#look i know lqs genuinely thought he was in trouble

[ruanbaijie]

THE SPIREALM 致命游戏 (2024) 1.63 adapted from the danmei novel Kaleidoscope of Death 死亡万花筒 by Xi Zi Xu 西子绪

[atariince]

What actually prompted me to ask you about Finrod is your fic Anathema :) I liked very much his characterization bc he is also imo very complex and enigmatic. Could you elaborate why you find him quite creepy on his first meeting with Bëor’s people?

Oooh, thankyou very much! I��m glad you liked it 😊 As for yourquestion, I think the best thing to do is to look at the texts (it’s going tobe long…)

The Silmarillion, Chapter 17, Of the coming of Men into the west + Later Quenta Silmarillion,The War of the Jewels.

“Then Felagund,standing silent in the night-shadow of the trees, looked down in to the campand he beheld a strange people” 

Everything’s cool, except for the “night-shadow” thing which, to me, foreshadows something that is not quite clear.

“[…] Long Felagundwatched them”

 I do believe that It must have been very strange andfascinating to discover the Atani. But how long did he watch them exactly? I’dnot feel very comfortable to learn that my friend lurked around and watched “long”before introducing themselves.

“…And lovefor them stirred in his hear”. 

I can understand the spiritual/intellectualattraction and the curiosity, so I’m fine with it.

“…But heremained hidden in the trees until they had fallen asleep. Then he went amongthe sleeping people…”

Wait, what? 

That’s where it really becomes creepy…  although I perfectly understand the fact thathe has to be cautious because the Men could be wary, I just feel very uneasy withthis image of a powerful being hiding in the trees and sneaking into the campwhen everybody’s asleep…

“… and satbeside their dying fire where none kept watch.”

“… and hetook a rude harp which Bëor had laid aside, and he played music upon such asthe ears of Men had not heard; for they had as yet no teachers in the art, saveonly the Dark-Elves in the wild lands” 

Let’s try to ignore the contemptuouscomments of the narrator (Pengolodh btw) - yeah because only the Eldar know about arts andculture, and only they can teach what art is to other species…. Does it remindyou of something? - and go on.

“Now Menawoke and listened to Felagund as he harped and sang, and each thought that hewas in some fair dream”. 

That’s where we must remember the power of music inTolkien’s world, and Finrod’s mastery (cf. the music fight with Sauron in The Layof Leithian); What sort of device can music be? Does music summon images? Howdoes it affect emotions and sentiments? “each thought he was in some fair dream”implies the idea of an illusion, doesn’t it?

“… until hesaw that his fellow was awake also beside him” 

So, the power of music isstrong enough to prevent Men from acknowledging what’s happening around…?

“But theydid not speak or stir while Felagund still played, because of the beauty of themusic and the wonder of the song. Wisdom was in the words of the Elven-king,and the hearts grew wiser that hearkened to him”. 

Pretty cool, right?

 Yet,wisdom. Which wisdom? Is absolute wisdom a thing? Isn’t it supposed to berelative, related to your culture, environment, experiences, etc.? Hm. Here, weare talking about wisdom according to the Eldar, which ultimately discards the Atani’s wisdom and makes it meaningless, if not something that does not evenexist. /Lol/

“…for the thingsof which he sang, of the making of Arda,”

Which Felagund has never actuallywitnessed…

“…And thebliss of Aman beyond the shadows of the sea, came as clear visions before theireyes.” 

I agree about Aman, it makes perfect sense. But how could he give them visionsof the Making if he never witnessed it? Did he get the same visions from theAinur? Or did he make them up? #noidea

“…and hisElvish speech was interpreted in each mind according to its measure.”

Okay,let’s repeat the last part: “according to its measure.” So, if I understandcorrectly, Felagund adapted his song and words and the visions he displayedaccording to what each individual was able to acknowledge. Although it isactually great to adapt your speech to your audience (you don’t speak to scholarsthe way you speak to high-school students), I cannot help wondering about themanipulative aspect of it. If there is no actual manipulation, it still showsthat Finrod would have been able to do it. Not only heis smart enough to realize how/when to do it, but his song is also powerfulenough for it, and he is skilled enough to modulate his songs and to use therequired rhetorical tools.

“…and theyloved him and took him for their lord and were ever after loyal to the House ofFinarfin.” 

This sentence appears a conclusion of the passage, as a logical consequenceof the whole thing, as if it were but a natural outcome of the meeting between theMen and the Eldar. But hadn’t it been prepared by the whole narrativedevelopment? Think about it. When Finrod started to sing and revealed himselfto the Men, he had already watched them “long”, meaning that he had probablyunderstood/learned many things about them before he decided to show up. Wasn’tit the plan from the beginning, to make the Men acknowledge him as loremaster,as a teacher, as the voice of wisdom and consequently, as a lord? I do not doubtthat there is a genuine affection regarding Felagund’s relationship to the Men(obviously it is a thing), but I can’t help seeing some sort of purpose behindthe seemingly innocent display of knowledge, grace, beauty… and power.

“[…] Indeed,they believed at first Felagund was one of the Valar [“gods” in the LQS], ofwhom they had heard rumour that dwelt in the West, and this was (some say) thechief cause of their journey” 

Although I am certain Finrod never pretended tobe an Ainur, and never even thought about it, there is something quiteambivalent in his first approach to men. What exactly did he expected them tothink of him?

“…ButFelagund dwelt among them and taught them true lore.” 

Lol. True lore. TRUTH.Again, like wisdom, I don’t believe there is one universal, absolute truth.Especially in terms of lore. And it irks me to be told about “true lore”, “truewisdom”. QED

“…and Felagund discovered also that he couldread in the minds of Men such thoughts as they wished to reveal in speech sothat their words were easily interpreted”

The sentence is supposed to explainhow they communicate. Hence the emphasis on “as they wished to reveal”. But ifhe can read in their minds so easily, he would probably be able to discoverwhat they don’t want to reveal, wouldn’t he? Perhaps he did not try to, but itmust have been possible, right? So yeah. Creepy.

The Quenta Silmarillion,The Lost Road and Other Writings.

Here, wehave more or less the same narrative; the syntax and vocabulary are slightlydifferent but the meaning is the same (“Felagund drew nigh among the trees tothe camp of Bëor and he remained hidden until all had fallen asleep […] and hetook a rude harp […] and they marvelled, for wisdom was in that song as well asbeauty […] at first they deemed that Felagund was one of the gods […] butFelagund told them true lore […].) Which means that this meeting has alwaysfollowed the same narrative pattern, with no major change between the differentperiods of writing.

Now there aretwo more points that trouble me, which appear in the LQS and in the Lost Road…’sQS:  While in the published Silmarillionwe have “in this way he got his name, Bëor, whereas his name before had beenBalan; for Bëor signified ‘Vassal” in the tongue of his people”, in the LQS wehave: “thus Bëor got his name, for it signified Vassal in their tongue, andeach of their chieftains after him bore this name as a title until the time ofBregolas and Barahir, and in QS: “thus Bëor the Vassal got his name among the Noldor".

Ok. A bitof intellectual honesty is required here; it is true that in medievalliterature vassalage was often seen as something very honorific, and Bëor’sloyalty to Finrod is given as something beautiful and honourable. And again, Ido believe that, on the question of sentiments between Finrod and Bëor, it wasgenuine. Yet, I can help feeling a bit uneasy about the whole thing, especiallyin the name-title which is inherited as a way to remind them of their place inthe hierarchy…. Or maybe I’m just paranoid. But. Yeah. Irks.

We alsohave something in both the LQS and in the QS: 

“For Bëor and his folk laterlearned the language of the Eldar and forsook their own.” 

 Although it is greatfor them to be able to speak the Eldarin tongue, I’m quite uncomfortable withthe idea that they just dropped their own tongue… Ok, the Eldar wereinfluential lords and they were numerous and all, but still. To totally forsake one’slanguage under the influence of powerful lords (in a few generations only) isquite… disturbing. And Tolkien was a linguist, he knew the history of languages,he knew that a language doesn’t simply disappear because the people decided toforsake it. Proof is given in the Silmarillion: 

“Men had long had dealings withthe Dark elves, east of the Mountains, and from them had learned much of theirspeech, and since all the languages of the Quendi were of one origin, thelanguage of Bëor and is folk resembled the Elven-tongue in many words anddevices”. 

This makes sense, because languages influence one another, they mergethrough the contacts with other people, and that’s apparently the case betweenthe Atani and the Dark-Elves. Yet, when one language is totally forsaken to bereplaced by another one, it is much more… problematic? Or at least ambiguous, especiallysince the Eldar are very good at learning other languages.

A new wave ofintellectual honesty is required: It is true that Tolkien enriched this idea,through the character of Tuor, and it is given in the Lhammas:

“Naught is preservedof the most ancient speeches of Men, save of the tongue of the folk of Bëor andHaleth and Hador. Now the languages of these folks were greatly influenced bythe Green-Elves, and it was of old, named Taliska, and this tongue was knownstill to Tuor[…], and it was in part recorded by the wise men of Gondolin whereTuor for a while abode. Yet Tuor himself used this tongue no longer, foralready even in Gumlin’s day men in Beleriand forsook the daily use of theirown tongue and spoke and gave names unto their children children in the languageof the Gnomes.”

So, some mortals remembered the old tongue, but only the most literate apparently; whichconfirms the idea of one language –that of the vassals – being replaced by that of their lords who are supposed tobe keen on languages. Historically, the influence of a language is related tothe power of the people speaking it: Wealth -> big army (+ loads of manuscripts)-> influential language. So it makes sense in Beleriand. But language ispower, and even though the Men willingly adopted the Eldarin tongue, it seemsvery strange that they simply forsook their native tongue… Right?

Now, I have no definitive conclusion and I don’t try to prove anything since I don’t really know how to take it myself - I only find this whole passage weird. It isambiguous. Obviously,Finrod liked Bëor’s people and respected them. After all, he did help themsettle in Beleriand, he trusted them and was a good lord to them. But the more I thinkabout it, the more I read some elements as a manifestation of something that isa bit “imperialistic” (“helping the poor uncivilized men to climb theladder of civilisation”……………..)  Maybe I’mwrong, I don’t know. Maybe I’ll eventually change my mind about this interpretationwhich is far from being the only possible reading. But I cannot unsee these problematicelements. In any case, I cling to my opinion that there’s something unclear,if only in the diegetic narrator’s intents.