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The Silmarillion

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The Silmarils, beautiful as they were, were the cause of all the drama in the book. Morgoth stole the jewels and placed them in his crown. They would dictate the fate of numerous heroes for thousands of years. Don´t expect anything similar to Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit, this is Tolkiens´s self made manual, the extreme, pedantic, perfected expansion of the wonderful addendums that make general high fantasy with all its maps and sci-fi timelines and tech trees with astronomical maps so amazing. Peter Benchley’s Jaws is the ultimate pulp thriller, and this is the ultimate illustrated edition. Folio commissioned Hokyoung Kim for the artwork, while the late author’s wife, Wendy Benchley, provides a fascinating new introduction. This edition also includes a foldout National Geographic-style map and a comprehensive glossary of characters, locations, and languages. Relevant family trees are also included.

This was an interesting read, though I admit that it was one of the most difficult books that I read. What is amazing is the thoroughness that is displayed by Tolkien in creating this mythological world, the characters - Elves, Men, Dwarfs, Gods, Dark lord, and his creatures. The main characters being Elves and Men are described to the minutest detail including their different races and their descendants. It is really impressive. I have read that Tolkien always felt the absence of British lore and had felt the need to remedy the defect. I think his works quite compensate for that absence.The closing chapters also talks about Numenor and the rise and fall of the that great island nation and how this society led to the line of kings of whom Aragorn was one. From the very beginning, one of the Ainur has evil intentions, and Melkor (aka Morgoth) swiftly becomes the Big Bad who lurks throughout this entire history, darkening all that the others create. His presence sows the seed of good vs evil, and suddenly this fancy new world is marred into something tragically more recognisable and honestly far more interesting. First, there's The Big Guy, Illuvatar, who brings into being the Ainur, who essentially end up being the gods of this world (The Valar). Then there's the creation of the physical world, and the people destined to inhabit it. It's all described in rather complex detail, so this is not light reading, my friends. Tropes show how literature is conceptualized and created and which mixture of elements makes works and genres unique:

Ever they dwindled with the years, until their glory passed, leaving only green mounds in the grass. At length naught was left of them but a strange people wandering secretly in the wild, and other men knew not their homes nor the purpose of their journeys, and save in Imladris, in the house of Elrond, their ancestry was forgotten. In my opinion Tolkien is really brilliant at shaping a world and creating cool concepts and story arcs... He is just not the best in writing these down... What I mean with that is that he is not the best at writing characters and their feelings and making me connect with these characters on a very emotional and personal level BUT he is the best at putting characters in certain situations and creating a plot and their surroundings. That's why I loved the Silmarillion. Each chapter was basically a finished story (even though all stories go hand in hand and can be put in a timeline). Almost every new chapter focused on a new person. Meaning Tolkien could do what Tolkien can do best AKA exposing a lot of brilliant concepts and plots without having to write a lot about the characters as people with feelings... I mean, come on. Gods, all the creation myths, Melkor the corruptor, the jealous, among them. Epic battles that change whole lands, erupting volcanoes, armies full of balrogs and dragons and orcs. The full might of the Valar (gods tied to Arda) arrayed with the first Elves in the height of their craftsmanship, battling, and sometimes being defeated by, the dark god.

To be honest, The Silmarillion is not an easy read. There's Valinor, Númenor, Middle-earth, creation of the world, music battles (I am not joking), the Valar, the Maiar; Vanyar, Noldor, and Teleri elves, men, orcs, beasts, wizards, dragons, and jewels. The Silmarillion is a collection of mythopoeic works by English writer J.R.R. Tolkien, edited and published posthumously by his son, Christopher Tolkien, in 1977, with assistance from Guy Gavriel Kay. I get the MOST out of this, get the most thrilled by this, and become an utter, raving fanboy. The more I learn, the more I imagine, and the more I imagine, the better the HUGE FREAKING EPIC BATTLES of the First Age of Arda (Also known as our Earth, with us living during the Fourth Age).

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