Libro

The tales of The Silmarillion were the underlying inspiration & source of Tolkien's imaginative writing. He worked on the book throughout his life but never brought it to final form. Long preceding in its origins The Lord of the Rings, it's the story of the 1st Age of Tolkien's world, the ancient drama to which characters in The Lord of the Rings look back & in which some of them, such as Elrond & Galadriel, took part.
The title Silmarillion is shortened from Quenta Silmarillion, The History of the Silmarils, the three great jewels created by Feanor, most gifted of the Elves, in which he imprisoned the light of the Two Trees that illumined Valinor, the land of the gods. When Morgoth, 1st Dark Lord, destroyed the Trees, that light lived on only in the Silmarils; Morgoth seized them & set them in his crown, guarded in the impenetrable fortress of Angband in the north of Middle-earth. The Silmarillion is the history of the rebellion of Feanor & his people against the gods, their exile in Middle-earth, & their war, hopeless despite all the heroisim of Elves & Men, against the great Enemy.
The book includes several other, shorter works beside The Silmarillion proper. Preceding it are Ainulindale, the myth of Creation, & Valaquenta, in which the nature & powers of each of the gods is set forth. After The Silmarillion is Akallabeth, the story of the downfall of the great island kingdom of Numenor at the end of the 2nd Age; completing the volume is "Of the Rings of Power & the 3rd Age," in which the events of The Lord of the Rings are treated in the manner of The Silmarillion.