Chronological Table

This table gives the complete chronological ordering of Tolkien's stories. If you use the Chronological Tolkien method, this is the order in which the stories are read.

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. C is The Children of Húrin. 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. You should use the calculator to customize your individual editions for this purpose!

  *   If you have the book Sauron Defeated, you can insert the "Epilogue" (Book VI Chapter 11) between sections ZD and JB. But if you don't have this book already, it's probably not worth buying this book just for this one section.