[Suzerain of Sheol]

Well, I hate to be pessimistic, but Christopher is 87 years old. I don't really think anyone else could do the work even a semblance of justice.

Also, I did find out that he's published a few things of his own, and he was also a professor at Oxford like his father.

[Quiet Man Cometh]

Ah. Well there's always the potential that there wasn't enough there to begin with. Dunno. Were there stories like that in Unfinished Tales? Haven't read that one either. Might need it just to flesh out my collection.

[Suzerain of Sheol]

Um... well, Unfinished Tales is a very strange book. It's from extremely early in his writing and is as much a story about his process of developing the setting as it is about the setting itself. The stories in it are all weird variants and precursors to stories in the Silm.

The Book of Lost Tales is a bit better, being the sort of deleted scenes to his main books, but even then, they weren't finished. Christopher made the best with what he had. I specifically remember "Of Tuor and his Coming to Gondolin" just ends abruptly halfway through, which is a shame. Tuor was awesome, from the little that's written about him.

The thing about the Fall of Gondolin is that it's a rather long, mostly complete story arc, spanning several chapters spaced out throughout the Silm. and given more detail in Lost Tales.

Beren and Luthien is another longer story, and I think there was more to it that didn't make it into the Silm.

And the Children of Hurin was one of Tolkien's favorites. He wrote many different versions of it, including a multi-thousand line poem in perfect verse and meter.

I can't think of any other tales that would work as stand-alone novels. The only other story of that length that comes to mind is the Akallabeth, that is, the Downfall of Numenor, but unfortunately, that story takes place over hundreds and thousands of years and only really works as a history-book type recounting. There are no consistent focal character (besides Sauron. :p)

I do wish that more had been written about the War of Wrath, as it's depressingly under-detailed and sparse for being the most epic battle in the history of Arda.

[Quiet Man Cometh]

Forgot about Lost Tales. I'm not sure I've actually seen that one around, to think of it, at least not often. There are more names appearing that I don't know. I'm still having a hard time sorting the F'ing elves out.

[Suzerain of Sheol]

I only have the first Book of Lost Tales. There are two, I believe. Then, there's ten more volumes in the History of Middle-Earth series, none of which I've read. I do somewhat want to read them all, though.

[Suzerain of Sheol]

*kicks thread*

We shall now talk about Frodo and Sam's chapters. Does anyone else find these boring? They're a chore for me to get through on re-reads, anymore.

[Kyp]

The major chore has been and always will be the council of Elrond.
Although even that is not as hard to get through as the music of the Ainur.
I quite like the chapters with Sam going solo. He's quite a brave hobbit as hobbits go.

[Suzerain of Sheol]

I felt that way about the Council of Elrond when I first read the book, but after reading the Silmarillion and having it as a backdrop, that's one of my favorite chapters.

The Music of the Ainur is probably the reason so many people don't read the Silmarillion. It's a very off-putting way to open the book (though it's also essential). I imagine the stories of the elves that come later would be a lot more appealing to people coming in fresh from tLotR.

[Quiet Man Cometh]

I did have an easier time with the council of Elrond than the Music of the Ainur. That's the part I did get through in the Irish laundromat. I made it as far as the council of Elrond before I watched the movie, which actually made the movie more enjoyable I think because I could tell from the first half what changes were being made so while the second half of the movie was surprise (never read the books before then) it gave me an idea of the changes that would be made so I didn't have problems going back to the book.

[Suzerain of Sheol]

I still cling to the assertion that Glorfindel should have joined the Fellowship instead of Pippin. That is *such* a fun thought experiment.

[Quiet Man Cometh]

That was the idea wasn't it?

I have not read much about Glorfindel I'm afraid, so I am woefully ignorant of the awesomness with which he comported himself in the threads of the Silmarillion. Mayhaps the situation shall be rectified, though sadly that is more likely to be later rather than sooner.

[Suzerain of Sheol]

I'm of the opinion that the loss of Pippin's useful actions would be outweighed by having a Balrog-slaying resurrected Nolder lord of the house of Fingolfin who looked upon the Light of the Trees along. But, that's just me. ;)

[Quiet Man Cometh]

We may never know what was going on in Tolkein's head when the two hobbits barged into the council to screw things up.

Unless it was the fact that Glorfindel was too uber and would make the journey easy. You'd never want that!

[Suzerain of Sheol]

Just think about this:

We don't have Pippin along. No goblin attack in Moria, (or, at least it's delayed).

If the Balrog is still roused, we know have both Gandalf and Glorfindel to take it down. They should both survive, as it is NOT a foe beyond Glorfindel.

So, Gandalf lives. Presumably, no orcs chase them out of Moria since Glorfindel is SHINY and terrifying.

They reach Lothlorien in much better spirits, and together, Glorf. and Gandalf gain much more wisdom and insight from Galadriel and Celeborn.

They sail south and part ways as intended. Aragorn goes west with Boromir and is crowned king. Gandalf and Glorfindel either accompany Frodo to Mordor or go to help rally Rohan.

I could go on...

[Quiet Man Cometh]

This line of thought appears to run a little close to "ask the eagles."

Merry wasn't supposed to get there either, don't forget. Who do we get instead of him?

[Suzerain of Sheol]

Oh, yes. Did I ever show the essay on debunking why the eagles wouldn't have worked? :p

And I'm sure we could think of someone to send instead of Merry. I mean, almost anyone would be better.