Silmarillion: Main characters (Book report) - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

Estelyn Telcontar · 02-14-2006, 03:03 AM

The problem with this approach is, it doesn't work for the Silmarillion. Unlike a narrative such as LotR, the Sil is not one single story, but a collection of various tales and mythological accounts - like a book of short stories. You can define main characters for each of the tales, but they may not occur or be involved in the others. At the beginning, Eru is the one who is active, but later on, he isn't even mentioned. The Valar have their story, then for the most part drop out of the narrative, which concerns mostly Elves and later, Men.

It would be a good idea to discuss this problem with your teacher; perhaps you can do a detailed analysis for one of the tales and merely give a summary for the rest.

02-14-2006, 03:03 AM	#3
Estelyn Telcontar Princess of Skwerlz Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: where the Sea is eastwards (WtR: 6060 miles) Posts: 7,500	The problem with this approach is, it doesn't work for the Silmarillion. Unlike a narrative such as LotR, the Sil is not one single story, but a collection of various tales and mythological accounts - like a book of short stories. You can define main characters for each of the tales, but they may not occur or be involved in the others. At the beginning, Eru is the one who is active, but later on, he isn't even mentioned. The Valar have their story, then for the most part drop out of the narrative, which concerns mostly Elves and later, Men. It would be a good idea to discuss this problem with your teacher; perhaps you can do a detailed analysis for one of the tales and merely give a summary for the rest. __________________ 'Mercy!' cried Gandalf. 'If the giving of information is to be the cure of your inquisitiveness, I shall spend all the rest of my days in answering you. What more do you want to know?' 'The whole history of Middle-earth...'