Tumgik
#history of middle earth
feydrawings · 3 months
Text
Tumblr media
'Speak of neither to me!' said Andreth. 'I desire neither. I was young and I looked on his flame, and now I am old and lost. He was young and his flame leaped towards me, but he turned away, and he is young still. Do candles pity moths?' 'Or moths candles, when the wind blows them out?' said Finrod. 'Adaneth, I tell thee, Aikanar the Sharp-flame loved thee. For thy sake now he will never take the hand of any bride of his own kindred, but live alone to the end, remembering the morning in the hills of Dorthonion. " J.R.R.Tolkien, Athrabeth Finrod ah Andreth, History of Middle Eart Vol. X, Morgoth's Ring
Andreth and Aegnor for the Tolkien Advent Calendar!
134 notes · View notes
paula-zotter · 6 months
Text
Tumblr media
Why should we love you, and why should ye love us (if ye do), and yet set the gulf between?
100 notes · View notes
vintonharper · 3 months
Text
Peep at my lil Tolkien Shelves.
Tumblr media
38 notes · View notes
nin-varisse · 8 months
Text
There are Elven names such as Finarfin, Galadriel, Makalaure or Ecthelion and then there's Tata.
111 notes · View notes
windrelyn · 10 months
Text
Tumblr media
@gondolinweek 2023 - Day 5: Tales of Triumph
Pengolodh tells Littleheart (son of Voronwe) the Tales of their mighty Lords: Galdor and Glorfindel
I will skip Day 6, 7, so this is the last piece of the week. Thank you so much for your support, and thanks the mods for the amazing prompts!
132 notes · View notes
milla984 · 1 month
Note
heyyy! 🙏🙏 i started watching the movies not long ago and idk much about them so i have a question: can you explain what she means in the movie when she says she will remain galadriel……..????
Of course, Anon!
Tolkien was a philologist and a linguist, therefore names in the Tolkienverse are a big deal: in The Silmarillion, the evil god that revolts against his brothers and his creator is called Melkor but it's later renamed Morgoth* (Dark Enemy) and his servant, Mairon, is commonly known as Sauron (the Abhorred). Sméagol becomes Gollum, so I've always thought that "I will [diminish and] remain Galadriel" means she won't turn into the Dark Queen we see appearing for a moment when she's showing her true power to Frodo, who would probably assume a different and ominous name.
Edited to add an important detail: Galadriel isn't one of the names her parents gave her as a child but the one she chooses to use later on in life, because her spouse Celeborn calls her so. It's especially dear to her and by confirming that she wishes to remain Galadriel she reaffirms her choice (refusing the Ring and its power).
*the extended edition features a scene where Legolas explains what happened to Gandalf and says: "He was taken by both shadow and flame - a Balrog of Morgoth" but if you're not familiar with the lore it's hard to figure out who Morgoth is
32 notes · View notes
elwingflight · 22 days
Text
Reading Morgoth’s Ring for the first time (currently at QS1 ch. 3) and thinking about how the choice of the Valar to encourage the Elves to come to Valinor is, in most of Tolkien’s writing, framed as if not objectively wrong and certainly well-intentioned, a dubiously good choice in hindsight.
And yet the choice of some kindreds of Elves to stay behind is, by implication if not explicitly in the text, a wrong one. Tolkien certainly never refers to the Avari as being wise and foresighted in their choice. This might be objectively true - at a minimum their mortality rate over the millennia must certainly have been very high - but. Idk. Its an interesting contrast. To me it at the very least places a portion of blame for subsequent events on the Valar (hardly a hot take, I know) who are the ones who should have known better. But was the idea that some elves knew better so unimaginable - or perhaps simply uninteresting - to Tolkien?
24 notes · View notes
Text
Silmarillion Daily - Of the Birth of Finarfin
Y.T. 1230: Birth of Finarfin, son of Finwë and Indis. His brother Fingolfin is 40 years old, a little before adulthood for an elf. His half-brother Fëanor is 61, an adult.
This made me curious about the usual length of time between Elf siblings in Tolkiens’ works, so I looked it up. There are 40 years between Fingolfin and Finarfin. There are also 40 years between Fingon and Turgon. (In the Third Age, Arwen is born more than 100 years after Elladan and Elrohir, but I’m guessing that’s unusual.) There’s 62 years between Finrod and Galadriel, with 2-3 additional prothers being born during that time, so that’s 20 years or fewer between siblings in that case. Whereas there’s 62 years between Turgon and Aredhel. So there’s a faur amount of variability.
The amount of time between Fingolfin and Finarfin seems odd to me, though, because one of the big reasons Finwë got remarried was wanting more kids.
Fingolfin is born 21 years after Fëanor. And then Finwë waits nearly twice as long to have another kid? It makes me think that Fëanor’s negative reaction to Fingolfin deterred Finwë from having more kids for a while, in case it would make the interfamily conflucts even worse.
Though of course, that doesn’t apply if you go with one of the HoME drafts that has Indis and Lalwen. I don’t know if their birthdates are given in any of those drafts.
17 notes · View notes
ardafanonarch · 19 days
Note
Is there any canon evidence that Finrod and Maglor were friends during the Age of The Trees in Valinor?
Thank u for your time 7:3
None!
The only canonical interaction between these two singers is their hunting trip (with Maedhros, too). As told in Of the Coming of Men into the West:
When three hundred years and more were gone since the Noldor came to Beleriand, in the days of the Long Peace, Finrod Felagund lord of Nargothrond journeyed east of Sirion and went hunting with Maglor and Maedhros, sons of Fëanor.
Fun fact: in an earlier Silmarillion draft, Finrod went hunting with Celegorm instead of these two (History of Middle-earth, Vol. IV: The Shaping of Middle-earth, Quenta Noldorinwa §9).
16 notes · View notes
aredhels · 2 years
Photo
Tumblr media Tumblr media
—J.R.R. Tolkien, The History of Middle-earth X: Morgoth’s Ring, “Athrabeth Finrod Ah Andreth”
382 notes · View notes
Text
Tumblr media
The Days of Gloaming actually sound so beautiful and ethereal. Like. Floating ribbons of light! Shiny rain! Utter darkness in the sky and suddenly a skein of silver and gold light just floats by! Genuinely the best.
48 notes · View notes
urwendii · 4 months
Text
More textual evidences on how dirty CT did our Herald:
cf: original text below.
Tumblr media Tumblr media
repeat after me: Mistaken Treatment of the original text,
Mistaken Treatment of the original text
thank you for coming to my #JusticeForEönwë Ted Talk.
18 notes · View notes
polutrope · 1 year
Text
Disclaimer: this is meta/analysis. Your headcanons are not and cannot be wrong.
But...
Tolkien never wrote a version of events in which Maglor stays with Elrond. Not literally, anyway.
There is a passage that makes it sound that way, but that reading takes the passage out of context, both within the text in which it appears and within the history of the development of JRRT's legendarium.
Here it is (the previous section is about the Elves [=Eldalië] sailing to Valinor and the Lonely Isle [=Tol Eressëa] after the War of Wrath):
"Yet not all the Eldalië were willing to forsake the Hither Lands where they had long suffered and long dwelt; and some lingered many an age [...] And among these were Maglor, as hath been told; and with him for a while was Elrond Halfelven..."
QS(E) §28, HoMe V
Now I'll explain why "with him" does not literally mean with him, as in hanging out, living together - and that's okay!
This passage is from the Quenta Silmarillion (QS)[1], which appears in Vol. 5 of The History of Middle-earth, The Lost Road. The QS was the culmination of a series of versions (or drafts, but I prefer versions since they're not even all in the same genre) of the stories and legends that would become the 'Silmarillion', starting with The Book of Lost Tales and ending with QS in 1937, when JRRT turned his attentions to writing Lord of the Rings .
It's important to know that at the time of the writing of QS, JRRT's mythic history ended with the defeat of Morgoth in the War of Wrath. He had not written LotR. There was no Second Age, Third Age; there was no War of the Ring[2]. This was it; the legends ended with the overthrow of Morgoth.
So when it says Maglor and Elrond 'lingered', they were lingering in a period of mytho-history that was not detailed in anything that JRRT had written at the time. The narrative purpose of Elrond (and Elros) staying in the Hither Lands is to transmit to Mankind the "blood of the Firstborn and the seed divine" (i.e., from Melian). In the QS, that's all we get about the after-history of Elrond.
We do, however, learn something about the after-history of Maglor in QS, as signalled by the phrase "as hath been told". Three sections before the above, there's this passage:
And it is told of Maglor that he could not endure the pain with which the Silmaril tormented him; and he cast it at last into the sea, and thereafter he wandered ever upon the shores singing in pain and regret beside the waves. For Maglor was mightiest of the singers of old, but he came never back among the people of the Elves.
QS(E) §25, HoMe V
So going into passage 1, the reader of QS already knows two things: Maglor wandered ever upon the shores, and he came never back among the Elves.[3]
Now, even if one wants to quibble and say Elrond was Halfelven and therefore Maglor never coming back among the Elves does not preclude him being with Elrond... I think that misses the point. We don't know what Elrond did in the Hither Lands, but there is no logical reason to think it was wandering the shores with Maglor.
Seriously. It just doesn't fit. (I could pile up a bunch of other quotes concerning Maglor's fate from other versions to hammer my point home, but this is so long already.)
Maglor stayed in the Hither Lands - on his own, wandering the shores. He effectively disappeared from history, same as in the published Silm. Elrond also stayed in the Hither Lands - doing something else.
So what does "with him" mean? Think of it this way: a bunch of Elves stayed behind at the end of the War of Wrath. Among them was Maglor, "as hath been told". Also among them (= "with him") was Elrond, and his brother Elros. They're on the same land mass. That's it.
If one wanted, I am sure there's a way to construct an argument saying that JRRT literally meant Maglor and Elrond were together after the War of Wrath... I just feel, when it comes to interpretation, the simplest answer is usually the best one, right?
[ETA Mar 5, 2023: the above statement comes from an analytical perspective where I do think it's valid to say one conclusion is stronger than another, though never in an absolute, end-of-discussion way. A very solid (imo) alternate way of approaching and interpreting the text was offered in the discussion linked at the end.]
You don't need JRRT's backing to write fic and come up with headcanons. I'm not trying to take those away from you. I am providing actual sources, because citing matters.
And, in my opinion anyway, it's interesting stuff.
Footnotes
[1] Technically, these passages are from another manuscript, which Christopher Tolkien calls QS(E). The QS manuscript ends midway through the story of Túrin Turambar. QS(E) narrates the conclusion of the Silmarillion from the arrival of Eärendil in Valinor to the overthrow of Morgoth and a prophecy about the Last Battle and the remaking of the world. Although it's a different manuscript, C. Tolkien concludes that QS(E) should be dated to the same period as QS and both texts are presented together in The Lost Road.
[2] The Hobbit, published in 1937, refers to elements of the Silmarillion mythology and even has Elrond as a character, but these were 'borrowings'. The first edition of The Hobbit was not properly integrated into his Middle-earth legends; that only happened after the publication of LotR.
[3] If the passage sounds familiar it's because Christopher Tolkien used this text, with minor changes, for the published Silmarillion. (I made another post about Maglor being the "mightiest singer" here rather than second best to Daeron - an editorial change that I think was unnecessary... and why I usually don't write them as rivals, unless it's funny. Always sacrifice canon for the bit.)
Yes, this is a response to a particular post, but this isn't about dragging the op or throwing shade at any one who likes those ideas.
[Edited Mar 5 2023: Here is a link to a discussion I had with the OP of that post and some others. It's a good discussion with some good points.]
I just really, really care about citing. For more than academic reasons. Maybe I'll be accused of taking this too seriously - would not be the first time I've been accused of that in my life. But knowing where information comes from is so important. Please let's not forget that, in fandom or elsewhere.
Ironically, I made a post early in my Tumblr days somewhat facetiously suggesting that this passage means Maglor literally stays with Elrond... I didn't think people would actually believe it meant that. But it's out there now, if you happen to see it... I know, and oops.)
111 notes · View notes
camille-lachenille · 7 months
Text
Tumblr media
I was curious to see how many books by Tolkien I have so far and I must say I’m pleased with the size of the pile. I have 12 books by him, eight I have read, two I am currently reading (Children of Húrin and Morgoth’s Ring) and two that are in my TBR pile (Fall of Gondolin and Faërie). The battered English edition of the Hobbit is actually my sister’s but it’s a long-term loan so I think of it as mine…
And that’s not counting the books about Tolkien I have (half of them I haven’t read yet), which would bring me to 18 books!
21 notes · View notes
anghraine · 4 months
Text
hilarius-and-felix replied to this post:
In the final version the men of Rohan have long hair too though. So there'd be no reason for her to cut hers: "The Men that rode them matched them well: tall and long-limbed; their hair, flaxen-pale, flowed under their light helms, and streamed in long braids behind them"
I don't have my copies of HOME with me, so I don't know if it's true that continuity was the reason why Tolkien backtracked on Éowyn cutting her hair off. I don't recall that being the reason, but like I said, I can't check for myself right now. My impression was that Tolkien simply preferred the imagery of her pulling off the helmet and her hair falling over her shoulders, but I couldn't say for sure, since my post was not exactly intended to be rigorous interpretation, but just something I would have found neat.
That said, I disagree that Éowyn's hair length in canon is necessarily interchangeable with the male Riders'. Tolkien uses "long" pretty broadly of very different hair lengths. For instance, at the Council of Elrond, Frodo describes Boromir's hair this way:
his locks were shorn about his shoulders
Yet at his funeral just a few months later, Tolkien says:
They combed his long dark hair and arrayed it upon his shoulders.
So "long" in Tolkien's usage can vary quite a bit.
I don't think it's clear from your quote just how long the male Rohirrim typically wear their hair, but I think this suggests Éowyn's is remarkable:
Very fair was her face, and her long hair was like a river of gold.
And in the canon confrontation with the Witch-king, her revelation of her gender is, IMO, clearly associated with the release of her hair:
A little to the left facing them stood she whom he had called Dernhelm. But the helm of her secrecy had fallen from her, and her bright hair, released from its bonds, gleamed with pale gold upon her shoulders.
This looks to me like her hair was bound by the helmet itself and only reaches her shoulders once the helmet is removed. The close association with her hair/the helmet/secrecy does also suggest IMO that concealing her hair was part of the Dernhelm disguise.
This may be a minor continuity error of sorts (in all honesty, it seems pretty trivial even to me), since a Rider without long hair otherwise would stand out rather than be more disguised. It's easy enough to fanwank—perhaps there actually are some male Rohirrim with shorter hair among the rest, perhaps her hair is enough longer than usual that her gender would be more obvious if she wore her hair (comparatively) long like the men rather than hiding it in her helmet or whatever.
In any case, I still think there would be a pretty clear distinction between the usual length of male Riders' hair and Éowyn's, that she could have cut it to that length, and that it'd be cool if she had.
16 notes · View notes
invoke-parlay · 8 months
Text
Tumblr media
Just sunbathing and reading History of Middle Earth 😌
25 notes · View notes