Opening up a copy of The Silmarillion for a quiet afternoon read, both newcomers and ardent Tolkien fans alike are faced with a hefty introduction to the book and the cosmological beginnings of Middle-earth. A complex and beautifully-constructed account of the creation of the Ainur and the physical world is laid out before the readers.
Suffice it to say, whilst Tolkien’s writing is nothing short of eloquent, poetic and deep, it presents its own problems. Both the archaic nature of the text and the difficulty in visualizing the scenes in question puts off many first-time readers.
In The Silmarillion, the Ainulindalë (“The Music of the Ainur”) is an event so beautiful and harmonizing, that it is almost impossible to experience in any other way except through the written word.
Creation scenes are both simplistic and highly complicated to comprehend. But the vast imagination of an author is still bound by the limits of the physical world: thoughts and concepts which arose from real-life experiences.
The result of such an endeavour has been attempted in the following 3-minute video. An edit which combines a particular piece of music together with specific visual scenes, in order to bring to light a fan’s perspective on the event of the Music of the Ainur.
The song used in the video is entitled Vide Cor Meum, composed by Patrick Cassidy (2001).
Meanwhile, the visual scenes are excerpts from Terence Malick’s film, The Tree of Life (2010)
(Originally posted on: A Tolkienist’s Perspective)
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