The Complete Guide to Middle-earth

Infobox Book
name = The Complete Guide to Middle-earth
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption = Dust jacket of 1978 edition
author = Robert Foster
illustrator =
cover_artist = The Brothers Hildebrandt
country = United States
language = English
series =
subject = Middle-earth
genre = Non-fiction, Reference
publisher = Ballantine Books
release_date = 1978
english_release_date =
media_type = Print (Hardback & Paperback)
pages = 573 pp
isbn = ISBN 0-345-44976-2 (2001 edition)
preceded_by = A Guide to Middle-earth, Mirage Press, 1971
followed_by =

"The Complete Guide to Middle-earth: from" The Hobbit "to" The Silmarillion is a reference book for the fictional universe of J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth, compiled and edited by Robert Foster.

"The Complete Guide to Middle-earth" is a major expansion of Foster's "A Guide to Middle-earth", which was published in a limited edition by Mirage Press in 1971. Almost twice the length of the original (573 pages vs. 292 pages), the 1978 version incorporates extensive entries related to "The Silmarillion" (1977). A further revised edition (ISBN 0-345-44976-2) was published in 2001 in time for the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy.

"The Complete Guide to Middle-earth" is generally recognised as an excellent reference book on Middle-earth [See, for example, Drout, Michael D. C., ed.: "J. R. R. Tolkien Encyclopedia", editor's Introduction, p. xxix, where Drout refers to the book by the title of the 1971 edition] . Christopher Tolkien has commended it himself as an "admirable work of reference". [By Christopher Tolkien in the Introduction of the "Unfinished Tales" : "If I have been inadequate in explanation or unintentionally obscure, Mr Robert Foster's "Complete Guide to Middle-earth" supplies, as I have found through frequent use, an admirable work of reference.", J. R. R. Tolkien, "Unfinished Tales", p. 6.]

However, as it does not include information on post-"Silmarillion" material (i.e. "Unfinished Tales" and the "The History of Middle-earth" series), the 1978 edition contains some assertions contradicted by later publications. For example, the Star of Elendil jewel (Elendilmir) is identified with the Star of the Dúnedain given to Samwise Gamgee, but Christopher Tolkien refutes this. [ME-ref|UT|Footnote 33 in 'The Disaster of the Gladden Fields', p. 284] [ME-ref|VIII|Footnote 8 in 'Many Roads Lead Eastward (1)', p. 309] It also includes speculation on matters later confirmed in subsequent works. For example, Foster proposes Gandalf and Olórin are one and the same - confirmed in "Unfinished Tales".

A German edition, "Das Große Mittelerde-Lexikon", revised and translated by Helmut W. Pesch, was published in 2002 [Drout, "J. R. R. Tolkien Encyclopedia", p. 240] .

Notes

References

* cite book
first = Michael
last = Drout
authorlink = Michael D. C. Drout
year = 2006
title = J. R. R. Tolkien Encyclopedia
publisher = Routledge
id = ISBN 0-4159-6942-5
* cite book
first = J. R. R.
last = Tolkien
authorlink = J. R. R. Tolkien
year = 1998
title = Unfinished Tales
location = London
publisher = HarperCollins
id = ISBN 0-261-10362-8