niceguy2005
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quote:
ORIGINAL: mdiehl
quote:
I agree with Faber, the Sillmarilion reads mostly like research material. I don't know if Tolkien really ever intended to finish it and publish it. If your a diehard LOTR fan it will probably still be enjoyable.
I'd say it varies. Parts of it are quite polished, while other parts are pretty rough. Akellabeth (of Numenor and the 2nd Age) is scarcely more than a well-developed outline that deals with how Sauron dragged down the houses of men in westernesse. And the Tale of Turin Turambar is complete, but kind of ragged and ponderous (though still a good read).
Tolkien *intended* for the Silmarillion to be the next published work after The Hobbit because he wanted to write about the mythical noble past to which he briefly alluded in The Hobbit. (I'm just recaping what's in the Simarillion liner notes). But the publishers wanted him to write about more hobbits, so LotR was born -- it was a story that met the publisher's demand to have more hobbits while meeting part of Tolkien's desire to expand about that high mythical past.
I'd say that Silmarillion is a must read if you really enjoyed LotR and if you do not mind highfalutin prose, extensive tracts of elvish and translated ballads and so forth. It also definitely fills in some details for the curious, like "Why is Galadarial regarded as such a Force in Middle Earth?" "Where did the palantir and the rings come from?" What does "The Ring of Barahir" (from the movie) have to do with Aragorn, etc.
It also makes some of the elves conduct in LotR seem like a real copout. Without spoiling the story, I think it's fair to say that everything in LotR is blowback from a vengeance oath sworn by a bunch of elves ten thousand years before LotR occurs.
It's definitely a good read, but I'd only recommend it to someone who has read LotR several times and finds themself asking more questions rather than being content with the material as is.
Maybe something JRR wrote or said contradicts this, but I still say it reads like research. There are some well polished parts, but that's not unsual for a writers notes. He may have had an interest into developing it into a polished work, but it was never got anywhere near that stage.
Mdiehl's statement about it being for those who read LOTR, loved it, and want to know much more than was answered in the triology is right on. It's definitely for the hardcore fan.
Personally, I loved LOTR, read it the first time when I was 12 and it along with Cronicles of Narnia started a life long love of reading for me. Unlike CoN, I still reread the LOTR every 5 or so years. I think I'm on my 5th reading. Sillmarilion, left me wanting though. It didn't have the same magic.
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