The Great Tales of Middle-earth is a beautiful boxed set of the
three final novels of Middle-earth: Children of Húrin, Beren and
Lúthien, and The Fall of Gondolin, packaged together for the first
time. Completing Christopher Tolkien's lifelong achievement as the
editor and curator of his father J.R.R. Tolkien's manuscripts, The
Great Tales features handsome color plates and maps by famed
illustrator Alan Lee.
The Children of Húrin was the first complete book by J.R.R.Tolkien
since the 1977 publication of The Silmarillion. Six thousand years
before the One Ring is destroyed, Middle-earth lies under the shadow of
the Dark Lord Morgoth. The greatest warriors among elves and men have
perished, and all is in darkness and despair. But a deadly new leader
rises, Túrin, son of Húrin, and with his grim band of outlaws begins to
turn the tide in the war for Middle-earth--awaiting the day he confronts
his destiny and the deadly curse laid upon him.
Beren and Lúthien was, or became, an essential element in the
evolution of The Silmarillion, the myths and legends of the First Age
of the World conceived by J.R.R. Tolkien. Essential to the story, and
never changed, is the fate that shadowed the love of Beren and Lúthien:
for Beren was a mortal man, but Lúthien was an immortal elf. Her father,
a great elvish lord, in deep opposition to Beren, imposed on him an
impossible task that he must perform before he might wed Lúthien. This
is the kernel of the legend; and it leads to the supremely heroic
attempt of Beren and Lúthien together to rob the greatest of all evil
beings, Melkor, called Morgoth, the Black Enemy, of a Silmaril.
The Fall of Gondolin completes the set and tells the story of the
destruction of the legendary city of Gondolin at the hands of evil
Morgoth in retaliation against Ulmo, the Lord of the Waters, who favors
man. At core is the tale of Tuor, cousin of Túrin, his wife, Idril,
daughter of Turgon, king of Gondolin, and their child, Eärendel, who
became great in Gondolin, but had to flee the blazing wreckage of his
home when Morgoth attacked.
Each hardcover volume includes color plates and black and white maps by
award-winning illustrator Alan Lee.
