History YMMV / TheSilmarillion

* HighOctaneNightmareFuel.
** [[CompleteMonster MORGOTH]]. The Satan of Arda, Morgoth engaged in MindRape without even having to think about it, and the only sort of pleasure he could experience came from horribly torturing and corrupting Elves and Men. In-universe, lesser ''Ainur'' were driven to insanity by his eyes.
** Ungoliant.

* CompleteMonster: Morgoth is this world's equivalent of Satan, so explaining why he is this trope would be just redundant.

* CrowningMomentOfAwesome: Fëanor, despite being a JerkAss, has the biggest one in the book. When Morgoth shows up at his house, Fëanor yells "begone from my house, jail-crow of Mandos". And the book points out that he ''slams the door in the face of the most powerful being in the universe''.
** Amrod defying his father Fëanor. Doubles as a major TearJerker.
** The Tale of Beren and Lúthien is a whole story of Crowning Moments of Awesome. The Elves consider it the greatest tale of the First Age. It's also a Crowning Moment of Awesome for J.R.R. Tolkien, as Beren and Lúthien are [[AuthorAvatar avatars]] of himself and his wife--''and he makes it work.''
*** Lúthien and Huan overthrow Sauron's castle.
--->In that hour Lúthien came, and standing upon the bridge that led to Sauron's isle she sang a song that no walls of stone could hinder. ...Then Sauron yielded himself, and Lúthien took the mastery of the isle and all that was there... Lúthien stood upon the bridge, and declared her power: and the spell was loosed that bound stone to stone, and the gates were thrown down, and the walls opened, and the pits laid bare.
*** Lúthien [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu enspells Morgoth]] so that Beren can steal the Silmaril.
** Fingolfin challenges Morgoth to single combat, and manages to seriously wound him before dying.
** Finrod fights and kills a werewolf bare-handed.
** When Túrin killed Glaurung, the source of much of his suffering.
*** The fact that he will avenge his family, not to mention all of humanity, by killing Morgoth.
** One of the first things Haleth did on entering Beleriand was to CurbStomp a band of orcs.
** Eärendil, having sailed to the land of the Valar to beg their aid against Morgoth, returns to Middle Earth in his flying ship at the head of an army of gods, angels, and giant eagles. His ship leads the air assault against Morgoth's flying dragons, and he personally slays the "greatest of all dragons", Ancalagon. Did I mention he's wearing one of the silmarils this whole time? It's the one you and I would call ''Venus''.
** Ar-Pharazôn's army was so powerful that Sauron's servants ran away from them in terror, and Sauron had to surrender to him. Of course, it was [[ISurrenderSuckers more complicated than that]], but still...
* CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming: Aulë's creation of the Dwarves. Impatient that no mortals have yet awakened, he makes his own race, and makes them tough and resilient, knowing Morgoth's power is out there and must be resisted. Eru Ilúvatar then intervenes and points out that, because only he can give the "Secret Fire" of true life, all Aulë has achieved is the same thing Morgoth and Sauron can do - not to make, but only to mock, and the dwarves are just mindless golems doing Aulë's will. Aulë repents and tearfully takes up his hammer to destroy the dwarves...only for them to cower in fear, something that did not come from Aulë's mind, and Eru reveals he took pity on him, as his intentions were good, and by his grace has given the Secret Fire to them so they might live.
** Fingon rescuing Maedhros, despite believing that Maedhros had betrayed him.
** The arrival of the Edain can count as that. They fought their way [[EverythingIsTryingToKillYou through Morgoths territory]] to get there.
** Elu Thingol's first meeting with Melian. Also, when Morwen begs him to shelter her son and, in response, he picks little Túrin up and sets him on his knee, unexpectedly taking him as a foster-son.
* DracoInLeatherPants: Fëanor. So, ''so'' much.

* FridgeBrilliance: When Thingol heard about the massacre of his kin (the Teleri) by the Noldor, he banned the speaking of their language (Quenya) throughout Beleriand. This meant that the Noldor (whom he no longer trusted) had to speak in a language he and his people could understand, or risk being shunned. It also meant that, while he could not demand that the Noldor get rid of the swords that had killed his kin (since they were needed in the war against Morgoth), he could still punish them by banning the language in which the orders to kill the Teleri were given.
** Meta-example: ''The Silmarillion'' itself was compiled from Tolkien's notes, many of which were not entirely consistent with one another... just like different versions of real-world mythology.
* HighOctaneNightmareFuel. [[CompleteMonster MORGOTH]]. The Satan of Arda, Morgoth engaged in MindRape without even having to think about it, and the only sort of pleasure he could experience came from horribly torturing and corrupting Elves and Men. In-universe, lesser ''Ainur'' were driven to insanity by his eyes.

* MagnificentBastard: Sauron, especially during the fall of Númenórë. Fëanor also has shades of this.
** Proabably Glaurung too as noted above, though it is hard to tell whether he is a {{chessmaster}} in his machinations against Túrin, or merely the instrument of Morgoth's curse.
* MoralEventHorizon: Fëanor crosses it when he leads a shocking massacre of the Elves who dared refuse him use of their ships. Then he crosses it again when he sails to Middle-earth with his most loyal followers, then burns the ships so the majority have to travel through the freezing far North, an ordeal where many of them die.
** This has been the topic of endless debate in Tolkien fandom. Basically, you can argue that the massacre was unintended (Fëanor never gave the order to kill anyone), and those left behind after the ships burned could just go back to Valinor, since they were unhappy with the whole Flight thing. {{Your Mileage May Vary}}.
** Morgoth crosses this in the eyes of the Elves when he kills Finwë and steals the Silmarils. The moment that hits home just how ''evil'' this guy is, though, has to be the cursing of Húrin's family. Túrin's life was just one tragedy after the other, ending with his suicide. This is made even worse when you realize that all the misery was really caused by nothing more than Morgoth's temper-tantrum.
*** Especially since Túrin wasn't even the one that provoked Morgoth; that honour goes to Túrin's dad. Túrin's miserable life is merely a decades-long torture inflicted on Húrin as punishment for his defiance.

** Not necessarily intended to be a strawman, however. The Noldor are portrayed as being morally ambiguous at best and in some cases--like Fëanor and his sons--quite villainous. But the fact remains that Eöl's justified opposition is treated less than sympathetically.

** When Eärendil wanders through the streets of deserted Valimar and the dust of the gemstones covers his feet.
*** Note that this was originally supposed to be much more of a TearJerker, as Eärendil had arrived too late and the Elves had ''already left'' for Middle-earth; Tolkien changed it to make it a bit less tragic, with the Elves only being away at a festival and soon returning.

* TheWoobie: Túrin Turambar, also JerkassWoobie.

* WhatMeasureIsANonBadass: Gwindor. Nargothrond started to see him like this when compared to Túrin, even if he did some undeniably {{Badass}} things in the past. The main reason he seemed non-{{Badass}} was due to his [[ShellShockedVeteran PTSD]] and the fact that he had a much more pragmatic outlook on Nargothrond's chances against Morgoth. Gwindor favored staying in hiding and striking from the shadows. Túrin wanted open battle, and if defeat was inevitable if they fought openly, he would prefer to go down in a blaze of glory. His words and martial prowess swayed the hearts of the people of Nargothrond, [[NiceJobBreakingItHero and thus sealed their doom]].

** So does [[BigBad Morgoth]]. Apparently, he looks like TheWoobie for some.

** The Tale of Beren and Luthien is a whole story of Crowning Moments of Awesome. The Elves consider it the greatest tale of the First Age. It's also a Crowning Moment of Awesome for J.R.R. Tolkien, as Beren and Luthien are [[AuthorAvatar avatars]] of himself and his wife--''and he makes it work.''

** Elu Thingol's first meeting with Melian. Also, when Morwen begs him to shelter her son and, in response, he picks little Turin up and sets him on his knee, unexpectedly taking him as a foster-son.

* EnsembleDarkhorse: Nerdanel. The amount of fanfiction and fanart she has received is in no portition to the very limited pagetime she has in the published ''Silmarillion''.

* StrawmanHasAPoint: Eol, being one of the Dark Elves who chose to remain behind in Middle-Earth rather than sail West to the Valar, hated Feanor and the Noldor who fled Valinor and pretty much invaded Middle-Earth, even going so far as to kill Elves of Eol's kin. Thus he refuses to cooperate with Gondolin or the other Noldor states, and allies with the Dwarves and (presumably) the Green and other Dark Elves.
** Not necessarily intended to be a strawman, however. The Noldor are portrayed as being morally ambiguous at best and in some cases--like Feanor and his sons--quite villainous. But the fact remains that Eol's justified opposition is treated less than sympathetically.

* TheWoobie: Turin Turambar, also JerkassWoobie.

** JerkassWoobie: Fëanor, so much. He gets a ''lot'' of sympathy and apologetic fans for someone whose actions directly set in motion a series of events that led to so much suffering and death, including genocide and a world-shattering cataclysm. Possibly because, despite being a jerkass of truly ''epic'' proportions, he was also a total badass.

* TheWoobie: Turin Turambar.

* CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming: Aulë, impatient that Elves and Men have not yet awoken, creates the race of Dwarves and so blasphemes against Ilúvatar. Ilúvatar himself intervenes and points out to Aulë that (just like Morgoth) he cannot truly give life to a new race because only Ilúvatar can grant the Secret Fire - and, just like the Orcs, the Dwarves are only extensions of Aulë's will and have no free will. Aulë weeps and repents and takes up his hammer to destroy the Dwarves - ''and they cower in fear of their own will'', because Ilúvatar took pity and gave them the Secret Fire.

*** [[TakeAThirdOption How about all three?]]

** Some characters would be this if they were fleshed out more — the Númenórëan king Ar-Pharazôn for one.

** Not necessarily intended to be a strawman, however. The Noldor are portrayed as being morally ambiguous at best and in some cases--like Feanor and his sons--quite villainous. But the fact remains that Eol's justified opposition is treated [[{{Understatement}} less than sympathetically]].

** JerkassWoobie: Fëanor, so much. He gets a ''lot'' of sympathy and apologetic fans for someone whose actions directly set in motion a series of events that led to so much suffering and death, including genocide and a world-shattering cataclysm.

* TheWoobie: Turin Turambar.

* NeutralGood: Ulmo. Alone of all the Valar he seemed to give a damn about Elves and Men and wasn't content to sit in Valinor and let Melkor conquer them. If it wasn't for his proactivity Melkor might have ruled uncontested, as the cities he designed were the ones that lasted longest (and had the elves listened to his warnings they would have come off a lot better), and he assisted and guided both Eärendil and Tuor.

* WallBanger: Húrin was imprisoned by Morgoth for decades and had his family put under a terrible curse, all because he would not reveal the location of Gondolin to Morgoth. One of the first things Húrin does after Morgoth releases him is [[spoiler: travel to the approximate location of Gondolin and call upon its King, Turgon, in the hearing of Morgoth's spies. So now Morgoth knows where Gondolin is located, and the suffering of Húrin and his family was ''entirely'' pointless.]] This isn't a WallBanger because it's badly written, but rather because it's so ironic and tragic and AAAARRRGGHHH.
** It gets worse, because [[spoiler: when he goes to Doriath not only does he gratuitously insult Thingol and prove that [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption Morgoth has really gotten to him despite all his defiance]] he also (at least in the published ''Silmarillion'') brings along the Nauglamír, which indirectly leads to Thingol's death, which contributes to the eventual fall of the Kingdom of Doriath. Basically, through his torment and eventual release of Húrin coupled with the curse on Húrin's family Morgoth manages to help bring about the fall of ''all three remaining Elven strongholds''.]]
*** And it's even worse than that. [[spoiler: During his life, Túrin was responsible for the fall of Nargothrond, and probably got a lot of his own people killed as well after attacking the Easterlings. Then Húrin revealed the approximate location of Gondolin, was the catalyst for the destruction of the Haladin (something he both intended [[HeWhoFightsMonsters and enjoyed]], due to what they did to his children and wife), killed the last of the Petty-dwarves, and put into motion the destruction of Doriath. All in all, Húrin and Túrin are responsible for the fall of about five societies; human, Elvish, and Dwarvish. They couldn't have done better if they had been serving Morgoth deliberately.]]
** Not ''pointless''. If Húrin had given Morgoth Gondolin's location to start with, [[spoiler: the city would have been destroyed immediately, without survivors (Idril's Secret Way didn't exist then). Therefore, Tuor and Idril never would have married, and there would be no Eärendil, and thus no War of Wrath[[hottip:* :It's ''possible'' Lúthien and Beren's children or grandchildren might have taken the Silmaril West, as Eärendil did, but no one seemed to realize that it would allow such a voyage until...it did.]]]] Which would likely mean that Morgoth would have ended up ruling Middle-earth.

** Not necessarily intended to be a strawman, however. The Noldor are portrayed as being morally ambiguous at best and in some cases--like Feanor and his sons--quite villainous. But the fact remains that Eol's justified opposition is treated [[Understatement less than sympathetically]].

** Not ''pointless''. If Húrin had given Morgoth Gondolin's location to start with, [[spoiler: the city would have been destroyed immediately, without survivors (Idril's Secret Way didn't exist then). Therefore, Tuor and Idril never would have married, and there would be no Eärendil, and thus no War of Wrath[[hottip:* :It's ''possible'' Lúthien and Beren's children or grandchildren might have taken the Silmaril West, as Eärendil did, but no one seemed to realize that it would allow such a voyage until...it did.]]]] Which would likely mean that Morgoth would have ended up ruling Middle-earth.