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Qlabalex t1_itgc04o wrote

Reply to comment by Tenorius in I just read The Silmarilion and I am speechless. by Tenorius

There is a separate book that is a novelization of turins story called "Children of Hurin" that is an excellent more in depth telling of his story. I read that before reading the silmarillion and it made it so much more enjoyable having been introduced to characters and locations in an actual story. There are also novels for Beren and Luthian as well as The Fall of Gondolin. I believe Christopher tolkien put them together only a few years ago before he died

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swarmofseals t1_itgjnoi wrote

I haven't gotten to Beren and Luthien yet but The Fall of Gondolin is fantastic. It's not just the story, but several versions of the story (some incomplete) written at different times with notes and comparisons by Christopher Tolkien. It's both a great story (or at least a shell of one) and a really interesting window into Tolkien's process. It's also a bit depressing in that it's clear that there was amazing work in there -- it seems like he could have developed many of the stories in The Silmarillion into legitimate novels or novellas in their own right -- but lost heart in doing so because he despaired of them ever getting published. From The Fall of Gondolin it seems like even LotR was in doubt for a time because it was too close to the story of The Silmarillion rather than The Hobbit, which is what the publishers wanted.

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Steved_hams t1_ithdn8j wrote

Beren and Luthien was my favorite part of the Silmarillion! Is the separate book a retelling in more depth?

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Qlabalex t1_ithe82f wrote

I believe it's more in depth, it may be like the other comment described the fall of gondolin book where it has multiple drafts and notes from Chris tolkien on his father's work

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Qlabalex t1_iti2eyp wrote

This comment got me to finally take my copy of Beren and Luthian off the shelf. The first 40 pages is all preface from Christopher and some necessary background detail on morgoth and elves of the first age. The remaining 200 pages seem to be the most complete form of beren and luthian possible made by stringing together excerpts of his father's writings that mention them into a complete narrative. many of the chapters seem to have a paragraph or two, usually at the beginning and end, with commentary from Christopher on why he chose to use that excerpt or where it came from. So not exactly a seemless novel but if you liked the story there is certainly more of it and some insights into tolkiens writing. Also the copy I have from a 3 books set called the great tales of middle earth has some pretty great illustrations as well

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Steved_hams t1_iu2allp wrote

Cool! Definitely gonna have to seek out that series. Thanks

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