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/lit/ - Literature

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494948 No.494948 [Reply] [Original]

So how many people have read The Silmarillion and enjoyed it?

pic related is Ancalgon the Black about to get owned.

>> No.494953
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494953

Posting pics until discussion starts

>> No.494956
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>> No.494963
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>> No.494967
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>> No.494969
File: 71 KB, 496x656, Luthien&Beren.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
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>> No.494973
File: 122 KB, 837x540, Melkor-and-Ungoliant.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
494973

John Howe>Ted Nasmith

>> No.494987
File: 475 KB, 900x1536, Morgoth_and_Fingolfin_by_Mentosik8.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
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>> No.494996
File: 29 KB, 256x433, bored..jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
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>> No.494997
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>>494973

Nasmith does better scenery.

>> No.494998

Nobody wants to talk about the Silmarillion.

>> No.494999
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494999

>> No.495000

No one understands the silmarillion!

>> No.495002
File: 85 KB, 500x375, silmarrion.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
495002

I read the Silmarillion when I was 10 and got like 3 chapters in and was like "this is boring". Then I read it when I was 16 or 17 and enjoyed it thoroughly.
I also loved Children of Hurin

>> No.495004
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>> No.495003
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>> No.495008
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>> No.495009
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>>494996

>> No.495011
File: 434 KB, 1300x947, Eowyn And The Nazgul.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
495011

>> No.495013
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>> No.495018
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>> No.495020
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>> No.495021

I read Unfinished Tales and The Book of Lost Tales first because that's what the library had.

>> No.495022
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495022

>> No.495023

i really wanna read it, but everytime i try, it bores me to death

>> No.495032
File: 587 KB, 1725x840, Le Siege du Gondor.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
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>> No.495034
File: 481 KB, 1456x938, the_battle_of_gondolin.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
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>> No.495036

>>495023
Try reading it out of order. Start with Beren and Luthien or Turin and the Dragon.

>> No.495050

>>495023

Its okay to skip certain parts. The Battle of Sudden Flame, Beren and Luthien, Turin Turimbar and anything about Gondolin are all amazing.

>> No.495053
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>> No.495058
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>> No.495061
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495061

>> No.495062

>>495021
The earliest version of the fall of Gondolin, found in The Book of Lost Tales, is also the most story-oriented instead of chronicle-oriented. I mean that in The Silmarillion, battles and other parts, which more modern authors like David Gemmell or Bernard Cornwell would cover in more pages and detail, are telescoped or summed up in a few sentences - often with a phrase like "as told in [this or that poem or chronicle]". The version of the battle in The Book of Lost Tales is supposed to be an account referenced in The Silmarillion's version of the battle . Christopher Tolkien himself noted the contrast - what his father told over several pages in 1917 becamerather less than that when published in 1977.

Also the 1917 version had mechanical troop carrier dragons instead of normal ones.

>> No.495070
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>> No.495073

I would like to see a movie with Balrog armies.

>> No.495076
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495076

>> No.495081
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495081

>> No.495090

>>495002
Wasn't The Children of Hurin basically the version of the Turin tale that appeared in Unfinished Tales with some tweaks?

If the Old Testament style leaves you cold, Unfinished Tales and the History of Middle-earth series (including The Book of Lost Tales >>495062) have versions of some stories which read more like stories than chronicles. Some are not even in prose. However, since the point of publishing those books was to showcase the author's creative process over decades, stuff keeps evolving.

>> No.495094
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495094

>> No.495098

>>495023
Same here. I've read Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit 4 or 5 times each, but I just can't get into The Silmarillion.

>> No.495099

>>495073
Who knows? The Hobbit films (plural) are in the works and we may yet see movies based on The Silmarillion (or rather Silmarillion material) within our lifetimes.

>> No.495108

The stories in it are interesting, and worth knowing to get a sense of the history of Middle Earth, but Christopher Tolkien is a hack and did a shitty, shitty job cobbling it all together.

>> No.495126
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>> No.495129
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>> No.495130
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>> No.495133
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>> No.495139
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>> No.495146

A possible problem with The Silmarillion is that all of its major figures get extended space - Beren and Luthien, Tuor, Turin, the elf kings and princes, etc. -- except the Messiah figure, Earendil. Since it's the climax (or leads to the climax) of the whole thing, readers may expect the book to dwell at length on his epic journey in his skyship to the land of the gods and bringing them back to end the reign of Morgoth. But Tolkien just summarized this in a few paragraphs.

However, I'd say this is due to the editors assembling a unified whole from unfinished pieces, and Tolkien dying before he could properly write an extended version of that tale, like with the other characters.

>> No.495162
File: 255 KB, 850x1111, ungoliant_and_melkor.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
495162

>> No.495196

I tried, but it's a book for Tolkien fanboys. I am not one.

>> No.495198

.. I love the album by blind guardian based off of it.

>> No.495217

>>495198
LOOORD OF ALL NOL - DOR!

>> No.495221

whenever i read lotr stuff i root for the bad guy. the good guys are so bland and boring.

>> No.495231

Read it, enjoyed it, read it again few years later, enjoyed it again.

>> No.495233

>>495221
So it's safe to say you've only read Fellowship of the Ring?

>> No.495267
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>> No.495270
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>> No.495286

>>495233
what, no. the lotr series was alright, but when you get into the biblical elves of the silmarion etc, i don't like them one bit.

>> No.495288

I enjoyed reading it. At the time i read it, i was going through a LOTR phase.
I liked the parts with morgoth/melkor, i though he was pretty interesting.

>> No.495293

I've read through about 6 times total, and maybe 3 more out of order.

is prolly my favori8te book. i dedicated years just to memorizing shit about Arda, to the point where i was teaching myself Sindarin, then i stopped tho, whos to say if i'm better for it.

Gorgeous pictures OP, thanks for em.

>> No.495302

>>495270
>>495267

link to feanor on memegenerator?

>> No.495303

Some parts can be a little boring, but if you really enjoy LOTR then it's a great book.
Nice pictures, i love the ungoliant ones.

>> No.495308

>>495286
But the elves Tolkien spent any time on weren't exactly bland.

You know, telling the "good" gods to fuck themselves and setting off to kill Melkor and anyone who tried to stop them and all

>> No.495317

>>495221
I agree.

>> No.495322

>>495286

It sort of reads like history at times rather than a narrative. However the story is epic in a way hardly any fantasy even attempts to be. when you can finally have a temporal and geographical conception of what you're reading authors like Martin and Jordan will become like cigarettes to satisfy a crack addiction that only Tolkien can do. he really is that good, the barrier of entry on Silmarillion is about as high as they come though.

>> No.495328

>>495322
it's pretty obvious what the political allegories were. bad guys = nazis or something. but the good guys are glorified brits or whatever image of "civilization," which cannot lose, even though the bad guys are made to be an order of magnitude more powerful and stuff.

>> No.495349

>>495302
You'll have to find it yourself, I saved these two from /tg/ ages ago. There's a few more but I haven't found them where I saved them yet.

>> No.495352

>>495328
What the fuck are you even babbling about?

>> No.495360

>>495328
Obviously he wasn't writing allegory.

>> No.495361 [DELETED] 

>>495328

I take it you've never read the introduction to LOTR, then?

Tolkien directly states he dislikes allegories, and that his books are NOT (as lots of people theorized even then) supposed to be about WW2

>> No.495368

>>495328

I take it you've never read the introduction to LOTR, then?

Tolkien directly states he dislikes allegories, and that his books are NOT (as lots of people theorized even then) about WW2

>> No.495366

>>495328

the third age (When Lord of the Rings trilogy takes place) had some political and racial undertones (overtones?). yes sauron was nazi and men were allies, but it wasnt neat or definiate as the allusions in say Prince of Nothing.

Silmarillion however functions more as a mythology with no relevance to modern political affairs. at least until Akallabeth (fall of Numenor)

>> No.495396

fuckin loved that shit :D

>> No.495401

>>495368
Tolkien's dead.
All authors are.

>> No.495404

haven't read the introduction, but that direct denial doesn't matter as much as you think. it could be that people from the wwii period were reading into lotr the grand morality tale that dominated their world, or it may be that tolkien chose the narrative that most captured his imagination at the time without ever consciously deciding to write an allegory. either way, it's fair to say that the war and other events mattered. certainly, the war would have done a lot to define what an epic narrative looks like for tolkiens and his readers. wwii and the associated self understanding of wartime brits definitely defined the space of imagination for that period of time.

>> No.495418

im really sleepy, so excuse the sloppy writing. in order to identify with the struggles of tolkien's "political" protags you'd have to buy into the archetype of the struggle, which is made cogent by either human nature, such as in the case of "humans defending themselves against Nature/Foreign Evil," or culturally ingrained politics, such as "defend civilization/the nation against infidels/foreigners. to say there is no political allegory just does not work.

>> No.495421

>>495404
I'm not saying Tolkien's history of the first age isn't allegory, or didn't pilfer from many different sources, but what you're saying is insanely wrong.

>> No.495430

>>495404
OR

You're a fuckwit desperately trying to save face because you also happen to be a tripfag.

Hmm...which is more likely?

>> No.495451

tolkien hated allegory, jokeno

>> No.495476

>>495418

One can relate to the characters because of human nature or politics, therefore there has to be some specific political allegory in it?

I don't see it.

>> No.495483
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495483

>>495418
>>495404
>>495328

>> No.495726

>>495430

YA FUCK TRIPFAGZ WE R LEGUN

>> No.495746

>>495430
i would have ignored the thread in that case. it's fantasy, so clearly srs business.

>> No.495767

>>495476
at least for the lotr series, i think it parallels wwii too closely to say that there was no influence. having lived through that period certainly enhanced the experience of reading the fantasy.

as for the grander backstory, it seemed to be the typical "chosen people will win!" story. there is no reason that elves would stand a chance against the big bad archdemon guys except for the fact that they were the familiar guys with a civilization.

>> No.496453
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496453

Everybody is a pussy compared to me.

>> No.497206

can anyone give a brief summary of this story?

Doesn't it have to do with the creation of Middle Earth and its first peoples?

>> No.497245

NIIIIIIIGHHHHHTFAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLL!

Quietly crept in and changed us all!

>> No.497539

bitches don't know bout my Gil-Galad

>> No.498413

>>495368

I'm with Tolkien on that one. I also dislike allegories. People who try to pass political messages with fiction are a douches.

>> No.498917

>>497206

It's kind of like the bible of Middle Earth expect it doesn't suck like the IRL bible. It's pretty cool.

>> No.498927

>>495003

Glaurung was a douchebag.

>> No.498933

>>498917
The rl Bible is a great fantasy read tbh

>> No.498950

>>498917

*except

>> No.499302

>>497245
NIIIIIIIGHHHHHTFAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLL!

Immortal land lies down in agony!