Two more illustrations revealed

"The Fall of Numenor will be perfect next read for fans who..."
They're basically legitimizing Bezos' thingy with this and putting it on par with Tolkien's writing? So it's canon?

gobbledygook wrote:

"The Fall of Numenor will be perfect next read for fans who..."
They're basically legitimizing Bezos' thingy with this and putting it on par with Tolkien's writing? So it's canon?

It seems to me to be a perfect next publication with the Amazon series fresh in fans minds.

While we here probably regard The History of Middle-earth as the pinnacle of 20th century criticism, I suspect most open those books and don't know where to look. They can be incredibly confusing and difficult to take in. I know as a kid starting out I struggled at first. Beren and Luthien and The Fall of Gondolin were sensible additions to Tolkien’s published volumes and I suspect that more people will know about those stories from those volumes than from The History of the Middle-earth, and I expect this volume to also help fans read more Tolkien. After all isn't that what HarperCollins should be about as guardians of Tolkien’s published texts?

And the Bezos thing is a legitimate adaptation of Tolkien’s creation. The Tolkien Estate said so when they sold them the rights to make Rings of Power. We are fortunate that if we find it unappealing we can look away and stick to the books we have.

Legitimate was wrong choice of words. Of course it is legitimate, at least when it comes to rights. But you failed to answer the second, more important question - is that Bezos thing considered a part of the canon? Given the construction of that sentence I quoted above, I'd say yes. And if that is the case then that's quite disappointing.

The Amazon show is absolutely not "adding to the canon" (whatever that is). It is a TV show based on the (scant) writings of JRR Tolkien's Second Age, that appear in the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings including the Appendices.

The hyperbole used by the marketing department to sell more books should not be taken as scholarly, critical commentary.

This book appears to me to be a very legitimate response to the show - "Did you like that adaptation? Why not read learn more about what the author wrote on the same subject?"

It is the same concept as putting Elijah Wood photos on the Fellowship of the Ring. The movie and the book are related, and the popularity of the movie helps sell more books, but in no way is HarperCollins thus saying that Frodo looks like Mr. Wood in the mind of J.R.R. Tolkien.

gobbledygook wrote:

Legitimate was wrong choice of words. Of course it is legitimate, at least when it comes to rights. But you failed to answer the second, more important question - is that Bezos thing considered a part of the canon? Given the construction of that sentence I quoted above, I'd say yes. And if that is the case then that's quite disappointing.

Apologies, I did fail to answer that. I'd say no on that though. There is nothing in my opinion to suggest that this series will be regarded as Canon by HarperCollins or the family.

gobbledygook wrote:

"The Fall of Numenor will be perfect next read for fans who..."
They're basically legitimizing Bezos' thingy with this and putting it on par with Tolkien's writing? So it's canon?

In short...no they're not. That's not what that means at all.

They're saying are you new to Tolkien? Did you like the show? Want to learn more about the 2nd Age? Here's a book where you read most of what Tolkien wrote on the subject...

They have looked and seen a gap in the market for the Second Age, Tolkien's writing on this is spread throughout various published volumes and to read it in Second Age time order you need to look in multiple places.

The link with Amazon is that the TV series is about the Second Age and it probably would not have been published without the TV series, but I'm pleased that it is being released as anything that gets more people reading Tolkien is what I like to see.

I don't have any time for deciding if something is canon or not, I don't think it is a worthwhile exercise and it is only your own opinion at the end of the day.

gobbledygook wrote:

is that Bezos thing considered a part of the canon? Given the construction of that sentence I quoted above, I'd say yes. And if that is the case then that's quite disappointing.

The TV thingy is not canon anymore than Bakshi or Jackson videos.