Silmarillion

[cahn]

This is totally embarrassing to admit, but although I've read LOTR too many times to count, until this year I had never actually read the Silmarillion. I kept getting stuck at the very beginning and never making it through. ...This is even more embarrassing, but I went back and reread it because of a discussion with ase where I was talking about my realizing this year what should have been obvious from the time I was in middle school, that I tend to fall really hard for canon-gen-loyalty-relationships-with-lots-of-subtext, and she recommended The Starless Road and I didn't get very far in before realizing that (a) it's really good (it is really good!) and (b) I was going to get about a tenth as much out of it without having read the Silmarillion. So. Here we are. I will also say that this was at the beginning of August, and I finished tonight. This took a very very long time for me, especially that first part. (The first part would have defeated me again if I hadn't both had an external reason to finish and also felt kind of silly for not ever being able to get through. Additionally it helped a lot that I'd been doing a lot of KJV reading this year for teaching at church.) It did get a lot faster once the Silmarils were made. (I also took a very long time to read the Third Age part, although I think in that case more because it was a bit anticlimactic and also because of taking a large break for ToT.)

It took so long that I am not sure I have much coherent to say about it, but here are some not very coherent things I remember thinking:
-Tolkien is really into his shiny things. I mean, the Silmarils of course! But also the Rings and at one point some armor was described as being super shiny and I was like, JRR, I can tell you are really into your shiny things, this is great, LET'S BE SHINY PALS.
-Sons of Fëanor ruin everything! You are the reason we can't have nice things!
-Surely someone has written the AU where Fëanor actually does say he'll give back the Silmarils (even though it doesn't change anything in the short run). Right??
-Huan! :( I don't feel nearly as bad for Huan dying fighting the good fight as I do for him being torn between loyalties. See also: Sons of Fëanor ruin everything!
-Why doesn't anyone ever listen to Melian? WHY.
-In related news, Thingol is just completely useless. When he finally died I felt this not-nearly-as-guilty-as-I-feel-I-should-be sense of relief.
-Lúthien is seriously made of awesome.
-I AM NEVER GETTING OVER BELEG. THAT WAS NOT OKAY.
-Túrin is such a hot mess, I feel super bad for ANYONE HE EVER INTERACTED WITH EVER
-The whole Eärendil thing just hit me like a ton of bricks. This part:

And he called aloud in many tongues, both of Elves and Men, but there were none to answer him. Therefore he turned back at last towards the sea; but even as he took the shoreward road one stood upon the hill and called to him in a great voice, crying:

'Hail Eärendil, of mariners most renowned, the looked for that cometh at unawares, the longed for that cometh beyond hope! Hail Eärendil, bearer of light before the Sun and Moon! Splendour of the Children of Earth, star in the darkness, jewel in the sunset, radiant in the morning!'

I read this while pottering around at breakfast-time one weekend (actually, in fact, second breakfast) and started just tearing up like mad and my kids were rolling their eyes at me. (They are used to it by now, I guess, what with the Verdi and every single time I listen to "It's Quiet Uptown" and all.) I'm tearing up right now reading it again.
-I can't believe Tolkien made me feel sorry for Maglor. (He made me feel sorry for Maglor.)
-The Akallabêth is really interesting to me because the cadences seem to very closely mimic those of the KJV, much more so than the other parts of the Silmarillion. It made it stylistically sort of familiar to read, for me, even though I was less familiar (via osmosis) with this section than any of the others.
-Boy, Ilúvatar was Not Happy with Númenor, huh. (I have Feelings about this bit due to teaching Genesis this year and hitting back hard against the idea of natural disasters being caused by wickedness, see also our area got hit with fire and with mud last year, but anyway)
-Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age, while the easiest section to read, also seemed the most pedestrian (writing-wise) to me?
-I am currently really annoyed at the movies for what they did with Elrond, which was previously not in my top three list of annoyances (1. Denethor 2. Theoden 3. Galadriel 4. Aragorn) but is right now because Elrond is really really cool! And now it is much harder for my brain to take him seriously!

OKAY HIT ME WITH THE FIC RECS, you guys.

Comments

[zdenka]

Yay, you've finished the Silmarillion! Fic recs, you say. If there are any particular characters or places or groups that you want to read about, let me know and I can try to be more specific, but in the meantime here's a jumble of some things that I like in approximately Silm-chronological order. (I'm not going to rec my own fics, but I have also written a lot of Silmfic.)

Burdens (716 words) by Meril
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Silmarillion - J. R. R. Tolkien, TOLKIEN J. R. R. - Works
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Galadriel, Original Characters, Elves - Character, Noldor, Teleri
Additional Tags: Drabble Sequence, Cold, Winter, Rebellion, Drama, Tragedy
Summary:

The exiles carry many things with them on their way to Arda. Six drabbles.

Haleth and Ioreth, Alive (557 words) by bunn
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Haleth/Original Female Character(s)
Characters: Haleth the Hunter
Additional Tags: Beleriand
Summary:

When day came, bringing a brief respite, Haleth took her father’s armour. Ioreth took her brother’s. No need for speeches from Haleth, who might well be the last leader of the Haladin. Everyone knew that the only hope was to hold on. And they fought on: Haleth and Ioreth, sword in hand, and very little hope.

Canon-typical violence.

The Brides of Death (2275 words) by heget
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien, TOLKIEN J. R. R. - Works & Related Fandoms
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Characters: Andreth, Finrod, Original Human Character(s), Sauron
Additional Tags: implied Aegnor/Andreth, Edain Folk History, Implied/Referenced Suicide, House of Bëor, Fun with Archaeology and Anthropology
Series: Part 1 of The Gift of Men
Summary:

"Nóm has many questions, but he never asks about the wreath Andreth wears in her hair."

A story of the Edain and their first interaction with the elves, of courage and defiance and most of all the Gift of Men.

Berrypicking Time (2082 words) by swampdiamonds
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Relationships: Finduilas Faelivrin/Niënor Níniel
Characters: Finduilas Faelivrin, Niënor Níniel
Additional Tags: Hurt/Comfort, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence
Summary:

AU: Finduilas lives. She and Níniel recover together in Brethil.

Sweet Water and Gold (6363 words) by Elleth
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien, TOLKIEN J. R. R. - Works & Related Fandoms
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Nellas/Niënor Níniel
Characters: Nellas, Niënor Níniel, Melian, Morwen, OCs
Additional Tags: Femslash, Fluff, Bechdel Test Pass
Summary:

When Niënor and Nellas fall in love, both of them learn about joy, sorrow, and unexpected gifts. Written for Solanaceae at the 2013 Femslash Exchange.

Wreath in the Rapids (8054 words) by Elleth
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien, TOLKIEN J. R. R. - Works & Related Fandoms
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Nellas/Niënor Níniel
Characters: Nellas, Niënor Níniel, Mablung of Doriath, OCs
Additional Tags: Femslash, Bechdel Test Pass, journeys
Summary:

After Niënor is gone from Doriath, Nellas cannot simply sit deedless. A sequel to Sweet Water and Gold, written for Solanaceae for the 2013 LotR SeSa exchange.

The Open Door the Dead Walked In (169 words) by Himring
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Turgon
Additional Tags: Poetry, Gondolin
Summary:

The ruins of Gondolin collapse at the end of the War of Wrath.
(Elegy, verse)

Havens of Sirion (6374 words) by Houseofhaleth
Chapters: 3/3
Fandom: The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien, TOLKIEN J. R. R. - Works
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Idril Celebrindal/Tuor
Characters: Annael, Elwing, Oropher, Rian, Tuor, Eärendil, Idril Celebrindal, Voronwë
Additional Tags: Sirion, Sindar, Peredhel, Moriquendi, Falathrim


Whether Exodus by Dwimordene
Summary:
Of the endings that make and break us. Elenwë comes at last to Middle-earth.
Rated: Teens
Characters: Elenwë, Ents, Nessa, Original Character(s)
Genres: Adventure, Drama
Warnings: None
Word count: 6708

The Doors of Durin (2515 words) by lynndyre
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Celebrimbor & Narvi
Characters: Celebrimbor, Narvi
Additional Tags: Friendship, Second Age, Mythological Craftsmanship
Summary:

Celebrimbor and Narvi, and the construction of their legacy together.

Sanctuary Unlocked (1929 words) by lynndyre
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Relationships: Celebrimbor & Narvi
Characters: Celebrimbor, Narvi
Additional Tags: Canonical Character Death, Afterlife, Implied/Referenced Torture, Friendship
Summary:

Life and death and what follows.

where ebb and flow meet (1395 words) by kimaracretak
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien, TOLKIEN J. R. R. - Works & Related Fandoms
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Tar-Míriel/Uinen
Characters: Tar-Míriel, Uinen (Tolkien), Tar-Palantir
Additional Tags: Developing Relationship, Devotion, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, oceans that probably want to eat you because they love you, Second Age, Númenor, Akallabêth
Summary:

Three gifts Miriel gives the Lady of the Seas over the years, and one the Lady gives to her in return.

Still Possibilities To Be Had (2659 words) by ncfan
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: TOLKIEN J. R. R. - Works, The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Fëanor/Nerdanel, Curufin/Canonical Wife, Maglor/Canonical Wife, Caranthir/Canonical Wife
Characters: Nerdanel, Curufin's Wife, Maglor's Wife, Caranthir's Wife
Additional Tags: Family, Loss, Daughters, In-Laws, Mother-Daughter Relationship
Series: Part 15 of Valinor in the First, Second and Third Ages, Part 6 of Textual Ghosts
Summary:

The house is silent, until it's not.

Beyond the Western World (11535 words) by thearrogantemu
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Finrod Felagund & Curufin
Characters: Finrod Felagund, Curufin
Additional Tags: Finrod and Curufin build a treehouse, Post-Mandos, Very Long Conversations, aman - Freeform, Reconciliation, Responsibility, Reference to Torture, reference to being eaten by wolves, Canon Temporary Character Death
Series: Part 3 of The Splintered Light
Summary:

“Come into the light,” he said slowly.

“You don’t need it to see me.” The voice was so familiar, so unbearably familiar.

“Nonetheless.”

After a moment there was motion among the trees, and the firelight fell on the figure of a solitary man, his feet bare and his hair unbound, wrapped in plain grey. Finrod didn’t rise to greet him, but lifted his head and looked him up and down: the slender frame, the tension in his bearing, the features whose fineness bordered on delicacy.

“Curufinwë Atarinkë,” he said at last, giving each syllable of the name its full weight. “You look awful.”

The Art of Long-Distance Grandparenting (7292 words) by Kaz
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Idril Celebrindal/Tuor
Characters: Idril Celebrindal, Tuor, Anairë, Glorfindel, Finrod, Elrond, Gil-galad, Original Character
Additional Tags: Family, Grandparents & Grandchildren, some grandmas send you cookies some send you Balrog-slayers, Elrond never writes and never calls, clearly an intervention is necessary, Idril and Tuor are adorable, Anairë tried to take over the fic but Idril fought back
Summary:

Why did Glorfindel return to Middle-earth? Maybe the Valar decided they needed a messenger. Maybe he felt he still had something to do there and begged them to let him return. Or maybe it went something like this...

It's the early Second Age and Idril is worried about her grandsons. In the course of this she waylays new arrivals to Valinor, tries to find her footing with her own grandmother, schemes with Tuor, Finrod and Glorfindel, and finally sets a plan into motion.

Five Conversations Glorfindel Had Returning to Middle-earth (2019 words) by Maat
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Silmarillion - J. R. R. Tolkien
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Glorfindel, Elrond, Gil-galad, Gandalf, Fingon, Círdan
Additional Tags: Translation Available
Summary:

Glorfindel has too many--or too few--places to belong.

[cahn]

I did finish, finally! :D Thank you for letting me dump all my FEEEELINGS on you! :)

Ohhhh, this is great, I am looking forward to reading all of these! (And you should totally rec your own stuff :P :) )

[zdenka]

I hope you like them! It's kind of a long list, so I won't be offended if you pick out what seems interesting to you.

I'd feel weird reccing my fics directly, but if you ask me later whether I know any fics about [character/place/thing/genre], I'll be willing to include my own fics in that. You've got one of my fics anyway, from our convo yesterday. :)

[espresso_addict]

Ooh, excellent, thanks!

[zdenka]

I hope you like them! (I've found some good fics on your site, btw, and I've noticed that you've recced some of mine in various fandoms -- thank you!)

[mildred_of_midgard]

I have back pain and have to minimize typing but OH BOY TOLKIEN and my main fic rec is Tolkien's Unfinished Tales!

[cahn]

TOLKIEN <3

Okay, Unfinished Tales is going on my list! I wasn't sure I could handle it before reading Silmarillion but now I think it would be really interesting :D

(I hope your back feels better! Don't feel like you need to reply to anything!)

[thistleingrey]

+1 Unfinished Tales. I haven't reread since undergrad, but "Narn i Hin Hurin" (with diacritics I don't recall) is quite good.

[espresso_addict]

I have a collection of old Sil recs archived here, though they mainly pre-date AO3 and so you'll have to search for live copies of most of them. (You can get a character listing by clicking 'Character: show' & you can even get them organised by character if you fadge around with the dropdown at the right & 'go to...')

Seconding the recommendation for UT; I much prefer it to the Sil.

[zdenka]

Ooh, I second the rec for The Leithian Script! That's a classic. I haven't checked the link on that site, but I know there's a working link here:

https://rustbucket.net/leithian/

[cahn]

:D Thank you!

[cahn]

Eeee, thank you! And, hmm, that's interesting you prefer UT to the Sil! I had always sort of imagined it as even more hard to read than Sil. (Probably obviously, I have not read UT at all, but clearly that will have to change.)

[zdenka]

In my opinion, UT is harder to read than the Silm. It's basically like the Silmarillion, except even more fragmentary. There are some (tantalizingly unfinished) bits of story that are cool to read, but there are also sections that I would consider basically reference material for Tolkien geeks and/or people who want to write fanfic. (I reread sections when I'm being geeky and/or writing fanfic, but I've never read it continuously cover to cover.) I'm not trying to discourage you from reading it, but I think you should have an idea of what you're getting.

People are free to disagree with me here, but what I personally would rec to you as the next Tolkien thing is The Lays of Beleriand (aka Histories of Middle-earth vol. III, but you don't need any knowledge of the other volumes to read it). It's two sets of long poems, one set about Turin and his family, and one about Beren and Luthien. I'd at least rec the Beren and Luthien parts (and the Turin parts depending on whether you feel like more Turin right now. I prefer him in small doses myself :P).

If you're not tired of Turin the human disaster, there's also The Children of Hurin, which is the fragments of the Turin story from UT plus some other stuff, written up as an actual continuous story (with gorgeous illustrations, thank you Alan Lee). I like it in part because it has a little more material on the female characters and introduces two new ones, Aerin and Nellas.

[cahn]

...yes, that is Extremely Useful, thank you! I like to know what I'm in for. And I will check out Beleriand. I... might wait a little on more Turin :)

[luzula]

Ooh, Silmarillion! I haven't read much fic, but I've read the book multiple times. There's just something about Tolkien's language that gets to me.

[cahn]

Yes! I even love the language at the beginning, it's just really dense. But once it gets into Luthien and Turin and Earendil... it's just so amazing.

[iberiandoctor]

I possibly have nothing relevant to add to this post, save for (1) you are not alone in the Loved LoTR/Always Flaked on Sim camp, and (2) All the love for Elrond (and how Movie!Elrond is decidedly uncool). I am, however, watching this recs list with interest!

Also, lol, my much bigger kidlets roll their eyes at me all the time, though not-so-Little-Son is a crier as well (seriously, the last time he cried was last month when he hated his new haircut, LMAO). I'm not looking forward to the Emo Teen phase at all, and this is also because of the horror that was my own emo teen phase :(

[cahn]

I'm so mad that Movie!Elrond is now superimposed on my mental picture! I think it disturbs me more right now too because somehow he actually did get into my brain, whereas e.g. Galadriel I had legit forgot about movie!Galadriel until someone mentioned it the other day and I was like "oh, right, that was a thing!"

Hee, my kids cry all the time when something Goes Wrong. (E was trying to make uncrustable sandwiches a couple days ago and wasn't able to seal it on the first try, WAH!) Oh boy -- yeah, also not looking forward to Emo Teen! (At least I was a quiet withdrawn emo teen? My sister was a Loud Emo Teen. I expect E will be the former and A will be the latter.)

[alcanis_ivennil]

Túrin is like. Such a tenor. He's basically Alvaro's fantasy cousin. Imagine Jonas :D

Lúthien is the most competent Tolkien character probably, and she gets shit done :D

[cahn]

omg Turin is totally Alvaro's evil twin! As unlucky as Alvaro but also ALL THE LAME TENOR along with it :P Oh boy, I would pay good money to see Jonas play Turin in Turin Turambar: The Opera :D

Luthien is AWESOME!

[zdenka]

I've seen performances of the Ring Cycle where Sigmund or Sigfried totally reminds me of Turin. :P (Which makes sense! They're "cousins" from the same sources.)

[cahn]

Hmm! Yes, now that you mention it, the one Siegmund I've seen (Boulez/Chereau, Peter Hoffmann as Siegmund) reminds me a lot of Turin. Like, there's something kind of fascinating and empathic about Turin even if I'm spending most of the time going "OH TURIN NO THIS WILL NOT END WELL." (Hoffmann's Siegmund was sort of the flip side of this -- I empathized with him a lot (particularly "So grüße mir Walhall," omg) but sometimes he'd be pretty arrogant and set off my "yeah, he can be kind of a jerk" buttons :) )

[alcanis_ivennil]

Also, Maedhros/Fingon. Tolkien why would you do that to them.

Silmarillion is really Tolkien going "oh, you thought I was all nice and Good Wins? *diabolical laughter*

Also, Morgoth is your typical Bass Devil.

Maeglin is like. Classic Evil Baritone.

[zdenka]

Aw, I have a soft spot for Maeglin. Granted, it depends which sources you use: in HOME he tries to kill child!Earendil and I think there's a version where he makes a deal with Morgoth voluntarily if he can be given Idril, and that's not very sympathetic. But in the published Silm, it's possible to view him a lot more sympathetically: he was unrequitedly in love with Idril, but we don't know that he actually did anything to harass her, and he betrayed Gondolin under torture. And this is after he was raised in odd isolated circumstances where he wasn't allowed to leave home unless his father took him on rare trips, see anyone besides his family, or ever even see full sunlight, with a father who threatened to tie him up in the basement if he tried to visit his mother's family (and who was, uh, probably not the greatest model of consent), had his father try to kill him and actually kill his mother, and then saw his father executed for that crime. I can't help feeling bad for him.

[cahn]

...this is probably not the place to talk about how I'm a total fan of evil baritones and would also watch/listen to the heck out of evil!baritone Maeglin, is it?

But yeah, having read nothing but the Silm, he didn't particularly register to me as evil nearly so much as got a really bad deal -- I read the betrayal of Gondolin very sympathetically.

[cahn]

Good... kind of?... wins? Overall? But there are some awful bits in there before it gets there...

"The Starless Road," which I linked to in the post, is 60k of Maedhros/Fingon post-canon fix-it :P

[ase]

I am currently really annoyed at the movies for what they did with Elrond, which was previously not in my top three list of annoyances (1. Denethor 2. Theoden 3. Galadriel 4. Aragorn)

That's top four, not top three. /pedant

But that's okay, because there's a lot more than four (or five) (or six) things to critique about the Jackson trilogy.

I am so glad you had a good experience slogging through the Silmarillion! Beren and Luthien is one of my formative ships. Turin... I just do not understand Turin, except as Hopelessly Cursed By Morgoth. Poor guy. Which still doesn't excuse Beleg's death.

You got my one Silm fic rec; if/when something else hits my radar I'll let you know.

[cahn]

Hee, I started listing my top three and was like "oh wait, Aragon definitely belongs in this list," and forgot to change the text. But yeah, I could keep going :P But those are the ones that actually make me angry if I think about them too hard (which I try not to do).

Beren and Luthien is such a good ship <3 Turin is just both hopelessly cursed and (possibly understandably, having to live with being hopelessly cursed? I probably wouldn't be very nice if I were hopelessly cursed?) kind of a jerk, sigh. But, but, Beleg!