LotR --- Appendix A: I, (i) - (iii) -- Númenor - Heirs of Isildur

[HerenIstarion]

Appendices, upon a time, were a blessing for me. I was thirsty, nay, even greedy to lay my hands on them and I've only got a chance of reading appendices some years after I've read actual story itself, since first USSR tranlsation was published without appendices at all. Appendices I've got as a 'samizdat' (USSR term, referred to forbidden or otherwise unavailable literature which was copied on a typewriter and distributed in secret from hand to hand) translation. It came to me in a much beaten leather portfolio through long line of acquaintances, third cousins once removed, friends' neighbours, 'woman who sells me greens' and 'girl I know in my school', part typed and part copied with a copier, with fingerprints of my longreaders before me. Also, I was sworn (almost on my own blood) I would return them in three days and would not try to misappropriate them whatever desire One Appendix To Rule Them All may evoke in my frail soul.

I certainly remember thirsting for more, with more detail, with more plot, with more more. And I've read them several times in a row, four, if my memory is not failing me. But than, the suspense was built up over time and fey mood was upon me.

Now, as I have bookshelf full of HoME's, UT's and Silmarillions in multitude of editions, cold morn is come and I'm not likely to go beyond Sam's 'I'm back' in my rereadings.

[drigel]

Yea Heren, at the time the appendixes were all we had. This is where the Depth dwelt. Lots of referring to maps. It is interesting to see where the author was going. Like much of our own history, a lot of it was lists of Important names, and maps. genious effect

things that stuck on me from A,I, II,III

the importance of Umbar, and how Sauron remembered the place where his humility was brought to him.

the history of Arnor and the Witchking. Also the involvement of the Shire folk. The "carts without wheels" is funny. It is interesting that, despite the detail, there is little mention of these folk in LOTR, as their southern cousins got a whole chapter in RoTK (well distant cousins to the Wild men).

the northern palantiri

: no likeness remained in Middle-earth of Laurelin the Golden

I wonder why this was?

At the Grey Havens dwelt Cirdan the Shipwright, and some say he dwells there still, until the Last Ship sets sail into the West.

extremely open ended statement

[Lalwendë]

I am one of those strange people who enjoys reading the Appendices. I like factual books - and the more strictly factual the better, as shown by my determination a few years ago to learn the Periodic Table 'because it was there', and I love a good Atlas or encyclopedia. Hey, call me a nerd.

When I read the Appendices (which usually means jumping in at random to see what I can find in a spare five minutes) I often get the impression that Tolkien himself loved this kind of thing. I wonder if he had piles of notebooks with chronologies and family trees and such like stashed away which he would guiltily tinker with when he was supposed to be getting on with writing his story - Tolkien's equivalent of the garden shed, where men go to count nails and potter about. In the new Scull/Hammond book, it says that Tolkien had the idea of putting all the appendices in a separate volume but they were later put into RotK in a much condensed version; he was still tinkering with the appendices in March 1955 and the publishers were getting restive about getting RotK out and in to shops.

I can't imagine the books without them; until relatively recently, single volume editions lacked the full appendices and I know of people who have read LotR several times but never the appendices! Do we need to read them though? They include a lot of information that isn't strictly necessary, but what they do give us is a taste for further stories about Tolkien's world. Some (most?) of those stories were never written, and that's where RPGs and fan-fics come in - the appendices must be a huge source of inspiration for writers and gamers. And though I find there is little to argue about in them, as they consist mainly of facts rather than prose, I would be lost without them as they add a sense of richness and depth, of history to Middle-earth.

[Guinevere]

I hardly dare show myself here again, I feel so ashamed that I haven't managed to follow the discussions
Time is always running too fast for me!

Anyhow, I am one who loves the appendices. I already started browsing in them even before I had finished the book!
It is as Davem says

it does add a sense of depth & of the feeling of a weight of history behind the events of the story.

I remember though that the beginning "Fëanor was the greates of the Eldar in arts and lore..." etc left me rather puzzled. What were Eldar and Edain? It made me very eager to read the Silmarillion and to learn more about these things!
There are many things in the appendices though that aren't in the Sil, like the story of the hapless Arvedui. And some interesting details about the ring of Barahir, the Palantiri etc.

btw, the new German Translation of the LotR is sold as a box with the 3 volumes in it - without the appendices! You have to buy those separately! I know of people who had no idea that there was such a thing as appendices!! Perhaps they aren't necessary for everyone, but the readers should have at least the choice to read them, or part of them.

[Angry Hill Troll]

To me one of the more interesting points of this Appendix, when I first read it many years ago about the same time the Silmarillion was first published, was that (correct me if I'm wrong about this) it makes the only mention of Eru in LOTR "The Valar laid down their Guardianship and called upon the One,..."

That suddenly gave Tolkien's world a whole different complexion, that it was fundamentally a monotheistic one--well, maybe it would have been obvious if I had been older or known more about Tolkien's life at the time.

[Selmo]

To me, the Appendices are of extreem importance.
When I first read LoTR in the early 1960s, I ploughed through them with both fascination and frustration.

The reasons for my fascination, especially with The Tale of Years, will be obvious to anyone who has read the Appendices. My frustration arose from finding that there was so little detail given for important events; much more than the hints of deep history given in The Hobbit and The Lord of The Rings but still not enough to satisfy me.
My greatest frustration was because of the almost zero information from the First Age. At that time, it seemed unlikely that The Silmarillion would ever be published. I lived in fear that I would never get to know more.
.

[Arathul]

I believe Sauron did posses a gift of foresight. He's wise didn't he? i believe he foresaw that someday, an heir of isildur would've rise and dispose him out of his dark throne. this lead to his effort to end the line of isildur. aragorn father and grandfather was slain by sauron's servants. If you read The Fellowship Of The Ring, Aragorn did mentioned to Frodo during their meeting at Bree that the enemy did attempted to laid trap on him. One thing that i think that unbalance Sauron's plan (he has plan for everything) is the involvement of Hobbits in the War Of The Ring. He didn't put them in his calculations just like when Morgoth mistakenly leaving the Edain out of his calculations when he made war upon the Noldor. This cost him his early campaign.