The Silmarillion In Three Minutes: A Condensed Version of JRR Tolkien's History of Middle-earth

Visit www.jpkloess.com to see the other stuff I've done in one place.
--12/20/13: WOO! Nearly 10,000 views!
--1/10/14: Almost 19,000...
--2/6/2014: Let's get to 30,000 views!
--3/18/2014: Is 100,000 hoping too much?
--9/26/2014: Thanks to whoever posted this video and just gave me an extra 7,000 views.
--12/2/2014: Neat! We're well over 100,000! 200,000...?
--2/15/2015: I don't think I ever thought the video would get here...but nearly 250,000...
Have you ever wanted to to read JRR Tolkiens history of middle earth: "The Silmarillion"? Then wave it in the faces of all those fantasy nerds? Well now you don't have to! Instead you can take this shortcut and prove yourself the lazy bum you are!...Or you could just read the book. :D
Made by John "JP" Kloess
/ masteryodaisgreen

[@JPKloess]

I just noticed this video crossed a million views. Cool. I should make another longer one, that would make good KZbin sense. And AdSense. But I don't really remember the book anymore to be honest, so I'd have to reread or explore the wiki to refresh my memory. Just kinda thinking out loud, thanks for watching everyone.

[@munkeykung8971]

I liked it mate, you make it informational and you're funny as well. But you do talk a bit too fast... But ye it's 8 year's ago so you have already heard it before I'm sure =P Thanks for explaining the book in short! =D

[@Green-cactus.]

congrats

[@jbjgibbons]

Listen to the audiobooks on KZbin. You won’t have to read it again. I listen to parts every night.

[@agarcia658]

Outstanding summary ...

[@andremargoto8698]

Yeah do a 4 minutes version :-) Great vídeo! Thanks!

[@archvaldor]

It is interesting that the whole of LOTR is crammed into 2 pages at the end of the Silmarillion, which gives you an idea how much backstory there was.

[@MundaneGray]

And "The Hobbit" is such a tiny part of the story that it gets only a single sentence.

[@spyrosblt3320]

its not backstory for LOTR, its an independent story that was formed decades before

[@twinkthatloveslotrtrilogy7676]

Thats so cool

[@billwurtz]

nice quick pacing. very CGPgrey

[@JPKloess]

CGPgrey? I'll take it! Very flattering!

[@epsilonjay4123]

Wow, Bill Wurtz commented on this video

[@pockettes3918]

Wow it’s like finding a hidden gem

[@aZbrushLife]

Absolutely

[@tbi143]

Secret achievement unlocked: Find bill wurtz comment

[@ryanwilson3526]

Fingolfin's duel with Morgoth is hands down my favourite fantasy fight

[@maryokeefe1114]

same, i hope they include in the amazon series

[@CelticCari]

@@maryokeefe1114 i hope they don't because it's just too awesome

[@Tilnaor]

Beren holding the Silmaril from Morgoth crown...

[@stephenjennings555]

@@maryokeefe1114 I hope the Amazon series includes as few of the canon storylines as possible because from what I’ve seen and heard, it will be utter garbage

[@thulsa_doom]

Where the time stood still at the Iron Hill!

[@Alcofribas83]

But Aulë is pronounced like... *sees last 5 seconds of video* Oh.. never mind...

[@carnsolus]

+borisvdm haha I had the same thing with all his pronunciaton... commented whilst still listening to it

[@tommykatsakos266]

all the time me too

[@supremeleaderoofpoof]

How is it pronounced?

[@mutubutu97]

@@supremeleaderoofpoof "Au..." is pronounced like "Ow." "...Le" is pronounced like "Lay." Together, it's ow-lay or Aule.

[@thecianinator]

Owl A

[@whynottalklikeapirat]

Thorin, Óin, Gloin, Kili, Fili, Dori, Nori, Ori, Bifur, Bombur, Bofur, Dwalin, Balin - and Stalin

[@joaquincassagnetezcurra5875]

What about Lenin, son of Benin & Putin, son of Durin?

[@Aldiraider]

WTH have you been smoking? or better said: How high are you?

[@williamt.sherman9841]

wait a second one of those dwarves has no beard and only a mustache. and he is not short.

[@whynottalklikeapirat]

@@williamt.sherman9841 Yes. And he is quite unsuccessfully trying to blend in. He does however smoke a pipe. That's something I guess ...

[@whynottalklikeapirat]

@@Aldiraider Old Toby?

[@KlNGLEGO]

You should have divided this into 3 separate videos and then in a few months released an Extended Version of it.

[@Abettorman]

Underrated comment :)

[@ortuignis3782]

Man you should be his manager, I'm sure it really matters to him what you think :)

[@riamriam6758]

@@ortuignis3782 you missed the joke.

[@MrGingerJez]

hahahahaha

[@rexmundi3108]

@@riamriam6758 no, you missed his

[@prkchpsnaplsaws2322]

"don't smite them, beards are cool" LOL!

[@Schmiddelwutz2000]

This is the proof. You can't explain the Silmarilion in 3 minutes - even if you talk very fast!

[@user-ft3jq5vi2l]

Maaaaybe in 5 if you talk very very fast and leave out all the non-hugely-important details

[@youknowaboutcutsskits9638]

hey, he tried at least

[@smurfydude77]

You know...John Moschitta is still alive...

[@davidwilliambarker]

You know this humour, right?

[@SolarWindsRider]

How about making it 6 mins, but slowing down the pace so that people can actually understand what you're talking about ?

[@SolarWindsRider]

***** A simple way to fix that, captain. Rename the video to "Silmarillion in 6 mins" first.

[@SolarWindsRider]

***** The video is made for the viewers. With your approach of "read the book" why bother making the video at all ? People who know the story already know the story, and people who don't will not get anything from this high-paced mambo-jambo. If you do it for the audience - do it right without viewers having to download and play with it. If you're doing it for pure fan - do it in 30 secs instead of 3 mins, the result is pretty much the same.

[@Ace0077]

I think is about articulation of this guy. Use the same content but speak like a human so other humans can understand what he speaks, when taking twice as time for the same amount of words, sire.

[@jeremiahb9541]

slow the speed then. though you'll probably get sleepy before you finish it. :v

[@yeahbee8237]

just choose 0,5 speed?

[@Pomme843]

Here's a transcription: Kloess productions presents “The Silmarillion” in 3 minutes - a condensed version of J.R.R.Tolkien’s entire history of Middle-Earth. Once upon a time, Eru/Ilúvatar/The One created fifteen beings he called Valar. They were called Vairë, Mandos, Nienna, Irmo, Estë, Ulmo, Melkor/Morgoth/The First Dark Lord, Manwë, Varda, Aulë, Yavanna, Vána, Oromë, Nessa and Tulkas. So when Ilúvatar creates the Valar, he shares with them his big plan for the World. One of the big things he tells them about is the Children of Ilúvatar, i.e. Elves and humans, and most of the Valar are all like “Sweet! Sounds cool!”. But eventually, Aulë gets all like “Seriously? How long is this going to take?” And so he decides to make his own creatures, because super-powerful Valar can do that kind of thing. So he makes Dwarves. Yep, you heard right - Dwarves are an unsightly flip in Ilúvatar’s plan for the universe. Ilúvatar doesn’t like that Aulë made Dwarves, but he’s like “Don’t smite them, beards are cool.” But eventually, boom - the Elves, the first Children of Ilúvatar, are created in Middle-Earth. So the Valar send Ulmo, Lord of Waters, and he’s like “Yo, Elves! Come on down to Valinor, where we live! It’s way cooler than Middle-Earth!” So the Elves think it over, and some of them go, and some of them don’t. Anyway, an Elf is born with the ones who come to Valinor, and he’s called Fëanor. Fëanor is really awesome at pretty much everything (except maybe a little humility), and he makes these really cool jewels called - wait for it - The Silmarils. See, that’s why the title of the book is “The Silmarillion” - because it’s all about these jewels. Why are they so cool? Well, see, one of the Valar makes these two trees that are really pretty, and everybody’s like “That’s so awesome!” (because Valar and Elves have weird tastes), and Fëanor sees the trees and he puts the light of the tree in the jewels. If this sounds strange, it is. Anyway, pretty much the only guy who doesn’t like these trees is Melkor the spoilsport, and he brings a giant spider and she destroys the trees. Then Melkor also steals the Silmarils and takes them to Middle-Earth. Then comes the Oath of Fëanor, which a bunch of Elves swear, saying they are going to get those jewels back or die trying. And they do - die trying, that is. These nasty Elves kill pretty much anyone who tries to stop them getting those jewels, which is basically what the whole book is all about. Oh, and at some point the second Children of Ilúvatar show up, and they’re called Men. So anyway, the Vilar send a bunch of heavily armed help, and there’s a big battle, and Melkor gets his legs chopped off. Now the Men who decided to help out the Valar are given the reward of super-long life and get their own special place called Númenor. And Númenor rocks, and they like it a lot, but after a while they get mad because the Valar say only people who are immortal can go to Valinor, the Undying Land (which kinda of makes sense). Meanwhile, in Middle-Earth, Melkor’s right-hand man is planning on destroying some of the Númenorian stuff. What’s this guy’s name? Sauron. So the Númenorian king tells Sauron he has to stay on Númenor as a prisoner. But while he’s there, he convinces them to be so evil that Ilúvatar blows up the island. Thankfully, all the Númenorians who decided to be good guys made it to Middle-Earth. So they do lots of different things until Sauron comes back. See, even though destroying Númenor destroyed Sauron’s body, Sauron is a Maia, which is like one spot down from a Vala, and can’t really be killed. So he comes back, and everybody in Middle-Earth has to go and destroy him again. That’s all well and good as far as it goes. But, hundreds of years later, he starts to come back once more. So the Valar sends some help: the Istari. Their names are Olórin, Curumo, Aiwendil, Alatar and Pallando, though you probably know these two chaps as Gandalf and Saruman. These guys are Maiar, just like Sauron, so you think he would give up now, but things didn’t quite work out that way. Most of the stuff after this is told in “The Lord of The Rings”, but you can find it in “The Silmarillion” too. Anyway, if you haven’t already, go read the thing! There are all kinds of cool things they didn’t tell you, like Elrond being only a Half-Elf, the Fall of Gondolin, Fingolfin’s single combat with Morgoth, not to mention the forging of the Rings of Power. Oh, and if you’re one of those people who actually know how to pronounce the names, don’t mention it in the comments.

[@Webber-sr3xk]

Where’s Radagast in this?

[@Stefannice]

@@Webber-sr3xk He is one of the 5 Istari: Curunír (Saruman), Olórin (Gandalf), and Aiwendil (Radagast), and The Blue Wizards (or the Ithryn Luin). :)

[@Maverick-ck7hn]

Thank you. Very helpful.

[@Pomme843]

@@Maverick-ck7hn You're welcome :)

[@MrGingerJez]

Glad you did this as I was about to question why Melkor AND Morgoth were listed as Valars

[@JPKloess]

I know I said I wouldn't do this, but I've been thinking about maybe revamping this video with better animation (and voice acting). This video has over half a million views, so there's a fair amount of you who want this kind of thing. If that goes well I might expand beyond the three Lord of the Rings universe videos I've done into other mythology. Or I might get bored and do none of this.

[@Steven_Olson]

JP Kloess I would like the speech to be a little slower. I know it wouldn't be as short, but I had a hard time keeping track of everything. Good video though!

[@abrahamdavila9971]

JP Kloess I'd watch that. My recommendation would be brushing up on name pronunciation and including the storyline of Eärendil, Elwing, etc., if only because I've always understood the Silmarillion to be about *both* the silmarilli and the union of the Two Children of Illuvátar.

[@Kazekoge101]

A few vox style infographics would be a nice punch up. Also similar video(s) for ASOIAF.

[@xshadionytpx7891]

JP Kloess isnt gandalf nams mithrandil or something and isnt radagast the brown also a wizard

[@pythagoras281]

Steven Olson click the gear icon (Settings) and then set the speed to 0.75. I am not a native English speaker and it was too fast for me, I hope it will do the trick for you too.

[@rushofblood994]

Melkor The Spoilsport's evil spider (Ungoliant) is actually Shelob's mother

[@MonkeyJedi99]

Or grandmother some generations removed? I have never gotten that clear in my head.

[@blingwraith6951]

big momma

[@tomvesely4008]

And Shelob is mother of the Mirkwood spiders if I am not mistaken.

[@m-w-y7325]

and what is Ungoliant herself? a being that came from the darkness surrounding the world where Morgoth was thrown out to as punishment. funny the Elves didn't care much about her and went for Morgoth when infact it was Ungoliant who was responsible for the destruction of the Trees and made enemies with Morgoth when she demanded he give her the jewels as well so she can eat them, they let her wander middllearth and fill it with her children which constantly plagued the world. Shelob was one of her many children. its suspected she died from hunger of the light and literally consumed herself in the process.

[@thulsa_doom]

I think the books refer to Shelob as being an Ungoliant's descendant - not a direct child.

[@Hyman74Roth]

As a Tolkien fan this tickled me to no end, thank you.

[@JPKloess]

You're welcome!

[@Zeithri]

Don't forget that Blind Guardian have made a lot of awesome songs about this time. One song depicts the Elf Fingolfin fighting Melkor ( _until Melkor squashed him_ ). Very good songs. It always amused me that Illuvatar was basically " _Noo! You created Dwarves! They're too ugly, go back to sleep!_ "

[@thulsa_doom]

Best song in the album by far!

[@luifernando4002]

I can pronounce the names and I am mentioning it in the comments.

[@JPKloess]

Darn you tellytuby!

[@whitealliance9540]

@@JPKloess this world is assimilating new darkness. New energy. If you want to see the dark prophet of our time: go to him. Love him. His channel name is "share his vision". Go listen to his wisdom. He is similar to the lord "sauron"... But hes only explaining it in this way, so that you people can find something relatable about him. He hates hollywood and the basic stories they tell you people. He teaches and displays many glorious and terrifying powers. Click me and go to him.

[@guardiandogoargentinos1385]

@@whitealliance9540 lmmfao

[@technology5821]

This is the comment I scrolled down to see. I am pleased.

[@luifernando4002]

@@technology5821 damn my only comment to have ever gotten this many likes and it took six years and this comment to find out. Holy shit

[@kylec.9092]

Ulmo is my favorite valar. Seriously, the dark lord cowers whenever he's around, all the orcs and evil creatures detest the sea because of him, he lifts islands like fat men lift bags of donuts and as far as I know he isn't a douche. What more can you want?

[@MrEmpty91]

Ulmo is cool, but hes Lord of Waters.....he cannot move lift islands :) its Osse and Aule who can,.....or The One,....ERU

[@magiv4205]

He's also just the coolest Vala by merit of being the only one of them who actually gave a damn about both Elves and Men, or in fact gave a damn about anyone outside of Valinor. The other Valar were very content with just sitting in Valinor while Beleriand was suffering beause they were scared of Morgoth, while Ulmo actually repeatedly went against their wishes and actively helped them. Aulë is my second favorite because he too takes a slightly more active role as a teacher, but apart from the forefathers of the dwarves and Mathan he just seems to have chronically shit luck with his students. They seem to have a tendency for evil megalomania and egos the size of Ungoliant.

[@wesleystulp9265]

I like Mandos the best

[@Stefunny82]

I loved it! It was pretty funny and went over the major points with a humorous twist! The best part was the description of Fëanor..."pretty good at everything...except humility" YEP! LOL :)

[@cowsnmonkees]

This made the book a million times easier to understand, and I've even read it.

[@Blueleaf11]

I wish you would have added the part about the Ents being created by Yavanna.

[@alexmalyarchuk1723]

And giant eagles by Manwë.

[@devenestes3234]

Fingolfin’s single combat with Morgoth is one of the best moments of Tolkien.

[@gyinagal]

You really glossed over the war for the the Silmarils, i.e. 80% of the book

[@marcheskitv]

Well, I couldn’t have condensed the entire Silmarillion in to three minutes better than he could.

[@huahualipo]

correction:Orome is the one who found the Elves in the Middle-earth and guided them to Valinor. Ulmo actually opposed the idea of moving them...

[@JPKloess]

x( Correct.

[@chrischan5168]

“Melkor the Spoilsport”

[@IonTorch52]

Well that sure was a very condensed version of the Silmarillion, quick, concise and to the point. Other people would've gotten bogged down in the details.

[@carnsolus]

+IonTorch52 because the silmarillion IS details :P

[@IonTorch52]

You mean the Silmarillion is all about details?

[@carnsolus]

sort of, yes there's less story, plot development, character development than you'd see in most books and far more just telling you what happened not the tiny details... that is not what I mean

[@ghostgate82]

This entire story is a behind the scene take on the Bible. I love it.

[@TheLivingBlobfish]

The first chapters especially! I love it too!

[@exospaca]

Glossed over some cool bits there - like the Giant Werewolf, the Giant Vampire, and other shit Sauron pulled... Plus how the Elves that stayed behind split into multiple factions, including the Grey Elves which were led by a kick ass Elf and one of the Maiar... And the Orcs which were twisted by Melkor. And how it was the Noldor who named Melkor as Morgoth.

[@freedapeeple4049]

I think it's an insult to Tolkein that this even exists.

[@bingbong8761]

Why? Although I have issues with the way some of the names are pronounced (tolkien gives a lot of pronunciations at the end of the silmarillion that do NOT match what's said here), this video has pretty much no other issues other than leaving bits out, which is completely understandable given that it's only a 3-minute video.

[@Tovenaar13]

You're talking to fast and mumbling. I'd rather this video be 5-10 minutes long so I could understand what you were saying. Kinda defeats the purpose. I say redo this one before you do anything else. The animations are fun but again, to fast.

[@JPKloess]

A lot of people have mentioned their interest in a longer video, but I am more inclined to make something different. Also, I have closed captions for this video if it's too fast for you.

[@DSRT888]

JP Kloess yeah, some of the most of important things came out as a mumble, but great work anyways! 9/10

[@PsyDei]

JP Kloess I don't care about how fast it is, just don't mumble, that annoyed me a lot.

[@paulonius42]

JP Kloess If you can't talk quickly without mumbling, you need to practice before making more videos. Enunciate! You can talk this fast, or faster, IF you speak clearly. Also, get an editor or someone to go over your scripts before you record them. This isn't bad, but it is far from being "the Silmarillion in 3 minutes." It's a good first try, but (a) we need to be able to understand you no matter how fast you talk, and (b) your title should accurately represent the content, while this one is misleading. Good luck!

[@JPKloess]

paxpaul Thanks for the tips! But how is the title misleading? It's exactly 3 minutes...

[@JPKloess]

So everyone who watched this, if I did another of these Tolkien videos what book should I make it on? Or should it be something other than Tolkien? No promises, I may do nothing whatsoever. :)

[@ShaeCouture]

do a song of ice and fire.... thatd be so hard.

[@kanz0bgz]

You could make more videos just about the silmarillion. There were plenty of epic world war type stuff going on that you could chronicle. Or even just a video about a certain battle. Been a while since i read it but there was some epic battles with tons of balrog and dragons and stuff.

[@faultyexposition]

be impressed if you could do malazan

[@eriviscale2]

Do the Malazan series. I'd like to see you try.

[@CaptainAwesome641]

I suggest Game of Thrones, good luck.

[@morallypanickedindividual3833]

I once licked a ukulele. just thought you needed to know

[@JPKloess]

Really? What kind?

[@vmattos19]

Did it taste good?

[@simonpennybernard-smith9744]

aachelabelaaron Euwkalaylee !! ;)))

[@morallypanickedindividual3833]

JP Kloess a tasty one :)

[@morallypanickedindividual3833]

Vitor Mattos OH HELL YES

[@JPKloess]

On the one hand 75% of the comments on this video are telling me I speak too fast or my voice is terrible. On the other hand, ya'll still watched the video and I have monetization enabled. :p

[@Styleth]

LOL! xD Anyways, good video. Pro tip(even tho i'm not a pro myself): Flash some of the important names on the screen as you say them. That way it's MUCH easier to understand. When you can READ and HEAR at the same time, the brain makes up for "lost" audio / pronunciation :D

[@JPKloess]

I did go in and manually create captions for people who aren't getting all the dialogue!

[@Styleth]

Oh damn! I never have those on, but nice! :D

[@fairhair1539]

I understood you completely fine.

[@MrGuardianX]

You also have several reports. Enjoy! xD

[@nierielraina]

But...but... my inner geek Nazi REAAAALLY wants to correct your pronunciation! ;) Great video! Love it!

[@JPKloess]

Thanks!

[@Evandir500]

You forgot the part were Morgoth put the discord into the song of watchamacallit to allow evil to exist in the world, or something along those lines

[@veng3r663]

And thus Rap was first born throughout all the Realms, alas... T_T kzbin.info/www/bejne/kHW9h3R9rM9ngKs

[@tardarsauce1842]

Reading the Silmarillion to understand the story behind of LOTR: *Big brain** Reading the Silmarillion to understand Fëanor memes: *EXPAND BIG BRAIN**

[@kevind814]

I just noticed the elf wearing the "I'm With stupid" standing next to Feanor. I don't remember that from the book! :-D

[@JPKloess]

Oh I'm sure it was just in one of the appendices of Return of the King or something...

[@macas99]

Some feedback, I know the idea is to have the video be short and sweet but I think you rushed a bit and for a lot of people it might be hard to let the info you're throwing out to settle in. I'd suggest slowing the pace a bit :) - Aside from that, nice summary! (you should've mentioned the big fight with the Balrog army!)

[@JPKloess]

Thanks for the honesty, a lot of people complained about not being able to understand me very clearly. If I do another one I'll work on fixing that.

[@Omegavision79]

JP Kloess Watch a couple of videos from the Cinema Sins guy... you aren't far off him in delivery. :)

[@JPKloess]

Seen it. What compliment... :p

[@evolving_dore]

This doesn't summarize, this cuts. It omits about 90% of the actual Silmarillion and skims over the other 10%. Not that they could do much better in 3 minutes, but this shouldn't have been made. Also, Aule is pronounced Ow-lei and it was Orome that first brought the elves to Valinor. And Sauron never actually looked like a giant eye, that was Peter Jackson.

[@JPKloess]

1. A summary is an omission of many details. 2. No "they" couldn't have done better...who is they again? 3. Aulë is a pronunciation thing...you know the ones I admitted I didn't know well and asked you not to comment on at the end of the video? 4. The Orome mistake was already noted. 5. People who read the books can imagine Sauron however they want. It's not necessarily a movie thing (I hope not since I don't much like the movies). 6. Wow, 35,000 views and I finally got myself an internet troll.

[@JPKloess]

***** No offense intended, but you sentence is a fragment. Can you clarify what you just said?

[@Max-px5ym]

Sauron is many times written as the eye, the great eye, the lidless eye, by Tolkien in The lord of the rings books: Here is one quote , when Éowyn is gonna kill the Firs of the nine: "'Come not between the Nazgûl and his prey! [...]and thy shrivelled mind be left naked to the Lidless Eye."

[@barad-dur9236]

wow, you criticize him for not pronouncing aule properly, but you failed to remember or observe that sauron most assuredly is described as a great lidless eye full of everlasting flame that seems to go on and on forever when looked upon, which is cautioned throughout the fucking book, esp when the palinor are introduced, since he is pretty much invested some of himself into them.

[@Nahchito]

nobody cares

[@condor.67]

Actually Sauron convinced the king of Numenor that going to Valinor with his people would make the Numenorians immortals, so they decided to sail to Valinor but Iluvatar destroys all the ships before they reach the immortal land, and destroys Numenor's island, and block all mortal beings to reach Valinor (unless Elves invite and go with them). The Numenorians (including Isildur and his father) who didn't trust Numenor's king because of Sauron's influence decided to leave the island and went to middle-earth, that's when the kingdoms Arnor and Gondor were formed

[@PhilBagels]

I liked this video. I tried to read Silmarillion many years ago, but couldn't get through more than a dozen pages without falling into a coma. Read LotR and Hobbit without any problem. Yes, I know Sil has a fine epic story in it, but I just couldn't take it. So I'm glad for this summary. Maybe you can help me, and people like me, to work our way up to reading this. Make another video with more detail - say, The Silmarillion in Ten Minutes, then if necessary, another one in 30 minutes. The one question I've never found the answer to was why they weren't supposed to chase down Melkor to bring the jewels back? Does Eru think theft is OK? Are they supposed to let him get away with it? Is Feanor supposed to say, "Oh, the Enemy just made off with my life's work. Well, no biggie."? Where's the justice? So "The One" made elves and men. And Aule made the dwarves. Who made the hobbits? I remember some vague details about the origins of orcs, trolls, ents, giant spiders, et al., but what about the other various monster types? Dragons, "fell beasts", Beornings, Balrogs, the "watcher in the water", giants, etc.? Even if we ignore the mumakil and the eagles and the wargs as just "ordinary animals", it still leaves a lot of species unaccounted for. It seems Illuvatar didn't have too tight a grip on what got created in the world and what didn't.

[@lemmypop1300]

OK, lets see.. Theft is not OK, and they had every right to chase after Morgoth for the Silmarils, but it was the fact that they swore by the name of Eru that made it worse (like taking the Lords name in vain sorta thing), plus they killed Teleri Elves and stole their ships, so they were murderers on top of that. That is why their mission was doomed from the beginning. Hobbits are the offshoot of Men; Balrogs were fallen Maiar; dragons were bred by Morgoth during his first stronghold days in the north (Utumno), probably by corrupting some already existing spirit or creature; Beorn and all other sentient creatures, good or bad, are spirits that came to Earth alongside Valar and, depending on their affinities, sided with either Valar or Morgoth.

[@danagle9877]

As Lemmy mentioned, it wasn't the act of retrieving the Silmarils that was wrong. It was how Feanor went about it that Manwe took issue with. Feanor has been a pretty rotten elf almost from the beginning. The other elves from that branch were famous for crafting precious gems and other objects and giving them away. The pleasure was the crafting, not the hoarding. But Feanor is the first mentioned who crafted for himself. Second, he boasted and took great pride in the gems, but the heart of the gems were not his work. He captured the light of the Two Trees which was Yavanna's work. When Melkor and Ungoliant killed the trees the Valar asked Feanor if he would share the Silmarils so that Yavanna could recreate the light . He said no. He then said a lot of really nasty things about the Valar (who had built a world for elves and humans and asking nothing in return) and convinced a lot of other elves to help him hunt Melkor. To do that he actually killed the elves who had built boats and took off in hot pursuit. His attitude didn't improve much later, either. He basically abandoned a lot of followers on a large iceberg and when he finally landed on Middle Earth, one of his sons said I'll sail back and get those we left behind, and Feanor said, "Nope, dont need them." And then burned the boats. I think Lemmy took care of the rest of your questions.

[@konradplatt3833]

Dont forget that Feanor slaightered the other elv "tribe" in Alqualonde to go after Morgoth. And about reading the Silmarillion. If u want u can skip the first two parts and go right to the Quenta Silmaril. This isnt as "biblelike" as the first parts and cover almost everything. And there is a youtube video in which the entire Silmarillion is read. Lasts for over 11h.

[@JPKloess]

In response to "unicron4ever", (which is an excellent name) yes I did have some issues with the audio. I didn't have my own Mic so I recorded my voice with a camera and converted the video to get just the audio. That's part of why it sounds terrible, but mostly it's because I fail at pronunciation when talking quickly.

[@ryanspackman548]

Also, Aragorn really married his cousin (many many many times removed)... as his ancestor and Elrond were brothers...

[@rageagainstmyhatchet]

Good luck on a new video. This is a great summary. Clear, crisp and well presented/animated. (Someone said you were mumbling? I wouldn't pay attention. They're clearly half-deaf and think it's you rather than their ears).

[@shinkadoo75]

Wow. Now I feel like actually reading the Silmarillion. I got it from the library like 7 times and then never actually read it because i was intimidated XD by a book.

[@Legrandez666]

The Silmarillion is hard to read,when you not know LotR.So first read the Hobbit,then LotR,then LotR again,then LotR and read it with attention and than, read the Silmarillion it´s very cool.It´s like hanging in Rivendell and read the books Elrond has.

[@e.d.m3076]

It's always strange when people say that because Silmarillion stands apart from LOTR; it's a self-contained mythology and I can't see how knowledge of LOTR is necessary for enjoying it. It is after all a 'prequel'. It's like saying you need to read The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe before you can understand The Magician's Nephew.

[@MrCmon113]

I don't think you need to read LotR trice before reading any of Tolkien's other works. O_o Actually it would make more sense to read the Silmarillion first - and the Children of Húrin and the Unfinished Tales at their respective places.

[@konradplatt3833]

I think all three books have very little in common. The Hoobit is a child story with very little depth just remember how the elves were portrait. while LOTR has sooo much depth and shows how great Tolkien is with words and telling a story. And the Silmarillion is like a history book or the bible. It has little to no depth because like everything is explained in it. But good comparison to Elronds books there^^

[@morallypanickedindividual3833]

it was a stagg black soprano ukulele with a sticker of dratini on it

[@rupertmiller9690]

People in the comments - Slow down, too fast, I can't keep up!! Me - Looks like I'm gonna have to increase the speed of the video by at least 50%.

[@sheldoncooper3706]

They didn't MUTILATE melkor's hind limbs, he was left by a limp

[@JPKloess]

To "musvijajuz agrilariocara": Fëanor, at the pinnacle of his might, "in the greatest of his achievements, captured the light of the Two Trees to make the three Silmarils, also called the Great Jewels, though they were not mere glittering stones, they were alive, imperishable, and sacred." (Of the Silmaril and the Unrest of the Noldor)

[@julianshi8893]

Aghhh, this mistake---Eru did not create just the Valar and the Maiar, those were the beings that chose to go into Arda. There are many more with him.

[@carnsolus]

+Motsognir well, they are the only ones who are important to the story... he left many other things out that also don't directly affect stuff

[@Tickld555]

The video is titled "Silmarillion In Three Minutes" what did you expect? of course he was gonna leave out minor details :')

[@carnsolus]

it is time for fisticuffs and no mistake! :P (meaning none of the details are minor in the silmarillion, although, obviously, some are)

[@DaBIONICLEFan]

The narration was a tad unclear at times but I appreciate you taking the time to make this. It's a very difficult book, took me 6 months to get halfway through. It's kind of impossible to follow the entire plot without making notes as you go along.

[@JPKloess]

All very true!

[@thatonethumb6292]

This 3 minute video is better than the whole rings of power abomination

[@daven1824]

not a tiny bit about Beren and Luthien? This is where the idea of telling The Silmarillion in three minutes falls apart.

[@JPKloess]

+Dave N Why? They weren't exactly integral.

[@daven1824]

+JP Kloess The Silmarillion is the story of the silmarils, as you correctly said in your video. None of the efforts, by any of the descendants of Feanor, to reclaim any of the silmarils, proved successful. Only the love between Beren and Luthien, proved powerful enough to defeat BOTH Sauron and Morgoth,, if only temporarily, and reclaim one of the silmarils.

[@DrakeMagnum]

Thank you! I've always been too lazy to read it and now I feel like I can fake my way through a conversation about it.

[@ginogarcia8730]

This was great :-D good intro to the other video that's longer

[@serinity781]

Haha dude this is so awesome!! Thanks for taking the time to make this! I enjoyed it very much :)

[@smokelakes]

Great job on the video. Only critique would be to pronounce your lines better. As someone who slurs a bit too, its definitely an ongoing effort for me

[@dreamingfifi]

But... but.. but... I've studied Elvish for 13 years! What use is it but to have fun nitpicking people's pronunciation?

[@aidendally1252]

This would be awesome if it was longer but still great video! P.S. The only thing that I would change is that when aulë made dwarfs he made seven and your picture had five

[@serjunkan9016]

dude you just saved my life as i am writing an essay about this book and for some reason i did not understand nor remember anything from it compared whel i was reading he hobbit or the lotr and now im forever indebted to ya

[@KevTheImpaler]

When I read it, it reminded me a lot of the bible, in particular Genesis. However I see from your video that there is a lot of Norse mythology in there too.

[@JPKloess]

I would say it features a lot of both. As for it incorporating Genesis, Tolkien once said, "The Lord of the Rings is of course a fundamentally religious and Catholic work[,] unconsciously so at first, but consciously in the revision. That is why I have not put in, or have cut out, practically all references to anything like "religion", to cults or practices, in the Imaginary world. For the religious element is absorbed into the story and the symbolism..."

[@raimethefumeknight2062]

The book is a mixture of the bible and Beowulf ( An ancient anglo saxon book that was popularized by Tolkien himself)

[@LithiumxLacrymosa]

Could just be me as I'm not a native speaker of English (although I have done my entire university education in English) but I wish you articulated better. I found it a little bit hard to understand sometimes. Good video though!

[@Pomme843]

Here's a transcription: Kloess productions presents “The Silmarillion” in 3 minutes - a condensed version of J.R.R.Tolkien’s entire history of Middle-Earth. Once upon a time, Eru/Ilúvatar/The One created fifteen beings he called Valar. They were called Vairë, Mandos, Nienna, Irmo, Estë, Ulmo, Melkor/Morgoth/The First Dark Lord, Manwë, Varda, Aulë, Yavanna, Vána, Oromë, Nessa and Tulkas. So when Ilúvatar creates the Valar, he shares with them his big plan for the World. One of the big things he tells them about is the Children of Ilúvatar, i.e. Elves and humans, and most of the Valar are all like “Sweet! Sounds cool!”. But eventually, Aulë gets all like “Seriously? How long is this going to take?” And so he decides to make he own creatures, because super-powerful Valar can do that kind of thing. So he makes Dwarves. Yep, you heard right - Dwarves are an unsightly flip in Ilúvatar’s plan for the universe. Ilúvatar doesn’t like that Aulë made Dwarves, but he’s like “Don’t smite them, beards are cool.” But eventually, boom - the Elves, the first Children of Ilúvatar, are created in Middle-Earth. So the Valar send Ulmo, Lord of Waters, and he’s like “Yo, Elves! Come on down to Valinor, where we live! It’s way cooler than Middle-Earth!” So the Elves think it over, and some of them go, and some of them don’t. Anyway, an Elf is born with the ones who come to Valinor, and he’s called Fëanor. Fëanor is really awesome at pretty much everything (except maybe a little humility), and he makes these really cool jewels called - wait for it - The Silmarils. See, that’s why the title of the book is “The Silmarillion” - because it’s all about these jewels. Why are they so cool? Well, see, one of the Valar makes these two trees that are really pretty, and everybody’s like “That’s so awesome!” (because Valar and Elves have weird tastes), and Fëanor sees the trees and he puts the light of the tree in the jewels. If this sounds strange, it is. Anyway, pretty much the only guy who doesn’t like these trees is Melkor the spoilsport, and he brings a giant spider and she destroys the trees. Then Melkor also steals the Silmarils and takes them to Middle-Earth. Then comes the Oath of Fëanor, which a bunch of Elves swear, saying they are going to get those jewels back or die trying. And they do - die trying, that is. These nasty Elves kill pretty much anyone who tries to stop them getting those jewels, which is basically what the whole book is all about. Oh, and at some point the second Children of Ilúvatar show up, and they’re called Men. So anyway, the Vilar send a bunch of heavily armed help, and there’s a big battle, and Melkor gets his legs chopped off. Now the Men who decided to help out the Valar are given the reward of super-long life and get their own special place called Númenor. And Númenor rocks, and they like it a lot, but after a while they get mad because the Valar say only people who are immortal can go to Valinor, the Undying Land (which kinda of makes sense). Meanwhile, in Middle-Earth, Melkor’s right-hand man is planning on destroying some of the Númenorian stuff. What’s this guy’s name? Sauron. So the Númenorian king tells Sauron he has to stay on Númenor as a prisoner. But while he’s there, he convinces them to be so evil that Ilúvatar blows up the island. Thankfully, all the Númenorians who decided to be good guys made it to Middle-Earth. So they do lots of different things until Sauron comes back. See, even though destroying Númenor destroyed Sauron’s body, Sauron is a Maia, which is like one spot down from a Vala, and can’t really be killed. So he comes back, and everybody in Middle-Earth has to go and destroy him again. That’s all well and good as far as it goes. But, hundreds of years later, he starts to come back once more. So the Valar sends some help: the Istari. Their names are Olórin, Curumo, Aiwendil, Alatar and Pallando, though you probably know these two chaps as Gandalf and Saruman. These guys are Maiar, just like Sauron, so you think he would give up now, but things didn’t quite work out that way. Most of the stuff after this is told in “The Lord of The Rings”, but you can find it in “The Silmarillion” too. Anyway, if you haven’t already, go read the thing. There are all kinds of cool things they didn’t tell you, like Elrond being only a Half-Elf, the Fall of Gondolin, Fingolfin’s single combat with Morgoth, not to mention the forging of the Rings of Power. Oh, and if you’re one of those people who actually know how to pronounce the names, don’t mention it in the comments.

[@corneliaoxienstierna1439]

@@Pomme843 why is nobody talking about you just randomly helping this guy, this is so wholesome. Thank you in the name of the guy who you replied to

[@maxdanlaplace]

Really liked your video. I am currently finishing this wonderful book and this is an excellent summary. Keep it up and maybe a video on the creation of the rings? unless you already did one

[@kkloes]

I enjoyed this thoroughly but the over whelming joy of someone that pronounced our last name correctly. Was the greatest moment of this video. :)

[@JPKloess]

YES! Another Kloess!

[@JPKloess]

In response to "Abby Shen". Nope I didn't mean anyone else. Vaire is one of the valar (scroll down to queens of the valar): lotr.wikia.com/wiki/Valar

[@JPKloess]

*Have you ever wanted to to read JRR Tolkiens history of middle earth: "The Silmarillion"? Then wave it in the faces of all those fantasy nerds? Well now you don't have to! Instead you can take this shortcut and prove yourself the lazy bum you are!...Or you could just read the book. :D* #silmarillion #TheSilmarillion

[@JL-nb1yc]

I tried reading it, but got confused.

[@12BRAVO28ID]

That was awesome! Loved it!

[@screamingtima1318]

I was hoping there was a Silmarillion for dummies book. I had no trouble reading The LOTR’s books or The Hobbit book, but for some reason, The Silmarillion has me really intimated. I grab the book daily, open it, look at all the names in the index and put the book back down. This video has actually helped me understand a lot though and I’m hoping to actually really read it this time.

[@JPKloess]

I made a t-shirt and coffee mug out of this video for those so inclined: rdbl.co/1L0hLUs

[@JPKloess]

*My silmarillion movie has been getting very popular lately with it bumping to several thousand views recently. Share this with people you know!* kzbin.info/www/bejne/nInbhmNnfsyirrc #tolkien #tolkienart #silmarillion #thesilmarillion #lordoftherings #fellowship #thetwotowers #thefellowshipofthering #returnoftheking #thereturnoftheking #thehobbit #thehobbitthedesolationofsmaug #thehobbitthedesolationofsmaugmovie #thehobbitmovie #thehobbitanunexpectedjourney #thehobbit2 #hobbit #hobbitses #hobbits #hobbitmovie #fantasy #lotr

[@sadieoleary1372]

Haha love it!

[@braddavis4377]

I did and I'm glad your post is getting activity! Maybe you started a movement!

[@calvomedia8427]

First time watcher. I enjoyed it . Thanks mate

[@stephenh2319]

I love how men get the shit end of every stick and whenever they complain the gods are like"just view death and not having wisdom as the real gift"

[@alpenlandhermit2181]

I'm not sure who this is targeted for other than people who have read the S and want to have a laugh.

[@JPKloess]

Pretty much.

[@bannercv]

it's for people like me who have read all the books watched all the films but still doesn't understand why the fuck souron wont die!!!!!

[@carnsolus]

+stephen collins he's a maia, they're naturally spirits (instead of hybrids like nearly every other race) so... i mean, you can keep destroying their bodies for all time, but only iluvatar (probably) can kill them, which is also why the valar dont kill morgoth the second time they fight him... doing that would just release him from his body-prison and that would make him a lot more powerful Sauron's also not dead at the end of lotr, but because he put so much of his power into the ring (power he could still use while the ring existed) he doesn't have much power now that the ring is destroyed and it would take many thousands of years before he's amassed enough power to be a threat again gandalf is slightly different since he's istari (he is maia but for the duration of his stay in middle-earth, the valar gave him certain limitations and wewaknesses)... his body is real, he needs food, sleep, water and he cant shapeshift all over the place. When he dies, his istari part would have died and his maia part would have done the normal maia bit (losing a lot of power, which he'll have to slowly regain) but iluvatar sends him back, again as istari but with more power (probably also more power than he ever had as a full maia)

[@sammyessa]

That's so true 😂😂😂

[@VandalCleaver]

From reading about Sauron's days as a Maiar,it makes me wonder if he was quite as evil as he would have everyone believe.Sauron served Aule,the smith,so he was an excellent craftsman,he valued order and perfection above all else,so him siding with Melkor,a being who stands for chaos and disorder,seems unnatural,he had to have another reason than just 'feeling naughty'.At first I thought that he viewed Melkor as a means to an end,that when the dust was settled,and the corpses of the Valar,Men,and Elves lay at his feet,he would remake the world into a perfect one.This could be true,but something else came to mind.Maybe he intended for everything to happen,maybe he intended to create something so terrible that all the races of Middle-Earth would be forced to join together and stop it,and in doing so,create a peaceful world,free of war.I just have hope for the guy. Please,no hecklers or layabouts,have an opinion if you are capable.

[@JPKloess]

I don't.

[@JPKloess]

:)

[@tiggergolah]

The problem with your misplaced compassion is that you fail to grasp what Tolkien was trying to communicate about the nature of good and evil. Evil corrupts; it sears the conscience. Once one has burned their conscience by continuous violation, it becomes scarred. It cannot no longer discern anything but its own will, and can only see evil intentions in others. And then there's Gandalf's statement to Sauron (granted its in the movie Fellowship of the Ring, I think, and not the book, but its still noteworthy.) "He (Sauron ) does not share power." Sauron's definition of peace would be that of a tyrant.

[@JPKloess]

Yea, that's probably a better response tiggergolah.

[@VandalCleaver]

tiggergolah There is a distinct difference between selfish tyranny and order.The Silmarillion was Tolkien's representation of good and evil,Melkor was bad to the bone,Sauron was nothing like him.In regards to the movie,it is a brilliant movie,but it has absolutely nothing to do with Tolkien's opinion.If Tolkien had his way,we would all be living in cottages smoking weed and discussing butter.He despised technology,therefore he would despise the Lord Of The Rings movies.I'm going to overlook this and respond though.Gandalf wasn't perfect,he was arrogant,and he did not know everything,although he would have everyone believe otherwise.He did not know Sauron,they were both Maiar,but nobody knows Sauron's mind,or his heart.Therefore his statement at Orthanc is only blind speculation on Sauron's outward appearance.I am of the opinion that Sauron is a deceiver in more ways than expected.

[@commonsensespiritualist7809]

Dude that was awesome!!! It made me laugh! I love the "I'm with stupid!" Shirt. that was classic

[@JessCaron]

Also Melkor killed Feanor's father King Finwe who was guarding the Silmarils, which is part of the reason why Feanor was mad enough to make an unbreakable oath to get the Silmarils back. And only Feanor and his sons swore the Oath, while Feanor's half-brother and a bunch of his nieces and nephews and their people followed him to Middle-earth and didn't kill any Elves (well, Fingolfin's host did before they realized they were killing them for stupid reasons). Galadriel, for example, basically just came to Middle-earth and didn't do anything all First age.

[@jakmar4138]

Jeesh. There's a pronunciation key in RotK and he still gets it wrong. I still understood him though, so I guess it's fine.

[@JPKloess]

You had one job...don't comment on my lack of attempts at pronunciation.

[@BalanceDaRhythm]

Lol One job! You're fired +Jak Mar !!

[@jakmar4138]

+BalanceDaRhythm Ah darn. I guess I'll go file for unemployment.

[@AlexanderJansen]

Tolkien was a philologist. Pronouncing his names right, or at least trying, is important

[@screamingtima1318]

Jak Mar I just got rotK. Ugh! I have so much to learn. 😞

[@EthanChow_3_14159_RUBIKS]

Um... Oromë told the elves to come to Valinor, not Ulmo. Melkor did like the Silmarils, he actually coveted them and put them on his crown after he got them. But it is still a pretty good video.

[@derekmiller4979]

Oromë didn’t tell them, they were persuaded by Finwë, Ingwë, and Elwë

[@GreyWolfLeaderTW]

I bet J.R.R. Tolkein would weep if he knew that his life's work (literally, the Silmarillion was the first part of the Lord of the Rings he started work on as a young man in the late 1910s, and he worked on it for his entire life and it was still partly unfinished at the time of his death. His son finished the last few partially completed elements), could be summarized in three minutes.

[@cybrarian9]

Excellent synopsis. Superb and simple (easy to comprehend) animation. You've made a book of many hundreds of pages and thousands of details very easy to comprehend. Not bad for 3 minutes.

[@cybrarian9]

Also, I would recommend that people read "The Hobbit" first, followed then by "The Lord of the Rings," and conclude by reading "The Silmarillion." The level of complexity builds this way and makes the names and different groups of beings a lot easier to comprehend and relate to. Plus people will be used to reading the names by this point. For example, you only understand Gandalf's "pressing business away south" noted in "The Hobbit" in "The LOR." And you understand more about where Sauron came from only by reading "The Silmarillion." As for the remainder of J.R.R. Tolkien's works, some of his books published later by his son are also thus easier to understand because they fill in editorial gaps and back stories. This is evident in Peter Jackson's second installment of "The Hobbit" when Gandalf meets Thorin at the Prancing Pony to discuss his plans to get another (Bilbo Baggins) to enter more stealthily into the Mountain, which was not Thorin's original plan. And hence, the story begins.

[@JPKloess]

Great idea Robert. That's the order I read Tolkien; Hobbit, LOTR, and then Silmarillion.

[@cybrarian9]

Thank you for the compliment. I read them all in college (a long time ago), but the stories never get old. Now I enjoy them as audiobooks too. And I read these books and other books Tolkien authored (translated) to the kids of my friends, who've also been reading them too.

[@ApplJuicerr]

3 minutes? how about 10 minutes and slow down the pace.

[@hitnmissmusic70]

Kudos! Bravo! *someone give him a trophy!* :)

[@padmansixtyfour4801]

Quality stuff. People seem miffed at the omission of many cool things but it's 3 minutes, not 3 hours! And you DO advise people to read it for themselves. Good work. Also, I interpreted the "legs hewn from under him" as you did. I loved it when Tulkas did that to the cowering wretch Morgoth. The guy went down hard!

[@JPKloess]

Thanks! I tried to fix some of people's gripes by making the Lord of the Rings one longer.

[@kaossilator8545]

+Padman Sixtyfour I read it myself and it wasn't a fun read at some parts.Too many names and places.Tolkien used 3-4 names for each person/race/group/location/event or anything else that he introduced in this book.Not to mention that every father had like 5-10 sons and daughters each .I loved the lotr and hobbit books though.

[@michirunagashigeh6476]

Cliffs Notes of Silmarillion! Nicely done!

[@Mooseboy018]

The pronunciation errors and mixing up Ulmo and Orome made this kind of hard to watch... but still a swell video overall.

[@JPKloess]

I changed the role of one character, Peter Jackson changed most of them. You win some, you lose some. ;)

[@Extex_]

**cringe**

[@braddavis4377]

Very funny! You had me.laughing with the die trying part. I've been asking this question a lot on youtube so Im sorry if you already ready saw it: do you think Silmarillion could be made into film? I think TV is better, and I think that it should be entirely CGI, like anime but the modern type with the amazing graphics. Any thoughts?

[@JPKloess]

I also had the idea that it should be a tv show, but I don't think CGI is the best way to go (even if the graphics are the advanced kind like in "tin tin" or something). Live action still seems better to me.

[@braddavis4377]

John Kloess Wow that was fast lol! Imho I think that the scope and scale of Silmarillion demands CGI and there are very pratical reasons to keep it anime: Battles; the battles in Silmaril are so large that they make all the battles combined in LOTR look like a skirmish. Think of the Niernaith Arnoidiead and how large that was. Creatures; there are way too many creatures and monsters for live.action: elves, men, dwarves, dragons, balrogs, orcs, talking dogs, talking swords for that matter, not to mention the Valar and Maiar themselves; how would one cast the Maiar in their true form? There would be too many switches between live action and CGI. Location; where would the show be filmed? It would have to stay in new zealand or be green screened anyway but even then how would one capture the beauty or majesty of the Undying Lands, or the might and the dread of Utumno, remember Angband was so strong and vast that it made Mordor look like a pitstop. Also think of the cast and costumes. How many extras would there have to be and think of all the detail that would have to go into the wardrobe. Then there are all the stunts and fantasy stuff like Erindil and his flying ship and the fight between Mortgoth and the elf, or Mortgoth and Tulkas... then there are the events, like the creation of Ea, and the destruction of Newmenor or the Fall of Gondolin and the destruction of the trees (which include Ungoliant I forgot to add) True are are shows that pull off the CGI/ live action very well, like Battlestar Galactica (the new one of course) or Once Upon a time in wonderland, but the scale of Silmarillion is too large for live action.

[@rockyseverino9230]

it could be done either way, a stand alone series of some kind could work, and is probably the best format to get out all these amazing separate stories. But if they were to get the rights, and they had to get the story out in just one movie it could be done. Just focus almost entirely on the Oath of Feanor and the War of Wrath. It'd be easy to do if they got three movies like they're doing with the hobbit and lotr. I'd end the first movie with the oath of feanor, do the War of Wrath for the next two. the real question would be do i want to do some 2nd age stuff too, or do we just try and keep peter jackson working for the rest of his natural life making tolkien movies. Of course, he'd also have to change history and find an excuse for Legolas to be there, and we'll just do the same thing and have gandolf be the one who goes to the elves when they first wake up. Legolas's dad will be there by then, he was probably a first age elf, so we'll just make him and legolas 1st age elves who didn't go to the undying lands, but still got effed by feanor's oath. that was pretty common....

[@braddavis4377]

Rocky Severino LOL, PJ making LOTR movies for the rest of his life! It would take they long to completely hash out that story! I like your thinking on focusing on the War of Wrath and the Oath. That's the crux of the story anyway. Basically I think your idea could work like this: A brief intro narration on the creation of the world with an intros to all the main angelic powers in the story. Then after some "discussion" time with the Valar we can move to the waking of the elves, and everything will move from there. The third film could end with the commissioning of the wizards as guides to the people of Middle Earth, coming just after the first war of the ring, with Isildor. Perhaps the story could be told like a memoir of Galadriel, not that the story is about her but that the story is being told from her memories, she was there from the beginning anyway. At least people can connect the story to LOTR through her?

[@rockyseverino9230]

yeah, i would want to cover all of that, since how can you have a story about the 1st age and not go over the creation and the waking, and how the dwarves and ents came about, it just depends. I think i'd probably open the 1st movie on a battle, perhaps Feanor's crew landing back in Middle Earth and pretty much mopping the floor with the orcs, and looking almost like Gods themselves when compared to the indigenous humans and elves and dwarves. had Feanor not died, they would have pretty much had one unsullied victory, but they didn't even get that, and then thru the flashbacks, and maybe around the fire talk, describe all of that stuff, but i think to condense it into one narrative i'd narrowly focus the story as much around Feanor's sons and their battle to reclaim the Silmarils. show how their awful oath harms all the other elves, humans and so on. So the first movie'd actually be kind of happy, the second two would be total tear jerkers, like end the second one with the fall of Gondolin, and basically by then all of Belgeriad is pretty much over run, so i guess we make the third one a 'chase' movie where whats his face, Beren? tries to get to the undying lands and we can finally get the Valar involved in this whole business. I'd try and get the 3rd movie down to just like 4 endings, no more than 5, i mean it's the silmarillion, not the LOTR for god's sake. :D

[@musiicas]

thank you so much for the recap. it's amazing I love you!

[@darylwright2945]

Melkor Actually a few more things 1. Marred the World 2. Mutilated Innocent Elves into Orcs 3. Created terrors in Middle Earth and Instigated things in Valinor that got Faenor in Major trouble 4. Plunged the World in darkness (Trees) 5. Stole the 3 Simirils 6. Killed the First King of the Noldor, who so happens to be Faenor's own Dad (Who favored him over 6 other children and even exiled himself with his famous son)

[@standewit7097]

waiting for someone to mention that it was Orome, not Ulmo, who found the elves first.

[@JPKloess]

At least two other people have berated me for that one. ;) Lesson learned!

[@michaelf8309]

JP Kloess you're half right, Orome's job was guiding them from the eastern to the west, when they reached the western shore,Ulmo was the one who sailed them to Valinor,

[@JPKloess]

I was planning on reposting this video in honor of the Hobbit coming out, and something reminded me just in time! Once again, here is my bite-size history of middle-earth! #lordoftherings #hobbit #TheHobbit #OneLastTime #TheHobbitTheBattleoftheFiveArmies #PeterJackson #LOTR #LordOfTheRings #Tolkien #MiddleEarth #TheLordoftheRings #Movie #TheHobbitMovie #Bilbo #TheHobbit3 #MartinFreeman #Smaug #Review #IanMcKellen

[@sbowen737]

please remake this video without mumbling, there is no need to treat us viewers like were on speed or something, a 5 minute video with a little more detail and a calmer rate of speech would be really nice cuz i would really like to understand this better, thanks =)

[@JPKloess]

sbowen737 Sorry you couldn't understand, have you tried the closed captioning? I wanted to make it this fast because I like videos at that pace.

[@sbowen737]

u wanted the video to be hard to understand but u expect people to read the captions? i wouldnt even have thought to try cuz 90% of the time captions suck on youtube and no i wont bother to rewatch your mumbling just to read what I cant understand, the video should be made to be understandable and actually explain things so people can learn... i guess I will just look elsewhere cya

[@JPKloess]

sbowen737 Actually I spent a lot of time fixing the regular KZbin captions so they would be matching to what I actually said. Also, not everyone found the video hard to understand. The captioning is mainly intended for the couple people who need it (for instance those who watch this video who are not native English speakers).

[@V4N6U4RD]

sbowen737 have you tried better speakers or headphones?

[@maksim9513]

I watch this every night before I go to bed.

[@wibblewobble1934]

Started watching this then halfway thought "..oh shit, have i just had spoilers for the entire Amazon LOTR tv series? ARRGHHHHH!" lol

[@JPKloess]

yup

[@JPKloess]

Sauron's a maia. Elves are lower class. Yes he tricked them into making the rings of power, which he tried to use to enslave those who wore them.

[@Gabriel21733]

I wish you improved your narration...

[@JPKloess]

+Gabriel21733 I did! Check out the sequel, "The Lord of the Rings in Six Minutes": kzbin.info/www/bejne/Y6SyoHebds1jhLM

[@kevingibranr3365]

+JP Kloess What do you mean you can't read that thing?

[@potatoes4814]

The Silmarillion in one sentence= Elves behaving badly

[@ElizabethAlfaro]

Dude! that was simple and awesome!

[@denolaj]

Wait, what? Elrond a half-elf? Dangit, I don't have the time to read more books now!

[@Tamajyn69]

Well, he actually had a choice whether to be full elf or half elf. His brother was the first king of Numenor who imprisoned Sauron, and that also makes Elrond Aragorn's great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great grand Uncle lol

[@denolaj]

Well, that sure makes things more interresting. It kind of gives more depth to his objections that Aragon and Arwen would marry. It also makes his protests more valid :P

[@Tamajyn69]

Nikolaj Bourguignon Exactly ;)

[@michaelf8309]

Djentify This no, it was Ar-Pharazon the 24th king (or25th?) of Numenor who imprisoned Sauron because Sauron self-proclaimed as King of Men and being imprisoned was actually part of Sauron plan who then began corrupting the King.

[@Tamajyn69]

Michael F Ah true

[@JPKloess]

The Hobbit covers only a few months. "The Silmarillion" several thousand years since the start of time. "The Hobbit" as well as the "Lord of the Rings" elaborate on parts of "The Silmarillion". I did not tell those parts and stopped around where "The Hobbit" and "The Lord of the Rings" began.

[@orilovesyou]

Great video! I'm reading the book now but I always have to go online & read chapter summaries to really get it... Such a hard read!

[@dougkreitzer]

It is a terrible listen on audiobook and I can’t believe people ever made it popular. It is endless new characters with impossible names. I can’t tell who is doing what, where or why and who are even the main characters. Once a chapter something interesting happens after geography details and new characters, sons of characters and everything is ‘the greatest that ever was and ever will be’. I keep listening though waiting for something to interest me.

[@Mrzoux1]

Great video! The simple tone and speed made me laugh a couple of times:)