The Roots of the Mountains Part II of II by William Morris

Ultimately one of the most influential novels of all time and yet today oddly obscure, English translator, artist, architect, and Marxist William Morris’s The Roots of the Mountains built the foundation of contemporary fantasy fiction. Notably, Morris’s epic profoundly influenced well-known works like J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, inspiring characters such as Tolkien’s Éowyn and his orcs. Set in an idyllic and fictional valley surrounded by immense and mysterious mountains, Morris’s fictional narrative focuses on a group of pagan Goths and the experiences of their golden son, Face-of-God (an apparent translation of the Old Norse name Ásgrím). One day he encounters a group of mysterious strangers, among them the entrancingly beautiful the Friend, only to find that what they have to tell him threatens the lives of everyone he knows and loves. Yet this foretold Ragnarök is not met with fear but community, friendship, and unity. This experimental, innovative, and even shocking Victorian work draws from history and folklore to produce a tale of lust and love and brutality and bloodshed. A distant and vague sequel to Morris’s experimental, Old Norse literature-inspired The House of the Wolfings (also available from Hyldyr), which focused on a small community’s efforts to fend off the Roman invasion of a Gothic settlement, Morris’s The Roots of the Mountains draws inspiration from Jordanes’s Getica, an account of the Goths from the 500s. This edition features not only excerpts from Getica, but also a new introduction from Ruth Tolkien, great-granddaughter of J. R. R. Tolkien, and numerous new supplementary items from editors Joseph S. Hopkins and Lauren E. Fountain alongside art from the historic record by Jacqui Alberts.

First edition: parts I & II each limited to 200 hand-numbered copies
Part I: 284 pages. Part II: 276 pages.
Both editions 5x7. Published by Hyldyr.
Printed in the USA and/or Canada.