#one thing i wish had made it into the published silmarillion tho is the story of amrod

[ieatwormsandtheytasteverygood]

And remember: "to evil end shall all things turn that they begin well"

It never ceases to amuse me that Feanor’s narrative arc ends like THAT.

like this guy is built up to be a genius in 2384739847 different ways, charismatic as fuck, insanely spiritually powerful, made the magical artifacts the book is named after, he’s got Sexy Protagonist Energy for days, you’re only like a few chapters into the actual story of the Silmarillion, so you’re like “yeah, alright, this guy’s our guy, i can’t wait to see what crazy shit he gets up to in Middle-earth, what kind of character development he has–”

and then he gets to Beleriand, tries to fight Satan, and IMMEDIATELY dies. like. Battle #1. he beefs it. literally spontaneously combusts.

AND YOU STILL HAVE MOST OF THE REST OF THE BOOK LEFT. absolutely ICONIC of tolkien to kill his main character in the first third of the story, and then despite elves being able to return from the dead, he literally never does, not even post-canon. NO ONE ELSE CAN PULL THAT OFF. this is SUCH a power move.

….on a more serious note, Feanor’s decisions and motivations leave a huge impact on every other character, almost every other plot point in the entire story can be traced back to what he did, and killing him off not only increases his narrative importance to those he left behind but also makes it impossible for any character to actually confront him or reconcile with him. he’s a ghost throughout the whole rest of the story, but he’s haunting everyone in myriad ways, through the Oath, through the Silmarils, through his sons, through the repercussions of the First Kinslaying, through the unrest of the Noldor and the rebellion against the Valar, through everything.

So like. Feanor might die as soon as he sets foot in Beleriand, which is hilarious from a narrative standpoint - but only at first glance. Because he’s still there for the rest of the story. You can’t escape him, no matter how hard you try.

[kendrixtermina]

Further reactions to "The book of lost tales":

I appreciate that Idril canonically wears armor and does swordfighting.

I feel like I can actually imagine adult!Idril much better now like in armor and with open hair, distraught but ready to fight while babby Earendil does not yet realize the danger...

My first thought is that Earendil was probably cute in that baby chainmail. My second thought is OUCH, Idril and Tuor always made sure their growing baby had fitting chainmail cause they felt the apocalypse might get them at any moment. Imagine that, imagine them having the baby armor fitted every year or so :(

Its fun how much of the basic structure already exists but most of what you'd consider the main characters doesn't exist or is scattered across various minor roles The only Prince anywhere in sight is Turgon - Except for Team Doriath, theyre all accounted for. I suppose Maeglin is kinda there in name only with vaguely the same role & motivation, but looks personality and background all did a 180 since. Luthien is still pretty much "princesd classic" at this point, not quite the fearless go-getter from the final version - markedly this version tells Beren that she doesnt want to wander in the wilderness with him whereas the final one says she doesnt care and its Beren still wants to get the shiny so as not to ask this of her and also for his honor.

I mean in the finished version Id consider the 3rd and 4th gen royals to be the main characters (well, alobgside Team Doriath and the varioud human heroes) and theyre hardly here. Imagine the silm with no Finrod!

Feanor had no affiliation with the royal family whatsoever, and is also generally less super. He's just the guy who won the jewelsmithing competition, not the inventor of the whole discipline. Still seems to have been envisionad as a respected member of the community who gets called to the palace for crisis meetings and is listened to when he stsrts giving speeches. From the first he already has the backstory of going off the deep end (or at least growing disillusioned with Valinor) after a family member is killed by Melkor and theyre still the first to die, but its just some other rando unrelated to the royals

The situation regarding the humans is different - instead of Melkor leaking their existence, its Manwe who explains that the other continents were supposed to be for them eventually. So Feanor goes off on a tirade about weak puny mortals comes off as a more of a jerk unlike in the final version where Melkor barely knew about the humans and described them to the Noldor as a threat. On the other hand in this one, also very much unlike in the finished product, Melkor dupes even Manwe into being unfair to the elves as a whole. In this the final version is a definite improvement, both Feanor and the Valar come off as a lot more sympathetic and though still deceived he's partially right in some things at least, so you have more of a genuine tragedy rather than a simple feud

There is something to the idea of Commoner!Feanor tho. I guess some of this survived in his nomadic explorer lifestyle and how both his wife and mother (who arent mentioned here) eventually were the ones to get that background of being not especially pretty ladies who are not from the nobility but got renown, respect and acclaim for their unique talent and contribution to society, with each having invented things and Nerdanel also being renowed for her wisdom. Hes sort of an odysseus-like Figure in that sense. I suppose later developements necesitated that Maedhros & co. have an army not just a band of thieves, which means they needed to be nobles/lords. That said this being a society where artisans are very respected and half the lords have scholarly/artistic pursuits going, the gap was probably not as big to begin with as it might have been in say, medieval England. Esoecially since Nerdanel's father had been given special honor by one of the local deities and that the social order might have been a very recent thing in Miriel's time. One might speculate that the first generation of Lords started out as warriors during the great journey, or perhaps just Finwe's friend group.

Also found that bit intetesting where the Valar have to deal with the remaining political tensions and effects of Melkor's lies on the remaining population in Valinor... - i guess with the change of framing device it was less likely for news of something like this to reach Beleriand. That, or the existence of Finarfin and his repentance made this go smoother this over in later cannon

Turgon's go-down-with-the-ship moment reaaly got to me. Im half tempted to write a fic where his wife, siblings and dad glomp him on arrival in Mandos. I dont care that none of them exists yet in this continuity i want Turgon to get hugs

I love all the additional Detail that got compressed out in the shift from fairytale-ish to pseudohistoric style especially all the various Valinor magic insofofar as it is compatible with the final version - particularly love the idea of the connection between the lamps and the trees that is now integrated into my headcanon forever

Its actually explained what the doors of night are

If I had not already read unfinished tales or volumes X to XII where this is also apparent, this is where I would say: Ah so the Valar were supposed to be flawed characters. Manwe has an actual arc; by the time he sends Gandalf he finally "got" it. I think in the published silm the little arcs of Ulmo and Manwe are mostly just lost in compression/ less apparent when only some of the relevant scenes got in but not all

It occurred to me way too late that the "BG" chars are the most consistent because theyre at the start and most stories are written from beginning to end. Finwe doesnt get a dedicated paragraph of explicit description until HoME X but my takeaway was that he's described pretty much like I always imagined him anyways/ same vibe I always got from him... charismatic, thoughtful, enthusiastic, sanguine temperament, brave in a pinch but at times lets his judgement be clouded by personal sentiment (though that last bit is more apparent/salient as a character flaw once he became the father of a certain Problem Child) ...i guess this would be a result of jrrt having had a consistent idea of him in his head for a long time.

This means Finwe's still alive at the time of the exodus which is just fun to see/interesting to know... Interestingly he sort of gets what later would be Finarfin's part of ineffectually telling everxone to please chill and think it over first while Feanor simply shouts louder (which is consistent with his actions before the sword incident in later canon where he initially spoke out against the suspiciozs regarding the Valar) - but its not exactly the same, he's more active than Finarfin later in that when "chillax" availed nothing he said that then at least they should talk with the other Kings and Manwe to leave with their blessing and get help leaving (This seems like it would have been the clusterfuck preventing million dollar suggestion in the universe where Feanor is related to him and values him) but when even that falls on death ears he decides that he "would not be parted from his people" and went to run the preparations. I find it interesting that the motivation is sentiment/attachment (even phrased as "he would not be parted from [his people]" same words/ expression as is later used for the formenos situation), not explicitly obligation as it later is for Fingolfin (who had promised to follow Feanor and didnt want to leave his subjects at the mercy of Feanor's recklessness )

Speaking of problem children. It seems the sons of Feanor were the Kaworu Nagisa of the Silmarillion in that originally all they do is show up at some point and kill Dior as an episodic villain-of-the-week. And then, it seems their role got bigger in each continuity/rewrite... probably has something to do with the Silmarils ending up in the title later making it in the sense their story that ends and begins with them. They have zero characterization beyond "fierce and wild" at this point, though in what teetsy bits there is we already have the idea that Maedhros is the leader and Curufin is the smart one/shemer/sweet-talker, though not the bit where Maedhros (or Maglor, or anyone really) is "the nice one". Which I guess explains why "Maglor" sounds like such a stereotypical villain name.

"The Ruin of Doriath" was purportedly the patchworkiest bit of the finished product, but I never noticed and it actually left quite an impression of me upon first reading, the visual of Melian sitting there with Thingol's corpse in her arms contemplating everything thinking back to how they met... she had the knowledge to warn him not to doom himself but couldnt get him to understand it because he doesnt see the world as she does.... After reading this though I wish there was a 'dynamic' rendition that combined all the best bits like, youd have to adapt it to the later canon's rendition of the dwarves, have Nargothrond exist etc. But i mean that just makes Finrod another dead/doomed relative of Thingol's whom bling cannot truly replace, like Luthien and Turin. In the Silmarillion you could easily read it as just an "honoured guest treatment" but here and in unfinished tales I get the impression that Thingol actually did see Turin as a son.

Already you see the idea of trying to make the stories all interconnected but there is less than there will be (the human heroes aren't related yet and there is basically no Nargothrond, which is later a common thread for many of the stories - a prototype shows up in the 'Tale of Turambar' tho complete with half baked prototypes of Orodreth and Finduillas

O boi im not even through yet

[elvesofnoldor]

Getting into silmarillion again is weird when you are not a 13 year old little fool who just really like them pretty fae people (elves) anymore, cause i’d be re-visiting these lores right now and i’d suddenly remember that all these wars and these sufferings and these PAINS, they are all for...some jewels an elf man made??? hello??? HELLO??? ugh, the whiplash. but like, I mean, i know silmarillion functions as a collection of myths of tolkien’s universe aka Arda ( myths that actually happened in the story universe tho, like we got living witnesses of them lol) and mythology is not supposed to be relatable, they are supposed to be allegories--understood on a metaphorical level. And Silmarillion can feel too grand sometimes when u think abt it too literally: a fight against literal entropy and force of destruction--the devil himself? a war over jewels that shine everlasting light of nourishment and bliss and LIFE no mortals can understand? how do you process these bullshits lol like none of these are relatable, so like, i can def understand why the lores of ancient world of tolkien’s universe can be so off putting but im still super attached to noldor elves?  nowadays i see the silmarillion (aka the jewels) as narrative equivalents of the fruits from the tree of good and evil. They are equivalent of objects that made Adam and Eve, human; they are embodiment of joy and life both literally and metaphorically. At the same time, the jewels also embody desire and desire brings both good (life and joy) and evil (death and pain). But they are also...more than that? It’s also embodiment of stolen happiness and lost bliss to the (noldor) elves--these jewels are in a way, lost “home” to them. I suppose, present day me being attached to the noldor elves has more to do with the fact that their story is the story of a people who takes fate into their own hands to regain the life and happiness that are stolen from them, all in defiance of flawed, unjust, deceiving and cruel authority (the valars, equivalent of archangels, but also kinda, gods?). However, in their rebellion out of desire for justice, they strayed further and further away from the happiness and life they so desperately want to regain. The more they try to come home, they further away they are from it. All efforts for peace and prosperity were fruitless victories, and The more they tighten their grip on lost happiness, the quicker it slips through their fingers. They have struggled and they have failed and it was simply not meant to be. It’s unfair and it’s cruel and it’s simply...the way of universe? it’s not a perfect narrative and i do take issue with the fact that attempts to take fate into your own hands in rebellion against unjust authority result in inevitable doom, but noldor elves are just...they come off so passionate and spirited and full of life and so SO human? by the time the stories of lotr happens, all that’s left of them are memories, unmarked graves beneath the sea and lessons written in blood and tears. i suppose they are just...kinda relatable? and that makes their tragic fate more...heart-wrenching? idk. ( i mean, also tolkien wrote silmarillion before he even thought of writing the hobbit or lotr, so these stories are supposed to be full fledged emotional stories as supposed to just, lores to explain the story of silmarillion)  but there is some catharsis to the story of tolkien elves (this is not “children of hurin” ok now THAT story is just tragedy porn ok there is a reason it wasn’t published when tolkien is still alive), since they all eventually return to/arrive back to valinor, and yes home is never the same, but they all come home at last.  Now, ik da wiki never says that dragon age elves got any inspiration from tolkien but that doesnt mean that there ISN’T fuck tons of similarities b/w both of their histories, or the fact that tolkien’s body of works functions as literate canon for the high fantasy genre since the damn 80s. Anyways, there are two “long walks” that happened in tolkien elves and dragon age elves’ history, one is just called the long walk (where the dragon age elves took to establish the realm of Dales) and the other one is the crossing of helcaraxe (in silmarillion), both taken to take back life and happiness stolen by Evils^tm (in dragon age elves’ case, said evils come in the form of slavery and colonization). However, There is no...valinor...for the dragon age elves.  In silmarillion, the way back to valinor, to “home”, to stolen life and happiness, is literally closed in the first age. In dragon age universe, the dalish and city elves alike are cut off from the life and bliss of the past that was stolen from them due to slavery and colonization, no matter how much they long for it. Now, i dont like how bioware writers make dalish come off as people stuck in the past and int he old way (like, thats the reason why sera is written the way shes written, cause they want to make dalish look backward), and honestly i think thats just white writers not understanding the nuance of their own narratives lol. But also, there is some asshole named s*las who wishes to bring back the “past glory and bliss of elven realms” even if it means committing acts of utmost violence. You know, in silmarillion, Maedhros has committed acts of violence to regain the silmarlis, to get that ticket back “home”, back to the life that was stolen from him and his people, and when he truly held the jewels in his hands he realize that they were forever lost to him the moment he shed blood. At the end of his life, maedhros learned that ruthlessly tightening the grip on the happiness of long lost past would only take you further and further away from it, and he paid his lesson with his own life. The sad thing is that, s*las is probably gonna learn that lesson WITHOUT suffering much of consequences, because hes unlikely to be able to bring about actual apocalypse to open the veil, and that kinda piss me off. Even if he dies, i had to spend an entirety of da:i to put up this bitch being in it, and i have to deal with his presence in most of da4 as it seems, and he might not even die miserably lmao. like, i like maedhros, i like noldor elves WAY better than his crusty ass, but they all die horribly when he is probably gonna come out of this whole mess unscathed.  rant aside, i wish that....no matter what happened in da4, the elves in dragon age universe, can also eventually find their way back to their “valinor”. definitely not through s*las’ dumbass’ efforts, tho, but, somehow, i hope they can find their way back home or...better yet, find their way forward.