The J.R.R. Tolkien Companion and Guide

[Voronwë the Faithful]

I finally picked up this massive two-volume work by Tolkien scholars (and wife and husband) Christina Scull & Wayne G. Hammond. I ordered it mainly because I had heard that the section on The Silmarillion had some overlap to my own work, and I wanted to check that out and see (A) how much overlap there really was; and (B) whether there was any conflicting information. I basically wanted to see whether it rendered my own work superfluous.

Having already gotten Scull and Hammond's The Lord of the Rings: A Reader's Companion, I had some idea of what to expect. If there is such a thing as "too much information", this is it. The two volumes are divided between a "Chronology" and a "Readers Guide". The Chronology - the considerably smaller of the two volumes - is 1000 pages of very small print, detailing virtually every event related to Tolkien that is known. In thumbing through it (one can not do anything but thumb through this work; it is virtually impossible to actually read it) I kept waiting for an entry saying "12 January 1967 Tolkien uses the rest room on this day." Here is an actual sample (chosen at random): "Late October 1963 Michael Tolkien, now a schoolmaster at the Oratory School, Woodcote, writes to his father. he is depressed, not well, and refers to his 'sagging faith' (quoted in Letters, p. 337."

As for the "Reader's Guide" it is over 1250 pages of that same small type. It is in encyclopedic format, with entries not only for every piece of work that Tolkien ever wrote, but also for every person, place or thing that influenced him in creating those works. The problem is, there is so much information, that is virtually impossible to actually find something that you are looking for.

In regard to my issue that I mention above, I discovered that there are entries for The Silmarillion, itself, as well as 'the Silmarillion', and one for each chapter of the The Silmarillion (placed in the text in alphabetical order disregarding the "Of the" at the beginning) as well as entries for all of the source text. I have found some overlapping information, but not a huge amount. The entries on each chapter have a history of the work on that material, which is something that I considered including and decide not to, for which I am thankful. They then include a brief statement of what Christopher used as a source for the published text. These statements are far less detailed than what I included (even with the much less detailed revised version that I am working on). And there is no commentary about the choices made whatsoever, which is not very surprising since this work is specifically authorized by Christopher. And these statements are so scattered throughout the work that it would be very difficult to get a coherent picture of the creation of the published Silmarillion as a whole from this work. For these reasons, I don't believe that the existence of this work renders my work superfluous. Fortunately, I have not yet found any conflicting information.

Please don't get me wrong. This is an extraordinary work, representing an absolutely mind-boggling amount of work. I do wish that it were presented in a way that was somewhat more accessible. There is no listing of the entries. There is not even a header on the top of the page indicating what entry one is in the middle of. On the other hand, one can open the book at random and be likely to find some piece of information of interest. It is worth owning, but be prepared to be frustrated.

[Andreth]

I picked up the set myself. I don't think it's terribly user-friendly. Great for picking out things at random but it seems harder to find something you are specifically looking for the way it is organized or unorganized in this case.

[Inanna]

Sounds like the kind of set which should be converted into an online/digital format with a search-able Index.

[solicitr]

The printed index is first-rate, and helpfully is a single index which covers both volumes, distinguished as I and II.

[Old_Tom_Bombadil]

Having already gotten Scull and Hammond's The Lord of the Rings: A Reader's Companion, I had some idea of what to expect.

I purchased the LOTR Companion a few months ago at the suggestion of a friend/kinmate from LOTRO. Of course I immediatey went to the section of Tom Bombadil; I looked up a few other items as well. It seems to be a pretty good resource if you don't own all of the other Tolkien books (HOME, UT, etc.), or if you can't remember where things are. I'm happy to have it among my vast Tolkien library.

The Tolkien guide goes for around $60 IIRC. I'll probably pass on that one.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Given how much information is contained within, that price is cheap.

[solicitr]

The LR Companion contains a LOT of material not available elsewhere. H&S used the Marquette manuscripts to give excerpts from Tolkien's time-schemes and the Hunt for the Ring documents, as well as comments from Christopher Tolkien and First Edition readings, that just aren't to be found in UT or HME.