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#eryn lasgelan
fuckfacetheunicorn · 3 years
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Something That Makes Me Sad
The idea that the Silvan elves in Lorien lost their culture and traditions while under Noldor/Sindar rule.
Imagine the Lorien elves visiting the Woodland Realm after the War of the Ring and Thranduil purposely inviting them when there is some sort of Silvan festival going on. He just assumes that similarly to his people, despite Sindar/Noldor rule, they would still observe it. But they don't and they have forgotten how to celebrate it. They see the Mirkwood elves celebrating as they had done millennia ago and how the House of Oropher have embraced it and not sanitised* it.
Thranduil drinking with highest ranking silvans and laughing loudly in a completely undignified way. Legolas dances with his people and smokes the sweet smelling herbs that make your brain go numb. Yes, they can play the part of the Sindar Lord very well, but their hearts' rest with their people, not with their lineage.
They meet Thranduil's Silvan Queen (she's alive and Silvan and I won't take any criticisms on this), who drapes her legs over her husbands and rests her head on his shoulder when she gets sleepy. The Lorien elves could not imagine their own Lord and Lady acting in such a way in public.
In conclusion, while the Sindar may have brought order to the Silvan elves, in Mirkwood they did so without compromising what made them Silvan to begin with. The Sindar are just there because the Silvan's don't know how to negotiate a trade deal, which is fair enough considering that isn't exactly an everyday skill.
*The word 'sanitised' is not a COVID joke. When colonial powers would go into areas, they would often force changes upon cultural traditions to bring them into line with their own culture.
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