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Have you read the Silmarillion?
Yes, I finished it and it's brilliant! 3 (37.5%)
Yes, I even finished it! 1 (12.5%)
Yup, didn't finish it though. 2 (25%)
No, it's crap. 1 (12.5%)
No, but I will. 1 (12.5%)
WTF it the Silmarillion. 0 (0%)
I hate Tolkien (prepare to die <_< ) 0 (0%)
Total Votes: 8
The Silmarillion; Have you read it?
Topic Started: Jul 26 2006, 10:17 PM (351 Views)
Loter
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The Half-Elf Warrior
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Yes, and it's brilliant IMO! Great writing and really detailed.
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Alex
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I read it. Nothing special, just a load of stories compiled. The Siege of Gondolin was good though, because Glorfindel was in it
chadden, Oct 15 2008
12:16 PM
HIC, I demand that you bludgeon yourself with a rock until your mental status returns to the level of a rapist who calls back to apologise! Your use of elaborate language and words is making me uneasy. Although, I am somewhat relieved to see that your punctuation remains shit-based.
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Lord Sunnycool
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No, but I will
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"It is acceptable to spend the lives of those under your command! It is however not acceptable to waste those lives!"
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Ariakas
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Nothing special? The book is great! It really is special! Have you ever read a fiction-book that is like The Silmarillion.
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Lord Sunnycool
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Ariakas
Aug 13 2006, 06:08 PM
Nothing special? The book is great! It really is special! Have you ever read a fiction-book that is like The Silmarillion.

Can you explain what is special about it? The language? The stories?

I am just curious.
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"It is acceptable to spend the lives of those under your command! It is however not acceptable to waste those lives!"
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Mordus
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It describes everything!! From creation to the beginnings of the ring.

It's like the LOTR Bible.
Glory is fleeting, but obscurity lasts for eternity.
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Ariakas
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Simply because I have never read anything like it.

But to give a more in-deepth answer.

It is partly the way it is comprimised. The Silmarillion is, as Alex puts it, not one story. But many different ones. Or rather, in some cases, many tales.

These tales/chapters/parts/stories are very different. The first part of the book, Ainulindalė, is written like a myth about creation. There are no mortal characters, all of them are divine. Many consider this part boring, but I think it's very interesting. It's a very original creation myth. And it shows that Tolkien actually did come up with a lot of ideas himself.
Music is one of the most creative arts practiced by humans, and in Ainulindalė is created through music. But I don't think we can understand what's really going on in Ainulindalė, that's what makes it powerfull. The characters are divine, the actions are divine and the story is divine.


Valaquenta however, I find boring. Mainly because it's just information that I have read so many times already. It's not really a story, rather a piece of info that links Ainulindalė with Quenta Silmarillion.

Quenta Silmarillion is the real main part of the "the Silmarillion". The rest of it is just additions. It consisist of at least eighteen chapters (I think), and those chapters are quite different so that there is something for everyone there.
The true epics in the book is the tragedy about Tśrin Turambar, and the tale about Beren & Luthien. I love both of these. Both of these are easily read as a stand-alone stories, so that you guys does not have to read the whole book. You could just read the tales here and there. That's worth it. Buy or borrow the Silmarillion and read just one of these stories, and you have already made a great deal.
The stories in Quenta Silmarillion is written in a very old-fashioned way. Some people think that the way Quenta Silmarillion is written is very similiar too the Bible, but I don't find it that way.

The tale about the Fall of Gondolin is too short in my opinion. That's more like a myth again (considered the speed the story goes with), and it's more like a epic black & white-story instead of the emotional, action/drama-tragedy it could have been. :lol:
Read the stuff about the Fall of Gondolin and Tuor in Unfinished Tales and The History of Middle-Earth.

Akallabźth is the fourth part of the book. It tells the story about Fall of the Kingdom of Nśmenor. It is pretty clearly based on the tale of Atlantis, and that makes it only more intriguing.


To get even more about the story about Turin Turambar read Narn i Hīn Hśrin from Unfinished Tales.

But above all else: You DON'T have to read the whole book. You can read a lot of the stories separatly.
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Lord Sunnycool
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Ah I see - sounds like an interesting read. Indeed unique. So it's a collection of different "divine or less divine" stories about Middle Earth.
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Ariakas
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Ainulindalė is a "divine story". Most of the stories in the rest of the book except in the beginning of Quenta Silmarillion is about mortal people.
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Lord Sunnycool
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All right - I get it now.
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Hotshot
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The Lord Castoden
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It is a chore to read. It doesn't read like a story, it reads like a history book. I stopped reading because it never grabbed my attention, it was just a long series of events.
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Mordus
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Thats what i thought which is why i don't remember much of it.

I find the enigma behind 40K fiction much more attractive and enthraling.
Glory is fleeting, but obscurity lasts for eternity.
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Lathaon
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I voted "No, it's crap" because there wasn't just a plain "no" <_<
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chadden
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I started reading it, but I didn't like it so I never finished it. Didn't get very far. Like Rudder said, it reads like a history book. I never found it interesting.
"Stand against me if you must, for of course you will. Conflict is just another part of this flawed reality. You need to cling to your concepts and purposes, your feeble honour and glory. None of it serves any purpose in the end. And the end draws close." - Krodalis Thaendil.

"It really is amazing; she killed Kelan Wealer, not that I am complaining, but then the order welcomed her as their new leader. It makes one wonder if I were to ram a blade down her throat, would the monks then follow my commands?" - Mordain Thaendil.

One of the Last Guardians. Suck it.
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Ariakas
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You can't say you read it like a history book. If you read the whole The Silmarillion as a history book, then you read the whole Lord of the Rings as a history book.
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Mordus
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The two do not read the same.
Glory is fleeting, but obscurity lasts for eternity.
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Ariakas
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Yes, but big parts do.
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Mordus
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Then you'll excuse chadden as he didin't read all of it.
Glory is fleeting, but obscurity lasts for eternity.
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Ariakas
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But what part of it is it that really reads like a history book then?
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Mordus
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I honestly can't remember 'coz it was so long ago. I might find it more interesting now that im older, who knows.
Glory is fleeting, but obscurity lasts for eternity.
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