How lucky was Tolkien to have a son like Christopher, who shows such interest in his fathers works that he took it on himself to carry the mantle that extra bit further by completing and releasing many of the stories that would have dissapeared.
Christopher Tolkien was his fathers son through and through. I’ve got his History of Middle Earth books as well as the recent trilogy he’s published and they’re all wonderful
@@kingrobert7246 A willing standard bearer is not a slave. He was instrumental in giving his father perspectives on _The Hobbit_ and _The Lord of the Rings._
J.R.R. Tolkien deserves far more credit than he actually gets even with the popularity of film. He created not only an epic story but a complete world filled with culture and multiple languages. He was brilliant and changed not only fantasy but all literature forever.
@@tacosombrero1879 A Song of Ice and Fire is the actual name of "Game of Thrones"... Game of Thrones is the name of the TV Show..."A Game of Thrones" is the name of the first book in the series "A Song of Ice and Fire"...
@@chainoshproductions7499 well films or movies simply cant show or present what a book can in detail the closest that came close are videogames but its still a huuge gap
It seems that Tolkien was such a perfectionist that his version of The Simarillion would never have been completed. His mind was too genius for one lifetime.
Saeyabor Robayeas Tolkien once said that the character in his works he was most like was Faramir...I think Numenorean suits him better, besides his hight. XD
Luke SkyOtter I think Faramir had Dunedain blood in him. And I find his character great. He's wise, modest, kind, just, great warrior and has such a strong willpower that he didn't even care about taking Frodo's ring (in the book). It's sad Jackson didn't make him look like this in the movies.
It wasn't because of his genius or whatever. It was because of his graphomania. 90% of what Tolkien ever wrote was for the sake of filling up space in his books. The movies were great. The games were great, too. The books were kitschy.
If it wasn't for Christopher Tolkien, we might never had been able to read The Silmarillion, one of my all time favourite books, I re-read it every other year or so. If there is some way of bringing this book faithfully to the screen, I hope I live to see it.
I don't see how a Silmarillion movie would work, considering they layout of the book. Seeing the Battle of Unnumbered Tears brought to life would be pretty cool though.
Removerbab Bullson I think it would work, but definitely not in the same way. You'd have to taken certain parts of the Silmarilion and have them be their own thing. That said, after the catastrophe that the Hobbit trilogy was, I don't have enough faith in Peter Jackson to do anything else.
Removerbab Bullson I don't know how he went from the Ring trilogy which was about as close to the book as we can possibly get, to what he's done now...
Peter Jackson said recently he probably won't be able to do an adaptation of the Silmarilion since Tolkein Estate will not let anyone have the rights to make a film. They may give up sometime in the future, but I don't see an adaptation any time soon, remember how long it took for the Hobbit movies? Ten years. So if Silmarilion is ever made into a movie or even a tv show, it probably won't be till the 2020's
Albert Halliwel well duh. Hes old. Old people are more articulate with better vocabulary. Idk why but ive always noticed that they speak clearer and faster with bigger words then people nowadays.
@Bruno Ferreira You can't expect literally everyone on the internet to meet all of your high standards. Just because most of the youtube comments you see are stupid doesn't mean they were written by people that never went to college. Those people are plenty educated, they just like to fuck around or be ironic. Education today is more common and better than it has ever been. Get off your high horse.
@@griffin1095 You are severely mistaken, good sir. Having partaken of education through three decades I can report that what passes as degree level now was barely 'A' level (pre-Under-graduate) back in the 70's. I have taken three Honours and Masters courses in my life and the easiest (in Computer Studies) was the most recent. Whilst I concur with the drive to remove the pure 'memory test' aspects of courses, the modular nature of them now means that the ability to link disparate concepts together into a coherent whole has been lost. When I sat my finals in the early 80's I had to be able to recall and deploy notions and arguments from any area of the previous three years of study. When I sat them in the 90's I merely had to memorise and regurgitate the 'right' answers of the prior three months on a specific subset. This leads to shallower, more transient, knowledge and a lesser grasp of the subject matter.
The Silmarillion is my all-time favorite book. But its nothing like the Lord of the Rings. Its a very heavy, intense, archaic book with many sub-stories and plots. It is not for the faint of heart. But, if you have patience, and can understand the overall meaning of the tragedy and curse of the Silmarils, it is very moving. It's also a beautifully written mythopoesis, and was Tolkien's swan song and attempt at creating his own private mythology. Christopher is an amazing writer himself, and did a beautiful job with his father's work.
why does every say its heavy and hard to understand . I never thought it was at all and I read it waay before I read either the hobbit or lotr. and it does tell a well laid out story of heros and adventure once you get passed the ainulidale and valenquenta and the first few beging chapters. The silmarillion becomes more like tolkiens great Mythopoetic saga like the finnish kalevala or the Illiad or the mabinogion or the Shah nameh.
Quiet Owl I totally agree Quiet. I had the same experience. Its a beautiful book and very unusual; its nothing like any fiction novel Ive ever read. After you read Tokiens Silmarillion every thing else pales in comparison. But it does require a lot of patience. Its very complicated. I think thats why so few have read it. Its very intense. And yes, its very much a large mythopoetic saga. You are correct on that. I think it was written for one reason....Tolkien wanted to create a mythology for England, which it has never had. Most people are not interested in that type of thing. They just want to follow character development and simpler story lines.
that's why children of hurin the longst silmarillion story I would be better for people who have a hard time with the silmarillion because it reads more like a usally story and more dialogue etc. it might get more people into it.
***** my friend rumeysa had a hard time getting into and understanding the silmarillion of course she was a young kid at the time too so no wonder extra.
I have a lot of respect for Christopher Tolkien. But after reading 'The Fellowship: The Literary Lives of the Inklings', I have even more respect for him. It seems that he is very like his father and his father trusted him with reading early chapters of his books and he became a de facto member of the Inklings in his own right.
The Silmarillion is my favorite book. I have read it numerous times and each time is like reading it for the first time in that I bring away something new with each reading. The creation story is the most beautiful bit of fiction written. Tokien was pure genius. I am so glad his son, Christopher undertook the enormous task of editing JRR's work and putting it into an order that makes it manageable for this reader. Christopher is an amazing author in his own right.
Professor Tolkien changed the world forever with his writings, and we'll always be thankful for both the writings he published in his lifetime, and the writings his son allowed us to see via his editing and subsequent publishing. Thank you, sirs, for your amazing contribution to World Literature.
Christopher Tolkien was an incredible man, he did so much for his father's legacy and so much for everyone who ever enjoyed these works... Rest in peace.
In volume 10 of the History of Middle-earth, which is "Morgoth's Ring", Tolkien's discussion of the fundamental and metaphysical aspect of Elvish and Mannish nature is really detailed and deep. Although Christopher Tolkien says that his father had not enough energy to complete this discussion, I think what Tolkien has arrived at in this respect is already remarkable.
The Silmarillion is one of my all time favourite books. It is filled with epic and beautiful stories, and describes scenes that leave a permanent mark on my mind. I will never forget the duel between Morgoth and Fingolfin, or the Nirnaeth Arnoediad, or the cruel curse upon the family of Turin. The Silmarillion is a wonderful, amazing book and it changed my life, and gave me inspiration.
It's so sad. Imagine, being old and decrepit, unable to finish your masterpiece, because you had become so in love with it, so longing to see it fully realized, and had thus poured so much thought into its conception, that was now too great a task for you, being wearied by old age, to perform.
It is such a strange thing that the huge, amazing world of middle-Earth is born from one single mind. I believe Tolkien was what we call an *inspired Genius*. Just like Mozart, Einstein, or Shakespeare. Very interesting to hear J.R.R Tolkien's Younger son (Now 90!) speaking of his father, and I'm very grateful to Christopher Tolkien for his huge work on editing and publishing his father's notes into books.
Read the Hobbit and the Trilogy as a kid was sad to come to the end as i thought that was it, then discovered The Silmarillion for me that was like " The lost book"
I can truly respect Professor Tolken & his son's work to tell us this other world we've known & grown to love. I understand why they didn't like the film adaptations. Tolken was a perfectionist & he created this other world because he wanted something unique known to him & for others to read. He only gave away the film rights because he thought his books were supposed to be unfilmable. It is too much detail to put into one film, even at that, a trilogy. Jackson & his writers only trimmed down what is understandable as a film, a movie to watch & not get lost so to speak. In LOTR you'd jump from one story to another. You couldn't do a literal adaptation otherwise they would've ended up in a mish mash. It only works in books because its storytelling. Peter Jackson, Philippa Boyens & Fran Walsh wrote an appropriate way for their movie. J.R.R Tolken wrote an appropriate way for his books. I love the books & i love the movies. Either way, we still get the great depiction of Middle-Earth & its people.
I enjoy his deliberate and considered pronunciation of the fictitious dialectic words almost as much as I love his deep passion for his father’s mythos.
I just realized The Silmarillion is here in my apartment, and I have forgotten to read it! Oooooooh this is the moment I will look back to and think, " Oh, If I could turn back time so I can read it for the first time again.... " Silmarillion-virginity will be lost. Tonight.
Never associated Middle-Earth related materials with any erotic sub-text, yet, seems like a common occurence. Seems more like G.R.R.M.s track. Though that's more blatant, overt, and a little tasteless at times. Don't see many of those implications in Tolkiens narratives. Perhaps it's simply less overt than in modern narratives. But that's appealing too i think, the subtleties, for mange quinnor i think. You are schwensk. Vadan namnet? Ärusomenfiskivattnetellernågot?
His Quenya language is not just better than Esperanto, it’s better than Finnish. No one can possibly top it, no one will ever try. So Tolkien really is some kind of genius after all. I can honestly say that the Ainulindale was one of the most amazing things I have ever read. I will always admire that piece in particular. Anything in cold print that makes me sit up and read furiously, well, that in my book is admirable and not too often encountered.
When I read, I take the Silmarillion as History. Even in the history of our own world, there are inaccuracies, contradictions, incomplete accounts and even total omissions of known truths (handed down orally or in other forms, but with no "proof" that we can look back on). So LOTR is the reality, and Silmarillion is our window to look upon Middle Earth through the eyes of an inhabitant thereof toward the end of the third age. This would be the knowledge available to them if they had access to all the libraries, councils of the wise and time to visit ancient landmarks and other places of antiquity to learn all they could. Very kind of Prof. Tolkien as it helps us connect with our favorite characters, lands and cultures like one can with no other work of fiction (to my knowldge anyway).
Kind of like the Bible. The Old Testament being a mixture of History and myth/theology, and the New Testament being a Greco-Roman biographical account of Christ.
If you expect this book to be a “prequel” to The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, you might be dissapointed. I, on the other hand, love it. It reads almost like a medieval chronicle, an romanticised version of history. In this case, of Tolkien’s secondary world. Far less detailed descriptions of places and characters, far less dialogue or introspection (although it seems there is much more of that in older versions of these stories, that i haven’t read yet). And certainly almost no humour. But despite all that, i am fascinated by the Silmarillion every time i read it. Rest In Peace Christopher Tolkien. I can never thank you enough for the great effort you made to share as much of your father’s legacy as you possibly could, but i still try...
I first read the Hobbit and loved it so it was natural to delve into the LOTR. However, I was lost a lot of times by the many references to a much older time period. I wasn't that impressed with the trilogy. I then saw the Silmarillion in a book store and decided to give Tolkien one more try and I was swept off my feet! I read it 3x in a row and then re-read LOTR. This time I thoroughly enjoyed the Rings cuz I knew what these references were about. It was so much more enjoyable to understood the history that lead up to the other 4 books. Tolkien created this utterly beautiful, yet tragic world that seems so real. It went way beyond the typical fantasy/mythology story.
The tales of the Elder Days are a gift that just keeps giving. The scale and depth of Tolkien Sr's world are astonishing and reward perseverance so much. Thank you, Christopher, for the decades of work on bringing as much as possible of it into the light.
Christopher is such an underrated part of the Lord of the Rings books. The man basically finished his father's work in a fantastic way. His father couldn't be prouder.
I have heard from the movie industry and on the comments that The Silmarillion cannot be adapted onto the big screen. Well let me propose this: how about the SILVER SCREEN? Think about it! The book is Tolkien's creation myth, what better way to do it justice than to turn it into A DOCUMENTARY? Give BBC the rights! Those guys will SURELY respect the works of one of Britain's greatest sons! And if Jackson still proves to have the same fire he did when he directed LOTR, rope him in! Imagine that! On BBC prime time, for an entire month's worth of episodes, BBC PRESENT: J.R.R. TOLKIEN'S THE SILMARILLION. Imagine that!
Nuh.. let it be, mate. Peter Jackson made a decent job with the LotR, but that's about that. He also made Aragorn look like a wuss, Frodo distrust Sam, he made a nazgûl incompetent to take the ring, he made Pippin and Merry a pair of stupid kids and Gimli utterly ignorant about what his fellow dwarves were doing. Every single famous phrase from the book he altered somehow. And he completely destroyed The Hobbit. I'd rather never have Jackson touching anything Tolkien ever again.
MistaGify what?? Jackson ruined lotr with his overdramatic scenes and the changes of the characters who were (almost all) interpreted as assholes and racist or weak and crying babies. If you really read the book then you shouldn't like those fucking movies.
to make it proper there is no other way than a series of episodes of Silmarilion. BBC, HBO doesn't motter as long job will be done well. Years of the Trees and 2 Ages where a LOT happens and even covering only most important events take huge amount of screen time. About people who critise P. Jackson adaptation of LotR.... Every1 agree that Tolkiens books are a masterpiece right? I bet all my money that whoever will film it there will be always some fans or/and newbies into the J.R.R. Tolkien world who want be happy. It's pretty impossible to recreat spirit of the books in the movies in general, for sure not Lord of the Rings. Peter maybe don't done it exactly the way you want it but done awesome job. Anybody who was watching apendixes to the trilogy movies knows that it was a very unique project and Jackson was in charge of it. If you still want to complain about something simply look what kinda a movie they make from Stephen King epic serie "Dark Tower"...
daniela lls why can’t I enjoy both? I mean yeah I understand the grievances many people have with the movies and I’ll always love the books more but seriously
Ron Hammond it mind blowing, I must be weird, but i always thought it was a complete story.... it ends with Return of the King. all the elves leave and the Age of Men follows. Then you realize Middle Earth is really this earth before recorded history. Look i know its not real. i guess more backstory on Galadriel and her brothers woudl have been nice. And her father.
Tolkien created something absolutely greater than himself. To say he was a "great" writer is an understatement. My grandfather passed the stories to my father and then to me and I'll continue with my children. Long live Middle Earth!!!
There's very little greater good involved in Peter Jackson's movies. Small improvements might have been made if Christopher worked with him, but there's no way Hollywood would have been willing to put "cinematism" and marketability aside enough to have made him (or me) happy. I can understand why he preferred to just wash his hands of the whole thing. I just wish that the people who watch those movies would realise that they're about as authoritative and "authorised" a source on Middle-earth as the average non-profit fanfiction.
whatever u might say ..the whole trilogy is a masterpiece in cinema history and is not because of any battles scenes or big spectacles.. i can go on with thi s..but i am seriously tired of fighting over this.. people speak as if they would have made a crystal of a LOTR film.
All the themes of LOTR are portrayed perfectly in the movie. The book is also flawed. suffering serious pace issues throughout.. .and so is the hobbit..
Tolkien didn't write according to contemporary notions of what literature should be. He didn't ascribe to utilitarian sentiments of get to the point or say only what's necessary. Naturally this would come off as too slow for modern audiences used to a fast paced world of instant gratification. This is another reason that I think any movies based on the Lord of the Rings should be allowed to deviate from contemporary notions of what a movie should be. I wouldn't say that the themes are portrayed perfectly in Jackson's LotR movies, though some of them are portrayed pretty well. Some of the more subtle ones are dumbed down or modernised or even gone altogether. The idea of divine providence in Frodo's evocation of the name of Elbereth, for instance. It's retained to some extent with the eagles, but even there, the silly thing with the moth was invented to give a 'logical explanation' for Gwaihir showing up at Orthanc. But themes aren't the only thing central to a story. Another important thing is the overall feel of the thing (the colour, Tolkien might call it). This was only retained to a certain extent in Jackson's LotR movies, and rarely at all in his Hobbit movies. I'm not saying that Jackson's LotR movies are exceptionally bad adaptions. (as far as Hollywood adaptions go, they may even be relatively good) I'm just saying that like all Hollywood adaptions they fall very far short of the real thing, and in many places needlessly so.
come one those movies are masterpieces in their own form .. tolkien or not. movies are for seperate purpose.. a movie can never give the feel of the book.. a book can never give the feel of the movie
A great contribution. We used it as the opening for our Roundtable discussion with NYC Area JRR Tolkien & Fantasy Fans this past weekend. Thank you for posting.
GANDALF: End? No, the journey doesn't end here. Death is just another path, one that we all must take. The grey rain-curtain of this world rolls back, and all turns to silver glass, and then you see it.
I love the Silmarillion, it is the freshest, most elaborately detailed, most encapsulating novel of fantasy in our lifetime. I am a writer and I envy this work. I am writing a mythology behind a fantasy series of my own, and I always start with the Beginning. I have tried as elaborately as possible to describe the seriousness of the situations involved. I called it the Book of the Lost Forest
Thank you for sharing this, and thank you Christopher for your clear commitment to your father and his creation. The world is so much better for both of you....
JRR Tolkien wrote everything we know about Middle Earth and Arda, but we only got some of his work via the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings. Christopher Tolkien collected and gathered his father's work and published pretty much everything else and thus completing the picture, and thus fundamentally altering the nature of the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings.
Have to disagree JustinBiberFan90210 - These books were popular when they were published, there were radio broadcast of JRR Tolkien reading them on a radio show and records/ albums made in 1952 England. And they really took off in the 1970's when the first movies were made. Alot of people read these books a long time ago, and they were not gay or nerds.
Jennifer Roberts Indeed. 100 million copies sold BEFORE the films were made. The biggest selling book in history, save the Bible. The movies boosted sales another 50 million and counting. One reason Oneline could risk so much on the production was the enormous existing fan-base for the story.
Jennifer Roberts Actually these books were really popular in the US in the 1960s with young people. Look how many rock bands incorporated Tolkien themes in their songs (Led Zeppelin for example). The first parody of LOTR - Bored of the Rings - was published in 1969.
People can not possibly imagine so many people reading a book! They shudder to think it! I put LOTR fans into two categories: The Tolkien fans, and the illiterates. Sadly most of the human race is illiterate (there's an Oscar Wilde quote "Being able to read and choosing not to is as good as not being able to." I'm paraphrasing and butchering the quote obviously)and fantasy fans are now mostly cave trolls who watch the films and the only reading they do is "Young adult" ie. novels written to profit from teenagers too dumb to read proper literature, which I have never understood but evidently there are many of them. Gone are the days of the likes of Queen Margrethe of Denmark who is a huge Tolkien fan and a highly educated literate person who has put very deep thought into the world and has read his work countess times since childhood. This species has fallen so far from grace I'm convinced that there is no such as rock bottom and people will just continue to sink. It's best to ignore these people and just enjoy great work in blissful solitude.
I used to wish that. Then I watched the hobbit. Then I reflected on what the LOTR movies were compared to his writings. And now I think that would be a complete and utter travesty.
@Sepulchral Miasma, LOTR movies were one of the best book adaptations ever. They are a prime example of how it should be done. I hate it when some movies are adapted almost page by page. What works in a book, doesn't necessarily work on a big screen.
Reading and re-reading The Hobbit, you can really tell that it doesn't really feel like it is integrated into The Lord of the Rings, it feels like a separate work only tangentially related, in the same way The Lord of the Rings is so apart from the Simarillion. The Simarillion feels like it is the Universe's internal mythology of the Men of the West rather than a proper Prequel. There are the tiniest hints in The Lord of the Rings of this shared mythology and religion of Rohan and Gondor (like Aaragon singing about the tale of Beren and Lúthien on Weathertop, Faramir referencing Numenor in The Two Towers, as well as Sam referencing Beren and Luthien later on.)
Well, that's because The Silmarillion is the cornerstone of the world Tolkien created, he began writing it long before LotR or even The Hobbit came into being. He wanted to create a mythology with it, not a prequel to LotR.
I don't think a grand piece of literature like The Silmarillion should receive the judgmental gaze of the movie industry when Hollywood is a complete mockery of what it once was. No one could take it on, ESPECIALLY Peter Jackson. I've heard it said and I have to agree; it is too big for any screen. There's not enough dialogue for the general masses either. So much would have to be ad libbed. Would ruin the magic of the story telling. There'd have to be a lot of narration and that's why we have audiobooks. It should never meet that fate after what has happened to The Hobbit. If someone's too lazy to read it; it's their loss.
I agree. You would need many movies to make it happen and a genius director and talented staff. However, I can see some of its stories becoming good movies. Like Beren and Luthien or the Children of Hurin.
I agree it would be hard to adapt it. But I would love to hear the symphonies that created the everything and see what everything looked like before Morgoth started to distort and ruin everything. I would like to see the Ring of Doom, Valdimar, Tirion upon Tuna, Gondolin, Menegroth, Nargothrond. I would love to see what form Yavanna likes to use, or what is the difference of a Vanyar and a Noldor. I would love to see the beauty of Luthien and the Silmarils, of Telperion and Laurelin. I'd enjoy the drama of the betrayals, the Oath of the House of Feanor, Ungoliant's embrace of Morgoth, the Kinslayings, the sutle lies of Melkor in Valinor and of Sauron on Numenor later. I'd hope for some beautiful scenes from Ossiriand. I'd like the action scenes of the battles, the intenseness of the story of Turin, Nienor and Glaurung. I'd like to watch when Tuor meets Ulmo and later when he comes to Gondolin through the epic gates. If these things were granted to me, I would gladly suffer some tiresome, silly PJ action/comedy/cgi-strangeness. Besides, PJ has been based in New Zealand for all six movies, and that is slightly better than the Hollywood crap.
Bevrast I got excited just reading that description. Or imagine the big battles like the War of Wrath with all those hundreds of thousands of Elves and Men, Eagles, Valar and Maia against millions of Orcs, Balrogs, Dragons, Werewolves, Vampires and other creatures. Or imagine the destruction of Beleriand and Numenor.
+Sybille Stahl I do. And I imagined those things when reading it. But like all dreams/daydreams, they are incomplete. The faces are blurred, the architecture not whole. It is like when your game is on the lowest graphic setting and you only see a little bit exactely where you are at that time and the rest is fog until you move closer. For all its flaws the LOTR movie trilogy did produce beautiful imagery, especially of Rivendell and Lothlorien. Also, I'm no composer, and although I have read the songs, I have never made the melodies half as good as what they did in the movies. I think you understand why I'd want to see those things in a movie.
"Too large, too complex" pretty much nails it I think. Those are the words I could have used 35 years ago after reading L of TRs and pondering this complicated Simarilion. (I haven't read yet. But have made several attempts to.) I've got an "original 1st American Edition"? I'm not sure. I've got the Green and Red Leather bound volumes of The Hobbit and the Trilogy. They can be got cheap at Lord of the Rings Fanatics Shop
I wish from the bottom of my heart that J.R.R.Tolkien had finished The Silmarillion! I find it's Universe beautiful...it really is a shame he couldn't do it...But still it's amazing as it is, it's like reading a melody! I hope one day Peter Jackson makes an awesome adaptaion of this peace of art!
this is wonderfull , since im small im in passion with secondary world building , to know that one of the best autors of all time had this gravitational pull , that the constructions want to pull toward each other is verry pleasent to hear :)
Fascinating insight about the evolution of Tolkien's world. It explains the functions of the writing of "Unfinished Tales", as it has a lot of the "writing back" that Christopher refers to.
The REAL J.R.R's work still hold up perfectly for me & my children/grandchildren ...even tho his children are older than my grandfather.. A true author for the ages.
i say all the time i wished that god would let all the rappers and musicians that died finish there works. this is the author that i also wished would have had the time and god would give the energy to complete this universe... i hope the family lets other great writers and creator continue his work in the future.
That was so in-depth and enlightening; I'd like to think of it as a piece of my own history now that I've learned about the books more in detail. Christopher seems very smart. He looks a bit like his own father.
The only way I could see an adaptation to screen working with The Silmarillion is in the form of a high quality, long running fantasy series like Game of Thrones. You would still have serious continuity issues. Maybe you could cover a different epoch or Age with the different seasons? There would be permanent cast members for the major powers, but a continuous stream of actors/actresses for Elf/Dwarf and Men. There is a very small list of guys I would trust to handle it though.
keep in mind before you lash out at PJ for the Hobbit that he was on budget and didnt have enough money to make it as grand and extrodinary as The Lord of the Rings. personally i think PJ is the only one who could make The Silmarillion great.
Why on earth did he make it into three films anyway? Financial gain? King Kong was far too long as well - it needed an intermission! I think he became a bit overly self-indulgent and a bit greedy after LOTR.
I would love to see someone's take on a pseudo-documentary style adaption(? or would retelling be a better word?) of the silmarillion, where the events are treated like real events. I wouldn't want that to be the first or sole adaption of the Silmarillion, but I think it would be an interesting take on the side :')
What if The Silmarilion becomes a TV series? Think about the amount of detail that could be captured. Perhaps it could stay closer to the story and theme of The Silmarilion than a movie.
I would love to see The Silmarillion made into a series of movies, but I can't conceptualize how a film maker would format such a series. The time line is enormous, at least tens of thousands of years to cover the First and Second ages, and the stories and characters are only loosely interconnected. And not all of the stories are directly related to a central theme, i.e. the making of the Silmarils, their theft by Morgoth, and the wars fought to recover them and eventually to eliminate Morgoth himself. It would have to be several different series, each covering a few chapters of the book. To do such a series at the technical and special effects level of Peter Jackson's LOTR and Hobbit movies would be so expensive, and would take so many years to complete, that I can't imagine any currently existing studio or production company backing the project. Has anyone even even written a preliminary screenplay to explore how such a series of movies might be done? Look at how long it took George Lucas to complete 6 films of the Star Wars stories, or Jackson to do six films for LOTR and the Hobbit. Remember that any studio will only finance a project if they are confident that: 1) it is actually "do-able" in a technical sense, and within the capabilities of the director and producers, and 2) that it has a reasonable chance to make at least some profit, meaning that total returns will exceed production cost. That would be a difficult calculation to make for a series of films to be made from a novel as "unusual" as The Silmarillion.
I’m doing research on specific religious sect and Tolkien came up on my research. I was very fortunate to see Tolkiens exhibit in NYC. I remember seeing some of these books on display and the world building Tolkien and his beautiful map. I liked Lord of rings trilogy but I only seen video essays dissecting the movies versus the books.
How lucky was Tolkien to have a son like Christopher, who shows such interest in his fathers works that he took it on himself to carry the mantle that extra bit further by completing and releasing many of the stories that would have dissapeared.
Christopher Tolkien was his fathers son through and through. I’ve got his History of Middle Earth books as well as the recent trilogy he’s published and they’re all wonderful
How lucky we were
@@brianm5621 how lucky are we to have Christopher work to finish the works of his father and publish them.
@@lordrevanz16 and how unlucky we are that the grandson now is in control...
@@mutedgameplay1697 mind explaining?
"I go to my father(s), in whose mighty company, I shall not (now) feel ashamed..." RIP Christopher Tolkein
Be at peace, son of Beren and Luthien. I will not say "do not weep," for not all tears are evil.
The passion with which he speaks about his fathers work is just a joy to witness. A great man raised by a true genius.
it's exhilarating and endearing isn't it? 😊
Rest in Peace master... He's taken a ship to the West and reunited with his father.
Wow
Undying lands...
A path we all must take...
A slave to his father, I feel sorry for him, living in the shadow of a greater man… but he did his duty
@@kingrobert7246 A willing standard bearer is not a slave. He was instrumental in giving his father perspectives on _The Hobbit_ and _The Lord of the Rings._
J.R.R. Tolkien deserves far more credit than he actually gets even with the popularity of film. He created not only an epic story but a complete world filled with culture and multiple languages. He was brilliant and changed not only fantasy but all literature forever.
unfortunately the films are not that good as the books
@MichaelSanguine Dont forget to mention Game of Thrones. Martin was salivating all over Tolkien's books before he bagan writing his own series.
@@tacosombrero1879 A Song of Ice and Fire is the actual name of "Game of Thrones"... Game of Thrones is the name of the TV Show..."A Game of Thrones" is the name of the first book in the series "A Song of Ice and Fire"...
@@chainoshproductions7499 they really are.. go rematch those movies.. A1
@@chainoshproductions7499
well films or movies simply cant show or present what a book can in detail
the closest that came close are videogames but its still a huuge gap
It seems that Tolkien was such a perfectionist that his version of The Simarillion would never have been completed. His mind was too genius for one lifetime.
Yes, he was genius.
He should've been born an Elf.
Saeyabor Robayeas Tolkien once said that the character in his works he was most like was Faramir...I think Numenorean suits him better, besides his hight. XD
Luke SkyOtter I think Faramir had Dunedain blood in him. And I find his character great. He's wise, modest, kind, just, great warrior and has such a strong willpower that he didn't even care about taking Frodo's ring (in the book). It's sad Jackson didn't make him look like this in the movies.
It wasn't because of his genius or whatever. It was because of his graphomania. 90% of what Tolkien ever wrote was for the sake of filling up space in his books. The movies were great. The games were great, too. The books were kitschy.
If it wasn't for Christopher Tolkien,
we might never had been able to read The Silmarillion,
one of my all time favourite books,
I re-read it every other year or so.
If there is some way of bringing this book faithfully to the screen, I hope I live to see it.
I don't see how a Silmarillion movie would work, considering they layout of the book. Seeing the Battle of Unnumbered Tears brought to life would be pretty cool though.
Removerbab Bullson I think it would work, but definitely not in the same way. You'd have to taken certain parts of the Silmarilion and have them be their own thing. That said, after the catastrophe that the Hobbit trilogy was, I don't have enough faith in Peter Jackson to do anything else.
14Schofield I agree, the hobbit was somewhat painful to watch.
Removerbab Bullson I don't know how he went from the Ring trilogy which was about as close to the book as we can possibly get, to what he's done now...
Peter Jackson said recently he probably won't be able to do an adaptation of the Silmarilion since Tolkein Estate will not let anyone have the rights to make a film. They may give up sometime in the future, but I don't see an adaptation any time soon, remember how long it took for the Hobbit movies? Ten years. So if Silmarilion is ever made into a movie or even a tv show, it probably won't be till the 2020's
Thank goodness Christopher is here to help his father's legacy wrap up and rest in peace.. The Silmarillion is a great work.
Remember, The Hobbit was written for him as a child so that his father could read him bed time stories.
He is magnificently articulate.
You can hear every single word. Beautiful.
Albert Halliwel well duh. Hes old. Old people are more articulate with better vocabulary. Idk why but ive always noticed that they speak clearer and faster with bigger words then people nowadays.
Stimulator7 bruh, as if education matters any less today.
“BuT tHiNgS wErE bEtTer BaCk ThEn”
No, they weren’t.
@Bruno Ferreira You can't expect literally everyone on the internet to meet all of your high standards. Just because most of the youtube comments you see are stupid doesn't mean they were written by people that never went to college. Those people are plenty educated, they just like to fuck around or be ironic.
Education today is more common and better than it has ever been. Get off your high horse.
@@griffin1095 You are severely mistaken, good sir. Having partaken of education through three decades I can report that what passes as degree level now was barely 'A' level (pre-Under-graduate) back in the 70's. I have taken three Honours and Masters courses in my life and the easiest (in Computer Studies) was the most recent. Whilst I concur with the drive to remove the pure 'memory test' aspects of courses, the modular nature of them now means that the ability to link disparate concepts together into a coherent whole has been lost. When I sat my finals in the early 80's I had to be able to recall and deploy notions and arguments from any area of the previous three years of study. When I sat them in the 90's I merely had to memorise and regurgitate the 'right' answers of the prior three months on a specific subset. This leads to shallower, more transient, knowledge and a lesser grasp of the subject matter.
The Silmarillion is my all-time favorite book. But its nothing like the Lord of the Rings. Its a very heavy, intense, archaic book with many sub-stories and plots. It is not for the faint of heart. But, if you have patience, and can understand the overall meaning of the tragedy and curse of the Silmarils, it is very moving. It's also a beautifully written mythopoesis, and was Tolkien's swan song and attempt at creating his own private mythology. Christopher is an amazing writer himself, and did a beautiful job with his father's work.
I've heard it's written more like a history book than a story.
why does every say its heavy and hard to understand . I never thought it was at all and I read it waay before I read either the hobbit or lotr. and it does tell a well laid out story of heros and adventure once you get passed the ainulidale and valenquenta and the first few beging chapters. The silmarillion becomes more like tolkiens great Mythopoetic saga like the finnish kalevala or the Illiad or the mabinogion or the Shah nameh.
Quiet Owl I totally agree Quiet. I had the same experience. Its a beautiful book and very unusual; its nothing like any fiction novel Ive ever read. After you read Tokiens Silmarillion every thing else pales in comparison. But it does require a lot of patience. Its very complicated.
I think thats why so few have read it. Its very intense. And yes, its very much a large mythopoetic saga. You are correct on that. I think it was written for one reason....Tolkien wanted to create a mythology for England, which it has never had. Most people are not interested in that type of thing. They just want to follow character development and simpler story lines.
that's why children of hurin the longst silmarillion story I would be better for people who have a hard time with the silmarillion because it reads more like a usally story and more dialogue etc. it might get more people into it.
***** my friend rumeysa had a hard time getting into and understanding the silmarillion of course she was a young kid at the time too so no wonder extra.
I have a lot of respect for Christopher Tolkien. But after reading 'The Fellowship: The Literary Lives of the Inklings', I have even more respect for him. It seems that he is very like his father and his father trusted him with reading early chapters of his books and he became a de facto member of the Inklings in his own right.
He looks a bit like Gandalf himself
he really does!
He doesn't look like Gandalf. He looks like Ian.
You mean Magneto?
this made me lol, he does!
His English is so good the captions almost work.
R. I. P. Christopher Tolkien, thank you for giving us the extra lore of Middle-earth for us! May you be reunited with your father above!
Homie would go bonkers if he saw what they're now doing with his father's work. He seems like such a dedicated and a fiercely loyal man to his father.
You can sense the passion he has for his own fathers novels. His dad was most certainly his hero.
The Silmarillion is my favorite book. I have read it numerous times and each time is like reading it for the first time in that I bring away something new with each reading. The creation story is the most beautiful bit of fiction written. Tokien was pure genius. I am so glad his son, Christopher undertook the enormous task of editing JRR's work and putting it into an order that makes it manageable for this reader. Christopher is an amazing author in his own right.
Professor Tolkien changed the world forever with his writings, and we'll always be thankful for both the writings he published in his lifetime, and the writings his son allowed us to see via his editing and subsequent publishing. Thank you, sirs, for your amazing contribution to World Literature.
Christopher Tolkien was an incredible man, he did so much for his father's legacy and so much for everyone who ever enjoyed these works... Rest in peace.
Thanks for everything, Christopher: you and your father have enriched my life immeasurably. R.I.P.
Rest in peace, your father awaits with Mandos.
In volume 10 of the History of Middle-earth, which is "Morgoth's Ring", Tolkien's discussion of the fundamental and metaphysical aspect of Elvish and Mannish nature is really detailed and deep. Although Christopher Tolkien says that his father had not enough energy to complete this discussion, I think what Tolkien has arrived at in this respect is already remarkable.
The Silmarillion is one of my all time favourite books. It is filled with epic and beautiful stories, and describes scenes that leave a permanent mark on my mind. I will never forget the duel between Morgoth and Fingolfin, or the Nirnaeth Arnoediad, or the cruel curse upon the family of Turin. The Silmarillion is a wonderful, amazing book and it changed my life, and gave me inspiration.
It's so sad. Imagine, being old and decrepit, unable to finish your masterpiece, because you had become so in love with it, so longing to see it fully realized, and had thus poured so much thought into its conception, that was now too great a task for you, being wearied by old age, to perform.
It is such a strange thing that the huge, amazing world of middle-Earth is born from one single mind. I believe Tolkien was what we call an *inspired Genius*. Just like Mozart, Einstein, or Shakespeare.
Very interesting to hear J.R.R Tolkien's Younger son (Now 90!) speaking of his father, and I'm very grateful to Christopher Tolkien for his huge work on editing and publishing his father's notes into books.
Einstein was a fraud.
Right. A Zionist promotion primarily, even Einstein acknowledged it, I understand.
Jrr was a good Catholic as well.
Indeed he was inspired.
It should be every Father's dream to have a son like him.
Tolkien was an amazing creative mind , he fathered a genre that many enjoy today , he was a genius
the amount of pressure he must had when he was young. but still he followed his father’s footsteps.
amazing family!
Read the Hobbit and the Trilogy as a kid was sad to come to the end as i thought that was it, then discovered The Silmarillion for me that was like " The lost book"
I can truly respect Professor Tolken & his son's work to tell us this other world we've known & grown to love. I understand why they didn't like the film adaptations. Tolken was a perfectionist & he created this other world because he wanted something unique known to him & for others to read. He only gave away the film rights because he thought his books were supposed to be unfilmable. It is too much detail to put into one film, even at that, a trilogy. Jackson & his writers only trimmed down what is understandable as a film, a movie to watch & not get lost so to speak. In LOTR you'd jump from one story to another. You couldn't do a literal adaptation otherwise they would've ended up in a mish mash. It only works in books because its storytelling. Peter Jackson, Philippa Boyens & Fran Walsh wrote an appropriate way for their movie. J.R.R Tolken wrote an appropriate way for his books. I love the books & i love the movies. Either way, we still get the great depiction of Middle-Earth & its people.
I enjoy his deliberate and considered pronunciation of the fictitious dialectic words almost as much as I love his deep passion for his father’s mythos.
I just realized The Silmarillion is here in my apartment, and I have forgotten to read it! Oooooooh this is the moment I will look back to and think, " Oh, If I could turn back time so I can read it for the first time again.... "
Silmarillion-virginity will be lost. Tonight.
What did you think of it?
Never associated Middle-Earth related materials with any erotic sub-text, yet, seems like a common occurence. Seems more like G.R.R.M.s track. Though that's more blatant, overt, and a little tasteless at times. Don't see many of those implications in Tolkiens narratives. Perhaps it's simply less overt than in modern narratives. But that's appealing too i think, the subtleties, for mange quinnor i think. You are schwensk. Vadan namnet? Ärusomenfiskivattnetellernågot?
mushroomcloud1 Loved it! :) :)
Elinianen Fisk I am glad....
Tolkien was a master at transporting you to
somewhere you needed to be....
I read the Silmarillion when I was like ten years old.
His Quenya language is not just better than Esperanto, it’s better than Finnish. No one can possibly top it, no one will ever try. So Tolkien really is some kind of genius after all. I can honestly say that the Ainulindale was one of the most amazing things I have ever read. I will always admire that piece in particular. Anything in cold print that makes me sit up and read furiously, well, that in my book is admirable and not too often encountered.
RIP, Christopher Tolkien.
I respect what you did.
Just the way Tolkien wrote those notes on the side is a pleasure listening to lol
Every glimpse into JRRT's thoughts is a joy.
The last ship has sailed and he's on that one....rip mr C. Tolkien
When I read, I take the Silmarillion as History. Even in the history of our own world, there are inaccuracies, contradictions, incomplete accounts and even total omissions of known truths (handed down orally or in other forms, but with no "proof" that we can look back on). So LOTR is the reality, and Silmarillion is our window to look upon Middle Earth through the eyes of an inhabitant thereof toward the end of the third age. This would be the knowledge available to them if they had access to all the libraries, councils of the wise and time to visit ancient landmarks and other places of antiquity to learn all they could. Very kind of Prof. Tolkien as it helps us connect with our favorite characters, lands and cultures like one can with no other work of fiction (to my knowldge anyway).
Kind of like the Bible. The Old Testament being a mixture of History and myth/theology, and the New Testament being a Greco-Roman biographical account of Christ.
Thank you Christopher. For continuing the epic saga that your father started.
If you expect this book to be a “prequel” to The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, you might be dissapointed. I, on the other hand, love it. It reads almost like a medieval chronicle, an romanticised version of history. In this case, of Tolkien’s secondary world. Far less detailed descriptions of places and characters, far less dialogue or introspection (although it seems there is much more of that in older versions of these stories, that i haven’t read yet). And certainly almost no humour. But despite all that, i am fascinated by the Silmarillion every time i read it. Rest In Peace Christopher Tolkien. I can never thank you enough for the great effort you made to share as much of your father’s legacy as you possibly could, but i still try...
R.I.P thank you for taking your time to make your fathers work available even after his death.
The Silmarillion is just........*kiss*.
I wish I was articulate like this gentleman.
Rest in peace JRRT and Christopher
It was when Christopher retired, that Amazon struck. Christopher was like Gondor, while he stood, Middle-earth could thrive.
I first read the Hobbit and loved it so it was natural to delve into the LOTR. However, I was lost a lot of times by the many references to a much older time period. I wasn't that impressed with the trilogy. I then saw the Silmarillion in a book store and decided to give Tolkien one more try and I was swept off my feet! I read it 3x in a row and then re-read LOTR. This time I thoroughly enjoyed the Rings cuz I knew what these references were about. It was so much more enjoyable to understood the history that lead up to the other 4 books. Tolkien created this utterly beautiful, yet tragic world that seems so real. It went way beyond the typical fantasy/mythology story.
The tales of the Elder Days are a gift that just keeps giving. The scale and depth of Tolkien Sr's world are astonishing and reward perseverance so much. Thank you, Christopher, for the decades of work on bringing as much as possible of it into the light.
Christopher is such an underrated part of the Lord of the Rings books.
The man basically finished his father's work in a fantastic way.
His father couldn't be prouder.
I have heard from the movie industry and on the comments that The Silmarillion cannot be adapted onto the big screen. Well let me propose this: how about the SILVER SCREEN? Think about it! The book is Tolkien's creation myth, what better way to do it justice than to turn it into A DOCUMENTARY? Give BBC the rights! Those guys will SURELY respect the works of one of Britain's greatest sons! And if Jackson still proves to have the same fire he did when he directed LOTR, rope him in! Imagine that! On BBC prime time, for an entire month's worth of episodes, BBC PRESENT: J.R.R. TOLKIEN'S THE SILMARILLION. Imagine that!
Nuh.. let it be, mate. Peter Jackson made a decent job with the LotR, but that's about that. He also made Aragorn look like a wuss, Frodo distrust Sam, he made a nazgûl incompetent to take the ring, he made Pippin and Merry a pair of stupid kids and Gimli utterly ignorant about what his fellow dwarves were doing. Every single famous phrase from the book he altered somehow. And he completely destroyed The Hobbit. I'd rather never have Jackson touching anything Tolkien ever again.
MistaGify what?? Jackson ruined lotr with his overdramatic scenes and the changes of the characters who were (almost all) interpreted as assholes and racist or weak and crying babies. If you really read the book then you shouldn't like those fucking movies.
to make it proper there is no other way than a series of episodes of Silmarilion. BBC, HBO doesn't motter as long job will be done well. Years of the Trees and 2 Ages where a LOT happens and even covering only most important events take huge amount of screen time. About people who critise P. Jackson adaptation of LotR.... Every1 agree that Tolkiens books are a masterpiece right? I bet all my money that whoever will film it there will be always some fans or/and newbies into the J.R.R. Tolkien world who want be happy. It's pretty impossible to recreat spirit of the books in the movies in general, for sure not Lord of the Rings. Peter maybe don't done it exactly the way you want it but done awesome job. Anybody who was watching apendixes to the trilogy movies knows that it was a very unique project and Jackson was in charge of it. If you still want to complain about something simply look what kinda a movie they make from Stephen King epic serie "Dark Tower"...
daniela lls why can’t I enjoy both? I mean yeah I understand the grievances many people have with the movies and I’ll always love the books more but seriously
"...too large a task. Too large. Too tired". Wow. Ponder that.
too sad
Ron Hammond it mind blowing, I must be weird, but i always thought it was a complete story.... it ends with Return of the King. all the elves leave and the Age of Men follows. Then you realize Middle Earth is really this earth before recorded history.
Look i know its not real. i guess more backstory on Galadriel and her brothers woudl have been nice. And her father.
Tolkien created something absolutely greater than himself. To say he was a "great" writer is an understatement. My grandfather passed the stories to my father and then to me and I'll continue with my children. Long live Middle Earth!!!
RESPECT TO THIS MAN FOR PRODUCING THIS BOOk... i really wished he and PJ woul dhave got along for the greater good
There's very little greater good involved in Peter Jackson's movies. Small improvements might have been made if Christopher worked with him, but there's no way Hollywood would have been willing to put "cinematism" and marketability aside enough to have made him (or me) happy. I can understand why he preferred to just wash his hands of the whole thing. I just wish that the people who watch those movies would realise that they're about as authoritative and "authorised" a source on Middle-earth as the average non-profit fanfiction.
whatever u might say ..the whole trilogy is a masterpiece in cinema history and is not because of any battles scenes or big spectacles.. i can go on with thi s..but i am seriously tired of fighting over this.. people speak as if they would have made a crystal of a LOTR film.
All the themes of LOTR are portrayed perfectly in the movie. The book is also flawed. suffering serious pace issues throughout.. .and so is the hobbit..
Tolkien didn't write according to contemporary notions of what literature should be. He didn't ascribe to utilitarian sentiments of get to the point or say only what's necessary. Naturally this would come off as too slow for modern audiences used to a fast paced world of instant gratification. This is another reason that I think any movies based on the Lord of the Rings should be allowed to deviate from contemporary notions of what a movie should be.
I wouldn't say that the themes are portrayed perfectly in Jackson's LotR movies, though some of them are portrayed pretty well. Some of the more subtle ones are dumbed down or modernised or even gone altogether. The idea of divine providence in Frodo's evocation of the name of Elbereth, for instance. It's retained to some extent with the eagles, but even there, the silly thing with the moth was invented to give a 'logical explanation' for Gwaihir showing up at Orthanc.
But themes aren't the only thing central to a story. Another important thing is the overall feel of the thing (the colour, Tolkien might call it). This was only retained to a certain extent in Jackson's LotR movies, and rarely at all in his Hobbit movies.
I'm not saying that Jackson's LotR movies are exceptionally bad adaptions. (as far as Hollywood adaptions go, they may even be relatively good) I'm just saying that like all Hollywood adaptions they fall very far short of the real thing, and in many places needlessly so.
come one those movies are masterpieces in their own form .. tolkien or not. movies are for seperate purpose.. a movie can never give the feel of the book.. a book can never give the feel of the movie
Thanks for the special interview.
And now we are stuck with the grandson. The true 3rd darklord.
RIP Cristopher
That's so inspiring. A man that made a legend, as well as his heir, his son. That's beautiful.
Humankind is given the gift of creation not the gift of completion but this will never stop us trying to find the end.
A great contribution. We used it as the opening for our Roundtable discussion with NYC Area JRR Tolkien & Fantasy Fans this past weekend. Thank you for posting.
GANDALF: End? No, the journey doesn't end here. Death is just another path, one that we all must take. The grey rain-curtain of this world rolls back, and all turns to silver glass, and then you see it.
What an articulate and sophisticated Englishman!
May he rest in peace!
christopher tolkien was far more comfortable during interviews than his father..
I love the Silmarillion, it is the freshest, most elaborately detailed, most encapsulating novel of fantasy in our lifetime. I am a writer and I envy this work. I am writing a mythology behind a fantasy series of my own, and I always start with the Beginning. I have tried as elaborately as possible to describe the seriousness of the situations involved. I called it the Book of the Lost Forest
I just got the strongest urge to reread my favorite book ... yet again :D
Rest in peace legend!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thank you for sharing this, and thank you Christopher for your clear commitment to your father and his creation. The world is so much better for both of you....
My eternal gratitude for The Silmarillion 🙏
My paperbacks showed wear, so I have a hardback now.
Printed in 1981 it's lush.💎
I like the part when he talks about the silmarillion.
JRR Tolkien wrote everything we know about Middle Earth and Arda, but we only got some of his work via the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings.
Christopher Tolkien collected and gathered his father's work and published pretty much everything else and thus completing the picture, and thus fundamentally altering the nature of the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings.
Have to disagree JustinBiberFan90210 - These books were popular when they were published, there were radio broadcast of JRR Tolkien reading them on a radio show and records/ albums made in 1952 England. And they really took off in the 1970's when the first movies were made. Alot of people read these books a long time ago, and they were not gay or nerds.
That guy is most likely just trolling, the nickname shows as much. Not that that makes it better...
*JustinBiberFan90210* With that nick that guy is obviously joking (trolling)
Jennifer Roberts Indeed. 100 million copies sold BEFORE the films were made. The biggest selling book in history, save the Bible. The movies boosted sales another 50 million and counting. One reason Oneline could risk so much on the production was the enormous existing fan-base for the story.
Jennifer Roberts Actually these books were really popular in the US in the 1960s with young people. Look how many rock bands incorporated Tolkien themes in their songs (Led Zeppelin for example). The first parody of LOTR - Bored of the Rings - was published in 1969.
People can not possibly imagine so many people reading a book! They shudder to think it! I put LOTR fans into two categories: The Tolkien fans, and the illiterates. Sadly most of the human race is illiterate (there's an Oscar Wilde quote "Being able to read and choosing not to is as good as not being able to." I'm paraphrasing and butchering the quote obviously)and fantasy fans are now mostly cave trolls who watch the films and the only reading they do is "Young adult" ie. novels written to profit from teenagers too dumb to read proper literature, which I have never understood but evidently there are many of them. Gone are the days of the likes of Queen Margrethe of Denmark who is a huge Tolkien fan and a highly educated literate person who has put very deep thought into the world and has read his work countess times since childhood.
This species has fallen so far from grace I'm convinced that there is no such as rock bottom and people will just continue to sink. It's best to ignore these people and just enjoy great work in blissful solitude.
I wish The Silmarillion was adapted into a TV show like Game of Thrones, except without all the sex and gore (well at least not too much).
***** but you do think the idea of the Silmarillion being tv show, similar to GoT is good right?
I used to wish that. Then I watched the hobbit. Then I reflected on what the LOTR movies were compared to his writings. And now I think that would be a complete and utter travesty.
Miguel Rivera I wish there'd be a M.E. series with as much blood and gore and sex as Spartacus.
@Sepulchral Miasma, LOTR movies were one of the best book adaptations ever. They are a prime example of how it should be done. I hate it when some movies are adapted almost page by page. What works in a book, doesn't necessarily work on a big screen.
I don't know about the sex part but it might have the more gore than TH and LOTR
The Silmarillion is the definition of EPIC.
R.I.P.
What an incredibly captivating voice
Reading and re-reading The Hobbit, you can really tell that it doesn't really feel like it is integrated into The Lord of the Rings, it feels like a separate work only tangentially related, in the same way The Lord of the Rings is so apart from the Simarillion. The Simarillion feels like it is the Universe's internal mythology of the Men of the West rather than a proper Prequel. There are the tiniest hints in The Lord of the Rings of this shared mythology and religion of Rohan and Gondor (like Aaragon singing about the tale of Beren and Lúthien on Weathertop, Faramir referencing Numenor in The Two Towers, as well as Sam referencing Beren and Luthien later on.)
Well, that's because The Silmarillion is the cornerstone of the world Tolkien created, he began writing it long before LotR or even The Hobbit came into being. He wanted to create a mythology with it, not a prequel to LotR.
Wow that's amazing. I had not seen this video when I read the book. Really makes me want to reread it! Literally one of my favorite books. :)
Rip Christopher 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏
Rest in peace 🖤
I hope amazon don't ruin ur father legacy .
I don't think a grand piece of literature like The Silmarillion should receive the judgmental gaze of the movie industry when Hollywood is a complete mockery of what it once was. No one could take it on, ESPECIALLY Peter Jackson. I've heard it said and I have to agree; it is too big for any screen.
There's not enough dialogue for the general masses either. So much would have to be ad libbed. Would ruin the magic of the story telling. There'd have to be a lot of narration and that's why we have audiobooks.
It should never meet that fate after what has happened to The Hobbit. If someone's too lazy to read it; it's their loss.
I agree. You would need many movies to make it happen and a genius director and talented staff. However, I can see some of its stories becoming good movies. Like Beren and Luthien or the Children of Hurin.
I agree it would be hard to adapt it. But I would love to hear the symphonies that created the everything and see what everything looked like before Morgoth started to distort and ruin everything. I would like to see the Ring of Doom, Valdimar, Tirion upon Tuna, Gondolin, Menegroth, Nargothrond. I would love to see what form Yavanna likes to use, or what is the difference of a Vanyar and a Noldor. I would love to see the beauty of Luthien and the Silmarils, of Telperion and Laurelin. I'd enjoy the drama of the betrayals, the Oath of the House of Feanor, Ungoliant's embrace of Morgoth, the Kinslayings, the sutle lies of Melkor in Valinor and of Sauron on Numenor later. I'd hope for some beautiful scenes from Ossiriand. I'd like the action scenes of the battles, the intenseness of the story of Turin, Nienor and Glaurung. I'd like to watch when Tuor meets Ulmo and later when he comes to Gondolin through the epic gates. If these things were granted to me, I would gladly suffer some tiresome, silly PJ action/comedy/cgi-strangeness. Besides, PJ has been based in New Zealand for all six movies, and that is slightly better than the Hollywood crap.
Bevrast I got excited just reading that description. Or imagine the big battles like the War of Wrath with all those hundreds of thousands of Elves and Men, Eagles, Valar and Maia against millions of Orcs, Balrogs, Dragons, Werewolves, Vampires and other creatures. Or imagine the destruction of Beleriand and Numenor.
+Bevrast So, don't you have imagination?
+Sybille Stahl I do. And I imagined those things when reading it. But like all dreams/daydreams, they are incomplete. The faces are blurred, the architecture not whole. It is like when your game is on the lowest graphic setting and you only see a little bit exactely where you are at that time and the rest is fog until you move closer. For all its flaws the LOTR movie trilogy did produce beautiful imagery, especially of Rivendell and Lothlorien. Also, I'm no composer, and although I have read the songs, I have never made the melodies half as good as what they did in the movies. I think you understand why I'd want to see those things in a movie.
"Too large, too complex" pretty much nails it I think. Those are the words I could have used 35 years ago after reading L of TRs and pondering this complicated Simarilion. (I haven't read yet. But have made several attempts to.)
I've got an "original 1st American Edition"? I'm not sure. I've got the Green and Red Leather bound volumes of The Hobbit and the Trilogy. They can be got cheap at Lord of the Rings Fanatics Shop
Chrisopher Tolkien is a genius like his father!
I wish from the bottom of my heart that J.R.R.Tolkien had finished The Silmarillion! I find it's Universe beautiful...it really is a shame he couldn't do it...But still it's amazing as it is, it's like reading a melody! I hope one day Peter Jackson makes an awesome adaptaion of this peace of art!
John is in the Undying Lands right now.
this is wonderfull ,
since im small im in passion with secondary world building , to know that one of the best autors of all time had this gravitational pull , that the constructions want to pull toward each other is verry pleasent to hear :)
Have you read Leaf by Niggle? I think you would enjoy that little story so much.
Fascinating insight about the evolution of Tolkien's world. It explains the functions of the writing of "Unfinished Tales", as it has a lot of the "writing back" that Christopher refers to.
The REAL J.R.R's work still hold up perfectly for me & my children/grandchildren ...even tho his children are older than my grandfather.. A true author for the ages.
i say all the time i wished that god would let all the rappers and musicians that died finish there works. this is the author that i also wished would have had the time and god would give the energy to complete this universe... i hope the family lets other great writers and creator continue his work in the future.
Good answer.
That was so in-depth and enlightening; I'd like to think of it as a piece of my own history now that I've learned about the books more in detail. Christopher seems very smart. He looks a bit like his own father.
nice post, The Silmarillion is one of the best work of Tolkien
Its a fantastic book and Tolkein's magnum opus.
First read in the late 70's and many times since.
The only way I could see an adaptation to screen working with The Silmarillion is in the form of a high quality, long running fantasy series like Game of Thrones. You would still have serious continuity issues. Maybe you could cover a different epoch or Age with the different seasons? There would be permanent cast members for the major powers, but a continuous stream of actors/actresses for Elf/Dwarf and Men. There is a very small list of guys I would trust to handle it though.
keep in mind before you lash out at PJ for the Hobbit that he was on budget and didnt have enough money to make it as grand and extrodinary as The Lord of the Rings. personally i think PJ is the only one who could make The Silmarillion great.
Why on earth did he make it into three films anyway? Financial gain? King Kong was far too long as well - it needed an intermission! I think he became a bit overly self-indulgent and a bit greedy after LOTR.
Yes he could make The Silmarillion great as a long standing series, if he could duplicate the standard of work he did on the LOTR films.
I think it would be cool to see as a high-quality, heavily stylized animated series.
I would love to see someone's take on a pseudo-documentary style adaption(? or would retelling be a better word?) of the silmarillion, where the events are treated like real events. I wouldn't want that to be the first or sole adaption of the Silmarillion, but I think it would be an interesting take on the side :')
What if The Silmarilion becomes a TV series? Think about the amount of detail that could be captured. Perhaps it could stay closer to the story and theme of The Silmarilion than a movie.
I would love to see The Silmarillion made into a series of movies, but I can't conceptualize how a film maker would format such a series. The time line is enormous, at least tens of thousands of years to cover the First and Second ages, and the stories and characters are only loosely interconnected. And not all of the stories are directly related to a central theme, i.e. the making of the Silmarils, their theft by Morgoth, and the wars fought to recover them and eventually to eliminate Morgoth himself. It would have to be several different series, each covering a few chapters of the book. To do such a series at the technical and special effects level of Peter Jackson's LOTR and Hobbit movies would be so expensive, and would take so many years to complete, that I can't imagine any currently existing studio or production company backing the project. Has anyone even even written a preliminary screenplay to explore how such a series of movies might be done? Look at how long it took George Lucas to complete 6 films of the Star Wars stories, or Jackson to do six films for LOTR and the Hobbit. Remember that any studio will only finance a project if they are confident that: 1) it is actually "do-able" in a technical sense, and within the capabilities of the director and producers, and 2) that it has a reasonable chance to make at least some profit, meaning that total returns will exceed production cost. That would be a difficult calculation to make for a series of films to be made from a novel as "unusual" as The Silmarillion.
I’m doing research on specific religious sect and Tolkien came up on my research. I was very fortunate to see Tolkiens exhibit in NYC. I remember seeing some of these books on display and the world building Tolkien and his beautiful map. I liked Lord of rings trilogy but I only seen video essays dissecting the movies versus the books.
Ah...with fellow Tolkien fans. It’s a good feeling.
Descanse en paz Christopher Tolkien, gracias a él podemos disfrutar las demás obras del maestro. Dios los tenga en su santa gloria a ambos.
It's unfinished, but still one of the greatest books I've ever grasped.
Indeed, and as good as the movies are the books are amazing!