This is the third volume culled from Tolkien’s unpublished manuscripts. Two tales from the Silmarillion the tragedy of Turin Turambar and the epic quest of Beren and Luthienappear in early versions. Turin’s story is told in alliterative verse, the other in rhymed couplets. The multiple extant versions of each poem have been painstakingly arranged and synthesized by Tolkien’s son Christopher, who has also provided elaborate notes on their relation to previously published works. While the power of Tolkien’s central characterstragic, cursed Turin; the lovers Beren and Luthienshines through these poems, they are of interest chiefly in showing the development of a writer’s ideas.

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