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Finally finished my Doriath time loop story! It is a Dior&Celegorm focused exploration of grief and inevitability. Here's the link. I hope y'all like it. 💙

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Looking for the active Silmarillion fandom! Where are you guys!! Like/Reblog so I can follow!

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....NERDANEL'S statues of them being stolen and smashed 👀

something something, old statues of Feanor and his sons being stolen and smashed in effigy

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Okay I'm definitely reading too far into it but the fact that Thingol names Dior his heir is so interesting to me. Because it seems...sentimental.

Like. Lúthien and Beren are mortal when Dior is born. It's a terrible grief to Thingol and Melian, as they know they will lose their daughter. And regardless of your thoughts on peredhel aging, Dior was unquestionably growing up far quicker than an elf. There's room for hope, but no certainty that Dior won't grow and die as a mortal man.

Thingol, meanwhile, is ancient, immortal, and tremendously proud. He does not seem to have anticipated his own death - and if he did, his choices are very strange indeed. Naming Dior as his heir seems more like an act of love, an affirmation of public support for Lúthien's family and Dior himself, than anything expected to ever be relevant. I wonder how that line of succession would have developed if things hadn't turned out the way they did.

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If you are living right now in 2023 and are still a big fan of LOTR please reblog bro where are my fellow Tolkienites (Tolkieneers?)

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I'm not over the timeline of Doriath's destruction. Lúthien and Beren died in autumn and the Sons of Fëanor attacked in midwinter. Like. Factoring in travel time and preparation for the attack, they. They really didn't hesitate. As far as I can tell, the Sons contacted Dior once to be like, "Hey give us the Silmaril," he didn't answer, and they attacked.

They did not wait long for that answer.

Doriath had already been attacked and ransacked earlier that year. They had lost their king and queen, and then their beloved princess and consort(???? What was Beren's title). That's the mess that Dior is dealing with, on top of his personal grief & taking care of his young family. Then a letter shows up making demands and no apologies (you can hc what you want, but as far as I'm aware there is no canon indication that the Sons ever offered reparations to Lúthien, Beren, or Dior for C&C's misdeeds). And Dior didn't even say no! He just didn't immediately reply! And bam, second kinslaying!

No wonder Doriath fell to the Sons. They never had a chance. And then the third kinslaying was even worse.

The more I study the silm the more tragedies I find. 😭 But it is my favorite book tho. 😔

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I have to reread the silm regularly or I lose track of canon entirely. Like, what do you mean Lúthien and Beren met their grandkids??? I mean, that's amazing, what a pleasant surprise! I can't believe I forgot this! But then. Wait a second. That means that the timeline looks like this:

Thingol dies. The dwarves march to avenge what they think are their innocent kinsmen, slain by Thingol bc of his greed (actually slain bc they killed Thingol. For greed). There is a battle in the Thousand Caves between elf and dwarf, wherein Mablung is slain and the Silmaril taken by dwarves.

Beren and Lúthien live in Tol Galen at this time with their son Dior, his wife Nimloth, and their three young children. Word comes to them quickly of what has transpired. I'm gonna quote this next bit bc for some reason it means a lot to me:

"Then Beren arose and left Tol Galen, and summoning to him Dior his son they went north to the River Ascar; and with them went many of the Green-elves of Ossiriand."

I think it hits hard bc this is the only canon interaction we see between Dior and his parents (unless you count that he bades them farewell when he leaves to restore his grandparents' kingdom). Anyway.

So Beren and Dior get the silmaril, bring it back to Lúthien, and Dior leaves with his family to try to restore Doriath.

Then, in autumn, Dior is brought the silmaril and news of his parents' death.

The feanorians attack in midwinter.

If I'm understanding everything right, it is extremely possible and even probable that Thingol died, Melian left, Doriath was ransacked, Dior became king, Lúthien and Beren died, and then Dior and Nimloth were killed all within the span of a year.

The excitement with which Dior's arrival is greeted breaks my heart. He ended up getting so little time to help them recover before a final tragedy ended Doriath entirely.

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I had completely forgotten that the Silmaril is cursed by the Lord of Nogrod. He curses it as he dies, slain by Beren reclaiming the jewel (and by extension the Nauglamír that it is now attached to).

Also. Wait a minute. On the next page we have "the wise have said" that the silmaril may have "hastened" the deaths of Lúthien and Beren, bc the "flame of the beauty of Lúthien as she wore it was too bright for mortal lands." Was this related to the curse? Unknown. Was it related to Fëanor? The use of the word flame is interesting to me. Fëanor also did not last long in mortal lands. Either way, the Silmaril once again is speculated to have a negative effect on the one who holds it.

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Today I am analyzing Thingol’s death.

Húrin- poor Húrin! - is the one to bring the Nauglamír to Thingol. Originally he gives it to him in scorn, to shame him for his treatment of Húrin's family and for setting the quest for the Silmaril which claimed Finrod's life. Thingol, filled with pity for Húrin, restrains his anger and does not respond. It is Melian who tells Húrin that he is wrong about how Thingol treated his family and he is speaking with the "voice of Morgoth."

So Húrin, under Melian's Girdle, is at last able to understand the entirety of what Morgoth has done to him. He then gives the Nauglamír to Thingol again, this time in sincerity, and in part "as a memorial of Húrin of Dorlómin." He then leaves, probably to take his own life.

I wonder if Morgoth's curse over Húrin contributed to Thingol’s demise soon thereafter.

So Thingol is looking at his new necklace, the greatest treasure of Finrod, and he thinks that it should be remade, and set with the silmaril. FASCINATING. Okay, so, it says that as the years had passed, the silmaril dwelt more and more in Thingol's thoughts and he "became bound to it," and wanted to carry it with him always, even as he slept.

The implications of this!!! I mean, if you want you can interpret it as a natural consequence of owning the only piece of holy Tree-light not being worn by Absolute Evil himself, but I'm not inclined to go that way, are you? I do think that the silmarils are more than just pretty jewels. Whether they actually contain a part of Feanor --

--crackship, Thingol×Feanor, love affair started via silmaril proxy--

--or not, I do think that they have some sort of sentience, or resonance, or something. They are more compelling than any other jewel could be. It seems like their influence grows over time, though I don't think that they are evil or cause good people to do bad things. I think everyone who held a silmaril made their own choices.

That being said, Thingol has a little less culpability in his death than I'd thought (according to this text; of course, the biases of the silm are a different discussion).

Thingol hires dwarves to restore the Nauglamír and set the Silmaril into it

The dwarves were immediately filled with desire for both the necklace made by their forebearers and for feanor's jewel, but they "dissembled their mind" and agreed to Thingol's terms

The work took a long time. Thingol would often go and sit among them while they worked. (I viewed this very favorably at first but then remembered that at this point Thingol is loathe to be parted from the Silmaril!)

When they finish, the greatest work of elves and dwarves has been united, and the Nauglamír reflects the silmaril's brilliance outwards.

Thingol, alone among the dwarves, picks up the completed necklace and starts to put it on.

The dwarves stop him. They "demanded that he yield it up to them," saying that he has no right to it, since the Nauglamír was made for Finrod, who is now dead, and only came into Thingol's possession through Húrin, who they call a thief.

Thingol "perceived their hearts" and knew that they wanted the silmaril and were deriving a pretext to get it. (I'm inclined to agree; if they really thought that they had a greater claim to the Nauglamír, they could have said so at the start. It is no accident that the claim is only made once the silmaril is affixed to it.)

Thingol does not stop to consider that he is alone among these dwarves. There is not a single thought of tact or strategy. His anger comes through and he calls them an "uncouth race" and "stunted people" who have no right to make demands of him, and to get gone from Doriath.

So they kill him there where he stood, and he dies with his eyes fixed on the silmaril.

The dwarves try to flee. Some escape but some are slain by pursuers. The survivors spread their version of the story, which is that those dead were killed by command of the elvenking, who sought to cheat them for their work.

This is, in fact, the version I best remembered. For some reason I had forgotten the rest of it. Thingol's anger and pride are his downfall. I wonder what would have happened had the silmarils gone to the dwarves; a slaughter of one sort or another between them and the feanorians, I suppose, but it wouldn't have been a kinslaying.

Following Thingol's death, Melian undergoes a change. In this time the enchanted river Esgalduin "spoke with a different voice." I can't help but remember Mirkwood's enchanted river. If anyone knows anything about the effects of Esgalduin and how they change at this time, please let me know!

Concluding thoughts: Thingol died the way that he lived... being racist to non-elves. <3 Okay, I'm done being flippant. Tbh it is very sad to me. Both the dwarves and Thingol are afflicted by a lust for the Silmaril. The dwarves try an underhanded trick to get it, and Thingol regresses some character growth in response. Thingol's character arc goes from: "under no circumstances is my daughter marrying a human lol might as well go get a Silmaril bc the likelihood of success in either case is the same" -> ":( :((( shit shit shit oh no oh no you weren't supposed to go DO IT. okay i can see that I fucked up. I'm going to foster this little human boy (Turin) about it and grow past my racism. I'll even keep my cool when his dad comes and hurls untrue accusations and slander at me bc i can see how much he's suffered." -> "how dare you speak to me, an elf, this way? You stunted uncouth less-than dwarf--" [death]

Actually, in that light, Thingol's next step is to adopt a dwarf. Gimli better watch out when he gets to Valinor.

I feel for thingol bc he saw his own flaws, worked to improve, and then backslid in a moment of high temper that turned out to be HIS LAST MOMENT ALIVE. (You could argue that anti human bias isn't the same as anti dwarf bias, but the underlying issue is still his pride.) It's just a shame.

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Skimming through the book of lost tales and I get hit with this: Eärendilyon is a name meaning son of Eärendel (the original spelling of Eärendil) that is used for any mariner.

It doesn't say, but I imagine this was used primarily in Numenor. I'm all bittersweet thinking about Elros first hearing it become popular.... 🥲

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In tolkien's book of Lost tales (part one) it says that there are many interpretations among both elves and humans of the meaning of Eärendil's name, and even a theory that it's a word from a secret language spoken by the inhabitants of Gondolin. I'm so obsessed with the idea of a secret Gondolin-only language. Like!!!!

I mean, it's obvious, right? It just makes sense. Of course they had their own language. I wonder if it was a dialect of Quenya or it's own separate thing. Ahhh, I'm so curious now about the culture of this hidden city!

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The shells in her hair...😭

Eärwen 11x14 Stonehenge graphite and charcoals

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what are some of you guys woman/girl blorbos. like female characters you are utterly obsessed with

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A way to combine the earlier mentions of silver-haired Míriel with her dark hair mentioned in NoME; her hair lost all its colour at Fëanor's birth, and shone silver under Telperion ever after.

A way to justify this; great hardship causes something that looks like human aging in elves. Gwindor's hair lost his colour while he was captive too.

This also explains the mystery of 'why would a Noldo have silver hair?' -- and her weariness, if compared to descriptions of Gwindor lacking physical strength when he came back, also suddenly sounds more physical than otherwise perhaps imagined.

What I'm saying is...a Míriel who looked physically aged before elves knew what aging was except a sign of Marring. Change in the changeless realm. She is so weary. Her hands no longer move as they are meant to, wrinkle, swell. Her swift words have slowed down to a croak, full of gaps.

Her baby cries.

Her bones ache.

She lays down to sleep, oh just a little more. She sighs. She dies. They call her Fíriel now.

They will name the mortals for her, after.

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Somebody said they were sick of how much of a fandom fave Elwing is and I just -

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So we know that elves who have seen the Two Trees have Treelight in their eyes and elves who haven't have starlight in their eyes. Time to decide:

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Luthien put a fucking Vala to sleep

she put a fucking Vala to sleep

she magicked him the fuck to bed

damn luthien