elmendea

[elmendea]

My love refuses to acknowledge the closing of the doors of your life upon these shores. My heart sees not your ending. It never will.

I will speak no farewells, and while I may weep, I will shed no tears over the distance now between our souls; not for the most sundering of all seas, nor for the straightest of all roads. In my memory, you are as alive and as vital as the warmth of the sun, forever remembered in the light of an unpassing spring morn as butterfly flickers of light kissed your cheekbones, your proud brow, your hair spun of secret gold. In my memory, I am never far from that morning, regardless of how far your spirit is from me now. I need brave no winter, for I will never allow frost to settle upon my heart and chill my devotion. My love keeps you within me, undimmed by any shadow, untouched by time's passing, never to know the slightest whisper of decay. Whisper no goodbyes, my unexpected love, for I guard you; my remembrance your forever beyond forever. My love as immortal as you ever will be.

I will not let my heart shatter, for I am not letting you go -- in this heart, you are mine to keep in perfect, light-blessed clarity, ever unfading; thus it will stand as a fortress within memory and time. You are endless within me, your brilliance and fire keeping the small spark of my own hope aflame within my sorrow and longing.

My heart shall never say goodbye, even if my voice whispers of our parting to the stars and begs them to halt my tears. My spirit refuses. My love refuses.

I cannot forsake you. Eternal you are, unforeseen beloved, unbroken your memory. You are as undying as all the peerless works of your own hands. Through me, you are as endless as the love I will bear for you beyond the ends of the world. Through you, my heart will never break, for it is where you will reside, until we meet once more.

[elmendea]

Would that I could speak to him as easily as I write, and sing to him of my dreams. But I cannot, and let my unspoken vows be drowned in the molten gold he weaves into light.

Nay, he knows of nothing but the joy of creation, he speaks only in the language of heartrending beauty. His words fill my mind with silver-limned images of artifice and kindness, he paints a portrait of a world filled with a lushness of fathered wonder, a world he can already see with his waking eyes…oh, would that he could also see me. Would that he knew the calling of my heart and draw close to me, close enough so I could catch the scent of the forge still lingering upon his skin, the very autograph of his brilliance.

Tell him not of my longing. Let the gentle shimmer of the jewels he fashions seal my secret in light and sink it into their faceted depths, eternal and changeless.

I know he feels nothing but the heady rush of genesis as delights and marvels spring from beneath his fingertips. His tender touch is only for the coolness of metal awaiting the fire of forming, blossoms of potential. The strength of his arms and the deftness of his hands stay devoted to coaxing a bejewelled possibility from the coolness of stone. The soft glow of his thoughtful gaze only mirrors his wisdom and patience, his smile his passion. If only once, I alone could be graced by that smile. Would that he would hold me, so I may whisper the promises that only the stars and my own tears ever hear to him. If only he could take those sighs and encase them in silver filigree more delicate than starlight upon saltwater, more precious than mithril itself.

But no. I will not burden him with my yearning. I shall let the sparkle of the gems hide my tears deep within their carved hearts, let my sighs fade into the margins of his sketches of maybes, where they cannot trouble him.

Let me swallow the firestorm that is my love for this smith, and let the smith give his love only to his creations, far more worthy than I.

[elmendea]

he is so perfect in this role, I cannot--

like. look, you don't understand. I've had Sam Neill as my Círdan in my head since like...'03, '04? I was that bitch who was whining on Livejournal and moaning when the super popular LotR websites were painting the Shipwright as basically Draco Malfoy's father with silver hair (no, no kidding, I cannot tell you how many blends/photomanips I saw of beardless Círdan who looked as cold as ice, and that was like, accepted as the canon. Go straight to hell, damn). Like. I was so ready to panic about who they cast as this astounding, beautiful elf that I have loved for the longest time. Who could do better than who I casted in my head?

Ben goddamn Daniels is who.

He is so absolutely, utterly Círdan I can hardly believe it. He is this paragraph come to life: "Very tall he was, and his beard was long, and he was grey and old, save that his eyes were keen as stars", and the way he plays him, oh goodness. I can see all his wisdom and kindness and age and longing and steadfastness.

I mean. Just. Goddamn. Like, do you have any idea how much this elf has denied his own happiness and longing to make sure his divinely appointed task wasn't just done, but done well? And his longing was like a sunset that never passed into dusk, no less -- and Ben Daniels communicated that in his performance. And took my breath away wholly.

I have fallen in love with this character ten times harder than I already was, and that, my friends, is utterly unheard of. This actor is a delight and this show is a Silmaril in the sunset. ♥

[elmendea]

Upon viewing S02E1 -- this aged like the First Age red that hit the floor in Celebrimbor's forge, baby. I despise this character, and I love that I do. Charlie Vickers is astonishing.

SO. This piece of work.

I honestly thought Halbrand being Sauron would have been so on the nose, but somehow, they managed to make it absolutely fucking terrifying.

Think about it. He was pulling every single thread from the very beginning, with deadly purpose and terrifying precision. He knew exactly was he was doing at every step, the whole time. 

Yes, even if he was feeling repentant at any point, as published canon tells us he was – I’ll be damned if he didn’t always have the option to completely drop the repentant ordinary life in Númenor the minute he ran into something that forced his hand, like Galadriel did, in the back of his mind. Or, even if she hadn’t – the minute he got bored of playing ordinary smith.

And he would have. Yes, yes, he would – he has a mind like a subtle knife. The very second he got bored…

He let Galadriel learn the truth about him. He had no reason to keep playing peaceful king – he’d seen Celebrimbor at work, seen the elves’ panic first hand, seen Mordor take shape, seen all the key pieces having been moved into the right places.

He could have spun an actual, spoken lie, this time: that the line of the kings hadn’t been broken, that he was the very last survivor of a bloodline that had hidden itself for centuries. It would have been as easy to him as breathing.

But where’s the fun in that? Where’s the conquest? Why reign over an insignificant little mortal kingdom when you can have all of Middle-earth gripped in an iron fist?

Who wants mere subjects when you can have worshippers? 

Fuck repentance. Let the true king finally take what’s his. Tell Galadriel the truth.

Again.

That’s all he ever did. Not one lie, not once.

He is so horrifically good at what he does that he doesn’t even need to lie to deceive people.

He’s Sauron the Deceiver, after all.

[elmendea]

And no more despair.

REST IN PEACE BERNARD HILL (1944–2024)

[elmendea]

LEGENDS OF THE QUENDI

Private commission, from The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien.

Pen and ink, watercolor, 24 K gold.

Gandalf/Olorin, Cirdan, Celembribor, Gil Galad, Melian, Galadriel, Elrond, Arwen, The Elven Rings, The Elessar, and a symbolic Belt of Melian.

No, I'm not playing hooky on Good Omens, I get about 20 minutes a day to work on other stuff.

I was getting a half hour a day, but even that's too much at this point.

And yes, at roughly 25 minutes a day, a piece like this takes a really long time. Months.

I'm a big believer in making sure you pick at something else even while working on a big project, even if you only use that time for warm ups. Keeps you from crumbling under the weight of the main project.

[elmendea]

this post bought to you by my re-listen of The Silmarillion courtesy Andy Serkis

okay, but look: Daeron for the Biggest Dumbass and Probably An Incel in Middle-earth. "Oh, you know what will make Lúthien love me, that utter ho? If I tattle on her to her dad about who she's seeing at the moment! He'll probably lose his shit and kill him, ahaha! She'll adore me forever after that, the mortal-loving tart she is. How could she not?"

just shut up and play your flute, you dork-ass loser

[elmendea]

RORY KINNEAR AS BOMBADIL.

Kinnear is a fecking brilliant actor, so I've no doubt he can pull off anything, personally. I'm so curious about how Second Age Tom will be, as well -- will he be as strange and jolly as he is when we met him in the Third Age? If not, why so? He looks very solemn in the still that was released, but you can't judge anything other than costuming from a screenshot, really.

(...holy crap it would be SO awesome if Gandalf eventually gets his hat from Bombadil.)

I cannot wait for this season, I swear I'm counting down the days ♥

[elmendea]

thanks for the support lol 🥰😊 I’m new to tumblr so I felt like I was getting SLAMMED in the comments. It might just me though

thanks! 😊

:( I'm so sorry to hear that. Unfortunately, the anti-fandom (for lack of better term) for Rings of Power is as fanatical as they come, and while you can get a few good faith replies as to why someone might not like the show, there's a lot of unnecessary cruelty and viciousness involved a lot of the time. I say just block those who are being horrible, be polite with those who are polite, and just enjoy the show and the fandom (which is super friendly and funny!) <3

[elmendea]

rings of power controversy

why does everyone on here seem to hate amazon's rings of power series so much, I literally don't understand :(

like, all of the actors are doing an amazing job??? every character is complex and interesting?? and the relationships between all of them, whether it be friendship, romantic, or acquaintance, are incredibly portrayed??? the sets and art and costuming and CGI have absolutely blown everything that disney and marvel is doing recently out of the water? bear mccreavy is ABSOLUTLEY living up to Howard shore's legacy?? (and side note, but the Percy Jackson show soundtrack also slaps)

i also don't get why people don't like galadriel. she is depicted as being angrier than we know her, but it kinda also makes sense? like, someone can become a totally different person in one or more years, changing their personality, morals, ethics, style, taste, where they live, job, school, etc. So to me, it makes sense that she is like this in the show. by the time that most people know her, in the late third age, thousands of years have passed. you're telling me that if you lived for thousands of years you wouldn't change?? and also her whole family is dead! the show used finrod as the specific person to show the source of her grief. and even before that cool featurette thing amazon released for season 2 came out, it was super obvious that she was going to have a 'growing softer' ark, especially with how she interacted with Theo in the later episodes? people who say that Amazon is having to do major character work and backtracking haven't analyzed the show enough.

and yes, there were points where the show was too graphic, I absolutely agree. that one tavern scene, and the whole fight sequence in their old town is what immediately comes to mind. but that wasn't so much the norm in the show (but I really hope there is no more of that in future seasons. being scary and full of suspense is one thing, graphic depictions of blood and gore is outside of Tolkien and shouldn't be a part of it)

and yes, there are some stuff I don't like about the show. I think the origin story for mithril was weird, and they could've done a better job showing how much time was passing between each event, I think that having that bundle be an axe instead of the sword hilt that multiple characters handled before Theo not bothering to check it was a 'all the characters are being dumb for no reason moment' that could and should have been done better, and more, but those are small things in comparison. and you're not going to have a show that you love absolutely everything about each time!

but I think that there's a difference between the show 'ruining the feel of tolkein' (because that's impossible, Tolkien invented a genre and it will never die), and them elaborating on those parts of the story which aren't specifically spelled out in his narrative, which is the whole point of their contract with the Tolkien estate. and when it was first streaming, it was the #1 most streamed show in the US! my friend who watched the show with me, and is also a diehard fan, argued that if this wasn't Tolkien, and Amazon was just making their own original fantasy story (pretending that Tolkien doesn't exist in this conversation about the show we were having), everyone would be all over it. because its covering a story we all know and love in a new way that's making lots of people mad just because the company doing it is amazon. just saying

idk, if you disagree with me on something or want me to elaborate drop a comment or something, I'm happy to talk about this more, I just wanted to rant, haha

[elmendea]

Since elves have such a long life span, Legolas going on a ~6 month trip and coming back with a dwarf on his arm is the human equivalent of going to Vegas for the weekend and getting married to the first person you meet

[elmendea]

For he was a gentle heart and a great king and kept his oaths; and he rose out of the shadows to a last fair morning.

[elmendea]

so.

WHO ELSE IS LOSING THEIR MIND RIGHT NOW

[elmendea]

hey guys remember in letter 348 when tolkien was talking about galadriel and he said that "in her youth, she was of amazon disposition, and bound up her hair as a crown when taking part in athletic feats" cause the people in the hair and makeup department of rings of power sure do

[elmendea]

Everyone is having a bad time:

And then there's this bitch:

[elmendea]

These halls seem so empty, even when thronged with people. That which I loved more than stars and breath has again escaped my grasp, and eternity seems faded and doomed to decay, even here in the Undying Lands.

Cruelly bright memories of distant years are the only things I can hold to my aching heart; I always believed that they would be enough. They are not; for they are too vivid, yet too far away -- you are long gone, and I am left here with nothing but lucent yet gossamer dreams. Unceasing, unchanging, dancing in the ash of a cracked soul. The spectres left behind only ever speak in laughing derision and leave their footprints like bloodstains.

What good is eternity without you? Even those most beloved moments are now coated in a fine sheen of dust. When I shake it away, I find it only concealed the suppurating wounds upon my soul. The macabre filigree of spiders have covered them in mockery of the scars they will never heal into. Accursed memory, the thing in me as alive as any waking moment and just as clear, yet never quite enough. Perhaps this is my mortal weakness.

I let you choose your own destiny, as any heart with any mercy in it must have -- how could I have lived if I refused you to walk upon your own path? Alas, the consequences of my letting you fade to but a mere recollection are now tearing me apart.

And I know...and only as the evening falls and the day dies can I whisper into the approaching darkness that I know the truth…that the one who is truly fading is myself.

[elmendea]

Can I just say how much I enjoy that almost everyone in Lord of the Rings is an adult. Like a grown ass adult. I do realize the hobbits are relatively young for their species, but there’s no chosen one teenagers, they’re not a group of random twenty something’s who also happen to somehow be geniuses, no childlike drama or super honed abilities that have somehow only been developed before high school. Just a bunch of old, weary adults getting shit done, honing their craft after years and years and being badass regardless of age.

Editing for the new folks reblogging: Pippin is the exception this. I mentioned the hobbits are young for their species, with Pippin being the youngest. Still, the main idea is that overall, this isn’t a YA novel with all twenty-something protagonists.