All the (Silmarillion) Feels is an emotion- and story-focused summary of The Silmarillion. You’ll get facts, but that’s not the point here. Let’s talk themes, meaningful quotes, and moments that made us go “WHOA.” I started this project after falling in love with The Rings of Power television show, so expect me to focus on things to do with Galadriel and Sauron.

Chapter 9: Of the Flight of the Noldor

We’re diving into morally complex characters, overly-hasty oaths, and a return to Middle-earth!

Melkor Becomes Morgoth

After Melkor and Ungoliant team up to take down the Light of the Trees of Valinor, they continue wreaking havoc by killing Finwë, King of the Noldor Elves and stealing Fëanor’s precious Silmarils before escaping across the northern ice wastes back to his old fortress of Angband.

Ungoliant is hunger personified, and the Light of the Trees is not enough to satiate her. She wants to eat all the plunder they stole from Valinor, which Melkor feeds her until it comes to the Silmarils, which he will not give her. She hates this, and TRAPS MELKOR IN HER WEBS! Melkor is the biggest bad around, we’re told; he was there during the creation of the world, messing things up, and here he is being trapped by a spider! All hail Ungoliant, our Dark Queen. The only thing that saves Melkor is his cries for help, which awakens his old friends the Balrogs. They use their whips of fire to free him and chase Ungoliant off. She heads south, where:

RIP Ungoliant.

Melkor pretends this never happened and makes a crown for himself using the Silmarils. They burn his hands and the crown is heavy, but fashion is pain. He settles into his evil abode with a new name (from Fëanor): Morgoth, the Black Foe of the World.

Bound by an Oath

You would think Fëanor would come across pretty sympathetically here, as his dad was just murdered and his work of a lifetime was stolen from him. Unfortunately, he JUST set a precedent for not giving a shit about these sorts of things.

You see, Yavanna is lamenting the loss of the Trees, her greatest creation, when she realizes that she could perhaps remake them if Fëanor would allow her to use the Silmarils (they are crafted from the Light of the Trees). Faced with a world of literal darkness with the opportunity to be a hero by providing some light, Fëanor says no.

It’s a real whoopsie, because he pretty much immediately thereafter learns that Morgoth has stolen his Silmarils. If he hadn’t just been so miserly, the Valar might have helped him recover them from Morgoth. They understandably do not, and Fëanor’s paranoia and rage coalesce into the Oath that will drive the rest of this book.

Fëanor swears by this Oath, and so do his seven sons. A bunch of the other Noldor are drawn into the high emotion of it all, some making the Oath and others going along for family but with mixed feelings. Among them is Galadriel, who “was eager to be gone. No oaths she swore, but the words of Fëanor concerning Middle-earth had kindled in her heart, for she yearned to see the wide unguarded lands and to rule there a realm at her own will.” I love an ambitious woman!

From Worse to Worser

There’s a real mob mentality going on by this point, and Fëanor goes to the sea-loving latecomer Elves, the Teleri, to use their ships to sail to Middle-earth. They are super bummed by all that has gone down, and they try to calm everyone down and repair rather than revenge. This is the last thing Fëanor wants, so he attacks the Elves at the harbor and steals their ships. We went from centuries of peace to brothers pointing swords at each other to full on murder REAL fast.

Tolkien does such a good job of showing how whipping people into a frenzy spirals out of control and leads people to acts they would normally not commit. When the less spicy Noldor see Elves fighting each other by the ships, they assume the Teleri started things because they’ve bought into Fëanor’s paranoia that everyone is out to get them. They have to live with the fact that they became murderers because they followed a madman.

I also want to point out the hypocrisy of Fëanor. His whole deal is that these Silmarils are his life work, and he’ll do anything to keep them. But Yavanna feels the same way about the Trees, and he rebuffed her. And Olwë feels the same way about his ships, but Fëanor steals them. His needs supersede everyone else’s.

The bonds of family don’t even matter to him (which isn’t actually much of a surprise if you’ve been keeping track), because he winds up leaving behind a bunch of his followers because there are too few ships. No discussion, no compromise, just Fëanor and his sons sailing easily to Middle-earth and BURNING THE SHIPS rather than going back for everyone else. Fingolfin, Finrod, and Galadriel cross the ice wastes, and by the time they reach Middle-earth, they have little love left for Fëanor.

A Doom Pronounced

This all got pretty dire, and the Valar are unhappy, to say the least. They are also unhelpful, which I hate every time they see a problem and think, “We should wait.”

However, the Valar do pronounce the Doom of the Noldor upon them as the Elves leave Valinor.

That’s a good Greek mythology curse right there!

Tune in next time to see what our great lovebirds Thingol and Melian have been up to, as well as a surprise appearance by the Dwarves in Middle-earth!

All the (Silmarillion) Feels is an emotion- and story-focused summary of The Silmarillion. You’ll get facts, but that’s not the point here. Let’s talk themes, meaningful quotes, and moments that made us go “WHOA.” I started this project after falling in love with The Rings of Power television show, so expect me to focus on things to do with Galadriel and Sauron.

Chapter 8: Of the Darkening of Valinor

Have you been thinking that what The Silmarillion needs is a little dose of horror? Then this is the chapter for you!

Introducing Ungoliant, Shelob’s Spider Mommy!

Melkor/Morgoth fled Valinor after his manipulations were made known, but he evaded pursuit and made his way south to find an ally in Ungoliant, an evil spirit who seems to have chosen to exist in monstrous spider form. Intriguingly, no one knows where she came from or how she was created, which gives me some really great Eldritch horror, from-beyond-the-stars vibes. Her evil is presented in classic Tolkien language, as she is “taking all things to herself to feed her emptiness” for she “hungered for light and hated it.” Like calls to like, and Melkor sees someone who can do him a solid.

There is a lot of foreshadowing in this chapter, and it’s pretty much all negative, so let’s track it this way:

DOOM #1:

In exchange for her help, Melkor promises Ungoliant: “Do as I bid; and if thou hunger still when all is done, then I will give thee whatsoever thy lust may demand. Yea, with both hands.”

Not a great vow to make with an eternally hungry creature, I’d say.

Parties, Reconciliation, and More Promises

Meanwhile, the Valar and Elves are partying. There are no natural seasons in Valinor, but Yavanna creates blooming and harvesting experiences because why not? Everyone likes a festival.

The Valar invite everyone to join the party, but Fëanor is exiled. They command him to come anyway, hoping to create some good feelings between the estranged half-brothers, but their father King Finwë declines to attend the party to show where his loyalties lie (with Fëanor).

Fëanor is a drama queen about it all, refusing to wear fancy clothes to the fancy festival, and remaining silent when he meets with Fingolfin. But the younger Elf tries to restore their family bond with a promise that is, you guessed, it:

Doom #2

Before the Valar, the two Elves clasp hands, and Fingolfin says, “Half-brother in blood, full brother in heart will I be. Thou shalt lead and I will follow. May no new grief divide us.”

Sounds really nice! I sure hope Fëanor isn’t the sort of Elf who will take advantage of such a vow.

The Great Unlight

While everyone is distracted by family drama, Morgoth and Ungoliant are booking it to the Two Trees which light all of Valinor. Morgoth stabs the trees, and Ungoliant slurps up their light. In a very nice touch, not only does this plunge the land into darkness, it creates an Unlight.

Sounds like a Doctor Who monster!

With the death of the Trees, the festival and Valinor itself falls into chaos so great that Morgoth and Ungoliant easily escape.

Tune in next time to see if Ungoliant is still hungry…

All the (Silmarillion) Feels is an emotion- and story-focused summary of The Silmarillion. You’ll get facts, but that’s not the point here. Let’s talk themes, meaningful quotes, and moments that made us go “WHOA.” I started this project after falling in love with The Rings of Power television show, so expect me to focus on things to do with Galadriel and Sauron.

Chapter 7: Of the Silmarils and the Unrest of the Noldor

It is time! The thing this whole dang book is named after has finally arrived. Fëanor and Melkor continue with their will they/won’t they tension (whoops, sorry, I mean mortal enmity), and the peaceful utopia on Valinor begins to crumble.

Fighting Over Jewelry

In the last chapter, we learned that the Nolder Elf Fëanor is the best of the best, and he knows it. This chapter begins by describing his greatest accomplishment: the creation of three jewels called the Silmarils. They capture the light of trees of Valinor, and nothing else like them exists in all the world. The Elves and the Valar both are “filled with wonder and delight;” but Melkor is filled with envy.

Real talk, I love that the central conflict of The Silmarillion is about artistic accomplishment. Where other fantasy novels focus on sex and bloodshed, everything here hinges on the creation of something beautiful, and the ways in which envy and possessiveness can destroy the most fantastic of creations.

Melkor is Jealous

You’ll remember that Melkor is a Valar who tried to wrestle the song of creation away from Ilúvatar. He has always been enamored with the art of creating something, but without the flair to make something truly original. As someone with similar skills and limitations, I can confirm that this often leads to jealousy when others seem to effortlessly create things far beyond your ability.

What Melkor excels at, however, is talking (oh no, are we the same?). He represses his jealousy and instead foments distrust amongst the Noldor. He subtly insinuates that the Valar brought the Elves to Valinor because they feared the Elves would surpass them if left to their own rule. The book notes that “many who heard [his words] believed in recollection that they arose from their own thought.” He’s sneaky!

He also gets personal by exploiting the familial distance between King Finwë’s sons by other mothers. Fëanor hears that his half brother plans to usurp his line as eldest, and Fingolfin hears that Fëanor plans to drive them out of the city. Drama!

It is at this point that weapons are created, as Melkor helpfully suggests that they all arm themselves to prevent something terrible from happening. Spoilers, something terrible happens because they arm themselves! Funny how that happens.

Brother Against Brother

The whispers and rumors reach a fever pitch when Fingolfin seeks a private audience with his father, King Finwë, and Fëanor breaks in, accusing him of being a sneaky snake who would “be before me with my father, in this as in all other matters.” He draws a sword against his half brother twice, and this is the first time threatened violence against kin has ever happened! It is a big deal! The Valar punish Fëanor with twelve years of exile to the north, where his bad mood only grows worse.

Everyone does figure out that Melkor’s whispers and insinuations caused all this chaos, but he disappears as a thundercloud, and no one can catch him. He tries to befriend Fëanor, since let’s be real, they have a lot in common. But he slips by mentioning the Silmarils, and the Elf realizes Melkor’s real intentions. Without any allies and his cover blown, Melkor leaves, and we get this amazing final sentence of the chapter:

Bonus Foreshadowing

At the beginning of this chapter, we get a very interesting tidbit that hints of the final days of Middle-earth in some unwritten future: “But not until the End, when Fëanor shall return who perished ere the Sun was made, and sits now in the Halls of Awaiting…”

This is some Norse Ragnorak mythology! I love it! Spoilers I guess that Fëanor won’t survive, but like I said, this is written on page 69.

Tensions are at a boiling point, and they’re going to spill over in the next chapter: Of the Darkening of Valinor.

All the (Silmarillion) Feels is an emotion- and story-focused summary of The Silmarillion. You’ll get facts, but that’s not the point here. Let’s talk themes, meaningful quotes, and moments that made us go “WHOA.” I started this project after falling in love with The Rings of Power television show, so expect me to focus on things to do with Galadriel and Sauron.

Chapter 6: Of Fëanor and the Unchaining of Melkor

We started with the cosmic, zoomed in to the Elves, and now we’re narrowing our focus even further into a family drama and the introduction of one of the most important characters in The Silmarillion, Fëanor. At the same time, the big bad is back, and their showdown begins.

Introducing….Fëanor!

It was the best of times for the Elves in Valinor; they were mastering crafts, creating writing, and starting families. Finwë, King of the Noldor (crafty Elves), marries Míriel, and together they have a son. But even in the heavenly realms, there is apparently postpartum depression, because Míriel languishes after giving birth, to the point that her soul leaves her body and she effectively dies. There’s a weirdly magical aspect to this, as it’s hinted that she passed on too much of her life force to her son; “Strength that would have nourished the life of many has gone forth into Fëanor.”

It’s fitting, then, that his nickname is Spirit of Fire, which hints at his ability to consume as well as create and refine. He is the golden child of the Noldor, described rapturously as, “tall, and fair of face, and masterful, his eyes piercingly bright and his hair raven-dark; in the pursuit of all his purposes eager and steadfast. Few ever changed his courses by counsel, none by force.”

I’ll show my hand; I really like Fëanor! He is one of the few Elves who is allowed to be morally complicated. He’s ambitious and stubborn as well as creative and high-minded, and I love this about him.

Fëanor marries Nerdanel, one of the only people he listens to (at least at first). We get this amazing description of her, which underscores my never-ending complaint about Tolkien: he knows how to describe an amazing woman, he just doesn’t give them any page-time to do anything! Anyway, here’s Nerdanel: “[She] also was firm of will, but more patient than Fëanor, desiring to understand minds rather than to master them.”

Fëanor’s father is also getting married, this time to Indis, with whom he has two more sons, Fingolfin and Finarfin. I have never, and likely will never, be able to keep these two straight. Fëanor has Complex Feelings about his dad’s new family, and he mostly stays away from them, preferring to pour himself into creating Elvish scripts and mastering gem-making.

And in the Other Corner…Melkor is Back!

From the time the Elves first awoke in Middle-earth to now, three whole ages have passed! I’m not sure exactly what that means, but I think it’s thousands of years. And that means Melkor’s prison sentence is up! He makes the most of the opportunity, playing nice and seeming repentant. A couple of the Valar suspect him, but most believe he is a good guy now, and he is slowly given more and more freedom.

He’s not a good guy, though. When he gets out of prison and sees this new world with thriving Elves, “envy was in heart,” “hatred filled him,” and “he lusted for [the wealth of bright gems].” He ingratiates himself so well that he’s giving advice and sharing skills with the Elves and Valar alike, and it gives me a lot of Sauron-helping-the-Elves-forge-Rings-of-Power vibes.

In all this time, very few suspect a thing…except for Fëanor.

There’s this great line where, foreshadowing future events, Melkor says he was instrumental in teaching Fëanor, but Fëanor is all like, “I never trusted you!” I think this is likely true, as he’s the one to give Melkor the name Morgoth, which I think we can all agree is a much more evil-sounding name. We’re also reminded that “Fëanor was driven by the fire of his own heart only,” so he doesn’t seem likely to accept much input; and if he does, he’s unlikely to credit them.

I cannot help but picture this as a scene from The Office where Melkor tells the camera how important he was to Fëanor’s future, at which point the Elf gives a Jim-like expression to the audience to let us know how he feels about that.

The drama! It is beginning!

Chapter 6 introduces us to our two antagonists, and in the next chapter we learn about the thing they will fight over. That’s right, we’re finally going to learn what the titular silmarils are!