Creation date: 2016/04/14
Last updated: 2016/05/21
This document on 2017/06/28 is - as the previous last edit date of 2016/05/21 would indicate - for the long foreseen future not being updated or worked on. I don't know if I'll ever work on it but it'll certainly be a while from now if I do so. Life took over and I never did get around to rereading The Silmarillion (though I did read The Lord of the Rings twice last year, once so far this year - as I read it every year at least once - and I read the first edition of The Hobbit this year too; I talk about the first Hobbit and its significance in my histories document here including where to buy it but that is another tale entirely). I will eventually reread The Silmarillion just as I reread The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit regularly (and as of now I'm very slowly rereading volume VI of The History of Middle-earth [HoME]). In other words: consider this document defunct.
Warning: This document will not be easy to read for a long time (I'm trying to model The Silmarillion, see?); it is very much a work in progress and primarily notes to myself. I might get carried away however and so it might be somewhat cut off or unclear. The idea is in time it will be fixed.
But an even more important warning: you might classify this as a spoiler if you are inclined to read this and The Silmarillion; I'm not attempting to reveal the plot but it might inadvertently happen in some way or another (including giving some with enough insight enough information to correctly guess the plot of something).
This document is primarily for me as I am reading The Silmarillion (a second time with the intention of reading it again fairly often). Many people have a hard time reading it - and ultimately give up. But as a huge Tolkien fan I did not. I can see what they mean but what it comes down to (at least for me although Christopher I seem to think has remarked on this with more thought behind it, perhaps in one of the Histories, The Letters or The Unfinished Tales?) is there are a lot of events, characters and many characters have numerous names and titles. For instance the first Dark Lord is initially spelt Melko (but not in the published The Silmarillion, at least not the edition I am reading - but I do have the first edition that I was given to by my mother) and then later Melkor ('He Who Arises in Might') and then later on after he stole the Silmarilli (Fëanor's prized jewels that have extreme importance in Arda, what the Elves call the World) he was given another name by Fëanor: Morgoth, 'the Black Enemy' (even the translation varies but as I recall the Etymologies states Mor = Black and it also refers to Morgoth). The Silmarilli is what Tolkien himself suggests (in Letter #131) is the plural of Silmaril but they've also been called Silmarils (or I seem to remember this). To make it more complicated, the actual book contains several stories - not just the Quenta Silmarillion (Quenta I believe was originally spelt differently but I cannot for the life of me remember unless maybe 'Quenda') otherwise known as The Silmarillion proper. For instance it includes Akallabêth, the Downfall of the Númenor as well as 'Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age' (which by itself is worth reading for those who have read The Lord of the Rings although so is The Silmarillion proper). There are many archaic and/or Old English words to know, too. All in all it is understandable that many give up.
As I'm rereading it (very slowly this time round) I know I'll have to stretch my memory when it comes to names and other things. Therefore I've created this document which I will update over time.
Melkor was jealous, always wanting the Flame Imperishable, giving him the ability create life. He never could find it for it was within Ilúvatar alone - but he would kidnap the Firstborns, the Elves, and corrupt them, creating Orcs. Melkor would through lies and deceit corrupt the Elves, creating a rift between the Valar and the Elves.
Ulmo and Manwë were allied and served most faithfully the design of Ilúvatar.