The Fall of Númenor

And Other Tales from the Second Age of Middle-Earth

By: J.R.R. Tolkien, Brian Sibley - editor

Narrated by: Samuel West, Brian Sibley

Length: 10 hrs and 52 mins

Publisher's summary

J.R.R. Tolkien’s writings on the Second Age of Middle-earth, collected for the first time in one volume.

J.R.R. Tolkien famously described the Second Age of Middle-earth as a ‘dark age, and not very much of its history is (or need be) told’. And for many years readers would need to be content with the tantalizing glimpses of it found within the pages of The Lord of the Rings and its appendices, including the forging of the Rings of Power, the building of the Barad-dûr and the rise of Sauron.

It was not until Christopher Tolkien published The Silmarillion after his father’s death that a fuller story could be told. Although much of the book’s content concerned the First Age of Middle-earth, there were at its close two key works that revealed the tumultuous events concerning the rise and fall of the island of Númenor. Raised out of the Great Sea and gifted to the Men of Middle-earth as a reward for aiding the angelic Valar and the Elves in the defeat and capture of the Dark Lord Morgoth, the kingdom became a seat of influence and wealth; but as the Númenóreans’ power increased, the seed of their downfall would inevitably be sown, culminating in the Last Alliance of Elves and Men.

Even greater insight into the Second Age would be revealed in subsequent publications, first in Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth, then expanded upon in Christopher Tolkien’s magisterial twelve-volume The History of Middle-earth, in which he presented and discussed a wealth of further tales written by his father, many in draft form.

Now, adhering to the timeline of ‘The Tale of Years’ in the appendices to The Lord of the Rings, editor Brian Sibley has assembled into one comprehensive volume a new chronicle of the Second Age of Middle-earth, told substantially in the words of J.R.R. Tolkien from the various published texts.

©2022 HarperCollinsPublishers (P)2022 HarperCollins Publishers Ltd

Critic reviews

"How, given little over half a century of work, did one man become the creative equivalent of a people?" (The Guardian)

"Demanding to be compared with English mythologies…at times rises to the greatness of true myth." (Financial Times)

"A creation of singular beauty…magnificent in its best moments." (Washington Post)

Best Book Ever

I love this book so much, It’s amazing and I will keep listening to it.

Not everything it could be but something worthwhile

I enjoyed it but wish it spent less time explaining how tolkiens various writings fit together rather then making them fit together.

A wonderful resource for Second Age material.

Brian Sibley has, with this book, attempted to stitch together a chronology of the Second Age of Middle-earth. It doesn't include every one of Tolkien's writings on the Second Age (much of the conflicting stories about Galadriel and Celeborn are missing, for example). Instead, using the Tale of Years from the Lord of the Rings appendices as a guide, it tries to describe all of the major events of the age, drawing on material from The Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales, The History of Middle Earth, Tolkien's letters, and even the recent The Nature of Middle Earth. The result is a very satisfying chronology, if not actually a narrative, and a great reference book for anyone who is curious about the events of the Second Age and either does not own all of the many books this draws from or just wants all the pertinent information in one convenient volume.

The reading of the book by Samuel West is very enjoyable to listen to, as long as you don't mind Sibley butting into the text with various references and suggestions for further reading. West's voice is a great match for the material. It's a shame that his father Timothy wasn't available to read the notes, as was the case for the last few Tolkien books the Wests read together, but Sibley does a good enough job in his place.

In short, if you enjoyed the audiobook versions of Beren and Luthien, The Fall of Gondolin, and Unfinished Tales, you will probably enjoy this one too.

Wonderful Listen!

I was hesitant about someone taking over after Christopher Tolkien, but Brian Sibley honored the Tolkien legacy to a tee. Samuel West was phenomenal as usual.

Excellent work!

love how this book fills in the gaps between the story lines. love the book and how the narrator's use of expression made it very captivating.

The story of aldarion and erendis

This contains some wonderful stories. A little heavy on the commentary however. aldarion and erendis is excellent.

More of a editorial, than a narrative story

The Fall of Numenor is a story from within the Silmarillion, and I thought it may have more details of the story. It does provide different context from different writings and letters, which were used to formulate the “story”, which was interesting but possibly only because I am a huge Tolkien fan.

An epic tale told masterfully

I thought I really knew this classic Tolkien history, but I really didn't. This is a great summary of one of the major parts of Tolkien's mythology, told in a deeply informative way by two narrators who each tell the story and then interject contextual facts about Tolkien's creative process and other complementary or even deviating pieces of writing. Both narrators do a great job of weaving the tale while also providing the context around the story. Given Tolkien's prolific creativity and the evolutionary nature of his writing, this is the best format for telling this kind of story while also respecting the detailed but still limited insight we have into what Tolkien ultimately wanted the story to be and how it fit into his overall legends.

I'll also add that for any fans of the Rings of Power series, this book provides great context and far more detail about the events that were adapted into that format (for which the title itself is a pretty major spoiler...). And for anyone who isn't a fan of that show and really wants to know the most definitive version of the tale as we know Tolkien intended it, this book is for you too.

Excellent companion work to the Silmarillion

If you are deep in the lore of JRR Tolkien, you will love this book. However, it doesn’t read straight through as a story. It has notes from Christopher Tolkien and Priscilla Tolkien added throughout. It goes hand in hand with the Akallabêth from the Silmarillion book. It has some very fascinating info that plays into the Tolkien lore.

The second age, before the Tolkien you know

Want to know where the elves or the rings of power came from. Here it is in great detail though not just the ready for a 2-3 hour movie version. I his is all of Tolkien’s works on the second age, the age before the hobbit began his journey.