bought the Silmarillion today! Any pointers?

[Blubbo Baggins]

Finrod.... but, only if you read the Lay of Leithian.

He is a great character with the prose story, but there are amazing subtleties brought out by the ballad. He is truly a hero, one of the few Noldor who never wanted to go to Middle Earth but did anyway, yet didn't let his ambition or sorrow destroy him in the end (like Fingolfin), but died sacrificing himself to uphold a vow. Plus, Galadriel is his sister, and that is just really cool.

[mirdanis]

The thing about The Silmarillion is that it's not a single story, like The Hobbit or Lord of the Rings is; it's at least a dozen stories all bunched up together. Properly expanded, each of these stories could take up at least a volume the size of The Hobbit, and maybe much more. The closest thing we have to expansion of these stories is the work of those erudite, dedicated fanfiction authors brave enough to tackle The Silmarillion's characters, themes and narratives.

My experience of reading The Silmarillion was greatly changed for the better after I had read the works of some talented fan-authors, who were able to pluck storylines out of the narrative of Silmarillion and turn them, or parts of them, into actual stories with recognizable characters. Skillful fan-authors can bring the characters of the Silmarillion to life, make you love them as fiercely and protectively as you've ever loved any fictional character, and then crush your soul as you helplessly watch them go down to their cruel fates.

The best Silmarillion-era fanfiction stories I've ever read have identified the main mythic themes Tolkien was trying to illustrate with his historical writings on Middle Earth, and breathed life into them - the quest into the wilderness to (re)discover lost parts of the soul; the dangers of aspiring to the power of the deities, along with the impossibility of completing great tasks without their assistance; the nobility of even a seemingly hopeless quest to resist evil; the bitter realization that immortality isn't an unalloyed gift, and after a while, it may even seem like a curse; the ability of a single act of treachery to undo the good works of many; the exquisite and bitter irony of losing precisely that which is cherished most dearly; the ability of extraordinary works of art to seemingly embody divinity, and yet to inspire greed and jealousy leading to the most horrifying crimes; and the ability of pride and arrogance to turn projects motivated by the noblest of intentions into utter disasters. One of the things I love about The One Ring is that it, too, explores these themes, and gives the players and loremaster to explore them at whatever length they desire.