This fifth volume of The History of Middle-earth completes the examination of his writing up to that time. Later forms of The Annals of Valero and The Annals of Beleriand had been composed, The Silmarillion was nearing completion in a greatly amplified form, and a new map had been made. The legend of the Downfall of Numenor had entered the work, including these central ideas: the World Made Round and the Straight Path into the vanished West. Closely associated with this was the abandoned ?time-travel? story The Lost Road, linking the world of Numenor and Middle-earth with the legends of many other times and peoples.
