未完的传说 (1980)

未完的传说（英文：Unfinished Tales，全名是努门诺尔与中洲世界未完的传说）是英国作家托尔金的文章和故事合集，这合集在他生前还没有完成，经他的儿子克里斯托夫·托尔金编订后于1980年出版。

这作品与《精灵宝钻》不同，《精灵宝钻》补完了整个故事的不足，使之成为首尾一贯的作品，而《未完的传说》则改了一些故事里的人名（作者在写稿的时候会为一个人物改过许多名字）。当中的一些故事是不完整的，另一些则搜集了一些有关中土大陆的资料。每个故事都出自一些充满矛盾难解的笔录而来。

克里斯托夫·托尔金在研读了他父亲的文献档案后，分别整理和出版了《精灵宝钻》及《未完的传说》。《未完的传说》虽然在编辑一致性方面存在毛病，但该作为人物、事件及地点提供了更详尽的资料，有一些只在《魔戒》里粗略提过。该作收录的故事包括甘道夫及巫师的来源、埃西铎之死、至尊魔戒的失落、洛汗王国的建立等，增补了中土大陆的内容。

其中有关塔尔-阿达瑞安和伊瑞迪丝的故事是努曼诺尔在陆沉前仅知的一个故事，书中亦展示了努曼诺尔的地图。

《未完的传说》的畅销说明了托尔金死后，市场对托尔金故事的需求不但没有减退，还在持续增长。因此，克里斯托夫·托尔金更着手出版一共有十二部的作品《中土世界的历史》，包罗了几乎所有托尔金中土大陆的素材。

内容

第一节：第一纪元：

“关于图尔及贡多林”

“胡林子女的传说”

第二节：第二纪元：

“努曼诺尔的描述”

“塔尔-阿达瑞安和伊瑞迪丝：水手之妻”

“爱洛斯帝系：努曼诺尔国王”

“凯兰崔兰和凯勒鹏的历史”

第三节：第三纪元：

“格拉顿平原的灾难”

“西瑞安、伊欧及刚铎和洛汗的联盟”

“孤山任务”

“追踪至尊魔戒”

“艾辛河渡口战役”

第四节

“德鲁伊甸人”

“巫师”

“真知晶球”

Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth is a collection of stories and essays by J. R. R. Tolkien that were never completed during his lifetime, but were edited by his son Christopher Tolkien and published in 1980. Many of the tales within are retold in The Silmarillion, albeit in modified forms; the work also contains a summary of the events of The Lord of the Rings told from a less personal perspective.

The collection received a cautious welcome from scholars and critics. They noted Christopher Tolkien's warning that a good knowledge of the background was needed to gain much from the stories. Others noted that the stories were among the best of Tolkien's writing; Warren Dunn expressed a wish for the whole of the history in such a format. The book, with its commentary, was commercially successful, indicating a market for more of Tolkien's work and leading to the 12-volume The History of Middle-earth.

On "The Quest of Erebor" in Part Three, Christine Barkley comments that the perspective is the knowledgeable Gandalf's, contrasting sharply with the Hobbit Bilbo Baggins's narrower point of view in The Hobbit. Peter Jackson used the story to enrich the narrative for his 2013 film The Desolation of Smaug.

Overview

Unlike The Silmarillion, also published posthumously (in 1977), for which the narrative fragments were modified to connect them into a consistent and coherent work, the Unfinished Tales are presented as Tolkien left them, with little more than names changed (the author having had a confusing habit of trying out different names for a character while writing a draft). Thus some of these are incomplete stories, while others are collections of information about Middle-earth. Each tale is followed by a long series of notes explaining inconsistencies and obscure points.

As with The Silmarillion, Tolkien's son Christopher edited and published Unfinished Tales long before he had finished his study of the materials in his father's archive. Unfinished Tales provides more detailed information about characters, events and places mentioned only briefly in The Lord of the Rings. Versions of such tales, including the origins of Gandalf and the other Istari (Wizards), the death of Isildur and the loss of the One Ring in the Gladden Fields, and the founding of the kingdom of Rohan, help expand knowledge about Middle-earth.

The commercial success of Unfinished Tales demonstrated that the demand for Tolkien's stories several years after his death was not only present but growing. Encouraged by the result, Christopher Tolkien embarked upon the more ambitious twelve-volume work entitled The History of Middle-earth, which encompasses nearly the entire corpus of his father's writings about Middle-earth.

Contents

Part One: The First Age

"Of Tuor and his Coming to Gondolin", an account of the central character of The Fall of Gondolin

"Narn i Hîn Húrin (The Tale of the Children of Húrin)" is a long story of what happened to Húrin and his children Túrin Turambar and Nienor, after Húrin was cursed by the Dark Lord Morgoth. The story elaborates on what is told of these characters in the published Silmarillion, starting with the childhood of Túrin, continuing through the captivity of his father in the Nírnaeth Arnoediad, and Túrin's exile in Doriath, to Túrin's time in Nargothrond, his incestuous relationship with his sister Nienor, and ultimately ending with suicide by his sword after killing the dragon who caused many of his troubles. A shorter version is given in The Silmarillion as the chapter "Of Túrin Turambar". A complete version is published in the 2007 The Children of Húrin.

Part Two: The Second Age

"A Description of the Island of Númenor", an account of the Atlantis-like island that supported a proud civilisation of Men

"Aldarion and Erendis: The Mariner's Wife", a tale of a King of Númenor who was more interested in the stars and voyaging than ruling a country, provoking a split with his father Tar-Meneldur.