Book Review: The Silmarillion

I’ve known for a long time that the Silmarillion has a noteworthy reputation, for better or worse depending on who you ask. The narrative and setting behind The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings have the benefit of being set during the Third Age of Middle Earth and for all intents and purposes, share an underlying history with one another that helps portray a consistent narrative.  It’s worth recognizing that I considered the scale of these two series immense in their own right, but I never really realized how much bigger the world of these stories really was until I finally bit the bullet and picked up the Silmarillion. It was as I read through this hefty compendium that I really realized the true scale behind this world and the sheer talent J.R.R Tolkien had in transcribing such a rich history and mythology that we only really scratch the surface of during the events of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.

Published originally in 1977, The Silmarillion serves as a collection of the mythology and deeper history tied behind J.R.R Tolkien’s world of Middle Earth.  The early origins of The Silmarillion stem soon after the general success of The Hobbit in 1937 when his publisher asked Tolkien for a sequel.  Originally Tolkien pitched an early draft of the Silmarillion but it was rejected on the basis of it being too broad and obscure, so he instead produced The Lord of the Rings.  After his death in 1973, Tolkien’s son Christopher worked to collate the pre-existing work and drafts his father produced and constructed them into a singular book with the intent of fleshing Tolkien’s fantastical world considerably. 

There isn’t a singular, streamlined narrative behind The Silmarillion as it instead serves as a compilation of the early mythology and history that dawned this world.  The book begins literally with the dawn of existence through the musical symphony of Ilúvatar and his offspring, the Ainur. Through their infinite power, they were tasked to govern the world of Arda and its peoples. The book then follows their effort to forge the world in their vision while the dark one known as Melkor sought to bring it all down. Their conflict spans many an age and it’s through Melkor’s dark designs than many elves of Valinor served under his dark regime, one such named Sauron. Soon after this, the narrative then showcases the dawn of the First Age and the war between Melkor and the Valar for the magical jewels known as the Silmarils.  This war knew no end and it spanned through the years and across the seas into the lands of Beleriand.  The shadow of Melkor grew vast and soon tales of the courage of elves and men rose in their defiance of the dark lord. The history soon passes into the Second and Third Age in which Melkor’s wrath soon faulters but a new darkness takes hold through the cunning of Lord Sauron and his Rings of Power.

While the core structure of The Silmarillion is cohesive from a timeline perspective, it’s biggest detractor for me is its storytelling format.  It’s clear why this book didn’t really get published when Tolkien was still working on it, it’s depth and scale works to its own detriment here.  I can’t fault the quality of this books content, but it’s sheer magnitude can form a difficulty to progress with.  There’s no true narrative in the sense that this is a historical accounting of the world and its early conflicts and the stories can often deviate from one another in jarring ways. There’s a definite sense of intrigue behind the early creation of this world and the forces that govern it; also having Melkor serve as an overarching evil for this timeline ties it together nicely for the most part. What drew me out of this book though is its other segregated chapters which I feel only served to halt the momentum of its story majorly.  It’s not often these segments happen but with how expansive the tales are in this world, it’s fair to note a good few of them feel often boring and tedious to work through.

What also doesn’t help is the wording and pacing behind this book. I get there’s a clear attempt from Christopher Tolkien to structure his father’s written work in an interconnected fashion, but it doesn’t always work.  There’s so much padding to these stories and what also impacts its engagement is the wording.  I appreciate a lot of this work was written by an author of his time and his word structure reflects that.  Yet the old-style writing and the long-winded stories make this a really difficult book to get through at times.  It’s a consolation in that case that when the stories focus on some engaging themes and concepts, it makes for some thoroughly compelling fantasy work that you’ll be hard pressed to find anywhere else. 

The Silmarillion isn’t an easy read and I wouldn’t recommend it for anyone besides the most dedicated of high fantasy or Middle-Earth fans. If you can handle the non-linear storytelling and the extensive wording however, there’s a whole plethora of written work here you can truly come to appreciate. I love the world of Middle Earth and the larger-than-life story outlined in The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings, but The Silmarillion has helped me appreciate how much bigger this world of J.R.R. Tolkien’s is and even more so the effort he went to define the earliest example of high fantasy for many a reader.