#anyway I understand why the noldor did it

[curufiin]

*brandishes a notebook and mechanical pencil* tell me everything

OKAY. SO. (oh my god this is so long)

VERY basic lore there was this guy called Fëanor who was apparently just the SEXIEST fucking elf ever. Like canonically one of the hottest guy to have ever existed.

For Fëanor was made the mightiest in all parts of body and mind: in valour, in endurance, in beauty, in understanding, in skill, in strength and subtlety alike: of all the Children of Ilúvatar, and a bright flame was in him.

He had seven kids (and a LOT of war crimes), topic for another discussion because we’re mainly focused on the two that everyone is freaking out about. For reference their names (in birth order) are Maedhros, Maglor, Celegorm, Caranthir, Curufin, Amrod, and Amras. We’re gonna look at Celegorm and Curufin specifically.

So, one of the most notable things about Celegorm and Curufin is that (aside from literally maybe three occasions), they’re basically always mentioned together.

“Celegorm was almost always in the company of his brother Curufin / Curufin was almost always in the company of his brother Celegorm” — Tolkien Gateway

In fact, in an early draft of Silm, Curufin was actually the fourth son of Fëanor, and not the fifth. Not sure why he changed it but yeah, they’re basically best friends on top of being bros. They ruled a kingdom together and committed many war crimes together and it was good!

Celegorm, specifically, is extra special. He and his brothers belong to a group of elves called the Noldor, which is kinda like a nationality/ethnicity. They’re noteworthy for having dark hair, and they looove making things like jewelry and other forge objects. In fact, Fëanor was so good at it that if he wasn’t, this book wouldn’t even exist but anyway. Celegorm is special because he literally just straight up fails to be a typical Noldo because why the hell not I guess?!?!?

In the book he is given the epithet “the Fair”, and in canon it’s up for debate whether fair is used in the sense that he’s super hot or fair as in light colored in reference to his hair. However, multiple early drafts state that he has “golden” or “gleaming” hair, or some other wording, but either way his hair was noted to Not Be Black even though Parent 1 had black hair and Parent 2 had reddish hair.

But up there starts / amid the throng, and loudly cries / for hearing, one with flaming eyes, / proud Celegorm with gleaming hair / and shining sword — The Lay of Leithian

“Then Celegorm arose amid the throng (p. 169). In QS this is followed by ‘golden was his long hair’. In the Lay at this point (line 1844) Celegorm has ‘gleaming hair’; his Old English name was Cynegrim Fægerfeax (‘Fair-hair’), IV. 213. The phrase was removed in The Silmarillion text on account of the dark hair of the Noldorin princes other than in ‘the golden house of Finarfin’ (see I. 44); but he remains ‘Celegorm the fair’ in The Silmarillion p. 60.” — Christopher Tolkien’s nonsensical ramblings I pasted from Tolkien Gateway because I don’t have some of these books. Basically every mention of Celegorm with something about his hair color

In published Silm, Christopher removes the mention of Celegorm’s hair color and I will kill him for it, but as he said he is still referred to as Celegorm the Fair in the narrative, so Tolkien probably did intend on “fair” being used to talk about his hair color. Popular fanon often draws him with either very light blonde or straight up white hair as well. This is a whole nother thing but all you need to know is that this guy’s blonde and it’s SUPER weird.

The Noldor also love making things. There are many, many mentions in the book of their love for making things and shiny gems, and I will put a few of them here

“The Noldor also it was who first achieved the making of gems…”

And it came to pass that the masons of the house of Finwë, quarrying in the hills after stone (for they delighted in the building of high towers), first discovered the earth-gems, and brought them forth in countless myriads; and they devised tools for the cutting and shaping of gems, and carved them in many forms.

Many jewels the Noldor gave them, opals and diamonds and pale crystals…

So on and so forth. The Sons of Fëanor are even said to visit the house of Aulë (god/patron of rocks and gems and making shit) often. However, Celegorm was the noteworthy exception, because he likes hunting, and instead followed the teachings of Oromë, patron/god of animals and hunting shit and what have you.

but Celegorm went rather to the house of Oromë, and there he got great knowledge of birds and beasts, and all their tongues he knew.

He even got a dog from Oromë! Why is this important, you ask? Well okay it’s not but popular fanon tends to portray him as tall and strong and muscular, presumably because of the hunting, and i’m sure riding horses all day in Beleriand’s shaped up his thighs quite nicely. Anyway so that’s why Celegorm is literally Elton Prince. ONTO CURUFIN WHICH SHOULD BE SHORTER.

Curufin is named “Curufin the Crafty” in the book, and he “inherited most his father’s skill of hand”. He’s also his dad’s favorite son because they bave such similar interests (and temperament?), to the point that Fëanor gave Curufin the same father name he had, which is Curufinwë. Not a set up for daddy issues later in life, I’m sure.

Since Fëanor was such a renowned Thing Maker and toiled often in the forge, and since Curufin was said to inherit dad’s skill, you could probably assume that he also spent many long hours in the forge hammering away at whatever. And all that hammering (not the sexy kind sadly), on top of Hot Dad genetics, would probably mean that Curufin is also pretty hot and muscular. Personally I like to draw Curufin as being short and a little pathetic just for comedic effect but I’m sure he’s got some well formed muscles from all that hammer swinging and horse riding.

Celegorm and Curufin in fanon (and arguably even in canon even though their canon selves are a lot more grim and depressing) tend to have this almost cartoony villain bro vibes? They also tried to usurp their cousin’s kingdom city together, which was what I quoted in that other post of yours. This comic illustrates the more lighthearted version of their dynamic extremely well because in book canon… let’s just leave it at they’re criminals LOL.

Other cunty depictions of Celegorm and Curufin which will describe their dynamic way better than my words can.

This from the Lay of Leithian Rock Opera

Another one for good measure

Guys come on now

I’m sorry i’m looking at their VK page

Here Curufin reached for the crown and Celegorm moved it out of his way COME ON

They’re so fucking extra

Basically they’re like Jesse and James but a thousand times more evil but they have that vibe. Think funny, bantery, sometimes a little comically stupid (assuming you’re not putting them in book situations then they get real nasty real fast). Which means they’re the WWE bros. I hope this makes sense

#ask #the silmarillion #celegorm #curufin #<3333 thank you so much for indulging me they’re my favorite guys ever

[thelordofgifs]

In Defence of the Sons of Fëanor

Wait, again? Yes, always. But not anything really bad! Kinslaying, I hope we can agree, is pretty indefensible. But an accusation I often see levelled against the younger sons - that they failed to rescue Maedhros from Angband out of cowardice/stupidity - is bugging me. So! Before I get a fandom reputation as "the Gil-galad poster", I thought I might write something about a character I actually care about - Maglor! Also his younger brothers, but Maglor is the one I’m particularly invested in defending.

In fic (particularly a lot of Russingon fic) the views I tend to see expressed by characters, and backed up by the narrative, go something like "The Fëanorions heartlessly refused Morgoth's offer to release Maedhros and left their brother to torture for thirty years! Dangling from a cliff in full view of their camp! But then heroic Fingon showed up and immediately rescued him with nothing more than a bow and a harp - he barely even stopped to eat first!"

Firstly, I obviously understand that views expressed by the characters are not that of the author. It is absolutely valid for Fingon to accuse the Fëanorions of cowardice, and completely in-character for Maglor to feel incredibly guilty about not rescuing Maedhros (and in fact a pretty essential part of their dynamic, in my opinion). My issue is with fics that very much imply that this view is the Only Correct One. There are a lot of things Maglor does wrong over the course of the Silm. This is not one of them.

Beginning with the refusal to surrender to Morgoth in exchange for Maedhros’ release - I hope nobody seriously considers this a bad decision? A crushing one, certainly. You can write really sad fic about this (I plan to). But the Noldor had just received an excellent lesson in why trusting Morgoth to parley was a bad idea. They had no reason to believe that Morgoth would actually release Maedhros if they surrendered - which is correct. He wouldn’t have. The published Silm adds, “and they were constrained also by their oath” - incidentally, a fairly compelling point of evidence in favour of the oath being binding in nature to some extent, but not the point here. The point here is that they couldn’t have surrendered to Morgoth, and shouldn’t have anyway.

So, with that out of the way, we can accept that what Maglor et al are being accused of is not refusing to parley with Morgoth, but failing to mount an independent rescue mission.

(Incidentally, it’s generally assumed that Maglor, the second-eldest brother, was the one in charge during Maedhros’ captivity. I usually subscribe to this myself, but I would also like to note that Maglor is not once named during the description of these events. It’s always “the sons of Fëanor”, as a unit. You could make a pretty strong case that they were deciding things together, or even that one of his younger brothers had usurped him somewhat - C&C have form in that area…)

Actually before I move on from Morgoth’s proposed deal, an important question: did Maedhros’ brothers know that he was alive? According to (I think) the Grey Annals, Maedhros was captured in YT 1497, and suspended from Thangorodrim in YT 1498 - presumably after his brothers had refused Morgoth’s offer. That’s potentially around 10 years in which they heard nothing, before Morgoth makes them the offer! Perhaps they reasoned that Morgoth wouldn’t have put such a valuable prisoner to death; perhaps not. It’s doubtful they were offered actual proof that Maedhros was alive, at any rate.

“Sure,” you might say, “but they definitely knew he was alive once they could see him suspended from Thangorodrim!” I can’t actually express how strongly I disagree with this common headcanon. The Fëanorions couldn’t see Maedhros on the cliff! Where did people get this idea from? I presume it’s because of Legolas’ various physics-defying feats of eyesight in LoTR. I would like to make the argument here that there’s no reason to assume Noldor accustomed to the light of the Trees could see as well in the starlight as a Silvan Elf of shadowed Mirkwood, but that’s not really necessary. There’s much stronger evidence pointing clearly to the fact that Maedhros wasn’t visible: Fingolfin’s host marches right up to the gates of Angband and nobody notices him. He even yells for help, and they don’t hear him! There is no way that anyone knew he was there (and the Sun had risen by this stage, too. If he was visible, they’d have seen him.) I’m allergic to geography, so don’t take my word on this, but my understanding is that Thangorodrim is a whole little mountain range or something, not like a single cliff. As additional support for this, Fingon gets lost on his eventual rescue mission (in which he’s trying to break into Angband itself, because that’s where he thinks Maedhros is) and only finds Maedhros when he hears him singing. The Fëanorions were absolutely not spending thirty years going “ooh look clear day today! Give Nelyo a wave!”

The next thing to tackle is the odd implication that rescuing Maedhros was really easy, actually, and his brothers were cowards for not even attempting it. Not only do I think this untrue, I don’t see why you’d want it to be true? Fingon’s rescue of Maedhros is one of the best parts of the silm. It’s moving because Fingon is so so brave, and he’s brave because what he attempted was impossible. There is seriously NO reason why that should have worked, and that’s what’s wonderful about it. Suggesting that Maedhros’ brothers held back from attempting a rescue because of cowardice or not caring about him, and not because it couldn’t be done, imo really devalues the magnitude of Fingon’s act of grace.

On a more practical level, nothing about the description of the rescue mission suggests it was easy and anyone could have done it? I genuinely hate to make this joke but… one does not simply walk into Angband. Fingon is specifically described as “aided by the very darkness that Morgoth had made” - a darkness which, you recall, he had made in response to the light of the new Sun. If you’d tried to walk up to Thangorodrim before Morgoth had made his smog, you’d have been caught! There were orcs there! And probably all manner of other fell beasties! Maedhros absolutely couldn’t have been rescued before the rising of the Sun, and specifically Morgoth’s response to it.

A final point - the somewhat common claim that Fingon immediately, the instant he learned what had befallen Maedhros, set out to rescue him, and didn’t even stop to like, brush his teeth first. This is a nice image! The Russingon feels are unparalleled! Unfortunately, I don’t think the text backs it up. The published silm states that Fingon went to Angband “resolved to heal the feud that divided the Noldor”. This rather strongly implies that Fingon only left on his mission some time after he arrived at Mithrim, since there was clearly time for tensions to arise between the two hosts. One of the Annals (Grey or of Beleriand? I get them mixed up - at any rate, the timeline on Tolkien Gateway) puts this in even starker terms, stating that Fingolfin’s host arrived at Mithrim in Year 2 of the Sun, and Fingon rescued Maedhros in Year 5. That’s three years of waiting around before he set out! Now, you could headcanon that maybe Maglor et al told Fingon that Maedhros was dead, and he only later learned that they meant “captured and we never found a body” - but it’s also possible that he knew Maedhros was a captive the entire time, and still didn’t do anything. Three years is obviously not the same as thirty, but I find this detail interesting even so. It rather muddies the dichotomy of “Maedhros’ brothers didn’t care enough to rescue him, Fingon immediately saved him” that I often see.

tl;dr the Fëanorions weren’t cowards who didn’t love their brother, they were sensible and it’s tragic.

Right I hope that was a fairly measured and reasonable post (it was supposed to be at any rate) so now I can very quickly say how DARE you imply that Maglor didn’t love Maedhros consider how close he settles to Himring consider how he’s the only one Maedhros brings with him to the Mereth Aderthad consider their last debate ie the most heartbreaking dialogue in the entire book consider how he’s right and yet he still follows Maedhros in stealing the Silmarils consider how he only finally breaks after Maedhros’ death you can pry that tender loving codependent relationship from my COLD DEAD HANDS ok I’m normal now :)

#silmarillion #meta #my meta #maglor #maedhros #fingon #the line of miriel #accuse my poor little meow meow of crimes! #but accuse him of the right crimes at least #this is mostly directed at an imaginary person who claimed all these things #since they’re most commonly arguments I see separately #but I decided to rebut them all together

[nyxshadowhawk]

I Read The Silmarillion So You Don't Have To, Part Four

Here are the previous parts:

https://nyxshadowhawk.tumblr.com/post/726120109073104896/i-read-the-silmarillion-so-you-dont-have-to-part

https://nyxshadowhawk.tumblr.com/post/726261927846772736/i-read-the-silmarillion-so-you-dont-have-to-part

https://nyxshadowhawk.tumblr.com/post/726476229805473792/i-read-the-silmarillion-so-you-dont-have-to-part

Chapter 7: Of the Silmarils and the Unrest of the Noldor In which the peace is disturbed by conspiracy theories and shiny objects.

Fëanor decides to preserve the light of the Two Trees of Valinor… you know, in case anything ever happens to them. Somehow, using all of his knowledge and power and craftsmanship, he captures their light and uses it to create THE SILMARILS! The Silmarils are the biggest, brightest, and most beautiful gemstones in the history of Elfkind. No one but Fëanor knows what they’re made of (and at this point in time, he isn’t exactly in a position to tell anyone), but they look like diamonds and are completely unbreakable. Just as the bodies of the Children of Ilúvatar are shells for the soul, the crystal that composes the Silmarils is a shell for the light of the Two Trees — literally, the stones are actually alive. They are like three stars.

Silmarils of Fëanor by Nikulina-Helena

Side note — this isn’t technically in the text of The Silmarillion, it’s from Unfinished Tales, but I have to mention it because it’s hilarious — Fëanor got the idea to preserve the light of the Trees because Galadriel wouldn’t give him her hair. Here’s the relevant part of Unfinished Tales:

Even among the Eldar she was accounted beautiful, and her hair was held a marvel unmatched. It was golden like the hair of her father and of her foremother Indis, but richer and more radiant, for its gold was touched by some memory of the starlike silver of her mother; and the Eldar said that the light of the Two Trees, Laurelin and Telperion, had been snared in her tresses. Many thought that this saying first gave to Fëanor the thought of imprisoning and blending the light of the Trees that later took shape in his hands as the Silmarils. For Fëanor beheld the hair of Galadriel with wonder and delight. He begged three times for a tress, but Galadriel would not give him even one hair. These two kinsfolk, the greatest of the Eldar of Valinor, were unfriends for ever. […] there dwelt in her the noble and generous spirit of the Vanyar, and a reverence for the Valar that she could not forget. From her earliest years she had a marvellous gift of insight into the minds of others, but judged them with mercy and understanding, and she withheld her goodwill from none save only Fëanor. In him she perceived a darkness that she hated and feared, though she did not perceive that the shadow of the same evil had fallen upon the minds of all the Noldor, and upon her own.

So, just to reiterate: Galadriel is wise and benevolent and loves everyone except Fëanor, because Fëanor is just that much of an arrogant asshole. So when Fëanor asks her for her hair, she basically tells him where he can stick it, and he goes, “Well fine! I didn’t need your hair anyway! I’m going to make gems that are even prettier and shinier than your hair, and then everyone will be jealous!” And that is why it’s such a big deal that Galadriel grants Gimli’s much humbler request for her hair. Gimli may be a dwarf, but he’s actually a good person!

Anyway, everyone is impressed by the Silmarils, even the Valar themselves. Varda, the goddess of the stars, blessed them so that nothing evil could touch them.

Now, I already said that Melkor lusted for all the shiny things that the Noldor had dug up, so how do you think he reacted when he saw the Silmarils? Oh, you’d better believe he wanted those gems more than anything else in the world. He concocted an evil plan to sew as much discord between the Elves and the Valar as possible, and to destroy Fëanor in the process. Unfortunately, enough of the Elves start to listen to his rumors. They start to believe that the Valar brought them to Valinor to stop them from ruling kingdoms of their own. Melkor also told the Elves about the eventual coming of Men, which the Elves knew nothing about. Melkor didn’t know much about Men either, but it was enough to spread a conspiracy theory that Manwë was holding the Elves hostage in Valinor so that Men could take over the world, cheating the Elves out of their God-given inheritance. The Noldor start to want to go back East, to be free of the Valar’s influence so they can start building kingdoms of their own and establishing themselves before the Men come.

Fëanor especially is desperate to get out of Valinor, which is exactly what Melkor wanted, because this was all just a ploy to get the Silmarils. But Fëanor is just as obsessive about them, keeping them locked deep in his “horde” (as though he’s a dragon), except when he parades around wearing them during feasts. He doesn’t let anyone see them, except for his father and his sons. He’s already started to forget that the entire point of them was to preserve the light of the Trees of Valinor, and not just to glorify himself.

Fëanor by dakkun39

Melkor starts to zero in on his mark. He spreads a new lie that Fingolfin, Fëanor’s brother, was planning to supplant him as Finwë’s heir. And to Fingolfin, he says that Fëanor has always hated his half-brothers and plans to kick them out of the city of Tirion.

As the unrest brews, Melkor teaches the Noldor how to make weapons. Each family of Noldor believes that only they know about the weapons, and that none of the other families do. Meanwhile, Fëanor makes a secret forge to experiment with crafting weapons, so he and his family can have especially dangerous ones. Even Melkor didn’t know about that, that was all Fëanor. Mahtan, Fëanor’s father-in-law, bitterly regretted having taught him anything about metalwork.

Fëanor openly calls for revolution against the Valar, and escaping back East. That crosses a line. Finwë holds court and asks his lords what he should do. Fingolfin asks him, “Why are you letting Fëanor call all the shots? He’s not King. You’re the King. You tell him to stop!” Fëanor promptly bursts through the doors and struts up to the podium, armed to the teeth. He draws his sword on Fingolfin and tells him to fuck off. Fingolfin hastily bows to Finwë and gets the hell out of there before his own brother murders him on the house floor. Fëanor follows him and starts taunting him. Fingolfin has the good sense not to respond.

By Jenny Dolfen

Now the Valar get involved. They were sad about the Noldor wanting to leave, but whatever Melkor might say, the Valar weren’t about to keep them there against their will. This, though? This is a step too far. They summon Fëanor to stand trial before them. During the trial, it’s finally revealed that Melkor, not Fëanor, is ultimately to blame for all the unrest. Tulkas doesn’t even wait for the trial to be over to go and put Melkor’s lights out. Meanwhile Mandos (the god of death/purgatory) delivers his judgement on Fëanor: “If you’re our ‘thralls,’ then I hate to break this to you, but Manwë is the king of all of Arda, not just Valinor. So… going back East isn’t going to help you very much. Threatening to kill your brother is still a crime whether here or in Middle-earth, so I sentence you to exile from the city of Tirion for twelve years. Go and think about what you did! Then, after your time-out is over, if your family forgives you, we’ll let you back in.”

Fingolfin speaks up to say that he already forgives Fëanor, which is very charitable of him. But Fëanor just sulks and stalks off. Honestly, he’s had it easy — he hasn’t even been asked to leave Valinor, only to leave the city! He leaves with his seven sons and founds his own fortress, Formenos, some distance from Tirion, where he hoards all his gems and weapons and other sparkly things (including the Silmarils). Finwë loves Fëanor so much that he leaves his own city to be with Fëanor, and Fingolfin becomes king of Tirion in his place. So, in the end, Melkor’s lie became a self-fulfilling prophecy: Fingolfin did become King of the Noldor instead of Fëanor, not because of any treachery on his part, but because of Fëanor’s shitty behavior. Nice going, Fëanor.

Melkor lays low for a while, disguised as a cloud. No one hears anything of him for a bit, but the Trees look slightly darker and the shadows slightly more ominous. Suddenly, he turns up on Fëanor’s doorstep and pretends to be friends, using the self-fulfilling prophecy to his advantage to make it sound like everything he’s said so far is true. Melkor offers to help Fëanor leave Valinor. Fëanor still thinks that Melkor is kind of sus, but Melkor gets to him by mentioning the Silmarils, and how they won’t be safe as long as Fëanor stays in Valinor. Unfortunately for Melkor, he showed his hand too soon. Fëanor finally sees that the Silmarils are what Melkor’s really been after this whole time. He screams the equivalent of “Get the fuck out of my house!” and slams the door in the face of what is technically the most powerful being on Arda. Melkor runs off with his tail between his legs, but Finwë recognizes that this isn’t over, and calls for Manwë’s help. Manwë and the other Valar chase Melkor to the edge of Valinor, and everything is suddenly fine for a while… the Trees are bright again, and Melkor is nowhere to be seen, but not knowing where he is might actually be worse. The people of Valinor can feel him lurking on the edge of the horizon.

Fëanor and Silmarils by breath-art

Chapter 8: Of the Darkening of Valinor In which everything goes to hell.

The Valar assume that Melkor returned to his old fortress in the north, but they didn’t find him there. Instead, Melkor shapeshifted and slunk southwards, to a shadowy land called Avathar. He was going to visit… an old friend, shall we say.

If you think Shelob is bad, you haven’t met her mother.

By John Howe

Ungoliant isn’t just a spider, she’s an eldritch abomination that happens to take the form of a spider. Even the Valar don’t really know where she came from, and she managed to escape them by hiding in the south where they weren’t turning their attention. She weaves webs that suck in all the light around them. Melkor takes the form of a tall Dark Lord and tells Ungoliant that he will feed her whatever she wants in exchange for her help in conquering Valinor (although at this point, you should already know that when Melkor promises anything, it’s with his fingers crossed behind his back). Ungoliant agrees, and they decide to attack while the people of Valinor are celebrating a harvest festival. Because whenever anysort of disaster happens, it’s when everyone is unsuspectingly having a party.

Fëanor sulkily attends the festival, only because Manwë literally ordered him to be there, but the other elves of his household (including Finwë) don’t show up. Fëanor also deliberately underdresses for the party; instead of parading around with the Silmarils like he used to, he decided that the Valar didn’t deserve to see them, and kept them locked up in his castle. Fëanor reconciles with his half-brother Fingolfin right in front of Manwë’s throne, and may even have been sincere! The Trees shine with a perfect blend of silver and gold… for the last time.

The poor Elves and the Valar barely have time to react. Melkor leaps on top of the sacred mound and strikes each Tree through with his spear, and Ungoliant drinks up all the sap that gushes out of them like blood, and they quickly wither and die. Then Ungoliant drinks up all the well water, and she looks so huge and bloated that even Melkor is afraid of her.

And… that’s it. Just like that, it’s over. The Trees are dead. The resulting darkness is almost a palpable thing that can attack the body and soul. The Valar and all the Elves gathered in Manwë’s palace are thunderstruck as the lights suddenly go out, and then, they hear the screams of the Teleri, who have had nothing to do with this whole mess and had no idea that there was any unrest in Valinor to begin with. You know what I’m reminded of? That scene in The Prince of Egypt when God kills the firstborn of every Egyptian household, and there’s a shot of Orion, a beat of silence, and then a wail of grief and despair goes up.

Manwë sends the Valar to chase after Melkor, but they can’t penetrate Ungoliant’s cloud of darkness, and it’s too late. The damage was done.

By Titita

Chapter 9: Of the Flight of the Noldor In which the Valar have finally had enough of Fëanor’s bullshit.

Valinor is left in shock. Yavanna tries in vain to heal the Trees, but they are dead, and there’s nothing she can do… unless she had a little of the light of the Trees, which Fëanor fortunately preserved in the Silmarils. Manwë asks Fëanor if he will give Yavanna a Silmaril. Fëanor whines that just as the Trees were Yavanna’s masterpiece, the Silmarils are his masterpiece, and if he breaks any one of them, he’ll be the first of the Elves to die. Mandos mutters that he wouldn’t be the first, since his mother Míriel died, but no one takes his meaning.

Fëanor goes off to sulk, and remembers what Melkor said: that the Valar want the Silmarils, and will do anything to get them. Now they’re asking him to give them one. Fëanor concludes that because Melkor, a Vala, is such a shitty person, then all the other Valar must be the same. He tells the Valar that he will not give them a Silmaril, and that if they try to take one from him by force, then that will prove that they really are just as bad as Melkor.

That’s that, then. Because Fëanor is such a selfish asshole, the Trees are not healed, and there’s nothing left to do but to mourn. Nienna, the goddess of sorrow, stands on top of the mound where the Trees used to be and laments the scarring of Arda, letting her tears wash away the destruction caused by Ungoliant and Melkor.

Then Elves from Formenos, Fëanor’s fortress, arrive to tell the Valar about another of Melkor’s crimes: He broke into Formenos, murdered Finwë, and stole everything that was in Fëanor’s treasure horde. The Silmarils are gone. Fëanor is enraged, firstly because the Silmarils are gone, secondly because he was at Manwë’s stupid party instead of defending his castle, and thirdly because his beloved father is dead. This is when he first calls Melkor by the name Morgoth (which is what he’ll be called for the rest of the Silmarillion).

History might have been different if Fëanor had originally said yes to Yavanna’s request, before learning that Morgoth had stolen the Silmarils. We can’t know.

Meanwhile Morgoth and Ungoliant take the long way back to Middle-earth. Morgoth hopes to eventually escape from Ungoliant, because even he’s afraid of her, but she catches on. She tells Morgoth that she’s still hungry, and she wants to eat all the treasure he stole from Formenos. So Morgoth, begrudgingly, feeds her all of Fëanor’s beautiful gemstones. All but three, that is. The Silmarils literally burn Morgoth’s hand, because Varda made them evil-proof, but he grips them tightly and refuses to give them to her. He’s a lot weaker than he should be because he lent Ungoliant so much of his power, and she weaves a web of darkness to strangle him. Melkor screams so loud that his screaming can still be heard in that region to this day. Deep beneath the ruins of Angband, the Balrogs still lurked, and when they heard their Lord cry for help, they came to save him. Let’s just reiterate that: Ungoliant is so evil that Morgoth, who’s like Sauron but worse, needed Balrogs to save him from her.

By Sheppi-Arthouse

Ungoliant fled, and lurked for some time in a dark valley where she mated with other spider-creatures and ate their heads. No one knows what happened to her after that. She might still be out there, but one legend says that eventually, in her eternal hunger, she ate herself.

Morgoth rebuilds Angband, amasses his armies of Balrogs and Orcs, and gives himself the modest title of “King of the World.” He forges himself an iron crown and sets the three Silmarils in it. But his hands are permanently burned by having held them, and he can never take off the crown. He stews in his hatred, and vents his humiliation at the eight spidery legs of Ungoliant by abusing his minions. Despite how pathetic that near-defeat was, Melkor is still technically a Vala, and is so terrifying in his majesty that no one can even be near him without being consumed by fear.

By NeexSethe

Back in Valinor, everyone is depressed. Then Fëanor shows up and gives a rousing speech to the Noldor, mostly condemning Morgoth, but also repeating all of the lies that Morgoth had spread about the Valar. Fëanor declares himself King of the Noldor since his father is dead (which isn’t anything like what Morgoth just did), and persuades the Noldor that they shouldn’t live under the Valar’s rule anymore. After all, the Valar failed to keep out Morgoth, and they’re related to him so they must be partly to blame for his actions. Fëanor doesn’t want to be anywhere near the distant cousins of the guy who killed his father. Also, look at the greener grass back in Middle-earth where the Noldor can build an empire for themselves! They can become a warlike people, and conquer Middle-earth before the Men come! Fëanor throws some racial supremacy into the mix and says that once the Noldor have waged war on Morgoth and taken back the Silmarils, they alone will be the lords of the last remaining Light.

Then Fëanor and his sons draw their swords and swear an oath that they will hunt to the ends of the earth any creature — Vala, Demon, Elf, or Man — who possesses a Silmaril.

By Jenny Dolfen

Despite having just disavowed the Valar, this oath is still sworn with the gods and their sacred mountain as witnesses, so… old religious habits die hard.

Immediately, unrest erupts among the Noldor. Fingolfin and his son Turgon are horrified, Finarfin (Fëanor’s other brother) tries to calm everything down, and Galadriel (the only woman there) likes the idea of seeing Middle-earth and ruling a realm of her own. Fëanor’s side of the debate eventually wins, and the Noldor depart for Middle-earth. Fëanor hurries them out of there before they have the chance to change their minds.

Of course, the remaining problem is that Fëanor can’t simply declare himself king so easily. Fingolfin has been King of the Noldor ever since Fëanor was exiled from the city, and most of the Noldor are still loyal to him. He’s also level-headed and kind, whereas Fëanor is a hot mess. Fingolfin doesn’t want to leave Valinor, but accepts that he doesn’t have much of a choice, because he doesn’t want to abandon his people. Also, his son Fingon is urging him to go. Finarfin is even less willing to leave, but follows Fingolfin anyway for similar reasons.

By BellaBergolts

As the Noldor are leaving, a messenger arrives from Manwë. He says that the Valar won’t prevent the Noldor from leaving, since the Elves are free to do whatever they want, but that the Valar strongly advise against it. But Fëanor and his family are explicitly exiled from Valinor, on account of their oath. The messenger emphasizes that Fëanor is right — Melkor is a Vala —which is exactly why Fëanor and co. stand no chance against him or against any of the other Valar. So, the oath is impossible to fulfill. That sucks, because oaths are serious business, and once you’ve made an oath, you can’t simply disregard it. Fëanor has basically condemned himself and all of his sons to an impossible, borderline-blasphemous and utterly hubristic venture. Nice going, Fëanor.

Of course, Fëanor gives a typical arrogant response, urging the Noldor not to send their king into exile and “return to bondage.” He says to the messenger, “Go tell Manwë that even if I can’t beat Morgoth, at least I’m gonna try, instead of sitting on my sorry ass and grieving! My battle with Morgoth is gonna be so legendary that one day the Valar will realize I was right!” Fëanor is so intimidating that even the messenger of Manwë bows to him in response. And so, the Noldor leave into exile — some boldly and without looking back, some very reluctantly.

They quickly run into the first big problem: How do they get to Middle-earth? Fëanor first tries to follow Melkor and go north, to cross the narrow strip of land that connects the two continents. But realistically, there’s no way that an entire nation’s worth of people are going to cover that distance. The other option is to cross the sea itself, but the only way to do that is with ships, and the Noldor don’t know how to build them. Fëanor decides to persuade the Teleri to join his company, which would get them the ships they need — and spitefully, Fëanor hopes to further dismantle Valinor and gain himself more soldiers for his war against Morgoth.

The Teleri are sad that their friends are leaving, and completely unwilling to lend them any ships or go against the will of the Valar. Olwë, the King of the Teleri, never heard any of Morgoth’s conspiracy theories, so everything Fëanor says sounds completely insane. You can imagine how well that went over with Fëanor. He’s like, “You owe us because we helped you build your city! You stragglers would still be living in mud huts if it weren’t for us!” Olwë points out that friends don’t let friends make such stupid decisions, that the plan was to live together in Valinor forever, and that the Noldor didn’t teach the Teleri shipbuilding. They learned to build ships on their own, directly from the sea gods, and don’t owe the Noldor anything. The Teleri feel the same way about their ships as Fëanor does about his jewels — they’re unique masterpieces, and can never be replicated.

Fëanor doesn’t take no for an answer, and tries to take the ships by force. The Teleri fight back. What follows is the first large-scale battle between Elves. It’s brutal and sad — there’s deaths on both sides, but the Noldor win and steal the precious ships away. (Don’t ask me how the Noldor know how to sail the ships — sailing isn’t exactly a skill that one can just pick up.) Olwë calls upon Ossë, the Maia of the Waves, but he doesn’t come, because the Valar swore to neither help nor hinder the Noldor’s departure. But Uinen, the Maia of sea life, is so distraught over the cruel deaths of the Teleri mariners that she wrecks several of the ships.

By Ted Nasmith

When the Noldor reach the shore, a dark figure rises up from the cold mountains. Some say the figure was Mandos himself. He pronounces the “Prophecy of the North”: Anyone who’s studied pagan mythology knows that kinslaying is just about the worst thing you can do, so now all the Noldor are exiled, not just Fëanor and his sons. But Fëanor has well and truly brought down the wrath of the Valar upon his head. They’ve given him enough second chances. Now, his oath isn’t just useless — it’s actively a curse that will destroy his family, drive them to evil and treason, and keep the Silmarils forever just out of reach. After they die — and they will die, despite the immortality granted to them by Eru Ilúvatar — their souls will return to the Halls of Mandos as ghosts. The Noldor who don’t die will slowly diminish, and watch their own power fade as the other races gradually supplant them, leaving them with nothing but regret.

Mandos by marcelamedeiros_arts

Don’t let anyone tell you that Tolkien’s Elves are all perfect beings who are prettier, wiser, more magical, and otherwise superior to everyone else. The reason why all the Elves of the LotR fit that description is because only the wise Elves last that long. All the arrogant, hotheaded, and power-hungry Elves don’t make it to the Third Age because they’ve all killed each other by then.

Case in point, Fëanor responds to this imposing figure pronouncing the wrath of the gods with his typical arrogance, insisting that he and his family are not cowards and that treason is just another evil that they’ll have to deal with. And, as an extra “fuck you,” that everyone will sing of their deeds until the end of the world.

At that, Finarfin turns back. He never actually wanted to leave Valinor, he hates that the battle ruined his friendship with Olwë, and he’s deeply resentful towards the House of Fëanor for having caused this whole mess. He and his people receive the Valar’s forgiveness, and return to their beautiful city of Tirion. Finarfin rules over the Noldor that returned with him, but without his children, because they didn’t turn back. They wanted to stay with Fingolfin’s sons, Fingon and Turgon, and they aren’t the sort of people to abandon a task halfway, so they continue on.

Fëanor, Fingolfin, and the other Noldor reach the far north, where the continents of Aman and Middle-earth meet. They’re cold, hungry, and don’t know which way to go next. Some of the Elves are starting to catch on that Fëanor and his propaganda is the cause of all their trouble. Fëanor is already starting to fear treachery, so he takes his sons and all the ships, and straight-up abandons Fingolfin and his people to freeze to death. Fëanor becomes the first Noldor Elf to set foot on Middle-earth.

Maedhros, Fëanor’s eldest son, asks him if he’ll send any ships back for Fingolfin’s people (specifically Fingon). Fëanor laughs at his son, calls his brother and nephews and all their people “worthless baggage,” and then burns the ships. Maedhros just stands aside and lets him do it. (I’m guessing that the inability of Fëanor’s kids to stand up to their father is going to become a recurring source of conflict.) So, the curse has already come into effect.

The Burning of the Ships by Ted Nasmith

In spite of Fëanor, Fingolfin and his company pass through the icy wastes in the farthest north, and eventually reach Middle-earth, though they lost many along the way. The narrator tells us straight-up that few of the deeds of the Noldor will ever surpass that desperate crossing.

We're a quarter of the way through!

Next part: https://nyxshadowhawk.tumblr.com/post/738735962858897408/i-read-the-silmarillion-so-you-dont-have-to-part

#the silmarillion #silmarillion #tolkien #jrr tolkien #the lord of the rings #lotr #summary #feanor #fingolfin #melkor #morgoth #valar #mandos #ungoliant #silm #noldor #silm art #silm fanart #silmarils #darkening of valinor #valinor #oath of feanor #teleri #elves #tolkien elves #silm elves

[radioactive-earthshine]

I didn't know you were into middle Earth and it makes me happy. I am curious about a young justice au where they are all from works of Tolkien. How do you think that might be like?

Okay. Instead of wrapping my brain around the logistics of time placement for this AU this is what I would start with.

I apologize this is going to contain Tolkien terms some people are not just going to get.

I have no idea what 'age' this should be in - I would have to think on that and rework things appropriately. I wrote this from the perspective of it being in the first age but now I am not so sure if that would be entirely appropriate and the second age would be more fitting. Everything you read here should be considered brain storming, not even a rough draft.

Kon - he is going to be an Ainur hybrid. For those unfamiliar with Tolkien's works the Ainur are people that would have the closest approximation to having superpowers. In this case I feel that Kon would either be 1.) an Ainur/Quendi hybrid like Luthien or 2.) an Ainur/Orc hybrid - because it would stir up the worst drama and I like orcs so I am biased. In both cases he would have a tie to Melkor/Morgoth because if he was an Ainur/Quendi that Ainur I believe would be a follower of Morgoth. Either way, Kon is going to have to spend time being exploited while working persistently to prove that he can be trusted. This also can keep the refugee/immigrant narrative intact.

Bart - you all know damn well the only option for him is to be an Ainur, most specifically a Maiar likely under Nessa. I would imagine that he would be curious and constantly leaving the confines of Aman to see what Middle Earth is all about. Alternatively, he could be part of the select group of Ainur that just decided to stick around in Middle Earth and not depart it at all for Aman. He doesn't understand why Ainur aren't mopping up Morgoth's messes, they released him after all! Maybe he had to leave Aman and he can't go back (or feels like he can't) because he can't for xyz reason.

I do not know how to make the time travel aspect work.

Cassie - she is an elf. Most specifically she is Teleri and her family did not go to Aman. Her family with all the other Quendi that chose to remain in Middle Earth have been fighting Morgoth's dark forces for hundreds of years. They are well seasoned warriors and are deeply upset that Morgoth himself is back in the world and those damn Noldor are kicking the hornets nest with him over and over again when they had him mostly contained. Either way, because they have several hundred thousand new Noldor kin in their land diplomacy and understanding is on the forefront of her family's mind. She also secretly thinks that direct assaults on Morgoth/forces of darkness is actually the right thing to do because they have just been putting band-aids on everything for centuries. Not everyone agrees with her.

Tim - he's a man. This is not something to sneer at because the race of men in Tolkien are not really like humans today, they are their own species and other species are generally a little spooked by them. Where did they come from? Where do they go? They live so little and yet so much. They are brave and foolish. Anyway, he's been raised among Moriquendi for his entire life. He knows their ways, their language. Their fighting techniques. If he had a choice about everything he'd rather work with his hands and hold a pen than a dagger but this is the sort of life that happened. He's fond of the Khazad. Note: he could also very easily be a Numenorian and that path might translate the best for his character but again I typed this out with restrictions of the first age.

I'm going to stop there so it doesn't get too long but just with surface mind gremlins nibbling at this concept this is sort of what I have to try to make this workable.

#core four #young justice #cassie sandsmark #tim drake #bart allen #kon el #to make this au a proper au would require more work than i have time for

[arafinweanappreciation]

Can you tell me something about Finrod and Amarie's relationship? Like lore or headcannons.

Okay, first off, this sounds like i'm being asked for a bedtime story and i LOVE that.

anyway

as for canonical lore, we know next to nothing very little about Amarie. Things we know about her include:

her name, which may be from the elements for "good" or "home"

she was a lady of the vanyar

she did not go into exile--- in some versions, because she was not permitted (though we don't know for sure who was doing the forbidding afaik)

Things we know about her relationship with Finrod:

they were in love but not married

they were reunited after finrod's re-embodiment

galadriel didn't seem to know about it

That's it. But the fact that she's named in the silm means there's as much or more info on her in there than on some of the finweans (Argon, Findis, Lalwen) which i take to mean that her and Finrod's story is Important in understanding Finrod overall.

I, personally, have a somewhat elaborate and ever-shifting set of headcanons about them. this is the current iteration:

Amarie and Elenwe are related to each other. Some degree of cousins, probably. They are also very good friends.

Amarie is an artist who is renowned for her murals, in particular. At some point she's commissioned to paint something in Taniquetil and meets Ingwe, who strikes up a conversation because he's just kind of a friendly guy in general.

Ingwe decides that he likes her

Fast forward to Elenwe and Turgon's wedding. Amarie is there. Finrod is there. Ingwe is also there.

Ingwe spots Amarie and chats with her for a while before going "Have you met my great-nephew??? You should meet him. I think you'd like him." and then dragging her along to find Finrod.

They hit it off and start meeting up to wander around Aman (yes I'm aware of the Nerdanel and Feanor parallel) because Finrod likes exploring and Amarie finds all kinds of interesting scenes and landscapes to draw

Cue slow-burn mutual pining friends to lovers that lasts several centuries because elves

Unfortunately, by the time they get around to admitting how they feel about each other, the Noldor are in upheaval and mistrust between the Vanyar and the Noldor is at an all-time high. If the public found out that a Noldorin prince (even an Arafinwean) was in a relationship with a Vanyarin woman, there would be chaos, especially among the Noldor

They decide to get engaged with a small number of witnesses (I lean towards thinking that it's their parents plus Elenwe and Turgon), even though it could be literal centuries until a wedding wouldn't cause rioting in the streets. they tell no one else.

Soon after, the Darkening of Valinor occurs, and Finrod is faced with a choice

He talks to Amarie, and she essentially gives him permission to go on without her. I go back and forth on what "not permitted to go" means. I generally think it could be that her people would not allow her, that the Noldor would not allow one of the Vanyar who was not already married into the Noldor to go with them, or some combination of both.

Finrod promises to return for her as soon as possible, hoping that things will calm down once the Noldor have made it Middle Earth

That doesn't happen

Choosing to cross the Helcaraxe basically tears him apart, but at this point, his people need him and he will not abandon them, even for Amarie.

Back in Aman, Amarie is having to deal with the fallout of the Noldor leaving. She's essentially in mourning, having been told about the Doom of Mandos. She's definitely angry at Finrod for crossing anyway, but also ultimately understands that this is something that he must do, and he wouldn't be the person she loves if it wasn't.

She spends some time in Tirion, where there are more people who understand what she's going through. I like to think she becomes very close with Anaire, Finarfin, and Earwen during this period.

After everything that's happened, it's very difficult for Finrod to talk about, thus why Galadriel doesn't know. I think maybe he would tell Beor about it, but very few other people.

They do end up getting married after Finrod is reembodied (I generally think it happened sometime before the War of Wrath)

I would say they lived happily ever after but that can never be true for anyone who lived through the First Age (looming shadow of things lost, etc.). However, they do manage to be happy, even if there is grief and pain still there.

The end (for now, because elves)

#thanks for the ask! #silm #silmarillion #finrod #finrod felagund #amarie #finrod and amarie

[exercise-of-trust]

(springboarding off this post: i started writing a tag essay and then a reblog essay and then partway through quoting a large section of the hobbit i began to genuinely feel bad about derailing a fun post into *gestures* this shit, but unfortunately my single brain cell decided this was the only thing we were gonna think about all day.)

i think... the original post is tapping in to an acute dissonance in property-law-intuitions between these groups, and i think the dwarves would definitely have been inclined to take the feanorians' side. but i don't think the dwarves, or at least the dwarves of the third age, would be *confused* about it - this is (allegedly) the whole issue at the heart of the nauglamir business. they've had to deal with it too. (allegedly because we only have the narrator's word for it, but whatever*)

ignoring all the extraneous description/assumptions about motives: the stated argument of the dwarves in claiming the nauglamir is that thingol has no personal claim or connection to it. the dwarves gave it to finrod, who has since died and whose kingdom is in ruins, and húrin found it there ("took it as a thief") and gave it to thingol. but it was never meant to be his! and this is a common argument in fandom today on why thingol has no right to the silmaril and should never have demanded it (and certainly should not have kept it upon receipt). the flow is exactly the same: this item has found itself in a contested state because the original owner isn't currently capable of retrieving it; someone else brings it to thingol, who considers himself entitled to keep it because it was abandoned (the nauglamir) or owed (the silmaril) (kind of**).

but all of that to say - the dwarves have been dealing with the same shit, with even more disastrous results, for nearly as long as the feanorians, and they're well aware of it. in fact the nauglamir incident is pretty clearly what's being referenced in 'flies and spiders' in the hobbit, in what's probably the most even-handed retelling: "in ancient days [the elves] had had wars with some of the dwarves, whom they accused of stealing their treasure. it is only fair to say that the dwarves gave a different account, and said that they only took what was their due, for the elf-king had bargained with them to shape his raw gold and silver, and had afterwards refused to give them their pay." a little further down: "all this was well known to every dwarf, though thorin's family had had nothing to do with the old quarrel".

so - to the dwarves, the fact that non-noldor (or non-feanorian noldor) have weird takes on stolen property isn't just an academic or theoretical issue - they're on the feanorians' side because it's their story too. (which really makes the period of collaboration in hollin, and its eventual fall, all the more tragic).

but legolas and gimli go to fangorn, and to the glittering caves, and after a long-ass time of the feanorians (and eol) being the main point of contact and alliance between elves and dwarves based on existing common ground and common interests - gimli and legolas have nothing in common at all. but they love each other and they go west together and they learn to understand each other anyway, and i'm extremely emo about it.

*on the one hand it's no fun ignoring the text entirely when you're doing meta but also, on the other, the silm does have an in-universe writer with extremely obvious personal biases? so it becomes a matter of discretion when you want to ignore the parts that seem to be a result of unfounded prejudice or wild conjecture.

**in the most generous light i can see how the silmaril could be considered forfeit due to c&c's actions against beren and lúthien. that is THE MOST generous reading and i still have issues with it, namely a) thingol was explicitly hoping the feanorians would kill beren for him even if he made it out of angband alive, b) thingol... very much also did imprison lúthien for an extended period of time, c) iirc historically a weregild was a set price codified in law, or something agreed upon/voluntarily offered by the guilty party; you didn't just... take someone's stuff and say "weregild!" when they asked for it back. yes i know isildur and the ring, whatever, that is not generally how weregilds worked and isildur's claim appears to be invalid anyway (c.f. council of elrond; frodo says "then it belongs to you, and not to me at all!" when aragorn's descent is announced; aragorn responds "it does not belong to either of us"). this is a long tangent but in conclusion FUCK THINGOL

#lotr meta #silmarillion meta #and this is why my feanorian tag is #property law #.............. #wtsinb #'what's that' It's A Surprise Tag That Will Help Us Later

[centrally-unplanned]

I did in fact watch Rings of Power, and its hard actually to criticize it in relation to how much of the discourse around it is just nonsense, eight levels of windmill-tilting meta critiques that makes the show itself difficult to glimpse. And as a show on its own terms, if you watched it as someone with maybe a passing familiarity with the Peter Jackson films and that it is it, its first episode is pretty decent. Some dings on the worldbuilding and a little bit too committed to the modern “multiple disparate story arcs that will weave together in the finale” formula, but nothing major.

I, however, I am not someone with just a passing familiarity; I am in fact an insufferable LOTR hipster who will tell you that The Silmarillion is better than the Lord of The Rings, for example. Though... Christopher Tolkien’s decision to excise the disparate narrators of Rúmil and Pengolodh of the texts extant in JRR Tolkien’s notes was a mistake as it marries together what were intended to be separate stories with their own tones and authorial biases surrounding a unifying historical event without revealing to the reader that reality, resulting in tonal jumps and uneven transitions, and that the Silmarillion is really a publishing artifact anyway, necessary to condense the story of Arda into a printable page count but a constraint its success liberated us from by paving the way for the publication of the Histories of Middle Earth, which in all of their contradictory fragmentation more perfectly embody the story-as-history the tale of Arda is meant to be. So maybe it would be inaccurate to say that The Silmarillion is ‘better’ but more that it-

Anyway, I can’t come into Rings of Power with fresh eyes. And while you do need to give charity, things will need to be simplified and new details imagined, in the end the product I want is some form of adaptation. What has really baffled me, in the modern era especially but honestly its a trend with a long history, are the completely unnecessary changes to the source material that one episode in are already polluting the work.

Galadriel is one of the best characters in Middle Earth, pretty sure that is objective. And one of the reasons she is the best character is how her motivations stand out from the crowd. She is actually mentioned by name during the Oath of Feanor in the Silmarillion, a cause which she joins for her own motives:

But Galadriel, the only woman of the Noldor to stand that day tall and valiant amoung the contending pinces, was eager to be gone. No oaths she swore, but the words of Feanor concerning Middle-earth had kindled in her heart, for she yearned to see the wide unguarded lands and to rule there a realm at her own will

Galadriel’s ambition to rule and master a land where she can build her own destiny is a great motive - its not evil, she is a great ruler, but embedded in it are seeds that could result in evil. Its how the One Ring tempts her in Lothlorien, as that desire for dominance was always inside her. And rulership is also so...personal & complex, it can be expressed it so many ways.

So why does Rings of Power literally delete her character and replace it with this revenge bot? Its so *boring*, oh your brother died - who by the way, in the text *literally got better*, reincarnated by Mandos due to his noble deeds and is chillin in Valinor, also Galadriel had 4 brothers but never mind they don’t matter I guess - so now you want revenge. Sounds like a character with a binary motivation that I have seen a thousand times before! And one that doesn’t  connect with the one expressed in The Lord of the Rings films you are so slavishly attempting to cash in on via association.

The why is important here, because you do have to make changes, I understand that, but here its wholly unnecessary. Ambitious!Galadriel is canonically the character who scouts out the movements of Sauron! Her desire to cultivate Middle Earth and protect her kin give her plenty of motivation to do so. You aren’t telling a new story that necessitates this change, you are telling the *same story*, just worse, for no reason. The ‘why’ therefore comes from the fact that authentic adaptation just isn’t a value writers rooms hold anymore, instead inventing the story in isolation from the context and retrofitting the adaptational elements on afterwards. Which sucks.

The same problem rears its head with the idea of a trip to Valinor as a “reward” a chosen few can be granted as an honor. After the defeat of Morgoth the Noldor are, with a few exceptions, pardoned, and the elves can sail to Valinor at any time. You need a good boat but they have those, its not a particularly difficult journey, and in this time period elves are doing it of their own volition all the time. So why don’t people like Celebrimbor and Galadriel not go back? Setting aside some textual debate about Galadriel’s pardon, its primarily because they don’t want to, the ambitions and independence and all that. The show entirely rewrites how Valinor works, and Galadriel’s character, in order to deliver...the same exact conflict the books already have! Elves being torn between staying in Middle Earth & returning to Aman is one of the primary conflicts of the Second Age.

Also why does sailing into the West in the show look like you pass through a light teleporter? Are you implying the sea is sundered and Aman is in a different plane? Because that happens ~2000 years later than when your show is set, Amazon. Right now Aman is just *there*, its a normal continent not surrounded by a halo of light. Literally anyone *can* sail there, they just aren’t allowed to land if they aren’t elves. 

So Maiar are generally immortal, you know? And Sauron wasn’t personally destroyed during the War of Wrath - he surrendered to the Valar, they requested he return to Valinor to face judgement, and then he fled. Literally no one thinks he is dead, or gone, or honestly that he hasn’t been up to shit, they would have no reason to. They just can’t find him and don’t know his capabilities. Which, again, is the story you want to tell - why have the elves look like idiots? Can’t they just not be able to find him, and *therefore* they want to reduce their patrols and declare peace, while wiser, headstrong, ambitious Galadriel knows there is a greater threat lurking? Why flip around the whole premise to wind up with something so close to the source materially anyway?

I can forgive stuff like pretending the Elves fought Morgoth because he was ‘evil’, like its really dumb, the Silmarils are such a big deal the entire history of the First Age is named after them, but they aren’t relevant to this story, I get that. You wanted to simplify, its understandable. But these changes...if you know the source material, you made it *more complex* for me. I couldn’t even tell what year this story took place in at first! Galadriel bent on revenge? If this is 1200 SA shouldn’t she be in Lothlorien by now? They think Sauron is *dead*? Is this...after the Last Alliance? That can’t be right of course, Eregion is here and there are no rings yet. I don’t know what knowledge I can trust now, which is weird! You gained nothing for making your audience pay that price.

Its hard not to think of other big fantasy media projects like Star Wars in regards to this, in that something in media production is just harshly destroying attempts to maintain internal consistency and cohesiveness when it comes to these world-building heavy stories. I still don’t quite understand it, and I think Rings of Power will hopefully be another glimpse into the machine in that regard.

But its the first episode, maybe I will be wrong, who knows, lets find out next week.

#rings of power #lotr

[local-redhead-bookworm]

Interrupting your regularly scheduled content from me to complain about the new LOTR show. My mother had told me she was planning on watching the show anyway, so I watched the first two episodes with her. I don’t plan on watching the rest. Prepare for an exhaustive list of reasons why.

First off, some things I did like:

Arondir. One of the best new characters, and works very well in a bad show. I’m glad that a human-Elf relationship was addressed as the rarity it was. He’s also very handsome.

The Harfoots’ sense of community, and Nori and the Stranger (Gandalf?). Their interactions were charming, and Nori has the same wide-eyed wonder as Frodo.

Disa and Durin’s interaction. They were fun and Disa was very funny.

Now for the issues, which is basically everything else.

Why are these Elf kids bullying each other? Valinor was basically Eden

Correction: Elves had died before the kinslaying. That’s why Galadriel and Finrod exist, their grandfather remarried after his first wife died.

Where is Finrod’s signature flowing golden hair?

The dialogue is painfully clunky. It does not get better. “It’s not going to float, it’s going to sail.” Those are the same thing?? And Finrod “beloved by every species” Felagund would never have encouraged Galadriel to choose the Dark Side. Also her name was still Artanis (used here on out) at this time, since Celeborn gave her that name

We skipped over several ages of war entirely too fast. What about the Feanorians? The Kinslayings? And Finrod didn’t die in a battle, he died saving Beren from a werewolf in Sauron’s dungeons. So him being Artanis’ tragic motivation is not accurate.

Artanis was a respected lady, not just a commander. And her desire for war and violence wasn’t a good thing.

Artanis crossed the Helcaraxë (a massive ice bridge) to get to Middle Earth, she should know more about surviving a frozen wasteland than this!

What is with the Elves’ costumes? These are Noldor, they’re basically known for being extravagant. And with the massive budget, they still couldn’t get some long wigs for the male Elves? Arondir would have looked so cool with a bunch of long braids!

Why do Celebrimbor and Gil-Galad look so much older than Galadriel, who was literally around before the moon? Those two are young by Elf standards.

Elrond makes absolutely no mention of Maedhros and Maglor?

What is going on with Elrond and Artanis? They’re not a couple

That’s not…how the Undying Lands work. None of that is right. Gil-Galad can’t give the right to go to Valinor, all the Elves lost that right to physically travel back when they left Valinor. The only way back is for Elves to actually die

Bronwyn? Theo? Those are the names the writers went with?

That’s not…the history of the Silmarils. Morgoth didn’t steal them because he found them beautiful, he stole them because he was jealous of Feanor’s ability to create when he could only warp or destroy. He didn’t hide them away because he couldn’t bear to look at them, he set them in his crown. That’s a whole plot point when Beren and Luthien steal one.

Also we should already be seeing Sauron as Annatar. Where is he?

Do Durin and Disa have a Silmaril?

The show is bad on lore and dialogue alone. But the most blatant deviation from Tolkein’s themes is the attitude surrounding war. Tolkien was a World War One veteran, he saw people die for honor or come back traumatized. The core theme of his work has always been that there is no honor in waging war, only in defending our homes and family, and that it is far more honorable to grow and heal than it is to kill. Galadriel’s characterization is a direct contradiction of that theme. She’s not a hero for chasing vengeance and refusing to move on from Finrod’s death, she’s falling into the same trap that Eowyn did, wishing for honor and glory or a death in battle. Her behavior is understandable, but her reckless endangerment of other lives shouldn’t be framed as heroic.

I won’t be watching the rest of the show when it releases. I refuse to let Jeff Bezos twist this series into his little money-making project any further. He himself is a direct betrayal of everything Tolkein stood for. Don’t be fooled by the CGI, it’s not worth it. Don’t give him your money or if you must watch the show, pirate it.

#tolkein #lord of the rings #rings of power #lotr on prime #lord of the rings rings of power #rings of power critical #my posts

[imakemywings]

I don't know how to word this correctly but I think it's just so easy for in-universe characters or fandom takes to take a shot at Finarfin's decision to turn back to the Valar and beg pardon not knowing the amount of strength and struggle you need to turn back against something you initially planned to do. Like committing to doing something but then backing out takes so much willpower and in no way does that make you a coward or spineless. I like to compare Finarfin's situation to mine where I chose not to push myself to continue this course and immediately drop the subject to avoid getting a failing remark on my record. I think that's why when I first learned of Finarfin's decision in the lore, the first thing that came to my mind wasn't 'oh what a coward/loser, he has no courage', It was like 'mood, same'. But that's just me, what about you?

Oh, I definitely think Finarfin is incredibly courageous.

Finwe's kids are all brave, but in different ways. Feanor and Fingolfin have what's called in the book "high courage," the kind of attitude that allows Fingolfin to say "yes, we can cross the Helcaraxe" and Feanor to say "yes I will charge this balrog in battle." But Finarfin has a different kind--the kind required to say "I fucked up and I accept the consequences."

Finarfin and the small number of followers who go with him are the only ones to truly own up to the First Kinslaying. He is the only one willing to return to the Valar and say "we did this horrible thing, we accept our punishment for it." And as anyone who's ever messed up and had to admit that to an authority figure knows, that's really difficult. It's difficult as a kid when you broke something mom told you not to play with, or as an adult when you caused a real problem at work--now imagine Finarfin whose people have committed unprovoked murder going to lay down his confession at the feet of effective gods.

Yes, the Valar forgive them and even allow Finarfin to take up his father's crown, but that was by no means the logical outcome when he decided to go back. Finarfin had plenty of reason to think he would not be forgiven--but he went anyway, because he was convinced it was the right thing to do, and he was prepared to take whatever punishment the Valar set.

I love Fingolfin, but part of the reason he refused to go back was out of shame. He did not want to bear the shame of returning to Tirion as a murderer, as someone whose children were murderers, as someone who had gotten caught up in Feanor's schemes and done terrible things to the Noldor's friends and allies.

Furthermore, they feared to be punished for what they had done:

"...and all of Fingolfin's folk went forward still, feeling the constraint of their kinship and the will of Feanor, and fearing to face the doom of the Valar, since not all of them had been guiltless at the Kinslaying at Alqualonde." ( "Of the Flight of the Noldor," The Silmarillion)

Yet Finarfin was willing to bear these things, where his brothers were not.

And to your point--there's value in knowing when to quit. I understand why we put a lot of weight and value on "never giving up," but sometimes you're just wasting more time and energy where it's not going to do you any good. Sometimes it's better to tactically retreat and try something new. There is wisdom in recognizing when it's time for a different strategy or a new goal. This is something the Feanorians could have given a try, but instead they decided to be kings of the sunk-cost fallacy.

I'm glad you were able to back out of something that wasn't working for you, and save yourself some trouble!

#asks #anonymous

[sweetearthandnorthernsky]

the war is over and we are beginning (grief, morinel)

spoilers for mordor sidequests potentially??? anyway, morinel is having fun during the reclamation of mordor lol

Saelinriel objects vehemently to leaving you at the hill alone – this is Mordor after all, are her words almost exactly – but you wave away her concerns.

With Sauron gone, most creatures are still weary and wary both, and you reassure her that you have your runes, and that you have Celebros, who lingers near the bottom of the hill.

(They – of all people – understand why you have to do this.)

Saelinriel studies you with a huff, before shaking her head. “Fine, but be careful.”

You watch her go, before turning to the spear that shines through the gloom of Dor Amarth. 

It is not, after all, as if you have much of a grave to sit beside, so the spear will do.

You sit cross legged beside it. 

There is only silence as you watch the dust swirling through the desolate land.

The spear thrums with power and light, and while it shouldn’t surprise you, there is a very small part that is surprised that it survived all these years – especially when its owner... did not.

"It is done," you say, quietly, almost so quietly you cannot hear yourself as the sliver of glass labeled grief slips a little deeper into your heart, knowing you can say these words only to a lifeless weapon on this shore of the sea. "He is gone, for good this time."

Wind tugs at your hair but you do not feel it.

You understand now, ages later, what your father told you, so many millienia ago, on shores that now lay foundered beneath the sea: Our people are doomed to repeat the same pains, to know the same loves and endure the fickle hammer of fate. We are fated to watch our greatest shine brightly only to fade. Know this well, daughter of the Noldor, for it is also your doom.

You push those thoughts from your mind as you dig handfuls of rust-red dirt and ash to ground yourself in the moment. Dust scrapes your cheekbones, and your eyes water as the splinter wedges itself deeper and deeper.

The weight of the three thousand and twenty five years that you missed -- where you could have done things, could have helped -- weighs like great piles of lead on your shoulders, and you take a heavy breath.

"I am sorry," you say finally, quieter than the wind.

As the wind calms, the weight lifts slightly and the knot of emotions tangled in your chest loosen.

You cannot bring yourself to say: I miss you.

But the splinter eases all the same, though it still hurts.

You think it might always, until you sail.

But, for now, you are content to sit in silence, and let the feelings wash over you.

#my fic #og post #oc-tober 2023 #hello morinel is Sad tm #tbhhh like. just. missing out on 3k+ years of your life is. so much. #anyway celebros best friend 10/10 they Get It #i am once again shaking morinel by the shoulders and trying to get her to tell me what exactly is going on between her + gil-galad #because it feels like it changes every fic lmfao

[overthinking-with-katy]

So back when my sister and I were first getting into the Silm, I didn't appreciate the complexities of our favorite Spontaneous Combustion King nearly as quickly as she did, and I didn't understand at first why all the Noldor would have followed him out of Valinor. To me he sounded a little unhinged (which he was, to be fair) and a lot crazy (which wasn't entirely true).

Anyways. So my sister gets frustrated that I don't get it, tries to explain it without success, and finally pulls up this here amazing song and plays it, and tells me to imagine Fëanor's speech as having this kind of mood, and imagine the Noldor marching out to it (obviously Maglor wrote it, in that case). And I listen and imagine, and apparently the best way to explain non-tangible concepts to me is with music, cause I get why people listened to Fëanor now.

#the magical language of music #silmarillion #feanor

[lesbiansforboromir]

Listen... that Feanor fellow might have been an absolute unremittant bastard and I would hate to meet him at a party or some such... but all the things he’s ever said slap like REAL hard like it all fucking HITS so GODDAMN hard like-

"Get thee gone from my gate, thou jail-crow of Mandos!"

fucking GET HIM FEANOR YES!!

“Fair shall the end be, though long and hard shall be the road! Say farewell to bondage! But say farewell also to ease! Say farewell to the weak! Say farewell to your treasures - more still shall we make! Journey light. But bring with you your swords!”

I’M COMING, I’M COMING RIGHT NOW YES!!! WITH MY SWORD!!

‘Why, O people of the Noldor,’ he cried, ‘why should we longer serve the jealous Valar, who cannot keep us nor even their own realm secure from their Enemy? And though he be now their foe, are not they and he of one kin? Vengeance calls me hence, but even were it otherwise I would not dwell longer in the same land with the kin of my father’s slayer and of the thief of my treasure. Yet I am not the only valiant in this valiant people. And have ye not all lost your King? And what else have ye not lost, cooped here in a narrow land between the mountains and the sea? 'Here once was light, that the Valar begrudged to Middle-earth, but now dark levels all. Shall we mourn here deedless for ever, a shadow-folk, mist-haunting, dropping vain tears in the thankless sea? Or shall we return to our home? In Cuiviénen sweet ran the waters under unclouded stars, and wide lands lay about, where a free people might walk. There they lie still and await us who in our folly forsook them. Come away! Let the cowards keep this city!'

fUCK yes hell yes fuck!!! FUCK!!! LOUDER!!!

“We have sworn, and not lightly. This oath we will keep. We are threatened with many evils, and treason not least; but one thing is not said: that we shall suffer from cowardice, from cravens or the fear of cravens. Therefore I say that we will go on, and this doom I add: the deeds that we shall do shall be the matter of song until the last days of Arda.”

#feanor #anyway I understand why the noldor did it #tolkien #text post #erran vs tolkien #sorry to all the hobbit fans this is more unsexiness from yours truly #the silmarillion #ser queue-thrien

[hellofeanor]

Fëanorian Quenya

Hey friends! Do you like elves? Do you like the Silmarillion? Do you like Fëanor and co? And most of all, do you like spending hours thinking about minor details pertaining to made-up languages??? If so, boy do I have a treat for you! Let’s delve into the weird world of Fëanorian Quenya and explore some history and mechanics of why they talk Like That.

I’ve seen a lot of posts joking about the Fëanorian lisp, which is about as funny as a joke about a speech impediment can be. 👍 It’s important to understand, though, that this IS a joke. No, they didn’t really speak with a lisp. Yes, they did pronounce some S sounds as TH. That’s the critical disclaimer here: SOME. It’s not a blanket pronunciation. There’s a lot of background research that goes into determining which words would be pronounced with S and which would be TH, and that’s what we’re going to look at.

So if this is something you’ve come across in fandom and you’re not totally sure on the details, or if you ARE sure and just want some more in-depth info, read on.

The stuff probably everybody knows already

For anyone who’s been hanging around the Fëanorian corner of the Silm fandom for more than three minutes, there’s about a 100% chance you’ve heard of Fëanor’s penchant for retaining an archaic TH pronunciation after the majority of the Noldor went ahead and started pronouncing this sound as S instead. You may also know that this sound is represented by the letter thorn (Þ) in HoME, but since thorn doesn’t exist in modern English orthography and it’s a pain to keep typing the ALT code, I’m sticking to TH here. Anyway, all this was due to the fact that Fëanor was a huge mama’s boy, and his mom Míriel Therindë (later called Serindë, which made Fëanor want to punch walls and possibly also fellow elves) was an outlier who retained the TH after it fell out of use. Her son Fëanor, in turn, kept this up to honor her. Now, whether or not he would have bothered if this sound hadn’t literally been a critical part of her name is debatable, but that debate is outside the scope of this essay.

Fëanor continued to use the TH pronunciation until his death, and required his sons to use it as well. Finwë, however, switched over to S after the death of Míriel and before his marriage to Indis. Fëanor, reasonable and level-headed as he was, took this as a personal insult and decided that anybody who rejected TH likewise rejected him. So presumably, his loyal followers would have obeyed his totally reasonable demands not to give in to the seductive S-shift.

Why tho

Why did the Noldor decide to alter their pronunciation from TH to S? Great question. Nobody really knows. For the hell of it? IDK. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ But the important thing to understand is that elves, and especially Noldor, were really committed to making sure their language sounds cool. This is why it changed so much and so comparatively quickly for an immortal population: they were actively invested in changing it. They liked inventing new words and exploring new sounds and messing around with grammar.

So at some point some influential Noldo might have been like, hey y’all, let’s stop saying TH and say S instead! And everyone (except Míriel I guess, who was known for her elegant manner of speech and didn’t want to muck that up by changing pronunciation of a whole letter) was like, whoa, capital idea my good egg. And they went with it. Previous ideas along these lines included ‘hey y’all, let’s stop saying KH and say H instead’ and ‘hey y’all, let’s stop saying Z and say R instead’, and those went over swimmingly. Nobody could have foreseen the problem this TH to S business would cause.

Now here’s a fun fact. There was another change to Noldorin pronunciation that happened AFTER Fëanor’s birth, that he himself was involved in. This one was all about bilabial to labiodental F. And those sure are some words, so if you don’t know what I’m talking about (I don’t blame you), BILABIAL is a more whispery sound that happens when you say F using only air passing through your pursed lips, and LABIODENTAL is when you say F with your top teeth touching your bottom lip. Going forward I’m going to use PH to represent the bilabial sound, and F for the labiodental.

So F got on the radar of the Noldor via the Teleri, who used this sound in their language. And ol’ Fëanor figured it would be awesome to incorporate it into Quenya because he thought the PH sounded too close to HW, and the two were getting confused by lazy speakers. Why did he care? Because of his dad’s name and his own, of course. If people started to get lazy in their pronunciation, we’d end up with Hwinwë and Hwëanáro, which would be terrible and stupid and unacceptable. He accused the Vanyar of leaning down that road, and he wanted to stop that kind of shift before it happened to the Noldor. How to do that? Why, by instigating a different shift from traditional Noldorin PH to Telerin F!

“Hey y’all, let’s stop saying PH and say F instead!”

“Whoa, capital idea my good egg.”

Moral of the story: Fëanor is only concerned with Quenya pronunciation insofar as it affects his own name and the names of family members he likes. He does not care whether it’s staying the same or moving to a new sound so long as it personally makes him feel good and his name sound cool. Therefore the true way to piss him off would be to call him Curuhwinwë Hwëanáro, son of Serindë.

Okay so here’s how it works

Now that history is out of the way, let’s get back to how TH was used by the Fëanorians. As I mentioned earlier, TH wasn’t a blanket pronunciation. It all depended on the original form of the word, and whether the root had a TH or an S. And some very similar-sounding words come from different roots, so this can get tricky. A great resource that’ll give you this information is Eldamo: Quenya words where the S was originally TH are marked out with the Þ (thorn) symbol in the wordlist.

Some examples:

Súlë (spirit, breath) comes from the root THŪ, which means it would be pronounced with a TH. Silma (white crystal) comes from the root SIL, so it and related words like Silmaril would be pronounced with an S. No Fëanorian would say Thilmaril. Isil (moon), however, is a similar-sounding word that comes from a different root: THIL. Olos (mass of flowers) comes from the word LOTH, but: Olos (dream) comes from the root LOS. Fëanorian pronunciation would immediately differentiate between these two words.

While Fëanorians may have retained the distinct pronunciation of TH vs S, other Noldor can still differentiate between original S and S-that-used-to-be-TH in their writing. There are specific tengwar to use depending on the word’s original form. Silmë (the one that looks like a 6) is used for original S, while súlë (or thúlë, the one that looks like an h) is used for original TH.

Which other elves used this sound in their speech?

Fandom has really latched on to this TH as a Fëanorian thing, but it wasn’t that exclusively. The TH sound was actually ubiquitous in other elven languages, and in Valinor, only the Noldor dropped it. It was still used in Telerin and in Vanyarin Quendya. The Vanyar retained the TH not because of anything to do with Míriel, but just because they were a little more conservative and their language didn’t pick up on all the changes that the Noldor made. They also noped out of the Z to R shift the Noldor initiated, opting to keep the Z around.

When Indis married Finwë, she stopped using the normal Vanyarin TH and switched over to S as a gesture of loyalty to him and his people. Finarfin, however, out of love for the Vanyar and Teleri, switched BACK to TH. I like to think about how much it would have annoyed Fëanor that his snot-nosed kid brother was speaking correctly, but for the wrong reason. Go down one more generation, and Galadriel very specifically did not use TH. But this time it was absolutely a choice made as a glaring middle finger to Fëanor.

What this means for your fanfic or whatever

The big takeaway here: you can’t just have Fëanorians replace every S with TH and call it a day.

If you’re inventing names for your Fëanorian OCs or coming up with phrases for them to say, it’s important to look into the history of all Quenya S-words you end up using to determine if they should be S or TH. If Fëanor got mad about somebody saying Serindë instead of Therindë, he’d get equally mad about somebody saying Thilmaril instead of Silmaril and assume they were mocking him. Remember: this is a dude with no chill. (On the other hand, if you WANT somebody to be mocking Fëanor, Galadriel would 100% do this because she has an equally negligible amount of chill.)

It’s also important to note that the TH isn’t a true shibboleth, since pretty much all elves EXCEPT the non-Fëanorian Noldor use it. And even the S-preferring Noldor would still be able to pronounce the TH. Those who went into exile would go on to use it commonly in Sindarin, and those who remained in Valinor would still encounter it among the Vanyar and Teleri. So if you’re writing a scene where somebody has to pronounce a TH word to prove their loyalty… yeah, everyone can pass this test. And in the opposite direction, you can’t use TH to prove somebody’s an evil Fëanorian, either. They might just be Vanyarin or something. Or, like. Really Old.

Would the sons (and followers) of Fëanor keep using TH after his death? Oh hell yeah. This is an entire family unfamiliar with the concept of not dying on hills. They will keep using it unto the ending of the world. Actually, with Sindarin becoming the common language of Middle-earth from the First Age, probably not a lot of change happened in exilic Quenya. It became a lore language: a piece of living history. It would have been preserved as it was when the original speakers left Valinor.

(And then, thousands of years later, Galadriel finally returns home to Tirion like, Long have mine eyes awaited this most blissful of sights, and ne’er hath my sprit soared with such grace, for I am returned! And all the Amanyar Noldor stare at her like, whatchu bangin on bout, eh? Because they had nothing better to do in the peace of Valinor than push Quenya to brave and frankly questionable new horizons.)

Anyway, there you go: a somewhat brief history of Fëanorian Quenya. I hope you found this informative and useful, or at the very least not boring. Obvs this is super condensed and, uh, not particularly scholarly, but I promise I know what I’m talking about. I have a university degree! (Not in anything even remotely related to what’s written above, but I hardly see how that’s relevant. It’s still a DEGREE.)

Questions? Need clarification or want more info? My asks are always open!

#feanor #silmarillion #quenya #tolkien #middle earth

[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

[galadhremmin]

so you're a russingon artist and shipper. and you claim in your posts that their relationship is one-sided, and that mae doesn't care about anyone but himself, like the rest of the feanorians. and you're basing that on ninraeth, for which it's explicitly stated that fingon and maedhros were separated intentionally, by morgoth's treachery. if you would please explain to me your train of thought and how do those two things coexist in your mind, i'd be very grateful.

no you wouldn’t be you passive-aggressive dolt, and I’m a what now? Are you perhaps feeling a bit… absent-minded? I have never painted russingon, though it’s true I have painted Maedhros.

I do write Russingon, yes; I’m not a ‘shipper.’ Not an approach to the text that appeals to me whatsoever.

I have not written any of those things you seem to be so very bothered by. I assume you are referring to my comprehensive Nirnaeth post, noting the Feanorians flee in every version? Here’s another helpful link; https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/skills/reading.

I’ll help you understand why Morgoth separates Fingon and Maedhros, or I should say-- their armies. This is the deciding battle of the war. The reason why he separates the armies is fairly obvious, actually; they meant to crush his forces as if ‘between a hammer and an anvil.’ A military commander generally prefers to avoid that situation. Hence the traitors making sure that doesn't happen.

Morgoth does not do this because of their relationship, but because he would prefer to win. His forces also separate Turgon from Fingon. As for Fingon's death; Morgoth is a vindictive creature. Fingon has taken something from him, united the Noldor, and made him look like a fool to his underlings in the process; so he needs to die. On top of that, the aid of the Valar gave him might have (falsely) given the Noldor hope the Doom might be lifted, or mercy shown at crucial moments (much like Luthien showed them Morgoth could be bested and the Valar could show mercy). Aside from that Fingon is also High King. So once the armies are separated Morgoth singles out Fingon and kills him, and with that 1. the unifier of the Noldor, and their unity with him 2. the false hope of the Noldor of overcoming the Doom.

I did note the tags that the Feanorians are always the #1 priority for the Feanorians. And they are, due the Oath. Fingon does die alone. Maedhros is no Luthien, no Beren; he has duties, an army and brothers and an Oath to uphold. The Feanorians flee, and save what is left of their army. He was never going to make a suicidal dash across the battlefield for Fingon, and I like him better for it. It would be extremely irresponsible and out of character for him to do so. Instead he flees with his brothers; the Dwarves are the last part of his host to leave the battlefield.

Does that mean I think the relationship is onesided in canon? Not if you can read. I also don’t think of the Feanorians retreating is a bad thing. They’re not teenagers in love, or people with no one to lead or little to lose. They’re two warlords with people to protect.

Anyway, as for reciprocity; no idea where you’re getting that. Relationships are rarely without complications. Anything but the most saccharine possible reading does not mean ‘not reciprocated.’

Though-- looking at the actual text, it’s certainly true Fingon’s devotion seems more complete, more selfless. He saves Maedhros not just for himself but for the sake of peace, true. But he does it for love, both love between the two of them and their people. There was a genuine danger of civil war; Fingon’s father is not forgiving; ‘But no love was there in the hearts of Fingolfin and his folk for the people of Fëanor; and though Fingolfin learned that Fëanor was dead, he held his sons the accomplices of their father, and there was peril of war between the two hosts. (war of the jewels).

Maedhros in turn does his part to prevent civil war from breaking out by giving Fingolfin the crown and removing his followers to a place where they are unlikely to cause trouble. Clearly he is very thankful. Of course the Noldor divided would also be unable to attack Morgoth i.e. it would stand in the way of fulfilling the Oath, so there's that aspect to it. Unlike his father, he has no personal hangups about the crown.

He stood aside at the burning of the ships, but that lack of action is just not on the same level as Fingon’s rescue. And in the end it’s the Union of Maedhros, not Fingon-- despite his being high king. Or well, despite his claim to being high king. There is of course Finrod’s conflicting claim of his father now ruling, and that one note about the Noldor falling apart into separate kingships after Fingolfin’s death. Either way, he follows Maedhros. Again. As he always does; at Alqualonde, over the Ice, to Thangorodrim, and onto the battlefield.

Maedhros does love him; their love was renewed. But most of the true devotion in text is Fingon’s, which fits descriptions of his character. He is a Beren type, in a way, but I don't think Maedhros is much of a Luthien. Would it be different if there was no Oath? Maybe.

But there is.

In the end, Maedhros is only said to repent after Doriath; possibly because it is the first time the Feanorians kill children.

Anyway there are enough gaps in the text to write their relationship dynamic in various ways, as usual with Tolkien. I’m not saying an equally devoted Maedhros is impossible; I know because I’ve written it while fully aware of these things. I like to play with different takes. But it’s not exactly fully textual canon either. There is merely room for it.

In the end what matters is if the way one fills the gaps is fun or interesting. Your message, by the way, was neither. I just had some time to kill.

#i am very good at recognising people from tone... almost like a 6th sense you might say ;) #of course I also have ways to confirm. say hi to my statcounter etc. ♥ #i’ll admit i find it very funny you are bothered by someone conceptualising this fictional relationship differently #how does it feel to be a passive aggressive coward on anon #a craven one might say! #I have no previous experience with that you see uwu #and now i’m going back to doing a watercolour for my friend. #grow a spine and apologise or fuck off. #russingon

[arianaofimladris]

The blood of Luthien

Maglor may die.

The truth is cruel and simple and this is all that Maedhros can focus on as he watches his brother's chest rise and fall in shallow breaths. There is little more he can do. There is no one he could pray to, for those who could plead mercy from the Valar are already dead and the words of Namo stand true. No one would hear him anyway. So he sits and wills his brother to live.

At some point Elros and Elrond slip into the tent and something in the way they try to sneak makes Maedhros turn towards them with a knife in his hand. He sees fear in their eyes, but there is no place for compassion in his burdened heart. They are the reason his brother is lying lifeless. Had they not tired to escape, had Maglor not gone to search for them, had the attack not happened while they were dispersed...

"If he dies..." the rest remains unspoken, because there is no need and because Maedhros is too tired to spit it out loud.

The children flee.

Maedhros keeps his watch.

 But come morning nothing changes. Maglor does not wake and neither does he die. He lies lifeless and if not for the fresh blood soaking through the bandages here and there, he could be taken for dead. Maedhros keeps his watch, because suddenly his whole world diminished to this one elf, his only remaining kin on these shores. His people understand and they carry on with their duties. It's not like they can leave anyway, not with so grievously wounded among them. One way or the other, it's all about waiting.

The tent entrance flips again.

"Why are you here?" Maedhros wants to growl at the children, but he does not need their hysteria, so what comes out from his throat is but a hoarse whisper. "I don't want you anywhere near my brother."

"We don't want him dead," one of the boys declares. Maedhros doesn't bother looking up to see which one.

"It would make us as bad as you." The other adds.

Silence answers them. There is nothing Maedhros wishes to say. But this time, the twins don't leave.

"Can we help?"

No, Maedhros thinks. There is nothing the children can do. What Maglor needs is a healer. A healer who is perhaps too far away to reach them in time, though has Maedhros sent for him. They can only wait and hope. But... "Can you sing?"

"Sing?" Both boys look at him as if he has grown a second head. It is a refreshing change from the terror he usually sees in their eyes. They are intrigued and their curiosity seems to be winning over their fright of him.

“Yes.” Decision made, Maedhros tears away from the wounded and kneels before the boys. He is no singer nor healer himself, but he knows enough. "Think of a song that makes you feel calm and secure. It can be any song, one that brings you some happy memories. Think of peaceful rest and of safety. And sing about it for him. Make him sleep peacefully and heal.” It is a long shot, but if anything, it will keep the children occupied and it cannot hurt Maglor. Maedhros knows the twins can sing quite well, so perhaps their voices alone will bring his brother some rest.

Before he leaves, he appoints two of Maglor's men to stay in the tent. They are both wounded and unwell enough to be excluded from most of the chores, but they can rest there and keep an eye on the children.

 It turns out there are more matters to settle than Maedhros thought and it takes him some time until he is free again. Somebody suggests he should join the others at the meal, but he has not had any reports on his brother's state and his legs carry him back to their tent. A part of him knows that should something happen, he would be notified at once, so perhaps no news is good news, but he needs to see for himself.

His alert grows the moment he steps inside and finds Maglor’s scouts asleep in awkward poses, as if a spell has caught them. That alone makes him want to rise alarm. Yet there is no need. The Noldor are not harmed and the children are not gone. They too are sleeping, huddled on a cot that was Maedhros's, though it has not been used since the feral incident.

And Maglor... Maglor is resting, truly resting. Some of the colour returned on his cheeks and the fever must have broken. Maedhros kneels by his side and gently brushes the filthy, sweaty hair from his forehead. When he does that, Maglor stirs and opens his eyes. He's in pain and he's confused, but he is undeniably alive. The fever has gone down and it seems the worst is over.

"Why did you wake him?" Elrond objects behind him and Maedhros wants to laugh at being scolded by this child. "You told us to make him sleep!"

"I did," he nods and lifts his brother to help him drink the draught that should ease the pain. Lowering Maglor back, be turns and a genuine smile appears on his lips. "Strong is the blood of Luthien in you.”

The two other wounded elves stir and realising they have fallen asleep, they look at their commander with terror and guilt written all over their faces. Maedhros motions them to ease back, for it is not their fault that he has underestimated the power these tiny children hold. And it was at his command that they used it.

The twins look at Maglor and they too see he seems better. They are awed and seem less afraid of the eldest son of Feanor, now that he smiles at them.

With some of the burden lifted from his heart, Maedhros motions the children to follow him for a meal long due.

 xxx

The story is also available here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30619523

Thank you for reading, please let me know what you think.

#my fic #The Silmarillion fanfic #maedhros #Elrond #Elros #Maglor #the power of song