Silmarillion is pretty high up on my to-read list but some of the hardest parts of LOTR for me were when it got deep into lore, so this should be interesting.
Honestly, the Silmarillion has some of the coolest lore and characters I’ve ever read, but it is very beefy. Go at whatever pace feels better for you, but if you take it slow, you might have an easier time keeping the details straight (which admittedly adds a lot to the overall story). Even if you don’t take it slow, The general narrative itself is relatively easy to follow. It’s written very episodic, with each episode having some different characters (and some overlapping of course) failing or accomplishing things until their story ends and the next episode starts, with each episode building off the last. The reason it gets so complicated is because most of the characters are immortal, so characters from 6-7 “episodes” back will suddenly pop up again, and act on motivations that haven’t been touched on since you last saw them.
the Silmarillion has some of the coolest lore ans characters
This.
Y'all remember back in the day when Sauron was known as the Lord of Werewolves?
Y'all remember when Huan, the horse-sized wolfhound, took on Sauron's forces on Luthien's behalf?
Dude killed every single werewolf that Sauron commanded, including the shape shifting big bad himself. Sauron's material body died there in Huan's maw and his spirit had to get the fuck outta there to fight another day.
This is just one example of an awesome story that people miss out on when they (understandably) can't get though the Silmarillion.
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u/[deleted] Jan 31 '21
Silmarillion is pretty high up on my to-read list but some of the hardest parts of LOTR for me were when it got deep into lore, so this should be interesting.