#man remember when I was getting into the silm for the first time. and I didn't know what Anfauglith meant.

[holytrickster]

also i finally finished the silm earlier and oh my god i understood narn i chin hurin so much better this time. like i know the whole thing isn't included but the fact the main parts are mentioned *after* i knew who the heck everyone in it was and where everything was happening made it so much more understandable now than when i first read it back when i was like 14 bc i went like hobbit -> lotr -> children of hurin with a lot of time in between where i forgot stuff

[eri-pl]

Silm Advent calendar 14: Fire

Some headcanons strongly assumed in this one.

Mithrandir rotated the ring on his finger. The moonlight reflected in the ruby, making it seem like a flame. Fire…

There was a Light he remembered but could not remember, it was incompatible with how he was now, like awakening and dream. Too large to fit in his mind. No, it's always been too great. But now even the memory of the experience…

Melian had warned him that being bound to a body would be difficult, but he hadn't expected to be so lost. And now Círdan had made it even more difficult.

The moon reflecting on the sea was silver, but Mithrandir’s thoughts — contrary to the name he had taken — were filled with red.

There was a flame he could, unfortunately, remember with more clarity, now it felt even more natural, and this worried him greatly. He turned away from it long ago, longer than time itself was long, and yet, the memory kept coming back.

Why, of all the things, did he always have to deal with fire?

There were fires he remembered from the War — so far changed from the gold-white brilliance they'd once been — hopefully all gone now, except for one beautiful flame that now rested, to rise in the next morning. Arien. One of the closest, and yet one of the first to leave. Where would he be now if it wasn't for her?

Somewhere less difficult maybe, but not in a good way.

Still, why did it always come back to fire?

Círdan stood in the door of his home. Mithrandir sighed and gestured at the bench, moving to the side.

“I left Glorfindel with some books,” said the shipwright.

“He's quite enthusiastic, isn't he? So full of light…”

Círdan smiled slightly. “Like a haystack, not like a hearth.”

They sat in silence for a while, as Tilion moved through the sky and waves roared. After a while, Mithrandir spoke again.

“You don't know how hot a hearth can get.”

“I know when I see someone who knows restraint. And you do have more experience than Glorfindel. Both with hearths and with hearts.”

“You don't know the nature of my experience!” Mithrandir turned to Círdan, facing him straight. His heart pounded.

“Really?” The elf was unfazed, even smiling slightly. “I'm just a simple elf, but I'm not blind. You came here, having put upon yourself more limitations than your colleagues, and yet embodiment comes to you so naturally that I'd never guess who you are had I not seen you arrive. Also, you feel more like a Man than like one of us. Can't sit straight, can't find a place for yourself. Full of fire. And now, instead of reading, or sleeping, or talking so much about animals that even Glorfindel looks quiet in the comparison, you brood alone in the night. Indeed, I do wonder what your experience could possibly be.”

Mithrandir sat deeper in the bench. After all this time… “I— didn't mean to brood. I'm sorry.”

Círdan patted him on the arm. “It's fine. Most elves brood too when they come here. It's the perspective of sailing. I'm accustomed to dealing with the mood of others. And I have to admit that I have deceived you a little.”

“About?”

“I don't think I would have noticed those signs, or understand what they mean, without some hints.”

Mithrandir closed his eyes. “Seaside dreams, I guess? But why—”

“Just some friendly gossip.” There was laughter in Cirdan’s voice, and a distant echo of a storm, but his face was serious.

“And yet you gave it to me.”

“Whom else?’

“Curunir. Glorfindel—experience can be learned. Anyone.”

The shipwright studied him carefully. “I have to admit, I did not know for certain where you came from when I made the decision.”

“Now you know. You can imagine what I could do with hearts if— You can imagine.”

“And yet, if the past allegiance had always been a good predictor of the present, the world would be much brighter and you would not need to be here now.”

Mithrandir pulled Narya off his finger. “And this would not exist. Tell me, how can two results of a wrong make a right?” He gave the ring back to Círdan.

“Are you certain?”

He nodded. The worst thing that could happen was another one falling into shadow. “Give it to someone worthy.”

The elf took it and nodded. “Thank you. I will feel better knowing that I gave it to you knowing the whole context.” He offered it back to Mithrandir. “As for how to make right out of wrong — you tell me. Not now. But I trust you will.”

“With who I am? Círdan, I begged not to have to come here!”

“And yet you came. You asked me to give it to someone worthy, but the worthy ones sometimes end up…” He winced. “I'd rather give it to someone who will use it to do good. Will you?”

Mithrandir bowed his head. “I'll do my best.” Slowly he took Narya back.

Círdan stood up. “Go get some sleep. You need it now.”

He did, and he dreamed of fire.

[iridescentoracle]

Hello! I am here to ask about your Dior headcanons re: the political cohesion of Doriath. 👀

Oh man, I didn't expect anyone to actually take me up on that!

(Okay so I got partway into writing this and then realized I should probably note up front that I tend to stick to the Silm (& LOTR/the Hobbit where applicable, but they... aren't, here) as the most authoritative version of canon, and I can get into why and where the nuances/exceptions are there (I do say tend to stick, it's not hard and fast!), but that's mostly a side note here: the point is simply that I don't really factor other drafts or the poetic Leithian into my take on Doriath, Thingol, Dior, etc, just what we're told in the actual Silm. I also read the Silm as an in-universe history text compiled by in-universe scholars, who, being people, are going to have their own biases and blind spots, even when they're doing their best to be accurate!)

So, this is a two-part thing: #1, there's the political cohesion of Doriath before & at the time of Thingol's death, which i talked about in the tags of the post that prompted this ask but is kind of necessary as context for the Dior part to make sense, and #2, there's the actual Dior headcanons. Both of these parts are very long because I've never really seen anyone else suggest any of this stuff and I want to explain where I'm coming from thoroughly enough that it actually makes sense to people who aren't me, but the TL;DRs:

TL;DR 1: I think Doriath was probably a hot mess politically after Thingol died, with tensions between various groups of Sindar and Laiquendi in the leadup to Thingol's death & Melian's departure, and more political tensions afterwards between those who wanted Beren & Lúthien to come be the new rulers, and those who thought they should stay gone, with someone still in Doriath taking over.

TL;DR 2: I think Dior became Eluchil, potentially at the request of some portion of the Iathrim, hoping to help prevent Doriath from devolving into civil war, and saw dealing with the Silmaril-Fëanorioni situation as a lower priority than stabilizing Doriath's internal political situation until it was too late.

1. The political cohesion (or rather, lack thereof) in Doriath prior to Thingol's death

So, okay, the thing about Doriath is that we don't actually have any real idea of like... how much the Iathrim liked being the Iathrim? We're never told about any intra-Iathrim conflict, but a) the Silm was probably compiled mostly by surviving Gondolindrim or their descendants, so they wouldn't know about anything liike that unless surviving Iathrim told them, and after the Second Kinslaying I don't imagine many Iathrim would've been eager to talk about how things had actually been tense/messy/etc when they could remember everything as having been perfect until it was ruined by the Fëanorionrim, and doubly so after the Third Kinslaying, so why would anything like that make it into the Silm?

and b) what we do know about Doriath is that it wasn't really Doriath as we know it until Morgoth came back to Middle-earth, and everything went to hell.

At the start of the first age, you suddenly get Doriath (the fenced land!) being the one protected area of a continent that used to be totally free and open. How many Sindar actually didn't particularly care for Thingol's style of leadership, or simply preferred to live nomadic lives, going basically wherever they pleased, until suddenly that wasn't safe anymore, and you were only guaranteed survival if you were close enough to Menegroth to be within the Girdle when it went up? ditto how many Laiquendi had no interest in swearing loyalty to Thingol right after their own king had just been killed, but again, made it to safety and stayed there over taking their chances on their own in the outside world?

I think it's entirely possible that there were always potential political tensions under the surface in Doriath that just... never got written about, because they never boiled over into actual political conflict, and so it was never the sort of tension that had any bearing on the historical record.

Except then Beren & Lúthien happen to the world, and a few years later the Narn, and in the blink of an eye suddenly the only king Doriath has ever had is dead, and the only queen Doriath has ever had is gone and the Girdle with her—and more than that, the only rulers the Sindar had ever had for three thousand years before Doriath existed.

And where a few years earlier I think the Iathrim would probably have turned pretty universally to Lúthien, now she's abandoned them for her human husband—and while she's my favorite character in the entire legendarium hands-down and I don't blame her, I think that's another place there might have actually been some very mixed feelings among the Iathrim that nobody wanted to admit to later because how could anyone have been upset with Lúthien—and on top of her abandoning them for him, I think it's extremely probable most of Doriath did not actually get over their xenophobia about humans in general or Beren in specific when Thingol did (we know for sure at least some of Doriath didn't, cf. Saeros insulting Túrin's mother & sister to his face), but again, who's going to admit to having had a grudge against the holy couple of Middle-earth after the fact, you know?

Conversely, there could've been a sizeable faction of Sindar who had been totally loyal to Thingol until everything happened with Beren & Lúthien, but who found his actions towards them and/or Finrod to be where they drew the line, and while (unlike B&L themselves) that faction stayed in Doriath, there could've been a new, additional tension on that front.

Finally, for all we know there were multiple factions within the Laiquendi of Doriath, with political tensions stretching back to before their king died, rooted in who-even-knows!

2. Dior

All of that, of course, sets up a very, very messy political situation for Dior to walk into.

The Doriath stuff is arguably more speculation than actual headcanon, but here's where the unambiguous headcanons come in: I don't think "Dior Eluchil set himself to raise anew the glory of the kingdom of Doriath." Obviously that's how it got written down, but bluntly, I can't see Beren and Lúthien having a kid that stupid or, like, power-hungry and arrogant?

What I can see is a situation where the messenger that brought word of Thingol's death and Melian's departure asked Beren & Lúthien to come take over as the new king and queen, we promise we're not mad about you leaving and we won't be xenophobic to your husband anymore we swear it's fine now pretty please, Beren & Lúthien said no, and the messenger either asked Dior as a second choice, or said "okay fine none of that was actually true but Doriath is falling apart and we need a leader ASAP and there's about eight different contenders* (mostly kinsmen of Thingol or Laiquendi) being backed by various factions and it's going to devolve into civil war any minute so if you care at all—" and Dior said "would I do?"

(* Ask me about my Galadriel headcanon)

I don't think Dior necessarily wanted to be king of Doriath, and I don't think he saw the throne as his birthright or anything like that; I don't think anyone involved, from Thingol to Lúthien to Dior himself, ever considered the possibility of Thingol dying and needing an heir! I think it's possible he was asked, or at most that he offered, and either way, I think he saw becoming king as taking on a responsibility for the sake of others.

(Which, like, "well here's a potentially impossible task that I'm going to take up even though probably no one thinks I'm actually capable of it, but it's my duty to help others as best I can" sure does sound to me like an attitude one might develop when raised by Lúthien "I kicked Sauron's ass cast a sleep spell on Morgoth and persuaded the Valar to find a loophole in the fabric of reality" Tinuviel and Beren "I stayed by my father's side as an outlaw to give my mother time to lead the rest of our people away hopefully to safety knowing I would never see her or any of them again (and then spent several years being a giant thorn in Morgoth's side for good measure)" Barahirion, where "apparently my grandpa I may or may not have ever met died, guess that makes me the king of a place i may or may not have ever been" does... not.)

I also think he either took on the epithet Eluchil, or was given it by whichever factions of the Iathrim accepted him as king, when he actually became king. Obviously he's going to be referred to as Dior Eluchil even before that in retrospect because that's how he's thought of later, but that doesn't mean it was actually a name he always had, you know?

The final thing is, I think if Dior essentially walked into a political situation five seconds from devolving into civil war, it makes his inaction regarding the Silmaril prior to the Second Kinslaying make more sense: the Fëanorioni have been sitting around doing nothing about the Silmaril in Doriath / with Beren & Lúthien this whole time, the letter saying "hey that's our Silmaril give it back now" is probably just a formality, and Dior's only been ruling for a couple years, there's still plenty of people dubious about whether he should be king at all, he might well be subject to at least some of whatever xenophobia remains about humans in Doriath, and in general all the work he's done on stabilizing the kingdom will absolutely come undone again if he screws up; he's trying to keep a kingdom from falling apart, the Silmaril thing can wait.

Of course, it wasn't a formality, and it couldn't wait, but why would Dior have known that?

[i-did-not-mean-to]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

Ah, my dear @cilil has tagged me, and I'll try to do at least one Tumblr thing today. I had hoped that I'd have more time this weekend!!! This week was madness...I swear!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

391 (and yes, I am one of those who put between 7 and 133 different ficlets into one work to keep the number of individual works down).

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

1,800,713 (this does not include 2 longfics I've orphaned and several fics I've posted anonymously)

(but I've been writing since July 2021)

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Tolkien, roles played by Richard Armitage, roles played by Adam Brown, the odd Dean O'Gorman fic for @laurfilijames, 1 Lucifer fic...)

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Tumblr Imagines (it's a collection of ficlets from when I started and has over 200k)

October 2022 Ficlet run (Yeah, as I said, I don't post all my fics separately)

Black (Local folkore meets The Hobbit retelling

Silm imagines and ficlets (Again, a 50k+ collection)

"The only way is up" or "thrice stuck" (Smutty dream sequence with Thorin)

These are mostly my first writings which had had time to amass some few kudos :D

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Always!

It takes me a while sometimes, but I need people to know how much I love and appreciate their support! I love every comment, and I truly wish I was a little better at expressing myself when it comes to these things <3

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

I honestly do not remember...Probably, Love letter to the man you've never got to be.

I usually don't do much angst 😇

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Very hard to say because I don't finish too many of my long fics lol. I'd want to say Sticks and stones (Christmas Hallmark story)...it's just that kind of story.

My TRSBs are usually "Happy End given the circumstances" rather than all-out Happy End...lol

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Thus far, no.

I am not relevant or known enough to attract that kind of attention!

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Me? No...(There have been spicy scenes in long fics, spicy fics, outrageous ficlets, Kinktober, Dead Dove December, MSV...Ok yeah, I do...and I do all of it. M/F, F/F, M/M, M/F/M...from vanilla to whips. You choose, I write)

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

I am an AU bitch. I've done a HP drabble once...Les Mis/LOTR for last year's Christmas event...it happens...

Right now? Twilight Crack parody for a good friend :D

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I don't think so? Who would steal trash?

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nobody has ever approached me...

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Yes...Once for last year's S&D, I am doing it now for the Calendar fic...I love collaboration, what can I say?

14. What’s your all time favourite ship?

Ship-ship? Russingon.

OC ship? Ori x OC

Rarepair? Nerdanel x Anairë

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

Black - It's one of my first fics...and I've never written that last chapter.

I am also known for having written chapters and chapters of other longfics but just...never posting them lol

16. What are your writing strengths?

I am fast, I am versatile, and I am willing to write almost any character, dynamic, ship, and genre. From tooth-rotting fluff to noncon. From very vanilla M/F meet-cute to kinky sex.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

I am bad at punctuation. I rarely have an outline, I just write. I do not plan, I do not come up with complicated worldbuilding, I have exactly 0 HC documents.

I just write whatever comes to mind.

Moreover, I have a real problem with posting. I write A LOT more than I post...because I just can't motivate myself to reread LOL

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I avoid even Tolkien's languages for fear of getting something wrong. I am fluent in at least 3 other languages, but I am not entirely sure whether there would ever be a place for them.

If I did that, I am afraid that it would become incomprehensible as the only one I wouldn't use is my mother tongue. It would sound a bit...magniloquent...

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Tolkien. Only fandom thus far...

20. Favourite fic you’ve written?

I don't know. Every so often, I write something I don't hate, but I can't remember right now loool

Open tag for everyone who hasn't done this yet :D

Tell me something about yourselves!

[wolffyluna]

[slides backwards like Dr Facilier at the end of the Princess and the Frog] No, no, I can't go back!

[the thing I am sliding towards is not hell, but the Silmarilion fandom*]

I have. too many things on my plate. but because i have too many things on my plate, I have reread These Gifts You Have Given Me and remembered:

when I was phasing out of the Silm fandom, I was writing a Celebrimbor/Maeglin fic featuring a grumpy Celebrimbor who is in particular grumpy that Maeglin is no longer making things and is instead partying all the time? and man, that WIP fucked

my ' Celebrimbor is an Angband survivor' idea and man, I have to do something with that. That has legs and they go all the way down to the floor. Celebrimbor stays in Middle Earth because he doesn't want his story to end as 'and his family sucked and then he went to Angband and it was all too much so he had to go West.' Because feeling too tainted for Aman is coming out as 'screw you Aman!' He is working to heal the world and himself and he doesn't see a huge distinction between the two. There's some weird political dynamics surrounding the Gwaith I Mirdain because it's the one polity run by an Angband survivor.

*I feel I should specify I left not because I found the Silm fandom hell-ish or anything, it was just a natural fannish 'to every season turn, turn, turn'

Under the cut is more random ideas to go along with the 'Celebrimbor is an Angband survivor premise.'

Sorry, I'm just ?bouncing? about-- you know the thing where people who other people know were tortured/abused/enslaved/etc get seen as simultaneously pitiful and tainted (and thus to be avoided) and terrifying and tainted (and to be avoided)? Add that to being a Feanorion. Who is deliberately going for political power

And Tyelpe is just being :| and he can't say "how exactly am I going to serve Morgoth on account of his non-existance? How am I going after Silmarils I have no claim to, the most accessible of which is in the goddamn Sea?" Because he knows the one thing people cringe from more than an Angband survivor is one who makes the subtext text And Annatar can ask him about Sauron-- and they've never met, but Celebrimbor is incredibly intimate with his works, shall we say. I love the idea of Tyelpe of wanting to forgive Sauron, but very aware he's only going to be able to do it with the firm belief Sauron could never hurt him again and Sauron is-- somewhere else. But-- he himself has done things For Morgoth because he got backed into a corner. And… he doesn't think that's the case with Sauron, he thinks Sauron was wholly willing, but is he telling himself that to believe that there was a line he wouldn't cross, even if the war of wrath never happened?

And the dynamics with Galadriel-- they're both ambitious as hell, but you have Galadriel from the unstained line of Finarfin, who lived in sheltered Doriath, and you have Celebrimbor, Feanorion who was dragged out of the mines of the Iron Hells at the end of the war.

Celebrimbor, when he's first asked if he wants to go west, has literally just been dragged out of Angband, blinking in the sunlight. And he hears "do you want to be trapped somewhere forever?"

Tyelpe: nO!

It's only later he goes all healing over the world, and also-- he knows a lot of people would be more comfortable if he was somewhere else, but like, a nice somewhere else so they didn't feel bad about wanting him there. And you aren't the son of Curufin who cast him aside if you aren't capable of running on pure spite

Also, I'm somewhat tempted to have Celebrimbor be disabled in one way or another (partially for ~ realism, partially because ~ "make your faves disabled! It's free, it's easy, it's cheap"). Tyelpe with shitty lungs from blowing holes into cores of mountains (… can the Eldar get silicosis?) who is scrupulous about the ventilation in the forges. Tyelpe who made huge strides in insulation so he can store ice from the mountains all year round. (

Annatar gets affectionately told to fuck off when he finds Celebrimbor writing at a desk with ice packs strapped to as many of his joints as possible, and makes a comment about that being a literal king's ransom of ice)

(Celebrimbor also goes on a spiel about how he's working towards a Middle Earth with enough power and knowledge that everyone can get a weighted blanket full of ice, and he means it, he just also means "I want ice to be plentiful enough that no local maia ever comment on how much I go through")

(Other random idea that might be fun: there was a headcanon going around of Angband clipping notches into ears to mark information about its slaves? And I love the idea of Celebrimbor having been in Angband being literally obvious from his face, and people in the know can just Look and Know he was specifically working in the mines as an engineer or something.)

(He wears jewellery in his ears, and people think it's to hide the notches, but no. He's using the notches to do topological things you couldn't do with normally placed piercings. His ears are clipped AND he thinks silver and enamel wisterias look good AND he likes a small scale engineering challenge)

(He wears a lot of jewellery, but it takes people awhile to notice that he'll wear rings and nose rings and earrings and fancy hair pieces, but he never wears anything around his wrists, ankles, or neck)

[thedeadthree]

🖊🖊🖊 for each of your da ocs please im begging

HIIII AJ DEAR AND OF COURSE <3 and not emotional at all bc of u wishing to know more about my da babies AHH..! since i finished absolution they've been on the brain again.....! <3

SEND A 🖊 + I WILL GUSH ABOUT MY OCS <3

🖊 - the small folk of ferelden named her the ashen queen! for her ashen hair but as she saved the temple of sacred ashes, and she was reborn in the fires of Highever from lady to warden to queen to hero of all Ferelden from the blight. <3

🖊 - in highever, like the dear girl she was "the teyrnir's delight" she had more than a few paramours and requests for her hand (there was even talk of a tourney for her hand jahsbnjh) but her heart was on her sworn knight, sir roderick gilmore, before the tragedy of highever that resulted in his passing. alistair reminded her a lot of him when they first met in ways of their personalities. and he helped her heal from that and she's grateful to ali for that to this day <3 speaking of ali though <3 he still gifts her roses to this day every year on the day of their anniversary (bc of course he does <3) and had a garden commissioned in the palace for her! was it costly? yes! was it needed? not really! but he loves her and she loved him for it so!

🖊 - this hit me like an epiphany last month? i think? but i thought of having an old amell oc be her lady-in-waiting and childhood bestie! her name was rhiannon but i think i like alicent better? following her successful harrowing (with flying colors mind thee <3) she returned to highever to be the court sorceress of teyrn bryce cousland! alphonsa played wingman to her when ali showed interest in nathaniel howe <3 to be honest i adore natie too much and was going to set him up with alfie in an au but as i was thinking of fun facts it HIT ME and so! wingman alfie to her bestie was born! <3

🖊 - originally his name was faron! but i wasn't into the name and how it flowed together and in browsing the silm/t*olkien tag the plural for the f*eanor came up and i liked how it sounded as a name <3 and so his name was changed to feanorian!!!! his vallaslin and his patron was falon'din for a time as the mother of him and his sister lhysa was at one point a patron of the elven god of shadow <3

🖊 - for his relationship history if i remember reading right, he has been happily married to dorian for about a decade now at the start of da:d and (maybe) absolution <3 he had a short lived relationship with merril back in the day as a companion of hawke. he’s also had more than a few other lords and ladies as partners in the past before he met dorian <3 get ur rich man feanorian!!!!!!

🖊 - other than solas, he is the foremost scholar of elvhen lore and ancient sorcery <3 rivals that of the tevinter archon in terms of power and knowledge of the arcane <3 LOOOATHES using staffs and prefers the tried and true hands to dish out an arcane hind end whooping hehe! the chantry threw a FIT when he refused a staff they offered him but he “assured” them he hasn’t become an abomination.. yet <3 he was also invited to attend the temple of sacred ashes as a dignitary! his extensive knowledge totally doesn’t stem from the fact his biological father was an ancient elf himself and now the left hand to the dread wolf <3

🖊 - NOW FOR MY BABY <3 she has another verse she’s in!!!!! her other verse is the witcher where’s shes lhysa aep lonán, an aen seidhe of nilfgaard <3 also an assassin, she was the premier kingslayer and left hand of both emperor emhyr, his son maxen (an oc of minee <3) and jan c*alveit!!!!! in her da verse she was once an assassin for her mothers order based in nevarra the nahkriin, but went her separate way from it and became freelance!

🖊 - she never meant to be the inquisitor, and for sure never meant to touch the orb it sort of…… happened. her motivations for her presence there was actually that she was on a contract. and who was the contract for you say? it was the divine justinia herself in fact! <3 she hoped to kill her and draw attention to a few important things and people. you know, the chantry because of it was more than obvious that the only way to draw attention was to force their hand when it came to matters pertaining to them, and of course, a particular rebel leader of an unknown but known to someone……. VERY dear to her:

🖊 - WHICH LEADS TO MY LAST ONE!!!!! she and felassan were an item in this verse! i need to read the book he’s in bc she’s also in it for more lore but! he and her! his ideals and charisma captivated her. which was WEIRD for her bc well, in her line of work u know it is neeever a good idea to become close or attached to anyone u know? and uhhhh well……. he dies in the fade right.. bc well bestie rebel leader totally not an elven god right. SO HE WAKES UP AND HE WAKES UP TRANQUIL RIGHT SO HE WAS ZEROED IN THE FADE RIGHT! *cue the tiktok “she knows” song* AND ALSO *cue bloodlines will burn from the hotd soundtrack jsjshx* bc she SWORE to kill the one who killed him u know? it’s only right! an eye for an eye a soul for a soul u know? which makes it MORE inch resting that the whole time it was solas right? and even worse is he fell in love with her and she fell in love with him.. ✨😵‍💫🤍😳

[transsexualhamlet]

🍽️🐉👑 for the ask game wooo

hiiii :))))))

silm ask game

🍽️ You are having a dinner party and you can invite five (5) characters from the Silm. Who do you invite?

Ok well there's two choices here. Either I create a dinner party which can FUNCTION and won't result in SOMEONE'S DECAPITATED HEAD LANDING IN THE MASHED POTATOES orrrr I could be silly :3

so here's the two.

If I want a functional and enjoyable dinner party I invite Beleg (Turin is outside on a leash so lightning doesn't strike the fucking house), Finrod, Fingon, Luthien (Beren is outside making sure Turin doesn't get hit by lightning), and Tuor. I think it would be lovely and everyone would have a great time and they would all decide to go hang out outside in old man parade lawnchairs and start beatboxing.

If I want an INTERESTING dinner party I invite Feanor, Maedhros, Aredhel, Melkor, and Fingolfin. Bets on the first bowl of pasta thrown for a silmaril!

Technically adding Thingol might make this arrangement even more volitile but I don't want to invite Thingol no one wants to invite Thingol

🐉 A lot of figures in the Silm have weird Eldritch powers or possibly biology. Tell us about your headcanons for one.

Oh so this is my place to ramble about my Melkor design agenda. Trust me WAY too much thought has gone into this.

First, the caveat: All of the Valar I believe originally manifested forms that range from 9-12 feet tall, with reasonably adjusted proportions. They can obviously decide to be like the size of a skyscraper or normal human sized any time they want but I would consider that to be their normal baseline. (Mandos is the tallest, but Melkor and Manwe are similarly close behind.) (Maiar are usually 6-8 feet tall, and can generally blend in with elves unless they're on the taller end)

So as Melkor is the most powerful of the Valar his design just has to be the most imposing, and I feel many don't do it justice either for focusing too hard one one element (he basically invented all of them except for water) or making him look too much just like. If a guy was a vampire. (Not to mention the old tolkien bros who decided he just looks like if an orc was big.) Obviously the Valar are mostly modeled on elves considering they're really the elvish gods men were just left to fend for themfuckingselves, but they all have sort of elemental/supernatural aspects of their biology depending on their power.

In my opinion, Melkor's form in his full glory (pre- chronic injuries) is extremely fluid. His mass is 90% robes and hair . Just a truly obscene amount of hair and it all behaves like writhing smoke. His main domain is Darkness so it's just like. It's like you're talking to a sentient shadow. He's I think the Vala who most often changes his size like Melkor is the kinda guy who will just grow to the size of a building because he doesn't wanna walk all the way from point A to point B. Either that or he will just fucking evaporate and skirt around like an ominous fog. But I feel when he is solid his physical form behaves like stone, in the fact that it is grey and will glow like magma in cracks across him if he's in hot enough fire. When he was first on Arda as it was being created, he looked much different- well, first off, like a naked ken doll, and secondly entirely a bright glowing orange gold. They kicked him off and everything isn't lava anymore so he doesn't look like that anymore but that was basically what I'd call an "adolescent" form of him which no one but him and the Valar remember anymore.

But yes while he was in the void he got goth and now he looks like a big shadow with a lot of tentacley hair. And horns and talons and teeth. Which is incredibly important to note. I am normal

I already answered the Noldor king allegiance thing on Seb's ask, which u can check out a few posts below but it was Finrod :)

[tolkien-feels]

.... Okay, you wore me down. Do you have any links to the Silm musical you keep talking about, and do you think it's accessible for people (aka my parents) who are medium-big LotR fans but have no experience with any First Age content?

There are multiple Silm musicals actually, but I know my hyperfixations so I'm sure you're talking about the Beren and Luthien one lol

I do in fact have links! The most important atm is @sewn-with-lilies-fair 's pinned post (and the Lay of Leithian tag) but so far this is being a great year for the Lay of Leithian rock opera fandom because we're getting so much stuff?? It's great, but it also means that maybe if you ask me like, next week, I'll have more stuff to share because this is very much an ongoing production.

Anyway! I've successfully had at least one friend who never got through the Silm watch the show and love it, and I know other people have had similar experiences. Of course, the more you know the source material the more you get out of it (nods to the source material my beloved <3) but it's a love story, so the story beats are probably followable even if you've never heard of Tolkien, let alone if you're familiar with LotR!

You know how you miss A Lot of LotR the first time you read or watch it, but you get the general idea that these people are trying to get to a volcano to destroy a ring? It's basically the same situation here.

Understanding each and every detail isn't mandatory as long as you remember that Local Man Must Steal Sauron's Boss's Crown Jewel To Marry Elf Princess. That's really all there is to it. If it helps, remind your parents that Aragorn and Arwen are Beren and Luthien 2.0, and that just as Aragorn must become king to marry Arwen (and she must give up her immortality to marry him), Beren must steal the most heavily guarded jewel in the world to marry Luthien.

Alternatively, if your parents don't mind spoilers, you could just........ have Aragorn tell them the story........ Like, he straight up sums up the rock opera to the hobbits when he's explaining the context for the Song of Beren and Luthien. Here's the quote for your convenience

Beren [son of Barahir] was a mortal man, but Lúthien was the daughter of Thingol, a King of Elves upon Middle-earth when the world was young; and she was the fairest maiden that has ever been among all the children of this world. As the stars above the mists of the Northern lands was her loveliness, and in her face was a shining light. In those days the Great Enemy, of whom Sauron of Mordor was but a servant, dwelt in Angband in the North, and the Elves of the West coming back to Middle-earth made war upon him to regain the Silmarils which he had stolen; and the fathers of Men aided the Elves. But the Enemy was victorious and Barahir was slain, and Beren escaping through great peril came over the Mountains of Terror into the hidden Kingdom of Thingol in the forest of Neldoreth. There he beheld Lúthien singing and dancing in a glade beside the enchanted river Esgalduin; and he named her Tinúviel, that is Nightingale in the language of old. Many sorrows befell them afterwards, and they were parted long. Tinúviel rescued Beren from the dungeons of Sauron, and together they passed through great dangers, and cast down even the Great Enemy from his throne, and took from his iron crown one of the three Silmarils, brightest of all jewels, to be the bride-price of Lúthien to Thingol her father. Yet at the last Beren was slain by the Wolf that came from the gates of Angband, and he died in the arms of Tinúviel. But she chose mortality, and to die from the world, so that she might follow him; and it is sung that they met again beyond the Sundering Seas, and after a brief time walking alive once more in the green woods, together they passed, long ago, beyond the confines of this world. So it is that Lúthien Tinúviel alone of the Elf-kindred has died indeed and left the world, and they have lost her whom they most loved. But from her the lineage of the Elf-lords of old descended among Men. There live still those of whom Lúthien was the foremother, and it is said that her line shall never fail. Elrond of Rivendell is of that Kin.

I mean, there's more to it but that's the gist of it.

If I had to add anything, I would say that:

The Great Enemy is called Melkor or Morgoth

Melkor is a god. We meet another god in the rock opera: Mandos, keeper of the halls of the dead. A god of death, basically

Luthien's kingdom is called Doriath, and it's magically protected by her mother Melian, who is as powerful as Gandalf or Sauron

At some point, Beren asks for the help of Galadriel's brother Finrod, who's been close to Beren's family for generations

Finrod has two scheming cousins who in the musical are essentially comedy relief, but one of these cousins has a giant talking dog called Huan, and this dog is an important character

There's more to it still but that's way, way, way more than you actually need to know to follow the storyline

[that-angry-noldo]

I Watched the Rings Of Power so Here is My Absolutely Important Opinion™ on It

(that was sarcasm by the way! this post is just me spilling all of my thoughts in clear words because I Just Might To Explode if i don't share them!!)

Okay so I watched a final episode of RoP and I Have Thoughts. The thoughts can be summed up as,

"This show is so cool when showing big picture but it becomes Absolutely Surreal if you focus on the small details"

before you sink your teeth into my skin, let me explain: the show has both positive and negative sides, and I will go through all of them.

Positive sides

The visuals

Okay, I'm gonna say this: the visuals are cool. It's just - I love it! I love the colors, and the lights, and special effects too! I'm not sure about all the "bringing back the middle earth thing" but i don't really care about it. I enjoyed both LoTR and Hobbit, and I don't really remember any visuals that would strike in me that special nostalgic feeling. I loved all the city designes, Numenor & Lindon especially (even though Lindon, at times, really appeared as if the creators were like "look! this is elven! we use so much -traditionally- elven motives!! elves here elves there and some over that hill too!!!" but i'm not complaining).

The story as a whole

I'm gonna go more in depth with this one in the negative section, but if we're looking solely from narrative side, then yes. It's written fine. It has a clear start, culmination, and an end (of sorts); all of the threads are neatly tied and are opening possibilities for the next season. That, I think, is good.

The (somewhat) exploration of war

That really got me, honestly, due to current events. The way the Numenorians never were at war before and their first battle was so devastating. The way they walked in in search for honor and glory and walked out questioning whether they really needed honor and glory. The way weapons show no mercy to civilians; the way hope is quietly snatched away.

(I saw someone saying RoP forgot that Tolkien's message was "war bad". I'd like to argue: war is clearly not shown as something funky here.)

ABSOLUTE POWER CORRUPTS ABSOLUTELY

Okay I might be a bit biased here but look. i love that trope. i love characters knowing that too much power can bring them to a deep dark. i love characters getting a hold on that power and rarely putting it away. i love the "free or conquer? - i don't see a difference." characters!! this sgow had delivered me few of those lines and i picked them up gratefully.

Negative sides

Lore.

Lore as a whole.

This show absolutely cannot do lore.

The whole "First age explained in the 2 minutes" thing. The whole "Finrod has died hunting Sauron" thing. The whole "FOR SOME REASON A TREE CAN NOW FIGHT A BALROG (rip laurelin and telperion but it's built different)" thing. ABSOLUTELY THE WORST "Elves need a permission to sail to Valinor" thing. The short hair thing. The things that make my silm heart bleed. The smallest little things that make you cry and wail under the table.

Lore changes

Celeborn being absent so Celebrian not even being even in plan yet (Elrond is supposed to marry her, by the way)

Elves being absolutely not aware that Sauron's a maia and physically can't die.

The elves being suddenly dependant on the Light of the Valar?? Like?? Since when?... Y'all were literally born in the night! The light of the valar is like a bonus! It's not vital??

I can go on and on and on.

Mischaracterisations

I know Galadriel was already picked apart and sewn back together - there really isn't much need to tell something about her, so let's take a look:

Celebrimbor and Gil-Galad.

Not only was Celebrimbor done dirty (he does not look like a 25-yo, whatever you might think) (why doesn't he have DARK HAIR), but his entire character was butched.

They made Celebrimbor a Feanor fanboy.

Celebrimbor, a man who rejected his father after realising the horrible things he's done, was anything but Feanor's fanboy. That's much I know, that much will I say.

Gil-Galad-

Look, looking at rop!Gilgalad, i don't really think anyone would write a gil-galad was an elven king, of him the harpers sadly sing poem. He was... reduced to... being an obstacle. Constantly pushing other characters around. Demanding something of them, noone knows what. Dismissing them. Not being able to listen. (In a way, he suffered the same way as Galadriel).

The creators better give him the character growth or else.

-

Before someone comes at me with "well, they did changes to the lotr trilogy too, i don't see anyone complaining," i want to say:

i know!! i don't care!!!

lotr, sadly or not, never was as big of a part of me as silmarillion is. i grew to love the silm. i grew to love the characters. i grew to love the lore. i grew to love the little silly discusions about elven hair color or the manner of speech.

so really, the mischaracterisation of gil-galad bugs me more than the absence of glorfindel

-

thanks for coming to my ted talk! see you around!!

[knight-of-skyloft]

I posted 3,113 times in 2022

That's 1,165 more posts than 2021!

95 posts created (3%)

3,018 posts reblogged (97%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@chaoticrushu

@resplendent-ragamuffin

@tuulikki

@aridotdash

@stardustravens

I tagged 2,363 of my posts in 2022

Only 24% of my posts had no tags

#stormlight archive - 858 posts

#stormlight archive spoilers - 379 posts

#tolkien - 230 posts

#rhythm of war spoilers - 185 posts

#tlt - 162 posts

#silm - 159 posts

#judaism - 147 posts

#achievement hunter - 117 posts

#oathbringer spoilers - 107 posts

#loz - 102 posts

Longest Tag: 138 characters

#my personal opinion is: met glys before gavilar died. swore first ideal sometime during wok. began having visions in the beginning of wor.

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

You know why I'm really excited and terrified about the Thaidakar reveal?

Rhythm of War emphasized and re-emphasized that a prolonged existence as a cognitive shadow is not, like... good for you. The Fused lose a bit of themselves every time they're reborn, becoming caricatures rather than complex and nuanced people.

It's been hundreds of years. Thaidakar isn't Kelsier, not exactly. Not anymore.

177 notes - Posted February 4, 2022

#4

Reminder that Kaladin is younger than every single member of Bridge Four except Renarin, Rlain, and Dabbid

301 notes - Posted July 13, 2022

#3

Stormlight Characters as Stuff The Babies At My Job Have Done

Rock: Walks around the room each morning ceremoniously handing each one of the toddlers one of their veggie straws

Dalinar: Favorite book is called "Teeth Are Not For Biting"; bites the other kids constantly

Skar and Drehy: Stand up in their cribs and yell wordlessly back and forth at at each other every day during nap time

Elhokar: Walked up to me, held their arms up and screamed, then started crying when I picked them up

Lopen: Took their shirt off during nap time apropos of nothing, causing all the other toddlers to follow suit

Jasnah: Walked up to her mom who was breastfeeding her little sister, pointed at the baby's crib with a stern expression, and said "night night."

Mom: "Your sister's eating, it isn't nap time--"

Toddler: "NIGHT NIGHT."

Sebarial: Watched two of the toddlers have a slap fight with rapt attention while chewing on the strap of her highchair like it was popcorn

Taravangian: While getting over a cold, held a board book triumphantly over her head and let out the raspiest old-man-sounding "heh heh"

Adolin: One day his mom dropped him off and said "he's got a cold and doesn't understand what's happening, as far as he's concerned it's the apocalypse"

376 notes - Posted May 16, 2022

#2

The combination of

1) 13-year-old Renarin telling Dalinar how Evi always spoke highly of him,

2) Jasnah remembering Renarin "weeping for a father who didn't seem to be able to feel love" as a child, and

3) Renarin thinking in RoW that "it was a shame his mother had never seen [Dalinar] grow to be the man she said he was"

causes me physical pain.

501 notes - Posted May 31, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

I want Renarin to swear an Ideal on-page in book 5. I want him to admit to himself how angry he is about his mother's death. I want him to get in a screaming fight with Dalinar. I want him to kiss his crab bf. I want him to go full unsettling prophet mode and creep out everyone around him. I want him to kill seven more thunderclasts. I want him to learn more about Listener culture through Rlain. I want Adolin to convince him to wear fashion frames. I want him to pursue his interest in fabrial mechanics. I want him to have a wine snob moment. I want him to help Rlain keep an eye on the humans I want it to be safe for Glys to live outside his chest I want him to say the words "there's nothing wrong with me" aloud I want

800 notes - Posted June 14, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[nikosheba]

Okay I read your defense of Turin & yeah!! I also did not like his chapter in the Silmarillion but CoH has left me very much spiraling about him and what he represents - elvish vs mortal perspectives, doom & reactions to it, possibility of overcoming it, etc... I don't always like him but I LOVE thinking about him (and characters around him!) and there's so much more to Turin's story than like. a tragic unlikable guy, and I get why it's one of the chief 3 stories of the whole legendarium

Yeah!!! He really frustrates me sometimes--it was only like two months ago that I was like....oh man how am I going to write Turleg when Túrin is such a piece of work lmao. And I started rereading CoH looking for quotes, and the more I flipped through that book, the more I fell in love with him. 

Part of it is, I can’t think of anyone else in all of the Tolkien legendarium who just...cannot understand how other people think, the way Túrin does. He’s always fair with other people (this is stated outright with the Gaurwaith), and cannot understand why people aren’t fair with him. He never comprehends that he’s being deceived--which I think is unfair to lay on his shoulders tbh. 

One great example of how he just cannot understand other people, even other humans, is the knife-giving scene (which I believe is cut out of the Silm), which just totally encapsulates the frustration of him all at once. For those who haven’t read CoH, at one point when he’s very young, his father gives him a very fancy knife of elvish make. It’s Túrin’s last birthday before the Nirnaeth Arnoediad, not that he knows it. Túrin then immediately runs out to find his best friend, a lame older man named Sador who does little woodworking projects for Morwen and Húrin, and gives him the knife, entirely not understanding why this would be perceived as a bad thing. So it’s very like:

In Túrin’s mind: Got lovely knife > Sador does a lot of woodworking > the knife made me happy to receive > it will help Sador in his work > give Sador the knife

But no one else sees it like that. Húrin is fine with it but a bit baffled, and tells Túrin basically, “Fine, but idk when I’ll be able to get you another knife like that.” Morwen actively dislikes this, and says that she thinks it’s useless to give something so fine to someone who’s just going to waste it. Even Sador is unhappy, because Edain custom says he can’t refuse the gift, but he knows it’s far beyond what he even can make use of, and that he cannot give it back to his young master without causing offense.

So here we have a 8-9 year old boy (sorry my copy is downstairs, I forget whether he’s 8 or 9), who has something nice happen to him and immediately his first thought is to pay it forward, and he winds up making everyone unhappy. And that just sort of....sets the tone for his life. 

It isn’t that he doesn’t love Finduilas. He does! He loves her like a sister--and textually, he never even really understands that she’s in love with him. She hints it, but she never tells him outright, and he is baffled when people talk to him about her in a romantic context. But he loves her! Like a friend and a sister--and has no idea why Finduilas’s mysterious (to him) feelings mean that now Gwindor, his friend who saved him from his madness, is angry with him, or why people keep placing this huge emphasis on his relationship with her.

The really tragic thing about Túrin, for me, is that he’s not genre-savvy. He thinks he’s in a Great Hero Tale, and has no idea he’s in a tragedy. I’ve said before that Children of Húrin feels like a dark inversion of Tolkien’s work to me. Acts of heroism are unrewarded. Acts of love are punished. Valiant stands get everyone around you killed. Beleg “yields to his love over his wisdom” and dies for it. There’s no reason that Túrin should have known the lovely maiden who kept begging him to marry he was his sister--he yields to his own love, and they both die for it, along with their unborn child. (For the record: he does love her, it’s not one-sided, she just wants to hustle the relationship along because it’s wartime and she fears to lose him, and he wants to wait for a more peaceful time.)

He even casts his sword aside at one point and is determined to live a peaceful life. But peace will not find him, and he is forced to take up the sword again, because his bow can do nothing against Glaurung.

A good portion of the angry, violent things he does are actually in defense of those who can’t defend themselves, or in defense of women. He’s oddly chivalric--with Saeros, his cry is, “Run, mocker of women!” When he goes back to Dor-Lómin, it isn’t until Brodda brags about sexually assaulting Túrin’s aunt-figure and scorns Túrin’s mother that Túrin goes super violent on him--and again, in anyone else’s story, killing Brodda would be the stuff of great songs. Alone he goes into a fortress that was stolen from his birthright, to find that there’s a drunken, abusive, cruel tyrant in his father’s place, and Túrin rouses the downtrodden, kills the usurpers, and casts out the rest. 

And everyone blames him for it. They tell him he shouldn’t have, even though they fought alongside him, because now more wil come, and they will suffer for it. Túrin even begs them to come with him to Doriath or at least Brethil--he was safe there, after all--and they refuse, preferring to starve in the mountains or commit suicide in Dor-Lómin rather than follow him on a difficult trek.

ETA: I forgot to add that he also becomes Captain of the Gaurwaith because he kills Forweg to protect Larnach’s daughter; he never questions what’s going on, he just sees a girl with torn clothes being chased and immediately murders the guy chasing her--and when he sees that it’s Forweg he doesn’t exactly feel bad about it, just offers to do the same to Andróg if Andróg doesn’t start drinking his Respect Women Juice.

Anyway YEAH I also love thinking about him...and the fact that Elrond names him as one of the great Elf-Friend Heroes in LotR makes me so freaking emotional every time, WOW. The fact that the Lay of the Children of Húrin was composed by a minstrel in Sirion, that Elrond would have heard it as a little child and remembered him as an Elf-Friend and a Hero, makes me absolutely SOFT inside. 

Túrin did legitimately deserve better. He deserved to be in the story he thought he was in. And dammit, I’m a fanfiction writer, I’m going to give it to him.

[allthatglittersisnotgoldrush]

Author Interview: Victoryindeath2 (by Mythopoeia

Thank you @abadpoetwithdreams! I hope you don't regret the last question you asked :D

1. You are responsible for creating the characters of Frog and Sticks! What canon Silm event are you most excited to see from their child perspectives?

Soooo many things—but I am interested to see how they will feel when Mae is back on his feet, a warrior more deadly with his left than he even was with his right, the sort of man who can in canon create the Union of Maedhros. The children have seen Maedhros at his lowest, seen him tormented and crushed into the earth in the cruelest of ways. They also saw how he could be his best even when there was no hope or light for him—he protected them and was kind to them and loved them. I am just interested to see how other men’s and women’s opinions might change as Maedhros moves into the next phase of his life, and how the children will, in some ways, always see Maedhros as their Russandol.

Sticks: yeah I knew he was cool before you all realized it

Frog: *drops a rock in Mae’s left hand and curls up in his lap* tell me and my pet rock a story Mae

Mae: I actually have leadership things to do....

Sticks: you owe us for all the stories you didn’t tell us back in the Bad Place

Mae: *tells them a story and Fingon finds the kids sleeping under Mae’s arms twenty minutes later*

(There is also a non-canon event sometime in the future that I want so VERY badly but guess I can’t say because of spoilers *sighs*)

2. We often joke about how this AU is basically our own crazy version of a Silm tv series. What are some of favourite moments in the series so far that stand out to you as particularly cinematic?

There are so many moments, some of the wondrous and stunning variety, and some of the quiet and beautiful....but here are a few that leapt right to my mind:

a. Maedhros and Fingon parting the last time before Feanor divided the families almost forever! Maedhros with his hair in the sunlight on his horse and the line, “see you on the other side, cano!”

b. Gosh DARN it Mae on the cliff, with Morgoth offering him the chance to leap to his death, and he doesn’t take it *cries*

c. FINGON’S CHILD OF THE WOLF MOMENT WHERE HE TAKES MAIRON OUT (ALSO RIGHT BEFORE WHEN MAE GRABS AT HIS ANKLE AND TRIES TO GET FINGON TO SAVE HIMSELF)

d. Maedhros riding into the thrall camp and basically falling into Gwindor and SLINGING AN ARM AROUND HIS NECK YES HUGS ALL AROUND YESSSS

e. Look Ceili fic I know we talk about it all the time but I am here to talk about it again, especially the moment where Mae pulls Caranthir out on the dance floor and then they all dance together and everyone ends up in a pile on the floor except for Mae who just stands over them all laughing I think doubled over and there is so much good energy in that scene I NEED IT ON SCREEN

f. Personally I like to think that Celegorm stalking his way into a club in New York City and beating the living daylights out of Eol was cinematic

g. Maedhros having successfully argued Huan’s way into the journey west, stumbling all tired like up to the stairs, and meeting Nerdanel there, and resting his head on his mom’s neck. The darling tol bby

h. MAE ATTACKING ULFANG FOR THE SAKE OF HIS BROS, GOING FROM DEPRESSED BROKEN BABY WHO HAS LOST ALL HOPE TO DEPRESSED BROKEN BABY WHO HAS LOST ALL HOPE BUT STILL WILL FIGHT FOR HIS BROS

i. Bby Mae lying on Feanor’s chest ;;;;;;;;;;; before Feanor became the worst

j. Can’t even remember what fic it was at this point but there is a dream? Mae has? Of like....the sea and red sun or something? It was a lot

k. There are many many more moments and I am mad that I can’t remember the one that stood out to me recently

l. ..........the whole fic Seven Card Stud

m. MOONLIGHT GUNSLINGER MAE AND HOW HE TOTALLY OUTCLASSED MAIRON

n. Every hug and brotp and found family moment ever. I have addictions and there is never enough of what I want on screen

o. THERE ARE MORE SPECIFIC ONES BUT I HAVE TO STOP AT SOME POINT DON’T I

3. Walk me through what an ideal day would look like for Caranthir?

The MOST ideal day would be Caranthir waking up in his little closet bedroom in Formenos and realizing he just had a horrible nightmare, and also realizing that he still has his mom and ALL of his brothers. And then at the breakfast table Feanor says something like “wow I’ve been stupid in a good many ways, and a rotten dad because of that, good thing I have recognized my flaws and shall now be a better person, also Mae you can stop going to live in the city if you want, just stay here with your brothers. Also you know, Caranthir, even though you’re still my least favorite child, I’m proud of you. And not just because these are the best pancakes I have ever tasted.”

Then Caranthir probably helps his mom in the garden, gets some quality one on one time with Mae when Mae helps him make a pie, Mae reminds him how special and good he thinks Caranthir is, and Celegorm and Curufin ask Caranthir to join them for fishing. Not that Caranthir necessarily wants to do that, but he does want to be asked. Then Amras and Amrod ask him to help them with sums, so that he feels like a helpful big brother, and without being asked, Maglor takes out his fiddle and plays the slow-moving, peaceful song that Caranthir loves and Maglor despises because it is not challenging enough

4. What is a character POV you have not written yet about but would like to?

I would like to write something from Maeglin’s POV—I feel a powerful urge to protect that lost boy. He’s had an odd and often terrifying life and he needs a break. Good grief imagine having a mom like his mom, imagine Morgoth commanding you to call him uncle. Ew. Anyway, he’s exactly the sort of character I usually adopt as my son. An angsty sad boy without much future, who needs LOVE

5. If you could recommend only one fic from each author (including yourself, of course) what would they be?

HOW TO PICK?!

TolkienGirl: wayyyyy too many to really choose from but I have to go back to the beginning and say “news, breaking” because of the way it introduces my Feanorian boys, and also because of Mae wearing a flowered apron one minute and then a half open leather vest the next, with his glorious hair tied back!

Mythopoeia: I feel like I have to say “those gathered beneath” because it was so DEFINITIVE of our favorite Irish family, and also Turgon is a great narrator (but since I always talk about this fic I shall also add another, lesser known perhaps: “save ourselves unaided” because it introduces Haleth and more people need to appreciate Haleth and Mythopoeia’s Haleth is SO GOOD)

Victoryindeath2: “a certain slant of light (where the meanings are)” because it was my first Caranthir fic, and so it holds a special place in my heart

Bonus Q: The Feanorians are now a KPop group. What are their hair colors and roles?

THE WAY I CHOKED ON MY LAUGHTER WHEN I FIRST READ THIS QUESTION

I ALSO GOT WAY TOO CAUGHT UP IN THIS SO IF YOU ARE AN AU READER WHO DOESN’T CARE ABOUT KPOP IN ANY WAY YOU CAN STOP HERE, I WON’T BE MAD. On the other hand I think I have really good answers so maybe you should continue lol

Maedhros: He has to be a coppery red-head, doesn’t he? Maybe something of the red color that you once told me you wanted Heeseung to try. He would make a great leader, but ALSO. Also I think that he has had enough stress in canon in and in our AU, so I really just want to give him the opportunity to be merely the eldest hyung, who everyone goes to for comfort, for hugs and advice, and who supports the leader quietly. He is a good vocalist and can maybe rap in a pinch? but we put so much emphasis on him as a dancer that he HAS to be the dance leader. Obviously. Is widely acknowledged as the visual of the group

Maglor: Longish black hair, maybe midnight blue or deep purple. Has tried several different hairstyles and regretted half of them. He claims a specific aesthetic in hair and dress is necessary for him to compose the group’s songs, and while he gets teased by everyone for this he also writes amazing music so? It works? Is definitely a vocalist. His vlives consist of him playing every instrument known to man, and half the time Mae is sitting in the background listening with an awed expression on his face—till he falls asleep. Maglor can’t decide if he is pleased by this or insulted

Celegorm: Usually rocks blond or silver hair, but one time some fool insulted Amrod’s pink hair and the next thing you know Celegorm had pink hair for three months. Probably disparaged Maglor’s mullet phase but tried it once himself as a penalty for a game in a Run Feanorian episode and kinda thought it wasn’t half bad.

Celegorm is the “I don’t follow what the company says” member, “screw the rules if they aren’t good for my fam.” He is also a sick rapper and his diss tracks and mixtapes are things of beauty. He also clearly frequents the gym and will toss an annoyed member—most likely Maglor, but sometimes Curufin—over his shoulder any chance he can get. Has definitely done pushups with Amrod or Amras on his back. He and Mae swept the ISAC games

Caranthir: Typically goes with brown/black hair, which only throws the fandom into more of an uproar when the rare occasion arises in which he actually dyes it some other color. Probably went mint for a music video and Curufin started calling him mint choco boy, which offends him deeply as he is (sadly) on the side of “mint chocolate ice cream tastes like toothpaste.” He’s a vocalist with a rougher voice that is surprisingly pleasing to listen too.

Speaking of surprises, Caranthir never quite understands his own popularity. He didn’t like to do vlives by himself for ages, until Mae encouraged him to do cooking and baking vlives, and now he does one once a month on a schedule. Fans are putting together a book of his recipes

Curufin: He does intense and striking hairstyles and colors, and is probably the most likely to do black hair streaked through with red, teal, green, gold, white, etc. He claims to be the visual of the group and Mae is the one member who always agrees with him. I’d say he is also a dancer, one almost as good as Mae but with a different style, and he has a quick and sharp rap. He is heavily involved in the production of their songs over time.

Here is the thing though—I think, in this better non-canon non-Gold Rush AU universe, that Curufin could be the leader. See, Feanor is not gonna be the company CEO loll. Fingolfin is. And Fingolfin mentors better than Feanor EVER could. And Curufin is a sharp lad, very smart and crafty, and if he could just be convinced to care about all his brothers/group members like he does about himself and Celegorm in the AU, and if he just has proper guidance, allowing Mae to assist him in struggles, going to him for support, I think he would be an excellent leader

Ambarussa: Amras and Amrod have tried every color and color combination under the SUN, and they often coordinate with each other either to match or complement. Amras sometimes gets tired of this, preferring to stick to the general group color scheme, and when that happens Amrod just says fine be like that and goes off and does his own thing. Sooner or later though, Amras always gives in and joins him once again.

The twins obviously have all their hyungs wrapped around their little fingers, even Maglor who is driven insane by them crashing into his room shrieking and giggling when he is trying to write music or run a very serious vlive. As far as their musical talents go, I love when maknaes are ridiculously well-rounded, and these are Feanorian maknaes, so I’m gonna say they can both dance, sing, and rap. People have placed bets on whether they will grow as tall as Mae (spoilers, they won’t, no one ever will, he’s the tallest in Kpop world)

Huan: is the team mascot, and lives in their large dorm with them because Celegorm said so

Anddd that’s all folks

[thebookoflosttalesproject]

Turambar and the Foaloke

(Not as much a recap, but rather a collection of quotes and facts I find interesting)

* * *

“Now all folk gathered here know that this is the story of Turambar and the Foaloke, and it is,” said [Eltas], “a favourite tale among the Men, and tells of very ancient days of that folk before the Battle of Tasarinan when first Men entered the dark vales of Hisilome.”

#what #why

Unless it's a favourite CAUTIONARY TALE - then I can understand it... :)

* * *

Turin, same as in later versions, is sent to the court of King Tinwelint so he can grow up and learn there, for the sake of his father’s friendship with Beren and other Elves of the woodland realm. Tinwelint happily agrees:

“Son of Urin, thou shalt dwell sweetly in my woodland court, nor even so as a retainer, but behold as a second child of mine shalt thou be, and all the wisdoms of Gwedheling and of myself shalt thou be taught.”

Now that’s a little bit heartbreaking, isn’t it - when you remember that he did have a son once…

* * *

Instead of Daeron in later versions, here Turin has a beef with one Orgof, and he accidentally kills him during a feast (because Orgof kept insulting Turin and his mother), then flees from the palace with guilt and anxiety, not knowing that king Tinwelint doesn’t hold what happened against him. And that’s how it all started...

#Turin’sRageVictimNo1

* * *

After being captured and tortured by orcs, Turin is rescued by Beleg and a Noldoli Elf, Flinding, but he takes Beleg for an enemy and kills him. Okay, that’s what happens in The Silm, too, although much later in the story. Still, every time it’s pretty devastating… :(

#Turin’sRageVictimNo2

* * *

Turin and Flinding arrive at a cave complex where more Noldoli live, ruled by Orodreth – and a scenario very similar to Nargothrond plays out, including Failivrin – a maiden who falls for Turin and pays a high price for it…

Also - Turin’s infamous sword was made by the Elves of these caves:

Now then Orodreth let fashion for him a great sword, and it was made by magic to be utterly black save at its edges, and those were shining bright and sharp as but a Gnome-steel may be. Heavy it was, and was sheathed in black, and it hung from a sable belt, and Turin named it Gurtholfin the Wand of Death; and often that blade leapt in his hand of its own lust, and it is said that at times it spake words to him.

#SentientSwordsAreAlwaysCool

* * *

Now those drakes and worms are the evillest creatures that Melko has made, and the most uncouth, yet of all are they the most powerful, save it be the Balrogs only.

If you ever wondered who would win... :D

* * *

Glorund's curse for Turin and Turin's answer:

“Know then this, O Turin son of Urin, that a fate of evil is woven about thee, and thou mayst not untangle thy footsteps from it whitherever thou goest. Yea indeed, I would not have thee slain, for thus wouldst thou escape very bitter sorrows and and a weird of anguish."

Then Turin leaping suddenly to his feet and avoiding that beast’s baleful eye raised aloft his sword and cried: “Nay, from this hour shall none name me Turin if I live. Behold, I will name me a new name and it shall be Turambar!” Now this meaneth Conqueror of Fate (…)”

#Well...

Can’t help but admire his arrogant self-confidence, though :)

* * *

After getting out of the dragon’s paralysis spell, Turin wanders and eventually finds his mother's old house, then kills Brodda – the supposed guardian of her estate, who took everything to himself when Turin’s mother and sister were gone.

#Turin’sRageVictimNo3

* * *

An interesting excerpt about the afterlife of a suicide (and a foreshadowing...?)

But Turambar was filled with shame and anger, and perchance he had slain himself, so great was his madness, although this might he not hope that ever his spirit would be freed from the dark glooms of Mandos or stray into the pleasant paths of Valinor.

* * *

Mavwin (Turin's mother) learns about what happened in Orodreth’s caves and that Glorund is living there now, guarding a treasure. She hopes that Turin is also somewhere there, enslaved.

Tinwelint, asked for help in finding Turin: let’s do it for the money (again...)

And I'm not even exaggerating it:

Therefore did Tinwelint answer: “Now shalt thou have aid, O Mavwin most steadfast, and, openly I say it to thee, it is not for hope of freeing Turin thereby that I grant it to thee, for such hope I do not see in this tale, but rather the death of hope. Yet it is a truth that I have need and desire of treasury, and it may be that such shall come to me by this venture; yet half of the spoil shalt thou have O Mavwin for the memory of Urin and Turin, or else shalt thou ward it for Nienori thy daughter.”

* * *

When Nienori met the dragon, she freely admitted who she was and, consequently got enchanted so she couldn’t remember her identity.

#NienorWhy #EvenALittleHobbitKnowsBetter

Then:

(...) Nienori dwelt with wood rangers, and after a while entered the house of Bethos, a stout man (…), but his wife was a Noldo-maiden, as the tale telleth, and vary fair, and fair also were his sons and daughters save only his eldest son Tamar Lamefoot.

I think it's the first mixed-race marriage mentioned in the Lost Tales!

* * *

After Niniel (Nienori) agreed to wed Turin:

“Twas well that I did name myself Turambar, for lo! I have overcome the doom of evil that was woven about my feet.”

My dude... do I have news for you...

* * *

[Glorund’s] greed was mightily kindled, so that after pondering much he set a guard that that he might trust to watch his dwelling and his treasury, and the captain of these was Mim the dwarf.

So that's the original Mim the dwarf... :)

* * *

Nonetheless Turambar creeping up set his foot upon [Glorund’s] body and withdrew Gurtholfin hardly with all his strength, and as he did, so he said in the triumph of his heart: “Now do we meet again, O Glorund, thou and I, Turambar, who was once named brave”; but even as he spake the evil blood spouted from that wound upon his hand and burnt it, and as it withered, so that for the sudden pain he cried aloud. Then the Foaloke opening his dread eyes looked upon him, and he fell in a swoon beside the drake and his sword was under him.

Turin... my dude.. you just can't stop making bad decisions, can you...

* * *

In the meantime: Tamar Lamefoot ends up as #Turin’sRageVictimNo4

* * *

And Gurtholfin daid: “That will I gladly do, for blood is blood, and perchance thine is not less sweet than many a one’s that thou hast given me ere now”; and Turambar cast himself then upon the point of Gurtholfin, and the dark blade took his life.

#SentientSwordStrikesAgain

So... is this really suicide or actually a murder?

* * *

In the end it is Urin who brings Glorund's treasure to Artanor:

"Gaze, O Tinwelint, sweetly on my gifts, for methinks the lustre of gold is all your heart contains."

#DragHim #UrinYou'reMyFave

* * *

The end of this depressing story:

Yet it is said that when he [Urin] was dead, his shade fared into the woods seeking Mavwin, and long those twain haunted the woods about the fall of Silver Bowl bewailing their children.

But the Elves of Kor have told, and they know, that at last Urin and Mavwin fared to Mandos, and Nienori was not there, nor was Turin their son. Turambar indeed had followed Nienori along the black pathways to the doors of Fui, but Fui would not open to them, neither would Vefantur. Yet now the prayers of Urin and Mavwin came even to Manwe, and the Gods had mercy on their unhappy fate, so that those twain Turin and Nienori entered into Fos’Almir, the bath of flame, even as Urwendi and her maidens had done in ages past before the first rising of the Sun, and so were all their sorrows and stains washed away, and they dwelt as shining Valar among the blessed ones, and now the love of that brother and sister is vary fair; but Turambar indeed shall stand beside Fionwe in the Great Wrack, and Melko and his drakes shall curse the sword of Mormakil.

Now this is... wild to say the least :D In the end I prefer the toned down version of The Silm... :)

[erdariel]

Fic writer review, thank you to @enigma-the-mysterious for the tag!!!

How many works do you have on AO3?

17 apparently

What’s your total AO3 word count?

34,868

How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

7 (I'm counting all Tolkien-related fandoms as one bc my fics in terms of Tolkien fandoms have a lot of overlap and often don't really fit neatly as either Silm or LOTR specifically so I'm just saying those are one); LOTR/Silmarillion/LOTR stuff, which is honestly like my oldest fandom really, certainly oldest one I still consider myself to be in, BBC Musketeers, Robin of Sherwood (the 1984-1986 tv show), Mercedes Lackey's Heralds of Valdemar series (what I've done with that so far is centered on Herald Alberich from Exile's Honor and Exile's Valor to be specific), Star Trek AOS, BBC Merlin, and Terry Pratchett's Discworld.

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

A 25th of May (Fandom is Discworld, and I still don't know how that one is my highest by kudos, it's not even good and it's not for the biggest fandom I've written for by any means)

Bloodstains (BBC Musketeers)

Heart of Ice (BBC Musketeers)

First Impressions (BBC Musketeers)

Flames of Fear (Heralds of Valdemar)

Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

I do my best to, although admittedly sometimes I don't do that immediately and then I forget and then I feel too awkward to reply when I remember again a million years later. Anyway, I do it because I love interacting with other fans and talking about my fics and stuff!

What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

I don't really know. It kind of depends on whether you feel like meta knowledge that the characters will in the future be alright makes the ending less angsty or not? Because like A 25th of May and The Darkness of Moria arguably have pretty depressing endings if you take it at face value with where I leave the characters in the story, but anyone who reads them is going to have the meta knowledge that things will get better for the characters, eventually, and no one's gonna die who isn't dead already, and all that, since Darkness of Moria is pre-canon and 25th is pre-canon to all of City Watch books aside from Night Watch.

But on the other hand if you say that if the reader has meta knowledge of the character's survival/that things will get better for them negates the angst, then those aren't too bad. I would say that in that case, Forest of Death, Bloodstains, and But There Is Silence At My Side are my angstiest endings (idk in what order, I'm bad at picking specific ones anyway) since the first two of those deal with The Whole Savoy Thing in Musketeers, which... nothing that happens in canon makes it less painful or more ok that it happened, and in those fics I purposefully chose not to give the characters involved really any kind of emotional closure, since the angle I took in my fics was one where I felt those issues I brought up weren't really resolved at all in any way until the stuff came up in the actual tv show. And But There Is Silence At My Side deals with grief immediately after the death of several close friends of the main characters of the fic, and since the fic was very brief and set during like, the space of an afternoon and an evening, like just over a handful of hours, it wasn't long enough time to handle the way grief becomes tolerable over time, but instead leaves the characters still in the early stages of mourning.

Do you write crossovers? if so what is the craziest one you’ve written?

I mean, I come up with ideas I'd love to write, and I've even started writing a few, but I've never gotten any to a point where I'd begin posting them. Idk about particularly crazy, though both my Musketeers of Valdemar crossover AU and my The Warlock and the Hooded Man are crossovers between a decently popular fairly recent BBC show, and an older more obscure fantasy thing.

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Not really, not that I'd recall anyway and I don't feel like checking.

Do you write smut? if so what kind?

Nah, it's not my thing

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

If I have, no one's told me about it. I doubt it tho, my fics aren't popular enough

Have you ever had a fic translated?

No. I've considered translating a few of my own to Finnish for fun, but it seems kinda pointless bc no one would read them in Finnish, so I've never gotten around to.

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

No. I'd like to try, but knowing the way I generally work (or rather, don't work) on fics, I don't think it'd be fair to whoever I tried doing it with if I did.

What’s your all time favorite ship?

Idk I'm not a huge shipper, really, so like. I sorta like a few but I don't really have favourites and I'm not super passionate about any particular ship.

What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

Like, all of my ones I've started that I haven't touched in months. I'd like to finish them, but who am I kidding. I guess I'm obligated to point out Blood, Shadow, Silver in particular since I posted like three chapters of that before stopping writing it and haven't gotten around to continuing it. I'd like to think I'll come back to it one day, but who am I kidding?

What are your writing strengths?

What fucking strengths? You think I have any?

What are your writing weaknesses?

Like, everything. What in particular depends on the day.

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

I don't know I've never really done that on a big scale? Idk don't really have an opinion

What was the first fandom you wrote for?

I'm gonna take that to mean "first fandom I wrote for using the account I use now" because any other way to take that question I won't reply to. So, within those lines, unsurprisingly, LOTR.

What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

That's a good question. I sorta like most my fics from the last couple of years, but idk if there's any that I really-really like? The Darkness of Moria is one that comes to mind, and it's not necessarily my favorite personally of what I've written but thinking about it makes me feel good because it seems to be @talvenhenki's fave of my stuff.

Tagging uhhh idk @oncefutureemrys and anyone else who wants to do this because idk who to tag!

[phoenixrisesoncemore]

It’s true, I personally think the universe is really amazing yet also really stupid, but maybe it’s because I think of it as another rough in-process draft of an indefinite number, to use your metaphor. But anyway if going by the premise + logic of what you say at the end of your post, how would one theoretically know that this universe isn’t the result of someone else remaking a former, even shittier/less amazing universe into something less shitty/even more amazing.

Hi, Anon. Sorry this took me a bit. I think that’s a great question (like, I can’t quite express how great because it gets too close to some other writing I am doing for me to talk about it too much right now, but it’s a *really* great question)!

[Note this is in response to this post.]

In the real world, I’m not sure there’s anyway we *could* know if we are living in one of a series of universes and most especially whether the cause of the “Genesis” of any of said universes was the result of the action of a conscious being working to “improve” on its predecessor, but it’s fascinating to consider! It’s really a *series* of great questions:

Are we in one of a linear series of universes?

Can we know if and how the previous universe in the series differed from ours?

Can we know if our current universe was engineered by a consciousness in the previous universe in response to fundamental conditions in the previous universe?

Is the current universe in some way ethically superior to the previous one and how would we measure that?

According to Cosmology

If we take out the metaphysical/theological/moral aspect as well as the “intention of a conscious instigator” aspect (that is, stick to question 1) it’s basically cosmology’s “Big Bounce” hypothesis (Einstein’s cyclic model, for example) where the universe doesn’t begin or end, but simply collapses and then re-expands in a cycle forever—Crunch, Bang, Crunch, Bang, etc. Something I’ve wondered for a while: if this is true, could there be any evidence available to us that past cycles existed and, if so, what they were like? I don’t know what such evidence would be (not that I’m, like, an expert :D), but that’s just a small part of the question you’re asking.

I don’t remember if the underlying “laws” of the universe were conceived as capable of changing between cycles in this conception—is gravity still the same, is there still electromagnetism, is there still entropy?(1) If we want to do more than limit this question to the material/mechanical “is it possible?” by looking at the moral implications(2) then we’d need for some of the underlying laws to be able to change.

There is an alternative to the Big Bounce: each universe (a) may create new universes (b, c, d, ...) through some action(s) either within the universe (a) or outside of all universes. White holes are an example of the former: new, separate universes beginning from singularities inside white holes in our universe. Brane Theory postulates that this happens when meta structures outside the universe called “branes” bump into each other; this would be an example of the latter. And I’ve seen versions of hypotheses for both that suggest the fundamental laws of nature need not be the same among the universe (a) and the universes (b, c, d, ... ). But as far as I know (and that’s not necessarily saying a lot :) ), no one has found a way to make these hypotheses falsifiable.

Still none of that addresses the conscious intent question, to say nothing of the last question; the last is, of course, quite subjective.

According to Religion

I’m not very familiar with religious/philosophical(3) conceptions of Creation as cyclical, though I know they exist in Buddhist and Hindu models as well as in the ancient Mayan religion. I’m afraid I don’t know which, if any, view this process as one with a goal or direction. Is growth and improvement of the universe and its mechanisms from cycle to cycle important in the same way as it can be said to be important for living creatures within it in these models? Furthermore, do any suggest that any such improvement is, was, should be, or will be the result of conscious, intentional actions? Can anyone help me out on this one?

It’s a fascinating prospect though. I’d even say it’s a hopeful prospect (and maybe, just maybe, not entirely out of line within the context of Tolkien—see below)!

[Forgive me if I get a bit over-explicatory and didactic here—it helps me to write all this out, even if it might be common knowledge to readers, particularly in the Silm fandom.]

For the purpose of my previous post, I’m speaking (somewhat obtusely) about Tolkien’s cosmological/metaphysical belief system which, at least by the time of the writing of the contents of the published Silmarillion, is somewhat in line with his underlying Catholic faith. The issue at hand, of course—and the issue that Tolkien was trying to “solve” (or at least consider)—was The Problem of Evil.

How does someone working from a Christian perspective square the fact that the world is filled with horrific pain and suffering with belief in the existence of an omnipotent, omniscient, and omnibenevolent God? David Hume in his Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion expressed the problem thusly: "Is he [God] willing to prevent evil, but not able? then is he impotent. Is he able, but not willing? then is he malevolent. Is he both able and willing? whence then is evil?"(4)

One such answer to this question includes an appeal to Free Will—after all, if people are to be allowed Free Will, then they must be allowed to use that will to commit evil, even if an omnipotent, omniscient, and omnibenevolent God would prefer they did not, since that is the definition of Free Will. And this may be convincing for some—or even for me on good days so far as it goes—but it does not address the fact that the natural world, up to and including processes that are several steps removed from consciousness/will (or even life!), generates the conditions for suffering. Free Will may explain why God tolerates things as unconscionable as genocide, but it does not explain why most of Nature consists of suffering as an integral part of its mechanism: we can see the fear in the prey animal’s eyes when it hears the twig snap, but the predator has to eat, too. Suffering is required for the system to run. The story of The Fall as told in Genesis may explain why such suffering happens to human beings, but it does not explain why it happens to everything else, why The Whole Damn Thing Is Fallen.

Enter Melkor stage left.

Tolkien’s Felix Culpa

There’s a quote in one of Tolkien’s letters where he addresses The Problem of Evil almost directly. Tolkien is writing to his son, Christopher, during his RAF training during WWII. Christopher was the child closest in mind to Tolkien, himself, and I am sure his proximity to danger at this time was especially hard for Tolkien on a number of levels. In Letter #66 Tolkien writes the following:

“I think also that you are suffering from suppressed ‘writing’. That may be my fault. You have had rather too much of me and my peculiar mode of thought and reaction. And as we are so akin it has proved rather powerful. Possibly inhibited you. I think if you could begin to write, and find your own mode, or even (for a start) imitate mine, you would find it a great relief. I sense amongst all your pains (some merely physical) the desire to express your feeling about good, evil, fair, foul in some way: to rationalize it, and prevent it just festering. In my case it generated Morgoth and the History of the Gnomes(5).” —Letter #66, to Christopher Tolkien, 6 May, 1944

The cosmology and theodicy of Tolkien’s Secondary World (Middle-earth, Arda, Ea) is laid out in the first chapter of The Silmarillion (Ainulindale, aka “The Music of the Ainur”) and represents an attempt to “make sense” of a world that could generate the kind of evil he had experienced in his life. If I may postulate: the death, during his childhood, of first his father and then mother; what he perceived as his mother’s martyrdom for her Catholic faith; and the endless mechanized, brutal, and senseless horror of WWI.

The answer to this for Tolkien was Melkor/Morgoth, his own resident Satan. But unlike Christianity’s Satan, Morgoth/Melkor had both sub-creative capabilities(6) and was responsible for some aspect of the “Design” of the universe through his Marring of the Music.

In my post the “drafts” are the Two Themes that were sung before the Third Theme (most importantly The First Theme—the Perfect World). The Third Theme is the Theme that finalized the means by which Melkor’s Marring would be integrated into Eru’s greater purpose in such a way as to generate Good that is far greater than what could exist in The Perfect World. It is the Theme that describes our Fallen World.

As The Fall of Man is envisioned as a “Happy Fault” (Felix Culpa), a sinful act that nevertheless allowed the far better redemption of Man through Christ to happen, so too is Melkor’s Marring of the Music envisioned as the means by which greater things than could have been otherwise will arise in the world.

The Problem of Evil as it extends to suffering “baked in” to the system is thus “solved” by placing a conscious agent, allowed Free Will, between God and material reality, with sufficient privileges to affect the design of the universe (Laws of Nature) and sufficient power to enact those designs, however evil, in matter, itself. While that latter part is not unique to Tolkien (hello demonology), the former is not something I have really encountered in quite that form anywhere else.

Now, getting back to your question and tying it to Tolkien :).

At first glance it might appear that any kind of cyclic model of the universe, with the actions of finite, fallen, non-divine beings working to “improve” on the designs of their divine predecessors, would be antithetical to Tolkien’s increasingly Catholic metaphysic. And yet...

Pair up some statements he made regarding both the Primary and Secondary Worlds with the events of the short story Leaf by Niggle and things look rather different. Tolkien said in a few places that he hoped that the ultimate fate of humans, as fundamentally sub-creative beings, would be to have God grant reality to their ideas, in the same way Eru grants material being (reality) to the vision created by the Music of the Ainur. This is essentially what Niggle receives when he reaches the upper layers of “purgatory”: his Tree made REAL (“Ea! Let these things Be!”). Not only that, his experience of it and its reality is intimately tied to his neighbor, Parish, the man who in life was always getting in the way of Niggle finishing his Tree painting. And this is a supremely important point for Tolkien and its the point that Melkor rebels against: sharing in the work of creation. Melkor cannot abide it, to the point that he would rather make all of creation not exist if it can’t consist only of his own mind.

Indeed, even in the context of his Secondary World there are hints that after the end of the Universe, Men will Sing a new Music, supplying their own ideas for the Design of new Eas. What would these human ideas be, and might they include universes even better than Ea, Men having lived in it and having not originated outside it and having been granted a capacity for working outside The Music unlike any other beings in Ea?

Well...one does wonder....

Notes

I seem to remember that the Second Law of Thermodynamics is one of the reasons this hypothesis fell out of favor back in the late 20th century

And unless I can lay my ethical issues with Nature purely at the feet of the happenstance of evolution on our particular planet (maybe on other planets life evolves in such a way that suffering does not exist but all the good stuff does?).

There’s also Nietzsche’s question of Eternal Return (among other philosophical equivalents). However, I don’t think that required distinct universes, but rather merely infinite time in which matter might, by sheer probability, return to a copy of its previous arrangement.

I posted a quote from Candide not long ago. In Candide, Voltaire was directly mocking Gottfried Leibniz’s take on this issue—that our reality must represent The Best of all Possible Worlds because it is the reality that God chose to create. OK, sure, Gottfried.

“History of the Gnomes” refers to the tales of the Noldor (then called “Gnomes”) and the Silmarils that make up the bulk of The Silmarillion.

It wouldn’t, I think, be out of the question to view much of Tolkien’s divine cosmology as rather Gnostic in flavor: a supreme One delegates creative powers to subordinate divinities who enter into the world, much as some Gnostic thought perceived the demiurgic Yahweh as doing, against the will of the higher God. The (very important) differences being that the Ainur’s powers (at least by the time of the writing of the contents of the published Silmarillion) were only *sub-creative* (they could not create matter or material existence ex nihilo), that material existence is conceived of as fundamentally good (divine sparks/souls are not “trapped” in matter), and that the demiurgic entities are not themselves responsible for creating humans (who are positioned as their peers).

[necropsittacus]

anyway this has been descent back into like...idk i think. i think people read coh kind of wrong. because it is a tragedy plotline yeah and the point very much is that everything sucks forever for these poor bastards. not disputing that and it's a lot of why i love it. but same thing as with the silm more generally and Tolkien's work as a whole like...there's beauty and glory in that too yknow? and things that are worth emulating? it's everything sucks all the time but it's not JUST everything sucks all the time

and you can't talk about the tragedy, or really acknowledge how horrible it is tbh, if youre just talking about the tragedy, you have to acknowledge like. túrin's desperate bids for self-determination, and how close he actually gets, matter, and it's depressing but also like honestly really inspirational ? and you can't SAY that because people are going to get Weird Impressions from "ah yes i find this book, yknow the one that ends with the protagonist finding out he married his sister, murdering an innocent, unarmed man for a shitty reason, and then killing himself, to be incredibly comforting and inspirational" understandably enough but

it's like. it's the "fuck you, if fate hates me so be it, i'll take control of my own life and break that cycle" and the suicide is not like. that in itself is not the inspirational bit per se. that's not what im saying. but i could almost see that as one last run for agency--"no you can't use me to hurt anyone else, and you cannot possibly make this any worse for me" as well as just despair pure and simple? (in any reading i think it's that too). but regardless of that like...idk i think it's thematically reductive to just treat it as the Everything Sucks Book, albeit it is that, and ignore the extent to which túrin does come close to accomplishing things

and also like..."sometimes there really isn't hope, or hope is a lie, and sometimes good doesn't win over evil, and you have to keep fighting anyway, and maybe the best you can do is that you fuck the forces of evil up even though it's a losing battle for you too in the end but that still matters and the fact that you tried and you did the best you could in horrific circumstances and you will be remembered in honor for that" is. good. a lot of shit with like Struggle of Good and Evil themes ime tends to go too hard for "there's always hope" (same with irl rhetoric tbqh) and like that's fine but it can sometimes ring hollow, especially with what my life was when i read coh the first time, and this just hits something really fucking raw