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Unfinished or Lost?
http://www.arwen-undomiel.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=851		 Page 1 of 2
Author:  Tirelen [ June 16th, 2005, 6:27 pm ]
Post subject:  Unfinished or Lost?
Which should I read first... The Unfinished Tales or The Lost Tales?

Someone please advise me on which would be best to read first... I don't wanna end up lost and confused in all the stories! :confused:
Author:  Elberethsq [ June 16th, 2005, 7:19 pm ]
Post subject: 
I've never read either, so I can't help you. But I posted here because I'd like it if someone else told me too! :bye2:
Author:  Cuilwen [ June 17th, 2005, 12:43 pm ]
Post subject: 
Same for me :-D Can somebody tell us please?
Author:  Ivreniel [ June 18th, 2005, 5:57 pm ]
Post subject: 
I'd say do the Lost Tales first, then the Unfinished. No particular reason, just something in me says it'd be better that way.
Author:  Larael [ June 18th, 2005, 9:22 pm ]
Post subject: 
I say Unfinished Tales because thats what I read first and it made sense.......but thats my opinion.
Author:  Beriadanwen [ June 20th, 2005, 1:00 pm ]
Post subject: 
Now I'm very confused. I own Unfinished Tales and I was planning on reading that next but now I hear about "Lost Tales". What's the difference? I had heard of Lost Tales before but I just assumed it was a different version of Unfinished Tales or something. Argh! I'm so confused!
Author:  SpanishEvenstar [ June 20th, 2005, 1:11 pm ]
Post subject: 
MrsDominicMonaghan wrote:
Now I'm very confused. I own Unfinished Tales and I was planning on reading that next but now I hear about "Lost Tales". What's the difference? I had heard of Lost Tales before but I just assumed it was a different version of Unfinished Tales or something. Argh! I'm so confused!


Basically the books of Lost Tales are the stories that weren't published in either The Silmarillion or Unfinished Tales. They're a bit more complete than in Unfinished Tales, but don't fit into The Silmarillion. For example, one of the books of Lost Tales (there are two) has the Lay of Leithian, or at least part of it, which is the story of Beren and Lúthien and the retrieval of the Silmaril from Morgoth's crown. The actual poem. What Strider sings to the hobbits in FotR is an abridged version.

I would say read whichever one you want first, I don't think they necessarily need to be read in a certain order. I haven't read the books of Lost Tales, but I own Unfinished Tales, mainly because I liked the idea of reading some of the unfinished works with the edits by Christopher Tolkien and his explanations of it. But I am planning on reading the Lost Tales soon, along with the History of Middle-earth set. Eventually. :D
Author:  Arwen the webmaster [ June 20th, 2005, 7:17 pm ]
Post subject: 
I'd say go with Unfinished Tales. It will fill you in on "missing" parts of The Silmarillion and cement the story in your mind. You'll definitely need that before you move on to the Lost Tales, because suddenly :explode: all the characters change names, stories change, and the footnotes drown everything else. Not to say that the LTs aren't worthwhile, but since they were early drafts of Silm stories, they ARE very confusing. It took me months of renewing them from my library to get through them. Also, that was the order in which they were published (I think) so sometimes Christopher Tolkien will refer to a point he made in UT when he's discussing LT.
Author:  eowynshieldmaiden [ June 25th, 2005, 3:37 pm ]
Post subject: 
I'd say Lost Tales, they're MUCH less confuzing

:bye2:
Author:  Cuilwen [ June 29th, 2005, 7:14 am ]
Post subject: 
Lost, unfinished, lost, unfinished... I DON'T KNOW IT ANYMORE!!!! :blink: :confused2: :confused:
Author:  Elu Thingol [ June 29th, 2005, 2:34 pm ]
Post subject: 
There's the Book of the Lost Tales part 1 and 2, so it consists of two books. The Unfinished Tales is one book and you'll find a lot of information about the things that were written in the Silmarillion and the Lord of the Rings Trilogy there. I recommend reading the Unfinished Tales, because you'll find a lot of familiar things in it ;)
Author:  Guest [ July 3rd, 2005, 12:51 pm ]
Post subject: 
I read Unfinished Tales year before Lost Tales and I think that before starting with History of Middle-Earth you should read all other wiritngs - LOTR, the Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales and if you wish the Hobbit.
Author:  eowynfaramir4eva [ August 8th, 2005, 12:50 pm ]
Post subject: 
Start a poll if you can make up your mind. I would choose Unfinished Tales, because like Arwen said, it does fill in missing parts. Lost tales are tales that haven't been told. It's up to you if its hard or easier to read.
Author:  SCP [ August 19th, 2005, 5:06 am ]
Post subject: 
I'm buisy reading the unfinished tales, but I've never read the lost tales. I think it's not much the matter. Because there are always name-indexes in the back. Sometimes I find it confusing all those names but this really helps. It's not as difficult as I thought it'd be.
Author:  StardomeGirl [ August 19th, 2005, 4:03 pm ]
Post subject: 
Well, from what I've read, I would say it doesn't really matter which one you read first. They are definately not in chronological order, so you'd be well off no matter what you read. Kind of like reading a bunch of different Cast Biographies...doesn't matter which one you read first, although one might give you more or different information than the other.
Author:  Antigone [ August 22nd, 2005, 6:39 am ]
Post subject: 
I've read The Lost Tales, II but i'm planning to fing & buy LT I and UT cuz i really wanna read them but... well, the whole HoME (history of middle earth) series are great. okay, names and races are sometimes changed a bit but it doesn't matter, you soon realize who's who :)
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