The Silmarillion 1

I’ve been reading the Silmarillion for nearly a week already, but I’ve been negligent in updating this blog. This book is wonderful in a variety of ways. It’s not suspenseful (perhaps because I’ve read it so many times) but I enjoy it richly. It’s like savoring a chocolate cake, whereas reading suspenseful books is more like devouring addictive candy. I learned a couple of new words, though the only one I remember right now is firth, which means coastal waters, a strait, or a smaller inlet.

Mom asked me why I enjoyed reading this book. I told her that it was like being able to read a long-term history in which you can see many of the motives that end up influencing the events. You can also see how the choices of individuals can make a large difference. That’s what I told her, but I left out a lot. I also really enjoy the epic feel of it—the famous places, the legendary artifacts, the heroic characters. I can imagine how it would be to live in this world and hear about these things.

One aspect of plots that I really enjoy is when there is a tragic fate that is doomed to happen. In the Silmarillion, the elves are doomed to wane in power as a result of their choices regarding the silmarils and the way they left the halls of Valinor. And yet their fate isn’t ultimately tragic. If it were, I wouldn’t enjoy the plot nearly as much. Perhaps I enjoy this because of the way that it parallels reality. The sin of our first parents in the garden of Eden doomed humanity to many evils, and yet I believe that ultimately it is for the glory of God, and we can rejoice in being used to correct these evils.

Another aspect I like is the nostalgia of the elves. Unlike men who have short lives, the elves have a long memory and thus they seem to spend the majority of their time fondly recalling times past. In Valinor, they are nostalgic about their awakening under the stars and their initial wonder at the world. In Beleriand, they recall the halls of Valinor with fondness. Later, they remember the peak of elven power in Beleriand and the many great wonders that were destroyed by Morgoth. I don’t consider their nostalgia to be admirable, but as I myself am prone to it, I am moved when I read about it.