“It’ll drive up engagement, so I can’t really be mad.” S tier for honesty.

I don't think I've ever read anything nearly as enthralling and visual as the beginning of the Silmarillion. Singing existence into being is so beautiful, and the sowing of discord into the melody is such a genius way to depict the idea of the fall

I never would’ve expected the “my cabbages” guy from Avatar the Last Airbender to be a Tolkien invention but here we are

Tolkien's Letters to Father Christmas?! TOLKIEN: "Fly, you fools!" SANTA AND RUDOLPH: "Ok"

The rating for the Silmarillion is in the name itself. S. 😀

I love how the character Tom Bombadil existed long before the novel "Lord Of The Rings" was written; this perfectly mirrors how he is older than pretty much everyone in the actual story.

B for "Bilbo's translations" C for "Celeborn's collection" D for "Denethor's ramblings." E for "Eowyn hates it" F...I got nothing.

I have read the Silmarillion even more times than LOTR. It is so good!

I'm shocked. For me putting the Silmarillion anywhere but in S tier is madness (in Gandalf's voice).

The only tolkein book I've read is the Hobbit, but I was told to challenge your tier list for engagement, so.... Wait, you put the Hobbit in S tier, 100% correct tier list

The Silmarillion is definitely tier S for me. I love how the Music of the Ainur presages how important music is in the magic of Middle Earth. Most of the the magic, e. g. the magic of Luthien, is accomplished through song

According to sources, Jess ranking the Silmarillion at a C is the primary cause for The Battle of Unnumbered Tears 😢

You had me at “held up by a gang of bears”.

"A" for Aragorn for whom the timeless pass, "B" for Boromir who never transcends "A" "C" for Celebrimbor whose mettle is crass "D" for Denethor worst dad of all In the realm of KZfaq where the haters lie. One "E" for Eowyn, betrayed by Rankin, One "F" for Faramir, likewise forgotten by Bass In vast KZfaq where Algorithms decry But they were all of them deceived, for another tier was made. In the land of Mordor, in the fires of Mount Doom, the Dark Lord Sauron forged in secret, a master rank, to surpass all others.

Honestly, as much as I love the Lord of the Rings and the Silmarillion, the Children of Hurin is my absolute favorite of Tolkien's work. It feels even more ancient and dark with it's grim narrative and heroic deeds. It reminded me a lot of Beowulf (another favorite of mine; Tolkien's translation is superb).

The translations/adaptations like Sigurd and Gudrun or The Fall of Arthur have been a revelation for me. More than the Green Knight translation, they show Tolkien’s talent at thinking through entire literary traditions.

Jess in Leaf By Niggle and you talking about getting caught up in little details. I read something Einstein wrote to a friend about young scientists he was acquainted with. He wrote his friend that the scientists he was meeting had no notion of subjects outside their fields, but thought they did. Einstein said they reminded him of someone who had studied thousands of trees, but had never seen a forest. I don't know why what you said brought that to my mind, but it seemed appropriate.

Children of Hurin is one of my favorites ... but it is very painful read :) But not mad at the B... I spent my entire life thinking I was the only one reading Tolkien's stories until I was like... 24 .. so yeah i'm just glad you have a channel and so many subscribers :)

I think The Children of Hurin is Tolkien’s Oedipus Rex.

Jess, if you're into European Heavy Metal, you should check out "Nightfall in Middle Earth" by Blind Guardian. It's an entire Tolkien inspired album, not about Lord of the Rings, but The Silmarillion. "Curse of Feanor" is a bombastic masterpiece. Would love to hear your take on the album, even if you're not into Metal.

My two favorite tolkein stories have got to be 1) Beren and Luthien, 2) Sam confronting Shelob. I really like the short and concise version of Beren and Luthien in the Silmarillion, so I think that makes it my favorite book of Tolkein's. I also like how the Silmarilion ties Beren and Luthien to the larger story of middle earth. The whole story of Beren and Luthien, in my opinion, is continued in such a beautiful way with Sam and holding up the vial of Galadriel to fend off Shelob, since it was the same silmaril that Beren and Luthien got from Morgoth, which was then taken with Earendil off into the sky, after he convinces the Valar to drive out Morgoth. The fact that the whole Sam and Shelob story is in the Two Towers makes it my second favorite Tolkein book. Both of these stories just gave me chills the first time I read them. I see a lot of similarity in these two stories, especially with both of them being sort of "unlikely heroes" (Sam, Beren, Luthien, and Frodo are all unlikely in their own special ways), as well as how its about hope in defiance of overwhelming darkness. Also, I think there's a cool similarity between Beren dying and Frodo appearing, from Sam's perspective, to die.

His essay/lecture on Beowulf "The Monsters and the Critics" is one of my favorite things I've ever read. I do recommend it to anyone.

I wish your laptop a speedy recovery! 💐

I have been searching for Farmer Giles of Ham for over a decade. It's a book I have vague memories of reading as a kid, but I had no idea what it was until now. So thank you.

Most influential: On Fairy Stories. Most inspiring for artists and writers: Leaf By Niggle Most noble-romantic: Beren and Luthien Most memorable scenes: Return of the King: Mt Doom, Gandalf on the Bridge, Eowyn whipping her helmet off and saying "I am no man!" (though this is more the movie), The Grey Havens Most heartbreakingly beautiful and personal: Letters from Father Christmas. I cry, too.

My top tiers (ranked internally): S: Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion, The Children of Hurin A: The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun, The Hobbit, Leaf By Niggle, The Lay of Leithian B: Farmer Giles of Ham, The Homecoming of Beortnoth Beorthelm's Son, On Fairy-Stories

I am married to an Irish nazgul, the most charming of that frankly disreputable crew. It keeps a hobbit agile. There's about three people I follow online, I trust not inappropriately. Excepting until now I have always made a point of thanking them. I shall correct the otherwise unfortunate omission. by thanking you. Years ago when an erstwhile academic I visited an Oxford don and somewhat underperformed. He offered me biscuits with a fortuitous tea. He was like J R R Tolkien and madam I was affeared. Such is youth. My best wishes..

I personally don’t separate the three LOTR books from each other, I think that that’s something that more people do who first became familiar with the world through the movies (I’m old). I’d have to rank The Silmarillion higher myself if I were doing the list. I agree that it reads more like a history book than his other two biggest works but I read a lot of history books so I have a definite taste for them. While both The Hobbit and LOTR have a greater feeling of intimacy and immediacy to them the Silmarillion gives me a greater sense of majesty and antiquity. When I re-read the books as I do every few years I always start with The Hobbit, progress through LOTR (including the appendices) and inevitably go to The Silmarillion.

"Leaf by Niggle" (which I have not read) makes me think of "Before the Law" by Franz Kafka. In that story, a man sits before a gate all his life, hoping it will open. When he is aged and about to die, he asks the guardian if someone else will be able to open this door at later time. And the answer is no, this door was here for him alone. Most people read this with a pessimistic framing, but I do not. What the story tells me is that there is a door for each of us, something only we of all people can achieve, and we should not just sit there, we should work on opening this gate. And this seems to be what happens in Leaf by Niggle, with less room for putting a negative spin on it.

When I was reading the Silmarillion, I felt like I was reading a bible for Middle Earth. I've gotta say, it's the only book I've read like it.

That was shire genius A very old journalist friend had bought me Tolkien' letters. I am fond of Tolkien as one would be of an ageing hobbit. Thank you for your work.

Have to commend you, Return of the King is so good. Aragorn superseding Gandalf as Middle Earth’s protector is such a delicate but empowering storyline, and witnessing the fellowship’s interpretation of Aragorns subtle but humble sense of power grow into a “Servant Leader” after the Battle of Pelennor Fields (my favorite of all battles) gives the reader such a sense of the delicate power balance that follows the succession of a King’s departure (Or steward, Denethor). I for one cannot think of a more deserving King than Aragorn in that moment. So powerful

“We’re going to put that in C, continuity isn’t great”. - Jess on Christmas letters Tolkien wrote to his children. You’re brutal Jess, love it! 🤣😜

I absolutely love your channel. I also find you completely charming. Leaf by Niggle is a favorite, partially because it is wonderful story and partially because I found my copy purely by accident in my local used bookshop.

The Silmarillion a C? You are playing with fire here.

I just want to say that I recently found your channel while doing research for a Lord of the Rings LARP I’ll be attending in June and I’ve become so captivated by your ability to convey the magic that lies in Tolkiens works. Your deep dives into folklore, myths and cultural history has me tingling with inspiration. I think you truly are of the fae world and you carry so much magic with you! Every video of yours I watch makes me want to take my shoes off, go touch grass and lay in the sun with a book. Thank you for what you do! ❤

This video is relatable in two ways. The first is that I live near a US airbase in Japna and frequently hear the thundering of jets and wonder if I am finally going to be killed by an airstrike or ballistic missile. The other is that I have the first lines of Beowulf in Old English memorised and would recite it so often that my brother could recite it from when he was like 11 years old

"I cry at a lot of things." Me too, Jess. Me too.

So glad you put the Hobbit in S tier :) It was my introduction to Tolkien and holds a very special place in my heart. And is just a very enjoyable and well-written story!

"Laptop broken, doing on paper" ... LOVE YOU already!

“It sold very well” understatement of the day

Good job! Thanks for taking the time to go through it all.

Just got the notification! At work now, but happy I'll have a video from you to check out later tonight. I binge watched your obscure adaptations and loved them!

Thank you Jess, you must made my weekend much better!❤

Seeing everything ranked like this made me realize how many children’s stories Tolkien really wrote. I’ve never thought of him specifically as a children’s author before, but I love that!

1. Leaf By Niggle is an allegory (Gasp!). The workhouse is Purgatory. The final place where Niggle and his neighbor can become whole is Heaven. You have to understand Catholic theology to understand the story. 2. The Lord of the Rings is ONE NOVEL! It was written as one novel. 3. I believe the The Silmarillion should be S tier.

Thank you Jess! I love these videos.

I admire your passion and beautiful passionate narration miss Jess. God bless you and your work miss. respect from Croatia ❤❤❤

Great video. My dad gave me Tolkien's translation of Beowulf for Christmas. I found a great gem at the end of the book, a poem/song of a shortened version of the Beowulf story written by Tolkien that he sung to his children. I just wish I knew the tune that he used when he would sing it.

I totally understand all of your rankings and enjoyed the video greatly. It can be tough to put yourself 'out there' and rank things, so thanks for this!

Thanks for another great video Jess! I watch your videos while i do cleaning

There can only be one book to rule them all.

I think you did a masterful job. You brought out some works I was unaware of. Mission accomplished ;)

You are so easy to listen to, and I enjoy your presentations. Thank you, and I wish you well! My daughter entered into a marriage that is very Tolkien-esque. I gave her a very nice copy of Beren and Luthien as a wedding gift. I'm not sure she fully understood many of the nuances of what I was trying to say.

I know you said you weren't gonna include everything, but I was hoping to see The Fall of Númenor & The Fall of Gondolin for your thoughts, just because I've been curious about them

Thanks for giving this a try!

Simply You're Ranking and leave it at that. I enjoyed it and it was not confused at all. I had not heard of the Bliss book and will look for it.

After you talking about Niggle, I have to wonder how long this took to edit? As one of the original hippies that first read TLOR , I was so very excited when the Silmarrilion came out and I was not disappointed. And you are right about that first chapter, absolutley beautiful! don't worry about how you rated them, everyone will have their own rating but I just rate them ...to misquote Howard Carter, "wonderful things!"

Thank you, Jess. ❤❤

I quite enjoyed the Father Christmas letters as a kid who was never brought up to believe in Santa. If I could read them again now, I'd probably appreciate them all the better.

Haven't seen Dillon in a bit, glad to hear about him, he seems nice and just the right sort of quirky that I can support.

Excellent vid!

Children of Hurin sounds like Tolkien's version of Oedipus Rex.

So much fun to watch! The struggle was real. heh. I particularly enjoyed when you exclaimed a little. Too cute. :)

I just found your channel, I adore your enthusiasm, I’m motivated to try and tackle lord of the rings one more time. (I’ve tried a few times, it’s dense I mean you know) but I had no idea he had some of these books, the letters from Father Christmas sounds lovely.

Good summary of Tolkien's works. And good effort by Jess, under rather unusual circumstances. I've read some of these works, but only LOTR and the Hobbit stand out in my mind. I've got Beowulf in my queue to read, one of these days.

I still remember reading the hungarian translation of Farmer Giles of Ham. I really loved this fella when I was a kid. Also, Tom Bombadill rules. Thank you for bringing up these memories in me.

I'm so glad the algorithm sent me to your channel.😊 I'm a little sad it was so late in the evening because I can't stop watching your Tolkien content. 😂

I have not yet been able to get thru the Silmarillion (I’m on my 3rd try), but before I even tried once, I listened to a podcast about it to help me familiarize myself w/the names & so on. Something that the host explained helped me visualize it so much better. I think it was actually in one of the History of Middle-earth books that has the manuscripts that Tolkien started with & shows how he grew the stories. It seems his initial concept was to have a frame narrative around it. An Anglo-Saxon sailor gets washed ashore on the island of Tol Eressea & the elves tell him the stories that become the Silmarillion. He then takes them back to England to share w/his people & it eventually comes down to us in various writings found along the ages. By using this frame, it gives a better perspective on the stories & helps make more sense of them, in my mind. It’s not just a bible handed down by the gods. I will keep attempting to read it, this time I have the audiobook, & I hope that will help me get thru it at least once, lol.

I love your channel and find it easy to watch you talk about LotR for some reason....

The Hobbit is essential---but it's also very much a children's book that I have thought to crack in ~3 decades for only two reasons: - to refresh my memory of the spider song - to confirm the meaning of "tosspot" when I learned of the "professor" who goes by that name.

So, I almost stopped watching when I saw how you ranked Father Christmas , but I’m glad that I pushed through! I definitely agree with your rating of the Lord of the Rings. The eucatastrophic endings are so cathartic, even when I just sit and remember them. Although I agree that the Silmarillion is a more difficult read than some of his other works, I think I would’ve rated it as B tier because when it’s good, it is GOOD 😊 great vid, as always!

You are amazing. Love you and your videos. LLAP 🖖

You have added a new page to my book bingolist, Jess! Time to ruffle through numerous book shops, preferably second hand ones, with my nose right in the paper in the search for these titles.

Than you for this video! I recently purchased the Easton Press collection of The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion. I finished The Hobbit and I will break out Fellowship of the Ring tonight and get started because of your video.

I like hearing your personal opinions on the books. I'm engaging!

Just to take the three I read 45 to 40 years ago, that is The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion. I'm not going to attempt to rank them, rather I'll say what they are to me. Hobbit was where I started, and it's the best place to start on Middle earth. It led directly to LOR, which is hands down the most rounded entertaining tale where you know there is more behind the scenes, but there is an ending(s). Then there's Silmarillion, which was my first failed attempt, I was probably 11 at my first try. Possibly i managed to read it throug when I was 15, but it is the one I've read the most times after. And the one I don't read end to end, and it is the one I'll never be done with.

ROVERANDOM was actually a story he made up for his little brother after he lost his toy dog at the beach, and he would eventually write it after retelling the story to his own kids.

I haven't read "The Children of Hurin", but I have read the Silmarillion with a version of that story in the chapter "Of Turin Turambar". I thought of it as Tolkien writing a Greek tragedy a la Oedipus.

I am going to try some of these that you brought to my attention. I loved Farmer Giles and the Smith (and of course LOTR and the Hobbit). I have tried the Children of Hurin twice, and man, I just couldn't hang. It was like if a crappy midwestern winter day was a book, full of greyness, snirt and the death of hope.

Children of Hurin solid B+. I enjoyed this book more than the hobbit… but I also read the entire Lord of the rings right after the Hobbit in 6th grade… so I enjoy the darker side of the legendarium than most folks I guess.

One thing I have always struggled with is thinking of Fellowship, Two Towers and Return as separate books: I first read "The Lord of the Rings" in the form of the one-volume paperback edition and then was given the "India paper" edition (also one volume) as a (special) birthday present, so it has always just been one book for me... I would also rank "Farmer Giles of Ham" higher and some of the others lower. And where were "The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm's Son", "Unfinished Tales" and "The Road Goes Ever On" (with Donald Swann)? I know you said you couldn't include everything, but...

I just started the legendarium a few years ago. Never knew he wrote all these other stories. Good to know. Just read Beren and Luthien for February. Just finished Children and Hurien. Currently reading Fall of Gondolin. Hope to tackle Silmarillion some day. Return of the King was also my favorite but may change when i do a reread.

At 60, I have read the trilogy and Hobbit and a few others many many times yearly. I've never been able to get through the Silmarillion, sadly enough. Mayhaps I'll try again before I die. Retired, I have the time. Cheers, beautiful Jess!

Have you read Tolkien’s letters? I think you’d really enjoy them. They’re free and full of great quotes & insight into his views on life, love, the wars, etc. There are letters of advice to his son, a debacle regarding publishing in Germany during the rise of … well, you know, and what his “background” was. You really get the sense of the sort of man he was, and come away inspired and with an understanding that he was both a “great man” and a “good man” (which of course are not the same).

Turins story takes massive inspiration from the volsung saga. Very good

The Two Towers is my favorite part probably, because of the interaction of Frodo, Sam, and Gollum.

I love you and your videos. Please do more. LLAP 🖖

Jess, I have to say i fully agree with your rating of On Fairy Stories. Its easily one of my favorite essays of all time, and i cant stop shilling it 😂

I enjoy your hard work. I follow you and two other lads who indefatigabley talk about miniature wargaming. It is a joy and hardly won. Thank you.

Cabbage Man - "My Cabbages" 😭

Interesting that you didn't mention Unfinished Tales or the The Fall of Gondelin. I also really like The Fall of Arthur.

A very good, thorough, and honest effort at a very dificult task. I see it as ranking from "most favorite" to "just a little less favorite." For tiers, I'd go Smeagol, Aragorn, Boromir, Celeborn, Denethor, Elrond, and Faramir. All great characters, but some are more favorite than others. Edit - or maybe Farmer Maggot, since I think Faramir deserves a higher spot.

Treebeard and Quickbeam being my two favorite characters, I have to put Two Towers above Return of the King. Also, it is in Return that the die is finally cast for ents, elves, dwarves, hobbits, and wizards to fade from the realm, leaving humans in charge. It's hard to imagine a more terrible idea than that.

Excellent. Rankings are of course subjective, but I appreciate your thoughts. Can't wait for you to dive into Ursula K. LeGuin.

I would put fellowship at the top of the three LotR books. it has the most homey elements and pacing is set that you want to hang around, if it wasn't good enough you wouldn't keep going a year later. Two towers has great parts but it is my least favorite with the 2nd part one i often skip when re-reading it. which leave the RotK as the middle child.

B is for Bombadilic (the kind of thing you introduce with a phrase like "I mean, it's _good,_ but") C is for Celebornian (fine, but doesn't make a huge impression tbqh) D is for Derndingular (too hard to get into, too long, kind of annoying) E is for Eolesque (ew. no.) F is for Forochel (the ice-bay this should have been left at the bottom of)

I waited sixty years to make my old school friend and Tolkien fan laugh. Got him today with some littile inspiration from you. Was it worth it. Absolutely yes. Madam you have my thanks. Got him. You have made an old hobbit very happy. Got him.

Would you consider doing a video on the Dagor Dagoroth? I'm honestly super inspired by the idea...this would never happen, but a movie about Tolkien's end of the world would be fantastic.

Hey Jess, Your videos are incredibly well done and super interesting! A Sam Gamgee book vs movie video would be awesome! And also the topic that Sam was the real hero of the story in Tolkin's own opinion would be a great video topic!😊😊😊