History Awesome / TheSilmarillion

* Húrin meets [[spoiler:his wife at the grave of their children]]. She asks him what took him so long and he sums up decades of being tortured by Morgoth with "It was a long road. I have come as I could."

* As awesome the Númenoreans confidence was though, not even that can stand against [[{{God}} Eru Freakin’ Ilúvatar]]. For a majority of the Silmarillion Eru has been hands off with His creation, but here [[BewareTheNiceOnes He is so enraged]] at the arrogance and cruelty before Him, [[DivineIntervention He takes direct action]]. In what is essentially a mix of the sinking of Atlantis and the Great Flood, Eru ''blows up'' Númenor and sinks its remains into the sea, [[GodIsGood whilst still holding compassion]] towards the few goodly Númenoreans whom he guides to safety.

* As awesome the Númenoreans confidence was though, not even that can stand against [[{{God}} Eru Freakin’ Ilúvatar]]. For a majority of the Silmarillion Eru has been hands off with His creation, but here [[BewareTheNiceOnes He is so enraged]] at the arrogance and cruelty before Him, [[DivineIntervention He takes direct action]]. In what is essentially a mix of the sinking of Atlantis and the Great Flood, Eru ''blows up'' Númenor and sinks its remains into the sea, [[GodIsGood whilst still holding compassion]] towards towards the few goodly Númenoreans whom he guides to safety.

* As awesome the Númenoreans confidence was though, not even that can stand against Eru Freakin’ Ilúvatar. For a majority of the Silmarillion Eru has been hands off with His creation, but here He is so enraged at the arrogance and cruelty before Him, [[DivineIntervention He takes direct action]]. In what is essentially a mix of the sinking of Atlantis and the Great Flood, Eru ''blows up'' Númenor and skunks its remains into the sea, whilst still holding compassion towards towards the few goodly Númenoreans whom he guides to safety.

* Fingolfin challenges Morgoth to single combat and manages to seriously wound the dark lord before dying. Seven times he injured Morgoth, rising time and again after being smashed to the ground, and when Morgoth crushes him for the final time, Fingolfin permanently cripples the Dark Lord's leg. Not to mention the fact that when Fingolfin was riding to challenge Morgoth, he projected an aura of pure rage so terrible that Morgoth's entire host mistook him for Oromë of the Valar and fled.

[[caption-width-right:350:'' Thus Fingolfin came alone to Angband's gates, and he sounded his horn, and smote once more upon the brazen doors, and challenged Morgoth to come forth to single combat. And Morgoth came.'']]

[[caption-width-right:350:''Then Fingolfin beheld... the utter ruin of the Noldor, and the defeat beyond redress of all their houses; and filled with wrath and despair he mounted upon Rochallor his great horse and rode forth alone, and none might restrain him... Thus he came alone to Angband's gates, and he sounded his horn, and smote once more upon the brazen doors, and challenged Morgoth to come forth to single combat. And Morgoth came.'']]]]

[[caption-width-right:350:[[RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething Fingolfin]] vs [[EvilOverlord Morgoth]]. Fingolfin loses but [[DyingMomentOfAwesome goes down swinging]]]]

* Fingon's fall.

* From the ''Fall of Gondolin'': Near the end of the battle, Rog, one of the twelve lords of Gondolin, and head of the House of the Hammers of Wrath, led an absolutely ''savage'' counterattack against Morgoth's forces. These guys were so badass they took the flaming whips from the balrogs and used them to kill them!

* The [[AwesomeEgo audacity]] of Morgoth is truly something to behold. After the Darkening of Valinor and the theft of the Silmarils, he was beset upon by Ungoliant after a disagreement over the matter of her payment. After being saved by his Balrogs, surely he realizes that he's not so great and hides away in defeat? No. In the ultimate display of his pride and as a [[BringIt challenge to Fëanor himself]], he creates an iron crown and embeds the three Silmarils inside of it. At that moment he declares himself '''King of The World''' in direct defiance of his brotherManwë, the true King of Arda. His brush with death didn't break him, it only made him that much more dangerous.

* The [[AwesomeEgo audacity]] of Morgoth is truly something to behold. After the Darkening of Valinor and the theft of the Silmarils, he was beset upon by Ungoliant after a disagreement over the matter of her payment. After being saved by his Balrogs, surely he realizes that he's not so great and hides away in defeat? No. In the ultimate display of his pride and as a [[BringIt challenge to Fëanor himself]], he creates an iron crown and embeds the three Silmarils inside of it. At that moment he declares himself '''King of The World''' in direct defiance of his brother
Manwë, the true King of Arda. His brush with death didn't break him, it only made him that much more dangerous.

* The [[AwesomeEgo audacity]] of Morgoth is truly something to behold. After the Darkening of Valinor and the theft of the Silmarils, he was beset upon by Ungoliant after a disagreement over the matter of her payment. After being saved by his Balrogs, surely he realizes that he's not so great and hides away in defeat? No. In the ultimate display of his pride and as a [[BringIt challenge to Fëanor himself]], he creates an iron crown and embeds the three Silmarils inside of it. At that moment he declares himself '''King of The World''' in direct defiance of his brother Manwë, the true King of Arda. His brush with death didn't break him, it only made him that much more dangerous.

* Fingon's rescue of Maedhros. He went alone into Morgoth's land, and climbed an impossibly tall mountain made of toxic slag, to save someone who may very well have been dead, or locked somewhere in the depths of Angband, and who, for all he knew, had left him and his people to die on the Grinding Ice or crawl back to the Valar.

** Beren and Luthien's adventure was basically [[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings Frodo's quest]] on Nightmare Difficulty. And much like Frodo, they did what numerous Elven Kings and armies could not: '''[[ImpossibleTask Retrieve one of the Silmarillions]]'''.

The Silmarillion is packed with so many moments of concentrated badassitude & awesomeness that it's hardly possible to list them all. Some of the more prominent ones are:-

* The first and greatest one: Tolkien had worked on this series for [[DevelopmentHell DECADES]] before he finally published it [[SavedFromDevelopmentHell after more than 50 years]]. Chronicling the entire history of a literary universe, it shows just how dedicated Tolkien was to his work.

* Ar-Pharazôn and the Great Armament sailing against Valinor. Even though you know it's going to end poorly, and that the Númenoreans have already fallen so far, it's hard not to feel a sense of pride (the Númenoreans still being Human and all) at this line: '''...in that hour the trumpets of Númenor outrang the thunder.'''

* The [[AwesomeEgo audacity]] of Morgoth is truly something to behold. After the Darkening of Valinor and the theft of the Silmarils, he was beset upon by Ungoliant after a disagreement over the matter of her payment. After being saved by his Balrogs, surely he realizes that he's not so great and hides away in defeat. No. In the ultimate display of his pride and as a challenge to Fëanor himself, he creates an iron crown and embeds the Silmarils inside of it. At that moment he declares himself ''King of The World'' in direct defiance of his brother Manwë, the true King of Arda. His brush with death didn't break him, it only made him that much more dangerous.

* [[PunyHumans Beren]], son of Barahir, tasked by Thingol to retrieve one of the Silmarillion in order to be able to marry his daughter. Beren vows that he will not return until he has the jewel in his hand, and sets upon a quest that leads him to the heart of Morgoth's realm. After suffering torture and death of his companions, Beren retrieves one of the Silmarillion, but his hand holding the jewel is bitten off by Carcharoth, greatest of all the wolves. Returning to Thingol, the great Elven king spurns him, claiming that Beren has failed his quest. And then, in an act of human defiance not matched until Dernhelm announced '[[NoManOfWomanBorn I am no man]]', Beren holds aloft the stump of his maimed hand, ''[[ExactWords the hand that still holds the Silmarillion within Carcharoth's stomach]]''. Thingol finally caves and gives Beren his blessing to wed his daughter.

* [[PunyHumans Beren]], son of Barahir, tasked by Thingol to retrieve one of the Silmarillion in order to be able to marry his daughter. Beren vows that he will not return until he has the jewel in his hand, and sets upon a quest that leads him to the heart of Morgoth's realm. He retrieves one of the Silmarillion, but gets the hand holding the jewel bitten off by Carcharoth, greatest of all the wolves. Returning to Thingol, the great Elven king spurns him, claiming that Beren has failed his quest. And then, in an act of human defiance not matched until Dernhelm announced '[[NoManOfWomanBorn I am no man]]', Beren holds aloft the stump of his maimed hand, ''[[ExactWords the hand that still holds the Silmarillion within Carcharoth's stomach]]''. Thingol finally caves and gives Beren his blessing to wed his daughter.

* [[PunyHuman Beren]], son of Barahir, tasked by Thingol to retrieve one of the Silmarillion in order to be able to marry his daughter. Beren vows that he will not return until he has the jewel in his hand, and sets upon a quest that leads him to the heart of Morgoth's realm. He retrieves one of the Silmarillion, but gets the hand holding the jewel bitten off by Carcharoth, greatest of all the wolves. Returning to Thingol, the great Elven king spurns him, claiming that Beren has failed his quest. And then, in an act of human defiance not matched until Dernhelm announced '[[NoManOfWomanBorn I am no man]]', Beren holds aloft the stump of his maimed hand, ''[[ExactWords the hand that still holds the Silmarillion within Carcharoth's stomach]]''. Thingol finally caves and gives Beren his blessing to wed his daughter.

* [[PunyHuman Beren]], son of Barahir, tasked by Thingol to retrieve one of the Silmarillion, an artifact that has been utterly lost to the Elves for thousands of years, to win his daughter's hand. Beren vows that he will not return until he has the jewel in his hand, and sets upon a quest that leads him to the heart of Morgoth's realm. He retrieves a Silmarillion, but gets his hand bitten off by Carcharoth, greatest of all the wolves. Returning to Thingol, the great Elven king spurns him, claiming that Beren has failed his quest. And then, in an act of human defiance not matched until Dernhelm announced '[[NoManOfWomanBorn I am no man]]', Beren holds aloft the stump of his maimed hand, ''[[ExactWords the hand that still holds the Silmarillion within Carcharoth's stomach]]''. Thingol finally caves and gives Beren his blessing to wed his daughter.

** Before any of that, Eärendil's miraculous voyage to Valinor, using the power of the Silmaril itself to find the way and pass through the Enchanted Isles (the first sailor ''ever'' to do so), and Eönwë's EpicHail when he finally does so.