silmarienthequeen

[silmarienthequeen]

(Sound on.) Bonus clip today: Penguins navigating stairs.

[silmarienthequeen]

Destroy the myth that libraries are no longer relevant. If you use your library, please reblog.

[silmarienthequeen]

Im enjoying the longevity of tumblrs recontextualization style of humor. a seemingly innocuous post followed by like "posts that a gnome would make" or like "are you a phone"

[silmarienthequeen]

So we all know the theory that the Arkenstone is a Silmaril, right? We've all heard people debating it. I've heard some pretty convincing evidence in favor of the theory. But I've never heard anybody bring up what I think is the strongest piece of evidence, so I'm going to do that right now.

Tolkien never gives us a specific description of the Silmarils besides them being shiny. Same with the Arkenstone. But he does draw this picture of Smaug lying atop his pile of treasure, with the Arkenstone at the top:

Hey wait a minute, the shape of that Arkenstone looks kind of familiar-

Another image, for your reference. The Door of Durin, also drawn by Tolkien.

On the Door of Durin is the Star of the House of Fëanor.

And the Arkenstone again.

That's right folks. The Arkenstone, in the original drawing done by Tolkien himself, is shaped like the star of Fëanor. Only half of it is showing, but you can see it.

We aren't told what shape the Silmarils are. But it's more than plausible that Fëanor made them in the shape of his own emblem. And I've never heard of any Dwarvish symbol or heraldry in the shape of an eight-pointed star. In fact, I can't think of any symbol in that shape other than the star of Fëanor. That's just too big of a coincidence for me to ignore.

So this, combined with the glaring thematic similarities between the Arkenstone and the Silmaril, and the fact that there isn't already a clear connection between the Hobbit and the Silmarillion, is why I do firmly believe that the Arkenstone is Maedhros's Silmaril. Thank you for coming to my ted talk.

[silmarienthequeen]

ooh, now this is some good analysis. And I definitely agree- we shouldn’t hate on one side or the other. We should make the effort to understand all of them and appreciate them and why they did what they did. It’s so interesting that way!

I think a really underrated dynamic and example of the poetry of Tolkien’s work is Maedhros and Elwing. Like it’s crazy that so many people, particularly Maedhros fans dislike Elwing because the differences and similarities between these two are so juicy! They each have what the other lacks. Literally!!!

Like here we have two motherless children forced into a place of power by the loss of their parents that they weren’t even able to grieve. Neither of them can go home. Their fates are cursed by the valar who refuse to help! ( yes I’m getting to the bird transformation thing don’t worry.) they are driven by ownership of the silmaril.

Maedhros writes a letter of friendship and threat to the daughter of a people he slaughtered and what does she do? Even knowing what will probably befall her? She rejects it! That’s so badass to me. Maedhros had really met his match. Remember his response to thingol? These two are peak snark!

This woman, this mother not only two twins but to a people who is young for an elf, does what she can against this force beyond her her comprehension, remember when Mae went against morgoth?! Both of them have so much inner power and strength, that courage that is the heart of them. Each driven by twins they have lost and twins that will be their legacy. Driven to the brink by the silmaril.

And when they come for her, when those monsters are finally face to face with her they really just elves! Just ragged bedraggled elves but she will not let them have this remnant of her parents! No she jumps! And it is an act of courage and the gods do smile on her.

She is water. Maedhros is fire

And ultimately maedhros one day will be driven to the brink by the silmaril once more. But when he jumps it is an act of despair and the gods do not help him

They are sooo!!!!

[silmarienthequeen]

god willing someday I will write a fic where Feanor gets to groundhog day the swearing of the oath. except instead of unswearing it he keeps thinking that if he just adjusts the wording a little bit it’ll all work out perfectly

[silmarienthequeen]

1k words with inspiration: literally 10 minutes or less of writing. a breeze

1k words without inspiration: i will do it. i will take the ring to mordor

[silmarienthequeen]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Fingon/Maedhros (Tolkien) Characters: Fingon (Tolkien), Maedhros (Tolkien) Additional Tags: Arguing, though they haven't gotten to the lovers part yet, Fingon POV, Friends to Enemies to Lovers, Valinor, They are both young and getting caught up in their fathers' fight, They both have growing and maturing to do, But they are still the same people they will be, No Sexual Content, Conversation, Love and Loyalty Summary:

The night before Fëanor and his family leave for Formenos, Maedhros sneaks into Fingon’s house to see him one last time.

Here’s my contribution to @russingon-week!

[silmarienthequeen]

“Every character in the Silmarillion has so many names” factoid actually a statistical error. Most characters in the Silmarillion don’t have more than one or two names. Túrin Neithan Gorthol Agarwaen son of Úmarth Adanedhel Mormegil Thurin Wildman of the Woods Turambar Dagnir Glaurunga, who lived in a cave and has ten names, is an outlier adn should not have been counted.

[silmarienthequeen]

Love kidnap fam? Hate it? Ambivalent? Great! Your thoughts are wanted.

I am collecting survey data as part of my research on the "Living Legendarium", i.e., how the legends of Arda, from their earliest drafts by Tolkien to the posthumously published Silmarillion edited by Christopher Tolkien to the creative engagements by fans, are inherently indeterminate and mutable, inviting many and diverse interpretations. 

This portion of the study focuses on the various ways that fans of the Silmarillion understand and imagine the relationship between Maedhros, Maglor, Elrond, and Elros: the "kidnap fam". 

The resulting paper will be presented at Mereth Aderthad on July 19 2025 and published afterwards on the Silmarillion Writers' Guild. 

COMPLETE THE SURVEY until June 27, 2025.

Even if you're not completing the survey, reblogs are appreciated!

[silmarienthequeen]

This also gives Turgon a much better reason for not listening to Ulmo. In the published Silmarillion, it seems like an incredibly stupid and hubristic decision, and people rightfully make fun of him for it. But here he has a legitimate grudge- he’s been trying to get to the Valar for centuries, and they are ignoring him, why should he listen now? I like this a lot.

One thing I really like about the original version of the Fall of Gondolin (ca. 1916-17, with som revision ca 1920ish i think? acc to Chris Tolkien), is Turgon’s open bitternes against the Valar for ignoring all his messengers/calls for help, at Tuor’s arrival in Gondolin;

Which matches pretty well with the actual description of them in this development stage of the legendarium (picture below). I think it’s pretty refreshing to see this attitude from some of the non-Fëanorian exiles cause we don’t see it much in the published Silmarillion, where despite the Rebellion, the Valar are still, idk, largely revered i guess (going off memory here so don’t fight me please).

(With this said, despite this bitternes against them in the original tale, the Gondothlim as they are called here still revere them with several places in the city honoring them, which Chris Tolkien also points out in his commentary on the tale. I find that a little funny.)

In contrast to the shortened version in the Silmarillion, where, while the sending of messengers and their failures is mentioned in chap. 20 (Nirnaeth), no opinion or reaction to this is given, nor is it mentioned at all on Tuor’s arrival in Gondolin;

INSTEAD here it is now Turgon and his people who are attributed with this general attitude of hear-no-evil-see-no-evil to the troubles of Beleriand, - something he criticized the Valar for in the original tale.

it should also be mentioned that in the original tale, Gondolin, while secret, still welcomes escaped/fleeing Noldor who manages to find it, and the whole narrative surrounding thralls is a bit different from the published silmarillion where they are typically distrusted/not welcomed back (though this element is still present here as well, where thralls are under a spell), but in this tl of the Legendarim, pretty much all non-Gondothlim Noldor are referred to as thralls of Morgoth (Voronwë in this version is also a thrall).

Anyways, i’m all for a more bitter Turgon please and thank you, not just against the Fëanorians but also the Valar. Just a whole bitter melon sitting in his pretty white city. Thanks.

[silmarienthequeen]

NONE OF THESE ARE CHARACTER FLAWS!!! Some of these are literal disabilities (or symptoms of disabilities), and some of them are just annoying habits, or random things someone might not be good at. That's not a character flaw. A character flaw is an unhealthy. belief or pattern of behavior in someone's CHARACTER. Who they are.

Thinking you know best and not listening to others is a character flaw. Being overly reckless is a character flaw. Being too focused on your own goals or ideals- or not focused enough- is a character flaw. These are moral issues. Having bad handwriting is not a character flaw. It is not a moral issue. It has nothing to do with a character's character.

This applies to people in real life too! I have some of these traits. I know lots of people with these traits. Can these traits be annoying to you or others? Sure. That doesn't mean they're character flaws. There's absolutely nothing morally wrong or sinful about having a bad memory, or not being good with social cues, or having low iron levels (wtf).

It's lazy writing to make a character and then check the "character flaw" box by giving them a random meaningless thing they're bad at. I've read so many books where there's a main girl who is described as "clumsy", and it definitely feels like an excuse to not have her be perfect, but not actually have to deal with her being a flawed human being and well rounded character. Go deeper.

[silmarienthequeen]

my dream as a fanfic writer is for one day, one of my fics to be someones comfort fic. like the fic that they reread when they don't feel good and want to be happy. i want my words to comfort someone one day

[silmarienthequeen]

NOTICE: As more and more fanfic writers are using generative AI for their works (you uncreative dweebs), I hereby swear on everything I hold dear that I have not and will NEVER use generative AI in ANY of my written work. Everything I post will be organically and creatively my own.

[silmarienthequeen]

I drew this fanart of Annatar and Maedhros from chapter 50 of The Harrowing by @chthonion! I really really liked this scene. Maedhros has always been my favorite character in the Silm, and seeing Annatar, of all people, getting at the heart of his pain and insecurities was really satisfying. It's eerie how similar the two of them are. And I did not intend this but it's just in time for Holy Saturday, the day of the actual Harrowing of Hell. Hope you guys like the art! I've actually never posted on here before, but maybe I'll end up posting more art or Silmarillion thoughts :)