#Vanyar aren’t Boring

[squirrelwrangler]

Iminyë is reborn in Valinor well before Imin. The healing process in Mandos and Lórien was neither short nor easy, particularly for a healthier mental state to overcome the extreme codependency bordering on a shared mind. But despite the centuries, she rejoins the Vanyar well before the Darkening. And out of necessity and growth, she chooses a new name. One beautiful but also in a way generic as to mask who she had initially been, for political optics if nothing else. Her daughter Ravennë rules, but she will only concern herself with philosophy and song and mathematics, the deep thoughts that are what the Vanyar (not Minyar anymore) care about here in Valinor. She calls herself Elemmirë.

#Vanyar aren’t boring #iminyë #is there a tiny hint of the gender ambiguity? yep #elemmirë #the elf that wrote the most famous song of grief - the one for the two trees

[imfromthemiddlekingdom]

Dark!Indis AU is so fun to write. To write her not as only a love sick fool but also a person who would do anything and everything to get the man she loves is so fun to explore. Like this AU is so out there, Feanor was born before the great journey and it wasn’t his birth that killed his mom but the second child she bore that “killed” her. But guess what!!! It wasn’t the birth that killed her but some scheme thought up by Indis!!! I love Indis as a character but I cannot wrap my head around the thought of her dooming her step child’s mother to an eternity in death because she loved his father. Sure Finwë also deserves blame but I haven’t seen many fics that depict Indis as someone who actively pursued him and was actively complicit in Míriels death. (Lalwendë is the daughter of Finwë and Míriel in this AU and Feanor has a good relationship with her but not the others since they aren’t his “true sibling”).

Like how much worse can I make the silmarilion if I made Míriels death not of natural causes but of murder??? It would make every interaction he has with his half brothers and sisters in this AU so much worse, like not only are they the children of the women who knowingly condemned his mother to an eternity in the halls but also the woman who had a hand in her death.

What if I made Rúmil one of the Unbegotten and the father of Míriel? What if I made things even worse! Like what if he refused to teach the children of Finwë’s second wife because they are the proof that his baby is never coming back??? Like the angst potential is crazy.

This also means that maybe in the halls Míriel finds out why she died and was so angry that the valar couldn’t let her out of the halls for fear of retaliation or something, like she saw the tapestries of Indis conspiring with other people to kill her and her daughter and pulled a Feanor??? We already know Feanor was his mothers replica in temperament so what if she was so angry that she literally cannot be allowed to be reembodied??? And thus the valar couldn’t consult her for permission for Finwë’s remarriage because they know she’ll never say yes and they know that indis’s line would go on to do great things so they must be allowed to be born but if they consult with Míriel she would’ve left the halls out of spite despite her healing or lack there off.

Maybe once Finwë dies and found out about the situation that led to her death he had to rethink all interactions he had with Indis, maybe once Finwë refused to be reembodied she started to reflect on her actions and maybe repents? Maybe she doesn’t since she believes that she was more worthy of his hand being of the line of Imin. What happens once all their descendants arrive in the halls and find out what happens? Like I’m sure there were many Noldor who did not approve of a Vanyar Queen and who followed Feanor and once they found out what happened to their “true” queen how mad do you think they’d be?

How mad do you think Feanor would be to finally have confirmation that he was right to be suspicious of his step mother, how would Fingolfin react to this? Would he start to understand why his brother hated his mother or would he not?

#the silmarillion #feanor #finwe #indis #miriel #Fingolfin #Lalwendë #this AU has been in my mind for ages and I’m only just starting to write it

[elamarth-calmagol]

Some suggestions for elf skin color

I think a lot about the logic of elven skin color.  Elves were born before the sun existed, so it makes sense that they’d be pale, since sunlight is literally the only thing that leads to different skin tones.  But we don’t want all our elves to be pale, do we?  It’s boring and racist.  And the sun eventually rose, so do we have a lot of sunburned elves?  The problem is, there aren’t enough generations, especially generations after the sun, to evolve different skin tones.

There actually aren’t enough generations of Men to do that, either: Men have been around for roughly 7,000 years by the War of the Ring, whereas in the real world, homo sapiens have been around for an estimated 200,000 years.  That’s easily excused by saying that Men awoke in several places (similar to a theory that used to be believed by scientists, though I think it was falling out of favor by Tolkien’s day) and Eru created them to have the right skin color for the place they live.  It’s a bit more complicated when everyone awoke in the same place like elves.  They did wake up in different groups, though, at least according to the one story about Cuivienen we have.  (I’ve mentioned in the past that I think that’s a myth, but it probably has some basis in truth.)

Anyway, here are a few ideas I have for elvish skin color (and other racial characteristics).

1. The easiest one: forget science and just choose whatever colors you want for your characters.

2. Different races within the elves have different appearances.  Keep in mind that the Avari are made up of both proto-Noldor and proto-Teleri, so they’d be mixed.

3. The different groups of elves who first woke at Cuivienen each were a different race.  So the Vanyar (consisting of one group) were mostly all alike, whereas the Noldor and Teleri had two groups each, so they each have two different races mixed up within them.  This and #2 suggest their society would probably be racist in a similar way to ours.

4. Everyone is dark skinned because that was the first human skin color and they haven’t had enough generations to evolve anything else.

5. Everyone is light skinned because they were developed for a world without light.

6. The elves at Cuivenen had random skin colors, because there was no evolution to demand one or another.  So there are all sorts of what we’d consider mixed-race elves, and skin color doesn’t have any sort of cultural significance to it.

7. The rising of the sun triggered skin color genes within elves to express themselves, and within a couple of years, everyone had changed to darker skin tones, even though they’d previously all looked alike.  The implications would be interesting.  Would they not care because there’s no pattern to it?  Or would they prefer people who had lighter skin because they looked more like everyone used to look?

8. The genes were only triggered in the generation born after the sun rose.  If you have really pale skin, everyone knows you’re old.  That could either be good (old people are respected) or bad (you’re not adapted to the sun and burn all the time).

9. Their skin changes significantly due to sun exposure, especially considering how long they live.  It’s not like us getting tans or freckles: they can go from very light skin to brown skin if they’re out in the sun.  (I think there’s canonical evidence for elves having changes to their skin if they’re exposed to sunlight, because Tolkien specifically mentions Galadriel and Arwen having white arms.  This was commonly used to show that a lady was high class, because she didn’t have to work in the sun and could choose to use a parasol or something when she did go out.  So presumably he’s signaling that they’re nobility by saying that, which means they must tan or something?  Anyway, if the changes are big, this would matter more.)

10. Evolution happens with the cells in their body rather than on a species level, so if cells with more melanin survive better, the elf turns dark skinned over hundreds or thousands of years, whereas if they’re not getting enough vitamin D, they turn lighter again.

11. This only affects where the light touches, so they have really, really noticeable farmer’s tans.

12. Their skin is determined by how much sun exposure they get in their first few years.  People living in the woods (e.g. Maeglin, who is canonically pale) have lighter skin than people living on the coast.

13. Their genetics are triggered by how much sun their parents got just before they were born.

14. Lamarckian evolution is true for elves, so if a parent tans, their child gets that skin tone rather than the parent’s original skin tone.  A lot of elves are born freckled or sunburn red.

15. Elvish evolution goes at warp speed compared to ours, with noticeable evolutionary differences between a parent and a child.  This could relate to non-racial traits, too.

16. Laurelin’s light counts as sunlight, so the Noldor exiles have much darker skin than the Sindar they come across.

17. Laurelin’s light does not count as sunlight, and in fact, elves interact with sunlight in a very different way than Men because of their history with the Trees.  They don’t need sunlight for vitamin D (likely true, otherwise all pre-sun elves were vitamin deficient), and they also don’t get burned by it, so skin tone doesn’t matter and is either completely random or somewhere in the middle.

18. Since they have to create babies with a conscious use of their fea, elves have designer babies, where they get to influence things like height and what color their skin and hair is.  A child’s appearance is based on their parents’ aesthetic choices.  I don’t even know where to start with the cultural implications of this one.

19. Elves can change their skin color over time to whatever works best for them, because they have conscious control over their bodies.

20. The differences in elves’ skin is imperceptible to mortal eyes, and they don’t understand why we think they all look alike when OBVIOUSLY he has stripes and she has patches and so on.

21. If you really want to go off canon, you can have some wild things, like elves’ skin matching the colors of the things around them, so wood-elves have green skin and Noldor have gold or gemstone-colored skin and the Falathrim have stormy gray skin.

22. Or elves just have green or gold or gray skin, nobody’s stopping you.

23. Or they’re like octopuses or chameleons, changing skin color to blend in or communicate.

24. Elves don’t have skin, they have exoskeletons.  Or environmental suits that cover their skin 100% of the time.  Or something else sci-fi.  (There are plenty of possible explanations here for their glowing eyes, too.)

25. I don’t know, you fill this one in.

#lotr #analysis #tolkien #silmarillion #meta #headcanon #elves #middle earth #fantasy races #worldbuilding

[nurantarenendurath]

The Silmarillion: Lawfull Good-Chaotic Evil

Lawfull Good: Manwe, Varda, basically most Valar, cause they are boring

Neutral Good: Telerí, Vanyar, cause they are like: Don’t bother us with anything, we just trying to chill!

Chaotic Good: Mandos, cause he is like: You betray us well then fuck you too! Tulkas because he smashes everything

Lawfull Neutral: Vaire, cause she is like: I’m gonna weave that shit and no ones stopping me!

True Neutral: Ulmo cause he be like: Yeah I’m gonna look over everyone and help the Eldar

Chaotic Neutral: Thingol, Turgon and Finarfin cause they all just sit in their castles and basically do nothing and if they do something ist usually a horrible mistake!

Lawfull Evil: Feanor, all his sons, most of the Noldor, they have an honorable goal yet they aren’t very good at fulfilling it, also Túrin who is just a mess

Neutral Evil: Osse, who just messes up the ocean

Chaotic Evil: Melkor, pretty self explanatory, Mairon, same here, Ungolianth, all the Balrogs, basically all the most interessting characters

Eru is somwhere in between Lawfull Good and Chaotic Neutral, cause he just kinda destroyed a whole island and changed the shape of the world and also made it possible for Melkor to do everything he did

#Silmarillion #chaotic evil #Melkor #Mairon #Manwe #Valar #Thingol #Feanor #elves #characters #tolkien #lotr #lists #stuff

[ao3feed-tolkien]

Klingon Promotions Among the Vanyar

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/2QbB5g1

by heget

It is high time that I explained a head-canon that became the bedrock upon which sits "Of Ingwë Ingweron". Building off some ideas about the Vanyar and my ideas and opinions about Cuiviénen, I landed on what I swear is not a crack theory.

Words: 2793, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Fandoms: The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien

Rating: Not Rated

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: Gen

Additional Tags: Originally Posted on Tumblr, Headcanon, Meta, The Vanyar, Vnyar aren't Boring, Klingon Promotion Vanyar, Imin is not Ingwë, Canon is Vague, It doesn't contradict canon except maybe in spirit?, Cuiviénen, Cuivienyarna

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/2QbB5g1

#IFTTT #ao3feed #fanfic #Tolkien #JRR Tolkien #Tolkien works #ao3 #fan fiction

[squirrelwrangler]

I was rereading HoME & the way the Vanyar are described ("noble", "generous", "gentle", "blessed") really stood out to me. Do you think the Noldor had this weird attitude towards the Vanyar that was simultaneously pedestalization + condescension (a teeny bit like the noble savage trope)? Because the way they viewed the Teleri/Sindar/Edain was pretty iffy, so why are the Vanyar described in such positive terms? ((Asking because I really enjoy your meta & the historical connections you make))

Yep, I picked up on that too - and you’re also right in that the reason it comes across that why is because the Noldor in-universe and textually via author biases are very condescending and racist towards the Teleri/Sindar/mortal men. So the Vanyar as Fair Ones smacks of fetishization of their uncommon appearance and that physical beauty is that all they’re good for or why anyone would want them. Look at those pure simple farmers with their plain boring clothes and their mindless but pretty songs, just adoring this paradise and the Valar and how grateful that they don’t have to think about anything. Pure Arcadia. Not like us clever complicated Wise Noldor. 🙄

#replies #its envy and backhanded compliments #Vanyar aren’t Boring #each group in tolkien are biased and a bit racist but i choke on my drink if anyone claims the Noldor are the least racist #it rubs me weird that Vanyar women marry noldor but no mention of the reverse #also is there irony in the Arcadia idyllization trope popping up again but with Vanyar applying it to the Edain? yuuup

[squirrelwrangler]

I follow you because of your Vanyar headcanons, Ingwe/Indis characterization, and because you have the same (unpopular) fandom opinions that I do plus the ability to articulate them so well.

Aw, I feel that I don’t articulate my opinions and meta, at least when it comes to character analysis, even a fraction as well as other fans do (and why there are some discourse and some hypocrisy that trigger me to this day), but I’m glad to be that voice in the wilderness saying you’re not alone.

And Vanyar aren’t Boring; I’m so glad there are other fans!

#replies #Anonymous

[squirrelwrangler]

Silm Fic List

The master-post page isn’t reblog-able, but anyways, here’s just the Silmarillion stuff:

The People of Bór:

In the Camp of the Bright Ones (Inspired by My Bór Head-Canon)

A Vulture with the Sun in Its Talons (sequel to first Bór story)

Bledda and the Beast (Bór OC meets his first dog)

And So Did Borte Gather Her People (prequel to the Bór stories, of the immediate aftermath of the Nirnaeth Arnoediad for the overlooked)

Revenant (sequel to Bledda and the Beast, preview of the long ‘Bledda’s family as part of a Vanyar platoon’ War of Wrath fic)

The People of Bëor:

The Adventures of Irongrip and Rage Bunny (Serious fic about Angrod, Aegnor, and loving mortals)

Gone Fishing (Angrod and Bregolas Friendship Fluff)

Neighborhood Watch (Finrod wants a safe home for his new friends)

The Gift of Men/ The Brides of Death (proto-Bëorian history preserved in the attire of their Wisewomen)

That Summer When Aegnor and Angrod Had to Intervene in the Inception of a Clan Feud (3 sentence explanation of a line from ‘Gone Fishing’)

Boromir and the Marshes - Part 1 (Boromir of Ladros as his people decide to move to Dorthonion)

Whacha Gonna Call It? (AU where Aegnor and Andreth have a child, Angrod is a great godfather)

Howl (young Beren foreshadowing, companion piece to The Brides of Death)

Heart-Shield (I wrote you Barahir/Emeldir, whoever you are)

The Vanyar:

Ingwë of Cuiviénen (wip) : 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 (History of the elves and their High King)

The Pride of the Vanyar (Vanyar aren’t boring)

Ele! (The duel between Imin and Ingwë - see explanation)

Zen Vanyar 1, 2 (flash fics about Vanyar calligraphy)

Honor Songs (Ingwë’s relationship with his wife)

Feasting with the Lions of Valmar, Part: 1, 2, 3 (Ingwion asks his parents to lead the Army of the Valar)

Laughing Maiden (Lalwendë, granddaughter of Alako, is born)

Flowers (prompt for Indis)

Erikwa (Imin and Iminyë character study- of oswarë and the oldest fears)

Summer Olympics Oiolossics (Indis and her kids)

The Sindar and other Teleri:

Making Friends (Elwë befriends Finwë plus overwhelming Cuiviénen world-building)

The Smell of Raindrops and Lightning (Elu/Melian fluff)

Wall the Heart (Manchurian Agent in Menegroth), Part: 1, 2, 3, 4.

Family and Wolves (Elu Thingol on Beren’s leap)

Wisp’light through the Trees (baby Eöl panics)

Wisp’lights Ain’t to be Trusted (more baby Eöl panics, because welcome to proto-orcs)

Grief is an Undertow (Ilsë mourns, the Teleri return to Beleriand)

Widow’s Walk (what Elwing seeks at the end of the voyage)

Sewing Circle Songs by the Sea (young Eärwen makes sailcloth with her family)

Swan-ships (they’re equal and greater in worth than the Silmarils)

Maeglin/Elwing (AU, not total crack, House of Mole becomes House of Orange-Nassau)

Others:

Voices of the Dead (Maglor will choke a bitch)

Alone of Hounds of the Land of Light (Huan’s guilt until Lúthien offers him redemption)

The Weaver of Time (musing on the concept of Vairë)

Gabriel (flash-ficlet prompt Eönwë)

Girdle of Starlight (Varda and Melian)

The Kindly Man (prompt for Manwë, air has weight)

Wizards’ Duel (Ilmarë as Sauron’s ex-girlfriend the terror bird)

The Lady with Diamonds (who is Curufin’s wife?)

Nimloth’s Knives (Nimloth flash-ficlet prompt)

snippet of a Princess Tutu fusion

Nerdanel and Indis (various head-canons, sort-of shippy)

Castles in the Sky (young nerds Elenwë and Turgon)

Beren’s Band of the Red Hand:

The Bull and the Tides (the first of the ten companions of Beren and Finrod)

Pins (the seventh of the ten companions of Beren and Finrod)

Kingfisher in a Cage (the fifth of the ten companions of Beren and Finrod)

Promise You Won’t Forget (the ninth of the ten companions of Beren and Finrod)

Survivor’s Guilt Coda (Beren after the deaths of the eleven)

Eyes Bright with Honor (the fourth of the ten companions of Beren and Finrod)

Three Leagues (the second of the ten companions of Beren and Finrod)

Release from Bondage (prisoners find love in Angband - AO3 link)

Our Lady of Canine Compassion (warg redemption is very important)

Girls of Minis Tirith (heroine from Release from Bondage and her friends, pre-Angband)

#blog housekeeping #my fics #silm fics #damn there's a lot now #i wonder how many of my followers have read all of these? #i always welcome inbox or messaging about any of them #reviews or questions (or your tears)