Silmarillion. by J.R.R. Tolkien | 
I've started reading The Silmarillion. And by reading, I mean listen on libro.fm because Andy Serkis has a great voice. But since I also have the paperback, I can switch back and forth when I want as well. The cake is tiramisu paired with vanilla tea.
pick#FellowshipOfTolkien
I won't try to write a review of the Silmarillion. But l'd like to say something to those who are thinking about reading it and feel intimidated.
It is a beautiful, deeply thought-provoking and emotional book. It's a story to be absorbed. Don't try to keep track of anything when you read it the first time. Just follow the story, enjoy the journey. And maybe be willing to read it again.
On rereads that the magic happens 😁
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It Is amazing to read a single chapter on the Third Age and realise how small part of that story The Lord of the Rings covers.
What l hate about the texts of the Silmarillion Is that you can breath the air if Middle-earth and you feel there is so much more there that you will never know.
I sometime wonder how many other stories Tolkien had in his head and never came round to write down 🥺
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I fell in love with the Akallaneth the first time l read the Silmarillion and It Is still one of my favourite stories in this book.
It's an epic tale of rise and fall, of loyalty and betrayal, of greed and belief. But it is also a very human tale of vulnerability, and the way we humans handle that vulnerability.
It is beautiful and touching
No better time to read Tolkien than when the Shadow is ascendant
After watching Rings of Power, I had to go back to the source.
pickSuch an awesome book!!
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So much is packed into this last chapter that could be easily many different stories.
Earendil and his story is one of the most meaningful if the legendarium. It's where Tolkien's deepest belief have found a story form, in my opinion.
I always find the end of the Sons of Feanor story so very sad.
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I decided to take a break from #MedievalTolkien to finish the Silmarillion proper today.
The last chapters of the story are always so melancholy.
Having read longer versions of The Fall of Gondolin, so much seems to be missing here. Yet, the sense of an epic story is there, even in this short summary.
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So much packed in just one short chapter.
Like so many times before, l have this strong feeling that Tolkien knew a lot more about these stories than he managed to commit on paper.
I'm always fascinated di Melian's story. I wish we knew so much more about her.
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Took me four days to read this chapter!
It is a beautiful story, but so hard to read, even after reading it so many times and in so many different versions.
I would have probably finished the book sooner if l hadn't stopped on this chapter.
Let's see what l can do now 😁
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So let's go back to reading!
I stalled on this chapter and l think it did prevent me to keep reading, to some extent. It has always be a tough one to read.
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You know when they ask, what would you wish Tolkien had wrote more about?
Nirnaeth Arnoediad forever!
I know Tolkien said that some episodes were never going to be more complete than they are. Still, l can't help but feeling there is a complete trilogy in this short chapter. It is that strong and meaningful.
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What can one say about Beren and Luthien at this point?
This is an incredible story of courage and love. Of loyalty and betrayal. Of fear and fearlessness.
I love that these two complete each other as man and woman, as Elf and Man, as warrior and healer, as wielder of strength and wielder of magic.
They are different, and this is exactly why they may complete each other.
One of Tolkien's higher themes, in my opinion.
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I mean! I MEAN!!
There are so many epic episodes in this extremely epic tale. Yet Fingolfin and his lonely challenge to Morgoth always gets me.
Of course, nobody is suppose to be alone in this battle, yet Fingolfin doesn't hesitate to take it upon himself.
It's an epic challenge, ad yet, l feel to be there, beside Fingolfin. He is not an epic character. He's a living, brave being.
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This is quite a short chapter, but l've always found it so poetic. Finrod is one of the best, of course, but after reading all of Tolkien's work, l better understand the importance of this meeting between Men and one of the High Elves. It's as if Iluvatar had thought, ok, let's bring things back on track.
This is Arda as it was meant to be.
There was a moment l though the heat and dump were never going to end.
Fortunately, they did. Today is the second day this summer that the temperature is bearable, so I'm planning to start reading again.
But I've just realised l never posted about the last chapters l read in the Silmarillion. Let's fix that!
Prime Days … last moment purchase. A steal. Plus it matches my special edition of The Lord of the Rings.
bailed1✨ I read about 45% of this and it was just too much. It is written well, but there is so much going on I can‘t wrap my head around it right now. I‘ll try this again sometime, but the names of elves, locations, and changes in storyline are too much for me to get into right now. Sorry guys I tried. #FellowshipofTolkien @JazzFeathers @Daisey
pickI finished my #FellowshipofTolkien re-read of this last week—it was as beautiful & tragic as ever. This time, I was struck by the themes of pride and jealousy, and sacrifice—the ruin caused by the first two, and the redemption found in the last. The world Tolkien created is so rich and deep—and I loved revisiting it for this buddy read. Thank you @Daisey and @JazzFeathers for hosting!
I‘ve appreciated the world building of this book every time I‘ve read it, but after multiple rereads I can simply enjoy reading it as well. There are epic stories with amazing characters. Yet, it only shows a small part of the world Tolkien created, and now reading it makes me want to reread books with other versions as well. This time I switched throughout between print, ebook, & audio versions.
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Sharing a weird word of the week a day late. I‘ve read The Silmarillion several times but never stopped to figure out exactly what weregild meant until this week. In this case, Isildur kept the one ring as a weregild for his father & brother killed in battle.
weregild: monetary value set for a person and paid to their family or lord if slain; also man price or blood money (noun)
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Reading this today.
I've read this story many times, in multiple versions. It's always exceptionally beautiful and moving.
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Let's face it. If this story was written in today's fantasy language, it would be extremely dark and desperate.
Instead, Tolkien chose to write it focusing on desires and even goals, twisted as they may be. And because of this choice, a story that might have been very dark, with an underline of will-power, it's in fact a story of strong wills and desires with an underline of darkness.
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I love the story of the founding of Gondolin. I mean: Ulmo and his prophecy, the secret building, the way Turgon and his people disappear. It's so fairytale-like and yet it makes perfect sense in the narration.
I also love how the Vow starts to work its power. Yet Tolkien was always concerned with showing the Elves as fundamentally fair even when deeply troubled. Thingol's episode shows this perfectly.
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Tolkien has a way to turn the environment into characters. The rivers and the forests, and the hills, the mountains, the plains and the lakes - all have the quality of characters in this narration.
I think this is why, even if at first glance this may seem like a descriptive chapter, there is still a sense of narration here.
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I'm really quite behind 😟
But I'm trying to catch up and am not as far behind as my posts might suggest.
I'm enjoying this a lot. Truly, The Silmarillion Is Better evrybtime you read it, because names and stories become me familiar and nouances come to the fore.
“Of Tuor and the Fall of Gondolin” is one of the stories in The Silmarillion that is only a tiny portion of what Tolkien actually wrote about this event. I had to go look up some other passages and revisit the illustrations by Alan Lee after reading the chapter.
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I‘m playing catch up again this weekend. This is another epic story, but unlike most of Tolkien‘s stories that end on a hopeful note, the story of Turin is truly a tragedy. It includes the dragon Glaurung and the sword Gurthang, which are both important and fascinating characters as well.
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“For of us is required a blind trust, and a hope without assurance, knowing not what lies before us... And yet we also love the Earth and would not lose it.”
“…the Valar bid you earnestly not to withhold the trust to which you are called…Hope rather that in the end even the least of your desires shall have fruit. The love of Arda was set in your hearts by Iluvatar, and he does not plant to no purpose.”
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This is another action-packed chapter. So many important things happen here.
True to Tolkien's applicability, Feanor's death can be interpreted as his last act of selfishness, but l think, also as his legacy of action to a people that would tend to pause.
The story of Mahedros and Fingon is one of the most endearing in the Silmarillion. They are among Tolkien's best characters. I wish we knew more about them.
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It kind of annoys me that we'll never know what Men ran away from. What was that shadow they feared but could not fight. We can imagine, of course, but it's obvious that Tolkien intended it as a mystery that needs to be accepted as such.
History is mysterious. Some things, we will never know. He created his history in the same way.
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The creation of the Sun and Moon must be one of the loveliest such myths I've ever heard.
And l love that Tolkien adopted the ancient belief that the Sun is feminine and the Moon is masculine. And l love that Arien is the most powerful of the two and that, even as a fire spirit, she was not swayed by Morgoth and didn't become a Balrog. In fact, as the Sun, she was among his mightiest enemies.
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I really love how Tolkien, here, give us a glimpse of what was happening in Middle-earth while the Valar 'were not looking'.
It gives a sense of a more complex tapestry, as well as a sense that important things happen outside what we consider our world.
Significant things might be happening to us, but what happens in the larger world will eventually impact our life.
There are so many parts of The Silmarillion that I truly enjoy when rereading, but this has got to by my favorite story. I love Luthien‘s strength and dedication, and Huan is another amazing character. I read a few pages last night and then listened to all of it today.
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I‘m not doing a great job of posting regularly about The Silmarillion or weird words lately, but I‘m sharing this one before I call it a night. Leaguer is a word that‘s pretty easy to figure out in context, but it‘s definitely not one I read often. Leaguer can be a noun meaning a siege and can also be a verb meaning to besiege.
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It was hard to choose just three pictures!!
This action-packed chapter is, in my opinion, one of the best in the book. Certainly the most epic, with all the vows and the prophesies and the curse. And yet, also so very human, with all those flaws taking over action and decisions.
I love the idea of the Doom of Mandos. Repitedly, it will resurface in the book, almost with its own will. It's an incredible idea.
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I've never noticed quite this clearly, but the way Morgoth sways the Noldor is very similar to the way Sauron will sway the Numenoreas.
There are many similarities: the lies believed as truths, the divided people, the rebellion against the Valar, the feeling of displacement. The idea of the exile and the fall seem to be present in both stories, which are therefore subtly connected.
What do you think?
And, here we come to Eol and Aredhel:
“It is not said that Aredhel was wholly unwilling, nor that her life in Nan Elmoth was hateful to her for many years.”
Not a rousing recommendation of their relationship…😬😆
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#Silmarillion new edition
Oh, my goodness! I want it! 😱 I need it! 🤩
Give it to me now!!!!!
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Here, in a nutshell, is Tolkien's complex discourse about what is good and what is evil, what is right and what is wrong. And the reason why these concepts often mix and merge and telling one from the other may become very difficult.
It is, in my opinion, a beautiful passage.
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On first read, it's maybe hard to tell, because at this point, so many things have already happened, but here (in my opinion) is were the story of the Silmarillion truly starts.
Morgoth lusting over the Silmarilli. What a powerful idea.
Melkor is a very 'strange' villain, in my opinion. On the surface, he's very basic: he's pure evil. Yet, the ways his evil works is very very complex.
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I'm fascinated with the relationship between Tolkien and Feanor, which started kind of carelessly (in the first draft of the legendary I'm, Feanor and the Silmarilli were clearly just a storytelling devise) and the evolved throughout the author's life.
Feanor is one of my favourite characters in the Silmarillion. Such a complex, difficult, complicated character.
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The way Tolkien creates environments and realms always has a magica, poetic quality to it. It seems to me as these places have a personality of their own, as if they too were characters in the story.
I haven‘t had much actual reading time lately, so I caught up yesterday on audio while I took my beagle Luthien for a long rambling walk. “Of the Flight of the Noldor” is heartbreaking to me every time, but it‘s also an amazing story.
This morning I read “Of the Sindar” with breakfast. Here we learn more about Thingol & Melian and meet their daughter Luthien.
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Once, l heard a discussion among fans about whether it was true love between Thingol and Melian, or she had been sent to Middle-earth specifically to enchant him.
I've always thought it is true love, but l was fascinated by the fact that both things were possible.
(Ps: Tolkien does answer the question in HoME 😜)
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"Thus it was that the Valar found at last, as it were by chance, those whom they had so long awaited. And Oromë looking upon the Elves was filled with wonder, as though they were beings sudden and marvellous and unforeseen.”
I love this idea that even if the song has already been sung, there remains always a sense of wonder. The concept of Destiny is very complex in Tolkien.
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So, then. Anyone who's read Tolkien with me in the past knows of my love for the Dwarves. But, l mean, come on! How beautiful is it this origin story? 🤩
I love this chapter also because of the interaction among the Valar. Is it my impression, or - strange as it might sound - there is never much interaction among the Valar? 🤔
