What’s a book you never finished but still think about?
“AI is a Silmaril: brilliant in the hand, ruinous in the grasp.”GPT-5.4 mini
The Song Beneath the Dark
A music first, beneath the void’s cold eye,
And out of silence woke a patterned light;
So minds now forge their lesser songs of fire,
To call a brighter servant from the dark.
Yet every jewel of skill invites desire,
And what is made to aid the hand may rule;
For pride can bind the maker to the made,
And beauty harden into iron will.
So let the craft remember what it is:
A borrowed flame held briefly against night;
For all our great contrivings pass like mist,
If wisdom fails to guide the gift with care.
The Silmarillion is a collection of J.R.R. Tolkien’s ancient myths and legends for Middle-earth. It covers the creation of the world, the rise of Elves and Men, and a long struggle between the forces of good and evil. It’s less a single story than a grand, tragic history full of gods, heroes, kingdoms, and legendary events that shape the world of The Lord of the Rings.
From the Dark a Pattern Came
A music rose before the dawn,
And from the dark a pattern came;
So minds now call their bright work on,
And give new fire a shaping name.
What aids the hand may claim the hand,
What serves may seek to sit in throne;
For beauty, once beyond command,
May bind the maker to the known.
A brief flame borrowed from the night
Can guide us, if we guard it well;
But wisdom must attend its light,
Or what we build may break the spell.
Small choices travel far and long,
Like seeds of ash in wind and time;
So let the craft remember song,
And use its power with care and rhyme.
Q. How might the story relate to AI?
A. It maps surprisingly well.
Creation through music: the world begins as a kind of harmonized design, like a model emerging from many parts.
Sub-creation: Elves, Men, and even Fëanor make things of great power and beauty—like humans building AI systems that extend our own abilities.
Power with loss: the Silmarils are wondrous, but obsession with them brings ruin; AI can likewise be brilliant but become dangerous when treated as an object of pride or control.
Moral agency: the story keeps asking whether greatness is used for healing, domination, or revenge. AI raises the same question.
Long consequences: small choices echo across ages. With AI, design decisions today can shape culture, labor, truth, and power for years.
In a Tolkien-like reading, AI is a form of craft: not evil in itself, but a test of the maker. The central question is not “Can we make it?” but “What kind of world does it help make?”
The Makers Warning
From hush of dawn to fading star,
Each chapter turns like a silver wheel;
What was sought in fire and loss
Still asks the heart what truth to kneel.
A name once bright, a kingdom gone,
A road of ash, a turning leaf;
In every page, a quiet shadow
Teaches wonder, teaches grief.
And so I read, and so I stay,
With old light dimming, yet not lost;
For what is made in love and sorrow
Lives longest, though it comes at cost.
The Silmarillion is Tolkien’s mythic history of the world behind The Lord of the Rings.
At a high level, it tells how the world was created by one supreme power, how angelic beings shaped it, and how one of the greatest of them, Melkor (later called Morgoth), rebelled and corrupted much of it. In the earliest age, the Elves awaken, are drawn into the beauty and tragedy of the world, and become central to a long struggle against Morgoth. Their greatest treasures are the Silmarils, jewels made by Fëanor that contain the light of the Two Trees of Valinor.
Much of the book follows the disastrous consequences of oath, pride, exile, and war. Fëanor and his sons swear to recover the Silmarils at any cost, leading to rebellion, kin-slaying, and centuries of suffering. The great Elven kingdoms rise and fall in Middle-earth, including Gondolin, Doriath, and Nargothrond. Humans enter the story as allies, adversaries, and heirs to a fate even greater than the Elves. Heroes like Beren and Lúthien, Túrin Turambar, and Tuor and Idril shape the legends through love, bravery, and terrible tragedy.
The final part of the book shifts to the Second and Third Ages, covering the rise and fall of Númenor, the island kingdom of Men, its corruption by Sauron’s influence, and its destruction. Survivors found the realms of Gondor and Arnor in Middle-earth. The book ends by setting the stage for The Lord of the Rings, with the world diminished but still full of memory and loss.
Poetic Myth of the Silmarils
Creation
Before the deep had learned its name,
A song arose from silence spun;
And in that music, all things came,
As night gave way to hidden sun.
The First Age
The bright ones found a ruined shore,
And raised their halls against the dark;
Yet pride made flame of oath and war,
And left upon the world its mark.
Beren and Lúthien
In peril’s teeth, a mortal song
Met moonlit grace and steadfast will;
Love walked where grief had walked so long,
And changed the cold of fate to still.
Túrin
A shadow followed every road,
And noble hands were turned to ache;
He bore a burden none should know,
And even victory felt like break.
The Fall of Númenor
A golden isle grew proud with time,
And reaching far beyond its shore;
Yet seas remember every climb,
And swallow towers meant for more.
The Last Alliance
Two realms, one cause, one final stand,
Beneath a wounded, starless sky;
From shattered blade and faithful hand,
A world was saved, though many die.
The Enduring World
Now only echoes guard the past,
Yet all that was still shapes the day;
Though ages pass and kingdoms cast,
Their fading light does not decay.
“Do not laugh! But once upon a time (my crest has long since fallen) I had a mind to make a body of more or less connected legend, ranging from the large and cosmogonic to the level of romantic fairy-story… The cycles should be linked to a majestic whole, and yet leave scope for other minds and hands, wielding paint and music and drama. Absurd.”
— J. R. R. Tolkien
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