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"Fandom isn't perfect" bullshit have you ever hung out with the Silmarilion fandom? Tolkienites are already chill as fuck but the Silm girlies are elite. No drama, no shipping wars, no antis. THRIVING incest community. The fanfic is BIBLICALLY good. Just a bunch of phenomenal artists drawing elf yaoi in perfect harmony and we could learn a lot from them

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Why Legolas Greenleaf was Chosen for the Fellowship of the Ring

First, Why Not Glorfindel, (with Glorfindel standing in for, in general, any ancient heroes who might be hanging around Rivendell)

This is a stealth mission. The first priority should not be Heroics, which, if anything goes well, should not be necessary. It would have been useful to have Glorfindel when they encountered, for example, the Balrog, but ideally, they would not have encountered a balrog

So then, if you're not expecting to use Heroics, than having someone that much more powerful than the rest of the party is actually a massive liability. If Legolas fell victim to the ring, then Aragorn and Boromir could take him out. If Glorfindel was sent on the mission and tried to take the ring, then everyone else is kind of just fucked. He's Glorfindel. It's the same reason none of the people Frodo offers the ring to takes it. (Gandalf is mildly a complication for this point but like Gandalf just really needs to be here. We need Gandalf.)

Could Gandalf fight Glorfindel? idk. I feel like a redditor just asking the question. it wouldn't be good for anyone if he did, that's for fucking sure

Why Legolas Specifically

He's good at stealth. He's a good scout. He's cheerful and not prone to despair. He's a good fit for this kind of mission

As a Mirkwood elf, he does not have the same vested personal interest in the Three surviving that a Rivendell or Lothlorien elf might have. He is not going on a specific quest to destroy his own home, which would be the kind of thing the Ring would love to latch on to.

Also, as a Silvan elf, his people mildly have a much better track record with the cursed shinies than like. the high elves. the wise. et fucking cetera (I am not open to corrections as to whether Legolas is a silvan elf <3)

But also—specifically—Legolas is someone who is very used to creeping dread and despair, and he's still Like That. He's still Legolas. He's still weird and cheerful and excited about trees. My first point is that he's not prone to despair, and I just want to stress that he has been under this kind of pressure—under the creeping shadow—for his entire life.

he's not tired in the way that so many elves are

Also—

I made another short post about this, and I got this response:

#personally I've always thought it's because #he's actually from one of the places right now #where Men Dwarves and Elves all talk to each other#whereas an elf from Rivendell or Loth Lorien may be very wise and learn'd in what you need to know to be considered learn'd #but have they spoken to someone who isn't of their kin in the last thousand years? #have they experience traveling paths unknown to them and finding their way? #can they hear an insult and try to reach through cultural differences? #would they be able to walk into a texmex restuarant for the first time and go 'oh it's spelled t-a-c-o gotcha CHOMP mmm' #(I suspect not)

(tags by @fairy-anon-godmother)

Which I really agree with!!

In Conclusion:

My boy was perfect for this quest :) He's cheerful, he's young, and he's exactly what the fellowship needs in their elf

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hello Tolkien fandom I have spent a normal and reasonable amount of time creating this uquiz. It's more of a dissertation than a personality quiz at this point uhhh

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The house of Feanor family tree feat. bizarre t shirts

tag yourself I'm notice me sin pi

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the 'nel' part of nerdanel's name could be taken as a nickname. now, if we follow tolkien's usual nickname construction, nerdanel can easily be nicknamed 'nelyë' which is quite cute if you think of how maedhros is nicknamed 'nelyo'. a secondary reason for fëanor to name his son nelyafinwë, perhaps.

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Silmarillion Fandom Terminology Quiz

So, I'm doing a project for linguistics class and I'm studying fandom terminology in the Silmarillion fandom and whether or not demographics make a difference. The only demographics are age category, gender, continent, language background, and fandom background, after which you get into more fun questions, including but not limited to...

What is a Blorbo?

The Thorn Debate

What is "Accidental Baby Acquisition"?

Who is Crablor

What is a "PWP"

The quiz has three sections: Demographics, General Fandom Terms, and Silmarillion Specific Terms. Have fun with it, share it with your Silm friends!

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Finally can share the full picture

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Fingon being the only kinslayer in his family the same way Maedhros was the only Feanorian that didn't participate in the burning of the ships ourgh

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Do you maybe have any thoughts about the Faithful in Númenór, esp. in the last, darkest years... their motivations and ways of going about the hellish reality they found themselves in? Do you think the later remnant that formed the kingdoms in exile has a martyrological tradition?

(feel absolutely free to ignore this if I'm being presumptuous by asking — I don't think Númenor is your "specialty" as far as I'm aware, but I really like your philosophical approach to the Silm in general and I kind of yearn to hear the opinions of other religious people on the Akallabeth... since I think one cannot ignore that facet of the story, as interwined with the subject as it is)

I love these kinds of asks and I’m delighted you sent it! I hadn’t comsidered it before – thank you for setting me off thinking about it, because it is fascinating!

I think you’re right, that the Faithful would certainly have matrys and hold strongly to the memory of them as inspiration to hold fast in dark times. It must have bern horrific to them, seeing their entiee culture that they loved twisted and turned to the service of evil, and their friends dragged off as human sacrifices on Sauron’s altars. Remembering borth their own martyrs, and heroes of the First Age who defied the darkness, like Beren and Lúthien and Finrod and Húrin, could be inspiration in that time. I can even see them developing traditions around parts of the First Age they hadn’t thought much about until that time; for example, Fëanoreans followers who turned against the Fëanoreans during Sirion could be an image of rejecting allegiance to your nation-state when it has turned to evil. Or around Bór and his people, who fought against Morgoth; which could also become a symbol of solidarity with the Men of Middle-earth whom Númenor was victimizing. You would see Faithful risking their lives to save Men of Middle-earth from being made sacrifices, and being killed themselves (which would probably also draw parallels with Finrod in Tol-in-Gaurhoth), and memorialized by the Faithful. Martyrdom would be further elevated by being a symbolic contrast to the obsessions of Ar-Pharazôn and his followers: willingly giving up your life in service of what is right, set against the all-consuming obsession with avoiding death.

I think one thing that would become pressing to the Faithful in the time of Ar-Pharazôn and Sauron (and even well before that) would be the question of how to avoid being complicit in an empire that is bring your country such wealth and power. Because of this, I could see a strong ascetic tradition developing among some of the Faithful, living with minimal possessions and on simple food to avoid partaking of the spoils of empire; the love of craft and beauty is rooted to deeply to disappear, I think, but for some it would change to a determination that the only objects of art/beauty you would have would be ones made by yourself and your loved ones – a sort of return to the roots of what makes art meaningful, in human connection not vain display.

In times of such despair, I can also see these things taking a darker turn in some cases. People deliberately seeking out a martyr’s death for its own sake, seeing it again as a defiance of the King’s Men’s obsession with extending life, and because they had lost hope of things ever being better. Ascetics deliberately starving themselves to death.

In the kingdoms in exile, Arnor and Gondor, it becomes complicated in a different way. When the Faithful left Númenor, I think they knew in their hearts something dreadful was going to happen; but I don’t think they necessarily expected it to encompass the destruction of the entire island and everyone on it. While the martyriologucal tradition may have endured until the end of the Second Age, while they were fighting Sauron, as a memorial of what he had done to them and why it was necessary to fight, I think that things would have changed fairly rapidly in the Third Age. When we look at how Gondor remembers Númenor – the ritual of looking west before dinner as an equivalent to saying grace, and the way it’s talked about throughout The Lord of the Rings – it feels remembered primarily as a glorious lost past, not as a cautionary tale. I think the memory of Ar-Pharazôn’s era would have faded quickly, and the earlier history of Númenor would have been valorized – at first the time of Elros and the years when things were uncomplicatedly good, but after a while even the pre-Sauron time of empire and the years of Tar-Ciryatan and Tar-Atanamir might also be remembered as glory days, and the Downfall seen as the tragic consequence of corruption brought about by Sauron, rather than a progressive moral decline that long preceded Sauron and of which he was only the culmination. I think that it’s natural to idealize a thing once you’ve lost it; even a political refugee who left their country because it was tyrannical and oppressive – even one who had vigorously opposed their country’s actions as immoral – would feel grief, nostalgia, sentiment, if while in exile they saw that country destroyed. So I think that in the Third Age, Gondorian memory of Númenor as a whole becomes rather hagiographic, and the period under Ar-Pharazôn and Sauron is sidelined as an anomaly.

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In my brain the entire house of Fëanor in Valinor pre everything going wrong has a strong “I love that you love what you do’ dynamic with each other. 

Maedhros practises his speeches on obscure legislature while modelling for Nerdanel while she listens intently. She’s completely lost and completely invested, interrupting him only once to ask he keep his hand up a little higher.

Celegorm discussing with Fëanor late into the night about the grammatical structure of the language of rabbits and how it affects their hierarchical structures. Everything he’s saying sort of scratches the part of Fëanor’s brain still hung up on his linguistics hyperfixations way back when.

Caranthir knows nothing about musical theory but after hearing Maglor complaining about all the way through breakfast about this tune he just can’t get right, his math brain is like ‘the rhythm is off’ and Maglor has to switch on his music brain to translate but then is like “Valar above! I was using a mismatched time signature”

Curufin patiently sitting through Amras’ tea tasting test from random leaves he’s foraged while hunting. Amrod patiently waiting as Curufin halts his cartography expedition because “Ambraussa LOOK silver deposits!!”

Just like, the Noldorin meraki was strong in that family. They may not understand what it is so interesting about each others Things but they totally get being excited about a Thing so they happily listen to an info dump on rocks when they know their tirade on fabric pigments was up next,

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the sons of Fëanor’s youtube apology videos

Maedhros: actually makes a very compassionate apology that directly addresses everything he’s done, with a genuinely compelling pledge to change for the better (he does the exact same thing six months later)

Maglor: toxic gossip train 7 hour version with extra fake tears

Celegorm: *big sigh* I’m sorry you felt offended by what I did. anyway this video is sponsored by

Caranthir: my lawyers advised me not to say anything yet (he’s the lawyer and he doesn’t want to say anything)

Curufin: “I’m sorry, but you have to understand that I’ve been going through a rough time. also we have to address that the Teleri put us in a very toxic work environment and…”

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The joy of The Rings of Power is that it showed us that Celebrimbor wasn't a fighter. He isn't this big, buff beefy elf that fandom previously portrayed him as. He makes weapons, but he doesn't use them. He has knowledge but he doesn't kill. He chooses long robes and gowns of vibrant colors, rather than armor, sword, or shield.

And despite that all, he is still perhaps the bravest elf to have ever walked the face of Middle Earth. He didn't need to be a macho type of elf to withstand the greatest foe of elven kind. He did so with his kind actions, and words.

He didn't die fighting with steel blades and fists, he died unarmed, yet still his words were enough to render Sauron helpless at the end. To make him rethink everything he'd done, to make him fear his inevitable end.

This is also important because it parallels Celebrimbor to Frodo. Frodo has no weapons, no armor, no sword or shield when he destroys the ring. He is as he is.

I am so glad that TROP gave us this version of Celebrimbor. I always, always felt that he was like that and never saw it reflected in fandom spaces and now we get it canonically. And it such a huge part of his character.

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Ok a lil hc for why Curufin is so close to Fëanor and why the twins went to Beleriand.

So idk how many of you have seen twin pregnancies, and no doubt many of you will know more than me. But the ones I have seen were *exhausting* for the mother. Constantly tired, unable to do a whole lot, usually in some kind of pain be it back, ribs from the kicking babies, legs, hips, you name it. Not to mention the nausea. Nerdanel would have been absolutely shattered for most of her pregnancy, but by this point Fëanor is confident enough (has been reassured by Nerdanel over the last five pregnancies) that he’s ok leaving her to her own devices.

What this means though is Nerdanel doesn’t have a lot of energy to spare looking after her other children. Caranthir is old enough to happily stick with his brothers or sit with his embroidery, but little Curvo is around 5/6 equivalent and is very attached to his parents. Nerdanel suddenly not being able to do much creates a distance, neither of their faults, in which Fëanor steps in. This time spent with his father shapes Curufin’s interests and personality to make him embody his mother name. Atarinkë indeed, in more than just looks.

Now this temporary distance that should’ve started to close by the time Ambarussa were two or three is furthered because now is when Fëanor and Nerdanel start getting into arguments. At this point they’re small spats at most, nothing too serious, but Curufin who’s very attached to his now primary caregiver and distanced from the other, immediately takes Fëanor’s side. Again at this point both parents are still trying to get him close to his mother again, but it’s not going well and with how heated both parents get, it’s difficult to keep disagreements behind closed doors.

Then Curvo becomes a teen and it’s his father above all else. The time for change is passing, Fëanor and Nerdanel have started to spend days apart, days in which Maedhros and Maglor often take care of the twins so their mother can have a break, and Curufin sees this as another sign his mother isn’t worthy of their family. By the time we get to the banishment to Formenos, Curvo refuses to speak to Nerdanel, and whilst his brothers still send letters and occasionally go out to meet her, he burns the letters as soon as they come.

On a side note, the twins end up very very close to their oldest brothers because of this. It’s why they decide to go to Beleriand: their brothers, their primary caregivers, are all going. So they are too. They don’t know their mother well enough to stay.

Disclaimer: I adore Nerdanel and think she’s absolutely brilliant. You have to have some guts to not only marry Fëanaro Curufinwë, but then stick to your guns and refuse to follow him. And successfully wrangle seven very skilled, very opinionated sons. She’s the best and was no doubt an amazing mother, but the way things turned out just didn’t work in anyone’s favour.

Also to still be known as ‘the wise’ after marrying Fëanor and everything he did? Insane.

Fëanor was also a great father ok. At least until Morgoth really got in his head towards the end of their time in Aman. There’s a reason all his kids followed him to Beleriand.

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The Sons of Fëanáro

Latest portraits - Beleriand portraits.

Fëanor & Nerdanel and Celebrimbor next :)

HC:

Maedhros: While Maedhros cared much more for braids and jewelry in Valinor I don´t think he ever really stopped caring, still dressing up before that as a fine rich lord, until after the Nirnaeth Arnoediad where all hope seemed lost to him, and his sole goal was to get the Silmarils, thus saving his brothers from being unmade in the void.

Maglor: I think Maglor always wanted as much power as possible, and one of those ways to get it was to stick out, therefor always choosing silver and Mithril over gold even as it was more seen in Beleriand than Valinor it was rare to see on a noldor, thus giving him the attention he ears he wanted. While I think he was far from the pretties of the brothers his words easily made up for it, as well as his talent to talk down a situation, making him look like the calmest and most civil of the brothers even if he wasn´t.

Celegorm: While being seen as the wildest of the brothers I do not doubt that Celegorm enjoyed rishes and wine when possible, showing of as much as possible, not minding heavy jewelry gifted by Curufin, and mixing them with what he got from his fellow hunters, much to his brothers distress.

Caranthir: I think Caranthir was excellent with money and the riches elf at least at some point, and he was never afraid to show it, dressing himself in Irish heavy fabrics and jewelry by his brother.

Curufin: Curufin is the most fashionable Feanorian out there - always up with the latest trends one thing he at least shared with Finrod. Curufin admired Celegorm for his independence as a child and saw it as a way to rebel against his own name and the expectations it carried with him. While he always loved Feanor an unhealthy amount I also think he despised his parents and yearned for his own identity, and not a copy of his father, which he could only get by being extreme, therefore early leaning on Celegorm for his own will.

Amras & Amrod: I always like the idea that while Amrod was burned when Feanor set fire to the ships, he never died despite having burnt most of his function in the left side of his body away as well as his speech, making Amras invent a sign langue for him and translate for others, this also meaning they were closer than ever in their time in Beleriand - therefor also HC him as the youngest, despite the later changes. As both twins are called hunters, I believe Amras was the one living most up to it, never caring much for finery, while Amrod himself was a scholar but after the fire chose to join his brother in all, although he still liked jewelry in such.

Other HC: Numenor´s crown is inspired by Maedhros´ cobber circlet, much to Maglor´s irritation he finds it charming non the less even if he would rather it was his own that was used as a reference

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I don't think the story of Beren and Lúthien is somehow out of place in The Silmarillion. Yeah, most of the Silm consists of sad and tragic tales, but I don't think this makes B&L's story somehow inconsistent with the rest of the book. If anything, it serves as a contrast and elevates the Silm. It in some ways like a fairy tale, but at the same time it does break the conventions of fairy tales. It's about death, Tolkien's central theme, in more ways than most other tales of the Silm are.

It feels like this reading of Beren and Lúthien as a strange outlier comes out of treating and reading the Silm as a self-contained entity. But it is not. The Silm is still very much a part of Tolkien's legendarium, and despite the difficulties he had in writing and editing it, you can't really deny the ways it's connected and essential to Lord of the Rings.

And if you look at LOTR, the story of Beren and Lúthien appears very early in the Fellowship of the Ring. Aragorn sings their tale to the hobbits as they are spending the night by Weathertop, afraid of the Ringwraiths. Aragorn speaks of it as a sad tale that may nevertheless lift up the hobbits' hearts.

This, I think, is an important clue as to where the story will go. In many ways, Sam and Frodo's quest to destroy the Ring mirrors the quest of Beren and Lúthien to steal a Silmaril - and the two quests are interlocked because B&L's success enables the Silmaril to become the star of Eärendil, which in the form of Galadriel's star-glass will aid Sam and Frodo in some of the darkest moments of their journey. B&L's union also provides Middle-earth with a line of Men who will engage and keep Sauron busy long enough to be defeated, but that's beside the point of this post. The structure and nature of the two quests is similar: here are people who were underestimated by the powerful, going where the great cannot go, and doing things that even the mightiest could not have done. Before Sam and Frodo enter Shelob's lair, they even talk about Beren and Lúthien's quest, and note how they are in the same story still, as if to set the following scenes and the fight against Shelob in the very tone and memory of B&L's quest.

Beren and Lúthien's tale may on the surface seem different from the rest of the stories of the Silm. But if you look at the whole of the legendarium, it is more essential than many other tales of the Silm. The problem is that Tolkien himself had trouble constructing the myths and the early history of Arda in a way that would indeed fit the works he had already published at that point, and the uneasiness we may feel about B&L or whichever part of the story is because it was very intricate and Tolkien was not able to finish the story or find a satisfactory way to compile the many versions. Christopher Tolkien's editions of the Silm and HoMe are undoubtedly the result of a Herculean effort but even he knew and admitted there are other ways the fragments of his father's works could have been organised. Even so, there is no doubt of the fact that the tale of Beren and Lúthien is one of the core threads of the legendarium, and without it, the Silm and the story of Middle-earth would be much lesser.

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tolkien's tendency to leave women off of family trees is annoying to me not just because it's an overall trend in fantasy novels that i wish wasn't a thing (to quote arya stark, the woman is important too!) but also because i desperately need to know who celebrimbor's mom was and which elf lady made the bold yet fantastically bad decision to marry into the house of feanor.

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In the lotr books, many female characters don't have much agency outside of men or are objectified, but as a woman I appreciate how femininity is portrayed in Middle Earth. Middle Earth is mostly patriarchal and famous warriors get the spotlight a lot and there aren't nearly enough women characters, but the narrative never implies there's something wrong with being gentle or "emotionally sensitive" in a traditionally feminine way. A lot of media that tries to be feminist can't say that.

The power of feminine characters tends to be less forceful, yes, but not less powerful (think Luthien facing Morgoth). In fact, I think women are portrayed more favorably than their male warrior counterparts for creating things (Yavanna, Varda), bringing growth or healing (Este, Nienna), or protecting (Melian's girdle, Galadriel's Lothlorien). The male characters rewarded most by the narrative are ones that show these "feminine" qualities, and those that disrespect them are rebuked.

As for the women in the main books, all are shining symbols of hope/strength to those around them. Their beauty is mentioned a lot, and there's some objectification there, especially with Arwen and Goldberry, but with the beauty power and wisdom.

(Side note: Most powerful, good things in Middle Earth are also beautiful in one way or another. Even Gandalf with the bushy eyebrows past the brim of his hat is described: "his long white hair, his sweeping silver beard, and his broad shoulders, made him look like some wise king of ancient legend. In his aged face under great snowy brows his dark eyes were set like coals that could leap suddenly into fire." i didn't realize Gandalf was like that but ok)

Anyway, Galadriel and Eowyn especially are powerful in the forceful way, but they learn not to covet power. They're given opportunities to join in the cycle of violence and struggle as martial figures and both turn from that path. Rejecting violent power to be wise and compassionate is an honorable thing in lotr, even if the characters and societies that make up Middle Earth often fail to realize it.

Summary: there are issues with how Tolkien wrote women but he made them out of wisdom and kindness and gentleness and understood the value of those attributes. Misogynists don't respect things that are "traditionally feminine", and the most praised attributes in the narrative of lotr are a "feminine" kind of bravery and honor, which perseveres and remains compassionate in the face of war and the temptation of power.