The tales of The Silmarillion are set in an age when Morgoth, the first Dark Lord, dwelt in Middle-Earth, and the High Elves made war upon him for the recovery of the Silmarils, the jewels containing the pure light of Valinor.
Does the history of Middle-Earth include The Silmarillion?
The series shows the development over time of Tolkien's conception of Middle-earth as a fictional place with its own peoples, languages, and history, from his earliest notions of "a mythology for England" through to the development of the stories that make up The Silmarillion and The Lord of the Rings.
The term Middle-earth has come to be applied as a short-hand for the entirety of Tolkien's legendarium, instead of the technically more appropriate, but lesser known terms "Arda" for the physical world and "Eä" for the physical reality of creation as a whole.
The first edition of The Silmarillion contains two maps. There is a large fold-out drawing of Beleriand. The Ered Luin mountain range on its right-hand edge approximately matches the mountain range of that name on the left-hand edge of the main map in The Lord of the Rings.
Maps of Middle-earth: The First Age | The Silmarillion Explained
Is Silmarillion incomplete?
Yes, it is unfinished. Tolkien wasn't ready to release it, up until the point he died. His son, Christopher, released it. He edited it per his knowledge of his father's work, and released it.
Should I read The Silmarillion or the History of Middle Earth?
The Silmarillion is quite a dense read, and should probably be tackled a little later. However, an adult may be better starting off with The Lord of the Rings followed by The Children of Húrin, Unfinished Tales, The Silmarillion, and the various volumes of The History of Middle-earth.
Dwarves appear in his books The Hobbit (1937), The Lord of the Rings (1954–55), and the posthumously published The Silmarillion (1977), Unfinished Tales (1980), and The History of Middle-earth series (1983–96), the last three edited by his son Christopher Tolkien.
Morgoth Bauglir ([ˈmɔrɡɔθ ˈbau̯ɡlir]; originally Melkor [ˈmɛlkor]) is a character, one of the godlike Valar and the primary antagonist of Tolkien's legendarium, the mythic epic published in parts as The Silmarillion, The Children of Húrin, Beren and Lúthien, and The Fall of Gondolin.
The creator Eru Ilúvatar introduces the theme of the sentient races of Elves and Men, not anticipated by the Ainur, and gives physical being to the prefigured universe. Some of the Ainur decide to enter the physical world to prepare for their arrival, becoming the Valar and Maiar.
He will fight in the Last Battle against the Valar and their allies, but will ultimately be slain by Túrin Turambar, the Man he cursed. By finally defeating Morgoth, Túrin will avenge not only himself, but all members of the race of Men.
The Silmarillion describes him as the chief lieutenant of the first Dark Lord, Morgoth. Tolkien noted that the Ainur, the "angelic" powers of his constructed myth, "were capable of many degrees of error and failing", but by far the worst was "the absolute Satanic rebellion and evil of Morgoth and his satellite Sauron".
Gandalf also appears in the published version of The Silmarillion in a markedly different aspect: that of a semi-divine Maia hidden within the guise of an old man, whom we met in The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings. Tolkien introduces him in The Silmarillion as the Maia Olórin. "Wisest of the Maiar was Olórin.
The Silmarillion is actually tolkien's first book and also his last. In origin it precedes even The Hobbit, and is the story of the First Age of tolkien's Middle Earth.
The tales of The Silmarillion are set in an age when Morgoth, the first Dark Lord, dwelt in Middle-Earth, and the High Elves made war upon him for the recovery of the Silmarils, the jewels containing the pure light of Valinor.
Sauron's offer to let Galadriel rule alongside him as Queen of Middle-earth appears to be an earnest offer that the Dark Lord desperately wants her to accept. Sauron doesn't need an Elf to help him, so one can only assume he's at least a little bit in love with Galadriel, in his own selfish way.
Sauron persuaded the Numenoreans into Morgoth worship to turn Men away from reverence of the Valar, and thus precipitate their fall into darkness. It wasn't due to any loyalty or devotion for Morgoth, whom he feared and served out of need, not admiration.
According to the mythology in The Silmarillion, the evil Vala Melkor, later called "Morgoth", corrupted lesser Maiar (angelic beings) to his service, as Balrogs, in the days of his splendour before the making of Arda.
The casual reader can blink and miss the references to the Elf called Legolas among Galdor's men. He is completely edited out of the version of that tale which is found in the published Silmarillion.
Though Gimli has no children, he is not the last Dwarf of Middle-earth. After the fall of Sauron, his people continued to thrive in the Lonely Mountain. Gimli made his home in Rohan, in the Glittering Caves of Aglarond, and many of his kinsfolk came with him.
Avari [(a race of elves)] ... [turned] evil and savage in the wild", both according to The Silmarillion. The orcs "multiplied" like Elves and Men, meaning that they reproduced sexually. Tolkien stated in a letter dated 21 October 1963 to a Mrs. Munsby that "there must have been orc-women".
It has a very, very large cast of characters. Very. It is not a single story at all. Of course there are common threads and important characters, items, and chains of events; but it's more a collection of stories throughout the history of Arda and Middle-earth than a single narrative.
To my defense, one has to admit that the Silmarillion is significantly less easy to read than the better-known Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. Written and edited as if it were an ancient chronicle, the Silmarillion reads like ancient history, medieval fiction or, at times, like particularly convoluted folklore.
Most start with the Hobbit because its a much easier and lighter read than any of the others. Catherine I say read in order of difficulty. Hobbit first, then LotR, last Silmarillion. Chronological order is not needed except for the LotR volumes.
