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So, it’s been a few years since I read the Lord of the Rings and I want to do a reread of the Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit but I also want to read the Silmarillion for the first time. The question is: should I reread and then read the Silmarillion or read the Silmarillion first?
@daeus @dragon-snapper @winter-rose @ethryndal @aratrea anyone else who has an opinion 🙂INFP Queen of the Kingdom commander of an army of origami cranes and a sabre from Babylon.
@seekjustice I’m not sure it matters so much. Maybe read the Silmarillion first, but I wouldn’t say it’s super important.
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@SeekJustice Hey, good idea! Good question too, and I’d actually recommend reading LotR first. The Silmarillion is meant more for someone who’s already quite familiar with Tolkien’s world, I think. The books specifically. It won’t make a ton of difference either way though. You’d appreciate both more after having read the other, so there’s not really a fix for that. ;P
And as for The Hobbit, it doesn’t have much to do with The Silmarillion, so it makes even less difference when you read that.
@SeekJustice I agree with Emma, and recommend reading LotR first. As the Silmarillion is, basically, a history of Middle-Earth, not really a novel, I think having the other stories first and foremost in your mind would make it a bit easier to digest.
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@seekjustice I’ve never read Silmarillion, but I would definitely choose LotR first anyway. XD
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@emma-flournoy @ethryndal @dragon-snapper @daeus
Thanks all for answering!
I would say I’m already quite familiar with Tolkien’s work, I’ve read the Lord of the Rings before and I’ve read a fair amount of his poetry and other stuff, but I haven’t read the Silmarillion. However, I’ve been reading an in depth study of the themes in The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit and The Silmarillion, which was what made me want to read it and gain a new insight, I guess, into Tolkien’s work. Since the Silmarillion is the foundation that both the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings was built on, I was wondering whether I should read it first. I’ll think on it a bit more and decide later 😀 (procrastination is the best method for never getting anything done).
INFP Queen of the Kingdom commander of an army of origami cranes and a sabre from Babylon.
@seekjustice I’m actually reading the Silmarillion right now! Agh I’m trying to get it done (or not really trying in between schoolwork) but yeah, I would actually recommend reading the Silmarillion first, if you can get through it without losing track of all of the elvish races. It sets up the whole world for you from the very beginning, and was actually written first. I wish I had read it before LotR, anyways 🙂
And a word about when you do read it – most of the lands mentioned in the Simarillion actually end up to be submerged in the sea to the west, so not very linked to the LotR world of Middle-earth except by one mountain range. Yeah. You can do more research about that if that’s what you’re into, but it confused me initially.
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literatureforthelight.wordpress.comThanks @gh24682468999 (By the way, your signature is super helpful! your tag confuses me :D) I think the Silmarillion is mainly about the elves isn’t it? it does sound hard, I tried to read it a few years ago and gave up, but I think it’s the kind of thing I’d enjoy once I got a few chapters into it!
INFP Queen of the Kingdom commander of an army of origami cranes and a sabre from Babylon.
@seekjustice I know!! It sucks, especially since the username seems to be the one thing you can’t change. And yes, it is pretty hard. It’s like LotR in that it has loads and loads of description, but since it is mostly folklore/mythology, there is very little dialogue. It’s hard to stay motivated while reading it.
It's g-h, 2-4-6-8 twice, three 9's
literatureforthelight.wordpress.com@gh24682468999 Yes, I think it is!
All right then, I’ll give it a go once I have a bit more time on my hands 😀
INFP Queen of the Kingdom commander of an army of origami cranes and a sabre from Babylon.
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@seekjustice I’ve never read the Silmarillion, so I’m afraid I’m no help. But bravo for wanting to reread LOTR and the Hobbit! I still haven’t gotten around to reading them for myself.
@SeekJustice The Sil is hard to get through in places, but I really think it’s worth it, so don’t put it down after being bored for a few chapters. ;P And you’ll be making quite a bit of use of the maps in it, too. It’s slow going, but there’s some good stuff in it. Whatever order your read the books in.
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