History Literature / TheSilmarillion

* AGodIAmNot: When Elven Prince Finrod met the Race of Men they mistook him for one of the [[CouncilOfAngels Valar]] (they had met elves earlier, but they were not like the Light Elves). Finrod disillusioned them as soon as he was able to, explaining that he was not a Vala but an elf. The Valar lived beyond the Western Ocean, and [[GodOfEvil the only (ex)-Vala]] in the vicinity was ''trouble''.

* AttackOfTheFiftyFootWhatever: Mainly most of the dragons of Morgoth, but one stands out the most: Ancalagon, the mightiest dragon of them all.
** If these passages are any indication and are taken literally then almost no {{Kaiju}}, not even the [[Franchise/{{Godzilla}} King of Monsters]], is anywhere near his size.
--->''...he beheld far off the peaks of Thangorodrim, mightiest of the towers of Middle-earth... no power of the Noldor would ever overthrow them.''\\\

* BattleCry: Usually given in [[ConLang Quenya]]. During his LastStand, Húrin's is ''Aurë Entuluva!'' ("Day shall come again!"). [[note]] Compare to ''Aurinko on tuleva!'' (Sun shall come again!) in Finnish language.[[/note]]

* BarredFromTheAfterlife: Túrin. Or rather, ''barred himself'' from the passing on from the Halls of Mandos unto Eru, which is extraordinary since Men by their design are meant to depart Arda. Due to his failures Túrin is unable to rest in peace. ''Can anyone blame him?'' Morgoth ensured he had a fairly lousy existence. It's poetic then that he is prophesied to deal the killing blow unto Morgoth and destroy his evil influence.
** Númenorean king Ar-Pharazon the Golden and his army, who remain interned in the Cave of the Forgotten in Valinor. Do not open till Dagor Dagorath!

* TheBlacksmith: Fëanor, Eöl, Celebrimbor, and Aulë.

* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: Practically every ruler of Elves and Men in Beleriand, and ''at least'' one Dwarf lord (Azaghâl), fought on the front lines against Morgoth at one point or another.

* FaceDeathWithDignity: The first time the Noldor witnessed the Gift of Men firsthand was the passing of Bëor the Old, who died at the age of 93, after 44 years as the vassal & friend of Finrod Felagund. That he died willingly and peacefully, without wound or sickness, seemed a strange fate indeed to the Elves.

* DoorStopper: Believe it or not, ''averted.'' Despite chronicling literally thousands of years of mythology, and consisting of not one but ''five'' separate books -- plus an appendix -- some editions of ''The Silmarillion'' weigh in at fewer than 370 pages. This is mostly because the book is meant to be a ''summary'' of Arda's stories; some of the stories, when written in full, take up full novels on their own. Reading through the first section of [[Literature/UnfinishedTales ''Unfinished Tales'']] will make this clear -- ''Tuor and His Coming to Gondolin'' and ''Narn i-Chîn Húrin'' would take up a sizable chunk of ''The Silmarillion'' on their own, were they written in full[[note]]''Tuor and His Coming to Gondolin'' alone takes up more than 50 pages; whereas ''The Silmarillion'' summarizes its events in about two[[/note]].

* VampiricWerewolf: : [[EvilOverlord Sauron,]] despite officially being a [[OurAngelsAreDifferent Maia]], is a shapeshifter who takes the form of both a vampire and a werewolf- which, in the world of Middle-Earth, are evil spirits who just take the forms of really big bats and wolves- at separate points in the story.

** Morgoth himself receives a limp in his foot, permanent scars across his face, and permanent burns to his hands, on top of his [[MortalityEnsues overall weakening]]. On the other hand, he grows more and more into his OrcusOnHisThrown status as he accumulates injuries.

* HypnoticEyes: One of the things Glaurung uses to control his victims.

* KillAndReplace: As Beren, Finrod, and their companions journey to Angband with the intent to retrieve a Silmaril from the crown of Morgoth, they come upon a camp of Orcs which they attack, killing all the Orcs. They then take the Orcs' weapons, and Finrod casts a spell that makes them assume the appearance of the Orcs they killed. In this disguise they travel far into Morgoth's territory, but arouse the suspicion of Sauron when they pass by the watchtower of Tol-in-Gaurhoth without reporting back to him.

* TheLegionsOfHell: Consisting of Orcs, werewolves, Balrogs, and dragons.

* SelfGuardingPhlebotinum: The eponymous Silmarils burned any evil or tainted creature touching them, such as Morgoth and Carcharoth, while sparing the good-aligned heroes such as Beren and Eärendil. Becomes a plot point late in the book, when two remaining sons of Fëanor (the Silmarils' creator) finally get their hands on their "heirlooms" -- only to find that the Simarils reject and burn them, [[HeWhoFightsMonsters after all they have done to get them back]].

** From the other side, Beren and Lúthien defeating Sauron and actually reclaiming a Simaril is one for Morgoth. He loses his top man and one of the jewels. Their actions also give hope to the people of Middle-earth that Morgoth could be defeated, which is particularly needed after the utter ruin of the Battle of the Sudden Flame. Unfortunately, this hope was one of the things that led to the Battle of Unnumbered Tears...

** Daeron's love for Lúthien leads him to betray Beren to Thingol, who most definitely intended to kill the guy, and later to get Lúthien in trouble for trying to follow Beren. But unlike Maeglin, he's genuinely concerned for Lúthien, and apologizes when he sees Thingol's OverprotectiveDad reaction.

* OverprotectiveDad: Thingol, who not only sends away Lúthien's suitor Beren on an impossible quest with the intention of getting around his promise not to kill him (which he only made, reluctantly, at his daughter's insistence), but also imprisons her in a treehouse when she tries to go after Beren to help him. Possibly somewhat justified, considering what happened when stuff started working out in his despite.

* ''Quenta Silmarillion'' (the History of the Silmarilli): recounts the creation of Middle-earth by the Valar; the creation of the Elves, Dwarves, and Men; the first war between the Valar and Melkor; and the six-hundred year long war between the Elves and Melkor (with Men and Dwarves caught squarely in the middle) over the eponymous Silmarils.

* AGodIAmNot: When Elven Prince Finrod met the Race of Men they mistook him for one of the [[CouncilOfAngels Valar]] (they had met elves earlier, but they were not like the Light Elves). Finrod dissilusioned them as soon as he was able to, explaining that he was not a Vala but an elf. The Valar lived beyond the Western Ocean, and [[GodOfEvil the only (ex)-Vala]] in the vicinity was ''trouble''.

* TheAtoner: Maedhros repents for abandoning Eluréd and Elurín in the forest but never finds them. He and Maglor possibly raise raise Elros and Elrond to atone for this after driving their mother Elwing, Eluréd and Elurín's sister, over the sea.

* {{Backstory}}: Sometimes confused to be this to ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', but are actually the original ''main'' stories and written much earlier. The author just never finished or published them, and so they are often viewed as supplementary to ''[=LotR=]'', rather than equal tales who just happen to predate (both in in-universe and real-world chronology) the book that got the hype started.
* BadassArmy: The forces of Númenor. How badass were they? When Ar-Pharazôn the Golden showed up on Sauron's doorstep with them, Sauron ''surrendered immediately.'' And this was ''after'' he'd forged the One Ring. Granted, it was an ISurrenderSuckers gambit on his part, but he only resorted to that because he knew straight-away that he didn't have a chance of defeating them on the battlefield; his own armies had [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere checked out]] when they saw the Númenoreans coming.

* BarredFromTheAfterlife: Túrin. Or rather, ''barred himself'' from the passing on from the Halls of Mandos unto Eru, which is extraordinary since Men by their design are meant to depart Arda. Due to his failures Túrin is unable to rest in peace. ''Can anyone blame him?'' Morgoth ensured he had a fairly lousy existence. It's poetic then that he is prophesied to deal the killing-blow unto Morgoth and destroy his evil influence.

** You might think so, what with the Orcs, Dragons, Trolls, Morgoth, and Ungoliant being hideously ugly bastards. With the Easterlings, it's even stated that the "uglier" ones were those who sided with Morgoth. But some ugly dudes (namely the Drúedain, or even the good old Dwarves) are among the most uncorruptible good guys. And as for the beautiful people, well... keep in mind that ''all'' elves are superhumanly beautiful, regardless of their behavior. And try not to forget that most fallen Ainur can appear in whatever beautiful, pleasing form they like, the better to deceive you...

** Sauron and Finrod's duel. Sauron's magical abilties were unmatchable for a reason.

** [[AuthorVocabularyCalendar The word “doom” used to mean “destiny” appears all over the frickin' place in this book.]]

* EyeScream: Late in the House of Hador’s LastStand at the Nirnaeth Arnoediad, Huor is killed with a poisoned arrow to the eye.

** King Tar-Palantir represents one for Númenor. He tries to atone for the evils committed by his predecessors, rekindle ties with the elves and offer repentence to the Valar, and divert Númenor from its path to catastrophe, and his daughter and rightful successor Tar-Míriel looks set to continue in her father's ways. Sadly, the Valar do not hear him, he fails to win over the people during his reign, and after his death, his evil nephew siezes the sceptre by forcing Tar-Míriel into marriage, ensuring the inevitibility of Númenor's destruction.

** Celeborn and Galadriel's daughter Celebrian marries Dior and Nimloth's grandson Elrond. Their relations can be named [[TangledFamilyTree in several different ways]]. Elrond is also Celebrian's paternal second cousin twice removed. Celebrian is granddaughter of Finarfin and Elrond is great-great-grandson of his brother Fingolfin.

** The entirety of The War of Wrath is basically a decades last stand for Morgoth himself. An absolutely colossal force made up of just about every elf, human, dwarf and Maia available (and maybe even ''all of the Valar'') came to finally strike down Morgoth, but he put an equally horrifying fight by pulling every monster and trick he had in the book, even a dragon big enough to bloat out the sun. The War is stated to have been close during the last stages when Morgoth started using more and more terrifying monstrosities, but in the end it was his last ditch attempt to prevent his capture, which was unsuccessful.

* PhysicalHeaven: Valinor, the Western Blessed Realm of the Valar and Maiar. While no part of Arda can be wholly free of the corruption Morgoth forced into it, the Blessed Realm comes closest to what Eru intended Arda to be. There is no disease, no decay, no corruption or poison. Animals and plants there never age.[[labelnote:*]]Questions about how such an ecosystem could function [[WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief are best avoided.]][[/labelnote]] Everything is vastly more beautiful and lively than anything in Middle-earth. Elves there can experience a world where everything they love ''doesn't'' age and die in a miniscule fraction of their lifespan. WordOfGod is that mortal Men would eventually find it unpleasant, however, and living there [[BodyHorror would]] [[WasOnceAMan not]] [[TheUndead end]] [[DrivenToSuicide well]]. Thus Men are banned from Valinor itself, by orders of Eru.

** In Tolkien's universe, war, ambition and violence seldom render good results, let alone positive long-term changes, because the Dark Lords are simply better than everybody else at using power and strength to achieving their goals. On the another hand, love, mercy, kindness...are forces which few people take seriously, even though more often than not they save the world.

** From the other side, Beren and Lúthien defeating Sauron and actually reclaiming a Simaril is one for Morgoth. He loses his top man and one of the jewels. Their actions also give hope to the people of Middle-earth that Morgoth could be defeated, which is particularly needed after the utter ruin of the Battle of the Sudden Flame. Unfortunately, this hope was one of things that led to the Battle of Unnumbered Tears...

* RaisedByRival: The twin children Elrond and Elros are taken in by Maedhros and Maglor, who in relentless pursuit of the silmaril assault a refugee settlement. During the bloodshed their mother Elwing is driven into the sea and only saved by DivineIntervention; she had already once fled the brothers in her youth, when they attacked the Kingdom of Doriath and killed her parents. Tolkien doesn't give many details on the twins' upbringing, save that it was apparently a happy one.

* ObviousBeta: Tolkien died before he could complete the book, and it shows.[[note]]Christopher Tolkien had to piece together his father's (often incomprehensible) notes, which is why it was not until four years after JRR's death that the book was published.[[/note]] Pieces of the work make little sense [[FridgeLogic when looked at critically]] (if Anfauglith was 250 miles across, how did the orcs march across it in what seems like a matter of minutes?), and sometimes outright contradict each other (does Lammoth echo with Morgoth's voice? Or does it amplify the voices of anyone crying aloud there?). Then again, [[FridgeBrilliance this works in the book's favour somewhat, because the old legends it tries to imitate were often contradictory and larger-than-life]].

** Maeglin. He was very antagonistic to all mortal men he knew (Húrin, Huor, Tuor). And is in love with his cousin so much that he is happy to [[spoiler: betray Gondolin for her. He could have warned Turgon that his city was about to be destroyed,]] but did he? No. He also didn't seem to care when his father was executed.

* {{Rewrite}}: Tolkien could never really make up his mind about what she was doing before ''The Lord of the Rings''. Therefore, several alternative histories exist for her:

** What makes the Oath of Feanor such a problem for the Noldor, especially once Beren and Luthien manage to recover one. The oath explicitly stated that Feanor and his sons swore that anybody who took a Silmaril would be pursued, and while at the time this clearly meant Morgoth, it very rapidly applies to fellow Elves once one of the Silmarils gets out. As a result, the Nirnaeth Arnodied occurs because the Oath costs the Noldor up to 65000 soldiers, and it directly results in two more Kinslayings.

* ''Ainulindalë'' (the Music of the Ainur): Eru Ilúvatar, the omnipotent and omniscient (i.e. [[Literature/TheBible biblical]]) {{God}},[[note]]his names in Elvish mean "the One, the All-father"[[/note]] inspires and directs the Ainur (angels) to sing a "Great Music", through which the universe is created, and history itself playing out as a manifestation of its meanings.

--->''...he beheld far off the peaks of Thangorodrim, mightiest of the towers of Middle-earth...no power of the Noldor would ever overthrow them.''

--->''Before the rising of the sun Eärendil slew Ancalagon the Black, the mightiest of the dragon-host, and cast him from the sky; and he fell upon the towers of Thangorodrim, and they were broken in his ruin.''

--->''In his fall the Towers of Thangorodrim were thrown down.''

--->''In the Great Battle and the tumults of the fall of Thangorodrim there were mighty convulsions in the earth, and Beleriand was broken and laid waste...many lands sank beneath the waters of the Great Sea.''

* CharactersDroppingLikeFlies: Yeah, about that massive cast mentioned at the top of the page? The vast majority of them meet their doom at various points during the First Age. [[note]]For example: in the published Silmarillion Finwë 's line consists of him, his two wives, his three sons, fifteen grandchildren and eventually five great-grandchildren, three great-great-grandchildren and two great-great-great grandchildren. By the end of the First Age (and discounting Celebrían, who wasn't born until the Second Age) out of a family of thirty people only Indis, Finarfin, Maglor, Galadriel, Celebrimbor, Idril, Gil-Galad, Eärendil, Elrond and Elros are still alive. Plus Indis stayed in Valinor throughout, Finarfin missed out on most of the conflict and didn't even get to Middle-earth until the War of Wrath, Maglor goes into exile and is never seen again, Elros chooses the fate of Men and eventually gives up his life (albeit after living for a fairly tidy 500 years) and Celebrimbor and Gil-Galad are killed by Sauron in the Second Age.[[/note]] There's also the destruction of Númenórë at the end of the Second Age.

* CharactersDroppingLikeFlies: Yeah, about that massive cast mentioned at the top of the page? The vast majority of them meet their doom at various points during the First Age. [[note]]For example: in the published Silmarillion Finwë 's line consists of him, his two wives, his three sons, fifteen grandchildren and eventually five great-grandchildren, three great-great-grandchildren and two great-great-great grandchildren. By the end of the First Age (and discounting Celebrían, who wasn't born until the Second Age) out of a family of thirty people only Indis, Finarfin, Maglor, Galadriel, Celebrimbor, Idril, Gil-Galad, Eärendil, Elrond and Elros are still alive. Plus, Finarfin missed out on most of the conflict and didn't even get to Middle-earth until the War of Wrath, Maglor goes into exile and is never seen again, Elros chooses the fate of Men and eventually gives up his life (albeit after living for a fairly tidy 500 years) and Celebrimbor and Gil-Galad are killed by Sauron in the Second Age.[[/note]] There's also the destruction of Númenórë at the end of the Second Age.