“There was Eru, the One, who in Arda is called Ilúvatar; and he made first the Ainur, the Holy Ones, that were the offspring of his thought, and they were with him before aught else was made.
Eru Ilúvatar as the supreme deity conjured the Timeless Halls, the immortal beings, and Eä. Therefore, before the existence of everything else, Eru existed and his first creations were the Ainur. He manifested his concepts and thoughts as the immortal beings initiating the First Theme before the discords of Melkor. He taught the Holy Ones the art of Music which became their purpose filling the void lacking of a material form.
“And amid all the splendours of the World, its vast halls and spaces, and its wheeling fires, Ilúvatar chose a place for their habitation in the Deeps of Time and in the midst of the innumerable stars.”
The book expounds on the Tolkien universe of Eä before and after the creation of the Children of Ilúvatar. It chronicles the conjuring of the material universe different from the immaterial Timeless Halls where Eru and the Ainur inhabited. Eru had a vision of the material universe and the Music of the Ainur contributed in conjuring the world into actuality. The children consisting of Elves and Men were placed in Arda, as the elves inhabited Valinor and the men occupied Middle-Earth. Arda or Earth is part of the cosmos of Eä where time and material existed contrary to the Timeless Halls.
“And thus it came to pass that the Silmarils found their long homes: one in the airs of heaven, and one in the fires of the heart of the world, and one in the deep waters.”
The book highlights the geography and history of Tolkien’s universe but also contains sagas and legends. The section “Quenta Silmarillion” contains the major plotline in the story as it revolves around the saga of Silmarils. The three forged jewels were crafted by the elf Fëanor using the light from the Two Trees of Valinor. The jewels brought conflicts, as they were sought-after across Arda leading to war during the First Age. By the end, each Silmarils remained in a different realm of Arda comprising of the sky, below the earth, and within the sea.
