How Would You Rate The Silmarillion?
 

How would you rate Tolkien's Silmarillion and why. A rating out of 10 would be good.
Did it answer all questions Middle Earthsy?

10...it's powerful, beautiful and contains the tale of Beren and Luthien

Also the tale of Turin Turambar. Those two stries will haunt me for a long time.
I'd probably give it an "8", because it lacked some in clarity, especially in the beginning.

I would give it a 9. It is good, really good, with lots of great stories in it, but it is a bit incomplete. Good thing we have Unfinished Tales and Book of Lost Tales then.

9.5/10. The best I have ever read. [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]
It´s powerful, beautiful, and it contains so many great stories. I will never get fed up with it... I like it when I get to know about Arda´s creation, the Valar, the different kinds of elves, etc etc...
I could go on for a long time, but I won´t. I think you know what I mean anyway, right?
The only thing that stops me from giving it a 10 is that it´s a bit complicated with the houses and who´s son to who etc.
And another problem with it (doesn´t affect the rate though): It ends. [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img] [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]
I really love The Silmarillion!

I would give it an 8. It isn't really a story, but the mythology. When it gets more character driven after the elves go back to Beleriand, however, it picks up. It does answer most of the questions about ME

As a mythology, an 8. As an epic of trials and the waxing and waning of the peoples of Middle Earth, namely the elves, a 9.5.

All of the JRRT books that I read, i think it's the best. I will give it a 10. An 11 would be if JRRT would have finished it before he died.

A 9.8, I love it!! [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]

First time I read it, 6.5. Second time: 9.5. (geneologies and maps are INDISPENSABLE.)

"Fingolfin! NNNOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!"

"TURGON! LISTEN TO ULMO!!!"

Third time I expect to cry even harder.

I give the published Silmarillion a 9.5. The whole 'Silmarillion' legendarium as found in Silm., UT, and HoMe gets a 10.

Let's say 9.5. It starts out great, but slows down when the Noldor return to Middle-earth. Beren and Turin don't really do much for me in the shortened form (I prefer the Narn and the Geste, respectively). Come to think of it, Turin doesn't do much for me at all. The Ainulindale is my favorite chapter.

Between BoLT and UT, I can say I've read "better" versions of about 1/3 of the stories. But I can forgive the Silm's shortcomings, because it's reasonably complete and close to what Tolkien wanted (before he decided to abandon certain aspects of the creation myths).

It did not answer "all questions Middle-earthsy," nor should it have. The Silm as a history book has a very limited scope, and mostly stays within that. There's very little about, for instance, Avari, or Atani outside Beleriand, or Tom Bombadil.

the Silmarillion was amazing. i am going to read it again this summer.

as to all of you people making reference to the other books that are edited by Chris Tolkien, the reason those are "bigger and better" is because they were unedited. they contained everything. dont use them to detract from the silmarillion, which was a resonably completed work

I'm reading the Sil right now for the first time, and while I agree that it's a wonderful work, charged with scope and beauty, there is no way it's better than LOTR. I give it an 8.5 (with LOTR being a 10).

Thanks for the feedback guys [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img] Its much appreciated. I'll be looking into Unfinished Tales for the full dose of everything Middle Earthsy.

Oh by the way...Whats Unfinished Tales all about? [img]smilies/frown.gif[/img]

It is pretty much an overall book. There is feedback on Númenor, Celeborn and Galadriel, The Drúedain, The Istari, The Palantíri, Tuor, Túrin and Nienor, and other things which I have forgotten. It is worth reading, trust me.

[ July 10, 2002: Message edited by: Daniel Telcontar ]

I thought it was fantastic. I wouldn't say The Lord Of The Rings was better, it was different, and I would give them both 10 out of 10.

Finarfin: Oh yes! I am a LEGEND!

The book was great. I would say 8 or 9. YOu must really love Tolkin and history. I dident understand all of it so i must read it again. You do seem to know a lot more about Middle earth once you have read it. Great stories and great information.

Well, for me, I remember when "The Silmarillion's" publication was eagerly anticipated, and my First American Printing a treasure for me to this day. It is great, but simple telling tales gets a little old compared to the rich characters, dialogue and plot of "The Lord of the Rings." I also wish that it could be redone as a complete, unannotated version that incorporates all appropriate parts from at least "The Unfinished Tales" and LotR App. I & II, with the best possible reconcialiation of what are really very few inconcruencies.

I am also beginning to understand the point of many of the most knowledgeable amongst the Barrow-Downers, in that in many cases this version of "The Silmarillion" misses critical improvements and ideas that JRR Tolkien later intended to include, as he better understood the Red Book, of course. Nevertheless, I'm only now about to start HoME III, myself, so that full judgement still waits.

Nevertheless, we can only blame JRR. He did have plenty of time after the LotR to get it together, and his son really had nothing but the current Silm that could be merely edited and made ready for publication as a coherent and internally complete story. I don't think his father gave any one permission to actually rewrite or amend his work And any discrepancies with the LotR are of only the most subjective and tentative variety.

So, despite my love for the "The Silmarillion", I must at this time give it only an Eight (8), with the LotR being of course the 10.

I consider Lord of the Rings the very best fiction work I've ever read. It gets a 10.
How I rate the Sil depends on whether I look at it as a fictional story or an informational history.

As a fictional work, the Silmarillion probably gets a 7.5. It is somwhat disjointed. Some of the stories like Beren and Luthein are awesome, but many of the characters aren't fleshed out as much as I'd like, especially the Maiar. I want to know these characters better. I could do with more detail in some of the stories as well.

As an informational work I'd give it a 9. All the maps and charts and explanational notes are outstanding. It clearly defines each characters' role in the history of middle earth.

I considered The Silmarillion better than LotR, only because alot of the un-explained names, events e.t.c are explained in the Silmarillion. I also feel frustrated, because when I read LotR it had some sort of special uniqueness and vibe when you read it, and which im sad to say is gone now, since i saw the movie. Plus the Silmarliion still has that

But i give the Silmarillion 9.9 [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

And let me just say it is good to see another Australian on the forum, Iargwath. [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

It's rating depends on what you are reading it for if you were reading it to gain a better uunderstanding of Middle Earth and some backgrouund on LoTR then I would give it a 10. If you wanted to have an enthralling story then perhaps a 7.5, it's low because the begining is pretty slow and if I didn't have my trusty atlas I would have been lost. It was however, in my view definetly worth the read.