Guided by the Dark Lord Sauron, the Elves of Eregion forge the Rings of Power. Yet in secret, he has begun building the Barad-dûr in Mordor. And here, in the fires of Mount Doom, he makes the One Ring. Seeking to rule Middle-earth, Sauron begins to wage terrible war upon them. On the island-kingdom of Númenor, the Men of the West become mighty, building great ships to increase their influence throughout Middle-earth. But as their power grows, the seed of their downfall is sown. Only by uniting in alliance with the Elves can they hope to overcome Sauron. Adhering to “The Tale of Years” timeline in The Lord of the Rings, Brian Sibley assembles a new chronicle of Middle-earth. It's a tragic tale of pride, envy and downfall told substantially in the words of J.R.R. Tolkien from the various published texts originally edited by Christopher Tolkien, and illustrated with pencil drawings by Alan Lee.

In the Tale of THE FALL OF GONDOLIN are two of the greatest powers in the world. There is Morgoth of the uttermost evil, unseen in this story but ruling over a vast military power from his fortress of Angband. Deeply opposed to Morgoth is Ulmo, second in might only to Manwë, chief of the Valar: he is called the Lord of Waters, of all seas, lakes and rivers under the sky. But he works in secret in Middle-earth to support the Noldor, the kindred of the Elves among whom were numbered Húrin and Túrin Turambar. Central to this enmity of the gods is the city of Gondolin, beautiful but undiscoverable.

The epic tale of Beren and Lúthien became an essential element in the evolution of The Silmarillion, the myths and legends of J.R.R. Tolkien’s First Age of the World. Always key to the story is the fate that shadowed their love: Beren was a mortal man, Lúthien an immortal Elf. Her father, a great Elvish lord, imposed on Beren an impossible task before he might wed Lúthien: to rob the greatest of all evil beings, Melkor, of a Silmaril. Painstakingly restored from Tolkien’s manuscripts and presented for the first time as a continuous and stand-alone story, BEREN AND LÚTHIEN reunites fans of THE HOBBIT and THE LORD OF THE RINGS with Elves and Men, along with the rich landscape and creatures unique to Tolkien’s Middle-earth.