The Silmarillion is a book that was compiled by Christopher Tolkien (J.R.R. Tolkien's son) and was published after Tolkien's death. It is the history of Arda (which includes Middle Earth and Valinor, which will be discussed below) before the Hobbit or Lord of the Rings.
The Silmarillion reads like a history book (Which I love! It's almost like it's not fiction... Which I wish it wasn't.) and starts with the forming of Arda (the earth). There are seven 'books'. This first is called Ainulindalë.
It begins when a great being Eru (also called Ilúvatar) creates the Ainur, who are angel-like beings. They sing a song that Eru shows them, but one Ainur, named Melkor, creates discord. He is eventually overpowered by Eru, and Eru shows the Ainur that their music had created a place - Arda, and two races. They were known as the Children of Ilúvatar to the Ainur.
The Ainur are invited to go to live in Arda, and some do, taking on properties they had seen the Children of Ilúvatar have in the vision Eru showed them. At this point, the Ainur on Arda are referred to as Valar. This is when Ainulindalë ends and the second book begins. The Valaquenta isn't really a story. It goes through the main Valar and Maiar (lesser spirits who serve the Valar on Arda) and describes them and what they control. For example, Ulmo is the lord of the waters, and Yavanna is the lady of growth and green things.
The third book is the main meat of the story: The Quenta Silmarillion. It is where the collection derives its name from, and tells of the beginning of elves (one of the two children of Ilúvatar) and of their interaction with the Valar, when most cross over the sea from Middle Earth (where they were awakened) to Valinor, the home of the Valar.
A war eventually breaks out between one faction of the elves, the Noldor, and the Valar. One of the Valar, none other than Melkor, who had disrupted Eru's melody back in Ainulindalë, steals three gems that the Noldorians had made (called the Silmarils). The Noldor tell the Valar to go and retreive them, but the Valar refuse and the Noldor return to Middle Earth in defiance, and to regain their jewels.
At this point, the head of the Noldor, Feanor, and his seven sons swear an oath to let nothing keep them from the Silmarils. This turns out to be a bad move later on... Around the time of the Noldor leaving Valinor, the sun and the moon are created, and with the first rising of the sun, the second children of Ilúvatar awaken: Men. Some men travel east and meet elves, and so begins the relationship of men to elves.
The Silmarillion is briefly broken up by a story. The story is about a mortal man and a immortal elf. Beren, who is decended from one of the very first men to meet an elf, comes across Lúthien in the woods and falls in love with her beuty. The only problem is that Lúthien is an elf-maiden, and the daughter of a powerful elf king at that. Lúthien's father gives Beren the almost impossible task of retreiving a Silmaril from Melkor. If he can do this, Lúthien's father says, he can marry my daughter. Beren tries, and after much adventure (I won't tell you it all cause you have to read it) retrieves a Silmaril and gains Lúthien in marriage.
When the Noldor see that a mortal man got a Silmaril, they renew their attack on Melkor's fortress in the north. They gathered a large army of elves, men and dwarves to attack Melkor. They were deceived, however, and the majority of the men turned in the battle and attacked the elves, who were totally routed.
Again a story breaks up the narrative of the Noldor's war. This one is of Húrin and Túrin, Húrin's son. In the battle mentioned above, Húrin was captured by Melkor and forced to watch as Melkor put a curse on his family. Húrin was then forced to watch all the misfortunes that happen to his son, Túrin. I won't say more, but it's really interesting.
The final thread in the Noldorian war is woven when Tuor, nephew of Húrin and cousin of Túrin, came to the hidden elvish city of Gondolin. Gondolin had lay hidden from Melkor ever since the Noldor had returned to Middle Earth, but after Tuor married Idril, an elf maiden, the city was betrayed from within. Tuor and Idril fled, saving many of the people of Gondolin, to safety by the sea. Tuor and Idril had a son, Eärendil. Eärendil was betrothed to Elwing (who was Beren and Lúthien's granddaughter).
As Melkor's forces grow closer and closer, Elwing gives Eärendil the Silmaril of her grandparents, and with it Eärendil voyages over the sea, seeking Valinor and the help of the Valar. I'm going to skip the best part now, so read it! The Valar eventually come and totally destroy Melkor, casting him out into the endless void. One of Melkor's servants, the Maiar Sauron, survives, however. In the defeat of Melkor, Middle Earth was completely reshaped and the last two Silmarils were destroyed.
Eärendil and Elwing have two children, Elros and Elrond (sound familiar?!?). As the fourth book, Akallabêth, begins, Elrond and Elros are given the choice to become either immortal (elf) or mortal (man). Elrond chooses immortality, but Elros chooses mortality. Elros is given a long life span, and allowed to live on an island close to Valinor - with one provision. Elros nor his descendants can ever sail east towards Valinor.
Many generations pass, and Sauron comes to the island on which Elros' descendants live (the Númenorians). Sauron deceives the king of Númenor, and even has a temple to Melkor established on the island. Eventually, he persuades the majority of the Númenorians to disobey the Valar and sail to Valinor, seeking eternal life.
However, some of the Númenorians, also called the Dúnedain, flee west towards Middle Earth, not wanting to disobey the ban. When the Númenorians sail towards Valinor, the Valar release their wrath, destroying Númenor and all those who sailed east, as well as the physical form of Sauron. Sauron, however, being a Maiar, was not killed, and fled to Middle Earth, where he nursed his wounds.
The Dúnedain who went to Middle Earth arrive in safety. Elendil was their leader, and his sons Isildur and Anárion established the kingdoms of Gondor and Arnor. The beginning of the final section of the books, simply titled 'Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age' tells of the making of the rings (including the One Ring), and of the growth of Sauron in Mordor. In the final pages, the War of the Last Alliance (refering to the last alliance between men and elves) was fought. Elendil, Isidur and Anárion joined forces with Gil-Galad, an elf who had been in Middle Earth since its reshaping.
In the battle, Elendil and Gil-Galad were killed, with Elendil's sword, Narsil, being broken. Isildur took his father's broken sword and used it to cut off Sauron's Ring, which effectively ended the battle. However, Isildur was ambushed two years after the battle, and the Ring lost. (This sequence is shown in a slightly different form at the beginning of the Fellowship of the Ring film.)
The remainder of the book covers the fall of Arnor, and the Stewards in Gondor, as well as breifly covering the events of the Lord of the Rings. It ends with one of the saddest statements I have every heard. It nearly brought me to tears the first time I read it:
And latest of all the Keepers of the Three Rings rode to the Sea, and Master Elrond took there the ship that Círdan had made reading. In the twilight of autumn it sailed out of Mithlond, until the seas of the Bent World fell away beneath it, and the winds of the round sky troubled it no more, and borne upon the high airs above the mists of the world it passed into the Ancient West, and an end was come of the Eldar of story and of song.
And of course I love the little sunset picture I made! :)
So that's my post on the Silmarillion. I hope you enjoyed it!!
If this post made you want to read The Silmarillion, my mission in life has been fulfilled. Well - maybe not that drastic. But still, read it!
Or at least find an audio book and listen to it if you 'don't have the time to read'. (Trust me, everyone has the time to read if they put themselves to it.)
Next week, I'll tackle some of the most interesting facts about the books and the movies (and maybe share a few jokes). The depth of the Lord of the Rings universe staggers me. And I love it!
Previous posts in this series:
J.R.R. Tolkien and the Lord of the Rings
Comparing the Books to the Movies
No comments:
Post a Comment