I finished reading the Silmarillion recently.  I enjoyed it very much, though it was riddled with tragedy.  Tolkien made some very good points in the book and, though the tale is full of sub-plots, I think that the main story-line is the Fate Of The Noldor and what they got out of life.  They were so intent on defeating the Darkness of Morgoth  (and regaining their Silmarils) that they missed the whole reason for the war.  (The book, of course, is packed with deep ideas and this is only one)  I wrote a poem trying to capture the way Maglor felt at the end of the book when he is sitting by the seashore and has thrown the last Silmaril into the sea. 

                        Maglor

In the chill of the morning when stars no more shine

And the night has been swallowed in cold dawn divine,

By the side of the waters that roll from the deeps

There is one sitting yet and he silently weeps.

These are tears not for Silmarils vanished and gone

They are not for the lost hopes whose pain will live on-

They are shed not for bitter oaths none will confess

Nor for long, ceaseless wandering -Everlasting Darkness.

These are tears for the hopeful hearts crushed by his hand

Tears of longing and grief brought by his own demand-

All his hate for the Darkness- has it come to this?

Or perhaps there was something that somebody missed.

-Written by Frodo