I’ve been a LOTR fan since i could hold up a book on my own, and rings of power recently brought me back to loving this world and these characters. But try as I might, little me never got through the Silmarillion. Now that i’m older and absolutely falling in love with Elrond’s character and this era of middle earth, do you have a list of recommendations on what to read? I really want to get into the thick of the history (and anything centered on our kind-as-summer favorite) and don’t know where to start. 🥰💕
Hello hello! The Silmarillion is one hell of a book and as someone who has a poor attention span, let me say this: treat it as a reference book, not a novel! The same goes for other histories like Unfinished Tales (definitely a reference text and not a narrative), the Fall of Gondolin, Beren and Luthien.
By that I mean find whatever you want in the glossary (e.g. Elrond) and go to that page, read a little snippet and moved onto the next one. There’s a lot going on a first, but online resources like Tolkien Gateway and the LotR Wiki are awesome for getting that basic surface-level knowledge! Everything there is linked too, so you can easily flit between related topics. That’s how I got most of my info, and from there I finally dragged my way through the Silm. If you prefer video formats, there’s so many resources on YouTube that you can find by using phrases like ‘plot of the Silmarillion’ or ‘history of Elrond’ or basically anything!
I recommend starting with the Tolkien Gateway page on Elrond for an overview, and then a look over Elros, Elwing, and Earendil’s pages (sorry if this sounds obvious!). Significant locations worth having a quick browse of include the Havens of Sirion, Lindon, and Eregion. There are family trees readily available at the bottom of most characters’ pages on Tolkien Gateway which can help make things easier to understand, along with maps of Middle Earth in the First Age and Second Age (both easily found on Google images).
There’s a whole world of fan-curated materials that make life so much easier in understanding the legendarium. If you’ve got any specific questions or don’t understand anything, I and a whole bunch of Tolkien blogs here on tumblr would be more than happy to talk and never shut up about it, too.
Hope this helps, gimme a shout if I can help with anything at all!
