J.R.R. Tolkien and the book ‘The Silmarillion’

The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien was published in September 1977, after the author’s death. Using an experience in Old English and Middle English partly as his muse, Tolkien, with an assist from Guy Gruviel Kay and Tolkien‘s son, Christopher Tolkien, wrote something more fictional history than epic fantasy with the world we get to see as precursors to J.R.R. Tolkien‘s better known works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.

(J.R.R. Tolkien wrote the collection of myths named The Silmarillion that were completed and then published after his, Tolkien‘s, death).

A narrator of elven point-of-view offers knowledge and respect for the five sections presented in The Silmarillion. While a sense of depth and reality are given to specific events or characters through memory, legend or myth, we are given a testimonial of the age of the elves, the ascendancy of man, and the eventual sense of loss. A significant movement of the book centered on the Silmarils, three jewels created by the elf Fëanor. The motivations and narrative being of individual characters were not given much consideration with this book.

(Alternate covers for The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien, which was completed and then published with the aid of his son Christopher Tolkien and fantasy author Guy Gavriel Kay).

The five ages discussed by The Silmarillion began with Ainulindalë, providing the creation story of the world that is, called Eä. Valaquenta described the supernatural powers of the Valar and Maiar, peoples of Eä. Quenta Silmarillion provides the history of events before and during the First Age. Wars were fought over the Silmarils in this segment of the book. With the most significant segment of the book dealing in what became of these jewels, the book took its name. Occurring during the second age, Akallabêth details the downfall of Númenor and its people. The final section, Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age, summarizes the three books that were The Lord of The Rings.

(From left, Christopher Tolkien and Guy Gavriel Kay).

Given the scale of the stories of The Hobbit and the three books of The Lord of the Rings, asking for another three or four epics of fantasy seems like a daunting authorial task that I can see was beyond the lifetime ambition of one J.R.R. Tolkien. The groundwork for what came before serves an interesting world-building notion for those interested to inhabit; it is in this that I find appreciation for The Silmarillion. I grant The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien 3.75-stars on a scale of 1-to-5.

Matt – Wednesday, March 29, 2023