The audiobook, read by Martin Shaw, is very good, and another version, read by Andy Serkis, should be coming soon (according to a leak by Andy).
Well, I did not jump ahead to chapter 3, but I did skip AINULINDALE and VALAQUETA, with every intention to go back to them. That said, I've read through "Feanor and the Unchaining of Melkor" and I'm wishing that my younger self had stuck with it.
Some parts I also could not get through by reading. It was far more enjoyable to listen to Martin Shaw narrating them; in fact, performing them.
Ayup. I got to "Of Turin Turambar" and hit the wall harder than a Hogwarts student at platform 8 and 3/4. My solution was to go to YouTube and watch a Nerd of the Rings video on Turin. After that, I finished off the rest of the main narrative in about an hour. Now that I have finally, after all of these years, familiarized myself with the events of the first and second ages, I look forward to my next read through of Lord of the Rings with my new awareness of the lore and the context it will bring to the narrative. I also read through all of the third age material included in The Silmarillion and the appendices. Now, I really want to see a "tale of years" style reorganizing of all of Tolkien's third age material into a chronological narrative similar to The Fall of Numenor. So, what should I tackle next? Unfinished Tales? The "Great Tales" of the first age?
I still think you should check out The Fall of Gondolin but I'm obviously biased. Just picked up The Fall of Númenor today although I don't know when I'll get to it. I still need to finish The Ring Legends of Tolkien by David Day, which I highly recommend Tolkien fans to check out. It's all about the various myths, legends, and folklore that helped Tolkien mold his own stories, ranging from Norse, Greek, and Roman mythology and sagas to Arthurian legends and Germanic romances and everything in between. Some influences are obvious (some of which I can't believe I didn't pick up on before!), some are far more subtle. It's a terrific, quick read with lots of art of varying styles.
A few of Martin Shaw's pronunciations of characters and similar in The Silmarillion are a bit off, but not terribly so. If that sort of thing bothers one, one should be reading the book oneself.
The artwork by Alan Lee is incredible. And if you look closely at that gorgeous cover, you can see the tiny figure of a defiant Sauron on the roof of his Temple watching the wave about to consume him.
You beat me to it! I love everything Ben Daniels does. Sorry to see Joseph Mawle leave. I really enjoyed his turn as Adar. I wonder why he left. Absolutely not!
Ooooh! Ben Daniel’s is a great addition to the cast! intrigued to see which character he might be playing. Also - taking a quick glance at the newcomers, was wondering if Amazon has cast Celeborn yet…
I listened to the Martin Shaw audio first, after seeing the second Hobbit movie. For whatever reason I was in the mood for more Middle Earth and was like "Oh yeah, the Silmarillion!" and picked up an audio version. I think what helped me get through it, after owning multiple copies for decades, was that, don't know why. The other thing was not being in a rush to get through it. The way the marketing for the Hobbit was going it was like "visit Middle Earth one last time" and that kind of rubbed off on me....even though the books were still there. So I was in no rush to get through it. I listened to it slowly and savored every minute of it. Even the parts (the Creation and bits right after the creation) that had bored me to tears for decades, and for whatever reason......they didn't bore me and haven't since then. I read it all the way through for the first time a year or two later and have read it multiple times since then as it's became my favorite of all the Middle Earth books.
Yeah, that's too bad. Really liked how he portrayed his character. Be curious to see how this new actor handles the character. Such an interesting character, an interesting reflection of both Sauron and Galadriel.
The way he pronounces Nargothrond is the one that rubs me the wrong way. I've always pronounced it the way I heard it in the BBC radio adaptation (which is also how Christopher Tolkien pronounces it) which is NARgothrond. Shaw pronounces it as Nar GOTHrond. Almost like two words. Not sure which is the correct way, but the first way sounds more like Tolkien to me, fits better with the poem Gimli recites in Moria too. I
According to the LotR fandom website, the Sindarin IPA of Nargothrond is [narˈɡoθrond]. "Sindarin was designed with a Welsh-like phonology. Stress is as in Latin: on the penult if that is heavy (a closed syllable, long vowel or diphthong) and on the antepenult if the penult is light." I would tend to favour Christopher Tolkien's opinion as I assume he'd heard his father pronounce it or similar words. Shaw's pronunciation isn't something that bothers me terribly. I've heard much worse mangling of real-world words by audiobook readers.
Further new casting news for Season 2! https://www.theonering.net/torwp/20...er-announces-more-new-casting-for-season-two/ And potential spoiler for possible Celeborn casting (my speculation from the new casting article above): Spoiler Calum Lynch