#hello silmarillion fandom

[cy-chiin]

[wip] my take on mairon 🙈

might change some things once i nail down the fullbody design ssksk

[katarrinskey]

The Queen and her son

Well, what do you know, I'm still obsessed with her. Been painting them while listening to art history lectures. Hope she brings me luck on exam tomorrow

[thefandomstorage]

Elrond: Your Majesty- I mean, Gil-Galad, you’re in so much trouble!

Gil: Huh?! For what?

Elrond: Did you burn Erestor’s account book?!

Gil:…I might’ve.

Elrond: Gil-Galad

Gil: Fine, yes.

Elrond: You can’t go around burning things! Especially if you’re using your own breath!

Gil: Why not?

Elrond: Because you’re supposed to be acting like an elf!

Gil: No, I’m supposed to be LOOKING like an elf. Mission accomplished, as you can clearly see.

[feanorianweek]

Feanorian Week Reminder!!

Hello Silmarillion Fandom! This is your reminder that Feanorian week will be taking place next month. Below are updated prompts (you are still allowed to suggest prompts)! When is it?:   March 25th, 2024—March 31st, 2024       

  

The prompts are as followed:

Day 1- Maedhros - > Childhood, Kingship, Angband, Coping, The Union, Relations with Different Races

Day 2-Maglor -> Childhood, Spouse,  Music & Songs of Power, Elrond & Elros, Kingship, Maglor’s  Gap, Redemption

Day 3- Celegorm - > Childhood, Hunting, Orome & Huan, Strength & Beauty, Luthien, Nargothrond

Day 4- Caranthir - > Childhood, Spouse, Betrayal, Lordship, Dwarves & Humans, Marriage, Appearance

Day  5- Curufin - > Childhood, Spouse, Celebrimbor, Forge Work

Day  6- Ambarussa - > Childhood, Lordship, Regrets, Twin, Hunting, Nandor

Day 7- Nerdanel and Feanor-> Mahtan, Finwe & Indis, Marriage, Reunion, Traveling, Creation, Healing

Rules: You are allowed to post anything fanrelated on the days.  If the prompts are not to your liking, you can do your own thing.  The tracktag is #feanorianweek.  Tag your work accordingly!  Have fun and be nice to others. Disrespect towards others will not be tolerated. 

[cilil]

So I see people are getting interested in things that may have happened between Melkor and Mairon in the First Age😏

Hello, welcome and congratulations - you have come across Angbang, one of my favorite ships of all time and a Silmarillion fandom staple.

I have good news for you: The ancient art of angbanging has a long and proud tradition in our community. We have hundreds of fics on AO3, lots of stuff on Tumblr, people who have shipped it for years and decades, all takes from soft Angbang to dark Angbang, you name it.

Come join us. As Lord Melkor says: "Welcome, welcome to my hall!"

[ardafanonarch]

Hello, in fic I've come across mentions of

- the elves stopping frequently on their journey to Aman to have sex (and Orome urging them forward by creating storms?)

- elf sex being too intense for most mortals to survive

I think these come from HoME or NoME (or similar sources), but I've never seen the actual quotes. There might be other things related to elf-sex in there as well.

So I guess my question is: What else did Tolkien mention about elf sex, apart from (the already relatively well-known) LaCE?

Elf Sex Lore

There comes a time in every Tolkien fan’s journey when they come upon the Professor’s writings on Elf sex — and, since 2021, there are even more! Elf Sex Lore remains a hot topic as the fandom continues to experience the aftershocks of the spurt of new lore that came with the publication of The Nature of Middle-earth (NoMe) in 2021.

As you say Anon, before NoMe was published, the fandom’s primary resource on Elf sex was the (in)famous essay Laws and Customs Among the Eldar (LaCE), published in 1993 in Morgoth’s Ring, the tenth volume of the History of Middle-earth series. LaCE is full of juicy (or not-so-juicy) lore about Elven aging, marriage, gender roles, naming, death, and rebirth.

It is in relation to the first two that we get some details on Elf sex, such as the knowledge that “it was the act of bodily union that achieved marriage, and after which the indissoluble bond was complete.” (Laws B). We also learn that:

“…the Eldar say* that in the begetting, and still more in the bearing of children, greater share and strength of their being, in mind and in body, goes forth than in the making of mortal children. For these reasons it came to pass that the Eldar brought forth few children; and also that their generation was in their youth or earlier life, unless strange and hard fates befell them. But at whatever age they married, their children were born within a short space of years after their wedding. For with regard to generation the power and the will are not among the Eldar distinguishable. Doubtless they would retain for many ages the power of generation, if the will and desire were not satisfied; but with the exercise of the power the desire soon ceases, and the mind turns to other things. The union of love is indeed to them great delight and joy, and the ‘days of children’, as they call them, remain in their memory as the most merry in life; but they have many other powers of body and of mind which their nature urges them to fulfil.” The History of Middle-earth Vol. 10: Morgoth’s Ring, ‘The Later Quenta Silmarillion (II)’, Laws B

*Note how this paragraph is introduced: “the Eldar say”. Phrases like this signal to us that LaCE is not written from a Elvish point of view. There are indications elsewhere clearly pointing to a human author with a human audience in mind.

Translation: Elves use up a lot of energy in baby-making, including in the sex part (“begetting”) but even more in the pregnancy and birthing part (“bearing”), so they don’t have a lot of children and they do so early in life, shortly after marriage. But even if they marry later in life, Elves are still able to have babies because being able to and wanting to reproduce are the same thing for Elves. But once they’ve fulfilled the desire to make babies they’re good and turn to other things. Still, they look back on the time of baby-making as “the most merry in life”.

In most (if not all) cases, when Tolkien writes about sex he is writing about reproduction. Did Elves have sex solely for pleasure? Maybe; I cannot find anything that says they didn’t. I also can find little conceptual separation of sex and reproduction in Tolkien’s writings. Make of that what you will.

(At this point I want to reiterate a principle central to this blog: it’s about presenting what canon says; it is not about casting judgement on creations that subvert, reinterpret, or ignore canon, none of which makes a work lesser than one which adheres strictly to canon.)

So what did NoMe add to our knowledge about Elf sex? First of all, let’s make sure we all know what NoMe is.

What is The Nature of Middle-earth?

NoMe is a volume of texts by J.R.R. Tolkien collected and edited by Carl Hostetter. It is basically a supplement to the last three volumes of The History of Middle-earth (Morgoth’s Ring, The War of the Jewels, and The Peoples of Middle-earth), which cover a period from the late 1950s to his death during which Tolkien was undertaking a rather massive project of worldbuilding, working out the structures underlying his Silmarillion mythology in preparation for revising and publishing what he had written of it before ‘a sequel to The Hobbit’ (LotR) took him away from it for the better part of two decades.

Christopher Tolkien in Morgoth’s Ring called this undertaking “analytic speculation concerning [the] underlying postulates” of his world (Foreword to Morgoth’s Ring). That’s how we end up with essays like LaCE and the philosophical debate about the fates of Men and Elves in Athrabeth Finrod ah Andreth.

The texts in NoMe all date to around the same time and deal with the same sorts of questions about the physics and metaphysics of the world: it contains the essay on ósanwë, for example.

The Context of the NoMe Sex Lore

The first section of NoMe, ‘Time and Ageing’, is where we get the new lore on Elf sex. As it happens, the sex lore is rather incidental to extensive ruminations two core questions:

How did Elves experience the passage of time and how did they age?

How did the population of Elves go from 144 at Awaking to a sufficiently high number (around 30 000) when they reached the shores of Beleriand on the Great Journey?

(It is not relevant to get into why 144 and why 30 000 here; suffice to say those are the numbers Tolkien wanted and he expended great imaginative and mathematical energy trying to make them work.)

A note on the textual context: Anyone who has ever engaged in worldbuilding knows how it can go. You think (for example), “Okay, I need to develop a backstory for this character’s spouse,” and before you know it you are knee-deep in invented genealogies and geographies and Eru-knows-what-else.

It’s important to bear in mind that this is what Tolkien was doing. The quotes we are about to look at (yes, very soon!) are from a collection of evolving (and unresolved) notes in various states of refinement from barely legible scribbles to carefully penned essays. I will let you decide what that means to you based on your personal definition of canon, but I wanted the textual context to be clear.

Elf Sex Is Intense

In relation to Question 1, Tolkien considers the time-scales of Elven growth, including pregnancy. In the essay under discussion, Tolkien decides that Elven pregnancy should, like human pregnancy, take about 3/4 of a year. Oh no - not that kind of year. A yên, a ‘long year’, the unit used by the Elves and to which the matter of their bodies (their hröar) is bound. Elves gestate for 108 Sun years.

I know what you’re asking: If the pregnancy lasts 108 years, then how long does the sex last?

No? No! You’re probably asking yourself why Tolkien hated Elf-women so much (don’t worry, he says there’s no pain…)! But Tolkien was interested in the first question, which he answered thus:

“On the other hand the act of procreation, being of a will and desire shared and indeed controlled by the fëa, was achieved at the speed of other conscious and wilful acts of delight or of making. It was one of the acts of chief delight, in process and in memory, in an Elvish life, but its intensity alone provided its importance, not its time or length: it could not have been endured for a great length of time, without disastrous “expense.”” (NoMe, p. 24)

An earlier version of this passage, which you may also come across in fandom, comes to a similar conclusion:

“But the act of procreation not being one of growth until the union of the seed and being under full control of the will does not take long - though it is longer and of more intense delight in Elves than in Men: too intense to be long endured.” (NoMe, pg. 27)

Translation: Pregnancy, like other aspects of physical growth, is a process of the hröa over which the fëa has no control; thus it is bound to unfold on “Elvish time”, i.e. 1 year = 144 years. But the sex leading up to it is an act of the fëa and under its control and therefore occurs at a “normal” speed. The Elves love it, too! But not because of how long it lasts, which is a regular amount of time, but because of how intense it is. In fact, it is so intense that if it were any longer they would suffer “disastrous “expense”.”

What is this “expense”? Basically, it’s referring to the usage of an Elf’s natural “vitality” — far greater than that of Men but not infinite. As far as I can tell, this passage means that having intense Elf sex for too long would have spiritual results similar to Míriel’s bearing of Fëanor, or Fëanor’s creation of the Silmarils. Too much of their spirit would be expended (used up) in the act, with possibly disastrous consequences.

These are the quotes from which, I think, originate the rumour that Elf sex was too intense for mortals to survive. As you can see, the discussion is about Elf/Elf relations. Elf sex is too intense for Elves to endure for too long. Anything about what this means for Elf/Mortal sexual relations is fan conjecture.

That’s the Elf Sex nugget from Tolkien’s considerations of Elven growth rates: Elf sex (between Elves) is intense but of a normal duration.

Elven enthusiasm for baby-making delays March

As you can imagine, more nuggets are unearthed in relation to Question 2, which boils down to Tolkien crying: “I need the Cuiviénen Elves to breed a lot and quickly!”

Initially, Tolkien developed some Elven life cycle schemes that had them taking a leisurely approach to reproduction, with each generation taking many hundreds, even thousands, of Sun years to materialise.

This scheme did not work for getting him from 144 to ~30k in the timeframe he wanted. So, he made some adjustments to the scheme with respect to the timing of Elven maturity and consequent desire to begin reproducing — and then set about getting those Elves procreating!

One of the solutions he entertained was giving the Elves opportunities to reproduce on the Great Journey. He laid all of this out in a timeline (NoME, p. 49-53) detailing where and for how long the host of Elves would pause because of the “desire to beget children” (p. 49).

Reading this timeline, it can become increasingly comical each time this desire to reproduce (i.e., have sex) halts the host. It can start to read like, “The Elves took forever to cross Middle-earth because they couldn’t stop banging!” And, in a way, that is what happened. But bear in mind the context is an attempt at solving the problem of increasing the Elven population to a number Tolkien considered satisfactory for his worldbuilding endeavours. An Elven enthusiasm for sex is there, but it’s not the whole picture.

There are several points on the timeline when Oromë hangs out with the Elves or checks in on them, and he does become increasingly concerned with their begetting-related delays. For example:

“About 2000 pairs (of available Telerin 8th gen. of 4,950) beget children in the spring 1130/80. The Chiefs and Oromë are disturbed.” (NoMe, p. 51)

(“The Chiefs” are Ingwë, Finwë, and Elwë.)

And:

“Either by chance, machinations of Sauron, and/or because Oromë withdraws protection (hoping to make the Eldar less content with their new Home (Atyamar), winters are hard and the weather worsens.” (NoMe, p. 51)

The second quote is the origin of that rumour about Oromë creating storms to urge the Elves on because they were having too much sex. Is it canon? Not quite: Oromë didn’t create the storm, for one, and the emphasis is on sex for the pleasure of children more than the pleasure of sex on its own (though, as we know from the previous discussion, sexual pleasure was certainly had!). But the rumour you've heard is not without basis in Tolkien’s notes.

The First Elves Really Loved Sex

There’s one more Elf sex nugget in NoMe that I’d like to end with. While scrambling to get his Cuiviénen Elves reproducing at an adequate rate to reach his population-at-finding target, Tolkien came up with what he calls the “Quick prolific” scheme (p. 99).

“The Quendi in their first few generations before the March (or reaching Valinor) must — as is quite reasonable — be made far more eager for love and the begetting and bearing of children. *They must have larger families, at shorter intervals between births.” (p. 107)

To explain this attitude of reproductive eagerness in the first few generations of Elves, Tolkien coins the term “philoprogenitive” — they love to procreate! Procreating — not artistic and intellectual pursuits or exploration or leadership as with later generations — is their number one priority in life. So much so that “they mated almost at once with their predestined mates” (p. 54).

Not only that, but they have so many babies! In one version of the scheme, 12 children per couple in the first generation (p. 108). (This soon changes to 6 per couple. Philoprogenitive they may be, but no one gets to outdo Fëanor).

As with the highly intense Elf sex and the Great Journey delayed by procreating, this is another bit of NoMe lore with great imaginative potential. As we learn from LaCE, Elves enjoyed sex, quite a bit actually, but they enjoyed a lot of other things also, and after a period of baby-making they would usually move on from sex (though they would always remember it fondly). But the First Elves, those early generations by the shores of Cuiviénen? No such balance between sex and other pursuits. It was all about sex and procreation for them.

Of course, what we’ve been looking at are drafts and notes. While all written around the same time (late 1950s to early 1960s), none of the texts here examined were ever finalised and many of them don’t even agree with each other. Tolkien was experimenting; he was worldbuilding. And with the publication of these notes in NoMe, we in turn get some intriguing ingredients for worldbuilding of our own.

So, do as you like with the Elf sex lore. But if you’re looking for a great setting for some canon-compliant smut, may I suggest Cuiviénen?

Resources

PDF of LaCE

Mythgard Academy’s seminars on The Nature of Middle-earth. You don’t actually have to have read or own NoMe to follow these discussions. Great for getting a handle on the material, and ideal for listening as you work your way through reading.

[whosthatsilmcharacter]

Hello! I'm @raointean and I'm hosting a tournament-like running quiz trying to see how well fans can recognize Silmarillion characters based on fanart. This is partly to look at how consistent iconography is across the fandom, and partly to showcase all the amazing art and artists we have in this fandom.

Every three days, I will post a picture of a character along with a few options of who it could be. These will be seven-day polls and, once they're over, I will reblog with the answer and the name of the artist (and a link to the original post of the art so you can reblog it from them directly)

All art is used with EXPRESS permission from the artist. None of it is mine.

Edit: Help me find or make art for the characters I'm missing!

[manweweek]

Introduction/About

Hello and welcome to Manwë Week!

Manwë Week is a week-long fandom event dedicated to Manwë Súlimo from J.R.R. Tolkien’s Silmarillion, planned for March 11th - 17th 2024. The month of March is known as Súlimë, so it seemed only fitting to create an event to celebrate the Lord of Winds!

All sorts of fanworks are welcome, including but not limited to art (digital or traditional), fanfiction, moodboards, headcanons or playlists.

Here is a brief overview of this year's prompts:

Day 1: Family | Breath & Air Day 2: Friends & Love | Rain & Clouds Day 3: The Children | Whispering Breeze Day 4: Poetry & Birdsong | Taniquetil Day 5: Free of Evil | Opposition Day 6: Fallen | Storm Day 7: Freeform

For more details, please have a look at the prompt list.

Any questions, suggestions or concerns? Check out the FAQ or send an ask! You can also reach out on @cilil's blog.

ʚ Mod @cilil

A big thank you and shout out to @glorf1ndel and @arofili for providing advice, inspiration and resources for setting up and managing fandom events.

[balrogballs]

hello, i'm balrogballs, who has regretted this username since the second i chose it. i post mostly LotR/Silm content ✨

I write, illustrate, and shitpost — under the cut is a list of some of my work, and a little bit more about me.

about me: i'm 27, mostly based in the UK atm but grew up and schooled overseas. i'm also a novelist irl (literary-ecological fiction), currently working on book 2.

as my day job, i work as a humanitarian advocate and travel quite frequently - so i have extended times on here and extended times off here. if I haven't responded to a message/tag for a few days, it's probably because i have no internet access and the blog is running off a queue.

pronouns: she/her

fandoms: LotR, The Silmarillion. I haven't seen RoP yet but I do enjoy seeing stuff from it on my dashboard! I enjoy a ton of other stuff too, such as obscure German detective novels, and weird conservation projects.

what you can expect to find here: the blog is called balrogballs, not balrogbrains, so just a note that i really don’t take myself very seriously and you’re probably not going to find much Serious Fandom Discourse. i do have my moments however!

generally though, the gulf between my writing and my personality has been described as “like meeting mr bean and finding out he wrote the iliad”, so take that as you will! re: 18+ content, i repeat, the blog is called balrogballs not balrogbaby, and i essentially use the word DILF like a punctuation mark, so again do with that as you will.

interactions: feel free to open a chat or send me an ask, check out my asks tag as well!

writing: here's my AO3 account. i write almost exclusively for lotr/silm ✨

here's some fics I'm proud of:

the sword tree: Maedhros and Celebrìan 'teaming up' to open a rewilding sanctuary in Valinor to help traumatised ring war returnees. environmentalism, pacifism, and hope in the face of helplessness.

cast in stone: a fic about memory gaps, found family, and holes in the archive. imagine that "who tells your story" line from hamilton except it's 35k words long and starring Maglor, Maedhros, Elrond, Estel and Legolas.

i enjoy exploring decolonial/ecological themes in my writing but i try not to be insufferable and most of my works have some degree of absurdism/humour. i also have a oneshots series called Elrond Peredhel and his Feral Children, a fun romp tackling parenthood in LotR, in which every child of Rivendell is fucking unhinged because their dad is a card-carrying weird little freak ✨🌞

art:

you can find my art tag here! I mostly do graphic novel style "illustrations", because I don't know how to draw anything else 🌞

I saw your work posted on ____, was that you?

Absolutely not — I use no social media aside from this and AO3 (technically I have an "official" account, but that's managed by a publicist and has no elves). I've had a couple of stories reposted onto Wattpad/FFN before — that is not me, so please ping me a link if you come across anything I've written that's not either on here or on AO3 as TimelessUtterances.

(If you came from the “i had to explain to my publishers why i wrote fanfiction about elrond giving lindir the battering ram treatment before they greenlit my first novel” post, no the goddamn fic isn’t still up). However, I do often get questions re writing/publishing from people who read said post, and I’m always very happy to answer these or hook you up with lists of resources, so feel free to ask anything on that front!

[sewn-with-lilies-fair]

Lay of Leithian: The Rock-Opera

Subtitled Livestream- 13 January, 2024

Two different fates are woven together when Lúthien, an elven princess, falls in love with Beren, a hero of mortal men. To win her hand, Beren is sent on an impossible quest- to cut a legendary gem from the crown of the Dark Lord. So begins this battle between light and darkness, love and duty, in the most enduring tale of Tolkien’s Middle Earth.

Здравствуйте, друзья! Hello, friends!

Want to experience a new Tolkien adaptation? Our little Leithian fandom would like to invite you to one of our livestreams! Come join myself and some other fun Silmarillion fans as we watch this Tolkien rock opera together.

Where: Cytube (video stream) / Discord (live chat) • Links will be reblogged here, 1 hour before the stream When: Saturday, 13th January, 7pm EST / 4pm PST / 1:00 CET Run Time: 1hr, 35m, with a 15 minute intermission Performance Details: Recording TBD; likely to be either the May 2023 live broadcast or the June 2022 pro edit. Language: Russian / Subtitles: English Additional Material: • Lay of Leithian translation • Links and resources

See you soon! 🤘

[saradika-graphics]

DIVIDERS MASTERLIST

FANDOM

— Across the Spider-Verse | Hobie

— Alice in Wonderland

— Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes

— Boba Fett (Star Wars)

— Clone Trooper/Star Wars

— Din Djarin (Star Wars)

— Fallout

— Fennec Shand

— FNAF

— Ghostface

— Hannibal

— Hello Kitty/Sanrio

— Hozier

— Hunger Games

— Lightsabers (Star Wars) / Part 2

— Maze Runner

— Mothman

— Percy Jackson

— Pokemon

— Resident Evil (Heisnberg)

— Scream / Ghostface

— Silmarillion/Tolkien

— Sith-Inspired Dividers (Star Wars)

— Skyrim

— Stardew Valley | Part ii

— Supernatural

— Tangled

— Taylor Swift (Folklore) | illcit affairs | reputation | evermore | speak now | all too well | ttpd | lover

— The Last of Us

— Yellowjackets

— Zelda

✨(Everything was made using Canva - so check that app out if you’re looking to make your own! Credit is not required but a reblog would be great if you use! 💕) ✨

[nebbyy]

Hello everyone, new writer here!!

I have some writing ideas in mind but I thought it'd be wiser to start off by writing what you guys want to read first then I might elaborate the projects I already have in mind.

GENERAL INFOS:

I like to inspire most of my fics by paintings and songs, which I will put either as a pic or link to the song into the post :))

English isn't my first language so please be bear with me if I make any mistakes (which will happen for sure)

I probably won't write for a male!reader. Nothing against male readers, of course, but I feel that I don't have enough writing skills to write as well for a man as I would for a woman. That being said, I still might try it out in the future if it's something that many of you want. Gender neutral is also totally fine to me!

Keep in mind that I'm still studying so I might not be always able to post the same day someone sends a request, but I'll try to write my fics in no more than 3 days after the commission

If any fic I write contains spoilers from the book/series/movie THERE WILL BE A WARNING so that I don't ruin anything to anyone🤗

FANDOMS I WRITE FOR:

The Arcana

Dragon Age, all four games

Game of Thrones, all series and books

Kingdom of Heaven

Lord of the Rings, Silmarillion and Rings of Power characters included

Baldur's Gate 3

If you want fics from other fandoms you can still ask me and I'll do some research on it so that I can make something, but it will take more time ofc.

THINGS I WON'T DO (smut related):

Anything revolving a lack of consent so no noncon, dubcon, cnc,...

Pedophilia and zoophilia (ew)

Any naughty actions related to any sort of bodily discharge (period excluded)

Any butt stuff related activities, no shame in who likes it at all but it's something that I just don't like personally and wouldn't be comfortable writing

I think that is all you guys need to know for now, once I'll get enough fics done I'll add the masterlist in this post too so you guys can see if my writing is of your liking.

Byeeee hope I'll see you in the requests!!!!

[lidoshka]

My sibling in fandom, I keep forgetting that I followed you for your Silmarillion art from my deviantart days, and then every time you post some art, I'm like OH MY GOSH ITS GREENAPPLEFREAK!!!!!! FROM DEVIANTART!!!!!

never fails to give me so much seratonin.

Thank you for your fandom service.

Hello my beloved! I'm so glad when I hear I managed to drag someone from deviantart to the crazy bog that is tumblr, makes me feel like a cryptid!

(=｀ω´=)

have a small sketch of Maedhros! I was drawing this when I realized the armor was just silly! but I liked the hair so

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[imakemywings]

Hello! For the femslash requests could I ask for Míriel/Indis in a Sleeping Beauty type situation? No problem if you're not feeling it or want to do something completely different with them. Love you and your fics!💚

I felt like this fairy tale actually works SO well with the canon story of Mirie!

Fandom: The Silmarillion

Pairing: Indis/Miriel, Finwe/Indis/Miriel (et al.)

Summary: Indis yearns to stir the sleeping queen of the Noldor.

This also fills the "First Kiss" and "Polyamory" squares of Fellowship of the Fics' Pride Month Bingo.

AO3 | Pillowfort | SWG

To Call You Home

            Once upon a time, the queen of the Noldor pricked her finger on a spindle. Queen Míriel was a mighty weaver, such that she was called by the Noldor Serindë, the Broidress, for it was not merely in creation alone in which she reveled. The mind of Queen Míriel had devised many a new technique for the making of cloths more subtle and beautiful and durable than had been before, and so the Noldor took great pride in their clever queen.

            But as has been said, on a time she was sitting at her spindle, weaving thread for she desired it of a particular hue and strength for a project of her own and so she would not barter for it in town, and she pricked her finger.

            The queen had lately borne the only child of the royal family: little Finwë, called so after his father, and who was named by Queen Míriel Fëanor, “spirit of fire,” for even in infancy the strength of his mind and body was evident. In fact it was said that Míriel had given overmuch of her own strength into the child, so that she waned after his birth, and thus when she pricked her finger, she felt into a swoon as if dead.

            She was found on the floor by a maid, who rushed for the king with a wail, and he gathered her up straightaway and took her to their chambers, where he laid her abed and prayed to Ilúvatar for her recovery, thinking then that it was only a strange but temporary illness which had taken her. King Finwë gathered to her all the healers of Tirion, but none of them could summon the queen’s spirit back into her body. Similarly ineffective were the efforts of the healers of the Vanyar and of the Teleri.

            Sitting by her bedside, Finwë kissed her and begged for her return, but unavailing were his pleas, and the child wanted tending. Therefore at great length and with reluctance beyond measure, Finwë removed Queen Míriel up into a tower which overlooked the mountains around the city, where she laid undisturbed.

            Great reward, riches beyond measure, and unending gratitude did Finwë promise any who could come and rouse Míriel from her endless sleep. The Elves were ever curious of mind, and many came with notions and hypotheses about how to restore her, but none succeeded. As Fëanor grew, Míriel slept.

            Years on the king wore his braids still short in mourning, and at that time came to the Noldor royal palace Indis, a lady of the Vanyar who had made the Great Journey to Aman. She was a hobbyist academic of sorts, concerned with the potential for others to succumb to Míriel’s fate, and begged leave to study the queen’s condition that it might be ameliorated, or at least prevented in others. Initially reluctant, King Finwë permitted Indis to dwell in the palace, desiring that no others should experience his family’s tragedy.

Many months stayed she in Tirion, though she was unsuccessful in learning much of Míriel’s condition. But amid his grief Finwë heard the song of Indis, who had long loved him in silence from afar, and from sorrow his heart turned to her. Against the wishes of Prince Fëanor, by then more than half grown, and in light of the inability, it seemed, of any to stir Míriel, they were wed.

***

            Once upon a time, the queen of the Noldor fell in love. Long had Indis loved Finwë, seemingly to no purpose, but while her heart was so occupied, she would not take another. No desire had she to be seen taking advantage of the king’s mourning, yet when she heard the tale of Queen Míriel, called Serindë, her curiosity was powerfully awakened. She took to the study of medicinal arts, and attended to the tales of those who had sought to heal the Noldorin queen. When years had passed with no change, Indis could contain her curiosity no longer: she journeyed to Tirion to face Finwë and ask if she might study Míriel.

             The king was reluctant to allow anyone else to poke and prod at Míriel by the time Indis arrived, particularly one who made no claims to be able to heal her, but Indis’ care swayed him and he took her up to Míriel’s tower, where she observed the sleeping queen. Indis had seen the dead and dying, for there had been not a few on the journey to the Blessed Realm in which they dwelled, but Míriel seemed to her as one sleeping, waiting to be woken.

            Indis set with dedication to studying Míriel’s condition—examining the body, and the spindle at which she had first collapsed, and questioning the family and staff who answered with the rote dullness of those who had answered such questions many times—but no answers did she find.

            No solutions to Míriel’s condition did she discover—but something else, even less expected, did occur: Finwë grew to love her. More at ease did he become over Indis’ months, drawing slowly into years, of study, and they began to walk in the garden and speak of other things, and the shadow seemed to fade from his face. Indis was therefore filled with joy, if she yearned still for a way to cure Míriel, and when Finwë proposed the notion of their marriage to her, she gladly accepted.

            Long enough had she dwelled in the palace at Tirion that it was reassuringly familiar when she entered it for the first time as the queen of the Noldor. There were many who were relieved at this, for the uncertainty surrounding Míriel unsettled them, but there were plenty others who muttered in discontent about the impropriety, and Finwë’s son among them.

            Indis went on studying Míriel, though she had lost any faint hopes of curing her.

            The evidence of Míriel’s brilliance lay all about the palace, in her tapestries and clothes; in the tools of sewing and weaving that populated Noldorin tailor shops and dressmakers’ studios; and in the genius of her son, who was like his father in face but had entirely his mother’s spirit. Indis sought out the creations of Míriel, and observed them with awe, and the only polite conversations which Prince Fëanor would deign to have with her were to tell her of Míriel’s works.

            Indis was not a great artist, and her abilities lay more in the realm of arranging than of making. The rooms of the palace which had remained untouched since the seeming-death of Míriel she redecorated, and they were pleasing to the eye and to the mind. Even Míriel’s tapestries she removed to clean and store, and replaced them with others of Míriel’s prolific oeuvre.

            “Is it not pleasant, to see more of her works?” she asked her husband cheerfully when he observed with some unease this change. Nevertheless he agreed, and deferred to Indis’ choices.

            In simpler times, it had pleased Finwë to throw grand parties with much feasting and many guests, but it had been long since such merriment had filled the house. Now he began to fret that Fëanor had grown too long in a house gone quiet in mourning, and the happiness in which he dwelt with Indis rekindled in him the desire for festivities. So the king and queen together planned and hosted a particularly lavish party, the first occasion for many to meet their new queen in person.

            Indis had great delight in the event, for many of her friends arrived from Valmar, and many friends among the Noldor she met that night. Nevertheless, in her nerves over her potential reception by the Noldor, she imbibed quite a bit, and while Finwë was bidding a good night to the last of their guests, she stole up Míriel’s tower.

            There she sat on the floor beside Míriel’s bed and took her hand. So much of Indis’ time of the last several years had been devoted to studying this woman that it felt impossible for her not to consider Míriel also a part of the new family which Indis had chosen. Therefore, it seemed appropriate to share with Míriel the news of what had transpired, and once Indis began to talk with Míriel, she found she did not wish to stop. A part of her was convinced Míriel could hear her and that it would be unkind not to speak with her.

            Thus it came to pass that Indis began to regularly visit Míriel, not to any medical or scientific purpose, but merely to converse and to gaze upon her placid face and shapely hands. Indis began to feel that they knew one another, and in her heart she envisioned Míriel as a friend—or even a part of her marriage with Finwë (though this she seldom dared to even think to herself but to brush off as a fanciful jest). Convinced that others would not understand, Indis kept these meetings from the rest of the palace. But in her familiarity, Indis grew careless with her half-hearted secrecy, and this was how Finwë came upon her one day in Míriel’s tower, seated on the edge of the bed, stroking Míriel’s hair.

            Now Finwë was not given to quick anger nor to the bearing of grudges, but the thought of anyone disturbing Míriel’s body when she was so helpless put him at once in a wrath, and even as he opened his mouth to command Indis away from Míriel’s bed, she bent and pressed her mouth to Míriel’s in a tender kiss. There was a sigh, which Finwë and Indis both took to be Indis, until Míriel’s eyes opened.

***

            Once upon a time, two queens of the Noldor spoke, one to the other. For months Indis came to Míriel, and more vulnerable and open thoughts did she share each time. So often did she think of her confidante beyond the confines of Míriel’s tower that she felt she too, missed the company of this woman she had never known. The more she spoke, the more she anguished over Míriel’s inability to reply; she yearned to hear her voice, to know what Míriel would say to her, rather than merely to imagine.

            “Will you not speak to me, Míriel?” she murmured at the queen’s side, stroking her hair, a loose waterfall of silken silver. “Have I not proven my affections well enough?” She leaned down nearer to Míriel, until her breath whispered over the sleeper’s face. “Will you not grant me just a word? You know not what I would give for that.”

            And then she kissed her, and Míriel woke.

The tower of the queen was gripped in petrifying shock; Míriel gazed in some wonder up at Indis, while Indis and Finwë stared agape at Míriel, who seemed again in full possession of herself as she had not been for near two decades.

            “I have dreamed of you,” said Míriel to Indis. “Though I do not know your name.”

            “My name is Indis,” said she, “and you are Míriel, queen of the Noldor.”

            “Have I known you?” Míriel asked.

            “No,” said Indis. “We spoke not on the walk west; but I saw you with—” Here she blushed and looked askance and saw for the first time Finwë in the door, and there Míriel’s attention went as well. Silence drew out like a cord between she and he, taught and twisting, and then Míriel spoke.

            “I heard you,” she croaked to the man rooted to the floorboards. “You were calling to me.”

            “You did not answer,” said Finwë, and spoke as one feeling an old wound.

            “I…” Now Míriel avoided looking on his face. “I was weak,” she said at last. “I had no strength nor desire to speak.”

            Now they gazed those two on Indis, who burned under the attention.

            “It seemed I was in a fog,” said Míriel. Her delicate brow furrowed, and she struggled, and Indis helped her to sit upright. “There was not light nor sound to lead me from it. When at last I spoke it seemed that I called out to no avail, my words swallowed into the mist. I suppose you had lost hope for me then.” Finwë was stricken, but Míriel went on: “Perhaps this was reasonable. Still, then I dreamed of you,” she said to Indis. She blinked shrewd tawny brown eyes at Indis and asked: “How did you call me back?”

            “I…” Indis’ hands twisted anxiously in her lap, and she blushed, and wished not to be impertinent—but neither did she wish to lie. “With love, I think,” she said softly.

            Then Finwë looked on them with dawning comprehension and he said: “Not one voice, but two, to draw you home.” It seemed to him then that a greater power than chance had led Indis to his house.

            Míriel looked between them and said, her voice hoarse with disuse: “I recognize not this room. Where the devil am I?”

***

            Once upon a time, the throne room of the royal palace of the Noldor was short one chair. Two thrones wrought with all the artistry mustered by that people sat in the airy hall beneath crimson beams and curling rooves, imbued with gems and delicate metalwork décor, and yet these two were not enough.

            So for a time, one ruler of the Noldor was obliged to stand, while the other two set to a great deal of teasing about the immediate state of affairs. (It is said that they delayed in the commissioning of a new triad of thrones—merely to add one more would have thrown off the balance of the room, and so the whole situation necessitated reworking—out of amusement with the shortage, though no confirmation of this can exist.)

            It is hard to accurately convey the level of consternation among the general populace of Tirion as to what precisely their state of government was at this time. It had taken many years after the fainting of Míriel to accept that Finwë might remarry—and even then many had remained opposed, including Finwë’s own heir—and then several years more for the Noldor to become accustomed to Indis—to finally lose the confusion surrounding which individual was being referenced as “the queen”—so then to have both of them standing bright and shining in the place of the king and queen was jarring to say the least.

            The prevailing opinion of the city was that one queen must depart—one or the other would win out in the end. But these opinions were voiced by the ignorant who had not been in Míriel’s tower and knew nothing of the love that bonded the three rulers of Tirion.

            Neither queen departed, and the new thrones were built in time, and in the meanwhile Míriel often reclined out in the gardens, finding that after her long sleep she had more of a craving for treelight and a breeze on her face than ever she had had before. There with her often sat Indis, whose recited poems and sung hymns greatly pleased the Broidress, and if Indis had worried that Míriel would resent the one who had taken her place, those fears were washed away in Míriel’s gratitude for the one who had called her back from darkness, and touched something in Míriel’s heart with her words.

            Thus it was often that Indis would say, in the late hours of Telperion’s waxing, “Are you ready to sleep now?” and Míriel would reply, “Not now, I would have a little while longer.” And Indis would smile with tender delight, and they would stay awake until the fresh mingling of the Trees.

[finweanladiesweek]

Finwëan Ladies Week: September 18-24, 2023

Hello and welcome to Finwëan Ladies Week!

This is a week-long event celebrating the ladies of the line of Finwë! There have been events within the Silmarillion fandom focused on the sons of Finwë and their descendents, and to add to the fun this week was established to give his wives, daughters, and other female descendants their own time to shine.

Finwëan Ladies Week began in 2019 and has run every year since. We are back for more in our fifth year, this time from September 18-24, 2023!

Any content and creations about the ladies of Finwë’s line are welcome! You can create edits, gifs, fanart, fanfic, fanmixes, and more!

Below are some prompts for each day of the week. They are not mandatory, but they are here to inspire you. This page will lead to a detailed explanation for each one.

DAY ONE: Míriel Þerindë and Indis DAY TWO: Findis and Írimë Lalwen DAY THREE: Aredhel and Galadriel DAY FOUR: Later Generations DAY FIVE: Ladies Who Married In DAY SIX: Original Characters DAY SEVEN: Freeform

This event is being organized by mods Anna @arofili and Elle @elesianne. If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to message this blog or reach out to Anna on their main blog. Anna runs on Pacific Standard Time, and Elle runs on Eastern European Summer Time, so we will be active and modding on those schedules, although you are free to post your content at the time most convenient to you!

For further clarification, check out our about, FAQ, and prompts pages! Happy creating!!

Mobile links are accessible here.



[sajirah]

Hi, new best friend!

So, we’re looking at just Feysand, heavy on the fluff, NSFW, and set in the canonverse (or close to it). A good start, I’d say. A few more questions before I run off to brainstorm further.

Your favorite fic recs and/or artists in fandom you admire

A few personal interests, niche or otherwise

Favorite songs, films, or books

And of course, tell me what you love most about Feysand in canon and when you write about them.

I'll see you soon, friend!

Hello again mysterious new best friend!

Favorite Artist

Merwild is still one of my favorite artists in the fandom! Her rendition of Rhys is still the closest to the version I see in my head. 

Favorite Fics

I’m a whore for canon-divergent fix-it fics (especially those where Feyre is human for a decent chunk of them) so it should come to the surprise of no one that some of my favorites are…

A Court of Faded Dreams by @the-lonelybarricade

we said hello and your eyes look like coming home by @rosanna-writer

Your Eyes Whisper Have We Met by @climbthemountain2020

Favorite Films

Pan’s Labyrinth

The Mummy

Spirited Away

Favorite Books

I have so many but a few are:

The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien

Wild Seed by Octavia Butler

Honey Cut by Sierra Simone

Favorite Songs

This changes a lot but some of the ones I always come back to are:

Blue Ridge Mountains by Fleet Foxes

American Pie by Don McClean

Manhattan by Ella Fitzgerald

Personal Interests

I'm a big fan of spooky stories, monsters, and space!

Feysand

I love that they're willing to do horribly morally questionable things for each other without a second thought. They won't just die for each other (something seen in a lot of fictional couples), but they're also ready and willing to cross boundaries few other people would if it means keeping the other safe/happy. I love exploring that aspect of their relationship in my own writing, though admittedly I will often take it to extremes (because that's just more fun 😂).

I look forward to seeing what you come up with Santa! ❤️