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Loading... The Treason of Isengard: Book 7 (The History of Middle-earth) (original 1989; edition 2002)by Christopher Tolkien (Author)
Work InformationThe Treason of Isengard by J. R. R. Tolkien (1989)
   LOTR wishlist (5) No current Talk conversations about this book. 4   nwhyte | Nov 19, 2011 |    ) jcsoblonde | Jan 3, 2008 |  threadnsong | Jun 18, 2016 |  ) Mama56 | Dec 4, 2023 |  ) hayesstw | Sep 20, 2008 | no reviews | add a review
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The Treason of Isengard is the seventh volume in Christopher Tolkien's History of Middle-earth and the second in his account of the evolution of The Lord of the Rings. This book follows the long halt in the darkness of the Mines of Moria (which ended The Return of the Shadow) and traces the tale into new lands south and east of the Misty Mountains. Tolkien introduces us to Lothlorien, land of the elves, where we meet the Ents, the Riders of Rohan, and Saruman the White in the fortress of Isengard. In brief outlines and penciled drafts dashed down on scraps of paper are the first entry of Galadriel; the earliest ides of the history of Gondor; and the original meeting of Aragorn with Eowyn, its significance destined to be wholly transformed. Conceptions of what lay ahead dissolve as the story takes its own paths, as in the account of the capture of Frodo and his rescue by Sam Gamgee from Minas Morgul, written long before J.R.R. Tolkien actually reached that point in the writing of The Lord of the Rings. A chief feature of the book is a full account of the original Map, with drawings of successive phases, which was long the basis and accompaniment of the emerging geography of Middle-earth. An appendix describes the Runic alphabets of the time, with illustrations of the forms and an analysis of the Runes used in the Book of Mazarbul found beside Balin's tomb in Moria. No library descriptions found. |
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 Google Books — Loading...GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)823.912Literature English & Old English literatures English fiction 1900- 1901-1999 1901-1945LC ClassificationRatingAverage: (3.93)
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Wikipedia in English (4)
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The most interesting point for me was that Frodo and Sam's path to Mordor, and even back to the Shire, emerged in Tolkien's thinking much earlier than the story of the others after the death of Boromir. He seems to almost make up the tale of Gimli, Legolas and Aragorn as he goes along, and I must admit it's not the most satisfying part of the book (and was the most messed around with by Peter Jackson for the film). In the middle of this, however, the Treebeard chapter stands out as a coming together of long-simmering ideas for Tolkien, who was fascinated by trees and forests and had been dropping foreshadowing references to Treebeard into his drafts without really thinking them through.
Tolkien took great care over names. It's a bit jarring to read "Trotter" instead of "Strider", "Ingolf" instead of "Aragorn" and "Ondor" instead of "Gondor", but I think it's not just familiarity with the final product - the eventually chosen names are genuinely better. There are a very few exceptions - Tolkien was not happy with "Osgiliath", and I think rightly so, but didn't find a good alternative. Irish readers find it amusing that one of Treebeard's fellow elder Ents is named Finglas; this name is there in the very first draft.
I noted with interest that all the early examples of runes - basically Gandalf's messages left at Bree and scrawled at Weathertop - use the good old-fashioned futhark, rather than what we came to know as the Cirth. The switch was made while composing the inscription on Balin's tomb in Moria, and implemented consistently after that. The development of the runes shows off Tolkien's deep knowledge of phonetics; you would expect him to have some familiarity with the subject as a philologist, but clearly it was a profound fascination. (Do you pronounce the 'o's differently in 'Lord' and 'Moria'? I don't, but Tolkien evidently did, going by his first drafts.)
Anyway, much enjoying this reconstruction of how the classic came to be. (