ilmarin

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Gaslight, Gatekeep, Girlboss

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That way lies death, friend / I know you've suffered / There's another life waiting for you, you just have to turn toward it

I love the theory that Diarmid was actually Eönwë, come to get Sauron/Mairon back home if only he passed the test

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Mairon

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The Fallen Kings

Elendil and Gil-galad

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Annatar is just such a dramatic diva this season, had to do some art for it!! 😆🧡

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There are some interesting mirrors and contrasts with how Sauron kept bringing up Melkor/Morgoth to Celebrimbor and drawing parallels between his relationship with Morgoth and Celebrimbor’s with him. Morgoth’s punishment for all the destruction he wrought was being removed from the world by being thrown into the Timeless Void— and then, in the show? Sauron literally constructed a mental illusion that ran in a time loop to trap Celebrimbor; a place where the candles didn’t burn an inch, where everything appeared tranquil and peaceful, because no time passed. A timeless void of its own, removed from the real world of Eregion being burned and ransacked. I am the one keeping the storm at bay, balancing the very sun over your head, Sauron said, to give you one chance to prove your worth. His former master was imprisoned in the void for marring the world, Sauron will imprison Celebrimbor in his own timeless void to make the rings Sauron needs to “heal” that marred world. Celebrimbor labelled him Morgoth’s shadow and it’s the truth, as well as how Sauron literally lives in his shadow after all this time.

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celebrimbor saying, "for soon I shall go to the shores of the morning, borne hence by a wind that you can never follow" 🤝 finrod saying "i go now to my long rest in the timeless halls beyond the seas and mountains of Aman" as he dies in sauron's prison.

in finrod's case, he addressed it to beren, not sauron— but like celebrimbor, there's a certain peace they have, despite their painful death. but for sauron? he wonders and wonders about how he cannot go back. i like to think he fears that all awaits him is being thrown through the door of night into the timeless void as punishment for all time; and there's nothing more horrible than the nothingness where he cannot create, from being kept out of the manifestation of the music of the ainur. and so he lingers in middle earth, never at peace, always changing form, always plotting. finrod and celebrimbor were his prisoners, but truly sauron is the one whose very spirit is imprisoned by his choices after all this time.

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Sauron’s single tear when he killed Celebrimbor genuinely gives me so much brainrot because it feels like a self recognition through the other moment where whatever is left of Mairon within him shines through. He and Celebrimbor were both talented and ambitious smiths and they both got seduced with power by a more powerful, fallen Ainu, much to their undoing, didn’t they? They are such mirror images. Maybe Sauron’s tears are selfish ones of self pity from losing Celebrimbor as a tool, but I like to think deep down a part of him also mourns that Celebrimbor broke out of the bonds Sauron laid on him, and resisted to the end, and ultimately his fëa goes to back to Valinor for healing. It’s what Sauron himself could have been. But what has become of Mairon now? He can never go back; and for a while he had a peer of sorts in Celebrimbor, a companion and partner—but now he’s lost him too, at the hands of his own destructive ambition.

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I am the one keeping the storm at bay

I've been dreaming of seeing a live-action adaptation of Second Age Sauron looking much like this for a very long time. Had to do a redraw of this old piece

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making jewelry w the bestie

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fair as the sea and the sun. stronger than the foundations of earth.

the fallen maia vibes in this scene...10/10 and living rent free in my brain.

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I have been awake since before the breaking of the first silence. 

im still obsessed with this scene 

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This trio is everything 😍

I have to admit this took me a hot minute to get over art block to finish it, but I’m really proud with how it turned out!

Sent it off to the printers today and am keen to sell these at upcoming cons later this month!

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i know we associate sauron with wolves for obvious reasons, lol, but i cant help thinking of the alternate timeline where tolkien went with his earlier concept of what’s basically catboy!sauron (complete with a magical golden collar) and we’d all just be rolling with it. 

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veryyyy small detail, but Morgoth fanboy Waldreg describing Sauron as a “beautiful servant”, in his freaky “have you heard of our lord and saviour” speech to Theo, was a really nice touch (even if our guy missed the memo that Sauron means “the Abhorred” and that Mairon is where it’s at lol).

there’s the obvious allusion to Tolkien writing about Sauron taking on a fair form—but also the fact that Sauron is a Maia, who are of course servants of the Valar: because Maia literally means “the beautiful” in Quenya. It makes me pretty curious to know more about all the stories the pro-Morgoth folks had of Melkor and Sauron, and the glimmers of truth you might find amidst the distortions, in the stories they passed down through the generations.

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really really wish they dragged out the sauron/celebrimbor scenes much more: it’s different from annatar!sauron yes, but i’m also enjoying the possibilities in how the show flipped it. instead of sauron showing up claiming to be an actual emissary of the Valar, pretending to be a human blacksmith who is simply awed by celebrimbor still feels sneaky in a very sauron-y way (look at how he butters up ar-pharazon while egging on the invasion of valinor). the way his demeanour just flipped from being more prideful and sometimes snarky with galadriel— to being outright wide-eyed, admiring and reverent with celebrimbor was some delightful chameleon shit. 

and because it’s like. book canon celebrimbor has a great friendship with the dwarves, he’s not from grandpa fëanor’s “we ALONE shall be the masters of the beauty and bliss of arda! no other race shall oust us!!” school of thought. of course, celebrimbor would be warm towards an admiring human blacksmith who is as enthusiastic about forging and crafting shit as he is. i would’ve ate up a whole episodes’ worth of this deceptive master-apprentice dynamic between celebrimbor and sauron lol. poor brimby genuinely being attracted to and enjoying giving a young mortal man the rare opportunity to learn about elven smithing! delighting in how “halbrand” finds even the stuff elven smiths might take for granted fascinating and wonderful! while sauron is both legitimately enjoying being back in his element and manipulating celebrimbor by recycling his greatest ‘im just a wide-eyed student’ hits from when he was an apprentice of Aulë. one could even throw in some fond, melancholic celebrimbor thoughts about “halbrand’s” supposed “mortality” and how he will never have all the ages celebrimbor has to refine his craft for garnish, lmao. the eventual betrayal vibes would’ve been so delicious. 

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ngl another reason i enjoy the deepened galadriel-sauron dynamic in rings of power is because them having a personal r/ship enhances how you can view galadriel’s actions as being a parallel, yet also a contrast, to sauron’s— by the time of frodo’s journey in the fellowship of the ring. we all know sauron will be up to his sneaky Lord of Gifts/Annatar bullshit handing out dubious jewellery and whispering into the ears of kings to worship Melkor. in the fellowship of the ring? why, there’s Galadriel giving gifts and wise counsel to all the members of the fellowship. the whole emphasis on the gifts of galadriel is really a whole thing. it’s like lord of gifts? lol, fuck off. she’s gonna do it better than that messy maia.