The Silmarilion

[liran]

I think it is a very good account of middle earth pre-LOTR, however because the hobbit or LOTR basically take place over a year or so,they are much more easy to folow than a ook documenting thousands of years. If i am correct the silmarrion was published after tolkiens death and was something he had working on bit by bit since the start of LOTR and has slight unfinished feel. I think of it as a larger version of the appendices in his most famous book.......and even the great Mr Jackson couldn't make a film out of this book hahaha

[GG]

I often wonder if Tolkien began The Sil as a sort of personal referrence of "historic events" as he created those events in his mythic setting. I have heard of writers keeping detailed notes on settings as they create stories so that they have a handy cross-referrence of dates, events and people... but sometimes those notes begin to fill out and evolve into a complete history of a fictitious setting.

[Taurendil]

As far as I remember, he planned to write a history of the First Age. He made a lot of notes though, they were included  in the Unfinished Tales, the History of Middle Earth (edited by Christopher Tolkien)

[Rowiel the Elven Maiden]

yes when i first read the silmarillion i must confess that i felt lost... as the style is quite different from the lord of the ringd triology and the hobbit.... for me the language sounded more difficult if i explain myself well...but once i read it twice.. it was a little bit more clearer actually.

[Taurendil]

By the way, I heard that Tolkien himself considered the Silmarillion his most important work.

[yoshiman]

 :bd:The silmarilian is awesome if you want to know about middle-earths background read it is an amazing book

[Lessa]

yes I agree with you but I wouldn't have 20 years ago as I found it hard to get into the rhythm of the book. Now though I love it!

[Mithrandir]

I agree, Lessa, the first read-through of it is definitely the most daunting: trying to remember who did what, what happened where, and who was killed by who was a nightmare the first time round. I know people who still, after having read The Silmarillion 20 years ago can't get their "head around all the Fs" (Finwë, Fëanor, Fingolfin, Finarfin, Fingon, Finrod (Felagund), and Finduilas)... and then there's the Es, Bs and Ms!

I think some of Tolkien's best passages are contained within the pages of The Silmarillion, one of the most memorable piece for me is this about the fall of Fingon: "At last Fingon stood alone with his guard dead about him; and he fought with Gothmog, until another Balrog came behind and cast a throng of fire about him. Then Gothmog hewed him with his black axe, and a white flame sprang up from the helm of Fingon as it was cloven. Thus fell the High King of the Noldor; and they beat him into the dust with their maces, and his banner, blue and silver, they trod into the mire of his blood." How sad, but fantasticlly well written - especially the last line.

I agree with you, Taurendil that Tolkien did consider The Silmarillion one of the most important parts of the legendarium as many Norse traditions also focus on earlier creation and history. I would love to see a more complete text as an account of the First Age - there is only actually about 200 page on the First Age.

Hopefully, Narn i Chîn Húrin will be able to fill in some of the gaps for us.

[Velcair]

The Sil suffer from only one problem, that is that it is huge. The Sil itself only comprises (I think) of most of the stuff concerning the Noldor and their return to Middle Earth after the Rape of the Silmarils by Melkor who Feanor names Morgoth Bauglir. The inclusion of the bits like the music of Illuvatar, and some of the later parts concerning the third age were collaborated with the Sil itself to form what is the present form, the bulk of much of Tolkein's work (admitting the narrative stories of the Hobbit, LOTR and other short pieces). The fact that it covers so much of Tolkein's world can make it a tad daunting and at times confusing (the sons of Finwe for example, and their sons have a number of similar names, some even have more than one for the same dude and it does get a tad confusing. There also a lot of minor characters whose names are dropped in relation to the wider story, giving yet more headaches), but it is however, well worth reading or Tolkien fans.

To give a prime example, if you have watched the LOTR films (which of course most of you probably have done, many many times ) there is the scene in the marshes where the Hobbits are meant to be sleeping and Aragorn (Mr Manly stubble himself) is singing the Lay of Luthien. Now, all you learn here is that she gave her love to Beren (a mortal no less) and died. In the Sil, you get the entire rather nifty story of Beren the one-handed and his lady Luthien (which features probably THE worst test of proving any guy has EVER had to do for his girl's father, basically a suicide mission, or so the dad thinks!!).

You also get the stuff about Numenor and it's down fall (which is like my fav bit if I'm being truthful) and the stuff about the creation of the world features some very nifty ideas on Tolkien's part for the creation of thins like night and day etc. Yes, the Sil is a pretty nifty book, just persevere 

[Vraelthewise]

In which sense do you mean that it is huge? That it covers an extremely large time-span or that the book is too long?

Personally, it's my favorite Tolkien book, indeed, my favorite book of all-time. I find it hard to take it all in that a man indeed did invent it all.For it's extremely complex, for most of the people who aren't it's fans probably dislike it for it's complexity. The names starting from F can be found confusing, but I loved them.

The main reason why I love it, is that it is a complete world in itself.  As far as I know, it has no major flaws to speak off, and is exceptionally well written for an invented mythology, even for a 'real' mythology.

The way it supplements LOTR is something, in my opinion, that simply can not be ignored. I felt a huge thrill go down my spine when I found out who was Feanor, Morgoth, Fingolfin and many more actually were. Galadriel history is interesting, and when I read about Elrond's heritage, I felt simply thrilled. For while speaking about them, Tolkien managed to make his characters legends.

The one complaint I have against it is that it is too short; the Quenta Silmarillion is only aro9und 250 pages, completely disproportional to the gap of years it covers. I would have loved to see it extend to atleast 750 pages; that way, the people who found it's lack of personalization would be able to delete that complaint.

By the way, if you haven't noticed, I love that book. (specially Fingolfin )

[Lessa]

no sorry I hadn't noticed

[Green Dragon]

I loved the Sil too.  The first time I read it I found myself feeling as if I were in Minas Tirith going through the dusty old histories of Middle Earth-it was kind of exciting and I felt a bit guilty-like I was delving too deep into things long forgotten.     I was about 12 and I had just read The Hobbit and then TLOTR books so it was kind of a mind blowing experience and an evolution of sorts.  It really is hard to believe even now that one man compiled these "histories".  They are so complex-it's as if many hands were involved over time to create such a thing.

[Lessa]

Yes I agree with you. Mind you it took Tolkien years to compile the histories

[Mithrandir]

Yes I agree with you. Mind you it took Tolkien years to compile the histories

Yeah, and unfortunately many things were left unfinished or fragmented.

[Lessa]

very true. Still some mysteries should be encouraged as not everything is known in the real world so to speak

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