#Valasania the Pale

[anghraine]

Well, I see no reason for the headcanons to contradict each other! I was only talking about the name Undómiel, but I also assumed that Arwen references Galadriel. The different names could refer to different people, especially with the old tradition of mother-names and father-names. I figured she had a name from Celebrían and another from Elrond.

I'm just thinking about Tindómiel's and Arwen's names again.

As I've mentioned before, Tindómiel's name seems a clear reference to tindómë, the Quenya word for the twilight of the morning or dawn, by contrast to undómë, the evening twilight referenced in Arwen's name Undómiel or Evenstar. The distinction between tindómë and undómë comes from LOTR itself, so it's not the relic of an early draft or a late retcon or anything.

If Undómiel = evening star (as it clearly does), it would seem to follow that the counterpart name Tindómiel would translate as 'morning star.'

People sometimes suggest that the meaning of Tindómiel mirrors Tinúviel rather than Undómiel. I don't think that works as well given the information in LOTR, though, because while Quenya tindómë and Sindarin tinnú are related etymologically, tinnú refers to evening twilight/early night, like undómë (in Sindarin, morning twilight is minuial). Hence the poetic translation of Tinúviel as 'nightingale.' So if either Undómiel or Tindómiel were going to be equivalent in meaning to Tinúviel, it should be Undómiel. That would even fit well enough with the frequent comparisons of Arwen to Lúthien.

But Undómiel is not translated that way in LOTR. It is translated as 'evening star.' Given the identical structures of the cousins' names and the nuances of Elvish terms for twilight in both languages, it seems more likely to me that post-LOTR, Tindómiel is meant to be a counterpart name to Undómiel, and that in-story, Arwen was named for Elrond's niece.

Tangentially, I think Tindómiel herself was likely named for her grandfather Eärendil, the morning star. But on the meta level, the subtext of her name's structure and meaning is to mirror Arwen. Tindómiel is born as the first of the mortal princesses and queens of the Númenóreans, where the death of Arwen, queen of the last Númenóreans, closes out the era of the Elves.

At the same time, while the evening and morning stars symbolically represent the inverse of each other, the reality is that the evening star is the morning star. Eärendil was hailed on Valinor as the "star in the darkness, jewel of the sunset, radiant in the morning." So both granddaughters' names call back to him and to each other, which I find very touching, actually.

I find it all the more so, though, because while we don't have any dates for Tindómiel's life, we know that she must have been born some time after the year 61 of the Second Age, since she is the second child and that's when her older brother was born. If her lifespan is similar to her brother's, she would live around 410 years—perhaps a little more, as Númenórean women were typically longer-lived, but I can't think by too much at that point in time, given the 500-year lifespan of their father. Tindómiel was likely dead by the year 500 of the Second Age.

The Second Age would last until the year 3441, another 2,941 years. Over a hundred more years passed before Elrond and Celebrían's marriage, and over a hundred more until Arwen's birth in the year 241 of the Third Age. By the time she was named, Tindómiel had been dead for over three thousand years. Elrond had seen the final wars against Morgoth, the rise and terrible fall of Númenor, the provisional defeat of Sauron, and innumerable nephews and nieces. Tolkien can't even fit the early house of Elros onto one genealogical chart and by Arwen's birth, there are numerous offshoots of Elendil's line alone. Elrond has seen a lot of people come and go, many of them related to him.

And yet, when it came time to name his only daughter, he thought of Tindómiel.

[haste-waste]

Last Line Challenge

Rules: in a new post, show the last line you wrote (or drew) and tag as many people as there are words (or as many as you like).

Hey, thanks to @daemosdaen for tagging me in this challenge! It's much appreciated. I've been working on Zelink Week 2024 for the past few weeks. This is a tiny excerpt from Chapter 3 of The Baker and the Seamstress.

Weeks passed, they fell into a routine, and the last slog of winter came and went, the tantalizing concept of spring becoming reality and blooming outside the bakery. Spring blossoms and new leaves painted the village and forests in pastel pinks, purples, and greens. The baker hadn't been this happy since…gods, he didn't know if he was ever this happy before. Spending time with someone was a blessing he never realized.

I'm not sure if they are writers, but I'd like to tag @srah-the-violist, @raurusthirdeye, @flydaze, @valasania-the-pale, and @rottentreegremlin. I truly appreciate all of their comments and support over the years. Again, don't feel obligated to post, but essentially the mentions are a thank you of sorts.

[runawaymun]

WIP Wednesday!

I was tagged last wednesday by @that-angry-noldo to share a snippet of what I am working on :D I LOVE this game yay!!

Here is a snippet from Beneath a Boundless Sky:

Still, even though Thalionel preferred Arwen’s company, he had to admit the mornings when Lord Elrond took him out for a ride were the best, because often they went out onto the hiking trails around the city, and there was always something interesting to look at, or to ask about, or to find. That was how he had discovered this chunk of rock. He hadn’t known what it was at first. He’d just caught the glint of the sun on its glossy surface. There was an entire trail of it down the side of the mountain. He had hopped down from Trastadweg and gone to look at it more closely, and that was when Lord Elrond had warned him to be careful, because obsidian, as he had called it, was sharp.  “The mountain made it,” Lord Elrond had said as he slipped off of his own horse to join him at the flow. “Just like it makes the hot pools.”  Thalionel had only vaguely listened as he’d explained something about melted rock and rapid temperature changes. Mostly, he’d stayed focused on the chunk of rock he’d picked up from the pile. It was as big as his fist. Rough on one side, and glassy on the other where the rock had broken in one, clean cut.  It had been a trick to get it into his pocket without Lord Elrond noticing. Thalionel wasn’t sure if he’d succeeded. He just hoped that Lord Elrond didn’t suspect what he meant to do with it.

To be honest though upon editing it's likely this will change slightly!! I am thinking about writing it out into a full present scene, rather than keeping it as a past-tense memory. I think it will suit it better and we need more Elrond and Thal time anyway!

And here is a snippet from To Partake (it was hard to pick something for this actually because so much of this chapter feels a little spoilery to share, but I do like the writing in this section a lot):

Elrond writes Erestor another note to let him know where he has gone, and when he estimates he will return, slips it under his door, and then starts down the winding staircase of the tower. His footsteps echo in the cool silence of the early morning. As he passes people, each gives him a wide berth, avoiding his gaze as if to ward off any possibility of interaction. It’s nothing particularly new, but it is a little different than the stares he’d gotten upon his arrival. With a sinking feeling in his stomach, he wonders if word about his summons to Gil-Galad’s solar —and Gil-Galad’s black mood— had traveled around the court.  It had probably been the fault of the guards. Heniriel is not a gossip, or else she would not hold such a high position.  He keeps his head low as he heads out beneath the stars to the far end of the citadel. The closer he gets to the kitchens, the more the air begins to smell like fresh bread. It makes his stomach rumble. The kitchens are a set of buildings attached to the northern side of the castle, close to the king’s quarters, the banquet hall, and the ambassadorial suites. Elrond elects to pass through a courtyard full of babbling fountains, since it looks empty enough. He follows the cobblestone footpath to a tall rock wall with a door in it which opens out onto the kitchen gardens, where carefully tended beds of herbs and vegetables lay slumbering beneath the starlight. Beyond are the King’s orchards. Elrond loves to spend time there. He will have to find a moment soon to slip away and say hello to his favorite apple tree. For now, he takes the path as it curves to the left, heading toward the kitchen proper, and more importantly: the bakery, where the citadel’s baker is likely to be starting on the day’s bread.

no pressure tags for: @the-commonplace-book @creativity-of-death @raointean @valasania-the-pale @niennawept @jaz-the-bard & anyone else who wants to play!!! I want to read what you're working on :D

[itsclydebitches]

Tagged by @justkarama 👋

Last song: Sweet but Psycho by Ava Max

Favorite color: Purple

Currently watching: Nothing really. Too swept up in the BG3 brainrot

Last movie: Evil Dead Rise

Currently reading: About to start The Final Gambit tonight, third in the Hawthorne series

Sweet/spicy/sour: SWEET

Currently working on: A collection of BG3 drabbles and numerous, tiny crocheted ducks for a birthday gift.

Tagging! @valasania-the-pale, @tigerstripedmoon, @lilaczx, @thayerkerbasy, @gorgeousgalatea, @thewhitehairedwitchgirl

[middle-earth-mythopoeia]

I totally agree, and I think this entire conversation stems from the fact that (despite authorial intent) it's just sad to imagine the Elves no longer being part of Middle-earth anymore. It's so clear from the Silmarillion and LOTR how much they loved Middle-earth, not to mention those of them who made important and lasting friendships with Men, Dwarves and Hobbits. I can't truly accept a reality where they're completely cut off from all of that forever!

Since you asked for Tolkien asks, how long do you think it'd take some elf - you can pick whoever you like - to try and sail back to ME after the Return of the King?

This is such an interesting question!

My first thought was I honestly have no idea. Of course, we're supposed to believe that after ROTK the Elves are sailing to Valinor from Middle-earth, and not the other way around, but your question still stands: if they did try to sail to Middle-earth from Valinor, how long would it take? And honestly, how long did it take them to sail from Valinor to Beleriand in the Silmarillion? But the world was shaped differently then... ah, the complexities of Tolkien.

But sticking with your question, I feel like it just has to take a long time. Because Valinor is very far removed from the world, not just physically - it is also removed in a historical sense. If it took a month or two, even six months, that wouldn't work. Your question makes me think of the part in the Book of Lost Tales when Ælfwine and his companions are trying to find Valinor, and of course, because they're mortal Men, they aren't really supposed to find it, but they eventually do (with Ulmo's help, although he is in disguise). The point is, it takes them years.

For the story to work, I think it has to take Ælfwine and his companions years to even catch so much as a glimpse of Valinor, because it emphasizes how elusive it is, how far removed from the world of Men. In that spirit, if Valinor is even more removed from the world after ROTK - because the time of the Elves has come to an end - then if an Elf tried to sail back to Middle-earth, it would be like the reverse of Ælfwine's journey, and I would expect it to take as long, if not longer.

Thank you so much for sending this question! The more I thought about it, the more I enjoyed it!

[polutrope]

six several sentence Sunday Tuesday

Tagged by @melestasflight @thelordofgifs @welcomingdisaster @sallysavestheday. I have been happily enjoying your sentences while evasively twiddling my thumbs and looking at the ceiling because I am a Perfectionist and Do Not Share unfinished things. But I was seized by a real cracky idea for @silmsmutweek tonight (Day 1 prompts: Solo, Voyeurism, Rarepairs), so now I have six sentences that are planted firmly enough in the realm of the ridiculous that perfection does not apply.

Below the cut for offensively bad dirty talk and abuse of extended metaphor.

She peered over the lip of the opening in the floor, took note of the two sets of feet facing each other near the balcony railing, and quickly ducked back down. “Where have you been?” someone whispered shortly. (Artanis would surely have recognised the voice, she assured herself later, had her keen perception not been blunted by the roar of blood in her ears.) “Never mind,” replied the deeper voice of her dance partner. “I am here now, am I not? Come closer, let me show you something.” A whine of protest turned to a groan of pleasure. “Mmm,” said the first voice. “So you have made up for lost time. I am afraid I am not quite so prepared.” The smack of lips, another moan. “Worry not, my golden flower bud. You know I will tend you as diligently as I must, until your petals are all unfurled.” A groan, both irritation and pleasure. “Longer, no doubt,” the other said. "You will wait until I am a fruit nearly rotting on the vine.” Shuffling of feet and then the clatter of metal on the tiles. “Not rotting, no. Only until you are swollen with nectar, so that I might lave sweet juices from you with the barest stroke of my tongue.”

Uuuhhh I'm sorry for tagging you on this filth but @niennawept @valasania-the-pale @glorf1ndel @elentarial @i-am-a-lonely-visitor @maglors-anion-gap if you have not yet done this and would like to, please consider this your invitation.

[imakemywings]

I was tagged by @valasania-the-pale and @hobbitwrangler!

Last song: The Seven Rejoices of Mary by Loreena Mckennit

Favorite color: Purple!! 💜💜💜

Last movie/TV Show: Blue Eye Samurai and Black Sails

Sweet/Spicy/Savory: Sweet no contest

Currently reading: The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

Last Thing I Googled searched for with Ecosia: "pomander" - it's been referenced several times in the above book and I wasn't sure what it was. It's a ball of scented stuff basically, carried around the neck or at the waist.

Current Obsession: Still riding the Tolkien current for now

Tagging: @polutrope @swanmaids @meadowlarkx @welcomingdisaster

[erynalasse]

This LOVELY piece of art was commissioned for me by my friend @valasania-the-pale from @kgvv0! Happy graduation to me :)

Faera is my character in a duet campaign that Val and I have been doing since January. She’s a crafty drow rogue/warlock who loves tomb-robbing and gets easily flustered hehe

[eowyntheavenger]

15 Questions 15 Mutuals

I was tagged by @valasania-the-pale, thanks so much for tagging me! :)

Rules: answer the questions and tag fifteen mutuals

1. Are you named after anyone?

Not my first name, but my middle name belongs to one of my mom's best friends, who I love :)

2. When was the last time you cried?

Hmm... I recently teared up while rereading The Silmarilion, does that count?

3. Do you have kids?

No, and it's not something I see for myself.

4. Do you use sarcasm a lot?

Sometimes, but I prefer to just outright criticize things rather than being sarcastic.

5. What’s the first thing you notice about people?

I notice how they treat me and others around them.

6. What's your eye colour?

Blue.

7. Scary movies or happy endings?

Happy endings! Although this frames it as a choice between two things that are not really opposites, so... I also happen to love tragedies.

8. Any special talents?

Depends on whether I'm actually talented, but I think I'm a good writer, and I also have some skill with drawing/painting, although I don't do it often enough these days.

9. Where were you born?

In the Pacific Northwest.

10. What are your hobbies?

Reading, writing, drawing/painting, photography, hiking, and martial arts.

I'm currently reading two books: one about the Coastwatchers in Solomon Islands during World War II, and the other about the Guadalcanal and Bougainville campaigns... also WWII.

I'm also currently working on some writing projects, namely the one giant writing project that has consumed the past three years of my life, although I've been taking a long-ish break for the holiday period (I've been too busy).

I'm also working on my first digital artwork, which has taken a few years at this point... partly because it keeps getting bigger and bigger! Ack!

There are a lot of things I'd like to learn how to do or do more of, like scuba diving, archery, and getting a pilot's license (but I need to save up money for that).

11. Any pets?

Two cats that I love very much. One of them is a tortoiseshell named Minou (there are pictures of her in the link). She is tiny! She is only 6 pounds. She doesn't really know how to meow, so when she wants food or attention she will gently and politely tap me with her paw (it is SO cute).

The other one is an orange cat with white socks named Percy, which is short for Persimmon. She is a troublemaker, and will steal ANYTHING from the kitchen. I once saw her running out of the room with a very long udon noodle trailing from her mouth. She is very cuddly and likes to spend all of her time on my lap, purring. Otherwise she's dashing madly around the house.

I also have a Juniper bonsai, which I think counts as a pet. I have had him for about three years.

12. What sports do you play/have played?

I played soccer as a child, and loved it. I played basketball for one season and it was not for me - neither was cross country. I started doing Muay Thai and boxing when I was 17 and I liked that a hell of a lot better. Then I started doing Brazilian jiu-jitsu and judo in college. Nothing makes me happier than getting to do MMA multiple times per week, and I only wish that I could train regularly right now! I don't live close enough to the school I want to go to - but once I find a new apartment I'll be able to. I also enjoy weightlifting.

13. How tall are you?

5′4″... I would like to be taller, but this IS average height for a woman in the United States (where I live), which is what I remind people who tell me I'm short!

14. Favorite subject in school?

History, to be sure, which was my major. I also enjoyed Philosophy, Russian Literature and my language classes - over the years I took Latin, Japanese, German and Russian. Unfortunately my language skills are a bit rusty now, but I don't regret the time I spent studying them. :) I would like to learn some of the languages of the Pacific Islands - there are certainly a lot to choose from.

15. Dream job?

The one I have now, basically! Although I would like to live in the South Pacific one day. I work for a research institute and my field of study is the Pacific Islands. I love what I do, I get to travel, my coworkers respect me - I'm literally so happy! It's a big relief, because I was not happy at my previous job, and it's hard to find jobs in my field, at least where I live now.

Tagging friends: @softlypause, @wishiwould, @jtulipe, @lonelysocksclub, @orestes-hungry-and-pylades-sober, @frodo-baggins, @princeofnerds, @carinatae, @cosmologicalhedgehogephemera, @igotofetchthesun, @tuulikki, @belljarsandrabbitholes, @warrioreowynofrohan, @daegred-winsterhand, @katbatmagat, @softpyrate, @lie-where-i-land, @speckled-jim, @orangechickenpillow, @potatoobsessed999, @armenelols, @actuallyfingolfin, @backgroundelf, @stillcantgetoverthesilmarillion, @rhymes-with-sky, @kookyburrowing, @novemberblueskyink, @legolasbadass, @playingjax, @calliopechild, @randomphases Okay sorry I tagged a lot of people. No pressure to do it though! And anyone else can join in :)

[erynalasse]

@valasania-the-pale

can’t stop thinking about my friend’s cishet partner who said last night that he doesn’t think anyone is the same gender. god-tier take.

[haste-waste]

10 First Lines Challenge

Rules: Share the first line of your last ten published works or as many as you are able to and see if there are any patterns!

Thank you to @raurusthirdeye for the mention! I don't have ten published works so I'll bring some stuff out of the depths of my writing hoard. Some of it is very old and dusty.

Endurance (Zelink longfic Part 1): "The ancient priestesses of old often wrote of a power, a sacrosanct act of benevolence created by the golden three; Din, the goddess of power and cultivation, Nayru, the goddess of wisdom and law, and Farore, the goddess of courage and creation."

Courage (Zelink longfic Part 2): "Zelda’s final question hung in the air."

Wisdom (Zelink longfic Part 3): "'I'll do my best to put this to good use,' Paya said as she heaved a large rucksack over her shoulders."

Waiting (Zelink oneshot): "'What do you think?' She asks."

The Baker and the Seamstress (Zelink Fairytale AU): "Once upon a time, in a small farming village called Hateno, there lived a baker."

My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean (Bubbline oneshot, WIP): "'Make sure the banana guards don’t do something dumb while I'm gone,' Bonnie says over her notes."

The Farm (Lance & Keith Voltron oneshot, WIP): "He sighs, and wipes his brow."

A Trip to the Ramen Museum (InuKag oneshot, WIP): "They may have lost much over their journey, but Inuyasha never lost his unending love for ramen."

Descent Into Dadness (Teba & Link oneshot, WIP): "How could Vah Medo be classified as divine when it brought nothing but ruin to those it was created to defend?"

By the Book (Multichapter Zelink, WIP): "It all started with a small, unfamiliar, and conspicuous book, the hot pink cover standing out in her hero's hands."

Looking at things now, I have a lot of work to do to continuously improve my writing. I'll tag @valasania-the-pale next (apologies if you've already been tagged, tumblr's search is not great).

[runawaymun]

Last Line Tag Game

tagged by @niennawept  --thank you! I like getting tagged in these a lot!!

RULE: Post the last line in your WIP and (tag people).

​currently working on To Partake as we speak. Most recent line is: 

Celebrimbor fusses and gathers him up, and Elrond can’t really do much except lock his arms around Celebrimbor’s neck and allow himself to be lifted and carried out of the forge.

tagging (no obligation): @ellrond @creativity-of-death @valasania-the-pale @jaz-the-bard @raointean @eldritchteletubbie and anyone else who wants to join in! <3 show me your lines 

[imakemywings]

@meadowlarkx tagged me to share the last line of my WIP...unfortunately because I sat down to write-doodle before dinner that would be this, which really does not give away the extremely stupid nature of this entire piece

Taking her the route out of the house least likely to run them into his father or his father’s wife, Fëanáro led Nerdanel out of the palace and they took the front steps two at a time.

I will tag @lesbianhaleth @jouissants @valasania-the-pale

[some-eldritch-bats]

Ngl, I did not expect to get 100%... Still, it was actually quite fun! I haven't thought about some of those words for like, probably years, so it was nice have fun with!

@valasania-the-pale @erynalasse have fun :P

I got the Top 4.47% on this English Vocabulary test

[erynalasse]

The "Hidden" City

The other day, @valasania-the-pale and I were bouncing some ideas off each other, and we got to talking about Gondolin.

I never have quite understood how Gondolin goes undiscovered until Maeglin betrays it. There’s its building phase, for one. How does Turgon actually sneak enough craftspeople out of Nevrast to lay down the city without them leaking the secret to anyone else? How on earth do they get the supplies? For one, building a whole city — let alone packing to move in like you don’t plan to come back — takes a LOT of supplies. Raw materials for building and craftsmanship; tools and plants for agriculture; animals for work and food, and so on. You can’t disguise their movement, and you also can’t explain it away easily. I also have a hard time that the citizens of Nevrast, to a person, all agreed to move and didn’t blab the secret location to anyone. Ever been part of a confidential group project? I have. People are bad at teamwork. They’re bad at keeping things to themselves. Even if they try, one person can and will let things slip through simple indiscretion.

And that’s not touching the Nírnaeth Arnoediad, the only time that Turgon breaks the leaguer of Gondolin. Of course, the Nírnaeth Arnoediad is a failure. The forces of Gondolin retreat, and the men of Dor-lómin give their lives to buy them time to escape undetected. But here’s the thing: covering a retreat and covering tracks are two very different things. A mounted, fully equipped army is not discreet. It will tear up the ground and leave a clear trail, especially when it’s passing through soft river wetlands like the Gondolindrim going up the Sirion. That army can’t cover its tracks if it tried, and when time is short, surely they couldn’t even try a little. And they went straight back to their city. How did Morgoth not follow the signs right in front of him?

And frankly, even if Gondolin otherwise keeps to itself, forbidding entry and exits from its walls? It’s not that hard to find. Morgoth is not stupid. After the Nírnaeth Arnoediad, he knows the army disappeared after heading down the Sirion. And the Hidden Way into Gondolin was actually a dry river tunnel of a tributary to the Sirion, so it’s very close. All Morgoth has to do is put together a systematic search grid and make notes of which scouts don’t come back because they were killed by the guards of the Seven Gates. Narrow it down enough and you’re done for.

To an extent, I can buy the suspension of disbelief that Gondolin’s survival demands for plot purposes, especially if Ulmo is helping them out. But it also raises a question. What if Gondolin didn’t manage to stay hidden? What if it was discovered long before Maeglin even existed?

Which of course, led to Val and me making an AU where Aredhel’s exit from Gondolin in FA 304 leads Morgoth right to the city, and it falls without anyone outside knowing a damn thing.

[valasania-the-pale]

Do you have opinions on what kind of a king Thingol was? Especially whether this changed over time? I feel like we’ve discussed this peripherally via the unpleasantness around the Silmaril of Lúthien—and I think you know which way I lean—but I’d love to know your full thoughts!

This is so hard to pin down, honestly. We get a lot of Thingol's foreign policy decisions throughout the Silmarillion - his response to the Kinslaying, the ban on Quenya, his isolationism in the War on Morgoth, the hunting of the Petty Dwarves like animals - which could questionably be considered a genocide: Elves aren't stupid. I seriously doubt it took meeting the Blue Mountain Dwarves for them to realize what they were doing was wrong. Etc.

All of this tends to paint him in a largely poor, though not necessarily unsympathetic light (with the exception of the last bit). Menegroth arose as a result of the great friendship between Nogrod, Belegost, and Doriath, Thingol accepted Arafinwe's folk into Doriath for all their association with the sons of Faenor and the kinslayings, and it was Doriath, the Dwarves of the Blue Mountains, and the Nandor that fought as proud allies in the First Battle of Beleriand prior to the coming of the Noldor, indicating that perhaps Thingol then wasn't always the Thingol that he became.

I think it largely comes down to how you view the context surrounding his actions as we see them that we can start to guess at what he was like as a king of his own people.

To start with, I think one thing that is fair to say is that Thingol has a similar problem as Manwe: both are kings of realms larger than they have the capability to govern. Manwe is named King of Arda, but can only (seemingly) goven Aman while Morgoth runs roughshod over Middle Earth, while Thingol is King of Beleriand, but only really governs Doriath after the coming of the Noldor. Given that the First Battle of Beleriand resulted in a prolonged siege of the Falas, and necessitated the deployment of the Girdle, I think it's evident that Thingol frankly didn't have the strength to fight Morgoth once those initial battles were over and done with, and we can interpret this in several ways, since Tolkien doesn't lay it out explicitly.

Option 1: Doriath's losses were too severe from the battle (which isn't unreasonable; the Nandor lost their King, Denethor, and were crippled essentially forever, merging with Doriath or just otherwise becoming a forest people with virtually no role in the history to follow), and this essentially ties Thingol's hands going forward. Doriath doesn't have the strength to enter into open war, and Thingol's decision to allow the rest of Beleriand to fall to Morgoth is his only real option. This is, I think, the most sympathetic position for Thingol; whether or not he wants to defend his people, he doesn't have that power and just does his best to mitigate the damage.

Option 2: Doriath had the strength to continue to prosecute a war on Morgoth, but Thingol chose not to wield it, perhaps foreseeing that fighting Morgoth was a losing battle after those first attempts, and calculating that martialing their remaining strength on the defense would be the wiser course of action. This basically entails leaving Cirdan and the Falas to burn, as well as any and all Sindar and Avari outside of the Girdle. Cold - even cruel - but rational.

Option 3: Doriath's first forays into open warfare scare Thingol and he withdraws everyone into Doriath, and the Girdle is thrown up around them. Doriath has the strength to continue fighting - and maybe even the strength to do a good job of it, especially with their dwarven allies and Morgoth’s power still nascent and untried - but Thingol refuses to entertain the notion. This reading leans into the selfish, isolationism-as-cowardice reading of Thingol that I think he earns during the Nirnaeth, but not necessarily this early. This is the Thingol that is willing to allow everyone outside of Doriath to die before he is dragged kicking and screaming back into the thick of it.

Option 4: All of the above. Doriath is fucked after the first battle, Thingol is scared shitless, and worst of all he's too high and mighty to recognize that fact and justifies and obfuscates his terror with calculation and cold rationality. This kind of reading fits with a Thingol that is embittered and callous, a Thingol that hates the fact that the Noldor arrived, claimed his land, and set themselves up as Kings of their own, and a Thingol that sees himself as the rightful King of Beleriand, but who is also more than willing to let others do the fighting and dying to keep Beleriand free of orcs.

As a character reading for my own personal taste, I think Thingol starts at option 1 and transitions toward 4 with time. His actions early on make him out to be wise and rational and valorous, but under pressure he starts to crack, and that inability to cope manifests into a bitterness that he directs outward. I read Thingol as a king who wants so badly to do what he needs to do to protect his people, but he's fighting a Vala, his dark Maiarin lieutenant, and an unending army of foul things, and he just doesn't have the means. Combine this with his status as Personally Forsaken by Finwe and Olwe (and arguably the Valar), and I think it adds up to a kind of inferiority complex that he just doesn't know how to handle, and can't. With time, he becomes an ever-more-unstable ruler until it starts to adversely affect the realm and his family; Doriath withholds aid in the Nirnaeth, which might have been the salvation of the Free Peoples had it been won (and if the charge of Gwindor and Fingon is to be believed - though Tolkien has said otherwise outside of the text - it could have been), he alienates his daughter forever with his issuing of the Quest, forcing her down the road that would lead to mortality, and he damns Doriath outright by bringing in the Silmaril.

All of this happens without much interference from Melian, which I'm sad about. As I've said in my discussion about Melian, I think her influence on the text is hard to suss out, and she can be read in almost as many ways as Thingol. Is she a trophy wife madly in love with Thingol, no matter what form his personality takes? Who fucking knows, Ainur are weird, I wouldn't even be surprised if she didn't recognize him as an asshole. Is she his advisor, tempering his irrationality and paranoia with wisdom? Is she his enabler, giving him supernatural tools to delay the inevitable when it would be better that he fight? Is she the devil on his shoulder pulling him away from his duties? Maybe she values him alive, and thus is happy to see him as far from battle as possible, and advises him against action in all things - just so long as he lives, and they can be together forever! I don't know, and it's hard to say.

I could go on though. I think that Thingol isn't an unredeemable king, but he's someone who certainly cracked under the pressure in ways that no other king did throughout the Silmarillion. I think he's a character that changes with whoever might be writing him at the time - at times he's an abusive dickhead, at times he's a well-intentioned but impotent ruler, sometimes he's fey and capricious, sometimes he's cold and calculating, sometimes he's he's self-aware of his faults, and sometimes he is radically unaware of those faults. He's a fun character to work with.