The following paper was originally published in April this year at Tolkiendil given in French under the title « Une Description de l’île de Númenor » : une reconstruction and is presented here, translated into English for your enjoyment. Druss

In 1980, only three years after having presented The Silmarillion to readers, Christopher Tolkien proposed a new book, Unfinished Tales of Numenor and Middle-earth, which would compliment the latter, but also The Lord of the Rings.

Among this “collection of writings, disparate in form”,^{Christopher Tolkien, Introduction, Unfinished Tales.[1]} which as a volume is “divid[ed] […] into Parts corresponding to the first Three Ages of the World”, there exists a singular text - 'A Description of the Island of Númenor'.^{Hereafter abbreviated as DN.[2]}

This text presents, in a few pages, a description of “the physical nature of the Island”. Christopher Tolkien indicates in his introduction that he has “included selections from [his] father’s account of Númenor”, an account apparently written at the beginning of the 1960s. Thus, when reading it, we are tempted to consider this text as a continuous one, written as a whole by Tolkien, with only a few small portions deemed unnecessary by Christopher Tolkien.

As it turns out, it is more complicated than had first been thought.

In 2021 The Nature of Middle-earth was published,^{Hereafter abbreviated as Nature.[3]} a book edited by Carl Hostetter and presenting, in a similar manner to that of Unfinished Tales, disparate texts on varying subjects. Among them are two texts, respectively entitled 'Lives of the Númenóreans'^{Nature, pp. 316-327. Hereafter abbreviated as LN.[4]} (Part III, chapter XI) and 'Of the Land and Beasts of Númenor'^{Nature, pp. 331-341. Hereafter abbreviated as LBN.[5]} (Part III, chapter XIII), from which Christopher Tolkien built the text published in Unfinished Tales. In reality, LN and LBN form a single document, existing in three different versions, but always continuous, LBN following on from LN in footnote 5.^{Nature, p. 316. The text of LN edited by Carl Hostetter presents two types of notes: five footnotes and two author’s notes, but in fact, even these two author’s notes are footnotes in the manuscript. Hostetter chose to extract them because of their length.[6]}

This short essay aims to “reconstruct” the text 'A Description of the Island of Númenor' by visualizing which elements Christopher Tolkien extracted from one or another of the source texts to recreate it, but also, to complete the LBN text which was not presented in full by Carl Hostetter in Nature.

By looking at the three texts in parallel (see figure 9 at the end), we quickly realize that DN is based in very large part on the second of the two texts, LBN, with approximately one quarter found in LN, found in footnote 2,^{Consequently, in our reconstruction, we give only this note.[7]} (while the rest of the chapter addresses primarily the habits and customs of the islands population).

Finally, with these extracts, is some sentences of DN’s text which are not associated with any of Tolkien’s texts that have been published to date. So, there are two hypotheses. The first, that these sections actually came from an unpublished text by Tolkien, which is unlikely, otherwise it would likely have been published by Carl Hostetter in Nature, with the two others sources (or at least quoted as such). The second hypothesis, the most promising and realistic, is that these passages are from the hand of Christopher Tolkien himself, repeating in similar fashion the work he carried out on The Silmarillion, by completing some passages to make the writing more fluid as a single unbroken text.

As commented by Carl Hostetter, the very first paragraph of DN is largely sourced from LBN (Figure 1, dark green), though it is reduced by two-thirds compared to LBN. Hostetter then indicates that DN follows LBN “closely”^{Nature, p. 332.[8]} with some additional details. Since his edition of LBN is incomplete, it is not possible to know with any certainty. However the second paragraph addressing the preservation of documents and the survivors of the Akallabêth (Figure 1, light green) is reproduced almost identically from LBN^{Confirm by Carl Hostetter, below in this topic.[9]} .

Figure 1 – Paragraphs 1 and 2 of DN on the right, compared to LBN, on the left.

As the second, the third paragraph of DN is from LBN, but reduced (Figure 2, light green). §4 starts with a repetition of several sections of LBN from the first footnote (noted as fn1 in figure 9). However, Christopher does not provide all of the textual information, very likely to give more consistency to the tale. In LBN, we learn that the five promontories, shaping the island as a star, are 100 miles wide and 200 miles long, and that Meneltarma rose to nearly 3,000 feet, with the last 500 feet unscalable save by a single road. DN’s text says that “a winding spiral road was made upon it beginning at its foot upon the south, and ending below the lip of the summit”, a sentence extracted and rephrased by Christopher from LN, which has “a spiral road from its southern base […] up to its summit” (Figure 2, violet). The grey elements are additions, presented to better transition the text, except in the cases of "sacred to the worship of Eru Ilúvatar" just after "Pillars of Heavens" both written by Christopher Tolkien.

Figure 2 – Paragraph 3 and beginning of paragraph 4 of DN, at the center, compared to LBN on the left and to LN on the right.

From the middle of §4, Carl Hostetter specifies that the text of DN follows that of LBN (with the exception of a few details set aside by Christopher), up to and including §11.^{Nature, p. 332.[10]} If Hostetter omits most of this passage in LBN, the few quotations he gives allows us to confirm that Christopher did indeed use LBN, albeit with some textual revisions (Figure 3). Thus, in §7, he uses "Towards the great North Cape the land rose to rocky heights of some 2,000 feet, the highest of which (Sorontil) rose straight from the sea in tremendous cliffs" in the form "Towards the North Cape the land rose to rocky heights, and there great Sorontil rose sheer from the sea in tremendous cliffs," again omitting the precise altitude; In §9, the Yavannamírë possesses "globed and scarlet fruits," although LBN indicates that it had "rose-like flowers and globed and scarlet fruits".^{Our emphasis.[11]} Later, Christopher adds that Tar-Aldarion is the sixth King of Númenor and removes Gil-galad's given name, Finellach, which appears in Tolkien's later writings, replacing it with Ereinion. It is likely that this omission of Finellach was Christopher's choice to maintain consistency between Unfinished Tales and The Silmarillion, which uses Ereinion.

Figure 3 – Paragraphs 4 to 9 of DN, on the right, compared to LBN on the left. Elements in light green are reintroduced in LBN from DN. In orange, editor's commentary.

§10, concerns the Nunduinë River, which is the first instance of a passage being moved out of its original context (Figures 4 and 5, in yellow). In LBN, it appears much later in the text, before a long passage on birds is given. Similarly, §12 on the laurinquë is entirely taken from a passage found in the second half of LBN, interspersed with some rewordings on the geography of Hyarrostar (Figures 4 and 6, in burgundy). §13 and §14 are then taken almost verbatim from LBN, except again for a clarification of the altitude for the Orrostar promontory.

Figure 4 – Paragraph 10 and beginning of paragraph 14 of DN, on the right, compared to LBN on the left. Elements in light green are reintroduced in LBN from DN; elements of LBN in light grey weren't reused in DN. In orange, editor's commentary. In yellow and burgundy, extracts of LBN appearing later in the text (see Figure 5).

From the end of §14 onwards, it becomes clear that a great deal of information from LBN was omitted by Christopher Tolkien, in particular "a long discussion of the flora and fauna of Númenor which is absent from the later text, as are many details concerning the distances and populations of the island."^{Nature, p. 333.[12]} The reason for this is undoubtedly that the subject deviated quite significantly from his editorial plan; indeed, he makes it clear in his introduction that he has focused on what he considers to be the "physical aspect" of Númenor. This passage comprises of slightly less than half the length of DN, and only two paragraphs on birds are retained virtually unchanged by Christopher, the one beginning with "The birds of Númenor were beyond count…" (Figure 5, dark green) and the following one, "The birds that dwell near the sea…" (Figure 5, khaki), which together form the end of §14. One important detail, however, and probably done so for the sake of uniformity, Christopher swaps the two extracts around in his text.

Figure 5 – Paragraph 14 of DN, on the right, compared to LBN on the left. In light grey, the long extract. In yellow, the section about Nunduinë river (see also Figure 4 above).

§15 is the second example within the introduction of an extract from LN used in DN. This entire passage about horses is indeed taken directly from the second half of the LN note (Figure 6, purple and blue), but Christopher rearranges several sentences again to improve readability. One passage, however, is used in full, from "Therefore the roads of Númenor" to "thence to Andúnië in the west." In LN, the discussion about horses continues with some information about dogs that is completely absent from DN. In LBN, no section is taken from this source, with the exception of the two sentences about the laurinquë used previously (Figures 4 and 6, in burgundy) and a second passage used by Christopher in DN (Figures 6 and 8, in turquoise).

Figure 6 – Paragraph 15 of DN, at the center, compared to LBN on the left and LN on the right. In light grey, the rest of the long extract unused by Christopher. In burgundy, the section about the laurinquë (see also Figure 7 below). In turquoise, an extract used below (see Figure 8).

DN continues by addressing the craftsmanship of the Edain, a passage taken "with no significant variation"^{Nature, p. 340.[13]} from LBN.

Figure 7 – Paragraphs 16 to 18 of DN, on the right, compared to LBN on the left. Elements in light green are reintroduced in LBN from DN; elements in light grey weren't used in DN.

The very last paragraph of DN, §19, is a composition of three different extracts: two from LN and one from LBN. The opening of §19 on fishing and navigation is taken from the first half of the note in LN. After a transitional sentence by Christopher, the middle of §19, on Elvish navigators and the shipwrights of Númenor is taken from footnote 2 in LBN, which is found much earlier in that text, towards the end of the long discussion on flora and fauna which was omitted by Christopher.

Finally, the conclusion of DN, concerning Vëantur and the creation of the Guild of Venturers by Aldarion, is a direct continuation of the passage on fishing found in LN, which Christopher concludes with a transition of his own to the 'Tale of Aldarion and Erendis' that follows DN in Unfinished Tales.

Figure 8 – Paragraph 19 of DN, at the center, compared to LBN on the left, and LN on the right. In turquoise, the extract of LBN from Figure 6.

Complete visualization of text.