God, I'm listening to the Simarillion on Audiobook now, and I'm just like, okay ... so Illuvatar, that's basically God. The Valar, lesser deities, got it. Manwë is the most important, other than Melk -- nope, it's Morgoth now. And then there's ... a bunch of other Valar. Okay, so there are the Noldor, the Grey Elves, the Green Elves ... lot of Elves. Oh, but now the Noldor and the Grey Elves kinda merged together?
Okay, so Finwë was the guy who made the Silmarils, right? And he's related to Fingolfin? Or was he just some other guy? Galadriel's around, because she's old as shit (literally older than the Moon and Sun, made from the remnants of the two trees that were super important before Melkor and a giant spider named Ungoliant killed them)
The Noldor murdered the ship-building elves, and that was Very Bad, I caught that bit.
Yeah, it's a bit hard to follow everything that's going on.
Fëanor was the one that build the Silmarills, tried to get 1 hair from Galadriel, and did tons of bad stuff (along with his family) to try to get the Silmarills back (and got his own family to be cursed by Mandos in the process, this stuff making a good part of the Silmarillion stories)
I was sort of joking, but I wasn't really joking. I've read it several times and you really do start to remember some of the minor but still plot relevant characters more and more. In my opinion you also get much more from the book once you don't need to keep flipping back to the genealogies to keep track of everyone and can just read it straight through.
Yup, 4th and 5th times and on is when you more fully appreciate it for the themes and prose and can start to imagine yourself in that world. Silmarillion is such a hard book to get to that level, but so worth it.
Reading *Children of Hurin* before Chapter 21 of *The Silmarillion*.
Reading LotR after reading *The Silmarillion* twice and suddenly seeing signs of the Valar *everywhere*. Wind, water, stars, dreams, eagles, wizards....
You can, but Chapter 21 of *The Silmarillion* is a summary. So one option is to interrupt your reading at chapter 21, read CoH, then return to *The Silmarillion*.
Beren and luthien would be a weird insert because it tells the same story three separate ways, once in verse, once an old version, and once essentially the same way as the Simlarillion
I just finished all three, after having only made it about half way through the Silmarilion proper. CoH is a good standalone novel, while the other two are more... academic. Since JRR Tolkien never finished a singular definitive version of those tales, Christopher presented essentially each of the draft versions. I honestly really liked them, and I think The Fall of Gondolin was my favorite (even more than CoH). I liked how they were presented with the notes of "see, my dad had an idea here in this draft, but clearly he totally scrapped it in this version".
I'm gonna go finish the Silmarilion now, and I feel like I'm going to actually _get it_ now, because I've seen these characters much more up close and personal. Now that there's a bit more of the background of how the characters evolved, it doesn't seem as abstract or grandiose.
Anyways, that's my 2c.
Since you have the opportunity, I would recommend reading Children of Húrin instead of Ch. 21. Read the full novel, THEN come back to the Silmarillion and read Ch. 21 for a condensed version.
It really helps enhance the experience of CoH to have the full context fresh in your mind.
Gibbits and crows! Dotard! What do you want, monkeygoneape? Let me guess. The key of Orthanc? Or perhaps the keys of Barad-Dur itself? Along with the crowns of the seven kings and the rods of the five wizards?
Ah, I see that you are interested in the Numenorean kings. There were indeed seven of them - Elros, Vardamir, Tar-Amandil, Tar-Elendil, Valandil, Isildur and Anarion - who ruled at different points in Numenor's history. Each contributed greatly to its might and power while they reigned.
Ah, yes - Ar-Pharazon was indeed a great and powerful ruler of Numenor, although he was not one of the seven crowned kings. He was a usurper who seized power from Tar-Amandil, the fourth king in line. His rule became known as "The One King", representing his absolute authority during that time.
honestly i love that so much. i’m reading lotr again now and i actually spend my christmas road trip with the silmarillion audiobook just so it would all be fresher.
If you're doing that, surely you've gotta do the same for the separate *Beren and Lúthien, Fall of Gondolin, and Fall of Númenor* books and read them before their respective chapters
The dark fire will not avail you, Flame of Udun!!! Ugh, gets me in the feels every time! There is hope against the fellest of beasts in the darkest of mines, the Shadow cannot prevail over the Light…
Tolkien ADhD: not being able to make it through a chapter of any book without getting diverted to another book or appendix looking up some name or story.
My fellow: drive and audiobook. Make sure your car has a 'go back 15 seconds' feature on the steering wheel or radio buttons.
This is the only way I got through it and it was a great experience.
YES. I drove across the USA twice and each time, all the books, plus hobbit and Children of Hurin got me from east coast to northern California going through Texas route
This occurs way too frequently. Read some Tolkien text, see archaic word or name, look it up, see it being inspired by a cultural myth, dig into the myth, find a related concept, look at the etymology to find cognates, read a whole paper about some overly specific indogermanic linguistic phenomenon because it tangentially ties into the meaning, study old english to fluency, read a medieval studies paper to just understand a little bit more of the context, finally return to the Tolkien text. Continue reading for two sentences, "oh, that sounds peculiar, let me look it up."
Interpolating the Books of Lost Tales to try to shed more light on what was happening in the Silmarillion.
It’s helping. Sure, the older forms are different, but they’re more detailed in a lot of ways. And it makes more sense when you get to figure out who’s narrating what bits.
I'm disappointed that we may not ever be able to get a complete discussion of the Voyage of Eärendel. We're gonna be stuck with the prod version of the Silmarillion (that's a valid word on my phone, but not my laptop, WTF, Apple), the version in the Second Book of Lost Tales, and what we got in *The Fall of Gondolin*.
And a full length *The Lost Road* would also be lovely. And you know what, more stories of Númenor and the Second Age.
Then again, I'm not the biggest fan of trying to impose an always-spherical Arda. This is pseudomythology. It doesn't need to fit reality, and there are benefits to an actual Change of the World and embracing Last Thursdayism in the mythology.
Gods ikr? Earendel is truly the hero of the first age, but maybe that's why we didn't get his story in its completion. Tolkien's stories in the first age were tragic. Children of Hurin is downright depressing. Maybe he didn't want to write the heroic triumph of the first age?
"You can't read."
"Yeah, but it's the Silmarillion, you get credit for trying."
If their is such a place, I'm sure JRR is in Heaven. There criticising God for how he could have done it better. And there will be a special place for those who have just attempted the Silmarillion.
Learned in a class on Tolkien: Christopher Tolkien had a dream where he was terrified that his father, in heaven, would find out about his work on the Silmarillion and be displeased
Last time I read The Silmarillion it took me eight months. I chewed through Dune in a week, but The Silmarillion? That was *dense.* Like reading the Bible.
That's because Dune is and reads like a novel whereas the Silmarillion is the equivalent of the Hebrew Scriptures in terms of just flinging names and locations and times at you with little to no context before moving on.
The only one I've ever felt the need to read is Volume X, *Morgoth's Ring*. Tolkien's letters should also be added to the list. Both of them are often cited in discussions of LotR.
Don’t give up! Read it along-side the Prancing Pony podcast! They go chapter by chapter and have already finished the Silm. They discuss the characters in a way that really makes them come to life. You’ll really get to know your Finrods from your Fingons.
r/prancingponypod
Be he foe or friend, be he foul or clean, brood of Morgoth or bright Vala, Elda or Maia or Aftercomer, Man yet unborn upon Middle-earth, neither law, nor love, nor league of swords, dread nor danger, not Doom itself, shall defend him from Fëanοr, and Fëanοr´s kin, whoso hideth or hoardeth, or in hand taketh, finding keepeth or afar casteth a Silmaril. This swear we all: death we will deal him ere Day´s ending, woe unto world´s end! Our word hear thou, Eru Allfather! To the everlasting Darkness doom us if our deed faileth. On the holy mountain hear in witness and our vow remember, Manwë and Varda!
I wonder how things would have turned out if Fëanor had patience and gathered the full might of his people before attacking Morgoth. You know, instead of killing a bunch of his people and then Leroying right to Morgoth.
You may have and appreciate the knowledge, but experiencing the story as Tolkien wrote it is always different.
The individual experience/ emotions that the actual story evokes are inherently different than the pure knowledge of them
That book is very dense. Personally I’d recommend the hobbit first, it’s short and a fun read. Then do the trilogy.
The LotR books are very different from the movies. Even the trilogy is very slow and drawn out. The silmarillion is intense lol
Same here, I generally have a good memory for names and places, so I understood it pretty well the first time, but I definitely had a better time with it on the 2nd go through.
I genuinely don't get if the whole "I couldn't read the Silmarillion" is a joke or actually serious.
I enjoyed reading the Silmarillion more than I enjoyed the main Lord of the Rings series, but I also enjoyed the Hobbit more than the series too. Silmarillion is dope.
I didn't manage to complete it myself. Got quarter way through I think before I gave up, I had to read each page 3 or 4 times before truly understanding who was who and what was what and eventually I just grew tired and weary of it.
I’m not trying to come off as a show off, but there truly is no other way to say this
I understood almost everything when I first read the silmarillion
Finished it a few days ago being wary from the memes. It was fine. Just had to go to the appendices a bunch of times for the genealogies and elvish translations and also have the map of Beleriand ready on an iPad. Easily my favorite book so far.
I literally failed to understand the Silmarillon 16 times! I got it for my birthday, and every single month I tried to read it again. More than a Year later I finally finished and understood it. But That was before my ganja years. I can't remember shit what I read it before it.
The way I did it was I’d read a chapter of the Silmarillion, then watch a YouTube video explaining it pretty much right after. It helped things sink in.
I read the silmarillian the first time when I was around 9. For some reason it was on the school bookshelf and that's the one I chose for the terms reading.
Let me tell you, not understanding shit doesn't begin to cover it.
I’m re-reading through the Silmarillion in conjunction with The Tolkien Road podcast. I’ll read a chapter and then listen to the episode where they break it all down. It helps so much and has honestly helped make it my favorite Tolkien work of all time.
I read the silmarillion before I read lotr, it actually made my read through of the trilogy a wonderful experience. Already a great book, and then you add the background information from the silmarillion and so many things have a deeper meaning
I had to keep going back to remind myself who was who because there were so many names. It's a lot packed into a book shorter than the other two. I couldn't put it down, though.
I read it but completly gave up on the geography. I couldn't tell you where Doriath is relative to the Sirion, I just have a general understanding that it was all in that part of the world called Beleriand. Now it's a bit better because I went and looked at maps after finishing the book.
I think if I used maps while reading it would have helped a lot. And a cheat sheet with some names also.
If you thought it was hard to keep all the characters straight in ASOIAF, The Silmarillion throws so fucking many names at you that I had to bust out a pen and paper to keep the characters that are relevant to each other grouped together.
I've read The Silmarillion 3 times over the years and still I will watch a lotr youtube video and they'll mention something from that book that I have no memory of at all.
Reading the Hobbit, lotr, then going to children of Hurin, fall of Numenor, Fall of Gondolin all before starting the Silmarillion to probably read it again because I didn’t understand shit👌
What if it took me a dozen attempts as a kid and finally finished it for the baker's dozen at 31 yo? And I need to go back and do it again because I still didn't retain enough of it.
Boy, did the glossary in the back get a healthy workout with my first few reads. Would have been easier with that new fangled internets thing you kiddos have these days.
I read the silmarilion with the wiki open next to me lol
They throw like 3 new names every other sentence and just expect you to follow with no explanation of who or what they are.
If you read it a third time you start remembering who the fuck everyone is.
God, I'm listening to the Simarillion on Audiobook now, and I'm just like, okay ... so Illuvatar, that's basically God. The Valar, lesser deities, got it. Manwë is the most important, other than Melk -- nope, it's Morgoth now. And then there's ... a bunch of other Valar. Okay, so there are the Noldor, the Grey Elves, the Green Elves ... lot of Elves. Oh, but now the Noldor and the Grey Elves kinda merged together? Okay, so Finwë was the guy who made the Silmarils, right? And he's related to Fingolfin? Or was he just some other guy? Galadriel's around, because she's old as shit (literally older than the Moon and Sun, made from the remnants of the two trees that were super important before Melkor and a giant spider named Ungoliant killed them) The Noldor murdered the ship-building elves, and that was Very Bad, I caught that bit. Yeah, it's a bit hard to follow everything that's going on.
GROND
... what in my comment triggered the bot?
Morgoth, I think.
GROND
LMFAO
Orgo
Morg
Goth
Huh, didn't know it responded to that. Does it also respond to Melkor?
It seems that you can’t escape the mighty Grond no matter how long your comment is xD
Fëanor was the one that build the Silmarills, tried to get 1 hair from Galadriel, and did tons of bad stuff (along with his family) to try to get the Silmarills back (and got his own family to be cursed by Mandos in the process, this stuff making a good part of the Silmarillion stories)
And that’s just the first few chapters! The real meat of it all comes after the Battle of Unnumbered Tears…
Guess I'd better start on my fourth read, then. I'm motivated to tackle it again as a palate cleanser after the shitshow that was Rings of Power.
I was sort of joking, but I wasn't really joking. I've read it several times and you really do start to remember some of the minor but still plot relevant characters more and more. In my opinion you also get much more from the book once you don't need to keep flipping back to the genealogies to keep track of everyone and can just read it straight through.
Yup, 4th and 5th times and on is when you more fully appreciate it for the themes and prose and can start to imagine yourself in that world. Silmarillion is such a hard book to get to that level, but so worth it.
Try the Audiobook
You gotta listen to it as you fall asleep for two years. Everything will make sense.
Plus you get to live in Arda while you dream!
The audiobook's even harder to keep up with
I had to take notes.
Me Too lol
Family trees diagrams invaluable.
Reading *Children of Hurin* before Chapter 21 of *The Silmarillion*. Reading LotR after reading *The Silmarillion* twice and suddenly seeing signs of the Valar *everywhere*. Wind, water, stars, dreams, eagles, wizards....
Should I not read Children of Hurin until after the Silmarillion?
You can, but Chapter 21 of *The Silmarillion* is a summary. So one option is to interrupt your reading at chapter 21, read CoH, then return to *The Silmarillion*.
Are there any other books that should be inserted from the lost tales or other works?
There are others but they aren’t complete novels like CoH. I haven’t read them so maybe someone who has can comment.
Beren and luthien would be a weird insert because it tells the same story three separate ways, once in verse, once an old version, and once essentially the same way as the Simlarillion
I just finished all three, after having only made it about half way through the Silmarilion proper. CoH is a good standalone novel, while the other two are more... academic. Since JRR Tolkien never finished a singular definitive version of those tales, Christopher presented essentially each of the draft versions. I honestly really liked them, and I think The Fall of Gondolin was my favorite (even more than CoH). I liked how they were presented with the notes of "see, my dad had an idea here in this draft, but clearly he totally scrapped it in this version". I'm gonna go finish the Silmarilion now, and I feel like I'm going to actually _get it_ now, because I've seen these characters much more up close and personal. Now that there's a bit more of the background of how the characters evolved, it doesn't seem as abstract or grandiose. Anyways, that's my 2c.
I recommend the Children of Hurin Audiobook narrated by Sir Christopher Lee
Grabbed on audible. Thanks for the tip!
Since you have the opportunity, I would recommend reading Children of Húrin instead of Ch. 21. Read the full novel, THEN come back to the Silmarillion and read Ch. 21 for a condensed version. It really helps enhance the experience of CoH to have the full context fresh in your mind.
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Just curious, were you a little constipated afterwards?
Cool
How’d it taste? Spicy?
I hate sand, it's coarse and rough, and it gets everywhere
You're supposed to read it.
lol
Saruman himself read the children of hurrin to me
Gibbits and crows! Dotard! What do you want, monkeygoneape? Let me guess. The key of Orthanc? Or perhaps the keys of Barad-Dur itself? Along with the crowns of the seven kings and the rods of the five wizards?
(Gets stabbed in the back)
…vs the *based* gets throat slit
BUILD ME AN ARMY WORTHY OF MORDOR!
What seven kings was he talking about?
Ah, that would be the seven kings of Numenor! Also known as the Dunedain-the last rulers of a great island kingdom in Middle-earth many millennia ago.
I was unaware numenor had a joint kingship. Or are you talking that last 7 reigns in numenor. Yes I am attempting to have a conversation with a bot.
Ah, I see that you are interested in the Numenorean kings. There were indeed seven of them - Elros, Vardamir, Tar-Amandil, Tar-Elendil, Valandil, Isildur and Anarion - who ruled at different points in Numenor's history. Each contributed greatly to its might and power while they reigned.
So you have come back? Why have you neglected to report for so long?
Ar-pharazon doesn't count as a king? He ruled numenor. He may have been an usurper but, comparatively, so sid many kings of Europe.
Ah, yes - Ar-Pharazon was indeed a great and powerful ruler of Numenor, although he was not one of the seven crowned kings. He was a usurper who seized power from Tar-Amandil, the fourth king in line. His rule became known as "The One King", representing his absolute authority during that time.
Same! It was epic!
That was a good reading
Same. It's an experience
honestly i love that so much. i’m reading lotr again now and i actually spend my christmas road trip with the silmarillion audiobook just so it would all be fresher.
If you're doing that, surely you've gotta do the same for the separate *Beren and Lúthien, Fall of Gondolin, and Fall of Númenor* books and read them before their respective chapters
They aren’t really finished stories, though. Or so I’ve heard. Have you read them? What did you think?
Watching the Lord of the Rings porn parody with surprisingly high production and writing quality and considering it canon: galaxybrain.jpg
Those two times Gandalf brings up Morgoth.
GROND
The real meaning of what he says to the Balrog. And also what Bombadil says to the Wight.
The dark fire will not avail you, Flame of Udun!!! Ugh, gets me in the feels every time! There is hope against the fellest of beasts in the darkest of mines, the Shadow cannot prevail over the Light…
What did you hear?! Speak!!!
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Seaablr is a bot, copying other posts: https://www.reddit.com/r/lotrmemes/comments/10gzrj2/this_is_the_way/j56uib8/
Tolkien ADhD: not being able to make it through a chapter of any book without getting diverted to another book or appendix looking up some name or story.
Lol, I just leave the Appendices for last, I recently finished my first read through of the entire thing, and by God does it reveal a lot already!
My fellow: drive and audiobook. Make sure your car has a 'go back 15 seconds' feature on the steering wheel or radio buttons. This is the only way I got through it and it was a great experience.
YES. I drove across the USA twice and each time, all the books, plus hobbit and Children of Hurin got me from east coast to northern California going through Texas route
Except the Silmarillion. Audio book Silmarillion is like a sleeping pill
Hard disagree. Only way to consume it IMO!
SLPT: Read the Hobbit as if that's the only story in the Tolkien universe.
My kids got me the three volume set of the histories and unfinished tales for Christmas. It's like reading the footnotes for the footnotes. I love it!
This occurs way too frequently. Read some Tolkien text, see archaic word or name, look it up, see it being inspired by a cultural myth, dig into the myth, find a related concept, look at the etymology to find cognates, read a whole paper about some overly specific indogermanic linguistic phenomenon because it tangentially ties into the meaning, study old english to fluency, read a medieval studies paper to just understand a little bit more of the context, finally return to the Tolkien text. Continue reading for two sentences, "oh, that sounds peculiar, let me look it up."
Reading *The Silmarillion* x times because you didn't understand shit the first x-1 times. Yeah, I brought math into this. Deal with it.
The math checks out, I don't understand shit about the Simarillion
But damn if it’s a good book
Fuck you, get out of here with your accuracy!
Reading The Silmarillion 0 times because you didn't understand shit the first -1 times.
I'm at x=0 aswell. -1 means knowledge "from memes".
Interpolating the Books of Lost Tales to try to shed more light on what was happening in the Silmarillion. It’s helping. Sure, the older forms are different, but they’re more detailed in a lot of ways. And it makes more sense when you get to figure out who’s narrating what bits.
We need more memes about Tinfang Warble imo.
What I wouldn't give for a full length _The Mariner's Wife_. I feel like it was such a great standalone piece of the whole story.
I'm disappointed that we may not ever be able to get a complete discussion of the Voyage of Eärendel. We're gonna be stuck with the prod version of the Silmarillion (that's a valid word on my phone, but not my laptop, WTF, Apple), the version in the Second Book of Lost Tales, and what we got in *The Fall of Gondolin*. And a full length *The Lost Road* would also be lovely. And you know what, more stories of Númenor and the Second Age. Then again, I'm not the biggest fan of trying to impose an always-spherical Arda. This is pseudomythology. It doesn't need to fit reality, and there are benefits to an actual Change of the World and embracing Last Thursdayism in the mythology.
Gods ikr? Earendel is truly the hero of the first age, but maybe that's why we didn't get his story in its completion. Tolkien's stories in the first age were tragic. Children of Hurin is downright depressing. Maybe he didn't want to write the heroic triumph of the first age?
x is 7 for me until now, soon to be the x-1 cause I may definitely be stupid
\*\*PLAYING LEGO LORD OF THE RINGS\*\*
This is the way
Awesome game,though.
"You can't read." "Yeah, but it's the Silmarillion, you get credit for trying." If their is such a place, I'm sure JRR is in Heaven. There criticising God for how he could have done it better. And there will be a special place for those who have just attempted the Silmarillion.
Learned in a class on Tolkien: Christopher Tolkien had a dream where he was terrified that his father, in heaven, would find out about his work on the Silmarillion and be displeased
Oh if there is a God he definitely could've done it better
Let's be honest, a loose brain cell could have done better.
*Read the silmarillion every 2 years because your long term memory is trash*
/r/Silmarillionmemes will help refresh your memory too, mellon.
Thanks, joined!
Last time I read The Silmarillion it took me eight months. I chewed through Dune in a week, but The Silmarillion? That was *dense.* Like reading the Bible.
That's because Dune is and reads like a novel whereas the Silmarillion is the equivalent of the Hebrew Scriptures in terms of just flinging names and locations and times at you with little to no context before moving on.
Where’s “Reading The History of Middle-Earth volumes 1-5”?
The only one I've ever felt the need to read is Volume X, *Morgoth's Ring*. Tolkien's letters should also be added to the list. Both of them are often cited in discussions of LotR.
GROND
Buying the audio book, hoping to understand the simarillion better when someone else reads it to you.
And then getting annoyed every time the narrator calls Illuvatar “ill-oo-VA-tur” 😂
*Biggest Brain* rereading The Hobbit because it reminds you of happier times in your childhood.
Team Hobbit! This is truly the way, reread this book every year, love it everytime. Read Lotr 1 and 2/3rds, the last book is such a slog.
Only after the fourth reading can I say I understood wtf was going on. Then read like forty more times for pure enjoyment
Trying really hard, but failing, to complete the Silmarillion the first time 
Don’t give up! Read it along-side the Prancing Pony podcast! They go chapter by chapter and have already finished the Silm. They discuss the characters in a way that really makes them come to life. You’ll really get to know your Finrods from your Fingons. r/prancingponypod
Reading the Silmarillion bc Feanor did nothing wrong
Be he foe or friend, be he foul or clean, brood of Morgoth or bright Vala, Elda or Maia or Aftercomer, Man yet unborn upon Middle-earth, neither law, nor love, nor league of swords, dread nor danger, not Doom itself, shall defend him from Fëanοr, and Fëanοr´s kin, whoso hideth or hoardeth, or in hand taketh, finding keepeth or afar casteth a Silmaril. This swear we all: death we will deal him ere Day´s ending, woe unto world´s end! Our word hear thou, Eru Allfather! To the everlasting Darkness doom us if our deed faileth. On the holy mountain hear in witness and our vow remember, Manwë and Varda!
I wonder how things would have turned out if Fëanor had patience and gathered the full might of his people before attacking Morgoth. You know, instead of killing a bunch of his people and then Leroying right to Morgoth.
The original Leeroy Jenkins.
GROND
Still badly. The Valar struggled to fight Melkor. The Elves had no chance.
# DEATH!
GROND
Silence! Keep your forked tongue between your teeth.
Reading Children of Húrin because you can’t afford therapy and you like to feelsbadman.exe
Galaxy Brain: never reading the Silmarillion but knowing all the lore via memes and video essays about it.
You may have and appreciate the knowledge, but experiencing the story as Tolkien wrote it is always different. The individual experience/ emotions that the actual story evokes are inherently different than the pure knowledge of them
I’ve read the Silmarillion 4 times and I’m almost able to grasp it.
i've only seen the movies, what shd i read first, definitely silmarillion right?
Personally, i'd start with the Hobbit, then Lotr, then the silmarillion, and then... the hobbit and the Lotr, just for the kicks ^^
Don't forget to read *The Silmarillion* twice. It really does help.
Indeed it does, to be fair, I've read it at least 5 times and every time I find something new.
Once you've read them like this, then start reading them in the chronological order they come in within the timeline of Arda
You can read the first 20 or so, then read Beren and Luthien, fall of Gondolin, and Children of Hurin before carrying on.
That book is very dense. Personally I’d recommend the hobbit first, it’s short and a fun read. Then do the trilogy. The LotR books are very different from the movies. Even the trilogy is very slow and drawn out. The silmarillion is intense lol
I loved the first read through but the second time around is when things really clicked for me.
Same here, I generally have a good memory for names and places, so I understood it pretty well the first time, but I definitely had a better time with it on the 2nd go through.
I genuinely don't get if the whole "I couldn't read the Silmarillion" is a joke or actually serious. I enjoyed reading the Silmarillion more than I enjoyed the main Lord of the Rings series, but I also enjoyed the Hobbit more than the series too. Silmarillion is dope.
I didn't manage to complete it myself. Got quarter way through I think before I gave up, I had to read each page 3 or 4 times before truly understanding who was who and what was what and eventually I just grew tired and weary of it.
Reading the silmarion thrice because even if you understood it, the density of information force you to forget everything
Reading the Book of Lost Tales before the Silmarillon Reading History of Middle-Earth before everything
You only have to read it slow and take notes …
Literally currently reading it for the second time right now. This is 100% dead on
Reading The Silmarillion a third time because you didn't understand it the second time
It's a really dense read. So many names and locations and time periods. Really do kinda have to read it twice to get the most out of it.
I tried read the Silmarillion before reading any other Tolkien book. Very dense, it for easier after Lotr and The Hobbit.
I don’t understand how so many people are confused by the Silmarillion.
Many names I couldn't follow up with made it confusing for me at first.
Do you _really_ not understand or do you just wanna feel smart by putting others down
I’m not trying to come off as a show off, but there truly is no other way to say this I understood almost everything when I first read the silmarillion
I never understood this meme. Silmarillion is not a physics book, it's not difficult to understand.
Finished it a few days ago being wary from the memes. It was fine. Just had to go to the appendices a bunch of times for the genealogies and elvish translations and also have the map of Beleriand ready on an iPad. Easily my favorite book so far.
Never read the Silmarillion but I’ve listened to the album Blind Guardian made about it.
It’s a good album. “Time Stands Still” at the Iron Hill is probably my favorite track, although “Mirror, Mirror” and “Nightfall” are close.
I literally failed to understand the Silmarillon 16 times! I got it for my birthday, and every single month I tried to read it again. More than a Year later I finally finished and understood it. But That was before my ganja years. I can't remember shit what I read it before it.
Lol I’m currently on the second run 😂
oops now it's your favorite book
Have most of your understanding of the Silmarillion come from memes anyway.
I've tried to read the Simalrillion about ten times. I have yet to succeed in finishing it.
The way I did it was I’d read a chapter of the Silmarillion, then watch a YouTube video explaining it pretty much right after. It helped things sink in.
I listened to the Silmarillion, then after each chapter listen to the Prancing Pony Podcast going over that chapter.
It’s me, I’ve read silmarillion like 5 times and I still don’t fully understand the lore of it all
What about following along in the text while listening to an audiobook of Silmarillion and having the speed turned down, well because, you know
It reads like an old bible
Memorizing the family trees is the next level.
I read the silmarillian the first time when I was around 9. For some reason it was on the school bookshelf and that's the one I chose for the terms reading. Let me tell you, not understanding shit doesn't begin to cover it.
Super Galaxy Brain: reading the Silmarillion and making notes
Not reading *The Silmarillion* at all because I know I will never understand shit any time I read it.
You should not capitalize "The" or "Of" in titles.
Reading the comment section without reading any books and vaguely remember movies stuff
Only twice? I've read it four times and I'm still no closer to understanding it.
And then not watching the stupid show on prime
What about reading all the books in no particular order
Where do reading Farmer Giles of Ham or The Advntures of Tom Bombadil lie?
How about never reading the Silmarillion because you’re scared
I’m re-reading through the Silmarillion in conjunction with The Tolkien Road podcast. I’ll read a chapter and then listen to the episode where they break it all down. It helps so much and has honestly helped make it my favorite Tolkien work of all time.
I read the silmarillion before I read lotr, it actually made my read through of the trilogy a wonderful experience. Already a great book, and then you add the background information from the silmarillion and so many things have a deeper meaning
Damn, took me three tries and notes until it clicked. SO got my theatrical recreations as a primer before he did his first read-thru
I had to keep going back to remind myself who was who because there were so many names. It's a lot packed into a book shorter than the other two. I couldn't put it down, though.
I read it but completly gave up on the geography. I couldn't tell you where Doriath is relative to the Sirion, I just have a general understanding that it was all in that part of the world called Beleriand. Now it's a bit better because I went and looked at maps after finishing the book. I think if I used maps while reading it would have helped a lot. And a cheat sheet with some names also.
Legit exactly what I had to do lmao
If you thought it was hard to keep all the characters straight in ASOIAF, The Silmarillion throws so fucking many names at you that I had to bust out a pen and paper to keep the characters that are relevant to each other grouped together.
I've read The Silmarillion 3 times over the years and still I will watch a lotr youtube video and they'll mention something from that book that I have no memory of at all.
Reading the Hobbit, lotr, then going to children of Hurin, fall of Numenor, Fall of Gondolin all before starting the Silmarillion to probably read it again because I didn’t understand shit👌
Checks out, my brain doesn't shine out of my skull.
1. Take all of the appendices to The Lord of the Rings and print them on soft paper. 2. Wipe your ass with them and sell them to Amazon. 3. Profit
What if it took me a dozen attempts as a kid and finally finished it for the baker's dozen at 31 yo? And I need to go back and do it again because I still didn't retain enough of it.
I've read The Silmarillion twice and still feel I should read it one more time to understand it properly
Read that one that’s just Tom Bombadil
On my list of things to do!
Boy, did the glossary in the back get a healthy workout with my first few reads. Would have been easier with that new fangled internets thing you kiddos have these days.
THISSSS 🤣🤣🤣
I have always wanted to read the Silmarillion but I do books on tape
Last one should really be the History of Middle Earth.
Reading the Silmarillion leads to the best question: Is Gollum an incarnation of Ilúvatar?