Links Between The Silmarillion and The Lord of the Rings, Part 1
Introduction and Book I
(avg. read time: 10–21 mins.)
Clyde S. Kilby, one of the pioneer Inklings scholars, once said,
The most persistent hope among readers of Tolkien is for the publication of The Silmarillion. What many of them do not recognize is that much of the story is already scattered through The Lord of the Rings. There are over six hundred allusions to the First and Second Ages of Middle-earth in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, all the way from the time before time when Eru, the One, creator of all things and self-existent, gave a vision of all Arda to the heavenly beings about him, to Eärendil’s desperate voyage centuries later to the Blessed Realm to request help from the Valar lest Middle-earth be entirely overcome by Morgoth (I, 308-311).1
This was overly simplified by Bradley J. Birzer as meaning, “there are over 600 references to The Silmarillion in The Lord of the Rings.”2 Still, the remarks of Kilby and Birzer’s simplification do raise a question: how many links are there between The Silmarillion and LOTR? (I will look at links with The Hobbit after this series concludes.) Much like in the similar field of studies of the NT use of the OT, there is much variation in what people think precisely counts as an allusion (thus there are a variety of totals given for the number of allusions to the OT in the NT). Since Kilby does not define the term and we do not know how he came to the figure, the number is difficult to verify. If we go simply by entities and events that are referenced in both bodies of texts (and we count each time a name is referenced as one allusion), the number is surely far above 600. After all, there are well over 100 distinct entities and events referenced in both, and the vast, vast majority of them are referenced multiple times. I do not pretend here to be able to provide an absolute count, but I do want to make readers aware of the many connections Tolkien wrote between his magnum opus and its expansive history contained in the various versions of The Silmarillion (the history of which is charted in many manuscripts and commentaries Christopher Tolkien released in Unfinished Tales, The History of Middle-earth, and other such volumes).
This will be an eight-part series with the list below serving as a hub periodically updated as this series continues.
Part 1: Book I
I will be working in order of reference as different things come up, thus there will be many entities or events repeatedly referenced across books, but I will be going by things referenced, not simply chapter-by-chapter.
Characters
The major reason why I am sure that counting each reference to an entity as one allusion would put the count far above 600 is the fact that there are several characters who appear in both The Silmarillion and LOTR. Most of them take on more significant roles in LOTR, and so there are many more references to their names in this book as opposed to The Silmarillion. These characters include Sauron, Gandalf/Olórin/Mithrandir, Elrond, Galadriel, Celeborn, Saruman/Curunir, Glorfindel, Círdan, Radagast, and the Ringwraiths/Nazgûl. Some of the references to them bring up events in their past and thus can serve as more direct links to The Silmarillion. But more generally, readers should be aware that all of these characters from the book are also present in The Silmarillion, and some have even larger roles in other versions preserved in Unfinished Tales, The History of Middle-earth and other such volumes. They are the ones who forge the living links between Tolkien’s more ancient history and the story of his most read work. Similarly, the One Ring itself forges a link through The Hobbit, LOTR, and The Silmarillion. (One could also speak of locations that appear in both texts, such as Arnor, Gondor, Imladris/Rivendell, and Mount Doom, but I will not be noting each case of these, except insofar as The Silmarillion refers to the history of a location mentioned in LOTR.)
Prologue and Book I
Even from the second page of the prologue, there are references to the Elder Days. That is where the Hobbits’ origins are said to lie, but they have no records going back that far, since the Elves kept such records and they were not concerned with Hobbits. It is said that when Celeborn departed Middle-earth, he left with Middle-earth’s last living memory of the Elder Days (Prologue). Gandalf makes a reference to a subset of the Elder Days when he speaks of the Black Years (i.e., the Second Age) in his initial telling of the Ring’s backstory to Frodo (I/2). There is also a reference to the Elder Days in terms of how the Men of Bree had been in that land since those times (I/9). Strider/Aragorn is said to have known much of the Elder Days, which, in the context, indicates reference to both First and Second Ages (I/11). Thus far, every reference to the Elder Days is from the narrator rather than from any character within the story.
The first mention of the Elder Days in the prologue is followed up immediately with this note, “Only the Elves still preserve any records of that vanished time, and their traditions are concerned almost entirely with their own history, in which Men appear seldom and Hobbits are not mentioned at all.” This is a rather straightforward description of the materials from which The Silmarillion was composed, particularly the main body known as “Quenta Silmarillion.” These are represented later in the Prologue as sources that were consulted for The Red Book of Westmarch on which LOTR is supposed to be based, which reflects how Tolkien himself included so many references to The Silmarillion throughout this story.
The Elves in question are called in the prologue “the Elves of the High Kindred” (or “Elves of the West” in I/11). Likewise, they are called the “High Elves” when Frodo sees them (I/3). In other words, these are the Noldor, the Eldar of the Caliquendi (the “Light Elves” who went to the Undying Lands and saw the light of the Two Trees) who came from Aman to Middle-earth. A similar idea is implied in the description of Glorfindel as seeming to radiate light from Frodo’s perspective and the fact that he is one of the few who could ride against the Nine Ringwraiths (I/12). What makes these Elves “High” compared to other Elves is a story told more fully in The Silmarillion.
When Tolkien sets the scene in the prologue for the Hobbits taking up residence in what will become the Shire, he first mentions the Dúnedain, saying they were, “the kings of Men that came over the Sea out of Westernesse, but they were dwindling fast and the lands of their Northern Kingdom were falling far and wide into waste.” This is our first of references to what will also be named “Númenor” and to the Númenóreans or the descendants thereof (now called “Dúnedain” after Númenor’s destruction). Tolkien will tell a brief version of the story of Númenor in Appendix A, but the fuller version of the story is part of The Silmarillion. Gandalf also mentions the Men of Westernesse (along with noting that Elendil was of Westernesse) in telling Frodo the backstory of the One Ring (I/2). Aragorn/Strider refers to them as the “Men of the West” (the meaning of “Dúnedain”) when speaks about Weathertop, as it was a place they defended in the days of the Northern Kingdom of Arnor (I/11). He also speaks of how the Kings of Númenor/Westernesse were descended from Eärendil (I/11).
Of course, Tolkien also must reference for the first of many times here Elendil, the High King of the Realms in Exile (Arnor and Gondor), one of the leaders of the Last Alliance who died in combat with Sauron. We are told of the latter fact in I/2, but in the prologue, his coming to Middle-earth is considered a boundary-marker of a historical event and as one whose story was preserved by the scribes of Gondor from which Pippin/Peregrin drew and which provided contributions to The Red Book of Westmarch. His role as a leader of the Last Alliance is referenced again later, specifically with reference to the story of how it was at Weathertop/Amon Sûl that Elendil stood awaiting Gil-galad to arrive with his hosts before one of the greatest armies in the history of Middle-earth marched to Mordor (I/11). Aragorn/Strider will also refer to himself as one of the “heirs of Elendil,” (I/12) though he is not yet about to reveal his identity as the heir to his throne per se. He cites this identity as his reason for why he knows much of the past, including of the land in which he accompanies the Hobbits (since this land was once part of Arnor).
Barad-dûr, whether referred to by that name or by “the Dark Tower,” or other such appellations, is a locational link with The Silmarillion, as that book briefly narrates its formation and earlier history. The first references to the tower are in Gandalf’s explanation about the One Ring, its history, and its relevance for what is happening in the present, wherein he refers to the Dark Tower being “rebuilt” and of the Dark Lord “returning” to it (I/2). The story behind such provocative descriptions will be told in fuller fashion later in LOTR, but it is also told in The Silmarillion.
This same chapter—“The Shadow of the Past”—is also our introduction to several entities that are important for the history of the Rings of Power and thus for connecting this story to The Silmarillion. In fact, this chapter is one of two major hotspots in Book I of connecting LOTR to The Silmarillion, along with “A Knife in the Dark.” There are scattered allusions and connections elsewhere, but these are the two chapters that are densest in such things. One of those connections first referenced here is to Eregion and the Ring-smiths that worked there. It was here and by these people (with Sauron’s help disguised as Annatar) that the Rings of Power were forged.
Likewise, this is the chapter that first references the Rings of Power. The Silmarillion will actually give a different version wherein the original intention of these Rings was to give them to other Elves. Only later, according to this version, did Sauron decide to give the Seven and the Nine to lords of Dwarves and Men. No such detail is given in LOTR, but the story of the Rings remains a connection between the two works and more detail is given about their story, especially the various fates of the Great Rings/the Three, in The Silmarillion (as well as earlier versions of the same).
One of the original bearers of the Three Rings for the Elves was the last High King of the Noldor, Gil-galad. His backstory is provided in The Silmarillion (although Christopher Tolkien admits that he was mistaken in revising this backstory so that Gil-galad is Fingon’s son rather than Orodreth’s, like Tolkien finally settled on [The Peoples of Middle-earth, 349–51]). Here, he is known for how he ended, being the other leader of the Last Alliance of Elves and Men who also died in fighting Sauron (I/2). He will also be referenced later in a similar way, though this time the lay of The Fall of Gil-galad is quoted (I/11). The way it is referenced is one of the most fascinating parts of Book I, as it is one of those times that we see there is more to Samwise Gamgee than we might think. Knowledge of lore is a crucial (though not sufficient) element of wisdom in LOTR, and Sam shows an unexpected bit of that here as he murmurs (then stammers and blushes afterwards) twelve lines of the lay that he had memorized. It goes towards showing his interest in the Elves, which would only grow as the Quest continues and as he takes it upon himself to add to The Red Book of Westmarch. One can even imagine, given the conceit of this story being based on that Red Book, that Sam himself might have been called upon to add these lines.
Naturally, one cannot reference the Last Alliance without noting Elendil’s son, Isildur, as he is the link between Sauron’s initial defeat in the War of the Last Alliance and the fact that the One Ring still exists. That is exactly what is noted about him in the first reference to him in “The Shadow of the Past” (I/2). Later, we will get more of Isildur’s story that is also expanded upon in The Silmarillion, but for now, what is established is what is most crucial for this story.
There is one other entity that is referenced only here in LOTR. That is, when Gandalf speaks of how Frodo’s fire could not harm the Ring, he says, “It has been said that dragon-fire could melt and consume the Rings of Power, but there is not now any dragon left on earth in which the old fire is hot enough; nor was there ever any dragon, not even Ancalagon the Black, who could have harmed the One Ring, the Ruling Ring, for that was made by Sauron himself” (I/2). Ancalagon was the greatest of Morgoth’s winged dragons, who were unleashed as Morgoth’s last gambit in the War of Wrath against the Host of Valinor. He would himself be slain by Eärendil in air combat, and his fall would break the peaks of Thangorodrim beneath him.
Of course, the two aforementioned chapters are not the only places where the links are present in Book I. They simply contain the most. Third in references behind these chapters is “Three Is Company,” since this is where Frodo, Sam, and Pippin meet Gildor and his company of Elves. We have seen one connection with The Silmarillion from this chapter already (the reference to the “High Elves”). A more significant one comes from how the Hobbits hear them referring to Elbereth Gilthoniel in song (I/3). This is another name for Varda, the Queen of the Valar, hence her description as “Queen beyond the Western Seas” (I/3). Most of the Valar are not mentioned by name in LOTR, but as one of the most prominent Valar in The Silmarillion, Varda is an exception. The song notes what is told in more detail in The Silmarillion of how she set the stars in the sky before the sun came to be. When Frodo is stabbed by the Lord of the Nazgûl (a.k.a. the Witch-King of Angmar), he invokes Elbereth as he strikes back at his foe’s foot with his blade (I/11). Aragorn/Strider even says that the name of Elbereth was a more deadly blow to the Lord of the Nazgûl than the blade (I/12). Frodo will again invoke her name when he stands resolute that the Nazgûl will get neither the Ring nor him (I/12).
Gildor himself provides an indirect connection with The Silmarillion. He introduces himself as, “Gildor Inglorion of the House of Finrod” (I/3). This is the only reference to Finrod in the main text of LOTR. But he is one of Tolkien’s most significant Elf characters (indeed, in an earlier phase of his work on The Silmarillion, Finrod was the head of the third house of the Noldor, before the name was changed to Finarfin, and Felagund, rather than being Finrod’s son, became his surname). He was king of the largest Elven realm in Beleriand and he engaged in a magic battle with Sauron (being powerful enough to go toe-to-toe with such a powerful Maia, even though he lost) before dying from mortal wounds from a werewolf that he killed with his hands and teeth. But one can only find such stories of this Elf king by reading The Silmarillion.
Tom Bombadil also provides some references of things explored in more detail in The Silmarillion. When Tom describes himself as Eldest, he says, “Tom was here before the river and the trees; Tom remembers the first raindrop and the first acorn. He made paths before the Big People, and saw the little People arriving. He was here before the Kings and the graves and the Barrow-wights. When the Elves passed westward, Tom was here already, before the seas were bent” (I/7). In addition to the general references to world history, he refers to the Elves passing westward, after he had earlier spoken of when the Elves were first awake, both of which are part of a story described in much greater detail in The Silmarillion, particularly in terms of how Elves split into different groups over the course of the journey west, with an ever smaller number actually passing into the Uttermost West to Aman. Also, the reference to the seas being bent is most likely—if it is not about the initial formation of the seas—a reference to the change in the fashion of the world that came with Eru Ilúvatar removing Aman from Arda, Númenor being destroyed in the process, and the world changing from flat to spherical (hence the seas becoming “bent”). This story, too, is told in The Silmarillion.
There is one other event Tom refers to that I have saved for its own paragraph. As he says, “He [Tom] knew the dark under the stars when it was fearless – before the Dark Lord came from Outside” (I/7). Though “Dark Lord” tends to refer to Sauron in LOTR, it is unclear if Tom is referring to him or to Melkor, Sauron’s lord. It is also tantalizingly unclear what exactly Tom is describing in terms of him coming “from Outside.” Is this referring to the first entrance into Arda? That does not seem particularly likely, since he describes the dark “under the stars.” As such, this seems to be a time after the Two Lamps, the first two lights the Valar made for Arda, as Varda herself set the stars in the sky sometime well after the formation of Arda. But in that kind of notion, it is unclear what “Outside” would refer to. In any case, the clues to decipher such a remark are not provided in LOTR, as the references are available in The Silmarillion and its versions in The History of Middle-earth and other such volumes.
Tom makes one more allusion to something addressed in more detail in The Silmarillion. At the end of his song by which he banishes the Barrow-wights, he refers to a time, “till the world is mended” (I/8). That is, this is about the time of the Second Music and the new creation that will come from it. This is adumbrated from the earliest chapter of The Silmarillion and is alluded to at multiple points otherwise. Of course, The Silmarillion as it is now does not feature the end of Tolkien’s story per se, as the Dagor Dagorath (the Last Battle) that precedes the Second Music was only ever written about briefly, and it is now preserved in its various forms in The History of Middle-earth.
A more incidental allusion we can find in the next chapter is the reference to the sun as a “she” (I/9; in this case it is near the end of Frodo’s song “The Man in the Moon Stayed Up Too Late”). In The Silmarillion, the sun and moon come from the last produce of Laurelin and Telperion, respectively. They were situated in the sky with the moon coming first and being guided by the Maia Tilion, and the sun being guided by the Maia Arien. Such things are only hinted at in LOTR, with the sun being referred to as “she” and the moon being referred to as “he.” There is a whole chapter dedicated to this story in The Silmarillion.
In the next hotspot of connections, Aragorn/Strider brings up the Last Alliance of Elves and Men to the Hobbits (I/11). As noted before, this is in the setting of Weathertop, where it is said that Elendil waited for Gil-galad to join with his hosts. The War of the Last Alliance is given more detail in The Silmarillion, though some details are also scattered across LOTR. At this point, though, Aragorn does not wish to elaborate upon the story, leaving it to others to do so.
Instead, Aragorn/Strider tells the Hobbits the “tale of Tinúviel” (I/11) in hopes of lifting their hearts. This tale comes complete with a lay that covers multiple pages and a fairly lengthy summary of the story. “Tinúviel” (meaning “Nightingale” or “Daughter of the Twilight”) is one of the names of Lúthien, the Elven princess who fell in love with a Man named Beren. This is one of Tolkien’s central stories of The Silmarillion, and he worked on many versions of it catalogued in Beren and Lúthien. Lúthien will also be invoked alongside Elbereth when Frodo stands defiantly against the Nazgûl (I/12).
As I said, this chapter contains a lengthy summary of the story of Beren and Lúthien. Beyond the references to those two central characters and the various events of the story, there are the following direct references. One, Aragorn mentions that Beren is the son of Barahir. Barahir’s story is also told in The Silmarillion, particularly since he is the one who is the reason for Finrod’s obligation to his house and for the ring passed down among his descendants (which we will have occasion to reference much later). Two, he also mentions Lúthien’s father, Thingol. Thingol also has much more to his story in The Silmarillion than LOTR can adequately convey, as he is a rather unique Elf in multiple ways, and he is involved in multiple stories beyond that of Beren and Lúthien. Indeed, he is one of the most important and widely influential Elves in all of Tolkien’s stories. Three, this is the first direct reference to the Great Enemy who was Sauron’s lord, otherwise called Melkor and Morgoth. Naturally, this character is the main villain of The Silmarillion from the first chapter. Four, we also get the first reference to Melkor’s fortress named Angband here. This was not his first fortress, but it is his main stronghold for The Silmarillion. Five, this summary also provides the first reference to the Silmarils, the jewels which drive the story of The Silmarillion as a whole and of the story of Beren and Lúthien in particular. Six, though The Silmarillion does not provide much detail, it does give more detail to the reference to the Mountains of Terror that Beren went though. Seven, we get our first reference to Thingol’s hidden kingdom, which is known as Doriath. This greatest of Sindarin realms in Beleriand (and the longest-lasting of the Elven kingdom therein) is of immense significance in The Silmarillion to more stories than that of Beren and Lúthien. Eight, Aragorn refers to Doriath’s Forest of Neldoreth, which composed one of the six areas of Doriath. Nine, another minor reference here is to the tributary Esgalduin near which Beren met Lúthien. Ten, Aragorn refers to a creature simply called “the Wolf.” This is Carcharoth, the greatest wolf who ever existed, who was only killed by the Valinorean hound Huan, who he also killed in mortal combat. Eleven, there is a reference to the Sundering Seas, a name which gets its sense from the old world represented in The Silmarillion, wherein this body separates Aman from Middle-earth. Twelve, Aragorn tells of Dior Thingol, the son of Beren and Lúthien after they came back to life as mortals. Thirteen, this leads to him mentioning his daughter Elwing the White, the wife of Eärendil, the reason Eärendil had his Silmaril, and the mother of Elrond and Elros. Fourteen, this also presents the occasion for the first reference to Eärendil, the great mariner who bore the Silmaril to Valinor, where he called upon the Valar to aid the people of Middle-earth against Morgoth. His story is a large part of the conclusion of the “Quenta Silmarillion.”
Aragorn tells this story because it is one close to his heart. It is one of his great ancestral stories, for Beren and Lúthien are his ancestors. It is one that personally resonates with him in his love for Arwen. It is a story that connects Aragorn and his ancestors with Sauron long before Sauron ever knew of Elendil and Isildur. And it is a story that has inspired hope since back in the First Age.
Unsurprisingly, we thus see many, many links between The Silmarillion and this story that was to serve as something of a unifier of The Hobbit and The Silmarillion. Even in Book I and the prologue preceding it, Tolkien can get heavy with the allusions and connections at certain points. And it is only going to get denser next time as we dive into the book with the most connections to The Silmarillion.
Clyde S. Kilby, Tolkien and The Silmarillion (Wheaton, IL: Shaw, 1976), 45.
Bradley J. Birzer, J. R. R. Tolkien’s Sanctifying Myth: Understanding Middle-earth (Wilmington, DE: ISI, 2003), 25.