bought the Silmarillion today! Any pointers?

[nazgul_2000]

I think the most important bit of advice I can give to anyone reading the Silmarillion for the first time is, know what to expect. It is not a novel like the Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit. It feels more like a reading text book than a novel.

Based on your background, I would say you are definitely going to enjoy it. The first time I read it was immediately after reading LOTR for the first time, and I was just eleven or so. I plowed through it in four days, but didn't really "get" it. Case in point: when I exclaimed to my other friend that I had just finished it, he said his favorite part was (SPOILER ALERT) when Fingolfin fought Morgoth in hand to hand combat. And I was like, "He did?"

I tried reading it again after another sojourn through the novels, around the time that the movies were coming out, but I couldn't get out of the first part (Music of Creation and such).

Then, just a few years ago I picked up another great resource, The Origins of Tolkein's Middle-earth for Dummies. I highly recommend it. It takes the Silmarillion and condenses it into an outline, which for me was the first time I really "got it."

Fast forward to the present. I'm running a game of TOR, and I am definitely the group Tolkein junkie. But when I was not able to answer a player's question regarding her Silvan elf's relationship to the other elves of the world, I decided it was time to take on the Silmarillion again. I just recently re-read it, and loved it.

Oh, and I also recommend The Tolkien Bestiary by David Day. Great summaries, plus great art.

[trystero]

Another suggestion: if you're bogging down in the text, try reading it out loud. Seriously: while it's a written work, it's very much in the spoken-epic tradition of _Beowulf_ rather than being a modern novel. I've found that much of the text takes fire when spoken rather than silently read.

[zedturtle]

Why skipping Valaquenta and Ainulindalë? They are both easy to deal with (limited number of characters), set the ground for the main line (and there is one - the story of Morgoth, the Jewels and the Oath) - and are AWESOME . Creation via act of art? Beautiful!

My problems came with all the elven kings named F-anything. I lost it there, and had to reread the whole book later. Finished it on my third try (I was a teenager then).

Because while they are beautiful metaphorical descriptions of the creation of the universe and the Valar's place in it... they are metaphorical (and understood as such by the Elves in the narrative). They can also come off as too duplicative of each other and too "biblical" in a 'let's start with Creation, just like Genesis.' kind of way.

Mind you, I think they're very much worth reading, especially for the treatment of predestination versus free will. But, on a first read-through, coming from the Lord of the Rings, I think Fëanor shutting his door in Morgoth's face is going to have a greater impact than the Music of the Ainur.

[HotSnow50]

Another suggestion: if you're bogging down in the text, try reading it out loud. Seriously: while it's a written work, it's very much in the spoken-epic tradition of _Beowulf_ rather than being a modern novel. I've found that much of the text takes fire when spoken rather than silently read.

ooh! That sounds awesome

[HotSnow50]

I think the most important bit of advice I can give to anyone reading the Silmarillion for the first time is, know what to expect. It is not a novel like the Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit. It feels more like a reading text book than a novel.

Based on your background, I would say you are definitely going to enjoy it. The first time I read it was immediately after reading LOTR for the first time, and I was just eleven or so. I plowed through it in four days, but didn't really "get" it. Case in point: when I exclaimed to my other friend that I had just finished it, he said his favorite part was (SPOILER ALERT) when Fingolfin fought Morgoth in hand to hand combat. And I was like, "He did?"

I tried reading it again after another sojourn through the novels, around the time that the movies were coming out, but I couldn't get out of the first part (Music of Creation and such).

Then, just a few years ago I picked up another great resource, The Origins of Tolkein's Middle-earth for Dummies. I highly recommend it. It takes the Silmarillion and condenses it into an outline, which for me was the first time I really "got it."

Fast forward to the present. I'm running a game of TOR, and I am definitely the group Tolkein junkie. But when I was not able to answer a player's question regarding her Silvan elf's relationship to the other elves of the world, I decided it was time to take on the Silmarillion again. I just recently re-read it, and loved it.

Oh, and I also recommend The Tolkien Bestiary by David Day. Great summaries, plus great art.

Both texts sounds really cool, I will check Amazon and see what I can dig up. Thanks!

[Feanor]

One of the more important things from Silmarillion to the lord of the rings, is the fact that it goes from high epic fantasy down to low fantasy. The world is getting more and more overtaken by the corruption from the shadow.

Slowly the world is turning darker.

[Glorelendil]

My favorite part of this thread so far was seeing that the most recent post was by Feanor. Sort of did a double take.

[zedturtle]

My favorite part of this thread so far was seeing that the most recent post was by Feanor. Sort of did a double take.

Morgoth should come in here, and then Fëanor could charge at him and.... [spoilers]

[Glorelendil]

It's too bad Christopher Tolkien cut that story about Elfcrusher. He's sort of like the 5th Beatle.

[ali69]

it´s a bit like classical greek sagas, very epic at some moments and too little tactical scenes.
imagine Ungolianths end