The Beauty of the Ainulindale

[Nenya Evenstar]

I have just started reading the Silmarillion again (that means I will be showing my face in this forum more often), and I was struck by the intense beauty of the Ainulindale. Just picture it! A world created by a song which is sung in the presence of the most powerful being ever? It just gives me the chills! It is so mind boggling and yet so simple. What a wonderful way for Tolkien to have caused his world to be created! Please share your thoughts! I can't even begin to describe the way I feel about that picture in words!

 

[Ithrynluin]

I have no proper words to express the divine beauty of the Ainulindale.
Wonderful,breathtaking...an inspiration.

 

[Walter]

Yes indeed, the Ainulindalë was the part which impressed me the most in the Sil. But I always thaught that was just me because I love music and the vision of the "creation of a whole universe" through music holds some special beauty...

 

[gate7ole]

We know the love of Tolkien for poems and rhymes, so it shouldn't surprise us that he chose this way to create a world. There is much allegory, and the first battle between the gods takes place in the song of creation.
And I prefer this theory of world creation, that the Big Bang and other scientific proof

 

[Walter]

Originally posted by gate7ole
And I prefer this theory of world creation, that the Big Bang and other scientific proof

But what if the very first bar of the "Music of the Ainur" began with a drum beat?

 

[Ancalagon]

One cannot begin to fathom the intensity of Tolkiens mind until one has immersed themselves in The Ainulindale. When I first read it, I had visions of great choirs , amid swirling pools of sounds where each note solidified into the creation of Arda. Yet, it was distant, unattainable even to those who sang its creation. Melkor and Manwe rising in themes above all else, with Eru's own deep resonance ever present in the structure of the music.

Chords, plucked from the depth of the void akin to an orchestra tuning before their greatest performance. Each struggling to be heard, each competing with the song of those surrounding, yet all conducive to Eru's vision for his coming children. Unwitting they sang, until finally concordant, harmonious without flaw.......excepting Melkor, who wove in his discordance, his incongruousness that threatened to unravel the perfection of the theme. Yet, again rose Iluvatar, his chord deeper than the abyss and higher than the firmament and in an eternal moment the music ceased.

would anyone like to continue with their interpretation?

 

[Walter]

Originally posted by Ancalagon
would anyone like to continue with their interpretation?

I will, if I may, even if - once again - not totally serious, quote from a short essay I wrote long ago:

In the beginning the Creator (Ilúvatar) and the Ainur, who were the offspring of Ilúvatar's mind, envisioned the world through what Tolkien calls the "Music of the Ainur". And of course one of them - poor Melko, who else - couldn't keep the tune and sang out of tune - probably some weird rap or something: but it was loud and vain and endlessly repeated... - and good old Eru (that was Ilúvatar's nickname) at first only raised an eyebrow at Melkor, but Melkor - stubborn and having a few temper tantra - still refused to learn reading of music and sing properly in the chorus-line. Lateron everyone started yelling at him and he was expelled and he had to remain outside, when the others would sing. There he was, humming to himself his own song, kicking stars, shaking fists at his collegues and pondering how he could get back at them for he of course wanted the others to sing his song instead of the other way round and hence came the evil into the world in the very beginning of times, even before the world was created...

Courtesy of TheTolkienWiki - From: OfAinurValarAndMaiar

 

[Nenya Evenstar]

The thing which strikes me as the most brilliant, the most beautiful, is the fact that whatever Melkor sang and wove into the song was always outdone and made less by the themes of Illuvatar. This is such a powerful picture to think about. It is an example and prophecy that no matter what evil in the world Melkor made he could never win ultimately. I find it fascinating that this was sung into the very essence and beginning of Ea. Eru was the One and only One and no matter what happened everything would work towards His ultimate goal and purpose. His will reigned supreme and always would. Again, I am unable to find the words with which to describe what I feel...

 

[Lhunithiliel]

Originally posted by Nenya Evenstar
...Just picture it! A world created by a song which is sung in the presence of the most powerful being ever? It just gives me the chills! It is so mind boggling and yet so simple. What a wonderful way for Tolkien to have caused his world to be created! Please share your thoughts! I can't even begin to describe the way I feel about that picture in words!

Oh, Nenya, this part is precisely the reason why I have become Tolkien's most passionate worshiper!
I have never before read such a BEAUTIFUL tale about the creation of the world!
Such things you read and they "charge" you with a sparkle from that Flame Imperishable , and you feel better and more generous and stronger and the world stops being a "battlefield" (as it is in reality) at least for a while, and your mind finds the straight road and flies to Valinor and your soul is filled with the wonderful beauty of the blessed realm, you "hear" the sweet song of the Elves, you "feel" the soft warmth of the divine light... One needs such things!
--------------
OK! Back to reality!

 

[Confusticated]

I agree that it is beautiful beyond words. When first reading this I was glad that I had read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings first, because that way I was reading of the creation of a world I already knew and loved.

 

[Ceorl]

Ai the Ainulindale was beautiful, for within was contained all the beauty and sorrow and depths of Arda, and it became Arda, and all the beautiful songs in Arda were therefore in that great song amidst the singing of the most perfect beings.

 

[Melian Le Fay]

The first time (and the only time) I read the Sil I was...left silent in the presence of Beauty... A world made by music... (Music is my favourute art) Imagine a culture who's idea of creation is MUSIC? That's what Elves are all about...

Now, this isn't SO MUCH linked to the topic here, but the other part I liked was the Third Music of the Ainur. Or, should I say the fact that men weren't bonded to the Third Music, but they were able to make their own destiny... This didn't impress me with beauty, like the first Music of Ainur, but impressed me with Tolkien's faith in Men and Mankind, in our possibility to make a better world...

And a part I also liked was that the as when it was created, the world will be ended in music...

 

[Elfarmari]

The Ainulindale must be one of Tolkien's most beautiful works. I completely do not understand my friend who gave up on reading the sil because the Ainulindale was 'boring'!

 

[Melian Le Fay]

Maybe your friend wasn't "in the mood" for reading Ainulindale... It often happens to people... I thought LOTR was boring!!!!!!! Just because I really, really wasn't in the mood for epic fantasy at the time... Stupid me! But, if she ever felt in a more..."poetic" mood, maybe you should advise her/him to read it again... It just might work, and you could create yet another "Tolkien loving freak"!!!!