The Silmarillion is acutally an amazing book?!

iorek21

iorek21

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After delaying countless times my attempt at reading The Silmarillion, I've finally finished it a couple of days ago, read it in like, 2 weeks at most.

For years I've heard people saying things like "The Silmarillion is one of the most difficult books out there", "It is too confusing", "It's boring", "Classics like Odyssey, Iliad and Lusiadas are easier than this", and so on; that alone discouraged me to try it, but I also knew that my reading skills needed some development, so I waited until now...

... and wow.

The Silmarillion is probably the best Fantasy book I've ever read and it is amongst my favorite books of all time.

It is not difficult at all to read; it may be a little crowded with names, synonyms, geographical locations and the like, but I didn't feel the need to memorize it al (that index at the end of my edition was very helpful)l; I just read through the story and tried to understand the majority of events. And holy shit, the First Age has amazing stories, it feels like a mixture between the Bible, Greek Mythology and other things; and it is written in a surprisingly objective way, so things never get boring (big chapters like "Beren and Luthien" and "Túrin Turambar" don't drag at all).

Also, other parts like Ainulindale and Akallabeth are so well written that it amazes me that this book is not as recognized as it should be.

Seriously, this book is on another level, it is on par with classics like One Hundred Years of Solitude, IMO.

So, what do you guys think about The Silmarillion?

Morgoth gotta be the greatest sonofabitch ever, fuck that guy!
 
It is my favourite fantasy book.

The metal band Blind Guardian recorded an amazing concept album around this book, before the LOTR movies came out and made it mainstream. I first heard about this band from gamers I talked with about RPG games. I was 12 and they were in high school.

Nightfall

The Curse of Feanor
 
It's been many years since I read it but I also remember being confused by what I had heard about it. It was a pretty straight forward mythology to me.

I got the most enjoyment out of it by pairing it with "The Atlas of Middle Earth" so you could see geographically where everything was taking place.
 
yeah i got halfway through it. i need to pick it up again, it's really great. tells you the origin of the world and good and evil and all that's stuff. it's like the Book of Genesis for Middle Earth.
 
iorek21 said:
For years I've heard people saying things like "The Silmarillion is one of the most difficult books out there", "It is too confusing", "It's boring", "Classics like Odyssey, Iliad and Lusiadas are easier than this"
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Only people who never read the Greek classics say that. You can practically feel the translators twisting themselves into pretzels trying to keep the hexameter intact. Then there's the lack of context because the other epics were lost.
The Silmarillion's reading difficulty is barely a step above LOTR. For a Hobbit/LOTR fan looking for more Tolkien the only actual problem may be the serious tone.
 
There is a good reason why Tolkien and his wife are Beren and Lúthien on their tombstone.
I liked it overall but i don't think it is the best book in the LOTR.

If you like one shot fantasy books, i have a few recommendation for you like, The last Unicorn, The Goblin Emperor, Uprooted, The Lions of Al-Rassanl, all great books !
 
I liked it. I wouldn't have liked it if I rushed through it or if I had not already read several of his other related books, though. I also loved Unfinished Tales of Numenor and Middle Earth, which is similar in tone.
 
SirKicksalot said:
Only people who never read the Greek classics say that. You can practically feel the translators twisting themselves into pretzels trying to keep the hexameter intact. Then there's the lack of context because the other epics were lost.
The Silmarillion's reading difficulty is barely a step above LOTR. For a Hobbit/LOTR fan looking for more Tolkien the only actual problem may be the serious tone.
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Yeah, Silmarillion also feels a lot like some books of the Bible. Genesis, I believe, has a lot of "and this guy was son of that guy who was related to that guy, etc" so it didn't seem weird reading that now.

Ainulindale also feels a lot like a Genesis pastiche.

DunDunDunpachi said:
I liked it. I wouldn't have liked it if I rushed through it or if I had not already read several of his other related books, though. I also loved Unfinished Tales of Numenor and Middle Earth, which is similar in tone.
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Unfinished Tales is the book I'm currently reading; I'll go for the 3 tales of the First Age after it, then maybe wait for History of Middle Earth to be officially released in my country.
 
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iorek21 said:
Snip
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Since you mentioned Beren and Luthien, take a listen:



They make amazing songs and if you look into all the related lore you just get lost in the lyrics. I also recommend the three "The Song of Eärendil" parts.
Haven't read The Silmarillion yet though

EDIT
Fuck I had to cry a bit while singling along
 
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This thread has inspired me. I'm going to try reading this book again and this time I'm going to tough it out.

Edit: two pages in I'm throwing this fucking thing out a window and going back to my hobbit picture book.
 
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it really is amazing.

best fantasy setting, stories and characters. tolkien was a masterful world builder.

iorek21 iorek21 have you already read lotr and the hobbit? if so, check out Unfinished Tales. christopher tolkien did a lot of work compiling and editing his fathers writings. unfinished tales was almost as wonderful an experience as the simlarillion, as it weaves other "unfinished tales" in and out of all three ages (i believe). some are different tellings of a story from the silmarillion, or have alternate endings, and some are works that just didnt make it into the silmarillion bc JRR tolkien died before he could finish. its been a while since i read it so my information may be a little off.

anyway, if you enjoyed the silmarillion that much, i ca almost guarantee youll love unfinished tales.
 
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Kev Kev said:
it really is amazing.

best fantasy setting, stories and characters. tolkien was a masterful world builder.

iorek21 iorek21 have you already read lotr and the hobbit? if so, check out Unfinished Tales. christopher tolkien did a lot of work compiling and editing his fathers writings. unfinished tales was almost as wonderful an experience as the simlarillion, as it weaves other "unfinished tales" in and out of all three ages (i believe). some are different tellings of a story from the silmarillion, or have alternate endings, and some are works that just didnt make it into the silmarillion bc JRR tolkien died before he could finish. its been a while since i read it so my information may be a little off.

anyway, if you enjoyed the silmarillion that much, i ca almost guarantee youll love unfinished tales.
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My first experience with LOTR was back when I was 13 (read through all of them, but thought it was very hard); picked them up again at 24, and they're simply amazing.

I'm currently reading Unfinished Tales, it's a very fascinating book, although a little different from the rest.
 
iorek21 said:
My first experience with LOTR was back when I was 13 (read through all of them, but thought it was very hard); picked them up again at 24, and they're simply amazing.

I'm currently reading Unfinished Tales, it's a very fascinating book, although a little different from the rest.
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theres some really great stuff in their. enjoy!
 
If I really enjoyed the ASOIAF series would I enjoy this? I do love me some fantasy lore, and I do like Tolkien.
 
I read this as a 13 year old. Seems it isn't that difficult.

I remember it being a bit long winded and boring, though, if you come from reading LotR before.
 
I think my only complaint is that it starts to fall apart around the Fall of Gondolin. Tolkien never wrote an updated version of the Fall of Gondolin after 1917, yet the event remained important to the lore. Thus the version in Silmarillion is rushed and not as detailed as it should have been. In fact, from that point on all of the events seem super rushed, with all sorts of major events that were quickly glossed over when they deserved more detail. The voyage of Earendil in particular deserved to be fleshed out. Still, I love the Silmarillion. It's an amazing piece of literature. So many great characters in it. Feanor, Fingolfin, Morgoth. Maeglin is probably the most morally grey character in the franchise (perhaps his dad too).
 
I finished my first read through not that long ago.

If you really like the Tolkien stuff it's fine. Just really long.
 
Make a movie of Silmarilion into HBO series like GoT or theaters

Everyone wants to see Ancalagon the Black
 
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NecrosaroIII said:
I think my only complaint is that it starts to fall apart around the Fall of Gondolin. Tolkien never wrote an updated version of the Fall of Gondolin after 1917, yet the event remained important to the lore. Thus the version in Silmarillion is rushed and not as detailed as it should have been. In fact, from that point on all of the events seem super rushed, with all sorts of major events that were quickly glossed over when they deserved more detail. The voyage of Earendil in particular deserved to be fleshed out. Still, I love the Silmarillion. It's an amazing piece of literature. So many great characters in it. Feanor, Fingolfin, Morgoth. Maeglin is probably the most morally grey character in the franchise (perhaps his dad too).
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There was a more fleshed out version of The Fall of Gondolin published in 2018.
Compiled from a bunch of sources.

The hardback version is really nice and has 8 (I think it's 8) illustrated plates by Alan Lee.

The Children of Hurin and also Beren and Luthien are worth a look too.
Those hardbacks are also really, really nice.

Great thread iorek21 iorek21

Glad to see Tolkien still getting some love.
 
I have the fall of Gondolin. It's still mostly the 1917 version that was already published in book of lost tales though. Still it's worth a read
 
I enjoyed it, provides some awesome backstory for Tolkein's world, but I do think it is a more difficult read. I wouldn't expect someone that isn't already a fan of the series to enjoy it.
 
I can't remember the last time I did a pure fantasy read, as I just don't read books much in general anymore. That said, I actually have the First American Edition of The Silmarillion on my bookshelf. An old, somewhat worn copy, but I may try to give it a chance when the mood strikes.
 
I guess the good thing about silmarillion is that it tells some awesome stories but describes them loosely and only goes in to detail at core moments. This could be good material for a game or movie as it leaves enough creative freedom with the plot.
 
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