Great Tales of Middle-Earth, The: Children of Hurin / Beren and Luthien / Fall of Gondolin, The (Boxed Set)

- Blurb -

THE CHILDREN OF HURIN 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, T'rin, son of H'rin, 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. Deftly balancing thrilling battles with moments of introspection, Tolkien's vivid and gripping narrative reaffirms his primacy in fantasy literature. BEREN AND LUTHEIN The epic tale of Beren and Luthien 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, Luthien an immortal Elf. Her father, a great Elvish lord, imposed on Beren an impossible task before he might wed Luthien: 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 standalone story, Beren and Luthien 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. Christopher Tolkien tells the story in his father's own words by giving its original form as well as prose and verse passages from later texts that illustrate the narrative as it changed. FALL OF GONDOLIN, THE n 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 Manwe, 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 Hurin and Turin Turambar.