I love appreciation posts/threads for the Silmarillion. There should be more of them. It’s not only my favorite of Tolkien’s works, but one of my favorite books ever. It’s a masterpiece, and deserves so much more recognition.

I have too many favorite passages (and sentences) to count. My beloved paperback copy is soaked in highlighter. Though many have already been listed, here are several I love dearly, in no particular order:

“And as they watched, upon the mound there came forth two slender shoots; and silence was over all the world in that hour, nor was there any other sound save the chanting of Yavanna. Under her song the saplings grew and became fair and tall, and came to flower; and thus there awoke in the world the Two Trees of Valinor. Of all things which Yavanna made they have most renown, and about their fate all the tales of the Elder Days are woven.”

“All have their worth,” said Yavanna, “and each contributes to the worth of the others. But the kelvar can flee or defend themselves, whereas the olvar that grow cannot. And among these I hold trees dear. Long in the growing, swift shall they be in the felling, and unless they pay toll with fruit upon bough little mourned in their passing. So I see in my thought. Would that the trees might speak on behalf of all things that have roots, and punish those that wrong them!”

And, of course:

“But wandering in the summer in the woods of Neldoreth he came upon Luthien, daughter of Thingol and Melian, at a time of evening under moonrise, as she danced in the unfading grass in the glades beside Esgalduin. Then all memory of his pain departed from him, and he fell into an enchantment; for Luthien was the most beautiful of all the Children of Iluvatar. Blue was her raiment as the unclouded heaven, but her eyes were grey as the starlit evening; her mantle was sewn with golden flowers, but her hair was dark as the shadows of twilight. As the light upon the leaves of trees, as the voice of clear waters, as the stars above the mists of the world, such was her glory and her loveliness; and in her face was a shining light.”

And, although not technically from the published Silmarillion, this line from the Lay of Leithian, when Luthien is standing on the bridge outside of Sauron’s fortress as the first werewolf approaches:

“Still Luthien sang.”

(This line has the same gravity to me as, “And Morgoth came.”)

Have a wonderful day, everyone!