#but about the silmarils: i get it dude

[hubristicassholefight]

Hubristic Asshole Fight: Round 1 Part 1b

Anakin Skywalker (Star Wars) vs Feanor (The Silmarillion)

Propaganda below cut

Anakin

Decided that he would become stronger than death to stop those he cares about from dying after failing to accept his mother's death. When he begins getting visions/nightmares like he had before losing his mother of his wife dying in childbirth, he decides to team up with an evil sorcerer and mastermind to learn the secret to stopping death. The price he willingly paid was leading the slaughter of the community of peacekeeping monks who had raised him from nine years old, feeling guilt about his heinous betrayal even as he unflichingly continued the massacre (sunk cost fallacy to a very extreme degree). The unintended price he paid was the loss of his limbs and independence after his injuries during a fight with his mentor and brother figure, his wife dying on childbirth due to the great stress of his heinous actions, and being separated from his children until they were adults firmly opposed to the imperial regime he became the attack dog for (only knowing of their survival until after he had personally attacked them both); He literally did not have to do any of that. his wife Padmè very very very very much did not want him to do any of that. He was completely absorbed in his own inability to deal with loss that he deadlock refused to consider losing family again and then he went and killed what amounted to his extended family, his wife and the man who raised and guided him from age 9. And his own kids unknowingly. In terms of accomplishing your goals there really really wasn't much more he could have fucked up. And when it comes down to key moments, all he had to do was not cut off mentor and co-worker Mace Windu's hand with a laser sword and everything would have been fine. He's a nominee for Fail King of All Time to me

He thinks he's hot shit which, he is, but like cool it dude you don't have to mass murder maim mutilate your way through life to prove you're the extra most specialest bestest psychic space wizard;

Hubrised so hard he 1) lost his limbs and his skin 2) became what he hated 3) caused the very death he sought to prevent, betraying and destroying himself for nothing; So soaking wet and self aware that he cried committing atrocities. If he knew what hubris was, he'd agree he has a lot of it

Feanor

The definition of hubris. Created the silmarils who were so perfect even the gods praised them. Got them stolen by the gods evil brother (so essentially fantasy satan). Then decided to go fight the evil god to get the silmarils back and swore an oath binding him and his sons to get them back no matter who would stand in their way. This drastically backfired when some other elves stood in his way so he murdered them. Got cursed by the gods for this (together with his entire family and everyone who followed them). Told the gods that they were of the same kind as fantasy satan and that they would end up following him

Morgoth (a god) shows up at his house and Feanor (professional hater of gods) tells him to get fucked* and slams the door in his face. *”Get thee gone from my gate thou jail-crow of Mandos!”; He has never spent anything wrong ever aside from all the war crimes.

The Valar (gods) asked Feanor for help in saving the world from being in total darkness and he said “no, figure it out yourselves”. Repeatedly and intentionally goes against their orders leading to war and chaos; I know it’s left open ended to what really happened to him after he died, but I hope he never repents. I hope he stays an antagonistic and egotistical bastard after being reimbodied (brought back to life) and continues to make it everyone else’s problem. I love him.

I’m gonna have to try to do this without a sing Tolkien scholarship words so bear with me. Basically my dude is one of the smartest and most talented elves in the world. Unfortunately he has a lot of daddy issues AND mommy issues largely due to the fact that his mom died when he was a kid and decided not to come back (as elves can do). No one else has this problem. He invented a ton of important stuff and had seven sons. His most prized creation was three gems called the Silmarils, which contained the light of the Two Trees, which gave light to the world before they were destroyed. When the Valar (the gods of Tolkien’s world) asked if they could use the Silmarils to potentially create another light source, he emphatically refused and in fact became so jealous of them that he and his sons swore an oath that anyone who so much as touched them would die by their swords. Sauron’s boss steals the gems and Feanor decides that he will lead his people on a crusade to retrieve and avenge them. This results in the death of him, most of his people, and almost his entire family minus one of his sons, Galadriel, and Elrond; He once yelled at the devil to get off his lawn

went to war with morgoth (satan basically) against the will of the gods and made a whole speech to said gods about how they were gonna feel really silly when he killed morgoth and saved the whole world. he never actually did battle with morgoth because he died on like day 1 of getting to middle earth (he left like 2/3 of his forces behind because he didn’t trust them) and spontaneously combusted upon his death; he’s a huge asshole and a mad scientist and linguist and prince with daddy issues and also mommy issues

Dude thought he could win a fight with the devil, tried to just walk into Angband (Mordor before Mordor actually existed), made an oath to kill everyone that tries to take his creations even the Valar (angelic like beings) and ends up causing his death, his sons deaths and a bunch of other deaths; His name is quite literally spirit of fire Is basically regarded as THE greastest elf Is in fact THE best smith of the elves and crafts their most precious jewels (that end up causing so much death) Is THE linguist to the point of creating the alfabet every one uses even after The Crimes, creates a bunch of things that are used even after The Crimes actually Loves his dad more than the things he made Is the only recorded elf with seven kids Is married to a sculpter that is so good that people confuse her statues as actual people (a propaganda because he had to be good to actually bag her you know) Manages to create jewelry so good even the the angelics beings sent by god are surprised he managed to do it So good at making speeches that it leads to a rebellion against said angelic beings and a lot of people to leave paradise with him His mother died because his spirit was too powerful Invented kinslaying after trying to steal some boats for said rebellion Swears an oath that destroys his whole family (but adds a great flavour to the rest of the story) Tells the devil to fuck off and slams his house door on said devils face Dies via auto combustion because his spirit was just too powerful for a normal death Gets stuck in the afterlife (that elves can usually just return from) for spiting the Valar Is said he will have an important role in Tolkien’s version of Ragnarok by letting the jewels he previously promised to kill for be destroyed to defeat the devil

Because of his pride, he went against the gods because the evil god Morgoth stole his life's work (the Silmarils, 3 shiny gems that radiated the light of the two trees that a huge evil spider had sapped dry). Swore (with his 7 sons) an oath to hunt Morgoth and retrieve his shiny gems. Commited kinslaying, burned some boats, combusted to ashes after suffering mortal wounds at the hands of corrupted demi-gods. Consequences of his actions could be seen long long after his death: the oath was passed on to his sons to hopelessly fulfill (failure after failure, including two more kinslayings, one of them casting himself into a fiery volcano, another wandering the shores for eternity);

#anakin skywalker #star wars #feanor #the silmarillion #tolkien's legendarium #hubristic assholes tourney #round 1 #round 1 part 1b #official #poll

[gffa]

“The lost Silmaril”, I just cannot get over that.  Even if you set aside the whole impossible to wrap my head around “good and evil fighting over a Silmaril and lightning struck it and radiated into the ground to create mithril and now we need it because the Elves are fading from Middle-earth and the trees are rotting” which like what, I’m still unable to get past “the lost Silmaril” and how most Elves consider it apocryphal. I’m just baffled.  Are they saying there was a fourth fucking Silmaril?  Because, my dudes, Galadriel was there, if there was a fourth Silmaril created she would fucking know.  It wouldn’t be apocryphal because she would know. Or are you saying it was one of the existing ones?  Because we know where those Silmarils are.  Is this supposed to be Maedhros’ Silmaril?  Maglor’s?  The one Earendil took up to the sky?  WHICH FUCKING SILMARIL WAS IT?  And, again, how can it be apocryphal that it was lost, when Gil-galad and Elrond WERE FUCKING THERE WHEN THOSE THINGS WERE BEING FOUGHT OVER? I know it’s kind of a small thing to fixate on, but it shows that this is just completely breaking Tolkien’s story, this doesn’t work as an adaptation whatsoever, I don’t mind changing things around to suit a story, adaptations need to be flexible, but it’s a huge part of the story that Galadriel came over with the Elves who were fighting for the Silmaril, that she was fucking there, that the Elves are very goddamned aware of what fighting over the Silmarils did, and that fading in the Elves has a theme, it’s about how their time is ending and it’s meant to be the time of Men, not tree rot or whatever. But also it’s just.  THE LOST SILMARIL.  Is there a fourth one?  Because otherwise, the Silmarils were accounted for AT THE END OF THE FIRST AGE, like it wasn’t ancient history to the Elves, it was WITHIN THEIR LIFETIMES, NOT EVEN THAT LONG AGO, depending on how far into the Second Age they’re setting this, like ARRRGHHHH.

#tolkien stuff #rings of power

[lamemaster]

I Am Managing Manwe's Political Campaign

I saw this post about Manwe. There is so much hate for the poor dude. Some argue that he is not fit to be the King of Arda. So here my hot take...

Despite the mighty words of the oath that Varda and Manwe were witness to, they did not accept or reject it. They could have accepted the damning oath and sealed the eternal fates of both Feanor and his sons.

To think about Manwe being the King of Arda, he literally built it. If Feanor gets to launch an entire campaign for the Silmarils he made from the light of the two trees, that mind you were not his creation, then why can a Vala not lead his creation?

As for freedom, Manwe does not hold his subjects to inflexible laws. In the case of Finwe, he offers a fair debate about the issue and offers the high king of the Noldor a valid judgment.

Additionally, despite banishing Feanor, Manwe respects Fingolfin's wish to pardon his brother.

A lot of people criticize him for trusting his brother but he does that for most. Manwe believes in essential good in the people. The intent of his actions is visible through the help sent through Earandil and several warnings he sends to the Numenorians.

He has flaws but Manwe, I believe is a capable leader. He holds the courage to give up on Middle Earth to build Valinor for his people. Just like Nargothrond and Gondolin, Valinor is a safe haven for elves (just long-lasting compared to the other two). His leadership gave the elves a chance for peace.

Manwe is not perfect, in a marred world he is bound to have flaws but he is kind and forgiving. And I would rather side with him than the elf who killed his own kind for his greed.

#manwe #don't fight me on this #manwe is precious #let me save you manwe sulimo #manwe did everything right #the silmarillion

[iliaclwrites]

hello!! i adore your writing, it flows so smoothly!! i loved librarian!reader with all of me, can we get any more of her and dustin and eddie??

wow i uh didn't write any of librarian!reader in this but you get to witness eddie having a mental breakdown about marriage so i hope that makes up for it??

"How long've you guys been dating, again?" Dustin asked innocently from where he was painting a minifigure at Eddie's dining table. You two had just moved into a place in Hawkins, having scraped and scrounged enough between the two of you to rent a small house on a little cul de sac, not too far from where Dustin himself lived. He'd often come over without so much as a by-your-leave, appearing in your living room or eating your leftovers.

"Uh..." Eddie scratched at his chin, looking over one of his own figures. "Yeesh. I started dating Tinuviel in junior year, and then I had three senior years, and then last year, so... that's uh, five? Five years?" he said, and nodded. "Yeah. It'll be six in June."

"You gonna marry her?"

Eddie dropped his barbarian on the rug. "What?" he squawked, looking up at Dustin, who was still focusing on priming his minifigure of an owlbear. "Wh-- ha-- what makes you ask that?"

Dustin shrugged. "You've been dating a while," he said simply. "You're obsessed with her. You've moved in with her. You let her DM sessions when you're sick." He raised his eyebrows. "Why haven't you married her yet? Make an honest woman of her."

Eddie sputtered. "I, well. It's. I." He didn't really have a good answer for that. "It's... never come up."

Dustin snorted. "That's because you haven't asked," he said, pointing his paintbrush at Eddie. "She's probably just waiting for you to pop the question."

"That's the problem," Eddie hissed, and stalked over to where his jacket hung on the coat rack (he had a coat rack! He was a real grown up!), shoving his hand into it and pulling out a little box. "How the fuck am I supposed to do that?"

Dustin dropped his minifigure. "Dude. How long have you had that?"

Eddie laughed somewhat hysterically. "Since she graduated," he said, eyes darting manically. "I, uh. I had all the money I'd saved up, you know, from the dealing. And I went down to that jewellery store, the one that used to be in StarCourt, may she rest in peace, and I got, like. This ring. And I had like a fifteen minute breakdown because I didn't know what kind of rock she'd want to wear, like, you know, forever, what if I choose a shitty rock, right? So I get her one that's yellow, like a yellow diamond, because like, the Silmarils. And I just. Like, what was I supposed to say? Hey, Tinuviel! Let's get hitched! So I just. Put it off. And it's been in my pocket since then."

"Eddie."

He looked up at Dustin, hand still clutching the box.

"Breathe, bro," Dustin said, like he was coaxing a wild animal. Eddie slumped against the wall, the coats behind him cushioning the sound. "It's not like she's going to say no, Eddie," Dustin added gently.

"But what if she does?" Eddie whined, and threw himself onto the sofa, face down. After a long moment of silence, Eddie pulled his head up to look at Dustin, and the boy faltered, swallowing at the man's despondent face. "Dustin, this isn't like prom, okay? It's not like she's saying yes to a dance and a smooch and a feel-up behind the bikeshed--"

"Ew, dude, gross."

"This is her life," he continued, holding the box out to Dustin. The yellow diamond glisters under Eddie's lightbulbs. "She's saying yes to me. To this. Forever. She's saying yes to me walking into doors at 9am when I've not had coffee. She's saying yes to me playing guitar at three in the morning because I just can't sleep. She's saying yes to my bones getting cranky and rusted and bunged up from smoking. She's saying yes to me reading the kids Lord of the Rings before they know how to speak. She's saying yes to kids, my kids, with stupid big hair and her perfect nose and pissing and shitting and college funds and mortgages and--"

"Breathe."

Eddie sucked in a deep breath, and squeezed his eyes shut. "Sorry," he said, after a pause. "It's just. She's always been there for me. I always want her to be there."

Dustin pushed the box toward Eddie. "Then ask her to."

#eddie munson x female character #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson x female reader #eddie munson fic #eddie munson x librarian reader #s: the song of beren and luthien

[aracaranelentari]

Fingolfin is my fave character so thank you for all the posts on him!! Can you tell me why you love him so much?

Happily I will try, but Anon you have asked a hard question! If there's anything I struggle to understand, it's the patterns and reasonings behind my own interests, which are often irrational and very inconsistent!

Well a few simpler reasons are: He's dauntless but also wise, ambitious but kind and cautious - he thinks before he acts (most of the time). He has ice symbolism to parallel Fëanor's fire, which I think is super cool. I think he's a very good king! His people love him, and he seems to listen to his people and often takes council with others, not relying on his own wisdom only. An underrated reason to love Fingolfin is that he's half Vanyar, which is potential for interesting interpretations for his character, such as my personal theories that he's a dancer and is Ingwë's favorite nephew.

I also love characters who have a lot of inner turmoil and battle with themselves constantly, and both Maedhros and Fingolfin I think fit this bill pretty well, though in Maedhros it's more obvious. Fingolfin is quite similar to his brother Fëanor in quite a few ways, and to me it seems like throughout the narrative he tries hard to suppress the more explosive aspects of himself, and put his people's needs before himself. He's jealous of Fëanor but tries to make peace with him anyways, he holds the Fëanorians accomplices of their father but accepts Maedhros' repentance and makes peace with them, he's proud of his people's strength and wants to attack Angband, but won't force his people to do what they don't want to. He's really quite the respectful guy and good diplomat, despite his own pride!

Obviously he goes apeshit at the end of the Dagor Bragollach, and his duel is incredibly fascinating to talk about by itself, another reason I love him. Fëanor once said "Such hurt at the least will I do to the Foe of the Valar that even the mighty in the Ring of Doom shall wonder to hear it", and there's only one among the Ñoldor who accomplished this. If Fëanor's main two reasons for the Flight were 1) get the Silmarils back, and 2) get revenge on Morgoth, didn't Maedhros technically fulfill part of the first reason, and Fingolfin fulfill the second?

There are also more meta reasons why I'm such a Fingolfin stan. I think Fingolfin is overlooked and/or oversimplified by a lot of the fandom, and grossly mischaracterized by much of the rest of it. I might be exaggerating a bit, especially when characterizing Silmarillion characters is so difficult, and will be inconsistent by the nature of the source material not going in-depth with their personalities. My interpretation of Fingolfin will not be the same as someone else who has read the same material, and because he's my favorite character, my interpretation may be biased in favor of him being a compelling individual. Still, a lot of the Fingolfin takes I see, especially from annoying dude-bros and people who villainize him to try to justify Fëanor, are very frustrating to me. All this to say that I love my Fingolfin, but dislike some of the other Fingolfins I see (not all of them! There are plenty of other wonderful Fingolfins), and I think quite a bit of my intense love for him comes from a place of defying the interpretations I dislike. I don't know if that made sense, or was a satisfactory answer to your ask, but I tried my best!

#tolkien #the silmarillion #fingolfin #tolkien meta #sorry if this post is a mess #i'm bad at explaining myself #basically i have made him my babygirl and that's why i love him

[hirazuki]

I said I wasn’t going to do the thing, but, eventually, inevitably, (and I’m sure you’re all shocked) I did the thing. My curiosity is insatiable and will be the death of me.

Thoughts under the cut!

Okay, we’re going to bullet list this shit, because otherwise it’s just going to be a stream of consciousness nightmare.

Rights

So, first off. The decision to deal with content that they can’t talk about or show continues to baffle me. In what world can you successfully tell a story which is one hundred percent reliant on the setup (i.e., events and characters that preceded it)... that you can’t touch because of copyright??? Name dropping silmarils and Feanor and Gondolin or whatever the fuck, randomly, isn’t going to magically glue things together and make it work; it’s just going to irritate the people who are watching who have knowledge of the Legendarium, and simply utterly confuse everyone else. I still maintain that, had they wanted to play around in Middle-Earth, they should have just created a completely original story, populated with completely original characters, with a canon character popping in for a cameo here and there as Easter eggs for funsies. 

Adaptation

No adaptation is going to be exactly like the source material except some incredibly rare gems of anime, almost always produced by Studio Bones, so I don’t think most of us going in really expected to experience The-Silmarillion-On-Screen. But I feel like the audience expecting a good story -- even if the story breaks from canon -- is like. not irrational. The bar is so low. I would have been sufficiently placated with a good story. Not even an exceptional one; just something with solid characters, a sensible plot, and a sense of adventure a la Tolkien. Something, even, in just the spirit of Tolkien. That’s it. Apparently, that’s too much to ask for lmao.

Story

I have... So. Many. Questions. Primarily about the reasoning behind a lot of this junk. Buckle in.

That was the most bizarre and cursory retelling of the events of the Years of the Trees and the First Age. Imagine Feanor getting left out just like that XDD

Why are we sailing into Valinor????? Galadriel herself, specifically, rejected the pardon of the Valar twice; she was like, nope, I’m good, not going back. Why would Gil-galad force her to go? Why does Gil-galad have any kind of power, political or otherwise, over her, she has her own realm to rule?? Why isn’t she in that realm, with her husband and daughter? I don’t get the motivations behind anything here.

Jumping off of a ship that close to Aman... thinking she’s going to swim back to Endor? That’s so dumb I can’t even.

Why are the elves fading in the Second Age??????? 

Don’t even get me started on the mithril shit. What is this, a drug? Are you going to compound it into pills, take twice daily with food? Wtf?? Fine dwarven mithril, direct from Khazad-dum, my friends, was not some kind of new, unheard of, miracle substance; it existed prior to this Age, and was also found in Numenor and Aman. Yes, Khazad-dum had the monopoly on it in Middle-Earth, but it was common knowledge and the whole reason the Noldor settled in Ost-in-Edhil was because of that mithril, and wanting to trade with the dwarves for it to use it in their crafts. It was no secret.

... the lost silmaril, are you fucking kidding me. All three are accounted for! Is this a fourth silmaril? Why is it in a tree?? Why is this random apocryphal elf battling with a balrog like this, why is Glorfindel being cannibalized again?? This poor dude, can’t catch a break in any adaptation from people tearing his role in any Age apart and handing it out to other characters. Also, mithril is a precious metal that, yes, is extremely valuable and unique, but it’s just. a. metal. Not some spooky supernatural thing. Ugh.

Why oh why is Galadriel in Numenor lmao. Wtf even is this timeline. Why are Numenoreans anti-elf and why is their primary concern the job market??? Why are they trying to sail into the West pre-Zigur?? Why are the palantiri lost before the island sinks? What the fuuuuuuck. 

Why does Elendil have a third child???

[side note: I’ve seen multiple articles calling Mairon Melkor’s “son” and I just XD I feel like like both parties would have so much to say about that. Like. So much. ANYWAY]

I liked Arondir enough, up until the moment he called the tiny human settlement made of stone and wood in the wide open plain the most “defensible” spot. Bro. There... there is nothing defensible about this. The entire segment of the battle against the orcs, actually, was very painful to experience, in terms of strategy (or rather, the lack thereof). People’s actions and decisions made absolutely no sense. Except for Waldreg; yeah, me too, buddy.

(Incidentally, why did an entire fort come crumbling down as a result of some rope???? Perhaps I missed something; oh wait! I must have, it was too fucking dark to see anything properly in the first place!)

Also, why is Bronwyn wearing that blue when no one else is? Expensive blue dye? Spaghetti strap dress? It’s like a really cheap game of pick out the Important Character amongst this rabble. 

I’ll bet you anything that the inspiration for the Stranger was that one instance when Olorin came back as Gandalf the White, and it took him a moment and an interaction with Aragorn to ground himself and remember his previous life, and they were like, let’s take that and put it on steroids -- i.e., we’re gonna make him not remember how to use his limbs, how to use words, he’s gonna be mute and dumb until the final episode until SUDDENLY he can speak in elaborate sentences and riddles >.> If this is how the Valar send their Maiar to Middle-Earth, they are even bigger jackasses than I have always considered them to be lmao. He is a MAIA, why would he show up naked and then wear rags????? Like, this is a perfect example of what I mean when I say that they disrespect the characters; it’s so demeaning. Hobo!Olorin; for fuck’s sake.

I can’t with the balrog, y’all, it’s literally one rock wall separating them, they clearly were trying to making this suspenseful and dramatic but it falls so very flat because it’s not even that deep. 

Love that the Numenoreans just landed in the exact spot where one (1) tiny human village in all of the southern portion of Middle-Earth is under attack, and they were able to immediately go to their rescue. They didn’t even try; no runner, no messenger, no finding some hapless soul in a field to direct them where to go. It’s so bad.

Orodruin has an on/off switch, guys! Too bad Mairon forgot to turn it off when he moved back in, in the Third Age, would have saved himself a lot of trouble if there had been no active lava to throw the ring in XDDD Jesus X_X

Pyroclastic flow, you can survive it, believe it. My god. 

Celeborn name-dropping was so very random. Seven episodes in, suddenly she remembers she has a husband! Time spent looking for Sauron: 200+ years. Time spent looking for missing husband: ... zero? She was on her way into the West without ever looking for him and the reason she turned back around is because she felt her work here was still unfinished, not, “oh maybe I should look for my husband and daughter”? Also, we just have to rip off Luthien and Beren, huh. 

Mordor to Lindon in six days!!!!!!!! What are those horses on, I want some too XD (it’s like... 800-ish miles, in a direct line, not accounting for mountain ranges and ravines and the like, where you’d have to find a way around. Even considering that elven steeds are super-horses -- so let’s say they can do 40 miles/day -- and pretend they don’t need to use roads and can fly over insurmountable passes, that should still be a journey of no less than 20 days; it’s across the entire fucking continent).

Sure, yeah, he’s a Maia so obviously a “mortal wound” isn’t gonna kill him, so he made the journey just fine. But she didn’t know that, yet she pushed the journey until he was visibly falling off his horse; callous, much??? What a bitch :D

Galadriel, in favor of ringmaking?????? Celebrimbor being proud and fond of his Feanorian blood (in public, to a complete stranger, no less)? Who are these people HELP.

WHY ARE WE GIVING TYELPE’S STORYLINE TO HER HASN’T SHE GIRLBOSSED ENOUGH

Fuck the 9 and the 5, I guess? The whole point is that they were made before... not after... because otherwise the subjugation wouldn’t woooooork. Oof.

Wow. 400+ years of living together, working together, and all the entanglements that brings, reduced to... what was it? 3 weeks? 3 months? I want. to. cry.

I just. Who looks at the Silmarillion and goes, “you know what this could use? MORE DRAMA.” Like, everyone is more than dramatic enough without adding a whole bunch of new dynamics in established relationships lmao.

I think that’s my main complaint, actually. First/Second Age is already essentially a family soap opera, but RoP has injected so much melodrama into it that it makes it completely tasteless. They’re changing not only major plot points but character dynamics and relationships... for what? To what end?? What is the purpose??? It’s certainly not effective story-telling, that’s for sure.

OH I forgot the harfoot storyline. Well. That goes to show what I think about it lmao. I get the sentiment behind it but the execution is so poorly done, it just doesn’t do it for me at all. It was just so piece-meal and shoddy and random -- what was even the point of the three sorcerers?? 

Dialogue

It’s just so bad. There’s the purple prose that runs circles around itself trying to make itself sound deep and Tolkien-ish, but is ultimately empty and means nothing (”why does a rock sink but a ship doesn’t” are you fucking kidding me, with word-smithing like that no wonder Mairon sang you into the ground and you deserve it). There’s the forced call-backs to the text/movies (”follow your nose,” “a gift,” etc.) that are shoved in there for Nostalgia and Relevance and feel awfully out of place. And then, my favorites: the really dumb one-liners that completely break whatever meagre atmosphere the series managed to set (“knife-ears” -- what is this, Dragon Age?! “the elves will take your jobs” -- like, really bro? are you serious?? “I’m good” -- ouch, that was so unspeakably cringe). 

The single exception is Adar’s dialogue; idk if someone different was writing him and his storyline or what, but this is way more like Tolkien. And, sadly, seeing that they can write like this, makes the rest of the series even worse. 

Also the choices of when/where to use Quenya vs. Sindarin... I’m so confused.

Costuming

...... what. the. fuck. Like, all of it, really, but the armor is especially... unfortunate. It’s just so poor, in concept and execution. I was wondering why the layers of mail were moving so weirdly, but at first I didn’t believe it when someone said that the mail worn under the breastplate, bracers and pauldrons by the Numenoreans is actually just the armor design printed onto long-sleeved shirts. Looking at it more closely since then... I really think they’re right, which is just yikes. I’m usually extremely forgiving in this department if the plot and tone are right, especially if it is a low-budget production (have y’all seen the costumes from Voyage of the Unicorn?? One of my favorite tv series. No joke. 100% adore the costuming too, as it fits the vibe and everything is clearly done just for the joy of it). But knowing they spent $60 million per episode, and it still turned out like this? That’s just gross. (And apparently the person who did the costuming is the same person who did the costumes for Crimson Peak, which I haven’t watched but the costumes are incredible... what a waste of her talent).

Also, the hair loss. Yes. Absolutely. It 100% detracts from the image, sorry. And I’m not talking only about the elves. The dwarven women got the short end of the stick, too. 

It’s the presentation, primarily, what the costuming does for the presentation of the characters (or what it doesn’t do, in this case). Galadriel should not have to pull her hair back and expose her ears in order for people to identify her as an elf; she should be ethereal and faerie and otherworldly and immediately distinguishable from those around her, as all elves should. Everyone is just so. bogged down in the mortal muck. It’s so disappointing. If you look at cast photos from the LotR and Hobbit movies, the difference between the cast in costume and the cast wearing their day to day clothing is like a punch to the face; here, everyone looks like they stepped off of the street and onto the set :/

Again, the exception seems to be Adar. He’s by far the most Tolkien-looking of all the characters, and definitely gives off First Age survivor vibes even from just the way he looks, and I really don’t understand why they chose to not to let a similar aesthetic guide the appearance of the rest of the elven cast. It’s baffling.

Casting

XDDDD 

I mean. I don’t even know what to say. A good portion of why everyone looks so ugly is absolutely the costuming and makeup work and I do think that even just longer hair would improve them a great deal, but there are certain characters that have been so horribly mis-cast, namely Elrond, Gil-galad and Celebrimbor. They just don’t vibe as the characters. And, speaking as a complete non-shipper, if Tyelpe looked like that, I firmly believe that Mairon would have skipped Ost-in-Edhil altogether; he’d have taken one look and been like, yeah, no thanks, I’ll pass. Like, why does he look like he’s about to croak??? This is supposed to be the elves at the height of their power in Eregion! And he’s Feanor’s grandson, he’s not that old!!! He was only two-thousand something years old when he died!!! Galadriel has a couple of centuries on him at least. (My most heartfelt sympathies to the Silvergifting folks, btw; Tyelpe did not become a banner for this utter nonsense).

I really enjoyed the idea of Disa and Arondir. Truly. And the actors did give it their all, which is really the only thing saving their characters, in my opinion. But I do think that they were done a disservice as well, in being associated with the rest of this. I’m all for diverse casting (though, can’t help but note the lack of Asian representation in a series that is patting itself on the back for diversity), but aside from these two, everyone else was just... very token-ish. Caricature-ish, to the point of being insulting. What was with the accents from Rhun??? As someone from the part of the world that that was inspired by, I was cringing. I honestly don’t know if I’ll be able to watch season 2 if Rhun is going to be a big focus and they insist on presenting it like this. Idk, the casting choices definitely gave off the vibe of Representation™ for the sake of Brownie Points instead of actually being inclusive, and it left such a bad taste in my mouth. I know they’re gonna drag Khamul into this mess, I know it, but I’m fervently wishing him a very I-hope-you-don’t-get-included

Music

There are some good moments, a couple of bars that woke me up here and there, but ultimately forgettable. It’s not awful, but it is terribly mediocre, and from a composer whose other work I have enjoyed, that’s just really very sad (I guess this series brought out the worst in everyone???)

Galadriel

Where to fucking start

She’s really just a very painful example of people, yet again, thinking “Strong female character” means unlikable bitch who is in everyone’s face and listens to no one because she is StRonK.

Ugh. Commander who has no respect from her men? Who doesn’t even bother to work with her men?

Yes, obviously she’s younger in the Second Age than the Third Age, no. shit. She’s not who the Fellowship meets in Lothlorien, not yet, she’s still growing into that person. Obviously she has serious scars from the First Age and before. She participated in the First Kinslaying. She was called Nerwen, and regularly participated in athletic feats. She crossed the Helcaraxe. She refused the Valar’s pardon twice. She fought and she lost so much. But just because you want to portray her as younger, as angry or vengeful or whatever (which is fine! she was!) does not mean that she is a brat or that she is inelegant or that she is dumber than a brick. 

She picks a quarrel with everyone she speaks to. “You have not seen what I’ve seen” -- to Elrond. Elrond. His father became a star and his mother became a bird and he never saw either one again and he was taken in and raised by the very people who slaughtered his kin (multiple times, I might add; two separate instances), and then his only brother, his twin, chose the life of a Man instead of an elf and then died. Like. lady; please. She would never, ever be so crass.

They make her so naive, so stupid -- simply because otherwise the plot as they have written it would not be able to unfold, because the choices she makes to move the plot along are dumb as fuck -- and it is infuriating.

She says shit like “sometimes you have to trust in the design of the powers that be” -- is this the same person who left literal paradise because she wanted a realm of her own to rule and didn’t want to be subservient and beholden to greater powers, and wanted to determine her life for herself?

She is such a child. Elendil compares her to his teenage children. His mortal, teenage children. That’s... not a good look lmao.

Also, don’t get me started on her swordsmanship. All the combat choreography is dismal, but especially the sequence of her “teaching” in Numenor is very painful to me, as a swordsman. Oy.

Elrond & Celebrimbor

Why is Elrond a dwarf friend (: Why isn’t Celebrimbor the dwarf friend (: (: (: Where is Narvi (: (: (: (: The doors, what doors, oh the doors of Moria, the doors that were specifically crafted by an elf and a dwarf (those being Celebrimbor and Narvi) and stand testament to their friendship, those doors? Bleh.

WHY ARE WE HAVING ELROND SWEAR AN OATH

WHY ARE OATHS BEING PASSED OFF AS NOT A BIG DEAL I’m pretty sure there’s an entire story somewhere about how serious an oath can be...

Why are things (oaths, silmarils) that were resolved in the First Age and left behind in the First Age, being dredged up again here????? I want to scream.

Ah, yes, Galadriel, the one who took in a just-orphaned Elrond. Fuck Maglor, I guess???? He didn’t single-parent two orphans in the face of the Oath to be disrespected like this.

I just. I don’t understand how Celebrimbor can NOT be the focus of a show called RINGS OF POWER. His importance has been relegated to a footnote. It would be like Feanor being a side character in a show called SILMARILS. It’s absurd.

Elrond’s relationship with Galadriel is. so weird. It’s got such a weird vibe. They’re not comrades-in-arms. They’re not friends, not like buddy-buddy. They’re related in three separate ways if I recall correctly; they’re cousins through two different lines, and then -- more importantly -- she’s his mother-in-law. Why is he treating her like a sibling????

Gil-galad

Oh, Ereinion. Last High King of the Elves and Retainer of Long Locks ;_; The harpers will sing even more sadly of him now, I guess. Why does he look like a disgraced Roman governor out of Asterix who fell out of favor in the capital and is living out his days in discontent in the provinces? He somehow escaped the great shearing, but still looks awful  minor nitpick, given everything else going on, but why is his hair black? he’s one of the few characters whose hair-color we explicitly know  More pressingly, why does he act like it?? Fair and free realm my ass, they’re drowning in angst here and Annatar hasn’t even shown up yet lmao. Does someone on the team have a personal dislike for him? Tolkien was sparse on details, sure, and the First and Second Ages were absolutely rife with politics, but there is no reason to make him a smarmy, conniving politician and an idiot to boot.  

Mairon

My boy, my love, the very personification of perfectionism and obsessive-compulsive tendencies and creative license, embodiment of the themes of the artistic struggle, of creation and destruction as two sides of the same coin, independence and freedom and binding and subjugation wrapped up all in one complex fiery being... I’m gonna need a whole separate post for you. My grief knows no bounds, my tears are innumerable T____T

There’s a lot more I can say, and I know there’s a lot I left out, but my hands and brain are tired now lol. 

tl;dr Tbh I would have been content with a show about random OCs in Middle-Earth, rather than whatever they’re trying to do by twisting the plot like this. Like, keep the storyline with Arondir and Bronwyn (but just... make their actions and dialogue have common sense lmao), navigate elf/human relations in the Second Age through them. Keep Adar and the nuanced interpretation of Orcs and explore the original creation of Orcs, and how a mutilated elf from the First Age deals with survival like that. Hell, throw in Celebrian (who is mentioned by name in the Appendices; as is Glorfindel, incidentally) since we’re screwing with the timeline anyway -- you want a canon, strong, female protagonist? Here you go! We barely have any info on her, other than the bare bones -- create away! Incorporate her kidnapping by orcs, her torture, have her meet Adar, create moral conflict that way. Pepper in some Elrond and some Galadriel on the fringes, for a popularity boost, since we apparently need them for a Middle-Earth show to matter. Ta-da, boom, done. 

It could have been good, y’all. 

#the best thing i can say about this series is that it gave me the final no-fucks-given push to finally cosplay my boy #and to seriously sit down and work at some silm art #i've enjoyed silmarillion/first and second age fanart and fanfic my whole life but have never contributed myself because #i always felt that anything i made wouldn't be good enough #well #anything i put out can't possibly be worse than this lmao #should i tag this? #meh i'll tag it why not #in case people want to blacklist my sorrowful ramblings #anti rop #anti rings of power #(okay y'all i tried doing the conscientious thing and strictly tagging it as anti only but the way this site uses tags these days #is against me #no matter what i try it insists on putting it in the main tag so #apologies. i tried. i tried a million variations. just keep scrolling if it's not your cup of tea)

[lovefairymina]

Maglor overhears a conversation between you and another elf. 

"My lady, do you think it's safe for you to court that feanorian? He is dangerous like the rest of his family, so is it best for you to be with someone like him?" The elf questioned. 

"Eh? Oh, I will be fine. You do not need to worry about me," You smiled at them. 

"But do you know he has done terrible things in the past?" The elf asked. 

"I do, and I have accepted his past as he has accepted mine, and besides, he's been trying to do better to make up for his mistakes," You said. 

"But how do you know that? What if he's using you?" The elf questioned. 

"Uhmm, dude. Look at me! I am a human farm girl he picked up from a lonely village. I can't do anything significant, so what can he benefit from me?" You asked. 

"Well, what if he pulls you into his oath? You will be in danger then," The elf asked. 

"I think I am capable of looking after myself and leaving if I have to," You said. 

"What if you have a silmaril, and he comes after you?" They asked. 

"Oh, get on my knee, grab his hand, put the silmaril on it, and ask him to marry me!" You said without hesitation. 

"Seriously? What if you refuse to give it back?" The elf asked. 

"What use do I have with a rock? My main loves are food, him and food, and last time I checked, rocks aren't edible," You explained. 

The elf sighs. "I'm just trying to look out for you and that you won't get hurt,"

"And I appreciate the concern, but I am perfectly capable of looking after myself," You said. 

"What do you see in him?" They asked. 

"He makes me laugh, feel loved, and he treats me better than anyone in my life," You explained. "I still question what he saw in me to pick me as his partner. He's an ethereal being with the most beautiful voice, while I'm just a girl who's pretty much a dumbass," You said. 

"I can't with you right now," The elf leaves. "Come back when you have a valid excuse to convince me– otherwise– leave me and my relationship alone," You called out. “Seriously, what is it with these people? Can’t I enjoy being lucky enough to have such a sweet, beautiful partner who also looks like a snack I love to take a bite out of?” You shook your head. “Honestly, they should be more worried about him than me,” You walked away.

Feeling a pair of arms snaking their way around your waist, you didn't need to guess who it was, his scent alone was enough to inform you of his presence. He landed a small kiss to your temple and then one to your cheek before spinning you around to speak, “I humbly appreciate all those things you said about me. I-I've never heard anyone defend a person like myself so. . .proudly and righteously. I don't understand what I've done to deserve this—you, but thank you and I love you.”

#♡{secret.hugs} ~ {maglor} #maglor x you #maglor x reader #maglor imagine #maglor #makalaurë #makalaure #kanafinwë x reader #kanafinwë #feanorians #sons of feanor

[melestasflight]

✨What’s a fic you’ve posted you wish you could breathe life into again and have people talking about it? (or simply a fic you wish got more credit)

💞what’s the most important part of a story for you? the plot, the characters, the worldbuilding, the technical stuff (grammar etc), the figurative language

🤍what’s one fic of yours you think people didn’t “get”?

Thanks for the asks @sallysavestheday!

✨ Oh, it has got to be Voices That Were Once Ours

This fic has all things dear to my heart: Maglor, Finrod, Fingon, Fingolfin, tense Mithrim politics, the aftermath of the Helcaraxë, tattoed elves, rekindling friendships and relationships, battles and Orcs, reconciliations, queerplatonic vibes, elaborate landscapes, the Noldolantë!

Like Fëanor with his Silmarils, I feel like I poured a little of my soul into this one 😅 Ok, maybe not so dramatic, but I did spend about 5 months either actively thinking, researching or writing (and rewriting!) this piece. I went down some convoluted rabbit holes on the logistics of acoustic cavalry, ecosystems of cold-weather flatlands, species of prairie birds (like the Sprague's pipit whose song I highly recommend you listen to), the type of sword Maglor would carry (imagine Fëanor's bust instead of that mustached dude), and went back through my 12-year old notes on music theory. A massive shoutout to @polutrope who put up with me and still remained my friend at the end of it all lol.

I got some really, really beautiful comments on this one (including yours, thank you!) as well as this amazing art piece of Finrod and Maglor composing the Noldolantë in the Gap. But deep down, I'm still seeking something more from this. Not even sure what exactly. Maybe because I spent so much time with it, I feel like I didn't get to process it enough like other fics.

I've answered 💞 here and 🤍 here.

#thank you! #asks #writing is a beautiful practice #it also scratches your soul at times tho #maglor #finrod

[aemiron-main]

guy who is soooooooooooo normal abt lotr feeling sooooo normal about how shelob, just like the mindflayer, is a shadow/’demon’ in the shape of a spider. feeling sooooooooooooooooo normal about st-lotr parallels. 

theres also smthn to be said for how ungoliant (shelob’s mother, also a shadow demon in the form of a spider) literally ATE LIGHT and craved it. staring at the ‘light’/memories in st. staring at mike being will’s light. staring at the idea of the mindflayer possessing a dragon. staring at the drawing of a dude getting ‘eaten’/killed by a dragon that mike was staring at in s1. staring at will byers secret files which literally has a story abt the party getting eaten by a dragon. staring at the mindflayer/henry using the mindflayer to corrupt memories/get into them esp with will’s memory loss in s2 after being possessed by the mindflayer.  but what’s the big difference between shelob and ungoliant? well, while ungoliant devours  light, shelob fears it. kind of. shelob may also actually be able to devour light- because the light of earendil is what frodo and sam use to ward off shelob- whereas ungoliant devours the light of the two trees. however, the silmarils are considered to be ‘hallowed light’ that burns ‘dark creatures’ such as shelob and ungoliant, and earendil had a silmaril, and so, the phial of earendil may have had similar properties to a silmaril (being hallowed, unlike the light of the two trees), and therefore, shelob could not consume it/feared it because it would burn her and ungoliant wouldn’t have been able to eat it EITHER, meaning that SHELOB may be able to eat light, just not the light of Earendil which is the only light we see her exposed to.  and so what implications does this have? well im gonna talk in my gay mike anon respose (strangely enough) about certain memories being ‘tainted’ and i talked in my palantir analysis abt henry tainting memories so that he can get into them- but if a memory was ‘hallowed’/untainted, much like a silmaril, then the mindflayer/shelob would be unable to consume it. hypothetically.... i think that the swingset memory would be one of those ‘untainted’ memories, considering how effective it was against the mindflayer during the shed scene in s2... i gotta think abt this more bc i gotta go outside rn but. many thoughts 

#ST lotr #byler lotr #lotr #byler #st5 #the mindflayer #mike s5 death

[aldarquen]

Silmarillion (and LOTR) Characters as things my friends have said: Part 4!

Sauron: “You know what keeps me up at night?” Beren: “What would that be?" Sauron: “When you invite people into my home, singing at midnight. Random *baritones RESONATING throughout the house.” ~Earlier, at Tol-in-Gaurhoth~ Luthien: *sings at the bridge* Beren: *sings in answer*

Luthien: *starts singing louder*

*I don’t think Lúthien was a baritone, but for context, one friend invited a bunch of other friends over to a house at night - said friends saw a huge American flag in one room, and all started singing The Star-Spangled Banner in loud, deep voices at midnight. Yes. Camp Staff are interesting...

Morgoth: “If I put together half a person and half a fish what would happen?” Ulmo: “Uhh you’d go to jail.”

*talking about lunch* Merry: “I feel like the meat was too over-seasoned.” Treebeard: “I’m not concerned about the food, I’m concerned about the consequences of the Industrial Revolution.”

Fingon: “I just got the nastiest slam dunk ever recorded in soccer!”

Annatar: "Who do I have to seduce around here to get chicken nuggies for dinner?" Celebrimbor: “Excuse me?” Annatar: “You gotta do what you gotta do to get chicken nuggies.” Eomer: “Ponies? Horses?? The ponies are here. I’m going to see the ponies!”

Pippin: "Does anyone want this apple?" Merry: "Dude. That's a pear." Pippin: "Oh. Does anyone want this pear?" Feanor: “This wouldn't have happened if they just gave me a cannon."

Caranthir: “Do you know what they’re talking about? That G & G game?” Amrod: “No it’s DnD you dipshit;” Amras: “Dungeons and Dipshits!!” Mandos: “Boys go to college to get more knowledge, girls go to Jupiter to get shredded by the strong gravitational pull.”

Maglor: “Maybe it started with Maedhros, but now I’m not sure anyone here’s straight.”  *Finrod sits down* Maglor: “Well that isn’t helping.” Maedhros (discussing Elwing keeping a silmaril): “If you do that, I feel like I’m legally obligated to stab you.”

Celegorm: “I wanna feel like I got in a physical altercation with a pear and WON.”

Morgoth: “This is what is known as a funny haha moment.”  *in reference to an epic prank involving your friends and an inter-continental ballistic missile*

Fingon: *holds Magic the Gathering cards* “Is this like an advanced version of Pokémon?” Turgon: “I’m going to slap you..”

Orodreth: “So you visited my house yesterday?” Turin: “Yeah.” Orodreth: “Did you see the LEGOs?” Turin: “Sir. SIR..”

#silm memes #incorrect silm #incorrect silmarillion quotes #incorrect lotr #silmarillion memes #the silmarillion #lotr #beren #luthien #sauron #morgoth #ulmo #merry #treebeard #fingon #annatar #celebrimbor #silvergifting #eomer #pippin #feanor #feanorians #mandos #maedhros #elwing #celegorm #turgon #turin #orodreth #maglor

[in-the-glow-of-a-silmaril]

I've written about Dior, but not about Nimloth so far. Here is how I see the circumstances of their marriage, and her character in general. It is not very romantic, I'm afraid!

Let's start with the mood in doriath, as demonstrated by Turin. So - Thingol took Turin, who is human, in as a foster child in his youth, post the whole Luthien-Beren thing. Turin was compared, unfavorably, to elves constantly, and dealt with micro aggression and condescension the whole time, culminating in vitriolic abuse from a dude named Saeros, who ultimately jumps Turin in the woods, who then snaps and ends up driving Saeros to his death. Thereafter Turin flees Doriath.

So, like. Okay. Imagine this.

Your princess, who you all love and adore, becomes smitten with a species that, like. Ew. They're not very nice to look at, and they die really quickly, and honestly what's the point.

Then she goes on a heroic quest, SPITES MORGOTH, STEALS FROM HIM, AND GETS AWAY WITH IT, all so she can marry her ugly bf. Obviously, she must be praised and revered for her great deeds. ALSO, she convinces Namo to return her man from death????? But also gives up her own birthright of immortality?

So now you're kinda stuck. You can't, like, NOT praise her. And also this is an abomination. Humans suck, and now your princess is gonna die. So what do you do? You dehumanize her - by putting her on a pedestal. You make her the exception that proves the rule. Yeah, she's in an interspecies relationship, BUT LOOK AT ALL THE INSANE SHIT SHE DID TO GET IT. true love. 🥰 Also if you try that shit and you're NOT Luthien??? Good fucking luck. Go kiss a silmaril.

I imagine this is all bubbling under the surface, and explains a lot of Turin's experience.

And Dior's.

Enter Nimloth. An arranged marriage that everyone insists is for the best. Nimloth is a dignified, proper lady. She genuinely means well but also she does regard the whole...human...thing...as a one time deal best left in the past. Dior's mother was so heroic! And now Dior is keeping things on track, by marrying her (read: an elf. A noble elf. The safest, most correct, least controversial choice possible.) And their children are regrettably a little mortal, getting pregnant twice very quickly is a deliberate Sacrifice (tm) Nimloth makes, but she's not sure what Dior's lifespan will be (another sacrifice she's making, to marry someone whose fate is uncertain) and doesn't dare wait the normal span.

Regardless, her children are beautiful. Nimloth is very proud. They will be proper elves, proper royalty, and they will honor their ancestors (but NEVER emulate them). Nimloth may even have some ideas for arranged marriages already, just to be certain everything stays on track.

She is - really, truly, genuinely - not a bad person. But she, like many elves at this point, doesn't see the "point" of humans and thinks interspecies mingling will only lead to tragedy.

She's a very proper lady with a narrow view of the world and limited perspective. She is well meaning. But I do think she sees humanity in Dior as a flaw to be lovingly corrected.

Also: She had to kinda force the marriage bond. She considers this embarrassing and never speaks of it for Dior's sake. Her love language is safeguarding a person's reputation. She thinks the reason it was hard is because of his human father, but actually it was hard bc Dior was too young and wasn't ready (see my other posts about him - you don't have to dig, they're linked in my pinned post). Nimloth, should she ever find out, will be horrified.

#Nimloth #silm #the silmarillion #dior eluchil #doriath

[nenyabusiness]

@jimtheviking​ Your ask just DISAPPEARED over night so I’m just gonna answer the ones I remember.

1. If you could be the Middle Earth race you would like to be, which would it be?

Hobbit. Their society has its problems, but generally, they seem to just... help each other out to make their lives as carefree as possible. Out of all the races in Middle-earth, they seem the happiest. I’d like that kind of life. They’re able to be satisfied. I’ve never experienced that, always wanting to do more or do better, but satisfaction seems really nice.

2. If you were the Middle Earth race that your personality most matches, which would it be?

Yeaaaah, I’d be a Noldo. Too proud, too ambitious, and too creative for my own good.

3. When did you first come into contact with Tolkien's work? Who or what introduced you?

I’m honestly not sure if I read LOTR first or watched the movies. I was young, so it must have been my parents who introduced me to it all. Since my mom is a librarian and loves the movies, I think she’s the most likely suspect.

11 (again). You can have four Tolkien characters over for dinner. Who do you choose and why?

Alright, let’s do this the non-chaotic way. I’d like to meet Finrod, because his thing was literally to befriend everyone he came into contact with. Solid dude. I’d like to see that friend-making process in action. I’m going to add Elrond to the list, because he’s got similar qualities, and he’s also a loremaster and a healer. I’d love to just sit down and talk to him for hours. Faramir (from the books) would be an excellent addition to this group as well. Similar characteristics but from a human point of view. I’m going to add Lúthien to the list as well simply because she’s one of my favorite characters. If Lúthien wants to do something, she’s going to do it. Doesn’t give a fuck about what other people think. Doesn’t give a fuck if the thing in question is considered impossible. If she wants a Silmaril, she’s going to get a goddamn Silmaril. She’s awesome and she’s invited.

13. What do you think it is about hobbits that makes them much better at resisting the evil of the One Ring than others?

I think it has to do with what I mentioned earlier: their rare ability of being satisfied with what they’ve got. Sauron would never, ever have been satisfied. He would have kept going until he destroyed either the world or himself, because that kind of obsession with power and perfection simply doesn’t stop. Hobbits, however, don’t have that mindset. I think Sam’s thoughts after his brief moment of temptation really shows this dissonance: “In that hour of trial it was the love of his master that helped most to hold him firm; but also deep down in him lived still unconquered his plain hobbit-sense: he knew in the core of his heart that he was not large enough to bear such a burden, even if such visions were not a mere cheat to betray him. The one small garden of a free gardener was all his need and due, not a garden swollen to a realm; his own hands to use, not the hands of others to command.”

We also have to take into consideration that it’s also an individual thing. We see several hobbits in the Shire who would probably have fallen pretty quickly to the One Ring’s temptations (I’m looking at you, Lotho), but Bilbo, Frodo, and Sam were all hobbits with absolutely zero interest in ruling the world (Smeagol is an outlier that would probably need an essay of his own). But yeah, I think hobbits are more resistant because the kind of power that Sauron offers is not the same power that they want. Incompatibility issues.

15. One of the most interesting things about the different cultures of Middle Earth are the crafts they value. Which craftspeople would you want to learn from the most?

That was a tricky one, but I think I’m going to go with the Noldor, mostly because they dabbled in everything. I’m a jack of all trades kind of gal, including the master of none part. I like dabbling.

I think those were all.

#thanks Jim!

[serregon]

Mablung for the character ask game?

Give me a character and I will give you my thoughts on

one aspect about them i love

my underrated beloved! it’s gotta be his devotion to saving Túrin and Nienor. dude’s a real hero and he puts his duty first. and the tragedy of it all! his devotion wasn’t enough to save them ;_;

one aspect i wish more people understood about them

I mean, people just don’t really pay attention to him much in general. fanart and fic about him is pretty rare, he’s overlooked. y’all don’t see the potential he has as much angst as the fan favorite finweans

one (or more) headcanon(s) i have about this character

okay not really a headcanon, but more of an observation. the name Mablung is an epessë meaning “heavy hand”, referencing how he held the silmaril after it was cut out of the wolf. so Mablung isn’t his real name. kinda want to come up with a real name for him myself but I’m bad at naming characters lol

one character i love seeing them interact with

I love him with Nienor. we don’t get a whole lot of lines about them, but what we do have kills me every time. Mabs spent three years searching for her, and he arrived just one day too late ;_; I’d love to explore their relationship more, maybe about how they developed their friendship in Doriath

one character i wish they would interact with/interact with more

I want to know more about his relationship with Túrin. they must have been close, but Tolkien didn’t really give us much. Mablung was the last person Túrin saw before he ran away from Doriath, the last person Túrin saw before he died, and the first person to find Turin’s body. so it’s like, Túrin’s curse kind of both begins and ends with Mablung

one (or more) headcanon(s) i have that involve them and one other character

I hc that him and Beleg used to take care of Lúthien when she was a kid, and Mablung taught her how to use a sword (cone on fanartists give us warrior Lúthien!!!)

#hope this is actually coherent I’m on pain meds

[arofili]

For your latest pinned post: Fëanor

they are soooo cool looking: SEXIEST MOTHERFUCKER IN ARDA

everyone but me is wrong about them: i feel this to a lesser degree than i do about maglor but my god some of the feanor takes i have seen make me want to set the world on fire,,, i feel you my dude maybe arson IS valid sometimes,,

if they were real i would be afraid of them: OF COURSE I WOULD BE ARE YOU KIDDING HES TERRIFYING

they're deeper than they seem: and he is ALREADY pretty deep!! i just!! have many thoughts about the silmarils, and his family situation(s), and his time in mandos....SO much juicy stuff to explore!

they got done DIRTY by fans: i am coming at all bad dad feanor headcanoners with a knife >:(((((((

didn't get enough screen time / they got too much screen time: YES i picked both <3 basically i still think the ballsiest thing tolkien ever did was set feanor up as this grand antihero protagonist and then kill him off the minute he steps foot in middle-earth like. WOW. but also!! i'm glad he died when he did bc it shapes the narrative in SUCH interesting ways.... and also because his death gives other characters so much more time to shine!

wow! they are a horrible person: i don't think feanor was evil but also he LOST IT by the end and did horrible, horrible things

im mentally ill about them: I go feral thinking about him tbh

#answers #last capy hupping #ask games #character bingo #feanor

[graphicabyss]

Beren and Luthien - a very bad retelling

I've been exhausted from reading and writing about the war so as a form of escapism, I turned back to exploring Tolkien. And I have endless respect for him and his work but also some stories have left me with very mixed feelings. Most of all, Beren and Luthien. So much so, that I felt like writing it down. Don't hate me, I'm just being real here.

Ok, so... it's a story of a great love between a man and an elven princess. It's the one Aragorn sings in LOTR because it's so oddly relatable. And the two had some pretty cool adventures with werewolves, vampires, magic, shapeshifting, giant speaking dog … but it's really all about love. Love at first sight. Almost. The dude was stalking her for some time. In fact, he was a really committed stalker as he spent nearly a year just watching her. Because he was under an 'enchantment', of course. Right.

Must be nice to be an elven princess. She be pretty, wise, powerful and eternally young. Flowers spring beneath her feet, birds sing. Basically, she's an elven Disney Princess. Actually, she's more than an elven princess. She's half-Maya, which is sort of semi-angelic. And her father is Elu Thingol, the elven king, so both her parents are immortal. And she's literally older than the sun. Talk about unrealistic ideals.

Meanwhile, Beren was all tired and messed up from a really long wandering when he met Luthien in the woods. And of course Beren is not some regular dude, he's a cool hero and an heir of a noble lineage. So even tho he looks like a hobo, she still sees him for the cool hero that he is. Wonder why it's never the other way round...

Anyway, when she does really see him, she falls in love too. It says "doom fell upon her, and she loved him". Yeeahh. And that's where Tolkien loses me already. Like, sir, you expect me to believe this 3k+ year old chick was just hanging around till this 30 yo baby came and then she gave up on her parents, her people, and eventually her life and immortality for this one dude she just met?

Apparently, yes. So they meet in secret from her parents for a few months because apparently 3k old is as good as a teenager. But this elf dude, Daeron, who had a crush on Luthien, told her father all about it. And that's not cool but also I can't blame him? He probably spent like a thousand years wooing Luthien in a steady pace and then she does this? So Beren has to go to the city Menegroth and meet the parents and as expected, it does not go well.

First off, her father is furious at him coming into his realm where men are not welcome to begin with. Also, the dude is 4k+ years old and 2,5 m tall. Luthien makes her daddy swear he would not hurt her new boo. So he's like, "Suuuure." And then he comes up with a great idea to sell his daughter's hand in marriage for a Silmaril. Which is this super-awesome gem that was at the time sitting in a crown of the Dark Lord. Not Sauron tho, he was still a minion then, the dude was called Morgoth. But yeah, Beren was supposed to get into the hellish realm, past all the orcs and monsters, get to the throne room, and steal one of the 3 gems from Morgoth's crown. So, basically, Elu expected Beren to either give up or die.

Sure, that was kind of a dick move on his part. But like, you gotta admit, the man did not spend 3k year raising his only daughter to marry a baby. And you'd think Elu would be a little more understanding. I mean, he and his wife also had an age gap. He was 80 years tops when he met her and she was... well, as old as the world. Literally. The difference is though that he was immortal so now it's been like 4k years of their happy marriage.

Ok, not gonna lie, I am partial to Elu. Might have something to do with the fact The Hobbit movies's Thranduil was mostly based on him. In my headcanon, baby Thranduil lived in Menegroth and looked up to cool uncle Elu. Anyway.

Beren actually has balls and he takes the challenge saying "'For little price do Elven-kings sell their daughters". Cocky little shit. And he leaves. Tho he isn't dumb enough to go to Angband on his own. No, he uses his ring to invoke an oath his old man got from the other elves. And maybe that's just me, but I'd imagine an oath like this is best utilized at a critical time. Idk, like a war or a threat of immediate death. Not a suicide mission to get the approval of your gf's dad. Not to Beren, I guess, because he drags these 11 elves, including their king into this mess.

So Beren and the 11 elves obviously end up in some shit. They use magic to pretend to be orcs but run into Sauron. And at the time, Sauron had a bit of a goth phase coz he hung out at this fortress on an island with his band of werewolves and a vampire. The Elf king and Sauron have an epic song battle and Sauron wins. All 12 are captured and imprisoned. Also, there are very hungry werewolves.

As for Luthien, she learns that her boo got into real trouble and she decides she needs to save his ass. Except she tells Daeron - not very smart since the dude already snitched on her and... he does it again. So her father imprisons her in a cool tree tower to prevent her from doing anything stupid. Ha! She ain't no damsel. She's not gonna sit around and wait. So she uses some of her elven magic and pulls a Rapunzel - grows out her hair and uses it to escape. She also makes an invisible clock from the rest of it.

Except the forests are full of creeps. She meets these two elven princes who seem alright but are actually absolute dicks and tells them all about her mission. Pretty naive for a 3k year old tbh. So they are like, "it's ok, girl, come to our place, chill and we'll help you". And she does. And they take her home and they lock her up. Which btw is the same place where Beren came before and borrowed their king. They plan to usurp the power and keep the girl. Luckily, the creeps are not alone, they also have a very good boy with them - a giant dog Huan who helps her escape.

Meanwhile, Beren and the elves are being questioned and since they don't snitch, they get eaten, so it's just him and the elf king left. And in the end, the elf king goes berserk and kills the werewolf but dies too. Btw, he's Galadriel's brother. Yeah, the one in RoP. So Sauron kind of killed him I guess? But I'd personally blame Beren maybe? Anyway… all the elves are dead. And Beren would be too if it weren't for his awesome girlfriend with her new friend. Huan the dog ripped all the werewolves until finally Sauron turned into one and he beat him too except Luthien decided to be merciful for some reason and ordered to release him? Really, girl?? So Sauron tuned into a vampire and flew away to live in a forest so he misses all the fun of the next hundred years or so.

Ok, so now Beren and Luthien are together again. And it only cost them the lives of 11 elves, ahem. Anyway, at this point the two can just be like "screw it!" and just live as is. I mean, c'mon, how long the guy gonna live? 40 years? Her parents will barely notice. But no, he's a man of honor. He needs to fulfill his oath so he goes on.

There's also another run-in with the dick elven bastards who try to steal his girlfirend and stab him. After some action movie realness, Beren gains a horse and a dagger but also an arrow to the boob. But Luthien uses some of that sweet elven healing magic so he's fine. The next thing he does tho is ride off leaving her with the huge dogge. To keep her safe, you know. What a dumbass. Of course, she catches up with him, but not before using more elven magic to turn herself and her dogge into the vampire and werewolf.

And once they catch up with Beren, is it the dogge that speaks. And that dogge is only allowed to speak 3 times in his whole life so must he pretty fucking done with the dude. And it gives him a piece of its mind and he finally gets it so the dogge leaves and two two lovebirds continue on their totally realistic mission.

And they get to Angband, which sometimes translates to Iron Hell - very metal! - and they about to sneak in when they meet another giant werewolf. You see, Morgoth had a pretty sick werewolf breeding program and made the ultimate wolf unit. He smells something fishy about them. But Luthien is a badass so she basically just boops the bad boy to sleep and they go on.

So they descend all the way into the throne room with Morgoth in his iron crown. He looks at the elven princess and has the hots for her. And what she does is she sings him to sleep. And the dude must have needed it badly because he collapses like a sack. So this is Beren's cue to take the shiny. And he actually manages to get one Silmaril out of the crown. BUT he decides "might as well" and tries to get another out. And his blade breaks and wakes the Dark Lord. Whoops.

So they flee but before they make it out of Angband, they meet the same wolf unit. And Luthien can't repeat the trick coz she used up all her sleeping magics. Beren sorta threatens the beastie with the Silmaril in his hand... and yup, he bites it off. Bad boy! The Silmaril is protected by a spell that burns the bad guys who take it so the wolf unit is not ok. He goes mad from pain and runs the land.

Still, at this point Beren and Luthien are basically fucked. Beren's got no Silmaril and no hand. It is only thanks to his magical girlfriend that he even survives. But then, very conveniently, the giant eagles show up and carry them away.

So now they're back where they started. Except, you know, minus one hand. And they could just decide to fuck it and go live in the woods or whatever but there's the issue of honour and bla bla blah. So they return to Menegroth.

Except, Luthien apparently did not think to leave a note. Or, idk, send a bird to let her parents know she's alive and also maybe warn them about the crazy giant wolf roaming about? Because that motherfucker is now on the loose roaming the woods and chewing the elven scouts. So Beren and Luthien finally show up like "yeah... about that."

So Beren goes before the king again to report. And he says something really cunning. He's like "You see, sir, you asked me to bring the Silmaril in my had and technically, it's there." Like, sure, you'd think the hand would be attached to the man but you can't have everything. BUT good news! that hand is actually making its way to Menegroth. And I love that Thingol's like "Fair enough. You're a sneaky little shit. Respect." And he allowed him to marry his daughter.

And all's well except there's still the little issue of the giant murderous wolf in the woods. So they set up a little hunting party of 3 coolest elves, including Thingol, good boy Huan and Beren. And like, I get the guy is responsible for that little nuisance but he just lost his hand?

Long story short: they find the wolf and the wold leaps at the king. Beren saves him but gets bitten. Huan slays the wolf but dies. They cut his belly and find the Silmaril so naturally, they give it to Beren so he passes it to Thingol so his quest is complete. And then the dude dies. Well, that was anticlimactic.

He sacrificed himself to save his gf's dad. And Elu was, like, "my bad, he was ok." Except Beren is dead now. Well, not actually dead but dying. So they bring his body back and Luthien cries over him and just before he dies she tells him to wait for her. Aren't elves immortal tho? Well, yea, if they wish to be. And being the strong heroine that she was, Luthien decides to just die and meet him in the purgatory, basically. After just an hour she just goes "Screw you, mom, dad, everyone else I supposedly loved for the past 3 thousand years. My life has no meaning without this stud." And she dies.

But that's not all. The place is called The Halls of Mandos where souls hang out waiting for judgement. And this guy Mandos is supposed to be completely unmovable and indifferent to pleas and appeals like a damn TVA. But turns out the dude just never heard a good enough tune. Because Luthien sings him this really sad and epic song and he is so damn impressed he goes to his boss and they decide to give Luthien a choice: either go live with the gods and know no sorrow OR be resurrected along with Beren and live like a mortal. Duh.

So obviously she chooses the second. Who cares she can never reunite with her family or her people in death anymore? The two of them are resurrected and back at Doriath. But soon they leave to live the rest of their lives in peace. And scene.

So let me get this straight: the two fucked all of the shit up, died and then once they were resurrected, they were just like "bye, bitches!" and left everyone to deal with Morgoth? And they're credited with proving that Morgoth is not invincible and stuff but like, they weren't planning on it, it was not their goal.

And lots of shit happens thereafter. Luthien's hot father gets murdered by the dwarves, which is how the whole elf/dwarf beef really started, her city gets plundered and her mother returns to the divine realm leaving her home without magical protection. But it's not a part of the actual story. Coz the story's about love and as such, it's got a happy ending. Even if everyone else in it gets murdered.

PS: And hey - I know about Edith and how Tolkien based this love story on his own. Except the scene where Beren and Luthien meet is based on the day he and Edith walked in the woods - when they were already married for 5 years and knew each other for 10.

And I don't blame Tolkien at all - that story was written a hundred years ago and the character of Luthien is still way better than anything modern writers could come up with, let's be real.

#Tolkien #Beren and Luthien #I might get murdered with an ancient sword for this #Silmarillion

[zealouswerewolfcollector]

i hope it isn't offending, but it makes me laugh and cringe a bit whenever the sons of feanor and feanor himself are written as this righteous, i-am-better-than-you and i-have-the-right-to-be-a-dipshit-to-you kind of dudes while other characters such as fingon, finrod, fingolfin and glorfindel are written as assholes or are villainize. Like, to me it seems out of character? Maybe its because im new and has just finished reading silmaril. The amount of fics I've stumbled, they are so good and beautifully written, but the way they portray the sons of feanor as suddenly the good guys just because they apologize and took care of elros and elrond?

First of all, welcome to the fandom, anon. I hope you'll like it here. Sorry for answering late. I've been away from the fandom lately and have only now seen this ask.

To be honest, I’m not sure if this ask concerns my writing or the fandom in general. I am not a Feanorian apologist, though I am a Feanorian fan, and I like to think that I don't write the Feanorians that way. But I don't know how my fics look from the outside.

I do agree that there is a trend to whitewash the Feanorians sometimes at the expense of other characters, but I understand where that's coming from.

A substantial part of the fandom, myself included, loves conflicted, morally grey characters. Personally, I am always drawn to characters who do terrible things but have the potential to do better. I love the themes of guilt, redemption, wasted potential, what could have been and fall of the hero.

When you love a character and write about them a lot, you tend to sympathize with them and look for motivations for their actions. A lot of people are fans of redemption arcs, so they give them to their favorite characters. Now as I've said, sometimes it's at the expense of other characters, but I don't think that's prevalent in the fandom. Writing fics sympathetic to Feanorians doesn't always mean that the other characters were in the wrong.

We have to also differentiate between the types of fics that cast canonically 'good' characters in a bad light. Is it because

The author really doesn't like the character and villainizes them to make their fave look better. This is often the case with Elwing, sometimes with Fingolfin.

The author wants to write a dark fic and has a 'good' character do a terrible thing. This doesn't mean though that the author hates the character or believes they are canonically evil. I have seen a few dark fics with Glorfindel. I'm assuming that's what you're referring to when you say that he's written as an asshole because from what I've seen he's usually written as a great person. Though I have to admit that I'm not very interested in Glorfindel and might have missed something.

The author wants to write a believable character and gives them flaws to make the fic more interesting. This often happens to Finrod, who on the surface level reading is a perfect angel who never did anything wrong. (Arguable, of course, but that's how he seems at first glance.) Tolkien was writing a mythology and could get away with it, but fics are almost always on a smaller scale and more personal, and authors love to write flawed characters.

Now, I will read the second fic if I'm in that kind of mood and I will most likely read the third fic. I might not read the first fic, but even then it all comes to personal preference. For example, I don't believe Feanor was a terrible father, at least in the beginning, but I absolutely don't mind that others do and will read fics where he's written that way. But if Elwing is written as a bad mother or if she or Dior are blamed for what the Feanorians did, I will press the back button.

(As a side note, I'm very curious about the fics where Fingon is villiainized. I've seen it only in a few explicitly dark fics, which I can count on the fingers of one hand. In my experience, he's often written as almost flawless, even more perfect than Finrod. I'm in the process of writing a Russingon fic where Fingon is... less than perfect (though so is Maedhros) and I wonder if that would also count as villainizing him.)

My advice to you, anon, is to curate your fandom experience. I understand where you're coming from. There are many perfectly well-written, amazing fics from talented writers that make me unreasonably mad or upset. But, ultimately, everyone is allowed to write whatever they like and it's up to us to find out when to stop reading. The Silm doesn’t give us much in terms of characterization, so authors have a lot of leeway there and ‘out-of-characterness’ is very subjective.

Find like-minded people here or on Ao3, find authors that you like, subscribe to them, follow their tumblrs. Get Ao3 Savior or Greasemonkey extensions to block works you don't like. You can also create a custom skin to block works or users you don't want to see. Follow the instructions in this post. It will take at most ten minutes. It's especially useful for multi-chaptered fics you never want to see again. I use it and it's a huge relief.

Sorry the reply to this ask got so long. Sometimes I do tend to go off on a tangent. Hopefully, this was somewhat helpful. Good luck to you.

#ask #anon