The Silmarillion cover art.
The Silmarillion is a collection of J.R.R. Tolkien's works, edited and published posthumously by his son Christopher Tolkien with the assistance of fantasy fiction writer Guy Gavriel Kay.
The team of Shadow of Mordor did not have rights to the book, and therefore could not directly mine it for ideas. The closest it comes to doing it, comes in the reference to Arda in the poem/curse The Light of Hope discovered through Ithildin marks.
Content[]
The Silmarillion comprises five parts:
- The Aïnulindalë - The creation of Eä (Tolkien's universe) and Ainur by Eru Ilúvatar and the start of the corruption of Melkor.
- The Valaquenta - A brief description of the Valar and Maiar, the supernatural beings. The Valar Lords were called Manwë, Ulmo, Aulë, Oromë, Mandos, Loriën and Tulkas in that order. And the Valar Queens were called Varda, Yavanna, Nienna, Estë, Vairë, Vána and Nessa.
- The Quenta Silmarillion - The history of the events before and during the First Age, which forms the bulk of the collection.
- The Akallabêth - The history of the Second Age.
- Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age.
This five-part work is also known as Translations from the Elvish.
These five parts were initially separate works, but it was the elder Tolkien's express wish that they be published together. Additionally, the book incorporates portions of several other documents not part of the original text, such as the story of Maeglin. Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age along with the Akallabêth are wholly separate and independent from the rest of the Silmarillion.
The Silmarillion is a complex work that explores a wide array of themes inspired by many ancient, medieval, and modern sources.
