Thanks for this. I’ve tried a couple of times to read the Silmarillion, but each time got bogged down in the names and lineages and minutiae. Hearing this is a common experience helps.
Breanne, I wonder if you’d consider doing a Silmarillion read along for paid Substack subscribers like with the Hobbit and LotR?
I love The Silmarillion. I have read it 3 times and I plan on reading it again but I think I will have to do it after the LOTR read through. I so agree with what you say about how it gives depth to LOTR. Specially the songs. Some songs didn’t make sense the first time but after reading the Silmarillion it was a delight to read them
Thanks for the good essay on Fandom. I tend to be gatekeepy and snobbish, disdaining all these newbie movie fans. But that is my bad, my error. If you like the work, movie or book, you're a fan, and welcome.
And, yes, The Silmarillion does add depth and understanding to all the little asides and references. ( Like Strider's comment about Bilbo's poem in Rivendell.)
And while I'm at it. I finally figured out in my 3rd reading of Silmarillion, to read it as a series of connected short stories.
And, if I may mix my fandoms, the Elves are not the calm and reasonable Vulcans of LOTR. They are more Romulan or even Klingon. (lookin at you Feanor & Sons)
This was such a lovely take on fandom, Breanne! My husband has read everything, and I've only seen the movies. I like that you're so gentle and inclusive of everyone, no matter how they first come to the stories.
Thanks for sharing, Evelyn! It's the opposite in my house. I'm the one who reads all the Tolkien things and my husband has only seen the movies but loves them too! Unfortunately, I see a lot of gatekeeping and superirorty complexes when it comes to this fandom and I've found a lot of purpose in combating that by making my space as welcoming as possible. It's a lot more fun that way 😉
I fell in love with the Silmarillion the first time I read it after The Hobbit and LOTR Trilogy. After the ending of ROTK made me cry, I couldn't believe a book could be so powerful I had to read the Silmarillion and it was even more Beautiful. The whole thing reads like an Epic Poem and the Love Illuvatar has for his creation being expressed in stanzas repeating and the harmonies playing off each other, with tragedies like World War being used to make the Joys of life sharper and more pronounced as part of a Grand Plan to help make sense of the Tragedies of our Time. A tapestry of song from the Great Creator with higher purpose and higher meaning than perhaps our one verse can comprehend. I cried then and I'm crying now. God bless Tolkien and God bless you for bringing us together.
I had to read The Silmarillion for a special course I was taking on Tolkien. I'm so glad our professor included it, and I instantly fell in love with the depth of Tolkien's universe. I loved the Ainulindalë the best and will tell my interested friends to at least read that part. I find it to be the most novel-like part of The Silmarillion.
I am currently making my way (slowly) through The Silmarillion, and have found myself lost among the many different elf names and groups and rebellions—but nearly moved to tears at the beautiful stories and the deep grief Tolkien never shies away from, and honestly just completely enthralled with the Valar. (I was always fascinated by Greek myths and all the gods/goddess in grade school so this does not surprise me 😂)
A tool that is helping me: The Tolkien Companion by J. E. A. Tyler. It slows me down a bit, and sometimes gives me spoilers accidentally, but man does it help me make connections and understand all the interchangeable (and the not exactly interchangeable) terms and names that Tolkien uses.
A revelation I have had concerning Tolkien’s works (and honestly any type of daunting literature, particularly the classics): I do not have to understand everything. I don’t! And that’s completely ok. I understand what I understand…and what I understand I throughly enjoy. Tolkien is so vastly deep, there will always be new connections to unearth and I have made peace with that. There’s no reason to get overwhelmed. It’s all meant to be mined slowly, steadily, beautifully.
I started The Silmarillion three times over the course of a decade and put it down after a chapter or two each time. Finally with ROP coming out two years ago, I joined a read along with Tea with Tolkien, and bought The Atlas of Middle Earth to reference along the way, and finished it! I've since re-read LOTR and the Hobbit, so I'm due for another Silmarillion re-read... but I have to psyche myself up for it. 😂
This right here is why I love this community. It’s so welcoming and accepting. I first came in touch with Tolkien through a set of bedsheets I had as a kid. I am 52 now. My love of Tolkien got reignited with the release of TFOTR movie. I have read the trilogy and TH more than once. The Silmarillion, the Unfinished Tales, all three more resent publications: Children of Urin, Bergen and Luthien, The Fall of Gondolin. Have several versions of the audiobooks, unabridged and dramatized. Have a Tolkien companion dictionary type volume. And yet I know so little. I am amazed by you and others in TikTok that can explain obscures details, and know genealogies, and chronologies. I love being in that world. But I always disliked the fandom, The Ringers that felt the need to gatekeep and lord their knowledge of the lore over others. Through this community I have found a more welcoming side of fans and knowledgeable guides. Thank you so much.
There will be no gatekeeping here! Unless it's the gates of mithril and steel that Gimli restored to the city of Minas Tirith after the fall of Sauron. Any other kind of gatekeeping will be banished into the abyss! I'm so glad you feel welcome here ❤️
Ok. Here I am back with my nonsense. But in case someone might find this useful in any way, here’s a reading schedule to tackle The Silmarillion before the TLOR read. It includes some basic cheat cheats.
It's been a very long time since I read The Silmarillion. My recollection is that is was dense, and more academic than The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. Definitely will give it a re-reading soon!
Thank you for this post and for the general tone you take around all of this. I am in graduate school so have no time for pleasure reading for a few more years, but your post reminds me that there will be time, eventually. And in the meantime, I’ll follow along here and take in the goodness that is available just from this conversation!
I don't always have time for big read-throughs either but I love just hanging out in Tolkien spaces for the general community it offers. Gaining Tolkien knowledge by osmosis counts too. So glad to have you here!
You know I read The Silmarillion last fall and it was dense. But I enjoyed it and will one day pick it back up to make more sense of the names and places. It is full of beautiful stories!
It IS dense. It took me three times to get through it (the audiobook version by Andy Serkis really helped!). I'm so glad you ventured into it and now I want to bring over hot tea in thermos mugs to have a proper chat with you about it.
Thanks for this. I’ve tried a couple of times to read the Silmarillion, but each time got bogged down in the names and lineages and minutiae. Hearing this is a common experience helps.
Breanne, I wonder if you’d consider doing a Silmarillion read along for paid Substack subscribers like with the Hobbit and LotR?
I love The Silmarillion. I have read it 3 times and I plan on reading it again but I think I will have to do it after the LOTR read through. I so agree with what you say about how it gives depth to LOTR. Specially the songs. Some songs didn’t make sense the first time but after reading the Silmarillion it was a delight to read them
Thanks for the good essay on Fandom. I tend to be gatekeepy and snobbish, disdaining all these newbie movie fans. But that is my bad, my error. If you like the work, movie or book, you're a fan, and welcome.
And, yes, The Silmarillion does add depth and understanding to all the little asides and references. ( Like Strider's comment about Bilbo's poem in Rivendell.)
And while I'm at it. I finally figured out in my 3rd reading of Silmarillion, to read it as a series of connected short stories.
And, if I may mix my fandoms, the Elves are not the calm and reasonable Vulcans of LOTR. They are more Romulan or even Klingon. (lookin at you Feanor & Sons)
This was such a lovely take on fandom, Breanne! My husband has read everything, and I've only seen the movies. I like that you're so gentle and inclusive of everyone, no matter how they first come to the stories.
Thanks for sharing, Evelyn! It's the opposite in my house. I'm the one who reads all the Tolkien things and my husband has only seen the movies but loves them too! Unfortunately, I see a lot of gatekeeping and superirorty complexes when it comes to this fandom and I've found a lot of purpose in combating that by making my space as welcoming as possible. It's a lot more fun that way 😉
I fell in love with the Silmarillion the first time I read it after The Hobbit and LOTR Trilogy. After the ending of ROTK made me cry, I couldn't believe a book could be so powerful I had to read the Silmarillion and it was even more Beautiful. The whole thing reads like an Epic Poem and the Love Illuvatar has for his creation being expressed in stanzas repeating and the harmonies playing off each other, with tragedies like World War being used to make the Joys of life sharper and more pronounced as part of a Grand Plan to help make sense of the Tragedies of our Time. A tapestry of song from the Great Creator with higher purpose and higher meaning than perhaps our one verse can comprehend. I cried then and I'm crying now. God bless Tolkien and God bless you for bringing us together.
I had to read The Silmarillion for a special course I was taking on Tolkien. I'm so glad our professor included it, and I instantly fell in love with the depth of Tolkien's universe. I loved the Ainulindalë the best and will tell my interested friends to at least read that part. I find it to be the most novel-like part of The Silmarillion.
A fantastic perspective to have!
I am currently making my way (slowly) through The Silmarillion, and have found myself lost among the many different elf names and groups and rebellions—but nearly moved to tears at the beautiful stories and the deep grief Tolkien never shies away from, and honestly just completely enthralled with the Valar. (I was always fascinated by Greek myths and all the gods/goddess in grade school so this does not surprise me 😂)
A tool that is helping me: The Tolkien Companion by J. E. A. Tyler. It slows me down a bit, and sometimes gives me spoilers accidentally, but man does it help me make connections and understand all the interchangeable (and the not exactly interchangeable) terms and names that Tolkien uses.
A revelation I have had concerning Tolkien’s works (and honestly any type of daunting literature, particularly the classics): I do not have to understand everything. I don’t! And that’s completely ok. I understand what I understand…and what I understand I throughly enjoy. Tolkien is so vastly deep, there will always be new connections to unearth and I have made peace with that. There’s no reason to get overwhelmed. It’s all meant to be mined slowly, steadily, beautifully.
I started The Silmarillion three times over the course of a decade and put it down after a chapter or two each time. Finally with ROP coming out two years ago, I joined a read along with Tea with Tolkien, and bought The Atlas of Middle Earth to reference along the way, and finished it! I've since re-read LOTR and the Hobbit, so I'm due for another Silmarillion re-read... but I have to psyche myself up for it. 😂
This right here is why I love this community. It’s so welcoming and accepting. I first came in touch with Tolkien through a set of bedsheets I had as a kid. I am 52 now. My love of Tolkien got reignited with the release of TFOTR movie. I have read the trilogy and TH more than once. The Silmarillion, the Unfinished Tales, all three more resent publications: Children of Urin, Bergen and Luthien, The Fall of Gondolin. Have several versions of the audiobooks, unabridged and dramatized. Have a Tolkien companion dictionary type volume. And yet I know so little. I am amazed by you and others in TikTok that can explain obscures details, and know genealogies, and chronologies. I love being in that world. But I always disliked the fandom, The Ringers that felt the need to gatekeep and lord their knowledge of the lore over others. Through this community I have found a more welcoming side of fans and knowledgeable guides. Thank you so much.
There will be no gatekeeping here! Unless it's the gates of mithril and steel that Gimli restored to the city of Minas Tirith after the fall of Sauron. Any other kind of gatekeeping will be banished into the abyss! I'm so glad you feel welcome here ❤️
Ok. Here I am back with my nonsense. But in case someone might find this useful in any way, here’s a reading schedule to tackle The Silmarillion before the TLOR read. It includes some basic cheat cheats.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1qYDmFbnQ3I8E7QACGLP0HmFSV3jzS8Jun-7xceSJCuU/edit
It's been a very long time since I read The Silmarillion. My recollection is that is was dense, and more academic than The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. Definitely will give it a re-reading soon!
I highly recommend finding a good audiobook version you enjoy. It really helped take the text from feeling dense and academic to personal for me!
Thank you for this post and for the general tone you take around all of this. I am in graduate school so have no time for pleasure reading for a few more years, but your post reminds me that there will be time, eventually. And in the meantime, I’ll follow along here and take in the goodness that is available just from this conversation!
I don't always have time for big read-throughs either but I love just hanging out in Tolkien spaces for the general community it offers. Gaining Tolkien knowledge by osmosis counts too. So glad to have you here!
You know I read The Silmarillion last fall and it was dense. But I enjoyed it and will one day pick it back up to make more sense of the names and places. It is full of beautiful stories!
It IS dense. It took me three times to get through it (the audiobook version by Andy Serkis really helped!). I'm so glad you ventured into it and now I want to bring over hot tea in thermos mugs to have a proper chat with you about it.