Similarly, I wondered at Aragorn's age and his earlier life when I read he once served Gondor and Rohan under the assumed name Thorongil long before the events of The War of the Ring. I wanted to read of these adventures but, alas, I only had this brief mention of his earlier adventures.
Both the preceding examples were extraneous and unessential to the events occurring in the LOTR. Why include them?
I believe such background material provides greater story and character depth. We all have histories we carry with us. So does the world, ftm. We are the sum of all we have been, as it is said. And so are our character creations--or, at least, I believe they should be.
As a storyteller (I daren't assume the cognomen 'writer' or 'author')crafting a tale of my protagonist in a series of stories, I almost inevitably discover new (actually, old) tales about my protagonist that guide how he/she behaves currently--and thus find seeds for new stories.
While writing this evening, I realized I have created a Hall of Mirrors. I can't create an origin tale! In a prior novel and a story I've written about my protagonist, I briefly (offhandedly) reference earlier adventures per the Gil-galad Gambit discussed above, including one where my main characters all met. I am now writing that origin tale--and have discovered an even earlier one with a different group of characters associated with my protagonist. This is the song that never ends...
I think I need write a story that occurs at the Creation of the Universe!
(But I'm afraid I may then discover something occurring before).
Respectfully,
History
Once you start spinning a world, it's hard to stop.
I realized that also about him. I wish there were stories about his earlier life. Some of the history of Middle Earth was put in that other book with the long name. Starts with a S. But doesn't include him. Then there's that new book finished by Tolken's son or is it grandson? I forget off hand what it is about. And there are some Short stories about Middle Earth, I believe, but I don't know if any are about Aragorn.
But it works like that is it easy to include tidbits that could be expanded into full stories or novels. I think you're right those tidbits add to the story and to who the character is. Other writers have done the same type of thing so it is something that can be done.
ou ou ou Can I be the one that writes that story about Aragron?
Yeah, right.
Tolkien spent 40 years on his books, and all during that time he was thinking of the entire history of Middle Earth from the beginning to long after the actual Lord of the Rings trilogy ends. He even invented some languages for it and created intricate histories for all the races.
Granted, you can have a great book without that sort of exhaustive detail, but even tidbits and hints of some past that you never bother to delve deeper into can still make a story richer.
But I don't think you have to go as far Tolkien did, merging all those character backstories until they become a culture and history from which more stories emerge; in fact I think it might be counterproductive. Tolkien is frequently a beautiful writer; he is wonderfully detailed in his imagination too. But he's not what I'd call a *deft* writer. One does not look at LotR and admire it's efficiency or (especially in Fellowship of the Ring) the neatness of its organization. Admittedly and amazingly it all fits together, but it took him *eighteen years* to manage the feat, during which (he pointedly reminds us in one of his prefaces) he had other duties he could not neglect. LotR has many admirable qualities, such as grandeur, beauty, or even profundity in places; but economy isn't one of them.
And remember, LotR was the end of the line for Tolkien as a novelist.
There are lots of authors who publish many wonderful books without falling down the world-building rabbit hole. Most of 'em, in fact. Of course some of us are dangerously inclined to do just that. We know who we are.
Anyhow, the *Lay of Gil Galad* isn't Tolkien's best poetic work, in my opinion. I'd vote for the *Lament for Eorl the Young* ("Where now is the horse and rider?"), which Bernard Hill quotes so memorably in *The Two Towers* movie. For me that's one of the high points of the entire movie trilogy, along with Hill's quotation of Theoden's battle cry ("Arise, arise, Riders of Théoden!) in the third movie. The immense gulf in power between Tolkiens words and imitations the scriptwriters shows what a little poetry (well... a lot actually) can do for writer.
It's important 'cause it portrays Middle-Earth as a place of depth, where a lot of history (and mythology) has happened.
On Lord of the Rings being Tolkien's "end of the line"...on the one hand, he'd already produced The Hobbit, and would also go on to put out Farmer Giles of Ham and a couple others, so he wasn't a one-shot like Harper Lee or Ross Lockridge or Margaret Mitchell...on the other hand, there are some multi-volume novelists I wish had stopped at just one or two...