Your ULTIMATE GUIDE to THE SILMARILLION | Quenta Silmarillion | Chapters 1, 2 & 3

[@MickeyHarp]

Another great video. This time around I’ve been referred a lot to the maps/sketches of Arda as it helps me get my head around what’s happening to whom and where.

[@brewingbooks]

Absolutely right 🙂 the maps are there for a reason and they’re practically indispensable when reading The Silmarillion (not just the first time, I keep referring to the maps over and over even after multiple reads). There’s just so much going on! 😅

[@tommydoeschile]

Nothing better than to escape into Middle Earth for a while and put yourself in the beauty of Tolkien´s world. Keep up the great analysis !

[@brewingbooks]

Well said! And thanks 🙂

[@skaal98]

I have read The Silmarillion once in english and I loved it, this video series made me begin my second readthrough but this time I’m reading it in my own language, Norwegian. Keep the videos coming!

[@brewingbooks]

Wow The Silmarillion in Norwegian sounds fantastic 🙂 Thanks for the support 👍

[@kristanjohnson6084]

From my recollection of my 2nd time reading which I started a year ago, I remember feeling bad for the Valar having to put up with Melkor. They keep doing hard work to shape Arda, and then Melkor kept coming around and trashing it. It's easy to feel a certain amount of sympathy because it does seem to wear them down, and they get defensive and become more insular after their earlier ruined hard work, when they make Valinor a fortress against Melkor. I was surprised to re-learn about the Lamps, which I had completely forgotten from my first reading several decades ago. The sequence with Aule was quite touching and heartbreaking. I thought it was so charming that Aule was excited to share his knowledge of crafting with the Children of Iluvatar that he got carried away and created a new life based on his flawed attempt to remember the images he saw. I felt so sad for Aule when he thought that he had to destroy his creation and was crying; I cried, too. It made Aule one of the more memorable of the Valar for me because his situation evoked such deep empathy in me. I leaned heavily on the Sundering of Elves chart for my current reading, re-visiting it over and over again to make sure I had the different sundered branches straight. It's super helpful.

[@brewingbooks]

Great insights and thanks for sharing! I know what you mean about feeling sorry for the Valar! 😅 I think, from the multiple readings I’ve done over the years, is how powerful Melkor is to be able to contend and challenge 14 other Valar. As for the Aule episode, I think this is a beautiful account of the origins of a race that has left an indelible mark both in Tolkien’s legendarium, and our modern conception of fantasy Dwarves in general.

[@ReadingRonin]

I am really enjoying this! Thank you very much for the amazing content!

[@brewingbooks]

Glad you’re finding these videos helpful! Thanks a lot!

[@CT--fd6gc]

Going to read chapter 5 tonight. Book is super dense I'm enjoying it so far

[@brewingbooks]

That’s great! It is dense indeed, but quite a unique read too 😄

[@ReadingIDEAS.-uz9xk]

New to book tube and finding my way around. So many great books out there and reading choices. Best wishes with your reading choices this year. Hope you get some great stories.

[@brewingbooks]

Cheers!

[@crusader2112]

I’m three Chapters in and really enjoying it so far. I’m listening to an audiobook while I read, so that definitely helps. Keep up the great work. 👍

[@brewingbooks]

Great! Keep at it!

[@Pinguino-Hobbit]

Hi, James. Can you show us your deluxe editions collection, please?

[@ReadingRonin]

He has multiple videos out on the various deluxe editions. Check them out!

[@brewingbooks]

Hi Eduardo! Thanks for your query 🙂 I think I might do such a video very soon 👍

[@Pinguino-Hobbit]

@@ReadingRonin I know, but could be fine an actualization or an exclusive video

[@Pinguino-Hobbit]

@@brewingbooks thank you for listen 🙏🏻 I really love your videos about your collection

[@brewingbooks]

Thank you very much! 🙂

[@ArcaneWorkshop]

So, I'm soon to begin reading the Tolkien books for my first time. Would it be totally crazy, to read everything in chronological order? Understanding, I'm fully expecting to critically read The Silmarillion, referencing the indeces, and taking notes. This reading order would make Hobbit and LOTR at the end, but in a way, this seems more fun to me, as I'm building up to the main event. I've seen the movies, so do I have enough context for this reading order, or would nothing make sense? I guess my current logic is just that, I'm not sure how interested I'm going to be in delving into Tolkien's other works, after knowingly having already read the BEST of the bunch beforehand.

[@brewingbooks]

Very interesting question and thanks sharing 🙂 Well, to be honest that’s how I did it! I was an avid fan of the films and decided to read Tolkien by tackling The Silmarillion first. It was tough to say the least and most of the book I just couldn’t understand. Some knowledge of the films certainly helped, but it was strictly limited. Also, back then, online resources were limited too. Thankfully today you can always look up videos and terminologies as you go along with your reading to help you out. So I’d say go for it! If it’s something you want to do chronologically, then why not? Just be prepared for a tough read (or not! Who knows?) You may want to follow this series of videos which might help you during your reading 🙂 Now, as for not being interested in Tolkien’s other works once you’re done with the more famous of his books, you wait and see till you’ve finished LOTR and let me know 😉

[@ArcaneWorkshop]

@@brewingbooks Thank you for the reply! I think I'll give it a shot then! Much appreciated, and yes I do believe these Silmarillion videos of yours will be very helpful. I've already watched through, and you've made it very easy to understand thus far. I'm excited to see the rest!

[@gandalf4751]

Silmarillion 😍😍😍😍😍

[@brewingbooks]

Not just Silmarillion, but it’s THE Silmarillion (cos there’s only one) 😁

[@JOSHTHEGIANT96]

I know it's not relevant to LOTR. But out of curiosity do you read any of Stephen Kings work

[@brewingbooks]

I’ve only read his ‘On Writing’ book so far. Any suggestions on where to start? 🙂

[@JOSHTHEGIANT96]

Well I read them all in publishing date order but that's me 🤣 if you like fantasy tho I'd suggest his dark tower series.. absolutley fantastic

[@kristanjohnson6084]

@@brewingbooks Funny story, about eight years ago I finished reading "On Writing" after stalling about a quarter of the way through. When I picked it up from where I left off, I felt myself drawn deeper and deeper into it, found the writing held my psyche in a way I didn't expect. On Writing has a passage where he describes very simply the answer to the question "Where do you get your ideas?" The core idea of many of his novels intrigued me, caused me to feel a respect and curiosity about SK, where before I rejected and ignored. I bought a handful of his books that he describes the core idea of, and started actually with Carrie, his first published book. As a slow reader, I was quite surprised by how quickly I plowed through it. Because it was such a great reading experience, I added a number of other books, feeling that his writing had proved to work well with me. I followed up with The Gunslinger, being a fantasy fan. From there I just went with my intuition, some more in publication order, others that I felt I could jump ahead with. The Dark Tower books I'll continue to read in order. I made out a list of books that feed into The Dark Tower series, relying on publication order timeline. And then added in other SK books I was interested in that weren't as connected to The Dark Tower. Like with any author, there are books I like more than others. I've like the two Dark Tower books I've read. I was disappointed by one of his other fantasy books, The Eyes of the Dragon. His short stories are actually pretty great for sampling, Night Shift and Skeleton Crew have some really good stories...a surprising number of stories from Night Shift have been adapted into movies.