About This Project
Tolkien's Silmarillion has moved me more than any other book I have ever
read. I have read it numerous times now, and I never get tired of hearing the stories it contains.
Tolkien's stories have many similarities to other mythologies, but they have a unique tone that
makes them different from anything else. Like all mythologies, Tolkien explores some of the most
basic aspects of human nature in his stories: friendship and betrayal, the nature of death, the
power of love, the corruption of wealth and power. Tolkien studied mythology professionally, and his
vast knowledge and beliefs about mythology are dynamically embedded in his stories. The more I
read Tolkien -- his essays, letters, and stories outside of the Silmarillion
-- the more the profound richness and incredible depth of the Silmarillion
stories comes through. Tolkien's deep respect for mythology led him to express many of the truths he
discovered throughout his life and held most deeply in mythological form; he worked on the
Silmarillion his whole life, and he still had not completed it at the
time of his death.
I hope to accomplish a number of things through this project. First, I want to introduce people to
Tolkien's world. The Lord of the Rings movies are very popular right now.
Many people are seeing the movies and getting interested in Middle-Earth who probably would not have
been interested otherwise. I want to share some of my own thoughts about Middle-Earth and to
introduce those who are interested to what is beyond the Lord of the Rings.
Second, I want to make some of the stories from the Silmarillion more
accessible. Many people find the Silmarillion difficult to start reading.
I feel that these stories are so powerful and their message so relevant that I want to make it easier
for people to get into them. Third, I wanted to develop my own creativity. I tend to be very
analytical and logical, and I haven't done much creative writing in my life. I hope to grow as a
person as I express my own thoughts in new versions of some of my favorite stories.
I chose to tell these stories in a frametale, a larger story in which other stories can be told.
Tolkien originally conceived a frametale for his stories, and it seemed appropriate that I follow
suit. I toyed with numerous ideas, but I eventually boiled it down to two that I liked the most:
- Aragorn, King of the West, has reached the end of his life; the scepter will now pass to his son. During the coronation ceremony, Aragorn, Arwen, and others tell tales from the Silmarillion (and other sources), telling the story of the Ring of Barahir, the sword Narsil, and other things that would fit at such a time.
- A group of OU students go to see Return of the King in the theater: one has not read anything of Tolkien while all the others have. The student who has not read Tolkien asks a series of questions that leads to the telling of tales.
I posted both of these ideas to the class discussion board, and a number of students suggested the
second option. They said such things as, “This is a great way to explain things and help people
that haven't read the book,” “It would be interesting to see how someone interprets the
movies when they have read all of Tolkien's writings,” and “You would inform many people
and even get a handful interested enough to go out and read him on their own.” Since all of
these were my goals for this projects, I felt that this frametale would be the most fitting.