“There at the last they looked upon death and defeat, and all their valour was in vain; for Sauron was too strong. Yet in that hour was put to the proof that which Mithrandir had spoken, and help came from the hands of the weak when the Wise faltered. For, as many songs have since sung, it was the Periannath, the Little People, dwellers in hillsides and meadows, that brought them deliverance.”

Despite their long lives, the Númenóreans grew to fear death and wondered how they might escape their fate. The Númenóreans murmured against their mortality and the Ban, asking why they should die when the Valar and the Eldar would not? Why should they not go to Avallone? Why should they not even travel all the way to Valinor?

“Here ends the Silmarillion; and if it has passed from the high and the beautiful to darkness and ruin, that was of old the fate of Arda Marred; and if any change shall come and the Marring be amended, Manwë and Varda may know; but they have not revealed it, and it is not declared in the dooms of Mandos.”

Finwë was wed to Míriel, and their son Fëanor was born. However, after the birth of Fëanor, Míriel languished and was unable to continue living. She went to Lórien to rest, and her spirit departed from her body and went to the Halls of Mandos. Finwë was grieved at the loss of his wife. Fëanor grew swiftly and was the most subtle in mind and skilled in hand of the Noldor. Fëanor devised letters that bear his name (Fëanorian letters), and was the first who discovered how to make gems. Fëanor was married to Nerdanel.

The Silmarillion is one of Tolkien’s most challenging works and yet also the most beautiful and important in my opinion. Many Tolkien fans new and old often feel intimidated by its depth and bewildered by its vocabulary, but it’s become my goal to encourage, equip, and inspire Tolkien fans to not only pick up The Silmarillion — but to finish it as well!