--- product_id: 74319291 title: "The Great Tales of Middle-earth Box Set: The Children of Húrin, Beren and Lúthien, and The Fall of Gondolin" price: "$34.40" currency: USD in_stock: false reviews_count: 13 url: https://www.desertcart.us/products/74319291-the-great-tales-of-middle-earth-box-set-the-children store_origin: US region: United States of America --- # The Great Tales of Middle-earth Box Set: The Children of Húrin, Beren and Lúthien, and The Fall of Gondolin **Price:** $34.40 **Availability:** ❌ Out of Stock ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** The Great Tales of Middle-earth Box Set: The Children of Húrin, Beren and Lúthien, and The Fall of Gondolin - **How much does it cost?** $34.40 with free shipping - **Is it available?** Currently out of stock - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.us](https://www.desertcart.us/products/74319291-the-great-tales-of-middle-earth-box-set-the-children) ## Best For - Customers looking for quality international products ## Why This Product - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Description The Great Tales of Middle-earth is a beautiful box set of the three final novels of Middle-earth: Children of Húrin, Beren and Lúthien, and The Fall of Gondolin , packaged together and ready for gifting. Completing Christopher Tolkien’s lifelong achievement as the editor and curator of his father J.R.R. Tolkien’s manuscripts, The Great Tales features handsome color plates and maps by famed illustrator Alan Lee. The Children of Húrin was the first complete book by J.R.R.Tolkien since the 1977 publication of The Silmarillion . Six thousand years before the One Ring is destroyed, Middle-earth lies under the shadow of the Dark Lord Morgoth. The greatest warriors among elves and men have perished, and all is in darkness and despair. But a deadly new leader rises, Túrin, son of Húrin, and with his grim band of outlaws begins to turn the tide in the war for Middle-earth—awaiting the day he confronts his destiny and the deadly curse laid upon him. Beren and Lúthien was, or became, an essential element in the evolution of The Silmarillion , the myths and legends of the First Age of the World conceived by J.R.R. Tolkien. Essential to the story, and never changed, is the fate that shadowed the love of Beren and Lúthien: for Beren was a mortal man, but Lúthien was an immortal elf. Her father, a great elvish lord, in deep opposition to Beren, imposed on him an impossible task that he must perform before he might wed Lúthien. This is the kernel of the legend; and it leads to the supremely heroic attempt of Beren and Lúthien together to rob the greatest of all evil beings, Melkor, called Morgoth, the Black Enemy, of a Silmaril. The Fall of Gondolin completes the set and tells the story of the destruction of the legendary city of Gondolin at the hands of evil Morgoth in retaliation against Ulmo, the Lord of the Waters, who favors man. At core is the tale of Tuor, cousin of Túrin, his wife, Idril, daughter of Turgon, king of Gondolin, and their child, Eärendel, who became great in Gondolin, but had to flee the blazing wreckage of his home when Morgoth attacked. Each hardcover volume includes color plates and black and white maps by award-winning illustrator Alan Lee. Review: beautiful book set! - i bought a like new used set. the seller was great! shipped so well, arrived early. the set is immaculate. books are beautiful, good paper, lovely illustrations. thrilled with purchase! thx! Review: A Box Set Fit for Middle-earth - I'm breaking this review into 2 parts: Part 1) Physical Appearance & Book Quality (for collectors as well as readers) I’m writing the first portion of this review mainly for those who, like me, are both readers and collectors, and care just as much about the physical details of the books as the stories inside them. I found it surprisingly difficult to get clear information about what these books actually look like in this specific box set, so I more or less took a shot in the dark. I’m attaching several photos to show the details and the exact version of the set I received, in the hope it helps someone else avoid the same guessing game. The set I purchased is the William Morrow Publishers edition, published in 2025. The books in this box set match perfectly in size and overall appearance with other recent William Morrow Tolkien hardcovers, including Unfinished Tales, The Fall of Númenor, The Silmarillion, and the History of Middle-earth volumes (see photos for comparison, especially with Unfinished Tales). All three books feature: - Matte-finish dust jackets - Sewn bindings - Ribbon page markers In other words, they feel solid, well-made, and consistent with the quality seen in the UK HarperCollins editions. Since William Morrow is the U.S. imprint of HarperCollins, the books are essentially identical in look and construction. I’ve also included a photo of one of the books without the dust jacket—all three are identical beneath the jackets. The box itself is beautiful, illustrated by Alan Lee (arguably the definitive Middle-earth illustrator), and matches the aesthetic of the books perfectly. Hopefully this helps anyone else who’s been scouring the internet for answers like I was. The set is genuinely beautiful, and I’m very happy to have added it to my collection. One quick shipping note: desertcart can be hit-or-miss when it comes to whether a book arrives pristine or looks like it’s been on a long march through Mordor (see what I did there...). In my case, the set arrived in perfect condition—shrink-wrapped, in a well-fitted box, which was then placed inside a shipping box. Obviously your mileage may vary, but it’s worth mentioning. Part Deux) Contents (very brief overview bc i'm sure most have stopped reading by now...) For those interested in the actual contents of the books: this box set presents Tolkien’s three great First Age stories—The Children of Húrin, Beren and Lúthien, and The Fall of Gondolin—each edited by Christopher Tolkien. These books expand on the legends only briefly referenced in The Silmarillion, presenting them in fuller narrative form while also showing how the stories evolved over time, with commentary and multiple versions where relevant. If you love Tolkien’s deeper mythology, these are essential reads—and this set is a fantastic way to own them. Hope this helped! ## Technical Specifications | Specification | Value | |---------------|-------| | Best Sellers Rank | #300,374 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #56 in Fantasy Anthologies #200 in Science Fiction Short Stories #232 in Military Fantasy (Books) | | Customer Reviews | 4.9 out of 5 stars 2,108 Reviews | ## Images ![The Great Tales of Middle-earth Box Set: The Children of Húrin, Beren and Lúthien, and The Fall of Gondolin - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81+Ar7aa3fL.jpg) ## Available Options This product comes in different **Media Format** options. ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ beautiful book set! *by P***. on July 4, 2026* i bought a like new used set. the seller was great! shipped so well, arrived early. the set is immaculate. books are beautiful, good paper, lovely illustrations. thrilled with purchase! thx! ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ A Box Set Fit for Middle-earth *by J***3 on February 11, 2026* I'm breaking this review into 2 parts: Part 1) Physical Appearance & Book Quality (for collectors as well as readers) I’m writing the first portion of this review mainly for those who, like me, are both readers and collectors, and care just as much about the physical details of the books as the stories inside them. I found it surprisingly difficult to get clear information about what these books actually look like in this specific box set, so I more or less took a shot in the dark. I’m attaching several photos to show the details and the exact version of the set I received, in the hope it helps someone else avoid the same guessing game. The set I purchased is the William Morrow Publishers edition, published in 2025. The books in this box set match perfectly in size and overall appearance with other recent William Morrow Tolkien hardcovers, including Unfinished Tales, The Fall of Númenor, The Silmarillion, and the History of Middle-earth volumes (see photos for comparison, especially with Unfinished Tales). All three books feature: - Matte-finish dust jackets - Sewn bindings - Ribbon page markers In other words, they feel solid, well-made, and consistent with the quality seen in the UK HarperCollins editions. Since William Morrow is the U.S. imprint of HarperCollins, the books are essentially identical in look and construction. I’ve also included a photo of one of the books without the dust jacket—all three are identical beneath the jackets. The box itself is beautiful, illustrated by Alan Lee (arguably the definitive Middle-earth illustrator), and matches the aesthetic of the books perfectly. Hopefully this helps anyone else who’s been scouring the internet for answers like I was. The set is genuinely beautiful, and I’m very happy to have added it to my collection. One quick shipping note: Amazon can be hit-or-miss when it comes to whether a book arrives pristine or looks like it’s been on a long march through Mordor (see what I did there...). In my case, the set arrived in perfect condition—shrink-wrapped, in a well-fitted box, which was then placed inside a shipping box. Obviously your mileage may vary, but it’s worth mentioning. Part Deux) Contents (very brief overview bc i'm sure most have stopped reading by now...) For those interested in the actual contents of the books: this box set presents Tolkien’s three great First Age stories—The Children of Húrin, Beren and Lúthien, and The Fall of Gondolin—each edited by Christopher Tolkien. These books expand on the legends only briefly referenced in The Silmarillion, presenting them in fuller narrative form while also showing how the stories evolved over time, with commentary and multiple versions where relevant. If you love Tolkien’s deeper mythology, these are essential reads—and this set is a fantastic way to own them. Hope this helped! ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ A great boxset for The Great Tales *by C***D on September 9, 2022* This is a solid collection for the great tales. The boxset is of a good quality and the dust jackets have a nice shine to them. The artwork by Alan Lee is absolutely gorgeous. If you’re looking for a new set and haven’t read these, this is the one! My review for The Children of Húrin: This is one or part of Tolkien’s ‘great tales’, and it is apparently one of the earlier things he worked on, continuously altered, and made further notes on, until his death. The editing work from his son included completing the work and making it a cohesive linear story for readers, and was published in 2007. This is also a part of the Unfinished Tales and The Silmarillion. I had intended to read through some more of Tolkien’s work prior to September, and the release of The Rings of Power. When I realized it was already august, I knew I had to get it in gear. Now the great tales aren’t the storyline from tRoP, but I still wanted to conquer them as I have already read the appendices before. Due to time, I decided to go with the audio, which sadly means I missed the great illustrations on this first read through, but it is narrated by the late Christopher Lee…his performance is explosive. However it was a bit weird, because the audio is broken into 7 chapters for an 18 chapter book, with seemingly no reason whatsoever for it. Tolkien called this The Lay of the Children of Húrin, a lay being a narrative poem (typically sung). In many ways it also comes off as very epic, both in the style of poem, and the things happening. I really found myself thinking about this quote from Tolkien’s son (about Jackson’s LotR trilogy): “They eviscerated the book by making it an action movie for young people aged 15 to 25.” And although film cannot mimic the lyrical and powerful nature of Tolkien’s ability to write, this story includes some heavy things, descriptions, and themes that would almost read more as George R. R. Martin. It’s for that reason I kept thinking of the quote. Tolkien writes of dismemberment, torture, orcs beheading huge groups of people, humans hanging large groups of orcs from trees, suicide, unwitting incest. I mean there’s a lot to digest, but a lot of these things kind of resonated with me as the kind of violence translated into Jackson’s films. Regardless of that, or with that being said, Tolkien still gives us the history, or almost overview of the story. The description is light, not exactly glossing over things, but he does not dwell on action and terror stroke by stroke. A huge battle is simply talked about as having happened, you’re never really inside the moment. It’s for that reason that Tolkien always translates into history for me. This is much more linear than the Silmarillion as a whole, but they can still be viewed as almost textbook like writing. None of this is meant as a negative in any way though, as I absolutely love Tolkien and I absolutely loved this story. My review for Beren and Lúthien: This one opens with a preface by Christopher, at the age of 93, that I found truly astounding. It kind of continues throughout the book, as the tale is rather short, and has several versions. I think that Tolkien fans are really fortunate that he felt himself to be a protector/scholar of his father’s work, rather than living in its shadow, because he’s the only reason a lot of these things saw the light of day. In this preface he spoke to how his father would often change things, or names, or themes, and how an addition of a single character or thing could influence him rewriting something entirely. I loved how Christopher spoke to how he did not take these versions of the great tales to be canon, or to uncanonize other versions, he was just striving to give fans the most linear, narrative story possible. Beren and Lúthien, or The Tale of Tinúviel (as the story and chapter are entitled—from The Book of Lost Tales Two), is an extracted version of their love and stealing of a Silmaril from Melkor/Morgoth. I personally kind of found this edited version to erase Beren, in the sense that it did not really include any background on him and his heroics. Lúthien runs from her father and even frees Beren, which is in no way an issue for me, but I think it weighs even heavier when you include who he was. Aka he felt a little useless to me. Luckily however, this is a rather short extraction. (And that’s not at all to say that I actually found it to be bad! At all!!). The remainder of the book continues on with additional context from Christopher throughout, as well as additional excerpts from various versions and histories that he’s chosen to highlight for this combined edition of the great tale. These excerpts are from the actual lay, and therefore are genuine poetry in rhyme. That’s never been my cup of tea, but you can tell the lyrical prowess that Tolkien had, and the audio most definitely flowed effortlessly. I once again for my first read through miss out on all the illustrations, but we are hightailing it for The Rings of Power prep. I of course would be remiss if I did not include the fact that it’s said the story originated from Tolkien taking woodland walks with his wife-to-be Edith, and that he found himself to be the mortal in the presence of greatness, a beauty of the Eldar. That is why Beren and Lúthien are inscribed on their tombstones, and I can only imagine the story was continually rewrote as their love grew and changed, and Tolkien wove it into the fabric of middle-earth. My review for The Fall of Gondolin: The final book edited by Tolkien’s son, and the final of the great tales. Again, I’ll express my great respect for all of the scholarly work Christopher did with his father’s work. This one followed the same format as Beren and Lúthien, with there being a preface as well as additional notes from Christopher throughout, as well as the actual content from Tolkien. I again did the audio, which was done very well by Timothy and Samuel West—with one of them reading for Christopher, and the other for Tolkien. Sadly, missed out on the illustrations again though. This one was again a rather short narrative tale that Christopher put together. It was roughly an hour and 45 minutes out of an 8:18 audiobook. For me that just goes to show the historical or textbook style writing that Tolkien had employed with these, not to mention he never finished entirely anyway. That’s not to say they aren’t poetic, or lyrical, it’s just that it was giving the information in a textbook/history way, it gives important events and major characters, without deeper detail. That’s again not to say I did not enjoy, I love the way the stories are told, it was just short! The only thing I dislike about this formatting choice is that it once again takes away from the linear tale itself. Whereas The Children of Húrin was for the most part the entire book, Beren and Lúthien and The Fall of Gondolin are only a piece of the full book. It is true that Húrin has the most pieces anyway though. The Fall of Gondolin is a pretty dark tale of the might of Melko(r)/Morgoth, with balrogs, dragons, orcs, and men. He orchestrated the deaths of several named characters, as well as the overall downfall of the kingdom. I would love to see something done with this one day. A big thing I’d love to talk about with this book is that the fall of Gondolin features a Legolas Greenleaf! And seemingly not the fellowships Legolas, who was born in the second age?! It has been remarked that if Tolkien continued his work he would more than likely have changed this name entirely, as elf names were not typically reused. Another thing Christopher touched on that I really liked and wanted to highlight was that Tolkien considered TLotR to be one story, but in a referenced letter he had stated that he was fine with ANY of it being published for people to read, even calling it “this stuff.” So I am sorry Tolkien purists (I myself am kind of at least halfway in this camp…), but he was ultimately the approver of the trilogy it seems. ## Frequently Bought Together - The Great Tales of Middle-earth Box Set: The Children of Húrin, Beren and Lúthien, and The Fall of Gondolin - The Fall of Númenor: And Other Tales from the Second Age of Middle-earth - Unfinished Tales Illustrated Edition --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.us/products/74319291-the-great-tales-of-middle-earth-box-set-the-children](https://www.desertcart.us/products/74319291-the-great-tales-of-middle-earth-box-set-the-children) --- *Product available on Desertcart United States of America* *Store origin: US* *Last updated: 2026-09-10*