The Silmarillion 2

I finished the Silmarillion last night. It surprised me that almost all of the characters died (or sailed to Valinar and out of the story), and yet I still wanted to read more. But I wouldn’t be able to, because the Silmarillion is more about elves than men and there are no elves left. At the end of the third age, Arwen is the only elf still alive in middle earth, and she marries Aragorn and becomes human. At the beginning of the third age, only one descendent of Elros remains. Furthermore, of all the Noldor who went to Valinor and returned to Beleriand, only Galadriel remains. Also, I found it interesting that Aragorn, who is a descendent of Elros of the 32^nd(?) generation, ends up marrying Elros’s niece Arwen. Another thing about this marriage--it is the third (and last) union between elves and men. I found that quite poignant.

Why do I enjoy reading it so much if it is mainly about people dying and great works being built and destroyed? Incidentally, the most difficult chapters were the stories of Hurin and Turin, who, though they did great deeds, for the most part they lived in agony causing destruction rather than dying heroically. Beren and Luthien's story is probably my favorite, but at the end Luthien goes to Mandos and brings Beren back from the dead, and I wasn't quite happy with that part--it was too much of a happy ending. I suppose though, that they needed to have offspring somehow. Their only son had two sons and a daughter. The sons were lost, but the daughter married the son of Tuor and Idril, the daughter of Turgon, the son of Fingolfin. In this way the Noldor, Teleri, Maiar, and humans were all joined as a family. From this union came Elrond and Elros.

I really should have written about this every day because there was plenty that I thought about it and no longer remember. Oh well, I'm sure I'll read it again and rediscover some of that which was lost in oblivion.