#melkor is basically seasoning

[serene-faerie]

In my opinion, the ideal way to adapt the entire Silmarillion is through a multi-season anime, with each major event being made into an arc

Like:

The Ainulindalë Arc: the Music of the Ainur, the Two Lamps, and the Battle of the Powers

The Journey to Aman Arc: the Awakening of the Elves at Cuiviénen, the Creation of Orcs, the Sundering of the Teleri, Thingol and Melian's meeting in Nan Elmoth, etc.

The Years of the Trees Arc: the life of Fëanor, the creation of the Silmarils, Melkor's corruption of the Noldor, etc.

The Darkening of Valinor Arc: the death of Finwë, the destruction of the Two Trees, the Oath of Fëanor, and the First Kinslaying

The First Battle Arc: the First Battle of Beleriand, the Flight of the Noldor, Fëanor's death, Maedhros's capture

The Sun and Moon Arc: the Coming of Men, Finrod's friendship with the House of Bëor, Fingon's rescue of Maedhros, the Mereth Aderthad

The Glorious Battle Arc: the Dagor Aglareb, the construction of Gondolin, Thingol learning of the First Kinslaying, etc.

The Long Peace Arc: Aredhel leaving Gondolin and her encounter with Eöl, the birth of Maeglin, their escape to Gondolin, etc.

The Dagor Bragollach Arc: the Dagor Bragollach, Finrod's rescue by Barahir, the Fall of Fingolfin, the Outlaws of Barahir, etc.

The Quest for the Silmaril Arc: the story of Beren and Lúthien, of course

The Nirnaeth Arnoediad Arc: the lead-up to, and the actual Battle of Unnumbered Tears

The Children of Húrin Arc: Húrin's capture and curse, and the story of Túrin Turambar, of course

The Second Kinslaying Arc: Thingol's death, the Battle of the Thousand Caves, Dior's ascension to Doriath, and the Second Kinslaying

The Fall of Gondolin Arc: Tuor's quest to Gondolin, his romance with Idril, Maeglin's betrayal, Eärendil's birth and childhood, and the city's destruction

The Havens of Sirion Arc: the meeting of Eärendil and Elwing, their childhood together, their eventual marriage, and the births of Elrond and Elros

Eärendil's Voyage Arc: the Third Kinslaying, Elwing's transformation into a bird, Eärendil's voyage to Aman, and their plea to the Valar for aid

The War of Wrath Arc: the War of Wrath, the defeat of Morgoth, the reclaiming of the Silmarils, the choice of Elrond and Elros, the death of Maedhros, etc.

Basically, a Silmarillion anime would give One Piece a run for its money based on length, lol. And it would be even better if it was done by the studio that did Spy x Family, since their animation style is absolutely beautiful.

I would watch the hell out of a Silm anime!

[90shaladriel]

Writing Interview Tag Game

Thanks for tagging me @klynnvakarian !

About Me:

When did you start writing?

In my 30s I definitely made an attempt to write a "novel" and did some world building and a few pages of writing and it didn't go anywhere. Then Late 2022 after Rings of Power season 1 just joining the Haladriel fandom I read so much fic that I thought maybe I could do some as well. Got some encouragement from other haladriel writers (crucial for me)

Are there different genres or themes you enjoy reading other than the ones you write?

I love history and science non-fiction. I mostly am writing in the fantasy fan-fiction space, but I do like sci-fi as my first love.

Is there an author you want to emulate, or are compared to often?

I either consciously or unconsciously imagine I am writing in the voice that Frank Herbert used in the Dune series. Maybe mixed with some George RR Martin and a tinge of Tolkien.

Can you tell me a bit about your writing space?

Vast majority of my writing was on an iPad lying in my bed before sleep when no one needs my attention.

What’s your most effective way to muster up a muse?

I usually write a chapter per month so it's just random thoughts or reminders while reading other fics which inspire me to write a snippet here or there when I have the energy.

The other big muse I've found in recent months was actually listening to or reading Tolkien books: "The Silmarillion", "Beren and Luthien" and "Fall of Gondolin" the beautiful prose and the rich lore just sparks new ideas I want to try to play off of or emulate in my own fics.

Are there any reoccurring themes in your writing? If so do they surprise you?

I always like stories of characters that are beaten down, up against the world, maybe a little unappreciated, but not giving up. Even if they cannot win they try their best and work hard. A lot of sadness too. I don't express much of that sadness IRL so that is a bit surprising.

Characters:

Would you please tell me about your current favorite character?

Tough call - probably the Lady of Light, Galadriel based on the ROP - characterization

Which of your characters would you be friends with in real life?

Hmm, I'm not sure if I would be best friends but I think I would get along with Ereddâz, my Orc OC from A Lord and his Builder.

I think Galadriel would ignore me and Sauron would send me to his dungeons to be a thrall.

Which characters would you dislike the most if you met them?

Melkor from my First Fire in the Void fic

Do you notice any reoccurring themes/traits in your characters?

I touched on it above, I think I like writing characters that believe they are doing the right thing. I do not like writing characters that are specifically and intentionally bad. Even my villains have plausible motivations or perspectives to justify their actions.

How do you picture your characters?

Most of my writing is currently around the Rings of Power cast and that style.

I am dabbling with non-ROP fics, like First Fire in the Void and there I pictured Mairon based on a lot of fanart that basically draws him like a pretty woman with long red hair lol.

My Writing:

What’s your reason for writing?

A creative outlet. For years and years I would day dream my own stories, going back to when I was a kid, I was also a pretty decent DnD DM making up my own campaigns. I've often had dreams of telling stories by creating video games (I am a software dev professionally) but I usually get stuck on the actual technology side of creating a game and can never get to the creative side. By writing fic, I was able to just get my ideas out there without being held back by the lack of skills in other areas (game dev, art, making a story interactive and still make sense)

Is there any specific comment or type of comment from readers that you find particularly motivating?

Ive gotten a few amazing comments that say this is their favorite fic and I can't believe it since I just write one of many thousands of fics so I feel honored, and for my WIPs a little pressured, to produce more at that level.

How do you want to be thought about by your readers?

I want to write stories other people like, I do think about how can I make a story original in a way no one else does? What's a premise no one else has or could be done differently?

But really I am mostly writing stories that I like?

What do you feel is your greatest strength as a writer?

I think putting my characters through emotionally charged or traumatic events where they have realistic responses or reactions that I or I think readers might relate to emotionally.

How do you feel about your own writing?

I read other writing and it feels so polished and natural. I often feel like I am "emulating good writing" rather than being a good writer myself. I like my stories and plots but I am not always impressed by the words on the page after writing them. Sometimes I just give up during editing and just post and people seem to like it enough.

When you write are you influenced by what others might enjoy reading, do you write purely for yourself, or is it a mix of both?

AS I was saying I do think about the readers and I'm surely influenced by what I see in the community and what people respond to but every single idea is a kind of "wouldn't this be cool" idea I have myself first and then I judge how much I think other people would also find it to be cool or enjoyable. That part I sometimes guess at or things resonate with others that I didn't expect

No pressure tags!

@eowyn7023 @demonscantgothere @cliffdivingsblog @pursuitseternal @theriverwild

[saurongorthaur9]

Oohh are other úmaiar going to appear in Gorthauro Estel (besides Thuringwethil)? (Maybe they could all make a "Melkor messed me up mentally and physically" support group XD)

I'm sorry that I've had this sitting in my inbox for too long. I've been distracted by an intense combination of Rings of Power Season 2 brainrot and finishing Gorthauro Estel Chapter 27.

There will be some other Umaiar who appear, but Thuringwethil will be the main one the story focuses on when they make an appearance. They won't be in it a ton, but they do have an important part to play towards the end, and it will be revealed what their reaction was to Sauron going to Valinor among other things.

It will probably be a long time still before I finish Gorthauro Estel and I know I shouldn't be thinking too far ahead, but I do actually have an idea for a sequel, if and when I reach that point. It would basically explore what would change in the history of Middle-earth through the rest of the Second Age if Sauron was not there to be the primary evil force in the world. In the sequel, I have ideas for going more in depth with the other Umaiar, including some Umaiar OCs, and I actually did have a sort of idea for Sauron basically leading an Umaiar support group, lol.

Thanks for the ask and your interest in my story! I always love getting asks about Gorthauro Estel :)

[beyonddarkness]

Signs and Portents

There is a fairly famous concept from the Bible that says, "By their fruits ye shall know them." Here, I apply that notion to two events from season 1, and say that we can know the source of an idea or belief by the results it yields.

(Brief Preview)

It starts by testing the event of Galadriel leaping from the ship (which is basically my whole personality at this point).

(2x01):

GALADRIEL: "Because in my heart, I know the Three Rings are free of his influence." ELROND: "But are you? The light of Valinor shone upon your very face, Galadriel, and you turned your back on it. Was it truly to fight the darkness, or was the darkness calling to you? Can you not see? All this may be by his design!"

I wrote most of this before s2 released, so in the last section, I added some important things that we have seen from the first 4 episodes of s2.

"I know you think this ring is deceiving me, but I believe it is guiding me."

(Galadriel, 2x04)

Then, it's on to testing the event of Míriel taking Galadriel back on account of the petals of the White Tree falling.

Elendil: "In my experience, it is unwise to spend one's life guessing after signs and portents."

In both Galadriel's and Míriel's situations, Sauron became an instrument in his own downfall.

‘And thou, Melkor, shalt see that no theme may be played that hath not its uttermost source in me, nor can any alter the music in my despite. For he that attempteth this shall prove but mine instrument in the devising of things more wonderful, which he himself hath not imagined.’

(Eru Ilúvatar, Ainulindalë)

But if "by their fruits ye shall know them," look at the fruits.

1) What happened as a result of the Faithful believing that the petals were the very tears of the Valar?

2) What happened as a result of some Elves believing that mithril contained the very light of the Valar?

3) Who claims to be an emissary of the Valar?

[saurons-pr-department]

Melkor’s Purpose

I’ve been thinking about Melkor for the last couple of days and something struck me as I was rereading the Ainulindalë. I think there’s perhaps a hint at what Melkor’s purpose in the world is.

Because, surely he must have a purpose? He was intentionally created by an intelligent being and we’re told that “To Melkor among the Ainur had been given the greatest gifts of power and knowledge, and he had a share in all the gifts of his brethren”. In other words, he’s incredibly powerful and, unlike the other Valar, he doesn’t have a specific domain (air, water, living things etc.) which I read as him having the ability to theoretically turn his hand to any of them. Why would Eru, who has a plan for everything it seems, create someone like this and not have an intended purpose for them? 

I think his purpose is to modify, to change, to twist things that others create. Not necessarily in an evil way. More in the way that, for humans, each person takes what was made before them and can either modify it to improve the original or turn it to new uses. While there seems to be an emphasis on his lack of ability to create something from scratch (which he seems to want quite desperately, hence searching for the Flame) he does seem to be very good at taking what someone else made and making something new from it. I know people normally criticize his lack of originality. I’ve sometimes even seen it pointed to as being connected to his evil (as in he’s too evil to be original) but honestly, I don’t think lack of originality is much of a crime and, considering some things that we see in the Ainulindalë, I think it might actually be his whole point.

Now, I’m not saying he wasn’t selfish or self important. He was. The reason he began the Discord was because “he sought therein to increase the power and the glory of the part assigned to himself”. That’s a purely self-serving motivation. I won’t deny that. But the thing is, if his Discord introduced evil and chaos and strife into the world, should Eru not have stopped it? Or done something a bit more than change the theme up a bit? If Melkor’s Discord was really so detrimental to the world, and if Eru really cared, should he not have done something more substantial to fix it? When the world ends “the themes of Ilúvatar shall be played aright”. Could that not be done now to save everyone the grief and the heartache? 

But Eru doesn’t do anything to undo Melkor’s work. Instead he says that “no theme may be played that hath not its uttermost source in me, nor can any alter the music in my despite. For he that attempteth this shall prove but mine instrument in the devising of things more wonderful, which he himself hath not imagined” [emphasis mine]. This tells us that the music can’t really be ruined, only improved, and that the person who tries is really doing Eru’s work (being his “instrument”). It also tells us that all the music comes from him in some way, which would imply that it all fits into his plan somehow (though we aren’t really told to what extent). This could point to the fact that a certain amount of free-styling from the Ainur was intended. Strictly speaking, it’s what Eru had actually asked the Ainur to do. He asked them to perform the theme he had taught them, “adorning this theme, each with his own thoughts and devices, if he will”. And Melkor most certainly would. Like I said, he does it for self-serving purposes, but an action like his seems to already have been accounted for by Eru. It still fits with his plan.

I also want to point out that it doesn’t say that he actually tried to ruin the Music. As I said before, he was trying to “increase the power and the glory of the part assigned to himself”. He was trying to “interweave matters of his own imagining that were not in accord with the theme of Ilúvatar”. Essentially, I don’t really see him as attempting to cause trouble. That doesn’t seem to have been his main intention. His main intention was making himself look better. His attempt to make himself look better, and to try think outside the box (the music??) ended up making someone else’s creation look better (which I’ll discuss next). What I’m trying to say is that I don’t think there was any malicious intent in his rebellion, just vanity. It’s not this outward-facing malevolent action. It’s focused inwards, on himself. This is just the way that he is. He thinks differently. Add this to Eru’s statement in the above paragraph, and we get the possibility that Melkor’s actions somehow fit into Eru’s plan.

We get an example later on of what kind of “wonderful” things can be created by someone attempting to deviate from the plan: 

“And Ilúvatar spoke to Ulmo, and said: ‘Seest thou not how here in this little realm in the Deeps of Time Melkor hath made war upon thy province? He hath bethought him of bitter cold immoderate, and yet hath not destroyed the beauty of thy fountains, nor of thy clear pools. Behold the snow, and the cunning work of frost! Melkor hath devised heats and fire without restraint, and hath not dried up thy desire nor utterly quelled the music of the sea. Behold rather the height and glory of the clouds, and the ever changing mists; and listen to the fall of rain upon the Earth! And in these clouds thou art drawn nearer to Manwë, thy friend, whom thou lovest.’

Then Ulmo answered: ‘Truly, Water is become now fairer than my heart imagined, neither had my secret thought conceived the snowflake, nor in all my music was contained the falling of the rain. I will seek Manwë, that he and I may make melodies for ever to thy delight!’”.

Melkor’s deviations, Melkor’s extremes, made something that was already beautiful even more spectacular. Even Ulmo, the Lord of Waters himself admits that Melkor’s tampering has made water into something even better than he had imagined it to be. Not only that though, Melkor’s actions brought into being things that are vitally important for the Earth’s ability to support life! The constant cycling of water ensures that both plants and animals have something to drink. Clouds can provide shade or act as insulation, keeping the heat of the day’s sunshine locked in during the night. These are incredibly important things! Melkor may not have intended any of these things, but Eru did say that anyone who tries to make their own music will prove to be Eru’s “instrument”. Is Melkor here just unknowingly doing Eru’s work? Is this what he was meant to do?

Once the Valar enter Arda, Melkor continues this theme of altering and twisting. We’re told “he meddled in all that was done, turning it if he might to his own desires and purposes”. Once again we see that his motivations are not pure. He’s not here for collaboration. He’s trying to interfere. The thing is, we’re not told what exactly it is he does, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was like the Water, that he took things and in some roundabout way, made them more wonderful. Let’s face it, how many very dangerous things are out there in the natural world that are also beautiful and/or fascinating? We’re not explicitly told he made anything bad (though I will say that that quote ends “and he kindled great fires”, which...you know...not ideal), just that he “meddled” and made things that suited himself.

What I think is particularly interesting about him though, and is my first hint of this feeling of ‘lost potential’ that I get from Melkor is that, even though he was trying to make himself as glorious and impressive as possible, he doesn’t exactly brag about how he improved Ulmo’s design. I would have expected him to turn around and say “Ha! I made your design even better! You wouldn’t have something so wonderful without me!”, but he doesn’t. Like I just said above, I don’t think he wants to collaborate. I think he longs to be brilliant on his own. Which is a shame. If he has knowledge of all the others’ domains, if he has more power than the others, if he’s able to modify things such that they are improved from how they were initially conceived, then surely he could achieve wonders if he worked with the others! But he won’t. He’s too self-centered. 

The thing is, that’s just what I think he was meant for. The collaboration, not the being self-centered. I think he was there to elaborate on the work of the others. He would have been well suited to it, skill-wise. It just seems that neither he himself, nor any of the others, really understood that.

[arofili]

I love reading what you write! It's always such good, easy writing no matter what it's about! Do you have any Russingon fic recs? I'm new to Ao3 and still figuring it all out.

Aww thank you so much <3 <3 that means a lot! and YES I have lots of Russingon fic recs! These are all taken from my bookmarks and I know there are other great fics out there, but these are ones that I have saved and come back to frequently!

(I’m also going to plug my Russingon fics bc I write them a lot and I’m pretty proud of some of those works!)

Blessed Hands Will Break Me by @absynthe--minded - WIP currently at 139k, lots of worldbuilding, from Fingon’s discovery of Maedhros’ capture to the Mereth Aderthad - Absynthe is an amazing Russingon writer, absolutely check her stuff out!

“whoso list to hunt” by vauquelin (elftrash) - 3k oneshot, post-Angband, 1st person Fingon POV - another incredible writer

“Old Pains” by @zealouswerewolfcollector​ - ficlet, post-reembodiment, Maedhros is unsure of reality

Did My Heart Love Till Now? by @absynthe--minded​ (with art by @felixwhetsel​ !) - 5k, Years of the Trees, masquerade shenanigans <3

“stay thy mind, and all the rest” by @mc-dude​ - 25k oneshot, get together, Fingon visits Maedhros in Himring, the ANGST and LONGING gahhhh !!!

“commit (to the bit)” by vauquelin (elftrash) - 4k oneshot, Years of the Trees, FAKE DATING FOR WORLD PEACE, this author has a GIFT for prose and the subtlety of interpersonal interaction

“cliffs of fall” by @arrivisting - 3k oneshot, nonlinear narrative but generally focused on post-reembodiment reunion with Complicated Feelings - another author with a truly inspiring talent for prose, I reread the wedding scene in this fic at least once a week and it never fails to make me emo

In Equal Measure by @siphilemon - WIP currently at 108k, time-travel fix-it, bullet point fic, not just Russingon but they’re the ones who time traveled and anyway their parts make me go insane

Your colors by @elesianne - 2 chapters, 3k total, Years of the Trees and then Beleriand, gift-giving and anniversaries and dirty talk, so tender and loving, Elle’s Russingon always hits me right in the heart <3

“Like the old season” by Tyelperintal - 1.8k oneshot, post-Angband, Maedhros and Fingon take a walk in the woods, super sweet

“Gifts of the Heart” by @wren-of-the-woods - 10k oneshot, Years of the Trees, really lovely get-together fic, gift-giving, just super sweet and fun

Our Houses Bound Together by @senalishia and @z-h-i-e - 5 chapters, 17.2k total, arranged marriage AU!!, mutual pining, lots of drama, very fun

“just one safe place” by sunflower_diode - 2.1k oneshot, post-Angband, homoerotic haircutting

“All About Your Heart” and its sequel “At Last Broke Silence, And The Ice” by @admirablemonster - first fic is 2k, second is 8k, modern AU ft. aspec Fingon and genderfluid Maedhros!!!, get together, family drama, ice angst <3

Life after Death by Sylanna - WIP currently at 69k, Fingon-centric post-reembodiment fic, slow moving and contemplative, the author is truly the sweetest person ever

What Is Wrought Between Us by @nikosheba - 90k series (with plenty of smut too), complete, canon compliant, ranges from the Years of the Trees all the way to after the Dagor Dagorath, a truly incredible work

“Kindness” by justonelastdance - 1.6k oneshot, Maedhros in a fucked up mental state post-Angband, hurt/comfort - this author writes a lot of Maedhros whump so if you like this check out their other stuff too (this one is just my favorite)

and under the cut, some smut recs....

smut recs

In a Jeweled Crown by @absynthe--minded - 3 chapters, 12k, complete, Fingon’s coronation and the aftermath - this one still makes me go nuts every time I read it

Reconnecting by nyromes - a series with 2 parts, 9k total, first time post-Angband + first time Maedhros bottoms post-Angband

“Bright Defiance” (1.7k) and its companion fic “Very Good” (800 word ficlet) by @edgeoflight - two oneshots, Fingon coaxes Maedhros’ story out of him post-Angband + some PWP - these are some of my favorites, I come back to them frequently

“all your perfect imperfections” by @stormxpadme - 1.8k oneshot, stumpfucking, I’m biased bc this was written for me but I do love it very much, Himring era

“These Games We Play” by @edgeoflight - 1.7k oneshot, the original stumpfucking fic, Himring era

A Surprise At Home by Findecutie and MayGlenn - 25k of pwp, Years of the Trees, newlyweds, crossdressing - part of the much longer Russ and Finno Verse but this was my intro to that verse and it’s good on its own!

“Fuath” by yeaka - 3k oneshot, first time, some truly disturbing manipulation by Melkor but the Russingon here fucking destroys me ;-;

“Rozanne” by yeaka - 2.8k oneshot, Maedhros recovering from Angband, I once saw someone use the phrase “lovingly described blowjobs” and that’s basically this fic

“Sleeve” by yeaka - 2.4k oneshot, trans!Maedhros, Years of the Trees, Fëanor invents the condom for Maedhros and Russingon are incredibly eager to try it out, they’re SO IN LOVE here it gets me every time

Passion and Anxious Care by LiveOakWithMoss - 12.5k total, 2 fic series, modern AU, oh my god they were roommates, get together and then first time, this is another one I return to frequently - this author is/was a BNF a few years ago but hasn’t been active recently

“For nimble thought can jump both sea and land” by TheLionInMyBed - 2.2k oneshot, palantiri foolishness that leads to video sex basically, Beleriand era - another BNF who is/was buds with LiveOakWithMoss

Treat me soft but touch me cool by LiveOakWithMoss and TheLionInMyBed - 4 chapters, 18k total, swoon kink/medical kink, relationship difficulties that are resolved, Beleriand era with a final chapter post-reembodiment, love this one

“Enthroned” by @ultraviolet-eucatastrophe - 4.5k oneshot, throne sex, fealty kink, King Fingon era

“A Disgrace to the House of Finwë” by @edgeoflight - 2.3k oneshot, get together/first time, Years of the Trees, they’re just super sweet together <3

“What Happens in Himring” by teasoni - 3.4k oneshot, reunion sex, Himring era, fealty kink, this fic is tagged “finally some dicks get sucked!!!!!!” and I think about that tag every time I write a Russingon blowjob jdkfhdkj

“a light in darkness, hope in woe” by @admirablemonster - 4k oneshot, trans!Maedhros, surprise baby Gil-galad in the middle of the Bragollach

“A lord and his prince” by @ultraviolet-eucatastrophe - 3.1k oneshot, early Beleriand era, reunion sex, super sweet and fluffy

“Made of Lava” by @edgeoflight - 2.1k oneshot, Years of the Trees, tender get-together fic with a kind of silly premise

Bend, bruise, beg by LiveOakWithMoss - 5 chapters, 13k total, part of a larger modern AU but tbh I haven’t read the main fic in that verse and this absolutely stands on its own, Maedhros discovering his kinks, chapters 2 (first time) and 4 (butt plug shenanigans) are my favorites

“in a field of stars” by Nacht - 3.4k oneshot, Years of the Trees, first time/get together, the writing style here is really unique and sticks with me

“a sword once sheathed” by @mc-dude - 3.5k oneshot, Beleriand era, reunion sex, the amount of horny longing is truly astonishing

Of Flight and Freedom by @admirablemonster - 2 chapters, 6.6k total, wingfic/wing kink, first time/get together, the Rescue and its aftermath

“Thorns” by yeaka - 2k oneshot, post-Angband, Maedhros with lousy self-worth, Fingon who punishes him with love, bondage

The Ice Between by angrymermaids (who has a tumblr but I don’t remember the url oops) - 7 chapters, 33.5k total, Beleriand era, piecing their relationship back together / trying to get back to being intimate, focus on Fingon and his trauma from the Ice

“much too tall for a boyfriend” by @i-am-a-lonely-visitor - 4.7k oneshot, fem!Maedhros x budding-transmasc!Fingon, Years of the Trees, I think about this fic ALL THE TIME I kind of want to write a sequel to it sjfdhdkjh

“the beat of your heart as my hand touches your skin” by @admirablemonster - 5.3k oneshot, part of the Elves in Pon Farr series, Years of the Trees, heat fic/mating cycles, first time/get together, Maedhros’ first heat catches him by surprise while on a camping trip with Fingon, accidental soulbond

“Beneath the Blanketing White” by @nikosheba - 2.3k oneshot, Himring era, pwp, cameo from little Gil-galad at the end

“What I Am (When I’m With You)” by @thatfeanorian - 5k oneshot, part of a larger modern AU, married fluff, Fingon with baby Gil, ends with some lovely smut, this was written for me so AGAIN I’m biased but I do very much love this one

“open your body and soul to me” by @the-quiet-fire-of-defiance - 2.3k oneshot, Years of the Trees, trans!Maedhros, pregnancy, exhibitionism, sex toys, they’re so in love that it drives me crazy, I can’t stop thinking about this fic djfhkjd

“Like the Golden Fire in Your Eyes” by @sianascera - 3.8k oneshot, Years of the Trees, Maedhros invents nipple piercings, extremely fun <3

[youareunbearable]

For spooky season have an AU crossover where Feanor is Lydia and Melkor is Beetlejuice

Feanor is pissed that his dad is moving on from the death of his mother, Miriel (cue him singing Dead Mom) and the entire time Melkor is just a fea spirit trying to get him to say his name three times so he can get the power break his physical form out of Bad Guy Jail (they sing Say My Name) and once he breaks out he tries to marry Feanor so he can have legal (and rightful) power of the Silmarils (which means he can touch them) so he can do Evil

Barbara and Adam are ghosts of Maedhros and Maglor who were sent back in time by Namo to help widdle Feanor NOT get seduced by Melkor as a form of penance, but they also cant let him know that he's their future dad, so theyre like "Oh yeah were the lingering ghosts of your mother's kin, and were here to help you" and Feanor is like "GREAT can you possess my dad so he divorces Indis? If not I'm going to k-word myself to teach him a lesson" and they both go "jfc yeah ok if thats the only other option" (basically Day-O happens cause Maglor Possess Indis during an important Dinner Party)

Basically they fail and make things worse and Feanor screams at them and frees Melkor out of spite and they are little shits together for a little bit (this song plays) and Finwe does some magic to try and fix the weird shit that is going on in Tirion and Maedhros and Maglor find out their feas are decaying. Feanor freaks out at the consequences of his actions and begs for Melkor's help, which he agrees on the condition they get married. Mae and Mag are horrified and beg Feanor to decline, but he agrees cause he's not going to lose any other connections to his mom because of him. So Melkor kidnaps Feanor to the Pits of Mandos, where Maedhros and Maglor flee after them, and while hes down there Feanor speaks to some of the dead and they beg him not to go through with this, to turn back and keep living and love life cause he will be happy one day (What I Know Now plays) and Mae and Maglor manage to find them and interrupt the ceremony, causing a backlash and causing Melkor to rot in the Pits forever.

After this, Namo just like, tells Mae and Mag "good job you can go home" and they hug Feanor and tell him how good he is and how many people love him so not to do anything rash then there is a white light and they wake up whole and hale and outside of Namo's Door. Their whole family is Returned and they all bond together, happy forever (also Feanor remembers all that stuff happening, but doesn't think that it was actually Maedhros and Maglor, but named his sons after them. oooo time travel~~~)

[wildspaceyokel]

Wild reads the Silmarillion, Part 1:

Okay, so I’m about 3/4ths through finishing the Silmarillion and so far the dog is the only character I like. I’m definitely enjoying this story but not for the reasons I had expected. All of the characters in it are pretty extra and the plot points are silly. It’s kind of like the animated gods in Disney’s Hercules had a crossover with seasons 5-8 of Game of Thrones.

The Valar? Fancy, powerful elf god-men with pretty elf-goddess wives. Except for that one guy who was too powerful and got himself uninvited from all their parties. His name is Melkor and he likes to let everyone else know how powerful he is. He’s also the most interesting of all these elf gods and seems to have actual personality traits. Go figure 🤷🏼‍♀️

The first elves? Basically really beautiful drama queens who like to make various pretty things. The men elves Do Things while the women elves are pretty and throw away their life energy for men, either having babies or willingly giving their power away to be with mortal men, ick. Example #1 of women giving up their power is Fëanor the Edgelord. This dude is so powerful in part because his mother poured all her life energy into him. So she died and I think Fëanor became like a king or something (sorry, I can only reread these stories so many times and it’s a lot to keep track of)He’s obsessed with some fancy jewels that he makes and fights about it and eventually dies. And in the process a lot of other elves die. It’s basically like World War I when the Archduke was assassinated and now everyone is fighting everyone because of alliances and oaths and honor.

But don’t worry, Fëanor has a bunch of kids who can hold a grudge and this elf civil war is going to be a plot point for ages to come.

And then there’s the story about an immortal elven woman, whose only noteable character traits are “being pretty” and “looking good in blue”, who gives up her immortality for some hairy human dude but he’s too obsessed with his work commitments to be with her properly and take care of her so she has to go and do his job for him. Thankfully her badass hound Huan is able to carry this story through to its sad conclusion. Pretty elf lady is now mortal with her now one-handed human man lover and their dog died. She should have chosen the dog and a life of exploring but whatever, now that she’s gone the world will never know such beauty again 😐🙄

There’s also the story of this human guy who was fostered by the elves and then rage-quits society after what’s essentially middle school level name calling. He joins a gang and does bad stuff, then his longtime childhood friend comes and tries to get him to come home, saying the bullies got in trouble and he can come back, but the human dude has now found his “purpose” being a thug and isn’t going to return home to fancy elf town. The rest of the story is basically a combination of Catcher in the Rye, Oedupus Rex (another female character is introduced, her defining personality traits are amnesia and being pretty), and the parable of the Prodigal Son.

There’s also a really shifty dwarf and a dragon that probably has a PhD in psychological manipulation. There was something about a couple trees and I’m pretty sure the elf water god is ace. Also it’s tough to say whether “then it came to pass” or “get thee gone!” Is the more-used phrase in the book. So far, I would recommend this book for established Tolkien fans who are open to unexpected laughs at the wrong moments.

In summary: 3/4ths through the Silmarillion and Huan is the MVP

[absynthe--minded]

If Supernatural Can Get Fifteen Seasons, The Silmarillion Can Get Fifteen Seasons: An Overview

I’m going to be going into much more detail in individual season-specific posts, but for the moment, here is the extremely condensed look at what each of these seasons would entail plotwise. I’ve included a cut for length; I hope this translates to mobile well. I’ve followed chronology more or less as closely as I can, adding additional time in places where I thought it made sense or moving events closer together for thematic resonance, and I’ve included Russingon because I’m me and of course I did.

The idea is that this is a 2D animated series rated TV-MA (comparable to R for feature films in the US, or any of HBO’s shows) with fifteen seasons, 26 hourlong episodes each.

Season 1: Valinor, and the unrest between the houses of the Noldor, interwoven with stories about the beginning of the universe/the Great Journey from Cuiviénen/etc. Establishes our core Valinorean cast, and hints at Thingol being a presence later. Main storyline involves Finwëan Family Drama, with bonus Melkor Fucking Shit Up. We meet Maglor's secret wife Aeriel, Curufin's known wife Annamírë + his son Celebrimbor, and become aware of Fingon and Maedhros's love affair. The Sword Incident and Fëanor's banishment to Formenos are featured. The audience knows Melkor is plotting something but doesn't know what. Series finale is the Darkening of Valinor - like, the last thing the audience sees before the series ends is the elves' festival in Tirion and then everything goes dark. Roll credits.

Season 2: Cold open on Maedhros and Maglor and Celegorm finding Finwë's body + realizing the Silmarils are gone. Flashback to Melkor's plans, and we see the Darkening from his perspective. He flees across the ocean and Ungoliant vanishes. Cover the drama between Fingolfin and Fëanor over the crown, Lalwen and Findis and Finarfin rallying around their brother, etc. Maedhros and Fingon marry. Fëanor convinces nearly all of of his loyalists to leave specifically to avenge his personal losses, Fingolfin has a larger amount of people who want to go East to fight Morgoth. Set up a conflict between Fingolfin and Fëanor here - Fingolfin does actually want to defend the elves still living in Arda proper and the soon-to-come Men from Morgoth's influence, while Fëanor is raving about how I Will Not Be Replaced. (This is not strictly canonical, but it is a good contrast of their leadership styles, and it widens the gap between them/adds another reason why Fëanor would perceive Fingolfin as a threat.) Kinslaying at Alqualondë, Finarfin and his people noping out, Fëanor seeming to forgive/make nice with Fingolfin after his people joined in the fight for the ships. He offers to sail East first, with the justification that if there is danger there he'll be the first to encounter it. Maedhros is reluctantly parted from Fingon. Maglor reveals to Amrod that he was married, and his wife died in the battle. They arrive at Losgar, empty out the boats, and make camp for the night. Amrod goes back onboard the ship to sleep. Maedhros wakes up early, finds his father awake, and asks if he can take the boats back West to pick up Fingon et al. Fëanor loses his shit and starts rousing everyone for the shipburning. Maedhros asks him not to, and reveals his marriage, and Fëanor's response is to throw the first torch. Amrod dies, and none of his brothers can get to him. Fingolfin's host sees the flames from across the ocean, and turn towards the north and the Ice. End season.

Season 3: The host moves inland to Mithrim and begins to set up camp. They've met some Sindar by now, and they carry word back to Doriath that Finwë's son and grandchildren have come back to Arda. Thingol tells Lúthien, who is just past her majority into adulthood, a part of his life story that she hasn't heard yet: that Finwë was his best friend, and that he'd been on his way to see Finwë when he was sidetracked by Melian. He decides to let Fëanor and his host stay in Mithrim in memory of that friendship. Dagor-nin-Giliath happens, Fëanor dies at the end of the second episode. Episode 3 deals with Maedhros being hastily crowned, and receiving word from Morgoth that he'll parlay for a Silmaril, and him riding out despite his brothers' suspicions. He's taken captive, end episode. Episode 4 is after a 58-solar-year timeskip, revealing the fate of Fingolfin's host on the Ice. We open on a dream of Elenwë drowning by Turgon; he wakes to reassure himself that Idril is all right and then everyone continues on. The whole episode is taken up by the Ice and the Battle of the Lammoth, ending with Argon's death and the rising of the Sun. Next episode starts with the elves but cuts over to humanity, newly awakened in Hildórien - this is a hint of what’s to come. Fingolfin's host challenges Morgoth and goes unanswered, and then return to Mithrim and settle on the opposite side of the lake from the Fëanorians, who are doing SUBSTANTIALLY better bc they stole a lot from their fellow Noldor and they also don't treat the land they're living on like Thingol's, vs Fingolfin who refuses to do anything except the bare minimum his people need to survive until they get Permission. Basically the rest of this season is some of the events of Blessed Hands, with Maedhros's rescue and recovery and ensuing family drama. Five solar years pass, and the season ends with him and Fingon riding up to the outskirts of the Fëanorian encampment.

Season 4: Season opens with Maedhros being reunited with his brothers and opening formal negotiations for an apology to Fingolfin. Thingol opens formal negotiations with Maedhros and Fingolfin, but neither one reveal to him why they've come to Beleriand/the circumstances surrounding their departure. Fingolfin wants to speak to Thingol personally, and Maedhros defers to him. Permission is granted for the Noldor to settle in the north of Beleriand. A council meeting is held to settle the matter of the High Kingship; Fingolfin is elected and Maedhros votes for him, angering his brothers. He offers to take up residence in the northeastern mountains near Angband, and Fingolfin grants him and his House lordship of that region. The Fëanorian host begins to depart, but postpones their journey for the Mereth Aderthad. Beleg, Daeron, Mablung, and a few other Sindarin elves attend the feast. Orodreth meets his future wife. Last half of the season covers 40 years - Turgon and Finrod have their visions, the Noldor begin to construct multiple settlements, and attack Morgoth with renewed strength. Season ends with the triumph of the Dagor Aglareb and the departure of Turgon from Nevrast with his host.

Season 5: Season opens in Doriath, with Galadriel having taken up residence there. Brief summation of the beginning of the Siege of Angband. Angrod pisses off Thingol and causes the Ban on Quenya, and news of this is carried to Himring, Nargothrond, and Gondolin, giving us a sense of their status/construction. Caranthir meets the Dwarves of the Blue Mountains and strikes up a friendship/partnership with them. Fingon visits Himring once it's finished. Gondolin and Nargothrond are completed. Orcs attack Hithlum by coming up the Lammoth but are turned back. Maedhros, Caranthir, Maglor, and Celegorm go to Barad Eithel for the bicentennial of the Mereth Aderthad. Tension here is primarily political/slice-of-life - it's peaceful, even if it's a watchful peace, and it seems like Morgoth is pretty effectively held at bay. The only exception is Aredhel, who grows dissatisfied with Gondolin and finally leaves after a massive fight with Turgon about everything from his family loyalty to his politics to his taste in clothing. Young Glaurung is turned back easily by Fingon and a few other soldiers. Season ends with Finrod getting separated from the sons of Fëanor while on a hunt and encountering Men in the woods, changing everything.

Season 6: Speedrun Part Two! This is the Season of Men and Politics, covering 145 years. We see the Edain choose to integrate into Noldorin society, with all the lumps and bumps this causes, and how they respond to the elves around them. Bëor, Marach, Haldad, Haleth, Haldar, Malach, Zimrahin, Hador, Adanel, Bereg, Amlach, and Andreth all become important characters. The Green-elves can't stand Men bc they're insufferable vegans, the Sindar are isolationist and suspicious save for a few of their Marchwardens/soldiers, and the Noldor are eager to make new friends. Focus is given to the tensions between the different Edainic groups and philosophies, and how different Houses and clans interact with elves and dwarves. There's not a lot of certainty that the decision to stay was the right one, and different voices have different opinions. All this tension culminates in two things: the council meeting that ends with Bereg leaving Beleriand along with a thousand followers, and the Haladin being trapped behind the Gelion-Ascar Stockade and saved by Caranthir and his forces before going to Brethil. The resolution of this season-long arc is the Edain essentially deciding that if they're going to stay, they'll stay on their own terms, and each House decides what that means. Andreth and Aegnor meet and fall in love. The Athrabeth gets an entire episode. Elvish character drama that isn't about interacting with Men is kept to a minimum except for Aredhel's arc - this is the season where she loses her guards, gets stuck in Nan Elmoth, and encounters Eöl. He's dark and creepy and mysterious and she's at once afraid of him and kind of enamored by his difference from everything she's known, but he quickly turns awful. Huor, Morwen, Rían, Emeldir, Barahir, and Húrin are introduced. Maeglin is born, and grows up, and he and Aredhel escape Nan Elmoth and make a run for Gondolin with Eöl following. The Bragollach and Aredhel's death make up the season finale.

Season 7: Season opens with Fingon's coronation, Maedhros crashing said coronation, baby Gil-galad being sent to Fingon to be his ward and then sent away to Círdan on the coast, and the revelation that Sauron has taken Tol Sirion and Dorthonion has fallen. Flashbacks to various parts of the Bragollach: Celegorm, Curufin, and Celebrimbor saving Orodreth from Sauron's forces and fleeing to Nargothrond/Emeldir fleeing over the mountains to Brethil with the Bëorian civilians while Barahir and Beren and what's left of the fighters remain/Huor and Húrin being taken to Gondolin. Maedhros begins plans for Revenge, Fingon starts leveling austerity measures against the nobility to finance refugee relief, Gondolin mourns Aredhel and doesn't know what to do with Maeglin, and Nargothrond adjusts to having C&C around. Barahir tells Beren about Finrod's oath to always help their family. Sauron tricks Gorlim and slaughters everyone but Beren, who tries and fails to defend Dorthonion and finally flees south and gets lost in the woods of Neldoreth. He meets Lúthien, falls in love with her, and runs afoul of Thingol, who decides to use him to cause infighting in Finwë's descendants. Quest for the Silmaril, with all that entails, meanwhile Fingon struggles with High Kingship and Maedhros makes alliances with the Easterlings and the Dwarves of Belegost. Plenty of time is given to Beren and Lúthien and the Hunt for Carcharoth, with the season finale being their marriage after they return to life.

Season 8: Season opens with Huor and Húrin leaving Gondolin and returning home just in time for battle plans to really start ramping up. If everyone's attacking Angband, no one's attacking Doriath, and if Morgoth is defeated, maybe two Silmarils are really all we need, or so we hope. This is an entire season dedicated to loose ends - Thingol's refusal to join the Union, Orodreth assuming lordship of Nargothrond, Gondolin drama, etc. Morwen and Húrin marry and have Túrin and Urwen. Huor and Rían court and fall in love and marry, and Rían gets pregnant. Beren and Lúthien sneak away from Ossiriand with an infant Dior to visit Beren's family and are present for the wedding. There are little skirmishes, and some suspicions of treachery among the Easterlings that get shut down both by Bór's steadfastness and Fingon insisting that everyone's allied here and due complete respect. A plague hits Estolad, with Urwen dying, and Húrin trying to convince Morwen to send Túrin to Doriath since he's now blood kindred to the King. Morwen refuses, and discovers she's pregnant again as Húrin marches off to war. The Nirnaeth is a three-part season finale, with Tuor's birth juxtaposed against Huor's death.

Season 9: The Children of Húrin/Fall of Gondolin Extravaganza, Part One. Túrin is sent away to Doriath, grows up there, spends time on the marches, falls in love with Beleg and marries him in elvish fashion, and then finally snaps because he can't deal with Menegroth's racist bullshit anymore. Tuor, raised by elves, is finally captured and enslaved. Saeros dies. Túrin leaves Doriath to become an outlaw. Tuor survives as a thrall for years. Morwen and Nienor flee to Doriath, Gwindor escapes Angband and makes his way south towards Nargothrond, Beleg is killed by Túrin, and Tuor finally escapes thralldom. Tuor arrives at Nevrast and Túrin arrives at Nargothrond in the same episode. Ulmo appears to Tuor, and Túrin discovers from Gwindor that Húrin and his entire line have been cursed by Morgoth. Contrast Túrin's desire for action now with Tuor's somewhat careless wandering. Tuor meets Voronwë and they make for Gondolin. Glaurung attacks Nargothrond, and it falls. Túrin escapes into the wilderness and crosses paths with his cousin. Nienor loses her memory and is found by the men of Brethil in the same episode that Tuor comes to Gondolin. End season.

Season 10: CoH/TFOG, Part Two. Túrin goes home and finds his mother and sister gone and makes a mess of things but manages to escape. Tuor tries to tell Turgon to leave and can't convince him, and decides to remain in Gondolin. Tuor and Idril/Túrin and Nienor/Dior and Nimloth meet and fall in love, with this arc culminating in them all marrying in the same episode with the last scene cutting between the three ceremonies. Glaurung returns. Túrin kills him, Nienor gets her memory back, they die. Eluréd and Elurín born. Wanderings of Húrin, including the curse on Gondolin for not letting him in. The Nauglamir comes to Doriath, and with it the first echoes of doom. Season ends with Húrin and Morwen reuniting and their deaths.

Season 11: TFOG Part Three. Thingol gets nerfed by dwarves. Mablung dies. Battle of the Thousand Caves, Battle of Sarn Gebir, where Beren takes the Silmaril back from the dwarves and sends it to Doriath again. Melian departs for Valinor. Dior crowned King of Doriath. Elwing born. The Fëanorians attack Doriath in the Second Kinslaying but Elwing escapes with the Silmaril and makes it to the Havens of Sirion. Maeglin caught by Morgoth and tortured. Maedhros learns Elwing has the Silmaril but forswears the Oath. The actual Fall of Gondolin is a six-part season finale.

Season 12: Season opens with Maedhros futilely sending letters to Elwing pleading for her to relinquish the Silmaril. She refuses, being in her mid-teens now. Most of this season, the Fëanorians are a distant threat; the majority of the story is Eärendil and Elwing falling in love and assuming leadership of the Havens. Gil-galad becomes High King of the Noldor. Círdan starts advocating for asking for help from the West. Celebrimbor escaped Nargothrond's fall and is living as a civilian in Sirion. Idril and Tuor sail for Valinor, their fates unknown. Years pass. Eärendil and Elwing marry, and Eärendil resolves to try to go for help once more. An absolutely kickass ship gets built. Elrond and Elros are born. Eärendil sails West. The Fëanorians are unable to stave off the Oath any longer and attack the Havens, destroying everything. Elwing, convinced her sons are already murdered and having flashbacks to the disappearance of her brothers, jumps from the cliff with the Silmaril and flies for Eärendil's ship. Elrond and Elros are 'adopted' by Maedhros and Maglor. Season ends with a new star appearing in the sky, and Maedhros and Maglor recognizing it as a Silmaril and wondering what that means.

Season 13: Season opens with Gil-galad and Círdan and what Mannish and Dwarvish refugees they've encountered beginning to consider trying to fight back against Morgoth again, as he's been attacking their last remaining refuges. It's been seven years since Sirion was sacked, and no one's seen Elrond and Elros since their disappearance. A pair of twenty-year-old-by-human-standards twins who look neither elven nor human show up on Gil-galad's doorstep, and Círdan recognizes them as the missing boys. They won't talk about their childhood at all, but they say they're here to help in whatever way they can. Hostilities escalate quickly. Halfway through the season the Vanyar and several reembodied Noldor and Teleri arrive in Beleriand, led by Ingwion and Eönwë and Finarfin. The War of Wrath begins.

Season 14: Just. An entire season of the War of Wrath. It's decades of war there's a lot of shit to do here. The biggest thing is that Elros meets Men for the first time and feels like he's come home, starting at the bottom of their ranks and rising through them meritocracy-style. He meets a woman named Elwen who's essentially a pirate and falls in love with her.

Season 15: The first half of the season is the last bit of the WoW, ending with Eärendil killing Ancalagon and breaking open Thangorodrim. Sauron escapes, Morgoth is cast into the Void. Elrond and Elros make their Choice. Celebrían is born, with her naming witnessed by all the reembodied Arafinwëans. The elves who wish to return to Valinor do so, with some - Gil-galad and Galadriel and Celebrimbor, namely - electing to stay. The Valar reward the Men involved in the war with Númenor, though not all of them choose to go. Those that do elect Elros as their King after the Valar have departed. Loose ends are tied up, the beginnings of Middle-Earth are established, and the series ends on a shot of the setting sun from the point of view of Elros's palace.

More specific examinations of each season are coming. But this is a basic idea of what I’m looking for, this would be my Ultimate Dream Adaptation. I could probably cut it down to eight seasons? Probably. But then I’d lose that precious pacing.

[fairestfall]

TAGGED  BY : @tharanduil { thank u, friend! }  TAGGING :  @iaurhael​, @ardabuilt​ (for Manwë or Melkor), @sungruin​, @minastiriiths​, @tinuviele​ & you! 

—    BASICS.

▸     IS    YOUR    MUSE    TALL    /    SHORT    /    AVERAGE ? She stands at 6 and a half feet tall, but is probably average/short compared to most flesh-bound Valar. 

▸      ARE    THEY    OKAY    WITH    THEIR    HEIGHT ? She definitely uses it to her advantage when intimidating men, but she dislikes that it makes her stand out in a crowd.

▸      WHAT’S    THEIR    HAIR    LIKE ? It reaches her mid-back, and is a sable black in color. Thick curls are often wild and wind-swept, and some may chance that they have a mind of their own, often flaring like the cowl of a cobra when she is incensed. 

▸     DO    THEY    SPEND    A    LOT    OF    TIME    ON    THEIR    HAIR     /    GROOMING ? Not unless she needs to look presentable for the sake of social propriety. Although there is a stalwart beauty to her, it is as untamable as an ancient forest. On an average day, she hunts in coarse cloth and fur, trodding upon the earth barefoot, twigs and leaves untangled in her hair. Orcs also have their own beauty standards that stem more from reliability and strength rather than daintiness, and she’s come to adopt such attitudes whilst living with them. 

▸      DOES   YOUR   MUSE   CARE   ABOUT   THEIR   APPEARANCE   /   WHAT    OTHERS    THINK ? Her uncanny appearance is something that has driven a rift between her and potential allies-- even already existing friends. She bears the light of the Eldar in her flesh, but it is corrupted with Morgoth’s darkness. She is an elf in feature, and yet her fell gaze, fangs, and claws speak of a powerful spirit tightly bound in a prison of flesh. Looking in the mirror reminds her that she does not belong in either world, and it hurts. Not that she’ll admit it. She can yet be beautiful and use that to evoke sympathy and adoration. She can masquerade as a harmless maid, if only to endear herself to the peoples of Middle-Earth and make certain that her clan is not eradicated. 

—    PREFERENCES.

▸     INDOORS    OR    OUTDOORS ?  Outdoors.  ▸     RAIN    OR    SUNSHINE ?  Rain. She can forebear sunshine but overall finds it unpleasant. She prefers the gentler light of the moon and stars.  ▸     FOREST    OR    BEACH ?  Forest.  ▸     PRECIOUS    METALS    OR    GEMS ?   Neither. She’s actually more fond of rocks, obsidian in particular.  ▸     FLOWERS    OR    PERFUMES ?  Flowers. Her favorites are yellow peonies.  ▸     PERSONALITY    OR    APPEARANCE ?  Personality. She always looks at the heart first, although Snow is a teratophiliac no matter the verse. She’s more likely to partner with an orc or goblin than a man.  ▸     BEING    ALONE    OR    BEING    IN    A    CROWD ?  Being alone, or in a small crowd. She’s introverted by nature, and too much socialization proves to be exhausting.  ▸     ORDER    OR    ANARCHY ?  Order.  ▸     PAINFUL    TRUTHS    OR    WHITE    LIES ?  Painful truths.  ▸     SCIENCE    OR    MAGIC ?  Both. Magic is merely science that has yet to be explained.  ▸     PEACE    OR    CONFLICT ?  Peace. Although born to be a weapon, she despises war.  ▸     NIGHT    OR    DAY ?  Night.  ▸     DUSK    OR    DAWN ?  Dusk. ▸     WARMTH    OR    COLD ?  Cold. Her core temperature is higher than that of a humans, and winter has always been her favorite season due to the longer nights and shorter days.  ▸     MANY   ACQUAINTANCES    OR    A    FEW    CLOSE    FRIENDS ?  A few close friends. She wants to form bonds knowing that she can trust and be accepted.  ▸     READING    OR    PLAYING    A    GAME ?  Reading.

—    QUESTIONNAIRE.

▸      WHAT    ARE    SOME    OF    YOUR    MUSE’S    BAD    HABITS ? She tends to bury her emotions for favor of aiding others; even though she tells them that they deserve to be healed, she does not believe the same for herself. She is quick to grow cynical and to hypocritically lay judgment on entire kingdoms after being wronged by a few individuals therein-- example in point: her leaving Númenor to its fate after being mocked and driven off by Ar-Pharazôn. Which, yeah, super hypocritical given that she wants her clan of free-born orcs to be accepted by the rest of Middle-Earth. When feeling threatened or insulted, she’ll also attempt to unnerve the party by staring at them unblinking, baring her teeth, peppering in more Black Speech than usual, etc. The whole ‘if they believe me to be a monster, I’ll give them one’ shtick. 

▸      HAS    YOUR    MUSE    LOST    ANYONE    CLOSE    TO    THEM ?      HOW    HAS    IT    AFFECTED    THEM ? Her life has been thoroughly marked by loss. Her mother was taken, corrupted, and lost. The father she’s always wanted proved to be a coward and a cruel taskmaster. Many of her old friends died in wars with elves and men. Her children and mates are dead. She is immortal, and so loss is a constant, and she daily grieves because of it. 

▸      WHAT    ARE    SOME    FOND    MEMORIES    YOUR    MUSE    HAS ?   The first time she saw the moon after escaping Angband. The first time she felt soil under her feet and bark under her fingertips. The first time she fell in love and bore a child. The day Morgoth was taken away and his kingdom broken, the day she truly gained her freedom. The first generation of orcs she oversaw who knew neither war nor hatred. Forging friendships with men and elves that lasted for centuries. It’s the small things that make her happiest. 

▸     IS    IT    EASY    FOR    YOUR    MUSE    TO    KILL ?

She hunts to survive, and she kills only if given no other option, and only for the causes of her people’s safety and Sauron’s downfall. 

▸      WHAT’S    IT    LIKE    WHEN    YOUR    MUSE    BREAKS    DOWN ? Yikes. Okay, in this verse in particular, she pre-dates the sun and moon. She’s ancient and tired and is nursing so much heartache, and because she likes to bury her feelings rather than deal with them, she usually ends up exploding. When this happens, she’ll usually self-isolate and then,,, let loose. Sobbing, screaming, cursing. Darkness flowing from her being and blotting out moon and stars. Storms gathering. Thunder, lightning, and the rain that mirrors her flow of tears. Then, when she returns, she is bound again, serene mask betraying nothing. 

▸      IS    YOUR    MUSE    CAPABLE    OF    TRUSTING    SOMEONE    WITH    THEIR    LIFE ?

Her life is a bit hard to entrust into someone else’s keeping because she is effectively immortal. Although her vessel has been nearly destroyed thousands of times, it merely takes energy to replenish itself and she comes back. It’s doubtless if anyone can kill a Vala. Even her father is trapped in the Void rather than slain. However, she holds her heart of far more regard, and she doesn’t entrust that to just anyone, for she’s seen enough of betrayal. 

▸      WHAT’S    YOUR    MUSE    LIKE    WHEN    THEY’RE    IN    LOVE ?

Because love is still very much a rare, foreign thing to her, hers is selfless and fervent, yet also possessive. She will worship the other with every thing she has and do anything to see them smile, and woe betide any who stand against them. If they seek riches, she will bestow them, and they will never lack for companionship, affection, and a source of support. She will try her best to make them feel as special and treasured as she feels whenever she is with them. Whispered words of admiration in the dark of night. Eyes that drink them in for fear of losing them all too soon. Hands that reverently cradle; teeth that greedily mark. Yet for all the self-sacrifice she is willing to endure, she will not become a submissive wife or a queen that stands in a king’s shadow. All her partnerships will be based on equality and with those who can accept her and challenge her in strength or wit. 

[feanor]

please give us the details, I'm so curious 👀

thank you for your interest! basically, i’ve kind of come up with some ideas for holidays that the elves in valinor might celebrate and then others that the noldor in beleriand might also celebrate in addition to the valinorean holidays.

The first holiday would be a celebration of the awakening of the first elves. I feel like it would be super important for everyone, considering the Awakening of the first elves is the root of their existence and everyone is descended from those first elves. It would be important to celebrate the beginning of life for their species. 

They’re not quite sure when the elves were actually awakened, as time wasn’t kept in Cuivenen the same way as it is in Valinor, with days, months and years. However, many have chosen spring as the season of life and growing, so spring becomes the time of celebration for the awakening, the beginning of life for the elves. 

The entire season of spring is a symbol to the elves, but it’s during the first week when the first flowers begin to bloom when the elves really celebrate the awakening. It’s a time to spend with family, particularly older and younger generations (parents, grandparents, children, but not quite so much siblings and cousins) and to take in the beauty of the world and of the society that’s been created thanks to those original 144 elves. It’s also a time to give gifts to older generations as a thanks for bringing them into the world to see the wonders of it, especially since elven couples usually have 3-4 kids max.

The second holiday is kind of like Valentine’s day, in that it’s a celebration of love and the unions between people in love. Obviously for elves, who find a partner and stay with them until the End (unless you’re Finwë), it’s a really big deal to fall in love and get married because it’s so serious. So they like to have a three-day period to celebrate all the marriages of people that they know and rejoice that they or their family or their friends have found someone they love and will spend the rest of their lives with. It’s also an excuse for elves to shower their s/o with love and gifts and cook their favourite meals for them because you love them. Also, it’s the time when elves might go to pray to whichever of the Valar (mostly Varda) or Eru that their love and relationship stays strong and passionnate until the next holiday, or the next major milestone, or until the End. This celebration takes place right on the cusp of summer and autumn, as autumn symbolises the beginning of death because all the plants are dying, so the elves want to show off their love for each other to renew its strength until the winter passes.

The third holiday is a celebration not unlike the first, but instead of celebration the awakening, it’s to celebrate the crossing of the elves across the sea to Valinor. Most elves take it as a time to count their blessings that they are in Valinor, safe from Melkor and with their families, warm, with plenty of food. Many take the opportunity to find the first elves (Finwë, Olwë, Miriel, probably Mahtan, you know.) and personally thank them for their sacrifice of giving up Cuivenen to give everyone a chance at a safer life. It’s also a week long thing, many choose to fast during the day(although since it’s not organised religion, it’s not necessary) to honour those who may have lacked food before the Great Voyage to the West.

There’s a couple of other minor holidays and festivals (mostly celebrating nature and the arts) but those are the three main ones that I’ve come up with for elves specifically in Valinor!

‘Meanwhile, when the Noldor arrive in Beleriand, there’s one other holiday that I’ve also come up with, and they stop celebrating the holiday for the Great Voyage because they are no longer in Valinor and no longer count their blessings.

The holiday that they replace the Great Voyage one with is a celebration of the rising of the sun and moon (mayim if you read this, I think this is the most important holiday for Glorfindel and Ecthelion). For them it becomes a symbol of hope; the return of the light makes them think that perhaps they are not doomed to fail, that perhaps the Valar are, in the end, on their side in the fight. They celebrate its rising in time with the arrival of Fingolfin’s host in Beleriand and obviously it’s a super big deal, the light at the end of the dark tunnel that was the Ice. It renews their belief that what they are doing is right and they take a few days every year they can to celebrate that renewal of hope and return of light. The dates of the holiday change from year to year because of battles but generally it’s celebrated midsummer, when the sun is at its brightest, and midwinter, when moon shines the longest. They are times to think about what has gone right, and to think of the best outcomes and decide to work to achieve those good outcomes while having faith that the intent of Eru is for good to prevail, even if there are great losses.

Thus concludes my thoughts on valinorean and exilic noldorin holidays. this was very long, i’m sorry, but i hope anyone who read this enjoyed!

[bowtothewitch]

15 Questions, 15 Mutuals

I was tagged by @iliveinthisdeadfandom! Thank you for tagging me ❤

1. Are you named for anyone? - I'm gonna be honest, I'm not sure I understood the question so I'm just gonna say no and hope it's the right answer???

2. When was the last time you cried? - Last week, watching the nee season of Lucifer. Go watch it folks, it's really good.

3. Do you have kids? - (Insert the DO I LOOK LIKE vine right here)

4. Do you use sarcasm a lot? - No, if I want to say something I will go straight to the point or not say it at all.

5. What's the first thing you notice about people? - Hair, probably.

6. What's your eye color? - So dark black that you could probably find Melkor hiding in here.

7. Scary movie or happy ending? - Uh... it depends on my mood, I guess?

8. Any special talents? - I can learn anything pretty fast and I'm super creative, so basically I can do a bit of everything.

9. Where were you born? - Is Brazil the right answer?

10. What are your hobbies? - Well, I like to read and write a lot. Create things too, so you can probably find me editing something once in a while.

11. Do you have any pets? - Yup, a male maltese called, and you will never guess it: snow flake.

12. What sports have you played? - Sports? It's that a thing?

13. How tall are you? - 5'3" and yeah, the weather is nice down here.

14. Favorite subject in school? - I don't go to school anymore but my favorite one last year was arts.

15. Dream job? - Adverstising, I love to create new ideas!

Tagging: @chicken-fried-gay, @sapphictv, @prototype-wolfey609, @s3m0, @food-for-the-worms, @pcklesthings, and anyone one who wants to do this!

[adamantiiine-a]

* ✧ ∗ H E A D C A N O N ;; general

T H E   M U L T I V E R S E

Let me preface this that my multiverse is inspired by SyFy’s The Magicians. Honestly, a lot of things are inspired by that because I really enjoyed that show up until the latest season’s mess. Basically, Hogwarts and Eä are like Brakebills and Fillory respectively… But that’s basically where the similarities end.

The premise of this is that all of my muses exist within the same multiverse and could feasibly meet one another. I have a timeline continuum that (mostly) follows canon, and these characters often weave in and out of one another’s stories (within their own canon). So, I thought, why not connect all of my muses? Somehow? In a non-overt way that really only matters for myself, but can also come into play in rp if we want to. It’s more just something that exists in the background, though, and offers possibility for easy crossover between the fandoms.

Besides that, we already have a passageway between worlds built into Tolkien canon (Book of Lost Tales, anyone?), so why not go ahead and use that?

Earth and Eä exist within parallel universes in the same network of a multiverse. There are passageways between them, though they’re not particularly easy to find. The ‘magic’ in each world is different in nature, and where the two powers combine, it creates a turbulent area. Many passages lie deep within the ocean, or in unstable mountain caverns. It’s because of this that most passages are not easily found, and therefore, the fact that there is passage between worlds is not widely known.

However, there are a few places where passages between the worlds can be found. Where these are located, on earth, can be determined by ley lines. A passage can often be found where many or significant ley lines intersect. Oftentimes, as said before, these passages have been obstructed due to instability, but occasionally, one might lie on the surface. On Earth’s end, these unstable areas have often been noted to cause magic to behave strangely, thus various repelling charms are placed around the known areas, making it very rare for anyone from earth to actually visit Eä.

On Eä’s side, these passages are mainly found on the continent of Middle Earth as an unknown result of Melkor’s workings. Because of Beleriand’s sinking, many of these passages, like Earth’s, are found beneath the ocean, and deep within caverns. But, like Earth, a few still remain. Unlike earth, however, these passages are not actively regulated. They are often found in the darker places, those touched most by Melkor’s influence. Unsurprisingly, most passages on Middle Earth can be found in the far North, or amidst the Chithaeglir.

This is the reason that the existence of the passages is unknown by most. Beings from Earth are often ill-equipped to handle the sudden shock, change in altitude, or nearby creatures, and few can return through the passage (which is often a short distance away from where they arrived, due to the disturbance of energy) before meeting an unfortunate end. And because the passages are often in more perilous locations in Eä, it is very rare that any intelligent inhabitants of that universe find them. However, these passageways are part of the way in which various species of flora and fauna exist in both worlds.

[swilmarillion]

yo @darkkryptonite I wasn’t kidding about random FYD details

Gothmog was a terrible student—not because he’s dumb, but because he’s easily bored and needs to be convinced a task is worthwhile.  He joined the army for quick cash out of high school but got kicked out after getting high, stealing a Jeep, and going AWOL for a couple days.  He’s the biggest dude most people have ever seen, which made him an excellent bar bouncer.  He’s uncannily good at fantasy sports, mostly because he watches a lot of said sports (football, hockey, baseball) and has a knack for remembering player details. Lives alone in an apartment near work so he can get up late and walk in.  He’s a really, really good cook.  Only Melkor knows this, because of the sheer number of times Melkor has crashed at Gothmog’s place after a night out.  He’s a great judge of character, too—only Thuringwethil is better.  Has a huge collection of horror novels and loves all horror movies, regardless of how stupid and cheesy.

Melkor is a born troublemaker, mostly because he loves to see how far he can push people.  Also his shenanigans annoyed both his dad and his brother, which was fuel to the fire.  He got kicked out of eight private schools before graduation, including once for ruining the spring concert (no, Melkor, Vivaldi’s Four Seasons did not need a ‘sick guitar solo’).  Melkor got emancipated from his dad’s legal guardianship when he was sixteen and had been living on his own for a year before that.  He got a full ride to study engineering because he’s ridiculously smart, but got terrible grades because he didn’t care at all.  Several professors said he was the smartest kid they had in class (until Mairon came along).  He pretty much only listens to punk, because hello, he’s an anti-authoritarian shithead. Also #aesthetic, aka he’s too lazy to buy new clothes.  DISORGANIZED AF.  Drives Mairon crazy.  Has seen basically every movie ever made.  Oh, yeah—was very nearly mauled by Mairon’s dog the first time he went to Mai’s apartment. Loves Monopoly and will not let anyone quit until the very end, which is annoying because he always wins.  Every goddamn time.  Also terrified of spiders and lives for Halloween.  

Thuringwethil has an undergrad degree in philosophy and is thus a great bullshitter and also a fantastic arguer.  Is probably the best in shape of the whole crew.  She does all kinds of martial arts and could probably murder you with her bare hands.  Loves to garden and is really good at it.  Will not eat red meat cooked past medium rare.  She is the only other person Mairon’s dog likes.  She’s also the only one in the group who doesn’t get completely blown out of the water playing strategy games against Mairon. She loves needlework—sewing, embroidery, cross-stitch, crochet, etc.  She takes in alterations on the side not because she needs money, but because she finds it therapeutic.  She has a very, very well-stocked wine cellar.  Only Mairon knows about it.  She doesn’t trust the other two not to plunder it.  Hates the cold, loves really well-put-together outfits.  She and Mairon carry the team as far as fashion sense goes.

Mairon was a child prodigy. He went to college early—like fifteen or something.  He lived on his own for a while but didn’t take care of himself.  You know how he is.  Yavanna took a shine to him and invited him to live with them.  Butted heads A LOT with Aulë because Mairon had a lot of outside-the-box ideas Aulë didn’t like.  Can beat you at chess in three moves, probably.  Played the piano as a kid and probably still could if he tried. Awful to play trivia against—he knows everything.  Is scarily good at matching artists with songs—he’s that weirdo who knows the band for that one-hit-wonder song you got stuck in your head randomly three days ago. Gets a weird kick out of causing arguments.  He’ll drop a random fact or say something seemingly-offhand to a group, particularly to strangers, that starts a fight.  Then he leaves.  The only other person who appreciates this is Melkor, who does the same stupid thing. He grew his hair long and got his ears pierced when he went to college because he wasn’t allowed to do it in high school.  Unnaturally good at languages.  TERRIBLE COOK.  Don’t ever let him cook for you.  It’s one of the only things he’s bad at.  Doodles in his spare time.  Is basically the dog whisperer.  Is minimalist about everything except his clothes.  He likes to look good, guys.  

[lassieposting]

God okay so, as a movie/show fan who’s never actually read the vast extended universe of books, this meta explains so much about Sauron’s characterisation in ROP.

Like. He is absolutely riddled with red flags for someone with serious complex trauma. I picked up on it the very first time I watched the show; it’s what got me Begrudgingly Invested, even though I hate Amazon and I really wanted to hate their take on Middle Earth. But what I didn’t understand was why, because at no point in the movies or the show do we ever see Sauron involved in a situation or a dynamic that would create those red flags. But if Morgoth inflicted such a horrific punishment on him that he was either imprisoned or in no state to fight for the entire War of Wrath? Yeah, that starts to makes sense.

(Long and rambling dissection of the trauma markers and how they could relate back to this meta under the cut)

Doormat Tendencies

This is a recurring theme throughout the season: Sauron is an immensely powerful divine being – arguably the most powerful divine being outside of Valinor – but he consistently defers to Galadriel on basically everything, even to the point of giving up on his own plans, and he does it with very little fuss.

1x02: He asks her for a heading for the raft, even though he’ll later claim that he had his own plans.

1x03 – 1x06: He wants to stay in Númenor. She wants him to return to Middle Earth. He returns to Middle Earth.

1x03 – 1x06: He just wants to find work as a smith. She wants him to claim the crown of the Southlands. He ends up taking the crown.

1x08: He wants redemption. She tells him it’s too late, he’s already an irredeemable monster. He believes her, and becomes an irredeemable monster, rather than continuing to try for redemption on his own.

Now, I’ve seen a few different takes on why he acts like this – manipulation, fondness, boredom – but to me, the implication here is that this is someone who is used to being dominated and having his wants trampled over by a stronger, more forceful personality: Melkor.

“It would seem I am not the only elf alive who has been transformed by darkness. Perhaps your search for Morgoth’s successor should have ended in your own mirror.” – Adar, 1x08

It seems that, at least in the ROP universe, Galadriel and Melkor have similar personalities. Specifically, they’re both driven, stubborn, mercurial, tempestuous, fiercely independent, highly ambitious, and assertive to the point of…well, bulldozing people to get their own way or achieve their own goals. This is a personality type Sauron has always been drawn to and gelled well with – Halbrand more or less becomes Galadriel’s devoted sidekick throughout the season, just as Sauron was Morgoth’s. He’s someone who is drawn to impose order on chaos, and that means he’s drawn to chaotic people.     

And so, with Galadriel, Sauron quickly falls back into comfortable, familiar patterns of behaviour, because to his fucked-up Normal Meter, they actually read as safe – this is a dynamic he understands. He’s learned, over many long millennia with Melkor, that it’s better to adapt around chaotic behaviour and erratic demands than to try and push back against them. And we can see echoes of this even thousands of years after Melkor is defeated: the few times Halbrand does challenge her plans for him, Galadriel talks over him or brushes him off, and he lets her. It’s a token resistance – he wants to show he’s not a complete pushover, but he doesn’t actually expect her to care what he wants, or to factor his wishes into her longterm plans.

Halbrand: “As a matter of fact, my intention was –”

Galadriel, interrupting: “My companion is simply feeling the weight of his task. Come time, I am sure he will do his part.” – 1x05

Basically, S1!Galadriel is benefitting from the fact that Melkor has spent thousands upon thousands of years conditioning Sauron to do as he’s told. And how do you teach someone as stubborn and headstrong as Sauron to do as he's told? Well, if you're Morgoth - prideful, cruel, impatient, increasingly twisted and insane - probably with violence. Which brings me to -

2) Fighting Style

For this, I’m gonna focus on that one scene with the Númenorean smiths.

This scene has me absolutely vibrating because for all that it serves to showcase how much damage “Halbrand” can do, it’s actually not wanton violence. He tries to deescalate this situation three times once he realises he’s been caught out – first with humour, then with a warning, and then by trying to physically leave.

We know they’ve already triggered his temper – we see his homicidal thousand yard stare when they’re mocking his apparent relationship with Galadriel. And while the smiths are under the impression they’re picking on a Man, Sauron is obviously well aware that they’re starting shit with a Maia, and that he can take the lot of them. But even knowing he’d win the fight, he doesn’t throw the first punch. He’s willing – he wants – to walk away.

And if he’s genuinely repentant here, that tracks. He’s sick of all the violence. He doesn’t want to fight anymore. But his line, “Please don’t do this,” is not please don’t hurt me. It’s please don’t make me hurt you.

And the second he realises they're not going to let him go? The second they start beating on him? He erupts like Orodruin. He goes feral.

Like…look at the fighting style here. It’s vicious, absolutely, but first and foremost it’s highly effective self-defence. He targets vulnerable, immediately disabling spots; eyes, noses, windpipes, knee joints. He relies on speed and agility to dodge blows and give himself space to manoeuvre. He doesn’t get caught up in focusing on one opponent; he’s tracking all their movements around him and prioritising targets accordingly. He takes each of them out of the fight as quickly as possible, and once an opponent is downed, he drops them and moves on to the next one. The only time we see him linger over hurting someone, letting himself take a moment to gloat or savour it, is right at the very end, with Call me Halbrand, once all his opponents are already on the floor.

The energy in this scene is weird. The first time you watch it, it makes sense for it to be so visceral, because Halbrand would be in major danger here - he's seriously outnumbered. But rewatching it, knowing that he’s Sauron, there’s no subtle sign that this is actually an immensely powerful low-level deity toying with a few unwary Mannish thugs. It still feels like he’s fighting for his life. And the feeling that gave me was that...well, part of him thinks that he is. I think that being cornered, and smacked around, and laughed at while he’s sprawled out on the floor, actually triggered him.

In other words, he fights like someone who’s used to getting cornered into fighting either a group* or an opponent who’s bigger and stronger than he is. Sauron is, apparently, accustomed to fights where his best chance of surviving – or, at least, coming out with minimum injuries – is to down his opponent as quickly as possible and scarper before they get back up again.

*(Which, let’s face it. Morgoth’s mines were full of enslaved POWs who hated his guts and would’ve hated Sauron’s too. If he found himself chained up down there with them – a very obvious indicator that he’s lost Morgoth’s favour – the chances that those prisoners would band together to try and lynch him are, let’s face it, very high. And while there would undoubtedly be orcs on guard to keep the prisoners in line, Sauron hasn’t exactly been a good boss to them, and there are probably plenty who’d turn a blind eye unless explicitly ordered to break it up by a superior.)

Now obviously, Sauron is a Maia. He's strong, and he’s absolutely pulling his punches in the Númenor street fight – if he wasn’t, those smiths would probably be dead. Galadriel is aiming to kill when she tries to stab him, so she'd be putting a fair amount of force and weight behind that blow, and he stops her hand like it's nothing. Effortless. And he's powerful, in so many ways. There are very, very few things in Arda he would need to fear.

But he would be no match for Melkor.

As in the quote used somewhere up above:

“Though of immensely smaller native power than his Master, he remained less corrupt, cooler and more capable of calcultion.”

Melkor is bigger, stronger, tougher and more powerful than he is. Melkor is fully capable of hurting him. And if Melkor is the kind of person who’s not against using violence or humiliation to control his generals, he probably has hurt Sauron plenty in the past. 

3) Fawn Response

Most English speakers will be familiar with the term “fight or flight” – a creature’s ingrained response to a situation they perceive as stressful, dangerous or frightening. In psychology, these are called acute stress responses, and there are actually four of them, with the other two being freeze and fawn. Every living thing has an acute stress response.

Of the four responses, three are purely instinctive: honey badgers will fight a curious lion; gazelles will flee from a hunting cheetah; rabbits freeze when caught in the headlights of an approaching car. The fourth response, fawn, is unique to people and a few other highly social species.

In people, each response can manifest as a variety of different behaviours.

Fight: Verbal or physical aggression, explosive outbursts, controlling or domineering behaviour, impulsivity, bullying, picking fights for no obvious reason, teeth grinding, urge to lash out

Flight: Workaholism, overthinking, obsessive or compulsive behaviours, feelings of anxiety or panic, fidgeting, feeling trapped

Freeze: Dissociation, self-isolation, emotional numbness, depressive episodes, numbing behaviours (i.e. self-medication via substance misuse), indecisiveness

Fawn: Codependency, conflict avoidance, approval-seeking, submissive or people-pleasing personality, emotional manipulation, weak or no sense of personal identity, lying to avoid confrontation

Most trauma survivors are hybrids, and will show aspects of more than one acute stress response, and this is true of Sauron. But one of the things I find really interesting about him in ROP is that he’s predominantly a fawner.

Unlike the three instinctive responses, fawning is learned – it’s one way the complex human brain adapts to long-term threatening situations where the fight, flight and freeze responses don’t work for us. The fawn response is very common in people who’ve suffered abuse – a violent marriage, a malignant narcissist parent, severe bullying – where their best chance of survival was to placate and appease a more powerful abuser they could not escape.

E03 - When Elendil presents Halbrand & Galadriel to Tar-Míriel, we see Halbrand quietly urge Galadriel not to antagonize the Númenoreans and prompt her to show proper courtly manners by kneeling. When she immediately antagonizes the Queen, he starts showing subtle signs of agitation, and he intervenes as soon as Míriel suggests she's losing her temper with Galadriel's impudence. When Galadriel tries to interrupt him again, he does a very clear leave this to me hand gesture. He flatters the Queen to settle her ruffled feathers, and subtly diffuses the situation by addressing Pharazon when he suggests taking time to consider "their" request. He's taken a hostile confrontation between Elf royalty and Mannish royalty (Galadriel & Míriel) and turned it into a diplomatic discussion between advisors (himself & Pharazon).

And we see, several times, that this is actually Sauron’s first reaction to stress and conflict.

E08 - When Galadriel confronts Halbrand about the broken Southlands royal line, he drops the act immediately, but his first inclination is to try and reason with her. As he approaches her, his body language is open and conciliatory - the big innocent eyes, the low-calm-and-soothing voice, the slow and telegraphed movement. He's trying to make himself seem like less of a threat. When she tries to stab him, all he does is stop her - there's no counter, no move to incapacitate or harm. This interaction goes south in the end, devolving into “fight” when he invades her mind, but his first instinct is to appease. To convince.

E03 - In the same episode, we see Halbrand plying the Númenorean smiths with drink and camaraderie after they start antagonizing him, because he thinks that’s going to give him the best shot of stealing a guild crest unnoticed. While he certainly considers multiple homicide - we can see it on his face - it's actually only after they start hitting him that he flares up in return.

While he’s certainly capable of immense violence, and he does go that route sometimes, it’s usually his backup option – force is what he relies on when fawning doesn’t work.

This makes so much more sense in the context of Melkor as someone who is not only infinitely stronger and more powerful than Sauron, but who also becomes increasingly temperamental and unpredictable over time, more likely to be cruel to his own loyal followers as retaliation for their failures.

For their relationship to begin with Mairon adores Melkor and end with Sauron is afraid of Morgoth, there would have been a deterioration in their relationship, and in Morgoth’s treatment of Sauron, at some point. The fact that the relationship never devolves to the point of Sauron abandoning Morgoth of his own free will suggests that this downturn in their relationship was a slow and crumbling thing, taking place over a long period of time. That tracks: abusers often present themselves as perfectly likeable at the start of a relationship, and reveal their true colours slowly, escalating as their victim adapts to their increasingly unacceptable behaviour.

As the second-in-command of what’s essentially a dictatorship, Sauron would be right in Morgoth’s inner circle, dependent on Morgoth’s favour for his status and authority, and isolated by rank from the rest of Morgoth’s forces. He’s not Melkor’s equal, even if Melkor listens to his advice, but nor is he One Of The Men, and he outranks even high-ranking Úmaiar like Gothmog. He has no equals, no one he can lean on or share camaraderie with, nobody who can side with him against Morgoth if necessary. This power structure actually leaves him really vulnerable to abuse from above. In Valinor or Aman, if a Vala was ever cruel to their Maiar, they could at least be kept in check by other Valar. In Arda, Melkor has no oversight. There’s no one Sauron can go to if he feels mistreated. So when Melkor begins to turn on him, Sauron would quickly find that he has limited means of protecting himself thanks to his actually-quite-precarious position in Melkor’s court. He can’t fight back, because Melkor is stronger than him. He can’t flee – where would he go? They’d hunt him down, and he can’t exactly turn to Aule for protection anymore. He can’t afford to freeze and go to pieces, because the safety he does have is reliant on the benefits of his place in the hierarchy, and to keep that place he needs to be capable and competent. In this situation, his best defence is keeping Morgoth happy – attuning himself to Morgoth’s moods and learning to manipulate them, stroking his ego, currying favour, giving Morgoth as little reason as possible to be displeased with him.

And so, he becomes a fawner.

4) Treatment Of Subordinates

“For my part…I had sacrificed enough of my children for his aspirations. I split him open. I killed Sauron.” – Adar, 1x06

The main exception to Sauron’s fawning tendencies is Adar, who provokes an immediate violent response.

This makes sense – Adar’s betrayal in Forodwaith, and his brutal murder of Sauron’s last fana, was a devastating blow to Sauron’s self-confidence, and he’s out for revenge. But his treatment of Adar, and the orcs Adar considers himself responsible for, does draw attention to the way Sauron has learned – or been taught – to treat his underlings in general.

Our very first look at Sauron, before we even see him in person, is through Galadriel’s eyes during her excursion into his Forodwaith fortress. And what we see is pretty monstrous. Sauron thinks nothing of torturing, mutilating and killing the orcs who follow him – his own soldiers – if he thinks it will advance his goals. According to Adar, Sauron killed many, many orcs in the course of his experiments with the Unseen World. Adar seems to have been his second-in-command at that point, and while they may not have been friends, there was some degree of trust between them – Adar was able to take Sauron by surprise, which means Sauron was comfortable enough with him to drop his guard. And yet, it never occurs to him that Adar cares about the welfare of the orcs. It never occurs to him that Adar might take issue with the orcs being used as test subjects. It never occurs to him that eventually, given enough dead loved ones, Adar might turn on him. 

Now, we’ve established that Sauron is someone who claims he wants to be his own man, but actually tends to follow the example he’s been set by his current role model. And since this doesn’t seem like the kind of leadership he’d have learned from Aulë, it’s far more likely that his first foray into Dark Lord-ship saw him imitating Morgoth’s treatment of those who served him – placing a certain degree of trust and authority in his lieutenants, but simultaneously keeping his underlings in line through pain and humiliation. If he himself was cowed by harsh punishment, and emerged too afraid of Morgoth to have considered rebellion, why wouldn’t he assume Adar to be similarly afraid of him? Adar is, after all, an infinitely inferior being. A mutilated elf-orc against a Maia has to be a similar power differential to a Maia against a Vala: Adar should have had no hope in hell of ever taking on Sauron and winning.

Elendil’s pull in Armenelos is limited – at this point in his life, he’s just a sea captain whose family is known for causing trouble. There’s no reason for Sauron to think that Elendil would be a useful ally in the Númenorean court – he saves him purely because they’re on the same side. Quite a change, from the man who has, up to this point, thought nothing of throwing allied lives away for his own ends. Unfortunately, because the first season is so condensed, Halbrand is only the King of the Southlands for about five minutes, so we don’t get to see whether, given more time with Galadriel as his reference point, he would increasingly follow her example rather than Morgoth’s.

Later, we see him exposed to a different example. He stops working to watch Galadriel training her volunteers, leading with positive reinforcement and camaraderie. He would also have watched her interact with them on the ship during the journey to Middle Earth. She is a stubborn, demanding and unyielding commander, but she does care about her people, and she knows how to win loyalty. And what does Sauron do in their very first battle together? He saves Elendil, despite having absolutely no selfish reason to do so.

5) Dysfunctional Attachment & Sense Of Identity

Galadriel’s backstory is full of loving, positive relationships: in 1x01 we meet her brother Finrod, her friend Elrond, her long-suffering second-in-command Thondir, and (in a one-line mention by Finrod) her mother and father. In 1x07, she also mentions her long-lost husband, Celeborn. In contrast, the only relationships mentioned for Sauron are Morgoth and Adar, neither of which were positive or loving. Aulë, interestingly, isn’t mentioned at all.

One of the first things ROP establishes about Sauron as a character (once we actually meet him in person) is that hes a self-serving survivor with low empathy. He stops Galadriel climbing onto the raft while the humans bicker about whether to leave her adrift, and he doesn’t hesitate to sacrifice everyone else on the raft to cover his own escape.

The rest of the season reinforces that he is not someone who bonds easily with others:  

Galadriel then goes on to form a number of new relationships over the course of the season: her mutual antagonism with Míriel becomes mutual respect, she befriends Elendil, she briefly serves as a mentor figure for Theo, she makes an enemy of Adar. But Halbrand doesn’t. We see him interact with other characters – the Númenorean smith who gives him a job, Míriel, Bronwyn briefly – but he doesn’t build anything with them. The interactions are very surface-level, very shallow – a means to an end.

So, while Sauron is clearly a charismatic charmer, someone who knows how to present himself as likeable, there doesn’t seem to be much drive in him to actually bond with others.

But he’s not a complete sociopath, and he's not completely devoid of empathy either. We know this from the one relationship he does build in S1, which is with Galadriel.

In 1x02, both characters are quite literally adrift, and for the same reason – their lives have fallen apart. Galadriel has been betrayed by her company, let down by her closest friend, exiled back to Valinor by her king – she’s lost all the resources and allies she’s relied upon to carry out her quest for vengeance. Sauron has lost a war, his master, his allies, and his life after Adar’s betrayal. They’re both floundering, desperate for something to give back some of the stability and purpose that they’ve lost.

And up until the identity reveal, they do find it. This is a relationship characterised, above all else, by understanding of and confidence in each other. They snark and bicker and annoy each other, but they also support and guide each other, challenge each other's worldviews, and restrain one another’s worst impulses.

But they react to the loss of this relationship differently.

So really, it’s no wonder that Sauron gets attached very quickly: this is probably the most positive relationship he’s had in thousands of years. And as we’ve already established, he’s a follower by nature – he’s drawn to strong, domineering personalities who give him purpose (ordering their chaos). Galadriel is exactly what he feels he needs at that point.

Galadriel is, if not an emotionally healthy individual, at least healthier than Sauron. She has been through some shit, but she has always had the support of people who love her, and as a result, she is self-assured and confident in her place in the world. While the loss of their friendship – and of “Halbrand” - will grieve her, it won't change her fundamental understanding of who she is and what purpose she serves.

But Sauron has been rewired over millennia to be incredibly dysfunctional. He doesn't bond easily with others, but when he does, he throws himself wholeheartedly into that relationship - and only that relationship. He invests his entire identity in that other person and how they see him, what he thinks they want him to be. He makes them the centre of his universe, and adjusts his values and identity to complement theirs.

But the problem with making other people your guiding light is that once they're no longer there to direct you, you lose your way. When Morgoth is vanquished, Sauron struggles (and ultimately fails) to keep what's left of his forces together – Adar implies that while a lot of the orcs did decide to follow Sauron, a lot of them also deserted and didn't come north at all.

With Morgoth as his guiding light, he turns to evil. What may have started out as low empathy in Mairon becomes active cruelty in Sauron. Desire for order becomes obsessive need for control. Intelligence and creativity becomes lust for power and sovereignty. With Galadriel at the helm, Halbrand veers back in the other direction, with his positive traits beginning to reassert themselves - bravery, humour, charm. He shows mercy to both the Numenorean smiths (of his own accord) and Adar (as a concession to Galadriel).

He's even selfless a few times - bringing the raft back for her even though he doesn't know who she is or what value she could have to him, and then saving her from drowning even though he does know who she is and how determined she is to see him dead.

“He bid as many as he could follow him north…” – Adar, 1x06

The ones that did go with him, as we know, ultimately turned on him in favour of Adar. Without Morgoth to keep pushing him to conquer and destroy, he can't keep up the momentum, because he doesn't actually want the same things as Morgoth. He wants to rule the world, not corrupt it.

The same thing happens when Galadriel casts him out. Without her prompting him to do good things - and his own desire to live up to her image of him leading him to do good things on his own - he stops doing them altogether, because it's hard to claw your way out of being a terrible person, and it's harder still if nobody notices or cares that you're doing it. He's realised he doesn't want what Morgoth gave him, but he also doesn't really want to be the hero. He’s got no bloody idea who he really is and he's torn about what he truly wants - and an underdeveloped, fragile or non-existent sense of self is very common in people who’ve spent their entire lives being controlled by someone else.  

So, why play along with her in the first place?

"You've done far more than that for me. I'd all but given up, but you...you believed in me. You saw strength in me. You pushed me to heights that no one else could have. I will never forget that. And I'll see to it that no one else does either." – Halbrand, 1x08

On its most basic level: she's kind to him.

Victims of longterm abuse have a very skewed idea of what interpersonal relationships should look like, and what they can expect from other people. He's had his confidence badly knocked by Morgoth's mistreatment and Adar's betrayal; she gets him back in the saddle as a leader, and she does it with faith and encouragement rather than with cruelty. Of course he's a little bit obsessed with her. She's probably the first person to act as though she cares about him in millennia - it's overwhelming, it's addictive. And because she's making him feel good about himself, he's more inclined to play the part she's assigned him, because doing so is a shortcut to getting her approval, which, again, makes him feel good about himself, and so the cycle continues. Right up until it doesn't, and he loses that positive emotional feedback loop he's so eager for.

6) Rejection Sensitivity & Abandonment Issues

“You don’t know what I did before I ended up on that raft. You don’t know how I survived. How we all survived. And when these people discover it, they will cast me out. So will you.” – Halbrand, 1x05

Sauron’s fear of rejection comes up a few times throughout the first season of ROP. It’s the focus of one of his most openly vulnerable moments, when Galadriel confronts him in the forge – they’re both on the verge of tears in that scene, and when he’s staring into the fire he looks positively haunted.   

1x08’s confrontation scene then shows us that not only does Sauron fear rejection, he also reacts to it really badly. Of course, this could be because he’s an entitled manchild who throws temper tantrums when he doesn’t get his own way, but we’re looking at him from a trauma perspective, and severe rejection sensitivity is a common aspect of CPTSD. For real people, it tends to be rooted in one of two things:

You’ve been taught that you are unworthy of love. Perhaps your abuser has taught you that they are the only one who will ever care about you, and their abuse is all you will ever deserve. Perhaps they’ve told you that nobody will ever care for you at all. Perhaps you’ve been taught that your true self is pathetic, shameful or not good enough. Over time, you internalise the belief that others are inherently disappointed or disgusted by you. In later life, when you try to bond with others and they reject you, it feels like they are confirming that belief, which is devastating, and you lash out instinctively.

You were loved conditionally. Your abuser was loving and affectionate to you sometimes, but when you displeased them, they would take their love away to punish you, leaving you perpetually insecure in the stability of your most vital relationships. You end up constantly anticipating the next time your closest bonds will be yanked out from underneath you, and as a result, you never learn how to feel safe and secure in another person's love or friendship. So when you feel like someone has taken their love away, all the old feelings of panic and abandonment come rushing back, and you lash out.

For Sauron, there's a distinct vibe of #2. We see Galadriel grant Halbrand absolution for the evil he claims to have done, and we see how much that seems to affect Sauron; that's a very emotionally raw scene for him. He's spent a very long time believing himself completely beyond redemption, and then his most bitter enemy tells him (albeit unwittingly) that he can be forgiven. That she, specifically, can forgive him. And he seems to bind her specific forgiveness up with the concept of redemption in general - he doesn't believe he can do it without her support, he thinks he needs her to show him how to be good. So when Galadriel takes back that forgiveness in the raft vision, because she didn't know who she was pardoning, it doesn't seem to occur to Sauron that he could, technically, keep trying to find his way back to the light without her. In his mind, she's not just taking away some words she said when she didn't really know who she was talking to - she's taking away the very possibility of redemption altogether.

So Sauron flips his shit. He goes, "Oh, you want me to be evil? Fine. Fine! I'll show you evil."

And honestly...this kind of self-sabotage is actually really common in traumatized people with serious rejection sensitivity issues. I have rejection-sensitive dysphoria (RSD), an especially severe kind of rejection sensitivity, and RSD support communities are littered with people who have destroyed their relationships, explosively quit their jobs on the spot, dropped out of classes, cut off friendships forever...all because they felt rejected and their own brain went nuclear on them. Hell, I’ve done some of those things myself. It’s like a red mist in the moment – half the time you don’t even realise what you’ve done until you’ve calmed down, and at that point, you’ve got no choice but to walk whatever stupid path you’ve built for yourself, whether that’s “find a new job before rent is due, you moron” or “take over the world because you’ve got nothing and no one else left”.   

Anyway this got really long and disjointed because I’m pulling from so many different aspects of trauma here and it all ties in together so tightly but tl;dr, ROP!Sauron practically has CPTSD stamped on his forehead, and this meta explains why. What do you know of darkness, indeed.

(From Morgoth’s perspective, I’d imagine that starting out so much more powerful than even the greatest of his underlings would lend him a carelessness in his treatment of his servants that, for someone so proud and superior, would prove difficult to let go of even as he grew weaker over eons.

So like, while it’s true that certain forms of punishment – enslavement, torture, etc – would run the risk of alienating Sauron completely, why should Melkor care? He was, is, has always been, the greatest of the Valar. Even if Sauron does start hating him, what's a puny Maia going to do? He's not powerful enough to overthrow Melkor on his own, and while there are undoubtedly those among Morgoth's forces who think things would be better with Sauron in charge, the chances of that minority being brave and foolhardy enough to risk Morgoth's wrath by allying with him openly (or of Sauron being brave enough to call on them to do so) are very slim. Sauron won't turn to another high-ranking Úmaia with the suggestion of overthrowing Melkor together, because what if they promptly turn him in for treason? The first punishment would've instilled the fear of god Morgoth in him, so he's not going to risk another, worse one. No - alienated or no, he'll have virtually no choice but to keep his head down and just? Deal with it. Especially if Melkor keeps his punishments behind closed doors, as Sauron would have every reason to want to keep it that way - the rank-and-file gossiping about his humiliation could lose him the fear and respect of his subordinates, and that could make his life way more difficult. I can definitely see Morgoth as someone who’d stubbornly refuse to admit that, past a certain point, he’s disseminated so much of his power into corrupting Arda that he actually should be worried about alienating Sauron now, because Sauron could probably best him. I think he’d want to cling to his own image of himself as the most powerful Ainu beneath Ilúvatar – he wouldn’t want to see how far he’s fallen. And accepting that any of his underlings could threaten him would mean having to face that.)   

Sauron Unchained

Remember when Sauron mentioned "THAT first sunrise," on the raft in the Vision? (Not THE first sunrise. The sun already existed. He's talking about THAT first sunrise, after Morgoth was defeated.)

"When Morgoth was defeated, it was as if a great, clenched fist had released its grasp from my neck. And in the stillness of that first sunrise, at last! I felt the light of The One again. And I knew, if ever I was to be forgiven, then I had to heal everything that I had helped ruin" (1x08).

That sunrise was a pretty big deal.

Let's review this moment Sauron describes from The Silmarillion.

(Of the Voyage of Eärendil and the War of Wrath.)

Before the rising of the sun Eärendil slew Ancalagon the Black, the mightiest of the dragon-host, and cast him from the sky; and he fell upon the towers of Thangorodrim, and they were broken in his ruin. Then the sun rose, and the host of the Valar prevailed, and well-nigh all the dragons were destroyed; and all the pits of Morgoth were broken and unroofed, and the might of the Valar descended into the deeps of the earth. [...]

Then Morgoth was bound.

[...] Thus an end was made of the power of Angband in the North, and the evil realm was brought to naught; and out of the deep prisons a multitude of slaves came forth beyond all hope into the light of day, and they looked upon a world that was changed.

Those slaves who emerged were not the servants of Morgoth (like Orcs, Balrogs, etc.), but rather Elves, the likes of Gwindor, who were captured, imprisoned and enslaved, sent deep into the mines to dig.

But Sauron described his experience from their perspective.

Sooo... why?

"When Morgoth was defeated, it was as if a great, clenched fist had released its grasp from my neck. And in the stillness of THAT first sunrise, at last! I felt the light of The One again."

Some complain:

Why did the writers make it seem like Morgoth made Sauron evil, against his will?

-----They didn't.-----

Why did they change Sauron's character from liking Morgoth because of efficiency, to loathing him?

-----They didn't.-----

Why did they make it so Sauron only allied himself with Morgoth in order to survive?

-----They didn't.-----

They didn't change anything. They didn't even have to add anything. None of this came out of the clear blue just for fun. It's not even just for the sake of making the show.

Sauron manipulated Galadriel, but he did so with the TRUTH, making it easier for her to pity him than if he flat-out lied.

["And in the stillness of that first sunrise..."]

(Meanwhile, he talks about forgiveness.)

Galadriel: "No penance could ever erase the evil you have done."

Sauron: "That is not what you believe." [...] After our victory, you said that whatever I'd done before, I could be free of it now. [...] I told you the truth! I told you that I had done evil, and you did not care! Because you knew that our past meant nothing, weighed against our future. :D"

What is this 'trauma' he allegedly experienced? Sure, he was wary of the consequences of crossing Morgoth, but I mean ... he was the guy--Morgoth's #1--his right hand Maia--his most devoted servant. He would never do anything in disobedience or rebellion. Else how would he achieve such a status?

The implication of his tale is not that he was FORCED to Morgoth's allegiance, giving him this general fear that was finally lifted when Morgoth fell.

Something happened.

He made ONE mistake.

(And since Patrick said they're not in the business of pure Easter eggs, there's a REASON they showed this.)

In Sauron's most humiliating moment, being in the jaws of Huan, Lúthien told him "that he should be stripped of his raiment of flesh, and his ghost be sent quaking back to Morgoth; and she said: 'There everlastingly thy naked self shall endure the torment of his scorn, pierced by his eyes, unless thou yield to me the mastery of thy tower.' (The Silmarillion: Of Beren and Lúthien).

Before that, Sauron had it all. Unbeknownst to him at the time, he already had Beren (who had a price put on his head by Morgoth) IN HIS PRISON. But hearing Lúthien sing to Beren in the hour of Finrod's death, he sought great reward for bringing her to Morgoth. When his dying servant told him that Huan was there, he was like, Oh. I got this.

Things went sideways, and he had no choice but to yield to Huan, or face Morgoth's wrath... so he let them go.

As a result, Beren and Lúthien waltzed their way into Angband, stole a Silmaril and escaped.

So, um...?

Charlie referenced what Lúthien told Sauron, when speaking about the 'clenched fist' line. His paraphrasing is quite unnerving, given that he knows what backstory we are going to see next season... and I don't know... but I would like to... and it makes me wonder.

"You can go whimpering back to your master and tell him that you've let me in. You've failed. You haven’t defended your kingdom." [...] I read from that this thing that Morgoth is so powerful and so scary, that it would've meant consequences for Sauron. - Charlie Vickers

Where exactly was Sauron after his failure? He dwelt in Taur-nu-Fuin for a while, but a lot of time passed between then and the end of the War. So...WHERE DID HE GO? Wouldn't the most devoted and powerful of all the servants of Morgoth be actively involved in the defense against the host of the Valar?? One might say things were trending upward for him...

...until Finrod, Beren, Lúthien, and Huan came along.

How long would it have taken Morgoth to find out that everything was Sauron's fault? How long would it have taken to hunt Sauron down, as he fled?

Not very long, I reckon.

[...] there must have been an element to their relationship where Morgoth was someone he feared at times, or someone that would punish him when he failed. [...] there must have been some truth in [the clenched fist] line. - Charlie Vickers

No wonder he described the end of the War as if he had been among the slaves who emerged from the deep prisons..."beyond all hope into the light of day"...reminiscing the first sunrise after the overthrow of Thangorodrim, and the great, clenched fist that released its grasp from his neck as a result.

In the Great War, he wasn't just sitting in a tree, or even in a back-up tower, watching from the side-lines.

He failed Morgoth.

Miserably.

And was punished for it.

No wonder he was missing during the War of Wrath.

"What do you know of darkness?"

[adamantiiine-blog]

THE MULTIVERSE

General Overview

Let me preface this that my multiverse is inspired by SyFy’s The Magicians. Honestly, a lot of things are inspired by that because I really enjoyed that show up until the latest season’s mess. Basically, Hogwarts and Eä are like Brakebills and Fillory respectively… But that’s basically where the similarities end.

The premise of this is that all of my muses exist within the same multiverse and could feasibly meet one another. I have a timeline continuum that (mostly) follows canon, and these characters often weave in and out of one another’s stories (within their own canon). So, I thought, why not connect all of my muses? Somehow? In a non-overt way that really only matters for myself, but can also come into play in rp if we want to. It’s more just something that exists in the background, though, and offers possibility for easy crossover between the fandoms.

Besides that, we already have a passageway between worlds built into Tolkien canon (Book of Lost Tales, anyone?), so why not go ahead and use that?

Earth and Eä exist within parallel universes in the same network of a multiverse. There are passageways between them, though they’re not particularly easy to find. The ‘magic’ in each world is different in nature, and where the two powers combine, it creates a turbulent area. Many passages lie deep within the ocean, or in unstable mountain caverns. It’s because of this that most passages are not easily found, and therefore, the fact that there is passage between worlds is not widely known.

However, there are a few places where passages between the worlds can be found. Where these are located, on earth, can be determined by ley lines. A passage can often be found where many or significant ley lines intersect. Oftentimes, as said before, these passages have been obstructed due to instability, but occasionally, one might lie on the surface. On Earth’s end, these unstable areas have often been noted to cause magic to behave strangely, thus various repelling charms are placed around the known areas, making it very rare for anyone from earth to actually visit Eä.

On Eä’s side, these passages are mainly found on the continent of Middle Earth as an unknown result of Melkor’s workings. Because of Beleriand’s sinking, many of these passages, like Earth’s, are found beneath the ocean, and deep within caverns. But, like Earth, a few still remain. Unlike earth, however, these passages are not actively regulated. They are often found in the darker places, those touched most by Melkor’s influence. Unsurprisingly, most passages on Middle Earth can be found in the far North, or amidst the Chithaeglir.

This is the reason that the existence of the passages is unknown by most. Beings from Earth are often ill-equipped to handle the sudden shock, change in altitude, or nearby creatures, and few can return through the passage (which is often a short distance away from where they arrived, due to the disturbance of energy) before meeting an unfortunate end. And because the passages are often in more perilous locations in Eä, it is very rare that any intelligent inhabitants of that universe find them. However, these passageways are part of the way in which various species of flora and fauna exist in both worlds.