The Fall of Númenor

And Other Tales from the Second Age of Middle-Earth

De: J.R.R. Tolkien, Brian Sibley - editor

Narrado por: Samuel West, Brian Sibley

J.R.R. Tolkien’s writings on the Second Age of Middle-earth, collected for the first time in one volume.

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.

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Reseñas de la Crítica

"How, given little over half a century of work, did one man become the creative equivalent of a people?" (The Guardian)

"Demanding to be compared with English mythologies…at times rises to the greatness of true myth." (Financial Times)

"A creation of singular beauty…magnificent in its best moments." (Washington Post)

Best Book Ever

I love this book so much, It’s amazing and I will keep listening to it.

Not everything it could be but something worthwhile

I enjoyed it but wish it spent less time explaining how tolkiens various writings fit together rather then making them fit together.

The story of aldarion and erendis

This contains some wonderful stories. A little heavy on the commentary however. aldarion and erendis is excellent.

More of a editorial, than a narrative story

The Fall of Numenor is a story from within the Silmarillion, and I thought it may have more details of the story. It does provide different context from different writings and letters, which were used to formulate the “story”, which was interesting but possibly only because I am a huge Tolkien fan.

An epic tale told masterfully

I thought I really knew this classic Tolkien history, but I really didn't. This is a great summary of one of the major parts of Tolkien's mythology, told in a deeply informative way by two narrators who each tell the story and then interject contextual facts about Tolkien's creative process and other complementary or even deviating pieces of writing. Both narrators do a great job of weaving the tale while also providing the context around the story. Given Tolkien's prolific creativity and the evolutionary nature of his writing, this is the best format for telling this kind of story while also respecting the detailed but still limited insight we have into what Tolkien ultimately wanted the story to be and how it fit into his overall legends.

I'll also add that for any fans of the Rings of Power series, this book provides great context and far more detail about the events that were adapted into that format (for which the title itself is a pretty major spoiler...). And for anyone who isn't a fan of that show and really wants to know the most definitive version of the tale as we know Tolkien intended it, this book is for you too.

Excellent companion work to the Silmarillion

If you are deep in the lore of JRR Tolkien, you will love this book. However, it doesn’t read straight through as a story. It has notes from Christopher Tolkien and Priscilla Tolkien added throughout. It goes hand in hand with the Akallabêth from the Silmarillion book. It has some very fascinating info that plays into the Tolkien lore.

The second age, before the Tolkien you know

Want to know where the elves or the rings of power came from. Here it is in great detail though not just the ready for a 2-3 hour movie version. I his is all of Tolkien’s works on the second age, the age before the hobbit began his journey.

1/2 story, 1/2 annotation

Only about 1/2 if this is an actual story, broken up constantly by notes on the source(s), discrepancies, etc. I wish they had added a "story only" chapter at the end,
I also wish the Tolkien family had their own version of Brandon Sanderson, that could take all the leftover pieces, and all the work Christopher did compiling and researching them, and turn them into stories, like Sanderson did with Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time.

Eye opener

Greatly enjoyed this story. Understanding the history better gives me a much clearer insight to the intertwining of many of the characters I’ve taken for granted. For those who truly love the stories of middle earth, and interested is finding some surprising revelations, this book is a must. The reader’s voice is clear and his reading language other than English is surprising. Be for warned - unless your very focused you will be rewinding many segments to listen again and again to get those “ah ha” moments implanted. Enjoy

From a non-Tolkien Fanatic: Great for Orientation.

Ok, I admit it. I am not a die-hard Tolkien fanatic. There. I said it. However, I did enjoy </i>Lord of the Rings</i> and <i>The Hobbit</i>. I have not read The Silmarillion, and I only picked up <i>The Fall of Númenor</i> to understand what was happening in the TV series <i>The Rings of Power</i>.

The book was totally worth it. Although not as polished or readable as LoR, it provided me with enough understanding of the series to understand the significance of Númenor and to make more sense of what was happening there. This posthumous work gives a detailed narrative of the civilization's downfall in a moving allegory for ambition, the dangers of seizing illegitimate power, hubris, and envy of the nations.

Do not expect a story in which the good guys win. After all, it is called the "Fall of Númenor." The writing is denser and heavily footnoted by editor Brian Sibley. However, a read will provide you with deeper insights into the universe created by Tolkien.