Abigail Brady

It's odd, to finally read a completed version of a story that I'm already very familiar with. Is this what editors feel like? I am quite impressed with the cohesiveness of the final product: although I am sure that if I was looking for the joins I could spot them : the most obvious style shift is from annalistic at the start gradually to a near full-on narrative towards the end; which is I judge a deliberate change of mode as events come faster. I wonder how long it is. My guess would be 40,000 words?

It namedrops a lot of people and places that it doesn't properly introduce; but then so does The Lord of the Rings, to no harm and to great effect. I'd be interested to see what people who haven't read the Silmarillion (or tried and failed) make of it.

As to the story itself?

( spoilers for the Silmarillion, The Children of Hurin )

In summary: grim, mythic, probably non-mass-market. I hear they are talking about making a film of it. It seems unlikely Christopher Tolkien is going to sell the film rights; his successors in management of the estate would be another matter. At least this is not quite as absurd as seeing talk of a film adaption of the Silmarillion.

( how to make a bunch of films out of the Silmarillion - are you listening Peter Jackson?, spoilers )

Finally, let us end on a quote. "[Tolkien]'s written work is characterized by disputes over the ownership of jewelry, and the hand injuries that occur as a result." - uncyclopedia

I first read the Silmarillion many years ago. It's a hard book. It starts very biblical and as you proceed it gets prosier, but never actually reaches the stage of actual narrative. It is a tragic work, telling the story of the fall and destruction of the Elves : also tragically unfinished. His son patched it up (the end parts especially were in a very outdated shape), and published it.

One of the stories in the Silmarillion is the Tale of the Children of Hurin, or the Tale of Turin. A personal tragedy, set against a bleak background. it derives many elements from the Kullervo tale. The chapter in the Silmarillion dealing with it was brief, but poignant. Fragments of a longer actual proper narrative version appeared in Unfinished Tales and other works.

I always though it would make a great story split out on its own. But since Christopher Tolkien had apparently sworn off writing new stuff to cover the gaps, this seemed another tragedy: glimpses of a work that could never exist (Tolkien himself covered this theme in Lead by Niggle). Now we learn he has been secretly working on this for quite a while. I am looking forward, albiet trediply, to reading the complete lay of the Children of Hurin. I hope he did it proud.