The Silmarillion: Difference between revisions

'''''The Silmarillion''''' is [[J. R. R. Tolkien|JRR Tolkien]]'s book of the history of Middle-Earth, from the creation of the universe to the end of the Third Age. It was posthumously edited by his son Christopher and published in 1977, though Tolkien had been working on it for most of his life. Originally, ''The Silmarillion'' was Tolkien's attempt to make a purely "English" mythology based on Welsh, Saxon, Finnish, and Norse sources. What it eventually became was a "Pan-European" constructed world, growing ever more intricate and detailed through the decades Tolkien worked on it.

** Galadriel was said to have wielded a sword at the Kinslaying at Alqualondë on the part of the Teleri, her mother's people (according to supplementary canon). Contrast with her tomboyish but comparatively wimpier cousin [[Faux Action Girl|Aredhel]], who, despite her affinity for hanging out with her male cousins and hunting ends up a [[Distressed Damsel in Distress|hapless]] [[Love Martyr]] married to an absolute [[Jerkass]] because of [["It's Not Rape If You Enjoyed It"|not-exactly-rape]].

* [[Ape Shall Never Kill Ape]]: Mostly played straight with Elves except when Fëanor and his sons are around. Fëanor is the Cain figure in the story. He was the first Elf ever to draw a blade in anger towards another, who also happened to be his half-brother. Due to appropriately dramatic timing, this directly resulted in his getting banned from Tirion, the Noldorin settlement. His father followed him in exile, staying in their citadel until it was attacked by Morgoth coming to steal the Silmarils and [[It Got Worse|killing him]]. Then later, after Fëanor defied the will of the Valar by coming back while still banned and then swearing the Oath of Fëanor: "Be he friend or foe, or seed defiled of Morgoth Bauglir, or mortal child that in after days on earth shall dwell, no law, nor love, nor league of hell, not might of Gods, not moveless fate shall him defend from wrath and hate of Fëanor's sons, who takes or steals or finding keeps the Silmarils, the thrice-enchanted globes of light that shine until the final night." This oath was sworn just before he led the Noldor to the Telerin (another kindred of Elves) city, a marine haven. At the Telerin city, he demanded their boats, and [[It Got Worse|slaughtered them]] when they refused. Then he took the boats and passed the sea with his followers -- andfollowers—and burned all the ships, leaving the other Noldor behind in Valinor. Some of them went back, most tried to pass the Grinding Ice -- includingIce—including Galadriel, by the way -- andway—and [[It Got Worse|many of those drowned or froze to death]] on the way to Middle-earth. These evil deeds naturally don't stop him from being an awesome [[Badass]] for some readers. His spirit was so intense that when he died, his body literally combusted. In this story, Fëanor is almost the patron saint of self-righteous anger.<br />Also note that Telerin and Tirion are in/on the Middle-Earth equivalent of ''Heaven'' (Valinor), so these highly egregious acts were done right in front of the gods and actually defiled their personal domain. Rather than strike him down, they end up [[The Cavalry|coming to the aid]] of Fëanor's sons in the final battle against Morgoth. Admitteldy, this is only after his death and the death of all but two of his sons, and only at the pleading of Eärendil who, because of his "interesting" blood-line, was the only one who could speak for Man, Eldar and Maia.

{{quote| ''And Thingol answered: "What of your quest, and of your vow?"<br />

** Nerdanel, for accomplishing the impossible: for a time, ''Fëanor listened to her.'' She also bore him seven sons; this is a very big deal if you're an elf--fewelf—few have more than four, as it is so draining for them. Actually, having seven children can be exhausting in [[Real Life]]. And these are ''Fëanor's'' kids we're talking about.

{{quote| '''Niniel{{spoiler|(Nienor)}}:''' {{spoiler|Master of Doom, by Doom mastered!}}}}

** It's worth noting that two Valar that were eventually removed from the story -- Makarstory—Makar and Measse -- wereMeasse—were this taken to an even ''more'' bloodthirsty degree, as in Norse mythology.

* [[Con Lang]]: Tolkien simply isn't Tolkien without [[Con Lang|Con Langs]]s.

** Later Beren dresses in the wolf-hame of Draugluin, a werewolf, and Lúthien dresses in the form of Thuringwethil, a "vampire" -- some—some female blood-dripping flying evil creature. {{spoiler|This time it ''does'' work.}}

{{quote| ''Some have said that she ended long ago, when in her uttermost famine she devoured herself at last.''}}

* [[Elves vs. Dwarves]]: Naturally. The latest versions of the mythos have it that the Dwarves were pretty active at the time the Noldor came back from Valinor, and there were somewhat friendly relations between Dwarves and Grey/Dark Elves. The Noldor traded with them too, apparently, until the Dwarves fell in love with a necklace that they'd made for King Thingol, refused to give it up, and {{spoiler|murdered the Elf-king.}} The Elves kill all the Dwarves, but then the Dwarf armies retaliate by sacking the Elven kingdom and burning the forest. And then the Ents become enraged and retaliate. And Beren and some woodland Elves finish them off, then leave with said necklace.<br />''The Silmarillion'' shows that the conflict between Elves and Dwarves is actually anything but natural: they do have things in common (a love of craftsmanship for instance) and, though not particularly friendly to each other, are willing to work and fight together at the beginning; it's only because of certain events that they become enemies.<br />Also the Dwarves of Durin of Moria had nothing to do with those griefs, which makes the events of ''[[The Hobbit (novel)|The Hobbit]]'' seem a little unfair. (For that matter, the Wood-Elves of ''The Hobbit'' don't seem to have any particular connection to the Grey Elves -- unlikeElves—unlike, say, Galadriel who was a sort of adopted daughter of their queen, or Elrond who was actually the great-grandson of their king -- theyking—they probably have less of a reason to hate the Dwarves than any other Elven nation in Middle-Earth.)

** Fëanor also perhaps. He desired to ally himself with Melkor until he realized that Melkor wanted the Silmarils whose power Fëanor thought belonged to him. Fëanor repeatedly made promises and promptly broke them when it served his purpose, and indiscriminately killed Elves who stood in his way. As the most powerful Elf (or indeed non-Ainu) who ever lived, and with his heart of only darkness (confirmed whenever Galadriel saw into his mind), the only thing preventing him from becoming a [[Dark Lord]] in his own right was {{spoiler|being foolish enough to get himself killed early on}}.<br />Fëanor never trusted Melkor. He only ever thought (perhaps foolishly) that he could use him to help the Elves escape Aman (he was convinced the Valar meant to keep them prisoner). He also never indiscriminately killed Elves, he was a bit mad and believed he was liberating the Elves from the Valar. He instigated the kinslaying at Alqualande because he honestly believed the Teleri were betraying the Noldor by not helping their flight. He was in fact quite paranoid by the end, the reason he burned the ships at Losgar was because he thought the other Elves would betray him (although they preferred Fingolfin as their leader, they were in fact perfectly loyal to Fëanor).

* [[God]]: Eru Ilúvatar. It should be noted that despite the surface similarities, Eru is quite different from the Christian God -- heGod—he mediated the creation of the Universe through demiurges/angels (the Ainur), created two sentient races (Elves and Men), and intended for the human race to be mortal (rather than giving them mortality as punishment for the Fall). This is called the [[Blessed with Suck|Gift of Ilúvatar]]. Also, he generally avoids intervening in the Universe directly, allowing the Valar to run things.<br />It can be argued that since the world of Tolkien's mythos is implied to be our world, just much earlier, this implies that Eru is God. Tolkien also mentioned somewhere about how this was all before Christ, they aren't supposed to be incompatible. Tolkien stated this pretty explicitly in several of his letters and at several points in the writings compiled in ''The History of Middle-Earth''. In the latter, there's even a version of the Fall of Man that's distinctly different from the Biblical version.

** And sure, the Valar are very powerful -- butpowerful—but for a long time, Morgoth was a match for all of them together. And even when the Valar finally do strike, after Morgoth is greatly weakened, the power unleashed still sinks Beleriand -- aBeleriand—a pretty huge area of land.

{{quote| ''For Manwë was free from evil and could not comprehend it, and he knew that in the beginning, in the thought of Ilúvatar, Melkor had been even as he; and he saw not the depths of Melkor's heart, and did not perceive that all love had departed from him forever.''}}

** Also Glaurung to Túrin on their first encounter about what a nasty person he has been -- cleverlybeen—cleverly using a paralysing hypnotic beam from his eyes beforehand so the man can't even attempt a [[Shut UP, Hannibal]] on him.

* [[Humans Are Bastardsthe Real Monsters]]: The Númenórëans. As their power grew, so did their corruption and vanity. Even before Sauron joined them, they had become [[The Empire]] and enslaved whole populations.

** [[The Quisling|Maeglin]] lusted after his first cousin Idril. Idril, however, is [[Squick|squickedsquick]]ed by this (Eldar normally don't marry kin so close), and her rejection leaves him bitter; this becomes the seed of Gondolin's downfall. Which is weird when you consider that the latest and arguably most canonically correct version of Galadriel and Celeborn had them as first, not second cousins, so maybe the Eldar not wedding with kin so near only counts if it's not mutual. [[Fridge Logic|Or something like that.]]

** Aulë, who took the idea of Elves and Humans from the Song of creation and "improved" them for the harsh conditions he expected -- therebyexpected—thereby creating the Dwarves. Though he wasn't so much "mad" as "really wanted someone to teach and talk to". That's why Eru gave souls and self-awareness to the Dwarves, which he wouldn't have done if they had been created for more selfish reasons.

{{quote| ''And in the days of Telemnar, the third and twentieth of the line of Meneldil, a plague came upon dark winds out of the east, and it smote the King and his children, and many of the people of Gondor perished. Then the forts on the borders of Mordor were deserted, and Minas Ithil was emptied of its people; and evil entered again into the Black Land secretly, and the ashes of Gorgoroth were stirred as by a cold wind, for dark shapes gathered there.''}}

* [[Our Souls Are Different]]: And how. This is a pretty complex issue -- theissue—the nature and fate of the soul depends on race. Ainur (Valar and Maiar) were created as disembodied spirits; they can take physical form, but for them this is more like wearing clothes than having a body. Whereas the Incarnates (Elves, Men/Hobbits, and Dwarves) are only "complete" when they are embodied. The Valar, Maiar, and Elves must remain in the world until it ends, and cannot leave it: Elves whose bodies are killed can remain as shades (though this implies they are tainted), or go to the Halls of Mandos and get a new body after a time of waiting. The souls of Men and Hobbits are designed to leave the universe after a relatively short lifespan; trying to avoid this fate leads to serious problems (Gollum and the Nazgúl are examples). The fate of Dwarves is even more obscure; Elves seem to think they have no afterlife at all, but Dwarves believe that their maker Aulë will take care of them.<br />A still more obscure question is, what happens to dead Orcs? The Silmarillion suggests (without confirming) that Orcs were bred from Elves who were tortured and corrupted, and a throwaway line in ''The Lord of the Rings'' suggests that two of the Orc characters remember the First Age, which at that point was a good five ''thousand'' years ago: the Orcs seem to be as long-lived as the Elves. Maybe their souls go to the same place as those of Elves (where presumably they have wait a ''buttload'' longer before being reborn?) [[Word of God|Tolkien]] never quite figured out the question of Orc souls: everything in the legendarium suggests that Orcs are [[Always ChaoticExclusively Evil|creatures of pure evil]] but he was never happy with [[Unfortunate Implications|what that might imply]].

* [[Our Vampires Are Different]]: They appear to be not undead humans, but rather a specific class of demonic spirits. Only one is named -- Thuringwethilnamed—Thuringwethil, Sauron's messenger.

* [[The Power of Love]]: Allows Beren and Lúthien to take on Sauron (and Morgoth) and nab a Silmaril. the [[Power of Love]], plus [[Babies Ever After]] (half-Elf, half-demigoddess), plus [[Because Destiny Says So]], [[Earn Your Happy Ending]] ''twice'', and more. Tolkien also wrote the story not only in prose versions, but as a poem over six thousand lines long, in faultless octosylllabic rhyming verse, and it's [[So Cool Its Awesome]].<br />Even better, it's inspired by how he viewed his relationship with his wife. Think about it this way. [[Victorious Childhood Friend|They met when they were both still teenagers]] and fell in love. Tolkien talked to his priest and [[The Mentor|mentor]], who forbade him from seeing her [[The Jailbait Wait|until he was 21.]] When he turned 21 he showed up and proposed to her — [[First Girl Wins|and she broke off another engagement for him!]]

{{quote| "[[That Liar Lies|You lie!]]"}}

* [[Team Dad]]: Maedhros, the eldest son of Fëanor, fills this role among his more violent brothers -- atbrothers—at least at first. He eventually becomes evil. He's not as evil as Celegorm and Curufin. When Beren's grandchildren were left to die he did try to find them. Also, he was willing to swallow his pride and work with the other peoples to take Morgoth down. Not an innocent by any means, but he does have a conscience. He also [[Heel Realization|repents]] after seeing the damage the Oath has done.

* [[Tender Tears]]: Nienna. Though with Morgoth tearing around Arda and destroying the Valar's handiwork, she's got a legitimate reason to cry (plus her tears essentially work like divine [[Healing Potion|Healing Potions]]s).

** Fëanor isn't the most sympathetic character anyway -- heanyway—he gets a definite [[Moral Event Horizon]] as listed in YMMV. It's just that he's also a walking [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]]. His two oldest sons, Maedhros and Maglor, are more sympathetic and probably more tragic, given that {{spoiler|one is [[Driven to Suicide]] ''twice'' and the other spends the rest of his (immortal) life [[Walking the Earth|wandering along the seashore]] singing laments.}} Especially because {{spoiler|after six hundred years of torment, destroying three elven societies and the deaths of their four younger brother in the attempt to fulfill their Oath, they finally steal two Simarils from the Maiar. Only to find that the Simarils burn them when touched.}}

* [[Voluntary Shapeshifting]]: Sauron, who was a master of transformations and illusions. Really all the Ainur can do this (except for Melkor, who got stuck in his form as Morgoth). Sauron's just a particular expert at it. Or was, anyway, until he got caught in the Fall of Númenórë. That [[Shapeshifter Mode Lock|locked him into his "evil overlord" form]], just like his boss. Even then, he may have still retained some of the ability -- heability—he just [[Glamour Failure|couldn't conceal his true nature]] any longer, ruining its usefulness as a disguise (reducing him from [[Magnificent Bastard]] and [[Mobile Menace]] to behind-the-scenes [[Chessmaster]]).

* [[We Are as Mayflies]]: The longest-lived humans get a couple hundred years. Elves can go on until ''the end of the world'', though they become increasingly "faded"/ghostlike with the passage of time, if they remain outside the Undying Realms. No mortal ever enters the Undying Realms; a few are granted a refuge on an island right outside it, but it's not entirely clear if those mortals who arrive by invitation (like Frodo) are given immortality. Eärendil's father Tuor is the only pure human ''implied'' to become immortal without being undead or in a [[Fate Worse Than Death]], and that could be [[Fan Wank|Fan Wanked]]ed as an odd sort of [[Balancing Death's Books]] from Mandos, who'd just fairly recently made an immortal elf (Lúthien) mortal. One of [[Word of God|Tolkien's letters]] stated that it was impossible for any man to become truly immortal. If they ever entered the Undying Lands, they would ''exist'' forever, but life would gradually become unbearable for them, since it would just be their natural lifespan being spread out continuously (similar to what happened to Gollum and Bilbo with the One Ring). Also, it is said in the book that death is Eru's gift to men and the Valar don't have the right to take it from them.

* [[World Sundering]]: This happens three times -- oncetimes—once when Morgoth sinks Almaren, once when the Valar's war tears apart Beleriand, and once when Númenórë is flooded by the Sea.

** Now for the [[Xanatos Gambit]]: The whole time, Sauron's ultimate goal was to destroy Númenórë by pitting Ar-Pharazôn against the Valar -- whicheverValar—whichever one comes out on top, he's down one dangerous enemy and severely weakened the other. ''Everything'' had a purpose -- thepurpose—the human sacrifices removed all Númenórëans faithful to the Valar, and even the huge Temple was built as a "shelter" in case the Valar attacked. This [[Xanatos Gambit]] works ''almost'' perfectly, and the "almost" is only there because Sauron had no way of forseeing that ''[[God]]'' [[Spanner in the Works|would step in and get involved.]]

[[Category:TheBritish SilmarillionLiterature]]

[[Category:LiteratureMiddle Earth]]