In J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Silmarillion, a collection of stories spanning from the conception of the world to the Dominion of Men, the narrator frequently mentions how characters and events persist in history, myth, rumor, and memory. Though Tolkien doesn’t name or acknowledge his fictional narrator, the narrator has the perspective of an elf, along with the knowledge and reverence for the past an elf would have, adding depth and reality to the stories. The narrator reveals that the elves still mourn Lúthien’s beauty, theorizes about the motivations of the Valar, explains that the elves praise the final stand of Húrin’s men, and admits when they don’t know the truth of a character’s fate. These details suggest that when people forget their history, they lose both wisdom and identity. These additions by the narrator, who writes after the events have passed, reveal the long persistence of the stories recorded in The Silmarillion, emphasizing their importance to the elves and the universal importance of preserving history and myth.
Through the narrator’s asides, Tolkien indicates that there is life and activity in Arda beyond what is recorded in the stories themselves, adding depth to the world. The narrator is only the conveyor of the stories, not a participant in them. Through the narrator’s perspective, the reader is privy not only to the history of the elves, but the ongoing elven tradition that interacts with that history. After telling the story of Beren and Lúthien up to Lúthien’s decision to become mortal, the narrator returns to the time of their writing, in which “the beloved” Lúthien died “long ago” and the elves still see her beauty in her descendants. By breaking out of the story and explaining how it relates to the beliefs and heritage of the living elves, the narrator creates a sense of realism and the passage of time. The references to the narrator’s present emphasize that these stories have survived in the memory of the elves despite the fact that “all the world is changed,” and that many years—even millennia—have passed since they happened.
By presenting the stories of The Silmarillion from the perspective of an elven narrator, Tolkien reveals what historic and mythic events are important enough to persist in elven memory and be recorded. The narrator explicitly states the impact and effects of some of the stories on the lives and traditions of the elves. While telling the story of Húrin’s last stand to cover Turgon’s retreat during the fifth battle of the Wars of Beleriand, the narrator pauses to explain how the elven community perceives it: as the “most renowned” act of heroism in war ever performed by a man on behalf of an elf. By remarking on how some of the stories are understood by the elves of his present time, the narrator indicates that these stories aren’t collected merely for entertainment, but because they each hold deep meaning for the elves, emphasizing the values they share and the lessons important to their history.
The elven narrator also emphasizes the universal importance of history and myth in culture and identity. At times, the narrator admits that certain information (such as the fates of characters like Tuor, and the exact reasoning behind the Vala Manwë’s decisions) is beyond the realm of elven knowledge. The narrator’s language around these instances—“it is said” and “the elves believe”—indicates that the elves are actively thinking and speaking about these stories, interpreting their past, and examining how it interacts with their present. Despite the incomplete nature of these stories, the elves still find them important enough to remember and, more importantly, to incorporate into their belief system and collective identity.
The stories themselves warn against the dangers of forgetting the past and the wisdom of elders, as seen in the fall of Gondolin, the fall of Númenor, and every time characters ignore hard-won experiential advice. History frequently repeats itself; by preserving their history and familiarizing themselves with the stories of The Silmarillion, the elves are equipped to avoid the mistakes of their predecessors, understand their traditions, and engage with their identity.
Related Themes from Other Texts
Myth and Memory ThemeTracker
Myth and Memory Quotes in The Silmarillion
Never since have the Ainur made any music like to this music, though it has been said that a greater still shall be made before Ilúvatar by the choirs of the Ainur and the Children of Ilúvatar after the end of days. Then the themes of Ilúvatar shall be played aright, and take Being in the moment of their utterance, for all shall then understand fully his intent in their part, and each shall know the comprehension of each, and Ilúvatar shall give to their thoughts the secret fire, being well pleased.
Therefore he willed that the hearts of Men should seek beyond the world and should find no rest therein; but they should have a virtue to shape their life, amid the powers and chances of the world, beyond the Music of the Ainur, which is as fate to all things else; and of their operation everything should be, in form and deed, completed, and the world fulfilled unto the last and smallest.
[…]
It is one with this gift of freedom that the children of Men dwell only a short space in the world alive, and are not bound to it, and depart soon whither the Elves know not. Whereas the Elves remain until the end of days, and their love of the Earth and all the world is more single and more poignant therefore, and as the years lengthen ever more sorrowful.
Yet this is held true by the wise of Eressëa, that all those of the Quendi who came into the hands of Melkor, ere Utumno was broken, were put there in prison, and by slow arts of cruelty were corrupted and enslaved; and thus did Melkor breed the hideous race of the Orcs in envy and mockery of the Elves, of whom they were afterwards the bitterest foes. For the Orcs had life and multiplied after the manner of the Children of Ilúvatar; and naught that had life of its own, nor the semblance of life, could ever Melkor make since his rebellion in the Ainulindalë before the Beginning: so say the wise.
But at that last word of Fëanor: that at the least the Noldor should do deeds to live in song for ever, he raised his head, as one that hears a voice far off, and he said: ‘So shall it be! Dear-bought those songs shall be accounted, and yet shall be well-bought. For the price could be no other. Thus even as Eru spoke to us shall beauty not before conceived be brought into Eä, and evil yet be good to have been.’
But Mandos said: ‘And yet remain evil. To me shall Fëanor come soon.’
Then Fingon the valiant, son of Fingolfin, resolved to heal the feud that divided the Noldor […] Long before, in the bliss of Valinor, before Melkor was unchained, or lies came between them, Fingon had been close in friendship with Maedhros; and though he knew not yet that Maedhros had not forgotten him at the burning of the ships, the thought of their ancient friendship stung his heart. Therefore he dared a deed which is justly renowned among the feats of the princes of the Noldor: alone, and without the counsel of any, he set forth in search of Maedhros; and aided by the very darkness that Morgoth had made he came unseen into the fastness of his foes.
Now the world runs on swiftly to great tidings. And one of Men, even of Bëor’s house, shall indeed come, and the Girdle of Melian shall not restrain him, for doom greater than my power shall send him; and the songs that shall spring from that coming shall endure when all Middle-earth has changed.
All these were caught in the net of the Doom of the Noldor; and they did great deeds which the Eldar remember still among the histories of the Kings of old. And in those days the strength of Men was added to the power of the Noldor, and their hope was high; and Morgoth was straitly enclosed.
Farewell sweet earth and northern sky
for ever blest, since here did lie
and here with lissome limbs did run
beneath the Moon, beneath the Sun,
Lúthien Tinúviel
more fair than mortal tongue can tell.
Though all to ruin fell the world
and were dissolved and backward hurled
unmade into the old abyss,
yet were its making good, for this—
the dusk, the dawn, the earth, the sea—
that Lúthien for a time should be.
This doom she chose, forsaking the Blessed Realm, and putting aside all claim to kinship with those that dwell there; that thus whatever grief might lie in wait, the fates of Beren and Lúthien might be joined, and their paths lead together beyond the confines of the world. So it was that alone of the Eldalië she has died indeed, and left the world long ago. Yet in her choice the Two Kindreds have been joined; and she is the forerunner of many in whom the Eldar see yet, though all the world is changed, the likeness of Lúthien the beloved, whom they have lost.
Thus was the treachery of Uldor redressed; and of all the deeds of war that the fathers of Men wrought in behalf of the Eldar, the last stand of the Men of Dor-lómin is most renowned.
[…]
Last of all Húrin stood alone. Then he cast aside his shield, and wielded an axe two-handed; and it is sung that the axe smoked in the black blood of the troll-guard of Gothmog until it withered, and each time that he slew Húrin cried: ‘Aurë entuluva! Day shall come again!’
Yet it is said that Morgoth looked not for the assault that came upon him from the West; for so great was his pride become that he deemed that none would ever again come with open war against him. Moreover he thought that he had for ever estranged the Noldor from the Lords of the West, and that content in their blissful realm the Valar would heed no more his kingdom in the world without; for to him that is pitiless the deeds of pity are ever strange and beyond reckoning.
Here ends the SILMARILLION. If it has passed from the high and the beautiful to darkness and ruin, that was of old the fate of Arda Marred; and if any change shall come and the Marring be amended, Manwë and Varda may know; but they have not revealed it, and it is not declared in the dooms of Mandos.
But when all these things were done, and the Heir of Isildur had taken up the lordship of Men, and the dominion of the West had passed to him, then it was made plain that the power of the Three Rings also was ended, and to the Firstborn the world grew old and grey. In that time the last of the Noldor set sail from the Havens and left Middle-earth for ever […] and an end was come for the Eldar of story and song.
