The Silmarillion tells of the First Age of Tolkien’s world, the ancient drama to which the characters in The Lord of the Rings so often look back.

When Morgoth, the first Dark Lord, destroyed the Two Trees whose light illuminated Valinor, the land of the gods, that light lived on only in the Silmarils, the three great jewels fashioned by the Elf Feanor, but Morgoth also seized the Silmarils to set them in his crown.

The Silmarillion is the history of the rebellion of Feanor and his people against the gods, their exile in Middle-earth, and their war against the great Enemy.

Also included are the Ainulindale, a myth of the creation, the Valaquenta, describing the nature and powers of each of the gods, the Akallabeth which recounts the downfall of the great island kingdom of Numenor at the end of the Second Age, and of the Rings of Power which tells of the great events at the end of the Third Age, events which are narrated in The Lord of the Rings.

Reviews

“Martin Shaw’s effortless pronunciation of JRR’s impossible spellings and mastery of his archaic grammar allows the narrative to flow uninterrupted, thus making listening a far better better option than reading the books.”
Glasgow Herald 31/12/98