Doomed to Die

An A-Z of Death in Tolkien

96 pages

English language

Published 2025 by HarperCollins Publishers.

ISBN:
978-0-06-351759-2
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ISFDB ID:
3519987

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‘Stories – frankly, human stories are always about one thing – death. The inevitability of death.’ J.R.R. TOLKIEN

A distinguished linguist and scholar, J.R.R. Tolkien is celebrated as the father of the fantasy genre, drawing on his knowledge of legends and folklore to create a new mythology and write the ultimate epic novel. He populated his books with Hobbits, Orcs, Elves, Dragons and Dwarves, but as in all epic tales, there can be only one fate for Mortal Men…

Doomed to Die is a uniquely irreverent glance at the world of Tolkien. It started life as an innocent Inktober 2024 project, but somehow grew in the telling to become a book.

4 editions

On 26 notable deaths in Tolkien's world

A fun little book that honour J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-Earth by illustrating and rhyming about the deaths that feature in the books. It starts with “A is for Arwen, done in by sorrow.” and ends with Z, one of the more notable deaths in the books.

The A-Z list is followed by a note from the author about how the book got started. Then an appendix is given, showing how each death was illustrated, along with information about the character featured in the death. This is helpful for general readers not familiar with the works of Tolkien, and may persuade them to read the books to find out more about the character themselves.