Summary

Christopher says that, despite detailed notes, the story ends after Ecthelion’s words to Tuor at the seventh gate. In 1950, he wrote a letter to Sir Stanley Unwin announcing that he finally finished The Lord of the Rings. He asks to publish both books and refuses to do significant rewrites. It took two years for Tolkien to agree to publishing The Lord of the Rings alone much to his disappointment. After this decision, Tolkien finished the first draft of The Fall of Gondolin. Christopher says that the last, incomplete document is a story of a journey that becomes the one of the most important moments in Tolkien’s world.

Christopher begins comparing the manuscript of the Lost Tale and the Last Version. He assumes that his father had The Lost Tale in front of him while working on the Last Version as there...