Review: The Silmarillion

The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I think of all the worlds I've visited in books, that created by Tolkien will always be my favourite.

The detail is so rich and its history so compelling that it so easily comes alive for me. If you want to know more about Middle Earth, the info is there. You just have to find the book that tells it. If you're looking for more beyond The Lord of the Rings, this is that book.

Now, I'm not going to lie - the first 150-or-so pages are a bit of a slog. This could be retitled "A Condensed History of Middle Earth" and it begins with the world's very creation. It's basically the Bible of Tolkien's world. Don't look for any mention of familiar names too soon. (This is also very likely the reason I gave up about a third of the way in when I first read it, back when I was 17 or so.)

First, there's The Big Guy, Illuvatar, who brings into being the Ainur, who essentially end up being the gods of this world (The Valar). Then there's the creation of the physical world, and the people destined to inhabit it. It's all described in rather complex detail, so this is not light reading, my friends.

From the very beginning, one of the Ainur has evil intentions, and Melkor (aka Morgoth) swiftly becomes the Big Bad who lurks throughout this entire history, darkening all that the others create. His presence sows the seed of good vs evil, and suddenly this fancy new world is marred into something tragically more recognisable and honestly far more interesting.

So the first half of the book is all about who creates what, who descends from who, what the land looks like, and who ends up in which lands. We know the elves are quick to inhabit, so then we must learn all of the elves of importance, and how they come to scatter throughout the lands of Middle Earth.

It gets incredibly confusing, not least because of the multitude of characters but additionally because each character tends to come with several names, and reference to them is not consistent.

Thankfully, there's an index and a few family trees at the back to assist, though it's not really until great deeds are done that the characters become somewhat familiar.

But, man, when those deeds begin, things start to get really interesting.

The underlying story is about the creation of three jewels, the silmaril, and the quest to reclaim them, yet this actually composes very little of the stories within these pages. It's more about the various fates of all those affected by the existence of the jewels, and the endless feud with Morgoth. The fates are many and varied, and I ended up sticking post-it notes throughout my book to remind myself of some of the most epic occurences within these pages:

We have people chained to mountains, limbs hacked off, people crushed by boulders and thrown from cliffs, destroyed by monstrous creatures, betrayal, murder, incest, lies, greed, arrogance, jealousy, veangeance ... there were actually so many moments in this book where I felt the need to cover my gaping mouth in horror.

I FREAKING LOVED IT.

Eventually I found my favourites among the stories, and characters I got to know and love - Turgon, Maedhros, Thingol and Melian, Hurin, Beren and Luthien and Huan the hound ... and so many others whose parts I loved but then forgot in favour of the next great hero to arise. That's another thing - you hear about the deeds of one, then they disappear from the story for a time, only to reappear later when you've all but forgotten them. It was confusing but it was also kind of fun to have friends coming back into the story.

There are also a lot of echoes of other myths and legends, and of deeds made familiar through The Lord of the Rings. There's definitely a sense that life is circular, and history often repeats.

I loved the complexity of it, but it doesn't make for easy reading. You really have to concentrate on every word of every sentence, so this is only for those fully committed to learning the lore of Tolkien's world. It's told more than shown so it can feel a little tedious at times, but if you stick with it you'll be rewarded by fantastic stories rich in detail. Consider the fact that within 366 pages we have centuries of history and lore - Tolkien actually does pretty well to keep it entertaining.

Truth is, I still managed to feel so much for some of these characters. I loved Thingol so his fate really affected me, and I was bemused to learn that the true hero of the story of Beren and Luthien was actually a dog. I loved that damn dog so much. The story of Turin Turambar horrified me so many times, and Maehdros was one I felt loyalty to without really remembering why. I loved the friendships and loathed the actions of those lacking honour and generally ended up being fully invested in everything. There are also little gems of information that will spark the memory of things read about elsewhere, or embellish a little. For example, one fun fact I learnt is that dwarves apparently went into battle wearing these terrifying masks. Oh if only those masks had appeared in Peter Jackson's imaginings.

Then of course as time draws closer to the Third Age, learning about Aragorn's ancestors was a real treat. Although working out that he was kiiiiinda related to Elrond made things a bit weird, if you follow me.

GUH.

This just ended up being so rewarding to read and I'm really glad for that. It's definitely reignited my love for this world, which never dies but does sleep from time to time as I immerse myself in other worlds.

This is probably only for the hardcore Tolkien junkies, but if you make the effort it will be well rewarded. I know I was.

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