# Problems With the Sil



## Goldberry344 (Mar 23, 2002)

anyone else haveing problems with the sil?? i cant get into it, its really boreing. does it get better??


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## Gamil Zirak (Mar 23, 2002)

I had a hard time getting into it. The begining is very dry and slow. It does get a lot better and is definately worth the time to read it.


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## Eonwe (Mar 24, 2002)

If you find it boring, do what I did when I was young.

I would read LotR or the Hobbit, then when I saw an obscure reference (Feanor, Morgoth, Ancalagon the Black, Turin, etc) I would go back and look them up, and read the section that I found them in. Then eventually I had read everything.

Its funny because the Ainulindale, and the other beginning chapters are probably the most boring, along with Turin Turumbar, but then later you realize what is going on, and you hang on every word


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## Elanor2 (Mar 24, 2002)

Yes, the Sil is not easy. The Epic language also threw me out a bit, and since it is composed by tales, does not follow a story line and that makes it more difficult.

You can read the tales separately, to make it easier (e.g., try Beren and Luthien, which is probably one of the most beautiful), but be warned, they are organized chronologically and cross-reference each other, so you will have to go back and re-read it to get all details right, once you have the whole story.


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## Tulidian (Mar 24, 2002)

It was very confusing to me the first time to. I couldn't get the names straight, so what I did, was whenever I saw a new name I wrote it down, and writed a little description on the person. Then when they came up in another part of the book, I just looked and I could figure it out very easily.


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## Khamul (Mar 24, 2002)

I had problems with the 1st chapter of the Sil. But, I had to stop speed reading and reading the book pretty slow. Then, it was alot easier to read and understand.


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## Goldberry344 (Mar 24, 2002)

thanks a lot, you guys! my friend is reading it too, and i think she is having problems too, im not sure. but its kinda nice to know im not the only one. i think i should probably just slow down. im a speed reader, sorta like sting. maybe ill just start the whole book over.


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## Khamul (Mar 24, 2002)

That would probably be best, and you will feel like you know the book if you read it more slowly.


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## Bucky (Mar 24, 2002)

>>>>and the other beginning chapters are
probably the most boring, along with Turin Turumbar, but then later you
realize what is going on, and you hang on every word 

Turin boring?

As I've said before, I go to Unfinished Tales & read the longer accounts of Narn I Hin Hurin in there. I'm actually in there right now - He's in Nargothrond......

Too bad Tolkien took forever to write anything, because the expanded stories in UT are much more like TLOR...... 


I think it took me 3 readings to figure out what was going on.

For a long time, when I read it after The Hobbit & TLOR, I'd just start between about chapters 3 & 7. 
Then, I'd start with the Silm.
Then Valaquenta.
Now, I even read Ainulindale.


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## Úlairi (Mar 25, 2002)

I have only ever read the book once, and I didn't have any problems with it, I suppose that's just me, however, it does start of really boring and then it gets an infinite times better, keep reading!!!


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## ReadWryt (Mar 25, 2002)

You want to read about Turin, pick up a copy of "The Lays of Beleriand" sometime and read all 4000+ lines of the epic poem that the story initially was told in...


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## Bucky (Mar 25, 2002)

Is it readable?

I quit at 'Lost Tales' because I found so much of it at odds with published versions & the writing style so antiquated.


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## Thorin (Mar 26, 2002)

Though much of Book of Lost Tales 2 is quite difficult and boring, the account of the Fall of Gondolin alone is worth getting it. Very exciting and Sil doesn't give it any justice like BoLT 2.

The more one reads Sil and internalizes and visualises it, the more interesting it becomes. When you've chronologically separated everything in your mind and mapped out the genealogies and time frames, you begin to see Sil in a different light.

I do agree that UT is almost better then Sil and a definite companion to Sil. A must read as well.


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## Anarchist (Mar 26, 2002)

I admit I thought it was boring in the beginning. But at a point you will understand what a mastermind Tolkien was. Also, if you read LOTR and some names and events refered there didn't make sence, well you can take my word: it's made clear in the Silmarillion. Questions like who were the Numenorian kings, where do tehy go when they leave the grey havens and where the heck did Sauron come from are all answered here. Just keep reading. You will not regret it.


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## Anduril (Mar 26, 2002)

*The Sil*

I think Sil gives you the "field vision" that anyone will need to understand and to follow the adventures in LOTR.

If you only read LOTR, you'll miss a lot of "background" of Tolkien's universe.
In my opinion, if you solely read LOTR, you'll have a small vision of Tolkien's universe.

It's dense, yes.
It's hard, yes... but it justifies and explains a lot of situations and scenes that are mentioned in LOTR.
This book gives us the initial and definite configuration of facts that shape the Third and Fourth Ages...


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