Chibi version of the Silmarillion

Michael Ikeda

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Mar 11, 2013, 6:16:16 PM3/11/13

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Just thought I'd mention.

Something I've been following on the internet: chibi version of the
Silmarillion. Fifteen posts so far. Still near the beginning (the
Valar have just decided not to challenge Melkor for Middle Earth).

The latest posting is here:

http://stormwreath.livejournal.com/143918.html

solar penguin

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Mar 12, 2013, 10:23:52 AM3/12/13

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Michael Ikeda wrote:

> Just thought I'd mention.
>
> Something I've been following on the internet: chibi version of the
> Silmarillion. Fifteen posts so far. Still near the beginning (the
> Valar have just decided not to challenge Melkor for Middle Earth).
>

That doesn't necessarily mean it's near the beginning. IIRC those
useless slackers spend most of the book refusing to challenge Melkor
for Middle-earth.

> The latest posting is here:
>
> http://stormwreath.livejournal.com/143918.html

You know, that reminds me. I must have another go at trying to force
myself to read The Silmarillion again. It's been about 12 years since
I last tried.

Yeah, I know everyone says it gets better after the first few
chapters, but how many is "the first few"? I think I got to chapter
twenty-something last time, and it was still no better than the early
ones. (IIRC it was the bit where Turin or Hurin or someone gets
released from Morgoth's dungeon after being tortured by being forced
to watch his son or nephew or someone live out the lead role in a
third-rate pastiche of a Michael Moorcock novella.)

The problem was, it was all in the tediously overblown, epic style
that makes so much books 3 and 5 of LOTR so dull that you always skip
them on re-reading to get back to all the wonderful homespun
philosophy between the Hobbits. I guess my question is, how many more
chapters before The Silm's equivalent of Sam and Frodo appear?

John W Kennedy

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Mar 12, 2013, 12:23:52 PM3/12/13

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On 2013-03-12 14:23:52 +0000, solar penguin said:
> Yeah, I know everyone says it gets better after the first few
> chapters, but how many is "the first few"? I think I got to chapter
> twenty-something last time, and it was still no better than the early
> ones. (IIRC it was the bit where Turin or Hurin or someone gets
> released from Morgoth's dungeon after being tortured by being forced
> to watch his son or nephew or someone live out the lead role in a
> third-rate pastiche of a Michael Moorcock novella.)

You misspelled "Lönnrot".

--
John W Kennedy
"The whole modern world has divided itself into Conservatives and
Progressives. The business of Progressives is to go on making mistakes.
The business of the Conservatives is to prevent the mistakes from being
corrected."
-- G. K. Chesterton

Rast

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Mar 13, 2013, 10:41:28 AM3/13/13

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Michael Ikeda wrote...

Heh, nice. I liked the Balrog wings debate reference in part 8.

All 15 parts: http://stormwreath.livejournal.com/?tag=homecv

Wayne Brown

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Mar 18, 2013, 10:50:23 AM3/18/13

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In alt.fan.tolkien solar penguin <solar....@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> You know, that reminds me. I must have another go at trying to force
> myself to read The Silmarillion again. It's been about 12 years since
> I last tried.

I first read it a few days after it hit the bookstores in 1977, and have
re-read it a number of times over the years. My old hardback copy is
looking pretty worn.

>
> Yeah, I know everyone says it gets better after the first few
> chapters, but how many is "the first few"? I think I got to chapter
> twenty-something last time, and it was still no better than the early
> ones. (IIRC it was the bit where Turin or Hurin or someone gets
> released from Morgoth's dungeon after being tortured by being forced
> to watch his son or nephew or someone live out the lead role in a
> third-rate pastiche of a Michael Moorcock novella.)

Wow, this really show how different tastes can be. The first chapters
(Ainulindalï¿œ in particular) are my favorite parts!

>
> The problem was, it was all in the tediously overblown, epic style
> that makes so much books 3 and 5 of LOTR so dull that you always skip
> them on re-reading to get back to all the wonderful homespun
> philosophy between the Hobbits. I guess my question is, how many more
> chapters before The Silm's equivalent of Sam and Frodo appear?

That "epic style" is one of the things that is so appealing to me.
It's the "wonderful homespun philosophy between the Hobbits" that I find
less interesting. I like reading about Elves and Valar much more than
about Hobbits, though it's Dwarves and Men (especially Men) that I find
least interesting of all. I always get a bit tired of slogging through
all the stuff about Turin.

--
F. Wayne Brown <fwb...@bellsouth.net>

ï¿œï¿œs ofereode, ï¿œisses swa mï¿œg. ("That passed away, this also can.")
from "Deor," in the Exeter Book (folios 100r-100v)

Wayne Brown

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Mar 18, 2013, 11:03:26 AM3/18/13

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John W Kennedy <jwk...@attglobal.net> wrote:
> On 2013-03-12 14:23:52 +0000, solar penguin said:
>> Yeah, I know everyone says it gets better after the first few
>> chapters, but how many is "the first few"? I think I got to chapter
>> twenty-something last time, and it was still no better than the early
>> ones. (IIRC it was the bit where Turin or Hurin or someone gets
>> released from Morgoth's dungeon after being tortured by being forced
>> to watch his son or nephew or someone live out the lead role in a
>> third-rate pastiche of a Michael Moorcock novella.)
>

> You misspelled "Lï¿œnnrot".

This reminded me that I've wanted to read "The Kalevala" for years,
ever since reading "The Wall of Serpents." Maybe it's time to get a copy.

solar penguin

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Mar 25, 2013, 11:05:21 AM3/25/13

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I guess I like stories about the protagonists working out for
themselves how the world around them fits together and how they fit
into it. (e.g. Frodo and Sam's conversation at the stairs of Cirith
Ungol is my favourite bit of all LotR.)

I _hate_ elves, because they've either worked all that stuff out long
before the story starts, or else they're just totally incapable of
learning it in the first place. There's no middle ground, no room for
development. (Ok, there are a few exceptions like Legolas and his
growing friendship with Gimli, but they're definitely the exceptions,
not the rule.)

Actually, that's my other problem with Silm. Mogroth wants to improve
the story by killing off all the pompous, pointy-eared pratts, and
we're supposed to have a problem with that for some reason...?

solar penguin

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Mar 25, 2013, 11:25:53 AM3/25/13

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John W Kennedy wrote:

> On 2013-03-12 14:23:52 +0000, solar penguin said:
> > Yeah, I know everyone says it gets better after the first few
> > chapters, but how many is "the first few"? I think I got to chapter
> > twenty-something last time, and it was still no better than the early
> > ones. (IIRC it was the bit where Turin or Hurin or someone gets
> > released from Morgoth's dungeon after being tortured by being forced
> > to watch his son or nephew or someone live out the lead role in a
> > third-rate pastiche of a Michael Moorcock novella.)
>
> You misspelled "Lönnrot".
>
> --

Ok, Ok, whatever his name was, and however you spell it, he'd just
been released from Morgoth's dungeon.

That's part of my problem with the Silmarillion. Without the quieter,
character-based moments I just didn't care enough about the characters
to remember who they were, even while I was reading it. Every couple
of sentences, I'd be forced back to the index to check "which one was
he again?"

John W Kennedy

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Mar 25, 2013, 1:47:23 PM3/25/13

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Whoosh!

--
John W Kennedy
"You can, if you wish, class all science-fiction together; but it is
about as perceptive as classing the works of Ballantyne, Conrad and W.
W. Jacobs together as the 'sea-story' and then criticizing _that_."
-- C. S. Lewis. "An Experiment in Criticism"

Bill O'Meally

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Mar 25, 2013, 2:09:07 PM3/25/13

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On 2013-03-25 15:25:53 +0000, solar penguin said:

> That's part of my problem with the Silmarillion. Without the quieter,
> character-based moments I just didn't care enough about the characters
> to remember who they were, even while I was reading it. Every couple
> of sentences, I'd be forced back to the index to check "which one was
> he again?"

Where's the softrat when you need him?
--
Bill O'Meally

Curlytop

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Mar 25, 2013, 3:47:25 PM3/25/13

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solar penguin set the following eddies spiralling through the space-time
continuum:

> Actually, that's my other problem with Silm. Mogroth wants to improve
> the story by killing off all the pompous, pointy-eared pratts, and
> we're supposed to have a problem with that for some reason...?

Cos it's not what Eru wants.
--
ξ: ) Proud to be curly

Interchange the alphabetic letter groups to reply

solar penguin

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Mar 26, 2013, 4:22:36 AM3/26/13

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Why do I need him? Does he have any useful aides memoires that will help
me recall which character is which? (Especially all those Fin- elves.
They're the most confusing!)

solar penguin

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Mar 26, 2013, 4:25:53 AM3/26/13

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On Mon, 25 Mar 2013 19:47:25 +0000, Curlytop wrote:

> solar penguin set the following eddies spiralling through the space-time
> continuum:
>
>> Actually, that's my other problem with Silm. Mogroth wants to improve
>> the story by killing off all the pompous, pointy-eared pratts, and
>> we're supposed to have a problem with that for some reason...?
>
> Cos it's not what Eru wants.

But Eru's interested in what makes the best possible choral music, not
the best possible novel. What works in one art-form isn't always
successful in a different one!

Taemon

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Mar 26, 2013, 1:33:08 PM3/26/13

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On 26-3-2013 9:25, solar penguin wrote:

> But Eru's interested in what makes the best possible choral music, not
> the best possible novel. What works in one art-form isn't always
> successful in a different one!

I like you.