Reading order

New Tolkien fans are usually puzzled with the complexity of the works and the best order in which to read the works. The most famous works take place late in the legendarium's history, with hints to the backstory. The stories that comprise the background are relatively complex and have no obvious links to the most famous works. Furthemore, the stories-chapters-essays overlap each another, or take place simultaneously, differing only in the extensiveness of the details.

Hardcore fans read the works more than once. For example one can read The Lord of the Rings first, then The Hobbit and sometime later The Lord of the Rings again, in light of the backstory seen in The Hobbit.

There can be various approaches:

edit] Publication history

This can be one of the most famous approaches.

The Hobbit

People can start with The Hobbit, as an easy and lighthearted fantasy story, which Tolkien wrote first, without having much backstory and historical details in mind.

The Lord of the Rings

The Lord of the Rings is the natural sequel of The Hobbit and completes the story. However it has many allusions to the greater world and ancient history of Arda.

Published after Tolkien's death, it provides the cosmogony and earlier stories of Arda. It can give the reader insight about the world they already know.

These books provide additional and extensive details about several aspects of the greater History

edit] Rough chronological order

A less common approach is to read the saga in chronologically accurate order

The Silmarillion

The Silmarillion can be a complex and tedious reading for someone not already acquainted with Tolkien, however it describes the beginnings of his world.

The Children of Húrin, Beren and Lúthien and The Fall of Gondolin

These books give an extended version of the Great Tales of the Elder Days, featured as a part of the Silmarillion

Unfinished Tales

Parts of this book give insight about Númenor, the Second Age (mentioned in the Silmarillion) and early Third Age, with elements that will play their role in the Lord of the Rings.

The Hobbit

Althought directly unrelated to the Silmarillion, it is the next big story.

The Lord of the Rings

The conclusion of the story of the Hobbit as well as things mentioned in the Silmarillion (like Sauron and the Line of Númenorean Kings).