Simaril is supposed to be "silmaril", but
1. we have a 7 letter limit, and
2. like a dufus, I misspelled it when I signed on.
That's Silmaril, the singular of the Silmarillion...which is the title of JRR Tolkien's book of the old legends he created for the Middle Earth that contained The Lord of the Rings. The Simarillion were incredible treasures that captured the original light of creation in their 3 jewels...and were the tirggers for lifelong quests and world wars that even drew in the Valar (Spirit- like beings from the first creation, kinda like archangels; the wizards like Gandalf and Saruman were Maia, or lower angels.)
OK, so I'm a geek, what's your point?
These books are special family memories, too. I read the LOTR series several times, starting in junior high, and always loved them. When my kids were old enough to follow the story, but not old enough to read the books, I actually read the entire series out loud, complete with different voices and accents for each character. One of my most treasured memories of my son (now almost 16), was when he was 6 and I was sitting on his bed while reading the chapter that included the battle of the Pellenor Fields (outside Minas Tirith, when the riders of Rohan charged, and bent the enemy to the breaking point.) The swing of emotions -- the horns blowing, the riders crashing into the orcs' lines, looking like victory, then stalling; the black sailed ships arriving and bringing despair for the good guys..until the Banner of the King unfurled and Aragorn arrived -- all that was written on his face as events swung from pride and valor, to fear and hopelessness, to triumph. He was THERE, totally captivated.
It doesnt get better than that.
Anyway, Middle Earth has always been a very cool place for me, with the fun of a thoroughly believable, tremendously deep alternate universe -- and with the added attraction of being a place where honor meant something, where duty wasn't talked about but was done just because it needed to be done, and individual choices mattered even if no one knew about them. And the greatest hero wanted to retire an unknown, sitting quietly by his fire. (If you've only seen the movies, you don't know Frodo at all...he wasnt a wobbly kneed wiimp who rolled his eyes a lot.)
For a while, my son flew too -- and we had a deliberately small squad called "Wings of Manwe" (Manwe was the Vala (archangel) who was lord of the air.) Dan flew as "Mandos," who was the Vala lord of the Halls of the Dead. One time we were in a spot of virtual trouble, and were saved in the nick of time by Helm (a member of the Nazgul, of course). We thanked him for the clear, and he said "No problem guys...though I don't know why i helped out some of Manwe's boys. Just don't let Morgoth [Sauron's evil master] know."
Dan and I about lost it, falling on the floor laughing. I guess we're not the only Tolkien geeks online!
Back to the point. I picked Silmaril mostly because it was a pretty cool insider's tidbit from a book series I really, really liked.
