#ancalimë

[spruceneedles]

Ancalimë

[anghraine]

I'm feeling like supporting some women's wrongs! (And rights, but definitely also wrongs.)

[amnevitahdrawsstuff]

Current Tolkien WIPs:

Tar-Ancalimë

Tar-Telperiën

Tar-Vanimeldë

Nerdanel

Aredhel

Tar-Minyatar

Tar-Amandil

Tar- Ancalimë

[edennill]

ruling queens of númenor - headcanons and opinions:

tar-ancalimë: I think she made it very hard for any future ruling queens by being, well, an immeasurably difficult person. and people understood it was because of her shitty upbringing! - but it didn't make her easier to deal with and many felt she didn't even try to move past it... from a governing point of view, it was assumed by some that she'd begin prioritising women in political circles, but oddly enough she didn't? she made it pretty obvious what she thought of men, but she expected the women she interacted with to have the same opinions as her on the subject, and when that wasn't feasible she showed them even greater contempt than their counterparts of the other sex. and as queen... she wasn't a very bad ruler but made it way too obvious that many of her decisions were fuelled by spite, usually towards her late father and husband. in her life however, she was pitied as much as hated, though that pity didn't last for future generations.

tar-telperien: I feel like there would have been considerable mistrust towards her initially because of how tar-ancalimë was remembered, but she ended up being one of númenor's best loved rulers. she was a very fortunate mixture of majestic and warm, her one major fault being that she could be terribly stubborn at times, but somehow people were willing to forgive that. and yes, she never had a romantic liaison in her life, aside maybe from an infatuation or two when she was very young... also I think she had several younger brothers and very good relationships with them. there would have been a lot of space for conflict there because there was no precedence in númenor's history for a daughter with male siblings inheriting the sceptre, but ultimately relationships in her family were surprisingly healthy given what the former generations were like. there may have been some slight jealousy on the part of one or more of them, but they knew the law was fair and didn't let it show... also in a weird flashback to her sindarin ancestors, she had silver hair, hence her name

tar-vanimeldë: I don't really have too much to say about her... I feel she's been given something of a short shrift by the narrative, though otoh it's still more than we have for some other kings... much ink has been spilled about how odd the ratio of kings to queens is in númenor if we consider that the law was absolute primogeniture from ancalimë on. I believe jrrt just didn't think it through well enough, however it certainly encourages one to conclude that there was a bunch of eldest princesses that something happened to; my personal theory being that the fact a woman could turn down the sceptre without even a nominal coronation meant that it was very easy for someone to force her to decline... that said - I don't think vanimeldë was ever interested in ruling and I believe it was her more ambitious husband who helped her through that initial precariousness. she can't have been too glad once she realised he had basically usurped her (because people don't just steal the rule from under their sons without any iffy behaviour before that - or did hallacar invent some weird justification for the latter?), but I don't think she felt she could do anything about it.

tar-miriel: first of all, i kind of like that one version in which she marries pharazon of her own will. I'm not sure what that version goes on to say, but as I imagine it - first she agreed that they be co-rulers; her position was precarious enough, she believed it would be good for politics and she liked and trusted him. but he went on to steal the throne from under her and she never learned if that was what he had been planning to do from the beginning. the rest is history and her personal tragedy. what happened with sauron was not her fault, but she would lie awake at night and blame herself... interestingly enough, the faithful never did and around half of them believed she was forced into the marriage anyway... I have a lot more to say about her, in fact, enough that I think I'll make a separate post, but for now I'll only add that I personally headcanon that while tar-palantir stayed faithful to the end, despite the failure of all his plans, miriel chafed. her father understood that no one could force the númenoreans to change against their will (I mean I guess Eru presumably could? but obviously he wouldn't, because free will), but she didn't and felt betrayed... I think that she had to regain faith before the end, because otherwise it's too bitter a tale, to live through terror without knowing there is good one can rely on. the tale is bitter anyhow, but she did not die in despair.

[riding-with-the-wild-hunt]

@aspecardaweek​ day two ✦ tar-ancalimë + aromanticism 

“They met thus in the pastures often and often, and he altered the songs of the lovers of old and brought into them the names of Emerwen and Mámandil; and Ancalimë feigned not to understand the drift of the words. But at length he declared his love for her openly, and she drew back, and refused him, saying that her fate lay between them, for she was the Heir of the King.”

-JRR Tolkien, Unfinished Tales, “The Mariner’s Wife”

[ID: A picspam headcanoning Tar-Ancalimë as aromantic, consisting of 16 images in green, grey, black, and white (the colors of the aromantic flag).

1: Malika El Maslouhi, a moroccan-italian model with brown skin, dark and wavy hair, and dark eyes. She is looking up at the viewer with a serious expression and is wearing a black shirt. Green leaves fill the background / 2: A carved stone niche / 3: Lightning in a dark sky / 4: Sheep grazing on a hillside / 5: Marbled green, white, and brown / 6: Black text on a light grey background reading “may god have mercy on my enemies ‘cause i won’t” / 7: Black columns with ornate drawings or carvings in a traditional egyptian style / 8: Malika El Maslouhi looking through a sheer green cloth / 9: Malika El Maslouhi standing in front of translucent sheeting and looking at a stem of red flowers. She is wearing a brown coat with a high collar and her hair is tucked into it / 10: A multi-exposure shot of a crescent moon which appears doubled several times / 11: Foaming waves / 12: A river running through a green valley / 13: Green fabric with sequins / 14: Many candlesticks, some with candles and some without, standing in front of a silvery curtain / 15: Black text on a grey background reading “don’t play games with a girl who can play better” / 16: Malika El Maslouhi, looking intently at some strands of grass in her hands. She is wearing black and white gloves and a black shirt, and is backed by green leaves /End ID]

[warrioreowynofrohan]

Favourite Female Tolkien Character Poll - Round 2, Match 10

Both of these are from the tale of Aldarion and Erendis in Unfinished Tales.

Tar-Ancalimë

The daughter of Erendis and Tar-Aldarion, and first Ruling Queen of Númenor. Strong-minded and determined, she had no desire for marriage, and after a time her father rescinded the rule that by a certain age a female Heir must either marry or refuse the sceptre, due to her determination to do neither.

When she went into hiding as a shepherdess to avoid her suitors, she was courted by a supposed shepherd, and enjoyed his company; when revealed himself to in fact be a Númenorean noble suitor, Hallacar, she was angered at his deception.

“[If I wanted to marry a non-noble], I could lay down my royalty, and be free. But if I were to do so, I should be free to wed whom I will; and that would be Úner (which is “Noman”), whom I prefer above all others.

She did in fact marry him in time, though for political reasons not for love, and their marriage was unhappy. Their son was Tar-Anárion.

She ruled for 205 years, longer than any Númenorean ruler since Elros. After her father’s death she neglected his policies and gave no further aid to Gil-galad.

Zamîn

An old woman who worked for Erendis; had an unruly son named Îbal, and a husband named Ulbar who sailed with Aldarion.

After Ancalimë, as a child, meets her son, the first boy Ancalimë has met:

Zâmin was an old country-woman, free-tongued, and not easily daunted, even by [Erendis].

“What noisy thing was that?” said Ancalimë.

“A boy,” said Zamîn, “if you know what that is. But how should you? They’re breakers and eaters, mostly. That one is ever eating - but to no purpose. a fine lad his father will find when he comes back…he heard of those Venturers, and took up with them, and went away with your father, the Lord Aldarion: but the Valar know whither, or why.”

When Ancalimë, as a young woman proclaimed the King’s Heir, sought to escape from the importunity of her many suitors, Zamîn aided her in going into hiding as a shepherdess on a farm.

[child-of-hurin]

It is kinda funny, though, to observe the result of Ancalimë's parenting, who ends up having a very similar attitude to mandatory marriage and child-having as Aldarion -- largely motivated, apparently, by her mother's teachings on how much subjection to the male sex suuuuuucks

[naarisz]

Tar-Ancalimë, first Ruling Queen of Númenor.

[biginvisiblespider]

Young Ancalimë napping with a sheep

It's cannon, for most of her life she couldn't sleep well away from the sound of sheep.

Obscure Tolkien Blorbo: Semifinal

Nerdanel vs Tar-Ancalimë

Nerdanel:

Nerdanel, called The Wise, was the wife of Fëanor, and known as a great sculptor. She refused to follow her family to Middle-earth in the revolt of the Noldor.

Best known as the woman who looked at the hot mess that is Fëanor, went “is anyone going to marry that?” and did not wait for an answer, Nerdanel is also so much more than just the beloved wife of Fëanor. Most notably, she is a sculptor (apparently a male-dominated field in Noldorin society) - her statues are so life-like that the friends of the depicted would go up and talk to them! She is also wise enough to land the epithet Istarnië, which means Wise One, and she is the only person Fëanor ever listened to, which borders miracle territory. Although when she married the pretty young crown prince of the Noldor, people said she was not good-looking enough for him, Fëanor begged to differ, as they had seven kids together, which is the largest amount of kids any Elven couple ever had. There must have been a lot of passion there (or maybe they just really wanted a daughter?). Although Nerdanel always seemed to have wise counsel for her husband, apparently she did not put up with his, as she was close friends with Indis, his stepmother he did not like. Unfortunately, their marital bliss did not last; when Fëanor pulled a sword on his half-brother Fingolfin (Indis's son) and was exiled, she did not come with him and instead stayed with Indis. This is often seen as her inventing divorce, although a more boring reading could simply suggest she disagreed and did not fancy accompanying him (LaCE does say Elven couples could keep separate households for extended periods of time). She also did not think about coming to Beleriand with him after he swore his terrible oath, although she did beg for him to leave her at least one of her kinslaying spawn sweet adorable baby boys (preferably the one she very ominously tried her hardest to name The Fated as a baby). I suppose the resulting, kind of permanent, separation, could definitely count as divorce.

she is a sculptor and an artisan so skilled that Feanor’s love for her competed with his own love of craft and creation. She raised seven sons and pleaded for their fates with Feanor because of how much she loved them and even though she loved him too, she stuck to her own beliefs and refused to leave Valinor….she’s so girlboss and she said you can go be a tragic archetype but our children don’t deserve that and also I will stay right here. We love a woman who refuses to give up her joys and her home even for a man she loves and ESPECIALLY since it was Feanor….the strength of her will is insane. I love her.

Tar-Ancalimë:

The first Ruling Queen of Númenor.

Ancalime the First Ruling Queen Of Numenor Herself!!! Let me tell you she is wonderful! She is savage! 'she did not refuse the Heirship, and determined that when her day came she would be a powerful Ruling Queen' a girlboss! I know people love making characters gay (it's me, i'm people) and Ancalime is a great case for lesbian/ace/aro headcanons (about marriage) ''We could', said Ancalime, 'if I had any mind to such a state. I could lay down my loyalty and be free. But if I were to do so, I should be free to wed whom I will; and that would be Uner (which is ''Noman''), whom I prefer above all others.'' She has gay vibes, take her and love her! Also she eventually gets married (either out of spite or to please the government) and her husband is just so rude to her so she kicks him out of his house because she's the Queen.

Propaganda for my girl Ancalimë, she must succeed. Technically Ancalimë is more obscure than most of the other characters here and she is such a wonderful character. This fandom says they like girlbosses, she is so girlboss, she's the First Ruling Queen. Plus she is politically savy - since she is called Tar-Ancalime that's probably not her original name, which means she could have named herself after the elven tree and not the other way around - that's one heck of a statement and more tree symbolism for her, tree lovers vote for her she is one of you.

Semifinals masterpost

[vviths]

tar ancalimë sketch

[aredhels]

Ancalimë, like her father, was resolute in pursuing her policies; and like him she was obstinate, taking the opposite course to any that was counselled. She had something of her mother’s coldness and sense of personal injury; and deep in her heart, almost but not quite forgotten, was the firmness with which Aldarion had unclasped her hand and set her down when he was in haste to be gone.

[sajirah]

Ruling Queens of Númenór WIPs (yes, I am still working on these, I swear).

Tar-Ancalimë

Tar-Telperiën

Tar-Vanimeldë

Ar-Zimraphel (aka Miriel)

(poor Mirel doesn’t get the crown of her forefather’s because Pharazon stole it 😒)

[anghraine]

@brynnmclean's reblog just reminded me that they reciprocally tagged me in the Tolkien-specific version of the fave characters meme! It seems doubly appropriate given that the result of my original fave character poll just came in and Faramir managed to defeat both Darcy and Luke Skywalker!

(This result is especially entertaining because, as a teenager, I got up the nerve to stop lurking on the Internet and actually talk to people in online fandom spaces specifically because my Faramir feelings were so strong. This was some 20 years ago, but my basic feelings are the same :D)

So, a Tolkien specific poll, slightly adapted from Kate's version:

Tagging @child-of-hurin, @kareenvorbarra, @rain-sleet-snow, @bretwalda-lamnguin, and @ladytharen!

[marta-bee]

@outofangband liked my zeroing in on Tolkien's comparing Erendis's beauty with Morwen's in the last post. I actually made a verbal slip and used the wrong name, so that post ended up seeming more focused on Morwen than I meant. But @outofangband's comment got me thinking more about Morwen's story, and that lens is turning out to be quite interesting. So let's dig in a bit more.

(Also: This, kiddos, is why you comment, on Tumblr and AO3 and everywhere else. It's the back and forth that really makes fandom worth the effort.)

It's been entirely too long since I've read the Quenta Silmarillion, and I've not read the Narn i Hîn Húrin at all, so doubtless there's people more familiar with their story than me. But briefly: Húrin was a lord in one of the Elf-friend Houses of Men. He was part of the Union of Maedhros (First Age political alliance between elves, men, and dwarves to resist Morgoth), fought in the Nirnaeth Arnoediad/Battle of Unnumbered Tears beside Fingon. Said battle earned its name, Fingon and countless others (including most of his household) is killed, and Húrin himself is captured and tortured for decades.

Morwen is his wife and the mother of Túrin and Nienor. She stayed behindi n Dor-lómin (Húrin's settlement), and after the Nirnaeth Easterlings allied with Morgoth sweep in and take over. They leave her alone, at least at first, thinking her some kind of a witch. If memory serves it was connected to her beauty, which they thought was preternatural and suspected her of having dealings with elves that made her dangerous. Túrin she sends off to Doriath so Thingol can raise him in safety; Nienor stays with her in Dor-lómin until Nienor is grown and the two women go searching for Túrin at last.

*******************

It's such a different situation in so many ways to Erendis's, so it's a bit fascinating how similar their lives are here.

After their marriage, Aldarion and Erendis lived together in Armenelos, and had a daughter. They planted the elven-tree in their garden, and the song-birds settled there. "

This got long, I'm afraid, but is a good read in its entirety. "In heart Erendis was glad [to have a daughter rather than a son], for she thought: "Surely now Aldarion will desire a son, to be his heir; and he will abide with me long yet." For in secret she still feared the Sea and its power upon his heart; and though she strove to hide it, and would talk with him of his old ventures and of his hopes and designs, she watched jealously if he went to his house-ship or was much with the Venturers."

It doesn't take a genius to understand how these stories work, and it shouldn't be surprising it didn't work out that way.

Erendis learned of these things, though Aldarion had not spoken to her of them, and she was unquiet. Therefore one day she said to him: "What is all this busyness with ships. Lord of the havens? Have we not enough? How many fair trees have been cut short of their lives in this year?" She spoke lightly, and smiled as she spoke. "A man must have work to do upon land," he answered, "even though he have a fair wife. Trees spring and trees fall. I plant more than are felled." He spoke also in a light tone, but he did not look her in the face; and they did not speak again of these matters. But when Ancalímë was close to four years old Aldarion at last declared openly to Erendis his desire to sail again from Númenor. She sat silent, for he said nothing that she did not already know; and words were in vain. He tarried until the birthday of Ancalimë, and made much of her that day. She laughed and was merry, though others in that house were not so; and as she went to her bed she said to her father: "Where will you take me this summer, tatanya? I would like to see the white house in the sheep-land that mamil tells of." Aldarion did not answer; and the next day he left the house, and was gone for some days. When all was ready he returned, and bade Erendis farewell. Then against her will tears were in her eyes. They grieved him, and yet irked him, for his mind was resolved, and he hardened her heart. "Come, Erondis!" he said. "Eight years I have stayed. You cannot bind for ever in soft bonds the son of the King, of the blood of Tuor and Eärendil! And I am not going to my death. I shall soon return." "Soon?" she said. "But the years are unrelenting, and you will not bring them back with you. And mine are briefer than yours. My youth runs away; and where are my children, and where is your heir? Too long and often of late is my bed cold." "Often of late I have thought that you preferred it so," said Aldarion. "But let us not be wroth, even if we are not of like mind. Look in your mirror, Erendis. You are beautiful, and no shadow of age is there yet. You have time to spare to my deep need. Two years! Two years is all that I ask!" But Erendis answered: "Say rather: 'Two years I shall take, whether you will or no.' Take two years, then! But no more. A King's son of the blood of Eärendil should also be a man of his word." Next morning Aldarion hastened away. He lifted up Ancalimë and kissed her, but though she clung to him he set her down quickly and rode off. Soon after the great ship set sail from Rómenna. Hirilondë he named it, Haven-finder; but it went from Númenor without the blessing of Tar-Meneldur; and Erendis was not at the harbour to set the green Bough of Return, nor did she send. Aldarion's face was dark and troubled as he stood at the prow of Hirilondë, where the wife of his captain had set a great branch of oiolairë, but he did not look back until the Meneltarma was far off in the twilight.

So: two women, left behind by their husbands to raise young daughters. Húrin's departure makes sense -- he's going off to fight Morgoth, to make Dor-lómin safe. Aldarion's seems much more voluntary and optional if not downright selfish. I'm trying to remember the almost physical compulsion he had before he married Erendis, to go adventuring again. I'm trying to be sympathetic. But it's not Erendis trying to "bind for ever in soft bonds." It's what Tar-Meneldur warned him about when he first became engaged to Erendis: that a man cannot have two wives. If these are soft bonds, it's just what Aldarion chose for himself.

But for the first time, Erendis doesn't exactly seem blameless.

All that day Erendis sat in her chamber alone, grieving; but deeper in her heart she felt a new pain of cold anger, and her love of Aldarion was wounded to the quick. She hated the Sea; and now even trees, that once she had loved, she desired to look upon no more, for they recalled to her the masts of great ships. Therefore ere long she left Armenelos, and went to Emerië in the midst of the Isle, where ever, far and near, the bleating of sheep was borne upon the wind. "Sweeter it is to my ears than the mewing of gulls," she said, as she stood at the doors of her white house, the gift of the King; and that was upon a downside, facing west, with great lawns all about that merged without wall or hedge into the pastures. Thither she took Ancalimë, and they were all the company that either had. For Erendis would have only servants in her household, and they were all women; and she sought ever to mould her daughter to her own mind, and to feed her upon her own bitterness against men. Ancalimë seldom indeed saw any man, for Erendis kept no state, and her few arm-servants and shepherds had a homestead at a distance. Other men did not come there, save rarely some messenger from the King; and he would ride away soon, for to men there seemed a chill in the house that put them to flight, and while there they felt constrained to speak nail in whisper. One morning soon after Erendis came to Emerië she awoke to the song of birds, and there on the sill of her window were the Elven-birds that long had dwelt in her garden in Armenelos, but which she had left behind forgotten. "Sweet fools, fly away!" she said. "This is no place for joy such as yours."

Erendis locks herself and Ancalimë away. When the two years passed, she shut down the house in Armenelos and isolated herself in the house "ordered the house in Armenelos be shut, and she went never more than a few hours' journey from her house in Emerië. "Such love as she had was all given to her daughter, and she clung to her, and would not have Ancalimë leave her side, not even to visit Núneth and her kin in the Westlands. [...] But the women were chary in their speech to the child, fearing their mistress; and there was little enough of laughter for Ancalimë in the white house of Emerië."

This... is not healthy. This is concerning, actually, and from the outside it seems avoidable. It's not, quite, because she's been abandoned by her husband, twice now in a way. And from Erendis's perspective there was nothing compelling Aldarion to leave. If anything, he turned it around on her and blamed her for trying to imprison him on land.

Compare them to Morwen and Nienor, whose husband and father did have a good reason to leave. I'm not entirely clear why they stayed in Dor-lómin rather than going to Doriath with Túrin, except that the story needed them to be separate. Maybe they thought Húrin would escape and come back to them there? Maybe it just seemed safer than traveling somewhere else, since the Easterlings left them alone? But her isolation comes from being surrounded by enemies, and she doesn't seem to isolate Nienor more than their security requires, at least not that I remember. Whereas Erendis bars all men from the main house, makes Ancalimë's whole life surround her in a smothering sort of "love," keeps Ancalimë separate even from her grandparents.

I keep thinking about the Hobbit narrator's line, that  "things that are good to have and days that are good to spend are soon told about, and not much to listen to; while things that are uncomfortable, palpitating, and even gruesome, may make a good tale, and take a deal of telling anyway." This is a story, and stories require things to happen. Morgoth provides a convenient villain, whatever else he is, that drives Húrin and Morwen apart. But Númenor in these early days is a land of peace, this is the golden age, things are supposed to be happy, which is precisely what they can't be if there's to be a story worth telling. It almost seems the nature of Men that if there's not a conflict near at hand they'll invent one; or that something deep inside them, their striving nature will compel them to do just that.

Psychologically, I don't want to blame Erendis because I like her so much. She's become a kind of Blorbo for me. And I do think she's got a right to feel betrayed and abandoned, even as she's materially well taken care of. However unhealthy her actions are here, and however much she's hurting Ancalimë, it's clearly coming from some deep pain. But Morwen's isolation is so easy to understand, compared to Erendis's! It's rational in its way, whereas this just seems unnecessary. That's probably what makes the story so interesting, even if I do want to shake her a bit by the shoulders, and send Ancalimë off to Núneth's house for her own protection.

What can I say? God save us for ourselves when there's no baddie near at hand. It's all so depressingly human.

[brighter-arda]

Ancalime for day 6 @tolkienlatamandcaribbeanweek

part 35 of toi's indigenous tolkien series

[Image description: six coloured images

1: colourful buildings, text = Tar-ancalimë

2: lamb held by someone in colourful clothes

3: woman from south Peru looking at camera

4: the rainbow mountains, text = First Ruling Queen

5: Peru market, text = Numenor

6: cropped photo of musician with stringed instrument in colourful skirt]