When we think about everything we went through in the last few years and during the COVID pandemic, we could almost say that humanity is out of luck! But, if there is one thing that made us the luckiest living beings in the universe for sure, is the incredible movie adaptations of the Lord of the Rings books by Peter Jackson. Could there be a new movie from the Middle-Earth in preparation?
The Silmarillion: a near-death experience
Serving as an officer in France during World War 1, Tolkien (John Ronald Reuel Tolkien) got trench fever and was hospitalized shortly after. Once he started feeling better, he decided to complete his work on The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. The latter writings were fairly successful, which was unfortunately not the case with his tale on the 2nd Age named the Silmarillion that got rejected at the time. If you ever wondered how Sauron rose to power and got the ring, then this would be the book you want to read.
All that being said, our determined writer wasn’t phased by the rejection as he continued his hard work on the Silmarillion. Granted, he could not spend as much time as he would like to on it since he had to complete the Lord of the Rings sequels. It is said that Tolkien was trying to finish his work on the Silmarillion during his last days on Earth, but alas, he passed away at the age of 81 in 1973. May his soul rest in peace.
The Son of Tolkien
Now, this is a sad way to start a story, isn’t it? Don’t worry, because it doesn’t end there! What we didn’t talk about yet is that the torch was passed to Tolkien’s son, Christopher Tolkien. After studying the writings of his father and thoroughly understanding the style, the different factions, the stakes, and the lore, Christopher Tolkien continued the saga of the Silmarillion. In 2007, Christopher completed the book The Children of Húrin, which took not less than 30 years of work.
And for the Silmarillion, a final version was released a few years ago, that tried to put together the last writings of Tolkien in a cohesive narration.
Is Peter Jackson making a Silmarillion movie?
Unfortunately, Peter Jackson was never able to get the rights to make the Silmarillion movie. However, Amazon recently (and finally) got the rights to make a series out of the famous prequel saga to The Lord of the Rings. In the latter, we will see how Aragorn became the great king and also how the rings were created, and the origin of Sauron.
What the Silmarillion book is about?
First and foremost, it is important to know that the Silmarillion book is not really like your typical medieval fantasy book. Actually, it is mostly made of narrated stories explaining a lot of backstories between the different races and the great wars between Elves and Morgoth for example. Moreover, everything is kind of overarching itself through the book, making it very difficult to read for most people, especially if you never got into the Middle-Earth world beforehand.
Therefore, we listed the 5 sections of the book and we added for each a brief description of what they contain:
- Ainulindalë (The Music of the Ainur)
This first section talks about the Father of All who created Ainur, a group of eternal spirits. These spirits or gods if you will then create the different groups of inhabitants that will live in the world such as the Orcs, the Dwarves, and the Elves. This section is pretty interesting, as it also goes over the history of the greeter Ainur, Valar, and the lesser Ainur called Maiar. - Valaquente
Now things start to get serious in this section, as the book starts diving into the story of each of the 14 spirit gods mentioned above. Moreover, we also see the first appearances of Sauron, the big villain and dark lord that will try to conquer Middle-Earth. - Quenta Silmarillion
This is the book about the First Age and the wars caused by the 3 jewels called the Silmarils. These wars span several years between Elves, Dwarves, and Humans. They go at each other so much that they almost go instinct, all of them! By the end of this part, almost everybody is dead, which is the queue for the end of the First Age in Middle-Earth. - Akallabêth (The Downfallen)
We finally read about Sauron taking over Middle-Earth as he has control over the kingdom of Númenor, the land of Dúnedain. This is where you start to see just how powerful Sauron is during the beginning of the Second Age. - The Rings of Power and the Third Age
This is the last section that narrates all the events that will happen during the Second and Third Ages. The Rings are forged by Sauron himself and Celebrimbor. Sauron deceives the Elves in creating the One Ring to rule them all, and become so powerful that he is now unstoppable.
It is important to note that all of this is narrated and is not easy to read or understand if you are not familiar with Tolkien’s universe. Furthermore, many terms and languages are part of this gigantic world, so it takes a bit of a learning curve before being comfortable with the book.
What the Amazon Lord of the Rings show is about?
If you are a Tolkien fan, you will be happy to know that a new Lord of the Rings TV show is coming soon. It will be set during the Second Age when Sauron started to take over, which happens around 1000 years before the events of The Hobbit.
How much did it cost to make the first season of this new TV series of Lord of the Rings, you may ask? The total price tag for that season is around $450 million, so it should be quite an epic journey! Granted, it’s not covering the full story of the Silmarillion book, but it is pretty close to what all fans around the world wanted to see: the rise of Sauron the Dark Lord.