What do you wish Tolkien....

[Galin]

Originally Posted by Flame of Udûn

I wish he had published complete works on all his languages especially the Elvish languages and Khuzdul would have been brilliant if there was a total vocabulary for them available and they could have been used as actual languages especially Quenya which was his attempt to form a perfect language

Well, as a wish there's nothing wrong with this obviously, but I'll just point out something Tolkien said in an interview:

"No. No. No. I wouldn't mind other people knowing it, and enjoying it, but I didn't really want to, like some people who have been equally inventive in languages [? desiring ?] to sort of make cults and have people speaking it all together, no, I don't desire to go and have an afternoon talking Elvish to chaps. For one thing of course Elvish is too complicated. I've never finished making it."


I think JRRT wanted to 'complete' some things about 'Elvish', maybe including a presentation of the historical relationships between the various Elvish language branches (at least in some measure), or producing consistent enough and satisfactory etymologies concerning a lot of his nomenclature, for another example, but I don't get the feeling he wanted to complete a given language in the sense of presenting it to the world as finished and 'usuable', like Esperanto for instance.

Not that anyone said otherwise in any case

[Elemmakil]

Another thing I should like to have seen more of is the rewrite of Hobbit c. 1960 that was intended to bring it more in line with the published LoTR. As I recall (too lazy to get up and go to the shelf...) he got three (?I think that's right) chapters in but abandoned the project when an unidentified friend, to whom he had shown the draft, commented something to the effect that "it was very good, but not The Hobbit".

While I respect the reason behind the decision, I rather wish he had postponed showing this friend the draft for at least another chapter or two (or three or...) as it was fascinating to watch how he tried to reconcile The Hobbit with his later works. For example, to help explain why Gandalf could not read the inscriptions on the swords found in the Troll cave (since, as is obvious from LoTR, he certainly could), Tolkien rewrote the text slightly to state that the swords were covered in dried orc blood, and would need to be cleaned and repolished to read any inscriptions.

The text cuts off at the end of "Roast Mutton" - had Tolkien gotten to at least the next chapter we might have been rewarded with, for example, a fuller description of Orcrist and Glamdring. While certainly not all would agree, I at least think it would have been very cool.

[The Sixth Wizard]

Of course we'd love to have a full account of Feanor's life, the grand events of the first battles of the Elves and Morgoth, and more about the crossing of the ice and the Kinslaying. Not to mention much more about Earendil's travels, a book like the Voyage of the Dawn Treader without all the Biblical allegory would be amazing.

[Cirdan]

I wish that J.R.R. had been given the life of the Eldar so he could have continued writing!

First and foremost, I'd like to read a completed Silmarillion fleshed out to the level of a couple of the Unfinished Tales like those of Tuor and Turin. What a monumental work the Silmarillion would have been if every chapter was a detailed saga!

I would also like alot more of the histories of Arnor and Gondor. Where exactly did the Dunedain of Rhudaur and Cardolan live? A lot more on Umbar, the Black Numenoreans, and how a few of them became Nazgul. The story of the slaying of Scatha the Worm, more about Dorwinion and life around the Sea of Rhun, and Nurnen, and what was built at Emyn Arnen?

[Galadriel55]

I wish there was more written on the life inside an Elvish society (except for the drunk guard in TH, that is ). What was family life like? How did Elves react to 'you have to serve this guy cause he's your lord', especially in the First Age?

I especially wondered about Rivendell. Elrond is no King, yet everyone accepts him as almost-such. Are all Elves happy to serve him? What kind of 'servant hierarchy' do they have?

[Alfirin]

Originally Posted by Elemmakil

Another thing I should like to have seen more of is the rewrite of Hobbit c. 1960 that was intended to bring it more in line with the published LoTR. As I recall (too lazy to get up and go to the shelf...) he got three (?I think that's right) chapters in but abandoned the project when an unidentified friend, to whom he had shown the draft, commented something to the effect that "it was very good, but not The Hobbit".

While I respect the reason behind the decision, I rather wish he had postponed showing this friend the draft for at least another chapter or two (or three or...) as it was fascinating to watch how he tried to reconcile The Hobbit with his later works. For example, to help explain why Gandalf could not read the inscriptions on the swords found in the Troll cave (since, as is obvious from LoTR, he certainly could), Tolkien rewrote the text slightly to state that the swords were covered in dried orc blood, and would need to be cleaned and repolished to read any inscriptions.

The text cuts off at the end of "Roast Mutton" - had Tolkien gotten to at least the next chapter we might have been rewarded with, for example, a fuller description of Orcrist and Glamdring. While certainly not all would agree, I at least think it would have been very cool.

Indeed it would. I'm particualarly curios about Glamdring's scabbard. In a footnote to the version of Tuor and his coming to Gondolin. it is mentioned that the King's sword (which is presumably Glamdring) has a sheath of "ruel bone" (said to be ivory). Perhaps a more detailed description might have answered the question of whether it was a single peice or a series of plaques, which would have bearing on the species (see my other thread)