emyn-arnens

[emyn-arnens]

There's something very grim about Aragorn and Arwen's love story. It adds to the poignancy, and makes it read very much as a tragic love story.

Yet the tragedy is entirely Arwen's.

Aragorn and Arwen meet, and Arwen is seen by Aragorn as a treasure belonging to her father.

And it is her father's terms Aragorn accepts in order to "win" her.

He succeeds, and he leads a very happy life with her, until he feels old age approach.

He then decides to end his life at will, sparing himself the onset of old age, allowing him to die while still a vision of masculinity.

Arwen clearly feels that they still have time left together, but Aragorn does not wish to go suffer infirmity and old age.

He does not want to fall from his "high seat", he does not want to see himself "unmanned". He wishes to evade old age are wrapped up in a desire to to die before he his kingliness and manliness is compromised.

Aragorn, being of the blood of Numenor, is able to make that choice.

He is able to go at his will, when he is ready.

And it does seem it was the right choice for him.

He dies a vision of a King among Men, his glory and grandeur never diminished.

However, in making this choice for himself, Aragorn also makes this choice for Arwen.

Arwen's wish for Aragorn to live a while longer is tied up in her own belief that her life is not yet ended. This had a double meaning. Arwen feels she still has life yet to live, so perhaps cannot reconcile that with Aragorn accepting his life is coming to an end.

However, elves can die, or fade, from sorrow, so in choosing death for himself, and therefore sorrow for Arwen, Aragorn, if not inflicting a death sentence onto Arwen, is putting her life in peril.

She has no choice, the choice she made, between mortality and immortality, was made long ago, and she does not speak of that choice without regret.

She must now accept the Gift of Man, regardless of whether or not she wills it. She does not choose to stay now, because she will, but because her choice was made long ago, and there is no way to unmake it.

And she made this choice before she truly understood what it meant.

It's a fascinating insight into Arwen's head. She speaks of scorn, of judgement, she comes across as someone proud now humbled, for she judged people before she knew what it was to fear and grieve death, and now she is facing the same fate, she has to admit to her pity for them.

She made a choice to accept the Gift of Man before she knew what accepting that gift entailed, and now she has made it and it cannot be undone, she accepts it because she must.

While Aragorn dies a triumphant vision of glory and greatness, Arwen fades.

The light within her dies. She becomes cold and grey. There is a harshness about this description, she sounds a little like Eowyn did, when she was in despair "cold and stern as steel".

She goes back to Lothlorien, where she lived happily with her kin, and dies there alone.

It is interesting that she isn't buried or interred with Aragorn, she isn't laid beside him as his queen, to join him in death as in life (although hopefully their souls will be reunited), but instead she is buried in the land that had once belonged to her elven kin.

Her longing to return to this place, to this time, when she still had her family about her, her wish to die not near Aragorn and by Aragorn's children, but alone in a land that holds only memories, is poignant, and rather suggestive, because this doesn't scream of a woman who is content with the choices she made. Clinging onto the past rather than embracing the present (she does have children, perhaps grandchildren, but that is not enough). And not just sorrowful, but cold and grey in that sorrow. Does that hint at a bit of anger there? Does that suggest more than a little regret?

Does she regret, ever so slightly, giving up her immortality, giving up ever being reunited with her father, her brothers, her mother and grandmother and all her kin and people, parted from them beyond death, for a man who chose to die and so chose for her to die, to spare himself old age and infirmity, to spare seeing himself grow unmanned and falling from his high seat.

[emyn-arnens]

a black evil

Prompt: 'corruption' for @tolkienhorrorweek day 4

Summary: There are rumours, about the Uruk-hai of Isengard and where they come from.

Character(s): Saruman, Orcs

Rating: M

Word count: 1.5k

Warnings: implied rape, gore, forced pregnancy

There is a rumour, in Rohan, that some of the Uruk-hai of Isengard are capable of mimicking Men's voices, that the sounds of the speech of the Mark flow easily from their blood-encrusted lips. There is a rumour that they like the taste of the Men of Eorl in particular. It is said that they hack open the bellies of women that they find, crying out in disgust that there are no 'little brothers' to be found, only the mangled red remains of the children of Men. "They are so frail, Man-children," remarks one uruk, prodding the lump of flesh he has pried from a body at the roadside. "Nine whole months and it looks like that? No wonder the Wizard found them in need of improvement." There is a rumour that that they take the corpses of the women that they slaughter and bring them with them on the march through the burning fields of Rohan. Not to eat - not for a while, not until their features have rotted beyond definition and their skin has peeled away from their desintegrating flesh - but to sit with them by the fire, brushing out the tangles in their blood-clotted hair with clawed hands, like children playing with dolls. "Come back little cousin!" they shout after the six-year-old boy fleeing over the hills. "Come back and say hello!"

AO3 link - lovely dividers by @saradika-graphics

[emyn-arnens]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien, TOLKIEN J. R. R. - Works & Related Fandoms Rating: Not Rated Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Oropher & Thranduil (Tolkien), Thranduil (Tolkien) & Original Female Character(s) Characters: Thranduil (Tolkien), Oropher (Tolkien), Original Female Character(s) Additional Tags: Dead Marshes (Tolkien), Ghosts, Horror, Angst, Hurt No Comfort, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Mordor (Tolkien) Summary:

Written for Tolkien Horror Week 2024 (@tolkienhorrorweek)

Day 3: Mordor & the Dead Marshes | the pitiless land | control

After the end of the second age, Thranduil searches for his father among the dead.

[emyn-arnens]

Here is a collection of quotes about Arwen, which I gathered because they gave me a suggestion of what her personality is, beyond that of being beautiful and in love with Aragorn.

Some key things:

-She gave a generous gift to Frodo, the ringbearer

-Grave when told Aragorn thought she was Luthien, and has been told this many times. Firmly points out she is not her, but has not ruled out following her fate. Haunted by Luthien's memory?

-Elrond makes a point she is above Aragorn in lineage

-Elrond also says he cannot have Arwen unless he was king. Aragorn being king is tied to Middle Earth's survival, yet that her greater lineage is brought up also suggests she will not have him unless he is "worthy"

-This is Elrond's condition, but he also says that although Arwen has chosen the Gift of Man, she will find it bitter at the end, which is true. He knows his daughter.

-Falls in love with Aragorn when he presented to her looking "kingly".

-Rejoices at the thought of his greatness

-Plans to be Queen of Men, but does not go to live among them as Aragorn does, stays with the elves instead

-Willing to give up her immortality and ever seeing her family again for love of Aragorn

-Makes a standard and watches over Aragorn from afar

-Once had "scorn" for men who caused the fall of Numenor through their fear of death

-Only pities them when facing Aragorn's (and her own) immortality

-No one she knew before Aragorn's death and died had this effect on her, despite being Queen of Men for a long time

-No one she had left after Aragorn's death was enough to give her a will to live

-Went and died in Lothlorien, where she had lived with her elves and her kin, and her body lies there, not in Gondor beside the man she gave her immortality up for

[emyn-arnens]

Tolkien Horror Week

Prompts: @tolkienhorrorweek I. seeth all things crooked II. of such dread and dark enchantment.

The Fullness of Woe

Rating: Teen (some description of injuries but nothing too graphic)

Summary: After his release from captivity, Húrin wanders into the ruins of Nargothrond, and is haunted by its ghosts.

Read on AO3

[emyn-arnens]

Ride for ruin, and ride for your kin Take up your shield, maiden AND RIDE TO THE WORLD’S END

The Rider

[emyn-arnens]

so sorry to all the aragorn fans but i've literally never understood the kind of sex appeal people attribute to him. grimy clothes and sweaty curtain bangs and pushing open double doors on the brink of collapse are hot but in a kind of superficial way when deep down i just know he believes sex is only for procreation

[emyn-arnens]

I realized I always draw Finduilas sad, so have a little sketch of pre-Denethor Finduilas playing in the sea

[emyn-arnens]

Celrond doodle as a warmup for other projects bc I miss them

& also when was the last time I drew them reunited? He's so hard on himself but they figure it out.

[emyn-arnens]

silmarillle suggested elves and hobbits having a tea party! It was a lovely idea, I might do it in the future.

But it got me thinking about Bilbo having tea with Elrond at Bag End. I LOVE THEIR FRIENDSHIP TO PIECES <3

[emyn-arnens]

i think the thing that we as a fandom tend to miss about the line of luthien is that they're all fundamentally little guys. they're not awesome eldritch demi-gods who wow everyone with their power and beauty and spin ancient untouchable magics around themselves. their arcs are about being denied agency, taken away, kidnapped, barely and painfully surviving against greater enemies, scraping out a place in a dangerous and often unkind world. they're the underdogs and they're painfully aware of it

[emyn-arnens]

book!denethor and faramir are like

"i need you to make the hard decisions now that your brother is gone, because you are the one that will be my heir. i need you to weigh the good of many and the good of few. and i need you to do it independently for when i am gone as well."

and

"i refuse to be anything but gentle. i refuse to let the concept of a greater good justify cruelty. i love you. and im sorry to be a disappointment."

[emyn-arnens]

More Rohirrim Idioms and Adages

People seemed to like some of my Rohan idioms and adages from a few days ago, and I found some more among old posts and drafts. Just throwing them here now for general interest, to the extent that there is any!

“To keep the bees busy” means to drink heavily/get drunk because the Rohirrim’s drink of choice is mead, which is made from honey.

“There’s a worm at [person’s] elbow” means that they’re getting bad advice, coming obviously from the experience of Gríma sitting by Théoden’s throne. (Fourth Age only)

“To get the tusks” means to do something that backfires. It refers to the old king Folca, who wanted the glory of slaying the great boar of Everholt. He did but was also killed in the process, and so instead of any of his glorious deeds, he’s mostly remembered as the king who got gored to death by a wild pig.

“To show the mercy of Helm” means to be absolutely merciless. Re-read the Helm Hammerhand section of Appendix A — that guy was wild!

“[Person] is putting up the rowan preserves” is a euphemism for being on your period. Rowan trees have berries that can be used to make jams, sauces and preserves. They’re bright red, self explanatory. (Typically only said between women. It is not a good idea for a Rohirrim man to ever make this suggestion about someone else.)

“To get water in your hayloft” means to have disastrously bad luck. The hay you store in your stable’s loft must be kept absolutely dry because any moisture up there will cause decomposition and rot the hay, potentially ruining a whole stockpile.

“A sharp mind needs no book.” Folks in Rohan do not enjoy being told that they should adopt the practice of using written records to preserve and pass on their histories, etc. Anyone who suggests as much hears this old adage, which is a more polite way of saying “only a dummy has to rely on a book to remember important things.”

“No man defeats the Wold; at best, he can hope to survive it.” The Wold is some of Rohan’s roughest, most unforgiving terrain. This adage started in recognition of how hardy its relatively few residents had to be to hack it out there, though the éoreds of the northeast also came to appropriate it as their battle motto given how often the Wold was (unsuccessfully) raided by outsiders. 

“There’s more than one way for a dragon to bite.” References their Northman ancestor Fram, who slew a dragon and then refused to share the dragon’s hoard with the dwarves who claimed it was theirs. He sent them only the dragon’s teeth, an insult that led the dwarves to find and kill Fram. It’s used as a general caution against overconfidence or unnecessarily antagonistic behavior.

[emyn-arnens]

Do you have any specific idioms that you’ve come up with for Rohan?

Yes! I’ve got a huge mishmash of adages, idioms, little sayings and turns of phrase that I’ve made up over time for use among the Rohirrim. A bunch of them are in old posts, which I can’t locate because Tumblr’s search function is garbage, so here’s just a random helping from memory in all of the above categories:

“Crumbs will do when crumbs must do” (often shortened to just “crumbs will do”). Leftover from the famine of the Long Winter, it means “stop whining and make do with what’s available.”

“The proof is on the tongue.” This refers to the cultural tradition that the way to recognize whether a stranger is a friend or foe is to see if they can speak Rohirric, but it gained added nuance after the reign of Thengel, when he came back from Gondor speaking Sindarin and Westron all the time, which rubbed people back home the wrong way. Now it’s used as sort of a general expression about whether something or someone is genuinely of Rohan.

“Cirion didn’t win alone.” Based on Cirion coming to Eorl to ask for his assistance (which ultimately led to the Oath of Eorl and the founding of Rohan), it means “don’t be too proud to ask for help when you need it.”

“[Person] rides with their hands at their chest.” Proper riding posture has your hands at hip level, but amateurs often end up raising them higher to keep their balance (rather than making the correction in their seat as they should). Basically, this is one of the harshest insults you can fling at someone by insinuating that their horsemanship is bad.

“He’s going to hear Béma’s horn.” Referring to Oromë’s sounding of his great horn as he rode against the servants of Morgoth, it means that someone did something very stupid and now he’s going to face wrath for it.

“The glory of the grass is the glory of the field.” I stole a version of this from one of my favorite books, Matrix by Lauren Groff, but I think it’s perfect for a kingdom of plains and grasslands where collectivism is necessary for survival. One blade by itself is nothing, but a field has shape and substance and beauty. And if your field is not doing well, your personal glory as a single blade is still diminished even if your blade is thriving.

“[Person] has gone with Ácith.” Ácith is the Rohirric name for Béma’s wife. Flowers bloom in her wake, and so they believe that the appearance of simbelmynë on their graves means that she’s been there to escort the dead person on to their after life. So to “go with Ácith” means that someone has died.

I *also* really like thinking about unique words that would exist in Rohirric and not in other languages. I’m already on record as saying that I think they have DOZENS of words for “horse” that recognize different distinctions and nuances that no one else bothers with, but I’ve also speculated that they’ve got words like something that translates directly as “oath honor” and means the pride of having fulfilled your promises/commitments at great personal cost.

I totally LOVE this stuff and could sit around thinking about these all day every day, so if anyone else has examples that they want to throw out there, please do. I would LOVE to see them!

Check out part two here!

[emyn-arnens]

Inktober

Day II - Spiders 🕷️

[emyn-arnens]

“War is the province of men, Eowyn.”

“I am no man.”

Eowyn and Eomer at The Battle of the Pelennor Fields. Drew this around mid November 2023 and thought I’d share it just for funsies. Still holds up as my best piece ever.

[emyn-arnens]

*drops this and walks back in my cave*