The silmarillion

The Silmarillion is a compilation of works by J. R. R. Tolkien, edited and published posthumously by his son Christopher Tolkien, in 1977. It narrates, among other things, the creation of Eä and the birth of the most important races (Valar, Maiar, elves, men and dwarves) of Arda.

The major portion of The Silmarillion, entitled "Quenta Silmarillion", deals with the Silmaril, jewels made by Fëanor in Aman and around which is woven the story of the First Age of the Sun in Middle-earth, primarily in the region known as Beleriand. Other shorter stories are also included: "Ainulindalë", "Valaquenta" and "Akallabêth". One last story (“Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age”) serves as the historical framework for The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, the best-known novels. from Tolkien.

Structure

The Silmarillion is divided into five parts:

• “Ainulindalë” (“The Music of the Ainur” in Quenya), which deals with the creation of Eä and, within it, the creation of Arda.
• “Valaquenta” (“The History of the Valar” in Quenya), a brief relationship between the Valar and the Maiars, the supernatural forces of Eä, called the Powers of the Earth. He also refers to Melkor and Sauron, a dark god and his most loyal servant.
• “Quenta Silmarillion” (“The Story of the Silmarilli” in Quenya), the events that occur from the beginning of time to the end of the First Age of the Sun.

The chapters are varied. There are 24 chapters in total and they are:

• 1: From the beginning of the days
• 2: From Aulë and Yavanna
• 3: The arrival of the Elves and the captivity of Melkor
• 4: From Thingol and Melian
• 5: Of Eldamar and the princes of the Eldalië
• 6: From Fëanor and the Melkor
• 7: Of the Silmarils and the concern of the Noldor
• 8: From the darkness of Valinor
• 9: From the escape of the Noldor
• 10: From the Standard
• 11: From the Sun and Moon and the Valinor Hiding
• 12: Of the Men
• 13: From the return of the Noldors
• 14: From Beleriand and his kingdoms
• 15: From the Noldor in Beleriand
• 16: From Maeglin
• 17: From the arrival of Men to the West
• 18: From the ruin of Beleriand and the fall of Fingolfin
• 19: Beren and Lúthien
• 20: From the fifth battle: Nírnaeth Arnoediad
• 21: Turambar Turin
• 22: Of the ruin of Doriath
• 23: From Tuor and the fall of Gondolin
• 24: From the journey of Eärendil and the War of Cholera

Tales after the First Age of the Sun

• “Akallabêth” (“The Sepulted”), in adhesive), history of the fall of Numenor, which takes place in the Second Age of the Sun.
• «From the Rings of Power and the Third Age», a summary that narrates how the Middle Earth is and the events that lead to the history of The Lord of the Rings.

This five-part division is informally associated by some readers with the three volumes of Translations from the Elvish, written by Bilbo Baggins, mentioned in The Lord of the Rings.

These five parts were originally five independent works, but it was the wish of an elderly Tolkien that they be published together. As he died before he could completely rewrite the various legends, his son Christopher used material from his father's old writings to finish it off. In some cases he had to create original fragments.

The Silmarillion, like other compendia of Tolkien's works (such as the Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth, The Adventures of Tom Bombadil and other poems from The Red Book, and The road goes on and on), forms a plot that, although incomplete, describes the universe of Middle-earth before the events narrated in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. The History of Middle-earth comprises twelve volumes that examine the processes that led to the publication of these works, based on the author's initial drafts and Christopher Tolkien's commentary.

The Silmarillion is a complex work that explores a vast range of themes inspired by many ancient, medieval and modern stories, including the Finnish Kalevala, the Ancient Testament, Norse sagas, Greek and Celtic mythology, and World War I. For example, the meaning of the name of the supreme being, Eru Ilúvatar ("Father of all"), was borrowed from Norse mythology; the archaic style of the «Ainulindalë» is reminiscent of the Old Testament; and the island civilization of Númenórë is reminiscent of Greek Atlantis (one of the names of that land in the books is Atalantë, which he endowed with a Quenya etymology as "the fallen or buried [land]").

Some of the most notable chapters of the book

• The Ainur music.
• From Beren and Lúthien.
• Túrin Turambar (associated with the Narn i Chîn Húrinthe story of the children of Húrin in the Unfinished stories of Numenor and the Middle Earthand as a separate book, The children of Húrin).
• From Tuor and Gondolin's fall.
• From the journey of Eärendil and the War of Cholera.

In addition, the book includes a long appendix in which you can find who each character is, places, races and explanations on pronunciation and etymology of the main languages that appear in the context of Middle-earth, as well as family trees.

The creation of the book

The first outlines of The Silmarillion stories date back to 1925, when Tolkien wrote an outline of its mythology. However, the concepts of the characters, the main themes and the specific stories had been developing since 1917, when Tolkien - by then a British officer - returned from France during World War I and was convalescing in a military hospital first, and then at his home later, with the so-called 'trench fever'. Around this time, he named his collection of short stories The Book of Lost Tales (which would later be used as the name of the first two volumes of The Story of Middle-earth ). These 'tales' they were to include an English mythology, purporting to explain the origins of England's history and culture.

Many years after the war, encouraged by the success of The Hobbit, Tolkien introduced him to his publisher, George Allen & Unwin, an incomplete though highly developed version of The Silmarillion, but was rejected as dark and 'too Celtic'. The publisher, by contrast, asked Tolkien for a sequel to The Hobbit , which would eventually become his most significant novel, The Lord of the Rings .

However, Tolkien never abandoned these works. In fact, he considered them his most important work (according to the book's prologue), being able to see in his stories the origin of Middle-earth and subsequent events told in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings . He resumed his work on The Silmarillion upon completion of said work, and it was his wish that both be published together. But when he saw that it would be impossible he concentrated his attention on preparing the publication of The Lord of the Rings .

In the late 1950s he began work again on The Silmarillion, but much of his writing from this time was more concerned with the theological and philosophical aspects of the work than with the storytelling same. During this time he wrote at length on such subjects as the nature of evil in Arda, the origin of the Orcs, the customs of the Elves, the significance of elven death, the flatness of Arda, and the tale of the Sun and Moon.. Around this time, he had serious doubts about fundamental aspects of the work that went back to early versions of the stories, and it seemed that Tolkien needed to iron out those problems before he could produce the final version of The Silmarillion.. In any case, with few exceptions, he did not work on the narrative in the remaining years of his life.

Post

The Noble kingdoms according to The Silmarillion

Although the writings are by Tolkien himself, they were published after his death by his son Christopher, who searched among the stories for the most finished ones and brought them together in a single volume, along with other writings, thus giving shape to the will of his father, who had expressed his desire that it constitute a corpus that covered from the Creation of the World to the destruction of the ring of power.

Due to this condition, the volume sometimes contains inconsistencies with The Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit, the styles are sometimes different, there are very finished stories (such as that of Beren and Lúthien or that of Túrin Turambar) and others barely outlined (such as the one dedicated to the War of Wrath).

Influences on the music scene

In 1998 the German musical group Blind Guardian released Nightfall in Middle-Earth, an entire album dedicated to The Silmarillion, making reference to several passages from «Quenta Silmarillion" and with the representation of one of the most famous scenes of the book as the cover.

Other artists, both from the various tendencies of heavy metal, such as the Austrian band Summoning or the Finnish band Battlelore, as well as from more traditional sounds, such as the Italian Ainur, are directly influenced by the books of Tolkien, and specifically by The Silmarillion, both lyrically and aesthetically.^{[citation needed]}

The English band Marillion began their career with the stage name "Silmarillion", which they had to shorten due to legal confrontations with the holders of the rights to Tolkien's work. It is not the only one that has its name related to Tolkien, since, among other examples, there is the heavy metal band Cirith Ungol (reminiscent of the place of the same name) or the Swedish melodic death metal band Amon Amarth, which means &# 34;mount of destiny" in Sindarin.^{[citation needed]}