#Manwe is at fault

[stitcherofchaos]

Why I don't speak much about Finrod (and my favorite Tolkien character tier list)

It's weird how much I love the type of character that Finrod is too, but I don't talk or overanalyze him as much as I do with Maglor.

I think this is because I can't say anything new about Finrod that has already been said. Finrod's literally perfection on this site.

You know I love him than Maedhros but no one would've guessed that because I just don't talk about them.

I fear that I've "over-posted" about Maglor... and to think, originally, I didn't want this blog to be a fandom one but it became that because of the things I'm interested in and/or think about daily. Hence the blog name and yeah I know this post is pure irony but that's kind of the point.

Anyway, here's my controversial list of my top ten favorite tolkien characters:

1.) Maglor (for complexity and too many other reasons I've posted about already)

2.) Finrod // Fingon (equal pure dorks)

3.) Eowyn (relatable a good thing indeed)

4.) Samwise Gamgee (yass king!)

5.) Manwe (naive dork of a king love him) // Gandalf/Olorin (Favorite chaotic introverted boi)

6.) Maedhros (he reminds me of someone I know so he's down here)

7.) Varda // Neinna // Luthien (yasss queenz!)

8.) Elrond // Finarfin (equal "gone through pain but still kind" lords)

9.) Fingolfin (relatable not a good thing)

10.) Faramir (he's husband material) // Aragorn (You deserved better on this list)

Honorable mention(s): The rest of the hobbit gang in Lotr, including Bilbo Baggins.

[silmarillaure]

Ranking the Valar by how much I hate them.

12: Lorien/Irmo - Idk why, but I kind of vibe with him. His only fault is being Mandos’s brother but he didn’t really do anything to piss me off himself. He seems dreamy & has a nice garden.

11: Orome - He’s cool but he’s still a Vala (who are objectively horrible) at the end of the day. Gets points for not going out of his way to make the Feanorians lives worse though & giving Celegorm a cool but disloyal dog.

12: Aule - Thank you for the Dwarves king! Unfortunately he’s married to Yavanna who I can not stand.

11: Nienna - Her heart seems to be in the right place. I like her.

10: Este - I don’t speak ill of healers on this blog! Even though she failed to heal Miriel I guess, she still made a bigger effort than everyone else.

9 & 8: Vana & Nessa - I just don’t think about them to be honest.

7: Tulkas - His purpose for existing is to beat up Melkor but he’s not even perfect at that. What’s wrong with you dude? Were you asleep when Melkor was making Feanor & Turin’s lives hell?

6: Yavanna - Her entitlement makes me seethe. I guess she did create the two trees but she basically gave away the light for free, she can’t ask for it back. Not the worst though, but I still don’t like her.

5: Vaire - Girl it’s nice of you to let Miriel live with you and all but why the heck were you like “but what about Indis's feelings” when Finwe was talking about how he wanted to give up getting reembodied for Miriel. This ain’t about Indis, why do her feelings matter?

4: Varda - Hallowing the Silmarills was such an a-hole move. The hallowing isn’t even fair, it’s just about who Varda wants to have the Silmarills. Does she think THINGOL is pure hearted? The Silmarill should have burnt him to a crisp.

3: Ulmo - Nothing short of a salty b!tch, thank goodness he’s single because I’d feel bad for anyone who had to put up with him. And why does he like bland ass TUOR so much while hating talented icons like the Feanorians?!

2: Manwe - He’s the 2nd fakest creature in existence after his big brother. Feanor doesn’t want your tears, where were you when your brother was murdering his dad, stealing his work, & previously harassing him for years non stop?

1: Mandos/Namo - F*ck this a-hole. At least Manwe has the excuse of being canonically stupid. He’s just an ass for the sake of it. And what’s his beef with Feanor? Free my king, all his faults are because you decided to shove Indis into his life & allowed Melkor to go free.

The actual #1: Melkor (obviously)

[cinnamon-roll-whump]

I'm not dead. Hi.

Anyways I forgot where I was going with this AU and I know it's been a year and a half but uhhhhhh I'm about 90% sure someone's OOC in this SORRY

Previous

"Please don't hurt my cat," is the first sentence out of Melkor's mouth. If he can get Manwe's promise, he knows his brother will hold to his word. He's honorable like that.

Manwe frowns at him. "Pardon?"

Melkor can feel the vibrations of her purr against his chest. The journey was long, and when Anna got tired he'd scooped her up and cradled her in one arm. Now, he braces his staff in the crook of his elbow so it won't clatter to the floor, and he carefully lifts Anna just enough for his brother to see. "My cat. Whatever you're going to do to me, please find somewhere safe for her. That's all I ask."

"Brother..." Manwe takes a step towards him. Melkor flinches, the staff lifts from the floor, and then–

And then Manwe's hands are on the staff and on Melkor's arm, steadying him, keeping him on his feet.

"Thank you," Melkor gets out after a second. He leans down to set Anna on the floor, and she immediately starts exploring.

"Of course." Manwe steps back, eyes tracking Anna, and there, it's a bit easier to breathe now. He looks sad, though, even with the small smile he wears now. He always looks a bit sad. "Tulkas said you'd met with Sauron. Are you-?"

Melkor's shaking his head before Manwe finishes the sentence. "No. No. I wouldn't risk Anna, please believe me."

"Then why was he seen leaving your home?" Sinking into a chair, Manwe rests his fingers against his temples and looks right at Melkor. "I want to believe you've changed, Melkor. I want to believe that you've turned over a new leaf, that you're trying, that you won't attempt to hurt anyone again. Have you? Or has this all been an act?"

Melkor nearly laughs. "I could lie to you right now, say whatever I want. How would you know?"

"I'd know," Manwe says simply. "Please don't. I don't want to have to do anything we'll both regret."

"...I can't," Melkor says softly. He can't give them reason to hurt Mairon. "Please just–"

The door swings open. Melkor turns, expecting Tulkas, but it's not. It's not him at all, it's Mairon.

"Mai..."

"This is private," Manwe begins.

"He's innocent," Mairon snaps back. "I went to visit him. I knew the risks, it was my choice, blame me. Whatever your punishment is, leave him out of it."

"Mai, don't."

Mairon brushes a quick kiss to Melkor's cheek, and then positions himself between him and Manwe, folding his arms and glaring up at the Vala. "He has changed. Breaking your rules wasn't his fault this time."

Mairon's shaking. He's terrified, Melkor realizes. He sets a hand on Mairon's shoulder and pulls him back, bracing himself on his staff like that Maia who likes to go around among humans. "If you ever cared for me, brother, leave Mairon and Anna out of this."

Manwe rubs his temples. "No, I don't think I can. I'll have to think about this. Until then... I suppose there's no harm in letting you stay together. Don't prove me wrong."

[eri-pl]

Why did Melkor hate Feanor so much?

(No, this is not a very pro-Melkor post, I'm using the name because it's about the time period before he was called Morgoth)

Tldr: It's Finwe's fault. It's everybody's fault.

Yes, Feanor was the best elf, and stealing and breaking the best of every group was Melkor's thing. Yes, he hated everyone in general and Feanor had a temper.

But I don't think that's all.

I think the main reason was jealousy for something Feanor had and Melkor didn't ever have and very, very much wanted to have since forever.

Feanor had a lot of unjust favoritism, positive bias and not always healthy love from his father. (Because Finwe felt guilty about the whole marriage situation)

Just imagine: you're a little narcissistic Vala, who thinks he's better than all your siblings (you remember when they didn't exist and it was much better), and that you deserve better, and should rule everything, but Iluvatar (the very name means "everyone's dad", not *everyone's dad but especially Melkor's") tells you that you're just as much valid as everyone else, and please stop messing up, and no, you can't be king of Arda, Manwe gets to be the kind of Arda.

And then there's this elf. Everybody praises him. His father lives him much, much more than the other children. He's the crown prince, the heir, the everything. And his personality is so much like yours, only he's more patient (which is of course unfair to you). And you warn him that his younger siblings will try and usurp him, after all that's what siblings do and maybe later he would help you get your siblings in their place. He threatens his brother with a sword and his father doesn't tell him that his brother is valid too, doesn't tell him to stop messing up, doesn't demote him. Instead, Finwe goes to exile with his son and it's very passive aggressive at everyone who was against Feanor.

And this throws Melkor into a rage and hating Feanor, because that's exactly the sort of behavior he would want from Iluvatar, but Iluvatar is, well, God, and not an emotionally immature elf traumatized by the death of his wife.

Seriously, very little things hurt as much as when you have an unhealthy expectation (especially after you've been repeatedly told it's unhealthy and started internalizing that), and someone else has the exact unhealthy thing happen to him and it works perfectly well for them. Repeatedly. I've been there and it's infuriating.

So add that to a divine power with full on narcissistic personality, and you have a recipe for disaster. And the disaster of course happens, with the trees and Finwe, and everything.

I'm glad Feanor died on the Balrogs, I'm afraid to think what would happen if he was captured alive (think: Maedhros but up to eleven).

And no, I don't blame it on Finwe only.

He was the emotional center, but he didn't do that much. Just some bad parenting. If he didn't remarry, of course... But also, if Miriel didn't say she won't be back (which turned out to be wrong anyway), if Feanor wasn't so jealous, if the Elves didn't go to Valinor in the first place (which was canonically a bad idea on part of the Valar, but also wouldn't be a thing if Melkor didn't mess Beleriand up. Of course it's still mostly Melkor's fault). So many ifs.

(I don't blame the Valar for letting Finwe remarry, I think he might do it without their consent too, and it's not really their business to let him or not. They might have given him some advice, but I doubt they had any good advice.)

So yes, Melkor bad, but the situation was triggering, and especially if you assume that he did reconsider his behavior a little during those 3 ages, some interesting what-ifs arise

(Also, if Feanor was more positive towards him, it might end up with the army of Noldor trying to fight the Valar to give Melkor "his rightful place", because Feanor would see himself in Melkor and the whole "usurped by youngest siblings" thing)

[symphonyofsilence]

The level of sheer incompetence the Valar show every time a dire situation occurs is infuriating!

Like...do I even need to say anything about how they handled the Míriel/Finwë/Indis situation?! By putting pressure on the DEAD PERSON who had lost both her will to live and her physical strength, to just get up and go back to producing more children for her whiny, entitled husband already?! And interrupting her recovery process every next second? And then! Instead of inventing divorce or "death doing the couple apart" or anything made Míriel stay dead forever (& never get to see her son again as far as they knew) so Finwë could remarry. And their hot offer for Míriel was "last chance. come back or your husband will marry this lady he already has in mind."

And then! They let Melkor free unsupervised and let the shit he spread among the Noldor reach the point that Fëanor drew a sword on Fingolfin, and then! When Melkor had filled Fëanor's head with how the Valar wanted his silmarils, not only did they without considering any other option at the first sign of crisis very untactfully asked for all three of his silmarils (to break them), but Tulkas straight up told him that he can't deny them cause the silmarils are actually Yavanna's and not Fëanor's.

And then! They not only did absolutely nothing to de-escalate the situation when the Noldor rebelled, and after that when they got into a fight with the Teleri, but they made the situation worse by making threats and banishing the house of Fëanor & cursing them all & whoever who followed them. So of course when there was no way back for the Fëanorians they'd try even harder to gather everyone behind them so they wouldn't have to fight Satan alone & of course, they'd oppose the Valar even worse now, and of course, they'd say "welp... we're doomed anyway. No matter what we do from this point on. Might as well do our worst."

The Valar are like 10-year-old children in charge of 5-year-old children. The moment the 5-year-olds throw a tantrum, the 10-year-olds throw an even worse tantrum.

Fëanor had already told the Noldor that the Valar were jealous tyrants, and they just confirmed it with every step they took after the rebellion.

And then they just left the Noldor and the poor race of men & dwarves who had done nothing wrong alone with Melkor in Middle-earth. The poor sailors who tried to get to Valinor to beg for help all drowned! Except for Earendil who had a Silmaril with him...but no, the Valar didn't want the Silmarils HOW DARE FEANOR PRESUME!

And they wouldn't even let the children of the Noldor who were not even born at the time of the rebellion set foot in Valinor. Even Earendil had to pay a price for stepping into Valinor. So Valar believed in collective accountability. So going by that logic, Melkor was a Vala. MELKOR WAS MANWE'S BROTHER! And everything that happened in Middle-earth, and even before that, Everything that happened to Fëanor & the house of Finwë that kickstarted the rebellion was Melkor's fault. Then why were the Valar not taking responsibility for the family member THEY antagonized & THEY couldn't control & THEY left unsupervised?

(and then they offered pardon to Sauron and Melkor, but Feanor got sentenced to staying in the halls of Mandos forever.)

Maedhros didn't burn the ships but still, he was the one who took responsibility for his family's actions and apologized and paid the ransom, and abdicated for it. Fingolfin had lost a son & a daughter-in-law & lots of followers for Fëanor's stunt with the ships but he still forgave the Fëanorians. Here we have a bunch of hot-headed, traumatized, grieving +3000-year-olds acting more mature & responsible & competent & gracious than gods who have been around forever.

And then! The fucking Numenor thing! They caged those poor people on an island, put boundaries on how far they could travel so they wouldn't get tempted when they saw the immortal lands and when the Numenorians rioted they had the guts to send representatives to convince them that actually, being mortal is very good. It's a gift. All the while still not letting them in the immortal lands. And when their mismanagement resulted in the Numenorians finally rioting, Manwe asked Eru for help & Eru... you know... did a genocide & changed the whole world's structure. (He was so quick to answer Manwe's prayer and demolish anyone who criticized him that makes one wonder where was he when Melkor was eating everyone?)

They just HAND situations to Melkor & Sauron. Honestly, Sauron & Melkor would have been idiots not to use these perfect situations handed to them on a silver platter.

I don't think the Valar's hearts are in a wrong place but they're so fucking incompetent! They look like some dysfunctional rich brats with no experience who have to manage their negligent father's company after he's fucked off.

[myfanfictiongarden]

My thoughts on s2ep8 “Shadow and Flame”

my hands are actually shaking as I write this

why does the recap alone already make me so emotional…

alright, already the first visual we get of golden light in a dark tunnel is freaking beautiful

wait, so king Durin really fought off all these dwarves by himself? wow (but I’m glad Disa stayed unharmed)

Disa and Durin kiss!!! yay!

ok, king Durin looks actually really scary and possessed by the ring (its a bit weird that he went so coockoo after only a month or two (?) in possession of the ring, but I know its not the writers fault but the simple fact that shows nowadays are only allowed 8 ep per season and you can do only so much in that time)

was not a fan of the Balrog appearing so early in the show, but its design is freaking awesome

not king Durin taking of the ring to protect his son… 😢

SHUT UP ALL YOU HATERS, THIS IS PHENOMENAL! THE WRITING, THE MUSIC, THE VISUALS- I´M ABSOLUTELY SOBBING!!!!!! 😭

good that we have the intro back this episode, because I need a minute after that opening scene…

now back to the Stoor village

“Manwe promised you would come”- not me having recently finished Unfinished Tales and learning that it was Manwe who urged an reluctant Gandalf to join the wizards in fighting Sauron´s rise to power, omg

not really on board with the theory that the Dark Wizard might be Saruman, but maybe if its true they could make it work…?

the White Tree of Numenor in a golden light… I know I’m repeating myself but THIS SHOW IS GORGEOUS

Pharazon framing Miriel of working with Sauron is kinda brilliant (but also disgusting)

the prosecution of the Faithful becomes serious (do you now see what you started Eärien? Yeah, now you’re scared for your father?)

again, the music while the Tree is “crying”, omg

Elendil recievess Narsil from Miriel and I´m crying

now back to Eregion, I’m sure everything is fine here

Yes! Galadriel helping evacuate the survivors!!!!!!

and she’s captured again (at least the other female elves are spared)

no... blood on stone floors… I’m not ready 😩

Sauron just casually shooting arrows into a blood covered Celebrimbor, while still playing the “look what you made me do, dear friend” card…

mention of Gondolin!

Brimby, I can’t, you are the hero we should all aspire to be, omg, you deserved so much better

“But the Rings are beyond your reach. As I should be ere long, for soon I shall go to the shores of the Morning, borne hence by I wind you can never follow!” Badass Brimby

“No, hear me. Hear me! Shadow of Morgoth. Hear the dying words of Celebrimbor. The Rings of Power shall destroy you. And in the end, I foresee one alone shall prove your utter ruin!” OMG

“You are wrong! I am their creator. I AM THEIR MASTER!” “No. You are their prisoner, Sauron, Lord of the Rings.” SHUT UP, CELEBRIMBOR IS THE GREATEST CHARACTER THIS SEASON, AND CHARLES EDWARDS DESERVES ALL THE AWARDS!!!!!!

Celebrinbor´s words and death bringing genuine tears to Sauron´s eyes, omg

I guess we kinda got the Brimby-banner with Celebrimbor impaled into the air on a spear…?

And Sauron is already sauroning with Glüg and the orcs- sorry, uruk

Lol, glad for the bit of humour from Theo and Isildur after everything up till now, love their brotherly bond!

also, Estrid and Isildur kiss!!!!

oh, nice, Kemen is placed in charge of Pelegir, completely dismissing Theo as their leader

did I already mention that I hate Kemen?

back to the forests of Eregion- why is Adar kneeling face away like he is praying…?

… wait, Nenya on his HEALED hand, omg, omg, omg

“When last I looked like this, I was known by another name.” “What was it?” “A meaningless name. A name I was given. Adar is the name I earned.” - guys, there is now room to fully headcanon him as Maeglin and I will do it!

DID NOT SEE THIS COMING, wth?!!! Adar, no!!!!

The parallel of Adar being stabbed by the orc like Sauron was before…

“My children…” “They are no children anymore.” - dang, Sauron knows what’s up and how to use it

The Galadriel- Sauron confrontation is here and I’m not ready (also, Sauron immediately focused/in love with Nenya, completely ignoring Galadriel for a moment? Perfect characterisation)

“I do not wish to harm you.” “Do you wish to heal me?”- dang, what a burn girl

not Elrond ready to give his life to save the books and scrolls of Eregion 😭 (also, Arondir is alive!)

the sword-crown fight is pretty cool

Omg, Sauron fighting her while changing from Annatar, into Halbrand, into herself, then Celebrimbor is beyond brilliant writing- he is literary presenting himself as a mirror to her!!!!!

“I see you, I know your mind. The door is still open.” “The door is shut!” GIVE IT TO HIM GIRL

“I would have placed a crown upon your head.” says Sauron while he stabs her with his own crown

The dwarves came to help!!!!!!!

“You wish to heal Middle-earth? Heal yourself.” Now, if this isn’t the most badass equivalent to F-yourself then I don’t know what could be

Galadriel and her ring escape, Sauron is pissed and Glüg pays for it

Yay, Gil-Galad and his healing ring to save Galadriel! (Her “injury” of the body and soul reminds me of Eowyn in LotR)

Also, Elrond using her ring to help heal her after such disdain to the rings 😭

Poppy sharing wisdom Mr Burrows once gave her while we witness again the ruin and devastation that has just spread everywhere… 😭

the Stoors calling Stranger “Grand-Elf” because they don’t know the difference between giant, human and elf is literary how Gandalf came to his name in the books

Nori and Stranger taking separate ways is sad but also makes sense (I bet they will meet again)

Grand-elf found his staff!!!

“Gandalf. Thats what they are going to call me, isn’t it?” YES IT IS 🥰 (also, Tom and Gandalf simply sitting by the fire, drinking tea and singing is the most wholesome Tolkien thing ever)

Come let the song begin, let us sing together 🎶🥰

Alright, so the drama with the dwarves will continue next season with the Lords of the Blue Mountains as well as Durin´s brother staring up trouble

Gil-Galad dissing Galadriel moments after she wakes up from a terrible injury is how you show love to your family 😂

“What is this place?” “A sanctuary, protected by the Elven Rings.” Rivendell?

Galadriel para-quoting Celebrimbor´s speech about Light overcoming Darkness is my everything (also, this is definitely Rivendell!!!!)

Galadriel in a simple white tunic THE FUTURE WHITE LADY OF LOTLORIEN!!!!! 

Also, Arondir, Galadriel, Gil-Galad and Elrond posing on the cliff overlooking a new sunrise is just epic

What do you mean I need to wait now two years agin for the next season? Although, for such quality its really worth it

[doodle-pops]

Just how bad would Manwe be as an yandere?

Manwë as a yandere would appear sweet and innocent at first, but he's no different from Irmo when it comes to being conniving and having his way. He'd probably tweet a compelling song to tame you should you act up.

To Manwë, you're basically a bird who gets all the necessary treatments without leaving your cage (his sight/fortress) unless he's tagging along. He wouldn't even allow Eönwë to watch over you given the whole possessive side of avian traits amplified.

Aside from that, he's sweet and caring as long as you behave. Being treated like his little bird, you get treats (not literally bird treats, unless you're a Maiar with avian traits) for good behaviour and allowing him to endlessly spoil you without complaining or running off. Possessive to a fault and would rarely allow anyone around you (it's the scent thing as a bird boy).

[lamemaster]

(I have this saved and I have no idea what I was going for so out to the world it goes 🤭)

Coming of men

Melian and Eonwe: emotionally constipated (gays)

Girl slay 💅. Serving cunt (Sauron)

Varda Mother step on me (lesbians)

Yavanna (old souls/almond moms)

Manwe (home depot dads idk why)

Tulkas (gym bros and girlies)

Feanor (gen z they act like his kids, further adding chaos to household. Maedhros is crying)

Arafinwe (pinterest girlies)

Irmo (fanfic writers)

Melkor (people who hate pineapple on pizza and hate chocolate, influencers)

Mandos (moms)

Thingol (nfl teams)

Maiar (educators: whenever shit goes down, somehow it is our fault)

Arien: personality A people

The Void (emo kids)

[edensrose]

I am blaming this on you Eden even if this is not your fault (also is this going to get me starting to write Calamari yes yes it is) but the Manwe request has me dead

wait i forgot you made a masterlist of ainur writers these probably came from people finding that that list

THE CALAMÓRË AGENDA IS SPREADING WHOOOOO I CAN'T WAIT TO READ!!

And yes! Ainur agenda is spreading!!

[jazzapples3]

Tier system: actually 2 tiers of ainur, valar and maiar. Valar: morgoth, manwe etc. Maiar: sauron, gandalf, other wizards, balrogs etc. Eru created both valar and maiar. Not confirmed what ungoliant actually is

Tree of life: actually 2 trees, telperion and laurelin (silver and gold tree) they provide light to valinor.

Melkor (morgoth) made a deal with ungoliant to help him get into valinor to kill the 2 trees and let ungoliant eat the sap. He promised anything afterwards that would sate her lust after that but broke his vow by denying her the silmarils. No war over it, just a fight. Melkor was getting his ass beat until he let out a scream that summoned his balrogs to him who drove ungoliant away.

Sauron never wore any silmarils in his helm, in the first age morgoth wore the 3 silmarils in his iron crown but by the end of the first age all 3 were lost: 1 stolen by beren and luthien, eventually passed to earendil who took it into the sky and became the star of high hope which eventually light was trapped in the vial of galadriel and given to frodo. The other two were: one: tossed into a crack of fire (along with maedhros) and tossed into the ocean. Sauron would not have had the opportunity to wear one.

Cant fault the reasoning for not wanting to tangle with shelob tho. Sauron is much diminished, why would he want that fight yknow

Thinking of the larger context of LOTR and like, the fellowship swapping old war stories and shit and Sam just says “Yeah I killed a huge spider…Shelob, I think?”

And Gandalf just blinks and is like, “You what now?”

“Yeah, killed it. Had to save Frodo”

Gandalf elects not to tell Sam that he killed the spawn of a primordial demon.

[iusedtoweavecrowns]

On the oath of Feanor

Strap in for a long rambling post!

I've spent the last few days going down the rabbit hole of Bret Deveraux's blog - I'd already read his posts on the battle of Helm's Deep and the Siege of Gondor which I enjoyed immensely (I love analysing things I like and thinking about them from new angles if it's done from a friendly perspective even if it uncovers some faults (the faults in this case are mostly in the movies not the books)), this time I went in from the direction of Game of Thrones (I especially liked the posts on how the Dothraki hold up when compared with the Mongols and other real world steppe nomads - short answer, not at all) and found this post on how oaths and vows worked in the medieval times and before (ancient Rome and Greece) which got me thinking about the oath of Feanor.

Firstly, Tolkien (having of course worked thoroughly with medieval literature), really wrote in all the traditional components:

a) saying what you will do (this swear we all: death we will deal him ere Day's ending who findeth keepeth etc the silmarils (I took the text from tolkiengateway, I'm aware there's several different versions but didn't want to get into it that deep)). It's also common to name yourself in the oath which they do: it's clearly stated the relevant parties are Feanor and Feanor's kin

b) naming the godly party who is overseeing your oath (our word hear thou, Eru Allfather! and later calling upon Manwe and Varda as witnesses (I assume it's also witnessed by all the elves present, witnesses are important))

c) naming the price you will pay if you break your oath (in essence cursing yourself)(to the everlasting darkness doom us if our deed faileth)

(Another thought i just had on the wording of this particular version is if you remove the extra meat, the bones of this oath is they swear to kill anyone who keeps the silmarils from them (not just by holding them to yourself but also by casting away - the only way to be near a silmaril and not get entangled in this oath is to return it to Feanor's kin asap) and to pay the price (eternal darkness) if they fail in this task. There is no clause to absolve them of this failure through death for example (dying would be failure and result in eternal darkness?) so if you go with the idea that actually they just went to the halls of Mandos and could return from there, unless they are freed from the oath, it would absolutely still be in effect both in death (if the dead have agency - and there is presedence in the dead men Aragorn calls upon to fulfill their duty even from beyond the grave - whose very crime is breaking an oath!) and afterwards upon their return.

Thus the trap really is set and it made me think if all our modern thought on if they could have found this or that loophole or done this instead of that or just not fulfilled their oath is approaching this from the wrong perspective.

People believed in their gods. People believed in oaths, though saying belief here is perhaps the wrong word. An oath is basically a contract with a god as one of its parties and people truly did believe the god held them to it (I would imagine even more so in Middle Earth in an era where gods are literally right there and the question of belief in them is not relevant). Unless Eru themself releases Feanor and his kin (Manwe and Varda are just witnesses not the parties to whom the oath is bound) this is it. There are no loopholes I can see. And in-world people would know this and expect them to keep the oath, oaths and keeping them is on what the whole vassal system works for example. Forswearing an oath other than bringing divine punishment upon you makes you untrustworthy to the extreme (which is worse - being a kinslayer or forsworn? Either would make you a pariah I imagine).

"You swear an oath because your own word isn’t good enough, either because no one trusts you, or because the matter is so serious that the extra assurance is required. That assurance comes from the presumption that the oath will be enforced by the divine third party. The god is called – literally – to witness the oath and to lay down the appropriate curses if the oath is violated. Knowing that horrible divine punishment awaits forswearing, the oath-taker, it is assumed, is less likely to make the oath." (from the blog post)

If the oath is broken, you are breaking one of the systems on which the world functions (being able to trust someone who swears an oath of loyalty for example, knowing that this is not something anyone can simply back down from and go oh no I changed my mind actually) and if you break it and nothing happens? What does that say about the gods? For the gods' honour to remain intact they also must rain punishment upon you or all other oaths where they have been named come to question. I am not a feanorean apologist (okay I am but I'm not saying that kinslaying is good actually) but in-universe the other people around them would know and I imagine expect them to keep their oath (which once again has no back doors! no death we will deal them ere day's ending unless we like them and they actually do deserve a silmaril) and yet they do not deal death to everyone who holds a silmaril right away. They do hold back.

(This lead me down a line of thought of what if what's driving them mad there, as at least fandom likes to interpret it, is not the oath itself, what if it's the not keeping the oath? Because they are for a while there not keeping it (that they did nothing while Luthien held a silmaril is a big deal actually). Idk it's a subtle difference there but somehow it makes sense to me as an idea: what if the oath itself is not an evil entity whispering in their minds yearning to be fulfilled or whatever, it's the not acting upon it though the clauses are met - they are testing the patience of a god and of godly retribution. And whether Eru Iluvatar wants to be the enforcer of such an oath? Does Eru get a choice? (The blog post brings up that "in the literature of classical antiquity, it was also fairly common for the gods to prevent the swearing of false oaths – characters would find themselves incapable of pronouncing the words or swearing the oath properly" but Eru here has not stopped them nor sent some sort of divine message saying no I will not keep you to your oath, not until the very end.)

All this to say that it's hard for us in the modern world with a modern mindset to put ourselves in this space of mind. For us an oath is not the cornerstone of society, it's not something we believe in. We get a few oaths or vows here and there - swearing upon the bible to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth (at least they do that in American dramas), marriage vows, I recently encountered a soldier's oath of loyalty from WWI - are these still a thing? But they are just words to us, words you can break without divine consequences. Our words matter less to us in this way.

We think automatically that the honourable thing would be to break the oath and you know not go to war against innocent people (although honour is another category we don't put much faith into any more. We think of goodness but that's not the same thing). But I think in-world it really is a much harder dilemma because breaking an oath is about the least honorable thing you can do. And you are cursed. The oath doesn't need to be an evil entity like the One Ring for it to matter immensely and have great power. The oath itself doesn't need to be like an evil spell that affects the people who took it. The weight of it, the maddening distressing quality of it, can just be the dilemma, the eternal questioning it forces you into - to do horrible things but keep your word, your honour (you could argue the upholding of your word is the most important thing you have - even if you lose all worldly possessions your word's trustworthyness can't be taken from you unless you break your word yourself)(but can you keep your honour by doing something dishonorable?) and your literal safety from divine punishment or break it and save lives for the price of your own and if divine punishment doesn't kill you, being able to exist in the society. When your word, your oath, can be broken, how could you be trusted in literally any situation? (As a side note from the blog: "In the ancient world you might try to mend fences by consulting an oracle as to how to expiate the guilt of a broken oath (to be clear, you are mending fences with the offended god, not the mortal you made the agreement with)" - I now crave fics where the Feanoreans do decide to forswear the oath and are not like idk immediately swallowed by eternal darkness so they go on a wild escapade of Making It Up To Eru). In any case this is peak tragedy material - like prophecies that fulfill themselves in the effort to avoid them oaths too are meant to be inescapable. And the First Age is definitely a tragedy.

To end, a quote from the end of the blog post stressing something the author brings up often because we as modern people tend to struggle with it:

"People in the past generally believed their own religion. One of the most common – and most dangerous – pitfalls I find myself helping my students to navigate around is this one: assuming that because we don’t believe a given religion, no one of any sense at the time could have either. This is of course, when you think about it, obviously untrue. Moreover, it reduces people in the past from complex intelligent humans with agency to dummies who just didn’t know their stupid religion was stupid (it wasn’t, they weren’t).

What many of these examples of bungled oaths show is a kid’s understanding of how swearing and vowing works – they are little more than ‘pinky-swears.’ But societies in the past where these rituals were common believed they were effective – meaning that the ritual of oath-taking made the promise so given more trustworthy, more binding, more dangerous to break.

///

A formal oath, properly uttered and secured with appropriate sacredness, was a powerful, binding thing. These are people, after all, who thought the divine retribution on the other end of breaking that oath was very real. Even if we don’t believe that, we should take their faith seriously – if for no other reason than failing to do so often renders their behavior into nonsense."

[gurguliare]

nyarnamaitar replied to your post “Send me a ship I’ve never written and I’ll either write a drabble or...”

Manwë/Melkor! Can’t wait for the drag, since I don’t think you’re gonna write my trash OTP. :’D (Love your blog btw. Been a quiet follower of yours for a while now.)

(Thank you! And you underestimate my fondness for bullshitting Ainur POVs, actually---)

Utumno had grown very dark; it must have, for his brother shone. Melkor raised his head to look more closely at the light. To his great amazement, it did not recede. He came at last from the line of a wingtip to his brother’s face, and saw Manwë stare back, likewise amazed. Manwë held his shield-hand to his brow---he had come helmed, and winged, girt to bear up under Melkor’s glance as under the blow from a sword. But he straightened and let fall the shield.

How changed was this enemy! Not greater, but great. Not fiercer, but here: he had sent the sea before him, and baleful stars, and Yavanna’s root-barbs, and the panting winds, and then after all he had come. That was his tread which cleared the frost from stone; that was his hand which leaned upon the staff; and he was little but a body and the force in that body, nothing but a power less than that in Melkor’s left hand---and Melkor felt his hand close, his heart melt, fear sweeping through the channel which was made in him for fear: it was the first time he had ever felt such a bitter, knowing terror, that brimmed up at the lip of him and yet promised to rise.

“---thou to grow less!” said Manwë, wondering. “Thou!”

But who heard him? For Melkor went seeking the strength of his arms, and the fire he had wielded, before sky’s stone was laid; and in all things he found that fire guttering, beset. Worse: it ate whatever it could. The fire he had thought his self---his power burned in it. Manwë crowed, and Melkor heard him---only Melkor, king under the earth.

He found his knees were weak. Shall I repent? he said to flesh, thinking to rouse it by his mockery. And he also thought, Shall I repent? As if holding the brand against his heart, as if driving his flesh down on a glede, he thought how he might put aside his crown, and be made whole. It must be swift---now---Now! He plucked away the brand: I will not. It is too hard a sacrifice, and may be saved a longer while. / Never mind, for it is too late. And straightaway his skin began to burn, released from heat.

Ashamed, stinging with grief, he hit upon a cunning thought, and would have laughed, had no one been at hand to overhear.

Then he knelt. His knees, striking the flags, rang out as hammers. Tulkas walked to stand beside Manwë, dragging the long chain; Melkor never turned to him. Manwë said, “Do you ask pardon?”, with eyes narrowed, mouth spreading wide---a hawk after the lure.

[eri-pl]

Silmarils, grief and hope.

We all know grief is a big theme and all that, and related to Tolkien's life. But. The Silmarils.

Long chaotic post about "wanting the Silmarils is related to having unprocessed grief" and "the Silmarils are hope, but Not Like That".

(I'm not sure how many there are for whom it makes a difference, but I assume it's a non-zero amount: sort of Morgoth-pov at the very end which may be emotionally intense. For convenience, it's separated with a picture. The rest is much more calm, I think. Just chaotic and may have autocorrect errors.)

Why do so many people (allegedly) want them more than it would make sense, even if they aren't cursed?

So many events on the story of those jewels are related to grief. Feanor makes them after his mother does and he cannot process his feelings properly (which is not his fault; where would he learn to process them? But it is a thing.)

Then he loses them when his father dies and really wants them back, swears the oath. Then he does and his sons swear the oath again, and of course they don't process their grief properly either.

Oh and I forgot, before that, the Valar. They lose the Trees and want them back. Interestingly, it's not Manwe (the king) who is most focused on getting the Silmarils for that, nor Varda (most associated with them), but Yavanna (sure, it was her trees, but also she's the most loss-avoiding Vala, she misses each tree that is being cut) and Tulkas (lowest emotional intelligence of all proper Valar). Again, the perceived need to get the Silmarils is where there's some unprocessed grief, and most intense in those Valar who would have the hardest time processing it.

(and Aule! He actively advocates for granite keeping it. But I'm sure the "my best Maia joined Morgoth, I'm constantly bullied, my wife doesn't like me, and I am never a jerk despite it all" guy is pretty good at processing his negative feelings.)

(Also, how the sun and moon are made? The fruit grow when Nienna cries, and it is Nienna, she is processing the grief in a proper, healthy way. And it... It solves the problem (lack of light) for which the Silmarils were "necessary". Sure, the moon and sun are lesser, not as beautiful... But there's a theme there. Namely, the third of them. 🙂 Things change. You can't fix anything important by going Ctrl+Z on it. You have to go forward, not backwards.)

The Silmarils are the feeling of hope (see: reactions to Gil-Estel, and it's very name) they are a promise that it all will be good. They are a good thing, but to an untrained eye the promise seems much more immediate, much more like something that can be done here and now.

If I only had them, all would be fine.

And they are not this, Nienna would know, I'm pretty sure Varda knew too when she blessed them (she may have not realized how others see it). They are just a reminder of something unsaid. Estel, not amdir. (It's a little funny to me how this means "looking up" but it's not for this post)

Anyway, the Silmarils. Thingol who realizes he'll lose his daughter (doesn't know how much he would lose her, but a sad marriage to a diet Man is enough, also a kid growing up can be a grief in itself. Or maybe it is because she will be mortal, maybe he suffers from what @dfwbwfbbwfbwf called "pre-traumatic stress disorder"). And a Silmaril is the only thing that could let him through the pain of losing his daughter.

And then he carries it, of course he does, if he let it go he would have to face his pain. He dies and Luthien wears the jewel, then after her death - Dior. A chain of deaths and losses and a beautiful gem.

It is too much for their half-mortal eyes, too much hope to be able to let go of it even if they had a reason.

And Maedhros starts demanding it after Unnumbered Tears (unnumbered, unprocessed, unhealed), which sure, has also a more political/reasonable explanation (he's out of other options), but also, it's a lot of grief.

And it goes into a chain of deaths.

Melian never cared about the Silmaril (she cared about it as a problem, but not about having it). Beren gave it up easily. Earendil have it to the Valar (they have it back later).

The dwarves... There are two things here. One is generational trauma of "the sindar hunted our ancestors for sport"+general racism. The other is that dwarves generally have more need of hope I think... Elves are reborn, Men are said to go somewhere beautiful and mysterious, and the Dwarves??? It's very uncertain.

And at the end it is Makalaure "singing apology songs which doesn't make me less of a murderer, just a hypocrite, but at least helps me process my traumas" Kanafinwe who throws the hope away because someone else would make a better use of it probably, and goes on to live through his darkness.

It's so hard to face your pain and start looking not only at hope for you, but at hope for the others. And sometimes what the world needs to have more hope, is you facing your pain.

I can't find a clear name for what the Silmarils are/mean in this... Something close to hope, but also something you must let go of to process your grief... It's inherently good, but can be overused... I'm sure there's something fitting, I just can't find it.

And the "Feanor will break the Silmarils" thing? For the trees? Seriously? No. He will break then because he will learn to live without them, to live with his pain. He breaks then because they aren't relevant anymore. (Who said that about fulfilled hope not being called hope anymore? My favorite "I can write more weird and more enigmatic stuff that you, but it makes waaay more actual sense than your posts anyway" guy?) He breaks them, but it's not necessary, it's just natural.

(but also tbh they do look a little like seeds so idk why not have new trees, they are kinda cool... well my perception of them looking like seeds is based mostly on "need to break" anyway... My thinking goes in atypical ways)

And there's Morgoth. Oh of course there's Morgoth. The dark Vala who couldn't (wouldn't) process his feelings even if they came with a manual. (He's an Ainu. They very likely initially came with a manual. But he thought he knew better)

He wants to steal hope and blacken it, and destroy it, right?

So... He feeds the Silmarils to Ungoliant? Tries to break them? Hides them far away?

No.

He wears them on his face, even if it hurts terribly. It hurts like dying. This is how clinging to your ego defences feels like. "the pain demands to be felt", to quote my favorite psychology YouTuber writing someone else. If you don't face it, it will still burn. If you run away from it, it will still be there. If you cling to the "I am not sad, everything is fine, it's great", it will burn your face.

But anything else would mean admitting there's a problem. Admitting that they burn would mean admitting that he was wrong. That his pain is there, and also it's not purely (not mostly tbh) others' fault, that he's not the victim in here.

What pain?

Well if you want my opinion, it's funny that it was Finwe who guarded the Silmarils. Finwë who favored his older, more temperamental, more brilliant son and made him the crown prince. Finwë who never told Feanor to sit down and cut his BS. Finwë who everyone says it's such a great father. So if everyone says that, it is rational to expect such behavior, right? It's valid to be angry about being treated in a different way? It must be. Anything else would mean that he was wrong.

It's better to burn.

[elvenmoans]

Melkor in the Void

Gen

Just a little blurb I did when I relaized there is absolutely no reason for the Void to be empty, and actually more evidence that things are in there. I got ideas for more but not promises.

I wrote this with the idea that both the Silmarillion and this Melkor are unreliable narrators so do with that what you will

----

He was not in pain. It was strange, so strange that it felt as if his very being had been unmade. Had they destroyed his body as well as his kingdom? He looked at himself and saw that no, he not only still had his raiment but it had been repaired in ways he had been unable to do himself. His foot no longer ached, his hands no longer burned.

It was something he had wanted since the first injury had laced itself into his very fea. But it did not feel like a victory. How could it, when the very reason it has happened was his greatest defeat? How could anyone enjoy the absence of pain when it only served as a distraction from the terror of the unknown?

Melkor turned away from the gate and out towards the void. It was not empty, like most believed it would be and he had feared it might. The fiber of space was black with unlight but all throughout were dots of creation and color. Most he recognized from before-time, where they had practiced their song and found joy in it.

A strange amorphous thing that must have been an attempt of water floated past him. The viscosity was wrong, but it shone with an opalescence that must have come from the idea of pearls. Melkor reached out and touched it, nearly jolting as cold wrapped around his fingers and the echo of its song rang out.

It was not Ulmo who sang, but a maiar, fresh in creation and excited to bring forth what had been placed inside their mind. Melkor’s heart ached with it. He had felt that intense joy, had wanted more. He and this water-Maiar were so akin that way, but Eru had squashed that. Had made Melkor out to be a deviant and made the maiar nothing but servants. Lesser but not as loved as the Children. Just as Mairon had been before Melkor liberated him.

He snarled. The Maiar deserved more and the Children less. Who could speak for them now? Who would give them their birthright over the Children now when he was gone? He screamed in frustration and anger, wanting to break something or hurt someone but being unable to bring himself to burst the opalescent bubble.

There was nothing here but memories of his youth. Of a time where he had hope and ideas he was excited for, when he could see a maia ecstatic over their creations and his smile would not terrify them. When there wasn’t a distinction of maiar and umaiar, and they all saw his power and admired it.

Before Eru ruined everything and convinced all that it was Melkor’s fault. Before he turned Manwe against him.

Melkor curled in on himself and if he cried, at least no one could see it. Not even Mairon.

[eggxeggxegg]

Melkor and Mairon deserved some passages about them in the Silmarillion that didn’t say awful things about them. So I made some up.

Mairon:

The Valar Aule The Smith once had a high journeyman, in the same manner that Manwe has Eonwe as his herald and banner-bearer, or Varda has Ilmare as her handmaiden. The high journeyman was a Maia by the name of Mairon The Admirable, a mighty spirit of fire twin to Arien and kin to the Valaraukar. The mastery of Mairon in craft and works of skill was great and some may argue even coeval to the Vala they served. Yet all agreed their conscientiousness surpassed all.

Mairon was fluid in temper, often presenting as male but sometimes as female, but always exquisite in form. Fire was their hair and eyes, which burned so bright they could illuminate a darkened room.

They were stern in disposition and unapproachable in manner.

Melkor:

There was Eru, the One, who in Arda is called Ilúvatar, and for a long while it was only him and the sole conception of all his thought, of whom was later known as Melkor. For a time both were content with just each other, but Ilúvatar soon found himself unsatisfied. He grew to despise his creation as he began to see all his flaws refracted and magnified back at him, until he viewed Melkor as no more than a crude and sordid mockery of his image. Therefore Ilúvatar made more offspring of his thought to replace Melkor, taking care to not make the same faults. He particularly designed Manwë to be what he wished and intended Melkor to have been.

In face the two shared in semblance (much to the disturbance of the Eldar) with both pairs of eyes wielding the exact same shade of blue. And in height they were also alike. But while the hair of Manwë was pale and bright Melkor’s was darker than darkness, devouring the light. Melkor was also preternaturally pallid and gaunt.

In Valinor his demeanor was reticent and he lived alone with no servants, but he only ever seemed benevolent.

[doodle-pops]

Manwe: you're now forbidden to see my son!

Melkor: what? Why? Absolutely not! I love my nephew and it's not you who's gonna stop me from seeing him

Manwe: look at the ball of evil he has turned into

*Tweety and Eonwe fighting for their lives*

Melkor: I have nothing to do with that! In fact it's your fault, you the one who passed the jealous and territorial gene for him!

--

Varda: would you like some tea honey?

Y/n: yes please *sips on tea* do you have to deal with Manwe being overly jealous and territorial when you around other birds?

Varda: oh yes, definitely

Y/n: how do you deal with it?

Varda: lots of tea. Drink dear, it'll make you feel better

--

Eonwe: AAAAAAAH

Tweety: PEEEEEW

-👻

In the next room, this is Eonwë and Tweety fighting