The opening with Eru creating Arda is one of the greatest things

I've never read Tolkien, actually, but my days off playing Angband have made me a lot more interested in the Silmarillion than LotR.

I liked the part where Morgoth accidentally made clouds and snowflakes.

>>9929939
why is it called the the silmarils

>>9929939
It's not bad, but I wouldn't call a reimagination of the Biblical creation narrative one of the greatest things ever. It's not far above Narnia's creation narrative, if at all.
Now Beren and Luthien, that's good.

>>9930330
I can only imagine your smugness as you typed that. Beren and Luthien is easily the worst of the lays of Beleriand, so that speaks to your shit taste more than anything.

>>9930330
gay post desu

I'm reading the hobbit currently, Its is fucking lit.

The Silmarillion is probably one of the biggest reasons I'm a Catholic today. I was already drawn to Christianity but it was reading the Silmarillions account of creation that I had a sort of epiphany about its parallels to Genesis. I felt like I finally started to understand Christianity and it sparked an scripture that still hasn't died years later.

>>9931948
wew lad
It's not like I think The Silmarillion is nonfiction.

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>>9929939
>Read Silmarillion
>This is pretty cool
>Later read Iliad,OT,Beowulf,Kavela and other western myths
>Realize how genius Tolkien is
>Realize that outside of traditional value Silmarillion/LoTR universe overshadows them all in beauty and depth

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>>9930330
>Now Beren and Luthien, that's good
Is this well crafted bait?

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>>9930014
Patrician as fuck, I had the same reaction.

Tolkien phrased the problem of Morgoth's 'evil' in a way that impressed me as well but I honestly don't know what I think of it.
>Then Ilúvatar spoke, and he said: ‘Mighty are the Ainur, and mightiest among them is Melkor; but that he may know, and all the Ainur, that I am Ilúvatar, those things that ye have sung, I will show them forth, that ye may see what ye have done. And thou, Melkor, shalt see that no theme may be played that hath not its uttermost source in me, nor can any alter the music in my despite. For he that attempteth this shall prove but mine instrument in the devising of things more wonderful, which he himself hath not imagined'.
Why are all Catholics so fatalistic as fuck?
> And thou, Melkor, wilt discover all the secret thoughts of thy mind, and wilt perceive that they are but a part of the whole and tributary to its glory.'

>>9929939
Can I read this shit if I haven't read LotR, but watched the movies when I was a kid? Not sure if I want to go through the whole series just to get to this

>>9932834
I wouldn't recommend it.

>>9932834
it takes place before so why wouldn't you

>>9932843
why not, my friend

>>9933042
>>9932995
Unless you have a keen and established interest and familiarity with Tolkien's universe it will all seem uncentered, random names doing random things. I wouldn't expect it to take.

Are you going to remember Varda as an entirely new character and idea with no prior context, or remember her as someone referenced by prior characters in the established and conventional story of TLotR making this further explication welcome and informative.

>>9929939
literally better than the Bible

>>9932834
It's actually better to read the silmarillion first and then lotr. It's better imo and gives essential background information that'll let you see the events in lotr in their bigger context.

Blake did it first

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>>9935698
>muh Satan
Morgoth is much more interesting by virtue of characters like Turin and Maeglin.
>tfw comfy reading the Book of Lost Tales right now

>>9936547
Blake's Luciferian figures are more interesting, though. He also has fucking Milton as a character.

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Time for you to read the most melancholy and beautiful fantasy book ever.
Maybe you think "oh now I won't be touched by it"
NOPE
Nothing can prepare you for this.

Also Beren and Luthien came out this year.

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>>9936596
Even reading the TL:DR version of it in Silmarillion won't prepare you for what lies within these pages.

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>>9936596
The Children of Hurin fucking haunts me to this day. That's exactly the word for it, haunting. Turin's tale is unmitigated tragedy, it really reminds me of the Greek classics but set in an immeasurably more magical and beautiful world,Beleriand in its youth. I haven't the words to do it justice. It's such an improvement over the version in the Silmarillion too, Christopher Tolkien accomplishes this economy of narrative, it really feels like you're being told the tale as one might be from within the world it describes, it has something of the campfire story and oral legend captured in its very essence. You will weep for Turin, so noble, so fair, so hapless and utterly defeated.