All Questions
Tagged with tolkiens-legendarium the-silmarillion
391
questions
47
votes
2
answers
14k
views
What happened to Radagast The Brown?
The Maia Radagast The Brown disappeared from Arda after the first book The Fellowship of the Ring. What happened to him?
- 837
47
votes
8
answers
11k
views
Did Sauron and Finrod Felagund really get into a singing fight?
In The Silmarillion, in the chapter "Of Beren and Lúthien", we read of what can only be called a singing fight, at least if we take the account at face value.
I won't repeat it in its entirety, but ...
- 70.1k
45
votes
5
answers
17k
views
Who did the Elves think Annatar (Sauron) was?
Sauron posed in fair form to the Elves as "Annatar" (Lord of Gifts). Considering many of the elves Annatar appeared to have probably been alive for hundreds or even thousands of years, who did they ...
- 1,783
44
votes
1
answer
8k
views
Why aren't Dwarves immortal?
Ever since I read The Silmarillion, I've been wondering why the Dwarves were created mortal. Since mortality is the gift of Men from Ilúvatar, it didn't make sense to me that Dwarves also have the ...
- 613
40
votes
6
answers
8k
views
Was Sauron's body destroyed before or after the ring was cut from his hand?
I'm a bit confused as to the ordering of events leading to Sauron's demise at the end of the second age.
From the Silmarillion it appears that Sauron was hewn down by Gil-galad and Elendil, and ...
- 2,272
36
votes
3
answers
6k
views
What was the first sentient race that awoke on Arda?
Some background: Tolkien's history of elves singing and ents walking and talking.
One of the foundations of Tolkien's mythology is the Elves being the Firstborn. The Dwarves are even put back to ...
- 11k
35
votes
2
answers
5k
views
What magical powers do balrogs have?
J. R. R. Tolkien wrote:
For of the Maiar many were drawn to his splendour in the days of his greatness, and remained in that allegiance down into his darkness; and others he corrupted afterwards to ...
- 38.7k
34
votes
5
answers
14k
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How many Balrogs were there?
There are guesstimates of their numbers ranging from as little as three all the way up to hundreds. Still other accounts say there were actually a thousand strong.
We know five were "killed" ...
- 26.6k
34
votes
3
answers
8k
views
Did Tolkien come up with the Ents as he was writing Lord of the Rings, or before?
Ents play a pretty important role in The Lord of the Rings. However, they existed as far back as the First Age.
I expected them to have a pretty big role in The Silmarillion when I started reading it. ...
- 5,602
34
votes
2
answers
3k
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Why did Christopher Tolkien remove all references to England and Ælfwine from the published Silmarillion?
Reading through the History of Middle-Earth series, it's quite clear the Tolkien had England and Eriol/Ælfwine of England in his mind though most of the history of developing the legendarium. The idea ...
- 4,446
33
votes
2
answers
4k
views
In what language did Túrin converse with Mîm?
Túrin spoke the Mannish tongue of the House of Hador and also Sindarin (in a noticeably archaic Doriathrim way). On the other hand the petty-dwarves being largely isolationist and hating the Eldar, ...
- 2,878
33
votes
4
answers
3k
views
Are there real world creation myths that inspired The Silmarillion?
In J.R.R. Tolkien's The Silmarillion, the creation myth is based on music - the creation of elves, etc. are new themes in the music, the "devil" introduces discords that are then used to develop the ...
- 573
32
votes
7
answers
18k
views
What powers, if any, did the Silmarils have?
In the Silmarillion, the Silmarils were described as being very powerful, holy jewels.
What form did this power take exactly?
- 20.1k
32
votes
3
answers
18k
views
Why is "the time of elves" considered to be over?
From the movie series, it seems obvious that the civilization of Elves, once great and important, is declining. Their numbers keep reducing and they retreat into some remote islands and in general "...
- 810
32
votes
1
answer
5k
views
What would've happened had Melkor won?
I'm interested to know if there were any notes on what would've happened has Melkor successfully overthrown the other Valar and assumed complete control of Arda.
Obvious answers like "He'd kill ...
- 5,229