I'm currently reading through the Silmarillion myself. It isn't as daunting as people say. Give it a read-through and you'll be glad you did.
Think of it as reading The Bible. It's more a collection of stories with interwoven themes and some recurring characters instead of a continuous story. It lays the groundwork for so much in the Tolkien universe
Jace Martin
I'm glad you're enjoying it user. If i were you I would read Silmarillion after the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. If you really wanted to, you could also read Tolkien's translation of Beowulf, Tolkien himself didn't feel like his version of the epic was very good though, but it might still be interesting to you.
Connor Kelly
>Think of it as reading The Bible. It's more a collection of stories with interwoven themes and some recurring characters instead of a continuous story. It lays the groundwork for so much in the Tolkien universe
That is good to know. This is the kind of response I was looking for. I appreciate the assist, thank you.
>If i were you I would read Silmarillion after the Lord of the Rings Trilogy
Any particular reason The Silmarillion is chosen to read after the LotR Trilogy? Does it answer some questions the Trilogy does not?
Juan Butler
I've heard strong arguments for reading the Silmarillion both before and after reading the LoTR.
I'd say if you're capable of comfortably reading the Silmarillion, do it first because of the references you'll find
Andrew Martinez
No problem man. It's basically the origin story for the Tolkien world. The first section called Ainulindale is literally the Genesis of his world
Isaac Johnson
It makes more sense to me to read the Silmarillion after Lord of the Rings. It's meant to enrich the stories you're already familiar with, not provide the base you need before enjoying them.
Carter Ramirez
>It makes more sense to me to read the Silmarillion after Lord of the Rings. It's meant to enrich the stories you're already familiar with
Does that mean only the LotR trilogy, or also all his other books too?
Ayden Peterson
Damn, Jared Harris would be perfect to play Tolkien if they made a movie.
Owen Baker
>>>/reddit/
go back to your containment website
Nolan Rivera
Hey buddy, fuck you.
Cooper Miller
Bless you, my son. I was getting pissed off reading this thread. Not enough shitposting.
Angel James
im serious, tolkien is about as casual tier as harry potter
Tyler Cook
>casual lol edgy bro
Jackson Thompson
did an english philologist rape you as a child or something
Aaron Perez
Children of Hurin will make a lot more sense if you read the Silmarillion first, but that's a dense book. Tolkien hasn't written much in the style of LOTR and The Hobbit but if you're looking for comfy try Tales from the Perilous Realm. Roverandom, Leaf by Niggle, Smith of Wootton Major etc
Camden Phillips
Not sure if serious. Tolkien shouldn't be discussed outside of your containment thread.
Ethan Reyes
>outside of your containment thread So you agree that this is the place for said discussion and that your caterwauling is uncalled for?
Carter Moore
>simple, relaxing, easy, and fun
stopped reading there, Veeky Forums in a nutshell
Henry Perry
I feel like you must be my clone or something, I've been enjoying my rainy days here the same way, except I'm nearing the end of Fellowship.
10/10 comfy.
David Smith
>tolkien movie >it's just 3 hours of him walking around talking about trees and nature
I'd watch it.
Lucas Brooks
Read the Silmarillion before The Children of Húrin. You probably want to read LotR before the Silmarillion, but you could read them in any order, even at the same time. After that, there's Unfinished Tales and HoME. The Tale of Beren and Lúthien will be released later this year.
Matthew Hernandez
I also recommend some of his shorter works: Farmer Giles of Ham, Leaf by Niggle,Smith of Wotton Major,his Letters from Father Christmas and his translation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight as well. No hobbits in any of these, but whimiscal ventures worthy of your time.
Wyatt Garcia
Reddit is leaking again.
Jacob Brown
I'm sorry to hear that. Here's an idea, why don't you just go back and leave this thread in peace?
Isaac Lee
> Farmer Giles of Ham, Leaf by Niggle,Smith of Wotton Major,his Letters from Father Christmas and his translation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
This desu
James Reed
>The Tale of Beren and Lúthien will be released later this year. are you fucking shitting me right now? I love 2017 so far, It's already the best fucking year.
Isaac Sanchez
Is anybody a fan of Tolkien-related supplemental materials? I really liked David Day's Tolkien Dictionary--although the title does bother me given that it's an encyclopedia. It is very detailed though and has nice illustrations from what I remember.
Jaxson Reed
I like books on the elven language, I think the language is really beautiful and much better than, say, klingon. I tried getting into it but I kinda put it on hold for now in favor of learning a more useful language. I woudl like to get back into it eventually though.
Christian Edwards
This thread was going so nicely until the /tv/ crossposters arrived
Parker Ortiz
David Day makes beautiful books. I have his Tolkien Atlas. However he's pretty bad at fact checking. Don't trust him with any lore unless it's confirmed by other sources.
Michael Sullivan
kill yourself edgy cuck
Brody Cook
LOTR is the only thing /tv/ genuinely likes
Jose Bell
>every 2 minutes camera goes close to his weathered hands as he slowly fills and lights his pipe, slight smile, smoke drifting upwards into the branches >... "now, where was I?"
Noah Perez
Only autistic contrarians dislike lotr
Julian Johnson
>he's pretty bad at fact checking Example? I gave my copy of the dictionary to my sister's fiancé. I don't want to be responsible for misinformation.
Anthony Sullivan
How does it feel not being a swede and knowing that you will never get to read Åke Ohlmarks translation of The Lord of the Rings where the prose is elevated to god tier status, making it atleast 10x better than the original?
Evan Myers
pretty much. I've found it strange and unfathomably that people must not like something, simply because a lot of people happen to.
Seems rather childish.
Alexander Edwards
Anytime I don't have to read a translation, I'm happy.
John Walker
tolkien hated that translation and it apparently took absurd liberties with the book.
John James
Are you literally me, OP? I finished the Hobbit the other week, and I've just finished the first part of Fellowship. Pretty spoopy, desu. I hated the films, but my girlfriend convinced me to give them a read, and Tolkien's highly Catholic, highly aristocratic vision is compelling.
Owen Brooks
Two from the top of my head would be bad use of maps. He constantly uses a map of Arda that shows Beleriand and Numenor existing at the same time, as well as other inconsistencies. People refer to it as the "lung map". It also struck me that in the Atlas Minas Tirith's outer wall is shown as white, when it's actually black, bring made from the same substance as Orthanc.
Kevin Reed
what's wrong with the films, assuming you are talking about the lotr films not the hobbit ones.
Thomas Gonzalez
Gandalf used the fellowship and realms of men as pawns to secure his own power. He's no better than Sauron
Prove me wrong.
Jayden Barnes
>secure his own power >isn't ruling over Middle Earth at the end
Cooper Torres
He went back to Valinor at the end to continue serving the Vala. If he was acting selfishly he would've stayed in Middle Earth or gone back to the Undying Lands before putting so much effort into the rest of the world happy.
Hunter Long
>tfw you started smoking a pipe because of Tolkien >tfw you got mouth cancer LITERARY LIFESTYLE
Ian Evans
help
Jordan Rogers
There should be a movie about the conversations between Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, really.
Daniel Harris
Read Hobbit>>Fellow>TwoTow>ReturnofJedis
Once you have that you can read the other works. They are for the purpose of filler beyond those 4's grand storyline.
Christopher Lee did nothing wrong.
Yeah I wish they got Anthony Hopkins to do that instead of Lewis' shitty cuck story.
Ethan Lee
I did start smoking a pipe because of Tolkien.
I was a teen back then, this was before I started smoking cigs
Eli Ross
Started reading it once. Could not bear the bs surrounding Tom Bombadill. Found out he's put there solely because he's a character used in stories he told his son. Garbage.
Luke Green
I don't know. The acting, the dialogue, everything felt really, really corny and bad, and I couldn't enjoy them. I feel more comfortable with and derive more enjoyment from Tolkien's autistic pedantry for made-up histories, genealogies and geographies to create his own mythology. A lot of people, I hear, are the reverse, enjoying the contrived grandeur, corniness and sentimentality of the films but unable to bear Tolkien's autism in the books.
Thomas Harris
I enjoy both, different as they are.
James Ross
pseud
Jordan Nguyen
Hi, user. I'm in the same boat - just started reading Fellowship last night. About a quarter of the way in. I'm having a lot of fun with it, although Tolkien seems to a very cartographic writer, which isn't really my thing.
Tolkien disliked it because he was a shitty writer and this translation made him look bad. There were only few factual errors. Such as Denethor being addressed as king.
Fun fact, Ohlmark wrote a book about the disputes with the Tolkien estate wherein he accuses them of being satanists, murdering people and having orgies.
Ohlmark was awesome.
Adrian Allen
>accuses them of being satanists, murdering people and having orgies >Ohlmark was awesome. Sounds like a retard to me.
Nathan Miller
Hobbit> Trilogy> Silmarillon> reread the Trilogy
Cooper Green
I find it strange that people assume that if you dislike certain things it has to be because other people like them, even when no such sentiment has been expressed. Some of us just don't like Tolkien.
Ryder Powell
Pretty sure there is. It's called Lewis and Tolkien or something like that. Maybe the title is misleading though.
Leo Diaz
Just picked up The Lay of Autrou and Itroun. What am I in for Veeky Forums? Also when I go to the bookstore I always see this small middle earth atlas book that isn't even by tolkien. What the hell is it?
Michael Ross
Provide author name. There's a few.
Jace Foster
did you guys know he was the English chair at Oxford for the fifteen years preceding his death? isn't that cool?
Christopher Gutierrez
Letters from Father Christmas is fantastic, there's something special about it. Makes me wish I was a little kid again.
Anthony Ross
REDDIT E D D I T
Charles Clark
Announcing your presence every time isn't mandatory, you know.
Blake Bell
The Tom Bombadil episode is a subtle lore-dump, filling out the setting for both the hobbits and the reader, who until that point have been unaware of anything outside the Shire.
Too subtle for you, anyway.
Nicholas Ramirez
They stripped out pretty much everything except fights and chase scenes (even adding superfluous ones of their own.)
Basically, everything that distinguishes Tolkien from generic fantasy was removed. The movies were just big, dumb CGI-driven blockbusters.
James Turner
P L E B L E B
Xavier Walker
>says the faggot who reads LOTR
JUST U S T
Owen Sullivan
>same shitpost twice
My, somebody's got some time on their hands.
Austin Harris
Children of Hurin are safe bet after lotr and Hobbit. Silmarillios is different. It reads as a history book, but it's still very good.
I wouldn't delve into modern fantasy authors after him, none is as comfy and relaxed. Some of them try to copy him too much, the rest are too grounded. Protofantasy, on other hand, is similair. Lud-in-the-Mist from Hope Mirrlees is brilliant, while William Morris was huge influence on Tolkien. Similair style, although dialogue heavy. He's also quite a bit naughty. Romps, trysts and nudes abound.
Hunter Fisher
Could The New Shadow have worked, would it have been interesting?
Anthony Ramirez
"stopped reading there (wiki page/cover page)".
David Thompson
>Any particular reason The Silmarillion is chosen to read after the LotR Trilogy?
Spoilers. Nothing else really.
Joseph Butler
>>it's just 3 hours of him walking around talking about trees and nature
Except for the part where all his friends die during ww1. From Oxford alone one in five died.
Ryan Cooper
Yea LotR is comfy as fuck I re-read it a lot usually during winter, and yet I don't own any of the books, I always borrow from the library. I should probably buy some nice edition of the books, at least the trilogy. Any recomendations?
After you read The Hobbit and LotR you can pretty much read the rest in any order, that being said I think Silmarillion is what I would choose to read next.