#early Tolkien

[shrikeseams]

Silm time travel fixit fic where Curufin is spat out into his younger self fairly early in YoT, and when his efforts to solve the Noldor's political/ Melkor problems bear no fruit... he just fucks off to Alqualonde to apprentice as a ship-builder, because it's a concrete and fixable future problem.

[autistook]

March 20th - Faramir meets Éowyn in the Houses of Healing

[psstwantsomecheese]

Fingon being the only kinslayer in his family the same way Maedhros was the only Feanorian that didn't participate in the burning of the ships ourgh

[anghraine]

While I'm on my disruptive Tolkien opinions kick:

Yes, obviously, he was a conservative Catholic and this was really important to his understanding of the world and pervades his work and so on and so forth.

But I'm a bit "..." about reducing everything he thought and felt about the world to that. Like, yeah, there's a tradition of conservative pastoralism that meant the context of his environmental opinions was not inherently progressive in the way it can mistakenly seem in 2024. Do I think he was Like That about trees because of conservative pastoralism, or his Catholicism, or that the particular form taken by his TREES TREES TREES #OLDMANWILLOWDIDNOTHINGWRONG TREEEEEEEEES ethos much resembles most of his contemporaries' feelings?

Not really.

I mean, he would never have said it, but I kind of doubt whether his very sincere and deeply felt veneration of the actual figures of his religion was truly comparable to how he felt about things like That One Oak on the Corner That I Liked Got Chopped Down by Evildoers. I've read other conservative British writers of this era who have their own forms of pastoralism and most of them are way less intense about it. I truly don't think Tolkien loved trees the way he did Because Catholicism or whatnot. I genuinely think he just really loved trees.

Basically, I can imagine some alternate universe in which alternate Tolkien ends up with really different beliefs about religion, about politics, about all sorts of things. But I can absolutely not imagine a universe in which any version of Tolkien did not take the part of trees against all their enemies.

[thelien-art]

December; the 24

Yule day 4: Maedhros the tall & Fingon the Valiant

How many colors are used in the glass of the windows?

True blue Pansy; blue Pansy´s symbolize loyalty, honesty, devotion, and trust.

Bluehead Gilia; Bluehead Gilia is an annual herb with a self-supporting growth system. The Gilia has been used to treat blood disease over the years.

Fingon is in the free day clothes Maedhors just came in after some flower picking fully dressed; I also like to headcannon Himring fashion to include a lot of embroidered floral.

[vakarians-babe]

And Aragorn the King Elessar wedded Arwen Undomiel in the City of the Kings upon the day of Midsummer, and the tale of their long waiting and labours was come to fulfillment.

Happy Midsummer!

[chaos-of-the-abyss]

someone could write pages and pages and pages and pages on elu thingol's life. he could be the protagonist of like five book trilogies each with 600 words per book. he was born in cuivienen where the first non-divine life awakened; he lived through morgoth's earlier attempts to corrupt the elves and very likely lost people he cared about to them; he witnessed the war of the powers; he was among the first of his people to see valinor, having visited it under the invitation of the deities who helped originate the universe; he was the sole flesh-and-blood being in all!! of!!! history!!!! who met, fell in love with, and married a goddess that was there before creation even existed; he and said goddess were the progenitors of a unique bloodline that produced some of the legendarium's most famous figures; he separated from his brother for a very very long time; he was so loved by his people that they refused paradise if he wasn't there with them; he fought battles against morgoth's forces and saw loss as well as triumph during those battles; he was one of the oldest beings and longest-reigning kings in all of beleriand, not to mention he ruled its most ancient and most mystical, otherworldly kingdom; he was the father of two of the most famous heroes in-verse, whose deeds and stories continued to be told millennia after their deaths; he was again the first!! and!!! only!!!! elf-king in all of history to adopt a human as his own son. and throughout it all, he has a cohesive character arc. he grows to respect a people whom he once distrusted and looked down on; he comes to accept the choices of those he cares about even if he doesn't agree with said choices; he has to learn to let go of his loved ones no matter how much it grieves him. if those five trilogies existed i would be reading and rereading every single one obsessively

[dfwbwfbbwfbwf]

What does "kind as summer" even mean?

When I think of summer, I don't think of kindness. Where I live, it's either "you'll melt if you even think about going outside" or "you'll melt if you even think about going outside, and it's raining", and sometimes "you won't melt immediately upon going outside, but you might get hit by a tree or lightning, or possibly a tree getting hit by lightning".

I really hope Elrond isn't like that.

But I guess Tolkien lived in a place where the summer was a nice, mild 50-70 degrees Fahrenheit, so there's that.

Still, because of how summer is where I live, I characterize Elrond like this:

Elrond is kind, but he's not always nice. He is blunt and straightforward, and he says what he means and means what he says. He is usually gentle enough for his work as a healer, but if this is, say, the fifth time you broke your leg doing something stupid, he'll give you the Eyebrows of Doom™. He has a temper that he keeps well under control, but you can see the signs of him losing patience from afar off (so act accordingly). He's not above acting passive aggressive when he loses his temper, but it is very hard to push him to that point.

Maybe be more specific with your simile, Professor.

[aureentuluva70]

Seriously why didn't anyone tell me that in early drafts Tolkien wrote the spider of Cirith Ungol not as Shelob but Ungoliant herself??? The same Ungoliant who destroyed the Two Trees and everything??? THE SAME ONE??? And she's been chilling out in Mordor in the East for like, 6000+ years???

Like, what???

[antxnous]

used to doodle sauron all the time like 2 yrs ago….. im still thinking abt u babygirl

[naskaolgia]

southpark highschool

Spring formal-2009

[If I'm doing the math correctly they are 13-14 in this]

The concept of age has always struck me with this show. And when they're near their 40's or in their 40's in post covid that confirms that the boys were born in the 1990's. Aka- when the show began 1997.

[shrikeseams]

You know what, while I’m being irrationally angry about how people interpret fiction differently than me, I would also like to rail against the interpretation that the Long Siege was passive, and not an active attempt to regain the silmarils.

CAN YOU FUCKING IMAGINE THINKING THAT HUNDREDS OF YEARS OF SLOW GRINDING WARFARE IS PASSIVE. CAN YOU? It’s like saying that Gondor was passive and ambivalent about Mordor because they didn’t succeed in taking it out. BAFFLING.

Like, please stop and spend like, two minutes imagining how things would have gone for Beleriand if the sons of Feanor had pulled a Luthien. If they just snuck in to Angband, snatched the silmarils, and the fucked off out of the war effort forever because they got theirs.

How long d’you think it would take for Morgoth to flood forces through the entire eastern frontier? How long d’you think it would take until Doriath was actively under direct siege, without convenient Noldor buffer states on their flanks?

For that matter, how long do we think it would take for Morgoth to reclaim the silmarils, with the sons of Feanor get them without defeating Morgoth first?

How long do you think DORIATH would keep their silmaril, without the majority of the exiled Noldor standing between Doriath and Morgoth???

Luthien (and Beren) can do what they do because Luthien does not, as far as I can tell, actually take any interest in the well-being of the vast majority of people living in Beleriand. She is not a queen. She doesn’t seem to take any interest in politics. She doesn’t seem to take any interest in the well-being of the people of Doriath or Nargothrond, either! Luthien can get in and get out because she needs one (1) sparkling rock to convince her boyfriend that he can marry her honorably. She doesn’t need to worry about direct pursuit because she has the exiled noldor and her mom standing between her (and everyone she cares about) and the war.

THE SONS OF FEANOR DO NOT HAVE THAT LUXURY. If they want to claim the silmarils in a way that doesn’t fuck over everyone in their faction by drawing  direct, targeted attacks from Morgoth, they need to defeat Morgoth first. That is the only way for them to claim the silmarils sustainably. They are actually pursing their goal in the slow, safe, smart way.

[autistook]

ON THIS DAY, JULY 4th

Boromir sets out from Minas Tirith to Rivendell

'Therefore my brother, seeing how desperate was our need, was eager to heed the dream and seek for Imladris; but since the way was full of doubt and danger, I took the journey upon myself. Loth was my father to give me leave, and long have I wandered by roads forgotten, seeking the house of Elrond, of which many had heard, but few knew where it lay.'

[lowcountry-gothic]

I actually woke up an hour early today to watch the new Rings of Power before work, and…oh my God…that was just as epic as any LoTR film, and just as beautiful.

[anghraine]

i just saw someone say that faramir is infuriating because he's self-aggrandizing in claiming that he won't act in any way that doesn't befit his status, and on one hand - i understand the root of it? he does have a courteous, almost formal style of talking. he does openly claim that he would not take this mysterious power (before he knew about the ring) if it was on the highway. he agrees to denethor's characterization that he wants to appear noble like a king of old.

but on the other hand i'm straining at the bit to defend my baby because - infuriating?? when he lives up to the words he is saying?? when the text shows over and over that he's loved by his people, that he genuinely tries to live by those standards (and seems to succeed) - him not killing even animals unnecessarily, him riding back for his men. even his proclaimed dream to see gondor's tree bloom and peace restored, is supported by him seemingly making that transition from steward to king as smooth as possible?

maybe it's because i instantly liked him so much. it just caught me so off guard because this particular criticism never ever crossed my mind. so funny how people will interpret the same thing differently. to some internet user out there, his words are self-aggrandizing. to me, his words are straightfoward and supported by actions - dreamboat central.

Hi, anon! I'm pretty much with you on this one. I've seen the occasional post like that, and I can understand finding his style grating (though I personally love it) or disliking the general baggage associated with Tolkien's handling of Númenóreanness (there's a considerable degree of classism and racism built in to the presentation of Elves and peredhil/Númenóreans in LOTR in particular, while later texts like "The Mariner's Wife" are relatively more nuanced).

But the idea that Faramir is essentially just performing the appearance of high virtue as a sort of imitation of Númenórean cultural values without actually possessing those values or the virtues of the best of them just seems a profound misinterpretation to me. He has flaws, but he's not a hypocrite and he does not fail to live up to his presentation of himself at any point.

He's exactly what he appears to be, a stern and intelligent young man out of step with the current trends of his culture, who still cares deeply about his people and their allies. He's potentially highly dangerous in the way of Denethor and Aragorn, and like them, his personality is hard and unbending when it comes down to it, but he's also gentler than either—the combination of his willingness to act on the threat he represents if necessary and ethically justifiable, with a deep compassion and sympathy for others (even animals), is distinct and really interesting.

I think there's a very important distinction between Faramir performing virtue and gentleness and putting on the persona of a great Númenórean lord in times of peace, and Faramir presenting himself as he truly is and then suiting actions to words, despite the fundamental antipathy between his temperamental inclinations and the circumstances he's been placed in.

[glorfindel-of-imladris]

Say it with me now:

📣✨ The Half-elven choice of immortality vs mortality is given only to the line of Eärendil and Elwing and ONLY to the line of Eärendil and Elwing 🔥🔥🔥