#The Silmarils

[rey-jake-therapist]

Ok, here am I again posting another TROP/Haladriel meta... Feel free to mute me if you can't take it anymore, these are gonna be two long weeks as there are still two episodes left...

We're having a lot of discussions about what we'll get to see in Episode 8 (maybe even a bit in episode 7??), and it's really great and exciting to speculate about what will happen when our two love birds mortal enemies finally meet again.

It seems to be the general consensus that Sauron will try again to convince her to be his queen. Now I may be the dissonant voice, but I personnally don't think it will be that straightforward.

Charlie said several times that Sauron was pissed that Galadriel rejected him, but that it wasn't the end of the world, for him. Meaning: he totally believes he can make it without her.

To the Nerdist, he said :

"Speaking of your old screenmate, Sauron asked Galadriel to be his queenOpens in a new tab at the end of season one of The Rings of Power. How much, if at all, does he still want that by this point? And does he think it’s a possibility? Vickers: I think he probably does think it’s still a possibility because he has this hubris and this self-love. He thinks he’s really cool, and he thinks, “Well, she rejected me once, but next time I come back for her, she won’t reject me again because I’ll be so powerful she won’t be able to.” But I don’t think he necessarily wants that. I think his initial proposal to her was to join him, and they could be king and queen of Middle-earth, but really, he would’ve been king, and she would’ve been his righthand woman. Any kind of dreams he has involve her being number two and him being number one."

(I would love to see him try to submit Galadriel to his will, btw. I mean, c'mon man)

To Collider, he said,

"His getting rejected definitely leaves him with this sour taste in his mouth, and he goes away thinking, “I can make this right.” Whatever that means to him. That's one of his throughlines in terms of his motivation or goals for this second season is how much he's driven and how much this relationship gives him a sense of purpose."

And to Schön:

That connection will endure as long as the show endures because although they might not be together in proximity when we pick it up, he’s pissed off that she has turned his pitch down [laughter]. That drives him to think, I can make her join me, or I’ll make her pay for this.

Here, there's also an interview he gave for Total Films, where he reveals that there's a "huge amount of urgency in each of them trying to obtain what they want in that situation": https://x.com/totalfilm/status/1830244276539654595

I'm sure I've read an interview where Charlie said that Sauron would probably want to taunt Galadriel with what they could have done together had she said yes. Edit : found it! Interview for TV Insider.

Second to his lust for more rings is Sauron’s desire to get the Elven rings back. “While he didn’t directly touch them, which is a big thing this season, [Galadriel] has this ring that he put all this effort into, and he wants that back,” Vickers admits. Sauron “covets” these jewels, “and particularly hers,” he explains, “because he knows what they represented when he was making them.” Sauron feels “taunted” and “pissed off” that Galadriel rejected him. That makes getting her ring back personal, but Vickers insists that “he’s past ruling with her.” That won’t stop him from showing her “what could have been, what you could have had,” Vickers teases.

Of course Charlie can't give much away. But so far, it matches with what we saw in season 2 : he's in Eregion, forging his rings of power with Celebrimbor, he's visibly happy (just kidding, the man looks exhausted and depressed), but sometimes he can't help but think of Galadriel.

I love how the experience is completely different for him, from it is for Galadriel: while she had a bittersweet flashback of her and Halbrand in the Southlands, he gets lost in the contemplation of Mirdania's hair because she reminds her of Galadriel, and manifests images in his mind palace that also remind him of her (there are several posts about all this on Tumblr, including one of mine... I won't enter into the details again).

It would be very OOC of Sauron to display an outright nostalgia for the time he spent with Galadriel as Halbrand, imho, even if it was only for the audience to see. He's not supposed to be sad and nostalgic, but pissed at her for rejecting him, and determined to move on and to obtain what he wants without her in the picture. He's probably annoyed af to see his thoughts shifting towards Galadriel while he's in the middle of something very important. He's in his "the fuck with her" phase of the breakup, which pretty much matches what Charlie said. In his hubris, he believes that once he has his rings, he will be so powerful that Galadriel will have no other choice than joining him. She hurt his pride, so now he wants to relish the sight of her submission to him.

Regarding the mind palace scene, precisely the one where the guy tells the Galadriel look alike he wrote a poem : it probably remained unnoticed by most viewers, but I think it's very significant that this scene arrived at THIS moment. Let me explain:

To convince Celebrimbor, Sauron first assures him that when the story of this age is written, the Silmarils will be "no more than a whisper". Of course it's meant to motivate Celebrimbor who always wanted to create something that would be remembered, like the Silmarils. But it can be interpreted as a personal goal for Sauron as well :

1) Morgoth found the Silmarils so beautiful that for weeks, "he could do nothing but stare into their depth".

2) Fëanor admired Galadriel's hair so much it gave him the idea of imprisoning and blending the light of the Trees, and three times requested a tress of hers (she always said 'no').

The two people he loved/admired but hurt him the most are connected to the Silmarils in a way, so he could see the creation of something "more precious" as a personal challenge. After he promises Celebrimbor that his rings of power will be "deemed the most precious creations in all Middle-Earth", and Celebrimbor returns to his workshop, his attention is caught by the sight of a couple. The man (whose face remains unseen, because he's a just a self-insert) tells the Galadriel look alike :

"I've written a poem, but I fear your beauty still overshadows anything I could possibly write."

Of course we joked about Sauron's pathetic attempt at poetry (it's terrible lol), but imho there was a deeper meaning to this scene. I think it was his subconscious manifesting what he already knows deep inside of him : that without Galadriel's light, there will ALWAYS be something missing. That what he told Celebrimbor was a lie, no matter how much Sauron wants it to be the truth. The Rings of power are his poem, but Galadriel's beauty/light will always overshadow it.

Hence why it's pretty much granted that he will try to "get Galadriel back". He'll show her how powerful he is now that he has the Nine rings, and his proposal will probably not be as charming as it was the first time. I think we should prepare ourselves to a lot of gaslighting and threatening from his part (he's still pissed off, guys). He'll surely tell her that Eregion is burning because she refused him, that kind of thing. He will definitely use her memories of Halbrand (it's pretty much confirmed by the presence of Halbrand's theme within The Temptation music, and maybe Galadriel's vision of Halbrand enters that scheme too), but will it be to show her what they could have had if she had said yes the first time, or what they could still be? It remains to be seen.

We probably shouldn't forget that in his mind, it happens like this: "she joins me, or I'm making pay for it".... It should be pretty intense.

Then we've got what Charlotte Brändström revealed about Sauron (bless her heart) :

"I think Sauron even really loves Galadriel and you will see that at the very end”

There are already several threads discussing how Sauron will show his love for Galadriel... Will he spare her? Save her in one way or another? Heal her because she's hurt? Prove her in some way that what he said he felt as Halbrand was real? Something entirely different? Anyway, it will be something that can't be confused with manipulation.

There, I said my piece. Why isn't it next Thursday yet?

[mordorlady]

Charlie Vickers as Annatar/Sauron and Charles Edwards as Celebrimbor. From The Rings of Power Season 2 Episode 6 - Where Is He?

[arianwen44]

I’m hearing itty, bitty evil whistling again… ❄️😅

[eri-pl]

Edit: I totally forgot that they burn mortals just for being mortals. Please ignore this fact and answer as if you were an elf.

Thank you @winterpinetrees for saving me from getting a complete rubbish data from the poll!

If your answer is "I wouldn't touch it" please answer anyway. If someone poked you with it or similar situation. The poll doesn't assume you take it of keep in or in hand take it etc.

[lordgrimwing]

How Elwing Lost A Silmaril

The first letter—sealed with an eight-pointed star pressed into red wax and delivered just before dawn—left Elwing trembling in her small office, stomach rolling and the taste of bile thick on her tongue. What was she to do? What could she do? Her parents’ murderers were coming here.

The letter didn’t say as much outright. The writer (Maedhros, she’d learned his name eventually, but he would always be the red-haired orcish monster that took her home away and haunted her worst nightmares) veiled every threat behind eloquent lines of meaningless placations and enteritis for the silmaril. He asked her, granddaughter of a thief, to return it to him, eldest son of its maker and rightful heir. But she could read what he did not say: that if she did not bend to his will he would do to Sirion as he did to Menegroth. He would come with his fell army and slaughter everyone in his way.

But how could she give up the jewel? It protected them, kept the forces of darkness at bay just enough for the refugees to eke out a living on the shores. And should Eärendil, her dear, brave husband, find a path to Aman, its light might be the only thing that could stay the Valar’s Doom long enough for them to listen to him. She could not give up their hope.

The second letter—sealed in red wax and delivered as the barley fields were harvested—brought more promises of horrors unnamed falling upon the settlement. She wept after throwing it in the fire. She could not do this on her own. The city council was terrified into inaction at the thought of what lay before then, and Eärendil was still out at sea. She missed him. She missed him so terribly when the councilors looked at her with fearful eyes and asked for her decision.

The fifth letter arrived in the hands of an underfed Mannish girl as the first winds of winter blew in from the sea. Elwing gave her food and a family offered a spot in their home, but the girl said her lord instructed her to go nowhere else until she had a reply for him. Elwing thought of banishing her from the city unanswered, of telling the guards with their rough-made weapons to see that the Fëanorian did not return. She regretted the thought nearly as soon as she had it. The girl was young and it was not her fault that her parents joined themselves to a mighty Elf lord. She could stay for a day.

Tell me whatsoever you desire, the greatest or smallest need of your heart. 

The letter said in handwriting that was fast becoming too familiar. 

I will give unto you that thing and greater still if you would part with my father’s Silmaril. I would bring you all the provisions of my camp, all the weapons of my army, every other precious thing of power left in this land if you would but willingly part with that one small thing that I must otherwise be driven to take by force in the spring. Tell me your desire, and I will give it unto you. Let this not end with blood.

She fumed in her office, angrily pacing the thin rug gifted to her by the weary-eyed wife of one of her father’s guards who fell in the tunnels of Menegroth. She does not need anything from the murdering bastard! Sirion has all it requires. They would be safe if only they were left alone. How can Maedhros think that he could ever give her anything to make up for what he’s done, to convince her to do what he wants? He’s a monster and a coward who wishes to soothe his conscience by acting as if the attack is all her fault, an inevitable consequence of her resistance. He wishes to absolve himself of yet more evil.

She will not let him. If it is the only thing she can do, she will defy him.

Elwing takes up precious ink and paper. She throws herself into her chair and leans over the beaten desk, pouring her anger and helplessness into the words she scratches across the page.

You’ve taken everything from my people. You wish to take everything from me again. You are monstrous, servant of Morgoth. May the Valar stand against you as I cannot. What would I have, you ask? I would have what you’ve taken from me restored: I would have Dior, my father, and Nimloth, my mother; I would have Eluréd and Elurín, my brothers, alive again and in my arms. But I shall never have them for they died at your hands and at your command.  You cannot give me my parents. You search for my little brothers but still cannot give them to me.  So, what would I have? I would have your brothers. Give me your two youngest. I have lost my twin brothers for this gem. You must do the same.

She signed the bottom with a vicious strike that split the quill’s nip, blotting the page with ink as dark as orc blood. Her heartbeat in her chest, thumped against her ribs under her breast as though it would escape fate. Her letter would change nothing and she hesitated for a moment before dripping wax from a flickering candle for the seal, tempted to throw the paper to the fire. 

She’d written in a tantrum, a final kicking of her feet against what would come in an impotent rage. But what did it matter? Did she not deserve to beat her fists against the Doom once? Everyone looked to her for leadership and guidance as Dior’s heir but she felt like little more than a child. This would be so much easier to handle with Eärendil at her side but he still had not returned and at times she doubted he ever would (what Doom had befallen him on the waters? What lonely fate for him and the crew on the waves?). She would send this letter then say goodbye to all childishness and face what came bravely as her parents and grandparents did. 

Resolved, she dripped the wax and sealed the letter. She’d give it to the messenger tomorrow with what small food they could spare so the girl did not starve on the journey. And then…

And then all would be out of her hands and fate would fall as it would.

The sixth letter came in the hands of two red-haired Elves on tall horses. The men sat straight and tall in the saddle, their heads held high. Elwing would have called them haughty if they hadn’t dismounted and bowed deeply before her, falling to one knee as one might before royalty. A third Elf, dark-haired and somber-eyed, rode with them, though he kept himself aside and astride his steed.

“Queen Elwing,” one of the red-heads said, his face fire-scarred. He paused, waiting for permission to go on.

She nodded and waved her hand impatiently, wondering what new trick Maedhros was playing or if this was how he announced an impending slaughter.

The speaker went on, looking up slightly though he stayed kneeling. “We are Ambarussa–” he gestured to the other– “youngest sons of Fëanor. We give ourselves up at your request in exchange for the silmaril.”

Elwing stood in frozen silence as he continued, icy sea breeze biting at her fingers and face. 

[finrod-feelagund]

Feanor in the halls

[chaos-of-the-abyss]

maedhros and maglor: ‘since one is lost to us, and but two remain, and we two alone of our brothers, so is it plain that fate would have us share the heirlooms of our father.’

the two remaining silmarils:

[zeb-z]

I’ve been thinking about the oath of Fëanor and his sons. The oath is said to be cosmically binding, sure, but what does that mean? Does that mean it’s an impulse? That you feel driven to fulfill the oath? Or does it just mean that the consequences for failing are always looming, and there’s more room for free will? Is the threat of damning yourself the only driving force, or because of the cosmic nature of it does it compel you to complete it?

I think the way it’s left up in the air makes Maedhros that much more compelling - because he’s the most sympathetic out of Fëanor’s sons, he feels remorse and tries desperately to keep peace. But because of the oath he swore, he’s doomed to fight and kill for the silmarils. It’s hard to pin the title of villain on him because he’s sympathetic, he fights back against the worst of what his father has done, he’s a driving force against the Enemy and its evils. It’s definitely hard to pin the title of hero on him because of all the terrible deeds he’s done in the name of his father and the silmarils, the kinslaying, the kidnapping.

It’s clear he follows the oath no matter how much he does not want to. He follows it through and doing so kills him, because he cannot handle the weight of what he’d done, and it was never worth it. But was it his unwavering duty and honor to his word, along with the threat of what would happen if he broke the oath - or was there any cosmic drive to complete the oath due to its nature and the way it was sworn?

If it was always a matter of free will, would having refused the oath been something more honorable in the end? Or would that have doomed Beleriand even earlier than it was, without him there to fight against the Enemy?

[musingsinmiddleearth]

There is an obligatory TW here as this post discusses the emotions and circumstances involved in the suicide of Maedhros the Tall.

I sometimes think about what was going through the mind of Maedhros when he was falling into that chasm of the earth.

I think of him as the softest of the sons of Fëanor. He cared about his friends and his family - cared about people, empathised and felt the pain of others next to the pain of his own. I think the oath he and his brothers took affected him the most severely; I think each brutality he enacted in its name ate at him, ate at his conscience, made him feel lesser in every way - lesser of love, less of worth, less of goodness or wholeness. I think Maedhros saw the anger of his father festering in his eyes, and that he saw he grew his hair long so that the redness that passed from his mother's side could tell him he wasn't just become his father's monster.

All that, he did for the Silmarils. That was Maedhros' sacrifice - himself, in terms of personhood and conscience, that he might win back for his house what was taken.

And then the Silmarils scorned him. Burnt his hand - his only remaining hand. Maedhros had lost so much already, and it was all for nothing (or nothing as it would have seemed to him in that moment). His efforts had serviced a goal that had rebuked him, completely and totally.

To him, holding the Silmaril in his scorching palm, he would have had complete evidence of his own worthlessness. That he felt he had destroyed himself, or the parts of himself that were any kind of valuable, and what pieces of him remained were eclipsed by the weight of his suffering and failure. In Maedhros' final moments, he would have remembered the angry words of his father at Losgar, calling all those who failed Fëanor in his pursuit of the Silmarils needless baggage - and now it seemed that extended to Maedhros too.

And as Maedhros fell to his final recourse and to his death, I say he would have remembered the face of Fingon when he hung from the cliffs of Thangorodrim, and whispered an apology - an apology that he had spent and destroyed the second chance his friend had risked life and limb for.

[atane-is-here]

Morgoth and Annatar for today's prompt:

Greed & Charity

@deadlysinsofangbang

[tolkien-povs]

POV:

Some elf you hate made 3 shiny stones, and now you want them but he "Get thee gone from my gate, thou jail-crow of Mandos!"'s you.

[death220467]

Flashback to when I drew this

Average Fëanáro & Nolofinwë encounter be like

Yes, Fëanáro stacks the Silmarils, he is also wearing heels we can’t see bc my drawing skills are only this much

[eri-pl]

I like the "ownership of Silmarils by Feanor & sons ≅ ownership of the Ring by Sauron" comparisions as much as every other person, but

the Ring was inherently evil. The Silmarils very explicitely were not.

there was a justified suspicion that Sauron was going to use the Ring to commit crimes (=mind-control people etc)

Therefore, the Ring is not a good analogy for the Silmarils. The Arkenstone, on the other hand

[imfromthemiddlekingdom]

Okay this might be controversial but I do not believe anyone but Feanor and his sons have ANY claim to the Silmarils. This is coming from a person who’s family jewels have been stolen by colonizers and then sold on the market and when we asked for them back showing proof how it belonged to us, the buyer said no because, “I now own it since I paid for it from the money my daddy gave me”.

My family were landlords in feudal China. My great grandfather was a member of the Qing court and my family has done terrible things in history to those we viewed as “beneath us”. Yet the jewel that was an heirloom that got stolen when the eight nation alliance sacked Beijing still belonged to us. Not the person who stole it and then went on to sell it, and definitely not the person who bought it.

I remember when the sale of the necklace made the news and my grandmother broke down crying because she knew it. The same exact necklace sat upon the neck of the portrait of her grandfather in her house. My mother wrote to the new ‘owner’ asking if they’ll return it or if they’ll allow her to buy it off him since it belonged to us, and that person, who was Chinese as well, who knew also the pain of colonization, said no. All because in his eyes he paid for it through legitimate means therefore he owned it.

That piece of jewelry isn’t all that expensive bar the historical value of it since it was given to my ancestors by Qianlong but it was a religious piece as well as a sentimental one. It hold value do to its history not because of any value it holds as it was made from otherwise common materials. But still my family held to traditions, especially religious ones.

But if that piece of jewelry contained a piece of my ancestors soul within them I would definitely be more feral in my hatred towards those who kept it from us. There’s so few mementos left from my ancestors as we sold most of it to support the revolution in the early 20th century and the rest were lost during the middle of the century and those that we kept we coveted. But if any of the rest of the jade and gold I still hold were stolen from me and we’re known to contain a piece of my ancestors soul I would stop at nothing to get it back.

No one but Feanor and his direct descendants have ANY claim to the Silmarils. Just as no one but those who hold claim to stolen Jewish artworks hold any claim to them and none hold any claim to the stolen Buddhist statutes taken from my country but the temple the colonizers took it from. The kinslaying’s were objectively horrible. They were objectively wrong and the sons of Feanor should be punished because of their actions yet Varda had no right to judge who was more worthy of a gem she had no hand in creating. She had no right to declare that the Sins of Feanor were unholy and unworthy due to their deeds that came about due to her and her husbands unwillingness to do anything about her once suitor and his brother.

Thingol had no right in claiming the Silmarils as his own, Luthien stealing a stolen artifact does not make it hers by right. Just because the British stole the 12 zodiac heads does it make them there’s? Just because the person who now owns the dragon head bought it in an auction now ‘owns’ it because they paid out of pocket for it does it now make it there’s? Dior had no right to the jewel, nor did Elwing or Eärendil. The only argument you might make to make Elwings claim stronger is for the Silmaril to be a reparation for Doriath. But even then you have to weigh the cost that Doriath cost staying out of the war and the lives lost due to them raising the griddle and not aiding any of the Sindar that lived out of it.

Even if you believe that the Sons of Feanor had no right to the Silmarils than it should’ve gone to Feanors wife. The Valar had no right to declare any creation of the Children theirs. Havana’s two trees may have provided the light that was contained within the three jewels but would you consider the light that is caught in film the property of the sun? Can you claim that 静夜思-李白 (Quiet Night Thoughts - Li Bai) belongs to the moon goddess since she inspired his poem and her beauty is now held within his poem? Or that the Song of Songs belong to Solomon because it is also known as the Song of Solomon?

The Valar lost all ‘right’ they had to the gems Varda blessed when they decided that the Noldors rebellion hurt their pride and they would not do anything to aid them. And Thingol Dior and Luthein never had any right to them in the first place, just because you stole something that was stolen doesn’t make it yours(!!!!). The only one in that whole line that can claim any right to the gems are Elwing and even that is debatable due to how many people died due to Doriaths inactions.

It’s mainly white people I see defending that the gems no longer belong to Feanors kin and I don’t have to wonder about why that is. When most white people wouldn’t even admit to the fact that their museums would be empty without stolen Chinese artifacts or stolen artifacts. Most of the white people I see simping for Thingol and defending his actions and Diors actions and Beren’s actions have never had their homes ravaged by outside forces and have had their belongings stolen from them. They will never understand the hatred you’d feel when seeing your ancestors work displayed in glass when your family grieves because those should’ve been burned with them instead of being on display. The Silmarils do not belong to anyone but Feanors Kin and all of the Valar should literally die because they are egotistical assholes who only want to be worshipped and when they mess up they blame everyone but themselves.

[soothingmoonlight]

The Fëanorian shawl that I ordered just arrived and I absolutely love it!

[ibrithir-was-here]

Tada!!! This commission was for the amazing @cuarthol / @nothinghereisworking !! Thank you again for inspiring me and I'm so glad to get to share this comic!

The tale of Elwing, her family and the Silmaril, as retold with the beautiful song, "Look for the Light"

(Yes from Only Murders in the Building but darn it its a beautiful song and it works so well for Elwing)

As always click for better quality

And here's the song