Unfinished Tales - Part Four - I - The Drúedain

[Formendacil]

Of all the Tales that appear in this collection, the Drúedain chapter has always struck me as the oddest one. If you take away all this material, the main plot of the Middle-earth legendarium seems almost completely unaffected. Although we can see Tolkien working them into the history of the First Age, he never actually worked them into either the Grey Annals or the Quenta Silmarillion, the primary sources of the published Silmarillion. Even in The Lord of the Rings, the Woodwoses do not really advance the plot.

Hence the oddness of this material: it almost feels like what would have happened if Tolkien had come up with a more detailed history of Tom Bombadil and worked him into the movements of the First Age Nandor and the wars between Sauron and Eregion.

That said, I certainly don't dislike this material. Rather like Galadriel55--though perhaps not to the same extent--I find that it has a freshness unique in this collection. Despite the fact that all the snippets we get here are intended to work the Drúedain into the wider history of Middle-earth, it feels almost like getting a glimpse into a whole new world. This struck me particularly where Christopher Tolkien makes his comments about J.R.R. wanting to make clear the distinction between Drúgs and Hobbits (and, implicitly, Dwarves as well). Though not as homey as Hobbits--or as relate-able to the reader--the Drúgs are every bit as distinct a creation, and "Neanderthals" (to use Jallanite's word) are a bit more "plausible" perhaps than half-sized Edwardians.