The Silmarillion

I'm not even going to pretend to be objective about this.

I realize the Silmarillion won't be for everyone; it won't be for most people. It is not a novel or a short-story collection -- it's a book of myths and legends of Middle-earth written in a sort of King James biblical prose. The tales range from the creation of the world (and the rebellion of Melkor/Morgoth, of whom Sauron was merely his chief lieutenant) through the rise of the peoples of Middle-earth (Elves, Dwarves and Men) and great Wars of the Jewels (the Silmarils proper) to the departure of the last elven ship into the Uttermost West sometime after the end of the War of the Ring. To (mis)quote from Tolkien, here you will find much of beauty and much of sadness.

And you'll also find, if you're so inclined, the deeper tales that underlay most of the songs and poems in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.

*** 2022 Reread

I reread this wonderful book in anticipation of the upcoming Prime Video series. Still as good as ever.

Tolkien tells the story of the beginning of Middle Earth and has provided us with a very cool mythology for his creation. We learn about the Valar, the Maiar (of whom Gandolf and Suaron are both members) the tribes of the elves and the fall of the great cities of the Elves in Middle Earth.

The closing chapters also talks about Numenor and the rise and fall of the that great island nation and how this society led to the line of kings of whom Aragorn was one.

For Tolkien fans this is a MUST read and a great book of fantasy for SF/F aficionados.

*** 2020 reread

I first read this back in HS, more than 30 years ago. I recall being amazed at the magnificent world building and likened this to “Old Testament” Tolkien.

I must admit that one reason why it’s taken me so long to revisit was my memory of the etymology and I was hesitant to jump back into stilted language and a litany of begats and whose father was who in the time of this or that.

Tolkien is too good for that and modern readers should not at all be intimidated by a stuffy origin story. This reads like a cool mythology and each vignette is a page turning story on its own. Apparently this was actually first begun soon after The Hobbit in the late 1930s but publishers were none too keen. Christopher Tolkien collected his father’s notes and stories and put all this together for a 1977 publication, posthumous to JRR’s 1973 death.

BTW – 1973
t1 ring to rule them all
t9 rings for men
t7 rings for the dwarves
t3 for elves

The first part, of Eru Iluvatar (God) is clearly inspired by the Christian Old Testament. The music of the Ainur (angels) has one Ainur who thought his voice was better than the rest – Melkor (Satan) and so Eru made the music into the world and fifteen Ainur came to reside in the world, including the troublemaker.

From here we have a pantheistic legendarium of the Valar (the Ainur who stayed) and of their conflict with Melkor and of the coming of the elves and of men. One of the Ainu formed the dwarves and had to petition Eru for this transgression.

The legends of the tribes of the elves and of their great migrations and of fantastic cities and of the wars against Melkor and his lieutenant Sauron fills this mythology with a richness that is for more than just for LOTR fans, this is good reading for any fantasy genre aficionado.

Overwhelming and gorgeous.

سیلماریون شامل پنج بخش است:
۱. آینولینداله «آهنگ آینور» - داستان آفرینش جهان توسط اِرو [آواز آینور اسطورهٔ آفرینش آردا توسط ارو ایلوواتار روایت می‌شود. داستان با توصیف آینور به عنوان فرزندان ایلوواتار آغاز می‌شود. به آنها هنر موسیقی آموخته شده و منجر به زندگی جاودانه برای آن‌ها می‌شود. آینور در دسته‌های کوچک و بزرگ دربارهٔ تم‌هایی که ایلوواتار به هر یک از آنها داده آواز می‌خوانند. ایلوواتار برای تک تک آنها تصمیم‌های بزرگی دارد. یک سمفونی باشکوه که با همکاری همهٔ آنها به انتها می‌رسد و همه با هم در هارمونی آواز می‌خوانند.
ملکور قوی‌ترین آینور است و با بلندی بیش از حد، هارمونی موسیقی را برهم می‌زند. ایلوواتار می‌ایستد لبخند می‌زند و دست چپش را بالا می‌برد و یک تم تازه را آغاز می‌کند. ملکور دوباره تلاش می‌کند تم را برهم زند. ایلوواتار این بار دست راستش را بالا می‌برد و برای بار سوم آغاز می‌کند. ملکور دوباره تلاش می‌کند موسیقی را برهم زند اما این بار آنقدر بلند است که نمی‌تواند. ایلوواتار، موسیقی را به اتمام می‌رساند، ملکور را سرزنش می‌کند و آینور را تنها می‌گذارد.
مقام خدایی کاری می‌کند تا آینور ببینند که او چگونه از نیستی، آردا را آفرید . هنگامی که تم آخر منجر به آمدن فرزندان ایلوواتار، الف‌ها و انسان‌ها شد بسیاری از آینور خواستند تا به جهان روند و آنها را ببینند آنها به عنوان والا و مایا به آردا رفتند. اما برخی در تالار بدون زمان با ایلوواتار ماندند. در این میان ملکور بارها تلاش می‌کند فرمانروایی آردا را در دست بگیرد.]

۲. والاکوئنتا «حکایت والار [والار چهارده روح قدرتمند از نژاد آینور می‌باشند که پس از خلق آردا وارد آن شدند و از سوی ایلوواتار آن یگانه خالق هستی دستور یافتند که با روح پلید ملکور به مبارزه بپردازند] و حکایت  مایار [ مایار (مفرد: مایا) موجوداتی از رشته‌افسانه‌های تالکین می‌باشند. آنها نیز مانند والاها از تبار آینور، ولی از والاها ضعیف تر هستند. نام مایار در زبان کوئنیایی و از ریشه الفی، مایا به معنی «بسیار عالی، قابل تحسین» است] بنا به روایت اِلدار.

۳. کوئنتا سیلماریون «تاریخچهٔ سیلماریل‌ها» - داستان اصلی سیلماریون که شامل داستان‌های دوران دو درخت والینور و دوره اول می‌شود.
[والینور (سرزمین والار یا سرزمین والاها) یک سرزمین خیالی در رشته‌افسانه‌های تالکین است که در تصرف والاها در امان است.]

۴. آکالابت «سقوط نومه نور» - داستان سقوط نومه نور و مردمانش و دوره دوم.
[نومه‌نور (به انگلیسی: Númenor) یک جزیره تخیّلی در داستان‌های تالکین است. این جزیره از قلمروهای انسانها در دوران دوم بود. نومه‌نور هدیه‌ای از طرف والار به اداین (کسانی که در کنار الفها ضدّ مورگوت جنگیدند) بود. نومه‌نور دارای تمدّن بزرگی بود اما با گذشت زمان، طمع نومه‌نوریان به نامیرا شدن شروع شد. به اصرار سائورون، آر-فارازون سعی کرد که سرزمین‌های نامیرا را تسخیر کند اما نومه‌نور نابود شد و زیر دریا فرورفت. در این بین یاوران‌الف (مؤمنان به والار و ایلوواتار) زنده ماندند و با رهبری الندیل به سرزمین میانه رفتند و قلمروهای گاندور و آرنور را پایه‌گذاری کردند.]

۵. حدیث حلقه‌های قدرت و دوره سوم - که با آن این حکایت‌ها به پایان می‌رسد و راهنمایی است بر ارباب حلقه‌ها. [حلقه‌های قدرت در رشته‌افسانه‌های جی. آر. آر. تالکین عبارت است از حلقه‌های جادویی که توسط سائورون یا الف‌های هولین زیر نظر سائورون ساخته شده است. سائورون می‌خواست در حالی که خودش حلقه یگانه را بدست می‌کند، الف‌ها، کوتوله‌ها و انسان‌ها این حلقه‌ها را بدست کنند. او با این کار می‌توانست سرنوشت سه نژاد ساکن در سرزمین میانی را بدست گیرد چون حلقهٔ یگانه که حلقه‌های دیگر را کنترل می‌کرد بدست خودش بود.
نقشهٔ سائورون عملی نشد چون الف‌ها حلقه‌های خود را در دست نکردند و تا هنگامی که سائورون حلقهٔ یگانه را داشت حلقه‌های خود را پنهان کردند؛ کوتوله‌ها نیز آنچنان که سائورون انتظار داشت به فرمان حلقهٔ یگانه درنیامدند تنها انسان‌ها بردهٔ او شدند و به نازگول تبدیل شدند.]
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سخت ترین، عجیب ترین و جذاب ترین کتابی که تا امروز خوندم.
مجموعه یادداشتهای تالکین که شامل تاریخ آفرینش اردا، درخت های زندگی، خلقت الف ها و انسانها و داستان حلقه های قدرت ان
موقع خوندنش تخیلم به دورترین نقطه های تصور پر میکشید و قلب و مغزم از هیجان لبریز میشدن.
تجربه نابی بود برای منکه فانتزی خوان نیستم/نبودم.
گمونم این کتاب مقدس فانتزی خونها و علاقمندان مجموعه ارباب حلقه ها و بقیه کتابهای تالکین باید باشه. که به حق انتخاب شایسته ایه.
....
ممنون از سینا برای هدیه دادن این کتاب شگفت انگیز به من.
در حد پرستش عاشقش شدم ♡
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Man, the world building!
High fantasy at it's finest. Makes me want to re-read LOTR.

“From without the World, though all things may be forethought in music or foreshown in vision from afar, to those who enter verily into Ea each in its time shall be met at unawares as something new and unforetold.”

Oh, how I enjoyed reading this book!

Yes, it took me forever and a day to finish reading it but it wasn't, in ay moment, because I didn't like it or I was bored or something like that. But, mostly, because life is cruel like that.

As the fourth of my excursions into Tolkien's work, I can say that I was as satisfied as I could be with the end result. Because even if I was expecting a different type of prose the contents of the actual book were beyond what I could have ever imagined.

“… and in every age there come forth things that are new and have no foretelling, for they do not proceed from the past.”

The Silmarillion is the compilation of the history of Middle Earth from beginning to the where The Return of the King leaves us.

Witnessing the incredible amount of imagination that came into play to create this world is truly humbling.

The parallels between our own religions and the way Tolkien adapted them to his world and gave them his own spin was incredibly fun to discover. The origin of things, as it turns out, was simpler and more complicated than I had expected.

Which really just kind of summarizes my feelings for the whole thing.

Trying to keep all the facts, names and places in order was the real challenge. I could do it with the main protagonist, by which I mean the ones whose names were repeated the most, and maybe place some of the others by name but mostly I refer to them by what they did. Much easier.

“The doom of the Elves is to be immortal, to love the beauty of the world, to bring it to full flower with their gifts of delicacy and perfection, to last while it lasts, never leaving it even when ‘slain’ but returning.”

Must of the story is focused on the deeds and happenings of the Elves. And it was interesting to discover that they weren't as pristine as I had previously thought.

This is a revelation I had previously had with the Darwfs back when I read The Hobbit. So I was kind of expecting it again. It was still nice to see how racist and petty the Elves could be. And just how many terrible things they ended up doing.

I enjoyed their stories even if sometimes I wanted to whack them in the head.

The fact that women would just... layback and die because they were feeling particularly dramatic made me laugh a lot.

This is just an example of the kind of drama that there's in this book.

“Aure entuluva! Day shall come again!”

Reading again my favorite story in this world -which I can say with some authority now that I've basically read them all if abbreviated, Beren and Luthién was as delightful as I remembered. As well as a new experience because the story is narrated differently than in its own book. I do prefer its own book.

Finding a new story that I enjoyed a great deal was also great. The Children of Húrin was such a mess and I fell in love with the story.

Obviously, after reading the somewhat abbreviated versions I want to read the books that are dedicated respectively to each of the stories.

“Thus ended the mightiest of the Noldor, of whose deeds came both their greatest renown and their most grievous woe.”

I wish I had been able to read the book faster but with Tolkien's books, I always find that I can¿t read them too fast.

It was as worth it as I have always believed that it would be and I do think that if you loved Middle Earth this is a must-read. It's thoroughly enjoyable.

“But those who saw the things that were done in that time, deeds of valour and wonder, have elsewhere told the tale of the War of the Ring, and how it ended both in victory unlocked for and in sorrow long foreseen.”
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After nearly five months I finally finished it!

I truly love this world, it's so incredibly built that I can't help but be super impressed all the time and learning so much about it was a real treat.

RTC.
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Since starting with Beren and Luthien all those months back I been wanting, quite desperately, to read this book.

I've been told that it explains a lot about the world and has a lot of history. Which is exactly what I want to read right now.

I wonder how will the narration be? Like that of Beren and Luthien? Or like the one from The Lord of the Rings? Whichever the case, I just can't wait.

"Many are the strange chances of the world, and help oft shall come from the hands of the weak when the wise falter."

Many years ago, my dad, who was already an accomplished Tolkien nerd, attempted to read The Silmarillion. He attempted this not once, not twice, but three times, and as he tells me, each time he wasn't able to make it past the first part.

My dad was the one who introduced the world of Tolkien to me, and I will forever (and anon

Η Βίβλος των nerds λάτρεων του high fantasy, το απόλυτο εγκυκλοπαιδικό έπος της μυθολογίας του Tolkien, μα κυρίως ένα λογοτεχνικό κόσμημα.

Οι περαιτέρω περιγραφές είναι, νομίζω, περιττές.
Κάποια έργα είναι υπεράνω κριτικών.