The History of The Lord of the Rings

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The History of Middle-earth
Volumes I and II
Volume III
Volume IV
Volume V
Volumes VI-IX
Volume X
Volume XI
Volume XII

The History of The Lord of the Rings is a 4-volume work by Christopher Tolkien that documents the process of J. R. R. Tolkien's writing of The Lord of the Rings. The History is also numbered as volumes 6 to 9 of The History of Middle-earth. Some information concerning the appendices and a soon-abandoned sequel to the novel can also be found in volume 12, The Peoples of Middle-earth.

The volumes include:

1. (HoME 6) The Return of the Shadow (1988) begins with the initial composition, and goes through to the episode in the Mines of Moria.
2. (HoME 7) The Treason of Isengard (1989) continues to the meeting with Théoden king of Rohan.
3. (HoME 8) The War of the Ring (1990) continues to the opening of the Black Gate.
4. (HoME 9) Sauron Defeated (1992) finishes the story, which only takes about one third of the volume. The remainder consists of The Notion Club Papers, and another draft of the Drowning of Anadûnê.

In general, the books are organized as chapters corresponding to the chapters in the final Lord of the Rings, with additional chapters describing the "First Map", the "Second Map", and other matters. Each chapter begins with some context, then the text of a first or second draft, possibly some alternate drafts if there were especially large changes, and interspersed with extended discussion of confusing or contradictory situations. The end of each chapter includes a set of notes about points of interest, such as words that were used originally and then partially erased or struck out.

While much of the plot of early drafts is familiar, the characters are often quite different. For instance, Aragorn in his "Strider" guise is called "Trotter" instead — and he is a hobbit instead of a man — and he has wooden shoes — because he had once been to Mordor and been tortured there. The hobbits travel east initially because that was the part of the world that had been mapped out, because of The Hobbit, and that the areas to the south were literally being mapped out only a few miles ahead of the fellowship.

These books show the creative process as it unfolded, and provide a glimpse into the creation of the work (and, practically an entire genre) that is rare.

The most salient theme is Tolkien's early preoccupation by minor matters that seem (looking back) to be unimportant. He expends much effort on fixing up matters that don't seem to warrant it. The story, until the arrival at Rivendell, is filled with dithering over the trivia of minor characters, how letters were exchanged, and so forth. (Tolkien interestingly presaged the whole choose-your-own-adventure genre by creating alternate versions of some chapters which could be read different ways by the choice of different riders and versions!) Tolkien, even after writing the departure from Rivendell and trip to Moria (which was abandoned by Tolkien starting over in Hobbiton with yet another round of revision), simply didn't see the rest of the framework of the story - the central quest - clearly. Once he saw the end clearly, the draft chapters take on a significantly different tone and the false starts and different story elements are much fewer. What is not written in these early chapters is as important as what was written; the dithering over unimportant matters is much like a great artist doodling while waiting for inspiration for a masterpiece.

Most items of interest are in the early draft chapters, such as the time when Frodo was 'Bingo' (with Frodo and Odo as companions), and the central character shifts between Bingo and Bilbo. Treebeard is originally perceived as an enemy, and his final role takes some time to emerge. The original appearance of a horse on the road behind the Hobbits who left Bag End was Gandalf, changed immediately to the black rider. Farmer Maggot switched his role several times. Strider/Trotter was a hobbit until very late, and the whole character of Aragorn is largely absent from drafts. Even when Strider emerged as a man, little was changed in early chapters, and the whole story with Arwen is largely absent until the very end when it was added.

The books also explain many oddities of the published text, such as why the miller uses the word 'cracked' in an early chapter (due to a change that omitted a key phrase which explains it). Many times a turn of phrase, or something that happens, made more sense in an earlier draft before revision, elision, or so forth happened. Christopher Tolkien also provides translations for all the foreign words and phrases which are opaque in the original text.

The original conception for the hobbits' return to the Shire at the end was significantly different than the published form.

Of particular interest to fans is the dropped Epilogue to Lord of the Rings, in which a middle-aged Sam is reading the story to his children.

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Three of the titles of the volumes of The History of The Lord of the Rings were also used as book titles for the 7-volume edition of The Lord of the Rings - The Return of the Shadow for Book I, The Treason of Isengard for Book III and The War of the Ring for Book V.