The Silmarillion Discussion

[Cam]

Since The Hobbit movie came out my eagerness to find out what happens next could not be controlled, so there I went and just read the book. I enjoyed it so much that I decided to read LOTR next, since I had already watched the movies for the umpteenth time just before The Hobbit movie came out.

That's when I decided to read The Silmarillion, it was a difficult read at first, but I'm getting used to it and now it's one of the best books I've ever read, truly amazing.

Since I'm still new to the Middle-earth Fan zone. There're a few things I still don't understand and everyone who are fans can discuss the world, characters and story here.

First of all the world being created by "song" and "music", since the book is very metaphorical and many things are figurative.

Was middle-earth and the world actually created with music?

 

[Caliburn]

Well I've read pretty much all Tolkien's books, though I'm not one of those persons who know every little detail of everything.

It has been a long time since I read the Silmarillion and it wasn't an easy book, to be more exact it's more a compilation than a book which Tolkien's son made based on his father's notes. Tolkien wrote about Middle-Earth for over 50 years of his life, but the only books he really finished were The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings.

But yeah as far as I know you need to take that literally, that's the origin of Middle-Earth and IMO I find it beautiful how he wrote that.

 

[Cam]

Well I've read pretty much all Tolkien's books, though I'm not one of those persons who know every little detail of everything.

It has been a long time since I read the Silmarillion and it wasn't an easy book, to be more exact it's more a compilation than a book which Tolkien's son made based on his father's notes. Tolkien wrote about Middle-Earth for over 50 years of his life, but the only books he really finished were The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings.

But yeah as far as I know you need to take that literally, that's the origin of Middle-Earth and IMO I find it beautiful how he wrote that.

Yeah no doubt it was written beautifully. I love his writing style, despite it being a difficult read. However I'm used to it now, so I can read it pretty easily. There's a 12 volume collection of the history of Middle-earth that i'd like to tackle which give an in depth story of The Sillmarillion. What I'm wondering though is if they'll eventually make this into a movie after The Hobbit.

 

[Vincent]

Music and songs of power is the way magic is used in tolkeins world. So the music it discusses is the ainur and their creator illuvatar using their magic to create the world and shape its fate.

 

[Caliburn]

Yeah no doubt it was written beautifully. I love his writing style, despite it being a difficult read. However I'm used to it now, so I can read it pretty easily. There's a 12 volume collection of the history of Middle-earth that i'd like to tackle which give an in depth story of The Sillmarillion. What I'm wondering though is if they'll eventually make this into a movie after The Hobbit.

I doubt they are ever going to make the Silmarillion into a movie. As I said the only two stories Tolkien himself completely finished are The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. All the other books were published after his life based on his notes and they are more of a historical essay than a story. The only book that still more or less is a real story, is The Children of Hurin, but that one does not have a happy ending. Unhappy endings for such type of movies is a taboo and changing the end would be considered blasphemy and would probably receive a lot of criticism.

The Silmarilion itself goes about centuries of Middle-Earth history, so the timeframe is way to big for a movie. On top of that there are no primary protagonists. In The Hobbit you've got the dwarfs, Bilbo and Gandalf, in The Lord of the Rings you've got the Fellowship, but in the Silmarillion countless of characters appear, but not a single one which it was focuses. As I said it just provides a global history of Middle-Earth, I even think it tells about the Children of Hurin in short.

To make that into a movie, you would need to rewrite the history itself. It's one thing changing a finished book to make it more suitable for a movie, but another to just make the story up as then you are writing the history of Middle-Earth yourself.

 

[Vincent]

I doubt they are ever going to make the Silmarillion into a movie. As I said the only two stories Tolkien himself completely finished are The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. All the other books were published after his life based on his notes and they are more of a historical essay than a story. The only book that still more or less is a real story, is The Children of Hurin, but that one does not have a happy ending. Unhappy endings for such type of movies is a taboo and changing the end would be considered blasphemy and would probably receive a lot of criticism.

The Silmarilion itself goes about centuries of Middle-Earth history, so the timeframe is way to big for a movie. On top of that there are no primary protagonists. In The Hobbit you've got the dwarfs, Bilbo and Gandalf, in The Lord of the Rings you've got the Fellowship, but in the Silmarillion countless of characters appear, but not a single one which it was focuses. As I said it just provides a global history of Middle-Earth, I even think it tells about the Children of Hurin in short.

To make that into a movie, you would need to rewrite the history itself. It's one thing changing a finished book to make it more suitable for a movie, but another to just make the story up as then you are writing the history of Middle-Earth yourself.

yea, theres a chapter on the children of hurin in the silmarillion, sums the story up in short, and is probably one of the darkest and disturbing stories ive seen placed in a fantasy series

 

[Wang]

I've read The Hobbit & LOTR countless times, but I've never read The Silmarillion.

 

[Cam]

I doubt they are ever going to make the Silmarillion into a movie. As I said the only two stories Tolkien himself completely finished are The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. All the other books were published after his life based on his notes and they are more of a historical essay than a story. The only book that still more or less is a real story, is The Children of Hurin, but that one does not have a happy ending. Unhappy endings for such type of movies is a taboo and changing the end would be considered blasphemy and would probably receive a lot of criticism.

The Silmarilion itself goes about centuries of Middle-Earth history, so the timeframe is way to big for a movie. On top of that there are no primary protagonists. In The Hobbit you've got the dwarfs, Bilbo and Gandalf, in The Lord of the Rings you've got the Fellowship, but in the Silmarillion countless of characters appear, but not a single one which it was focuses. As I said it just provides a global history of Middle-Earth, I even think it tells about the Children of Hurin in short.

To make that into a movie, you would need to rewrite the history itself. It's one thing changing a finished book to make it more suitable for a movie, but another to just make the story up as then you are writing the history of Middle-Earth yourself.

I agree with most of what you said, but actually you don't really need a primary protagonist, having a protagonist is enough. There are protagonists in the Silmarillion, the only thing is they die. But this has been done plenty times in stories where the main protagonist dies and another takes over.

The only real problem is the massive timeline gaps that will be difficult to handle in the movies, however it is not impossible. For example, in LOTR when Frodo was given the One ring by Gandalf. It took him 17 years to come back and ask it from Frodo again but the movie managed that very well. The movies also summarized big time gaps through the intros they had.

The last 2 parts of the Silmarillion will have to be separated or cut out. The beginning 2 parts can be summarized in an intro along with the beginning of Quenta Silmarillion. I can actually see this into a good set of movies beginning with Feanor and the unchaining of Melkor.

 

[Maito Gai]

inb4 too late too comment

I think the simarillion is too big and too wide a scope to fit into a film series.

Buut if HBO picked it up it would be epic!!!

 

[Third Sage]

Music and songs of power is the way magic is used in tolkeins world. So the music it discusses is the ainur and their creator illuvatar using their magic to create the world and shape its fate.

This. You can understand this even from LotR books themselves.

 

[Rand al'Thor]

Music and songs of power is the way magic is used in tolkeins world. So the music it discusses is the ainur and their creator illuvatar using their magic to create the world and shape its fate.

This pretty much...The valar the firstborn also added their viewing of the world into music resulting in the creation of middle earth.

 

[RasenUchihaChaos]

i tried to read that book i tried and i failed man i just could not read the simi

 

[MuerteMiAmigo]

is it worth the read? i was thinking about it.... i heard it was more of a history book than a story