Sameee, I'm always wondering what Maglor is up to during the events of the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings. There's a cool theory that Lindir (I think that's his name?), the musician at Rivendell is actually Maglor, although it's probably not true. I hope that he and Elrond got to see each other before they sailed, or at least in Valinor.

I like Finrod too! Although I would say that Fingolfin had a bigger impact on me. I never really liked Thingol, idk he just always seemed very pretentious and closed minded, although I didn't hate him or anything. I'm a big Fingon fan, too. I used to really dislike Elwing before coming around to the realization that I was overhating on her for some reason.

Yeah, the elves are very interesting to read about in the Silm especially, they feel very tonally different than the elves in the LoTR and the Hobbit. I think humans as well changed throughout Tolkien's work, and some of my favorite Tolkien characters are humans (Aragorn, Eowyn, etc). I didn't really like Hurin's whole story, but, I mean, the guy had it pretty rough, so I would probably be moping a lot too. I personally don't really like the Vanyar out of all the elves... like what were you doing during the majority of the book?? Nothing????

I'm of the opinion that Gil-Galad was not, in fact, Fingon's child, at least biologically. He never has a named wife, so it seems like a detail that Tolkien meant to change before he published it. Another version has him down as the son of Orodreth, which I personally find more believable (plus, blonde Gil-Galad! For some reason he seems like such a blonde to me). Some theories I've seen are: 1) Fingon's child by adoption, maybe the child of one of his dead siblings, 2) Male presenting Finduilas, taking up the mantle of King to lead the leaderless people (we only hear of Gil-Galad after she supposedly dies; plus under the Orodreth theory they’d be siblings), 3) A random guy that was chosen because there was no one else to be king and the Noldor needed leadership. I think it’s a fascinating plot hole in the legendarium. My pick for best king of the Noldor would probably also be Fingolfin. 

I LOVE the theory that the Arkenstone might be a Silmaril! It makes so much sense (in some ways) and also makes the events of the Hobbit more interesting. As for the question about whether Feanor did anything wrong… my answer would be yes. Now, was he justified in being angry at the Valar? I would say so. But he lost his moral high ground the moment he swore the Oath, and even worse, made all of his sons swear the Oath. Because no matter how justified his wrath was, that made no excuse to begin kinslaying, especially when he was the one who instigated the fighting. In the words of Jake Peralta from Brooklyn 99, “Cool motive, still murder.” By also forcing his sons to take this oath, he entered them into a life of eternal suffering, murder, and death, although he surely didn’t know the extent of his actions as he took the Oath. Idk, just the amount of suffering that was caused by the Silmarils via the Feanorian Oath™ makes him significantly morally corrupt, especially when he demonstrated very little empathy for others around him and seemed to care more about his own ego than his family. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t dislike him as a character (Maedhros and Maglor are my favorites even though they also did the whole kinslaying thing), but I think it’s important to note his character flaws.

How do you feel about Tokien’s other works, like Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit? Do you like the movies? I tried to watch Rings of Power when it came out but could not get through it because it was so bad. Thank goodness the Tolkien estate is so crazy about the movie rights to the Silmarillion and won’t sell them to anyone, because honestly it would make an awful movie or TV show- it’s just not built like that. Once someone I was talking with said that if the Silm were to ever get an on screen adaptation the only style that would be able to fully capture it wouldn’t be a movie or live action TV series but a 100+ episode anime series, and honestly that makes sense. I don’t even watch anime, but I would if it was a full length well-done Silm adaption. Plus I feel like anime style animation would reallyyy suit the story.

What’s one aspect of the Silm that you really wish that had been elaborated on more? For me it’s the relationship between Maedhros, Maglor, Elrond, and Elros, which has always fascinated me. (Also sorry this got really long whoops)

Don't worry about interrupting--happy Tolkien reading day to you too! The Hobbit is a spectacular book. Definitely consider reading it again.

aaand yes this is a day late. *slams head into desk*