Why is it so difficult?

[Boromir88]

I was kind of like Fea and morm combined, and this is probably why I only read the Sil completely through once.

It's really a story I didn't enjoy, or not in the way that I enjoy Lord of the Ring. I think this is where the problem occurs of reading the Sil.

As morm says it feels incohesive. Yes, there's this timeline of events, but it's not really one set storyline like there is in LOTR. We also have to remember the manner in which The Sil was put together. As CT talks about, doing so was a huge and difficult task, as trying to fit together the best and most cohesive story as was possible. The Sil was more or less a collection of stories that took place over a long period of time. He wanted to put together the Sil into a rough timeline creating a clear story. But, it doesn't work to the same effect LOTR did, because it's a collection of mini stories.

I didn't get the same feel as I do when reading LOTR. LOTR there is a lot of progression as this is a story spanning a little over a year about Frodo's journey with the Ring and Aragorn's journey of becoming a King. Now there is some background and historical information, but it felt much more like a story and it was put together. This was easy to do, and to show developement and progress of the characters, because it focused around one story in a rather small amount of time.

With The Silmarillion, it is a history over several thousand years, so it feels choppy, I didn't feel as connected to the characters. I think Folwren referring to it as a history book fits in quite right. As The Sil is a group of stories spanning over a vast period of time...to do to The Sil what Tolkien did to LOTR would be virtually impossible.

Also as Fea put it, it's just so many facts and information to digest. To digest all that info I mean my mind would just simply explode. So, I treat The Sil more as something to refer to, if I'm looking for an argument to discuss/debate, rather than a story to sit down and read like LOTR.

[Lalwendë]

Originally Posted by Durelin

That almost makes it sound like homework.

That's because it is.....Tolkien was not a teacher for nothing. He knew exactly how to keep us on his Straight Path....

Seriously though. There's no need to stress out over the Sil, as it does not have to be read as a 'novel', in fact its often better read in chunks or sections, even just in chapters, as Boromir88 and narfforc have suggested. Just select tales you like and read those to begin with, if that's something you're more comfortable with. Don't worry too much about all the names and places, just enjoy each story, as each one has its own narrative and structure, and each one is different.

[MatthewM]

Well, I haven't read the Silmarillion yet, but my friend who did isn't a fan. Like everyone else said, he thought it was 'alright'. I'll get around to reading it one day and judging for myself.

[Lalwendë]

Originally Posted by MatthewM

Well, I haven't read the Silmarillion yet, but my friend who did isn't a fan. Like everyone else said, he thought it was 'alright'. I'll get around to reading it one day and judging for myself.

Give it a go, it's worth it!

My mate thinks its better than LotR, and I'm sure there are people here who would agree.

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

Originally Posted by Lalwendë

My mate thinks its better than LotR, and I'm sure there are people here who would agree.

A lot of it's just formatting. It's not so much the lack of continuity or the info lists in the Silm that are scary hard. It's that it's all structured in such a way as that you look for continuity in vain. It would be an easier read, I think, if seperated into sections or "short stories" instead of chapters.

At the same time, the difficulty of the read insists upon a certain level of commitment. You finish it feeling - So what if you don't remember any of the names? - a certain level of pride and accomplishment.

[mormegil]

Originally Posted by Lalwendë

Give it a go, it's worth it!

My mate thinks its better than LotR, and I'm sure there are people here who would agree.

Aye. I tend to like it better but that does waiver from time to time. Overall I like some of the stories in The Silm better than LotR...can you imagine that one of those is the story of Turin?

[Macalaure]

Originally Posted by Lal

My mate thinks its better than LotR, and I'm sure there are people here who would agree.

Neither better nor worse. They're just too different to be compared.

I read the Sil for the first time a few years ago. The beginning was horrifying. The first few chapters incredibly dragged. Sure, you get to know about Elbereth and the dwarves and it's all quite interesting, but it's really painful to read through it. And then comes the ultimate character overkill in "Of Eldamar". I guess the only way to keep on reading at this point is to completely forget about all the names: each of them will be introduced again, in a proper way and mostly seperate.
Things got more interesting when I reached the Rebellion of the Noldor. Now I finally had a plot to follow and actually started wondering what might happen next and my reading sped up. By the time I reached the 'classic' hero stories of Beren and Lúthien and Túrin I was into it. Every evening I read one chapter and even though the chapters are only loosely connected, I still felt the story flow.

When I was through at last I immediately read it again, and finally the early chapters made sense and it became a whole. narfforc's suggestion to read from end to beginning might really be worth a shot.

To me, The Silmarillion is much more of a 'fantasy story' than The Lord of the Rings. The LotR presents you a fantastic story that you can just read from beginning to end without interruptions. The Sil clearly demands a little more from its reader. You actually have to utilise your own imagination and fantasy to make it come to life. Imagine the Sil was written with as much detail as the LotR. It'd be of the length of the whole HoMe, just plain story, no notes, no repetition. But the Sil doesn't present this to the reader, the reader has to do it itself.
Well, this is the way I see the Silmarillion. I hope this does not sound as unpleasurable as homework. It certainly wasn't (and is, I'm still 'writing' that story in my mind) for me.

[Durelin]

I think it's actually quite fair to say that it can seem like homework, because so many of us have been conditioned into feeling like "this is work, and this isn't." These days (gah, I used the phrase! First, it is an abused phrase. Second, I am only 17 years old and I know quite well that I am not justified in saying it. But I'm using it anyway! Just try and stop me!) anything that really stimulates the mind isn't largely considered enjoyable. When I tell people (normally around my age) that I enjoy very much simply reading and writing, they look at me like I'm nuts. This is how many people look at it, but certainly not all (otherwise I really wouldn't get along with anyone). There is plenty of example of people (around my age) who don't look at it like that here on the 'Downs...

To me, The Silmarillion is much more of a 'fantasy story' than The Lord of the Rings.

That's really interesting, because I think the opposite. I feel like LotR is a fantasy story, while the Sil is more like a myth. But I find defining those to be difficult.

And personally, I think LotR takes quite a lot of imagination and thought to really realize and visualize it. I almost think that, though the characters and the plot itself is easier to follow (because it's one overall plot and one overall set of characters) in LotR than in the Sil, keeping up with the physical descriptions can be tiring. A strong ability in spatial reasoning is not something I possess, and I found it difficult to imagine settings when Tolkien described them, and he spent quite a bit describing them, I think.

As for writing the story yourself, I think we do that all the time in the RP forums.

[Folwren]

Perhaps I gave the wrong impression. Yes, it is like a History book, but I never considered like some bit of homework.

Originally Posted by MatthewM

Well, I haven't read the Silmarillion yet, but my friend who did isn't a fan. Like everyone else said, he thought it was 'alright'. I'll get around to reading it one day and judging for myself.

Do read it. It is excellent. It took me a long time (and two tries) to read it, but when I finally finished it, I was more than happy I'd read it.

Some of my favorite books takes a long time to read and long time to get into. For instance, Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens is an incredible book and I love it, but I've only read it once, because it is difficult to get into. Same as the Sil. That book is awesome, really it is, it's just...harder. And yet, it seems, many, many times in life, the harder something is to accomplish, the greater the outcome.

-- Folwren

[Lalwendë]

I think a lot of the problems people have with the Sil is that Tolkien wrote it in the style of genuine Mythology. Pick up a copy of the Mabinogion and you will experience the same style, slightly distant and 'high', a sense that the text was not written in the same century which produced The Hobbit. This is a huge shock following close on the heels of one of the greatest and most readable narratives of all time, LotR.

But once you get over the shock, there are some beautiful and terrifying stories to be found inside. This is Tolkien's Dark Work, and has some amazing ideas within. Spider beings which devour Light. Incest. Vampires. Werewolves. Revenge. Some of the stories bring us things which we might not have expected to find in Tolkien, such as Byronic figures; there's one in Eol, who has always appealed to me as a dark male figure, living alone in the woods, enchanting a beautiful woman (bit like Mr Rochester at the end of Jane Eyre, possibly?). Brrr.

So yes, if struggling, approach it in another way. Begin at the end. Or with the tale that most interests you.

[skip spence]

Originally Posted by Macalaure

To me, The Silmarillion is much more of a 'fantasy story' than The Lord of the Rings. The LotR presents you a fantastic story that you can just read from beginning to end without interruptions. The Sil clearly demands a little more from its reader. You actually have to utilise your own imagination and fantasy to make it come to life. Imagine the Sil was written with as much detail as the LotR. It'd be of the length of the whole HoMe, just plain story, no notes, no repetition. But the Sil doesn't present this to the reader, the reader has to do it itself.

A very good point here. To be read with enjoyment the Silmarillion absolutely demands that you utilize your imagination. Sit down in a comfortable chair, smoke a pipe for relaxation, and read slowly, very slowly. Ask yourself, how was it like on the plains of Ard-Galen on that cold winter night right before the Battle Of The Sudden Flame? What went through Húrin's mind when he faced the bare walls of the Crissaegrim and realized there was no return to Gondolin or the high hopes of his youth. Try to imagine how it was like when Haleth and her people heard the horns of Caranthir just as the Orics broke though their last line of defence. Three lines in this book may contain events and character descriptions that would take up tree pages or more in LotR, and if you just rush on trying to finish the book, those events and characters are lost. In order to really enjoy all the fantastic storielines, you have read between the lines and capture them yourself.

[Estelyn Telcontar]

I definitely like LotR, Hobbit and the minor works more than the Sil, however I've found it to be helpful to read it with a specific interest in mind. I've recently gone through (= skimmed) almost all of Tolkien's works to find all references to music, and that has shown me interesting aspects. Suddenly there are connections between characters that I didn't see before.

So, if you are not the type of reader to take skip's advice and read it slowly, perhaps you will be able to get through if you read quickly and look for references to your favourite topic - dragons, swords, jewels, parent-children relationships, whatever. At any rate, use a copy in which you can underline interesting passages/quotes, so that you can find them when going back to the book.

[Thinlómien]

I never found the Silmarillion difficult, probably because I love history and old legends which it resembles, and also because it was read aloud to me already when I was less than 10 years old, so I learned all the names and places as effortlessly as kids learn new things.

I still have a piece of advice to offer and it goes along the same lines as what other people have said. It's easiest to start with the whole stories: Beren and Lúthien, Túrin Turambar (although I recommend reading Children of Húrin instead, it's much more comprehensive) and the Gondolin chapters (16 and 23). Of course they're all entwined with the general history so you may get confused if you haven't read the rest, but then you should ignore the general pattern and concentrate on the main characters, the actual story. Probably you will grow interested in the rest while you're reading the stories, so then it may feel more rewarding to read the whole book.

[FlimFlamSam]

Durelin spoke: [What is it that makes The Silmarillion more difficult for you (or anyone) to read? What makes it (more) 'boring' (to some)?]
Not so much difficult, unless you count all the other crap like Unfinished Tales, the HoME series, and everything else all lumped in with it, including Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien.

Boring might be a better description. Creation myths make me retch. And the pseudo-Christianity gossamer veil underlying the tales just frankly irks me anyway. Myth should be shrouded in vagueness, not meticulously examined. The brief allusions in Lord of the Rings are enough. Too much, as it turns out--after he revised it.

Galin spoke: [Tolkien sought to publish the Silmarillion at this time, but (long story made short) it was rejected. He then works for a long time on The Lord of the Rings, and in the early 1950s, hoping that the Silmarillion will be published along with The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien expands and updates parts of QS and the Annals (taking up again the long prose versions of the Three Great Tales)]
Yeah, and then throws a bunch of stuff into the revised version of Lord of the Rings like a pimp whoring out some aged, flabby, mascara and poundcake-make-up encrusted and frankly nasty piece of work hoping to make an extra shilling on a two-for-one deal. Ever seen Cheech Marin outside the Titty-Twister in From Dusk till Dawn?

If they had published The Silmarillion then, he would have never written Lord of the Rings.

Borrowing a few allusions like Gondolin, Nargothrond, Beren & Bride, and little tid-bits is one thing to establish a backdrop. The Silmarillion (and other materials) is like George Lucas on a CGI-fest, re-writing his own material and saying "it's always been like that!". "Geedo always shot first!". "Anakin always looked like that!"

In a nut-shell, without my bias; The Silmarillion was never finished because Mr. Tolkien never really wanted to finish it, and it shows when reading it.