374 – Holding Back the Years

Tolkien is forced to shrink the Tale of Years to satisfy his publisher; James is forced to co-host a few episodes of the PPP to satisfy Alan. Join The Man of the West and The Sage of the South as we get to the sooner or later, flying through the history of the Second and Third Ages of Middle-earth in our look at Appendix B to The Lord of the Rings, known as The Tale of Years. Bias creeps in as historians change the Second Age record; Tolkien finds the limitations ‘profoundly uncongenial’; and Celebrimbor’s publicist would like a word. We speculate about hobbit libraries, give another shout out to The Lord of the Rings Online, and get a little choked up. Also, we don’t talk about Pharazôn-o.

Recommended Reading


The Hobbit
Tolkien, J. R. R. (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, paperback)

The Fellowship of the Ring: Being the First Part of the Lord of the Rings
Tolkien, J. R. R. (William Morrow, paperback)

The Two Towers: Being the Second Part of the Lord of the Rings
Tolkien, J. R. R. (William Morrow, paperback)

The Return of the King: Being the Third Part of the Lord of the Rings
Tolkien, J. R. R. (William Morrow, paperback)

The Peoples of Middle-earth
Tolkien, J. R. R. (Christopher Tolkien, ed.) (Harper Collins, paperback)

Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth
Tolkien, J. R. R. (Christopher Tolkien, ed.) (William Morrow, paperback)

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