#Sindar

[arlenianchronicles]

Just a little sketch of Beren and Luthien sharing a hidden kiss! I wasn't sure what to do for the background so I just gave up on it loll But I still love these two very much :'''D

Also, I've been posting my "not appropriate for eyeballs" Beren/Luthien art on AO3, so if y'all are interested, feel free to check it out! It includes a bunch of melons, peaches, and a side helping of eggplants; and it's my first foray into the super spicy art stuff, so I appreciate the support! loll ^^;;

[general-illyrin]

I was reminded recently of this map I made when I first read the Silm, showing the general outlines of each realm in Beleriand after the Noldor arrived, so here it is in case it helps anyone. Granted, since this was my first read-through when I made it, there could be inaccuracies.

Key:

red - Sons of Feanor (specific territories for each son are outlined with dashed lines and labelled; dashed lines extending beyond the territory shows areas they are mentioned wandering/being in, but are not specifically said to have been their realms)

orange - Sons of Finarfin (specific territories for each son are labelled)

green - Thingol

jade - Green elves

light blue - Cirdan

dark blue - Fingolfin & his sons (specific territories for each person are outlined with dashed lines and labelled; dashed lines extending beyond the territory shows areas they are mentioned wandering/being in, but are not specifically said to have been their realms)

black wording - Dark elves (not outlined because it says they wander here, implying it isn't a specific realm of theirs)

magenta - Ungoliant and her offspring

[dfwbwfbbwfbwf]

Tbf, some Noldor did come to colonize. Ironically, it was the fan faves who did that - Finrod and Galadriel were mentioned explicitly.

(And is it bad colonizing if you take over land that was abandoned? Cause that's what the Fëanárions did. They only lived in the northern land Thingollo had abandoned.)

It was an accident, but I'm keeping it forever.

Feanor, to his sons: “remember, my sons, one may take pride in what he creates, but family is the only real treasure.”

Also Feanor: “where are my hecking silmarils.”

[inthehouseoffinwe]

Crack idea: Elrond’s tired of elves constantly asking him to be king, and when they finally say ‘if not you, at least choose one of your sons!’ plonks the crown on Aragorn.

He has the training. The skills. Is well known and generally loved by the vast majority of elves anyway.

And if they don’t like it? Well. They should’ve been more specific.

It’s worth mentioning Thranduil finds the whole thing *hilarious* and doesn’t even try to hide that he’s sending his most problematic elves Aragorn’s way. Elrond and Galadriel start doing the same and we end up with Gondor filled with hardcore Doriathrim and Fëanorians.

The only reason they’re not throwing hands is the position of High King is cursed and no one wants to answer to Elrond if his youngest son gets so much as a paper cut on their watch. Especially since this whole thing is their fault. Aragorn ends up with a constant guard of Sindar and Noldor he can’t shake off no matter what he does.

[velvet4510]

I don’t think any of us should ever overlook Celeborn’s love for Galadriel, because it’s really something.

Usually in Tolkien’s texts, it’s the girl following the guy. Lúthien followed Beren to Tol-in-Gaurhoth and Angband and later into death itself, Níniel followed Turambar to Cabed-en-Aras, Elwing followed Eärendil to Valinor, Éowyn followed Faramir to Ithilien, Arwen followed Aragorn to Gondor and later into death itself, etc. Not that this is a bad thing, not at all. (It should never be deemed disempowering for a woman to follow a man she loves and who loves her and treats her right, if that is her choice.) But overall, considering the wide variety of couples in Middle-earth, it does get repetitive sometimes.

Yet with these two, it’s the opposite. Celeborn always followed Galadriel.

When Galadriel departed Doriath, Celeborn went with her. He left all his kin behind to be with her. We don’t know for sure how his kin reacted to his relationship with a Noldo, but it could very well be that they eloped. She was just that important to him.

Then for the next 2 ages, they endured all sorts of trials and tribulations together across Middle-earth and eventually settled down in Lothlórien. There, Celeborn never tried to make Galadriel subservient to him. She had as much say in how things were run as he himself did. They were true co-rulers, equals in every way.

Then finally, Celeborn temporarily let Galadriel go. He was alright with her leaving on the White Ship to see their daughter and her parents and brothers again, while he stayed behind to finish what needed to be finished. He didn’t force her to stay with him when he himself could not (yet) leave. He didn’t hold her back from reuniting with people she loved and had lost so long ago.

And ultimately, Celeborn followed Galadriel once again. Though he was a Sinda born and bred, and never before had any desire to cross the Sea, he left his own homeland behind forever to reunite with her in her homeland. She still was just that important to him.

This guy was down bad for this girl. He lived his whole life drunk on wifeguy juice. Respect Celeborn.

[sakasakiii]

a while ago i was sent an ask from @waterjewelsspite (answered below) wherein i was asked about different elven fashions.... so from left to right: doriathrim fashion, teleri + nargothrond fashion, vanya fashion :DD these have been sitting in my drafts as uncoloured wips since early 2022 omg, but better late than never i suppose !!!

i didnt have a specific sketch page for the noldor that i did back then hahahaha so i came back to it recently and took it as a chance to do some assorted concept doodles with the kind of outfits i imagine them wearing in mundane situations? i dont quite know how to explain it but i hope my annotations can help show my thought process a bit!!

cant believe it took me this long to give like half the characters proper fullbody refs or designs (im looking at YOU beleg and mablung) but this has been super fun and really refreshing, so thank you again waterjewelsspite for the kind ask!!! sorry again it took. two and a half years. OMG. for me to get it done 😭😭😭 i hope this sufficed!!!

in usual fashion, bonus feanorian shenanigans: caranthir's first business/publishing/entrepreneurship/girlboss venture

[moredhel]

"There he learned much of metalwork, and came to great skill therein; and he devised a metal as hard as the steel of the Dwarves, but so malleable that he could make it thin and supple; and yet it remained resistant to all blades and darts. He named it galvorn, for it was black and shining like jet, and he was clad in it whenever he went abroad"

[myceliumelium]

just a lil design fun

[hedgehogoftime]

Hi, I'm still angry about Amazon trying to turn Galadriel into a shitty YA romantasy protagonist by making her generic sword girl and taking away her entire backstory as one of the most powerful and revered of the Noldor and Queen of the Sindar and giving her a shitty enemies to lovers relationship with fucking Sauron.

[serene-faerie]

What she says: I’m fine.

What she means: The constant woobification of Fëanor and his sons and the constant Noldor bias in the fandom has really made it difficult for me to actually enjoy the Fëanorians and most of the Noldor as characters. It really doesn’t help that a lot of people like to demonize the Sindar for so many reasons. These fans won’t extend the same grace they give to the Fëanorians to Sindarin characters like Thingol, who made mistakes but at least tried to make amends for them, unlike Fëanor and his sons. In addition, their need to demonize Beren and Lúthien is honestly appalling, because it shows a fundamental misunderstanding of their story and the broader themes of the Silmarillion— that there is hope in the world that’s worth fighting for. And furthermore, the constant demonization and victim-blaming of Dior and Elwing is genuinely unsettling, especially when the Fëanorians are pitied for the crimes they committed. Lastly, their obsession with property rights and the Silmarils, and their willingness to justify the Kinslayings shows that these people have not truly read or understood the text, and they probably don’t want to properly understand it.

[polutrope]

Vagueblogging a website but like do you really think the Sindar who followed the Fëanorians East were following Maedhros, whom they'd just met? Sure, that was a nice gesture handing over leadership, but I'm pretty sure from the Sindar POV he was never really a contender. He's a former thrall after all! Even if the northern Sindar were more sympathetic to thralls, I don't think they'd think it wise to take one as leader. I also don't think the Sindar were particularly in-the-know about the reasons for the Noldor in-fighting (and if so, not a word got to Thingol for ~60 years which I find implausible, even if there was tension there). I think Maedhros' former thrall status would be their main concern about him.

Anyway the point I'm arriving at is that it was Maglor they did ~30 years of cultural interaction with. What did the Sindar call themselves? Lindi, the Singers. Of course they followed Maglor the Singer, Maglor the Poet King. He's the reason the Fëanorians had the benefit of Sindarin allies. Not Maedhros.

[silvantransthranduiltrash]

I think we can all agree the elves don’t have periods, right?

Bc a period is the bodily function when people with uteruses expell an egg or two from their womb bc they didn’t get pregnant (this is a v bastardized version of the entire explenation) and the amount of eggs a uterus has is finite, meaning that there is a certain number you have before you are done. Humans run out of eggs at around 50-60 y/o, i cannot imagine how many eggs an elf would need to have at birth in order to have that bodily function for eternity, bc they do not age.

Furthermore, bc having kids is such a deliberate move amungst elves (from what i understand) where they need to creat the child’s soul, it doesn’t make sense to have a bodily function amongst the elves around child creation that’s, for lack of better words, so accidental and unreliable.

Therefor, i do not think elves have periods. It does not make sense for them to have them.

[arlenianchronicles]

My second submission for this year's @tolkienrsb (slide 85) in collab with @polutrope! Elrond (the one in white) finds Maglor wandering on the beach, and they have a little reunion :''')

The fic's link is here, but it won't be made public until Sept 6, so just keep an eye out! XD

[general-illyrin]

A Collection of Maps Exhibiting the Changing Political Landscape in Beleriand

Note: These maps are not meant to show every single single political shift, but are generally broader strokes, and usually show approximate distribution rather than exact.  In addition, there could be inaccuracies as I was skimming The Silmarillion to look for pertinent parts.  I apologize if there are any, and if you see some, please let me know; I will update the descriptions to include them.

This map shows the general distribution of the Teleri, Noldor, and Petty-dwarves soon after the Elves crossed into Beleriand.  The Vanyar were not mentioned int he part of the text I read, but presumably they are with the Noldor.

The Petty-dwarves are included here because according to The History off Middle-earth, the Petty-dwarves settled in Beleriand, specifically Dorthonion, before the Elves crossed the mountains and entered it.  Tarn Aeliun is circled with a smaller circle because in Mîm's Klage, Mîm is said to have lived there.  (However, Mîm's Klage is generally not considered canon from what I am aware, and it does present a contradiction in the form of how long dwarves can live if one accepts it as canon in its entirety.  That said, I do not think it unlikely that Petty-dwarves lived near it, as it was a freshwater lake in an area they are known to have inhabited.  But that is conjecture.). In addition, we have no knowledge of whether the Petty-dwarves had at this time yet settled in Amon Rûdh and Nargothrond; they are marked purely to show where the Petty-dwarves might have been at this point.

This map shows the general distribution of the Teleri, Vanyar, Noldor, and Petty-dwarves as the Vanyar and Noldor were led by Oromë to the lands around the Sirion.  The Teleri had at this point crossed into East Beleriand, and many were searching for Thingol when the Noldor and Vanyar moved onto the island Ulmo moved into the Bay of Balar.  (In this map, I represented that by marking the Isle of Balar.). The dotted blue line indicates that it is possible the Teleri ventured into Doriath at this time, in search for Thingol, though that is not stated.

See the previous map for notes on the Petty-dwarves.

This map shows the general distribution of the Teleri and Petty-dwarves after the Vanyar and Noldor left Beleriand for Aman.  "But when they learned that Ingwë and Finwë and their peoples were gone, then many of the Teleri pressed on to the shores of Beleriand, and dwelt thereafter near the Mouths of Sirion, in longing for their friends that had departed..." - The Silmarillion  The dotted lines represent a possible expansion of the Teleri, as they began moving into Falas and collecting under Círdan.  But again, this is conjecture.  Since the text says. that "many of the Teleri pressed on to the shores", implying that at least some remained in the areas they were previously inhabiting (as is later confirmed by the text stating that Elves still searched in those areas for Thingol), marked by the note on the map.

See previous maps for notes on the Petty-dwarves.

This map shows the general distribution of the Teleri and Petty-dwarves after the rest of the Teleri left Beleriand for Aman.  At this point, the Teleri who remained seemed mostly to divide into those that followed Círdan as their lord and settled in Falas, and those friends of Thingol who remained in the Hither Lands, searching for him.  They possibly lived outside of Doriath, and from what I remember, it is not known for sure whether they searched there (though I think I remember it mentioning that those searching for him searched in forests, which would likely include Doriath, especially since that was the place he was originally traveling to).  However, I marked that area as it is a place that their people become centralized at after Thingol returns.  In addition, the note on Teleri still living near the mouth of the Sirion and beginning to scatter throughout Beleriand is purely conjecture, anticipating the occurrences in the next map.

See previous maps for notes on the Petty-dwarves.

There is an inaccuracy on this map; the people labeled 'Iathrim' would more accurately be labeled 'Eglath', as that was what they called themselves.  

This map shows the general distribution of the Teleri, Lauquendi, Petty-dwarves, and Greater Dwarves after Thingol's re-emergence and taking up the crown over all Teleri.  At this point, almost the entirety of Beleriand is said to be Thingol's realm, represented by the blue dashed lines.  Within this are, many elves wander, but they are centralized under Círdan in Falas and under Thingol in Doriath.  The Laiquendi also come up form the south and settle in Ossiriand.

In addition, the Greater Dwarves enter Beleriand, emerging from their cities in the mountains and discover the Elves have been hunting their kindred.  By this time, the Petty-dwarves have been hunted almost to extinction.  Thus, they likely no longer remained in Dorthonion, though that is conjecture.  (I did not reflect this conjecture in the map.)  I am unsure when the hunting of the petty-dwarves would have begun, but since they only have a Sindarin name, it is possible that they were only discovered sometime after the Noldor and Vanyar left for Aman.  

This map shows the general distribution of the Teleri, Lauquendi, Petty-dwarves, Greater Dwarves, Orcs, and Ungoliant after the Darkening of Valinor and Morgoth's flight to Middle-earth.  At this point, Ungoliant has taken up residence in the Ered Gorgoroth.  The dashed lines filling the space between them and the edge of Doriath represent the extent of her and her offspring's possible range; since that road was know to be dangerous and taken only at great need, it implies that they reached that far.

The red arrows represent the orc's invasion of Beleriand after Morgoth's return.

And the Petty-dwarves' uncertain status in Dorthonion (see previous map's note for details) is represented by the purple question mark. 

This map shows the general distribution of the Teleri, Lauquendi, Petty-dwarves, Greater Dwarves, Orcs, and Ungoliant after Thingol and the Laiquendi defeated the orcs in East Beleriand.  At this point, Cirdan and his people are driven to the rim of the sea (possibly referring to Brithombar and Eglarest?).  Thingol retreats to Doriath, and the Gridle of Melian is created.

The dotted purple line around Amon Rûdh represents the uncertain status of the Petty-dwarves there.  It was there home at one point, but the only time we see Petty-dwarves living there is when Mîm and his sons living there.  (If I am remembering correctly, after being kicked out of Nargthrond, according to The History of Middle-earth.)

This map shows the general distribution of the Teleri, Lauquendi, Petty-dwarves, Greater Dwarves, Orcs, and Ungoliant after the arrival of the Noldor and their defeating the orcs in East Beleriand.  This is before the dividing of the lands among the Noldor, so I chose not to represent them on this map. For notes on other people groups, see previous maps.

This map shows the general distribution of the Teleri, Lauquendi, Noldor, and Ungoliant after the dividing of the land among the Noldor.  The red area shows the land under control of the sons of Feanor: Specific territories for each son are outlined with dashed lines and labelled; dashed lines extending beyond the territory shows areas they are mentioned wandering/being in, but are not specifically said to have been their realms.  The orange area shows the land under control of the sons of Finarfin: Sspecific territories for each son are labelled.  The dark blue area shows the land under control of Fingolfin and his sons: Specific territories for each person are outlined with dashed lines and labelled; dashed lines extending beyond the territory shows areas they are mentioned wandering/being in, but are not specifically said to have been their realms.

The green area shows Thingol's territory, and the sea green/lighter blue shows Círdan's territory.  And the black wording shows the area the Dark Elves are said to wander in.

Finally, purple represents the area under control of Ungoliant and her offspring.  (Note: I forgot to include the dashed lines extending to the border of Doriath in this one.)

In addition, I did not include either of the Dwarves, though the Greater Dwarves are still in the same place.  And at this point, the Petty-dwarves are almost extinct, with only Mîm and his two sons living in (presumably) Amon Rúdh.

Anyway, I hope this is helpful to someone!

[inthehouseoffinwe]

Thingol, Luthien, and Dior’s claim to the silmaril bugs the living daylights outta me and I’m gonna break down why. This goes a bit beyond ownership laws.

Starting with basics. What are the silmarils? Gems created by Fëanor that hold the light of the Two Trees. Who in Beleriand saw the light of the trees and no doubt misses it like a limb? Are here in part to avenge their destruction? The Noldor.

The Sindar never went to Valinor. They might find the gems beautiful but that’s it. There’s no cultural or emotional connection to them beyond ‘pretty stone, look how awesome our princess was.’ There’s no appreciation for what they hold. No understanding that this stone is one of the *last* things that holds the ancient light of the Trees.

The Noldor meanwhile not only saw the Light, they had entire festivals surrounding it. Grew their entire culture, their lives, under and around it. Now the trees are destroyed, their king killed defending these jewels. And this last beacon of hope, a piece of the home they can never return to, a piece of light that will never come back, is being kept by people who can’t even begin to understand the significance of what they keep.

Now imagine being the sons of the one who made this jewel from a culture of people who value craft above all else.

Not only is it light, it’s the result of years of toil and experimentation of your father, the one who managed to do what no one had ever even thought of. Fëanor’s sons would have been the first to see these jewels, probably saw him make prototypes, work equations whilst they worked on their own crafts. Provided what relief they could to his ever working mind and inadvertently gave him ideas that helped solve problems he encountered along the way. Suddenly it’s not only a key part of their culture, it’s something core to their family.

Then Fëanor is killed and in many ways it’s the most important thing they have left of their father. Now it’s a source of memory too, for someone doomed to the Halls for eternity. Who they’ll likely never see again unless they’re killed.

Now from what I’ve heard, Tolkien says the Fëanorions lost their right to the Silmarils when they killed for them. Which makes no sense considering the Silmarils were *created* by Fëanor. Yes the light was created by the Valar, but what, you’re gonna say ‘I created electricity so that lightbulb you made is actually mine.’ That’s not how it works. Fëanor made the casing for the stones and figured out how to hold the light, without aid from the Valar. It doesn’t matter what actions they take, the right to the Silmarils remain theirs and theirs alone. The jewels hold no power of their own, they’re literally objects. Healing objects at most. Morals do not dictate their ownership, hallowed or not.

Tolkien going on to say the right of Doriath’s Silmaril actually goes to Beren and Luthien for taking it from Morgoth gives me frankly coloniser vibes.

‘Oh this thing I stole was originally stolen from you? Too bad. I took it so it’s mine now. Don’t care how important it is to you, your entire culture, and your people.’

Get where I’m coming from?

All in all the whole situation gives me Bad Vibes and I really don’t like the attitude the Sindar have to the Silmaril. In terms of Elwing, I can partly forgive her purely based on trauma response. Fine. Doesn’t make it right, but I understand. But that never would’ve been a problem if her father, grandmother, or great grandfather had the sense to acknowledge the silmaril was never theirs to keep. Don’t like the Fëanorions, (too bad) at least give it back to the Noldor.