#Valinor

[haladriel]

Nothing is evil in the beginning THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RINGS OF POWER // EP I.I / II.I

Even you couldn't possibly believe that scrap would float!~ They say there's places across the sea a man can escape himself. Find another path. Do you know why a ship floats, and a stone cannot? Because a stone sees only downward. The darkness of the water vast, irresistible. The ship feels the darkness as well, striving moment by moment to master her, pull her under.

But the ship has a secret. For, unlike the stone, her gaze is not downwards but up, fixed on the light that guides her, whispering of grander things than darkness ever knew.

~It's not going to float. It's going to sail.

[elronds-library]

Scars

by leodesic (@elvinye)

People stared at her in Valinor. It was not that scars were unheard of, but few had scars so dreadful as hers. Even with all Elrond��s talent, there was no hiding what she had endured. Celebrían sailed to Valinor to find healing, but she does not find it. Lorien does her no good and many elves there are unused to scars like hers. There is one elf, though, with scars like hers. Maedhros quickly proves that Elrond's memories of him were nearer to the mark than the horror stories she has heard and Celebrían finds herself adopted by the Fëanorians.

General, No Archive Warnings

Words; 3,425

[mandhos]

[thesummerestsolstice]

The voyage west at the end of Return of the King is extremely funny to me, because just look at who's on board. You've got:

Frodo Baggins, hero of the Shire, in need of healing but also excited to see Valinor and meet the legendary elves who live there, a gentle soul

Elrond Halfelven, as kind as a summer, looking forward to peace west of the sea, probably wants to go chill out in a cottage with his wife for the next thousand years

Which seems fine. And then we get to everyone else.

Gandalf, cheeky bastard who's gotten so used to being a weird old wizard in Middle-Earth that's he's forgotten what Maia are supposed to act like, will immediately cause problems

Bilbo Baggins, noted storyteller, definitely planning to break into Aule's halls to see his dwarf friends, will ask all the elves weird questions and then sing about their lives and deaths in front of them, will immediately cause problems

Galadriel, who came to Aman half for Celebrian and Elrond's sake and half to taunt all her cousins about being the only one of them to survive the First Age, enjoys causing problems, will immediately cause many problems

(Also, to be clear, these are not three isolated problem-causers, they absolutely spent the entire trip to Valinor actively planning to give Amanyar society and the Valar an aneurysm.)

I just love the idea of Elrond, now reunited with Celebrian, and Frodo happily having tea with Elwing and Earendil, with nothing to interrupt them but the gentle sounds of the tides.

Meanwhile Galariel, Bilbo, and Gandalf are collectively bullying Mandos into releasing Maglor Feanorian from the halls because:

Bilbo wants to read him his translation of the Noldolante, which is written as a cheery Hobbit drinking song

Elrond always complained about how Gandalf and Maglor were both insufferably vague about advice and Gandalf needs to make sure he's more infuriating than Maglor as a matter of his wizardly pride

He still owes Galadriel money

[galstelperion]

"Will you then pass over Sea?" Celebrimbor asked.

"Nay," Galadriel said. "Angrod is gone, and Aegnor is gone, and Felagund is no more. Of Finarfin’s children I am the last. But my heart is still proud. What wrong did the golden house of Finarfin do that I should ask the pardon of the Valar, or be content with an isle in the sea whose native land was Aman the Blessed? Here I am mightier.”

Unfinished Tales, The History of Galadriel and Celeborn

[tathrin]

Once again laughing at the idea of how DISTRAUGHT Celebrimbor would be post-reembodiment to discover that Gimli, only dwarf to ever come to the Undying Lands, skilled craftsman and silver-tongued elf-charmer and basically Celebrimbor's new favorite living person in all Middle-earth starting from about ten minutes after he gets off that boat...

That Gimli is married to this absolute disaster of a Wood-elf, who has no smith-craft at all and frankly doesn't even know which end of an iron bar to grab when he is in the forge (hint, Legolas: it's the one that isn't going to burn your skin off you moron!) and is just as likely to trip on his own tongue as to say something actually eloquent and just...

Celebrimbor is distressed, okay. Legolas is a PROBLEM.

And he can't even talk to his best friend about it, because Gimli is the one in love with this idiot! wtffffff! why? HOW!?

Why in the hell isn't Narvi here. Narvi would understand.

[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.

[nervmaup]

Melkor, Manwë, Mandos, Yavanna

I've heard that my Melkor looked pretty much like Janosik. Well, I can't agree but it's still a nice comlement

[havenotwillnotreadthebooks]

Okay but consider; The Sons of Elrond reminding people of the Sons of Feanor.

Like, in Middle-Earth (ME) it wasn’t a big deal that E&E followed their dad around because it was just accepted as Harmless Peredhel Oddness.

But in Valinor, all these relatives keep visiting The House of Elrond because he’s the baby of every Finwion branch in existence. So these Finweans come around and just see Elrond’s sons somewhat hovering around him or staying in the general vicinity. Furthermore, Elrond isn’t just their dad, he’s also their lord-father and to Elrohir & Elladan, Elrond’s authority is above all else. Anyone, else.

Elrond casually tells his sons to do something simple and they do it without protest because it’s just getting a teapot or something, they may whine or groan like elflings for fun, but they get the teapot without question. That’s just how that relationship is. When the twins protest it’s loud and rare, and usually they just wanna follow their family members around (Arwen, Estel, Elrond, Celebrian).

But it’s just Elrond and Celebrian in Valinor, with Glorfindal, Lindir, and Erestor settling their own business elsewhere for a bit.

So these Finweans just see The Sons of Elrond (which they are canonically called) following their father around loyally, and mostly down to do anything for him (they swore an oath against all orcs for their mom, c’mon), and these Finweans start getting flashbacks to the Sons of Feanor in their youth.

The average Middle-Earth elf just sees the very close Peredhel Fam being a close family. The average Valinorean elf looks at the twins following Elrond around like ducklings and starts seeing ghosts.

It’s worse if Elrond is Feanorian, but even without that headcanon, it’s an uncanny likeness and it disturbs the Finweans that visit The House of Elrond.

(Celebrian, personally, thinks it’s funny).

[debbiedart]

afternoon 🌿

prints!

[shootingstarsue]

[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.

[valar-did-me-wrong]

Part: 40/?

[mandhos]

[thesummerestsolstice]

Concept: Elrond is, by Middle-Earth standards, a perfectly respectable level of fancy. You know, he's an elf-lord, he has plenty of robes with intricate embroidery or layers of flowing fabric, he wears finely-crafted jewelry, especially during formal occasions. He's elegant, but not gaudy– there are some tasteful references to his various ancestors in his outfits, he's got a whole image. He assumes that this is like, standard for the Noldor.

What Elrond failed to realize when he sailed to Valinor is that the expectations for "Middle-Earth elf lord with vaguely Noldorian implications" and "Noldor prince in the Blessed Realm" are two very different things. He goes to a feast and everyone is dressed like they'll die if they're not wearing four layers of skirts and at least 20 pounds of gems and precious metals. He shows up to Finarfin's court wearing more jewelry than he ever would've worn in Rivendell and people still flash him strange looks and ask him whether he wasn't feeling up to dressing up that night. He'll braid his hair in the half-up half-down style he often wore in Rivendell and it'll cause a scandal because– gasp– Elrond had part of his hair loose. In public. Noldor keep giving him jewelry because they've collectively decided that he's clearly been deprived in Middle Earth. He's confused and a little bit afraid, frankly.

Thankfully, most of the attention is taken off Elrond when Tirion is engulfed in drama the likes of which hasn't been seen for hundreds of years. The cause? Galadriel showing up in Tirion with her hair entirely loose, and no jewelry to speak of. Her robes are entirely plain. Her only adornment is her unbearably smug smirk.