#because you know if there is a celebrimbor/sauron family

[cosmic-walkers]

And Neradnis himself is just copy and paste of Annatar with Celebrimbor's features but he has such a different personality from both of them. He has a very human like personality and despite how he was created, he's very kind. Many are afraid fo him, because he looks so much like Sauron but he's still nice. Maitomiel is a bit more stern than he is. But she is just as hopeful. She looks a lot like Nerdanel, but with Sauron's eyes and Feanor's personality which can sometimes be not good. She lives with thinking that her father hated her and abandoned her, and while she doesn't hold it against him, she doesn't know that Celebrimbor would literally hide her with his hair, torn cape, armor of anything so she would never be found. When Celebrimbor is in Valinor, Nerdanis ends up finding Valinor and they reunite, but Celebrimbor sends Nerdanis to middle earth to find Maitomiel. He never heals until he finds her. She does end up returning to Valinor to meet him for the first time, yet only shortly as she has a kingdom she rules on ME. But she is very happy to see him and all his well.

[saurons-pr-department]

Isn't silvergifting weird ? I mean celebrimbor is the guy whom sauron straight up tortured and killed him painfully and it's 2nd most popular ship for celebrimbor?

At the risk of being a bit too blunt here, it's really only weird if you're under the (incorrect) impression that shipping is like when you think two of your friends would make a cute couple and not simply the idea that the dynamic between two or more characters is compelling in some way (which is what I've usually seen it be in the almost 20 years I've been in fandom spaces). There is value in stories that end badly. Lies and betrayal have just as much reason to be in a story as any other element.

Celebrimbor and Annatar/Sauron worked alongside each other for centuries. The arrival of Annatar usherd in a golden age of new discoveries and power for the Elves of Ost-in-Edhel/ Eregion as a whole. Celebrimbor let Annatar in despite the warnings of family, like Galadriel, and the Elves of Lindon telling Annatar to jog on and take his suspicious self elsewhere. Is he trying to make up for his family's tragedies caused by lack of trust? Does he want power? Does he want to outshine his (in)famous grandfather? Get one up on his father? And that's just Celebrimbor's side of this. There is so much to explore between these two, so it's really not surprising that romance is something that people include.

There's also quite a few flavours of Silverfisting/Silvergifting out there. There's the one where they both fall for each other. There's Sauron stringing Celebrimbor along because it suits his purposes. There's Celebrimbor playing along to try and get close enough to find out what Sauron is up to. There's Celebrimbor thinking Sauron actually wants to turn over a new leaf. There's the version where that's even true! There's Sauron thinking Celebrimbor could actually swayed to follow him. Etc. etc. etc. etc. I could go on forever.

And on a more general level, some of us like sad stories. Sometimes the cruelty just hits that much harder when it was preceeded by kindness. "I hate you" can sound kind of bland on its own, but when it replaces "I love you" it has the ability to cut that much deeper. It adds layers to each happy scene to know that that's not how it's going to end, to be privy to knowledge of a future the characters are hurtling towards, blissfully ignorant.

A ship doesn't need to be nice. It's purpose is to put an interesting story in front of us. And sometimes that interest comes from watching on in horror as the inevitable catches up with the characters.

[the-writing-goblin]

I am once again thinking about how good the story of the second age is, and all the fun things you could do with an actually decent adaptation. Consider:

Galadriel should be exactly the same as she is in Lord of the Rings. She is older, weirder and more powerful than any elf other elf in Middle Earth. Other elves are just as unnerved by her as mortals, and dealing with her is stressful at the best of times.

Elrond should be an absolute infant. Just, complete baby face. But everyone treats him super respectfully and he has a lot of power and influence. The energy should be the same as when the super ancient and powerful vampire or faerie or whatever looks like a ten year old girl.

ALSO there should be a tall, menacing elf with visible tattoo and facial scars who just. Stands behind Elrond looking intimidating all the time. The least elf-looking elf ever. All the other elves are uncomfortable around them. Elrond should treat them like their an Aunt or Uncle. The elf is one of the few surviving hard-line Feanorians, all of whom follow Elrond. The longer you can go without explaining this, the better.

Gil-Galad is very tired, and spends a lot of time balancing one of the most famously unstable political systems in all of Arda. Galadriel and Elrond both have factions they support to strongly to be relied on to be impartial. The reason he doesn't worry much about what Celebrimbor's up to is that he's the one member of the family who is highly unlikely to attempt something batshit nuts, and his followers are mostly moderate.

Celebrimbor and Annatar/Sauron should spend the whole series playing complicated mindgames with each other.

Annatar is playing four-dimensional chess from the beginning. For him, this is an all or nothing gamble. If he can't make the rings he won't have the power to seize control on his own. He should spend a lot of time having Light Yagami-level monologues where he tries to figure out what game Celebrimbor is playing while outwardly pretending to be harmless and normal and only succeeding at this about 75% of the time.

Celebrimbor should start of thinking the stakes are considerably lower. Like... is Annatar hiding something? Yea, but he figures Annatar doesn't actually have permission from the Valar to be here or something. Not, ya know, Annatar is secretly Satan in disguise. In the first act there should be an almost comical disconnect between the amount of energy Sauron is putting in to these mind games versus Celebrimbor.

Bonus points if as Celebrimbor figures out the truth, you intersperse more and more of his family backstory. The guilt he is still carrying for a lot the things that happened in the first age. Early on bring in the fact that Finrod went into Sauron's jaws alone and it was Curufin's fault, use this as angst material. And then as he figures out who Sauron really is, drop Maedhros and Thangorodrim in like a nuclear bomb.

Because Celebrimbor has seen this play before, and he knows what Sauron does to people. It wasn't even personal then, what Sauron is going to do to him will be so much worse.

And Celebrimbor chooses to forge the three rings anyway. He doesn't give up their locations, even with everything Sauron does to him at the end. And that should be devestating.

[echo-bleu]

Noldor Hair Headcanons (4/4)

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | On AO3

There isn’t anyone left who knows how to do Maglor’s Mourning Braids, but they are described in a lament for Fingon that’s still doing the rounds, so Elrond and Elros make their best try. That style is henceforth known as Elrond’s Mourning Braids (because Elros gets forgotten by the elves a lot after he dies, let’s not lie to ourselves).

A decade of nothing but Mourning Braids really hammers in that Elrond and Elros weren’t just hostages.

It doesn’t do a lot for their reputation, but they don’t particularly care.

Bit by bit, Elros adopts mannish customs after making his Choice, and even goes so far as to cut his hair above the shoulder. Elrond is pre-grieving his brother too much to be properly shocked about this.

(It’s still long enough to braid. It’s fine. It’s not like his brother is leaving him on purpose. Or rejecting him. Elrond knows that.)

Everyone thinks Elrond should wear his hair in the Sindarin custom but he refuses to give up his Noldor braids. Elros braids his brother’s hair until he leaves for Númenor.

Elrond and Gil-galad do each other’s hair through the Second Age. Because they’re the last of their family and the only ones to keep to the old traditions. Not at all because they’re close. Of course not. Wouldn’t be proper. (They spend two hours at it every morning alone in Gil-galad’s chambers.)

Elrond revives his Mourning Braids on his 500th birthday.

Celebrimbor learns about dwarven hair culture. It’s Very Different but kind of similar, in that fancy hairstyles are a status thing. (Or really, long hair/beard is a status thing and then you have to do something with it because otherwise it catches everywhere.)

Narvi isn’t in fact the first dwarf to touch elven hair, but that’s only because Finrod had a very extended concept of family.

Annatar magically braids his own hair, when he even bothers (his hair doesn’t even singe in the forge if it falls into the fire). This hurts Celebrimbor’s sensitivities, but he adapts to Annatar’s ways, and adapts again, and adapts, until he really can’t.

Sauron cuts off Celebrimbor’s beautiful dark braids full of dwarven beads and ties them to the spears of his personal guard. Elrond never quite manages to get that image out of his head.

At war again, Gil-Galad invents locs. Well, re-invents them really, because Silvan elves have worn them forever, but he’s the first Noldor to do it. (He has Fingon’s hair texture. Does that mean he’s Fingon’s son? Who knows. He’s not telling.)

It’s only after Gil-galad’s death that Elrond teaches himself how to braid his own hair.

He hates it.

But he won’t wear his hair loose.

(The first style he masters is Maglor’s Mourning Braids.) (It really shouldn’t be because it’s Intricate but Elrond is nothing if not stubborn.)

Imladris has a full salon, like the Noldor palaces of old.

It doesn’t get that much use, to be honest.

Erestor learns to braid really tiny braids into Glorfindel’s hair, so that he never wears his hair fully loose but it still looks like it’s loose. Everyone else thinks it’s ridiculous. Glorfindel thinks it’s the best thing. Elrond watches them with a knowing smile.

Celebrían wears her hair half-loose in the Sindar style until she marries Elrond. It takes him several years to find the strength to ask her to do his hair, but she lets him do hers and he sneaks in more and more braids until they settle on a mixed-style. When he finally allows her to do his hair, Celebrían makes her mother grumpily teach her proper Noldor braids.

Elladan and Elrohir only wear practical Sindarin braids for the day to day, but they delight in doing each other’s hair in complicated styles for feasts and ceremonies. Elrond cries the first time they accidentally replicate Maglor’s favourite hairstyle.

Arwen is a little gremlin who squirms out of her parents’ lap when they try to braid her hair. She’s also inherited even more of Melian’s hair than Elrond, so even when they manage to do a braid, it’s gone in a few hours.

It takes years after Celebrían sails, because they’re all grieving, but eventually Elrohir offers to do his father’s hair, and Elrond lets him. They don’t do it every day, but it’s a large step in their recovery process.

By the way, Thranduil’s thing for flower/leaf crowns isn’t a Sindar or Silvan practice, it’s just that he wanted to be Fancy but Not In a Noldor Way, thank you very much. He’s also very vain. His servants do his hair.

Little Estel is very cute, has very silky hair for a man, even of his line, and makes a great doll for the twins to play with. He likes his hair touched A Lot.

Arwen learns about that early on. She’s a very good silver smith. Aragorn now owns a lot of hair jewellery. He can’t make a braid to save his life, but that’s fine, because Arwen can’t wear them anyway.

In the North, he wears his hair like Elros, cut above his shoulders. Once he becomes King, he lets it grow to his waist. He’s the first Man since Tuor to casually wear his hair in elaborate Noldor braids. He accidentally sets a fashion.

Arwen also does Éowyn’s and Faramir’s hair regularly. The first time is for their wedding. Éowyn isn’t a fan of the unpractical Fëanorian styles, but the Nolofinwëan battle braids look incredibly good on her.

Wandering on the coast for two ages, Maglor no longer does anything with his hair. It doesn’t enjoy the salt at all.

When Elrond finally finds him, he almost has to cut it all off. Instead, he spends weeks carefully untangling and moisturising Maglor’s hair until he can finally braid it in the old style for him. Maglor cries.

Elrond cries too. He cries even more when Maglor sits them down on the floor and braids his hair like he used to.

They sail together with the other Ring bearers, and there’s a lot more crying when they find Celebrían, Gil-galad and Maedhros waiting for them together.

Celebrían is wearing her hair in one of the Fëanorian styles that can be done one-handed.

Galadriel isn’t entirely happy about that, but she sees Finrod and forgets about it.

There’s some more crying.

Fingon is also there (the amount of gold in his hair is a bit blinding, not that Elrond will ever tell him) and also wearing a one-handed braided style.

There are some fights over who gets to do Elrond’s hair in the next few weeks.

Celebrían wins most of them, because she’s inherited Galadriel’s viciousness, but she lets everyone have a turn.

Elrond would like to know why he doesn’t have a say in it.

(He does. They would never touch him if he didn’t want to. They’re just very happy to see him.)

He does go to visit Elwing and Eärendil in their tower, and he goes with his hair down, because he’s a peace-maker at heart.

But in Tirion, he always sports the most complex hairstyles, just barely coming short of overshadowing the High King’s (mostly because his hair is still too silky for it to hold well), because his family all want to outdo each other.

He earns the reputation of being the most beloved of all the Noldor.

It’s not wrong.

Some visuals & more in my art tag

[rey-jake-therapist]

I think Galadriel will be on some sort of “romantic situation” with another character in the finale: that’s how I interpret the Polish review, especially after reading a Polish speaker explanation. This reviewer doesn’t like RoP (calls it a “fanfiction” at some point) but was able to find something good to say. However, she was so pissed at this scene in particular, and even though isn’t allow to openly discuss it until the episode airs, she danced around it, anyway.

Without giving any actual spoilers, the reviewer says the Galadriel scene will (1) have other character replace Celeborn for a few seconds; (2) be lore-breaking; (3) make Tolkien fans (hence lorebros) lose their minds; (4) mess up genealogies as created by Tolkien.

Everyone is taking the last bit as literal, but they are forgetting this reviewer can’t talk plainly nor directly. And so, a scene messing up genealogies as created by Tolkien could be Galadriel in a romantic setting with pretty much any other character of the show. Other than from Celeborn, that is, because the Polish meaning has something to do with spouses and family.

Didn’t Charlie said Sauron will pitch the “will you be my queen?” to Galadriel again? This has to happen in their reunion and fight, as we already saw on the trailers. Our fandom is already aware of the “last temptation”, and the show itself already teased it. This is mostly likely the scene the reviewer is talking about. It can be a vision of what Galadriel and Sauron could look like together; them as a family, Galadriel pregnant, whatever. Boom, fits all the requirements. And it doesn’t needs to be any kissing in order to be shocking, because so many fans hate the notion of Sauron x Galadriel so much, that seeing Galadriel pregnant with Sauron’s child alone would throw them into a fit.

Well, now I think I'm starting to make sense of this leak, if this is indeed about a vision that Galadriel has.

Galadriel already had several visions of the future thanks to her ring : she saw Halbrand/Sauron waiting for Celebrimbor in Eregion, then Elrond fighting in armour, Sauron as Halbrand on a horse...

So it could be that at some point during her fight with Sauron, (or before or after ! whatever), she has a vision that mixes up several things : stuff that *could* happen if she made certain choices, and stuff that will really happen. Maybe it could also be Sauron messing up with her mind and inserting himself in her visions of the future? You know, to make her think that the pregnancy, the family etc.... she'll have all those with him, Sauron, and not with her husband. It could be all the easier for her to believe it, that she believes Celeborn to be dead.

[elficially-done-with-life]

Helping Celebrimbor heal in Valinor hc

Pairing: Celebrimbor x reader

Warnings: slight mentions of torture

Takes place after he is reembodied and falls in love with you

♡♡♡♡♡♡♡

♡ You go for long walks after Celebrimbor has nightmares, sometimes until the sun comes up, while you talk about all sorts of things

♡ he feels uncomfortable and cramped in narrow spaces and streets, so you've agreed that he'll always tug on your sleeve twice when everything gets too much for him

♡ You then carefully lead him out of the crowd and help him to calm down

♡ When he wants to start working in the forge again, he asks you to stay with him

♡ He is too afraid of being reminded of the forging of the rings and the pain of what followed while forging

♡ Feels safe if you are there when he makes something again, at least at first

♡ Celebrimbor gets a few panic attacks, but you help him and soon he manages to work alone in the forge (but doesn't mind if you come along or drop by sometimes anyway)

♡ Would like to get in touch with Curufin again, but isn't sure if his father has really changed and realised his mistakes

♡ Since Curufin doesn't know you, you offer to find out if he is still the same

♡ In the end, it leads to a heart-wrenching reunion between father and son, which is also the reason why Curufin welcomes you all too happily as part of the family

♡ As it had been dark in Sauron's dungeon, Celebrimbor can only sleep when the whole room is brightly lit

♡ Feels guilty if you can't sleep well in the light, but you assure him that you're happy to get used to a new sleeping situation as long as it means he can find his way back to the present more quickly after nightmares or fall asleep at all

♡ sometimes wakes you up after really bad nightmares

♡ you always wake up from the 'normal' nightmares, but with the really bad ones he doesn't scream and just lies there frozen with fear

♡ He wakes you up quietly and ashamed and asks if you can cuddle, of course you say yes every time and then whisper to him that you are glad he woke you up because you love him and want to help him, Celebrimbor always feels a little better as a result

♡ All in all, it will take time for him to really start getting better, but it would be worth all the time in the world to you, and you know you can do it as long as you're together

[eri-pl]

Yay! I remembered to pick the right blog to post to!

So, I was thinking about Annatar,

probably because of all the gifs and stuff, I wish you all happy watching, but I was thinking about Anntar in the book. Anyway. There's one angle that seems underexplored to me. Long post below cut, no ships except those burned at Losgar. Sorry if you had hopes. ;)

He's more or less openly claiming to be an emissary of the Valar. And he is approaching various Noldor. Especially Celebrimbor (the last* living descendant of Feanor) and Galadriel (iirc banned from returning after War of Wrath per special exception for being an unrepentant jerk? Or am I misremembering?)

\* However, Annatar approaching Maglor on the beach and getting blast away with just a few notes and flying a few miles and landing in mud, is a wonderful image to ponder. Yes, I know, Sauron + duels of song = bad… but Finrod relied on skill, not on infrasound + centuries of repressed rage. :)

Anyway, back to Celebrimbor.

Imagine: Your grandfather rebelled against the Valar, swore a blasphemous oath and died. Your father did the same, but with more mass murders in the meantime. The Valar have rejected your family long, long ago. And now someone comes, an emissary.

How anxious Celebrimbor must have been. A lot depends on what exactly happenned with Celebrimbor at the War of Wrath, what Eonwë told him (probably nothing, he's not a HR guy, he's a warrior, he wouldn't think it necessary to talk indyvidually to that one Noldo, and Celebrimbor was afraid to ask), was he allowed to return (I assume yes, because why not, but he was either too insecure or... idk, hoping to find his uncle?) and so on.

Or maybe it's like with Galadriel: he didn't return after the WoW and believes that now it's too late?

I'm sure Annatar comforts him. (No, you can't return just yet, you have an important task to do here). I'm sure he assures Celebrimbor that the Valar still remember Middle Earth and still remember him. Or… maybe not?

Maybe it's more half-truths? Maybe it's more along the lines of "technically i shouldn't be here, but I pity the Elves who stayed here, and you especially and I chose to help regardless". Maybe it's more of "You have a lot of baggage, and I do have some things that I'm not proud of, but if we work together to fix the world, we both can be forgiven". Maybe a part of Sauron even believes in this.

One way or another, the topic of Feanorian legacy must be an important thread here, and not only in the aspect of "my grandfather was a great craftsman" but also, maybe even moreso, "my grandfather rejected the Valar and Annatar still wants to work with me regardless of that".

Also, I am absolutely certain that, after he opened up more and trusted Annatar a bit more, Celebrimbor at one point asked (probably very indirectly, because that is a really hard question for him to ask), "Is my father in the Halls, or—"

And I suppose that whatever story Sauron came up with, this very well may have been one of the reasons why Celebrimbor did not fully trust him. This is a perfect conversation topic to notice someone lacks empathy and, well, goodness.

But anyway, I really wish someone wrote a fic with those conversations. Especially with Celebrimbor daring to ask about the fate of the Feanorians. And what the Everlasting Darkness even is.

But also about others who stayed in aman or died. About his mother, whoever she was. His grandmother Nerdanel. There would be a lot of questions for Sauron to avoid and slither around.

Or maybe it was somwhat the other way around?

Maybe Annatar, in his kindness of course, asked a lot about Curufin, about Feanor. (Of course not at the start of their relationship, but as they get to know each other better… I assume Celebrimbor did open up enough to talk that). About how Celebrimbor feels, of course, how he is coping and so on, all the emotionally inteligent, helpful questions... What the Darkness is, where did Feanor get this idea, how was he able to craft an Oath so strong, so binding, where to find that power he called upon— How does it feel to be compared to Feanor all the time, how would it feel to finally be equal to him in greatness (Annatar of course can make this happen).

Darkness that binds. Darkness that calls, that never forgets. That gathers and never lets go. Darkness that binds.

Or (hmmm, this is starting to blend into crack territory) at some point of his cooperation with Annatar, among talks of his father and his terrible fate, there came into Celebrimbor's mind a thought of freing him, of freeing all the family. After all, who could invent a way to get someone back from the Void Everlasting Darkness, if not the heir of the House of Feanor?

This… could be an interesting starting point for a fic.

[chthonion]

Pinned post

About me

I'm Chthonion (they/them) here and on Ao3. Currently I write Silmarillion fic, although honestly who ever knows what I'll do next? Not me.

If you arrived here for non-Tolkien reasons, I apologize for all the Sauron. If you arrived here for Tolkien reasons I am only slightly sorry for the occasional rock operas.

My works are archive-locked on Ao3 for several reasons, including AI scraping and privacy.

My writing

Current installments of Your Shadow Rising To Meet You, my Fourth Age Aman series:

Anastasis (complete), in which Frodo and Celebrimbor and Finrod build a friendship, talk about trauma, and deal with the fact that Sauron's dead spirit is haunting Celebrimbor.

The Harrowing (in progress), in which Sauron/Annatar takes a stab at a redemption arc and encounters many horrifying challenges, including but not limited to Celebrimbor's family, the mortifying ordeal of being known (especially by Frodo), and emotions.

Short fic:

Lost and Found, in which Finrod fights in the war of wrath, dreams of a home he has never known, and follows his dreams

Nothing left to fear, in which Celebrimbor and Sauron meet each other during the War of Wrath while they're both having a bad time and possibly change everything (prequel to Lost and Found)

Nothing Defies You, in which Annatar becomes God and finds it unsatisfying (Silvergifting Last Trial AU)

Transformative works

People sometimes ask for permission, so: if anything I wrote inspires you to write, draw, or otherwise make stuff that is related, please feel free! And when you are done, please tag me or link me or otherwise send it my way, because it makes me really happy to see these things, and I want to admire them.

Do not feed my words into any chatbot or other AI, though. My fic is archive-locked for a reason.

[edennill]

If Tolkien characters had Tumblr blogs part 2:

part 1

Finduilas:

url: waitingtothewind

pfp: drawing of a fictional crush in pastel colours (babygirl fulfills her royal duty to exercise patronage over artists by comissioning reams of fanart lol)

bio: ✧˖･* princess finduilas of nargothrond :) ✧˖･* 47 ✧˖･* poetry appreciator ✧˖･* romantic at heart ✧˖･* girl of many fandoms ✧˖･* favourite animal: doggos ✧˖･* favourite food: strawberry juice ✧˖･* and if I had a voice that could make mountains melt I would walk over stars just to see how it felt ✧˖･*

title: ₓ˚. ୭ ˚○◦˚.˚◦○˚ ୧ .˚ₓ

has a very pink custom theme with a fancy font. runs a fandom/aesthetic blog and stays clear of discourse. writes really good meta that is quite popular and poems that get notes in the single digits. doesn't really know how to deal with anon hate. participates in every tag game she comes across.

Maeglin:

url: keeps changing it between @molelol and @twilitdark because he likes small animals, but wants to sound edgy.

pfp: keeps changing it between a baby mole and the kind of very dark photo where you can't really see what it's supposed to be.

bio: M / not a minor

title: the dark under the trees

guards his personal info incredibly closely (a good practice, but how much of it is due to his father having been so controlling that he learned secrecy early on is up for discussion). rarely posts, mostly reblogs photos and shitposts. vaguely vents about his idril/tuor/gondolin/treason problems. when he gets into discussions with people he can be uncomfortably fierce, has sent anon hate on occasion.

Celebrimbor:

url: craftingsilver

pfp: red eight pointed star (default variation, not technically fëanorian) on yellow background

bio: older/younger than you think | look I've seen the Trees that's enough | Noldorin jewelsmith | male

title: time and soul, wrought and tempered

mostly posts and reblogs crafting tiktoks and tips, sometimes adds a dash of science, philosophy or something personal. has made a resolution to filter out any posts pertaining to his family on his dashboard and keeps to it almost till the end. shows a strong sense of humour and has gathered quite a following.

Idril:

url: celebrin-does-things

pfp: blurred photo of her with her back to the camera

bio: 500s - architect, wife and mother - everyone is welcome

title: "ammë, there's winter in my boots"

started off as a miscellaneous blog, but shifted to being mostly about Eärendil's shenanigans. she vaguely vents about maeglin/gondolin/cousin's treason sometimes, but still comes off as way more laid back than irl. hardly used her tumblr before her son was born and still treats it mostly as a place to document things he has said + a way to talk with like three treasured mutuals. the architect part in bio is mostly a ruse because she has only ever completed one or two projects but can hardly reveal she's a princess, can she? (before the fall of nargothrond if she got on tumblr it was to nag Finduilas to remove her personal info from bio hah)

@eri-pl, this is in part because you asked (a while ago, sorry), though I'm afraid I don't have much to say about all your suggestions. I prefer not to get into Sauron's headspace actually, but the idea of him having access to social media is horrifying lol. And Pharazon has all the worst characteristics of Reddit atheists, non-ironic modern white supremacists and racist trolls rolled into one with the added horror of the new unsavoury state cult. Míriel is not allowed a sim card🙁😬

also I'm just now realising I tagged a compatriot in something I wrote at 3 am so if you have time stamps on you now know my messed up sleep schedule and if you don't I've just told you lol but never mind.

[anna-dreamer]

So, this is something i have wanted to talk about for a while now. Not too super serious, but i do genuinely enjoy pondering over Silmarillion as one big metaphor for parent-child relationships. Just a heads-up, i don't consider Fëanor a good father, though i am sure he consciously tried to be one. Also, psychological realities do not always reflects things objectively.

Fëanorians for sure did start several fires, real and metaphorical, but you know what? They didn't start THE fire! It very much was always burning, regardless if the flat world was capable of turning. Ever since Eru failed to adequately parent the Ainur it has been a non-stop familial trauma that somehow transcends worlds and species! Melkor never got any idea of boundaries, never learned to bear frustration, never came to terms with the fact that his exceptional powers will not win his father's acceptance - so of course his destructive behaviour lead to a local apocalypse! The Valar never learned empathy, they came into Arda with a conviction that loving a parent meant being ever afraid, unquestioning, and obedient - so of course when they ended up with elves as their charges and foster children they employed the same formula, they did not know any better! They utterly failed to understand Míriel and wronged her greatly, thus becoming at least partially responsible for Fëanor's fear of inadequacy and of abandonment, suspiciousness, and resentment. Feeling unsafe in Valinor and being jealous of his half-siblings, of course Fëanor ensnared his sons into a web of enmeshment and codependency. He might have been well-meaning, striving to protect them and himself, but all he did was infuse his children with a solemn conviction that the world is unsafe, only Father sees it and knows what's best, everyone else is resentful of him because of this, so supporting Father utterly and without question is existential. So of course the Fëanorians swore their father's Oath! Of couse they swore it again after his death! That was the only thing left of Father, the last connection to him, the last chance to win his approval which is impossible because he is gone. In fact he was already gone even before his body burned away. But to admit this loss is impossibly scary. He will never come, he will never hold them and comfort them and embrace them the way they would like him to, because he has already abandoned them for the silmarils, and ego, and revenge, and grief. This is what Darkness Everlasting is - the existential dread of admitting that Father will never love them again.

That being said, i can only marvel at Celebrimbor, Elrond, and Elros, as they consciously tried to overcome Finwëan trauma and the latter two seem to have succeeded. (I don't think Celebrimbor "failed", after all Sauron's deception was out of his control, and this is Sauron we are talking about.)

Eru has started little fires everywhere. Much they have consumed.

[lol-jackles]

Hi, how are you?

I have some questions for you.

Jared has already made it clear that he doesn't plan on stripping for the EK fetishist.

Do you think Jared will impose any other conditions?

In your opinion, what other conditions could Jared impose when accepting and signing on to the Boys project?

Now some random questions:

Are you watching House of the Dragon? A little opinion from you.

Have you seen the new trailer for The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power?

Doing awesome, thanks!

When dealing with Eric Kripke (and Seth Rogan), I would advise Jared to have it in his contract that his character is 1) not put in sexualized or degrading or fetishized positions aka no breast feeding scene and 2) doesn't make reference or is referred to from real life political events, keep it apolitical and 3) he gets to choose which bloopers could be shown in gag reels.

We're a little behind House of the Dragon and loving it so far. We're up to Rhaeny's warrior death. My girlfriend and siblings and I kept yelling for her to go back to Dragonstone and that she doesn't need to keep returning to the battle of Rook Rest. And what the heck is going on with Prince Dameon? I'm betting the finale will be the Battle of the Spares: Dameon vs Aemond.

You just had to ruin my HotD high by asking about Rings of Power trailer. Order of reaction:

Well clearly the elves brought rings on Amazon Prime Day.

Speaking of which, surely Amazon recast Halbrand because surely Amazon isn't that stupid  ....

Celebrimbor, forger of the rings of power, staring straight at Halbrand (WHOM HE'S MET BEFORE) in a wig : "What am I to call you?"

Celebrimbor being fooled by Sauron wearing Clark Kent glasses would have been way more believable.

Well clearly Amazon isn't done with making elves and Galadriel looking like the stupidest people in the multiverse

Had Dumb and Dumber stuck to the canon storyline in the first season where we would have gotten Annatar first and then the same actor would go on portraying Sauron later. LortR fans would have had no problem with it. But thanks to Dumb and Dumber, the elves already know that Sauron = Halbrand who is very interested in the ring-making, and now this new guy who reminds you of Halbrand comes in. And don't get me started on how Dumb and Dumber is making Galadriel an idiot.

Book Galadriel does undergo something of a Hero's Journey, in that she evolves beyond her desire to dominate a kingdom of her own. But it's a subtle evolution and doesn't begin with her being an idiot. Instead, she's someone wise who is extremely aware that she is wise, which gives her a big ego and a desire to rule. That unwise ego, ironically a result of her being wise generally, is book Galadriel's one major character flaw.

But Rings of Power Galadriel isn't wise at all, instead she's fan fiction shipper character who falls for a hot, dangerous, powerful man and tries to fix him into being a family man.

[tathrin]

💚 a ship that you think deserves more love

[from this ask meme]

Okay hear me out: Celebrimbor/Narvi/Sauron.

It's a disaster! It's three incredibly talented smiths trying to one-up one another all the time; it's three creative outcasts supporting one another in their shared craft; it's three people from the most different possible backgrounds imaginable coming together to forge something greater than any one of them could have made alone.

It's beautiful! It's the heart of what the Gwaith-i-Mírdain was supposed to be about... (and only one of them knows that it's been rotten at the core all along.)

It's hopeful! It's overcoming suspicion and distrust on all sides with the power of love... (and then dying alone in the dark.) It's doomed! It's lovely! It's tragic! It's terrible!

It never could have ended well...but it could have ended better than this.

(Is Celebrimbor's grief over Narvi's mortal death part of how Annatar entices him to push further than before and make the Rings of Power? Rings that greatly extend the lifespan of whatever mortal wears them? Rings that could have kept Narvi alive and with them if they'd only been forged sooner?)

(Is Narvi's distrust of Annatar part of what pushes Celebrimbor to overlook his own suspicions of the maia? Because after all, he and Narvi were suspicious of one another at first, and now look at all they have done together! Or maybe it was the other way around; maybe Celebrimbor was the one who distrusted this ostensible emissary of the Valar, and good-hearted Narvi who urged Celebrimbor to open his heart again...)

(Is Annatar's initial dismissal of Narvi part of what first draws them all together, as Celebrimbor determines to prove to this stuffy maia that Aulë's children are just as noble and good and talented as those of Illuvatar, even as Narvi shrugs and shrugs it off because it's hardly the first time someone has looked down on a dwarf...

...but Celebrimbor won't allow anyone so smart to be stupid enough to disrespect his beloved, and he pushes and pushes and pushes until Annatar finally sees and agrees; and then when the three of them finally do put their heads together there's nothing, nothing they can't do...unfortunately for everyone.)

(Maybe Sauron did think briefly about just being Annatar; maybe he let himself toy with the idea that he could really, truly, be happy without domination; could be happy here, in Ost-in-Edhil, with them... but mortals die. Mortals die. And Annatar, even with all his necromantic arts, could not stop that. He needed more power. He needed to never, ever let that happen to anyone he cared about again. He needed the Rings...which meant that Annatar had to die too, and leave only Sauron to remain.)

(Is the strength of Narvi's heart, distilled in their thoughts as they craft the Rings, part of why the Dwarven Rings are less devastatingly corruptive than the Nine? Because they were forged with a knowledge and respect of dwarven strength, and so they can only strengthen dwarves—especially their worst aspects admittedly—rather than consume them, as Men are consumed?)

(Maybe the strength of a dwarven heart, the unshakable mountain of dwarven love, was briefly enough to hold the past at bay; to let Celebrimbor step beyond his fear of what the works of his family's hands could do, and embrace the risk of forging to the very best of his ability, because he knew that Narvi would be there to steady him...and if not for Narvi, he would never have had the courage to follow Annatar into the making of the Rings.)

(Did losing Narvi—and worse, watching Celebrimbor lose Narvi—teach Sauron some of the crucial lessons that allowed the Necromancer to bind and break mortal souls that way he does with his Rings? Or did it just convince him that mortals are weak enough to be dominated after all, given how fast they die?)

(Maybe the strength of a dwarven heart, the unshakable mountain of dwarven love, was briefly enough to hold his past at bay; to let Sauron step beyond Morgoth's shadow and shine as Annatar, as the memory of Mairon that had lain so long dormant: to make for the sake of making alone instead of in pursuit of power and domination. And then, when Narvi died, that shattered and all that was left was the comfort of command and corruption and Sauron, again, for all time; the safety of keeping a wounded heart safe behind hatred.)

(Does Sauron sometimes look at his Nine Ringwraiths and wish that he had Seven more, dwarven-strong and bright and clever, to remind him of better days in Ost-in-Edhil? Or is some small part of him glad not to have seen dwarves corrupted that far? And does he hate that little thread of weakness that his lingering affection for Narvi begets, or does he cherish it as one last reminder of what oh-so-briefly almost was?)

(Maybe they were never all three of them together at once; maybe it was Celebrimbor and Narvi first, and Annatar on the outside trying to worm his way in; not jealous of course, oh no, never jealous of a mere dwarf don't be absurd! but they were such a closed-loop, such a perfect pair and partnership, he could not help but envy them...but mortals are so momentary. Sauron knew all along that all he had to do was wait. Knew that his best entry to Celebrimbor's heart was through Narvi: that by earning Narvi's friendship he would earn Celebrimbor's trust, and then when Narvi—inevitably, as mortals do—died, then the greatest living smith of Middle-earth would be lost and vulnerable and his to mold as he desired...)

(Does jealousy of Narvi—of the fact that Celebrimbor died still loving Narvi, and hating Annatar—drive Sauron to make war on Erebor, to want to see Moria torn down to ruins, to bend all the dwarves finally, finally to his will with the Rings and promises that came so close to almost working once before?)

(Is memory of Narvi why the dwarves of Erebor are given three chances to change their minds and do Sauron's bidding before he tries to destroy them? Does he think that, like Narvi, surely they'll be clever enough to come around eventually...or does he know all along that, like Narvi, they'll be too strong and stubborn to give-in, but he gives them the chance anyway in hopes of getting those clever hands and minds pledged to his cause?)

The Rings were as great as they were because the three of them, together, were made for greatness. The Rings were terrible because love built on a lie always is.

What wonders could they have made together, if Sauron's heart was true? How could he have ever made the Rings at all, if their own hearts hadn't first been won by his lies?

How much of their love was him lying to them, and how much of what came after was him lying to himself?

[curufiin]

Just found Calantar and I wanna know more about the baby🥺

OMGGG i’m so happy you like him 😭😭 okay let me try to explain his deal in an actually coherent way bc apparently i am bad at doing this

SO. He’s part of my curufin au, aptly named Ringmaker Curvo (fic coming never), where Annatar instead seduces Curufin while he’s still in Nargothrond to make the rings of power.

Basically after Luthien kicks his ass, and before Curufin gets thrown out of Nargothrond, Sauron decides he can’t go back to Morgoth like this and embarrass himself because Morgoth would kill him. So he ends up flying in the direction of Nargothrond, crashlands somewhere nearby from exhaustion, and is found by hunters from Nargothrond who take him there.

Once inside he snoops around, and finds out about the general chaos inside going on including the two C’s. Annatar proceeds to pretend ro have some super important request, is granted a meeting with Curufin, and they bond over their love of smithing. They end up going out pretending to go rescue Finrod, Curufin discovers Annatar is Sauron (he doesn’t really care and is immediately planning to use him and betray him later), they run into Carcharoth and murder him, and get the Silmaril somehow. Shoutout to @maironsbigboobs for helping me with this mwa

So anyway more unspecified things happen and honestly idk the plot of the AU. Onto Calantar. Celebrimbor disowns Curufin early and leaves Nargothrond by himself. Curufin is absolutely devastated, and by this point his sanity is at some questionable level, and he’s also kinda in love with Sauron (sauron x curufin ftw yay). So he approaches him, and is like “hey. My son fucking abandoned me. Give me another son.”

Obviously they can’t just procreate since they’re both guys and Sauron doesn’t feel like getting pregnant, so they decide to actually create a baby. Like, literally craft a baby. Curufin gives up a part of his soul for this (and almost dies), but they still need the flesh to bind the soul with. Sauron uses his flesh, probably cuts off a forearm, and after a long ritual involving necromancy and grave robbing and whatever, Calantar is made! He’s born as a toddler so no need to deal with an actual infant.

Originally, he was just named Laurinquar (golden fist) Curufinwe/ion because Curufin is awful with names. However, since he was made of Maia flesh, Calantar is *very* attuned with the Song, and his light powers eventually show up, hence the name Calantar (lord of light/bringer of light). He also inherited Sauron’s shapeshifting, but he can only shapeshift into elven forms, not animals.

Eventually Curufin is kicked out of Nargothrond anyway, plot happens, and he dies. I haven’t decided if Curufin should be taken to Angband as a “prisoner” or if he should die in the second kinslaying, but either way, he’s dead, Sauron’s got a ring, and Calantar is in Angband now.

The deal with Calantar is that he’s basically a mash up of every bad thing about Sauron, and every bad thing about Curufin. He’s arrogant, snide, extremely haughty, he’s a perfectionist, he thinks he’s better than everyone, and he is extremely loyal to his parents. He truly believes that Sauron is bettering the world, and he gets very aggressive when he thinks someone is insulting his family. He was also raised partly by Morgoth (who definitely also wanted to use this demon elf child for his own purposes) sooooooo

All of that means he functions as a very efficient attack dog for Sauron once he does grow up and get his powers under control. He isn’t really involved in the War of Wrath because he was still pretty young, but in the second age he does do a lot of dirty work for Sauron, including commanding his own battalion to attack Eregion. Ofc he has either no idea or only a vague idea Celebrimbor is his brother, and Celebrimbor has no idea who he is. When Sauron gets “imprisoned” by Ar Pharazon, Calantar is in Middle Earth managing Sauron’s henchmen and property (yay property manager!) and generally laying low. He fights in the Final Alliance, almost dies, and goes into hiding for many years.

Since he’s made of Sauron’s flesh, this means he’s also sort of bound to the ring in the sense he can feel its presence and can feel it calling to him. Eventually, he’s sent out to find the ring and return it, and this is where his elven disguises become useful. While Calantar is a huge asshole, he is perfectly capable of playing the role of a wise elven guardian and get people to trust him, only to turn on them at the last second. Watch out frodo

[mihrsuri]

Rings Of Power 2X06

spoilers below cc @nocompromise-noregrets when you’ve seen

thank you Ulmo once again proving that you and Varda hold the Valars collective brain cell(s), especially re messaging delivery like THANK YOU KINDLY.

that is so much Elendil whump SO MUCH like THE POTENTIAL. Also he and Queen Of My Heart Miriel get married and they are both FINE ACTUALLY. They have three daughters running around.

Miriel really really just…I adore her so much. Her faith, her heart and the way she will absolutely be the best kind of leader and also that she and Elendil are shoving each other out of the way like NO I’M RISKING DEATH FOR THE GREATER GOOD. Love them. Love their decency.

(Listen Ar Pharazon is in love with Elendil sorry not sorry I am going with this (in text they were quote great friends in their youth I’m going with it, Pharazon is just hella jealous/possessive).

Galadriel really continuing the family tradition of getting chained up by the hand :(. (Also her desperate heartbroken pleading to Adar because she’s seen the awful shape of the trap and actually, despite everything she does not want this, does not want more people to fall to Sauron (yes even Orcs, I think).

Mairon really got stabbed with his husbands crown I think that’s hilarious frankly also…Adar it didn’t exactly work. I mean kind of. Temporarily. But I get why you’d think it.

(I am sad they don’t have Silmarillion Rights because there’s so so much amazing lore work here love that for me).

Sauron really gaslight, gatekeep, girlbossing horrifyingly.

In all seriousness it’s Awful. It’s abusive relationship (romantic) and possessiveness and using and I can feel it in my bones and the thing is, the thing is he’s using Celebrimbors ambitions yes - but overridingly it’s the desire to do good, to redeem his family name as well and :((((((((.

Charlie(s) plural are doing amazing but also CHARLIE VICKERS HOLY FUCK HOLY FUCK. He is a maia somehow. He is alluringly horrifying and you can see exactly how Sauron is so competent, so very very dangerous and why he came so very very close to winning in the end.

Charlie II is breaking my heart because, G-d his abuser can literally manipulate reality and there’s so so little he can do (we know he won’t give Sauron what he wants despite all the pain, we know it but it’s still breaking me).

DISA MY BELOVED DISA (her singing, can we just discuss that oh my G-d. Also that Prince Durin looked that Fuck Ass Maia in the face and went ‘…fuck off’ BEAUTIFUL.

Harfoots very cute fyi (also party tree origin story?)

Still not mentioning Luthien’s name because Sauron too terrified out of his mind. It’s why he’s hoping to not meet Elrond thank you very fucking much.

THE PREVIEW FUCK. OW. (“I don’t want you to face this alone” I just…EMOTIONAL DAMAGE)

Both reasonably sure Stranger Gandalf (which is actually a cool lore bit because Olorin did not want to go to Middle Earth, was Terrified Of It if it is) and also maybe not.

Tom Bombadil might be aspect of Eru which would track with Eru.

In conclusion get a job stay away from them really applying to a lot of people in regards to Sauron.

[illustratorsblog]

my headcanon in silmarilion : After Galadriel's rejection of him, Celebrimbor no longer had similar feelings for anyone. The elf blacksmith was always busy in his workshop. But there was an elf -woman from Eregion who secretly loved the Lord. She helped him open his soul and heart to new feelings. They had a difference in age, but they had enough in common. Most of all, Сelebrimbor loved her because she believed in him.

She will bear a child from him, but will give birth to it in Valinor, because according to the order of the Lord and King, she will have to leave the city occupied by Sauron. In Valinor itself, she will also have to keep silent about whose child it is, because everyone knows about the sins of the Feanor family.

They are found in the illustration they are in one of the Lord's resting rooms. No one knows about their mysterious meetings and about them in general

——————————————————————————————————————————————————————

P.s I drew Celebrimbor based on the devilish face of the actor Charles Edwards (the rings of power) And you won't do anything to me 😏

[incorrect-lord-of-the-rings]

every once in a while... I just think... What if Rings of Power wasn't a Silmarillion adaptation, but just... Original characters having adventures and struggles and stuff in Middle-Earth? Or if they had changed just a few things.... It could have been so much better. This is mostly coming from my thoughts on the things I loved in the show. I liked the original characters (mostly) (aside from the Harfoots being... slightly sociopathic at times). I really liked Arondir and basically all his scenes. I love the idea of a bunch of hobbit children stumbling across something new and trying to solve the problem by themselves in their own hobbit way. I loved the way they explored a friendship between a dwarf and an elf, and how the elf didn't realize how fast time was passing by for other races. There were so many aspects that could have worked so much better if they had just had a cast of almost only original characters, with established characters few and far between, or had just focused on a more original story.

This is very long so you have been warned.

Like imagine instead of Galadriel, it was a young elf warrior who'd only been alive for some time (maybe less than a thousand years or so idk lol) and was still considered childish for her age, but she had witnessed horrors of battle, or her family were slain by orcs in battle, or she was like a warrior scholar who searched for more information about Sauron and Morgoth against everyone's wishes (better yet if she's autism coded). If they had done that instead of having her be Galadriel, her behavior and actions would have been far better received.

Or like... I'd even liked it if they kept Galadriel as she was in the show (eh) but changed it so Halbrand wasn't fucking Sauron in disguise (do not get me started on this). Like I said during the airing of the show, I really wanted him to be a future ringwraith. Imagine getting so close to a character, seeing him be upon his throne in the Southlands, and then being given eventually a marvelous ring. We all know what's coming, it's one of the first things we learn in the original stories, but he and all the other characters (minus the mysterious and sexy Annatar) are oblivious.

We could even keep the entire cast of elf characters in Eregion and had a lot of political intrigue with them and Annatar. Okay? He mysteriously appears, or the showrunners make a new way they meet him or something that makes sense in the TV show medium, and we get to see how others react to him. To some he's trustworthy upon first meeting him, to others he's suspicious and not to be trusted. However, those who have more influence have deemed him trustworthy, so we could see the brewing animosity between Annatar and those who suspect him (a very wary Galadriel, for example).

In this case, we could have a lot of nice politics and dynamics of the characters. The original characters gang up together and take back the Southlands from the orcs, or some other land, and rebuild a prosperous kingdom. Then one day, the last episode of season one, King Halbrand is given a ring forged by Celebrimbor, the famous elven smith, and his new partner in crime (heh), Annatar.

The second season shows the slow and steady corruption of the good King Halbrand, and the others' reactions to his slow turn. Little things. Like fidgeting with it when kingly duties get stressful, eventually relying only on the ring for comfort and pushing away all others who love him. Like getting injured in a small attack, and when they treat his wounds while he's unconscious, they remove his ring, and then he wakes up later and nearly attacks the healers helping him because he thinks they stole it. He gets in contact with the other kings of Men and receives a letter from another king about how he is always thinking about his magic ring. About how he feels it is being pulled by something. Halbrand responds in a letter detailing similar experiences. He becomes greedy and reclusive, and then he slowly realizes everyone else around him is aging faster than he is. His son, who he had seemingly just seen as a boy, is now nearly a man. His wife is suddenly more tired than usual. One of his friends and mentors dies of old age and he was barely there to witness his last days.

Eventually, he is fully corrupted as the arc completes and Sauron is revealed and everything. God, this could have been so much fun to see...

For this version of the show, there are no explicit hints as to who Annatar really is, but there are little clues dropped. If anyone knows the story already, they'll catch every little piece of information that's given, whether subtle or not. The new viewers going in blind would see the twist and then have to go back and watch it a second time to notice and point out every single sign they should have seen coming. Like the way he acts, the way he says certain things, the things he knows, the way others react to him. It all could have been so intriguing to see.

Amazon, hire me. And pay your writers.