1 Silmarillion, The

The Silmarillion, J. R. R. Tolkien, 1977, Compact Disc: 1998, HarperCollins Publishers, LTD, London, UK

Length

Volume I (4 CDs), II (4 CDs) and III (5 CDs)

Characters

Iluvater, the supreme creator.

Manwe, the king of the holy ones, through who Iluvater created the world and its inhabitants.

Morgoth, the dark lord, equal to Manwe but twisted by vanity.

Sauron, Morgoth's principal general, who carries out Morgoth's evil design.

Location

Valinor and Middle Earth

Synopsis

The Silmarillion provides the cosmology for The Lord of the Rings. What appear to be mere deus ex machina devices in LOTR, are actually explained in detail in Silmarillion. Tolkien started work on Silmarillionin 1917 but it was only finished in 1977, four years after his death, edited by his son Christopher.

Iluvater, the supreme creator, caused into being the holy ones, who men often call gods. Through them the earth and all of its inhabitants came into being. Chief among the children of Iluvater are the elves and men. The dwarves were created by one of the holy ones in imitation of Iluvater, but proved to be in many ways inferior, yet Iluvater blessed them also.

The holy ones reside in Valinor. To the east of Valinor lies Middle Earth, the home of the elves and men. The elves were the first-born of Iluvater's children. Then came men. At first the two lived peacefully, but Morgoth, one of Iluvater's holy ones and equal in power to Manwe, had designs on Middle Earth and its inhabitants and set about to cause malice. Many wars were fought and Morgoth always lost but he kept coming back. Sauron was Morgoth's chief general and carried on after Morgoth was restrained by the holy ones.

Silmarillion recounts many families of both elves and men, many battles between elves and men and between the children of Iluvater and Morgoth. Manwe commanded the elves to leave Middle Earth and return to Valinor and many complied, but not all. Those who did, sailed westward. After the one ring was destroyed (a foretaste of the LOTR), the elf havens began to degrade, since they were preserved by the rings of power, and the remainder of the elves had to leave, as well.

It is not until the last chapter of Silmarillion, more an afterward, that the wizards, Gandaulf and Sauerman, are introduced. Then too, the rings of power, Morgoth's acquisition and loss of the one ring that rules the others, and the halflings are introduced.

All in all, it is just too much to follow, but, setting aside the details, it is pleasant listening and it does provide a background for The Hobbit and LOTR, which were actually published earlier.

13-Jun-2005