Chronological Table

(old version, without The Children of Húrin)

This table gives the complete chronological ordering of Tolkien's stories. If you use the old version of the Chronological Tolkien system (without The Children of Húrin), you will read the stories in the order they are listed in this table.

The numerals i, ii, iii, and iv refer to the First, Second, Third, and Fourth Ages of Middle-earth. Dates in the First Age count from the creation of the sun. Tolkien gives us very little information about how much time passed in the Age of the Lamps and the Age of the Trees!

The page numbers listed here are for the classic Houghton-Mifflin hardcover editions. This is just to give you a sense of the size of each section. To see the exact places each section begins and ends, and for the page numbers of other editions, see the full book editions list.

S is The Silmarillion. U is Unfinished Tales. H is The Hobbit. F, T, R are the three volumes of The Lord of the Rings. In this table, the books are color-coded. This helps to illustrate the flow of the reading: for example, the entire First Age and all but one passage in the Second Age are taken exclusively from The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales.

This table isn't designed to guide you through the reading process. If you want to read your books using the Chronological Tolkien system, use the Calculator (or the older 6-book calculator) to customize your individual editions so they can be read chronologically!