#maia so much

[bleaksqueak]

I’ve still got asks in my inbox that i’ll be answering! Been taking a small actual break since i never got one over the holidays… decided to play Lies of P because apparently a nice zelda game wasn’t masochistic enough for me to relax with dfgefgerg

I’ve had a very good time with it. I may only play like one game a year but I go in for the bruises when i do??

Break time’s over with the end of this weekend tho, so i’ll be back in full swing! Hopefully i’ve not been too influenced by the fib boy game

[irishyuri]

claiabelle x the lament for icarus by herbert james draper 😼

[ricky-mortis]

Some more character drawings- but this time they’re Pulp Musicals!

[mamwieleimion]

I have this new take on Elrond and his looks/connection to his ancestry/how he's precived.

This is something of a cumulation of posts I have read that talked about things like:

How people see Elrond as physically most a like to people they want to see at first

How Elrond accidentally became a Patron of Unions/Marriage

How Men think he's incredibly Elven and Elves think he looks a lot like a Men

How no matter how he dressed in Valinor his always gonna turn heads and concerned questions (specially from the Noldor)

And of him being more Maia/Eldritch

Him being a Feanorian (I don't really know if that's relevant but I see him as one so that might affect how I write about him below 👇)

(some of these can be found on my profile/in my posts if anyone interested)

Alright, having said all that, I can now being.

So, men don't really have great memory of times past. But! Let's assume that some kind of knowledge of Doriath had survived long enough into the Second Age, that when Men generally knew about Rivendell they had accidentally between generations lost the distinction between Doriath and Rivendell.

Let's be honest, if the common folk have such stories, then somethings must get lost between generations. And the nobles also at some point might have for some time lost the distinction, I would totally believe that.

Anyways, and so, there is this legend/myth going around Men that the Hidden Elven City is and always was Rivendell (they might get a little fussed up with Gondolin but less so than Doriath I think). And they all agree that the Realm/City is ruled by a powerful being/spirit (they don't remember maiar anymore, but if they did, it would be a Maia ruling the Hidden Elven City/Realm).

So sometimes, when an injured man stumbles his way into Rivendell, and maybe they make the connection with our lovely Valley and their myths/legends. And then they are introduced to the healer who brought them back from the brink of death (Lord of the Valley Elrond). The men is pretty sure it was a woman ruling the Hidden Elven City, but it also could've meant Lord Elrond's wife (she probably passed away, the men mused later to justify his own thoughts. Because the death of a spouse isn't something new to men), or really, the Lord is beautiful enough to pass for a woman. The men doesn't say anything, he stays respectful. And when he leaves, he talks about the spirit who brought him back from the dead, saved him with a miracle from the heavens, of his kindness and beauty. The myth grows.

And maybe, along the way this belief becomes so strong something in Elrond awakens. After all, the blood of Ainur is strong, was strong in Luthien, almost overwhelming her elven nature. Was visible in Dior as all who looked at him found themselves failing to their knees in awe, feeling the fulfilment of their search for beauty. It had became stronger in Elwing, who used the Silmaril as the only light in her life, who as a small girl-queen only had this one thing left of her family. Elwing who unknowingly became stronger from this exposure, who feed her Ainur blood with light and strengthened herself until when she fell all Ulmo had to do to change her form was to give her a push in the right direction.

And it all came down to Elrond. Elrond who as a child, a newborn, was exposed to the light of the Silmaril, who after his kidnapping/impromptu adoption was nurtured by two powerful Elves of Valinor, by Eldest Sons of Feanor the Fire Spirit, who despite what some would like to forget had the blood of Finwë running in his veins alongs side the blood of Melian and Thingol. Elrond who held a Ring of Power and stood straight under its weight, who created a sanctuary in the darkness. The Lord of Rivendell who, knowingly or not, had created the only thing that could rival the Griddle of Doriath and even surpass it with it's complexity.

Elrond had became something more along the way. Even though many saw a man in him, others an elf. Elrond lived up to his ancestors and became more as they have. The Lord of Rivendell became a legend, a myth, a figure and an idea. And you can't kill ideas. So what if, he was something more? It didn't really matter at the end, because it was Elrond, kind as summer and wise as a wizard. And he protected his people.

So, when he sailed to Valinor, the only people who were suprised by his power/presence he had were those who never met him before. If a few Maiar were watching invisibly to elves as he arrived and he saw them then what? No one will call him out.

And even if he had became more elf than men, and then more Maia than elf along his long journey of life. It doesn't change anything at the end. Because the Lord of Rivendell was still the same.

[ditzyclown]

While I think of ideas to draw @konjkitkatty's and @bvnny-skvllz 's (having trouble tagging them-) bishops of life along local feral axolotl Feannor I doodled them before ascencion

Local children steal find an inkpot

Im also pretty sure they all would have been born at different times but I just wanted to draw them together as bebes ok?

[aliengirl]

[lizzysbrain]

My poor baby probably didn’t get an ounce of sleep that night. Bro was being dragged to prison and the only thing he was worried about was whether she was breathing or not 😢. I need a man this in love with me.

[ech0ech0ech0]

IN A DREAM YOU SAW A WAY TO SURVIVE AND YOU WERE FULL OF JOY

Jenny Holzer, Truisms // Bears In Trees, Evergreen // I Hope You Heal, illustrated by @Redgoldsparks, text by @prettypositivity, @i-don’t-believe-in-perfect, & @lilbutch // Juno Roche, Gender Explorers // art by @inkipri // Clementine von Radics, In a Dream You Saw a Way to Survive (The Last Poem)

[captainkirkk]

Maia being overwhelmed by birthday gifts from people whose lives he has touched - because he doesn't understand what they WANT. Because surely so people would not act so kindly towards him without a motive

[sesamenom]

no living man may hinder me: The Gilded Wraith of Numenor

from the Reverse Gondolin AU, based on @who-needs-words's idea for Ar-Pharazon's fate! (they also wrote a ficlet for it, check it out here!)

[rolandkaros]

dasha was so far in the trenches for a second there this summer that i was convinced it was The End. cant believe this is happening but by god i am thrilled and relieved

[an-eldritch-peredhel]

I’d love to hear your thoughts on what Eldritch peredhel entail

-@@outofangband

Sorry this took so long @outofangband and thank you for asking this I am! Delighted! And am preemptively putting a read more down because I cannot shut up about they <3

alright I'm just gonna put stuff and headcanons down as they occur to me so expect low-moderate levels of coherency

shapeshifting is an obvious one (gets weaker down the generations) but because my brain is Like This I have caveats!

thanks to my whole peredhil things=gender allegory that my brain spit out without my permission I've long struggled against my inherent feeling that while they can shapeshift they don't like it

but because I'm now aware of my brain's reasoning I can say it's because of ✨fantasy dysphoria✨

that's oversimplifying, obviously, but peredhil already have so much issues with working through who and what they are and compromising between body and mind and spirit that actively choosing to change into/present as something/someone who They Are Not is. Not usually their cup of tea.

As a whole they tend to have specific forms that they prefer as being closer to themselves, and distinct enough that it doesn't feel like they're faking something they're not

(changing to look like a different person, or a edited version of themself is Very Very not fun unless either explicitly for disguise or shenanigans)

(the exception to this is that Luthien can make herself look almost perfectly human without any real issue. she doesn't do it often but especially as she ages she likes to catch glimpses of her reflection and get both excited and sappy. this is in contrast to making herself look almost perfectly like an elf which makes her feel like her skin is on fire.)

(Also I'm pretty sure all of them can flip their agab presentation while only feeling varying degrees of off, and even then it's a different feeling than the shapeshifting dysphoria. Dior and Elwing are the two who I think mind it the most)

They all have the (agonizing to write) trait of feeling very distinct relationships to their species in their body vs soul/mind vs spirit/fea and they all feel it very differently! This isn't exclusive to Luthien's line but the maia blood does make it worse.

Oh! This is a new headcanon of mine actually but!

They all have faces that are very very hard to capture in image. They are the bane of portrait artists (and, to a degree, sculptors) everywhere because the art never looks accurate to life

It's not blatantly off it's just. missing something? Or something was added? maybe it's a little too wide, or narrow, or long, or short, in one place or another

It's not unrecognizable but if you've ever seen the subject in real life you can just tell

It's especially bad with Luthien (and Daeron) and Dior (to a lesser extent) because everyone literally sees them differently, as in their features will be slightly different depending on what each person finds attractive/aesthetically appealing and beautiful

(not a lot, again, it's not unrecognizable, but there has never and will never be any accurate depiction of Luthien as she was as a person)

(as a concept, though, as the most beautiful creature to have ever existed in Arda, a little of her image exists in every portrait lovingly made of a beloved spouse, every child's drawing of their family, in biological sketches of songbirds and field mice, in a sculpture of a stranger's face. Daeron remembers his sister perfectly, but he collects these regardless)

(Arwen, Luthien come again, isn't described as such by her grandparents. Galadriel and Celeborn both knew Luthien, and while Arwen and her father both look as closely to her as genetically possible, to those who actually know them both it's nothing more than uncanny family resemblance. Luthien was to most a concept personified, Arwen is a person with concepts imposed on her.)

The list of people who have seen Luthien how she actually, physically, defaultly is, essentially consists of Melian, Daeron, Beren, and Dior

Beren doesn't see her as she is right away because he doesn't know her right away, but they learn about each other and she shows herself and he sees her and by the time she rescues him from Tol-im-Gaurhoth there are no echoes on her face

(He's always a little bit haunted that he nearly died without realizing he'd never quite seen the truth of her before)

Neither Thingol or Beren can quite see their own features on their children's faces. They clearly take after their mothers, after all!

(This leads to much affectionate eye-rolling on Melian and Luthien's part)

Hair stuff!

It's alive! kinda! it's definitely not normal hair!

It moves a lot on its own. Sometimes like a breeze is blowing where there isn't one. Sometimes more like tentacles. It depends on its mood.

They've got some very pretty traditional cosmic horror vibes swirling around on their heads. It's very sparkly and colorful but in a Forbidden Shrimp Colors that your brain is unable to comprehend way so it reads as iridescent black mostly, or holographic white, where applicable

Luthien's hair actually is a glimpse into space, Daeron's is a glance at a star

(Luthien's magic hair cloak survives, I think, into the 4th age and beyond, though if anyone/anything has found it they certainly don't know the origins of the beautifully intricate living star map. It has seen the reign of countless north stars, yet the lines always point to the same coordinates- where the ancient, sunken, ruined remains of what once was Tol-im-Gaurhoth lay)

Speed round!

Fangs and talons and horns oh my! Are they tooth and keratin and bone, or are they petrified wood and gem and stone? Yes!

They all smell a little like ozone and a lot like petrichor, flowers, and Green. If you've smelled green you know what I'm talking about. Also, unfortunately, like bird. Birds don't smell great, especially wet bird.

Weird Foresight Powers++

(Most of them don't have actual foresight, but all of them are more in-tune with the Song than is natural for an incarnate)

Their eyes glow, most notably in the dark, unless the irises turn black as they sometimes do. They are also all unnaturally bright versions of the less-spooky parent's- Dior's are gold, Elwing's are blue-green like a tropical sea (Elured and Elurin split the color between them- ultramarine and emerald), Elrond and Elros have pale star-gold, Elladan, Elrohir, and Arwen all have silver.

(Daeron and Luthien being the exception again, because I decided they have Melian's eyes before I decided this, and I don't know what color eyes Thingol has. Watsonianly: Melian's spooky genes overwrite a lot. Luthien's genotype is probably much closer to his than her magically overwritten phenotype)

Their sclerae turn black and their pupils white, on occasion, usually when using powers

They don't bleed right. It's a little too red for an elf, a little too light for a human, and it shines strange as it beads like quicksilver on the skin

They have very shiny, cool skin. Luthien looked like her's was silver plate under a stretched stocking, the rest toned it down from there but it's still noticeable.

The Song is. Attached to them. They are all very much Main Characters. Their lives have a clear story arc with symbolism and narrative parallels. They are all subconsciously aware that their lives are a fairytale, whether tragic or no, and yes this has many Implications and affects. They are not the only ones like this, but they are the only ones who, to some level, know they are in a story.

This is the fundamental separation between them and everyone else.

The difference in how they perceive themselves between heart soul and spirit is very difficult to explain and understand, but not impossible to someone who knows them and is willing to put in the work.

The life-long knowledge that they are Important to the Song and their every choice and event they experience and their mere existence serves a greater purpose in a way that most other people simply do not- that's very, very isolating.

No one else can understand how they see the world. Very very few people are willing to try, and even fewer in a way that's not frustrating. There is a reason most of them find only one person to latch on to outside of their family, and a reason they hold on through hell and high water.

(This is about being neurodivergent)

[sadsilmarilsoup]

Arien bc I need to practice doing full body drawings. I'll probably change her back leg bc it doesn't look right....

Rebloging this once I'm done coloring

[erikahenningsen]

Tom Kitt: The Trunk Songs | 54 Below | September 8, 2024

[troblsomtwins829]

I love this woman.

You can pry her elderly form from my cold, decrepit, rigor mortised hands.

[chaos-of-the-abyss]

than the deserts have sand

Fandom: The Silmarillion

Rating: General Audiences

Relationship tags: Dior Eluchíl & Elu Thingol, Dior Eluchíl & Melian, Elu Thingol/Melian, Background Dior Eluchíl/Nimloth of Doriath

Summary:

“I named him my heir,” Elu says, “but I never thought—I never thought, that one day, the burden would be his to bear for true.”

Read on ao3