The Role of The Silmarillion in The Lord of the Rings

 The Role of The Silmarillion in The Lord of the Rings

(History for Middle Earth or an embedded fiction?)

The Silmarillion is essentially a collection of myths and ancient history for J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings universe. He wrote the story to give context to his elvish languages, Quenya and Sindarin. It tells the tale of how the Noldor Elves came to Middle Earth, how Morgoth was defeated, and eventually how Númenor fell and the rings of power were created. It’s also referred to many times by characters in Lord of the Rings (for example, Bilbo writes a song about Eärendil). 

Now, just for fun, what if The Silmarillion was actually meant to be an embedded fiction within LOTR? As in, the events of the Silmarillion (or at least some of them) never actually happened in Middle Earth, and just like it’s fiction to us in the real world, it’s also fiction to the characters in the book. So, the characters in LOTR reference The Silmarillion like we would reference a really famous fictional work. For instance, whenever a character in LOTR talks about Fëanor, its actually like someone in real life talking about Sherlock Holmes; or when someone in LOTR talks about the tale of Beren and Luthien, its actually like someone in real life referencing  “Romeo and Juliet”. Since there aren’t many characters in LOTR who’ve been alive since the First Age, those characters could’ve just been inserted into the Silmarillion, just like a real Scottish king named Macbeth (who, according to historical records, was probably nothing like the fictional character) was inserted into Shakespeare’s play. 

Alternatively, the Silmarillion characters were real people in the LOTR universe and their stories mostly happened, but some of the tales are partially fabricated. For example, perhaps in Middle Earth there was a lady named Elwing who inherited a Silmaril and jumped into the sea to avoid capture and reach her husband’s ship. However, maybe she didn’t literally turn into a bird and fly there; maybe she’s just a really good swimmer. This would account for the seamless transition between the First, Second, and Third Ages through the course of the stories, and also the fact that most of the deceased characters from the Silmarillion are somehow related to living characters in Lord of the Rings. 

Of course this is not meant to be the case, (anything that doesn’t quite add up to the LOTR universe in the Silmarillion could be attributed to in-universe narrators/writers), but it is fun to consider! 


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