The Silmarillion
The Silmarillion is a collection of mythopoeic works by J.R.R. Tolkien, edited and published posthumously by his son Christopher Tolkien in 1977. It tells the deep history of Middle-earth and the wider world, beginning with the creation of the world and extending through the First Age and beyond, providing the mythological foundation on which The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings rest. Tolkien worked on these legends throughout his life, and they were the labor he held closest, though he never completed them for publication.
The book takes its name from the Silmarils, the three holy jewels made by the Elf Fëanor, which capture the light of the Two Trees of Valinor and around whose theft and recovery much of the First Age turns.
Contents
The Silmarillion is composed of several distinct parts. The Ainulindalë tells of the creation of the world through music. The Valaquenta describes the Valar and lesser powers who shape and guard the world. The Quenta Silmarillion, the longest section, recounts the history of the First Age: the making and theft of the Silmarils by the Dark Lord Morgoth, the oath of Fëanor, the wars of the Elves and the first Men against Morgoth, and the great tales of Beren and Lúthien, of Túrin Turambar, and of the fall of the hidden city of Gondolin.
The volume concludes with two shorter sections: the Akallabêth, telling of the rise and drowning of the island kingdom of Númenor in the Second Age, and Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age, which summarizes the forging of the Rings of Power, the deeds of Sauron, and the events leading into and through The Lord of the Rings.
Place in the legendarium
The Silmarillion supplies the ancient backstory referred to throughout Tolkien's better-known novels: the light of the Two Trees of Valinor, the first defeat of the great Enemy, the origins of Sauron, and the long history of the Elves and Men. It is darker, more remote, and more biblical in tone than The Lord of the Rings, written in the manner of a compiled mythology rather than a single continuous narrative.
Publication
The Silmarillion was published in 1977, four years after Tolkien's death, assembled by Christopher Tolkien from his father's many manuscripts and drafts. It became a bestseller and remains the essential source for the deep history of Middle-earth.