#and the elves born in valinor have no idea what it’s like

[silvantransthranduiltrash]

Lmoa, but i can just imagine:

Valinor elf: welcome kinsman! To the land of valinor, where nothing and no one feels pain and we are provided for by the valar!

Silvan, who has never known a day of relaxation in their life, who comes from a society that has never known a day of relaxation in it’s life: what- what am i supposed to do here??

Valinor elf: here we can live peacefully and without fear, able to pursue our own pursuits at leisure.

Silvan: ok, but, like, what is there to live for? Like what are you doing things for? What’s driving you? What are you fighting for-

Valinor elf: fighting? There is no need to fight here. Just relax, there’s no need to be stressed.

Silvan: no need to be stressed?? Stress is like, my base setting. Isn’t it everyone’s base setting? You can live life and not be stressed??? That’s an option???

Valinor: y-yes?

Other Silvan elf, who’s been here for a while, popping up outta nowhere and proceeding to guide the other silvan away: babe, that’s because you are addicted to truama. I know, i get it, we all were. Let’s get you a weighted blanket and some therapy, ok?

[thesummerestsolstice]

So I think one thing that really drives Feanor is his grief– he looses Miriel, and he very clearly never recovers from that. There's the pain of loosing a parent and the added layer of Miriel's death being, on some level, a choice to leave Feanor. You can't tell me he didn't internalize the idea that he wasn't good enough for his mother to stay ay least a little. And I can't help but imagine that most of Valinor really wasn't helpful. There was probably a lot of vague sympathy with no real understanding of the situation, people who in theory thought Feanor had the right to grieve but reacted pretty badly to any actual displays of grief, and some people who insisted that Miriel chose to stay dead, Finwe and Indis were happily married, and therefore, Feanor shouldn't feel sad about it anymore. Even for those with more understanding of grief, it's still a really complicated situation. But you know who would understand Feanor?

Elrond. And the reason is Elros and Arwen– Elrond knows what it's like when someone you love dearly chooses to leave you, essentially forever, not because they don't care about you or because you weren't good enough, but because they have to make the best choice for themselves. And how you can respect that choice, and be glad that they did what they needed to, but still grieve them and the relationship you had with them. He understands those complicated feelings and how to process them in a healthy and non-destructive way.

And I'm losing my mind over this because Feanor is the one who starts the kinslayings and the cycle of violence between elves, and Elrond is the end result of all that violence; born to two refugees and raised largely by Feanor's sons. But despite all that, he's good and kind and able to focus on healing instead of pain. He ends the violence and makes a sanctuary where everyone is welcome. And he's able to do what Feanor never could, and not be consumed by his pain. And that means so much.

[inthehouseoffinwe]

Maybe the reason Legolas always looks so perfect is elves don’t need to sweat to regulate body temperate. Maybe they just don’t sweat. Or it needs to be some seriously extreme physical strain.

Like I don’t see immortality working if elves are going to overheat as easily as humans do.

Then again maybe it’s an evolutionary trait of later elves born under the sun, and the later they’re born, the better the evolution (eg. Legolas’ is way better than Elrond’s because he was born 3rd Age.)

Which would be really funny to hold over the heads of these older ‘hardier’ elves. Like yes they’re harder to kill, but they also sweat worse than humans do. It’s only said hardiness which stops them very literally boiling to death, but it’s still an all round uncomfortable experience.

Because I don’t think the trees gave out heat? Unless it was a byproduct of the light, but I don’t think so.

…unless it’s a Laurelin specific thing because the sun and moon still come into existence and seem to work the same as ours.

Either way I imagine Valinor had some kind of thermostat keeping everything within a certain range. Then we get to Beleriand and sun and moon and everyone’s in for a surprise.

Fingolfin’s host included. They’ve seen the ice, sure. But they have no idea what deserts, or even hot summer days are like.

Even in Valinor it takes time to devise a new thermostat that accommodates for the new temp changes between day and night and all the stuff that comes with it.

[kitcat22]

So sometime towards the end of the third age not long after Fingon was reborn Anaire finally gets round to asking Fingon if Gil Galad is actually his son.

Fingon who has heard these rumours before, denies it saying that Maedhros was the only one he ever loved and he would never have married or fathered a child with another. Even if their relationship was only a rumour to those outside their family, the idea of him marrying another is both insulting and infuriating. Fingon has never met this Gil Galad guy but as soon has he’s reborn Fingon plans to confront him on his lies.

At which, Anaire points out that technically Maedhros was not born a man and it would be entirely possible that Gil Galad was both of their’s.

At this Fingon kind of pauses. He hadn’t really considered that before. He doesn’t think its likely, afterall most of the times elves have to be trying to conceive in order to get pregnant. But… it’s not unknown that moments of passion and heightened emotions can lead to happy little accidents. Aredhel, herself was one of those happy little accidents. And the last night he and Maedhros spent together was certainly passionate. A moment in a time before what they thought would either be their greatest victory or worst defeat.

Fingon doesnt like this idea, doesnt like the idea that he left the love of his love alone and pregnant and hurting in a dying continent. But… if there was even the slightest chance that Gil Galad was his son then Fingon had a duty to find out.

So Fingons starts investigating hunting down those close to his supposed son and anyone else he thought might have information. Not many Feanorians stay in Valinor and certainly not those who closely served Maedhros. Most remain across the sea or in the Halls of Mandos and as he is forbidden from sailing and knows that Mandos would not be particularly pleased to see him again, he doesnt have very many people to ask about this.

Its not until Elrond travels across the sea that Fingon really has hope of getting any answers. He gathers his courage and marches to the house of the child his lover kidnapped, to ask for his help. For someone who by all rights should hate Maedhros, Elrond is suprisingly helpful. He looks kindly at Fingon and grants him access to the letters Maedhros kept in Amon Ereb. There isn’t much in these letter but one of them written by Celegorm reports something had been safely and secretly delivered to Cirdan.

He thinks it’s really quite likely at this point that Gil Galad is his son but the final confirmation comes when Elladan and Elrohir arrive in Valinor bringing a haggard half faded Maglor with them.

[welcomingdisaster]

Ok so I’m rotating ideas about elves and mythology and decided to drop some ramblings in your ask box because of all the wonderful theatre-related thoughts you’ve been sharing!! The thing is that the silm is a mythology right. Like it’s written in that style, and the heroes of LoTR and the later Ages in general are always explicitly looking back to the stories of the First Age (see: Aragorn wanting to cosplay Beren and Lúthien with Arwen). But what were the myths, the cultural stories, of the Elves of the First Age? In Tirion what were the stories that Maglor might write a play retelling or subverting, that Elemmírë might make a new song about, that Míriel might have woven into a tapestry? All cultures have ancient myths – but these characters are a) living at the very dawn of the world, and b) are all going to become mythological figures themselves! It makes me a bit insane. My thoughts are that they told a lot of stories about the war the Valar made on Melkor, and also about Cuivienen and the awakening of the elves, but honestly I don’t KNOW. What do you think? (No pressure to answer this is very random I realise) ❤️❤️

NO I love these thoughts!!! My thoughts generally go along the same vein as yours in terms of the general themes of elven myths. Here are some possibilities I imagine:

Whichever continent the elves in question are not seeing is often the center of the stories. The Sindar and Avari in middle-earth myth-make a lot about the lands in the west; the Eldar in Valinor myth-make about middle-earth. Since we're talking about Elemmírë, Míriel, and Maglor I'll stick to the latter.

I imagine there's aways the pervasive idea of secret Ainur no one has discovered yet. No matter how many times the Valar go "no we promise we're all here in Valinor, there's no other Valar left" there's 100% an elf somewhere going "have you heard about the Vala of bogs? yeah they live in middle earth and they're in charge of all the bogs there and if you aren't careful you'll be stuck serving in their bog court"

Not to mention elves who know Aulë and have heard that his people sleep under the earth, waiting for their time to awake. I'm sure for some elves tell it as simply that, but over time another pervasive myth develops -- stories of great dwarven kingdoms under the earth, kingdoms they're barred from seeing, stories of seven great dwarven kings, each much like Aule in face, each possessing a specific sort of magic.

Imin, Tata, Enel, etc! Not only do we canonically get them as a counting story, I imagine their fates are also something that ends up being talked about? They do not seem like they ever ended up in Valinor -- what happened to them? I feel like elven stories can tend to go along the lines of "and then he turned into a tree" or "he still dwells by the sea where he was born" or "he fell into the cracks of the mountains during the war and became one with the earth."

Myth as a way to explore cultural taboos! Elves coming to Valinor, a land with no pain or crime, with the shadows of war and suffering behind them -- I imagine they must explore taboo and pain through storytelling. What happens to an elf that leaves his wife for another? What happens to an elf who poisons her sister? I imagine there's some gruesome/creepy stories that come out there, but are told with a naïveté to the actual truth of what violence looks like. Something along the lines of "and then the servants of Melkor hacked the elven king into bits, so his wife had to go looking for each piece of him in every corner of the world and sew them back together"

The sea!! Must I say more. The elves emerged from the sea, and they long for it -- yet they cannot go too far into the waves without drowning, and they do not know what lurks under the waves. I imagine myths centering around sea-creatures, around the souls of the drowned, around elves (mer-elves?) who never left the sea and make their kingdoms underneath the waters, etc.

Just some ideas!! If anyone else wants to contribute headcanons for early elf myths to his post, please do!

[crownedwithstars]

Galadriel in the Rings of Power, part 3: Women's stories don't matter

This post continues my analysis of Galadriel as she is portrayed in the Amazon series The Rings of Power - and why I think it is so very bad. Part 1 focused on the the portrayal of her being a warrior, and the many problems it creates for her character and possibly even for LOTR, whereas part 2 argued that what is supposed to be war trauma is actually just an awful personality.

Part 1 x Part 2

This post will examine the rather misogynistic implications of the show's changes to Galadriel's story.

I will post my arguments in a few different posts, because that should make the whole much more readable. I will use the tags #anti rop and #anti rings of power for the benefit of those who may want to filter my posts.

If you like Amazon Rings of Power, I have no issue with that; I only take issue with how a character I've loved for over a decade is portrayed in this show.

3. By erasing Melian and Celebrían from Galadriel's story, the show undermines meaningful relationships between women and implies that women's stories are not worth telling unless their occupation fits masculine ideals. 

Common criticism of Tolkien is the lack of female characters in his legendarium (although there are many very compelling female characters in The Silmarillion, including Galadriel). But Amazon has actually one-upped him in this by erasing meaningful relationships Galadriel has with her mentor and her daughter. As stated in part 1 of this series, Melian's absence from Galadriel's life creates problems for The Lord of the Rings because without Melian, she doesn't have the experience and skills she needs to have in order to help the Fellowship (and ultimately contribute to the success of the quest to destroy the Ring). Needless to say, it's problematic to undermine skills, art and crafts that are specifically linked to feminine sphere, especially when this is done so that a character fits masculine ideals.

All ROP!Galadriel's relationships are with and about men: her dead (but living in Valinor) brother, her grudging subordinates, some kind of friendship between her and Elrond although there seems to be a lack of mutual respect, the manipulative and ultimately very detrimental nonsense with Halbrand/Sauron, and Gil-galad who appears to view her as a problem to be solved, not an asset. She has no female friends and her relationship with Míriel is ambivalent at best. (Can you imagine the interactions Galadriel might have had with Dísa, though? It's a tantalising thought. It could have also been used as a way to establish why Galadriel is so respectful of Gimli.)

As stated before, at this point of her story, Galadriel should be married and mother to a grown daughter. There is some variation about the timeline, thanks to Tolkien's shifting ideas about Galadriel's history, but it is safe to say that her marriage to Celeborn and Celebrían's birth took place in the early centuries of the Second Age. In part 1, I also argued that in the show's timeline, the time she would have had with Celeborn would not have been enough to marry, especially if he was actually lost in the wars of the First Age. I find it very poor writing that the show fixates on the few lines about Galadriel's athletic feats, but then ignores Tolkien's fairly clear writing on how Elves did not marry or have children when they were preoccupied with war.

Be that as it may, ROP does allow Galadriel to be married (however briefly), but not a parent. The absence of Celebrían leads me to believe that she is born at some later time during the show - and the cynic in me is convinced that the show will use motherhood as a solution to Galadriel's issues, enabling her transformation into the powerful Elven queen - as if becoming a mother is a fulfillment of woman's story, not a part of it. But even if children are supposedly a woman's higher calling, masculine traits and occupations are still more important and more compelling. Hence the part of Galadriel's story that involves motherhood is delayed to a much later time, so that she may run around Middle-earth, swinging a sword and pursuing a revenge fantasy (which, of course, ultimately fails, at least in the sense that she does not get to personally bring down Sauron). 

If you ask me, it's a particularly bad move to change a woman's story so that she is presented as an action hero and her womanhood and parenthood are a resolution of her life, not the intrinsic part of it. 

4. ROP!Galadriel's motives and agenda are not about herself, but about men. 

In The Silmarillion, it is shown that Galadriel is proud and ambitious, and wants to rule her own realm in Middle-earth. She wants to try her skills outside the safety of Valinor and build something of her own. After the War of Wrath, she refuses the pardon of Valar and remains in Middle-earth, because she is still proud: she believes that if she returns to the Blessed Lands, it would be as a shamed Exile who does not even have the permission to dwell in Aman proper but in Tol Eressëa. However, in Middle-earth she is still mighty and powerful, respected by both Elves and Men. She still wants to be an active participant in the events of Middle-earth and shape the course of the future. Her ambition and pride are not yet spent: she won't take "the second best" in the Undying Lands, when she can still stand at the top of the food chain in Middle-earth. 

There is also the version that Galadriel is actively banned from returning to Valinor as a leader of the rebellion. Later on Tolkien's thinking of her story changes further and Galadriel's desire to sail for Middle-earth is unrelated to the unrest of Noldor and she is not presented as a rebel leader. This late version, I think, is not as compelling and does contradict The Lord of the Rings. FOTR appears to derive from the version where there's a ban against Galadriel's return into the West, where she now yearns to go back after millenia of exile. But when she rejects the Ring and the temptation of becoming a terrible dark queen in her own right, she "passes the test", she will diminish and go into the West. In other words, she finally rejects her own pride and ambition. Moreover, this refusal and the crucial help she gives to the Fellowship are said to be the reason she is allowed to sail in the end of ROTK. 

All the same, no matter what version by Tolkien you look at, in canon Galadriel is the mistress of her own fate and her ambitions, and her flaws and her overcoming them are her own. Galadriel's story is about Galadriel. 

It has been extensively argued and shown in other posts criticising the show how Galadriel's agency is thrown out of the window so that all she does in ROP is obsess about men - to the point where her big moment in FOTR and the refusal of the Ring (supposedly, the reason she is granted leave to return to Valinor) is not about her own pride and ambition, but about Sauron. So I won't go into that in this post. But I will say this much: in LOTR, it is  made clear that the victory over Sauron is still a defeat for the Elves. Much that was magical and wondrous will pass with him and the time for the Dominion of Men begins. Lothlórien will fade away. In helping the Fellowship of the Ring Galadriel essentially sacrifices her own ambition and influence over the matter and fates of Arda. But with ROP's portrayal, this aspect of Galadriel's fight against Sauron is lost.

Furthermore, it is apparently because of her that Sauron resumes to his evil ways. The show changes Galadriel  from being one of Sauron's chief enemies and her opposing him even when he was still seemingly fair and helpful, to the situation where she cannot recognise him for what he is and is responsible for his return - and for the hundreds of thousands of deaths and uncountable suffering that will result from it. 

I expect I don't need to explain why this is bad.

It is also very unclear to me what she expected to do once she found Sauron. Fights between Elves and Maiar in the form of Balrogs are notoriously fatal, and Sauron must be even stronger than a Balrog, considering he is Morgoth's first lieutenant. Is ROP!Galadriel trying to go down in a blaze of (vain)glory? As the final scene of the first season between her and Sauron shows, she is and always was hopelessly outmatched and she doesn't seem to have any plan except to just stab him. Are you telling me that she spent a millenia hunting for him without any idea about his abilities and how to respond to them, and how to bring him down?

&&&&&&&

What I gather from all this is that for ROP, and for the people who created the show, women's stories, friendship between women, and women's ambitions don't matter. Or, it was thought that the only way Galadriel would be interesting to the TV audience is as an action hero. This could also be because the creative team responsible for ROP simply can't write a good script.

Surely, it's nice to see women in diverse roles, being warriors and protectors and guardians. But it's also important to see how these roles tie to masculine ideals, and that if you discard a woman's already existing story so that she can fulfill this particular role, then your take is not particularly empowering anymore.

[eleneressea]

Could you do: ☪️🌸⬜☮♦️☯️♒ for Elrond please? I really liked what you wrote on him in your Aragorn headcanons ^^

(Sorry for the emoji chaos, i am new to tumblr)

☾ - sleep headcanon

Needs more sleep than most elves, and sleeps deeper than most elves as well. This is very disconcerting to anyone who isn't used to the sleep habits of men; Gil-galad, who was normally used to mannish sleep habits (and Elrond's in particular), found it particularly unsettling while they were marching on Mordor and would occasionally double-check that Elrond was still breathing.

✿ - Sex headcanon

Likes giving oral. Particularly likes giving oral with his partner sitting in a chair and him kneeling under their desk. Also has an enormous praise kink.

■ -  Bedroom/house/living quarters headcanon

Has a vast collection of little trinkets accumulated over the centuries, ranging wildly in value and age, from river-rocks proudly presented to him by fosterlings to jewelry made in Valinor before the Sun rose to wooden trinkets that Maedhros carried with them. They're arranged in a cabinet in an order known only to Elrond.

☮ - friendship headcanon

Had a number of friends among men and dwarves in the early Second Age who, intentionally on Elrond's part, had no idea who his family were, which was an enormous relief to him at the time since just about every elf he met not only knew exactly who he was related to but also had expectations of him because of them.

♦ - quirks/hobbies headcanon

Could not stop adopting foundlings. Even in the Second Age, before founding Imladris, Gil-galad often found him taking care of/being trailed by small children (mostly mannish, but some elvish children as well), woodland animals (to be released once no longer injured), and one injured minstrel that Elrond identified as his uncle (no not that one).

☯ - likes/dislikes headcanon

His favorite part of healing is midwifery because he gets to see all the little babies being born! Elvish babies typically come out fairly easily, and complications are rare, and rarer still that they're fatal, but even so…best to have someone nearby just to make sure. (Mannish babies even more unpredictable, of course.)

♒ - cooking/food headcanon

As a result of growing up in the apocalypse, his nostalgic comfort foods range from the unusual (insect salad à la Taur-im-Duinath and Belegost-style dwarven cuisine) to the nearly unpalatable if not outright unwise (warg broth soup and roast giant spider legs).

[curiouselleth]

Of Elured, Elurin, and Gil-Galad

I started writing this intending to share my theories on the matter of Elured, Elurin, and Gil-galad, but it got long and very detailed. This is NOT edited at all, I just wrote most of this in one sitting... but I think it came out really good! (2,218 words?!?!?!?! HOW?!?!)

Most of this is my personal cannon, but it would fit within the story. Some of it has no clear basis in Tolkien, I originally made this theory for a fic I'm working on and needed to invent some things to make other ideas work. Mostly in how Maiar, Valar, and their powers can mess with time. (I am also kinda-maybe-just a little disregarding bit with Gil-galad being sent to the Falas in 455.)

Elured and Elurin survive being abandoned in the woods, and they are led to food and shelter by nightingales, and are eventually led south into the forests of Ossiriand.

While Melian had returned to Valinor after Thingol's death, and despite that the Girdle of Melian fell and she seemingly abandoned them when she left, she actually sent the nightingales to guide Elured and Elurin to safety. Her last act to help those in Middle Earth for a long time. (continued under the cut)

Maiar, Valar, or large concentrations of their powers can do weird things to time and aging. Whether making time pass faster or slower for those in their immediate vicinity, so one year would feel like months, or several years could pass in their vicinity while only one year may seem to pass away from them. With practice and skill their effect on time around them can be minimized, as pretty much all the valar and maiar do. This can cause aging to be faster or slower, or decay to slow down.

Elured and Elurin were too young to be taught of this, so barely more than 4 years after the Second Kinslaying (506), they have aged around 15 years in that time, and are about 21. As Elwing had Elrond and Elros at 22, I am assuming that since she was considered an adult then that they are at that age too.

Over the years they also slowly built up walls, hiding their true identities with magic, eventually so that none could recognize them, so they wouldn't be reminded or found again by the Feanorians. Part of it is that people will see what they expect, and who would expect to the see the twin sons of Dior, believed to be dead?

Now it is year 510, and Gondolin falls that summer. (I would guess it is around the solstice, in late June.)

Gwingloth is the daughter of Lalwen (daughter of Finwe), and was born a few years after Lalwen arrived Gondolin after its completion. She is a little young for a elf but well of age. Tolkien gateway says that is about 100 years old, I don't want to get a headache checking the Nature of Middle Earth right now 😅.

Gwingloth had never been fond of festivals, she often found the noise and the chaos overwhelming, so she had snuck outside the city, thinking to visit the gates, and to check on the guards who she had heard expressing sadness to be missing the festival.

She had been about to leave, but then the attack started. The guards had defended her with their lives, and when she was knocked unconscious they defended her until they fell, and in a strange bit of luck she was hidden in the bodies and presumed dead. When she came to she was once again lucky, and most of the fighting had moved on to the city. She managed to sneak out, and down the Dry River to Sirion. She did not know much of Beleriand, but she knew the south in Ossiriand to be safe, and she made a makeshift boat and sailed down Sirion until she reached the Fens of Sirion, where she left the river and ventured east until she met Elured and Elurin.

Elured and Elurin had been living semi-nomadically in Ossiriand in this time, with some help and guidance from the green elves there. Before they were of age, they lived with a small group of green elves in a hidden village of flets. They were not taken in my one specific family, but the whole village helped in their upbringing. They were taught to survive, fight, and to be able to sneak through the trees and hills with skill no other elves had. Once they were of age they began to live more nomadically, scouting or hunting to help that village.

The year they came of age the green elves gave them a gift that had been found near the River Ascar, the northernmost river in Ossiriand. It was two fine twin swords Thingol had crafted for the twins when he heard of their birth. (there was a small inscription) They had been taken in the sack by the dwarves and almost were cast into the river with the rest of the treasure, but they were found by one of the green elves, and kept. The twins each got a sword, as Thingol had first intended for them, his first great-grandchildren.

Shortly before Gwingloth arrived, the village made the decision to move further south, fearing the growing reports of orcs Elured and Elurin brought. The twins decided to remain while they figured out what they wanted to do. Do they seek out survivors from Doriath or other Sindar? Do they forsake their heritage and remain with the green elves who raised them and taught them?

Gwingloth and Elurin quickly fell in love, but Elured and Elurin found the word of Gondolin's fall to be the last straw in their decision to pursue the rumors they had heard of Elwing in the Havens of Sirion. Elured wished to go alone, as they had been planning to stealthily go to gather information, not to enter the city, so both of them did not need to go, and one of them needed to stay with Gwingloth as she recovered from the shock of Gondolin's fall and the battle, and her long, hungry journey south. Elured also... hinted... to Elurin that perhaps he should be trying to research Noldor and Sindar marriage traditions wink wink.

Elured traveled extremely light, nearly nothing with him but some basics he gathered and supplies and tools he made. He did bring his twin sword, as it was the finest weapon he had and he did not wish to be about without it, but he put a small enchantment on the inscription, hiding it. He first traveled north-west, in the direction of Nargothrond, to see if any survivors of Gondolin passed through the west part of the region. He was hoping inconspicuously to join a group of survivors heading to Sirion, and to tell them the story that he had been living in the wilderness ever since his city fell.

This worked a little too well, and he encountered the main group of survivors from Gondolin sheltering in Taur-en-Faroth, the forests on the west and south sides of Nargothrond. He called himself Ereinion, which had been Beren's nickname for him, as he was descended from Kings of Elves and Men. Perhaps he should've thought his story through more, with him being found outside a fallen city of the Noldor, and having darker hair, like most of the Noldor, with highlights that shone like gold in the sunlight, because rumors begin to fly that he is Finrod's, Orodreth's, or, somehow, Fingon's son. He tried to deflect, saying his appearance took more after his mother. The enchantment that both he and Elurin wove around themselves was still in effect, and made people see what they expected when they were looked upon. So the survivors expected to see the son of a noldor king? Well, that is what they saw.

He thought that quelled the rumors, so he continued travelling with them for some months, because it was safer. When they arrive in the Havens in the late winter (march???) of 511, he hears that it is true, Elwing is alive, but is almost immediately brought to the Isle of Sirion, for they started to believe him to be the rightful king of the Noldor.

It is on the Isle of Balar where he finally has to confront the fact that they think him to be their rightful king. He feared what would happen should the truth come out, and panics (privately), but ends up going along with it, planning to use it just until he can see Elwing, then... well he wasn't sure yet.

It takes months for the opportunity for him to return to the Havens of Sirion, and by then he was crowned as Gil-galad, King of the Noldor... and discovered just how busy that title makes you (karma?). By then it is late summer of 511, almost a year after he left Elurin and Gwingloth on a journey they expected to take only a few months. He had tried to covertly send messenger birds, but most returned with their messages unopened, if they returned at all.

Once he arrives in Sirion, he once again has a stoke of bad luck. Not only is Elwing considered just a little too young* to meet him, the King, he is too busy with politics and meetings to be able to sneak away to see her.

*I also have Elwing aging at an accelerated rate as well, she is almost 18, but is incorrectly considered too immature by a few of the other rulers of the Havens (who have sticks up their buts), so she is kept away.

Elured has to return to Balar, but the next year he is finally allowed to meet Elwing, for she finally set those other rulers straight, and is taking her place as leader of the Havens. The ceremony was small, but in the following days Elured was invited to meet her, not on strictly official business, but so the two of them could simply meet as people and leaders.

Elured is guided to her lovely home in the Havens, and when he knocks, he hears a call to enter, and he steps inside and into the living space. It's well decorated, cozy and lived it, and there's a vase of lily of the valley and cyclamen on a mantel above the hearth.

It had been so, so long since he had seen his little sister. And his breath caught for a moment when he saw her. She's so grown up. Without us. Elured thought, tears starting to form in his eyes.

"Ah you must be King Gil-galad! Suilad! It is so wonderful to finally meet you!"

"Ahm," he cleared his throat, "yes, it is wonderful to, meet you, too. I'm so glad we finally got the chance..." he trailed off.

"How goes matters on the Isle? Good? Well..." she continued talking but Elured was barely listening.

He worked rapidly to drop the enchantment disguising his identity, in denial, No, it must be the enchantment, that must be why she... why she doesn't he thought frantically as it finally came down.

But she didn't react. She kept on speaking about how things were in the Havens, until she notices his lack of response, she pauses, and looks closer at him. "Are... are you part maia as I am?" She haltingly asks.

"I. I am, yes, as you are." Elured hesitantly answers. Is this it? Is she starting to recognize me?

But she takes his hesitant response as him not wishing to speak of it, and says "I'm sorry, I did not mean to pry, and you need not answer. I too understand having a past too painful to speak of."

Elured nods, shocked and despairing. She didn't know him. His sister didn't know him anymore.

Elured is devastated that his sister does not know him, and perhaps it is cowardice, or perhaps he does not wish to bring her more pain by showing up in this life she's worked hard to make for herself and telling her that he is her brother, that both of her brothers were alive... and they shared the same past she called too painful to speak of.

Upon his return to Balar that day, he throws himself into work as High King of the Noldor, just a little longer, he tells himself. Then I'll go home. Just a little longer.

But days turn to months, and months into two years, and it is 514 when he can finally return to Ossiriand, for he did not want to forsake the people who had come to rely on him. He is only able to go back under the guise of seeking a stronger alliance with the green elves, but one night, when he is not so far from his home, he is able to slip away from his guards.

He travels light, only his one twin sword with him, speeding through the treetops until he reaches the edge of the empty village where they had lived. But all is silent.

As he steps into the flet he shared with his brother, there is not a sound, and it is empty. Gwingloth and his brother are gone.

There was no note, no message anywhere in the village, nor the trees. He is so desperate he checks the ground, for when the village was occupied none were allowed to go on the ground under the village to help keep it more hidden, not a trace of them or tracks.

All was silent and empty. His twin is gone. He unsheathes his twin sword, which now truly missing it's partner, it's other half, as he is. He drives it into the ground in the middle of the village, standing alone as a memorial... or as a grave, and he rips off a bit of his robe, with his new sigil of silver stars on a blue field.

Gil-galad turns and walks back to his camp, and his people. Once again devastated.

[dialux]

So this isnt wntirely all put together or thought out and i might later have ideas or thoughts that contradict this so bear with me but.

What stuck with me most about miriel is not her tragedy, not really. She dies for her son or maybe for something else and she does it because she *decides* to. she holds her child after he is born and names him and loves him and even through all of that she lays down and she doesn't just let herself fade. She turns herself into the martyr to end all martyrs. There's a lot to be said about death and choosing it and fading away slowly but here's the thing. Is it so hard to fade when you have been fading already? She lays down and she doesn't scream, she doesn't rage, there is no place for that in valinor. No one who will hear her if she does, not in a land of perfection. So she chooses something that will *resonate* that will take everything everyone knows and turn it on its head.

After all, if Valinor is perfect, then how could the Queen be dead?

She doesn't do it to become a tragedy, she does it so no one can deny what she says. And maybe some of it *is* exhaustion, maybe it *is* depression. That black hole consuming you no matter what you feed it. Because it is exhausting to live in a land of perfection. It is infuriating. It is insulting. Because knowing that no matter what, you will never be seen as equal by those who will rule over you for the rest of your long long long lives and even more so your *deaths* is a different type of draining. There is peace in valinor, but is it worth it?

She is not perfect, and she doesn't want to be and if she must kill herself for anyone to open their eyes....

Well. She was tired anyway.

-Ro

(I sent this ask before reading your miriel fic BTW its the next thing I'm reading and I'm looking forward to it)

Ooooooh boy yeah, totes agree. Also, I love how you approach the Miriel issue, because up until now I was thinking of her death as the black hole at the center of the silm......... but now I'm like no!! It's not her death at all, it's her depression, it's her grief and her loss and her incapacity. It's everything the elves were promised when they arrived to Valinor and didn't receive. It's everything the elves wanted to achieve and failed at; it's Arda Marred, marred not because of Morgoth's song but because the Valar themselves are simply imperfect.

You touch on a lot of what I discuss in the story, but I hope you enjoy my take on it <33

[ambarto]

I love arospec Finduilas! I’d love to read your thoughts on it if you’re interested in writing them! Your blog is great 💚

-@outofangband

Hi thank you! Honestly I see Finduilas as either quoiro or freyro (I do have a short freyromantic Finduilas fic I wrote for aspec arda week a couple years ago). Partially because I find it compelling that Elves are very big on monogamy and all and Finduilas is I think the only Elf we see actively fall out of love with someone. So I really like the idea of Finduilas either being unable to recognize romantic feelings, or having romantic feelings that come and go, it would add an additional sparkle of angst to her story to have her confused by her own feelings.

I also see Finduilas as being fairly young when she died, kind of the equivalent of 20 years old or so, and having not yet had time to figure out her identity entirely by then. I do think she cared a lot about Gwindor, possibly being attracted to him in some way, and him being captured would have been devastating for her. However, this also gave her... I don't want to say an excuse not to examine her feelings further, more like that grief is grief and she would have had no reason to pick apart if what she felt had been romantic or not.

Then when Gwindor came back there was Turin too. If we go with freyromantic Finduilas, her developing a crush on Turin could have been in her mind more of a reason for not loving Gwindor anymore than simply falling out of love. She could have told herself she hadn't just stopped loving him, she just had a new man she was attracted to. Plus for freyromantics feelings fade once you have established an emotional connection to someone, and we know what Turin was like, he was too busy running from his past and being secretive about it might have kept him from developing his relationship with others in Nargothrond. Despite technically knowing him, he might have remained the mysterious brooding semi-stranger for ages, and that could have meant Finduilas kept her feeling longer.

Now if we look at quoiromantic Finduilas instead, in that case she might have felt curious about Turin or felt a strong more platonic attraction to him, and not recognized what she was feeling. Maybe her interest in Turin, who was a new person she didn't know, could have felt more intense than her affection for Gwindor. She might have even felt kind of the same way about Gwindor before they had gotten engaged. So she just mixed things up.

And now I'm also thinking of lithromantic Finduilas that would be very neat too.

Anyways I'm also a fan of Finduilas finally getting the life she deserved once she comes back from Mandos. She can grow a bit wiser in Valinor, get to know herself better, understand her orientation. Not to mention, Finduilas was born and lived in a war, and I'm sure that also gave her a sense of urgency and of having to hold on to what she had while she had it. Getting engaged to Gwindor young because they both knew they could be killed any day and all of that. In Valinor she can get to relax and slow down, and that could also give her the chance of thinking more deeply about herself.

[memorymessage]

since i've cracked the dam of finally talking about my perhaps not-so-publicly-palatable tolkien pairings, well...

finwë/fëanor is indisputably the most excruciatingly and painfully dear to my heart. bonus points for au female fëanor where finwë names her as his heir regardless of gender—defying tradition, the valar, and indis altogether. (definitely not inspired by house of the dragon.) honestly, a bit of redemption for finwë's character, if you ask me.

do i even need to explain why this one is so imbalanced and painful in the published narrative? what can i say, canon fëanor loves daddy (for all the wrong reasons), and daddy is a bit selfish and self-centered, and satisfies his own interests regardless of who it hurts (or condemns to eternal death), but also, hypocritically, loves fëanor just as much as fëanor loves him.

how was i not supposed to latch onto that one? i love pain!

and who among sons, of Elves or of Men, have held their fathers of greater worth?

All his love he gave to his son; for Fëanáro was like his mother in voice and countenance, and Finwë was to him both father and mother, and there was a double bond of love upon their hearts.

on fëanor's banishment:

Thither also came Finwë the King, because of the love that he bore to Fëanor; [...] [...] but Finwë came not, nor any others of the Noldor of Formenos. For said Finwë: ‘While the ban lasts upon Fëanor my son, that he may not go to Tirion, I hold myself unkinged, and I will not meet my people.’

after learning of finwë's death:

Then with a cry he ran from the Ring of Doom and fled into the night, distraught; for his father was dearer to him than the Light of Valinor or the peerless works of his hands: and who among sons, of Elves or of Men, have held their fathers of greater worth? After him Maedros and his brethren went in haste, dismayed, for they had not known that he was present when Maedros spoke; and now they feared that he might slay himself.

celegorm/curufin is a persisting pairing interest i've had since even my early involvement in the silmarillion, because- well... they're quite codependent and scarcely (never?) are they mentioned separately in the published work. i recently wrote about them a bit here. also, bonus points for female curufin in the same au as female feanor (can use pronouns interchangeably throughout this whole post, because the ideas don't change based on genderswap au). the narrative of mirror-image-child should persist, regardless of au. in any case, celegorm/curufin stands the test of time, until they die together at menegroth. this is possibly the most self-explanatory pairing i've got. the book did the heavy lifting.

maedhros/fëanor: i've written about what i think the familial relationship of maedhros and feanor would be, and that still remains true. i like to insert this pairing as a semi-onesided, semi-unrequited dynamic alongside finwë/feanor. i don't think maedhros would approve of their relationship at all, because he recognizes finwë as the largest stressor in fëanor's life.

fëanor would acknowledge and sympathize with maedhros' feelings for him, and though he's loathe to ever withhold something that his sons want, he finds it imperative to do just that due to his own unhealthy experiences with finwë. fëanor is well aware that finwë and his actions are fëanor's main cause of discord and unhappiness, and yet can't help but find validation in finwë's attention anyway, which only grows the unhealthy, desperate attachment between them. and fëanor would never want to contribute in such a harmful dynamic with maedhros.

maedhros argues that it's different and that could never possibly happen to them, because their relationship was never built upon fear of abandonment and replacement, unlike fëanor's with finwë. maedhros always had the assurance of love and support in his upbringing—he argues that this transformed version of love for fëanor is born because of the stability and equality in their relationship, not the lack thereof.

to this, fëanor concedes, but not joyously. he regrets some aspects of their equality, because it led to maedhros' own discontent on fëanor's behalf. if anything, fëanor never wanted to pass down his struggles to his sons—he never wanted his hurt to be so palpable that his family would take on his personal burdens as their own—quite the opposite, he wanted them to never experience such upsets, not even vicariously.

but maedhros contends this, even, with his own free will and autonomy—there is nothing fëanor did to facilitate maedhros developing his own resentment of finwë. it was his own opinion established upon his perception in observing finwë's actions. after all, it is because of finwë that maedhros and his brothers will never meet their grandmother míriel.

to which fëanor concedes again, but says maedhros might have developed misguided feelings for him because of maedhros' strong sense of protection for his family, or because he sees himself as a better alternative to fëanor's predicament-

and maedhros finds this absolutely ridiculous and can't believe his astute father would even propose this argument, completely unlike his usual self-

but fëanor is simply desperate in his attempt to be unlike finwë, who pursued feanor despite knowing the damage he caused to fëanor's life, and how fëanor would never want to damage maedhros similarly-

and then it goes back and forth so on and so forth, and never seems to lead anywhere. is fëanor doing more harm than good in denying maedhros? or is he sparing maedhros from future hurt and regret, like he thinks?

which leads me, deviously, to...

celegorm/maedhros/curufin, because... well, curufin looks like daddy, doesn't he? and maedhros has a certain pining for fëanor that seems like it shall remain agonizingly unresolved, so celegorm and curufin invite him to find temporary relief in joining their trysts.

at first, maedhros has a lot of pride over this invitation, and is spiteful about his feelings being so cleverly dissected by his brothers, which he previously thought to be rather well-kept and hidden.

a lot of forced, contrived insults on maedhros' part, while donning a facade of a disgusted disapproval at celegorm and curufin's relationship. celegorm gets whiplash at this, not expecting maedhros to have such a cold and judgmental character. a rejection, he had anticipated—but a hypercritical confrontation, he had not. he had never suspected maedhros to be of such nature, especially not in being so close to their father.

celegorm is usually quick to anger and even quicker to retaliate, but this time, all he feels is disappointed detachment. defending himself from maedhros, he deems to not even be worth his time.

curufin, however, feels a deep and stark sense of betrayal at maedhros' ruthless criticism and judgement, and is poised to argue and fill in the retaliatory response that celegorm leaves lacking. ultimately, celegorm is the one having to drag curufin away from the fight, reminding his brother that they don't owe an explanation to anyone, and this argument is not worth the energy spent.

and, after all that, maedhros is only left feeling regret. that argument held no conviction, and those weren't his true beliefs. if they had been his beliefs, he would be nothing but the truest form of hypocrite. he had acted superior out of his own insecurity, and says as much to celegorm and curufin, explaining his foolish behavior and asking their forgiveness.

celegorm forgives him well enough that night, stroking maedhros' wild russet curls—maedhros sleeping peacefully with both arms tight around curufin's waist, curufin's head tucked beneath maedhros' chin, while celegorm presses himself to maedhros' back.

as for the other feanorians...

i used to be extremely fond of maedhros/maglor. but, if i'm completely honest, i'm not as passionate for it these days. regardless, i did write a maedhros/maglor fic, and used to write about them quite regularly. i still like it, i'm just not as enthused about it anymore. i honestly couldn't say why. i guess i find maglor too much of a peacekeeper character, which doesn't attract me as much as it used to. i like the fiery spirits. the spirits of fire. the fëanors, one could say. but the coupling of maedhros and maglor within the silmarillion narrative is so frequent it does almost rival that of celegorm and curufin. so it's still an interesting topic to ponder.

...not me now envisioning maedhros/maglor as a stable, supportive, and yet very access-convenient based relationship during their duration together in himring, and then, later, in-walks celegorm and curufin, post-beren and lúthien saga. and maedhros immediately has a guilt-ridden draw to seek out reigniting his time with celegorm and curufin, only to be quietly elated at discovering that there's discontent between the two, meaning he can seek personal time with curufin without celegorm's involvement.

what can i say, i love a bit of an angsty love triangle- or, uhhh, square? pentagon? hexagon? love hexagon? because finwë/fëanor, but also unrequited fëanor/maedhros, which becomes celegorm/maedhros/curufin, but there's already well-established celegorm/curufin, and, later, there's maedhros/maglor, but maedhros really wants that maedhros/curufin, but celegorm also kinda liked the celegorm/maedhros/curufin thing, and maybe if maedhros/curufin happens in himring, there can be a revenge!celegorm/maglor. oho!

couldn't everybody just get along and share? well, yes. but also, no. because that's happy and not painful. and, as we established at the very beginning by my favorite pairing being finwë/fëanor: i like pain. i like conflict.

which brings me to my newest pairing of interest:

turgon/aredhel. which i just extensively wrote about. question no further.

and to think, when i was first discovering my footing with the silmarillion—a lore-lacking, unread whelp—i entertained normie braindead ships like maedhros/fingon and morgoth/sauron.

now i'm enlightened brain meme with my unforgivable amount of fëanorian incest ships.

my apologies to caranthir and amrod and amras, the fëanorians i just...do not care as much about. sorry. not really a surprise, given the text doesn't seem to care about them that much either. and while i do like the fëanorian OT8 thing, i just like the interpersonal 1:1 dynamics that cause emotional pain way more. guess i'm smooth-brained for that one.

however... a musing i have for caranthir that is without ships, is that he is the closest among the siblings to finwë (perhaps even in resemblance, too.) i had a thought that maybe cracks began to show in fëanor's marriage around the time when caranthir was young, and so fëanor would seek more counsel and support from finwë, often times bringing young caranthir with him. this would be an unusual deviation from how the rest of the children were raised.

this idea heavily furthered in the female fëanor au, where she is possibly already pregnant with curufin at this time, and needs even more support due to being pregnant. cue my degenerate 'finwë as a stand-in husband for fëanor and dad for young caranthir' thoughts.

i don't imagine any of the siblings to have outright resentment for finwë like maedhros does, but i don't envision any of them being particularly close to him, or even having a standard grandfather/grandchild bond with him. more so a distant and respectful relationship. kind of a "i see you a few times a year for birthdays and celebrations, and i call you 'my king/my lord' and not 'grandfather'."

caranthir, however, does call him 'grandfather' and even 'grandad' (what are the quenyan equivalencies there). while in the closer proximity of formenos, this might cause a little conflict. what with finwë getting a happy reunion with fëanor and caranthir, and maedhros having to witness it and bear the distaste.

[silvantransthranduiltrash]

Imagine a feanorian or a nolofinwean etc traveling back in time to the years of the trees-

And finwe, of all elves, clocks onto something being wrong before anyone else, bc he grew up in a time where it was killed or be killed and he wants to know why his grandkid(s) went from an elf who has never seen a day of strife in their life, to a hardened warrior with ptsd seemingly overnight.

[thesummerestsolstice]

Headcanon Crafts for Everyone I Missed Last Time:

Idril: a sculptor. She worked with every kind of stone imaginable, and often went looking for new material in Gondolin’s mines with Maeglin. (Look my Maeglin head canons are complicated but they should get to be friends the narrative has hurt them too much already) She actually preferred not to make elvish figures, instead focusing on strangely beautiful stone landscapes and various animal-like figures. She was actually responsible for Middle-Earth’s version of the gargoyle, having carved several to stand guard over Gondolin. Several elves swore that the statues moved, but she never addressed those rumors. She also liked to paint her work with bright colors, which would’ve been seen as odd back in Valinor, but fit right in in First Age Middle-Earth.

Maeglin: a smith, but his craft was more in-line with Avarin practice than Noldor practice; with much less focus on the idea of making gems and heavier focus on understanding natural geology and the properties of various gems and metals. He knew the mines of Gondolin better than anyone, and wrote plenty about the the earth under the earth. His work also had fairly significant Dwarfish influences. He liked to make mechanically complex pieces, with moving parts or even some internal gear work.

Finduilas: a hunter. Her and her father were both nature people, just in very different ways. She was silent, with all the grace of a dancer, and quick enough to outrun most of what she hunted. She preferred to go after more aggressive animals– wild boar, wolves, bears, even wargs– and leave the deer and rabbits be. She was born in Beleriand, and had never met the Valar, but sometimes, privately, offered up prayers to Orome. She liked to imagine she could’ve been in his hunt, if things had turned out a bit differently.

Celebrimbor: a smith, in the very traditional Noldor sense. Gemworker, specialized in jewelry, made various famously beautiful pieces, etc. Was never quite happy sticking to hairpins and necklaces. Longed to try his hand at imbuing his work with real power, but always talked himself out of it. A whole binder of concepts for works of power sat locked away in a chest in his workshop for centuries. He never talked to anyone about it. He was as ashamed of his feelings for his craft as he was of his feelings for his family. By the end of his life, he’d made peace with only one of those things.

Earendil: a mariner? Alright, he was definitely a mariner, and he loved the ship life– he even built a few boats of his own, in a similar fantastic style to Turgon’s architecture– but he also had a longstanding fascination with the natural world, and filled volumes and volumes of journals with information on various plants, animals, and minerals. But natural lore isn’t a recognized Noldor craft, since it involves learning but doesn’t really produce tangible results. Still, it was a passion he got from afternoons spent learning about geology with “Uncle Mole,” and one he shared with Elrond. Researching the beauty and wonder of nature gave Earendil something to do with his immortal life, and was a big part of the reason Elrond chose to be immortal at all.

Gil-Galad: a king. No, really, he’d been the high-king of the Noldor since he was a child, and hadn’t really had time for trivialities like “finding a life purpose” or “having fun.” He was too busy learning how to stay alive in late stage Beleriand (read: hell) and learning to rule the least cooperative group of elves imaginable. He wanted to be a painter, and while he found enough practice time to get good at his chosen craft; because of how long detailed paintings can take, he almost never had time to actually make anything. He tried not to let it bother him too much. He didn’t always succeed at that.

Elrond: in a bit of a weird spot. Elrond is most associated with lore and healing; but, as discussed, “lore” isn’t considered a craft. And, well. Healing had to be Elrond’s craft, right? He’d been doing it since he was seven, and just about the only person in Amon Ereb who could still use healing powers. And it was good work, and it was rewarding, even if it often left him feeling so burned out and worried that he forgot to eat or sleep. It took him a long time to admit to himself that healing for him was what fighting was to many other elves: a necessity. Truth be told, he’d rather be gardener, working with the earth to create a place of peace and beauty. Also, Elrond is basically a nature spirit. So. It was something he began to explore in the peace of the early Second Age. He found that his Ainuric powers had all sorts of interesting effects on plant life. He also learned how to breed new varieties of fruits, vegetables, and flowers. Still, he never really considered that it could be a proper craft for him. At least, not until he first saw the valley that would one day become Rivendell.

Headcanon Crafts for Finwe and his Children, the House of Feanor, the House of Fingolfin, and the House of Finarfin.

[edennill-archived]

so I've probably spent way more time on this project of dubious quality than would have been reasonable (instead of, you know, sleeping), but I've drawn up a lot of lists and tables, eliminated distinctions thst didn't seem too meaningful and I may have come up with 10 to 12 ...I suppose cultural cohorts would be a better name for it than generations.

(Also this applies strictly to the noldor (and part-noldor), from an amanyar-exilic pov because it would have been too big to handle if I had tried to consider everyone else)

CC A: people who remember cuivenen from before orome appeared; this means everyone who ended up in valinor, including those who first got killed. they knew hardship and terror and some of them still look upon the valar as something relatively new. famous names: finwë, miriel, indis... at this point you can also group all the vanyar & teleri to whom this applies here and lose very little nuance.

CC B: people born after orome found the elves or on the great journey; also including those who died on the way. while they knew some hardship, they did not experience that same helplessness as their parents did; they also haven't known a time before the elves met the valar (which, if you think about it, must have greatly impacted their general worldview making it something we can't really comprehend -- what is it like when you don't have to take metaphysics on faith, or if you do, it's specifically faith that someone you know well is saying the truth?) famous names: none that we know of, although I headcanon ingwion and elulindo might have been born at the turn of this period and the next. [edit: apparently elmo in some versions]

CC C: those born during the years of the trees who did not reach middle-earth during the flight of the noldor (this encompasses those who turned back with finarfin). after years of bliss, the most earth shattering event in their experience was probably the darkening and subsequent crises. likely to be very close with the valar, but while it might seem like they all share similar ideas, this group includes the fallen at alqualondë, the common denominator being whether they had taken part in the war of jewels proper. those who came to beleriand during the war of wrath probably still count, although they might merit their own subsection, having seen the aftermath of the first age with their own eyes. famous names: findis, finarfin, nerdanel, anairë. ironically, fëanor probably has more in common with them than with any other cohort, same with argon.

CC D: those born in aman who became exiles, the common denominator being the shared experience of the long defeat, also: exile, longing and the huge contrast between paradise and a war zone. those who died before the bragollach are commonly accepted to have not seen the worst of it (unless captured) but they are included. the cut-off line is whether they were dead/had sailed by the early second age. famous people: half the characters you can name tbh.

CC A.2, B.2: did not know where to put them, having laid it upon myself to do this in roughly chronological order. the rare-ish bunch who knew what middle earth was like and decided to do it again, includimg a few who actually died on their first try and still weren't put off. famous names: none.

CC E: the poor wretches who were born in beleriand and died in beleriand (or at the very least sailed as soon as the first age ended), sharing the long defeat with the cohorts above, just without the preceding experience of aman. as often as not they had sindarin heritage, here cultural differences begin to blur in places. known people: maeglin and (according to my hc) finduilas

CC F: aman-born exiles who survived to see the next age or two in middle-earth. have the experience of a hopeless fight mixed with unbridled optimism for a new age, see: sometimes disastrous results. famous names: celebrimbor (according to hc at least)

CC G: beleriand-born exiles who survived to see the second age in middle earth. see above, they just haven't seen the light of the trees. famous names: elrond and gil-galad, although I'm hesitant whether there shouldn't be another category for those born at the tail end of the first age. they seem to have had slightly different experiences and a better chance of survival, still I suppose you could always say they're just in-between one cohort and another.

CC H: people born in second age middle earth. unbridled optimism mixed with the awareness that so much you have never seen is gone. again, they often pay little heed to the differences between noldor and sindar. famous names: celebrian.

CC I: those born in third age middle earth, having only known the waning of the elves. see: arwen, elladan and elrohir.

CC J: those born in aman after the flight of the noldor. the first few age groups knew a lot of empty streets, but since then tirion has filled up somewhat. their most difficult experience is likely to be the downward descent and sudden fall of the númenoreans, if they were present for it. famous names: any children the finwëan cousins™ might have had post reembodiement.

thinking how there has to be an elvish equivalent of generations (sociologically speaking) like 'the lost generation' or 'gen x' and such, only it's so much more complicated because they're immortal. like there still are specific events that impact people who lived through them and they share this impact with everyone else who did, there is a world of difference between having fought in beleriand and being born after the war of wrath, but at the same time there's also a world of difference between dying in beleriand and living to found eregion.

and a huge part of the differences that matter is in whether you were in valinor or middle earth but they're not the only ones, and just within the house of finwë... like, the cousins™ are very visibly all one generation, sociologically and literally speaking, born in the bliss of valinor and then taking on the burnt of the catastrophes of the first age, but culturally there isn't much that separates their experiences from their parents, far less than separates both from their grandparents who had known the terrors that stalked cuivenen and made the choice to leave. but here already we encounter a hitch because the generation of finwe's children was split between those who became exiles and those who stayed in aman, and even fëanor himself was probably more amanyar then beleriandim due to his very quick death, never having really known the long defeat.

but then we come to the great-grandchildren and here it becomes a huge mess because celebrimbor and idril were probably childhood friends but one of them spent like five times more in middle earth than the other, and no one could argue that orodreth¹ and celebrian (first cousins) were in the same generation except in the most literal family tree sense. it seems easiest to divide them between those who had an impact on the first age (idril, maeglin, orodreth) and those who mostly hadn't but made their mark on the second (celebrimbor, gil-galad², celebrian), but even here, celebrian was born into a far different world than the rest, and even this breakdown is made more complex if we take into account that some of them had known at least a little bit of aman before the darkening and not the others. and then if finrod had a child in aman, he or she would have a completely different set of experiences still.

(I go by ¹the Orodreth son of Angrod version and ²the Gil Galad son of Fingon version)

and then of course the usefulness of family trees breaks down completely because elrond (grandchild of a grandchild) is visibly of the same sociological generation as celebrimbor&co (not elros though), finduilas should be categorised along with maeglin and eärendil is unclassifiable (actually in some ways one might try to put him along with elros, despite their opposite choices, as people who were active at the turn of the ages and remained as symbols later on, but ultimately their situations are very different in many ways.)

and arwen, of course, is born three millennia after all her first cousins are dead, but here we've got morality entering the picture.

[youareunbearable]

I swear I wrote this down before, but I cant find it in any of my notes so here's a little fun idea! When the world gets recreated so its no longer Arda Marred, I think the Valar got together and Looked at the Finwe problem and shrugged and decided to make all of Miriel and her descendants Maiar to slove that tricky little problem of Remarriage.

Because the Feanorians are now Maiar, they aren't technically born, meaning they aren't really siblings and part of the same family so there is no real issue in separating them now is there?

Miriel is one of Vaire's weavers of course, and Feanor is one of Aule's most talented smiths, but that is understandable as he is the spirit of Hearth Fire itself. There are others within Aule's Halls, but their knowledge of each other is passing, for Celebrimbor tends to stay with the jewelry makers and Curufin likes creating hunting gear for Orome's hunt

Orome is almost never seen without his most prized hunter, Celegorm, who prefers a form that looks more wolf than Elf.

Vana, Orome's wife, herself has a pair of giggling and twittering songbirds that follow her around as she follows her husband's Hunt. They dance and sing and twirl in sync that many often just call the pair of them by a singular name, Ambarussa.

Irmo within his forest full of Song and Music has a very talented Maia that is so in tune with thr Song that they can play with it however they choose. Maglor only uses this ability to give the Elves good dreams, of course.

Este is forever thankful of her assistant Caranthir, who keeps all her medical necessities and books in order, so she is always prepared to help those in need, even if he himself doesn't have the best beside manner.

Lady Nienna’s Maia, Maedhros is a bit more of a recluse. He is charming when spoken too, but there is something distant, some type of lingering melancholy that clings to him, like a weak dawn in the deepest days of winter. He tends to hide himself away in the forests surrounding Formenos, helping those who are lost find their way back home.

Then there are Finwe and his beautiful wife Indis, their children, and many grandchildren. They are a stunning example of a happy family, and all the citizens of Tirion love having them as their royal family. Nothing is ever wrong, even when Fingolfin’s daughter Aredhel got lost during a hunt, she was lucky enough to be escorted back to her worried brothers' camp.

Fingon, who had never felt the degree of terror that flooded his veins at the thought of his sister lost in the woods, terror that was much stronger than what was called for because what could befell her in their peaceful land of Valinor?

She was being ferried on the back of a behemoth of a horse, pristine and laughing at the antics of the silver wolf-like Maia walking at her side. The horse was being led by a silent Maia, who smiled softly at the pair but made no move to include himself.

Fingon looked up at the tall Maia, and felt something in his fea shatter. He always had felt like something was missing, that he would havr an urge to go looking for someone he could never find, catch himself looking up to share an idea with someone who must have been taller than him only to look up at empty air. His bed felt so cold, but no matter how high he tended the hearth flames he knew it was because it was empty. He would look to the distant mountains and see a dawn peaking over their tops and weep as something in his fea ached.

Everything felt so overwhelming when he looked at this Maia, this being that looked cold, who wore furs and had snow dusting his shoulders even though it was a warm sunny summer day. Fingon was so lost in the sensations swirling within him that he was too slow to act before the Maia helped Aredhel off his horse, swung up himself and was out of the clearing. That wolfish Maia giving his sister a laughing twirl before bounding off into the thicket, chasing after the distant horn call.

Fingon’s knees felt weak, he found himself sinking to the forest floor. This world may be Arda Remade, but he still felt Marred.

[tolkiens-middleearth]

Some thoughts on Amazon's LOTR series...

When the show was first announced, I was both excited and worried.

Excited, because Tolkien's Middle-earth is one of the fictional creations that is most dear to me.

Worried, because Tolkien's Middle-earth is one of the fictional creations that is most dear to me.

Any fan would be intrigued by the idea of seeing such a work on screen, be it on TV or in the cinema. But of course there is also always the risk of a show or series not matching one's own imagination.

It's not a bad thing if what's on screen does not match your own imagination. But it can be frustrating. Wanting to like something but not being able to is very, very frustrating.

So far not much is known about Amazon's LOTR series, it's too early to give a final verdict before the show has even aired. However, based on the recent Vanity Fair article and some leaks, I can at least say for sure that I don't have any hopes left for this show. There is of course the possibility of a miracle, I could actually end up liking the show against all odds.

But as it stands, it's quite unlikely, and so I want to analyse my disappointment and frustrations with all the news I've seen and read so far, starting with the confirmed information.

The Vanity Fair Article

For a long time, there was barely any information about this show available. The Vanity Fair article is now our first official source of information for this show.

Timline

In the novels, the aforementioned things take place over thousands of years, but Payne and McKay have compressed events into a single point in time. It is their biggest deviation from the text, and they know it’s a big swing. “We talked with the Tolkien estate,” says Payne. “If you are true to the exact letter of the law, you are going to be telling a story in which your human characters are dying off every season because you’re jumping 200 years in time, and then you’re not meeting really big, important canon characters until season four. Look, there might be some fans who want us to do a documentary of Middle-earth, but we’re going to tell one story that unites all these things." – Vanity Fair

The Second Age is a very long age. It is more than 3000 years long and contains various different events. The foundation of Númenor is at its beginning. The creation of the Rings of Power is in its middle. The downfall of Númenor is at its end.

The Vanity Fair article keeps pointing out that Elrond is young – but born at the end of the First Age, Elrond is only really young at the beginning of the Second Age. At the time of the creation of the Rings he would be already 1500 years old, and at the end of the Second Age over 3000 years. Considering that a young Elrond is around in the show at the same time when Isildur and Ar-Pharazôn are around means that the whole Second Age has been reduced to a very short timeline. Galadriel hunting down "the last remnants of [Morgoth's and Sauron's] collaborators" is another indicator that all these three major events are coming together.

Compressing these things into the short period of a human lifetime is a huge problem:

Númenor as it exists in Tolkien's Middle-earth cannot exist in Amazons LOTR series: the long history is missing, both the rise to the impressive kingdom that it came to be and its slow decline.

If Númenor actually has exitsted prior to the Second Age, it has a different history. It is no longer Andor, the Land of Gift, nor can its special characteristics come from the Valar.

The Elves barely had time to leave for Valinor, and a large part of their history will be lost: Elrond was over a thousand years old when he lead Gil-galad's troups into battle against Sauron. Gil-galad and Celebrimbor had time to found cities and realms in Lindon and Eregion. Elrond's brother Elros was King of Númenor for 500 years, is there now any room left for him?

Having the Fall of Númenor so close after the creation of the Rings of Power also means that there is no real threat coming from Sauron. There is no Dark Lord here, ruling the East and South of Middle-earth for half an age, there is just a couple of years left for Sauron between creating the One Ring and losing it in the War against the Last Alliance. It all happens in the lifetime of one man (that man being Isildur).

There is more to this of course, but these are the first major points to make here. The epic stories that Tolkien wrote were built on the centuries of history of that world. You can't cheat your way out of it.

Ridiculing fans by claiming that they want them "to do a documentary of Middle-earth" is unfair, because time matters in any story. Unfortunately series and film makers alike don't understand this anymore these days, and the stories shown on TV and in the cinema suffer because of it.

Middle-earth

“One of the very specific things the texts say is that hobbits never did anything historic or noteworthy before the Third Age,” says McKay. “But really, does it feel like Middle-earth if you don’t have hobbits or something like hobbits in it?”

– Vanity Fair

Here is a showrunner saying "I know this is not what Tolkien wrote but I'm going to ignore it" word for word. There are indeed no Hobbits during the Second Age in Tolkien's Middle-earth, nor any proto-Hobbits. Middle-earth was Middle-earth long before Tolkien invented Bilbo. Together with the quote that this material is "sometimes scary—and sometimes very intense, sometimes quite political, sometimes quite sophisticated—but it’s also heartwarming and life-affirming and optimistic" it makes me wonder if the showrunners understand the difference between the stories told in The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings and the stories told in the Quenta Silmarillion or the Akallabêth. The Quenta Silmarillion as published in 1977 ends with the following sentence:

"If it has passed from the high and the beautiful to darkness and ruin, that was of old the fate of Arda Marred; and if any change shall come and the Marring be amended, Manwë and Varda may know; but they have not revealed it, and it is not declared in the dooms of Mandos." – J.R.R. Tolkien. The Silmarillion.

That sounds like a very different tone to me – and the Akallabêth is the same. Galadriel spoke about fighting "the long defeat". Tolkien wrote that there is "little fun or earthiness but mostly grief and disaster".

The conflict of the high and the beautiful with the darkness and ruin was a central element of these stories. The optimistic part was based on hope and faith in Eru – and I have serious doubts that the series will even allude to that.

And then there are changes that have no foundation in Tolkien's lore at all. Some will be mentioned further down in the text, and here I just want to ask: what is this supposed to be and why do these people carry moose antlers on their backs?

And if it's not a weird look like this, it feels like a cheap look, at least going by the pictures. It's hard to imagine that Amazon has spent so much money on this production.

The Characters

I can't go as deep into the character and peoples analysis as I would like to, simply because it costs a lot of time and noone will read it. I want to discuss a few issues nontheless.

The Elves

Tolkien had described the Elves as the "fairest of all earthly creatures". Elves weren't just humans with pointy ears, but in a way the personification of human dreams and desires – completely unreachable. People so much like us but also so much unlike us.

Now it's impossible for any production to make us humans more beautiful than we actually are. But wouldn't it be possible to make them seem a bit more than they actually are? To make them appear a bit different, a bit other, a bit more?

Amazon's LOTR series certainly doesn't think so – instead it makes the Elves look as mundane as the friendly neighbore next door doing cosplay.

The first look on Elrond was disappointing for me, and probably the most frustrating part of that whole reveal. While Robert Aramayo certainly isn't ugly for human standards, for me there is no trace of Elvishness in his face. The fact that Elrond and Arondir (the only other male Elf with a picture) both have short hair makes them both look even more normal and human. They have pointy ears, that's it. Cover up the ears and you won't know the difference between Elves and Men. It's a very modern look for a story that is supposed to take place at least about 9000 years in the past.

Individually these characters come with their own problems in their designs and descriptions, too. I have mentioned Elrond's age and I'll do it again: he was an Half-Elf, aging slower than Men, but not as slow as Elves. When he was born, his father – a Half-Elf as well – was barely 30. And Elrond's brother Elros was old enough to become King of Númenor at the beginning of the Second Age. In addition, he is described as an "architect and politician" – and there is not really any trace of that in Tolkien's writings. Elrond was a healer, and Imladris was founded as a refuge, not as an architecture project. Elrond wasn't really a politican either, he was a subject of Gil-galad while he was alive, and and advisor later on.

Galadriel's character doesn't seem to fit Tolkien's idea of her either. While it is true that Galadriel was physically fit and did fight in her early years, her role in Middle-earth was a different one. As Melian's student she became calmer and wiser. In the show it seems she takes over the role of Elrond as "commander of the Northern Armies" (since there are no other armies in the north but Gil-galad's). There is also the little bit of her hunting down those who had killed her brother... more on that later.

The only other Elf we see is Arondir, and he is a made up Silvan Elf. As it was clear that Amazon would go for a more diverse cast, the most irritating thing about his design is the very short hair that I have already mentioned, and the fact that there is a bearded guy on his armour. Does that mean Elves get beards now, too? Another thing that made me role my eyes is the "forbidden love" between him and what appears to be a mortal woman. I guess I have to be content that it's at least not a romance plot between an Elf and a Dwarf, right? Right??

Dwarves

Speaking of beards: someone who should have a beard and doesn't is the dwarf princess Disa.

Appendix A of The Lord of the Rings clearly states that the dwarf-women "are in voice and appearance, and in garb if they must go on a journey, so like to the dwarf-men that the eyes and ears of other peoples cannot tell them apart".

Disa does not look at all like the male dwarf example that we were given (nor does the male dwarf look like her). Neither her face nor her clothes feel particulary dwarvish to me. The beard is missing, the gold jewerly looks cheap, and the clothes are... overall very undefined. Not the clothes I would imagine a princess living under the mountains to wear. Without the jewelery it would look more like the dress of an Elven maid on a warm summer day, and with the jewelery it looks more like someone living in the warm south, like a queen of Harad. Dwarvish it is not.

The Rings of Power

Funnily enough, one of the things that irritate me most is in the title of the series. The articles says about the Rings of Power in the series:

All this will center, eventually, around the incident that gives the trilogy its name. “The forging of the rings,” says McKay. “Rings for the elves, rings for dwarves, rings for men, and then the one ring Sauron used to deceive them all. It’s the story of the creation of all those powers, where they came from, and what they did to each of those races.” – Vanity Fair

Interestingly enough, the story of the Rings of Power is split between the Second and the Third Age. For the Elves, the Rings of Power were the cause of Sauron's invasion in Eriador, but aside from that the Rings didn't do anything to the Elves in the Second Age, because the Elves did not use them. They knew they could not use them while Sauron had the One Ring. So the story about the Three Rings of the Elves is, according to Tolkien's writings, not very exciting during the Second Age, once Celebrimbor is dead.

The Rings of the Dwarves are vague enough that more could be said about them in the show, and we pretty much know what happened to the Nine: they slowly but surely turned nine kings of Men into wraiths. Only that there is barely time for it in this condensed timeline now – prolonging their life would only come into effect if the story would take longer than a human lifetime, and it's basically confirmed that there is no time for that. It is doubtful if the nine kings of Men even come into play in this story – maybe in the end it won't really even be about the effects of the rings, and more of the threat that Sauron poses because of his desire for the rings?

Leaks

However, the Vanity Fair article is not our only source of information on Amazon's LOTR show. There have been quite a few leaks posted and collected by https://fellowshipoffans.com, and many have been proven right so far.

And in these leaks there are a couple of story points (not yet confirmed!) that I feel contradict Tolkien's writings heavily:

The are reports of an Orc leader, who is not an Orc, called "Adar" (Sindarin for father) – he is played by Joseph Mawle. There are also rumours that this Adar could indeed be one of Galadriel's brothers (but not Finrod). → If this is the case it means that either Angrod or Aegnor becomes corrupted and ends up as a leader of a group of Orcs, probably in the service of Sauron. Given that one of Galadriel's plotlines seems to be the hunt of those "who claimed the life of her brother" (fun Tolkien's lore fact: actually all her brothers are dead), it doesn't take much imagination to predict that the drama will come from realising that her brother is alive but corrupted.

There are reports on Galadriel coming to Númenor, most likely to ask for aid in the fight against Sauron. → With the condensed timeline, it becomes obvious that there is no space for the growing hositlity of Númenoreans towards Elves that would result in Elves no longer coming to Númenor. Galadriel's changed character also comes into play here, because Galadriel in Tolkien's writings wouldn't have had lots of reason to go to Númenor. Gil-galad and especially Elrond would have had better connections with the Númenoreans.

Speaking of Elves... Charles Edwards as Celebrimbor is all but officially confirmed. → Judging by the looks of the other Elves, make-up won't be of much help for this 52 old guy, so he will most likely look even less Elvish than Elrond or Arondir.

There are reports on a character arriving in Middle-earth as a meteor. And the leaks also say that this "meteor man", as he has been nicknamed by Fellowship of Fans, first appears nice but later on it will be revealed that this guy is in fact not nice. In addition, he apparently comes in contact with the Hobbits. There also have been rumours that Sauron has been seen at the Hobbit set. Furthermore, this character is associated with the poster of the guy holding an apple. → Everything points to this character indeed being Sauron, especially since it's unlikely that either Elf, Men or Dwarf would appear as a meteor. There is absolutely no reason for Sauron to be in the form of a meteor, or to come in contact with Hobbits prior to the business in the Third Age with Gollum, Bilbo and Frodo. This is a huge departure from Tolkien's writings.

There is probably more that I just can't remember right now. Vaguely I remember that Elves-being-turned-into-Orcs came up as a topic, Queen Miriel was mentioned, the actors of Isildur, Elendil and Ar-Pharazôn are known... as far as worrying leaks go, I think I've mentioned the main points.

Imagination

And then there is, of course, the now well know promotion picture of the series that shows Valinor and the Two Trees (the figure is rumoured to be Finrod):

Given all that I know about this show now, I hope we won't see too much of the First Age in this show (although it may seem like we get two whole episodes about it...). Series and movies have a way of overriding your own imagination of places and characters. Without a doubt images of this series will appear all over the internet, you'll see it whether you want to watch the show or not, especially if you discuss Middle-earth online in general. It's not like people know how to tag properly. So I'd rather keep most of the First Age to my own imagination.

I know that I'll try my best to not let these characters override my own imagination of the Tolkien's characters that I have loved for so long. And for me as someone who usually gets easily and quickly attached to characters this is the worst basis for any show to have.

The Vanity Fair article writes:

The driving question behind the production, he adds, was this: “Can we come up with the novel Tolkien never wrote and do it as the mega-event series that could only happen now?”

Unfortunately, everything I've heard about this show so far says that you can't. When they talk about "realizing [Tolkien's] vision of places and characters" it is now quite clear that they either have no idea what Tolkien's visions for these places and characters were, or they simply do not care.

It is no crime not to want to tell Tolkien's stories. But why would you then still try to pretend that you're telling Tolkien's stories? Be honest and do something else!