LOTR: New Edition Of The Silmarillion Coming This October Featuring Letter From Tolkien

A new edition of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Silmarillion is coming this year alongside the launch of Amazon's much-anticipated fantasy series, at least in the UK. The new book arrives October 27 and, for the first time ever, it's been illustrated in color, with drawings from Tolkien himself. The entire text is printed in two colors as well.

For those catching up, The Silmarillion is a dense and detailed accounting of Middle-earth's history. It serves as an explanation of the backdrop for The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Among the book's many stories are an accounting of the fall of the island kingdom of Numenor, titled Akallabeth, and a passage called Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age, which sets up the stories to come. Another popular chapter in The Silmarillion is Beren and Luthien, a love story about a mortal man and an immortal woman that is said to have inspired the storytelling of Aragorn and Arwen's love, and the love between Tolkien and his wife, Edith. Tolkien passed away before he finished The Silmarillion. His son, Christopher Tolkien, finished the work.

A new edition of The Silmarillion is coming in October! Like last year's LOTR, it will feature illustrations by J.R.R. Tolkien himself!
Already up for preorder too! https://t.co/LcR7cFk0KA pic.twitter.com/1gKUV33pn2
— The Nerd of the Rings (@nerdoftherings1) March 23, 2022

The new edition of The Silmarillion also includes a letter written by Tolkien himself in 1951. Customers in the UK can pre-order it now on Amazon for £45.

It's understandable that HarperCollins would publish a new Lord of the Rings book this year to capitalize on the increased interest in the series overall thanks to Amazon's show. The series is more inspired by the appendices to The Lord of the Rings rather than the stories in The Silmarillion. That said, the teaser trailer for Amazon's show featured Numenor in all its glory, so the passage in The Silmarillion pertaining to the downfall of the kingdom would seemingly serve as a nice refresher.

The announcement of this new edition of The Silmarillion comes not long after the Tolkien Estate released a trove of new Lord of the Rings paintings, photographs, letters, and writing from Tolkien.

This is happening as The Lord of the Rings movie and video game rights are now up for auction. There haven't been any updates yet on the auction process, but keep checking back for more.

Amazon's Lord of the Rings series, The Rings of Power, premieres September 2 on Prime Video. Ahead of that, you can find out where to rewatch all the Lord of the Rings movies.