#Silmarillion true stories

[eloquentsisyphianturmoil]

Dear authors, prohibition does not work. If you refuse to let your gay characters kiss in the canon, fanfiction writers will, in fact, write them making out in every single scene. Yin Yang and all that.

[tanoraqui]

Your what if fics are so so good. I reread them often. I love the entire worlds you make out of a question

-@outofangband

Thank you! I love For Want Of A Nail AUs so much, ie, change one thing and see what spirals out. They’re such a good time for exploring the consequences in a story, the what-leads-to-what, and for examining the characters—what about them is fundamental to the character, and what is shaped by circumstance? What is part of them as characterization, and what is part of them as narrative function? What plot points will they always do because of who they are as a (fictional) person; what will they always do—or not do, in an au!—because to not do so would be to completely change their narrative/thematic place? What major plot points must happen, but it would ring differently if a different character did them? How would a certain plot point not happening change the events and the themes of the story? 

Eventually you start to realize that every story is an elaborately branching tree starting from the first words, potential paths of divergence in every character, every choice, every scene…and it’s so fun to explore what’s down a different path!

Also, when writing them out, I’m always picking and choosing the most interesting paths—which is a good writing technique in general. For instance, in last night’s oh-god-I-accidentally-wrote-4k Fëanor-Fingolfin Mom/Birth Order Swap…a small example is I faced the choice of, which son of Fëanor Curufinwë should Finrod be assigned Best Friends From Birth? (Taking “Finrod gets a parentally-assigned Best Friend From Birth as a staple of any timeline, not bc it’s thematic so much as bc it’s fun, but adjusting to the fact that Fëanor and Finarfin are the full-brothers in this au, and Fingolfin is Miriel’s son who hates the existence of all his half-siblings). By my personal timeline of Finwëan births, moving the House of Fëanor forward to start at Fingolfin’s birth but leaving Finarfin as-if puts Finrod between Celegorm and Caranthir, so those were my choices. Celegorm would make fun (painful) cross-timeline echoes of What Could Have Been re: What Happened In Nargothrond, and potential future-in-this-au interesting divergence or even greater betrayal…but, especially with the limited timeframe I was writing, I decided that was less good than the raw humor of the grumpiest and friendliest Finwëans being best friends. So, Caranthir is it!

(Also, obligatory reminder that Caranthir was diplomatically skilled enough to have a thriving, very profitable trade network, and the real result of a Caranthir-Finrod friendship would be a friendly, all-consuming trade empire spanning continents.)

A more notable choice, for The Argument: I actually do lean toward the position that it’s a fundamental part of Fëanor’s characterization that he’d be the one to say, “fuck this, let’s go somewhere else!” Plus I’ve established Arakáno as so firmly settled in Tirion…but that’s why I chose to flip it, because, frankly, if Curufinwë son of Indis started agitating to leave Aman, sure there’d be a fight, but I think ultimately it’d shake out to Arakáno son of Miriel being like, “Great! Good riddance! Here’s your stuff, here’s your boats I negotiated Olwë—look, Father, I’m helping. Have fun in Middle Earth! Never come back!” Not many people would go with him, even for the Silmarils, and Melkor would have them ambushed and the gems stolen the second they set foot in Beleriand, and it just wouldn’t be as interesting a story.

…Or maybe there is potential there! But the other chief problem is: the Story has then moved to Beleriand and Arakáno himself is no longer in it, and THAT fundamentally doesn’t work bc the real trick to this au, the reason I wasn’t sure it would work and frankly I’m still not sure it’d work long-term, is that the protagonist has changed. When I saw canon!Fëanor, Miriel’s son, has a literal excess of fëa energy, what I’m really doing is creating an in-world mechanism to express his role as Protagonist. Or, as Driver of the Story? Let’s use them interchangeably. Fëanor is a well-built character, so his personality and his actions and his narrative function all tie together—he makes hot-tempered decisions at key moments! He creates world-changing gems! He rouses crowds to follow him! He drives the story, and he drives it so hard that it’s driven in the direction he sets for the rest of the First Age, and for the rest of Arda that we know! (Aragorn heir of Isildur heir of Elros, whose childhood was utterly shaped by the Oath and those who followed it! The One Ring made to master the Nine, Seven, and Three, made by “Annatar” and the Gwaith-y-Mirdain because Celebrimbor chose not to say “Get thee gone” to the Maia at his door! The star-glass!)

So, what is characterization and what is narrative function? I posited: the hot temper and creative genius are fundamental characterization, but without the semi-literal Protagonist Energy, the temper is a little calmer, or at least less enduring, and less able to sway others, and the creative genius…will lead him exactly down Miriel’s road. For Fingolfin, I posited: even with extra fire in his soul, he will always be the second to lose his temper, and the one to set his feet and his people and say, “Here I stand and defend.” But I also posit: Miriel’s child, born Marred, born Too Much, feeling abandoned and robbed so early, will never be content in Valinor! And isn’t it neat to dwell on how even canon!Fëanor had so many reasons to be aligned with the Valar? (Studying in Aulë’s halls and marrying Aulendil’s daughter; one of his sons is favored by Oromë; Varda herself hallowed his greatest work…)

But after the Darkening we get to the Oath, that greatest of plot-drivers, and okay, that should really be a Protagonist thing even though the total lack of forethought is very Fëanor… I can see Curufinwë collapsed with the theft of the Silmarils, maybe even expiring (last breath, exactly a la Miriel) in Arakáno’s arms, and then the news comes about Finwë… Arakáno reacts to all of this Completely Normally, by which I mean fire, wrath, and Oaths… (though I’m not sure which sons would swear with him, and also, the wording and sentiment would be a little different, and that all matters…) They still steal the ships and kill for them, of course they do; nobody wants to cross the Ice if there’s another option and the Teleri would always fight back. Doom, fear of betrayal and theft once more of ships…

BUT THEN, even if Arakáno did burn the ships behind him, I think it IS a fundamental character aspect that, where Fëanor leaps from fiery rash decision to fiery rash decision (Alqualdondë! Losgar! Charging Balrogs!), Fingolfin makes 1 notable Terrible Idea then grits his teeth and carefully, strategically follows the fuck through (Ice, Siege)…until he EVENTUALLY hits a This Isn’t Working despair threshold, snaps, and charges Morgoth singlehandedly… In short: I don’t think Arakáno son of Miriel would get himself killed 3 days after reaching Beleriand? Which changes…everything, bc then you still have your Protagonist around, driving the plot in person rather than with the ghost of him, and idk what to do with that bc I think practically he’d do much the same as Fingolfin in canon but that doesn’t feel enough, and…

Thus, I stopped the story where I did. Also because it was 5am.

[allbycharles]

Contrary to popular belief Daeron and Maglor were great friends with shared hobby.

Then one day Daeron made Variation of Ai, Elbereth! in D moll.

Then Second kinslaying happened.

[middle-earth-mythopoeia]

I just read a post in the LOTR tag titled “You don’t hate Amazon you hate the Silmarillion,” and then it went on to say this:

Here’s my point though, almost every (valid) critique I see of this show [Rings of Power] isn’t a problem with decisions the creative team made, it’s an inherent problem in any adaptation of the Silmarillion (and associated works but I’m just going to refer to the Silmarillion for brevity’s sake). The Silmarillion, as full and detailed as it is, is a shit story.

First things first. If you say things like this, it’s you who hates the Silmarillion. That last sentence tells me everything I need to know. Frankly, that one line invalidates every other thing this person says, but I’m going to explain why they’re wrong anyway. I’m making my own post about it because I don’t want to give the original post more notes.

Other than calling the Silmarillion shit, the main point of the post seems to be that the Silmarillion is unadaptable, therefore it should be understood that the creative team behind ROP had to use some leeway in translating the story to screen. The post finishes by saying:

Basically my point is that before you go and say “well this is weird or I didn’t like this choice” think about what the creative team had to create to make an interesting show out of a story not designed to be told. Sometimes they didn’t make the perfect decision, but if you were tasked with adapting something unadaptable do you think you would do it perfectly?

It’s true that adapting the stories of the Silmarillion is a difficult task, especially when it comes to the Second Age, which is probably the least detailed part of the histories. It’s true that many characters and events are sketched out and that many details (not to mention dialogue) would need to be invented for any screen adaptation to work. It’s also true that no adaptation can satisfy everyone. But this in no way excuses the sloppy way in which ROP adapted the source material.

If the ROP creative team wanted to write a story that was solely focused on their original characters but set in Middle-earth during the Second Age, they could have done that. But when they brought in characters like Galadriel and Isildur and Sauron and totally changed the plot, that’s where they messed up—not to mention compressing the timeline.

I personally do not believe the Silmarillion is unadaptable. If you believe it is unadaptable, that’s fine, we can agree to disagree. But it’s very odd to argue that any bad decision the ROP creative team made is the fault of the source material.

No. It’s their fault for being bad writers. And for biting off more than they can chew. And for having the hubris to say they want to write “the novel Tolkien never wrote.”

if you were tasked with adapting something unadaptable do you think you would do it perfectly?

To tell you the truth, I think I’d do a hell of a lot better than ROP. And I would start by actually understanding the source material, which the ROP creative team did not do. But if I ultimately decided that the story of the Second Age was unfilmable... then I would simply not film it.

As a final point, I think you will find that people who love the Silmarillion do not consider it a “shit story.”

[aipilosse]

I’d like your opinion if not too much of a bother: Do you think that in actual canon Sauron was somewhat initially sincere in his offer to help the elves improve middle earth? It reads to me like he was only interested in lying to the elves of Eregion for his own personal use, but I can’t get past the idea that it seemed so easy for him to fool them. Fooling men is one thing, but the elves seem to take stock of others much more accurately. The easiest way to deceive is to have some truth mixed in with the lies. There is somewhere that says something to the effect of his repentance might have been sincere initially at one time (though I think it was more because he was scared for himself).

Questions about Sauron are never a bother!!!

Short answer: Yes, I think Sauron was somewhat sincere in his offer to help the elves improve Middle-earth.

Longer answer: Yes, I think Sauron was somewhat sincere in his offer to help the elves improve Middle-earth and I have textual support!

The well known line that you referred to is from Of The Rings of Power and the Third Age in the Silmarillion, and is regarding Sauron abjuring his past deeds to Eönwë:

And some hold that this was not at first falsely done, but that Sauron in truth repented, if only out of fear, being dismayed by the fall of Morgoth and the great wrath of the Lords of the West.

Now, you can (fairly) make the argument that this is no true repentance if he's just doing so because he's scared, and that by the time he approaches the elves circa S.A. 1000, he was back to being 100% bad vibes, evil all day e'er day, bad news bears, etc. but I think his desire to work with the elves to improve the world was genuine.

This is slightly undercut by what comes next:

Seeing the desolation of the world, Sauron said in his heart that the Valar, having overthrown Morgoth, had again forgotten Middle-earth; and his pride grew apace. He looked with hatred on the Eldar, and he feared the Men of Númenor who came back at whiles in their ships to the shores of Middle-earth; but for long he dissembled his mind and concealed the dark designs that he shaped in his heart.

You might say, well there you have it, he has dark designs and hates the elves, case closed pack it up, but WAIT. Now, if you know me, you know I don't hold much truck with most 'biased narrator' bs, but I do think it's worthwhile whenever we are being told about a character's thoughts to consider the framing of the story and how those thoughts could possibly have been known. I think in this case and in others (for instance, Maedhros' thoughts right before he dies) we can assume that whoever is recording the story, whatever their motives, did not actually know what characters like Sauron are thinking.

'But Aipi, you filthy hypocrite,' you say. 'You've argued yourself that the 'single narrator' lens of the Silm that many fans take misconstrues what's going on, since the sources it pulls from have multiple in-text historians and bards or sometimes none at all, and because of that, you can't just chuck out the lines you don't like with no evidence.'

Fair, totally fair, but I have evidence!

The reason I think the "dark designs" bit is color added by a historian who did not actually know Sauron's thoughts at the time he came to the elves is because of On Motives.

If you are a Sauron fan, I highly recommend tracking down a copy of Morgoth's Ring and reading the chapter 'Notes on Motives in the Silmarillion'. I am resisting quoting the whole thing, but importantly we are told:

[Sauron] did not object to the existence of the world, so long as he could do what he liked with it. He still had the relics of positive purposes, that descended from the good of the nature in which he began: it had been his virtue (and therefore also the cause of his fall, and of his relapse) that he loved order and co-ordination, and disliked all confusion and wasteful friction.

On Motives gives us several important facts: Sauron has the relics of positive purpose, he has the virtue of loving order and coordination, he fell and then again relapsed (which means he must have achieved some sort of not-evil state inbetween the fall and the relapse!).

We also get this wonderful line comparing Sauron and Saruman:

Sauron's love (originally) or (later) mere understanding of other individual intelligences was correspondingly weaker.

And there are other references to Sauron being capable of admiring minds outside of his own in On Motives. To me, all this points to Sauron not only coming to the elves with genuine aspirations to help, but also that at this point perhaps 'hatred of the Eldar' is a wee bit overblown.

The idea that Sauron falls, starts to walk a better path, and falls again is a key motif in the history of Middle-earth. It echoes Morgoth's arc, and then is replicated in miniature in a way in Gollum. He has some genuinely good intentions, but these are warped by his desire for control and the corrupting nature of power.

There's even more bits on Sauron and his fair motives in Tolkien's letters, but I think I'll wrap with this quote (another fave):

But at the beginning of the Second Age he was still beautiful to look at, or could still assume a beautiful visible shape – and was not indeed wholly evil, not unless all 'reformers' who want to hurry up with 'reconstruction' and 'reorganization' are wholly evil, even before pride and the lust to exert their will eat them up.

Perhaps Sauron was always doomed to fall again because of his need to control, but I think the elves of Eregion recognized a genuine kindred motive in him.

[sotwk]

hi! in the spirit of showing oc love, I was wondering if there's a particular oc you're looking forward to introducing to people in upcoming projects?

I'm tripping over myself to answer this Ask! (Thank you thank you thank you, Ace!)

May I please introduce two?

I've been shy about sharing these because they're not only Silmarillion OCs (I'm still intimidated by the Silm fandom, even though I have many lovely Mutuals from there, you included), they're OC WIVES of Silm Canons. Two of the most popular Silm canons. I'm pretty sure OC creators have been flogged for that.

But since you asked... onward with SotWK AU reveals and spoilers! The stories are tragic because that's the First Age for you!

Velcálë Vanandur

Wife of Maglor and grandmother of Elvenqueen Maereth (wife of Thranduil)

SotWK Fancast: Zendaya Coleman as Velcálë

Her name means "flame doer" in Quenya.

Velcálë had one child with Maglor, a daughter named Laurinwen, who was born and grew up in Tirion.

She was a Noldorin apprentice who served directly under Vána, and was thus given the prestigious epithet "Vanandur" (Servant of Vána).

She was a great tender of gardens, and her songs could cause plants to immediately flower or bear fruit.

Only out of love and devotion to Maglor did she decide to follow the Fëanorians in Exile, taking their daughter with them.

Velcálë was greatly affected by the violence of her kin and constantly homesick for Valinor. A lover of light and warmth, she suffered in the harsh lands where her family dwelt.

The toll of her heartbreak muted the strength and power she possessed in Valimar to nearly nothing, although she did her best to help sustain their people by cultivating the lands for limited-scale food production.

Because she tried to hold Maglor back from "necessary" violence and constantly made him question his commitment to the Oath, she was disliked by all of her brothers-in-law, except for Maedhros.

Velcálë was eventually slain in the battle of Dagor Bragollach when Himlad fell, leading to a permanent estrangement between Maglor and his daughter, Laurinwen.

Elemírë

Wife of Glorfindel and twin sister of Elenwë (wife of Turgon) 

SotWK Fancast: Vanessa Kirby as Elemírë

Elemírë had a fierce warrior’s spirit, but violence of any kind was considered unbecoming by her family.

She joined the Exile because she did not want to be separated from her sister Elenwë, a gentle spirit whom she always sought to protect.

She was loved by her childhood friend, Glorfindel. Although she reciprocated his feelings, he was the more passionate and demonstrative one. Elemírë factored in Glorfindel's own decision to (reluctantly) join the Exile.

Elemírë nearly died trying to dive under the Grinding Ice to save her sister, but she was held back by Glorfindel. This embittered her heart towards him. Instead of following Turgon to Vinyamar (and eventually Gondolin), she decided to join Fingon’s people. 

Over the course of the decades, she grew into a skilled cavalry rider, and was accepted into the ranks of Fingon. She became devoted to Fingon for personally mentoring and training her. 

During the Long Peace, Glorfindel (who had missed and yearned for Elemírë all those years), sought permission from Turgon to leave Gondolin so he could seek her out.

He came to Hithlum reaffirming his love for her and seeking her hand in marriage. Elemírë would not say yes, but could not bring herself to refuse him either. Glorfindel committed to staying for as long as needed to convince her, and this courtship lasted for nearly half a century.

Eventually, Fingon himself encouraged Elemírë to realize and follow her true desires for peace and love. She betrothed herself to Glorfindel and returned to Gondolin with him.

The couple married and bore one child, a son named Ingwil.

As the Lady of the House of the Golden Flower, Elemírë was also one of its fiercest warriors. She fought alongside her husband for the first time in the Nirnaeth Arnoediad.

Elemírë died during the Fall of Gondolin, rescuing her son from an attacking fire drake, which she successfully slayed before perishing.

Thank you again for the ask @hobbitwrangler, and for encouraging my foray into the Silm fandom. I hope you (and anyone reading this) enjoy learning about these OC ladies! Maybe with the right amount of courage, time, and motivation, I may someday even write some actual one-shots including them!

For more SotWK AU headcanons: SotWK HC Masterlist

Elves HC Tag List: @a-world-of-whimsy-5 @achromaticerebus @acornsandoaktrees @aduialel @asianbutnotjapanese @auttumnsayshi @blueberryrock @conversacomsmaug @elan-ho-detto-elan-15 @entishramblings @glassgulls @heilith @heranintomyknife23times @ladyweaslette @laneynoir @lathalea @quickslvxrr @spacecluster @stormchaser819 @talkdifferently6 @tamryniel @tamurilofrivendell

Special Moots who might be interested tag: @emmanuellececchi @from-the-coffee-shop-in-edoras @scyllas-revenge @g-m-kaye @quillofspirit

Other useful links:

Introduction to SotWK

Fanfiction Masterlist

Fanfiction Request Guidelines

[buffyfan145]

Fellowship of Fans have released their take on The One Ring Net's article last week about those major "Rings of Power" season 2 leaks. Was curious if they would and glad they did as it's interesting to hear what FOF has heard too. They actually confirmed some of these they have also heard and they've also debunked a few too, but there are a few they don't know about so could be possible as the show did keep a few things secret for s1. Again we won't know if any of these are true, including what FOF has said, till s2 finally airs later this year. But will say they also included more about Charlie Vickers' screen time in s2 and it's good news as I know some of us were worried about it, and they're suggesting something we wanted to happen actually is. I'll break down their take between what they've also heard and what they've debunked and/or haven't heard at all.

ETA April 2024: A lot of these spoilers have been confirmed as false now including some that were leaked on purpose from Amazon to catch the leakers.

Confirmed:

The first major thing is it is possible Amazon got the ok from the Tolkien estate to use some of "The Silmarillion" to explain Sauron's backstory. This likely is mostly the use of names like Mairon, Mirthrander for Gandalf, Melkor/Morgoth, and show the Valar and Maiar.

There are flashbacks telling Sauron/Mairon's story but they haven't heard anything about what this leak said with the details. Possible the Valar and Maiar are shown on-screen in the opening, similar to Galadriel's opening in s1.

Sauron is in every episode.

Charlie Vickers filmed almost all the flashbacks and FOF seems to suggest that the Halbrand form is the human-like form of Mairon. Like above we might see what Mairon actually looked like fully as Maiar and Charlie is playing him. There likely is a flashback to his time with Adar, as Adar know Gavi Singh Chera's version, that Charlie won't be in but sounds like Gavi is mostly being used only as the Annatar version.

The 3rd actor playing Sauron very well could be Calam Lynch. They have also heard that Sauron will pretend to be Celeborn when he goes back to Eregion too, as well as shifting into Annatar when needed, but will pretend to be Galadriel's husband. They haven't posted this scoop though yet as they were waiting to get more confirmation but it is possible this is correct.

Is possible The Stranger being Gandalf/Mithrander will be revealed in the flashbacks with Charlie's Mairon/Sauron.

Sauron does use his connection to Aule to convince the dwarves to his side.

Tom Bombadil and Goldberry likely will appear.

The One Ring likely is getting made in the finale and Galadriel might make a huge choice for the cliffhanger for s3.

Debunked:

There are no bottle episodes.

Shadowfax will not appear.

Amelia Kenworthy is not playing Celebrian and there is no evil Celebrian, but Amelia's unnamed character is a villain.

That thing about the same actors playing Morgoth and Ungoliant playing Tom Bombadil and Goldberry is false, and they are not the same characters.

While the Valar and Maiar might be shown in the s2 premiere it's not what this leak described.

Things they haven't heard at all:

That Sauron has a son. That was the first time they ever heard this and they think it's false. However they aren't ruling out anything as again s1 did have leaks come out this exact same way and like they said TORT has the right to post these if they want. Will point out too TORT has doubled down on all these leaks, including this one about Sauron's son and that Adar killed him. I posted my other posts how this makes sense and I kind of do want this to happen, so if it doesn't I might write a fic about it as it weirdly works. LOL

So again we'll know for sure once season 2 airs which of these leaks/scoops were true. But again I'm really happy that it seems like Charlie is playing Mairon after all as so many of us thought he should.

[caenith]

But Idril Celebrindal was wise and far-seeing, and her heart misgave her, and foreboding crept upon her spirit as a cloud. Therefore in that time she let prepare a secret way, that should lead down from the city and passing out beneath the surface of the plain issue far beyond the walls, northward of Amon Gwareth;

Do you know why I absolutely love Tuor? It might not be clear from this short passage from The Silmarillion, but let me quote The Book of Lost Tales real quick:

But Idril said: “This is my rede thereto: gather thou in deep secret those delvers and quarrymen who by careful trial are found to hold least love for Meglin by reason of the pride and arrogance of his dealings among them. From these thou must choose trusty men to keep watch upon Meglin whenso he fares to the outer hills, yet I counsel thee to set the greater part of those in whose secrecy thou canst confide at a hidden delving, and to devise with their aid — howsoever cautious and slow that labour be - a secret way from thy house here beneath the rocks of this hill unto the vale below. (...) Then Tuor said that he might not see all its purport, “but ‘better is any plan than a lack of counsel’, and I will do even as thou sayest”.

He actually listens to his wife.

At this point of the story 'so high did Tuor stand in the favour of the King that when he had dwelt there for seven years Turgon did not refuse him even the hand of his daughter'. He managed to establish and become a leader of one of the twelve houses of Gondolin. He was an important figure and probably a trusted advisor to the king. But when his wife says that something is not right, he doesn't need a lot of persuasion to follow her suggestion.

And what happens? HE SURVIVES. Together with his family and a group of exiles. We don't even get any information about his possible death later on, and I firmly believe that the tales are true - Idril managed to sneak him into Valinor and the Valar decided that "humans are not allowed here, but we will make an exception because he looks very polite".

Be like Tuor.

the silm but all the guys listen to their wives AU

[starspray]

Power & Desire: The Silmarils vs The One Ring

Can also be read on the Silmarillion Writers’ Guild

Every so often I see discussions in fandom about the Silmarils and the One Ring that end up equating them—treating them as though they are direct parallels to one another. This always happens by way of bringing the Silmarils down to the level of the Ring, often treating characters’ refusal to surrender the one Beren and Lúthien retrieved as the result of the same kind of corrosive possessiveness that the Ring induces, which renders its bearer literally unable to give it up willingly or destroy it.* This reading is not just wrong, it undermines the agency of the characters involved and undercuts the tragedy of The Silmarillion. The Silmarils and the One Ring are made by very different characters for very different purposes. They also act in the narratives of their respective stories very differently.

What do the Silmarils and the Ring have in common? They are both the titular objects of their respective books around which the major plot turns, it is true. They are both made by powerful individuals, and are desired by many different people, and when they are lost and/or stolen their makers are desperate to retrieve them. Characters die for them, and kill for them. At this extremely surface level reading they do, indeed, seem very similar. But the deeper you look at each object the more glaring differences show themselves, until you realize that they do not parallel, but rather oppose each other.

Due to the nature of each narrative it’s much easier to see the full nature of the Ring and the effect it has on people around it. It is an object created explicitly for evil and malicious purposes: One Ring to rule them all, and in the darkness bind them. Sauron makes it so that he can ensnare all others who hold rings of power, “for he made that Ring himself, it is his, and he let a great part of his own former power pass into it, so that he could rule all the others. If he recovers it, then he will command them all again, wherever they be, even the Three…”

The way the Ring works is that it sneaks into the bearer’s mind and starts to twist their thoughts to its own purposes. It wants to be used, and it wants to isolate its bearer. It makes itself desirable so that its bearer will do all kinds of mental gymnastics to justify the means by which to take and keep it. See Gollum’s insistence on his “birthday present.” See Bilbo’s tale of winning it in the riddle game. At the Council of Elrond he says: “But I will now tell the true story, and if some here have heard me tell it otherwise”—he looked slidelong at Glóin—“I ask them to forget it and forgive me. I only wished to claim the treasure as my very own in those days, and to be rid of the name of thief that was put on me. But perhaps I understand things a little better now” (emphasis mine).

You can see it in Isildur, too. The films misrepresent this scene: Elrond says nothing of dragging Isildur up Mount Doom to try to get him to destroy the Ring; he says that “whether we would or no, he took it to treasure it” but at that time there is no way anyone present could know what kind of effect the Ring would have on someone other than Sauron, because Isildur is the first person after Sauron to hold it. But Elrond telling the story has the benefit of Gandalf’s recent decades of research, and the reader also can see the red flags popping up almost as soon as Isildur touches it. He “will have [the Ring] as weregild for my father, and my brother” he claims, which is a similar kind of justification to Bilbo’s story of winning the Ring instead of finding it. Weregild is, per dictionary.com: a term used in Anglo-Saxon and other Germanic countries for “money paid to the relatives of a murder victim in compensation for loss and to prevent a blood feud.” It’s something paid to prevent further bloodshed. It would have been weregild if Sauron had handed it over after Anárion had died, as part of some kind of peace brokerage. But it can’t be weregild if you’re taking it off the dead body of your enemy; it’s too late by then. Isildur does have every right to it as a spoil of war, and no one disputes that right. But the fact that Isildur has to change it and further justify it even in his own mind is a sign that the Ring is already working on him. And if that is not enough (which it might not be—weregild is a very archaic term), Tolkien further illustrates the effects of the Ring taking hold on Isildur in the document that Gandalf discovers in Minas Tirith’s archives: “But for my part I will risk no hurt to this thing: of all the words of Sauron the only fair. It is precious to me, though I buy it with great pain.”

This effect of the Ring is not something that can be defeated easily. Only twice is it given up willingly: once by Bilbo, who needs all of the help Gandalf can give him, and once by Sam, who has born it for a very short time—and even then “Sam felt reluctant to give up the Ring and burden his master with it again.” There you see another justification—perfectly in character for Sam to want to spare Frodo, but also a thought that the Ring can latch onto and use, to twist for its own purposes.

And though Sam is able to return it to Frodo with relative ease, he tries to compromise: “If it’s too hard a job, I could share it with you, maybe?”

Frodo’s reaction illustrates just how far gone he is—made more tragic by his awareness of it:

“‘No, no!’ cried Frodo, snatching the Ring and chain from Sam’s hands. ‘No you won’t, you thief!’ He panted, staring at Sam with eyes wide with fear and enmity. Then suddenly, clasping the Ring in one clenched fist, he stood aghast. A mist seem to clear form his eyes, and he passed a hand over his aching brow. The hideous vision had seemed so real to him, half bemused as he was still with wound and fear. Sam had changed before his very eyes into an orc gain, leering and pawing at his treasure, a foul little creature with greedy eyes and slobbering mouth. But now the vision had passed. There was Sam kneeling before him, his face wrung with pain, as if he had been stabbed in the heart; tears welled from his eyes.

“‘O Sam!’ cried Frodo. ‘What have I said? What have I done? Forgive me! After all you have done. It is the horrible power of the Ring. I wish it had never, never, been found. But don’t mind me, Sam. I must carry the burden to the end. It can’t be altered. You can’t com between me and this doom.’”

And that is only looking at what it does to people who possess it. Saruman never comes near it, but the mere desire twists him from someone noble and wise and good into a miniature Sauron. Boromir also falls—he is a good man, an honorable and brave and ambitious man desperate to protect his home, and the Ring takes that and twists it until Boromir breaks and attacks Frodo. The Ring is a thing made with evil and malicious intentions, for explicitly evil purposes, and it cannot be taken and used for good—in fact it will take even the best of intentions and twist them to evil. Gandalf knows this, and that is why when Frodo asks if he will take the Ring his response is immediate and vehement:

‘No!’ cried Gandalf, springing to his feet. ‘With that power I should have power too great and terrible. And over me the Ring would gain a power still greater and more deadly.’ His eyes flashed and his face was lit as by a fire within. ‘Do not tempt me! For I do not wish to become like the Dark Lord himself. Yet the way of the Ring to my heart is by pity, pity for weakness and the desire of strength to do good. Do not tempt me! I dare not take it, not even to keep it safe, unused. The wish to wield it would be too great for my strength. I shall have such need of it.’

And Galadriel has a similar response when Frodo offers it to her. There is of course her famous description of what she would become were she to take it, but then Sam says to her:

‘But if you’ll pardon my speaking out, I think my master was right. I wish you’d take his Ring. You’d put things to rights. You’d stop them digging up the gaffer and turning him adrift. You’d make some folk pay for their dirty work.’

‘I would,’ she said. ‘That is how it would begin. But it would not stop with that, alas! We will not speak more of it.’

That is why the plot of The Lord of the Rings centers around the Ring’s destruction. Everything else—the battles, the politics, the power struggles, Aragorn’s rise to kingship—all of it is secondary. And the Ring itself is an active player. I will not go so far as to claim it has sentience, or any kind of active thought, but there is a significant part of Sauron’s will and his power held within it, and there is a drive to be found and kept and used—and ultimately to return to its maker.

The Silmarils, on the other hand, are the greatest creation of Fëanor at the height of his powers in Valinor:

For Fëanor, being come to his full might, was filled with a new thought, or it may be that some shadow of foreknowledge came to him of the doom that drew near; and he pondered how the light of the Trees, the glory of the Blessed Realm, might be preserved imperishable. Then he began a long and secret labor, and he summoned all his lore, and his power, and his subtle skill; and at the end of all he made the Silmarils.

As three great jewels they were in form. But not until the End, when Fëanor shall return who perished ere the Sun was made … shall it be known of what substance they were made. Like the crystal of diamonds it appeared, and yet was more strong than adamant, so that no violence could mar it or break it within the Kingdom of Arda. Yet that crystal was to the Silmarils but as is the body to the Children of Ilúvatar: the house of its inner fire, that is within it and yet in all parts of it, and is its life. And the inner fire of the Silmarils Fëanor made of the blended light of the Trees of Valinor, which lives in them yet, though the Trees have long withered and shine no more.

Fëanor’s motives in making the Silmarils are not wholly clear—whether he had some foresight of the death of the Trees, or whether he just wanted to see if he could do it, or to show off his skills, or what. But whatever his motive is, it is not to enthrall or ensnare anyone. On the contrary—while the Ring seeks to isolate its bearer, the Silmarils, though “even in the darkness of the deepest treasury [they] of their own radiance shone like the stars of Varda; and yet, as were they indeed living things, they rejoiced in light and received it and gave it back in hues more marvelous than before.” They are at their most beautiful when out in the light, where they are most likely to be seen and enjoyed by everyone.

They are then hallowed by Varda. To hallow a thing is to to make it holy, and in the case of the Silmarils it also means that “thereafter no moral flesh, nor hands unclean, nor anything of evil will might touch them, but it was scorched and withered”. The mortal flesh bit is contradicted later when Beren handles one with seemingly no issue, but Beren is an exception to many rules, and what remains consistent is that nothing “of evil will” can touch the Silmarils and come away unharmed.

Like the One Ring, the entire plot of The Silmarillion is the great desire of various characters for the Silmarils. This begins with Melkor, whose lust for them inflames his desire to destroy Fëanor, and the friendship between the Valar and the Elves. But this should come as no surprise to the reader; Melkor has historically lusted after sources of power and Light, going often into the Void in search of the Flame Imperishable. The Silmarils themselves are not doing anything to Melkor; they are the objects of his desires, but not the source.

This pattern continues throughout the The Silmarillion. Fëanor and his sons swear their famous Oath, but the Silmarils don’t make them do it. Then Thingol tells Beren that he must retrieve a Silmaril before he can marry Lúthien, he is setting what seems to everyone present to be an impossible goal, especially after the Dagor Bragollach and the breaking of the Siege of Angband. I’m not saying that Thingol does not actually want a Silmaril; he is very happy to have it once he gets it, but it’s a very different desire from the kind inspired by the Ring much later. Then someone is the bearer of the One Ring, the last thing they want to do is give it up, as discussed above. But the Silmaril that Beren and Lúthien retrieve from Morgoth is passed around without any issue through many different hands. Nowhere is it even implied that Elwing, for example, has trouble giving it to Eärendil to take to the Valar, or to take with him when he sets sail in Vingilot.

Thingol’s desire for the Silmaril I mentioned above; it comes closest to mirroring the kind of obsession triggered by the Ring, but it is not the same. Although “as the years passed Thingol’s thought turned unceasingly to the jewel of Fëanor, and became bound to it,” which sounds a lot like Ring-esque obsession, it does not drive him to isolate himself, or to keep the Silmaril hidden away where only he can see or find it, the way Bilbo keeps the Ring in his pocket and never takes it out when others can see it. Thingol does become “minded now to bear it with him always, waking and sleeping,” but by its very nature that can’t be done secretly. There is also no use to the Silmaril the way there is to the Ring—it cannot turn one invisible, and it does not give one power over others. The Silmarils have a power—more on that later—but it’s of a very different kind.

An explanation can be found for Thingol’s obsession through a study of his character arc and his relationship with Valinor and the Trees (which is another essay unto itself). Thingol, along with Ingwë and Finwë, goes to Valinor as an ambassador, and when they return to Cuiviénen there is nothing in the text to indicate that he is more or less enthusiastic than his companions to convince the Eldar to go to dwell with the Valar, and he in fact leads the largest faction of the Eldar over Middle-earth on the Great Journey. It is only by chance (if chance you call it) that he stumbles upon Melian in Nan Elmoth, where “a spell was laid on him, so that they stood thus while long years were measured by the wheeling stars above them; and the trees of Nan Elmoth grew tall and dark before they spoke any word.” Famously, they remain lost in Nan Elmoth so long that Ulmo comes back to get the Teleri that have lingered to search for him, and under Olwë many of them depart, and those that remain give up the chance to get to Valinor—and that includes Thingol when he finally returns to them. Thingol does not choose to remain behind; he gets left behind. And when The Silmarillion speaks of Thingol’s desire to go to Valinor, it specifically says that it is the light of the Trees that he desires: “Greatly though he had desired to see again the light of the Trees, in the face of Melian he beheld the light of Aman as in an unclouded mirror, and in that light he was content.”

Fast forward to the Flight of the Noldor, and Thingol learns that Morgoth has destroyed the Trees (and murdered his friend Finwë), so that even if he were to reach Valinor, their light is gone forever. Fast forward to the Dagor Bragollach, and the Siege of Angband has broken and Beleriand is swiftly growing ever more dark and dangerous as the power of Morgoth grows. Then Beren comes, and the Quest happens, and now Thingol has a Silmaril. He no longer has to be content with the reflected light of Aman in Melian’s face, however unclouded a mirror it may be. Now he has the real thing, a real piece of Laurelin and Telperion at Mingling. Of course it might become an obsession.

Less readily explainable is the Dwarves’ decision to insist upon the Silmaril and the Nauglamír as payment, when Thingol commissions them to combine the two. They have been coming and going between their mountain halls and Menegroth for many generations by now, and there is no mention of any kind of prior dispute over payment—certainly not one that results in bloodshed. Yet when Thingol goes to take up the finished Nauglamír they “in that moment withheld it from him, and demanded that he yield it up to them, saying: ‘By what right does the Elvenking lay claim to the Nauglamír, that was made by our fathers for Finrod Felagund who is dead? It has come to him but by the hand of Húrin the Man of Dor-lómin, who took it as a thief out of the darkness of Nargothrond.’”

This does sound rather like the Ring-induced desires we see in The Lord of the Rings, although the Dwarves do not mention the Silmaril. It is Thingol who decides that that is what they want—whether he is correct in this assessment is, in my opinion, debatable. There is another form of treasure that warps people’s minds and desires—dragon gold. And the Nauglamír has just come from Nargothrond, that was for several years under the control of Glaurung. I have thus far only cited the published Silmarillion but at this point I do want to point out that in a previous draft of Thingol’s demise, the gold that Húrin brings to Thingol is, explicitly, cursed.

In the draft of the Quenta Noldorinwa found in The Shaping of Middle-earth Húrin and a few outlaws arrive at Nargothrond “which as yet none, Orc, Elf, or Man, had dared to plunder, for dread of the spirit of Glómund [Glaurung] and his very memory.” There they find the dwarf Mîm, who has come to Nargothrond and “bound [the treasure] to himself with many spells.” Húrin’s companions kill Mîm, “and at his death Mîm cursed the gold.”

This is the gold that, in this version of the story, Húrin takes to throw at Thingol’s feet, and it is this gold that Thingol then summons the Dwarves to make into the Nauglamír in which to hang the Silmaril. The text in this version is extremely explicit about the hold that the cursed gold takes over Thingol and also over the Dwarves who come to work with it. “Yet also they [the Dwarves] lusted for the Silmaril,” is added almost as an afterthought.

In the published Silmarillion there is no explicit curse, though the description of Nargothrond when Húrin comes to it is almost exactly the same as the earlier Quenta, and if one is familiar with The Hobbit, one might remember what else Tolkien has written about dragon hoards. When Bilbo witnesses Thorin’s dealing with Bard after Smaug is slain, the narrator says that “also he did not reckon with the power that gold has upon which a dragon has long brooded … Long hours in the past days Thorin had spent in the treasury, and the lust of it was heavy on him.” This is commonly called the dragon-sickness; its effects are varied in The Hobbit, affecting some more strongly than others—such as Thorin, and also the Master of Lake-town, who “being of the kind that easily catches such disease he fell under the dragon-sickness and took most of the gold and fled with it, and died of starvation in the Waste.”

One can thus infer that both Thingol and the Dwarves of Nogrod are also susceptible to the dragon-sickness, and also to fatal amounts of pride. This puts some of the blame on the Nauglamír, but still none at all on the Silmaril.

None of this is to say that the Silmarils are not desirable. The entire plot of The Silmarillion hinges on their desirability. But in this they are passive objects, unlike the Ring that actively seeks to ensnare new bearers whenever it can. What power lies in the Silmarils lies in the light of the Trees that lives inside them, and that light was made by Yavanna, and is holy and life-giving. The people of Sirion believe that “in the Silmaril lay the healing and the blessing that had come upon their houses and their ships,” and that seems to play a much larger part in their refusal to surrender the Silmaril to Maedhros than the fact that it is an heirloom of Lúthien and Dior. Considering the state of the rest of Beleriand at this time, there seems to be some truth to that belief. It is with the Silmaril also that Eärendil and Elwing are able at last to pass through the barriers around Valinor and come to the shores of Eldamar.

And, much later, it is the light of that Silmaril that Galadriel captures in the phial she gifts to Frodo, and though that phial might be considered as much a reflection of the light of Aman as lives in Melian’s face, there is real tangible power in it—power that works against that of the Ring (and the Witch-king) in the Morgul Vale as the Witch-king and his armies pass by:

There was no longer any answer to that command in his own will, dismayed by terror though it was, and he felt only the beating upon him of a great power from outside. It took his hand, and as Frodo watched with his mind, not willing it but in suspense (as if he looked on some old story far away), it moved the hand inch by inch towards the chain upon his neck. Then his own will stirred; slowly it forced the hand back and set it to find another thing, a thing lying hidden near his breast. Cold and hard it seemed as his grip closed on it: the phial of Galadriel, so long treasured, and almost forgotten till that hour. As he touched it, for a while all thought of the Ring was banished from his mind. He sighed and bent his head.

Later in Shelob’s lair Frodo brings the phial out, and

for a moment it glimmered, faint s a rising star struggling in heavy earthward mists, and then as its power waxed, and hope grew in Frodo’s mind, it began to burn, and kindled to a silver flame, a minute heart of dazzling light, as though Eärendil had himself come down from the high sunset paths with the last Silmaril upon his brow. The darkness receded from it, until ti seemed to shine in the center of a globe of airy crystal, and the hand that held it sparkled with white fire.

Frodo gazed in wonder at this marvelous gift that he had so long carried, not guessing its full worth and potency. Seldom had he remembered it on the road, until they came to Morgul Vale, and never had he used it for fear of its revealing light. Aiya Eärendil Elenion Ancalima! he cried, and knew not what he had spoken; for it seemed that another voice spoke through his, clear, untroubled by the foul air of the pit.

And this is only the light of the Silmaril that Galadriel has caught in the water of her mirror, not the Silmaril itself—a fragment of a fragment of the light of the Trees. It stands and acts in opposition of the Shadow, whether of Morgoth or of Sauron.

All of this has been to say: one can compare the roles that the Silmarils and the One Ring play in their respective stories, as each lies at the center, but there the similarities end. The Silmarils are desirable for their goodness; the Ring is desirable for the malicious power that it promises any prospective bearer. As objects of power they are the antithesis of one another, and for a reader to treat or regard the Silmarils as they would the Ring is, quite frankly, wrong. The motives of a maker matter in Middle-earth, and whatever his deeds later, one cannot equate Fëanor at the height of his power in Valinor to Sauron at the height of his in Mordor.

Bibliography:

1. The Fellowship of the Ring, “The Council of Elrond”, “The Shadow of the Past”, “The Mirror of Galadriel” 2. dictionary.com, entry: weregild 3. The Return of the King, “The Tower of Cirith Ungol" 4. The Silmarillion, “Of the Silmarils and the Unrest of the Noldor” 5. The Silmarillion, “Of the Ruin of Doriath” 6. The Silmarillion, “Of Thingol and Melian” 7. The Silmarillion, “Of Eldamar and the Princes of the Eldalië” 8. The Shaping of Middle-earth, “The Quenta” 9. The Hobbit, “The Gathering of the Clouds” 10. The Hobbit, “The Last Stage” 11. The Two Towers, “The Stairs of Cirith Ungol" 12. The Two Towers, “Shelob’s Lair”

[gsirvitor]

Let's list all of James Cameron's movies and what they are based on.

Aliens, Alien 3 - Sequel to someone else's IP.

Terminator 1, 2, 3, Salvation, Genesis, Dark Fate - based on The Outer Limits, The Driver and Mad Max 2, despite this it was an Original Idea, though SkyNet is clearly inspired by AM from the short story I have no Mouth and I must Scream by Harlan Jay Ellison.

Titanic - based on real events.

Piranha II: The Spawning - based on a screenplay by Charles H. Eglee.

Rambo: First Blood Part II - Sequel to someone else's IP.

The Abyss - based on H. G. Wells' short story "In the Abyss," though Cameron denies this, claiming it to be an original idea.

The Muse - based on a screenplay written by Monica Johnson and Albert Brooks.

Solaris - based on the 1961 science fiction novel of the same name by Polish writer Stanisław Lem.

True Lies -  based on the 1991 French comedy film La Totale!.

Strange Days - Original Idea, biggest flop of his career.

Alita: Battle Angel - based on Yukito Kishiro's manga series Gunnm.

Avatar 1 & 2 - Alien Pocahontas, Original Idea Do Not Steal.

Now let's go over Tolkien's works, and what they're based on.

The Hobbit - based on the story of Bilbo Baggins a character he made up to act as the focal point of thrilling adventures he'd often make up and share with his children.

The Lord of the Rings - began as a personal exploration of his interests in philology, religion, particularly Roman Catholicism, fairy tales, as well as Norse and Celtic mythology, but the trilogy was also crucially influenced by the effects of his military service during World War I.

The Silmarillion - was influenced by many sources. A major influence was the Finnish epic Kalevala, especially the tale of Kullervo. Influence from Greek mythology is also apparent in the way that the island of Númenor recalls Atlantis, and the Valar borrow many attributes from the Olympian gods.

Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth - literally what the Director's cut of the LOTR wishes it could be, stories and essays ranging in time from the Elder Days of Middle-earth to the end of the War of the Ring, and further relates events as told in The Silmarillion and The Lord of the Rings.

The History of Middle-earth - a legendarium based on everything he's written.

Mr. Cameron, you are but a babe, unable to even stand on the shoulders of a literary giant like Tolkien.

[haveyoureadthisfanfic]

Summary: Maedhros Fëanorion died as the First Age died, falling with his Silmaril into a chasm of fire rent within the earth, forever lost. That is the tale that has always been told. That is what everyone has always known. Two ages of the world later, on the plains of the Pelennor Fields as the battle slowly dies around them, the Fellowship find out that the story they've heard isn't quite true.

Author: @theheirofashandfire

Note from submitter: the ship is very minor in this one, but it is a driving force for the second part, Hold All the Shards, which is also an incredible fic

[softlysilverfountainsfall]

"...but most of all that which he heard of Turgon, and that he had no heir; for Elenwë his wife perished in the crossing of the Helcaraxë, and his daughter Idril Celebrindal was his only child" (Of Maeglin, The Silmarillion).

In-universe or the author's sexism with regards to women inheriting aside, this is...a really, really weird motive to assign to Maeglin?

Because...elves don't really die. Even in Beleriand, they don't die unless they're killed, and this is before the Bragollach and the Nirnaeth, during the Long Peace. And on top of that, you're talking about the king of Gondolin, specifically the most hidden and secret and protected realm in Beleriand other than Doriath and possibly Nargothrond. The likelihood of Turgon dying is incredibly low at this point.

(Yes, Feanor and Fingolfin had a whole Thing (TM) about being the heir, but that was a very unique situation that Maeglin, growing up with only Aredhel (who doesn't seem to be into politics or ruling others, since she wanders off into the wilderness frequently) really knowing about that whole situation, shouldn't be that affected by it.)

So, why this motivation? Perhaps simply the rank of heir (especially when death is technically a possibility) is an enormous boost of status and prestige...but Maeglin has that in Nan Dungortheb, as his father's only child.

The true reason is probably that Maeglin is desperate to get away from his father (given that Eol shortly tries to murder Maeglin I don't think anyone needs convincing that Maeglin has very good reasons to want out). Gondolin is the place of his mother's kin and extremely well hidden (probably the safest place from Eol in Beleriand, except for the unfortunate fact that he was able to track them)

If you want to bring in in-universe biased narration, it is possible that this is an entirely made-up motive after the Fall of Gondolin by historians. I try not to dismiss assertions about motivations/events/conversations in the Silm that historians couldn't possibly know because if you strip all that out it's a very boring story; you need to accept most of it as at least partly true if you want to have any insight into character's private conversations or thoughts. However, this assigned motive to Maeglin is just so nonsensical that I might have to pull the "in-universe author is just dead wrong" card.

[tanoraqui]

I love your world building! Your name ideas are awesome. Love the idea of Indis being a true prophetic mother name

-@outofangband

Belated thank you! Also, sharing my thought process on that one because it's a very classic Silmarillion headcanon origin: it bothers me that Indis's name means "bride." I hate how it reduces her to a feminine trope - at "best", only here to have a troubled marriage; if you're a staunch Fëanorian, a femme fatale homewrecker. I immensely dislike how this is, in fact, an fairly accurate description of her role in the story...

Which is deliberate on Tolkien's part! The "canonically correct" way to ameliorate this misogyny (though neither erase nor excuse it) is to remember that this whole text is a mixture of history, legend and myth passed through multiple storytellers over thousands of years, translated and re-translated and interpreted through the eyes of elves and men and hobbits and men again, until even if this person ever actually existed in the history of Middle Earth - IF! - "Indis" probably wasn't even her epessë, much less her commonly used name. Probably her name got ink blotted on it at some point, or mixed up with someone else's name, and the next Númenorean scholar to rewrite the text followed the Archetypal School of historical interpretation and decided to name her "Indis" because of her role in the story...

But this, too, bothers me. Because I love the framing device of these various books, I love the historian-given dubious canonicity of literally every detail of The Hobbit, Lord of the Rings, and especially of The Silmarillion. But! We need some solid canon upon which to hang all our headcanons, so it's imperative to retain a delicate mental balance of knowing everything could be made up (more than it already is by being fiction!) while also adhering to as much as possible as something that Really Did Happen - and names are pretty solidly in the latter category. I mean, everyone has multiple and for those who don't, we tend to make more up, but a belief in the basic premise of the text is necessary in order to function in any fandom, and "names of characters" is pretty "basic premise."

So it's impossible to ignore that her name is Indis; and it's impossible to ignore that the name "Indis" is closely connected to her place in the narrative, more than most characters, and that said place is uncomfortably non-feminist - you can round out her character all you like, but you have to admit that her role in the story is to be the Second Wife and Mother whose acts of being a wife and mother cause trouble! That's a fact! And it's not great! And the name "Indis" isn't helping because if she was named anything but her literal narrative role, that would be characterization! She could be noble like Artanis, she could be of the sea like Eärwen, but she's not! She's just "bride"!

...so, I redeem this by making this definition of her life deliberate within the text - and not just by a future Númenorean scholar, but by Indis's mother. (Female! O! Cs!) Furthermore, names of prophecy are implicitly grand (even if they're not necessarily either good or bad). It makes being a bride itself feel more active - and why not! Do Indis's acts of love and marriage not change the fate of the world just as much as Lúthien's? Consider that Indis's act of marriage is so important that it echoes back through the Great Music to be known by her mother as she held the future bride as a babe in arms. Consider a mother holding her child under stars beside a lake and going, "damn, this kid is gonna have ripple effects. I should add a bragging warning label."

Also, if you accept the headcanons that

a) most Elvish languages treat "sex" (physical) and "marriage" (soul-bonding) as basically synonymous; and

b) Indis spends thousands of years in the Second/Third ages patiently and stubbornly figuring out how to Make It Work between herself, Finwë and Miriel, such that all three of them can marry with genuine all-around mutual love unto the end of days, for peace among the still-troubled Noldor but mostly for happiness for herself and those she loves most (also an act of bride-ship worthy of prophecy, note) -

then you can with a straight face imagine Indis saying, "I fucked my way into this mess and I'm going to fuck my way out of it."

Feminist critique + consideration of canonical historicity + elaborate headcanon web = sex joke! Now that's good fandom!

[anthurak]

Do you ever find yourself thinking back on the certain parts of shows/movies/franchises you were particularly fixated on as a kid and then discover there is actually a certain… poetry with the state of that thing today? Or more likely, IRONY?

Like I was super into Yu-Gi-Oh as a kid, particularly the anime. And one thing I can vividly remember getting super fixated on while watching the old Duel Monsters show was the oft-hinted at but never truly explored characters of the actual monsters. The show kept hinting, and at times outright confirming that there were true spirts and identities behind these cards, and I always wanted to know MORE about that!

It’s one of the reasons I actually liked the Virtual World filler arc because it introduced the concept of deck-masters who could actually talk and chat with their duelist. Which incidentally, is also entirely to thank for Tea/Dark Magician Girl being my otp for the DM anime.

Then of course I was utterly hyped when the Waking the Dragons opened with a bunch of duel monsters coming to life, and introducing the concept of this ‘monster world’ where all the Duel Monsters apparently come from! Now of course the arc didn’t really explore this concept all that much because well, filler. But you better believe 12-year old me was fascinated by it.

Simply put, I was super fixated on the characters of the duel monsters and what their stories and adventures might be outside of getting called up to fight in a card game.

Now, just shy of twenty years later and dropping in and out of, at best, ‘casual’ interest in the franchise, I find myself watching the third part of a summary of the ‘Duel Terminal’ lore. And I can’t help but think I actually ended up getting what 12-year-old me was so hyperfixated on.

And then some.

Like, a LOT of some.

Like possibly too much some.

Like holy SHIT this is the goddamn SILMARILLION of trading card games!

And it’s not even the only one IN this game!

[lady-spacy]

Pt. 1 Children of the kindly west (Kíli x Reader) — A tale of two dwarven hearts

This is a translation, more of a re-write, of a fanfiction I wrote first in German during 2013 - 2015 when the Hobbit movies premiered and I was just as obsessed and enamored by that adorable prince like everyone else. And reading the Silmarillion for the first time this year in February brought me back to middle-earth and reminded me of my love of dwarves. And this brings me here today. Enjoy! Cross-posted on AO3 here. Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

Warnings: None

Prologue (Erebor)

The sharp winter wind blew snow around the Erebor, whereas on the inside it was cosy and warm.

Efís, an old dwarrowdam, knew that soon the children would come and demand to hear another story. The children visited her on every afternoon during the dark winter months and she would tell them stories of her own long life, from times long gone and stories from deep of the heart and soul of their people — the stories of the dwarves of the kingdom of Erebor and beyond.

Some of these stories were true, some were not, some pretended to be one thing while actually being the other and with some, well, there was just no way of telling anymore.

Today, she decided, would she tell the children a true story from the time, when their people still lived in the blue mountains, the Ered Luin, before the Erebor was reclaimed and Smaug slain.

It was a love story, tender and pure and true but also so sad and heartbreaking that Efís had to wonder briefly for a moment if maybe the story was too much for the children to bear…

A soft knock on her door pulled her out of her thoughts and she went to greet her small visitors.

A group of children, all around age twelve to 40, looked up to her with big, joyfully expectant eyes, filled with excitement about the story they were about to hear and the sweets they would get and the hospitality they would be blessed with.

„Good evening, Efís“, they all greeted with fresh, glowing faces, they must have played in the snow for a while. Their little noses and cheeks were rosy and running.

„Good evening, dears, come on in“, she ushered them inside and the children took off their boots and coats, all covered in snow and went on to sit down on plush pillows and thick furs and little stools by the fire.

While the children found their seats Efís brought them her already prepared hot mulled berry juices  and fresh gingerbread and other baked goods, some of them still hot from the oven.

The hot juice and the pastries and the little cakes helped to quickly thaw the frozen faces and frozen hands of the children.

Shortly after the first group of children had arrived, was there another knock on her door and a second group came into her chambers and also a third one after the second!

Efís had prepared a lot of her famous hot mulled juice and gingerbreads and cookies and pastries in advance and had plenty to serve to her little guests.

When everyone had their cup with hot juice and some gingerbread pieces, she sat down herself — she sat down into her armchair by the crackling fire and looked over the children, who chatted and laughed with each other, some pulling their younger siblings or cousins on their laps and Efís smiled, time to begin!

„Children!“, she said with her firm, calm voice and clapped her hands, „please calm down, do you want to hear what story I have for you today?“

The expectant faces were immediately turned to her and she nodded in approval.

„Very well, children, are you all warm and cosy?“

„Yes, yes, yes!“, they screamed but quickly got quiet again, when Efís continued to speak.

The air was filled with the scent of spices, the freshly baked pastries and the scent of the wood and the smoke in the fire. 

And there was no sound besides the soft breathing of the children, an occasionally sniffling or cough and the crackling of the fire and Efís’ kind, wise voice.

„Today I will tell you a love story — it began many, many winters ago, long before my own birth and when our people still lived in the blue mountains far in the west of middle-earth, far, far away from here…

It was winter and snow had covered all of the mountains with a coat of white wonder. Just like here.

Hardly any dwarf was out on the streets on that day, when our story began, but instead everyone was in their warm houses and occupied themselves with activities for snowy afternoons. 

And so did the heroine of our story as well…

She sat by her window by candle light and read one of her favourite books. 

She loved reading stories of big adventures, courage, friendship, honour, loyalty and love. But her desire to experience such a story herself was dim in the background of her heart, she was happy and content with the life she had and she lived it with joy.

Our heroine also had a little sister, named Syniver, a grey pony and her father was a beloved and popular goldsmith in the town.

To put it simply — she lived a calm, comfortable life and did not know yet, how could she know, that her future was waiting for her. And that her future was not as calm and comfortable as her current life.

And she also did not know that she would soon meet the one again after many, many years, who would seal her fate and destiny.

The one person who would also be her One…

So at the moment was she only feeling peace and contentment, while she happily soaked up her favourite story but not for long anymore. Because her mother called for her, rather impatiently, from downstairs…“

Efís looked around in the children’s faces who had all listened to her with as much attention as they were able to give.

She took a sip of her own mulled juice and continued telling the story that her own grandfather had told her when she was just a girl herself.

[lutiaslayton]

Somewhere in this world lies the Book of Fate. This book knows the destiny of all humans. Whoever has it in hand will rule the world… Past, and future.

“It may be hard to believe, indeed. But if it were true, what would you do? If such a book really existed, anyone could control the fate of humanity as a whole.”

(*) Option 4 was too long for the character limit so let me write it in full here:

“Write an epic about the dramatic downfall of Targent, taking inspiration from the Silmarillion, the Iliad, and the Azran tales of the Great Riders of the Sky, adorned with endless twists and turns, then finally concluding the story with a five act tragedy sprinkled with music and pyrotechnics so he can then watch it weekly at his favourite opera house.”