already suspected that they were not Orcs, but it's hard to understand why an Elf over 1000 years old would come up with such transparent pseudonyms (both characters are famous).

* ReallyBigCat: Tevildo Prince of Cats from the ''Lost Tales''. He's the original character who became Sauron Lord of Werewolves. (Interestingly, a feline element remains in the later Sauron of ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', since the Eye of Sauron resembles a cat's eye.) While Sauron was associated with wolves, Tevildo's lackeys were also all giant cats, and they had [[PunnyName Punny Names]] like Miaugion, Miaule, and Meoita.

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: In ''The Book of Lost Tales: Part 1'', a Gnome named Daurin rushes up to attack Ungoliant as she drains the Two Trees of their sap. Although he manages to wound one of her legs with his sword, its blade becomes stained with her BlackBlood, turning it into a poisonous weapon. This doesn't work so well in the end, since he ended up being disarmed by Ungoliant, and killed by Melkor, who then used the tainted weapon to kill the remaining Tree.

* OurElvesAreBetter: The evolution of the Elves is shown from the ''Lost Tales'' (in which they are still closer to a Victorian conception and referred to as Fairies and, in the case of the Noldor, Gnomes) to the final high and mythic result from ''The Silmarillion''.

* FramingDevice: ''The Book of Lost Tales'' is presented as a series of stories told to a mariner (Eriol or Elfwine), who stumbles upon the island of Tol Eressëa and learns the Elves' history, which he then brings back to his human kindred. This doubles as a LiteraryAgentHypothesis frequently repeated throughout the Middle-Earth stories.

* LiteraryAgentHypothesis:
** In the oldest draft, the history of the Elves supposedly came to us through Eriol, a sea-farer from 5th century Jutland; in the second draft Eriol was replaced by Elfwine, a 10th century Anglo-Saxon mariner who stumbled upon Tol Eressëa.
** When Tolkien sent the original version of "The Lay of Leithian" to his friend Creator/CSLewis for critique, Lewis treated it as though it was an actual piece of mediaeval literature that had been rediscovered. Lines that seemed weak to Lewis, for example, he dismissed as clearly interpolations by a later copyist, and gave his own interpretation as to how the lines "originally" must have read. His whole critique's even feigned to be written by four mediaevalist scholars. Tolkien didn't use any of Lewis' suggestions, but he did eventually rewrite all the sections Lewis had pointed out faults in.
** The introduction to "The Notion Club Papers" has the eponymous papers supposedly being discovered in 2012, being a record of a club that met in the late 1980s (the story itself was written in 1944).

* ReallyBigCat: Tevildo Prince of Cats from the ''Lost Tales''. He's the original character who became Sauron Lord of Werewolves. (Interestingly, a feline element remains in the later Sauron of ''TheLordOfTheRings'', since the Eye of Sauron resembles a cat's eye.) While Sauron was associated with wolves, Tevildo's lackeys were also all giant cats, and they had [[PunnyName Punny Names]] like Miaugion, Miaule, and Meoita.

Volumes I and II of ''The History of Middle-earth'' are also known as ''The Book of Lost Tales''. These were initially published on their own, and only after the conception of ''The History of Middle-earth'' were they were re-published as the first two instalments of that series.

* FurAgainstFang: Both races -vampires and werewolves- work for the same masters -Dark Lords Morgoth and Sauron-, but [[TeethClenchedTeamwork they can not stand each other]]. Werewolves despised vampires, considering them “rats with wings” and vampires regarded wolves like big bullies. It is less evident in ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'', but when you read the meeting with [[SavageWolves Carcharoth]] in the Lay of Beren and Luthien'', the text makes clear that Carcharoth is shocked at seeing a vampire and wolf together as wolves hate vampires.