#tolkien writing

[tolkienpinupcalendar]

FemSlash February

Fem!slash February is the perfect opportunity to bring to life your fave F/F pairing from the Tolkien fandom. 

Yes, this includes OCs and even Fem versions of pairings (for example, Fem! Bagginshield)! Additionally, this is a trans-inclusive space. If you want to write a transfemme character, we welcome it. This can include nonbinary or gender non-conforming characters in sapphic pairings! If you feel that a character is female or femme based on your definition, it counts.  

How to participate: 

We have selected six femslash pairs that some mentioned as their favorite femslash ship! We also included a free space for any other wonderful femslash ships you like. If you only want to do free space fics for this event, no problem!  

Just remember to:

Tag @tolkienpinupcalendar

Use the tag #tpcfemslashfeb

And send the link to our smut-mission page

If you want, you can also add (fic or art) your creation to our AO3 Collection!

Also, note that this is not only writing prompts. If you want to draw, moodboard, playlist etc. for the prompts, feel free to!!

We are so looking forward to reading all the queerness.

#tpcfemslahsfeb #tolkien #tolkien writing #prompt event

[i-did-not-mean-to]

Letters & Cards

Prompt: Letters & Cards

Characters: Maedhros & brothers

Warnings: /

Maedhros, The Tall, The Kinslayer, The Dreaded, looked up sharply as the young servant slipped into the room hesitantly.

“These have come,” they said waveringly. “Seasonal greetings…”

Unable to conceal the rare burst of unabashed joy painting his stern face a delicate pink, the Lord of Himring grabbed the missives and pressed them to his chest fitfully.

“To our brother, are your toes frozen yet?” The twins.

“Nelyo, I shall arrive soon—I hope you’ll have mulled wine at the ready.” Káno.

“I am alive. Are you?” Moryo.

“Warm greetings to a cold man!” Turko and Curvo.

Grinning, Maedhros sighed.

Here is the song that inspired this drabble. Disconnected by Jazz Morley!

Lots of love!

-> Masterlist(by @cilil)

#og post #December Drabbles #Fluff #IDNMT writes #fanfiction #writing #tolkien writing #jrrt #Maedhros #Maglor #Caranthir #Amrod #Amras #Celegorm #Curufin #Cards & Letters #family feels

[baliins]

some thoughts on ÍRIMË LALWEN and her youth

it’s hard being related to fëanor and then not having some issues. i feel like she’s probably the most similar to fëanor in a way. at least, out of all the children of finwë.

other elves would whisper that she seemed like an angry child. that she must not be happy in some way. she didn’t cry or throw tantrums though. and she wasn’t sullen and quiet. but there were aspects of her that would make older elves furrow their brows and take a step back from the young lalwen.

she didn’t stomp around the polished floors of the palace. after all, a lady was taught to float and to seem entirely unbound from the earth on which they stepped. but her footsteps were just disturbing enough to make finwë wince as her paces resounded past his study.

the scrape of her cutlery on fine plates is jarring to those who sit with her. she opens her a mouth a bit too much when she smiles and laughs a bit too loud. she presents herself as an entirely normal child but there are so many small eerie things that shake those around her.

she loves her family of course. even if her father is always preoccupied with his duties or he’s always checking in on fëanor and not taking many glances back at findis, nolofinwë or arafinwë. 

nolofinwë is always kind to her. he always helps her up onto her horse. he lets her sit in his room and browse through his books. he takes her into the city’s markets and lets her choose fine fabrics to her heart’s desire.

at first, she doesn’t know what to think of arafinwë. he’s younger than her. and he’s born with the same golden hair of findis and their mother. he’s always tripping over and letting out small babbling sounds that babies usually do.

later, she grows to quite like arafinwë. he’s reasonable and well-mannered. but it always irks her at how little space he seems to take up. her younger brother is perfectly content with following the will of others. he’s placated. the perfect grace and manner for a diplomatic prince. not a hair out of place, a pleasing smile and hands folded over his lap. he doesn’t scream. he doesn’t cry. he doesn’t shout.

even nolofinwë has had his frustrated moments and lalwen can hear the bang of books being thrown from his room, probably due to frustration from fëanor’s harsh words.

even findis isn’t a perfect picture. but she’s perfectly poised and a doll in the eyes of their mother and her people, the golden vanyar. she’s all coiffed sunlit hair and thick skirts that brush the floor. lalwen knows that findis can hold her temper. she has never heard findis raise her voice but what findis lacks in volume, she makes up for in her sharp, acidic tongue. lalwen likes how her older sister can quell even the sternest of arguments with a harsh bite and barely concealed frustration that can make elves take a step back.

but arafinwë just keeps that calm smile on his face and some days it makes lalwen so irrationally angry that she wants to push her perfect, happy little brother down the stairs just so she can see some real emotion from him. but she doesn’t. he’s the baby of the family and it would do no good.

lalwen hates the strict rules of society. a princess should not yell. she should not venture out beyond the borders of tirion in search of maiar. she should not come home after dark, her skirts snagged on stone and littered with small holes and loose threads. but she can tolerate that.

what she truly despises is how insignificant she feels in the grand scheme of things. well, she’s a princess. she knows the privilege she has. but what is she? what is she allowed to be, compared to mighty gods who sit in their court on taniquetil? what is she able to be and achieve?

she likes fëanor because he agrees with her. he allows her into his forges occasionally. her older brother cares little for the thoughts of others. he lets her sit at a murky looking table while he twists some contraption of wire and she talks about how she feels so confined and so angry for some reason. at everything.

fëanor looks up at her. he asks if its truly anger she’s feeling. what is she angry at? it makes lalwen pause. she doesn’t truly know if its anger. she just feels red-hot and bursting and she burns to move, to conquer, to spit out. it makes her want to put her hands in her silky black hair and tear it out and to wrench her hands into velvet skirts and rip them apart. she wants to ride a horse far away and lay on the earth and feel the heartbeat of the ground beneath her.

fëanor tells her that she’s fierce and she’s not angry. she shouldn’t punish herself for feeling that way. she’s passionate. and she knows her brother understands her. he has that knowing look in his silver-hot eyes that seem to contain a fire of their own. and lalwen knows her brother understands. they carry a similar flame and it is only after the tragedies that unfold many years later, after the death of their father, that lalwen realises that fëanor’s flame is something else entirely.

#silmarillion #tolkien #oneringnet #silmarillion writing #tolkien writing #silmarillion meta #tolkien meta #lotr writing #lotr fic #lotr meta #tolkien headcanons #silmarillion headcanons #userindomiel #anyway what even is this i got so carried away #creations #creations: writing #creations: 2022 #creations: tolkien

[madame-helen]

#meme #memes #shitpost #shitposting #humor #funny #lol #satire #funny memes #funny humor #funny meme #comedy #writing prompt #writing #lotr #lord of the rings #tolkien #irony #joke #parody #wholesome memes

[prokopetz]

Yes, your worldbuilding is thorough, your geography meticulous, your plotting elaborate, and your characterisation nuanced, but answer me this: is there a fucked up little guy?

#media #writing #characterisation #swearing #this is not specifically about j r r tolkien

[aspiringwarriorlibrarian]

You know, it's kinda funny how much of high fantasy centers around kings and nobility and courtly intrigue considering that the archetypal high fantasy, Lord of the Rings, had the rather explicit moral of "saving the world is up to this backwater hick and his gardener because no politician, least of all inherited nobility, would have the ability to see past their own ambition and throw away a weapon". Oh sure, Aragorn is a great king and all, but there's a reason he's over there running a distraction ring while the hobbits do the real work. Sauron loses because he gets distracted by kings and armies and great battles (i.e. typical high fantasy stuff) letting Frodo and Sam sneak through his back door and blow it all to hell.

Just saying, maybe old Jirt knew what he was saying when he said that the small folk doing their best and holding to each other was more powerful than a dozen alliances and superweapons and we should respect him for it.

#high fantasy #tolkien #lotr #lord of the rings #to be clear i don't mind courtly intrigue high fantasy #it's fascinating and it's fun and it is absolutely still high fantasy cause JRRT doesn't have a monopoly on how high fantasy should be writ #what i object to is the idea that it is the only or the best way to write high fantasy when we have such a stunning counter example

[surqrised]

How do you move on? You move on when your heart finally understands that there is no turning back.

J.R.R. Tolkien

#J.R.R. Tolkien #motivation #quotes #poetry #literature #relationship quotes #writing #original #words #love #relationship #thoughts #lit #prose #spilled ink #inspiring quotes #life quotes #quoteoftheday #love quotes #poem #aesthetic

[suzannahnatters]

So here's one of the coolest things that has happened to me as a Tolkien nut and an amateur medievalist. It's also impacted my view of the way Tolkien writes women. Here's Carl Stephenson in MEDIEVAL FEUDALISM, explaining the roots of the ceremony of knighthood: "In the second century after Christ the Roman historian Tacitus wrote an essay which he called Germania, and which has remained justly famous. He declares that the Germans, though divided into numerous tribes, constitute a single people characterised by common traits and a common mode of life. The typical German is a warrior. [...] Except when armed, they perform no business, either private or public. But it is not their custom that any one should assume arms without the formal approval of the tribe. Before the assembly the youth receives a shield and spear from his father, some other relative, or one of the chief men, and this gift corresponds to the toga virilis among the Romans--making him a citizen rather than a member of a household" (pp 2-3). Got it?

Remember how Tolkien was a medievalist who based his Rohirrim on Anglo-Saxon England, which came from those Germanic tribes Tacitus was talking about? Stephenson argues that the customs described by Tacitus continued into the early middle ages eventually giving rise to the medieval feudal system. One of these customs was the gift of arms, which transformed into the ceremony of knighthood: "Tacitus, it will be remembered, describes the ancient German custom by which a youth was presented with a shield and a spear to mark his attainment of man's estate. What seems to the be same ceremony reappears under the Carolingians. In 791, we are told, Charlemagne caused Prince Louis to be girded with a sword in celebration of his adolescence; and forty-seven years later Louis in turn decorated his fifteen-year-old son Charles "with the arms of manhood, i.e., a sword." Here, obviously, we may see the origin of the later adoubement, which long remained a formal investiture with arms, or with some one of them as a symbol. Thus the Bayeux Tapestry represents the knighting of Earl Harold by William of Normandy under the legend: Hic Willelmus dedit Haroldo arma (Here William gave arms to Harold). [...] Scores of other examples are to be found in the French chronicles and chansons de geste, which, despite much variation of detail, agree on the essentials. And whatever the derivation of the words, the English expression "dubbing to knighthood" must have been closely related to the French adoubement" (pp 47-48.)

In its simplest form, according to Stephenson, the ceremony of knighthood included "at most the presentation of a sword, a few words of admonition, and the accolade." OK. So what does this have to do with Tolkien and his women? AHAHAHAHA I AM SO GLAD YOU ASKED. First of all, let's agree that Tolkien, a medievalist, undoubtedly was aware of all the above. Second, turn with me in your copy of The Lord of the Rings to chapter 6 of The Two Towers, "The King of the Golden Hall", when Theoden and his councillors agree that Eowyn should lead the people while the men are away at war. (This, of course, was something that medieval noblewomen regularly did: one small example is an 1178 letter from a Hospitaller knight serving in the Latin kingdom of Jerusalem which records that before marching out to the battle of Montgisard, "We put the defence of the Tower of David and the whole city in the hands of our women".) But in The Lord of the Rings, there's a little ceremony.

"'Let her be as lord to the Eorlingas, while we are gone.' 'It shall be so,' said Theoden. 'Let the heralds announce to the folk that the Lady Eowyn will lead them!' Then the king sat upon a seat before his doors and Eowyn knelt before him and received from him a sword and a fair corselet."

I YELLED when I realised what I was reading right there. You see, the king doesn't just have the heralds announce that Eowyn is in charge. He gives her weapons.

Theoden makes Eowyn a knight of the Riddermark.

Not only that, but I think this is a huge deal for several reasons. That is, Tolkien knew what he was doing here.

From my reading in medieval history, I'm aware of women choosing to fight and bear arms, as well as becoming military leaders while the men are away at some war or as prisoners. What I haven't seen is women actually receiving knighthood. Anyone could fight as a knight if they could afford the (very pricy) horse and armour, and anyone could lead a nation as long as they were accepted by the leaders. But you just don't see women getting knighted like this.

Tolkien therefore chose to write a medieval-coded society, Rohan, where women arguably had greater equality with men than they did in actual medieval societies.

I think that should tell us something about who Tolkien was as a person and how he viewed women - perhaps he didn't write them with equal parity to men (there are undeniably more prominent male characters in The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, at least, than female) but compared to the medieval societies that were his life's work, and arguably even compared to the society he lived in, he was remarkably egalitarian.

I think it should also tell us something about the craft of writing fantasy.

No, you don't have to include gut wrenching misogyny and violence against women in order to write "realistic" medieval-inspired fantasy.

Tolkien's fantasy worlds are DEEPLY informed by medieval history to an extent most laypeople will never fully appreciate. The attitudes, the language, the ABSOLUTELY FLAWLESS use of medieval military tactics...heck, even just the way that people travel long distances on foot...all of it is brilliantly medieval.

The fact that Theoden bestows arms on Eowyn is just one tiny detail that is deeply rooted in medieval history. Even though he's giving those arms to a woman in a fantasy land full of elves and hobbits and wizards, it's still a wonderfully historically accurate detail.

Of course, I've ranted before about how misogyny and sexism wasn't actually as bad in medieval times as a lot of people today think. But from the way SOME fantasy authors talk, you'd think that historical accuracy will disappear in a puff of smoke if every woman in the dragon-infested fantasy land isn't being traumatised on the regular.

Tolkien did better. Be like Tolkien.

#tolkien #middle earth #jrr tolkien #lord of the rings #lotr #the lord of the rings #eowyn #writing fantasy #fantasy #female characters #writing #historical fiction #medieval women #medieval history #medieval #history #womens history

[winepresswrath]

one thing I like about tazmuir as an author is that at any given time she will be like "here is a character," and I will think "that's nice, but I don't care. please return me to my beautiful Gideon" and then she'll be like "no. look at this other character under a microscope. they are so fucked up and full of love in such specific ways. probably they are bad at sex also." and I make a shocked face and welcome them into the pantheon in my heart, still waiting to hear from my beautiful gideon, at which point tazmuir will show me another character. and then.

#who is forcing me to care about Babs like this #jrr tolkien #that's who #not a lot of overlap between them as writers but they do love their Catholic references and tbh I can easily see jrrt getting distracted #writing a massive adventure for an unpopular minor character's implied relatives

[tolkienillustrations]

“It [The Lord of the Rings] is finished, if still partly unrevised, and is, I suppose, in a condition which a reader could read, if he did not wilt at the sight of it…now I look at it, the magnitude of the disaster is apparent to me. My work has escaped from my control, and I have produced a monster: an immensely long, complex, rather bitter, and very terrifying romance, quite unfit for children (if fit for anybody); and it is not really a sequel to The Hobbit, but to The Silmarillion.”

— J.R.R. Tolkien to Sir Stanley Unwin, 24 February 1950

#LOTR #Silmarillion #Tolkien #quotes #Tolkien I love you so much #*writes a book that becomes known as the pinnacle of the fantasy genre* “this is a disaster” #“quite unfit for children (if fit for anybody)” #how do I communicate to Tolkien's ghost that LOTR and the Silmarillion are both my favorite books?!?!?

[thoughtkick]

Do you remember when we first met? I thought I had wandered into a dream.

J.R.R. Tolkien

#J.R.R. Tolkien #motivation #quotes #poetry #literature #relationship quotes #writing #original #words #love #relationship #thoughts #lit #prose #spilled ink #inspiring quotes #life quotes #quoteoftheday #love quotes #poem #aesthetic

[i-did-not-mean-to]

Epistolary Week 2024

Dear friends, as I think that letters should involve more than one person (and it's my BDay Week), I invite you to get involved.

I shall supply the beginning of a letter or of an exchange, and I'd be delighted if you could continue in the comments.

Lots of love and my sincere thanks to @cilil who, as so often, has inspired me to participate ❤️

Day 1: Daily Life, Customs - Halenthir with replies from @melestasflight, @elentarial, and Wisteria53 - post

Day 2: Exploration, New Lands - Firebird with replies from @melestasflight and Wisteria53 - post

Day 3: Family, Loyalty - Finwë & Fingolfin with a reply from Wisteria

Day 4: Friendship, Alliance - Russingon with replies from @melestasflight and Wisteria53

Day 5: Love, Creation - Angbang

Day 6: Loss, Betrayal - Curufin & Celebrimbor

Day 7: Remembrance, New Beginnings - Nerdanel & Fëanor

In hopes of seeing you soon,

Yours faithfully, from the other end of the world,

IDNMT

@silmarillionepistolary sorry. Didn't tag 🤣

#og post #IDNMT writes #fanfiction #writing #tolkien writing #jrrt #Epistolary Week 2024 #Interactive event #write me a letter #silmarillion epistolary

[baliins]

ok I'll bite, this is your invitation to talk about ingwe if you want!

omg so ingwe is my man my buddy my ride or die u know....im just a huge fan of him and i wish tolkien wrote more on him bc u can't just pepper in the fact that he is the high king of the eldar like THE high king and never expand on that. so allow me to climb onto my little soapbox and talk about some general headcanons for ingwe 📢

first of all - in my pov - he's like massively tall. like he's not thingol tall bc his old buddy in the forest is like a tree. but he's definitely taller than maedhros. not by heaps because nelyo isn't called maedhros the tall for nothing. but ingwe is abt just 7'8 (bc i think thingol is 8 foot and maedhros is 7'6). ingwe never tells finwe but he's worried that his eldest grandson might grow taller than him but luckily that never happens. thank god.

then even if its up to interpretation for everyone, i like to think of him as having a light skin tone and very blue eyes but veering towards dark blue. he's def a blondie, he has that pretty vanyar colour that seems to be almost golden but paler strands are caught in the light. it's wavy and thick too!!

ALTHOUGH even tho most elves treasure long hair and like to keep it long (and especially, the vanyar - they are so picky abt appearances), ingwe's hair stops just after his shoulders. and courtiers are always like 'why doesnt he grow his hair out 🤨' and ingwe is like sorry i cant hear u.

he always kept his hair shorter since the days when he was in middle earth, and living a far more treacherous life before coming to valinor. it was practical for him and he felt more comfortable with it being out of his face. or he goes around with a half up/half down hairstyle and no one has the audacity to tell their high king that he should have long hair. like its ingwe, what can ya do?

my main hc for his personality is that even though he presides over arguably the most gilded/golden eldar, he's not a fan of being ostentatious and showy. he's not the flamboyant sort.

i kinda hc all the three high kings of valinor to be like that. ingwe, finwe and olwe both came to valinor from middle earth in the early days of the eldar. they made that treacherous journey and i feel like they were a bit more 'savage' in those days. so even though, they are far more comfortable now - they never really forget what it was like being hunted by foul creatures and seeing their people being captured by melkor.

ingwe used to be a hunter. when the elves first awoke, they had their own 'tribes' of a sort with a chieftan (the vanyar were lead by ingwe's grandfather - imin). they banded together, hunted for furs and used spears. they had such close tight-knit loyalty and they really did live off the lands of arda.

he was furious when melkor was released. like don't get me wrong he respects the valar a lot. and he's pretty devout towards them too. but ingwe couldn't understand why the valar let melkor walk among the eldar and the blessed lands after the horrors that he had seen, as had some of the older elves. he still has a scar from a gruesome beast in middle earth but the scar is tucked underneath fine fabrics and robes on his collar.

he prob gets nightmares a lot too :( i mean it would definitely have a lasting effect of the horrors he has seen. he doesn't sleep very often, he prefers to stay awake and he often sits on his balcony and just gazes towards taniquetil.

but hes v friendly!! he has this easy going charm and he seems pretty cheerful. elves are shocked at how loosely relaxed the high king is, they expect a stuffy king who loves proper manner and decorum. but ingwe is chill yknow.

like he dotes on his niece, indis, as well as her sons like finarfin. he likes fingolfin a good amount, he often remarks that fingolfin reminds him of finwe and he loves telling stories abt finwe's youth to fingolfin - much to finwe's chagrin.

he doesn't know what to think abt feanor. he doesn't want to dislike him but he finds feanor just strange. ingwe knew miriel since they were both very young and he sees that fierce glint that she had in feanor's eyes. but feanor's eyes burn differently and ingwe doesn't tell finwe that he worries abt his friend's eldest son. later, when feanor is clutching finwe's broken scalp on the floor after the darkening, and when the teleri are massacred in their home, ingwe feels sick to his stomach and wanders if it was his fault.

finarfin loves him. finrod by extent.

he sometimes feels like a fraud. (little self promo i wrote abt him hehe) he sits in halls of towering columns and gold on the floor. he eats at tables laden with confection and fine meats. he dresses in fine ermine and has a golden crown on his head. he just feels like he's playing a part of a king - and at heart, he's a warrior who belongs in the dark forests of middle earth.

#silmarillion #silm writing #silm #ingwe #tolkien #lotr #tolkien writing #silmarillion fic #silmarillion meta #anyway i just have many thoughts abt him! #rosie 🧡 #creations #creations: writing #creations: 2022 #thank u for asking hehe

[perfectfeelings]

How do you move on? You move on when your heart finally understands that there is no turning back.

J.R.R. Tolkien

#J.R.R. Tolkien #motivation #quotes #poetry #literature #relationship quotes #writing #original #words #love #relationship #thoughts #lit #prose #spilled ink #inspiring quotes #life quotes #quoteoftheday #love quotes #poem #aesthetic

[thehopefulquotes]

How do you move on? You move on when your heart finally understands that there is no turning back.

J.R.R. Tolkien

#J.R.R. Tolkien #motivation #quotes #poetry #literature #relationship quotes #writing #original #words #love #relationship #thoughts #lit #prose #spilled ink #inspiring quotes #life quotes #quoteoftheday #love quotes #poem #aesthetic

[perfeqt]

There is some good in this world, and it's worth fighting for.

J.R.R. Tolkien

#J.R.R. Tolkien #motivation #quotes #poetry #literature #relationship quotes #writing #original #words #love #relationship #thoughts #lit #prose #spilled ink #inspiring quotes #life quotes #quoteoftheday #love quotes #poem #aesthetic