Abstract
This paper was given at The Christopher Tolkien Centenary Conference sponsored by the Tolkien Society, held online on 23/24 November 2024. The paper was given on Zoom on November 24, 2024.
This paper argues that Christopher Tolkien’s 1950s philological essay “The Battle of the Goths and the Huns” anticipates the editorial principles that later governed his presentation of his father, J. R. R. Tolkien’s legendarium. Analyzing Christopher’s treatment of early medieval legend alongside his handling of the Celeborn and Galadriel materials, the essay argues that he consistently resisted imposing artificial coherence on fragmentary evidence. Whether confronting speculative Gothic history, or his father’s unfinished manuscripts, Christopher meticulously preserved evidentiary density, contradiction, and incompletion. His work, not without its own aesthetic subtleties and pleasures, articulates a philological practice in which fidelity to the record outweighs a vain pursuit of narrative satisfaction.
Recommended Citation
Birns, Nicholas
(2026)
"Refusing Artificial Coherence: Christopher Tolkien's Philology and his Editorial Practice on His Father’s Legendarium,"
Journal of Tolkien Research: Vol. 24:
Iss.
2, Article 15.
Available at:
https://scholar.valpo.edu/journaloftolkienresearch/vol24/iss2/15