#The Letter of Tolkien

[great-and-small]

Need y’all to know that in the 1970’s a letter to the editor was published in Daily Telegraph where the author offhandedly used the phrase “Tolkien-like gloom” to describe an area with barren trees and JRRT himself wrote back an incensed rebuttal at the use of his name in a context that suggested anything negative about trees.

[thinkinginquenya]

Hot take, and I don't remember if Tolkien talks about this in his letters but:

Pippin didn't accidentally summon the Balrog. He MAY have summoned the orcs, but the Balrog would have come anyway, because - like with the Watcher In The Water - powerful ancient things are drawn to the power of The Ring. The Balrog was drawn to the ring, and I'm sure the orcs would be very curious as to why the Balrog suddenly decided to take a stroll all of a sudden.

At most, what Pippin did was to allow the orcs to work out where the Fellowship was before the Balrog got there. and this is actually a GOOD thing, because it means that the Fellowship ran away to the bridge before the Balrog could find them. If the Balrog had caught up to them before they got near to the bridge, they probably would have been a lot worse off AND the orcs would probably be following at a safe distance waiting to pick off any stragglers.

Was it a good idea for Pippin to throw rocks down a hole? (or in the PJ films' case, poke a corpse???) No, of course not. Was it a classic Tolkien case of a decision of questionable wisdom leading to a good outcome? I would argue yes.

[anghraine]

I know I've ranted about it a million times, but every time someone brings up Roman, Byzantine, and Egyptian inspirations/influences on Gondor in more mainstream Tolkien fandom spaces (not me, because I don't even talk about it off Tumblr/DW), it seems like there's always someone who gets super weird and defensive about it. I've seen so many "well actually there's no need to consider any influences outside of England, mythology for England blah blah" responses.

And it's like! Oh, you want to play the decontextualized Tolkien quotes game? How about this one:

“But this [the setting of LOTR] is not a purely 'Nordic' area in any sense. If Hobbiton and Rivendell are taken (as intended) to be at about the latitude of Oxford, then Minas Tirith, 600 miles south, is at about the latitude of Florence [in Italy]. The Mouths of Anduin and the ancient [Gondorian] city of Pelargir are at about the latitude of ancient Troy [in Turkey]. Auden has asserted that for me 'the North is a sacred direction.' That is not true. The North-west part of Europe, where I (and most of my ancestors) have lived, has my affection, as a man’s home should. I love its atmosphere, and know more of its histories and languages than I do of other parts; but it is not ‘sacred’, nor does it exhaust my affections. I have, for instance, a particular love for the Latin language, and among its descendants for Spanish ... The progress of the tale ends in what is far more like the re-establishment of an effective Holy Roman Empire with its seat in Rome than anything that would be devised by a 'Nordic.'”

Or this one:

we come [in ROTK] to the half-ruinous Byzantine City of Minas Tirith

Or:

In the south Gondor rises to a peak of power, almost reflecting Númenor, and then fades slowly to decayed Middle Age, a kind of proud, venerable, but increasingly impotent Byzantium.

Or:

The Númenóreans of Gondor were proud, peculiar, and archaic, and I think are best pictured in (say) Egyptian terms. In many ways they resembled ‘Egyptians’ - the love of, and power to construct, the gigantic and massive. And in their great interest in ancestry and in tombs. […] I think the crown of Gondor (the S. Kingdom) was very tall, like that of Egypt, but with wings attached, not set straight back but at an angle. The N. Kingdom had only a diadem (III 323). Cf. the difference between the N. and S. kingdoms of Egypt.

Or:

Thank you very much for your letter. … It came while I was away, in Gondor (sc. Venice), as a change from the North Kingdom

Middle-earth is not equivalent to England, or northern Europe in general, and Gondor especially is not northern at all!

[haladriel]

I cannot let him in again. I cannot

He never left, Galadriel.

ᴛʜᴇ ʀɪɴɢs ᴏꜰ ᴘᴏᴡᴇʀ // ᴇᴘ. ɪɪ.ɪɪ ᴡʜᴇʀᴇ ᴛʜᴇ sᴛᴀʀs ᴀʀᴇ sᴛʀᴀɴɢᴇ

[inwpaintress]

Not quite finished, but I fit all the words in.

[who-canceled-roger-rabbit]

One funny difference between J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis is that Tolkien seemed entirely uninterested in writing about sex, whereas Lewis's writing was also chaste but with barely repressed kinkiness simmering just beneath the surface

[cantsayidont]

In an undated letter written in the late 1950s, reproduced in THE LETTERS OF JRR TOLKIEN, Tolkien alludes to the legal difficulties Sam faced after returning from the Grey Havens at the end of LORD OF THE RINGS:

When Master Samwise reported the ‘departure over Sea’ of Bilbo (and Frodo) in 1421, it was still held impossible to presume death; and when Master Samwise became Mayor in 1427, a rule was made that: ‘if any inhabitant of the Shire shall pass over Sea in the presence of a reliable witness, with the expressed intention not to return, or in circumstances plainly implying such an intention, he or she shall be deemed to have relinquished all titles rights or properties previously held or occupied, and the heir or heirs thereof shall forthwith enter into possession of these titles, rights, or properties, as is directed by established custom, or by the will and disposition of the departed, as the case may require.’

You can see how the residents of Hobbiton might have seen Sam's return as the premise of a kind of Agatha Christie mystery plot: favorite servant of eccentric middle-aged local resident departs on an unexpected journey with his master; returns home alone two weeks later; and then conveniently produces a copy of said eccentric local resident's new will, naming the servant the heir to all his property — and the only account the servant can offer of his master's whereabouts is a preposterous story about Elves. Suspicious! Very suspicious indeed!

[wordbunch]

"Of course [The Lord of the Rings] does not belong to me. It has been brought forth and must go now its appointed way in the world, though naturally I take a deep interest in its fortunes, as a parent would of a child. I am comforted to know that it has good friends to defend it against the malice of its enemies."

- J. R. R. Tolkien in Letters from Tolkien

🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺

[camille-lachenille]

Day 1: childhood

[inthehouseoffinwe]

Recently found out the Palantíri were gifted to the Numenorians by the Eldar and it’s given me *ideas.* So the Palantir were made by Fëanor right. And it’s safe to assume they were kept by the Fëanorians, unless Maedhros decided to gift one to Fingoflin for communication, but I don’t think that would’ve gone over well for anyone.

So here’s my two theories:

1. Each son of Fëanor has a set of Palantír. I think it’s safe to assume there were more than seven made? I think it’s written that Elendil managed to ‘save’ seven of them, but don’t quote me on that. (It doesn’t really matter, this works either way. Also imagine little Tyelpë on his tip toes facetiming his uncles 🥲)

When their various fortresses fall, most of the Fëanorions manage to save at least one of their seeing stones. When Maedhros and Maglor end up in Amon Ereb alone, they have all their brothers’ Palantir but no use for them.

Enter Elrond and Elros. They come to love them, care for them. And vice versa. When they’re sent to Gil Galad, Mae and Mags send these pieces of their family with them. Maybe they can find some good use for them, a final legacy for Fëanor that doesn’t end in blood. Maybe it’ll keep them safe.

(I’ll go into detail of how they end up in Numenor below)

2. Celebrimbor ended up with Curufin’s Palantir in Nargothrond, and Mae and Mags sent the rest his way at some point before their final Silmaril run. They don’t have anything else, and their nephew deserves something made before madness consumed their family. Something made out of pure curiosity rather than pride that doesn’t have too many bad memories attached.

Celebrimbor appreciates the gesture but has no real use for them. He’s not particularly ambitious as a lord. Doesn’t have any need for immediate long distance communication, and in all honesty would likely be accused of spying if he did start using them (no matter if that isn’t how they work.)

Then he hears that Elros, who he’s gotten to know fairly well alongside Elrond over the years of the War of Wrath, is heading off to Numenor. He decides to give the new King something as a token of their friendship, and to keep in touch with his twin from a distance, the way the sons of Fëanor once did. And unlike many others, they won’t scorn his grandfather’s work.

Elros is managing a pretty large kingdom, so he takes the bulk of them. Elrond keeps one.

Later on, Elrond’s (not used since the death of Elros’ children) is lost in the fall of Eregion when he desperately tried to use it to find Celebrimbor. And of course Elendil manages to bring seven Palantir to Middle Earth when Numenor falls.

[sugurugetos]

im telling you guys this is one of the best sauron interpretations we could have ever received like insanely manipulative where he leaves each character in a spin, absolutely dead-eyed but of course he is one of the fallen ainur and how could that light ever be replaced?? literally twitches in anger when someone even dares to say no to his whims and wishes and then smiles and looks like he's about to go jump off the tallest tower in eregion out of spite

[janefrigginausten]

Excerpt from J. R. R. Tolkien’s letter to Eileen Elgar, September 1963:

[anghraine]

I originally compiled a set of quotes about how Elrond and his children are not identified exclusively as Elves a couple of years ago in a reblog, but I wanted an easier version of my post for reference, so here it is:

The distinction between Elves and half-Elves is most glaring with Elladan and Elrohir, but there’s an interesting description of Elrond as great among Elves and Men, as if (despite his fate lying with Elves) he’s both/neither. And, of course, when Aragorn wishes for Elrond as he goes about healing, he describes Elrond not as a better healer because he’s an Elf, but because “he is the eldest of all our race, and has the greater power” (ROTK, “The Houses of Healing”).

In addition, I think the language used around Elladan and Elrohir is really interesting. When they show up with the Dúnedain of the North, Legolas says of them, “they are fair and gallant as Elven-lords; and that is not to be wondered at in the sons of Elrond of Rivendell” (ROTK, “The Passing of the Grey Company”). They are like Elven-lords because they’re Elrond’s sons, but not actually called Elven-lords.

When we actually see Elladan and Elrohir, we hear: “So much alike were they, the sons of Elrond, that few could tell them apart: dark-haired, grey-eyed, and their faces elven-fair” (same chapter). They look as fair as Elves. But when the Grey Company, including Elladan and Elrohir, goes to the Paths of the Dead:

“The company halted, and there was not a heart among them that did not quail, unless it were the heart of Legolas of the Elves, for whom the ghosts of Men have no terror” (same chapter).

Later, as the armies of the west make their way to the Black Gate, we hear:

“And from that evening onward the Nazgûl came and followed every move of the army. They still flew high and out of sight of all save Legolas…” (ROTK, “The Black Gate Opens”).

Even the random minstrel of Gondor at the Field of Cormallen addresses those present at the victory celebrations with:

“Lo! lords and knights and men of valour unashamed, kings and princes, and fair people of Gondor, and Riders of Rohan, and ye sons of Elrond, and Dúnedain of the North, and Elf and Dwarf, and greathearts of the Shire…” (ROTK, “The Field of Cormallen”).

So the exceptional nature of Elrond and his children does seem a) accurate, given the exclusion of Elladan and Elrohir from generalizations about Elves, and b) very generally understood and accepted.

Oh, and there’s also Tolkien’s extratextual translation of Elladan and Elrohir’s names:

“Both signify elf+man. Elrohir might be translated ‘Elf-knight’; rohir being a later form (III 391) of rochir ‘horse-lord.’ Elladan might be translated ‘Elf-Númenórean’” (Letters 282).

Rohir is “a later form” of rochir because it’s Gondorian/Númenórean usage. The El- in both names and the suffixes indicating 'mortal man' clearly refer to Elrond’s family—so for instance, Elladan can only be considered a Númenórean of any kind through Elrond. If, as Elrond’s sons with a fully Elvish woman, they are not considered Elves, this can only be all the more true for Elrond himself.

[goldfarthing]

I did the Riddle of Strider 🫡

[fangirl-erdariel]

Sometimes I wonder what Tolkien would think about the fact that his books have been popular for so long that some of the words in it have started to change meaning

[corsairspade]

Halenthir scenario where they get married for tax benefits (in a platonic good friends sort of way) and fall in love long distance via sending each other letters with ideas on how to best leverage their marriage for tax evasion.