I’ve mentioned several times that I’m reading The Silmarillion by Tolkien. It has been my nightly activity the past few nights, since there’s not much to do by candlelight other than read and think thoughts about power outages and modern life.
Last night I finished the section I’d previously read about the Children of Húrin, a sad tale of people wildly cursed by the evil-doer of the world Melkor and the evil dragon Glaurung.
The story I keep thinking about though is one mentioned in the LoTR, The Tale of Beren and Lúthien. It has really made me think about these epic stories. Such characters and huge quests, such obstacles to overcome. They often die, sometimes accomplishing their goal but sometimes they fail. Even if they don’t fulfill the mission they set out to do, they often inspire or stir others to act.
The Silmarillion often mentions how a sub-group of elves or man had lost hope of winning against this god-like evil in their world. After all, his peers and even his creator seemed unable to vanquish him forever. But, then some single person or a small band would push back the edges of the evil or strike a direct blow and the others would rally and try again.
Certainly this is not a fast read but beyond figuring out the characters and what they’re doing, I am so fascinated by the creation of this mythos, this whole universe and set of cultures and their timelines and… the epic tales of good vs evil. Sometimes I don’t even think of it as good vs evil but human (and elf) vs evil, being all you can, playing out your tale individually and larger until the bitter end.
