The Silmarillion - The Alpha & Omega of Fantasy

The Silmarillion was fairly good. It's sad we never got to see what Tolkien would have wanted. Children of Hurin is fucking brilliant and probably out does LOTR in content (not completeness or grandeur by any means). I just finished the Tree and Leaf book that is being printed, it was a pleasure to read. I've found Tolkien a lot more approachable after learning Old English. His poetry makes more sense but it still lacks the finesse of an accomplished poet. His translation of Beowulf is shit, but the notes at the back are useful. And LOTR his magnum opus is of course an incredible novel and fuck all the patricians who will deny its brilliance.

>>7570606
I agree

>>7571622
great input, very constructive.

tolkien ripped off everything from dark ages. every character, every name, every location, every god every myth every song every speech literally everything is taken from works, notes and books from the dark ages.

>>7571792
>dark ages

are you retarded?

>>7571809
i'm talking about year 800-1200 roughly. mostly european works, he stole from.

>>7570606
Most people here admit LOTR is worth the read for comfy alone and gets a pass despite being the genre shit grand vampire

>>7570001
>the Children of Hurin
I never understood the purpose of that story.

>literally every awful thing that can happen to a character, does, one tragedy after the next, he literally lives his entire life in the shadow of a doom that would utterly consume and destroy him...

I mean, what the fuck is anyone suppose to take away from this?

>>7570001
waste of everyone's time

File: 1298827804252.jpg (52KB, 897x669px) Image search: [Google]

52KB, 897x669px

>>7572228
>le edgy super sophisticated contrarian face

File: tumblr_o0g4n86QDL1ta01rko1_500.jpg (84KB, 500x550px) Image search: [Google]

84KB, 500x550px

>>7572220
fuck with the best die like the rest

>>7571657
Yeh.

>>7571792
>he thinks taking stories names and characters is valid criticism

o i am laffin'

>>7571792


None of that is true at all in any way. You're fucking retarded.

>>7571792
Im curios. Where are alll tose germanic/keltic myths of glowing trees, giant spiders, Creatures that can chanche their optical presence and gender at anytime,giant deamons made out of fire and ice. Oh and all of this created by music. Yea of course everythings just a rip-off right ?

>>7574233
The poems and songs are amazing. If you haven't already, check out the Tolkien Ensemble. They make music based around his lyrics.

>>7572220
The Children of Húrin is pretty much the story of Kullervo in Kalevala; Tolkien just renames the characters, adds some stuff of his own and places it in Middle-Earth.

>>7570606

Why is his beowulf bad? Wasnt being THE top beowulf scholar something that helped him out? I didnt like seamus' translation.

>>7570001
Silmarillion and Children of Hurin are both great. I really liked how they expand the universe and how you get to know all of the characters and events of the old times that are only referred to in Lord of the Rings.

>>7570001
I don't know, that whole world is too heavy for me and I would get bored of it. I thought the Dune series was a good sized saga.

Anyways, my brother got into reading, but besides a few other books he read throughout high school and college, he is still only reading away at Tolkien books. I think he should take some breaks and read different things as well as finishing this series eventually.

I read it before I read the Bible so I kinda sorta found a lot of parallels between the Bible and Silmarilion.

I should really read the classics.

>>7577769
>finding similarity in 2 creation myths
shocking

>>7570001
I tried to read it a few years ago and it bored me to shit, may try again, hoobit is the greatest of Tolkien's works

>>7577845
Hobbit* sorry for the spelling error

the worm ouroboros is a cooler thing to read than any tolkien, imo

>>7577845
As your reading it try to take notes and make an effort to remember the names. Also print out a map and have it handy. If you actually made an effort to understand things it might be more interesting.

>>7570001
Never got around to finishing it. I love The Hobbit and LOTR (Fellowship is actually my favorite novel in all literature), but I couldn't get past the beginning. It's on my to-do list.

I wish more poeple, when referencing the series, would read it, though, instead of just looking at LOTR. Did you know werewolves, humongous dragons and giant bats/vampires were a thing in Middle-Earth? I didn't!

>>7579655
once you get past the creation myth and all that jazz in Silmarillion it gets a lot easier and more entertaining I think.

>>7580579
That makes sense. Creation myths are always very boring to me, even though I love real world mythology.

Tolkien is brilliant. As it was said, its comfy, have nice poetry and a strong influence of his christianity in his books, which mix up perfectly with the middle earth/the story context