Silmarillion

We started to watch the Lord of the Rings in film class (which i had already seen) and I really wanted to understand the whole thing even better than i already knew. So my teacher recamended to read the Silmarillion, I got the book ptetty well but I still don't understand one thing. When it say's the the children of Eru's thought (the Ainur ) made music, do they literally make/sing music?

Eh, I tried the Silmarillion after seeing LotR in the cinema. I couldn't get into it. It's an incredibly heavy read for such a small book.

I believe that it's all metaphor for what you're referring to. :confused:

~ Adhamh.

I've read the Silmarilion...
But, it it seems that nothing makes sense there!
Ummmm, sing music?
Just guessing...

I've never met anyone that could get through the Silmarillion. My Dad's tried, I've tried, one of my brother's has tried and none of us could do it. There are so many references in that book it just get too hard. So, good luck trying to get through it.

I've read the Silmarilion. 3 times. Its an incredibly heavy read, and you need to really be into it to get through it. If you have only seen the films, read the Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit before even touching the Silmariliion.

I belive the Valequenta is kind of a metaphoric legend of the Elves that tells of the creation of the world and the struggle between the Valar and Melkor. The literal events are told in the rest of the book.

I read it and it is really confusing...my favorite part was "The Downfall of Numenor". But it was really hard to get through, but still interesting to read...it reads a lot like the Old Testement of the Bible, which is also at times very hard to read.

K.M.

Read the world of tolkien, by david day. it discusses the orginins of many myth types used in tolkiens stories. It relates to the concept of the music of the spheres. I.E. everything in the world is at harmony.

Oh, come on, everyone - the Silmarillion isn't that heavy going.

...is it?

Originally Posted by Mr.Rayy

When it say's the the children of Eru's thought (the Ainur ) made music, do they literally make/sing music?

I think that bit can be taken either way. I know creating the world by singing may sound silly, but these were gods of a sort, after all.

You really need to love either LOTR or fantasy in general to get through the book. Since the movies really turned me on to Middle Earth and the giant world that Tolkien created, I wanted to know the history behind it all. It shows the beginning of Men, Elves, Dwarves and how Morgoth and later Sauron fought to control the world.

I loved the book and will probablly read it again in a few years.

I really enjoyed the Silmarillion. I wouldn't exactly say it's hard to understand, you just need to focus on it a little more than a lot of novels. There is a lot of geneology in it as well; which for me, was a little hard to keep track of. But if you go back and reread a part you don't understand or a name you can't remember, and continue doing that throughout the book, it makes much more sense at the end.

(Mr.Rayy, I wouldn't be surprised if they made the music, but it sounded like singing in a way, at least that's how I imagine it)