Book Review - 'The Silmarillion' by J.R.R. Tolkien

‘The Silmarillion’ by J.R.R. Tolkien

‘The Silmarillion is an account of the Elder Days, of the First Age of Tolkien’s world. It is the ancient drama to which the characters in The Lord of the Rings look back, and in whose events some of them such as Elrond and Galadriel took part. The tales of The Silmarillion are set in an age when Morgoth, the first Dark Lord, dwelt in Middle-earth, and the High Elves made war upon him for the recovery of the Silmarils, the jewels containing the pure light of Valinor.’

I had previously reviewed ‘The Silmarillion’ a couple of years ago, but having re-read the book, I thought it would be fun to do an updated review.

This won’t be like my usual reviews mainly because the cast of characters is huge!

The book is divided into five parts.

The first is the ‘Ainulindalë’, which recounts how Ilúvatar, the god of Tolkien’s world, created the ‘Ainur, the Holy Ones, that were the offspring of his thought…’, and how the Ainur sang Eä, ‘the World that Is’, into being:
‘… the voices of the Ainur… began to fashion the theme of Ilúvatar to a great music; and a sound arose of endless interchanging melodies woven in harmony… and the music and the echo of the music went out into the Void, and it was not void.’

It reads like a creation myth, one with a Biblical feel but not overtly so.

The second part of the book is the ‘Valaquenta’.

This tells of those of the Ainur who chose to descend into the world where their power would be contained, ‘so that they are its life and it is theirs… and… [they] are named the Valar, the Powers of the World.’

The Valar number fourteen, seven Lords and seven Queens, but there’s another who, from the beginning, was already sowing discord, and that is Melkor.

Equal to if not more powerful than the other Valar, he ‘coveted Arda [the Earth] and all that was in it…’

There are also countless spirits, the Maiar, who are the ‘servants and helpers’ of the Valar, including Melkor.

After this is the ‘Quenta Silmarillion’ or ‘The History of the Silmarils’, the main part of the book, and I’ll talk more about this in a minute.

The fourth part is the ‘Akallabêth’, which basically covers the events of the Second Age and the kingdom of Númenor.

Finally, there’s ‘Of the Rings of Power and The Third Age’, which is a summary of events leading up to ‘The Hobbit’, what occurs in that story and ‘The Lord of the Rings’.

Back to the ‘Quenta Silmarillion’; here we learn of the coming of the Children of Ilúvatar – ‘Elves and Men, the Firstborn and the Followers’ – ‘[they] were conceived by him alone… and none of the Ainur had part in their making…’

The Elves are the first to awaken in Middle-earth.

They have the most interaction with the Valar, many going to live with them in Valinor, the land of the Valar in Aman, the blessed land in the West, and there is peace and serenity for many years.

One of the most skilled crafters among the Elves is Fëanor who is the son of Finwë, one of the three leaders of the Firstborn who had led their people to Valinor.

Fëanor makes the silmarils, three jewels he fills with the light of the Two Trees of Valinor; the light from the Two Trees were the first light in the world before there was the sun and moon.

During this time, Melkor deceives the Elves, craftily sowing tension, and hostility among them and with the Valar.

Desiring the silmarils, he steals the jewels with the help of the great spider, Ungoliant, who destroys the Trees; both then flee to his stronghold in Middle-earth to escape the Valar.

As a little aside, Shelob the spider is the last child of Ungoliant.

Cursing Melkor, renaming him Morgoth, the Black Foe of the World, Fëanor vows to retrieve the silmarils, which he sees as his and his alone, and swears an oath, as do his seven sons:
“They swore an oath which none shall break… vowing to pursue with vengeance and hatred to the ends of the World Vala, Demon, Elf or Man as yet unborn, or any creature, great or small, good or evil, that time should bring forth unto the end of days, whoso should hold or take or keep a Silmaril from their possession.”

Fëanor’s oath not only turns elf against elf, it is also the cause of great misfortune, eventually shaping the fate of the Elves in Middle-Earth, and those of the men who choose to follow them.

Scorning the Valar, he leaves Valinor, leading many elves.

While there are times when Elves and men enjoy some peace, most of the story is about the Elves’ constant battles with Morgoth, in which they are aided by men… but not all men.

It is an epic story, full of heroism and full of tragedy.

Unlike ‘The Lord of the Rings’ and ‘The Hobbit’, this is not an easy read.

It requires mental commitment as its very much a case of diving deep into a whole other world, breath-taking in its scope; Tolkien did not skimp on any detail.

I’d suggest its best not to approach it as one would a novel as it covers thousands of years and has many characters.

But, while it doesn’t have a through-story as such, like the other two books, there are recurring characters who feature throughout and there is a thread that links all from near enough the beginning of the ‘Quenta Silmarillion’ to its end.

In my ‘Lord of the Rings’ review, I spoke of the weight of history which grounds the story, of a world that’s been in existence for many centuries already.

And, here, we have that rich, sumptuous history, which makes subsequent readings of ‘The Lord of the Rings’ and ‘The Hobbit’ even richer experiences as we’re treated to more of Tolkien’s immense worldbuilding.

To mention just a little of that history…

Sauron is a Maiar, a follower of another Valar before he turned to Melkor and became his greatest servant.

Galadriel is as powerful as she is because she was born in Valinor; her grandfather is Finwë, her father one of Fëanor’s half-brothers.

By the Third Age, she’s ‘the mightiest and fairest of all the Elves that remained in Middle-earth’ for she is the only one left who has been blessed by the light of the Two Trees of Valinor.

Of the three Elven leaders who led their people to Valinor after their awakening, the only who didn’t go was Elwë.

On the journey, he’d fallen in love with Melian, a Maiar who spent her time in Middle-earth, and they became the rulers of the Elves who remained in Middle-earth.

They had one child, a daughter, named Lúthien.

In the film, ‘The Fellowship of the Ring’, Aragorn sings a song in Elvish as he keeps watch and, when Frodo asks him about the song, he replies that it is “the Lay of Lúthien, an elf-maid who gave her love to Beren, a mortal.”

That mortal, Beren, was the son of Barahir; Aragorn wears the ring of Barahir, which had originally belonged to Finrod, Galadriel’s brother.

We learn of the lineage of Elrond Half-Elven and his brother, Elros, the first King of Númenor; their mother, Elwing, was the granddaughter of Beren and Lúthien.

The story of their father, Eärendil, is poetically beautiful.

In fact, that’s one of the main reasons I love this book – it’s poetic prose, from the names to the style in which it is written…

Before the Elves awoke, the Valar queen, Varda, made the stars to illuminate the dark skies so they wouldn’t awaken in darkness:
‘… the ancient stars she gathered together and set as signs in the heavens… And high in the north as a challenge to Melkor she set the crown of seven mighty stars to swing… the Sickle of the Valar and sign of doom.’

When the Elves returned to Middle-earth, the Valar ‘resolved… to illumine Middle-earth and with light to hinder the deeds of Melkor…’

To this end, they created the Sun and the Moon.

When the Sun ‘arose in glory… the first dawn of the Sun was like a great fire… the clouds of Middle-earth were kindled, and there was heard the sound of many waterfalls.’

I find the description of the arrival of the main host of Elves in Middle-earth especially evocative…

Led by Fingolfin (full brother to Galadriel’s father), they’d suffered much hardship and their arrival coincided with the very first rising of the Sun:
‘… as the host of Fingolfin marched… the Sun rose flaming in the West; and Fingolfin unfurled his blue and silver banners, and blew his horns, and flowers sprang beneath his marching feet, and the ages of the stars were ended.’

Although not as poetically written, there’s still much to discover in the final two stories – how Minas Ithil and Minas Anor became Minas Morgul and Minas Tirith respectively; the Palantir; Isengard and Orthanc; the Stewards of Gondor; the arrival of the Istari; the making of the rings of power…

The index is particularly helpful as it not only references page numbers but also gives the meaning of names, places and people.

There’s also a short appendix giving the meaning of the elements of the names in Tolkien’s languages.

And there are the genealogies of the mains houses of Elves and Men.

I know there are those who find the sheer scale of Tolkien’s prodigious imagination daunting, and the style of writing in this book off-putting.

But it is precisely that scale and style that I love.

Apart from being a masterclass in worldbuilding, it’s a story that stands proudly alongside the myths and legends of our world.

Except this mythology sprang from the remarkable imagination of one man.

For me, it’s a story that comes alive in a world I’m happy to lose myself in, peopled with characters I dearly love alongside those I despise.