For J.R.R. Tolkien, Middle-earth was part of an entire world to be explored, and the writings in this new collection reveal the journeys that Tolkien took as he sought to better understand his unique creation. From sweeping themes as profound as Elvish immortality and reincarnation, and the Powers of the Valar, to the more earth-bound subjects of the lands and beasts of Numenor, the geography of the Rivers and Beacon-hills of Gondor, and even who had beards.