What was it all for?

[davem]

Originally Posted by Feanor of the Peredhil

Presumably it had something to do with telling a story.

What kind of story, & why did he want to tell it? Why was it so important that it be 'perfect'? What did he mean when he stated that he was all the time trying to discover 'what really happened'?

In the form of that 'story' he was trying to communicate some 'fact' which he believed to be 'external' (at least to his conscious mind')

One review of the Silmarillion asked the question 'How, given little over half a century, did one man become the creative equivalent of a people?' I'd also ask why? & 'What for?

Does it not also make you feel both awed & amazed at what a human being can do?

Originally Posted by Bb

How about he was bored and thought he could write a better yarn out of it all. Or how about he just couldn't let go of words, which told him things that he hadn't seen explored before about them.

Possibly. I just think its bigger (& deeper) than that..... He was 'driven', staying up late into the night over a period of many years. Boredom isn't a good enough explanation.