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Commissioned piece of Maedhros with @sunfl8wer‘s absolutely adorable kitten! 💕

#silmarillion #maedhros #silm art #busy magpie art #maedhros with a cat

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These are a series of character design I did for Silmarillion years ago as Tolkien fan art. 

Tolkien not only built up a great world and its unmatchable history, but also created a lot of fascinating characters. While reading the book, their destiny hit me like a hummer of fate. All men die at last, mortal or immortal; but their stories are astonishingly beautiful. 

#silmarillion #silm art #pansen #other people’s art #feanor #fingolfin #maedhros #fingon #celebrimbor #gil-galad #elrond #tolkien #high kings of the noldor

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Throwback Thursday

Thank you @spiritofwhitefire for the tag. Tagging @arofili @disorganisedautodidact and @pearlescentpearl in return.

He lives! Findekáno thought, even as he caught the panicked, guilt-stricken edges of Maitimo’s thoughts.

“That way! Archers, cover us while we board!” he ordered. He was first up the ladder. A Falmar would have speared him through the eye as soon as his head appeared above the rail of the ship, had not another run him through with a sword.

As the Falmar fell, Findekáno’s heart leapt with glee as he recognized his rescuer.

“Russo,” he breathed. For a moment, he forgot where they were. He was looking into Maitimo’s hazel eyes for the first time since he understood his love for him. Maitimo’s gaze was wild, frantic, and not particularly loving.

If Findekáno’s gaze said, “I love you,” Maitimo’s seemed to answer back, “We are all about to die.”

That look, along with Maitimo’s hand reaching out and dragging Finno onboard, brought him back to reality. He landed hard on the deck of the ship, gasping as he fell to his hands and knees, but Maitimo grabbed him again by the scruff of his neck and hauled him to his feet.

“Be ready,” he hissed as he pressed Finno’s sword back into his hand.

“Behind you!” Finno shouted back. A Falmar nís had fired an arrow at Maitimo, who only raised his shield just in time. An archer took her down a moment later, and Finno realized as he looked up into the crow’s nest that one of the Ambarussar had joined them.

“Thanks,” Maitimo rasped as soon as he realized that Findekáno had others coming behind him. Finno beamed in spite of himself, though he recognized that his Russo looked more relieved to have aid than he looked overjoyed to see Finno.

It matters not, as long as we both live, Finno thought as he got back to the bloody business of clearing the ship and making it safe for them and their followers.

This scene of a blood-stained reunion between ex-lovers come from chapter 24 of In This Mad Season, I Come Undone.

Throwback Thursday!

Thank you @melestasflight for the tag

“It is a testament to his recovery, if not his sanity, that he does not begin to panic upon finding himself buried beneath the bodies of both orc and elf alike. He is not immune to the stench of corpses, nor their icy, sallow flesh. He is merely accustomed, and so when he swims up from beneath their stiffening limbs, black and red blood filling his nose, filtering between his lips, mingling with the warmth of his own bitten tongue, he does not panic. He swallows and gasps out for oxygen, swallowing down yet more poison, knowing that it will not kill him. Indifferent to the potentiality that it might.

He bursts forth from the dread tower of the dead, flinging back his heavy”

This badass Dagor Bragallach Maedhros scene is from Let us glorify the dark burden of fate

I shall tag @welcomingdisaster @thatfeanorian @last-capy-hupping and @jouissants

Thank you!

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Have some Fingon cuddling with a cat while Maedhros looks on adoringly.

I like to think Fingon loves cats and cats love him back.

#tolkien #silmarillion #the silmarillion #silmarillionfanart #fingon #maedhros #russingon #cats! #russingon with cats! #I love this idea so much #I’ll bet that that’s Maedhros’ cat and Fingon is learning to spoil him #and Maedhros is so won over

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#sillmarillion #maedhros #fingon #russingon #the prettiest elf princes #silmarillionfanart #silm fanart #busy magpie art #busymagpie

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To battle ⚔️

#silmarillion #tolkien #the silmarillion #maedhros #maitimo #warlord maedhros #silmarillionfanart #other people’s art

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"Tears unnumbered I have shed, for a chasm immeasurable thine absence hast left."

#silm art #silmarillion fanart #maedhros #fingon #russingon #silmarillion #tolkien #😭😭😭

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prints

#silmarillion #silm art #silmarillion fanart #maedhros #maitimo #fanart #digital art #elves #beautiful fëanorians

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Well, Folks, it’s been about 19 months and 390,000 words, but I’ve finally finished it. Enjoy the last and 80th chapter of Anywhere With You!

And don’t worry. There’s a sequel incoming.

#silmarillion #maedhros #fingon #russingon #anywhere with you #awy #finished fic

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This is the kind of Fëanorian apologetics that I need in my life! And also a great demonstration of how overwhelming the power of the Ñoldor was when they came forth from Valinor.

The amount of times I've seen the Dagor-nuin-Giliath misconstrued as a defeat, or "first sign" of the inevitable failure for the Fëanorians is just baffling if you consider the actual events.

But the host of Morgoth, aroused by the tumult of Lammoth and the light of the burning at Losgar, came through the passes of Ered Wethrin, the Mountains of Shadow, and assailed Fëanor on a sudden, before his camp was full-wrought or put in defence; and there on the grey fields of Mithrim was fought the Second Battle in the Wars of Beleriand. Dagor-nuin-Giliath it is named, the Battle-under-Stars, for the Moon had not yet risen; and it is renowned in song. The Noldor, outnumbered and taken at unawares, were yet swiftly victorious; for the light of Aman was not yet dimmed in their eyes, and they were strong and swift, and deadly in anger, and their swords were long and terrible. The Orcs fled before them, and they were driven forth from Mithrim with great slaughter, and hunted over the Mountains of Shadow into the great plain of Ard-galen, that lay northward of Dorthonion. There the armies of Morgoth that had passed south into the Vale of Sirion and beleaguered Círdan in the Havens of the Falas came up to their aid, and were caught in their ruin. For Celegorm, Fëanor’s son, having news of them, waylaid them with a part of the Elven-host, and coming down upon them out of the hills near Eithel Sirion drove them into the Fen of Serech. Evil indeed were the tidings that came at last to Angband, and Morgoth was dismayed. Ten days that battle lasted, and from it returned of all the hosts that he had prepared for the conquest of Beleriand no more than a handful of leaves.

-The Silmarillion, Chapter 13: OF THE RETURN OF THE NOLDOR

The Battle was a victory, not only barely eeked out but an utter eradication of Morgoth's armies. Not only the forces specifically marshalled against the arriving Noldor (what seems to be a reconstructed eastern host, with the last one mostly destroyed in the First Battle) but also Morgoth's initial western host occupied besieging Círdan and people, that had to be diverted for attempted reinforcement. Which the Fëanorians quickly shatter without issue, despite having to divide their forces. Something important for me to bring up because you'll often see the argument that the Fëanorians doomed themselves by cutting of the Nolo-and Arafinwëan manpower, which both ignores how Nolofinwë at the time was actively disputing Fëanor's leadership and therefore would not necessarily have led to an effective united front (with the implied 'solution' mostly boiling down to "Fëanor should have let Nolofinwë usurp his kingship because he would have made a better king anyway" and never "maybe Nolofinwë should have stopped agitating against the guy who was rightful king by all procedures of inheritance we ever see (and Fingolfin himself would adopt) to get himself crowned as his first priority"), as well as how even just the Fëanorians alone completely curbstomped the forces of Morgoth that had previously scattered the Laiquendi, confined Thingol to Doriath and besieged Cirdan. Sure, eventually they would have likely been overwhelmed by the unending stream of new armies, but that's exactly the same thing that eventually happens in canon anyway, even with the rest of the exiles present. Trying to argue that the Dagor-nuin-Giliath in particular already demonstrates the certainty of the Noldor's defeat is nonsensical.

It was "renown in song"! And given that this is mentioned in context of the victory it was, it feels safe to say the renown in question was of celebratory nature (as opposed to the often celebrated Fingolfin duel, which in-universe is explicitly described as thus: "The Orcs made no boast of that duel at the gate; neither do the Elves sing of it, for their sorrow is too deep."). Given how sparse the details and hints we get towards the Fëanorians and east Beleriand side of things can be, the vast majority of it in implications or one-liners (such as most of their alliances and friendships) and after-the fact admissions ("bereft of their power and glory of old" being the most prominent one that comes to mind), this just makes me very happy. Also disappointed-but-not-surprised how often it goes ignored or straight-up inverted. No doubt in large part due to the following:

Thus it was that he [Fëanor] drew far ahead of the van of his host; and seeing this the servants of Morgoth turned to bay, and there issued from Angband Balrogs to aid them. There upon the confines of Dor Daedeloth, the land of Morgoth, Fëanor was surrounded, with few friends about him. Long he fought on, and undismayed, though he was wrapped in fire and wounded with many wounds; but at the last he was smitten to the ground by Gothmog, Lord of Balrogs, whom Ecthelion after slew in Gondolin. There he would have perished, had not his sons in that moment come up with force to his aid; and the Balrogs left him, and departed to Angband.

First up, any and all attempts to try and paint this as a pathetic end are straight-up ludicrous (especially for people who are impressed by Fingolfin's duel with Morgoth later on). Fëanor in this is not only taking on a variety of Balrogs but also what seems like the remnants of the eastern host that his forces had hunted into Ard-Galen in the previous section (once they notice his separation from his army they turn from flight back towards him; the Balrogs are even specifically noted to "aid" them!). And he's doing it. By. Himself. Not only that, putting up a long and fierce resistance against multiple Balrogs (compare this to Fingon in the Nirnaeth, who gets quickly tripped up by two of them).

The Balrogs are always depicted as Morgoths elite troops, their last appearance in the story having been to drive off the empowered Ungoliant:

But Ungoliant had grown great, and he less by the power that had gone out of him; and she rose against him, and her cloud closed about him, and she enmeshed him in a web of clinging thongs to strangle him. Then Morgoth sent forth a terrible cry, that echoed in the mountains. [...] The cry of Morgoth in that hour was the greatest and most dreadful that was ever heard in the northern world; the mountains shook, and the earth trembled, and rocks were riven asunder. Deep in forgotten places that cry was heard. Far beneath the ruined halls of Angband, in vaults to which the Valar in the haste of their assault had not descended, Balrogs lurked still, awaiting ever the return of their Lord; and now swiftly they arose, and passing over Hithlum they came to Lammoth as a tempest of fire. With their whips of flame they smote asunder the webs of Ungoliant, and she quailed, and turned to flight, belching black vapours to cover her[...]. -The Silmarillion, Chapter 9: OF THE FLIGHT OF THE NOLDOR

(Though I'll grant that there might have been less Balrogs present in the battle against Fëanor)

I'll also point out that the Balrogs retreat the moment the rest of the Fëanorian host and sons arrive as reinforcement, indicating they were not confident in their chances to take them on (otherwise why not take this chance to destroy your enemies once and for all, before they can properly encamp and establish themselves?), which seems reasonably, given the extended struggle even Fëanor alone put up against them (to the point that despite drawing "far ahead" of his van, said van caught up in time to prevent the last of it).

So, obviously the death of their father and king still would have been a heavy blow, far be it from me to deny this (despite the stories refusal to give us any details on the emotional impact of it...), but I reject the notion that it turned the battle into a net "loss", especially if you keep in mind the unusual circumstances of it that are already kind of separated from the battle proper. Which leads into my last point, no longer about the battle itself but still relevant:

Then his sons raised up their father and bore him back towards Mithrim. But as they drew near to Eithel Sirion and were upon the upward path to the pass over the mountains, Fëanor bade them halt; for his wounds were mortal, and he knew that his hour was come. And looking out from the slopes of Ered Wethrin with his last sight he beheld far off the peaks of Thangorodrim, mightiest of the towers of Middle-earth, and knew with the foreknowledge of death that no power of the Noldor would ever overthrow them; but he cursed the name of Morgoth thrice, and laid it upon his sons to hold to their oath, and to avenge their father. -The Silmarillion, Chapter 13: OF THE RETURN OF THE NOLDOR

Even if you are a fervent believer in the fact that Fëanor truly had a clear revelation about the future somehow (at the very least in part because you prefer the omniscient narrator to the in-universe chroniclers, I presume), even if you believe he, dying, would have known this epiphany for what it was: in-universe this would have been ludicrous to assume and incongruent with the very recent lived experience of him and his people. The Fëanorians, it bears repeating, just won a crushing victory against Morgoths forces, which they near obliterated, and even his most elite soldiers fled before them, the only notable casualty occuring due to singular circumstances (which fandom is not slow to point out when it comes to more humoristic purposes). There is literally NO rational reason for the Fëanorians, and indeed, Fëanor himself, to see their cause as doomed based on their experiences with Morgoth and his forces! So even if Fëanor truly gained this "foreknowledge", why should he have heeded it? The guy laughted in the face and threats of his worlds angels! These characters do not know they are in a story about fate and doom without recurse from either, and are determined to fight against such forces whenever they are presented or threatened with them. So the argument I see that uses this as another ammunition why "Fëanor sucked and was a bad dad!" (his sons are literally men grown...) because he urged his sons to remain committed to a cause he "knew was doomed" just ignores everything about recent events and the Fëanorian mindset and determination.

Since it's one of my greatest gripes, I also have to once again ask: where, in this, do people see this infamous "second oath" (which...wouldn't that make Celegorm's recital of it in Nargothrond a "Third Oath"? Yet I've never seen that argument, funny that) ?

(I also disagree with the occasional choice to present Maedhros' capture as somehow still part of it, which it very much is not, however close to the battle's conclusion it might have happened, since the concession of defeat by Morgoth's embassy necessitates for that battle to be regarded as concluded by both parties imo. I'd also argue that the Fëanorians took some time to recover from the ten day battle and fresh grief of loosing their father, as well as time to debate the offer for a few days at the least, something which Maedhros needing to convince his brothers of his idea kind of implies, nevermind the other practicalities of it, such as agreeing upon the place for negotiations and numbers of troops allowed (which both sides break, but would still have been negotiated) with Morgoth's embassy, which would have taken additional time. Which is not even mentioning Maedhros potential coronation. But that's neither here nor there...)

#silm #fëanor #dagor-nuin-giliath #fëanorians #silmarillion #battle-under-stars #other people’s meta #silm meta

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Father and Son

Fingon and Gil-galad. I haven't drawn them in a while. :)

#silmarillion #silm art #other people’s art #fingon #gil-galad

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I’ll shamelessly plug my AWY update too!

After six weeks of shameful writing updates:

Maedhros’ legs still felt a little shaky as Fingon helped him to his feet. His stomach was still the slightest bit unsettled. But Fingon’s warm, strong hands were clasped around his own cold, trembling ones, so he could at the very least make his way into the main dining room, knowing that at the very least, one major crisis had been averted.

What crisis was just averted?

Find out below!

Anyway…

@arofili , @pearlescentpearl , @elentarial @spiritofwhitefire (adding you too!)

Last Line Tag

Thank you for tagging me @grey-gazania

Here is the last line of my recent fiction work!

"I could only just make sense of his words, his sobs, and something seemed suddenly so fearsome to me about how frightened he sounded, the way he begged."

Omg ugh who to tag... @jouissants @thatfeanorian @aroace-moron and @isa-writes and anyone else who wants to do this!

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😭😭😭

Maedhros sought for Elured and Elurin in the woods of Doriath.

Do not use without my permission, please!

#silmarillionfanart #silmarillion #tolkien #maedhros #elured #elurin #😭😭😭 #other people’s art #firinaira

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Hmmm….I think shortbread cookies covered with loads of bright rainbow sprinkles and vanilla chai.

Tagging: @pearlescentpearl @elentarial

it’s been too long that I’ve wanted to start a tag game. here you go !!

tell me what you think prev’s blog tastes like and why. it can be based off theme, vibes, or what they post!!

(also feel free to tag me as many times as you want I want to answer this too!!)

@batshikns @breadsnorter @boeedie @rheeeeeeeesiees @kaiserkisser @rivermist606 @collidew1thesky @kiw-ee @creatorbiaze + open tags, I’m forgetfullll

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strong mama Nerdanel

#the silmarillion #silm art #nerdanel #feanor #maitimo #maedhros #this is canon to me

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hey! don’t know if you’re answering questions about anywhere with you but: are we getting a fëanor and fingon meeting soon???

loving the story! 💗💗:))

Hehe. We are. It’s one of the first things that’ll happen in the sequel. 😉

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The hostages are revolting

#the silmarillion #silmarillionfanart #other people’s art #maedhros #maglor #elrond #elros #kidnap fam #snowy day #❤️❤️❤️❤️