Silmarillion

The Silmarillion reaches back to the First Age of Tolkien's world, the Elder Days that the characters of The Lord of the Rings remember as ancient history. Some of them, Elrond and Galadriel among them, lived through the events recounted here.

The tales are set while Morgoth, the first Dark Lord, makes his home in Middle-earth. The High Elves go to war against him to win back the Silmarils, the jewels that hold the pure light of Valinor. It is the long, mythic backstory behind Tolkien's better-known novels, for readers who want to see where that world began.