The History of Middle-earth stutters to a very non-profound ending with Christopher Tolkien's final notes on "Tal-Elmar" at the end of The Peoples of Middle-earth. His role in the long meticulous process of organizing and publishing his father's notes and manuscripts ends quietly. So many questions remain unanswered by the twelfth volume of HOME that many people express considerable frustration. "Is that all there is to Middle-earth?" they ask.

The answer then in 1996 was both "yes" and "no". "Yes" because the megalithic understructure of the details had been carefully laid out, except for one minor area. "No" because Christopher paid scant attention to the development of The Hobbit, a task which had been delegated to the late Taum Santoski. Upon Santoski's death, the responsibility fell to John Rateliff, who has yet to produce the much anticipated, long desired history of The Hobbit (which at one time had the working title of Mr. Baggins).

Douglas Anderson's Annotated Hobbit, revised and updated in 2002, serves as the Tolkien community's primary resource for studying the development of The Hobbit. A vital secondary source is J.R.R. Tolkien: Artist & Illustrator, edited by Wayne Hammond and Christina Scull. A few comments by Christopher scattered throughout the History of Middle-earth books round out the limited resources we have for studying JRRT's work on The Hobbit.

But Tolkien's remaining unpublished linguistic materials have been conferred to the editorial care of a small group of linguists working with Carl Hostetter. The strict conditions attached to the materials are mired in dispute and recrimination within the relatively small Tolkien linguistic community. Some of the foremost Tolkien linguists have pressed hard for speedier access to the material. The conflict occasionally spills over into non-linguistic discussions, but has largely been contained within the circles of Tolkien linguistic studies.

Many ardent Tolkien readers are no strangers to conflict. The worlds of Tolkien scholarship, both formal and informal, resound to the heated cries of inflammatory debate. I don't know any Tolkien scholars who haven't privately said to me, "You may find an answer with so-and-so, but don't mention my name as it won't open any doors for you." In fact, I've found myself saying that on a few occasions.

One might feel that, with Tolkien's death in 1973, sufficient time should have passed for everyone to have studied everything. The art of Tolkien analysis, if not Tolkien criticism, should by now be well-defined and considered almost scientific. But the magic of Tolkien's craft is that it continues producing new discoveries almost on a yearly basis. The last significant release of material regarding Middle-earth in Tolkien's life was probably the 1969 Pauline Baines map. The map included maybe half a dozen place-names no one had seen before (such as Edhellond, Lond Daer Ened, and Framsburg).

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