#tuor

[metamorphesque]

Ulmo Appears Before Tuor, Alan Lee

[celebrimborium]

the rings of power + references to the first age (and earlier)

[part i]

[southaway]

Tuor, Lord of the House of the Wing

So, wings were an obvious choice for me, so was the star shape. Stars and waves for Eärendil's father and Elrond and Elros' grandfather, I'm nothing if not predictable. I also used the same design for Dramborelg that I used before, other than that, I just made him look similar to how I've drawn Eärendil before.

[lowcountry-gothic]

Ulmo, Valar of the Sea, Tuor, and Voronwë from Tolkien's Unfinished Tales, by Alba Real.

[thesummerestsolstice]

I like the idea that the Valar can grant boons to men or elves they favor. Sometimes visible– glowing markings, feathers, claws– and sometimes not. Attitudes of these blessings ranged from fear to reverence to jealousy, often reflecting opinions of the Valar more generally.

Galadriel's special treelight hair came from Finarfin. Finarfin got it as a result of Manwe's favor. Given how rare it was for Manwe to bestow such gifts, this caused quite a stir. Later, Morgoth would spread rumors that Manwe was trying to set Finarfin up as the new Noldor crown prince, bypassing Finwe's older children.

Namo gave Fingolfin a blessing, and no one was particularly sure why, Fingolfin included. The truth was that Namo had already foreseen Fingolfin's death, and wanted to give him the strength to let him wound Morgoth before falling to him. Namo has always felt a sense of responsibility for those who choose to come to his halls, even if he's powerless to change their fates.

Celegorm was blessed by Orome, given the kind of teeth and claws that a few of his best disciples had been granted over the years. Orome couldn't take those gifts back, so Celegorm kept them for all his life. You wouldn't know that looking at paintings of him, though, because none of them show him with the marks of Orome's hunt. Whether this was a choice made by him or by later revisionists trying to minimize his connection with the Valar is unknown.

Varda gave blessings to both Earendil and Gil-Galad in the final years of the First Age. Both of them are said to have shone like stars afterwards, and there were some darker rumors that like the hallowed Silmarils, they would burn any unholy flesh that touched them. Some speculated that the blessings were Varda's way of apologizing for leaving the elves to face Morgoth alone for so long.

Ulmo is probably the Vala who's given out the most blessings– Cirdan, Turgon, Finrod, and Tuor all recieved boons from him, among others. But everyone who's gotten blessings from Ulmo is weirdly secretive about it. There's lots of gossip floating around– Ulmo is the reason Cirdan has a beard, Ulmo is the reason Turgon is taller than Maedhros, Ulmo is the reason that everyone likes Finrod so much, actually everyone blessed by Ulmo gets gills and he has secret underwater meetings with them– you get the idea. Well, probably no reason to consider that last one. I can't imagine any of the Valar using their power for something that foolish.

There is fierce scholarly debate on whether Thingol received a blessing from Melian, and whether her descendants could, theoretically, do the same. Elrond would like everyone to please stop asking him about it. Elrond would also like everyone to please stop talking about Gil-Galad's hair turning silver after the two of them took a very normal hunting trip together.

(Multiple Valar have tried to take credit for just how amazingly luscious and wonderful Finwe's hair is. But no, that wasn't a blessing. He's just like that.)

[eloquentsisyphianturmoil]

Tolkien being like “and THEN Tuor—” who has already been raised by elves, escaped thraldom, and lived as a wild outlaw for some enrichment “—took his harp which he carries with him ALWAYS and also he’s quite skilled :3” like. I know you love your guy but have you ever heard of less is more.

[maxwell1138]

This post goes in appreciation of Ulmo. I think that Ulmo doesn't get the praise he deserves, he was the only Vala who never gave up on elves and men and loved them greatly. Unlike his brothers, he never hid himself behind the pélori, instead chose to stay on the sea and rivers, watching closely over the children of Iluvatar, helping them every time he could. He always felt compassion towards them and held hope that they could do the right thing.

If you ask me, he is the one who deserves to be the king of the Valar instead of Manwë.

[arlenianchronicles]

My second submission for @fall-for-tolkien's Scribbles and Drabbles event, featuring Annael, Rian, and baby Tuor! I don't often see content with these three, so I thought I'd give them some spotlight! Drawing baby Tuor was lots of fun, he's just so squishy cute! XD

[rinthecap]

Valentine's day with Tuor and Idril in Vietnamese traditional clothings

[galstelperion]

Therefore Idril and Tuor departed from Nan-tathren, and went southwards down the river to the sea; and they dwelt there by the mouths of Sirion, and joined their people to the company of Elwing Dior's daughter, that had fled thither but a little while before. And when the tidings came to Balar of the fall of Gondolin and the death of Turgon,

Ereinion Gil-Galad son of Fingon was named High King of the Noldor in Middle Earth.

–  The Silmarillion, Chapter 23: Of Tuor And The Fall Of Gondolin

[vaegonposting]

i am always thinking of the contrast and it is always funny

[exercise-of-trust]

Hey there, been loving the way you draw silm characters! If you’re still taking requests in September I’d love to see Tuor? Thank you!

not sure where i think this is but i wanted some tree practice and some soft light from behind. maybe an early morning in gondolin? or maybe he's taking a stroll around his cave in mithrim? up to you!

(still taking requests through the end of september!)

[deus-sema]

He was squirming, cringing and sobbing from within while saying each of these names

[anghraine]

Another Tolkien rant before I (finally!!) go back to BG3:

By and large, heredity and ethnicity in Tolkien cannot be understood through blood quantum logic. I don't think this is even seriously debatable, really—it does not work.

Yes, Imrahil of Dol Amroth is many generations removed from his nearest Elvish ancestor. Yes, he's still visibly part-Silvan to someone like Legolas, and is Silvan-style pretty to everyone else, and his sister was mystically susceptible to Mordor's miasma and died of sea-longing.

Yes, Théoden has as much Númenórean ancestry as Eldacar, a literal Númenórean King of Gondor, and has the same Elvish ancestor as Imrahil. No, Théoden is not a Dúnadan and does not inherit Silvan features. Tolkien specifically contrasted the visible Silvan Elvish heritage of Imrahil and his nephews Boromir and Faramir with Théoden and Éomer's lack of them, though in some versions, Éomer inherited remarkable height from his Númenórean ancestry (but not specifically Elvish qualities like beardlessness).

The only known member of the House of Eorl to markedly inherit the distinctive Elvish appearance of the House of Dol Amroth is Elfwinë, son of Imrahil's daughter Lothíriel as well as of Éomer, and Elfwinë's appearance is attributed firmly to Lothíriel-Imrahil rather than Théodwyn-Morwen.

Aragorn and Denethor are descendants of Elendil removed by dozens of generations, and Elendil himself was many generations removed from Elros. Aragorn and Denethor's common heritage and special status results in a strong resemblance and kinship between these incredibly distant cousins, including innate beardlessness and various powers inherited from Lúthien, and a connection to the Maiar presumably derived from Lúthien's mother Melian (great-great-grandmother of their very distant ancestor Elros).

Galadriel has one Noldo grandparent (half as much Noldorin heritage as Théoden has Númenórean). She has ties to her Telerin and Vanyarin kin and inherits some of their traits (most notably her silvery-gold hair), but she is very fundamentally a Noldo.

Túrin Turambar is a member—and indeed, heir—of the House of Hador via patrilineality. However, he's strongly coded as Bëorian in every other way because of his powerful resemblance to his very Bëorian mother, while his sister Niënor is the reverse, identified strongly with Hadorian women and linked to their father, whom she never met.

Elrond and Elros have more Elvish heritage than anything else, but are defined as half-Elves regardless of choosing mortality or immortality. In The Nature of Middle-earth, Tolkien casually drops the bombshell that Elros's children with his presumably mortal partner also received a choice of mortality vs immortality (and then in true Tolkien style, breezed onto other, less interesting points). Elrond and his sons with fully Elvish Celebrían are referred to as Númenóreans as well as Elves, with Elladan and Elrohir scrupulously excluded from being classed as Elves on multiple occasions. Their sister Arwen, meanwhile, is a half-Elf regardless of how much literal mortal heritage she has but also is identified with the Eldar in a way they never are.

There's a letter that Tolkien received in which a fan asks how Aragorn, a descendant of Fíriel of Gondor, could be considered of pure Númenórean ancestry when Fíriel was a descendant of Eldacar, the "impure" king whose maternal heritage kicked off the Kinstrife. Tolkien's response is essentially a polite eyeroll (and understandably for sure), but it's not like ancestry that remote (or far more so) doesn't regularly linger.

The point, I guess, is that there's no hard and fast rule here that determines "real" ethnicity in Middle-earth or who inherits what narrative identification. It's clearly not dependent on purebloodedness (gross rhetoric anyway, but also can't be reconciled with ... like, anything we see). It's not based on upbringing or culture alone. Túrin and Niënor, for instance, are powerfully identified with the Edain narratively despite their upbringings. Their double cousin Tuor, however, is a more ambiguous figure in terms of the Elves, whom he loves and lives among and possibly even joins in immortality—yet Tuor's half-Elf son Eärendil, whose cultural background is overwhelmingly Elvish, is naturally aligned with Men and only chooses immortality for his wife's sake.

Elladan and Elrohir, as mentioned above, are sons of an Elf, Celebrían, and of Elrond, a half-Elf who chose immortality and established a largely Elvish community at Rivendell. But the twins have a centuries-long affinity with their mortal Dúnadan kin and delay choosing a kindred to be counted among long after Arwen's choice.

Patrilineal heritages are more often than not given priority, which has nothing to do with how much of X blood someone has, only which side it comes from. Queen Morwen's children and descendants are emphatically Rohirrim who don't ping Legolas's Elvishness radar (though Elfwinë might, later on; we're not told). King Eldacar is firmly treated as a Dúnadan with no shortening of lifespan or signs of Northern heritage. Finwë's children and grandchildren are definitionally Noldor.

But this is by no means absolutely the case. The Elvishness of the line of Dol Amroth is not only inherited from Mithrellas, a woman, but passes to some extent to Boromir and Faramir through their mother Finduilas. Denethor and Aragorn's descent from Elros primarily comes through Silmariën, a woman (and also through Rían daughter of Barahir and Morwen daughter of Belecthor for Denethor, and Fíriel daughter of Ondoher for Aragorn). And of course, Elros's part-Maia heritage that lingers among his descendants for thousands of years derives from women, Lúthien and Melian.

So there's not some straightforward system or rule that will tell you when a near or remote ancestor "matters" when it comes to determining a character's identity, either to the character or to how they're handled by the narrative. Sometimes a single grandparent, or great-grandparent, or more distant ancestor, is fundamental to how a character is treated by the story and understands themself. Sometimes a character is so completely identified with one parent that the entire other half of their heritage is negligible to how they're framed by the story and see themself. It depends!

[thesummerestsolstice]

Assorted thoughts on the Silm AU where all the elves are hobbits:

Eol isn't a bad dude here he's just a hobbit who was raised by men and is therefore very unaccustomed to Hobbit social norms. He takes Aredhel on their honeymoon and everyone think he's kidnapped her. Aredhel loves the trip though, even when Celegorm interrupts it to try and "rescue" her.

Gondolin is a neighborhood that hosts really awesome exclusive parties that very few people get invited too and no one can ever find. Turgon runs all the parties but no one's ever been able to get any information out of him about it.

Maeglin did once get kidnapped by Morgoth and blackmailed for party location information. He showed up and it was the most awkward night anyone there had ever experienced. He didn't even steal anything he just loomed over everyone and made insensitive comments about how short they were. No one blamed Maeglin of course, and he was fine afterwards. Turgon called Morgoth several mildly rude things at the party though so you know he was at the absolute end of his rope.

Caranthir is an aspiring textile merchant who often does trade outside of the Shire. During one of his trips, he meets a dwarfish warrior named Haleth and they end up getting married.

One day two very lost, sad dwarves named Tuor and Turin show up in the Shire and become the absolute talk of the town, especially when Idril (who has completely refused the many gentlehobbits who tried to court her) almost immediately runs off and marries him (say it with me, good for her!) Soon afterwards they have adorable little dwobbit Earendil.

Said Earendil, as a young adult, takes a perilous boat journey up the river to seek the elvish king, Manwe, to tell him that Morgoth is being a huge dick. Manwe is confused about this, because Morgoth was released from elf-jail with a guard who was supposed to stop him from doing anymore crimes. (He got imprisoned first because of an incident involving public drunkenness and tree-related vandalism)

The guard was Sauron. He did not, in fact, stop Morgoth from committing more crimes.

So Manwe and the other elvish nobles (the Valar in the original Silm) go down to the Shire, apprehend Morgoth, and return the stuff he stole.

As an apology for letting Morgoth cause so much chaos down there, Manwe leaves one of his finest warriors to guard the Shire. And that is how Eonwe ends up becoming the first elf ever to be deemed a hobbit-friend.

[matrose]

view of gondolin