Is The Silmarillion a "downer"

[Aiwendil]

A_Brandybuck wrote:

Indirectly! But he could his plaguer face again in the Last Battle! That should be reward enough.

At least up until the 1937 Silmarillion, anyway. Remember that later the myth of his return was altered so that he returns not at the end of the world but rather at the end of the First Age, replacing Earendil as the slayer of Ancalagon - but this change was never actually worked into any Silmarillion text.

The Last Battle, the Dagor Dagorath, however, seems to have survived in some form to the end of Tolkien's life, for it is mentioned in a fragment of alliterative verse on the Istari (found in UT) that probably dates from 1972. I think that this enduring aspect of the mythology is perhaps more important than it is sometimes thought; apart from the earliest "Sketch of the Mythology", all texts in the Silmarillion tradition (as distinct from the Annalistic tradition) end with something regarding the last battle. And it is not just a battle - it is the final defeat of Melkor/Morgoth, the restoration of the Trees, and (in the language of the '50s metaphysical writings) the beginning of Arda Remade. There is thus a profoundly important manifestation of hope that did not make it into the published Silmarillion at all.

Quite apart from this, though, I do not find the Quenta Silmarillion on the whole to be especially tragic or depressing. There is certainly much tragedy in it, and many of its component stories could be called tragedies (particularly the Turin saga and the Ruin of Doriath). But it does, after all, have a happy ending - the Valar are moved to pity; Morgoth is overthrown; the Noldor are forgiven; the Edain are rewarded. We have here what I would call the quintessential Tolkienian eucatastrophe. It is, to be sure, no more a simplisticly happy ending than the ending of LotR; but it is happy nonetheless. Real tragedies don't end with the good guys winning.

[Tuor of Gondolin]

My view of The Silmarillion is not unlike that of Aiwindil, it seems to "end" on a generally positive note, including "justice" for the sons of Feanor, with the sad
final inability of maglor to get Maedhros to stop their efforts to get the Silmarils.

And, as was observed above, it is interesting that the Silmarillion ending is
really more upbeat then LOTR's.

Which is why I find all the more curious Tolkien's portrayal of The Silmarillion.

[drigel]

For me (and already noted above), the Silm's themes that are touched upon are wrapped around the Fall from grace, and the Loss of perfection. First with the Vala, then trickling down to all other sentient beings. Tragic enough, yet compelling to account the Heroics in which the players engage in. Men (IMO) is where the optimistism turns it around. Grim work yes - from the very beginning men find themselves on an already dirty battlefield. Here we find another tragedy: the beginning of the end for the elves. But in the second born we see Hope.

As in most Heroic sagas, Tragedy and Heroism are mutual partners. You cant have one without the other.