#yknow the good stuff

[tanoraqui]

My Take on the Oath of Fëanor, half based on analysis of the text and half on what I personally find most interesting from a storytelling perspective

[AO3]

SUMMARY:

It really did have a real, “supernatural” effect on the oath-takers’ future actions, not like the Oath itself is sentient but rather like they locked themselves into the Great Music itself as being a certain way, that way being “fire-hearted gem-chasers/vengeance-seekers” and now can’t stop.

It’s not literal, but it can be and is no doubt often rules-lawyered; what is being rules-lawyered is not the literal wording but rather what Fëanor and to a lesser degree each son meant at the time. 

The primary goal is to retrieve the Silmarils, with maybe a secondary goal of killing Morgoth and maybe anyone else trying to keep the Silmarils from them.

It will last until the end of time. Retrieving the Silmarils (after fucking up anyone in their way) will satisfy it, but not actually make it go away. If the gems were stolen again, it’d reawaken.

Even Fëanor doesn’t have the power to cast himself out into the Void, and the Valar aren’t going to do it for him. Eru would be well within his rights to do it while remaking Arda one day, but Eru would also be well within his rights to ignore the whole thing, at that point. Seeing as he’s re-composing anyway. But Fëanor and his sons have permanently Marred themselves, made themselves dangerous to everyone else’s peace, in such a way that Mandos is never going to let them out of his Halls even if their spirits are whole and healed in every other way.

EXTENDED EXPLANATION:

1. It really did have a real, “supernatural” effect on the oath-takers’ future actions, not like the Oath itself is sentient but rather like they locked themselves into the Great Music itself as being a certain way, that way being “fire-hearted gem-chasers/vengeance-seekers” and now can’t stop.

Fëanor put great power into his words, and invoked the power of Eru to back him up, and the result was that he changed the very nature of himself, of who and what Fëanáro Curufinwë is and forever will be, in the Music of Arda. On their own strength, and riding his wave, and also invoking Eru, his sons all did the same. 

Or rather, they didn’t “change” themselves so much as froze themselves (if such language can be applied to such blazing spirits). All the burning rage and blinding pride, all the fear, guilt, and terrible grief being fed to the fire of pride and rage in order to forge determination, courage, something like hope and something salvageable out of all this horror— The selves Fëanor & Sons were that terrible night-before-night is now who they are forever. 

And who they were was strong. They were a light in the darkness! They were the possibility of joy salvaged from sorrow, even if “joy” could only be defined as “bloody vengeance”! They changed the course of history with these few words!

They can calm down. They can lay slow siege, when interminably slow siege is the only option. They can resist the urge to chase the Silmaril for decades. But those emotions, that fire-steel strength, simmers in their veins, and the only way to access it is to lean into that fervor, into being who they were in that moment. Who they Sung themselves to ever be. The Oath-fire never fades, when all their other reserves grow weaker, and they need more and more strength just to get through the day, as Beleriand fell battle by battle...and it has gravity. They don’t even need to actively lean. When they don’t resist it, or promise their worse selves that they are pursuing the Oath (we cannot attack Angband outright...we’ll use the children as hostages...) it grows in their hearts and minds whether they mean it to or not. 

The more each Oath-taker naturally grows past who they were that night-before-night, the more the Oath feels like an other thing, even an outside force. But even referring to it as “the Oath”, while convenient, makes it sound more like some single other force than it is. It’s just Fëanor, Maedhros, Maglor, Celegorm, Caranthir, Curufin, Amras and Amrod each in one of the worst (but grandest) moments of their lives, and the fact that they set their mentalities in that moment as their personal baselines/first instincts for the rest of time.

2. It’s not literal, but it can be and is no doubt often rules-lawyered; what is being rules-lawyered is not the literal wording but rather what Fëanor and to a lesser degree each son meant at the time.

3. The primary goal is to retrieve the Silmarils, with maybe a secondary goal of killing Morgoth and maybe anyone else trying to keep the Silmarils from them.

Of course it’s not literal. The literal text of the Oath [reference] makes no mention of even retrieving the Silmarils, just murdering literally anyone who so much as holds one, even if they immediately throw it away, and Eru help anyone who tries to stop us. It doesn’t even clearly exempt “Fëanor and Fëanor’s kin” from this promised murder, just says that they’re the ones who will do the death-dealing. Or, hell, if it IS literal, the translation we have into English is not, because it says “ere Day’s ending” and “days”! did not! exist yet!

Also, some offense, but anyone who genuinely thinks dwarves, hobbits, etc. races are “allowed” to hold a Silmaril because they’re not specifically named, rather than just enjoying the idea as a crack au, is an idiot. Fëanor first said “Be he friend or foe, be he foul or clean”—the specification of Maiar, Eldar, Aftercomer, etc. is just for dramatic effect. We’re not saying a woman can hold a Silmaril because her pronouns aren’t he/him, are we? It’s not literal like that, and even if it was, your interpretation would be wrong. Pay attention to the tone!! 

The text clearly suggests that the non-literal primary aim of the Oath is to regain the Silmarils: "[Maedhros and Maglor] prepared...to attempt in despair the fulfillment of their oath; for they would have given battle for the Silmarils, were they withheld…” and Eonwë responds in kind, speaking as though the only question is will he give them the Silmarils. If the Silmarils weren’t withheld, Fëanor’s last sons would’ve walked away satisfied, gems in hand. Killing anyone between them and the gems is undeniably a key element of the Oath, the explicitly defined method of its completion, but it’s not actually required for its “fulfillment.” Negotiation was an option. Killing anyone who had held a Silmaril after getting them back is also not at all mentioned.

Of course, a secondary objective on Fëanor’s mind almost certainly WAS to murder the shit out of Morgoth no matter what, for Finwë. And murder maybe anyone else who deliberately stole and/or withheld the Silmarils from him, maybe even retributively after (hypothetically) stealing them back...

But here we reach the debate I’m certain Fëanor’s sons spent ~600 years at: What did Father mean when he swore the Oath, and the related but different question, What would Father want us to do right now? Because, while I said above that each Oath-taker is essentially haunted/semi-possessed by the fiery shadow of who they personally were that night, Maedhros, Maglor, etc. did not swear the individual Oaths of Maedhros, Maglor, etc. They all swore the Oath of Fëanor. Or I could say: part of who they were that night, what drove them so furiously, was siding with their father and doing his will, in defiance of cousins and gods alike. That is what the fire in their veins requires.

The nuances and maybe even the primary goal of the Oath may then differ dramatically by son! I think “What did Father mean when he swore the Oath?” is likely pretty well-agreed-upon between them, because Fëanor was projecting his fey temper and savage intent like a fire projects heat. But it’s still a question based on their personal understandings/interpretations of Fëanor at that time. And “What would Father want us to do right now?” is that PLUS things like,

“What might Father have said once he had a chance to calm down/experience additional, more slow-motion trauma/hit what is surely rock bottom (oh hey, shovels!) like we have?” 

“Would Father ever have calmed down? Shouldn’t we act as though in the first glorious burn of the Oath at all times, like he surely would with his eternal fire?” 

“What could I, personally, persuade Father into, for practical, personal or moral reasons?/What line might I refuse to cross, even to his face, even to the point of my own death?”

It’s notable that despite likely differing opinions on all of the above, Fëanor’s sons only ever acted as a group. That’s consistent with the way the Oath, the burning echoes of their past selves, can be reasoned with in things like, “we can’t just charge at Angband.” All Fëanor’s sons are following the best path to victory that they can a) see and b) morally/emotionally endure, and that means working together even if they likely disagree in their hearts on nuances of what the Oath requires. 

Though it is what they believe in their hearts that matters ultimately, because the Oath is a thing of emotion, not logic. So, would those nuances have cause bloodshed between them if they ever arose in a way that couldn’t be ignored, and bloodshed was truly the only option left to settle them? Maybe. Depends on the Oath-taker, depends on the nuance... No Oath-taker would ever be, like, puppetted against their conscious will to do something. It’d be more like...at the extremes of resisting the Oath, the obsession it brings, they might become like Smeagol and Gollum. Who were, ultimately, the same person. Ultimately, either they hew to the aims of the Oath or they’re tormented ceaselessly by the desire to do so, or they kill themselves—and because of who they are, who they already were before they swore the Oath and who they still are with it, they will all take option 1 or, at best, 3.

Example of a hypothetical struggle against the Oath: I headcanon that Maglor saw Elrond and Elros as his sons, and thus permissible Silmaril-holders—ie, he did NOT want to kill them, and in an ideal world Grandpa Fëanor would also find the idea abhorrent. But I don’t think Maglor thought he could’ve convinced his father of that, born of Fingolfin’s line as they were. I think if Elrond and Elros held and refused to surrender Silmarils, Maglor would’ve done his fucking best to knock them unconscious rather than kill them, then stood and argued with his father in his mind that this was enough, he had the gems and he could leave the children... 

And if he couldn’t pull that off, he would’ve made their deaths as swift and painless as possible, then likely flung himself into the sea with the gems in guilt. Maybe at a different time in a different place, with the world and his last vestiges of mental health not both crumbling, and less inertia to the Song of killing Beren & Luthien’s heirs generation after generation, and less desperate need for this to all just be OVER, he could resist the burning despair...either walk away to live forevermore in yearning torment, or decide “you know what, yes I COULD persuade Father of this”, or at least let them kill him instead... But not at the end of the First Age. 

(The whole course of the First Age, and Morgoth’s ambient malevolent influence pushing everyone to be their worst selves, definitely exacerbated the effects of the Oath. I don’t think he specifically targeted them that much about it, though. I don’t think he needed to. He was just catching them in his psychic AoE and eating popcorn while they tore Doriath and Sirion apart.)

Or maybe Maglor could have resisted, in this scenario! Maybe he loved them enough, and had enough shreds of hope left, to pull through! But “what does Maglor think Fëanor would do/demand, and thus psyche himself into being Oath-compelled to do” is the lens through which we should be interpreting the issue.

Another edge case is Celebrimbor. In contrast to the peredhil, I do think all of Celebrimbor’s uncles, and even his father, would’ve been (unhappily) satisfied with him holding the Silmarils, had that option been offered. Even after he defected from their House. Due to a combination of: they know Fëanor himself would never have thought of harming his own grandson, and even if Celebrimbor had defected...even if he was then deliberately withholding the Silmarils, rather than merely holding them on behalf of the House of Fëanor while not officially associating with them anymore...could they picture their father drawing a sword on Tyelpe then, with the fell fire that had been in his eyes at Alqualondë, at Losgar...

(Note to self: write like 500 words about Curufin having this nightmare post-Nargothrond.)

I think they still could’ve endured all that. For much longer than they gave Elwing, for sure. Through a combination of You Have To Draw The Line Somewhere (eg, around still-beloved nephews), and knowing that if Fëanor had, in such circumstances, killed his own grandson in order to regain the Silmarils, he would immediately have done something like, oh, charge forward and get himself killed by Balrogs.

A note relevant to both these scenarios: the phrase “Fëanor, and Fëanor’s kin” describes who is going to be doing all the death-dealing from which neither dread nor danger nor Doom itself shall protect an unlawful Silmaril-taker. But per the “the Oath means whatever Fëanor meant” rule, it IS also a good rule for who is a lawful (to Fëanor) Silmaril-taker. Fëanor had no intention of turning his sons against one another over who exactly was holding a Silmaril; I do NOT think that is a concern at ALL (except in fun angsty fic). His whole thing is clinging desperately to the few people he believes love him utterly and trusting nobody else. He names “Fëanor, and Fëanor’s kin” in his terrible Oath about completing what he feels in this moment is the most important job in the world, and his seven sons promptly prove themselves deserving of such trust by swearing it themselves as well, so of course they’re all allowed to hold Silmarils! …and nobody else. Except little Tyelpe, and Nerdanel if he could be SURE she wouldn’t just give them to Aulë (how can he be sure...). And Finwë, of course, if only…

4. It will last until the end of time. Retrieving the Silmarils (after fucking up anyone in their way) will satisfy it, but not actually make it go away. If the gems were stolen again, it’d reawaken.

Okay, this is literal wording, as expressive of savage intent; and implied in Point 1; and pure What I Like: The line, “death we will deal him ere Day's ending, woe unto world's end!” indicates Fëanor’s intent that this is a FOREVER promise, and so it is. Their role in the Great Music of Arda is changed by this Oath, and it will never be changed back. (Because you need an ASTONISHING amount of personal strength of will and/or fever-pitch of driving emotion/determination to do something like that, maybe the sort that unlikely to happen even once in a lifetime, or maybe the sort that is a finite resource for even the Spirit of Fire? Or maybe because this sharp shift into a menacing minor key was part of the Great Music as written already? ...Yes.)

They are the Oath-Takers, Fëanor and his terrible Sons. Inventors of murder, initiators of fire and war, monsters of late First Age Beleriand and countless horror stories and dark folklore for many Ages after. They are Silmaril-seekers, kin-slayers, simultaneously unstoppable in their quest and fated to never achieve the one goal to which they’ve committed themselves. They are pride and wrath personified (and guilt, fear, grief, determination, hope, bitterest despair and the dream of joy salvaged from it); they are walking death and fire. That is who and what they are, until the world is unmade and remade. Even if they could regain the Silmarils (which they won’t, not until the End of Days), they would only be satisfied-for-now, Oath-flame simmering lower and quieter than ever, until anyone should dare take one of those precious gems from them again.

(Because I’ll give the ‘literal interpretation’ take this: there’s no actual mention of regaining the Silmarils in the Oath, and there’s also no mention of being done once they achieve that. “Woe unto world’s end” COULD mean “we’ll seek vengeance even after getting the gems back”, but as discussed above, that’s contra-indicated in the text, so...eternal Oath!)

However, as suggested in Points 2/3, the Oath can be...lived with, while unfulfilled. It’s pure canon that it can be approached slowly (Siege of Angband), or even outright ignored, albeit maybe only temporarily (not attacking Sirion for a few decades)! So maybe if the Oath-takers were to go through a lot of therapy in Mandos and conclude that they REALLY regret everything (except ably guarding Beleriand, etc. good things) and have no interest in doing it again, that they’d even rather stay in Mandos rather than bring violence back to everyone else in peaceful Aman...maybe if they then were released, and got to live without the stressors of war, sudden loss, Melkor actively fucking with them...maybe if Fëanor finally accepted Fingolfin (et al) as “full-siblings in heart” in truth, and thus Eärendil as trustworthy kin, and he agreed that Eärendil is doing well at his undeniably important job with the Silmaril (and Eärendil doing that job is a Notable Part of the Great Music by now in his own right, so he can’t just give it to someone else).....

And if in his 6000+ years of depressed, somewhat off-sane beach singing, Maglor achieved through steady building/tread-wearing of repetition, rather than through sudden blaze, the same Music-shaping intensity of emotion (guilt/grief/abnegation/pride/veneration) and determination/certainty (never again/[that star above] is the Best Thing and also Not For Me) as that terrible night-before-night in the Great Square of Tirion... Not enough to undo the Oath, no; that’s not an option, and he doesn’t even call on Eru for anything. But enough to kinda...twist it...in conjunction with:

(not quite lucidly) ceasing to mentally/emotionally distinguish between Eärendil, the Silmaril, the Star and the whole concept of Hope (Estel); and

concluding through keen literally analysis that Hope is one of the most important things in the world, one of the primary messages and gifts from Eru Iluvatar to his Children

...the functional sum of which is that Maglor, when Elrond drags him gently and mercilessly onto a ship, will now defend Eärendil’s bearing of the Silmaril with Oathly fervor and lethality-if-necessary, albeit more on the verge of tears about it than he used to be.... (Tears about the possibility of losing Hope more than about the necessarily lethality, though that, too.).... And neither Fëanor nor any of his other sons have ANY interest in fighting Maglor, especially when he’s not still, like, weirdly emotionally fragile about this..... 

I’m a huge fan of stories where people literally magically curse themselves as a metaphor for some big emotional issue and/or bad life choice, and then eventually figure out that they can reverse the curse through the power of major character growth. But what if instead characters literally magically curse themselves as a metaphor for some big emotional issue and/or bad life choice and it’s NOT reversible even with major character growth? What if sometimes you just have to live forever with the possessive, paranoid, vengeful, murderous instincts you cursed yourself with, and growth is about not just moving past them with the rest of your heart, but accepting that they’re permanently part of you and learning how to manage them without making them anyone else’s problem? While living with your newly-welcomed extended family in a land of, okay, not the pure peace and bliss that was once promised, but close enough because now we’ve figured out how to work around all our respective Marrings?

5. Even Fëanor doesn’t have the power to cast himself out into the Void, and the Valar aren’t going to do it for him. Eru would be well within his rights to do it while remaking Arda one day, but Eru would also be well within his rights to ignore the whole thing, at that point. Seeing as he’s re-composing anyway. But Fëanor and his sons have permanently Marred themselves, made themselves dangerous to everyone else’s peace, in such a way that Mandos is never going to let them out of his Halls even if their spirits are whole and healed in every other way.

...but what if he did, huh. What if he let them give it a shot. What if we salvaged a happy ending out of this after all?

[theoldkyokodied]

Uploading all my Tomgreg art at once from the past few week before season 4 hits, who knows in what kind of mental state i'm gonna be once it does :')

[mossy-box]

Even more art of..him

[romanceddawn]

Puzzleshipping: "You gave me your heart, you know..." [Insp.]

❕ Please do not repost to any other sites ❕

[qkmlh]

Now remember folks!!

There was a strand of Venom left behind. Cockroaches can survive anything. And. “Goodbye for now.”

If that’s not an open ending to be as creative as a fan wants for Venom & Eddie, then I don’t know what is.

[dizzybizz]

the game dialogue:

the dialogue in my head:

[grechsblog]

i think isafrin dynamic, especially postcanon, is so funny to me because (among other things) isabeau is the notorious Gets Scared When The Horrors Appear type of dude, but also happens to be madly into a guy who, for lack of better words, can be aptly described as The Horrors

[r0semultiverse]

Small indie artists in need of support for moving out by September!

💜 These lovely folks [@QuinsCurse (they/them) & @sswitchblade03 (xe/xem and he/him)] are part of a small queer-owned Youtube community I'm in. 💖

💖 If you could lend a helping hand by reblogging & queueing this post up until the start of September, I'd greatly appreciate it & I'm sure these fine folks would too! 💜

⚠️ Do not tag as d*nations or anything like that! ⚠️

"Hi everyone! Requests are officially closed as I am opening emergency commissions! Please consider supporting me as we are getting kicked out and have managed to find a place that’s affordable but need to save up 5k by the end of the month! Anything helps! I also have a dontations page if you are willing to help do that! All the money received from commissions will be going to the deposit! https://ko-fi.com/quinscurse/commissions https://ko-fi.com/quinscurse/goal?g=32"

⚠️ Do not tag as d*nations or anything like that! ⚠️

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⚠️ Do not tag as d*nations or anything like that! ⚠️

[klmmcqueen]

i'm SURE someone has made this joke already but its tradition and the dude is literally named senshi what do you want from me

bonus

[shepscapades]

Why does Ren have 4 ears? Are they all real or is one set fake?

Hehe I’ve gotten this question a lot actually! They’re all real— I like to think hybridization isn’t always a clean balance of traits, so Ren just unfortunately ended up with two sets of ears— his Dog ears being much more receptive to sound, naturally— and sometimes when the extra intake of sound is too overwhelming, I imagine he wears earplugs in his human ears to help adjust :> it’s a bit weird, but idk! i like to make designs funky and nonconventional! I liked the idea that Ren had hearing struggles due to wonky hybridization and just kept the concept :>

[sometimesmaybespoof]

When she Half on my Life till I 2

[deoidesign]

I have freaking silly little guy disease...

After a full day of work (drawing them) I relax and draw for fun (drawing them)

ON GOD I am going to create and fuel my own fandom. If every post in the tag is mine so be it but it will not be empty. drink from my cup.

Such a big fan I'm making their whole comic and then some

[dontbotheraziraphale]

thinking about the fact that crowley canonically said "I could slither over. Watch you eat cake. Bring a bottle of - a case, of something drinkable"

like, if you told me that was a fanfic line i'd believe it. but no. he's just sad and alone and missing the angel he's on the phone to. just normal good omens stuff

[taitavva]

[sketch dump part 1 — part 2 — part 3 — part 4 — part 5]

[senselessalchemist]

The Beheaded makes a pitch

[epicfirestormer]

What I love about Hellboy and Abe Sapien's dynamic in the comics is that, if you came into this blind, you'd expect Abe to be the voice of reason or the straight man to Hellboy's impulsive and hotheaded personality. But no, Abe is more often than not the crazy one. Hellboy would deal with fighting evil monsters and bad guys by just sighing and getting it over with, while Abe is going rabid over tearing the creature apart when he does get into a fight. Hellboy acts like it's a 9-to-5 job and will reasonably talk things out with a guy that had nearly killed him before, Abe acts like a madman in a slaughter house and his first instinct is to shoot first kill second and ask third. They're both insane, but on completely different levels.