#saw someone be like 'so many people don't think of feanor as a nuanced character and I think tolkien would find that so disappointing' BRO

[lesbiansforboromir]

"If Tolkien were here he-" "Tolkien's intent was-" "Tolkien would be rolling in his grave if-" "You soil Tolkien's vision when-" "-which was Tolkien's whole point when he wrote-" "Tolkien would actually support x social issue-" wooooah there bucko.. buckeroono, buckyboy... was Tolkien your fucking dad? Your priest? Was your uncle a Tolkien? Was Tolkien literally without moral fault? No? Then please ask yourself #1 how the fuck you would know any of that and #2 why the hell you should even care in the first place. Love is love, stories are stories, discuss Tolkien's work without invoking him like some kind of avenging angel of literature 2023. He's literally just a guy.

[in-the-glow-of-a-silmaril]

Dior breaks my heart.

There's so little about him in the silmarillion, but. But. He breaks my heart. I have put so much thought into his character for how little he exists in the text, and now I'm gonna break it down for y'all.

So, this post gets into how the way that Beren addresses Luthien indicates an interest in her, as a person. And the way that Celegorm speaks of and to her indicates an interest in her physical beauty and royal rank. And of course Celegorm's actions regarding her were reprehensible, and Curufin's too.

Dior would have grown up hearing these things. How his mother was held against her will. How Curufin tried to kill Luthien, and instead wounded Beren. How Celegorm meant to force Luthien into marriage. It's monstrous.

Now. I do not think the Feanorions are monsters. But from Dior's perspective, yes.

Dior finds out about his parents' deaths when he is given the silmaril. He mourns, alone with the silmaril. And then he puts it on, just as his mother did. In most of his memories of her, she would have been wearing it. Now it is his connection to her. An heirloom, won fairly from great evil for the sake of the love that made him.

And the Feanorions demand it from him.

I saw a post ages ago that said that there's a draft in which Dior responds to the Feanorions, and basically scorns their request and tells them to use their might and valor to win one honorably from Melkor; after all, Melkor has two and he only one. (Paraphrased.) I think he also intimates that they're cowards.

He's not really wrong, though, is the thing. And I do think that the silmarillions rightfully belong to the Feanorions. (I'm an artist, I have a stake in this. 😂) You can't just steal someone's work like that. But. But. Melkor was the thief. The house of Feanor has wronged the house of Thingol. They ought to make amends, not demands. And yeah - go challenge Melkor.

Again, I do understand that there's some room for nuance here. I'm not necessarily condemning the Feanorions wholesale. But I do think that attacking Dior was a terrible thing that they did.

It says that Celegorm pushed for it, which makes me think that his pride was still smarting over Luthien. And he was killed by Dior's hand, which feels significant to me.

Now. My point. Dior ruled for three years, the wiki tells me. I've no idea how they know, it's not clear from the text. I assume Tolkien had notes somewhere. Bless the wiki people, they're amazing.

Anyway. It also says that Dior died at age 36. Which - okay. Bear with me.

Dior is the first half human elf. I think. Tolkien has so many characters...but I think he is. So, the way I figure it, it's the first time the question of mortality is raised. But we don't hear about him making a choice. And I think that this is because Luthien had already been given the choice herself, and became mortal, by the time she had him. So, two mortal parents equals a mortal child, even with his elven heritage. Like how Elros' children weren't given a choice, but were mortal.

Now. He's the first of his kind. Literally no one knows what is normal for him, what his life expectancy is, nothing. But.

Elros is the first half elf we see who dies a natural death. He's our yardstick for their lifespan (Luthien doesn't count bc of her weird circumstances. She wasn't half human, she got her mortality a different way.)

Elros lived to be five hundred, and if I understand right could potentially have lived even longer.

Dior was a child.

Not literally. He was old enough to sire children. But I truly think he didn't have enough time to come into his own and fully mature. I don't think anyone knew, because again, no one knew what to expect with him, but he was a goddamn child-king.

This is why I think Dior's marriage is probably doomed, even without them being separated in the afterlife (my hc), and why I feel like who he is is a mystery not only in the sense that he's only in like four pages of the silmarillion, but in the sense that he died before reaching adulthood proper.

I think the same goes for Elwing and Earendil - way too much pressure applied very early. But that's another post.

I don't have anyone I ship Dior with, and I don't dislike Nimloth at all, to be clear. It just feels more like a political match than one of passion. And regardless of how she might have tried, I don't think Nimloth could have understood Dior. I don't even think Dior understood Dior. There was no context for what he was.

He lives in my head rent free, a burning question. Who might he have been? He speaks not a word in the four pages that contain him. Everything he does - marrying Nimloth, taking up leadership among the Sindarin, refusing the Feanorions - feels like uplifting and continuing the legacy of his ancestors. His parents and grandparents. But what about him? What does he want?

I think he died before he could find out.