journal 2: Chapters 1-3

[Bombadillo]

After making you wait for almost a month , I decided I owe it to you to write a bit more. Here are some thorough examinations of three chapters. Enjoy!

1/24/2005
Of the Beginning of Days
Ah, Chapter One. We’re finally getting to the good stuff. It should be easy reading from here.

That’s what I thought at first. I forgot to consider that I had already read it almost as many times as Valaquenta and that it would still read like a generally boring collection of unfashioned notes, not yet the thrilling narrative I’ve heard so mush about and am so looking forward to. It was short though, and really not so bad anyway.

Plus that’s only an insignificant rant to rectify my laziness. How late is this entry!

The names and jobs of the Valar are a minor problem for me in this chapter. I say “minor” to mask my anxiety about it, and in hope that I’ll catch on soon or something like that so I can stop flipping back to skim through Valaquenta. I thought about making a chart to use as a cheat sheet for my personal reference, but if I started that I would have rewritten the entire indexes by the time I was done with the book. I’m just bad with names.

Anyway, there were many things of varying depth that I thought about while reading. First of all, Aulë and Tulkas are amazing. Tulkas especially, since he is a warrior, and thus everything he does is glorious, and I love it when Tolkien takes a glorious tone. For instance, I think it’s remarkable that Melkor, despite his violent and evil nature, waits until Tulkas falls asleep to strike the good Valar. Granted, Melkor is knowledgeable and tactical, and there probably was no other way for him to successfully attack (I mean, it doesn’t make him seem any wimpier), but what does that say about Tulkas!? It says he’s awesome, protector of the Powers of the world (what a title), and I think he’ll remain awesome throughout the book.

Secondly, I’m kind of keeping an eye out for nice-sounding Elvish in this book, and I expect a lot of it. Oiolossë is a beautiful name.

I also noticed that during Yavanna’s singing which would sprout the Two Trees, everything else in the world is silent. I’m tired of speculating over the meaning to that detail, but it certainly left an impression. It pretty much confirmed for me that Tolkien will continue putting emphasis on singing throughout the book as well. (Manwë likes poetry, too.) I can’t wait to read about what happened to those trees.

I want to mention Tolkien’s diction here:

In the confusion and the darkness Melkor escaped, though fear fell upon him; for above the roaring of the seas he heard the voice of Manwë as a mighty wind…

I’m not sure of the exact wording in other Tolkien events that I’m thinking of, but I like hearing him describe voices. (I’m reminded of Théoden calling the Rohirrim to arms in LotR.) The way I imagine this particular case may not even be the way he intended, but I like it. I think of a booming, inexplicably multi-tonal, horrifying roar—like a burning choir—being propelled across the earth, and making loud echoes in the wind it whips up that tears through the tunnels of Utumno. It seems like the sound or even the intensity is insignificant; it’s the consistency and the speed that makes Melkor whimper. What other writer could be so overwhelming in half an unedited sentence?

Now as I’m raving about the glory of this work, I’m reminded again of “The Bridge of Khazad-Dûm” and “The March of the Ents,” my favorite parts of LotR. Even though I’ve been promised so much in The Silmarillion, I’m still wondering if any one scene in it can rival these moments. That would rock, hey?

And as you must have noticed and I’ve felt rather guilty about, I took a ridiculously long time to write about this chapter. I read it initially some weeks ago, and then slept and forgot what comments I’d wanted to make. So yesterday I reread it, and in the end this was good because I didn’t feel obligated to waste time struggling to memorize each detail, as I did before. I observed the nifty editing job by Christopher this time, reading the chapter straight through. The way all the stories in this chapter compliment each other, and the way the end of the chapter relates back to Valaquenta (It gives another brief intro to each Vala.) actually makes me more excited for the rest of the book.

Already I wish this was a complete work. I cannot imagine how artistically Tolkien would have described the creation of the Two Trees. I can’t wait to finish, and consult Letters. Probably now since I’m into what’s nearly a story (the book, not the post ), I have more to say. Not so much happened for me to comment on in Ainulindalë and Valaquenta. I really can’t wait to read on.


1/25
Of Aulë and Yavanna
Who are the first two Valar to get their own chapter? Aulë and Yavanna. And of course—they are really most instrumental in the shaping of the world. Tulkas and Ulmo are cool, but less important, and I wonder if the high king Manwë will ever do anything cool again, besides scaring Melkor in the last chapter with Tulkas and Ulmo.

So in this chapter, they talk about Ents. I think I recall my first time reading this chapter, and I didn’t expect them to come yet. I was psyched! When I read about Yavanna first asking Manwë for them, for some reason I felt this made suspense; even though it was clear they were talking about the Shepherds of the Trees, I had to wait and hear those words from Manwë.

And when she talked about them in the Song I was not only surprised by its vivid details (I forgot the vision it gave to Ilúvatar), but how cool it was.

…I lifted up the branches of great trees to receive [the rains], and some sang to Ilúvatar amid the wind and the rain.

Just such a dramatic image, I can’t say anything else about it. It can be read into any way the reader wants, it works so surely to illustrate splendour. (I want to see it in a video game movie.)

In the next paragraph, too, Manwë seems to become enveloped by the Song, and he senses notes he never heard before. This is a fantastic image and I’m awestruck by the mysterious power of the Valar.

But also out of this chapter came the first moment that I laughed at. The chapter closes with Yavanna returning to Aulë and warning him “…beware! For there shall walk a power in the forests whose wrath [your creations] will arouse in peril.” Indeed, but he only answers, “nonetheless they will have need of wood” and he keeps working. Isn’t that the most typical sitcom husband response!

Similarly to the way he seems to dismiss her, it is also apparent how they compliment each other in their marriage. I felt that this chapter presented them as opposing forces, almost casual enemies, but of course Yavanna’s creations could not exist without Aulë’s, and likewise Aulë’s limits are dictated by her.

Lastly in the very non-sequential order of this entry () is the birth of the Dwarves. I suppose I should comment on them since I think it’s the main reason this chapter was included. Yeah, Aulë’s cool here, but I knew how this was going to happen already. I gathered that much when I didn’t care about spoilers. It was interesting to read of the rather modest beginning of the Dwarves, but more significant seemed the Godliness of Eru here. Omniscient + Compassion = Magnificent