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The Silmarillion Volume 1
The Silmarillion tells of the Elder Days, of the First Age of Tolkien's World, when Morgoth, the first Dark Lord, dwelt in Middle Earth, and the High Elves made war upon them for the recovery of the Silmarils, the jewels containing the pure light of Valinor. It is to this ancient drama that the characters in The Lord of the Rings so often look back to.
The Silmarillion, considered to be Tolkien's most important work, is the story of the creation of the world and the happenings of the First Age, clearly setting the stage for all his other works. With a superb performance by Martin Shaw, this first installment of three volumes will thrill and delight Tolkien fans of all ages, and listeners will treasure this extraordinary presentation for years to come.
The Silmarillion, considered to be Tolkien's most important work, is the story of the creation of the world and the happenings of the First Age, clearly setting the stage for all his other works. With a superb performance by Martin Shaw, this first installment of three volumes will thrill and delight Tolkien fans of all ages, and listeners will treasure this extraordinary presentation for years to come.
Unabridged Audiobook Download
First published January 1, 1977
About the author
J.R.R. Tolkien
841 books80.4k followersJohn Ronald Reuel Tolkien: writer, artist, scholar, linguist. Known to millions around the world as the author of The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien spent most of his life teaching at the University of Oxford where he was a distinguished academic in the fields of Old and Middle English and Old Norse. His creativity, confined to his spare time, found its outlet in fantasy works, stories for children, poetry, illustration and invented languages and alphabets.
Tolkien’s most popular works, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings are set in Middle-earth, an imagined world with strangely familiar settings inhabited by ancient and extraordinary peoples. Through this secondary world Tolkien writes perceptively of universal human concerns – love and loss, courage and betrayal, humility and pride – giving his books a wide and enduring appeal.
Tolkien was an accomplished amateur artist who painted for pleasure and relaxation. He excelled at landscapes and often drew inspiration from his own stories. He illustrated many scenes from The Silmarillion, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, sometimes drawing or painting as he was writing in order to visualize the imagined scene more clearly.
Tolkien was a professor at the Universities of Leeds and Oxford for almost forty years, teaching Old and Middle English, as well as Old Norse and Gothic. His illuminating lectures on works such as the Old English epic poem, Beowulf, illustrate his deep knowledge of ancient languages and at the same time provide new insights into peoples and legends from a remote past.
Tolkien was born in Bloemfontein, South Africa, in 1892 to English parents. He came to England aged three and was brought up in and around Birmingham. He graduated from the University of Oxford in 1915 and saw active service in France during the First World War before being invalided home. After the war he pursued an academic career teaching Old and Middle English. Alongside his professional work, he invented his own languages and began to create what he called a mythology for England; it was this ‘legendarium’ that he would work on throughout his life. But his literary work did not start and end with Middle-earth, he also wrote poetry, children’s stories and fairy tales for adults. He died in 1973 and is buried in Oxford where he spent most of his adult life.
Tolkien’s most popular works, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings are set in Middle-earth, an imagined world with strangely familiar settings inhabited by ancient and extraordinary peoples. Through this secondary world Tolkien writes perceptively of universal human concerns – love and loss, courage and betrayal, humility and pride – giving his books a wide and enduring appeal.
Tolkien was an accomplished amateur artist who painted for pleasure and relaxation. He excelled at landscapes and often drew inspiration from his own stories. He illustrated many scenes from The Silmarillion, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, sometimes drawing or painting as he was writing in order to visualize the imagined scene more clearly.
Tolkien was a professor at the Universities of Leeds and Oxford for almost forty years, teaching Old and Middle English, as well as Old Norse and Gothic. His illuminating lectures on works such as the Old English epic poem, Beowulf, illustrate his deep knowledge of ancient languages and at the same time provide new insights into peoples and legends from a remote past.
Tolkien was born in Bloemfontein, South Africa, in 1892 to English parents. He came to England aged three and was brought up in and around Birmingham. He graduated from the University of Oxford in 1915 and saw active service in France during the First World War before being invalided home. After the war he pursued an academic career teaching Old and Middle English. Alongside his professional work, he invented his own languages and began to create what he called a mythology for England; it was this ‘legendarium’ that he would work on throughout his life. But his literary work did not start and end with Middle-earth, he also wrote poetry, children’s stories and fairy tales for adults. He died in 1973 and is buried in Oxford where he spent most of his adult life.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
October 4, 2016
When I first read this years ago, I was merely thirsty for more of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, etc. So, I was disappointed and even disoriented since this sweep is much more epic and grander. Now, I come to it to appreciate only Tolkien's vision and this triumph by the linguist and fantasist. It is also rather entertaining to read of Balrogs, Elrond, and Galadriel, etc. in their mythic roles during the legendary First Age.
August 14, 2019
This is my favorite book of all time. Idk what its talking about "volume 1", the edition I have just has everything from pre creation to the fall of numenor. I can't express properly how much I adore this book, so I won't. Its dense, but totally worth it, it can get taxing when it describes where the elves ended up settling and their names.
May 17, 2018
The best from Tolkins. His son Christopher did a great job finalizing the book. Overall, the descriptions of Ainulindale, Ea. How Elves and Dwarfs were created. Valar and Maiar. The gardens of Alan and is where Elves go. This book is a bible for LOTR and Tolikn fans. If Amazon tries to create movies scenes of Silmarilion, they will gonna need to make their best or don’t do anything. This is a great philosophical reading.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 2, 2026
The detail that completely flipped my perspective in The Silmarillion Volume 1 was how much of a huge, famous expedition fell apart over bad food and worse manners, not bad weather. J.R.R. Tolkien leaned on journals and supply lists, and you can tell, because the petty stuff, like two guys feuding over who ate the last of the sugar, feels so human it's almost embarrassing. The pacing dragged a bit in the chapters on route planning, where it was a lot of maps and not a lot of people. Solid pick if you like your adventure history with some pettiness mixed in.
October 30, 2026
Not gonna lie, The Silmarillion Volume 1 is one of those books where I kept pausing just to say "wow" out loud. J.R.R. Tolkien follows a long-haul trucker writing letters to a daughter he barely knows, and the letter about eating pie alone at a truck stop on her birthday gutted me. The structure gets repetitive, since every chapter is basically another letter. Who this is for: readers who like quiet, emotional stories told in small pieces. Who should pass: anybody hoping for action or twists.
December 19, 2018
This is Middle Earth history, of Biblical proportions. My third time reading the entire thing, but countless times have I pored over my favorite stories within:
The Ainulindale (Creation), Beren and Luthien, Earendil...
Oh, my heart! !
The Ainulindale (Creation), Beren and Luthien, Earendil...
Oh, my heart! !
October 31, 2021
I think this book is just too much of the world building aspect of fantasy and not enough action for me. I stopped about 1/4 of the way through :/
September 1, 2008
Review of Volume 1 (4 discs unabridged):
I have tried reading this book three times but could never get more than about 50 pages into it before I thought my head would explode. It is one of those really dense books that requires absolute quiet to read in, but I could never get that to properly concentrate on it. The book reads like an Icelandic Creation story with so many names thrown at you that you need a character list to keep them all straight. I could see elements of Christianity, along with Norse mythology and what sounded like maybe some Pre-Columbian names thrown in for good measure. Once it got through the introductory part of the story (the creation of the earth and the Ainur) and the races of elves and men started establishing themselves, the story was starting to get really fascinating. Of course, that was about the time that Volume 1 ended. I know there’s a second volume but of course my library doesn’t have it. Thankfully, I have a paper copy of the book so assuming I can figure out where I left off, I can read the rest. For a more detailed description of this book, check out this website: http://lotr.wikia.com/wiki/The_Silmar... 3 stars.
I have tried reading this book three times but could never get more than about 50 pages into it before I thought my head would explode. It is one of those really dense books that requires absolute quiet to read in, but I could never get that to properly concentrate on it. The book reads like an Icelandic Creation story with so many names thrown at you that you need a character list to keep them all straight. I could see elements of Christianity, along with Norse mythology and what sounded like maybe some Pre-Columbian names thrown in for good measure. Once it got through the introductory part of the story (the creation of the earth and the Ainur) and the races of elves and men started establishing themselves, the story was starting to get really fascinating. Of course, that was about the time that Volume 1 ended. I know there’s a second volume but of course my library doesn’t have it. Thankfully, I have a paper copy of the book so assuming I can figure out where I left off, I can read the rest. For a more detailed description of this book, check out this website: http://lotr.wikia.com/wiki/The_Silmar... 3 stars.
June 30, 2009
Although a lot of background information was given in this book about the origins of Middle Earth, I had a hard time following the plot lines. There was just too much going on and too many characters to follow. The Silmarillion is very wordy and does not read like a story at all.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews