While not graphic, violence is very present. There are other instances of violence - characters dying or killing others - in the story, but this covers a good bit of it. Túrin Turambar slays quite a few men in his tale, including his dearest friend whom he thought was attacking him. An Elf is taken by Morgoth and hung on a precipice by an iron band around his right wrist, and to get him down his friend cuts off that hand. One character is thrown over the side of a cliff, so ending his life. A woman is shot with a poisoned arrow and dies from the wound. He imprisons several people in his dungeons, tortures other people, and in various and sundry ways attempts to kill characters.Ī man's hand is bitten off by a wolf. There are many battles, fights, and deaths throughout the stories the Valar war against Morgoth (Melkor) and he attempts to destroy Arda, once employing the use of the spider Ungoliant. Enchantments and spells are used by some of the Elves. There are immortal Elves in this story as there are in the rest of The Lord of the Rings, and there are evil creatures like Ungoliant the Spider. Later the three jewels known as the Silmarils, which are at the heart of the stories, are made from the light of the Trees they are not magical, but they are powerful all the same. Twin Trees grow in Valinor for the protection of that place from Melkor, similar to the mystical trees from the Norse mythology and the Tree of Life of Eden. They are also capable of creating just about anything, as is Melkor. These beings have a great deal of power and command the earth, the sea, the air, etc. They are the Ainur who dwell in Arda (Earth) instead of with Ilúvatar, giving it its life being, rather, gods of the earthly elements. The Valar, mentioned periodically throughout this book and the Lord of the Rings trilogy, are known as the Powers of the World. For his rebellion Melkor, later known as Morgoth, becomes the enemy of Ilúvatar and the Valar. By their song they sing into existence the World during the music, however, one of the Ainur rebels against the mind of Ilúvatar and decides to sing his own song in opposition to the rest of the music. Eru, or Ilúvatar, who seems to be an eternal god, creates first the Ainur (Holy Ones) and commands them to sing. However, Tolkien himself said that he was not fond of allegory and his world-making, though it bears some similarities to the Genesis account, was never meant to be Christian. The story begins with a cosmogony - with the creation of the world. The Silmarillion is in many ways a mythology of a fantastical world, and so there is a lot of talk of the Valar, the Maiar (lesser spirits), and Eru/Ilúvatar. Honor, love, and courage are some of the more prominent virtues displayed by the heroes and heroines.Īs this is written as a chronicling of events, however, there are places where men commit wrongs (a man kills his friend out of anger, for instance) and there is no direct recompense but neither are these actions smiled upon or swept under the carpet - they do reflect upon the characters of the people involved. When there is treachery it is not condoned, and selfishness and other such actions are not rewarded. That outlines good and evil pretty starkly right at the beginning, and as the history progresses there is a clear idea of right and wrong. The Valar are described as holy because they follow the word of Ilúvatar, while Melkor is evil because of his rebellion and desire for the work of the Valar to be destroyed. It is the history of that world, taken from its creation to the sailing of Eärendil into the West. The Silmarillion is the story of Tolkien's Middle Earth before Bilbo and Frodo, before the rise of Sauron, before the Age of Men. A fascinating, moving tale of Middle Earth and its people during the First Age.
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