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.