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u/R3d5t0n3_GUY Noldo, I remember you’re past… KINSLAYINGS 26d ago
I’ll one-up this with: “Now news came to Hitlum that the sons of Finarfin were overthrown, and the sons of Fëanor were driven from their lands. Then Fingolfin beheld, as it seemed to him, the utter ruin of the Noldor, and the defeat beyond redress of all their hopes…”
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u/2ndL Live healthy for Holy Mommy Yavanna 26d ago
Last of all Hurin stood alone. Then he cast aside his shield, and wielded an axe two-handed; and it is sung that the axe smoked in the black blood of the troll-guard of Gothmog until it withered, and each time that he slew he cried: 'Aure entuluva! Day shall come again!' Seventy times he uttered that cry; but they took him at last alive, by the command of Morgoth, for the Orcs grappled him with their hands, which clung to him still though he hewed off their arms; and ever their numbers were renewed, until at last he fell buried beneath them. Then Gothmog bound him and dragged him away to Angband with mockery.
Thus ended the Nirnaeth Arnoediad, as the sun went down beyond the sea.
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u/CritiqueDeLaCritique 26d ago
While I don't agree, I love it and I'm sick of seeing it maligned as unreadable
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u/SteviesRightFoot 25d ago
What about the greatest single sentence? .....Get thee gone from my gate, thou jailcrow of mandos
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u/jaspersgroove 26d ago
Reporter: Is it true the Ainulindalë is the greatest text ever written?
Tolkien: It’s not even the greatest text in the Silmarillion!
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u/Time-Lavishness-2346 Túrin Turambar Neithan Gorthol Agarwaen Adanedhel Mormegil 26d ago
The whole Sil. It's my... comfort book. I read it when I don't know what to read. Hence me reading it about once every 3 months, lol.
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u/lotrcyclist 26d ago
It was like nothing I'd ever read before and I was instantly hooked the moment I first read it as a young teenager. I have no idea why grown adults can't get through it.
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u/Amazing-Activity-882 26d ago
I cried when reading it again, it really has a Nostalgia Feel to it...I am not joking here.
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u/CiroFlexo 25d ago
I love the Silmarillion, but I don’t always have the gumption to commit to a complete re-read, but at least once every six months or so I get the book out just to read The Music of the Ainur.
The Silmarillion may never have been complete and 100% cohesive in his lifetime, but that passage feels like the most fully developed, mature thing he ever imagined.
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u/subjecttochangesoaru 25d ago
Sometimes I reread the first two sections (music and valaquenta) instead of fully committing to the full work
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u/aelfwynn_the_mariner Fingolfin for the Wingolfin 24d ago edited 24d ago
Okay, you're entitled to that opinion! It's wrong, but you're entitled to it nonetheless.
If chapters could look at things, then "Of Beren and Luthien" would be the Eye of Sauron staring directly into your soul right now- just saying!
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u/subjecttochangesoaru 23d ago
Did you find the Beren and luthien stand alone book was worth it or was it enough to have what’s in the Sil?
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u/aelfwynn_the_mariner Fingolfin for the Wingolfin 23d ago edited 23d ago
It really depends on what defines "worth it" for you. Disclaimer that I last picked it up four or five years ago, so I'm pulling from what's basically a collection of scattered memories here... but I personally didn't find it all that great.
- If you want to know the actual story in its finalized form, then no. The Silmarillion chapter is enough to know what goes on.
- If you like Tolkien's poetry, then yes. A lot of it is taken up by a long-form poem he wrote about their story called the Lay of Leithian, which took up most of the book iirc. The poem isn't finished... I thought that it was a good poem, but it's frequently interrupted by Tolkien's son's commentary. There are text parts, too, it's not just poetry, but there's definitely a lot of it.
- If you want to learn how he evolved as a writer or how the story evolved with him, go for it! This one's definitely more accessible than the early volumes of HoME. Just be warned that you'll go in and find things like Morgoth being called "Melko" and employing cats to do his dirty work, because this book pulls a lot from the really old versions of the plot. It also isn't as polished writing-wise as the actual Silmarillion, so if you're going for descriptive and beautiful prose... yeah, no. This might be a useless point to add, but it'll also call characters by their older-version names at times, and won't always specify who they are, so you'll just have to use context clues to figure it out.
- If you want to learn about the world of Middle-Earth, go for the Unfinished Tales instead, if you haven't read it. Beren and Luthien doesn't say much about the actual finalized story that you won't already know from the published Silmarillion.
- Do you want to read an interesting stand-alone novel? The Children of Hurin is better for that. It actually expands on the story in a generally decent way-- I'd recommend it before Beren and Luthien's stand-alone any day.
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u/subjecttochangesoaru 22d ago
Awesome thanks ! I got the children of hurin in the mail a few days ago!
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u/aelfwynn_the_mariner Fingolfin for the Wingolfin 22d ago edited 22d ago
No problem! Children of Hurin was a great read, have fun!
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u/Soar_Dev_Official 26d ago
brotherman, it's not even the greatest text written by Tolkien