“Inspired by old legends of northern Europe, Celtic mythology, ancient Nordic sagas, stories of Viking voyages, as well as ancient languages, writing, and symbols of the northern peoples, J.R.R. Tolkien began outlining a great prose epic in his youth, which would much later be named The Silmarillion.
He worked on refining the initial versions of the mythological stories throughout his life, and they gradually evolved into a complex, vibrant fabric of intertwined legends and songs, becoming the backbone of his more famous works, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, which were created several decades later. In doing so, he devised entire genealogies, maps related to specific eras and rulers, as well as several language and writing systems, and the manner in which he tells the story invokes past centuries and distant expanses. He modestly summed up his work with the words: “I have a sense that I am guided by something that already exists somewhere, rather than creating it myself.”
The Silmarillion, however, remained unfinished, surpassing both its dimensions and the author himself.” before. The works were never-ending, and after his death, his son Christopher prepared numerous manuscripts for publication after several years of patient editorial work.
Aside from the central Tale of the Silmarils, which tells the story of the fate of three magnificent jewels that hold the original divine light, the Silmarillion also contains four shorter works that were highly important to the author. Here, we present excerpts from the introductory chant Ainulindalë, which describes the creation of the world in the Great Music of the Ainur, when the vision of its beginning and the splendor of its end were revealed…
Behold Eru, the One, whom the inhabitants of Arda invoke as Ilúvatar; and He first created the Ainur, the Blessed, who were the offspring of His thoughts and existed with Him before anything else was created. He addressed them, proposing musical themes; and they sang before Him, to His delight. (…) Then came the hour when Ilúvatar gathered all the Ainur and revealed to them a powerful and mighty theme, revealing to them things more beautiful and magnificent than ever before. So far; the glory of its beginning and the beauty of its end amazed the Ainur, so they bowed before Ilúvatar and fell silent.
Then Ilúvatar said to them:
– From this song that I have revealed to you, it is my desire that you create magnificent music through harmonious unity. And since I have ignited the ever-burning Flame in each of you, it is up to you to adorn it with your abilities, each according to their own knowledge and skill and as you believe is right…
Then the voices of the Ainur (…) began shaping Ilúvatar’s song into magnificent music; and the sound of countless, harmoniously intertwined melodies rose to the heights, surpassing the depths and heights audible to the ear, and filled Ilúvatar’s dwelling, and the music and its echo reached the Void and filled it entirely. The Ainur never again composed music like this, although it was said that even more beautiful choirs of Ainur and Ilúvatar’s children will sing before Ilúvatar at the end of the world. Then each of Ilúvatar’s songs will be sung correctly, and as soon as they pass through their lips, they will be fulfilled, for all will reach their end will be suđenjoš ću vam pokazati svoju silu i uništiti sve što je izvan moje volje.
I tako, Ilúvatar stvori svijet prema glazbi Ainura, dodajući mu ljepotu i harmoniju. Melkor, koji je postao Morgoth, otpade od Ilúvatara i poče širiti kaos i razaranje po svijetu. No unatoč njegovim zlim činima, Ilúvatar je imao plan, jer je znao da će Ljudi, koje je stvorio nakon Ainura, donijeti novu nadu i obnovu u svijet.
Tako se završi Prva Era svijeta, ali priče Ainura, Ilúvatara i Morgotha neće biti zaboravljene. Njihova borba između dobra i zla trajat će do kraja vremena, a sudbina svijeta ovisit će o izborima svakog pojedinca.
becomes a tool in my hands, through which I will create greater wonders than he can imagine…
When they arrived in the Void, Iluvatar addressed them and said:
– Here is your Song!
And he showed them an image, granting them sight as he had previously granted them hearing, and they saw before them a new World, visible and fully formed within the Void yet not part of it. And as they gazed in wonder, the history of this World began to unfold before them, and it seemed to them that it lived and grew…
– Here is your Song! Here is your Poem, in which each of you, within my original conception, will find everything that seemed to you as if you had conceived and added it yourself. And you, Melkor, will find in it all your secret thoughts and realize that they are merely fragments of the whole and tributaries to its glory.
(…) Thus the Ainur know many things that have passed, and that are, and that are yet to come, and little is hidden from them. But there are things that even they cannot perceive, (…) for only Ilúvatar himself has revealed his entire purpose to himself, and he has not In every new age, if something new and unpredictable happens that has no cause in the past. The image of the young world before them was still singing in their minds when Ainur noticed something in it that they hadn’t realized before. And they were amazed to see the arrival of Ilúvatar’s children and the dwelling place made for them, and immediately they realized that they themselves had had a part in its preparation when they composed music, but they did not know its purpose other than its beauty. Therefore, when they saw them, they loved them even more because they were beings different from themselves, unusual and free, in whom they could always glimpse a reflection of Ilúvatar’s mind and thus learn more of his wisdom that was hidden from them…
Ilúvatar’s children are elves and humans, the Firstborn and the Followers. Amidst all the wonders that existed in the World at that time, amidst his great halls, distant deserts, and circling fires, Ilúvatar chose a place for their dwelling in the Dawn of Time, among countless stars…
– I know what your hearts desire; to be But what you truly saw was not only in your thoughts, but a reality like yourselves, and yet different. Truly, I tell you: Ea! Let it be so! I will send forth the unquenchable Fire into the Void, to dwell in the heart of the World, and those of you who desire it will be able to descend upon it…
And immediately the Ainur saw in the distance a light that resembled a cloud with a heart of living flame, and they knew that it was not a vision, but a new creation of Ilúvatar: Ea, the world that exists.
And so it came to pass that some of the Ainur remained with Ilúvatar, outside the boundaries of the World, while others, including the most beautiful and powerful, departed from Ilúvatar and descended upon the World. But Ilúvatar imposed one condition on them, or rather the love that they carried in their hearts: that they use their powers to uphold and maintain the World forever, until its end, and that it lives within them, and they within it. That is why they were named the Valar, the Powers of the World…
2002.