Latest Posts by elthbe - Page 4

Son and Heir (gouache practice)

Maedhros still bloody from the first kinslaying when he sees Maglor already composing the first draft for the Noldolantë

you are a god's best friend. the world is young still, and you are yet younger. he rides with you and hunts with you, and teaches you how to speak to birds and beasts. you are a god's student. you ride in his train and care for a hound that he gifted to you. gods have taught others before. gods have been kindly to others before. your god is your best friend. he gifts you something of his self, a hound of his own hunt.

you are your father's son. your grandfather is dead. no one has ever called you wise, and you are, above all else, your father's son. he swears a terrible oath. you swear a terrible oath. you don't know if you really mean it, but your mother named you well- you are hasty to rise, hasty to run into things. the hunt teaches you patience but you cannot outrun yourself. you are your father's son.

you are a god's best friend and you have sworn a terrible oath, but it is an oath that you hope that your friend can understand. to hunt the murderer of your grandfather, is something that the god of the hunt can understand.

you are your father's son. the blood of elves on your hands does not feel different than the blood of a deer, except in the tight feeling of your throat. except in the thunderous beating of your heart. you tell your brother, who is trying not to throw up, that you need to think of them like deer. he looks at you like he's never seen you before. you are forever doomed.

you are a god's best friend. he does not say goodbye, but your dog comes with you. surely you can fix this, then, surely you are still a god's friend.

you are your father's son. he dies. he dies but before he does, he tells you to burn the boats. you do. you are your father's son. your father dies and, he tells you to swear that oath once more. it is a terrible oath. you have sworn it once. you swore to your best friend once. surely it will not tip the scales to swear once more, if in your mind, you dedicate this hunt to him.

you were a god's best friend, and it is not enough. you are your father's son, and you speak your father's oath. it proceeds to eat you alive.

Findis: We must do something to stop Naro and Nolo or you would have good chances to become the only son in the family!

Finarfin: You know, I'm in hurry right now, but when I'll be walking past them I'll give them very accusing look.

Findis:

Finarfin: Yes, exactly like this one.

maglor does the scariest impressions. Once, he walked in on Maedhros and fingon and said in his feanor voice, ‘what is going on here?’ Mae almost had a heart attack.

Me, a youngest sibling: FINARFINFINARFINFINARFINNNNN THE POOR GUY HE WAS PROBABLY SO LONELY AND SAD AFTER EVERYONE LEFT BECAUSE AS A YOUNGEST SIBLING YOU’VE NEVER BEEN ALONE, LITERALLY ALWAYS SURROUNDED BY FAMILY AND THE BURDEN OF TAKING THIS CROWN THAT WAS NEVER MEANT TO BE HIS BECAUSE THERE WERE LITERALLY ALL OF FËANOR’S THEN FINGOLFIN’S KIDS BEFORE HIM AND THEY’RE AN IMMORTAL RACE ANYWAY SO IT NEVER EVEN CROSSED HIS MIND AND HE PROBABLY THOUGHT OF HIS BROTHERS EVERY TIME HE HAD TO PUT THE STUPID CROWN ON HIS HEAD AND SILENTLY WEPT BY HIMSELF BECAUSE WHO WAS LEFT TO UNDERSTAND THE LOVE ARAFINWË STILL HELD FOR HIS BIG BROTHERS-

Feanor: You lying, cheating, piece of shit!

Fingolfin: Oh yeah? You’re the idiot who thinks he can get away with everything, WELCOME TO THE REAL WORLD

Feanor: I’m leaving and I’M TAKING ATAR WITH ME

Finarfin, picking up the board game: Aaaaaand that's enough Monopoly for today

I'm generally very much supportive of different takes on characters in the Silmarillion because a lot of stuff is really vague and can be interpreted in a lot of ways.

However, it is wild to me that some people interpret Feanor as being on the same level (or worse) of villainy as Morgoth. Like, you guys do you, but to me, that is not a reasonable comparison. Feanor stole some boats, engaged in one potentially unintentional act of mass violence in the course of a confusing situation, and did one count of arson. Morgoth infused his evil will into the very heart/core/fabric of Arda so much so that it is still there even after both he and Sauron faced their ultimate defeats and it cannot be undone by any force in Arda other than Eru himself. Not to mention all the torture, slavery, manipulation, and murder he did for hundreds of years both before and after his initial imprisonment in Mandos. Like I'm not trying to absolve Feanor of his actions, but compared to Morgoth, they cast a far smaller shadow.

Feanor and Morgoth have one thing in common in the fact that they both stole something that was important to someone else and committed violence during the act of the theft. But honestly, given everything else Morgoth does in the course of the Silmarillion, I think it's pretty silly to put Feanor anywhere near Morgoth when it comes to villainy.

I know Manwe's pardon was a stupid idea and he should have think more about it, as King of Arda, but I can't help but feeling so much for him. He's a younger brother, he doesn't understand evil and even if he did, he would have forgiven Melkor anyway. That's his older brother, of course he's gonna give him another chance, of course he believes he can change, of course he forgives him.

That's what younger siblings always do.

Rían’s story breaks my heart.

She was only 10 when her dad was killed along with all the other outlaws except Beren. We don’t know anything about her mom; who knows if she was even around?

Then she fell deeply in love with a great man, they married, she got pregnant, it looked like they’d have a life together, but then he went off to war and disappeared. The grief and trauma coupled with anxiety about Morgoth’s looming presence was clearly almost unbearable for her - and she carried all that pain while pregnant.

She took all the necessary steps to ensure her baby was born healthy, but then she knew she couldn’t take care of him. She was in no mental state to do so. Postpartum depression seems likely in this situation, which must’ve only added to the emotional agony she was already in. So she let him go and went looking for the ghost of the love of her life.

Then she found a pile of bodies.

And finally she just snapped and lost all hope, and her suffering was so great that her spirit left her body behind to lie among all those brutally slaughtered by the enemy, including her husband’s.

It just guts me whenever I think about how hurt and alone she was. Morwen was clearly too preoccupied to help her and she did not seem to understand the Elves. She was completely isolated and depressed and couldn’t handle it.

I wonder if Tolkien was inspired to create this tragic character upon witnessing the grief of young WWI widows.

I was thinking of Beren and Lúthien and how their story is so much more interesting than they get credit for. I mean, on the surface it reads like a fairy tale but it also elevates the rest of the story, it uses common fairy tale tropes but turns them upside down, and the way we see the heroine asserting her agency in this story is so fascinating. I think the story of Beren and Lúthien provides much needed contrast for the rest of the Silm, and both become more poignant because of this contrast. 

The familiar fairy tale goes like this: there's a a poor but resourceful peasant, set with a difficult task (which is in fact designed to be impossible to complete), but thanks to some magical help he is successful, retrieves treasure, and as a reward he wins the king's daughter and lives happily ever after as a prince, gaining all the earthly glory one can have in this life. But in the Tale of Beren and Lúthien, the hero is a traumatised outlaw, the king's daughter IS the magical help, she is an active and equal participant in the quest for her own hand in marriage, the treasure may actually be cursed, the hero and heroine die, and the ultimate reward is not a social rise from rags to riches. Beren does not become a member of the power-wielding elite of Doriath and he and Lúthien are not promised that their second life will be happy or long. But just that chance is worth it, and by choosing it they actually change the course of history. Lúthien is offered all the bliss that is possible to have in Arda, if she will give up Beren, but she decides that the love she has for him is still more valuable. And that idea, of loving someone so much that your love shifts the world, is so compelling to me. 

And I love that the story of Beren and Lúthien is also a rendition of Orpheus and Eurydice, and that just as the world was created in the Music of the Ainur, so is Lúthien's song powerful enough to change what those original notes dictated. She changes it with hope and a song. That is so simple and yet so beautiful, in the way some of the best myths are. (Insane that this is essentially a love-letter to Edith Tolkien.)

There is this fascinating contrast between Beren and Lúthien: at the time of their first meeting, Beren has lost literally everything and his family is either dead or lost beyond retrieval. Stumbling across Lúthien, he is fresh from terrible ordeals and suffering. But Lúthien's life has been full of happiness and without care, and she has lived in a literal fairy kingdom as the most beautiful of all the Children of Ilúvatar. She could have her pick of any prince of Eldar. But here she comes across this mortal, who has nothing to give except for his love and even that only for a brief time, and she is willing to risk all she has for it. The gall and courage it takes to take such a chance! She chooses this man and her choice changes everything. 

And that is brilliant! Because Lúthien starts with so little power and agency, and she is constantly belittled or even abused by those with more power around her. She is treated as a pawn, her will is undermined and she is coerced and imprisoned to make her compliant. But Lúthien shows her determination and courage in holding fast to her choice even when it's just her and Beren against the world. In the end, she wins agency and freedom to determine her own tale. In her beginning Lúthien is a maid dancing in the woods; by the end she will have faced Satan and death itself, and changed the world forever. Truly, to call her story "Release from Bondage" is more than appropriate. How insane is this all from Beren's point of view? He has lost everything, he is an outlaw, and has nowhere to go. What is left of his family is scattered who knows where. He has nothing but the clothes on his back and nothing to give. But here is this immortal princess, and she will go to hell and back with him! She will cross the Sundering Sea to bid him farewell! She pleads with inexorable death and for her, an exception is made!  It's so on brand for Tolkien that these two achieve with their love, and precisely because they act out of love, something that others with armies behind their backs can't even imagine doing.

Yeah. It's such a good, hopeful, bittersweet tale.

Thingol, Luthien, and Dior’s claim to the silmaril bugs the living daylights outta me and I’m gonna break down why. This goes a bit beyond ownership laws.

Starting with basics. What are the silmarils? Gems created by Fëanor that hold the light of the Two Trees. Who in Beleriand saw the light of the trees and no doubt misses it like a limb? Are here in part to avenge their destruction? The Noldor.

The Sindar never went to Valinor. They might find the gems beautiful but that’s it. There’s no cultural or emotional connection to them beyond ‘pretty stone, look how awesome our princess was.’ There’s no appreciation for what they hold. No understanding that this stone is one of the *last* things that holds the ancient light of the Trees.

The Noldor meanwhile not only saw the Light, they had entire festivals surrounding it. Grew their entire culture, their lives, under and around it. Now the trees are destroyed, their king killed defending these jewels. And this last beacon of hope, a piece of the home they can never return to, a piece of light that will never come back, is being kept by people who can’t even begin to understand the significance of what they keep.

Now imagine being the sons of the one who made this jewel from a culture of people who value craft above all else.

Not only is it light, it’s the result of years of toil and experimentation of your father, the one who managed to do what no one had ever even thought of. Fëanor’s sons would have been the first to see these jewels, probably saw him make prototypes, work equations whilst they worked on their own crafts. Provided what relief they could to his ever working mind and inadvertently gave him ideas that helped solve problems he encountered along the way. Suddenly it’s not only a key part of their culture, it’s something core to their family.

Then Fëanor is killed and in many ways it’s the most important thing they have left of their father. Now it’s a source of memory too, for someone doomed to the Halls for eternity. Who they’ll likely never see again unless they’re killed.

Now from what I’ve heard, Tolkien says the Fëanorions lost their right to the Silmarils when they killed for them. Which makes no sense considering the Silmarils were *created* by Fëanor. Yes the light was created by the Valar, but what, you’re gonna say ‘I created electricity so that lightbulb you made is actually mine.’ That’s not how it works. Fëanor made the casing for the stones and figured out how to hold the light, without aid from the Valar. It doesn’t matter what actions they take, the right to the Silmarils remain theirs and theirs alone. The jewels hold no power of their own, they’re literally objects. Healing objects at most. Morals do not dictate their ownership, hallowed or not.

Tolkien going on to say the right of Doriath’s Silmaril actually goes to Beren and Luthien for taking it from Morgoth gives me frankly coloniser vibes.

‘Oh this thing I stole was originally stolen from you? Too bad. I took it so it’s mine now. Don’t care how important it is to you, your entire culture, and your people.’

Get where I’m coming from?

All in all the whole situation gives me Bad Vibes and I really don’t like the attitude the Sindar have to the Silmaril. In terms of Elwing, I can partly forgive her purely based on trauma response. Fine. Doesn’t make it right, but I understand. But that never would’ve been a problem if her father, grandmother, or great grandfather had the sense to acknowledge the silmaril was never theirs to keep. Don’t like the Fëanorions, (too bad) at least give it back to the Noldor.

Maglor, even tempered and with a voice like molten gold. Maglor who kills at Alqualonde and burns the ships and does not speak against his father. Maglor who runs around Beleriand with Maedhros for their hunts and diplomatic feasts. Maglor who takes the Gap and holds the front with his elder brother, keeping the other five behind their lines. Maglor whose voice is strong and commanding on the battlefield but persuading and compelling in meetings and honeyed and cristal clear when raised in song. Maglor who follows Maedhros and protects him from treachery during the Nirnaeth. Maglor who kills and kills in Doriath, in Sirion, who buries his younger brothers. Maglor who takes pity on little children and raises them, growing fond of them, as little might be thought. Maglor who is sick and weary, who has seen his land lost, his people turn their back on him and Maedhros, Maglor who prefers to surrender than to commit another atrocity, who still hopes beyond reason that there can be forgiveness even for them, that the oath can sleep if the Silmarils are safe, even if they do not have them, who hopes the Powers can render their oath void, and if not, better the Everlasting Darkness than killing again. Maglor, who caves, who kills again, who betrays one last time, who listens and follows his elder brother one last time as they stand back to back against Eldar, Men and Maiar. Maglor, who, despite everything, casts the Silmaril away. Maglor who might have faded, might be alive, alone at last.

Maglor, whose voice and words are the only thing of him left behind, telling of the sorrows of the Noldor.

Maglor and Galadriel

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Galadriel: *lying face down on her bed*

Finrod entering her room: Hey, are you doing okay?

Galadriel in a muffled voice: I just need a break from everything. Including existing.

Finrod: Alright, if that's what you want.

Finrod shuffled in and plopped face down on the bed with her.

Galadriel looks up confused: What are you doing?

Finrod looks up at her and smiles softly: I'm taking a break from existing with you.

After a couple hours, their other brothers found their way into Galadriel's room, turning it into a cuddle pile, the four eventually drifting off to sleep.

on a scale of one to spontaneous combustion, how pissed off would you be if your rightful property was

Stolen

Stolen

Claimed by another

Stolen

Stolen

Passed down as an heirloom

Wilfully kept from you

Passed down as an heirloom

Wilfully kept from you

Actively removed from your vicinity

Used as collateral in an underrepresented diplomatic negotiation

Sent to space.

Nerdanel, strong Nerdanel, young and curious. She travels alone throughout Valinor, to the edges of the light of the Trees. She sleeps on the fields under the stars, she eats what the land offers. She follows streams and wild beasts, she collects rocks and takes notes of the different types of mineral and stone, her drawings filling the pages of the little notebook she carries with her. She goes on foot, and her legs get strong and quick. She ascends the peaks, where the snow crunches under her boots, and running water carves shapes into the rock. She is on the summit of the Pelori, where the air is thinner and cold, and she can see the plains of Valinor stretch underneath her. She wonders if this is what Manwe feels like, if he feels the same exhilaration that she expereiences in her bones. She reaches the sea, she swims with the dolphins and imagines to fly with the seagulls, and her eyes are drawn to the dark sky far in the east. She wonders what had the Elves in Cuivenen seen, how they had lived in the dark, the stars their only guide. She feels observed, a kind presence that watches over her, and the stars look a little brighter as her voice raises in song to Varda. She stays there, at the fringes of the territories of the Eldar, mourning in her heart the day that she has to return home, under the bright light of the Trees - beautiful, but the stars are not as bright as they are here. She would like to take their light with her, to preserve that gentle and distant beauty. But she has to return at some point, she cannot wander forever.

One day, as she is making her way back home under the light of the Trees, she meets an ellon. He is tall and dark, but when he looks at her, his eyes shine brighter than Varda's creations. And Nerdanel knows that she will keep starlight with her forever.

Whenever there's a conversation about which Elves were strong and great, people usually talk about those who were warriors and kings and such, but I just want to take a moment to appreciate Nerdanel.

She's so good at her craft that her statues are sometimes mistaken for actual living people and creates sculptures from her own imagination (as someone who's trying to learn art - that's amazing). She has such a great personality that completely overshadows whatever she may lack in beauty compared to Elven ladies and princesses, considering how Fëanor fell in love with her despite other people questioning his choice because of her looks. She's so smart that Fëanor, despite his great pride, respected her opinions and came to her for counsel, which is also something he never did with anyone else. She's charismatic too, being able to influence him and work with his pride. She's so strong that she managed to have seven children - which is quite unique among Elves - and be a mother to a hoard of Mini-Fëanors; and now she has to deal with losing almost her entire family. She's also wise, choosing not to follow Fëanor to Middle-earth because she understood that it was a doomed endeavour. And last but not least, she has a strong, shiny spine, standing her ground even though Fëanor can be very charismatic and convincing and was accusing her of being a terrible wife and mother in response to her decision.

To me, Nerdanel is one truly great character who doesn't even need a sword or her own kingdom to display strength. Strength and greatness come in many different forms.

Now I can’t get the idea out of my head of Finrod talking to every sea creature he can, trying to get messages to Maglor. Everything. Crabs, seagulls, pelicans, you name it. If it’s a creature that inhabits the sea or wanders the beaches, he makes friends with it.

I bet you anything he sings to whales and speaks dolphin.

Maglor doesn’t understand why he can swear he hears them singing his cousin’s songs to him.

A young Celeborn and Galadriel, sometime during the first age

Bro.

The Elves literally gave Manwë and Varda a ship name in the book of lost tales. A SHIP NAME. That's how cute a couple they are.

"A king is he that can hold his own, or else his title is vain" says Maedhros and it reveals something interesting about how he sees kinship and his role as leader.

A king is he that does not delegate and when wants something done, goes himself. He leads by example, he negotiates (attempts to, at least) with Morgoth, he places himself at the northern border of Beleriand, and the text tells us that he is even "very willing" that Morgoth's force falls heavier on him. He is ever watchful, he goes personally into battle, and is at the frontline, doing deeds of surpassing valour.

And when he is king no more, when Himring has fallen, and what little hope they had of defeating Morogth has vanished, he has his oath. He loathes what the oath makes him do, this the text says plainly, but the fact remains that he does it all the same.

He clings to the oath, terrified of what could happen if he breaks it. In his last conversation with Maglor, he appears to be more concerned to be an oathbreaker, than anything else, convinced that the doom of an oathbreaker is worse than that of a kinslayer. Because a king that breaks his oaths, is no king at all.

He is trapped in the condrum that the 'heroic' mentality poses. Until the bitter end. When faced with the very fact that the oath was void, his entire worldview, his certainties crumble, and his life has no meaning anymore.

I just found your picture of Celebrian and Elrond's wedding...oh god my sides hurt from laughing so hard! The reception must have been awful

maybe! but then I thought of the last two surviving grandchildren of finwe in middle earth getting to reunite and celebrate and at least they could have fun for once ;u;

(referencing this post)