143-590: Fëanor ( IPA: [ˈfɛ.anɔr] ) is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien 's The Silmarillion . He creates the Tengwar script, the palantír seeing-stones, and the three Silmarils , the skilfully forged jewels that give the book their name and theme, triggering division and destruction. He is the eldest son of Finwë , the King of the Noldor Elves, and his first wife Míriel. Fëanor's Silmarils form
286-466: A pact with the devil ; but both Fëanor and Leverkühn outgrow their teachers in creative skill. Ellison calls Leverkühn "a Fëanor of our times", and comments that far from being a simple battle of good versus evil, Tolkien's world as seen in Fëanor has "the creative and destructive forces in man's nature ... indivisibly linked; this is the essence of the ' fallen world ' in which we live." He adds that Fëanor
429-563: A Man. Elros became the first king of Númenor , and lived to be 500 years old. Akallabêth ("The Downfallen" ) comprises about 30 pages, and recounts the rise and fall of the island kingdom of Númenor, inhabited by the Dúnedain . After the defeat of Melkor, the Valar gave the island to the three loyal houses of Men who had aided the Elves in the war against him. Through the favour of the Valar,
572-478: A baby in a boat, presumably from across the sea, and to whom Scyld's body is returned in a ship funeral , the vessel sailing by itself. Shippey suggests that Tolkien may have seen in this both an implication of a Valar-like group who behave much like gods, and a glimmer of his Old Straight Road , the way across the sea to Valinor forever closed to mortal Men by the remaking of the world after Númenor 's attack on Valinor. Scholars such as John Garth have noted that
715-839: A brief overview of the events leading up to and taking place in The Lord of the Rings , including the waning of Gondor, the re-emergence of Sauron, the White Council , Saruman 's treachery, and Sauron's final destruction along with the One Ring, which ends the Third Age. The inside title page contains an English inscription written in Tengwar script. It reads "The tales of the First Age when Morgoth dwelt in Middle-earth and
858-628: A central theme of The Silmarillion as Men and Elves battle with the forces of evil for their possession. After the Dark Lord Morgoth steals the Silmarils, Fëanor and his seven sons swear the Oath of Fëanor , vowing to fight anyone and everyone—whether Elf , Man , Maia , or Vala —who withholds the Silmarils. The oath commands Fëanor and his sons to press to Middle-earth , in the process committing atrocities against their fellow Elves,
1001-436: A descendant of Elros, and his sons Isildur and Anárion, who had saved a seedling from Númenor's white tree, the ancestor of that of Gondor. They founded two kingdoms: Arnor in the north and Gondor in the south. Elendil reigned as High King of both kingdoms, but committed the rule of Gondor jointly to Isildur and Anárion. The power of the kingdoms in exile was greatly diminished from that of Númenor, "yet very great it seemed to
1144-454: A distinct heraldic device . The Tolkien scholar Jane Chance sees Morgoth's corruption of Elves and Men as clearly Biblical, as it "mirrors that of Adam and Eve by Satan ; the desire for power and godlike being is the same desire for knowledge of good and evil witnessed in the Garden of Eden ." She treats the Silmarils as symbols of that same desire. She identifies Fëanor's wish to be like
1287-536: A fictional universe that includes the Blessed Realm of Valinor , the ill-fated region of Beleriand , the island of Númenor , and the continent of Middle-earth , where Tolkien's most popular works— The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings —are set. After the success of The Hobbit , Tolkien's publisher, Stanley Unwin , requested a sequel, and Tolkien offered a draft of the writings that would later become The Silmarillion . Unwin rejected this proposal, calling
1430-644: A great army of Elves, Dwarves , and Men. But Melkor had secretly corrupted some of the Men, and the Elvish host was utterly defeated in the Fifth Battle. Húrin and Huor were brothers; Huor died in battle, but Melkor captured Húrin and cursed him to watch the downfall of his kin. Húrin's son, Túrin Turambar , was sent to Doriath, leaving his mother and unborn sister behind in his father's kingdom of Dor-lómin (which
1573-542: A guide to character. Shippey writes that The Silmarillion echoes Norse mythology in this belief, and that one perhaps needs to study the family trees to see clearly how it all works: Flieger writes that Fëanor's fire drives his creativity, making the beautiful letters of the Fëanorian script, and jewels, including, fatefully, the Silmarils. She comments that Tolkien, choosing his words very carefully, calls Fëanor both "subtle", by etymology from Latin sub-tela , "under
SECTION 10
#17327766757581716-477: A hidden vale surrounded by mountains, and chose that to build the city of Gondolin. Maeglin, grandson of Fingolfin and son of the dark elf Eöl, had a hopeless love for his first cousin Idril , whom he could not marry. He moved to Gondolin and became close to Turgon. Because of the secrecy of the Elvish cities of Beleriand, they were more secure from Melkor's armies. Turgon took great care to keep Gondolin secret, and it
1859-414: A letter. Another major theme is sensitively analysed by Flieger in her 2002 book Splintered Light , which Nagy notes was the first full monograph on The Silmarillion . Flieger shows that a central theme of Tolkien's writing is the progressive fragmentation of the light from the moment of the creation; light symbolises both the divine creation and the author's subcreation . Key symbols including
2002-523: A literary event of any magnitude". He suggested that the main reason for its "enormous sales" was the "Tolkien cult" created by the popularity of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings , and predicted that more people would buy The Silmarillion than would ever read it. The School Library Journal called it "only a stillborn postscript" to Tolkien's earlier works. Peter Conrad of the New Statesman stated that "Tolkien can't actually write" and
2145-421: A mariner named Eriol (in later versions, an Anglo-Saxon named Ælfwine ) who finds the island of Tol Eressëa, where the Elves live, and the Elves tell him their history. In "The Cottage of Lost Play", Tol Eressëa, corresponding to England, or in early versions Kortirion, corresponding to Warwick , linked the tales to England's lost mythology . Tolkien never completed The Book of Lost Tales ; he left it to compose
2288-478: A parody of the book, The Sellamillion . In a 2019 article, Le Monde called The Silmarillion a "cornerstone of Tolkien's imagination" and "the book by J. R. R. Tolkien that rules them all". Academic criticism of Christopher Tolkien's 1977 text concentrated on his father's intention to complete the work: Since he did not do so, his plans for the overall narrative, out of the large collection of draft texts, were not clearly discernible. That in turn meant, argued
2431-534: A prisoner to Númenor. There he quickly enthralled the king, Ar-Pharazôn, urging him to seek the immortality that the Valar had apparently denied him, fanning the envy that many of the Númenóreans had begun to hold against the Elves of the West and the Valar. The people of Númenor strove to avoid death, but this only weakened them and sped the gradual diminishing of their lifespans. Sauron urged them to wage war against
2574-417: Is and how (within the imagined world) it came to be. This I now think to have been an error. In October 1996, Christopher Tolkien commissioned the illustrator Ted Nasmith to create full-page full-colour artwork for the first illustrated edition of The Silmarillion . It was published in 1998, and followed in 2004 by a second edition featuring corrections and additional artwork by Nasmith. The Silmarillion
2717-467: Is central to the whole of Tolkien's legendarium , "the hinge on which the whole great Tale ... turns." Like Shippey, Ellison relates Fëanor's making of the Silmarils to what he supposes was Tolkien's own belief: that it was "a dangerous and impermissible act" that went beyond what the Creator had intended for the Elves. Further, Ellison suggests that while Fëanor does not directly represent Tolkien, there
2860-428: Is clearly biblical, evoking Malachi 's messianic prophecy "See, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble ... And you shall tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet". The theologian Ralph C. Wood describes the Valar and Maiar as being what Christians "would call angels ", intermediaries between the creator, Eru Ilúvatar, and
3003-481: Is exactly right". Tolkien states in another letter that the Valar "entered the world after its making, and that the name is properly applied only to the great among them, who take the imaginative but not the theological place of 'gods'." Whittingham comments that the "thoughtful and carefully developed explanations" that Tolkien gives in these letters are markedly unlike his depictions of the Valar in his "earliest stories". The Tolkien scholar Tom Shippey discusses
SECTION 20
#17327766757583146-578: Is his "mother-name" or Amilessë , the name given by an Elf's mother at, or some years after, birth and it was one of their true names. Tolkien wrote at least four versions of the Oath of Fëanor itself, as found in The History of Middle-earth . The three earliest versions are found in The Lays of Beleriand : in alliterative verse (circa 1918–1920s), in chapter 2, "Poems Early Abandoned" The Flight of
3289-446: Is however in his view "immensely problematic" as it is not a "work" as usually understood: "The Silmarillion" (in roman ) is the enormous corpus of documents and drafts that J. R. R. Tolkien built up throughout his creative life, while " The Silmarillion " (in italics ) is the 1977 book that Christopher Tolkien edited. The corpus is now published in the twelve volumes of Christopher Tolkien's The History of Middle-earth . The corpus
3432-486: Is not a single work but many versions of many works, while the book "is often regarded as not an authentic 'Tolkien text'". Tolkien did not authorise the 1977 text; he did not even write all of it; and he did not define the frame in which it was to be presented. Nagy notes that in 2009, Douglas Charles Kane published a "hugely important resource", his Arda Reconstructed , which defines "exactly from what sources, variants, and with what methods" Christopher Tolkien constructed
3575-506: Is similarly driven by "overmastering pride" that causes his death and that of countless followers. The Tolkien scholar Tom Shippey comments that Fëanor and his Silmarils relate to The Silmarillion ' s theme in a particular way: the sin of the Elves is not human pride, as in the Biblical fall , but their "desire to make things which will forever reflect or incarnate their own personality". This Elvish form of pride leads Fëanor to forge
3718-461: Is something about his action that can be applied to Tolkien's life. Tolkien calls Fëanor " fey "; Ellison notes that Tolkien analysed his own name as tollkühn , with the same meaning. Further, Tolkien seems, Ellison writes, to have felt a conflict between his own "sub-creation" and his Catholic faith. Shippey and the Tolkien scholar Verlyn Flieger both note that Tolkien intended ancestry to be
3861-407: Is still caught in his plot. Fëanor angrily warns Fingolfin not to spread lies, and threatens to kill him. As punishment, the Valar exile Fëanor to his remote home Formenos for twelve years. Finwë too withdraws to Formenos. The Valar learn that Melkor is manipulating Fëanor, and send one of their number, Tulkas , to capture Melkor, but he has already escaped. Fëanor wisely realises that Melkor's goal
4004-568: Is to obtain the Silmarils, "and he shut the doors of his house in the face of the mightiest of all the dwellers in Eä ." The Valar invite Fëanor and Fingolfin to Valinor to make peace. Fingolfin offers a hand to his half-brother, recognising Fëanor's place as the eldest. Fëanor accepts, but soon Melkor and Ungoliant destroy The Two Trees, leaving the Silmarils as the only surviving light of the Trees. The Valar ask Fëanor to give them up so that they can restore
4147-501: Is unrelated to the other languages of Middle-earth. Only a few words of Valarin, mainly proper names, are recorded. The Valar can communicate through thought and have no need for a spoken language, but may have developed Valarin when they took physical, humanlike (or elf-like) forms. The passage at the start of the Old English poem Beowulf about Scyld Scefing contains a cryptic mention of þā ("those") who have sent Scyld as
4290-527: The Elves made war upon him for the recovery of the Silmarils to which are appended the downfall of Númenor and the history of the Rings of Power and the Third Age in which these tales come to their end." Inside the back cover is a fold-out map of part of Middle-earth , Beleriand in the First Age . While the writings are Tolkien's, they were published posthumously by his son, Christopher. Christopher selected
4433-647: The Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel in 1978. The Silmarillion was criticised for being too serious, lacking the light-hearted moments that were found in The Lord of the Rings and especially The Hobbit . Time magazine lamented that there was "no single, unifying quest and, above all, no band of brothers for the reader to identify with". Other criticisms included difficult-to-read archaic language and many difficult and hard-to-remember names. Robert M. Adams of The New York Review of Books called The Silmarillion "an empty and pompous bore" and "not
Fëanor - Misplaced Pages Continue
4576-631: The Old English view of luck and personal courage, as Beowulf ' s " wyrd often spares the man who isn't doomed, as long as his courage holds." The scholar of humanities Paul H. Kocher similarly discusses the role of providence, in the form of the intentions of the Valar or of the creator, in Bilbo 's finding of the One Ring and Frodo 's bearing of it; as Gandalf says, they were "meant" to have it, though it remained their choice to co-operate with this purpose. Rutledge writes that in The Lord of
4719-787: The Teleri , including those who became the Sindar , ruled by Thingol and Melian . All the Vanyar and Noldor, and later many of the Teleri, reached Aman. In Aman, Melkor, who had been held captive by the Valar, was released after feigning repentance. Fëanor , son of Finwë , King of the Noldor, created the Silmarils, jewels that glowed with the captured light of the Two Trees. Melkor deceived Fëanor into believing that his younger half-brother Fingolfin
4862-521: The Two Trees , Telperion and Laurelin, which illuminated Valinor, leaving Middle-earth to darkness and Melkor's wrath. Aulë, the smith of the Valar, created the Dwarves; Ilúvatar gave them life and free will. Aulë's spouse, Yavanna, was afraid the Dwarves would harm her plants, but Manwë said that spirits would awaken to protect them. Soon, stars created by Varda began to shine, causing the awakening of
5005-789: The Two Trees of Valinor , the Silmarils themselves, the transformation of Eärendil the Mariner and his ship Vingilot into the Morning Star , and the White Tree of Númenor all embody the light. The Tolkien scholar Tom Shippey writes that The Silmarillion is most obviously a calque on the Book of Genesis in the Bible (whereas the Shire is a calque upon England ). Shippey quotes Tolkien's friend C. S. Lewis , who stated that even Satan
5148-521: The "Sketch", Tolkien developed a fuller narrative version of The Silmarillion called Quenta Noldorinwa (also included in Volume IV). The Quenta Noldorinwa was the last version of The Silmarillion that Tolkien completed. In 1937, encouraged by the success of The Hobbit , Tolkien submitted to his publisher George Allen & Unwin an incomplete but more fully developed version of The Silmarillion called Quenta Silmarillion , but they rejected
5291-573: The "remarkable set of legends conceived with imaginative might and told in beautiful language". John Calvin Batchelor , in The Village Voice , lauded the book as a "difficult but incontestable masterwork of fantasy" and praised the characterisation of Melkor, describing him as "a stunning bad guy" whose "chief weapon against goodness is his ability to corrupt men by offering them trappings for their vanity". In 2004, Adam Roberts wrote
5434-446: The 1977 book. The Silmarillion is thematically complex. One key theme is its nature as a mythology, with multiple interrelated texts in differing styles; David Bratman has named these as "Annalistic", "Antique" and "Appendical". All of these are far from the approachable novelistic styles of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings , lacking a single narrative thread, and without the benefit of Hobbits as guides, as Tolkien noted in
5577-630: The Ainur the opportunity to enter into Arda and govern the new world. Many Ainur accepted, taking physical form and becoming bound to that world. The greater Ainur became the Valar , while the lesser Ainur became the Maiar . The Valar attempted to prepare the world for the coming inhabitants (Elves and Men ), while Melkor, who wanted Arda for himself, repeatedly destroyed their work; this went on for thousands of years and, through waves of destruction and creation,
5720-662: The Ainur. The mightiest of these are called the Valar, or "the Powers of the World", and the others are known as the Maiar . The Valar are mentioned briefly in The Lord of the Rings but Tolkien had developed them earlier, in material published posthumously in The Silmarillion , especially the "Valaquenta" ( Quenya : "Account of the Valar"), The History of Middle-earth , and Unfinished Tales . Scholars have noted that
5863-458: The Children of Ilúvatar, and a bright flame was in him." Finwë remarries and has several children, including Fëanor's half-brothers Fingolfin and Finarfin . Fëanor studies under his father-in-law Mahtan, who was a student of the godlike Vala Aulë . He becomes a craftsman and gem-smith, inventor of the Tengwar script, and the creator of the magical seeing-stones, the palantírs . Fëanor, "in
Fëanor - Misplaced Pages Continue
6006-612: The Dúnedain were granted wisdom and power and longer life, beyond that of other Men. Indeed, the isle of Númenor lay closer to Aman than to Middle-earth. The fall of Númenor came about through the influence of the corrupted Maia Sauron , the chief servant of Melkor, who arose during the Second Age and tried to conquer Middle-earth. The Númenóreans moved against Sauron. They were so powerful that Sauron perceived that he could not defeat them by force. He surrendered himself to be taken as
6149-555: The Elves . Knowing the danger the Elves were in, the Valar decided to fight Melkor to keep the Elves safe. After defeating and capturing Melkor, they invited the Elves to live in Aman. This led to the sundering of the Elves ; those who accepted and then remained in Aman were the Vanyar ; those who went to Aman and later (mostly) returned to Middle-earth were the Noldor ; those who refused were
6292-533: The Elves are again called to Valinor. During the Second Age , the Valar's main deeds are the creation of Númenor as a refuge for the Edain , who are denied access to Aman but given dominion over the rest of the world. The Valar, now including even Ulmo, remain aloof from Middle-earth, allowing the rise to power of Morgoth's lieutenant, Sauron , as a new Dark Lord. Near the end of the Second Age, Sauron convinces
6435-405: The Elves to Valinor meant that the Elves were "gathered at their knee", a moral error as it suggested something close to worship . The scholar of literature Marjorie Burns notes that Tolkien wrote that to be acceptable to modern readers, mythology had to be brought up to "our grade of assessment". In her view, between his early work, The Book of Lost Tales , and the published Silmarillion ,
6578-522: The First Age that narrate the tragic saga of the three forged jewels, the Silmarils . The Valar attempted to fashion the world for Elves and Men, but Melkor continually destroyed their handiwork. After he destroyed the two lamps, Illuin and Ormal, that illuminated the world, the Valar moved to Aman , a continent to the west of Middle-earth, where they established their home, Valinor . Yavanna created
6721-609: The Great Enemy, blaming the Valar for Morgoth's deeds. He gives a speech in the Elvish city of Tirion, persuading most of his people to return to Middle-earth to avenge Finwë and free themselves from the Valar. Together with his seven sons, they swear the Oath of Fëanor: They swore an oath which none shall break, and none should take, by the name even of Ilúvatar, calling the Everlasting Dark upon them if they kept it not... ...vowing to pursue with vengeance and hatred to
6864-468: The Isle of Almaren in the middle of Arda, but after its destruction and the loss of the world's symmetry, they move to the western continent of Aman ("Unmarred" ) and found Valinor . The war with Melkor continues: The Valar realize many wonderful subthemes of Ilúvatar's grand music, while Melkor pours all his energy into Arda and the corruption of creatures like Balrogs , dragons , and Orcs . Most terrible of
7007-708: The Kinslaying at Alqualondë, or the first kinslaying. His sons later commit two other acts of warfare against Elves in Middle-earth in his name. In repentance, Finarfin, Finwë's third son, takes his host and turns back. They are accepted by the Valar, and Finarfin rules as High-King of the Noldor in Valinor. The remaining Elves, those who follow Fëanor and Fingolfin , become subject to the Doom of Mandos , that they will come to harm if they continue their rebellion against
7150-611: The Maia Olórin (Gandalf) as an "Odinic wanderer". The influence of the Bible is seen in the conflict between Melkor and Eru Ilúvatar, a parallel of Lucifer 's with God. Further, the creation and fall of the Elves parallels the Genesis creation narrative and the Book of Genesis ' fall of Man. As with all of Tolkien's works, The Silmarillion allows room for later Christian history, and one draft even has Finrod speculating on
7293-554: The Music of Ilúvatar, is refined by thoughtful interpretations by the Ainur, who create their own themes based on each unique comprehension. No one Ainu understands all the themes that spring from Ilúvatar. Instead, each elaborates individual themes, singing of mountains and subterranean regions, say, from themes for metals and stones. The themes of Ilúvatar's music are elaborated, and each of the Ainur add harmonious creative touches. Melkor , however, adds discordant themes: He strives against
SECTION 50
#17327766757587436-416: The Music; his themes become evil because they spring from selfishness and vanity, not from the enlightenment of Ilúvatar. Once the Music is complete, including Melkor's interwoven themes of vanity, Ilúvatar gives the Ainur a choice—to dwell with him or to enter the world that they have mutually created. The greatest of those that choose to enter the world become known as the Valar , the 'Powers of Arda', and
7579-591: The Nauglamír and the Silmaril. Further fighting amongst the elves causes the ruin of Doriath. Huor's son, Tuor , became involved in the fate of the hidden kingdom of Gondolin. He married Idril, daughter of Turgon, Lord of Gondolin (the second union between Elves and Men). When Gondolin fell, betrayed by the king's nephew Maeglin, Tuor saved many of its inhabitants. All the Elvish kingdoms in Beleriand fell, and
7722-545: The Noldoli from Valinor . Lines 132–141; in rhyming couplets (circa 1928), in chapter 3, " The Lay of Leithian ". Canto VI, lines 1628–1643; and in a different form as restated by Celegorm, third son of Fëanor, in chapter 3, "The Lay of Leithian." Canto VI, lines 1848–1857. A later version is found in Morgoth's Ring . Fëanor is among those major characters whom Tolkien, who also used to illustrate his writings , supplied with
7865-613: The Númenóreans to attack Aman itself. This leads Manwë to call upon Ilúvatar to restore the world to order; Ilúvatar answers by destroying Númenor, as described in the Akallabêth . Aman is removed from Arda (though not from the whole created world, Eä, for Elvish ships could still reach it). In the Third Age , the Valar send the Istari (or wizards) to Middle-earth to aid in the battle against Sauron. The names and attributes of
8008-498: The Rings for publication. Tolkien wished to make the mythology more believable by bringing it into line with the Round World version of the creation story. He was persuaded not to do this in 1946; later attempts conflicted with the already published texts of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings . In the late 1950s, Tolkien returned to The Silmarillion , working mostly with the theological and philosophical underpinnings of
8151-489: The Rings works where possible, ultimately reaching as far back as the 1917 Book of Lost Tales to fill in portions of the narrative that his father had planned to write but never addressed. In one later chapter of Quenta Silmarillion , "Of the Ruin of Doriath", untouched since the early 1930s, he had to construct a narrative practically from scratch. Christopher Tolkien commented that, had he taken more time and had access to all
8294-679: The Rings ) as possible, given the many conflicting drafts. He enlisted the help of the Canadian Guy Gavriel Kay , now the author of a fantasy trilogy inspired by Arthurian legend (the Matter of Britain ); Kay, chosen due to family connections, spent a year with him in Oxford editing the materials in secret. As explained in The History of Middle-earth , Christopher Tolkien drew upon numerous sources, relying on post- Lord of
8437-411: The Rings , and especially at moments like Gandalf's explanation to Frodo in " The Shadow of the Past ", there are clear hints of a higher power at work in events in Middle-earth: There was more than one power at work, Frodo. The Ring was trying to get back to its master ... Behind that there was something else at work, beyond any design of the Ring-maker. I can put it no plainer than by saying that Bilbo
8580-430: The Silmarils burnt their hands. In anguish, Maedhros killed himself by leaping into a fiery chasm with his Silmaril, while Maglor threw his jewel into the sea and spent the rest of his days wandering along the shores of the world, singing his grief. Eärendil and Elwing had two children: Elrond and Elros. As descendants of immortal elves and mortal men, they had the choice of lineage: Elrond chose to be an Elf, his brother
8723-428: The Silmarils from Fëanor, kills his father, Finwë , chief of the Noldor in Aman, and flees to Middle-earth. Many of the Noldor, in defiance of the will of the Valar, swear revenge and set out in pursuit. This event, and the poisonous words of Melkor that foster mistrust among the Elves, leads to the exile of the greater part of the Noldor to Middle-earth: The Valar close Valinor against them to prevent their return. For
SECTION 60
#17327766757588866-403: The Silmarils from him, even the Valar, and made his seven sons do the same. He persuaded most of the Noldor to pursue Melkor, whom Fëanor renamed Morgoth , to Middle-earth. Fëanor's sons seized ships from the Teleri, killing many of them, and betrayed others of the Noldor, leaving them to make a perilous passage on foot across the dangerous ice of the Helcaraxë. The elves who did not go to Valinor,
9009-443: The Silmarils so that thereafter no mortal flesh, nor hands unclean, nor anything of evil will might touch them, for it would be scorched and withered." Fëanor prizes the Silmarils, and grows suspicious of the Valar and Elves who he believes covet them. The Vala Melkor , recently released from imprisonment and now residing in Valinor , sees an opportunity to sow dissent among the Noldor. Fëanor refuses to communicate with Melkor, but
9152-441: The Silmarils, and, Shippey suggests, led Tolkien to write his fictions: "Tolkien could not help seeing a part of himself in Fëanor and Saruman , sharing their perhaps licit, perhaps illicit desire to 'sub-create'." John Ellison, writing in the Tolkien Society 's journal Mallorn , draws a comparison between Fëanor and the Faust legend, in particular Thomas Mann 's version in his 1947 novel Doctor Faustus . In Ellison's view,
9295-509: The Sindar, settled in Beleriand and traded with the dwarves. The Maia Melian set a magical protection, the Girdle of Melian, around the realm of Doriath. Upon arriving in Middle-earth, the Noldor defeated Melkor's army, though Fëanor was killed by Balrogs. After a period of peace, Melkor attacked the Noldor but was placed in a tight siege, which held for nearly 400 years. The Noldor built up kingdoms throughout Beleriand. Fëanor's firstborn Maedhros wisely chose to move himself and his brothers to
9438-399: The Sun, and the grass flamed into green about the white feet of his steed. For morning came ... and the hosts of Mordor wailed ... and the hoofs of wrath rode over them. The Episcopal priest and author Fleming Rutledge comments that while Tolkien is not equating the events here with the Messiah 's return, he was happy when readers picked up biblical echoes . In her view the language here
9581-404: The Tolkien scholar Charles Noad , that Silmarillion criticism ought first to "evolve approaches to this textual complex as it [was], including Christopher Tolkien's 1977 Silmarillion ". Gergely Nagy writes that The Silmarillion is long both in Middle-earth time and in years of Tolkien's life; and it provides the impression of depth for both The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings . It
9724-437: The Trees. Fëanor replies: "It may be that I can unlock my jewels, but never again shall I make their like; and if I must break them, I shall break my heart." He refuses to give up the Silmarils of his own free will. Messengers from Formenos tell him that Melkor has killed Finwë and stolen the Silmarils. Yavanna is thus unable to heal the Two Trees. For this deed, Fëanor names Melkor "Morgoth", "Black Enemy". Fëanor rails against
9867-443: The Two Trees will fill the world in eternal bliss. [REDACTED] Kings of the Noldor in Valinor [REDACTED] High Kings of the Noldor in Exile (in Middle-earth) All the characters shown are Elves . Fëanor was originally named Curufinwë ("skilful [son of] Finwë ") in Tolkien's fictional language of Quenya . He is known as Fëanáro , "spirit of fire" in Quenya, from fëa ("spirit") and nár ("flame"). Fëanáro
10010-425: The Two Trees with the help of Ungoliant , a dark spider spirit. Melkor escaped to Formenos, killed Finwë, stole the Silmarils, and fled to Middle-earth. He attacked the Elvish kingdom of Doriath , ruled by Thingol and Melian. Melkor was defeated in the first of five battles of Beleriand and barricaded himself in his northern fortress of Angband. Fëanor swore an oath of vengeance against Melkor and anyone who withheld
10153-425: The Valar are also influenced by Norse mythology , with characteristics resembling various of the Æsir , the gods of Asgard . Thor , for example, physically the strongest of the gods, can be seen both in Oromë , who fights the monsters of Melkor, and in Tulkas , the physically strongest of the Valar. Manwë , the head of the Valar, exhibits some similarities to Odin, the "Allfather". Tolkien also said that he saw
10296-466: The Valar had greatly changed, "civilized and modernized", and this had made the Valar "slowly and slightly" more Christian. For example, the Valar now had "spouses" rather than "wives", and their unions were spiritual, not physical. All the same, she writes, readers still perceive the Valar "as a pantheon", serving as gods. Elizabeth Whittingham comments that the Valar are unique to Tolkien, "somewhere between gods and angels". In her view they mostly lack
10439-557: The Valar in creating "things of his own" as rebellious pride, and that, like Melkor, he "succumbs to a 'greedy love'" of his creations that causes his downfall. She points out that Fëanor's rebellion is echoed by that of the Númenórean man Ar-Pharazon, and then at the end of The Silmarillion by the (angelic) Maia , Sauron , who becomes the Dark Lord of The Lord of the Rings . The philologist Elizabeth Solopova suggests that
10582-534: The Valar like pagan gods , he imagined them more like angels and notes that scholars have compared the devotion of Tolkien's Elves to Elbereth, an epithet of Varda, as resembling the Roman Catholic veneration of Mary the mother of Jesus . Dickerson states that the key point is that the Valar were "not to be worshipped". He argues that as a result, the Valar's knowledge and power had to be limited, and they could make mistakes and moral errors. Their bringing of
10725-576: The Valar resemble angels in Christianity but that Tolkien presented them rather more like pagan gods . Their role in providing what the characters in Middle-earth experience as luck or providence is also discussed. The creator Eru Ilúvatar first reveals to the Ainur his great vision of the world, Arda , through musical themes, as described in Ainulindalë , "The Music of the Ainur" . This world, fashioned from his ideas and expressed as
10868-649: The Valar resemble the Æsir , the Norse gods of Asgard . Thor , for example, physically the strongest of the gods, can be seen both in Oromë, who fights the monsters of Melkor, and in Tulkas, the strongest of the Valar. Manwë, the head of the Valar, has some similarities to Odin , the "Allfather", while the wizard Gandalf , one of the Maiar, resembles Odin the wanderer. Tolkien compared King Théoden of Rohan , charging into
11011-400: The Valar to seize the immortality denied them. Ar-Pharazôn raised the mightiest army and fleet Númenor had ever seen, and sailed against Aman. The Valar and Elves of Aman, stricken with grief over their betrayal, called on Ilúvatar for help. When Ar-Pharazôn landed, Ilúvatar destroyed his forces and sent a great wave to submerge Númenor, killing all but those Númenóreans who had remained loyal to
11154-405: The Valar", and the females are called "Queens of the Valar," or Valier . Of the known seven male and seven female Valar, there are six married pairs: Ulmo and Nienna are the only ones who dwell alone. This is evidently a spiritual rather than a physical union, as in Tolkien's later conception they do not reproduce. The Aratar ( Quenya : Exalted ), or High Ones of Arda, are the eight greatest of
11297-493: The Valar. The world was remade, and Aman was removed beyond the Uttermost West so that Men could not sail there to threaten it. Sauron's physical manifestation was destroyed in the ruin of Númenor. As a Maia, his spirit returned to Middle-earth, though he was no longer able to take the fair form he had once had. The loyal Númenóreans reached the shores of Middle-earth. Among these survivors were Elendil , their leader and
11440-508: The Valar. There are not enough ships to carry all the Noldor across the sea, so Fëanor and his sons lead the first group. Upon arriving in the far west of Beleriand , they decide to burn the ships and leave Fingolfin and his people behind. Fingolfin, furious, returns to Beleriand by the long and hard land route, via the northern ice. Morgoth summons his armies from his fortress of Angband and attacks Fëanor's encampment in Mithrim. This battle
11583-589: The Valar: Manwë, Varda, Ulmo, Yavanna, Aulë, Mandos, Nienna, and Oromë. Lórien and Mandos are brothers and are collectively called as the Fëanturi , "Masters of Spirits". Ilúvatar brings the Valar (and all the Ainur) into being by his thought and may therefore be considered their father. However, not all the Valar are siblings; where this is held to be so, it is because they are so "in the thought of Ilúvatar". It
11726-504: The Valarin language and its grammar in the early 1930s. In this early conception, as described in the 1937 Lhammas , all Middle-earth's languages are derived from Valarin. In the 1940s, he changed his mind, and the tongue he had developed became Primitive Quendian instead. He then conceived an entirely new tongue for the Valar, still called Valarin; he did not develop this new language in any detail. In this later conception, Valarin
11869-458: The War of Wrath. The first edition was brought out in hardback by Allen & Unwin in 1977. HarperCollins published a paperback edition in 1999, and an illustrated edition with colour plates by Ted Nasmith in 2008. It has sold over a million copies, far fewer than The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings which have each sold over 100 million copies. Its sales were sufficient for it to reach
12012-601: The War of the Last Alliance, in which Elves led by Gil-galad and the remaining Númenóreans led by Elendil united to defeat Sauron, bringing the Second Age to an end. The Third Age began with the claiming of the One Ring by Isildur after Sauron's overthrow. Isildur was ambushed by orcs and killed at the Gladden Fields shortly afterwards, and the One Ring was lost in the River Anduin . The section gives
12155-421: The West, Valinor, where the Valar concentrate their creativity. There they make the Two Trees , their greatest joy because they illuminate the beauty of Valinor and delight the Elves. At Melkor's instigation the evil giant spider Ungoliant destroys the Trees. Fëanor, a Noldor Elf, with forethought and love, captures the light of the Two Trees in three Silmarils, the greatest jewels ever created. Melkor steals
12298-479: The birds, led by the Eagle Thorondor, defeated Melkor's dragons, who were led by Ancalagon The Black . Most of Beleriand sank into the sea; the Valar expelled Melkor from Arda. This ended the First Age of Middle-earth. The last two Silmarils were seized by Fëanor's sons, Maedhros and Maglor. However, because of the evil way the brothers had gained the Silmarils, they were no longer worthy to receive them, and
12441-615: The book is a construction, not authorised by Tolkien himself, from the large corpus of documents and drafts also called "The Silmarillion". Scholars have noted that Tolkien intended the work to be a mythology , penned by many hands, and redacted by a fictional editor , whether Ælfwine or Bilbo Baggins . As such, Gergely Nagy considers that the fact that the work has indeed been edited actually realises Tolkien's intention. The events described in The Silmarillion , as in J. R. R. Tolkien 's extensive Middle-earth writings which
12584-512: The book summarises, were meant to have taken place at some time in Earth's past. In keeping with this idea, The Silmarillion was supposedly translated from Bilbo 's three-volume Translations from the Elvish , which he wrote while at Rivendell . The book covers the history of the world, Arda, up to the Third Age, in its five sections: Ainulindalë ( Quenya : "The Music of the Ainur " ) takes
12727-455: The bulk of the collection, chronicles the history of the events before and during the First Age , including the wars over three jewels, the Silmarils , that gave the book its title. The fourth part, Akallabêth , relates the history of the Downfall of Númenor and its people, which takes place in the Second Age . The final part, Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age , tells the history of
12870-536: The character of Fëanor was inspired by the Anglo-Saxon leader Byrhtnoth , and in particular his appearance in the poem " The Battle of Maldon ". The poem tells how he is slain in that battle , which took place in the year 991. Tolkien wrote a short play in verse, The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth, Beorhthelm's Son on the character's misplaced pride, and described Byrhtnoth as misled by "pride and misplaced chivalry proven fatal" and as "too foolish to be heroic". Fëanor
13013-426: The chief Valar, as they are described in the " Valaquenta ", are listed below. In Middle-earth, they are known by their Sindarin names: Varda, for example, is called Elbereth . Men know them by many other names, and sometimes worship them as gods. With the exception of Oromë, the names listed below are not actual names but rather titles: The true names of the Valar are nowhere recorded. The males are called "Lords of
13156-441: The connection between the Valar and " luck " on Middle-earth, writing that as in real life, "People ... do in sober reality recognise a strongly patterning force in the world around them" but that while this may be due to " Providence or the Valar", the force "does not affect free will and cannot be distinguished from the ordinary operations of nature" nor reduce the necessity of "heroic endeavour". He states that this exactly matches
13299-412: The created cosmos. Like angels, they have free will and can therefore rebel against him. Matthew Dickerson , writing in the J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia , calls the Valar the "Powers of Middle-earth", noting that they are not incarnated and quoting the Tolkien scholar Verlyn Flieger 's description of their original role as "to shape and light the world". Dickerson writes that while Tolkien presents
13442-401: The curse of Babel ". Tulkas The Valar ( ['valar] ; singular Vala ) are characters in J. R. R. Tolkien 's legendarium . They are "angelic powers" or "gods" subordinate to the one God ( Eru Ilúvatar ). The Ainulindalë describes how some of the Ainur choose to enter the world ( Arda ) to complete its material development after its form is determined by the Music of
13585-476: The desire for godlike knowledge as in the Garden of Eden . Others have likened Fëanor to the Anglo-Saxon leader Byrhtnoth whose foolish pride led to defeat and death at the Battle of Maldon . Tom Shippey writes that the pride is specifically a desire to make things that reflect their own personality, and likens this to Tolkien's own desire to sub-create . John Ellison further likens this creative pride to that of
13728-691: The divine harmony—more familiar to us today in the notion of the " music of the spheres "—served as bases for this telling of creation. Celtic influences were of several kinds. Dimitra Fimi has documented the influence of Celtic mythology in the exile of the Noldorin Elves, borrowing elements from the story of Irish legends of the Tuatha Dé Danann . Welsh influence is seen in the Elvish language Sindarin ; Tolkien wrote that he gave it "a linguistic character very like (though not identical with) British-Welsh ... because it seems to fit
13871-419: The draft obscure and "too Celtic", so Tolkien began working on a new story that eventually became The Lord of the Rings . The Silmarillion has five parts. The first, Ainulindalë , tells in mythic style of the creation of Eä, the "world that is ." The second part, Valaquenta , gives a description of the Valar and Maiar , supernatural powers of Eä. The next section, Quenta Silmarillion , which forms
14014-473: The early deeds of Melkor is the destruction of the Two Lamps and with them, the original home of the Valar, the Isle of Almaren. Melkor is captured and chained for many ages in the fastness of Mandos, until he is pardoned by Manwë. With the arrival of the Elves in the world, a new phase of the regency of the Valar begins. Summoned by the Valar, many Elves abandon Middle-earth and the eastern continent for
14157-518: The earth, one in the sea. According to Mandos' prophecy, following Melkor's final return and defeat in the Dagor Dagorath , the world will be changed and the Valar will recover the Silmarils. Fëanor will be released from the Halls of Mandos and will give Yavanna the Silmarils. Fëanor will break them, and Yavanna will revive the Two Trees. The Pelóri Mountains will be flattened and the light of
14300-522: The east, away from the rest of their kin, knowing that they would easily be provoked into war if they lived too close to their kinsmen. Fingolfin and his eldest son Fingon lived in the northwest. Fingolfin's second son Turgon and Turgon's cousin Finrod built hidden kingdoms, after receiving visions from the Vala Ulmo. Finrod hewed cave dwellings which became the realm of Nargothrond, while Turgon discovered
14443-430: The enchantment. Nienor took her own life, and Túrin threw himself upon his sword. Húrin, a broken man, is finally set free. He hears his wife Morwen crying in a dream, and arrives to find her dead; he buries her. At Nargothrond, he kills the dwarf Mîm and takes the Nauglamír necklace from the dragon Glaurung 's hoard. He takes it to Doriath. Húrin leaves, and drowns himself. Fighting between elves and dwarves breaks out over
14586-532: The ends of the World Vala, Demon, Elf or Man as yet unborn or any creature, great or small, good or evil, that time should bring forth unto the end of days, whoso should hold or take or keep a Silmaril from their possession. To get to Middle-earth, Fëanor goes to the shores of Aman, and asks the seafaring Teleri for their aid. When they refuse, Fëanor orders the Noldor to steal the ships. The Teleri resist, and many of them are killed. The battle became known as
14729-526: The enemy at the Battle of the Pelennor Fields , to a Vala of great power, and to "a god of old": Théoden could not be overtaken. Fey he seemed, or the battle-fury of his fathers ran like new fire in his veins, and he was borne up on Snowmane like a god of old, even as Oromë the Great in the battle of the Valar when the world was young. His golden shield was uncovered, and lo! it shone like an image of
14872-504: The eyes of death, he sees that his Elves, unaided, will never throw down the dark towers of Thangorodrim . The Oath of Fëanor affects the lovers Beren and Lúthien . They steal a Silmaril from Morgoth, leading to Kinslaying and years of strife among the Elves, until Eärendil carries the Silmaril off into the West. That Silmaril is lost to the Sons of Fëanor, but the other two remain in the crown of Morgoth. They too are stolen, one ending in
15015-424: The first Kinslaying, at the havens of the Teleri. Fëanor dies soon after his arrival in Middle-earth; his sons unite in the cause of defeating Morgoth and retrieving the Silmarils, but end up causing further harm among the Elves. The Tolkien scholar Jane Chance has seen Fëanor's pride as leading to his downfall, alongside Morgoth's corruption of Elves and Men as reflecting Satan 's temptation of Adam and Eve , and
15158-465: The form of a primary creation narrative. Eru ("The One" ), also called Ilúvatar ("Father of All"), first created the Ainur, a group of eternal spirits or demiurges , called "the offspring of his thought". Ilúvatar brought the Ainur together and showed them a theme, from which he bade them make a great music . Melkor —whom Ilúvatar had given the "greatest power and knowledge" of all the Ainur—broke from
15301-537: The greatest of his achievements, captured the light of the Two Trees to make the three Silmarils , also called the Great Jewels, though they were not mere glittering stones, they were alive, imperishable, and sacred." Even the Valar with their godlike powers could not copy them. In fact, Fëanor himself could not copy them, as part of his essence goes into their making. Their worth is close to infinite, as they are unique and irreplaceable. The Vala " Varda hallowed
15444-400: The harmony of the music to develop his own song. Some Ainur joined him, while others continued to follow Ilúvatar, causing discord in the music. This happened three times, with Eru Ilúvatar successfully overpowering his rebellious subordinate with a new theme each time. Ilúvatar then stopped the music and showed them a vision of Arda and its peoples. The vision disappeared, and Ilúvatar offered
15587-608: The lesser are called the Maiar . Among the Valar are some of the most powerful and wise of the Ainur, including Manwë, the Lord of the Valar, and Melkor, his brother. The two are distinguished by the selfless love of Manwë for the Music of Ilúvatar and the selfish love that Melkor bears for himself and no other—least of all for the Children of Ilúvatar , Elves and Men . Melkor (later named Morgoth , Sindarin for "dark enemy") arrives in
15730-546: The life history of both characters is of "genius corrupted finally into insanity; the creative drive turns on its possessor and destroys him, and with him a good part of the fabric of society." He describes as parallel Mann's depiction of his Faust character Leverkühn in a collapsing Nazi Germany and Tolkien's starting his mythology amidst the collapse of pre-1914 Europe in the First World War . Fëanor is, he writes, not an exact equivalent of Doctor Faustus: he does not make
15873-470: The making of the world. Their power and wisdom is derived from their Knowledge of the cosmogonical drama". He explains that he intends them to be "of the same order of beauty, power, and majesty as the 'gods' of higher mythology". Whittingham notes further that Tolkien likens lesser spirits, wizards, who are Maiar not Valar, to guardian angels ; and that when describing the Maiar he "vacillates between 'gods' and 'angels' because both terms are close but neither
16016-517: The most complete stories and compiled them into a single volume, in line with his father's desire to create a body of work that spanned from the Creation of the World to the destruction of the One Ring. Due to this circumstance, the volume sometimes exhibits inconsistencies with "The Lord of the Rings" or "The Hobbit," with varying styles and featuring fully developed stories like Beren and Lúthien, or more loosely outlined ones, such as those dedicated to
16159-499: The nature and means of Elvish rebirth, the flat world and the story of the Sun and Moon. In any event, with one or two exceptions, he wrought little change to the narratives during the remaining years of his life. For several years after his father's death, Christopher Tolkien worked on a Silmarillion narrative. He tried to use the latest writings of his father's and to keep as much internal consistency (and consistency with The Lord of
16302-405: The necessity of Eru's eventual Incarnation to save mankind. Verlyn Flieger sees the influence of medieval Christian cosmology especially in the account of the creation of the universe as the manifestation of a sort of song sung by God with which the angels harmonise until the fallen angel introduces discord. St. Augustine's writings on music, as well as the extensive medieval tradition of
16445-525: The poems " The Lay of Leithian " and " The Lay of the Children of Húrin ". The first version of The Silmarillion was the "Sketch of the Mythology" written in 1926 (later published in Volume IV of The History of Middle-earth ). The "Sketch" was a 28-page synopsis written to explain the background of the story of Túrin to R. W. Reynolds, a friend to whom Tolkien had sent several of the stories. From
16588-532: The protagonist in Thomas Mann 's 1947 novel Doctor Faustus , noting that both that novel and Tolkien's own legendarium were responses to World War. Fëanor's father is Finwë , the first King of the Noldor ; his mother, Míriel, dies, "consumed in spirit and body", shortly after giving birth to him. Fëanor "was made the mightiest in all parts of body and mind: in valour, in endurance, in beauty, in understanding, in skill, in strength and subtlety alike: of all
16731-477: The rather 'Celtic' type of legends and stories told of its speakers". At the time of release, reviews of The Silmarillion were generally negative. The Tolkien scholar Wayne G. Hammond records that the book's publisher, Rayner Unwin , called the reviews "among the most unfair he had ever seen". The book was a commercial success, topping The New York Times Fiction Best Seller list in October 1977 . It won
16874-473: The refugees fled to a haven by the sea created by Tuor. The son of Tuor and Idril Celebrindal, Eärendil the Half-elven , was betrothed to Elwing , herself descended from Beren and Lúthien. Elwing brought Eärendil Beren's Silmaril; the jewel enabled Eärendil to cross the sea to Aman to seek help from the Valar. They obliged, defeating Melkor and destroying Angband. Eärendil, flying in his ship Vingilot, with
17017-466: The remainder of the First Age , the Lord of Waters, Ulmo, alone of the Valar, visits the world beyond Aman. Ulmo directly influences the actions of Tuor , setting him on the path to find the hidden city of Gondolin . At the end of the First Age, the Valar send forth a great host of Maiar and Elves from Valinor to Middle-earth, fighting the War of Wrath , in which Melkor is defeated. The lands are changed, and
17160-649: The rings during the Second and Third Ages , ending with a summary of the events of The Lord of the Rings . The book shows the influence of many sources, including the Finnish epic Kalevala , Greek mythology in the lost island of Atlantis (as Númenor) and the Olympian gods (in the shape of the Valar, though these also resemble the Norse Æsir ). Because J. R. R. Tolkien died leaving his legendarium unedited, Christopher Tolkien selected and edited materials to tell
17303-477: The rough brutality of the Norse gods; they have the angels' "sense of moral rightness" but disagree with each other; and their statements most closely resemble those of Homer 's Greek gods , who can express their frustration with mortal men, as Zeus does in the Odyssey In a letter to Milton Waldman, Tolkien states directly that the Valar are "'divine', that is, were originally 'outside' and existed 'before'
17446-528: The sea in Beleriand. The Silmarillion The Silmarillion ( Quenya : [silmaˈrilːiɔn] ) is a book consisting of a collection of myths and stories in varying styles by the English writer J. R. R. Tolkien . It was edited, partly written, and published posthumously by his son Christopher Tolkien in 1977, assisted by Guy Gavriel Kay , who became a fantasy author. It tells of Eä ,
17589-408: The story from start to end. In a few cases, this meant that he had to devise completely new material, within the tenor of his father's thought, to resolve gaps and inconsistencies in the narrative, particularly Chapter 22, "Of the Ruin of Doriath". The Silmarillion was commercially successful, but received generally poor reviews on publication. Scholars found the work problematic, not least because
17732-535: The texts, he might have produced a substantially different work. In his foreword to The Book of Lost Tales 1 in 1983, he wrote that by its posthumous publication nearly a quarter of a century later the natural order of presentation of the whole 'Matter of Middle-earth' was inverted; and it is certainly debatable whether it was wise to publish in 1977 a version of the primary 'legendarium' standing on its own and claiming, as it were, to be self-explanatory. The published work has no 'framework', no suggestion of what it
17875-467: The top of the October 1977 lists. It has since been translated into at least 40 languages. Tolkien began working on the stories that would become The Silmarillion in 1914. He intended them to become an English mythology that would explain the origins of English history and culture. Much of this early work was written while Tolkien, then a British Army officer returned from France during World War I,
18018-575: The warp (of a weaving)", hence the crosswise weft threads that go against the grain, a dangerous part of the fabric of life; and "skilled", by etymology from Indo-European skel- , "to cut", like the Noldor as a whole tending to cause division among the Elves; and indeed his choices, and the Silmarils, lead to division and war, to the Kinslaying of Elf by Elf, the theft of the Telerin Elves' ships in Aman, and in turn to further disasters across
18161-438: The wild men of Middle-earth". The concluding section of the book, comprising about 20 pages, describes the events that take place in Middle-earth during the Second and Third Ages . In the Second Age, Sauron re-emerged in Middle-earth. The Rings of Power were forged by Elves led by Celebrimbor , but Sauron secretly forged One Ring to control the others. War broke out between the peoples of Middle-earth and Sauron, culminating in
18304-481: The work as being obscure and "too Celtic ". The publisher instead asked Tolkien to write a sequel to The Hobbit . Tolkien began to revise The Silmarillion , but soon turned to the sequel, which became The Lord of the Rings . He renewed work on The Silmarillion after completing The Lord of the Rings , and he greatly desired to publish the two works together. When it became clear that would not be possible, Tolkien turned his full attention to preparing The Lord of
18447-452: The work rather than with the narratives. By this time, he had doubts about fundamental aspects of the work that went back to the earliest versions of the stories, and it seems that he felt the need to resolve these problems before he could attempt a "final" version. During this time, he wrote extensively on such topics as the nature of evil in Arda, the origin of Orcs , the customs of the Elves,
18590-477: The world first, causing tumult wherever he goes. As the others arrive, they see how Melkor's presence would destroy the integrity of Ilúvatar's themes. Eventually, and with the aid of the Vala Tulkas , who enters Arda last, Melkor is temporarily overthrown, and the Valar begin shaping the world and creating beauty to counter the darkness and ugliness of Melkor's discordant noise. The Valar originally dwell on
18733-461: The world took shape. Valaquenta ("Account of the Valar" ) describes Melkor, each of the fourteen Valar, and a few of the Maiar. It tells how Melkor seduced many Maiar—including those who would eventually become Sauron and the Balrogs —into his service. Quenta Silmarillion (Quenya: "The History of the Silmarils" ), the bulk of the book in 24 chapters, is a series of interconnected tales set in
18876-482: Was meant to find the Ring, and not by its maker. In which case you also were meant to have it. [Tolkien's italics] Rutledge notes that in this way, Tolkien repeatedly hints at a higher power "that controls even the Ring itself, even the maker of the Ring himself [her italics]", and asks who or what that power might be. Her reply is that at the surface level, it means the Valar, "a race of created beings (analogous to
19019-658: Was called the Battle under the Stars, or Dagor-nuin-Giliath , for the Sun and Moon had not yet been made. The Noldor win the battle. Fëanor presses on toward Angband with his sons. He comes within sight of Angband, but is ambushed by a force of Balrogs , with few Elves about him. He fights mightily with Gothmog , captain of the Balrogs. His sons come upon the Balrogs with a great force of Elves, and drive them off; but Fëanor knows his wounds are fatal. He curses Morgoth thrice, but with
19162-569: Was created good; Tolkien has the character Elrond in The Lord of the Rings say "For nothing is evil in the beginning. Even [the Dark Lord] Sauron was not so." Shippey concludes that the reader is free to assume "that the exploit of Morgoth of which the Eldar [Elves] never learnt was the traditional seduction of Adam and Eve by the [Satanic] serpent ", while the Men in the story are Adam's descendants "flying from Eden and subject to
19305-408: Was deficient in imagination. A few reviewers praised the scope of Tolkien's creation. The New York Times Book Review acknowledged that "what is finally most moving is ... the eccentric heroism of Tolkien's attempt". Time described The Silmarillion as "majestic, a work held so long and so powerfully in the writer's imagination that it overwhelms the reader". The Horn Book Magazine lauded
19448-422: Was in hospital and on sick leave. He completed the first story, " The Fall of Gondolin ", in late 1916. The Ainulindalë followed in 1917. He called his collection of nascent stories The Book of Lost Tales . This became the name for the first two volumes of The History of Middle-earth , a book series by Christopher Tolkien which include these early texts. The stories employ the narrative framing device of
19591-496: Was influenced by many sources. A major influence was the Finnish epic Kalevala , especially the tale of Kullervo . Influence from Greek mythology is also apparent in the way that the island of Númenor recalls Atlantis , and the Valar borrow many attributes from the Olympian gods . The Valar, like the Olympians, live in the world, but on a high mountain, separated from mortals. The correspondences are only approximate;
19734-532: Was one of the last Elven strongholds to fall. After the destruction of the Trees and the theft of the Silmarils, the Valar created the moon and the sun; they were carried across the sky in ships. At the same time, Men awoke; some later arrived in Beleriand and allied themselves to the Elves. Beren , a Man who had survived the latest battle, wandered into Doriath, where he fell in love with the Elf maiden Lúthien , daughter of Thingol and Melian. Thingol believed no mere Man
19877-400: Was overrun by the enemy). Túrin achieved many great deeds of valour, the greatest being the defeat of the dragon Glaurung. Despite his heroism, however, Túrin fell under the curse of Melkor, which led him to unwittingly murder his friend Beleg and marry and impregnate his sister Nienor Níniel, who had lost her memory through Glaurung's enchantment. Before their child was born, the dragon lifted
20020-488: Was soon mortally wounded and Lúthien died of grief. Though the fates of Man and Elf after death would sunder them forever, she persuaded the Vala Mandos to make an exception for them. He gave Beren back his life and allowed Lúthien to renounce her immortality and live as a mortal in Middle-earth. Thus, after they died, they would share the same fate. The Noldor, emboldened by the couple's feat, attacked Melkor again, with
20163-458: Was the Valar who first practise marriage and later pass on their custom to the Elves; all the Valar have spouses, save Nienna, Ulmo, and Melkor. Only one such marriage among the Valar takes place within the world, that of Tulkas and Nessa after the raising of the Two Lamps. Tolkien at first decided that Valarin , the tongue of the Valar, would be the proto-language of the Elves. He developed
20306-417: Was trying to turn Finwë against him. Fëanor drew his sword and threatened Fingolfin; this led the Valar to banish Fëanor from the city of Tirion, whereupon he created the fortress Formenos, further to the north. Finwë moved there to live with his favourite son. After many years, Fëanor returned at the command of the Valar to attend a festival, where he made peace of a sort with Fingolfin. Meanwhile, Melkor killed
20449-446: Was worthy of his daughter, and set a seemingly impossible price for her hand: one of the Silmarils. Undaunted, Beren set out, and Lúthien joined him, though he tried to dissuade her. Sauron , a powerful servant of Melkor, imprisoned Beren, but with Lúthien's help, he escaped. Together, they entered Melkor's fortress and stole a Silmaril from his crown. Amazed, Thingol accepted Beren, and the first union of Man and Elf occurred, though Beren
#757242