#come on‚ melko absolutely would do something like that

[eri-pl]

And lo! Melko hath deceived Sorontur, showing him his reflection in the vile ice, and he said to Sorontur: "Behold! 'Tis the noblest bird lady that hath ever flown!" and so Sorontur fell in love, not knowing of the deception, and gazed into the cold ice wondering how to court the lady, until he nearly froze, but again, Melko's impatient malice was the undoing of his villainy, as he laughed loudly and then the spell broke and Sorontur realized that he had been pranked, and flew away, ashamed, and told all what had happened to Manwë, and he was wroth.

[totally a very legit quote from Tolkien's early writings or something]

“Eagle on Ice” ~ Photography by James Geddes

[wise-rainfalls]

Scattered thoughts on the Tale of the Fall of Gondolin

The first version of the Tale of the Fall of Gondolin is very much and very obviously from the early stages of the Silmarillion conceptualisation process. Things that struck me:

The idea that all the Noldor (Noldoli) had at this point been enslaved by Morgoth (still Melko, which somewhat alleviates the seriousness of the reading)

At this point the Elves are still quite linked to the woodland counterparts of fairies, and haven't quite developed the stature (literally) they gain later: "small are they, and slender, and very lithe"

Tuor is SUCH A LONER - people come attracted by his harp playing and he MOVES

Also he's literally just. A guy. Like who is Peleg, no one cares about Peleg. 'Tuor son of Peleg'. Crickets. This is like Gawain and the Green Knight except we're looking at it from the perspective of the Green Knight. What if one day some dude shows up and he was a Messenger of the Lord of the Waters.

The idea of fugitives and escaped thralls making their way in secret through the Way of Escape (a name which later shifts to refer to Idril's Way) to Gondolin - something clearly dropped later on

The immense detail of the battle, and the sheer...there's very little gore in the sense of...organs and blood and whatnot, but the grinding pace of the narrative, almost jerky at times, is like an echo of the battle grinding away at the city. A sense of absolute hopelessness.

The moment when the light comes in the north. The anticipation of joy of the Gates of Summer, and then - the light, but a false light, a dread light, a fire from the north. This is the Dagor Bragollach for Turgon, which in the end he didn't manage to escape.

Speaking of: Turgon! God, he got Such Good Lines in this version. Great is the fall of Gondolin! Great is the victory of the Noldoli! And at midnight exactly...It's worth noting that since Noldoli does seem to be a catch-all term for all the elves in Beleriand right now (edit: should be checked, will not stand up to citation, but seems to have no mention of the Sindar, and the wood-wandering elves of the Noldoli in the first Tale do eventually become Annael and the Grey-elves in the last so...shrugs) (further edit: I somehow bleached my mind of the incredible offhand racism of the entire portrayal of Maeglin, here Meglin, but having checked - no mention of the Sindar here either! Aredhel's (here still Isfin, which I do wonder if it might not be repurposed as a father-name, certainly it seems like in Quenya it might have been something-finwe in the same vein as Curufin) spouse is not mentioned at all and the marriage itself is just 'this tale may not here be told'. If nothing else, at least we have the unnamed husband instead of the unnamed wife...ha...the bar is so low...), I wonder if it would eventually have become Great is the victory of the Eldar? Lo, I abide here. But I, Turgon, will not leave my city, and will burn with it. And he throws down his crown - like Finrod, but also unlike, because he's not rejecting his kingdom for his doom, but embracing it AS his doom. He also throws down his sword!! God...he reminds me so much of book!Denethor, except more sympathetic because he isn't like...actively trying to drag everyone down with him - he does tell everyone to go with Tuor, but like...they stay because he is their king. And you get the sense throughout that no one Wants to give up on Gondolin like...it is rightly beloved. The Flower of the Plain!

'Evil have I brought upon the Flower of the Plain in despite of Ulmo, and now he leaveth it to wither in the fire. Lo! hope is no more in my heart for my city of loveliness, but the children of the Noldoli shall not be worsted for ever.'

Turgon...also massive Gilraen vibes. And he's not wrong! Idril does save some remnant of the Gondothlim out of the ruin.

Idril is GREAT here. The little mail coat she has forged in secret for Earendil...her preparation and persistence, the way she loves her father and YET circumvents him, and the full force of her grief that her preparation was necessary.

And she went out with a sword and saved who she could, and led them to the tunnel! I love how like...it's not so much that she's overcome her grief in the name of immediacy so much as that her grief and the force of her despair manifests as the action of hope even if it's almost devoid of like...the feeling of it...like she is so efficient but that efficiency is like...the robotic and frenzied actions of one who is almost overcome

Uh, in some ways I feel like she and Maedhros could have a conversation

Also little Earendil....he's seven years old! And he asks for Salgant and Ecthelion but they're both...and "Then said Eärendel that he cared not ever to see the streets of Gondolin again, and he wept bitterly; but Tuor said that he would not again see those streets, 'for Gondolin is no more'"

Thanks Tuor. I'm sure that helped.

Also Tuor and Turgon's relationship is so...."but Tuor speaking wildly for ruth and love of the king cried: 'Gondolin stands yet, and Ulmo will not suffer it to perish!'"

This is a relationship which seems to emphasise and echo in the last, incomplete version (where Turgon never appears), but it's just so...

[chaos-of-the-abyss]

Actually, the more I think about it, the more the concept that “the Silmarils belong to the Fëanorians and anyone who doesn’t give the Silmarils to them if it comes into their possession is morally in the wrong” is completely ridiculous. (The idea that they’re “stupid”, although not necessarily “morally wrong”, is also, well, completely wrong, imo, but not as glaringly absurd at the idea that it is morally wrong.) Like, it’s “why-does-anyone-argue-for-this-it’s-utterly-nonsensical” levels of ridiculous. In comparison to Beren and Lúthien who actually had the guts to walk into Angband and steal one, the Fëanorians with an army of followers did absolutely squat to get the Silmarils back in such a daring manner. I’m not saying they’re cowards for not doing so, obviously it would be an insanely risky move and their resources had taken major hits after clashing with Morgoth, but… if you want to preach about why something is rightfully yours and your family’s and yet you can’t claim to have done anything nearly as dangerous to get it back in comparison to two other people who have nothing remotely close to the manpower you do, then what ground do you have to stand on?

All I’m saying is, Dior said this in The Book of Lost Tales-- 

“Dior waxed wroth, bidding [Curufin] be gone, nor dare to claim what his sire Beren the Onehanded won with his hand from the [?jaws] of Melko - ‘other twain are there in the selfsame place,’ said he, ‘an your hearts be bold enow.’”

--and he was completely right. If getting the Silmarils back was that much of a sacred duty for the Fëanorians, they should have taken that up with Morgoth and his forces. Not massacred, twice, a group of innocents, the second made up primarily of civilians, who had a Silmaril because it was passed down by the two people who were actually brave enough to do what they didn’t. 

Thingol had absolutely zero obligation to give the Silmaril to the Feanorians and I am behind him 100% for not. He’s not to blame for the future kinslayings either - kinslayings are best avoided by not slaying kin.