Creation and Cosmology in Tolkien’s Silmarillion: Ainulindalë, Valaquenta and the Quenta Silmarillion 1-4

Posted on January 15, 2018 by Kathryn Ney

Primary Texts: Tolkien’s Ainulindalë, Valaquenta and the Quenta Silmarillion 1-4 in The Silmarillion; selections from the Bible (New Revised Standard Version), Milton’s Paradise Lost and Ovid’s Metamorphosis; selections from C. S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia (not included, see Jadis in The Magician’s Nephew and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe)

Secondary Texts: Victor Nagy, “The Silmarillion: Tolkien’s Theory of Myth, Text, and Culture,” in A Companion to J. R. R. Tolkien, and Jane Chance, “The Creator of the Silmarils: Tolkien’s ‘Book of Lost Tales’” Tolkien’s Art: A Mythology for England and Matthew Dickerson, “Varda, Yavanna, and the Value of Creation,” Ents, Elves, and Eriador: The Environmental Vision of J. R. R. Tolkien

Discussion Leaders: Andrew (A. J.) Reimer, John Wragg

Discussion Questions:

  1. What textual evidence is there that Eä is meant to be our world set in a mythic time? Explain your thoughts on the cosmology and cosmogony of Middle Earth.
  2. In the Silmarillion, Paradise Lost, The Magician’s Nephew, and the Biblical book of Genesis, worlds are built by a creator God; how do these differ or compare in terms of mode of construction?
  3. Matthew Dickerson underlines in Ents, Elves, and Eriador (8), that Tolkien makes Telperion, and Laurelin quite “prominent in the history and mythology of Middle-earth.” Why do trees often play important roles in creation mythologies? What device do they serve for Tolkien?

Dickerson also points out that there is a prolific number of names for each and every person, location and object: Why is it significant that this occurs, and what does this tell us about Tolkien’s world?

  1. Why is it that Aulë did not succumb to his pride after going against the intentions of Ilúvatar by creating his own people, while Melkor falls to his hubris after seeking to create things of his own? Is Melkor Satan?
  2. How might the Ainur (specifically the fifteen Valar) parallel divinities from other creation myths, including but not limited to: Milton’s assorted angels and Stygian Council, the Greek Pantheon, or Norse gods.

For those of you more familiar with Tolkien’s cosmology and Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia, who is Tom Bombadil in the hierarchy of Tolkien’s Eä legendarium? What parallels do you see between Tolkien’s Melkor, Lewis’s Jadis, and Milton’s Satan?

About Kathryn Ney

I am a Teacher Candidate in the Bachelor of Education Program (Secondary) with two teachable subjects, Social Studies and English. I graduated from the Global Stewardship Program at Capilano University in 2014 and completed a double major at UBC in English Literature Honours and History in November 2018. During my studies at CapU, I volunteered as an English teacher with the Global Volunteer Network in Nepal and this experience first prompted me to consider a career in education. While studying at UBC, I led a Student Directed Seminar on the Inklings (Tolkien and C.S. Lewis), thus enabling me to gain experience designing syllabi and marking rubrics for peer evaluation. I am also an alumni of the UBC Arts Coop program, through which I predominantly worked as a docent and archivist in the culture and heritage industry. Some of my work during my Coop placements included developing educational programs for museums, and through this experience, I learned how to make history engaging and accessible for young people as well as for the general public. I spent the past year participating in the Odyssey Program as an English Language Assistant in small-town Quebec, during which time I gleaned extensive in-class and interpersonal experience working with both kids and young adults on their English skills. Since my return in May, I have been leading summer camps for youth focused on conservation issues and outdoor skills. This experience allowed me to share my love of nature and the environment with young people from across the province. Ideally, after completing the BEd. program and having gained some teaching experience, I would like to find a way to combine these disciplines and interests in the form of extracurricular involvement, or otherwise to work abroad doing professional or curriculum development for teachers in developing countries.
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