I don’t think I have too much to say about _The Treason of Isengard_. It is very much, of course, a continuation of the previous HoME volume as we follow Tolkien’s further development of the story of the Lord of the Rings in as near a chronological manner as Christopher Tolkien is able to piece together from the numerous drafts, re-writings, and changes in his father’s text. That is perhaps the first thing to note: throughout the HoME series it has become obvious that Christopher Tolkien really did take on a monumental task in choosing to edit the early works/drafts of his father given the method (or madness?) of Tolkien’s writing process. That is definitely apparent in spades in this volume. Not only was Tolkien an inveterate re-writer, continually going back to the beginning of a previously written text to ‘polish it up’, only to end up re-writing the whole damn thing…usually before he had even finished the first draft of the initial phase, he was also in the habit of erasing and/or overwriting earlier pencil drafts in ink, adding marginal notes throughout, was often working on multiple competing versions of the same plot elements at the same time, and even inserting riders and writing stray notes on any scrap of paper he could find that refer to text on the ‘main’ pages. Truly a dizzying puzzle to try and unravel if one wants to discover a sequential progression in the text.

Some of the major developments to note in this volume:

-tHere we see the final change of our friend Trotter the wooden shoe wearing hobbit-ranger to the figure that would eventually become Aragorn, son of Arathorn, heir of Isildur.

-tSaruman emerges as a figure in the text (already a traitor), though still in a fairly minor role compared to the one he will occupy later.

-tLothlorien and Galadriel emerge seemingly from nowhere, an important development indeed given the central place Galadriel would come to occupy in Tolkien’s mind (to the point where he would go back and re-write huge segments of the Silmarillion material so she could be included…though that is not even hinted at yet).

-tGandalf is gradually raised in stature from the little old man who happens to be a wizard we saw in the original version of The Hobbit to something much more (though the concept of the Istari is not yet in place).

-tRohan and the society of the Riders developing out of whole cloth with obvious nods to Tolkien’s love of Anglo-Saxon culture and literature (esp. Beowulf) being apparent in their genesis.

-tSome fun tidbits: it appears that Gandalf’s fall in Moria and subsequent return were part of the plan from the beginning; since we still have no Arwen the initial plan points to Aragorn falling for Eowyn when he meets her in Theoden’s Golden Hall (great vindication for numerous fan fic writers out there no doubt); Boromir was at first going to be an unremitting traitor who didn’t heroically die at the hands of Orcs while trying to save Merry and Pippin, but who would actually have been a full rival of Aragorn as the two vied for control of Minas Tirith.

Required reading if you have read the preceding volume and want to know how the story further grows and develops, but definitely not the point you want to start with the HoME series.

This was one of the volumes of The History of Middle-earth that my local library didn't have when I was a teen, so it has always been a volume of minor fascination to me as a gap in the deeper-set foundations of my Tolkien knowledge, but it's just possible that the reason for this is that I have at forgotten this book a few times. Though having just reread it, I am currently of the mindset that this is the volume where The Lord of the Rings as we know it really took shape...

As always with this series I find Christopher’s dedication and determination to compile all of this immensely interesting and thank him for the hours and hours of work it must have entailed, and the insight to how a great writer crafts his stories is invaluable and sadly with the advent of modern word processing, something we are unlikely to see laid out in this way ever again.

A little slow, making me wonder if I am getting tired of reading these drafts, or if the drafting of the Lord of the Rings is less interesting than that of The Silmarillion. Much of the problem with this part of the series, I think, comes from the fact that Tolkien actually finished The Lord of the Rings, compared to the complete rewrites of The Silmarillion, which was only published after his death. So much of the book is Christopher Tolkien listing only differences, instead of actually giving full drafts. Doing the latter is out of the question, as we would get so many repetitive drafts of nearly the same thing that the readers certainly wouldn't be able to tell the difference.
http://ossuslibrary.tripod.com/Bk_Fan...

The fascinating evolution of Tolkien's characters and events continues in this second part of The History of The Lord of the Rings. The emergence of important elements, and the subsequent reshaping of the overall adventure is always interesting to read, and is highly informative of Tolkien's ongoing search for relevance and meaning in the unfolding – and expanding – storyline.

Christopher Tolkien provides solid reasoning and informed opinion on various issues and alterations, and gives us an insight into his father's writing processes and general thinking by determining when text or notes were most likely written, and how the timeline of events was continuously updated as new developments impacted on chapters already conceived.

Although this series of books is full of detailed discussion and repeated examinations of material already covered, I've not found myself bored or confused by either the tone or the content at any point so far. There is great intrigue in the way that Tolkien constructs TLotR – its complex history, overlapping subplots and broad themes – with many important parts of the final story only appearing at the time of writing without preparation or earlier consideration. This 'behind the scenes' access never fails to appeal, especially with Christopher's personal connection, which significantly adds to the authenticity.

Picking up where the last one ended (yet another revision of the chapters up to the Mines of Moria, this goes through yet more revisions and returns to previously abandoned ideas, the most interesting being Hamilcar Bolger, aka Ham, and his adventures first as an abductee of the Nazgul and then as a traveling companion to Gandalf. Just the thought of the Nazgul riding around the countryside with Ham is humorous to me - until you realize that they'd just kill him upon discovering he doesn't have the ring. Tolkien came to the same conclusion and finally cut him from the quest. :( (But he'll survive in Fatty Bolger, as the hobbit who stayed behind.)

It was interesting to see that Tolkien thought he could wrap up this story more quickly than actually happened. His preliminary outline of Frodo and Sam's journey cut right to Cirith Ungol and he clearly had no idea how to get them out of that situation. There's no hint of the passage of the Dead Marshes, and certainly no hint of Faramir. Heck, he just barely came up with Denethor.

Seeing the Rohan side of things was interesting too. Treebeard is finally determined not to be evil, Saruman was theorized to be the balrog for a hot minute, Wormtongue's just a dude in Théoden's court, Théoden momentarily had a daughter who was just as quickly overlooked and discarded, poor thing, among other things. The outlines and discarded ideas and storylines in these histories are a treasure trove for AU fanfics.

Sadly, a lot of the earliest writing of the Rohan chapters was "lost" due to Tolkien's habit during this time to erase the penciled draft and write over it in ink. It was interesting to see things like the actual Mariner song that should have been in the published LOTR but was misplaced at the time of submission, and the various little mistakes that never got edited out of the book, and not all of them are easily remedied, such as what exactly was Shadowfax up to between Weathertop/Rivendell and him showing up in Rohan three months later, since it obviously wouldn't have taken him that long to get there. (I decided he found Bill the Pony wandering around after being released outside Moria and escorted him to Bree. :D Before that? I don't know. Probably just enjoying his freedom, lol.)

This ends with the King of the Golden Hall, and a rough outline of the Frodo and Sam chapters up to the escape from Cirith Ungol, and Tolkien realizing he'd need to split the storylines and move Frodo and Sam's half to after everyone else's parts.

Ismét remek élmény volt belefelejtkezni a tolkieni világba. A könyv a Gyűrűk Ura keletkezésének a történetét Gandalf késlekedésétől egészen a rohani megérkezésig írja le, sok esetben számos párhuzamos vázlatot, kapcsolódó jegyzeteket ismertetve, amiből többé kevésbé kiderül, hogyan született meg a mestermű végleges formája. Persze ehhez jó, ha esetleg az emberben viszonylag frissen él a Gyűrű Szövetsége és a Két Torony, de ha éppenséggel főleg a filmekre emlékszik, akkor is garantált az élmény.
---SPOILER---
A könyv azt mutatja be, hogy milyen kezdeti ötletekből alakult a történet, a szereplők neve, jelleme stb. És mindez kirívóan szórakoztató tud lenni. Amit az olvasók természetesnek vesznek, hiszen kanonizálódott, az ezekben a jegyzetekben még teljesen eltérően is szerepelhet. Itt Frodó már Frodó (nem úgy, mint az előző kötet Bingója), de Aragorn például jórészt még Kótogi, Ingold vagy Tündekő, Radagastra Gandalf az unokatestvéreként hivatkozik, Boromir az árulása után Saruman szolgálatába áll, Szilszakáll egy óriás, Aragorn összeházasodik Éowinnal... és még hosszan lehetne sorolni a furcsaságokat, a Tolkien-univerzumot ismerők számára mókás, olykor megmosolyogtató, olykor szinte szentségtörésnek tűnő ötleteket, elgondolásokat.
---SPOILER VÉGE---
Döbbenetes belelátni az alkotói folyamatba, és talán csak jó pillanatban kapott el a könyv, de én tényleg még azokat a részeket is élveztem, ami arról szólt, hogy bizonyos vázlatok éppen milyen vizsgadolgozat hátuljára, tollal vagy ceruzával lettek írva/felülírva stb.
Szokás szerint elképesztő szerkesztői munka áll mögötte Christopher Tolkien részéről, de a magyar fordítók és szerkesztők helyében sem lettem volna, ők is bizonyára megküzdöttek a rengeteg hivatkozással, a fordítási nüanszokkal.
Végtelenül igényes kiadvány, aki hozzám hasonló hatalmas Gyűrűk Ura és Tolkien-rajongó, annak kihagyhatatlan olvasmány.

In my review of the previous volume in Christopher Tolkien's History Of Middle-Earth, I said that it was a quicker, easier read than some of the earlier books in the series. One of the main reasons for this is that the four books that make up The History of the Lord of the Rings--the series-within-a-series--lead to an actual published endpoint. There is a final, definitive Lord of the Rings, and so it's enjoyable to see the early ideas and drafts heading toward the familiar story.

The second volume of The History of the Lord of the Rings, The Treason of Isengard, is, however, a slightly more tedious read than The Return of the Shadow. One reason is that the first 189 pages are rewrites of material that was covered in The Return of the Shadow. The developments and changes are more slight--as of course they must be when it's existing material being revised, rather than new writing coming out of nothing. But once the drafts push on beyond the end of The Fellowship of the Ring, it is remarkable how quickly many of the major elements in the final story fall into place. I was especially interested to learn in what order Tolkien wrote the story once the Fellowship breaks apart.

Throughout the drafting of what would become The Two Towers, as well as some parts of The Return of the King, the names continue to evolve, though most are well set by this point in the writing. Details are reimagined or reconfigured. And some major elements--such as Arwen--are yet to be devised. It was Tolkien's perspective that he was recording history "as it actually happened," and many times he saw many things fully formed in the initial drafts.

Christopher Tolkien is highly intrigued by a couple of areas that don't engage my interest very much, and both areas appear repeatedly in The Treason of Isengard. The first is an interest in the minute details of timing and chronology. Christopher spends a great deal of endnote discussion time figuring out the precise details of which days the events took place. I just don't really care about those details. The other area that Christopher often writes about in the History series is geography. It wasn't a big part of The Return of the Shadow, but in The Treason of Isengard there is an entire chapter on the early maps of Middle-Earth; and though I am interested in Middle-Earth maps, I found myself skimming this chapter and not gleaning much from it.

None of this is a problem with the book; just a difference in what fascinates me. The book continues to be an amazing tour of the creation of The Lord of the Rings, and I look forward to getting into the next volume.

My reviews of the other volumes in The History of the Lord of the Rings series:

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n    n      The Return of the Shadown    n  

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n    n      The War of the Ringn    n  

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n    n      Sauron Defeatedn    n  

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For anyone who loves LOTR, and wants a deep dive into how the manuscript developed, this book is for you.

χρόνος ανάγνωσης κριτικής: 25 δευτερόλεπτα

Όπως και με τον προηγούμενο τόμο έτσι και αυτός ι έχει να κάνει με την 
Τρίτη Εποχή και πιο συγκεκριμένα την ιστορία του
Άρχοντα των Δαχτυλιδιών, το αγαπημένο μου βιβλίο.
Αφηγείται τη διαδικασία δημιουργίας του, από τις πρώτες ιδέες μέχρι τα
τελευταία προσχέδια.


Η διαφορά με το προηγούμενο είναι ότι άρχισαν πλέον να
αυξάνονται οι επαναλήψεις
και οι συχνές διακοπές της αφήγησης
από τον Κρίστοφερ για να κάνει σχολιασμό. 

Και η αλήθεια είναι ότι άρχισα κάπως να βαριέμαι αυτή την εξονυχιστική
ανάλυση για το πόσες διακλαδώσεις έχει ο τάδε ποταμός, τη μέρα έπεφτε
πανσέληνος, και πόσες γενιές διαφορά έχει ο ένας βασιλιάς από τον άλλο
στο πρώτο και στο δεύτερο προσχέδιο.

Love love loved this! It was covering Tolkien’s notes and background while he was writing the LOTR series. It’s so incredible to see the work he put into them.

Fairly certain the reason that Aragorn has so many names is because Tolkien just couldn't pick one.