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The Return of the Shadow: The History of The Lord of the Rings, Part One (The History of Middle-Earth, Vol. 6) | 
 enlarge | Author: J.r.r. Tolkien
Creator: Christopher Tolkien
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Category: Book
List Price: $14.00
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Avg. Customer Rating:  17 reviews
Sales Rank: 76002
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 512
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 8.2 x 5.5 x 1.3
ISBN: 061808357X
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.912
UPC: 046442083577
EAN: 9780618083572
ASIN: 061808357X
Publication Date: September 2000
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Condition: Visible shelf wear -- may have some notes/markings on pages
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Product Description
In this sixth volume of The History of Middle-earth the story reaches The Lord of the Rings. In The Return of the Shadow (an abandoned title for the first volume) Christopher Tolkien describes, with full citation of the earliest notes, outline plans, and narrative drafts, the intricate evolution of The Fellowship of the Ring and the gradual emergence of the conceptions that transformed what J.R.R. Tolkien for long believed would be a far shorter book, 'a sequel to The Hobbit'. The enlargement of Bilbo's 'magic ring' into the supremely potent and dangerous Ruling Ring of the Dark Lord is traced and the precise moment is seen when, in an astonishing and unforeseen leap in the earliest narrative, a Black Rider first rode into the Shire, his significance still unknown. The character of the hobbit called Trotter (afterwards Strider or Aragorn) is developed while his indentity remains an absolute puzzle, and the suspicion only very slowly becomes certainty that he must after all be a Man. The hobbits, Frodo's companions, undergo intricate permutations of name and personality, and other major figures appear in strange modes: a sinister Treebeard, in league with the Enemy, a ferocious and malevolent Farmer Maggot.
The story in this book ends at the point where J.R.R. Tolkien halted in the story for a long time, as the Company of the Ring, still lacking Legolas and Gimli, stood before the tomb of Balin in the Mines of Moria. The Return of the Shadow is illustrated with reproductions of the first maps and notable pages from the earliest manuscripts.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 12 more reviews...
 Great Look behind the scenes. Far better than earlier volumes February 19, 2007
6 out of 8 found this review helpful
`The Return of the Shadow' is the first of a four volume series (`The History of the Lord of the Rings') within a series, (volume VI of `The History of Middle Earth') edited by Christopher Tolkien, from the unpublished writings of his father, J. R. R. Tolkien, most famous as the author of `The Hobbit' and `The Lord of the Rings'.
For those who have been slogging through the previous three volumes dealing with fragments from the composition of `The Silmarillion', this volume is a great pleasure, as it deals entirely with early drafts of what becomes the first two-thirds of `The Fellowship of the Ring' (FR), the first volume of the great `The Lord of the Rings' (LotR). It begins at the beginning of FR and ends as the fellowship stand in the mines of Moria over the grave marked `Balin Son of Burin, Lord of Moria' (The dramatic encounter between Gandalf and the Balrog will have to wait until the next volume).
For those of you who may have read `The Lord of the Rings' only once or twice, this and the next three volumes in this series are an enormous treat, as reading this is far more rewarding than a second or third reading of LotR, and will make that second or third reading even more interesting. For those of us who have read LotR for ten or twelve times, and have seen Peter Jackson's films of same more times than I care to count, the interest tends to wane just a bit, as the percentage of entirely new material is small compared to early versions of text which appeared in the final volumes.
What I really looked forward to in these volumes was some insight into my second most favorite character, after Gandalf, and this would be the perpetual Middle Earth hippie, Tom Bombadil and his consort, Goldberry. Unfortunately, this book does not through a lot of light on Bombadil's origins. Thankfully, it also does not violate any of my lengthily speculations on where Bombadil fits into the history of Middle Earth and the cosmology of the world in which Middle Earth is set. The heart of the matter is that Bombadil is one of the very few true natives of Middle Earth. The elves are clearly immigrants from the Far West. Dwarves and men seem to be creations of the Valar, and orcs and trolls are perversions of elves, men, and dwarves made by Melkor or Sauron. He is certainly not one of the Valar, as nothing said about his lack of interest in The Ring would be true of a Valar. Similarly, he is certainly not a wizard, one of Gandalf's clan, the Istari. The fact is, Tolkien senior simply added him in as a `deux ex machina', pinch hitting for Gandalf in a way, to get the wandering hobbits out of two jams with powers far greater than their own, so that they can safely reach Bree and the assistance of Strider. And, it turns out Tolkien simply wanted to include Bombadil and Goldberry since he had written of them in earlier publications!
One thing that does come out is the fact that the minor character, Farmer Maggot is potentially a far more interesting character than may appear on the surface. For example, Tom Bombadil seems to get most of his information about the outside world from Farmer Maggot and there is a suspicion in this narrative that Maggot is not entirely `hobbit' bred. This is not too unusual, as there has always been a suspicion that the three strains of hobbits are a result of a bit on interbreeding with elves and dwarves (but you didn't hear that from me!). One thing about Maggot which tickles my fancy is that his physical description here is a strong image of the Pennsylvania Amish and Mennonite farmers, which fits perfectly into the land around the Brandywine and the cultivation of mushrooms, both features of southeastern Pennsylvania, the home of the very same Pennsylvania Dutch. And yet, editor Christopher seems to make no mention of this obvious connection.
Being a true fanatic, even little things about these books will please me to no end. One thing, among others, which makes me think that Peter Jackson used these books in his writing the screenplay for the movies is the similarity between the picture of Bag End and the surrounding Shire and Bag End as it appeared in FR. I'm also thrilled by the additional original Tolkien maps, as well as the usually excellent index to the volume. I look forward to a composite index covering the whole four volumes of the `History of the Lord of the Rings' series.
The greatest impact of this volume comes from the smallest note in the beginning. After all the preparation done on the history of Middle Earth, Tolkien senior still had no notion of what he will find in Bree, who or what was Strider, or any notion of the design of Moria until he actually reached these characters and events in his writing.
 I hate to give this only 4 stars, but too much repitition. March 14, 2006
5 out of 7 found this review helpful
I was hoping that this would give like amny differnent versions of these books, but it tends just to show you the evolution and showing you the rewritings of early chapters of the lord and some of them like the council of elrond show you like 6 different versions. Every version a new character will show up, somebody will turn from good to evil, or maybe their words will be given to some one else.
I guess I was just hoping that this would be more like the previous 5 books and give us new stuff like they did of the silmarillion. But it did provide me with enough new info and some pretty exciting evolutions in this.
 For Hard Core Tolkien Fans Only!!! July 13, 2005
1 out of 5 found this review helpful
I got the book thinking it was part of Tolkien's unfinished sequel to the LOTR "The Return of the Shadow", but the shadow here is Sauron's return to middle earth after the end of the second age.
This is a volume in the previously unpublished letters and papers of J.R.R. Tolkien. In this volume we follow the evolution of the different parts of the LOTR the Fellowship of the Ring over time. From its beginning as a sequel to the Hobbit to the final epic product of mythic proportions.
Its interesting to see all the various drafts of the original chapters and the progression of Bingo Baggins into Frodo and the Hobbit Trotter into the Human King Strider/Aragorn. But this is the main drawback also, how many variations of "A Long Expected Party" can one read without being bored?
For Tolkien enthusiatists and English Majors only.
Vital exploration of Tolkien's work, but for fans only May 9, 2004
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
If you're not a Tolkien fan, you need not apply to the sprawling History of Middle Earth series. But if you're interested in seeing how the Professor developed the rich creation of Middle Earth, warts and all, this is a treasure trove of material.The 12 volumes of the History of Middle Earth take a close look at the creation of Tolkien's greatest achievement - Middle Earth itself - through early drafts, unpublished texts, and dead end writings. For ardent Tolkien readers it is a fascinating look at one of the great literary creations of the 20th Century. For more casual fans, it's text better left unread. "The Return of the Shadow" marks the first in the four volumes dealing with the history of the writing of "The Lord of the Rings." Like the other volumes in the series, it features unpublished writings by Tolkien, supplemented, explained, footnoted, annotated and expounded upon by his son, Christopher Tolkien. Here we have the earliest versions of what would later become the most beloved fantasy epic in the world, detailing the extraordinary and convoluted history of the earliest chapters of "The Lord of the Rings." Some readers might be surprised to know just how different a book this was in its earliest stages, and just how much Tolkien was making it up as he went along in those early days. The wealth of information is fantastic, and Christopher Tolkien goes to great lengths to examine each text, putting them in the context of the larger puzzle of his father's writings. The exploration of how "The Lord of the Rings" came about is fantastic - for those interested. Otherwise, it will bore. This is, after all, a series of unfinished draft chapters and essays on the text. I enjoyed it, but many won't. Anybody wishing to do a study of Tolkien's craft, into "behind the scenes" writings, or just interested in finding a few snatches of new Middle Earth material (even if in unfinished form, there are some scattered throughout the series) will certainly find what they are looking for here. Christopher Tolkien's work here is appreciated by scores of ardent Tolkien fans. Those looking for fresh new tales about hobbits and heroes, however, will be disappointed. This isn't new fiction, nor does it even feature finished works. Seek elsewhere if you are looking for more tales in the way of "The Lord of the Rings."
Warning-not a novel....but a great resource January 10, 2003
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
Of the thrilling and informative History of Middle-Earth series, this is perhaps the most interesting part. Normal Tolkien fans will get the rare chance to see how the germ of an idea can explode into the most complex cosmology ever created. Although it may seem boring, as it is not a novel per se, it is an insightful analysis of a very beloved book. The Lord of the Rings was initially conceived as a sequel to the Hobbit, growing into something incomparably more vast. We see Bingo in the character of Frodo, the name Frodo applied to another character. Aragorn is named Trotter and the idea emerges that he might be a long lost Hobbit who has had many experiences on the road. Somehow, with many footnotes and comments in the margin, we see the evolution of these ideas into what we know today as LOTR. Fascinating and useful for the Tolkien scholar, the devoted Tolkien reader, or even an aspiring writer.
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