Aquilina and Tolkien on the Creation of the Universe

Two of my favorite authors ... together! Mike Aquilina looks at the answer to a question about J.R.R. Tolkien's Silmarillion.

I was a teenager when The Silmarillion appeared in print. I wasn’t much of a reader at the time, but a friend of mine, Ron, was fanatically invested in Middle-Earth. His copy of the book, not yet a week old, was already worn and its cover creased.

Ron was a big guy, and he’d already spent time in juvenile detention. So I complied when he insisted that I sit down, shut up, and listen as he read the entire creation account aloud. He read with more passion than I could muster for anything but food and baseball.

The moment stayed with me. The narrative stayed with me. I remembered my friend’s declamation when, just this year, a reader, deeply moved by the same passage, posted a question in an online forum for Tolkien fans. He asked if Tolkien’s work had been based on any “real creation myths.”

Mike Aquilina, Chord of the Rings

Of course the answer is yes. But it goes deeper than I'd realized. Read it all. Via Brandon Vogt.