The Silmarillion Onscreen?

Greetings.

It's been entirely too long. I've been under much stress at work lately. One of my preferred avenues of self-care is reading Tolkien and blogging. My goal for 2015 was blog through The History of Middle-earth series by Christopher Tolkien. I started strong but faded as of late. I may have to save the second half of that series for another year.

I am still debating what 2016's topic will be but in the mean time I wanted to pause a bit and think about The Silmarillion and it's adaptation to the screen. I'll admit I am inspired by Peter Jackson's recent Facebook post where he teases (trolls?) Tolkien fans with a rather obvious copy of The Silmarillion on his table (in fact the same edition I own--my heart skipped a beat!) with mysterious page indicators in it.

The Silmarillion has long been my favorite Tolkien work. I did not read it until several years after The Lord of the Rings. Oddly enough I found it more accessible than The Hobbit. It's not light and childlike as The Hobbit. While epic like The Lord of the Rings it is infinitely harder to read. There's no main character to follow rather many vignettes involving many different characters. Because it is mostly an Elvish history the Elvish names are everywhere. It's a challenge. But I love every drop of it.

Seeing Peter Jackson's tease has once again set me to thinking could The Silmarillion be adapted? How might that best be achieved?

Number one: I do believe it could be achieved. And as much as I would long to see it the reality is no screen adaptation can ever compete with a book. Reading a story is such a personal and emotional experience one is bound to be disappointed when the screen adaptation falls short: be it the casting or costuming of a character that doesn't meet your image, to parts being cut or amended for the sake of time, to wholesale changes to fit the director or studio's wants. Even with PJ's movie adaptations there are parts that exceeded my wildest dreams, parts that were ok, and parts I could do without. But I've come to appreciate a Tolkien adaptation on the screen even if it isn't my ideal adaptation.

Number two: I think that The Silmarillion would best be adapted to the small screen. I just don't think you could do justice to the story in two or three movies (even of the 3 hour variety). At the very least much would remain on the cutting floor (if filmed at all). I could see a Band of Brothers, Walking Dead, or Game of Thrones type of adaptation. On that last note--I've never watched Game of Thrones and I would caution that a Silmarillion adaptation need not try to compete with that. Tolkien is not Martin and vice versa.

Number three: If one is going to try and adapt The Silmarillion to screen than one might as well go big. Why not try and secure rights to other Tolkien works (Unfinished Tales, History of Middle-earth, The Children of Húrin) in order to supplement the story. There are some pieces in the first two works that offer some beautiful pieces to the Gondolin arc. Also Húrin greatly expands what's in The Silmarillion.

To work on a Silmarillion screen adaptation would be a dream job. It would be a job born out of love for the story. Though I am no actor, nor my writing skills adept enough to write a screenplay. I have no artistic or technological or building skills. But what joy it would be to pour my love for the story into some work on such a project.

So I think for the rest of 2015 I will indulge myself a little and imagine what my ideal screen adaptation of The Silmarillion might look like. Thanks for letting me do that.