Silmarillion and Tolkien: A Reflection

The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien: A Reflection

J.R.R. Tolkien and I first began our relationship when I was all but twelve. Having won a book prize from my school, it was The Hobbit that I picked up and dusted off from many years lying in the back of the bookstore unloved. From there I was caught, enraptured with a world far greater and more beautiful than my own and filled with such wonderful things I could barely spell them never mind begin to imagine them. The Lord of the Rings fell next into my clutches and then, when I thought that I could soar no higher, I found a tattered and torn copy of The Silmarillion in a box of free books. I was about seventeen at the time, and have never really been the same since.

A number of things drew me to Tolkien's writings. Firstly he was a South African, a fact not too many people remember when they discuss him. For me, he is a hero. Someone who, born into the same country as I was, managed to break into all of the things I wanted to do. He studied Latin as a child, some thing I was denied until I reached university and like myself Tolkien had shown a keen interest in mythology and folklore as a youth. He went to Oxford University and was a professor of Anglo-Saxon language and a professor of English language and literature. To become a professor at a distinguished university, whether in classical studies, or in literature studies is still a dream of mine. Like Tolkien, I find myself regretting the decision of the Second Vatican Council to change the liturgy from Latin to the vernacular languages, not because I am a Catholic of any devotion, but simply because it has been the single most destructive cause in the wasting away in the study of the Latin language. Something that I feel is of utmost importance to anyone who proclaims to speak and especially to write in English. As a philologist, Tolkien was a master of languages, and not simply in the reading and writing of such, but in the structure, meanings and natures of language itself. This is something that we being, if I may borrow a word, word-smiths, should all understand better than any of our other research.

The Silmarillion is truly the book that captured my heart and imagination. I have heard it said that the world is divided into two groups of people; those who have read The Lord of the Rings and those who have not. I will dare to say that this is not true. The world is divided into two groups; those who have not read The Silmarillion, and those who have braved its pages of sacred myth and epic history that is of a magnitude not seen since ancient times.

The book began as a summery of the legends of Beren and Luthien before it eventually became The Silmarillion as we know it. The tale is broken up into five distinct parts. The first, Ainulindale or The Music of the Ainur, speaks about the creation of the world, Ea. The second, Valaquenta or The Account of the Valar, describes the supernatural powers that exist in Ea. In particular, his vivid detailing of the Valar and Maiar who are considered by most to be angelic beings. The third part, Quent Silmarillion or The History of the Silmarils, is considered to be the Silmarillion proper and is a historical account of the events in the First Age, the creation and fate of the jewels called the Silmarils. The fourth part, Akallabeth or The Downfall of Numenor, is an account from the Second Age that discusses the destruction of Numenor and its people. A tale which echoes the study surrounding the Atlantis mythology. The fifth and final part of the book is entitled Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age which is a brief introduction to the events that led to what is described in The Lord of the Rings.

His influences have come from many sources of world myth, most notably Nordic and Classical mythology. It has also been suggested that he was influenced by Celtic mythology as can be seen in the Noldor's 'invasion' of Middle-Earth when they burn their ships and turn to fight Melkor. It has been said by academics that Tolkien's descriptions of the Noldor are similar in many respects to the Tuatha De Danann of Ireland, but this theory is one that I myself have argued against in my university papers.

The Silmarillion is a seminal work in the field of the modern mythopoeic narrative style. This style is defined as an invented mythology that originates from a single, or small group of authors' works in a short period of time, rather than emerging from an oral tradition over a number of centuries. Mythopaeia is sometimes categorized as fantasy or science fiction, when instead it is its own form of modern mythology that mimics the chaos and contradictions evident in traditional mythologies and is defended as such by Joseph Campbell, a renowned scholar in the field of mythology.

Joesph Campbell goes on to comment that society is forced to create new mythology constantly as it recreates itself and finds that the old mythological structure is no longer a valid way to describe itself. He writes that modern society is changing too quickly for traditional myth-making methods to possibly keep up with, and instead it is the writer's responsibility to shoulder the load of assisting society to describe and understand itself.

As many things, a South African, a classicist, a mythologist and as a writer, I would like to one day be able to shoulder part of this load and work to follow Tolkien's footsteps in the genre of mythopoeic narration in the creation of my own mythology as a way to explain and justify my world as I see it today where traditional myths fail.