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#Celebrimbor's city of nerds

animatorweirdo · 2 years

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Timeless devotion

(Celebrimbor x reader)

You met someone who made your heart beat like a drum. After some time being friends, you finally have the courage to confess your feelings to him. But then you get into an accident then find out you have been dead for 300 years. And your beloved crush had been captured by the dark lord.

What in the actual fuck?

Warnings; Awkward obvious crush, maybe fluff, two nerds in love, dying, angst, death and war.

(Might get continued)

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"Celebrimbor. It's good to see you again, my friend," The dwarf greeted. "Narvi," The tall elf greeted back his friend. "I hope the journey was well. Come inside. I show you around," Narvi stated, then led Celebrimbor through the stone gate of Khazad-dum. Celebrimbor marveled at the dwarven city as this was his first visit.

The journey had been long, but it was worth it.

"About the mineral, we discussed before. I know a good place we could find it," Narvi explained as the two walked across the hallway. "Really? That's great," Celebrimbor stated. "Yes. The place is over the mountains, so it will be a long walk and raise our chances of finding it. We need one of our experts to accompany us," Narvi said. Celebrimbor's ears perked up when he heard that. "I didn't know you need an expert to find rocks," He said. "Well, our expert is a peculiar case. They're known to be able to find every mineral and jewel in a short time while we could be searching for hours," Narvi explained. "Interesting. If you have that much trouble finding things, does this expert have a special ability in that?" Celebrimbor asked. "Well, no. We don't know really how. She is just able to find them easily," Narvi answered.

"She?" Celebrimbor questioned. "Yes. Our expert is a young lady," Narvi smiled. "It might sound unusual, but she is a talented individual like any other of our smiths," He added.

Kaboom!

The whole mountain seemed to shake. Celebrimbor tried to stay on his feet while Narvi just sighed when it happened.

"My lord!" A dwarf came to inform. "What has she done now?" Narvi asked. "What was that?" Celebrimbor asked. "That... might have been our expert," Narvi answered. "Your expert?" Celebrimbor questioned, confusion written all over his face.

The two arrived at the scene. A workshop seemed to be on fire since thick smoke was coming out of the windows and the open doorway. Celebrimbor noticed the other dwarves just staring. And shaking their heads like this was a common occurrence.

You suddenly came out, stumbling on your feet. Your work apron and face were dirty with black ash. Your hair was all around your face, and you looked disoriented as well.

Celebrimbor took one good look at you. You were indeed a young lady. What was a lady like you doing with dwarves? He then noticed your ears which were round. You are a human as well.

"What happened this time, (Name)?" Narvi asked.

You coughed smoke out of your mouth. "I might have put too much pepper in the mix," You said as you leaned on a pillar for support. Narvi just sighed while Celebrimbor got curious. In what kind of smithing do you need pepper?

The elf couldn't help but get more curious about you.

"(Name), this is the fourth time this week. You need to stop using spices in your experiments," Narvi said in a scolding manner. "Sorry," You coughed, then started rubbing the ash from your face. "Anyway. (Name), I would like to introduce you to someone," Narvi explained as you stepped closer to the two. "Celebrimbor. Allow me to introduce you to (Name). She is an alchemist and our expert we talked about," Narvi said. "Hi. Nice to meet you," You stopped when you saw Celebrimbor.

You couldn't see well since you had ash on your face and were slightly disoriented, but now you couldn't help but stare at the elf before you.

He was tall. Slightly dark brown hair and the skin lightly tanned. He wore one earring on his right ear, and he was puff, not like super puffed, but you definitely could imagine his muscles under the shirt. He was most likely a blacksmith.

You have seen elves before, but something about this one was hypnotizing to you. Especially those silvery eyes that almost looked like two pairs of stars.

"(Name), this is Celebrimbor. He's the lord of Eregion," Narvi's voice snapped you out of thoughts. You coughed when you heard the title this elf possessed. "Are you alright?" Celebrimbor asked. You shook your hand in denial. "No! Everything is fine! Uhm! What can I do for you, my lord?"You bowed rather quickly. Celebrimbor, you knew that name. He's not just a simple lord; but also one of the great blacksmiths. His family also has a quite reputation.

"Just Celebrimbor is just fine," Celebrimbor stated.

"That explosion was quite big. Are you sure you're not in any sort of pain?" He asked. "It's nothing I'm not used to; explosions happen all the time. It's nothing to worry about, really," You explained with an awkward smile. "All the time? What are you doing in there?" He asked. "Just making some formulas and testing the properties of certain materials. You know, the boring stuff of alchemy. I'm sure it's nothing compared to your great works as a blacksmith," You explained with an awkward laugh. Your face heated up a bit. Oh, Mahal, this became awkward. Why are you this nervous?

Celebrimbor chuckled and looked away, and so did you.

Narvi glanced at you both and the way you behaved. He had a tiny smirk on his lips, hidden by his beard. It might look like embarrassment, but he can see the fluster on both of your faces. He has a feeling that something might grow out of this encounter.

And something was starting to grow between you and Celebrimbor.

You two started as friends, but it was pretty obvious how eager you were to spend time with the elf. You were also pretty nervous around him that even you could tell. You couldn't explain the feeling, but you liked it.

You would help Celebrimbor and Narvi to find precious jewels and minerals. Celebrimbor would always be surprised how easily you can find them while it would take hours for him. You would even find stuff that got misplaced. He calls it a peculiar quirk of yours. Nothing stays hidden from your sight, and that makes you more peculiar.

You two would hold discussions about your interests. You somehow get lost when talking about alchemy and all the formulas you have made. You thought you bore Celebrimbor since alchemy was not a well-known art, but he didn't mind. You listened when he talked about new ideas and inventions he could make. And he finds your ideas fascinating, especially your goal to figure out a formula to make gold. It was a goal you dreamed of reaching because turning things into gold could help people out of poverty. Celebrimbor was supportive and even offered his assistance from time to time.

You sometimes show fascination in smithing, and Celebrimbor was more than happy to show his work, even teaching you a thing or two. In return, you showed how alchemy worked and sometimes brought him materials that can't be found in the wild.

Celebrimbor would always be filled with wonder whenever you brought him new rocks or jewels to him.

Narvi watched how you two behaved around each other. Some people could say it was a deep friendship, but it was pretty obvious you had a crush on the elf.

You would accept Celebrimbor's every request, be it just an invitation to a walk or have some ingredients. You would listen to him speak with heart-filled eyes, and sometimes you get shy around him.

Narvi knows you have some social shyness and rather not interact with people because some of them had ridiculed your position as a woman, which caused you anxiety. However, how you acted with Celebrimbor was something else.

You once came to talk with Narvi about your crush, and he tried to encourage you to confess, but like a shy nerd, you refused. You tried to hide them, but your crush was starting to become obvious to everyone. Even to the one you had a crush on.

Celebrimbor was startled when he figured that you held feelings for him since he doesn't have a great family history of all people of middle earth. But he couldn't help but reciprocate them since he was very fond of you too.

You were a peculiar human and fun to be around. Celebrimbor finds it adorable when you bring him things and try to hide your obvious crush on him. Some of the dwarves started teasing him too. Some asked when was the confessing happening, and when they witnessed you bringing him new rocks, they call out to already confess. You're giving him gifts that could be a sign of courting.

That left him once a shy blushing mess.

So he gets teased a lot.

Some dwarves were not so into teasing the elf. They were protective of you since you are a valued member. They consider you as family.

Celebrimbor consoled Narvi about you and his growing feelings for you. Narvi could look in amusement as his elf friend shared his feelings for you. Celebrimbor thought he should look into the human rules of courting. Narvi then told him there was no need for it; since you were raised among dwarves. You were abandoned as a child at their doorsteps because your human father was not a good man.

That was news to Celebrimbor because you rarely talked about your past, but he also took it as a good sign. Since you are accustomed to the dwarven culture, confessing to you might be easier since he was now familiar with it. You might have forgotten, but giving priceless rocks and jewels as a gift is a courting custom among dwarves. That left Celebrimbor a blushing mess because you have been doing it for a long time without realizing it.

And you two shared one common thing because he knows what it was like to be abandoned by your own father. That was another thing that set him clear to court you.

Celebrimbor kinda asked Narvi for his blessing since you regarded Narvi as your familial figure. Narvi just laughed and said it was okay since he already knew it was gonna end up like this. Celebrimbor was his good friend, and you were old enough to take care of yourself, so Narvi had no problems if you two got together. He actually was pretty excited about it. It could be a lovely addition to their alliance among elves and dwarves.

Celebrimbor set out a plan to court you, and so were you, now that you had mustered enough courage to confess.

It was a simple plan. Ask Celebrimbor out for a walk, give him the courting gift you prepared and confess. Nothing terrible should happen with this. Right?

Until the night it happened.

You were nervously walking around in the garden, imagining scenarios in your head. Maybe this was a bad idea. What if he doesn't feel the same? What if you ruin your friendship with this confession?

You stopped and silently screamed. You were so nervous that you wanted to hide under a rock and never come out.

You looked down at the gift that was in your pocket. Will Celebrimbor like it? Will it be good enough for him? Maybe you should go back and do some fixes?

You stopped your thoughts and took a deep breath. You were overthinking again. Take a deep breath and calm down just like how Narvi taught you whenever you have a mental breakdown. Celebrimbor will like it. Even Narvi was sure it was a good gift for him.

It will end well, have some faith in yourself.

"(Name)," Celebrimbor appeared behind you, making you yelp and turn around in a startle.

"Sorry if I startled you," The elf chuckled. "No! No! I... was just thinking," You explained, your face hot with embarrassment. "It's a beautiful night, isn't it?" You asked, looking at the moon. "Yeah, it is," Celebrimbor nodded, looking at you. Silence filled the gap between you.

Your heart was pounding between your ears, and you could almost feel the blood rushing into your head. Your hand was nervously fidgeting against the gift box it was holding. Come on, do it now! It's your one chance!

"I need to -!" You and Celebrimbor simultaneously started. You stared at each other before chuckling. "You can go first," You said. "No, you can say it first," He said. "No! No! It's fine if you wanna go first," You said. "No! I insist," He said. "Okay," You agreed, then looked away for a moment.

Come on! This is it! Give him the gift!

You took a deep breath and pulled out the gift box.

"Here. I wanted to give you this," You quickly handed the box to Celebrimbor. He looked surprised before taking the gift box. "Thank you," He said with a smile.

"And I need to tell you something," You started. Celebrimbor's ears perked up. "Yes?" He questioned. You inhaled, preparing to say it all.

"I appreciate our friendship. You're my close friend, but I found myself in a predicament," You tried to say without stuttering, which was hard. "And what may that be?" Celebrimbor waited for you to say what he thought you were gonna say. His ears reddened up a bit since he was kinda excited about it. "You're a wonderful person, and it's okay if you don't feel the same..." Your face started to heat up. Oh Valar, this is it.

"What... I'm trying to say is!" Something shook the mountain, and an explosion was heard.

"What in the?" You started because this is literally the worst time to have anything to interfere with you.

"(Name)!" A dwarf came yelling.

"What's the matter?" You called out.

"Something happened in your lab! Come quick!" He yelled.

"My lab?" You questioned, glancing at Celebrimbor who held equal confusion.

Yellow, amber-colored substance was bubbling out of a pot. The students you took in to learn alchemy watched the scene helplessly.

You came running through the doorway. "What's going on?" You asked when you saw the state your lab was in.

There was almost amber-colored goo all over the floor, and more was coming out of the pot. It was a huge mess.

"Lady (Name). We were trying to finish the assignment you gave us, but something happened, and it's not stopping," one of your students explained. "What the -" You questioned because you had never seen something like this before.

The pot broke, and static lightning started to show. "Oh no," You said, knowing what was happening. A chemical reaction. "Everyone out!" You yelled. Your students quickly did what you said and ran through the door. One of them, however, tripped on the floor.

You went after them before you two end up in the crossfire; because the chemical reaction was getting more violent. Celebrimbor arrived and saw the scene.

You grabbed your student and tossed them toward the door. You were about to follow, but then something got stuck on your feet. You looked down and saw the yellow-colored liquid crystallizing around your feet because of the static lightning. This was not good. It rapidly grew around your knees, which made you unable to move.

"(Name)!" Celebrimbor called out, coming toward you when he saw you stuck. You glanced at the pot and saw it was about to explode.

"No!" You yelled Celebrimbor to stop, then a bright flash happened.

Celebrimbor got blinded by the light, then Narvi grabbed him, pulling him through the doorway before the explosion could get to them both.

An explosion then happened, and amber-colored crystals burst out of your lab.

Celebrimbor got up and looked at the horrifying scene. Your workshop got destroyed, and there was no sign of you. He ran inside, ignoring Narvi's calls to wait.

The elf managed to wiggle through the crystals that blocked his way and found himself back in your lab. His heart was beating hard as he anxiously looked for you, hoping you were alright.

His eyes landed on a pile of crystal, then his heart stopped. He found you, but not in the state he hoped you would be in.

Your eyes held terror. Your arm extended in a sign to stop. The crystal held you in its clutches, making you stand in that position, imprisoned.

Celebrimbor almost couldn't find his breath as he approached your state. He put his hand against the crystal. If it wasn't so thick, he could touch your face, but you were too far from his reach.

Tears started to fall before he finally started yelling. "Help!" He called out, hoping it was not too late to save you.

And that's how you perished in a freaky accident.

Celebrimbor and Narvi tried to dig you out of there, but since the crystal was chemically born. It only grew back whenever chunks were taken out of it, making it difficult to reach you.

Celebrimbor went through all of your notes and books, hoping he would find a solution or a formula to destroy the crystal, but there was none.

A year had gone spent to get you out of your crystal prison, but Narvi and other dwarves reached the conclusion that you had already died. Celebrimbor didn't want to believe it, hoping there was still time, but the sorrow finally made him crumble on his knees.

You were gone, and the love he held for you were left unsaid, which made the feeling worse.

A memorial was held, and those who regarded you as family mourned for your passing. It was a day full of sorrow, and the songs were enough to send the toughest dwarf into tears.

Alchemy was prohibited, and all the notes and books you ever made got confiscated into the deepest vaults. Never to be found or read ever again. It was to make sure no such incidents would ever happen again. Alchemy was dangerous. It took your life, so it was for the better no one will practice it.

All they could do for you now was to try to get your body out of the amber crystal for a proper burial.

Celebrimbor wanted to do the tasks, and Narvi agreed to have the crystal chunk you were in to be taken to Eregion. There Celebrimbor tried to focus on his duties as a lord and use his free time digging you out of the crystal.

It was hard for him. He could barely focus on his duties or look at you without falling into tears. Your death was an accident, but he sometimes wondered if he could have done something to prevent it.

He always holds your gift close to his heart. It was a bracelet with tiny charms attached to it. It had a dog and a hammer, representing his uncle and father. A tiny stone holding his favorite jewel, next to it was a plate with a dwarven symbol on it, and on the other side was a horse which was your favorite animal. To others, it might seem like a silly gift made with poor work, but Celebrimbor could care less about its flaws. It was perfect for him because it was from you.

He sometimes imagines about that night when you were about to confess. Maybe he should have said something sooner? Maybe he should have confessed first?

He knew about your feelings, and he felt the same, but he said nothing that night. He didn't even have a chance to give you his courting gift.

Celebrimbor stood in front of your crystal frozen body. He touched the surface with his tear fallen eyes. His mind played tricks on him, and he could still hear your voice and what you could have said that night.

"I love you too," He whispered, closing his eyes, allowing his tears to fall once more.

His grief almost took his life, allowing his fea to vanish from his body. Narvi had passed away from old age, and it was like all hope was gone. He was alone. Galadriel managed to console him before it was too late. His grief was heavy, but he slowly recovered. There were still a lot of things to do, so he could not pass away. Yet. His grief never left him, but he tried to remain strong. Even though; it was almost downright impossible.

You remained trapped in the crystal that took your life. In a chamber, no one was rarely allowed to use. Celebrimbor sometimes visits you and tries to work through the crystal. He even talks to you. Even though; You will never answer.

It was just his means of comfort since you used to listen to his rants. His life was still hard, but he hopes he can one day get you out of there ad bid his last goodbye to you.

(300 years later)

The chamber was shaking, stones were falling out of the ceiling, and loud booming noises were coming from outside. A boulder fell out of the rooftop and fell toward an amber-colored crystal. The impact caused the crystal to crack in half. A burning rock suddenly came through the wall and hit the crystal so hard a huge chunk fell out of it. The crystal started cracking more and more whenever it got hit.

The crystal finally broke, and your upper half came out. Your weight then cracked the rest of it, allowing your body to fall onto the floor.

Your eyes opened in shock when your lungs got filled with air. Your eyes looked around in panic. The chamber was crumbling all around you. You heard cracking above you, then saw a huge boulder coming right toward you. You couldn't move your body, so the only thing you could do was watch in horror as the boulder fell toward you. Darkness then took you once more.

Your consciousness awoke, and you let out a deep gasp. Your eyes looked around in panic since you remembered being crushed by a boulder. You took a deep breath, trying to control your racing heart. Your eyes looked up, and they saw the boulder right above you. It was close but not close enough to crush you. The stones on your sides must have stopped it before it could reach you. You were alive.

You turned around and started crawling out of the hole you were in.

You groaned as you fell over the boulder to an open floor. You couldn't feel your legs, so all you could do was push yourself up and look around.

You didn't recognize this place at all.

"Tyelpe..." Your voice was hoarse. "Narvi!" You called out again. No one answered. Where are they? Where are you?

You brought yourself to sit and started massaging your legs, trying to make blood flow into them again. You needed to get out of here.

You stumbled through the broken doorway and found yourself looking at the outside world. You shoved yourself to a stone baluster and looked where you were.

There was a city in ruins. Everything that was made with stone got reduced to dust, and there was still fire, burning that was left to burn. It looked like there was a war. And this was all that was left.

Some people were looking around, searching for something. Probably survivors.

You blinked a few times. You knew this city. This was Eregion, but why was it in ruins? What happened?

You turned around when you saw an elf. The elf looked at you before backing away and running away from you.

Your head started to sting hard. You groaned and fell on the floor in pain. You sat down, leaning against the baluster.

"Lady (Name)?" Someone said.

You looked and saw a tall elf dressed in blue and wearing a familiar star symbol. You recognized this elf. You have met once and twice before with Narvi and Celebrimbor.

"Lord Gil-galad?" You questioned.

The elf king kneeled before you. "Is it really you?" He asked, almost not believing his eyes. You groaned because your head was stinging again.

"What happened? Where is Celebrimbor?" You asked, motioning at the ruined city.

"Sauron. He attacked and took Celebrimbor captive," Gil-galad explained. "Sauron?" You questioned, then groaned again. The pain in your head was becoming bigger and bigger.

"How are you alive?" Gil-galad asked, supporting you. "I came... from there," You pointed out. "Why wouldn't I be alive?" You asked. "Lady (Name)," Gil-galad started. "You have been dead for 300 years," He said.

You stared at him with a dumbfounded expression.

"What?"

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raointean · 4 years

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Fellowship of the Pranksters: Playdate

One day, the family decides to go on a day trip to Tirion (it’s only like, 45 minutes ride from the Manor). Fëanor and Nerdanel are making a date of it. Caranthir is with Maglor who is looking for his sort of ex wife that hasn’t met him yet in this timeline. Celegorm and Curufin have stolen Celebrimbor and the Ambarussar and are causing mischief all over the city. The peredhil twins are still a bit too clingy to leave their parents so they go to a park/playground in the city. Maedhros goes with them, mostly to keep an eye on Elrond, and settles down nearby with a book.

While there, the twins meet another little boy and they play together all morning. The boy’s name is Cestanólë (literally ‘to seek knowledge’, aka, this kid is a nerd!) and as soon as they meet, he knows these kids are weird. For one thing, a thirty year old elfling stuffing his pockets with random rocks is rather unusual. For another, the fact that anyone would not speak Quenya is completely unheard of. That combined with the fact that they look slightly... off, prompts him to go talk to them.

Luckily for him, they know a tiny bit of Quenya and over the morning, they learn more. The best part for Cestanólë, is that he gets to learn a little bit of their language too! By the time lunch rolls around, they’re best friends (as is often the case with children) and he invites them to stay at his house for the afternoon.

They say that they’ll have to ask their dad. They ask Maedhros and, after only ten minutes of interrogation, they are allowed to go across the street to their new friend’s house.

Cestanólë’s mother, Táralé, is delighted that her son has made new friends but is rather bewildered by them. They appear to be foreign based on their lack of Quenya skills but she can’t think of where they could possibly be from. They also have a strange aura. A quiet power. They seem much more ethereal than other elflings their age.

She doesn’t think twice about Elrond’s rocks though. It’s just kids being kids.

The children play for most of the afternoon and just when she starts to worry about them getting home, she hears a knock at the door.

She is (understandably) terrified when she opens it. Standing in front of her is a nine foot tall elf that looks like he’s been through a meat grinder. He calms her as quickly as he can saying he’s here to pick up his sons. She quietly asks the twins to verify that it is in fact, their father and not some crazy trying to kidnap them.

Elros laughs and assures her that he’s just there to pick them up. Elrond is giving Maedhros a hug and demanding to be carried which eases Táralé’s fears about him. She asks if he would like some tea but he politely refuses saying that they need to go.

She tells him that he and his children are welcome anytime. He thanks her and they leave. She now has more questions than when they arrived.

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admirable-mairon · 6 years

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27. What do you think it was the most evil deed of Melkor? (bonus q from alina: what about the most evil deed of Sauron?) 29. If you were an elf in Middle-earth after the War of Wrath would you sail immediately to Valinor or wait a little more in Middle-earth?

27. All of these are such huge questions xD But ok hmm..... If we look at Melkor's actions on a micro (individual) level, then I would say it is the whole schtick with Hùrin. If we look at a macro (structural) level however, I would say it is the destruction of the trees, the theft of The silmarilli, the murder of Finwë and all The discord before that. I mention all these things because they were all depending on eachother. The aftermath wouldn't have been as bad if he hadn't fucked all of them over first and caused tension to grow.As for Sauron I would have to say that the whole deal with Celebrimbor was beyond evil BOTH on a micro and a macro level.On an individual level he built up trust, friendship and love, and then fucked all of them over big time (my poor darling Tyelpë...!).On a structural and international level this was ALSO the most evil thing. He destroyed one of the greatest cities in Middle - earth and got a lot of skilled people killed. People that could have kept gifting the world with wonders for centuries to come. And that's not even counting the CREATION OF THE NINE, SEVEN AND THE ONE. I don't have to tell you all how much evil this caused in many centuries to Come, because there are SEVERAL movies and games about them, and also you're all Tolkien nerds and I love you ❤️29. I think I would sail quite immideately, if we assume that my family and friends would do so as well.

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garden-ghoul · 7 years

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fellowship of the bloggening, part 7

“I actually checked this time and it’s totally part 7″

THE BRIDGE OF KHAZAD-DUM

Gandalf finds a bloodstained book by Balin’s tomb, and Tolkien makes it his mission to recreate as accurately as possible the experience of reading a partial text that needs Deciphering. Because he’s a nerd. The book is basically a family diary that recounts how things went for Balin & co since they came to Moria 30 years ago.

'I fear their end was cruel. Listen! We cannot get out. We cannot get out. They have taken the Bridge and second hall. Frár and Lóni and Náli fell there. Then there are four lines smeared so that I can only read went 5 days ago. The last lines run The pool is up to the wall at Westgate. The Watcher in the Water took Óin. We cannot get out. The end comes, and then drums, drums in the deep. The last thing written is in a trailing scrawl of elf-letters: they are coming. There is nothing more.'

I’m endeared, because this is exactly the kind of thing I wrote in my journals when I was 12 because I thought it sounded impressive--that semi-poetic repetition of we cannot get out and the “trailing scrawl” at the end where you can see someone was trying to run away while writing. I really want dwarven record-keeping to be a specific poetic form, I want every kind of writing to have a specific poetic form, up to and including sales receipts.

As the company is leaving the records chamber they hear the doom, doom of enormous drums (have always loved that as an onomatopoeia). Legolas and Gimli, the nerds, immediately quote from the ominous text they just read, to express their fear, and at the same time the hypothesis that whatever killed Balin’s guys is coming for them. Very elegant use of echolalia! But it does make them sound, like nerds.

They are attacked by orcs, bla bla, the hobbits are surprisingly courageous and good at fighting! Well, Frodo and Sam are. We hear nothing of valiant deeds performed by Merry and Pippin. They flee out the other door of the records chamber; Gandalf stays behind to do something--I thought he was sealing the door with magic, but he says he was nearly defeated by something up there? It did a magic battle with Gandalf over the lock of the door, which is terribly exciting but left our wizard exhausted. When the door exploded, something “dark as a cloud” was obscuring the room. One point for my firesmoke balrogs. Anyway, we reach another hall, one level below the west gate (I love how Gandalf is carefully narrating exactly where they are). This hall has familiar pillars carved into the shapes of enormous trees. I assume it’s one of Tolkien’s imagery obsessions, but still I’m adding it to the Menegroth-Angband-Mandos trifecta of places to face one’s doom. Doom, doom, say the drums in the deep. The company moves on to the narrow bridge over a Hella Pit, designed to be difficult and unsafe for enemies to cross.

Also there’s this really neat balrog description:

What it was could not be seen: it was like a great shadow, in the middle of which was a dark form, of man-shape maybe, yet greater. It came to the edge of the fire and the light faded as if a cloud had bent over it. Then with a rush it leaped across the fissure. The flames roared up to greet it, and wreathed about it; and a black smoke swirled in the air. Its streaming mane kindled, and blazed behind it.

So basically balrogs look like a cloud of black smoke concealing an enormous humanoid form, but their dash attack is rocket powered. Also later it says that it has wings that span the entire hall. Very cool, but not as cool as walking tripod jellyfish things that whip out tendrils of fire to sting people.

Gandalf faces the balrog on the bridge, cuts its flaming sword to pieces (hell yeah). And he makes a stopping-spell so powerful that his staff shatters as the spell takes effect, cutting the bridge in two. But as we know he gets dragged into the pit. The company flees into daylight, scattering terrified orcs before them, and then once they’re out of bowshot of the walls they all stand there weeping.

Will our heroes make it to

LOTHLORIEN?

Tune in right now to find out! Or, in a little while. Aragorn says, enough crying we have lots to do. Gimli takes a brief detour to see Dimrill Dale’s biggest tourist spot, the location where Durin first looked into the Mirrormere and saw a prophetic vision of himself becoming an eternal king. You can actually see the jewels in his crown down there “till he wakes.” Um. What? What are those? Ah also Gimli really really wants Frodo, specifically, to see this with him. He knows Frodo is a history nerd. I love him.

Anyway they hike until they get to Lorien; it being winter, the leaves on the trees are gold. Thanks Galadriel for acknowledging that seasons exist, kinda. Legolas notes that a “secret power” protects the wood, although apparently nobody knows what it is (Nenya). Boromir is less happy to be here, because in Gondor the rumor is that nobody who walks into the Golden Wood ever walks out. Probably because y’all aren’t exactly elf-friends.

'Perilous indeed,' said Aragorn, 'fair and perilous; but only evil need fear it, or those who bring some evil with them.’

Stares at Aragorn. Stares at the Ring, the most evil artifact left in the world. Stares at Aragorn again. Anyway they walk until they find the river Nimrodel, which Legolas says brings healing to the weary. So he paddles in it for a bit. When they make camp he sings about Nimrodel and her beau, but breaks off, saying that he forgot the rest. When did elves become able to forget things? This new?

Then there’s a long passage that I forgot to blog because it was really engagingly written, but basically our heroes meet some Lorien elves and hang out in treehouses for a while, Legolas and Gimli argue about why the Lorien elves distrust dwarves so much, and the party takes a stroll. Everyone gets un-blindfolded and Frodo and Sam talk a bunch about how dreamlike and unchanging Lorien is. Sounds like a terrifying place. There’s also an element of “echoes of the past” here; Frodo hears the sea and calls of extinct seabirds from on top of Amroth’s Hill. The implication is that Lorien has been unchanged for thousands of years, and Frodo feels it will remain that way forever.

THE MIRROR OF GALADRIEL

We enter the one and only city in Lothlorien, Caras Galadhon. This city is unique not only in that all the buildings are trees, but also in the fact that our heroes can’t see anyone there. They hear people moving around, talking, and singing, but they don’t see anyone. This implies some kind of very interesting culture, I’m sure. Well, when they get to the throne room or whatever, Celeborn greets each of the travellers by name, as if to impress upon them that he already knows everrrrythingggg. Galadriel is silent and scary until it’s time to correct her husband on the reason Gandalf isn’t here. The tale of Gandalf’s fall is told; Celeborn is so ready to blame dwarves for this, because he is as racist as ever, but Galadriel chides him for it like she always does. She speaks of Khazad-dum and environs in dwarvish, possibly for the purpose of flirting with Gimli, and they smile at each other.

He rose clumsily and bowed in dwarf-fashion, saying: 'Yet more fair is the living land of Lórien, and the Lady Galadriel is above all the jewels that lie beneath the earth!’

Did you have to put in ‘clumsily.’ We get it, he’s not an elf. Whatever. Gimli and Galadriel are cute, she’s trying very hard to show everyone that she’s less racist than her husband. I also want to appreciate how people keep using “before the fall of Gondolin and Nargothrond” as a very specific time measure. I’m guessing that that’s what people say when they mean “in the First Age” but don’t want to, uh, ruin immersion by being specific.

Our heroes get some much-needed rest. They sleep a lot and go for constitutionals among the trees. Legolas goes out to a lot of elf-ragers or something, and gradually starts bringing Gimli with him. Oh, you finally noticed he’s a real stand-up guy, huh? Well, it’s nice that they’re both making friends.

Later Galadriel fetches Frodo and Sam to look into her magic mirror. They see various things. Frodo last sees the Eye of Sauron, and Galadriel does a little speech about how she uses Nenya to defend Lothlorian from his eye and his mind.

‘Do you not see now wherefore your coming is to us as the footstep of Doom? For if you fail, then we are laid bare to the Enemy. Yet if you succeed, then our power is diminished, and Lothlórien will fade, and the tides of Time will sweep it away.’

Oho! So the Three do draw a good portion of their power from the One, even though Celebrimbor tried his best to make them independent. That must have taken some doing, forging a magic that would subjugate all free rings. I like to think that he had to put a constraint of rings only on it, in order for it to be strong enough to stand against Celebrimbor’s work. Also:

‘We must depart into the West, or dwindle to a rustic folk of dell and cave, slowly to forget and to be forgotten.'

Mmm perfect memory as maybe a First Age thing specifically; perfect memory that depends on the state of the world and maybe even the blessing of the Valar and their presence on the same planet. I friggin dig it. Frodo also offers Galadriel the Ring--one passing that I have to assume the Ring is actually encouraging, rather than its normal unwillingness to leave any one owner. Galadriel does her speech about what will happen if she gets the Ring. I read it as kind of a warning/intimidation tactic honestly. In the movie they portrayed it as a power trip and her being tempted, but I think she already finished tempting herself long ago and decided not to take it. The test she speaks of here isn’t a test of wisdom, it’s a test of willpower in sticking to the decision she already made.

#blog of the rings

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super-saiyan-senpai · 7 years

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Well, The Ringed City DLC for Dark Souls 3 was next to flawless! Now going way back to a game I just never got around to. A few of you know how big of a Tolkien nerd I am and I'm already stoked for the sequel. Honestly if I had known that the ghost with you was Celebrimbor I probably would have played when it came out, yet it just flew under my radar. Baruk Khazad! Khazad ai menu!

#super saiyan senpai #adam plays #shadow of mordor #ps4 #jrr tolkien #lord of the rings #the hobbit #the silmarillion #celebrimbor

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procrastinationonvacation · 3 years

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Celebrimbor, finishing the first section of his lecture on induced current: ok any questions?

Student: uh sir? this is a history class... physics isn't until 8 this evening

Celebrimbor: but it is 8

Student: ... am.... it’s 8 am sir

#i...just realised the history teacher isn't there???#we'll assume the history teacher is in the back row laughing their ass off #Brim has very little concept of time #he needs to look out the windows more often #he was up all night working on a Project #the history students are gonna know their physics tho #celebrimbor #Celebrimbor's city of nerds

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procrastinationonvacation · 3 years

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did the gwaith-i-mirdain make matching t shirts? Like COME ON: GWAITH I MIRDAIN “I TRIED IT AT HOME” T SHIRTS!

the matching shirts look like this:

#ok yes this is highly reliant on my “city version of a college” take #but HEAR ME OUT #Celebrimbor's city of nerds #celebrimbor #the second age

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procrastinationonvacation · 3 years

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Hello friend! As a representative of the“oh god why do I follow you” and co. may I present:

the Celebrimbor door - the Celebrimdoor

there was a version where the top just said “celebrimdoor” and the bottom was in elvish but this one looks better.

#warning for puns #just ignore that i can't really draw the gates very well #celebrimbor #a day may come when i stop writing puns #but it is not this day #this day i write #gwaith merch #it'd be a cool poster if i put a back ground #the tag is really just anything i draw for the gwaith cause once i draw it i immediately want.posster. cause i have no impulse control #I need to stop drawing in class #Celebrimbor's city of nerds

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procrastinationonvacation · 3 years

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Does the Gwaith I mirdain have like a motto catchphrase slogan thing?

Cause remember the t shirt idea i had? Well it got Worse:

I think this would look cool on like... a matte black water bottle? tbh im never gonna do it, but I have 2 exams tomorrow and dont wanna study.

I also made a mines of moria version cause why not I’m already stealing the crests and stuff from there. It’s blue and says speak friend and enter (I Think, I just copied from the drawing in the book, and now it’s in tengwar and i’m super sorry if it’s wrong)

#sorry for the bad image quality but the POINT IS i need help coming up with a catchphrase to stick on the hypothetical water bottle #it would also look cool as a mug?#idek where to get a mug/water bottle???#shhhh its ok tho #someone stop me #I need to stop drawing in class #gonna make a tag for this #gonna call it....#gwaith merch #celebrimbor #Celebrimbor's city of nerds #narvi

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procrastinationonvacation · 3 years

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Good day! It’s that anon again! I’m really sorry if I’m inundating you with asks but could you possibly given me your headcanons for the Gwaith-i-mirdain? (And you can ignore the other ask I sent, if that’s not really your cup of tea) I hope you are having a good day!

Hellooo captain anon! I hope you’re having a great day too!

*glee full clapping* ok I can write *unintelligible brain noise* Ok maybe I can’t write but that’s ok. Kidding, but this got long so I’m sticking it under a cut :)

So I think I’ve made it pretty clear to uh,,everyone,, that I imagine the gwaith i mirdain to be incredibly similar to a college, but dont know what a college Does! So here is all about my imaginary college:

I say a school, but what I really should be saying is research institute. Noldor are able to pursue discoveries there, it’s a space dedicated to finding new things out.

And on the rare occasion (practically every Saturday) a few of the incredibly intelligent and well educated members (reckless idiots) occasionally have experiments that have undesirable consequences (arson) then that is only a Natural part of these scientific pursuits.

In all seriousness, when there’s a new influx of people to the Gwaith, Celebrimbor and the rest of the board often take care that a more... spectacular... failure takes place.

It’s a good ice breaker, and students are a lot less intimidated by their World Famous Astro Physicist Professor when a slight singed smell still clings to them from the “totally safe and non explosive” volcano they and the global expert on continental shifting made the night before.

…I feel the need to defend our boy and say there IS a lab safety course!!! And you have to be trained to use every piece of equipment you interact with!!!! The actual research part of things is very safe!! Just... sometimes you’re in your lab late at night after a few too many drinks and there’s some old lighters, lamp fuel and a random scrap of uranium no one happened to be using... and really, who can blame you? You were left unsupervised!!!

Anyways the way I imagine getting to do research there working is you’re invited by someone who is already a member, then go through some kind of review process by some kind of board of directors, idk. You get a nice salary and access to labs and funding if, every 5 years, you teach a year long class. Or some kind of variation on that.

Learning there, now I would want that to be easy! You show up, you take classes, and in those classes you learn how to make different gemstones, or ... thingy things... idk. Finished products are then used to cover your expenses and the expenses of the Gwaith. The students aren’t gonna get rich, but no one’s hurting for money, and there’s Certainly no. freaking. student. debt. D:<

And like, on the way to being a professor, people can work up some kind of ladder, from, a TA, to a foundational course teacher, to a tutor, for example. And I want research to be accessible so we’ll say that everyone who works at the gwaith has access to materials for their projects/research.

Anyways thanks so much for the asks, Captain anon! I really enjoy them and hope this is what you were looking for :)

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Oh also, this started a bunch of investigation into the college I will be attending! And I’m really really glad I did it! They have a fencing club!! And Archery! There’s a waterfall!!!

#asks #Celebrimbor's city of nerds #also I saw that you wouldn't mind if I skipped the other one but uh my brain doesn't let me pull that kind of thing #and besides i had fun with it anyways #even if I'm bad at doing ship things doesn't mean i like..wont do them?#so thanks for the ask!!!#also I named you captain anon because I wanted to say you were the Capt-anon like captain without the i but idk #I just name my anons because im like that #if you want me to stop i will :)#Captain anon

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procrastinationonvacation · 3 years

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k so: I’m fixated on Gwaith i mirdain logos and I wanted one with the tree of the high elves, right? So im going along doodling (hence the horrendously messy lines) and end up with this: