As someone who struggled in her initial reading of the Silm, and who hasn't read it nearly as much as she should have, I came away from it very confused. LotR did not confuse me; the Silm made my head spin.
It took fanfiction of both the traditional type and the more realistic type to help me come to terms with a place so very contradictory.
Valinor was supposed to be close to heaven on earth, and yet from the beginning it was darker and less benevolent a place to me than the world of LotR (not all of that unease was due to the lack of hobbits, either, ;-))
For one thing, Elves were supposed to be "good guys", and too many of the Elves in the Silm were not. It took a long time for me to come to grips with the dichotomy.
I now appreciate the stories in which we are shown both the otherworldliness of Elves and also their worldliness as well.
You and other fanfic writers have helped me to appreciate the subtle differences and similarities between the Elves of the Silm who are actually more three dimensional, and those of LotR who only show their surface to the mortals who encounter them.
This essay is also very helpful as well. You bring up a number of points I had never before thought of (such as swords).
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2017-03-03 03:45 am (UTC)It took fanfiction of both the traditional type and the more realistic type to help me come to terms with a place so very contradictory.
Valinor was supposed to be close to heaven on earth, and yet from the beginning it was darker and less benevolent a place to me than the world of LotR (not all of that unease was due to the lack of hobbits, either, ;-))
For one thing, Elves were supposed to be "good guys", and too many of the Elves in the Silm were not. It took a long time for me to come to grips with the dichotomy.
I now appreciate the stories in which we are shown both the otherworldliness of Elves and also their worldliness as well.
You and other fanfic writers have helped me to appreciate the subtle differences and similarities between the Elves of the Silm who are actually more three dimensional, and those of LotR who only show their surface to the mortals who encounter them.
This essay is also very helpful as well. You bring up a number of points I had never before thought of (such as swords).
Thank you!