#Mîm's defense attorney

[general-illyrin]

Lately I've been doing research into the history of the Dwarves, focusing on the Petty-dwarves, and I came across an article in which the author used the etymology of the word "petty" as further evidence of Mîm being evil.

However, there is at least one main issue with this argument: the term "Petty-dwarf" is the translation of the Sindarin name for these Dwarves. Only once (in The Children of Hurin) does Mîm call himself a Petty-dwarf - all other times, he refers to himself as a Dwarf. And since "Petty-dwarf" is a Sindarin term, the potential biases and viewpoint of the Sindar need to be taken into account when considering the etymology of the name and what bearing it could have on the character of the Petty-dwarves.

Tolkien's texts* state that the Sindar first encountered the Petty-dwarves when the Sindar came to Beleriand and were promptly attacked by them. Because the Sindar didn't see the Petty-dwarves clearly, the Sindar thought that they were some sort of animal and hunted them until the Sindar encountered Great Dwarves. At this point, the Sindar recognized that they were Dwarves and named them "Noegyth nibin", which translates to "Petty-dwarf".

However, the Sindar's experiences with the Petty-dwarves had been mostly negative, so it's not surprising that they would give them a name which both conveyed the differentiating characteristic of their smaller size and reflected the idea that they were narrow-minded, ungenerous, or spiteful. But this does not mean that the Petty-dwarves were actually characterized by those traits; it only means that the Sindar may have perceived them that way. As such, the most that one can say about the Petty-dwarves' name is that it reflects how the Sindar viewed them; to use the etymology of the term "Petty-dwarf" as evidence showing the character of Petty-dwarves, especially an individual Petty-dwarf, is unfair to them (unless one considers the canonical origin of the term).

(The second major issue with this argument is that one cannot logically use the name of a group to determine the character of an individual of that group - the most one could say is that the individual exhibits a characteristic identified by the group's name.)

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* The Nature of Middle-earth, The Children of Húrin, The Silmarillion, The Unfinished Tales, and The History of Middle-earth

[general-illyrin]

Welcome to my blog; I hope your visit here is pleasant, however long it may be!

I reblog many posts, but I separate them by topic, and don't reblog them all here; if you are interested, here is a list of my side blogs and links to my art and writings under the cut:

@illyrins-mathom-house is where I reblog my many other interests in an attempt to keep this blog mostly Tolkien-focused

@mims-defense-attorney is for all dwarf, Petty-Dwarf, Mîm, Tarn Aeluin, Amon Rûdh, and Nargothrond related posts

@lotrhobbitsilmart is where I reblog all Tolkien art

@lotrhobbitsilmincorrectquotes is a mix of both reblogs and some original Tolkien incorrect quotes

@maedhros-kinslayer is completely reblogs of posts regarding Maedhros

@middle-earthmeta is my blog for Middle-earth related posts that I want to save for future reference and that don't discuss specifically one of Tolkien's works.

@thearchivesofnargothrond is where I reblog all posts regarding The Silmarillion and Tolkien's other Middle-earth works that aren't LotR or The Hobbit that I want to save for future reference.

@rivendellsarchives is the blog where I reblog all posts regarding The Lord of the Rings that I want to save for future reference.

@mymathomhouse is where I reblog all posts regarding The Hobbit that I want to save.

@mostlyforestsandmountains is the sideblog for scenery pictures I wish to save for future reference.

@linguistically-fascinated is for any and all language-related posts that I find interesting, from word definitions to etymologies to fictional languages

Silm map

Everything below is for personal reference, but feel free to browse through it.

- - - - Non-comprehensive List of Some Favorite Fics and Meta - - - -

Sirens by that-angry-noldo (Sirens isn't it's name; I'm just using that to remember what it's about)

Silm, LotR, Hope

Finrod is profoundly sad

- - - - Non-comprehensive List of Some Favorite Art - -

Fingon rescues Maedhros

Maedhros Statue

Frodo Modern College AU

Maedhros, Fingon, & Eagle

Maedhros being rescued by Fingon

MÎM ART!!!

- - - - My Art - - - -

(None of these are the titles; this just tells me what the art is.)

Lady Glasses' DTIYS - Frodo

Snowball Fight for Tolkien Secret Santa Advent Calendar

Thingol & Luthien (better photo here)

Shire Autumn

Autumn for frodo-with-glasses

Dalamar

Lady Glasses' DTIYS - Sam & Bill

Elrond & Gil-Galad

Can't for frodo-with-glasses

Eonwe's Flight for that-angry-noldo

Finrod the bat

The Lord of Shadows

"In Remembrance" for Scribbles & Drabbles

"Unstoppable" for Art Fight

Maedhros DTIYS for alef-art's "Prisoner"

"Beginnings" for Tolkientober

"Dream" for Inktober

"Just Close Your Eyes" for that-angry-noldo

Eönwë's helmet

Dragon embroidery

One Ring to Rule Them All embroidery

"Silmarils" for that-angry-noldo

"Standing Stones" for the Chesterton Challenge

My first zine

Sketch of Nerdanel & Maedhros

OC Moodboard

Finarfin's heraldry

Celegorm & Curufin wrestling with Galadriel in the style of Pretty Deadly

- - - - Illyrin Writes - - - -

untitled Finrod & Amarie

Broken Memories Introduction

Broken Memories - 1. Life

Here For You

Broken Memories - 2. Wedding

Broken Memories - 3. Light

- - - - Headcanons - - - -

Barahir's dwelling at Tarn Aeluin

Tarn Aeluin's popularity

Tarn Aeluin's "ancient grace"

Various Mîm headcanons

Endurance in hope

[general-illyrin]

The irony - when I added "Mîm's defense attorney" to my blog description, I was mostly joking.

But guess what I did yesterday XD

(To be clear, it doesn't bother me if people don't like him - I don't think everything he did was right, but while not all his actions are excusable, they are understandable. Also, I find his character fascinating, and from what I've seen, he generally gets a bad rap in fandom's perception of him. Of course, that's just generally what I've seen, and I have also seen some kinder views of him.)