The Complete Tolkien Companion

Very detailed and informative. A must for any LOTRs fan.

Fantastic guide/dictionary/encyclopedia to Tolkien's works. Absolutely necessary while reading Lord of the Rings. Not only is this book great for referencing, it's also fun just browsing through and reading everything. Long explanations are given for most events, locations, and people. It's really nice to have lengthy details which keeps things very informative. I highly recommend this over Robert Foster's The Complete Guide to Middle-earth.

I love all of these books, they're all useful in their own way, but they're essentially the same book with different flavors, I personally prefer the paperback edition of this book over all others because it is complete, cheap and easy to find and read what I need. Do not confuse this with the Reader's Guide by Hammond & Scull that is an entirely different kind of book and very good quality too, unlike these which are more akin to dictionaries for Tolkien's works. The Hardback edition of this book is not worth it in my opinion because of how stiff it is to open and unwieldy not to mention way more expensive and the spine isn't even smyth sewn, it is way thicker and stiffer ;) than it needs to be, otherwise it would be my favorite.

I first purchased the Kindle edition, but found it cumbersome to search for specific entries as a search would yield ALL references in addition to the specific entry, e.g. a search for "hobbit" listed all the entries where the word hobbit is found. So I purchased the paperback and am very pleased with it. The Kindle edition could be vastly improved with a comprehensive index of links to the entries. A reliable and worthy reference for Tolkien's master works, it is an encyclopaedia of persons, places and things born in J.R.R. Tolkien's creation of the world that brought us hobbits and the Lord of the Rings. The contents of its original edition (pub. 1976) spanned Tolkien's earliest works, i.e. "The Hobbit", "The Lord of the Rings", "The Adventures of Tom Bombadil" and "The Road Goes Ever On." The second edition, "The New Tolkien Companion" (pub. 1979), expanded to include "The Silmarillion" (1978). This third edition, "The Complete Tolkien Companion" (2004), now includes references for the twelve volume "History of Middle Earth" series and "Unfinished Tales" (1980) compiled and published by Tolkien's son, Christopher.

This book is a great companion to the Tolkien universe at the time of publication. It has many great details about places and people that are useful for when you’re reading Tolkien’s books. My only complaint, why is why I gave it four stars, is that it could be more complete. There’s almost no entries for Elven words or phrases and it could have more maps. But it’s still good for most references.

The arrival was just what I needed. I wanted a comfort reference to give to a student for their enjoyment. Part of exploring a new world is to figure out how characters and places are related. This guide helps keep information straight and it is written in an easy to use/understand format. May not be impressive to scholars or people with significant investment of time or thought into Tolkein but a good item none the less.

If you’re considering this guide because you want an encyclopedia to use when watching Rings of Power, you’re in the right place. This book is an alphabetical listing of names, places, wars, magical items, pretty much everything in the Tolkien lore from all his collected writings. I’ve always been a casual Tolkien fan so I love being able to pause the series (or a re-watch of the movies, or a re-read of the books) and look up something I don’t remember the details about. It’s also really easy to get lost just reading it like a book (if not a bit non-linearly)! It is mostly a text reference (with only a few maps and family trees), so for an even better experience, I recommend using it alongside Tolkien’s Appendices.

I’ve had the first edition almost since it was first published. I used it a great deal when I was young and it was an invaluable resource for learning the people, places and things in Middle Earth. It was falling apart so I purchased this one. This third edition is greatly expanded and covers much of of The Silmarillion and later works that have been more recently published by Christopher Tolkien.

Uma excelente obra de referência para esclarecer alguns pontos e relações que nem sempre ficam claros durante a leitura dos livros.

Ottimo libro, fatto davvero bene. Super consigliato per gli appassionati di Tolkien!

Lost a copy of this book years ago and have been trying to replace it since - so happy I found it! It’s a fantastic resource - basically a Tolkien dictionary where you can look up anything and you’ll find a brief explanation. Also really good for dates and the such.

Here's a pretty good book to know more about all the names of the characters, peoples, weapons, traditions invented by Tolkien for his abundant universe! A vey full guide, very easy to use! Unfortunately, I would have liked there's more maps...

This is a helpful companion to the Middle Earth universe and is similar to a dictionary or encyclopædia.