Christopher Tolkien to finish lost Middle Earth novel - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

Aiwendil · 09-24-2006, 03:10 PM

Three hundred and twenty pages? Now that is interesting . . .

The "Narn i Chin Hurin" in Unfinished Tales runs to about 110 pages in my edition. If we add in material from the GA and QS to fill the missing section between the arrival at Amon Rudh and the fall of Nargothrond, we might, perhaps, have 140 pages, or 150 at most.

I suppose the account of Nirnaeth Arnoediad associated with the "Narn" would probably be included as well, which adds perhaps 15 pages or so. Some introduction may also be included, summarising the story of the Silmarillion up to that point - allow another 20 pages or so for this (though that seems on the long side to me).

All this yields, at most, about 200 pages, assuming fairly ordinary typesetting. Naturally, some illustrations, indices, etc. will take up additional space, but it's hard to imagine them amounting to 120 pages.

Perhaps "The Wanderings of Hurin" is to be included. That could scarcely be done, however, unless either: 1. the work is to have a very strange ending, proceeding beyond the obvious climax of the story only to fizzle out suddenly or 2. Christopher Tolkien has done some substantial creative writing to smooth out the end of "Wanderings".

I suppose another possibility is that Christopher has taken done some creative writing to fill in the middle parts of the "Narn".

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09-24-2006, 03:10 PM	#15
Aiwendil Late Istar Join Date: Mar 2001 Posts: 2,224	Three hundred and twenty pages? Now that is interesting . . . The "Narn i Chin Hurin" in Unfinished Tales runs to about 110 pages in my edition. If we add in material from the GA and QS to fill the missing section between the arrival at Amon Rudh and the fall of Nargothrond, we might, perhaps, have 140 pages, or 150 at most. I suppose the account of Nirnaeth Arnoediad associated with the "Narn" would probably be included as well, which adds perhaps 15 pages or so. Some introduction may also be included, summarising the story of the Silmarillion up to that point - allow another 20 pages or so for this (though that seems on the long side to me). All this yields, at most, about 200 pages, assuming fairly ordinary typesetting. Naturally, some illustrations, indices, etc. will take up additional space, but it's hard to imagine them amounting to 120 pages. Perhaps "The Wanderings of Hurin" is to be included. That could scarcely be done, however, unless either: 1. the work is to have a very strange ending, proceeding beyond the obvious climax of the story only to fizzle out suddenly or 2. Christopher Tolkien has done some substantial creative writing to smooth out the end of "Wanderings". I suppose another possibility is that Christopher has taken done some creative writing to fill in the middle parts of the "Narn".