J. R. R. Tolkien’s writings on the Second Age of Middle-earth collected for the first time in
one volume complete with new illustrations in watercolor and pencil by renowned artist Alan
Lee. 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 this foundational period of the Tolkien legendarium
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 a cornerstone of Middle-earth lore. 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 an essential
tome of epic fantasy history told substantially in the words of Tolkien from the various
published texts with new illustrations in watercolor and pencil by the doyen of Tolkien art
Alan Lee.
