In 1980, following the publication of The Silmarillion which revealed Tolkien’s mythological vision informing the background of his much loved works The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, his son Christopher Tolkien edited and prepared for publication the volume Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth. Unfinished Tales provided additional glimpses into Tolkien’s imaginary world and enlarged readers’ understanding of the “mythology” of Middle-earth. It also marked the beginning of one of the most unusual publishing feats of twentieth-century literature: the publication of The History of Middle-earth, twelve volumes of Tolkien’s writings which were never finished or prepared for publication in his lifetime, presented in a roughly chronological order. With the addition of Unfinished Tales, these thirteen volumes succeed in showing Tolkien’s changing vision of his mythology over a span of sixty years. They reveal...
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Citation: Fimi, Dimitra. "Unfinished Tales". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 28 January 2008 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=8558, accessed 09 June 2026.]
