[Anguirel]

I'm writing blind at the moment, since of course now the Silmarillion is being discussed I find myself without a copy...I'll remedy that at the library tomorrow.

Anyway. I love the Silmarillion, as is easy enough to gather. I love it more than the Lord of the Rings, actually; the grand style, the epic heroes in defeat, the absence of small furry-footed ones...

I first tried to read it, I think, when I was eight or nine, not long after I finished the Lord of the Rings. But I was collared by the Ainulindale and gave up. I was only to make another foray four years later.

Here's my sort of list of credits and debits about the Ainulindale-

Credits

Sheer aesthetic beauty
The power of song (surely pinched by C.S. Lewis in the Magician's Nephew, a book I loved long ere I saw the Silmarillion)
A certain kind of Miltonic majesty

Debits

Distance of characters. These Ainur are the first and most powerful creations of the One. No Elves, let alone men, in sight
Sparcity of characters-let's face it, it's essentially Illuvatar and Melkor; the rest of the Ainur remain a faceless chorus, from what I remember anyway
Lack of a hero...or is there?

No, ladies and gentlemen, there is most certainly a hero in this chapter. And his name, in my opinion, is He Who Arises In Might.

I definitely find myself of the devil's party at this stage. Here we have an individualist, a rebel, defying a horde of nameless goody-goodies and even winning some over. For much of the passage Illuvatar seems a repressive and staid father-God.

I say much of the passage because there is a benevolence and beautiful reassurance in Illuvatar's hints as to the workings of fate. Illuvatar's promise is something we will nurse and treasure throughout the darkest chapters of human/elven tragedy in the Silmarillion, as we watch our favourite characters be slain or tormented.

Somehow, it's all going to work for the best.