Fall 2024 ,

The Power of Fate and Presence of God in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Silmarillion

Many readers turn to J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Silmarillion after having fallen in love with Middle-earth through The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Tolkien called The Silmarillion the “work of my heart” and the legends in it make Tolkien’s fictional world and underpin the entire story of The Lord of the Rings. Yet, readers are often confused, disappointed, and even dismayed when they read The Silmarillion finding in it a much darker tone than that of Lord of the Rings, and a disjointed series of related tales rather than a consistent narrative.

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Helen Freeh

Class begins on Thursday, September 5th, at 5pm Pacific (8pm Eastern), and continues for EIGHT Thursdays. Last class will be on October 24th.

In this course, we will read through the 1977 version of The Silmarillion (not the multiple updated versions of individual stories within the original) to discover why Tolkien held these stories so close to his heart and how they influence the more widely read work LOTR. We will discuss the origins and genesis of the work and how its posthumously published nature contributes to its difficulty as a text. We will discuss the beautiful and incredibly important overarching creation myth – the Ainulindalë – and the cosmology Tolkien creates. We will look at the work’s dominant theme of fatalism and how the choices of elves and men contribute to their own fatalistic situations. We will discuss the elvish perspective of the narrator and how the essential differences between the elvish and human races effect their views of the temporal order. In all, the course will help the participant understand why The Silmarillion is Tolkien’s “work of my heart,” and our discussions may also cause the participant to love the work almost as much as its author did.

Required Texts:

Any reprinted edition of:
Tolkien, J. R. R. The Silmarillion. Ed. Christopher Tolkien. 1977.

Syllabus:

The Syllabus page numbers are from the 1998 Harper Collins edition with illustrations by Ted Nasmith

Please note: I’ve placed in BOLD the tales that are of particular importance.

September 5: Pages 10-55

Foreword; Ainulindalë; Valaquenta; I. Of the Beginning of Days; II. Of Aulë and Yavanna; III. Of the Coming of Melkor

September 12: Pages 55-91

IV. Of Thingol and Melian; V. Of Eldamar and the Princes of Eldalie; VI. Of Fëanor and the Unchaining of Melkor; VII. Of the Silmarils; VIII. Of the Darkening of Valinor; IX. Of the Flight of the Noldor

September 19: Pages 91-125

X. Of the Sindar; XI. Of the Sun and Moon; XII. Of Men; XIII. Of the Return of the Noldor; XIV. Of Beleriand and its Realms

September 26: Pages 125-162

XV. Of the Noldor in Beleriand, XVI. Of Maeglin; XVII Of the Coming of Men into the West; XVIII. Of the Ruin of Beleriand and the Fall of Fingolfin

October 3: Pages 162-198

XIX: Of Beren and Luthien; XX. Of the Fifth Battle

October 10: Pages 198-245

XXI. Of Túrin Turambar; XXII Of the Ruin of Doriath; XXIII. Of Tuor and the Fall of Gondolin

October 17: Pages 246 – 282

XXIV: Of the Voyage of Eärendil and the War of Wrath; Akallabeth (the fall of Numenor)

October 24: Pages 283-304

Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age

Course Content

Week One - 9/5

Foreword; Ainulindalë; Of the Coming of Melkor

Week Two - 9/12

Of Thingol and Melian; Of Fëanor and the Unchaining of Melkor; Of the Silmarils; Of the Flight of the Noldor

Week Three - 9/19

Of the Sindar; Of the Return of the Noldor;

Week Four - 9/26

Of the Coming of Men into the West; Of the Ruin of Beleriand and the Fall of Fingolfin

Week Five - 10/3

Of Beren and Luthien;

Week Six - 10/10

Of Túrin Turambar;

Week Seven - 10/17

Of the Voyage of Eärendil; Akallabeth

Week Eight - 10/24

Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age

About Instructor

Helen Freeh

Helen Freeh received her B.A. in Politics and Masters in American Studies from the University of Dallas. She earned her Ph.D. in English from Baylor University, writing her dissertation on fate, providence and free will in Tolkien’s Middle-earth. She has worked at Baylor University Press, taught at Baylor University, McClennan County Community College, Hillsdale Academy and Hillsdale College where she met her husband, Dr. John Freeh. Dr Freeh and her husband John live in Gallup, New Mexico, with their three children. They are working to found Kateri College of the Liberal and Practical Arts, a new Catholic school that unites the best of the liberal arts with a practical trade skill.

4 Courses

The Power of Fate and Presence of God in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Silmarillion

Course Content

Week One - 9/5

About Instructor

Helen Freeh

Course Includes