Welcome to SPACE, our adult continuing education program which offers interactive monthly courses for personal enrichment! Learn more here.

 Launchpad  Hybrid
Module 1 in The History of the Lord of the RingsCluster
Mixed Lecture/Discussion • Medium intensity
Christopher Tolkien’s twelve volumes on the History of Middle-earth give unparalleled insight into the development of J.R.R. Tolkien’s legendarium. They contain early drafts of familiar texts, different conceptualizations of well-known stories, and in some cases completely new material.

This module is part of a series of modules covering all twelve volumes of The History of Middle-earth. This particular module will provide an overview of the first book in The History of The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the Shadow (Volume Six of The History of the Middle-earth), as well as readings from and discussion of highlights in that volume. It will include a guest appearance from Tolkien scholar John Garth.

Whether you’ve read the History of Middle-earth before or not, the hope is that these modules will make the volumes more accessible and will enhance your appreciation of the works of J.R.R. Tolkien. There is no requirement that you do every single module in the series as each will be largely standalone, although in later modules, references will be made to earlier volumes.

Required Texts

The Return of the Shadow (any edition).

This class needs more votes to get confirmed.

This module is a standing candidate which means it will be ready to launch as soon as it gets enough interest. Token holders can set aside a Token to reserve their seat for (next run of this) this candidate and help it get confirmed.

Log in or Sign up to reserve your seat!
Check out Current and Upcoming offerings from:
This will be a Hybrid class (4 lectures & 4 discussion sessions). Each week will consist of 1 hour of recorded lecture and 1 hour of live discussion (not recorded) for a total of 8 class hours over the course of the month.

DELIVERY PLAN
1. The first session each week will be a lecture session (pre-recorded), shared with all students at least three days before the live discussion session.
2. The second session each week will be a live discussion session (not recorded).

Days and Times

As soon as we obtain enough interest in this class we will be in touch to work out a meeting time that works for the group. Thank you for keeping your Blackberry availability up to date!

Discord Details

#tolkien-home
If you have any questions about the SPACE program, please reach out to [email protected].