Because of the fire and storm digital conversation about the Amazon Prime series, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, some may have missed a little bit of good Tolkien news. HarperCollins is releasing another Middle-earth legendarium book–an event that I always look forward to. Following the 12-volume History of Middle-earth, Christopher Tolkien published a trilogy of First Age Middle-earth tales:

• The Children of Húrin (2007)
• Beren and Lúthien (2017)
• The Fall of Gondolin (2018)

Given that the Prime Rings of Power show is set in the Second Age, I am not surprised to see that at Second Age book is on its way. The Fall of Númenor, and Other Tales from the Second Age of Middle-earth is edited by Brian Sibley, a famous adapter of Tolkien’s works. I do not haunt the digital hallways of Tolkien speculation, and neither am I privileged to have seen an advance copy of the book. I have not even seen a Table of Contents yet. However, according to the publisher’s description (below), it looks like it follows the Chronology of the Westlands, or the Tale of Years, in capturing many of the great stories of the Second Age of Middle-earth. Reputedly, there are ten new Alan Lee paintings (as slides), as well as pencil sketches and his art on the cover. The Fall of Númenor is set to release in mid-November in the United States–though not until Christmas here in Canada.

For those who are anxious to get explore the Second Age–either to anticipate the new The Fall of Númenor collection or to deepen your experience of The Rings of Power–I thought I would share my “Reading Sheet on the Downfall of Númenor.” I spoke in the summer at TolkienMoot XVIII on the collapse of Númenor in the Second Age, and thought this might be helpful to some. It is not anything original, and I might be missing things you think should be here. However, this works as a brief back-pocket guide to one of Tolkien’s central myths: Ar-Pharazôn the Pretender, Sauron’s defeat and his haunting cult of death, the Númenórean transgression of the Ban of the Valar, the White Tree of Númenor burning and finding new life in hope, Eru Ilúvatar’s destruction of the island of Númenor, the last King’s fleet lost in the chasm, the remaking of the world, and the founding of Arnor and Gondor by Elendil’s sons, Isildur and Anárion.

And, of course, the story begins again, Isildur’s bane and the rings of power the temptation of Frodo and all that follows–as well as all that preceded, the Sinking of Atlantis, the Garden of Eden, all the stories we share. The Downfall of Númenor is a myth that was with Tolkien for most of his life and patterns much of what he gave us.

Texts of the Downfall of Númenor

This list includes Second Age stories, with stories specifically about the Downfall in bold.

Letter #131 To Milton Waldman (2^nd age) in Humphrey Carpenter’s Tolkien letter collection

The Return of the King

• Parts of Appendix A, “The Númenorean Kings,” “Gondor and the Heirs of Anárion” (roughly the first 1/6^th)
• Appendix B, “The Second Age” (2^nd age)

The Silmarillion

• “Akallabêth,” especially “The Downfall of Númenor”
• “Of the Rings of Power” (2^nd age)

Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth (2^nd age)

• A Description of the Island of Númenor/The Line of Elros
• Aldarion and Erendis
• The History of Galadriel and Celeborn and Appendices

The Lost Road and Other Writings (History of Middle-earth 5)

• 1: The Early History of the Legend
• 2: The Fall of Númenor
• 3: The Lost Road

Sauron Defeated (History of Middle-earth 9)

• The Notion Club Papers
• Part Three: The Drowning of Anadûnê

The Peoples of Middle-earth (History of Middle-earth 12)

• The History of the Akallabêth
• Tal-Elmar (2^nd age)
• Of Dwarves and Men/Glorfindel (2^nd age)
• The Tale of Years of the Second Age/The Heirs of Elendil/The Making of Appendix A (2^nd age)

Publisher’s Description for The Fall of Númenor

J.R.R. Tolkien famously described the Second Age of Middle-earth as a ‘dark age, and not very much of its history is (or need be) told’. And for many years readers would need to be content with the tantalizing glimpses of it found within the pages of The Lord of the Rings and its appendices, including the forging of the Rings of Power, the building of the Barad-dûr and the rise of Sauron.

It was not until Christopher Tolkien published The Silmarillion after his father’s death that a fuller story could be told. Although much of the book’s content concerned the First Age of Middle-earth, there were at its close two key works that revealed the tumultuous events concerning the rise and fall of the island of Númenor. Raised out of the Great Sea and gifted to the Men of Middle-earth as a reward for aiding the angelic Valar and the Elves in the defeat and capture of the Dark Lord Morgoth, the kingdom became a seat of influence and wealth; but as the Númenóreans’ power increased, the seed of their downfall would inevitably be sown, culminating in the Last Alliance of Elves and Men.

Even greater insight into the Second Age would be revealed in subsequent publications, first in Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth, then expanded upon in Christopher Tolkien’s magisterial twelve-volume The History of Middle-earth, in which he presented and discussed a wealth of further tales written by his father, many in draft form.

Now, adhering to the timeline of ‘The Tale of Years’ in the appendices to The Lord of the Rings, editor Brian Sibley has assembled into one comprehensive volume a new chronicle of the Second Age of Middle-earth, told substantially in the words of J.R.R. Tolkien from the various published texts, with new illustrations in watercolour and pencil by the doyen of Tolkien art, Alan Lee.