#melian

[mfelewzi]

The family tree of Eldarion, son of Elessar/Aragorn and Arwen, Heir of all the Houses of Edain and Eldars, with Maia's Blood too!

[anghraine]

#dúnedain#one of my favourite things ever#always brings me joy#eldritch dúnedain!#reminder that the húrinionath are elrosians! (via @bretwalda-lamnguin)

It's not news to you at all, of course, but I love the weird giant eldritch humans of Middle-earth and that it's not just a few individually chosen individuals, and that hobbits seem to come installed with a WIZARD VIBES alarm system more than anyone else without having necessarily ever heard of Maiar.

ngl every time I get an "ACTUALLY Aragorn is uniquely super special because his father is descended from Elros..." I struggle mightily and not always successfully against the temptation to monologue about how there's an entire stratum within the Dúnadan aristocracies who are descended from Elros, and largely recognizable on sight to those with the right vision, and who receive special privileges within their cultures. Some definitely have much stronger, more distinctive Maia wizardly and/or Elvish qualities than others, but it's there regardless.

And the only families of that stratum that are specified as such by Tolkien are the House of the Stewards and the junior branches of the House of Isildur (though they're not alone by any means), and it's certainly a small elite group in their society, but like... Denethor and Gilraen are as much descendants of Silmariën as Arathorn, just not in the senior male line. We're not looking at a single line of father-to-son only-child heirs for thousands of years in Middle-earth, we're looking at daughters and younger children getting left out of history unless their existence becomes relevant to a different male heir.

It's wild to think that there's almost certainly an unknown, unnamed, unacknowledged lady or princess of the house of Anárion whose existence bound her son/descendant Húrin of Emyn Arnen to his kinsman and king Minardil, and was necessary for Minardil to establish the extreme power of the Stewardship for Húrin and his descendants, which centuries later made the transition to the Ruling Stewardship go down a lot easier for the elitist Dúnedain of Gondor in addition to the Stewards' steady competence. The politics around this are genuinely fascinating to me, not just who is a descendant of whom but who gets remembered by the records and why. There might well be no specific note of Princess Fíriel's existence if not for Arvedui's Herucalmo gambit/their marriage.

Speaking of the poll and the Stewards' background etc, I think the funniest part of the whole "well obviously Húrin of Emyn Arnen was of royal origin..." thing is that this is never explained in LOTR proper. So Pippin is just like, "hmm, Denethor looks a lot like Aragorn for some reason. And I feel like he has some kind of weird kinship with... Gandalf?"

And that would be a lot in itself, but it's wilder because Sam had the exact same reaction to Faramir, to the point of contrasting Faramir's wizard vibes with Elvishness as if it's something distinct from that, but there's no explanation, beyond it being some sort of maybe Númenórean thing.

Pippin at least has the advantage of Gandalf's vague explanation that Denethor has a fundamentally different background than Théoden that gives him certain powers and prestige. Tolkien's intent was for this to indicate that Gandalf doesn't know the details of Denethor's family history and doesn't really need to; he can tell Denethor is a descendant of Elros because it's just kind of written all over him and Faramir, as Gandalf sees things.

Now, it makes sense that nobody is going to get into this with hobbits because they have much more important and urgent matters at hand and there's no reason for most characters to suppose people of this unknown species would care at all, or possibly even have the context needed to get what "royal origin" has to do with "weird similarities to Gandalf." So instead the hobbits just receive these passing hints of some connection that no one bothers to clearly explain.

But the thing is, the hobbit protagonists are super enthusiastic about 1) Elves, 2) Gandalf, and most importantly, 3) elaborate genealogical charts.

Pippin would probably love an infodump about Melian and Lúthien's eldritch adventures and how Denethor and Aragorn are related to them and each other. It's just that no one in LOTR ever explains that wizards are Maiar, or what Maiar are, or that Gandalf and Sauron and the Balrog are all the same kind of being, as was Lúthien's mother, and sometimes her remote descendants still have that bit of Maia about them and it makes them strange and wizardly.

This is not a criticism of LOTR as written btw; it would not actually be interesting to most of the original audience of LOTR as a novel. But I think that in-story, the hobbits themselves would be thrilled to know that their pal Strider and the scary old Steward and, in a way, Gandalf are all related in a way that could be more or less charted out according to standard hobbit genealogical templates if they had enough paper and time.

[afanofmanyhats]

One of my favorite things about Tolkien's writing is that he has a very specific, recurring trope. For lack of a better term, I'm dubbing this the Tolkien Wife-Guy.

This is mainly obvious in the Silmarillion, but Tolkien loves to write couples where the man is a notable individual- nobility, commits a great deed, or both- but the wife is at least equally notable, if not more beloved or powerful. Manwe is the king of the Valar and Eru's main representative in Arda? Everyone loves Varda more, and Melkor fears her more than his own brother. Elu Thingol is the king of the Silvan Elves? His wife is Melian, whose Girdle is the magic that keeps Morgoth's forces at bay. Beren is a chief among the Edain, who befriends animals and survives one of the most nightmarish places in Beleriand? His wife is Luthien.

Even in Lord of the Rings we see this occur, though the couples are on more even footing. Tom Bombadil is... Tom Bombadil, but Goldberry is the River-daughter, and Tom adores her above everything else, and the hobbits are completely taken in with her when she's their host. Similarly, while Celeborn is a mighty lord among Elves, Galadriel is one of the only Noldor in Middle-earth who saw the Two Trees, and her hair inspired Feanor to make the Silmarils, not to mention her own accomplishments in the war against Morgoth. Aragorn is the king of Gondor and Arnor, but Arwen is the Evenstar of the Elves, the descendant of three(?) different royal Elven lines. And Faramir becomes the Steward of Gondor and is one of the noblest men alive, but Eowyn killed the Witch-king, so you know. She got the grander moment for the saga.

But with (most) of these couples, we never get the impression that the man views his wife as Less-Than, or as a junior partner. Thingol is the main exception to this in how he dismisses Melian's counsel, and that's made out to be his foolishness within the text. Otherwise, Manwe treats Varda as his co-ruler, Beren never tries to downplay Luthien's achievements, and I'm pretty sure most of Tom Bombadil's dialogue is about how gorgeous Goldberry is. It's really sweet.

All of these examples really testify to how much Tolkien loved his wife. People rightly point to Beren and Luthien as the prime example of that, but I think you can find it in these other couples too. Even though Edith is mainly known to history as Mrs. Tolkien, it's evident to me that Jirt saw her as a whole person worthy of admiration outside of being his wife.

[sakasakiii]

a while ago i was sent an ask from @waterjewelsspite (answered below) wherein i was asked about different elven fashions.... so from left to right: doriathrim fashion, teleri + nargothrond fashion, vanya fashion :DD these have been sitting in my drafts as uncoloured wips since early 2022 omg, but better late than never i suppose !!!

i didnt have a specific sketch page for the noldor that i did back then hahahaha so i came back to it recently and took it as a chance to do some assorted concept doodles with the kind of outfits i imagine them wearing in mundane situations? i dont quite know how to explain it but i hope my annotations can help show my thought process a bit!!

cant believe it took me this long to give like half the characters proper fullbody refs or designs (im looking at YOU beleg and mablung) but this has been super fun and really refreshing, so thank you again waterjewelsspite for the kind ask!!! sorry again it took. two and a half years. OMG. for me to get it done 😭😭😭 i hope this sufficed!!!

in usual fashion, bonus feanorian shenanigans: caranthir's first business/publishing/entrepreneurship/girlboss venture

[redreyenotarget]

Melian✨

[raointean]

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1740cL4zDjW-3qbdIWV_vrmo8ggD11u6j/view?usp=drivesdk

I made a PowerPoint to present to my English Club tomorrow! Posting the slides and audio here; any (constructive) criticism would be much appreciated!

[mandhos]

[hopevering]

thinking about adding nienna and maybe melian again........ their portrayals would likely be pretty canon-divergent, which is making me hesitate a bit because idk how happy people would be with them, but still. i kinda wanna try writing them.

[moredhel]

oh to be an elf in love with a goddess

[self-destructinganimal]

One of my favorite Elrond & Elwing headcanons is that Elwing, who was a very small child when she had to flee the destruction of Doriath, tells Elrond and Elros stories of how beautiful it was. She tells them stories she herself had been told of happier times when Melian ruled with her girdle of protection. She tells them stories of an enchanted realm that was once their families legacy.

As refugee children, these stories of a home, and a protected realm were something special to the twins and when Elrond hears those stories he dreams of rebuilding Doriath. He sees the loss on his mother's face and he imagines building a realm of enchantment where flowers bloom and birds sing as they did when Lúthien walked among them, or when Melian taught the nightingales to sing. He dreams of building this for his mother, so that she might feel joy again.

Elrond builds all this later when he founds Rivendell, and it grows from a camp for refugees (something that he knows well), into the place he always dreamed of building for those who have their homes and happiness ripped away from them. A place where flowers bloom and hurts are healed. A place that is protected by enchantments laid by Melian's scion who commands even the river in its defense.

No one questions why the stars shine brighter on Imladris than any other realm, they also know why the birds congregate there in such large numbers.

The little refugee and survivor rebuilt Doriath, and wove his own little barrier of protection around it.

And his mother smiled across the sea.

[thetiredprometheus]

Concerning Maiar

The Doriathrim: our Queen is from out of this world. She is elf-like, yet she is not. To look upon her is to look upon the divine, something beautiful and terrible alike, for she is a Maia, and thus incomprehensible to mortal eyes

The followers of the Feanorians, who've seen their Prince Nr. 3 yelling at a Maia to "get of the couch, you are shedding! And stop fucking licking me!" every morning for a few centuries now: ....right

[fromaliminalspace]

Lúthien getting spirited elved away. that's it, that's the post

[chechula]

Beren and Lúthien in Menegroth throne room....sketch that I made 3month ago, I like it but...I have no idea how to finish it x_x There is so much detail everywhere so I have no idea where to put a focus...Shall I make it in colors? Or black&whitte? Ink or pencil.....no idea x_x

[sempermoi]

A more eldritchy Melian, yknow what if she had like a second set of eyes that can bewitch people when she opens them up

[akzgaj]

Thingol and Melian.

[thesummerestsolstice]

I love how the entrance to Rivendell is shown in the Hobbit movies– the path is clearly enchanted; the geography is wonky, and the passage only shows up when Thorin & co really need to escape danger.

I feel like this is just how Rivendell works– there are no set pathways in and out of the valley, strange corridors and hidden passages to it just show up when and where they're needed. People who have been to Rivendell before can usually find their way back pretty easily, but even they usually can't explain exactly how they got there. Only the residents of Rivendell can reliably lead others to the valley– and Galadriel, because she's Galadriel. It usually takes Gandalf a while to find the path. He's convinced Elrond just like messing with him.

This is very much Elrond channeling his inner Melian. Doriath was extremely hard to get into, but in the normal fairy way where you just get lost in the woods endlessly if you're not welcome, and the forest parts for you if you are. Elrond saw that and decided to spice things up a little for his realm. You know, some impossible rock formations, a few very strange trees, landscaping that is vaguely beyond mortal comprehension, all that.

Rivendell's residents think it's great. Most outsiders think it's a little creepy.