/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.19651362]

Tell me, my fellow Tolkienists, in what Tier do you find yourselves in?

I myself have started to read the Books of Lost Tales.

[Anonymous No.19651383]

>>19651362
if you're in any category besides the first two, and you're a shut in, you need to take a step out your front door

[Anonymous No.19651422]

>>19651383
Sounds like a pretty lame excuse for having read only the popular books, which even normalfags known about.

[Anonymous No.19651468]

>>19651422
Key phrase in my statement is: and you're a shut in. If you live an active life, going on your own journey, read all of the books, in fact I encourage it.

[Anonymous No.19651490]

Ignore the “first 2 tiers only” faggot. He prolly got filtered by the KINO that is The Silmarillion. Read Tolkien’s other works and his influences as much as you want.

[Anonymous No.19651499]

>>19651362
I would be in tier 3 bug I've read his green knight, pearl, and sir orfeo translations

I would probably have read more but I've gotten sidetracked with Conan and Howard's other stuff.

Is the history of middle Earth more stories or just about Tolkien writing

[Anonymous No.19651682]

>>19651499
The History of Middle-Earth is about Tolkien's writing, regarding his Legendarium. The 12 Volumes have been divided into 3 parts:
1st Part is about the earlier Silmarillion; containing the earlier versions of the tales and some early abandoned ideas. (From 1916 to the late '40s)
2nd Part is about the making-of the Lord of the Rings; showing different ideas and alternative names (from the late '40s to 1955; the publication of the three books)
3rd Part is about the later Silmarillion; it shows updated tales, plans that Tolkien would not develop further. It also added some changes to the Legendarium which Christopher would discard, in his editing of the Published Silmarillion. (from 1955 to 1973)

[Anonymous No.19651715]

>>19651682
It had some stories that, up until recently, weren't anywhere else. Like the full tale of the Fall of Gondolin or the story of Beren and Lúthien. The early versions of The Children of Húrin and of The Nauglamir (the Necklace of the Dwarves) can only be read in these volumes).

[Anonymous No.19651721]

>>19651362
Currently I am teir 3, fren. However, around this time next year I will pick up his works again and read: Fall of Gondolin, Children of Hurin, Beren and Luthien, and Unfinished Tales. Before I pass through the halls of Mandos I will have achieved the final teir, Valar willing

[Anonymous No.19651767]

>>19651721
Take it easy then, friend. A warning though. 'The Fall of Gondolin' and 'Beren and Lúthien' are not complete tales, like the 'Children of Húrin' (or any other book published by Tollers in life). They're book-long essays about the different versions of their story and their progress.

[Anonymous No.19651805]

>>19651362
How is the fall of arthur?

[Anonymous No.19652125]

>>19651805
Wish I could tell you, but I haven't read it. It's supposed to be about Arthur's last campaign and written to the style of Beowulf; deliberately excluding elements like the Grail, I hear. The tale was left unfinished, but the book shows many drafts showing somewhat it would have ended.
There are plenty of good reviews, so it shouldn't be that bad.

[Anonymous No.19652199]

>>19652125
I may pick it up if I see it
I saw it at Barnes and noble once. Thought about getting it but changed my mind because I hadn't read any other arthur stuff and worried it wouldn't make sense

[Anonymous No.19652258]

>>19652199
Yeah. Can understand your concern. Having more knowledge about Arthur's legend would give more context to a book, seemengly about his fall.

[Anonymous No.19652260]

Tier 3 + Children of Húrin. Currently re-reading LotR, then moving on to unfinished tales and the History.

Children of Húrin was basically an expanded version of Túrin Turambar in the Silmarillion, So I'm tempted to put off The Fall of Gondolin and Beren and Luthien until later.

[Anonymous No.19652321]

>>19652260
>Children of Húrin was basically an expanded version of Túrin Turambar in the Silmarillion, So I'm tempted to put off The Fall of Gondolin and Beren and Luthien until later.
Is there really that much added in these?

[Anonymous No.19652480]

>>19652321
>>19652260
I would recommend to read those two books after UT but before the HoMe books.
UT's first two chapters of part 1 contain a non-edited version of the 'Narn I Chin Húrin' (with additional commentry) and the last version of the Fall of Gondolin. The book of the Fall of Gondolin re-tells but the additional commentary in it tells why it was left as is.
Lastly, the first two books of HoMe (The Book of Lost Tales 1 & 2) tells the early versions of those two tales (which appear in their own dedicated books, but with their own unique commentary).
This of course is my own assessment.

[Anonymous No.19654112]

>>19651362
Tier 2

[Anonymous No.19654118]

I'm tier 2 but I've read the kalevala and poetic edda

[Anonymous No.19654121]

>>19651362
Is Tolkien worth reading? I’d like to give him a go, those really are a lot of books though and I already have a backlog. Is his writing that compelling?

[Anonymous No.19654148]

Tier 3 plus Beowulf, The Green Knight, and Tales from the Perilous Realm. Leaf by Niggle has been a favorite of mine since I was a kid.

[Anonymous No.19654421]

>>19654121
I'm not a big reader. I'm very particular with who I will read. And I like his style of writing. I think you will find few who will say, the man is poor at world building. He was well adept with quite a few subjects and showed you without being a douche or boring.

[Anonymous No.19654437]

>>19651362
>no farmer Giles
Shit list and discarded.

[Anonymous No.19654515]

>>19654437
What do you mean? It's already listed, buddy.

[Anonymous No.19654537]

>>19651362
Still need to write the descriptions on each tier.

[Anonymous No.19654634]

>>19651362
Tolkien's essays are well worth taking a look at, especially the one about Beowulf. He's basically responsible for much of its popularity outside academia. Other then that, I'm not going past the Silmarillion.

[Anonymous No.19654735]

Many people seem to get filtered by the Silmarillion. Why is that?

[Anonymous No.19654842]

>>19654121
Yeah, lord of the rings basically turned fantasy from pulp stories to the huge high fantasy novels that now rule the genre

It's held as a classic because it's good. I'd say read the Hobbit. It's a self contained story and the prequel to Lord of the Rings. If you like it read Lord of the Rings. If you like the appendices and world building in it then read the silmarillion.
I enjoyed all of them.

[Anonymous No.19655437]

>>19651767
I will keep that in mind, then. So the "full" versions of it are found in Unfinished Tales or are already in the Silmarilion? I was really looking forward to reading a gull narrative of the fall of Gondolin, rather than just the few chapters that were in Sil

[Anonymous No.19655459]

>>19651362
>tier 1
child
>tier 2
normal people
>tier 3 and above
austimo maximus

[Anonymous No.19655462]

>>19654735
because it's Naked Lunch level obfuscated

[Anonymous No.19655669]

>>19655462
>literally told as a set of stories with recuring characters in chronological order, from the start of the universe to the end of the first age
>Is like reading history or greek epics
>"muh too many characters with the same names"
Smoothebrain filter indeed

[Anonymous No.19655874]

>>19655669
more like sieve of autism

[Anonymous No.19656054]

>>19651362
why unfinished tales before the other great tales?

[Anonymous No.19656432]

>>19655874
Not really, I say. You just need to pay closer attention and read more carefully.
If you've read the Appendices, on the RotK, once or twice you'd already know a very brief telling of events of the 1st and 2nd Ages.

[Anonymous No.19656433]

>tier 3
Feels kind of ok, I've had enough of Tolkien.

[Anonymous No.19656438]

>>19656433
I'd like to add that reading Silmalirion as a kid and figuring our who's who by reverting to appendices and maps makes for a very interesting experience. Obviously I would find it boring now, but that's just because I've become jaded.

[Anonymous No.19656448]

>>19656054
I think the UT works well as 'Second Appendices' to the world, and not just as a compilation of unfinished stories. The book answers questions that readers had asked when the LotR had been firstly published like: the Seeing Stones; the 5 Wizards; so on. It also gives more details on Númenor, on the realms of the Wood Elves, and other stuff.

[Anonymous No.19656453]

>>19656448
That's why I had put it to read before the 2 other Great Tales.

[Anonymous No.19656705]

>>19655437
It is difficult to say and explain.
You'll get most information about the Fall of Gondolin in its own book. The version told in the Silmarillion is a condensed version of events (first written in the 1930s and later edited by Christopher to make it consistent with the other tales). The chapter told in UT "Of Tuor and his coming to Gondolin", just as the title says, only talks about the character's coming to the city; that version is further explained in its dedicated book along with other versions of its tale .

[Anonymous No.19656778]

>>19654735
A lot of names at the start and average dickhead cant remember any of that,especially because some get relevant later on and some are just in the background, mentioned

[Anonymous No.19656859]

>>19651362
This book doesn't seem to be on the list.

[Anonymous No.19656869]

>>19651362
Tier 0:
Reject fantasyshit and have sex

[Anonymous No.19656919]

>>19656869
Lol no.
You'd be surprised know many women dig Fantasy and elfshit. I'm serious, a lot of chicks have read the Silmarillion for the elves; tons of fan artwork and fanfics.

[Anonymous No.19657277]

>>19656448
>The book answers questions that readers had asked when the LotR had been firstly published like: the Seeing Stones; the 5 Wizards; so on.
Really? I didn't know this. Do we get more details on the blue wizards and what happened to them? Seems like they failed getting the Easterlings to fight against Sauron so I can only assumed they died

[Anonymous No.19657310]

>>19656919
But how many of those chicks aren't hambeasts?

[Anonymous No.19657323]

>>19656869
My wife hates fantasy but she is an exception. Most women like at least some of it. It's why game of thrones and Harry Potter got so big. It's also why I just stick to Conan and Tolkien

[Anonymous No.19657417]

There are certainly some, but most are fairly hot, I think.

[Anonymous No.19657422]

>>19657310
>>19657417

[Anonymous No.19657430]

>>19655462
I am unironically offended that you would compare those two books. Seething even.

[Anonymous No.19657519]

tier 0.
read it too old and got filtered by it.

[Anonymous No.19657538]

I had no idea he translated works. I have Gawain by a different author, what did he do besides Beowulf and Gawain

[Anonymous No.19657560]

>>19651362
The poetic edda shouldn't be that high/low or whatever.
If you go so far as to read silmarillion you should read the edda too.

[Anonymous No.19657650]

>>19651362
I had to do a project on Tolkien and his work back in high school, and it was fascinating and I've always meant to read his work, but I haven't yet so I'm not even on tier 1. This thread has inspired me to start on it as soon as I finish Atlas Shrugged though, so thank you for that.

[Anonymous No.19657658]

>>19657560
Prose or poetic first?

[Anonymous No.19659076]

>>19657650
Bamp

[Anonymous No.19659226]

what tier for people who have only read the silmarillion

[Anonymous No.19659260]

>>19659226
Autism tier

[Anonymous No.19659646]

>>19659226
I'd say tier 3. The Silmarillion was also my first book. Of course reading the previous books seem a next thing to do.

>>19659260
You're just jealous because you can't read.

[Anonymous No.19660463]

>>19659646
I attempted to read both The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings and dropped both within the first few chapters. On the other hand I have read The Silmarillion three times. I am fairly certain there is something wrong with me

[Anonymous No.19660470]

>>19651468
Active life?

[Anonymous No.19660955]

>>19660463
Did you stop at the Tom Bombadil chapters?

[Anonymous No.19661211]

>>19660955
I got to Rivendell in LotR and then dropped. I actually thought Tom Bombadil was a fascinating character

[Anonymous No.19661832]

Tier 9. I'd consider reading The History of Middle-Earth as well as the essays of Tolkien scholars like Michael Martinez essential reading for any Tolkien fan. Too often, people only read The Silmarillion and LotR and accept all the writings of The Silmarillion as "canon", even if that is clearly false – such as Morgoth being thrown to the void and returning in Dagor Dagorath, despite the fact that in Tolkien's latest writings, Morgoth is executed and Dagor Dagorath is largely abandoned as an idea; or the idea of Balrogs existing as large hordes and 1st age elves killing them by the dozen, even though those writings come from very early drafts and by the 1950's, Tolkien had largely abandoned them in place of just a few, much stronger Balrogs et cetera. I think the most important thing for any Tolkien fan is to realize that The Silmarillion is not a coherent text, as Tolkien never could finish it as he wanted, and that it's more of an amalgam of different sketches from earlier decades.

[Anonymous No.19662279]

>>19660463
Do you not like the songs or what is the issue?

[Anonymous No.19662411]

>>19661832
You've read the new Nature of Middle-earth book? If so, thoughts?

[Anonymous No.19662420]

>>19651383
tier 3 is acceptable

[Anonymous No.19662431]

>>19660470
opposite of shut in

[Anonymous No.19662477]

>>19662411
I liked it very much, it's nice additional reading to The History of Middle-Earth. Really fleshes out some concepts.

[Anonymous No.19662613]

>>19662477
Well that's good. I'd been wondering if Hostetter is a great successor to Christopher, regarding editorial work and commentary.

[Anonymous No.19662640]

>>19651362
I’ve read everything in Tier 3 and then some of the letters and translations, so I guess I’ll put myself in Tier 4.

[Anonymous No.19663430]

Tier 3 plus the stories from Tales from a Perilous Realm and his Beowulf translation.

[Anonymous No.19663542]

I'm tier 5 with some Beowulf and Green Knight.