a. Introduction
Welcome to the Silmarillion Survival Guide. The Silmarillion is a collection of Tolkien’s myths dating back to 1917 and remaining unfinished throughout his lifetime. The legends within tell of the beginnings and early days of the place we have all come to love, Middle-earth. In the four years between Tolkien’s passing and the printing of The Silmarillion, Tolkien’s son Christopher spent countless hours reading and arranging his father’s work into The Silmarillion we know today.
The purpose of this guide is to be a printable aid for first time and early Silmarillion readers. The Silmarillion is an extensive work, spanning Tolkien’s life and therefore much information is given in its pages. We are confident that with the aid of the guide, new readers will fall in love with The Silmarillion just as countless others have.
Are you wondering what makes our guide unique? We offer:
~ Short, simple entries
~ Pronunciation guide as well as a pronunciation for each entry where needed, including number of syllables of each entry and mark for the main stress.
~ we try to show the ties between The Silmarillion and the more popular works of J.R.R.Tolkien: we offer a “You know them from” line for entries that are mentioned in the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit.
~ Maps and family trees in the sections where they will be most helpful.
~ Images for certain characters, places and objects (see Artist Credits for the complete list of authors and images)
~ brief Chapter Summaries, each featuring a quote to illustrate the chapter, and a “To Remember” line for Characters, Places and Other that includes only those names that are essential to remember.
It is our hope that this guide will provide the user with valuable information as they submerge themselves in this extraordinary world.
Realm of Vairë’s SSG Team
6 Comments
That is what we all need. A Silmarillion guide. I am struggling reading through the Silmarillion. Hopefully this will help.
Wonderful. I am trying to help one of my friends survive reading the Silmarillion, and I have been spending an irrational amount of time drawing pictures, diagrams, family trees, heraldic devices, summaries, etc. etc. This will make my life much easier.
I am reading The Silmarillion for the third time and I think this guide will be quite helpful.
A star shines upon the hour of our meeting
Yes, this should be very helpful as it is very hard to read the Silmarillion, thank you whoever’s idea this was!
Sweet winds and light waters ’til next we meet
I’m reading it right now. I hope this helps!
Maë govannen! Thanks for this guide I hope it will help and make the reading much more interesting.