Is The Silmarillion a "downer"

[Lush]

Mmmm.

The Silmarillion depressed me the way memories sometimes do when they conjure up people and places lost in time. But even so, this so-called depression was bittersweet, and not unsatisfying.

I would attribute it not the occurences in the plot, although there are a few real "downers" naturally, but to the tone of the work: elegaic, mournful. The Silmarillion is a history and a myth that you become emotionally involved with in spite of the distance placed between you and the characters. It's uncanny, really.

It's both depressing and hopeful, that's for sure, but in such a powerful way that it left me shaking after the first time I read it.