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animatorweirdo · 8 days

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Gone And Lost Again

You had been in love with him since you were children, but now that fate threatens to take him away once more, you find the courage to say the words you never dared to reveal and hope it might spare you from the sorrow.

Requested by Anon

I would like to request a Gwindor x female elf reader story. The reader is Finduilas's younger sister who is in love with Gwindor but never confessed her feelings because her sister loved Gwindor. Until on day when Gwindor finds out.

The ending is upto you.

Thank you ☺️💖

Warnings: mentions of the Nirnaeth Arnoediad, pining, unrequited love, getting captured, mentions of Gelmir's fate, scars, a missing hand, some discrimination toward Gwindor, Turin and his bad luck, some fluff, and a confession.

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You were the youngest daughter of King Orodreth and the younger sister of Princess Finduilas. Timid in nature, but well-liked by your people. You had a good relationship with your father and sister even though things had been difficult since your mother died. Being a princess had its own challenges, which meant studying, knowing certain things about courts and politics, and being expected of things.

It was not too bad since you were the youngest, so you had more free time than your older sister. You’re usually engrossed in reading, keeping up with the latest news, and worrying about the future.

However, the biggest challenge you could not overcome no matter what were your feelings toward someone.

Gwindor. He was a kind and handsome elf. He and his brother had been friends with you and your sister since you were children.

His kind and loving nature pulled you toward him like a moth to a flame, and you could not help but fall hopelessly in love with him. You even imagined yourself marrying him one day and having a family with him. However, that day never came when you grew older and he fell in love with your sister.

You envied their relationship, especially when later they decided to get engaged. However, you could not bring yourself to hate your sister. You loved them both and since you cared for their happiness, you distanced yourself, wishing the best for their engagement and hiding your broken heart.

It was not hard for your feelings to go unnoticed by everyone. You were a very silent person, but one did notice and that was your father. He confronted you about it and you told him about your feelings toward Gwindor. He was sharp when it came to you and your sister, so there was no point in trying to hide it from him.

You felt heartbroken, but you were happy for the pair. Even though you might never be able to love someone else, at least they would be happy with each other. Your father encouraged you to be there, and you did support and comfort them when things got difficult and Gwindor lost his brother in the Sudden Flames.

Then the worst happened: Gwindor decided to join the battle for the north despite your father’s orders not to partake in it. Unable to let go of his brother’s loss, he went anyway, and you wished him a safe return.

However, he never returned and you later heard how the battle came to a devastating loss. Your heart broke for him and you mourned with your sister, believing he had died. It helped break the ice between you and your sister, even though you never told her of your feelings toward Gwindor.

Many years after the battle, to your joy, Gwindor returned with a human man who called himself Agarwaen. He was scarred, had lost a hand, and his appearance had changed significantly. It would have been difficult to recognize him from his former self, but you still recognized those eyes, which still held kindness.

Joy took over your mind and heart. You even embraced him to see if he was really there. Gwindor was surprised by the gesture but returned it with a soft smile. You nearly cried when you expressed how glad you were to see him again, alive and free from Morgoth’s cruel clutches.

Gwindor comforted you and then introduced you to his human friend.

Your soul felt at ease to have him back home. You gladly helped him and his friend settle back in Nargothrond. His friend was odd and quiet, but he showed gratefulness for your kindness. You finally felt like things were going to be better, perhaps the Valars have finally taken pity and granted you joy by returning Gwindor from the darkness.

However, things between Gwindor and Finduilas were never the same. You saw how she was glad to see him safe and home, but her eyes no longer held the love they once had for him. Instead, her affection was directed toward the human man who had begun to earn fame and recognition among the elves of Nargothrond.

It was not too long when she decided to end their engagement and relationship in total.

Your heart ached for Gwindor as he seemed saddened yet did not feel anger toward his friend who had Finduilas’s heart. Even after everything and losing so much, he did not feel the slightest ounce of anger or resentment.

You decided to try to be his comfort, especially when some people mistrusted him for his past as a thrall. You understood that some wounds caused by Angband would take time to heal, but you did not believe Gwindor to be a spy. If Angband had managed to tamper with his gentle heart, he would have been less kind toward everything— but he wasn’t. Angband had not managed to break him.

Gwindor felt appreciation for you and your support. You two began spending more time with each other, catching up with silly conversations you used to have as children. He shared what had become of his brother, Gelmir, and you felt sorrow at the thought of his sweet brother facing such a cruel end.

Gwindor had come to terms with his brother’s death during his time in Angband. The only thing that kept him going was the thought of returning to Nargothrond and reuniting with you and your sister.

Your heart felt warm by his conviction, and your feelings for him resurfaced the more time you spent with him. You simply wanted his smile to light up his features once more.

You felt certain reluctance toward your feelings for him. He had loved Finduilas, and thus would never fall in love again, so what would be the point of confessing your love for him?

However, you had your answer, when the man he came with turned out to be Turin, and he began to encourage your father and the rest of Nargothrond to go to war with Morgoth. A great bridge was built. Gwindor was against it as he knew the might of Morgoth better than anyone. However, no one would listen.

You tried to talk to your father about it, having your own doubts about the plan. But he was also convinced of Turin’s plan.

Then came the day when the forces of Nargothrond were to march to war with Morgoth, led by Turin and your father. And to your fear, Gwindor had also decided to join the battle despite his scars and lack of hand.

You decided to reveal your feelings now while you still had the chance rather than keep them secret forever and possibly lose Gwindor again to the fangs of war who spared no one who happened to get caught by them.

“Gwindor, wait!”

The elf stopped when he heard you and turned to look at you as you approached. His armor gleamed with silver, and a helmet rested beneath his arm. It was a sight all too familiar to you, which only deepened your dread about his chances of returning home.

“Is there any way I could convince you not to go? I’m afraid this plan is too far-fetched and you and father will never return,” you explained as you caught up to him.

“Turin is confident that we might win, and besides, even if we didn’t go to war, Glaurung would still come this way,” Gwindor answered softly.

“And we could have been able to stay hidden if that bridge had not been built. It’s standing there like a sore thumb, a dead giveaway to our city,” you stated.

“I mean no disrespect toward you or your friendship with Turin, but I’m afraid his hatred for Morgoth and thirst for revenge has clouded his judgment. Building the bridge has already left us bare to the world, and what shall we do if you lose this fight and we are left defenseless?” you questioned, sounding nearly desperate and devoid of hope at the thought of being attacked by Morgoth’s armies.

“That will be left to be seen…” Gwindor said with a tone of hesitation and sorrow. There was no denying it. He was not fully convinced of the plan, and yet he could not stop himself from joining the hopeless fight.

You thought about your feelings for him. It was no or never.

“Gwindor, please. Do not go. I already lost you once. I do not think I can bear the pain of losing you again,” you said.

“You know I can’t just stay behind. It would be neglectful on my part,” Gwindor answered.

“Then hear out what I have to say, because if this might be the last time we speak, I will never be able to say it again,” you said and he listened.

“Gwindor. I have loved you since our childhood. And I pushed myself away and never dared to put myself between you and Finduilas. If this might be the last time we talk, then I at least wish to share my feelings toward you once and for all then leave them unsaid,” you revealed, tears nearly prickling out your eyes as your heart was open to him.

Gwindor looked at you with shock and surprise.

“I do not expect you to return my feelings. I just wanted to tell them rather than hide them and regret never telling them,” you added, waiting for his reaction.

“Even If I made foolish decisions and became this…” Gwindor motioned his scars and missing hand.

“I have never been one to care about looks. You might have lost a hand or been scarred by the dark lord, but you never lost your love and kindness. I can still see in your eyes,” you said as you caressed his face.

Gwindor leaned into your hand, placing his remaining hand on top of yours.

“To think I was this fool not to notice this..” Gwindor uttered with his eyes closed as he enjoyed the warmth of your hand that nearly felt like a gentle candle flame.

“If I have said something earlier. Would you have perhaps accepted me?” you asked.

“You stood by me, even when Finduilas lost her affection for me. Perhaps it has always been possible to fall in love for the second time. My answer is yes,” Gwindor answered, and for a moment, you felt your heart be lifted from the sorrow.

Then the dreaded horn sang, indicating it was time to march.

You two looked at each other one final time. His eyes held sorrow, yet familiar warmth as he gently took your hand away from him.

“I must go now… If the Valars will take pity on us. They will allow us to meet again in the future,” Gwindor said and you then watched him leave.

You did not want to let him go, but you did nothing and watched as he left with your father and his supposed human friend. You wished you could have even the smallest specks of faith or hope that winning was possible. However, fate was unkind as the dragon and his orcish armies were the ones to return.

#silmarillion x reader #silmarillion #tolkien #middle earth x reader #silm fic #middle earth #silmarillion imagines #silmarillion fanfiction #gwindor #gwindor x reader #x elf reader #angst #silmarillion oneshot

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to-be-frank-i-dont-care · 2 years

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Blorbo List

I got bored so I decided to make a list of all my blorbos. feel free to ignore :P

Note: "blorbo," in my book, is any character I would die for, not necessarily my top favorite character in the fandom. I would die for all of these, but my favorites are marked with the sparkle emoji. my all time favorite character is noted with a mushroom

(fandoms are not in order)

Fantasy

The Lord of the Rings– Merry Brandybuck, Pippin Took, Frodo Baggins, Boromir, Legolas, Gimli, Aragorn, Eowyn, Faramir

The Chronicles of Narnia– Edmund✨, Lucy, Reepicheep, Eustace, Caspian, Peter, Susan

The Silmarillion– Turin Turambar✨, Finduilas, Beleg Cuthalion, Finrod Felagund, Beren, Luthien

Pirates of the Caribbean– Jack Sparrow✨, Will Turner, Hector Barbossa, Calypso, Syrena, Philip Swift

Peter Pan 2003 – Peter Pan✨, Wendy Darling, John Darling, Slightly

Crime/Detective

Endeavour– Endeavour Morse✨, Joan Thursday, Shirley Trewlove, George Fancy, Reginald Bright, Fred Thursday

Death in Paradise– Humphrey Goodman✨, Camille Bordey, Florence Cassell, Catherine Bordey, JP Hooper, Ruby Patterson

Shakespeare and Hathaway– Luella Shakespeare, Frank Hathaway, Sebastian Brudenell✨

The X Files– Fox Mulder✨, Dana Scully

Period/Historical Dramas

Pride and Prejudice– Elizabeth Bennet✨, Fitzwilliam Darcy, Jane Bennet, Mr Bingley, Georgiana Darcy, Maria Lucas

1917– William Schofield✨, Thomas Blake, Lauri, the convoy gang

Newsies– Jack Kelly✨, Crutchy, Spot, Sarah, pretty much all the Newsies

Our Mutual Friend– Lizzie Hexam✨, Eugene Wrayburn, John Harmon, Bella Wilfer

The Scarlet Pimpernel– Sir Percy Blakeney✨

A Tale of Two Cities– Sydney Carton✨

Wives and Daughters– Molly Gibson✨, Roger Hamley

The Book Thief– Liesel Meminger, Rudy Steiner✨, Hans Hubermann

Les Miserables– Enjolras, Courfeyrac✨, Combeferre, Jehan, Joly, Grantaire, Feuilly, Bahorel, Bossuet, Eponine, Gavroche

Anne of Green Gables– Anne Shirley, Gilbert Blythe✨, Diana Barry

The Man From Snowy River– Jim Craig✨, Jessica Harrison

Action

Tintin– Tintin✨, Captain Haddock, Professor Calculus, Snowy

Marvel Cinematic Universe– Peter Parker✨, Loki Laufeyson, Steve Rogers, MJ Watson, Ned Leeds, Wanda Maximoff, Peggy Carter, Natasha Romanoff, Yelena Belova, Sylvie

The A Team– HM Murdock✨, Faceman Peck, Amy Amanda Adams

Macgyver– Macgyver✨, Pete Thornton

Six of Crows– Kaz Brekker, Inej Ghafa✨, Matthias Helvar, Nina Zenik

Animated

Miraculous Ladybug– Marinette Dupain-Cheng/Ladybug, Adrien Agreste/Chat Noir✨, Alya Cesaire, Nino Lahiffe, Jessica Keynes

Centaurworld– Horse, Wammawink, Rider, Durpleton✨, Glendale, Stabby, Nowhere King/Elktaur, Mysterious Woman, Waterbaby

How to Train Your Dragon– Hiccup Haddock✨, Astrid Hofferson, Snotlout Jorgenson, Fishlegs Ingerman, Ruff and Tuff Thorston, Toothless, Stormfly

Tangled– Rapunzel✨, Eugene Fitzherbert

Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron– Spirit✨, Rain, Little Creek

Skyward Sword– Link✨, Zelda, Skipper, Gorko, Pipit, Karane, Ghirahim, Fi

Twilight Princess– Link✨, Zelda, Midna, Shad, Ashei

anyway there you go :P

#blorbo #blorbo from our shows #lizzy rambles

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elvain · 7 months

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2, 13, and 25 >:3

2. a compelling argument for why your fav would never be a top or bottom

marvel: simon williams would never be a top bc he is way too insecure. i also think that bc sex is a vulnerable situation, maybe he does not feel confident enough to be in the lead like that. also what if his dick shoots laters like his eyes do jrrt: thorin would never be a bottom bc hes too much of a tightass. pun not intended but turin would be a switch depending on who he is with bc his relationship with beleg is not the same as his relationship w finduilas or with nerdanel

13. worst blorboification

the entire company of thorin oakenshield tbh. sometimes fanon is not the right way to interpret material my friends and i am not sorry for saying it. ALSO MAEGLIN. im sorry guys im sorry hes not your pathetic meow meow sad kitten boy. very sorry! and i think the worst marvel blorboification is matt murdock for me right now bc people forget who he once was. 80s matt murdock i love u forever

25. common fandom complaint that you're sick of hearing

kinda tired of people complaining about x-books all the time but i also dont read modern x-books so i dont have much of an opinion. i suppose my biggest gripe about these complaints is that they are very often cyclical and it feels like youre just reliving the scorpion and the toad story over and over. stop offering the scorpion a ride for once. as for tolkien fandom complaints i do not really see any bc i follow very specific people. i saw a bad one today about aredhel but i think it was more of a joke/bit than anything so im not taking it personally lol

violence asks

#asks

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skyeventide · 3 years

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my trsb fic has so many notes to the text that they didn’t fit within the ao3 notes’ section character limit lmao, so here is the lengthier version of it. you can consider it a teaser I guess? but either way, I need some place to store these and link them back in the fic.

contents here, cut for length

on the matter of the mother of Gil-Galad

Celebrimbor’s names

shibbolething all over Thauron’s name

actual quotes and canon

On the matter of the mother of Gil-Galad

Meril-i-Turinqi is a Book of Lost Tales character, lady of Tol Eressea, kin of In(g)we but also similar to the Solosimpi, which is to say the Teleri.

The character of "Meril" on the other hand, is a proto-Amarie, Finrod's love interest. In the early draft of Meril's appearance, Finrod is married and is father of Gil-Galad: this draft is obviously discarded and Finrod becomes childless, while Meril transforms into Amarie, who does not join the exile. Gil-Galad is instead transferred to Orodreth, which iirc is Tolkien's last word on the matter (I don't count the Fingon thing as even canon-adjacent, ChrisT was quite clear in admitting the mistake). Now I recall Orodreth is said to be married to a Sinda; why did I discard that? Cause I initally forgot it. Rip to me and Orodreth.

However, what I had was: a proto-Amarie, who is a Vanya, and a BoLT character who is of the family of Ingwe (so a Vanya), but also like the Teleri (so of the third clan, even though not a Sinda). And so Meril-proto-Amarie became Meril-i-Turinqi, wife of Orodreth.

The full headcanon on Meril here would have her as daughter of a Vanya who is kin of Ingwe and of Telerin nobility (or royalty? they're all big on intermarrying between royal families), which fulfills both sides of the coin and also stays true to the statement that Elenwe is the sole full-Vanya to join the exile (I'm gonna assume this excludes any non-royalty followers). Now regarding the parentage of Orodreth, he is here son of Angrod, as I feel that is a better option in almost all respects. This poses some issues with regard to age, as I recall Orodreth-son-of-Angrod and Idril as being named the only two non-adults to do the journey to ME (again... this surely excludes any non-royalty youngsters, but nonetheless). Obviously these issues grow even further if one also includes the matter of Celebrimbor being Aman-born to a wife who doesn't follow Curufin (and therefore the matter of his age at the time of exile), but reconciling these versions is borderline impossible with how the origins of Celebrimbor keep changing throughout the conception of the legendarium.

Long story short, I up the age of Orodreth to be at least old enough to speak softly with Finarfin (here his grandfather) during the flight of the Noldor, but I have him already married though childless. Finduilas is born early into the exile and Gil-Galad is her younger brother.

Meril returns to Aman at the end of the First Age and rules Tol Eressea for the exiles who are stuck there until the Ban is fully lifted.

Celebrimbor's names

FN = father-name, MN = mother-name

I do not claim to have come up with "Tyelperinquar is an epesse", that headcanon, which nonetheless I'm sure happened separately for other people, is one I first read in a fic by Tyelperintal on AO3. That of course means that I could no longer go with the FN Curufinwe MN Tyelperinquar option, and needed another mother-name, which I also borrowed from the same story, and went for Ilvanon, "the perfect". It's pretty, and also speaks of a mix of high expectations and love.

What in this story made me accept the epesse headcanon is the matter of the origin of "T(y)elperinquar" as a name. Vinyar Tengwar (and most recently also NoME) explains how "silver fist" is a name common among the Teleri, famous for their ability to smith silver even among the Noldor, and it is also mentioned how other similar names, such as Tegilbor "calligrapher", are given to people based on their skill. This, however, directly contradicts the fact that elves don't give the same name to more than one person. That statement is problematic in itself (impossible that all elves across all time are aware of all names that ever have been used -- and also of course there's the usual royalty exceptions, that however may well be exceptions because they are royalty), but if it is a common name among the Teleri and we are to keep the duplicate names lore in mind... my only solution is that it's a coveted epesse, given to the very skilled.

Celebrimbor picks it as his chosen and preferred name over FN, already shared by two people and preferred as chosen name by his father, and the potential arrogance of picking his MN with its meaning.

This still led me to problems of both spelling and language choices.

As far as spelling goes, there's several variations. I'm marking with * the one that is not canonically attested, but can be inferred.

Pure Telerin: Telperimpar

Quenya-Telerin compound that maintains the Telerin spelling of silver: Telperinquar

As above, but shortened: Telpinquar

Pure Quenya: *Tyelperinquar

Pure Quenya, shortened: Tyelpinquar

I use all these except the last one at various stages: I decided (though I go back and forth on this) that his household might have used pure Quenya, and his mother sticks to it; the person in Tirion panicks and uses the shortened version Telpinquar, which together with Telperinquar (Telerin spelling maintained) was more common among the Noldor. The Tirion passage exemplifies the uses and applications of these names, how they were given and altered.

This leads me to problems of language and POV, Celebrimbor vs Tyelperinquar. His mother, in her POV, always uses the latter, but Celebrimbor himself uses the former. The true problem here was adapting my feeling that Celebrimbor would be far more used to thinking of himself as Celebrimbor (as opposed to the Quenya name) vs Tolkien's statement that elves do not use names in another language when speaking in X language. This doesn't stay wholly true through the legendarium and the texts, so it's something I've decided to partially ignore when it comes to POV, though I tend to stick to it in first person dialogue. Something that again I try to tackle in the text itself -- when Galadriel tells Celebrimbor which language to speak and which name to use for her.

I am not entirely satisfied with all my choices here and I might revisit them in the future, but for the moment, here we go.

Shibbolething all over Thauron's name

Another language and spelling headache. As I encountered the problem of Sauron, I encountered that of the spelling of his name: the eternal TH/S issue. Were I to have Celebrimbor's mother, and Celebrimbor himself, stick to the Shibboleth? I initially attempted to circumvent this by using Gorthaur, but the issue described just above, about mixing languages, yet again bit me in the ass.

Of course it comes down to characterisation: would Mrs Curufin stick to the Shibboleth, and would Celebrimbor? The matter with Celebrimbor was that I don't believe he spoke Quenya with any real frequency after the Nargothrond business, not as a choice but rather due to circumstances and preferences of those around him. With Ercasse, the conflict is part of the character, and that sadly meant that the TH/S choice became less of a personal choice and more of a political one, as usual.

That got me thinking about the circumstances around her and something interesting came to me: Finarfin spoke Quenya with the Shibboleth, because of the Teleri. And in the Darkening he becomes king in Tirion, and also has to adjust things with the Teleri -- not an easy task, imo, when he turns back only after the pronunciation of the Doom, and not just after the kinslaying occurred. Additionally, the Vanyar spoke preserving TH. Additionally x2, by the Fourth Age, Exilic Quenya (which uses S) is associated with those who rebelled and returned to Aman -- meanwhile any Sindar preserved TH naturally, as it's a sound that never went out of use in Sindarin.

So I chose to take these things and make something of it. If Finarfin maintains TH to keep the Telerin influence; if the Noldor who remain in Aman decide to step closer to the Vanyar in an anti-rebellion reactionary manner and to conform to the speech of the king; if Exilic Quenya gains the lower status of language of the exiles; and considering the canon fact that in later ages the elves are more likely to preserve language rather than change it -- what are our chances that Shibbolething gains opposite connotations as time passes? My conclusion was high chances. So I decided to implement it.

And so Ercasse doesn't have to think about her personal allegiances anymore and has a path built in for herself in these social changes. And Sauron is Thauron. (Unless Galadriel is talking: she doesn't Shibboleth, and uses “Sauron” and “Sindarin”.)

Quotes and canon

Many things I wrote are based on canon snippets. Here I tried to collect them.

On Celebrimbor and the mention of the bath of flames in his speech. It isn't, in fact, a corny lineage reference, but rather a metaphysical or pseudo-physical concept of purification from the Lost Tales:

Yet now the prayers of [their parents] came even to Manwe [the highest Valar], and the Gods had mercy on their unhappy fate, so that those twain Turin and Nienori entered into ... the bath of flame... and so were all their sorrows and stains washed away, and they dwelt as shining Valar among the blessed ones, and now the love of that brother and sister is very fair;

On the naming of Mithril (appears in the upcoming Nature of Middle Earth, as well as already published in Vinyar Tengwar):

[Celebrimbor] was a great silver-smith, and went to Eregion attracted by the rumours of the marvellous metal found in Moria, Moria-silver, to which he gave the name mithril.

On Celebrimbor's ambition and assorted choices, from Letter 131:

In the first we see a sort of second fall or at least ‘error’ of the Elves. There was nothing wrong essentially in their lingering against counsel, still sadly with the mortal lands of their old heroic deeds. But they wanted to have their cake without eating it. They wanted the peace and bliss and perfect memory of ‘The West’, and yet to remain on the ordinary earth where their prestige as the highest people, above wild Elves, dwarves, and Men, was greater than at the bottom of the hierarchy of Valinor. They thus became obsessed with 'fading’, the mode in which the changes of time (the law of the world under the sun) was perceived by them. They became sad, and their art (shall we say) antiquarian, and their efforts all really a kind of embalming – even though they also retained the old motive of their kind, the adornment of earth, and the healing of its hurts. […] But many of me Elves listened to Sauron. He was still fair in that early time, and his motives and those of the Elves seemed to go partly together: the healing of the desolate lands. Sauron found their weak point in suggesting that, helping one another, they could make Western Middle-earth as beautiful as Valinor. It was really a veiled attack on the gods, an incitement to try and make a separate independent paradise.

Legolas and Aragorn and my choice to use the word love:

"[...]Yet whatever is still to do, I hope to have a part in it, for the honour of the folk of the Lonely Mountain." "And I for the folk of the Great Wood," said Legolas, "and for the love of the Lord of the White Tree [Aragorn]."

Celebrimbor and the Elessar. It must be noted that this Celebrimbor is not Celebrimbor son of Curufin, but I still liked the tidbit of lore. From there my choice to have three different Elessar stones, one made by Feanor, one by Enerdhil of Gondolin, one by Celebrimbor (in the fic redressed to Celebrimbor son of Curufin, and without the romantic love for Galadriel):

But he did not say to Galadriel that he himself was of Gondolin long ago. Therefore he took thought, and began a long delicate labour, and so for Galadriel he made the greatest of his works (save the Three Rings only).And it is said that more subtle and clear was the green gem that he made than that of Enerdhil, but yet its light had less power. For whereas that of Enerdhil was lit by the Sun in its youth, already many years had passed ere Celebrimbor began his work, and nowhere in Middle-earth was the light as clear as it had been, for though Morgoth had been thrust out into the Void and could not enter again, his far shadow lay upon it.Radiant nonetheless was the Elessar of Celebrimbor; and he set it within a great brooch of silver in the likeness of an eagle rising upon outspread wings.

On the vale and the stream where Formenos is located, I utilised this passage from Lost Tales:

[...] here the entire people of the Noldoli are ordered to leave Kor for the rugged dale northwards where the stream Híri plunged underground, and the command to do so seems to have been less a punishment meted out to them by Manwe than a pre-caution and a safeguard. In connection with the place of the banishment of the Noldoli, here called Sirnúmen ('Western Stream') [...]

Relevant LotR quotes about the Eregion passages, used for soil description extrapolations and other elements:

Suddenly Gimli, who had pressed on ahead, called back to them. He was standing on a knoll and pointing to the right. Hurrying up they saw below them a deep and narrow channel. It was empty and silent, and hardly a trickle of water flowed among the brown and redstained stones of its bed; but on the near side there was a path, much broken and decayed, that wound its way among the ruined walls and paving-stones of an ancient highroad. ‘Ah! Here it is at last!’ said Gandalf. ‘This is where the stream ran: Sirannon, the Gate-stream, they used to call it. But what has happened to the water, I cannot guess; it used to be swift and noisy. Come! We must hurry on. We are late.’ [...] "...there is a wholesome air about Hollin. Much evil must befall a country before it wholly forgets the elves, if once they dwelt there." "That is true", said Legolas. "But the Elves of this land were of a race strange to us of the silvan folk, and the trees and the grass do not now remember them: Only I hear the stones lament them: deep they delved us, fair they wrought us, high they builded us; but they are gone. They are gone. They sought the Havens long ago."

More TBA if anything comes to mind.

#writing stuff #trsb21

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lucianajellyfish · 3 years

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New fav: Gwindor x Turin x Finduilas. How does this chapter inspire more thoughts of love than the love story?

#jelly reads the silmarillion

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polutrope · 1 year

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túrin/orodreth and nienor/finduilas

Orodreth/Turin

This one somehow never occurred to me (I say 'somehow' because I have the most shippy brain you can imagine) until I saw this killer art of them. I like the vibes. Reluctant King x Hot(headed) Mystery Man who just rocks up all sulky to his kingdom one day and says, "I'm Bloodstained son of Ill-fate. You let me take care of things here." Orodreth all *heart eyes*. Very sexy. Very doomed.

Finduilas/Nienor

I LOVE this ship, especially after reading @imakemywings What the Water Gave Me. I don't love fix-its (let tragedy reign!) but these two doomed women shuffled to the side of the narrative not dying and finding healing with each other is a beautiful thing. Also sorry about the top right square but eerrr... yeah.

#ask game #orodreth #turin turambar #finduilas #nienor #finduilas x nienor #orodreth x turin

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fuckingfinwions · 4 years

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Ooh gil Gilad origin

Gil-Galad is not anyone important. His mom is a Noldo who grew up near Formenos, dad is a Nando. They have a farm near Himlad.

One day, Gil-Galad comes in from doing farm chores to find they have a guest. It’s Lord Curufin.

(I’m not going into what fashions would actually be common, but here’s a modern equivalent: Fifteen year old Gil-Galad is sweaty, wearing blue jean overalls with no shirt. Basically-the-president is sitting at the dining room table in a perfectly pressed suit with a briefcase in front of him.)

Curufin says, “You had very high scores on your exams. I’m going to interview you to be my son’s private companion.”

Gil-Galad answers questions about how many languages he speaks, how strong he is, if he’s had other sexual partners, if he knows how to dance, etc. Curufin doesn’t ask Gil-Galad to strip or do anything indecent, because it would be awkward for Celebrimbor to have a lover who has been intimate with his father. Curufin does ask Gil-Galad to recite tongue twisters and do a backbend, so he can see that Gil-Galad has good muscle control.

When he��s done asking questions, Curufin leaves. He has more candidates to interview!

A couple weeks later there’s formal letter delivered to their door. Gil-Galad has been selected to be Prince Celebrimbor’s private companion, and so join the royal household. He should arrive at the castle in the Pass of Aglon no later than X date, and Curufin will send a someone to help on the farm before the harvest needs to be brought in.

This is a fantastic honor, and also a duty. Under the Noldor feudalism-ish, Curufin has just as much right to call on Gil-Galad for this as to call soldiers for a war. It really doesn’t cross anyone’s mind for Gil-Galad to refuse.

So Gil-Galad shows up. Makeover montage, fancy clothes, etc.

On Celebrimbor’s Sweet-Sixteen-equivalent, Gil-Galad is waiting (fully dressed in easy to remove clothing) in Celebrimbor’s bedroom after the party. Celebrimbor knew he would get someone as his private companion, but Gil-Galad is even prettier than he’d hoped.

Gil-Galad: “Hello, I’m Gil-Galad. Lord Curufin selected me to be your private companion.” He memorized that phrase and has been practicing it in his head for the last hour.

Celebrimbor: “You’re beautiful. Can I kiss you?”

Gil-Galad finds this reassuring that Celebrimbor thinks of him as a person who can have preferences and boundaries, and also is relieved that Celebrimbor isn’t asking him to do anything he doesn’t know how to do. He says, “Of course.”

That first night is kind of awkward, but very enjoyable. Celebrimbor is a very tactile person, and his hands explore every inch of Gil-Galad’s body. Gil-Galad jerks Celebrimbor off, and then Celebrimbor wants to see what he looks like when he comes in return.

(Celebrimbor also got a book of sexual advice/positions as a birthday gift, which will be helpful. Gil-Galad has kissed people before and exchanged handjobs, Celebrimbor has not.)

Gil-Galad and Celebrimbor become friends. Celebrimbor has lessons on politics and such, and Gil-Galad attends as well. It’s not much more work for the tutor to teach two teenagers instead of one, and Gil-Galad doesn’t have anything else he has to do.

Gil-Galad notices that he’s gradually getting less fit as he’s not working on a farm all day. Celebrimbor asks him if he’d rather work in the forge or train with a weapon, as ways of staying in shape. Gil-Glad chooses the latter, and when Lord Curufinwe’s only son wants someone trained, you can bet he gets the best weapons master available. Sometimes Lord Celegorm even spars with him, as they both favor spears

There’s a period of happy times. The have sex (Gil-Galad always submitting of course), and discuss Celebrimbor’s latest projects and news from across Beleriand, and go out to bars together. They’re basically friends with benefits. Gil-Galad would be shamed forever for breaking his word if he left, but he doesn’t want to so it’s okay.

When the Dagor Bragollach happens, a lot of people die. Gil-Galad’s family farm is destroyed by Glaurung, with his parents on it. Celebrimbor’s mom dies defending the pass. They head south to Nargothrond and safety.

Finrod treats Gil-Galad more like Celebrimbor’s friend from another noble house than like a servant Celebrimbor is friendly with. This means Gil-Galad is invited to the formal dinners and such, rather than attending the dancing later but staying away during important talks so he doesn’t distract Celebrimbor.

The Quest for the Silmaril happens.

Celebrimbor denounces his father and uncle. Celebrimbor is in a glum mood all day, but Gil-Galad doesn’t push because the cause is rather obvious.

That evening, Celebrimbor says what’s on his mind. “Since I disowned my father, I’m not a prince anymore.”

“Yes, that’s so.”

“So you don’t have to stay. It’s not desertion to leave anymore, and a random blacksmith doesn’t need a private companion.”

“I hadn’t thought of that side of it.”

“Why not? It’s the part of this mess with the biggest impact on you! You weren’t close with my - Curufin and Celegorm, or with Finrod. Orodreth will run the city much the same as Finrod did, and all your friends are still here. The only thing that’s different for you from yesterday is that there’s no consequence if you walk out the door and never come back.”

“You’d be sad, and I’d miss you. Those are consequences.”

“You don’t have to care how I feel anymore. No one does! Curufin doesn’t have to care how I feel because I’m not his son anymore. Orodreth doesn’t have to care how I feel because his biggest political headache just walked out the door.”

“I still care about you.”

“You shouldn’t.”

“You don’t have to care how I feel either. In fact, you never had to! You could have just ordered me to strip whenever you wanted to have sex. Or to work in the forge to stay in shape even though I hate the heat. I would still have done it, and no one would have stopped you.”

“That would have made you pointlessly miserable.”

“And I don’t want you to be miserable either.”

“I don’t want you to stay out of pity.”

“What if I stay because we’re friends, and friends help each other?”

“Okay.”

“Besides, Celebrimbor the blacksmith is still as handsome as you were yesterday.”

So Gil-Galad and Celebrimbor stay in Nargothrond and continue their relationship. After a couple weeks for Celebrimbor asks to bottom, and they start switching things up more.

Orodreth invites the two of them to regular council meetings. Celebrimbor is, despite his claims, still the person most in touch with the Feanorians who live in Nargothrond. Gil-Galad is there mostly because Orodreth knows it pisses Curufin off to have Gil-Galad treated as an equal to Celebrimbor, and he hopes word gets out. (Curufin would see at as bringing Celebrimbor down to a commoner’s level.)

By the time Turin arrives, Gil-Galad and Celebrimbor are established members of Nargothrond’s council, and Gil-Galad has shown a talent for political advice.

Celebrimbor and Gil-Galad argue about the Turin/Finduilas/Gwindor situation.

Gil-Galad says that Finduilas is betrothed to Gwindor, and she has a duty to obey her word, now matter what happened to him. Celebrimbor believes in upholding one’s word, but it’s obvious to him that nobles are allowed to take lovers before they’re married and then break up with them - why shouldn’t Finduilas delay the marriage by a year or ten for a fling with Turin? Gil-Galad says that you can’t have one set of morals for people with fancy grandparents and one for other people. Celebrimbor says obviously you can, just because he’s renounced his position at the top doesn’t mean he thinks there’s anything wrong with the system.

The argument gets really personal, and they break up. They probably would have gotten back together after a few months to cool off.

But Nargothrond falls. They survive, and are suddenly the senior council members - everyone is looking to them for direction. Well, mostly to Gil-Galad, as Celebrimbor is still seen as too Feanorian. He remembers Orodreth talking about Doriath as exclusionist, but Sirion is nearby and Cirdan has a good reputation. Most of his folk fish, there will probably even be farmland available for the Nargothrondrim to use.

By the time they reach Sirion, everyone agrees that Gil-Galad is in charge even if they’re not sure why. Someone asks what house he’s part of, and Celebrimbor give the accurate but extremely misleading answer of “the royal house”.

#mayan sons #himlad in particular has something like the chinese imperial examination #everyone takes them at least once and you can resit them up to every decade #they're mostly used to find people to train for military officers and civil service #but Curufin was like hey I've got a method already for finding smart people #and it's easy to see in an interview if they're pretty enough #let me use this to find my son a boyfreind #a celebrimbor who was bon in Belraind is a change for me but it worked better #fucking gil galad #fucking celebrimbor #not archived yet

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velvet4510 · 2 months

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gurguliare · 5 years

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DVD: that one scene from your fic about Dirhaval, with the elf lady and the two of them being really intent with each other over the fire. "Do you love me" et cetera. I hope that makes sense I'm on mobile.

omg IT DOES although since that fic barely has scene divisions I’m going to take this excuse to do… a lot of it.

“I have remembered something,” she added, inconsequentially. “My aunt’s husband was Guilin’s steward. Everyone in my family hated him because he always making up to us with stories about the great princes. He said that Gwindor and Finduilas fought much over the Adanedhel’s love for her.”

I… I love this OC. She’s not even a box of rocks, she’s like, a box with one rock in it. Selectively dense; elsewhere, airheaded.

Dírhaval considered the fish with great interest. He had been told triumph lent him a fierce expression. He had no wish to scare his friend off now.

I can’t remember if @crocordile and I had a conversation before or after I wrote this about Dirhavel being like, not necessarily a big but an energetic guy who’s frequently seen around the camps doing SUPER WEIRD athletic shit to see if some of the feats he attributes to Turin were physically possible—anyway, whatever the timing, that concept was what I was psychically tuned into when I wrote this description. He has a beard and it bristles despite his best efforts to keep it trimmed.

“Raised voices—he overheard—Gwindor said, ‘Why does he seek you out, and sit long with you, and come ever more glad away?’ And that was true, I remember; they sat together in all kinds of places, on the terraces, in the treasury, and even by the earthworks for the bridge. No doubt he told her much you would be glad to know. But as for me, I think Gwindor a fool; few men would have loved her for listening. It reminds them what they hold dear in themselves.”

It was really hard for me to strike what seemed like a reasonable balance between hearsay and direct observation, but I leaned on the idea that Nargothrond, though huge, was not like, “modern city space” huge, more “sprawling overdeveloped apartment complex and you need a permit to go above ground”—so in five years and with perfect memory, everyone has a decent chance of stumbling on everyone else’s attempts at fresh air.

“That’s true,” he said. The first time he had interviewed her, she had spoken for an hour about the cavern of assembly, like an egg on its side—but so vast!—and with stalactites Finrod himself had sung down into pillars, or was it that he had worn holes in the walls parting small caves, she couldn’t decide; and the window on the river, whence a grey light came, like a shadow thrown on the gliding light of a thousand lamps and torches.

I think this description of the great hall is kind of cute but I have to acknowledge it was influenced, consciously or subconsciously, by the great hall in the Rats of Nimh.

And now when she spoke it was matter-of-fact and with hardly a jibe at her uncle. She was Túrin to him in that moment with her straight-sloping neck, the flushed skin of her neck and jaw with her face as fair as fair could stay at sunset, the cupful of shadow under her chin. He had burned the roof of his mouth. The fish was tender, almost flavorless, flaking between his teeth like a cake of river-flesh; a little muddy, even, as all water here was. He ate the crisped-black skin for a whiff of charcoal, which coated his mouth. “Don’t you love me, your loyal hearer?”

She gave him a startled wink; and smiled, and smiled.

Okay, so yes. I do love this moment, I hope it does a lot of things at once; basically I want 1) Dirhavel to be ironic in a nice way about his elf friend attempting to invent the term “emotional labor,” which reflects both a male impatience with this attempt to generalize everything to men talking women’s ears off, but also some vague species-based edginess about him trying to construct this human story out of testimony from elves, and like, navigating elves’ possessiveness of Turin but also the way they patronize him in the same breath, Adanedhel. And at the same time having to confront the fact that people are people and the elf-human boundary has gotten increasingly blurry with the end times, however much he might want to retain a sense of lofty apartness, whether as a human among elves, a writer among subjects, a man among women, whatever—that tension between observer distance and involuntary empathy is another big theme of this fic. And 2) I want the cook to catch it but not quite get it—like, she knows he’s making fun of her but she doesn’t necessarily interpret it in the same way he does, what she gets is that he’s talking about the limits of different kinds of love, that you can love someone and it can still go just so far: that’s why it triggers her next thought about Finduilas –> Turin.

“I do not think Finduilas loved the Mormegil either. Or, that is, I believe they loved one another as sister and brother.”

I said this in my commentary on an otherwise VERY different LOGH fic but I love when characters are wrong. Every time. Also, I love childish oversimplifications that have good reason for existing—that is, I like when you can really see why a character would with all their heart want to believe x, because the alternative is both messy and depressing.

Trying to lick his fingers clean just spread around the soot. Among the things she had told Dírhaval was that she was an only child. But he was inclined to believe her, almost. To Finduilas Túrin should have been a child. She must have wanted to love him like a brother—it would have been best, by far clearer and finer, to love him as a brother, even when her death walked near. The death he handed her down to; but if they were kin, it would have been her right to love him, blaming him.

“Do you not agree?”

Dirhavel takes this basically as like, confirmation for his thesis that all real love is irrational and unconditional (see also Gwindor wanting Finduilas and Túrin to be happy at his own expense, a few lines down) but only familial love has the “excuse” to be so. So the distinction is not, “would I love him whatever he did to me,” but rather, “do I feel fucked up and guilty about that fact or not.” In a vague way, this is supposed to set up the extremely bleak lines he gives Nienor after she gets her memory back: twice beloved.

“I can’t say.” Up again to pace. She followed him, basket on her arm, and settled onto her haunches when she saw he had no journey in mind. He stood when he performed, which was not hard, but it made him more restless when alone.

See above remarks about Dirhavel’s acrobatics, and also maaybe his ADHD

“I think—by the time—no, Túrin did not love her, and as for Finduilas, well, surely she cared for Gwindor? If they argued. Let’s see. And Túrin pursued her at last and fell in a swoon on her grave, we know that. And he loved Gwindor; how not, when Gwindor was with him at Ivrin? But Gwindor—I suppose—Gwindor must have hated him. No. He must have hoped Túrin loved Finduilas, and that was why he couldn’t be persuaded of the truth. For he would have wanted her to be happy, in the end.”

“Oh, no!”

His mood tipped down at once. “Oh no,” he agreed, and took his sandals off and stepped into the stream.

Again, I just think this interaction is fun. I mean I like the placement of his realization about Gwindor, but I LOVE the cook being like “oh no!! that’s so sad!” I hope other people enjoy “stories about the process of idiotic sadstuck brainstorming” as much as I do.

His mother had said once that both he and his father were happier than other men, but that they had no ballast, to keep steady the craft. If he took on an ounce of grief he’d sink, and yet he felt the flood almost as freedom. It made him more the master than had his dry, feckless race, his high-riding. As long as he struggled he had yet to succumb; that was the rule for a wasted night. He ought to go beg a bowl of sour milk from Linnor, or go and sing a service for the king. He could see as far as a night of stars.

I wanted to communicate a particular kind of mood downturn here where you can still clearly remember being happy, and the rising tide of discontent isn’t overwhelming on its own, it’s just depressing because you know where it leads—but for the same reason it’s also a relief, in that you know where it leads. Whereas joy is weird and easy to get lost in and you never know when the plug will be pulled. But I’m not sure the boat metaphor really works.

But it was day, it was red evening. It was his companion’s grief, filling his mind from above. She crouched and watched the far bank huge-eyed, not a tear in evidence, eyes opened but sealed, as it seemed, against sadness that strove for entry, not escape; she sat with wide mouth cracked, nostrils flared, sucking in great absent sniffs of sea-wind. She was besieged as an afterthought, safe and calm except besieged.

I also wanted to include some telepathy! As always! Dirhaval I imagine to be something of a natural, who probably has had some experience with elf mind-speech at this point—enough to recognize it but not really to manage it. I like this description of the cook in pain, I think it works well with her established personality and also evokes Nargothrond itself, which is of course the thing she’s actually grieving for. I mean, and she identifies it with Gwindor, reasonably enough, and takes unhappy pride in him as a lord of Nargothrond, and in this moment is kind of shot through herself not just with the fact of his defeat but the like, honorable necessity of his defeat, knowing that on some level he accepted it.

(Gwindor surely wished Finduilas joy. Finduilas, dying, remembered Túrin, and told him where his quest should end. The feathered tops of the reeds glowed on dark stems, like a fire in a field of reeds—there before nightfall he planted for ever the standards of the Noldor and their unsheathed swords, kindling in the dawn.)

I’m so proud of this stupid line lol, it’s just the reverse of Tolkien’s—“The light of the drawing of the swords of the Noldor was like a fire in a field of reeds”—but I LOVE THAT LINE, it’s so perfect for Dirhaval as an author and Sirion as a place of memory/last battlefront/first battlefront for this long war. And its conclusion, still to come.

He washed his hands and greasy beard in the river. “Your fish will be cold,” he advised. He had abandoned hope of dinner until she brought it, but that was no reason to encourage bad habits in her.

Dumb friends. Dumb friends are great because they are attuned to the hazards of stupidity, and can help each other.

Then he had to pick some scales out of his teeth, and couldn’t elaborate, but he heard her uncover the basket, anyway.

He had met her before with a handful of salt, pressing a few grains to her mouth to check their purity. “Dírhaval,” she said wisely, mouth full. “Dírhaval, I have forgotten how to cook.” Meaning she had no spices, witched ovens, and trained assistants—maybe, with her, it really was as though she had forgotten; at least it was something else she had lost.

Yeah… the focus on memory in this is another unexpected link to the LOGH fic uh, an inevitable byproduct of writing about a historian, and it’s also supposed to reflect that loss of separation between elves and men, since so much of what distinguishes elves is… their wealth of resources, psychological and material. And the material resources are essential to and interwoven with the psychological resilience, as noted here, so I really wanted to capture that sense that *not having* all the wonderful things she used to have baffles her as much as a hole in her memory. Because the default is that you keep everything forever, right? Another feeling which is not unique to elves. God I love………………………… “people.”

#Anonymous #no one expects the fannish inquisition #silmarillion #dirhaval #thank you for asking! i remain really proud of this fic and thrilled to blather about it

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kareenvorbarra · 7 years

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Stealing an excellent prompt from Vardas - top 5 edain quotes!

OKAY GONNA ANSWER THESE LAST FEW ANCIENT MEME PROMPTS

i’m gonna do it the same way you did, with actual lines of dialogue spoken by Edain characters. honestly it was a struggle not to fill this list completely with CoH quotes but I did my best.

Predictably this got long so quotes and explanatory yelling are under the cut

1. Beren

To Felagund then Beren said: ”Twere little loss if I were dead,and I am minded all to tell, and thus, perchance, from this dark hell thy life to loose. I set thee free from thine old oath, for more for me hast thou endured than e’er was earned.’

The Lay of Leithian, Canto X

OUCH. let me cry at you about how little Beren values his own life, how much guilt he feels at outliving almost everyone he ever cared about, how he recovered some of his will to live after spending a few months in the forest with Luthien but after watching his new friends get eaten in werewolf jail he’s pretty much right back to square one x_x save him

2. Hurin and Morwen

‘And if we gain our ends, then the Elven-kings are resolved to restore all the fief’s of Beor’s house to his heir; and that is you, Morwen daughter of Baragund. Wide lordships we should then wield, and a high inheritance come to our son. Without the malice in the North he should come to great wealth, and be a king among Men.’

‘Hurin Thalion,’ said Morwen, ‘this I judge truer to say: that you look high, but I fear to fall low.’

The Children of Hurin, Chapter 1

Hurin/Morwen is the best-written Tolkien ship and that is the hill i will die on. all their conversations in the CoH are so good and shippy and full of awful foreshadowing and dramatic irony. you can feel their devotion to one another and how much they trust each other even though they have such different personalities and ways of looking at the world. Hurin’s been through a lot but he’s so determinedly hopeful, and Morwen wants to believe things will be alright (and in Hurin’s company it’s almost easy to believe) but she can’t quite bring herself to do it after everything she’s seen.

my favorite thing about THIS quote in particular is that apparently, at some point in the planning stages of the Nirnaeth, Hurin and Fingon and maybe Maedhros sat down and discussed what they were going to do once they took back Ladros, and Hurin was like “that land belongs to humans, specifically my wife” and the elves were like “yeah you’re right”….god idk just something about Hurin recognizing her as the heir to the house of Beor, that that position still holds weight in his eyes and the eyes of the elves, gives me a lot of feelings

3. Turin

‘All this I have answered,’ said Túrin. 'Valiant defence of the borders and hard blows ere the enemy gathers; in that course lies the best hope of your long abiding together. And do those that you speak of love such skulkers in the woods, hunting strays like a wolf, better than one who puts on his helm and figured shield, and drives away the foe, be they far greater than all his host? At least the women of the Edain do not. They did not hold back the men from the Nirnaeth Arnoediad.’

The Children of Hurin, Chapter 10

okay i fucking HATE this quote kjghjlhgfjaksdgh along with the whole exchange between Turin and Gwindor that comes before it. i love it, but god does it hurt me. this is one of those moments when it’s so painfully obvious how out-of-touch Turin truly is, how little he knows about his own people. he was a child during the Nirnaeth, and sheltered from the worst of its aftermath in Dor-lomin, and it’s like he still views it through a child’s eyes - the men who went to the battle and never returned are heroes, and to behave any other way would be cowardly.

i love him, i love this speech, i totally understand how he ended up feeling this way, but GOD Turin you don’t know what you’re talking about!!!! i’m so mad!!!!!!!! “they did not hold back the men from the Nirnaeth Arnoedied” as if that means anything! as if that means none of them tried, or wanted to try but didn’t because it would have been useless! also this quote makes me think of Rian because you KNOW she didn’t want them to go, she’d been married for TWO MONTHS and she hated war and literally all her other male relatives had died in combat, and Morwen had major reservations about the whole thing too but Turin didn’t know about that because he was a little kid!!!!!!!! anyway i’m really upset about this family, why couldn’t they all stay together and be happy and get to know each other properly!!!!!!

4. Tuor

‘Gurth an Glamhoth!’ Tuor muttered. ‘Now the sword shall come from under the cloak. I will risk death for mastery of that fire, and even the meat of Orcs would be a prize.’

Unfinished Tales, Of Tuor and His Coming To Gondolin

Okay this one’s short but i LOVE all the lines where dangerous outlaw Tuor comes through, because he’s the same person as beautiful cinnamon roll Tuor, and kind, sweet characters with a violent streak are my WEAKNESS (see also: Tuor wrecking Maeglin’s shit with his bare hands in BoLT). so here’s my son snarling death threats in Sindarin, ready to kill the shit out of some Orcs. and possibly eat them afterwards, who knows (Voronwe: *whispers* what the fuck)

5. Aerin

'He speaks with the truth of death,’ said Aerin. 'You have learned what you would. Now go swiftly! But go first to Morwen and comfort her, or I will hold all the wrack you have wrought here hard to forgive. For ill though my life was, you have brought death to me with your violence. The Incomers will avenge this night on all that were here. Rash are your deeds, son of Hurin, as if you were still but the child that I knew.’

The Children of Hurin, Chapter

ugh okay sorry that 2/5 of this post is me getting upset about things Turin says about Edain women, i actually love Turin a lot thanks ju but god….he’s so….oblivious sometimes and it’s not really his fault but i still want to shake him and yell “you have the NERVE to insult this woman who helped and protected your mother and sister for years and endured decades of horrifying abuse the likes of which you’ve never experienced, all of which you should KNOW because SADOR JUST TOLD YOU.”

enough about Turin. Aerin is one of the most important Tolkien characters to me - she has such a presence even though she only appears in the story briefly, and everything she says and does carries so much weight and i’m impressed that Tolkien managed to create a character of such depth with just a few pages and a handful of earlier references. i don’t think Tolkien wrote enough women, but when he did, he tended to do a good job with them (better than some later fantasy writers tbqh). and the Children of Hurin is very special i think because it has maybe the highest density of female characters in anything Tolkien ever wrote (Morwen, Finduilas, Aerin, Nienor), and they’re all different and they actually say things and we get insight into their lives and thoughts and motivations.

Aerin is very specifically portrayed as strong in a way that Turin doesn’t recognize as strength - quiet, enduring, pragmatic - and she’s bitter and miserable and victimized but she still uses what little power she has to help others. Tolkien recognizes that, and he makes it clear that Turin is wrong about her. My other favorite Aerin-related line that didn’t quite make this list is when Asgon, one of the thralls who escapes with Turin, tells him that he thinks Aerin was the one who set the hall on fire, then says, “Many a man of arms misreads patience and quiet. She did much good among us at much cost. Her heart was not faint, and patience will break at the last.” i love that Aerin is this respected figure among her people, that everyone from elderly homeless Sador to young strong restless Asgon loves Aerin and recognizes that just living her life the way she does requires strength and bravery. so i’d like to non-sarcastically thank Tolkien for giving us Aerin, and for leaving her fate ambiguous even though every Tolkien reference site/blog on this damn internet seems determined to pretend that her death is canon i’m looking at you askmiddlearth

#meme response #i can't believe it took me so long to answer this one #esp when i specifically asked you to send it to me dkjhljkrehvjkfdf #anyway thanks for humoring me dear #crocordile

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