#morwen half-elven

[camille-lachenille]

Therapist: What does your wife looks like?

JRRT: She’s tall, black haired and grey-eyed and the fairest woman to ever walk upon this Earth.

Therapist: Sounds about right. Can you describe me a few of the Elves you wrote about?

JRRT: Well, there is Lúthien, who is half-Maia, which is basically a minor goddess, and she was the fairest woman to walk upon Middle-Earth. She was tall, had hair as dark as the night and grey eyes. Then there is her son, who was called Dior the Fair, who looked just like her, and her great-grandson Elrond who had kind grey eyes, black hair and is tall and wise. Did I tell he is really kind and everyone loves him?

Therapist: Mhmh, continue.

JRRT: Of course! You see there is Finwë, who was fair of face, tall, with dark hair and grey eyes. I said Noldor usually don’t have black hair but I made an exception for him because he’s special. Then there are Fëanor and Fingolfin, who look just like Finwë, their father, and most of the grandchildren of Finwë took after him in some way really.

Therapist: Right. And what about Men? You wrote about them too? Describe your favourite amongst them.

JRRT: First there is Morwen, who was called Eledhwen because she looked just like an Elf-woman with her tall and slender stature, her black hair and grey eyes. And if we go to the Third Age, we have Aragorn, son of Arathorn, who is a 64 times grand-nephew to Elrond and he is very tall and very fair and looks a lot like an Elf! And Aragorn weds Arwen, Elrond’s daughter, who is said to be Lúthien reborn with how fair she is and her ressemblance to her ancestress.

Therapist: I can sense like a pattern here. Last question, can you describe me the perfect love interest for *checks notes* Éowyn?

JRRT: Alright, so here is Faramir, who looks like an Elf -in fact he has elven ancestors- and…

Therapist: let me guess; he’s tall, fair of face, dark haired and grey-eyed and incredibly kind and intelligent?

JRRT: … yes, how did you know?

Therapist: Sir, you are so besotted with your wife, continue like that. But please, at least change the hair colour of your characters, you’ll confuse the readers.

JRRT: I can make some of them silver-haired?

Therapist: *sighs* I guess, yes.

[outofangband]

I am once again thinking about Morwen in the shadow of Glaurung

I think about the stories she heard as a young child before the Bragollach, of the monster that the elven king had driven back cowering.

Of the unimaginable dizzying shock of being trapped in the path of Glaurung’s wreckage at the age of eleven or twelve. Fires raging around her. Aunts and uncles and cousins being dragged off for death or worse. The earth cracking around the monstrous claw of the dragon.

And her nightmares after. The half formed images of the monster that destroyed everything. That wrought her home and killed her people

And that moment of utter horror when adult Morwen realizes that, far from a distorted or exaggerated childish fear, Glaurung, when she sees him as an adult, is even worse than she remembered

and this time, her family isn’t just collateral to be destroyed in the midst of a massive catastrophe, they’re the specific targets.

Glaurung has been pursuing her in one way or another for decades

There’s fantastic storylines and motifs in Tolkien’s stories of generational trauma taking the form of a monster or a manifested, physical evil (Finwë and his people and Morgoth being another of my favorite stories) but this one is so underrated in my opinion

[niofo]

Name: Morgan de Riva (formerly: Idris Morgan Aneirin Trevelyan) Nickname: Rook (by Varric) Title: Master Assassin, Master Poisoner

Age: 53 (9:52)

Race: human/city elf Nationality: Free Marcher

Pronouns: he/him, any Sexuality: aroace

Class: mage/rogue Specialization: necromancer, entropist, poisoner

Partner: Rion Best friend: Viago de Riva, Teia Cantori Party composition: Lucanis, Emmrich

Morgan's tag

[alternative universe version of Idris]

Family

Born in 8:99 in Ostwick as Idris Morgan Aneirin, child of bannora Milena Trevelyan and her elven chamberlain Mirthan. He grew up alongside his older step-siblings Griffith, Morwen and Erin, officially recognized as bann Taliesin's youngest. Neither bann nor his wife had much contact or deeper connection with any of the children, and Idris was never told which one of his mother's servants was his actual father. He received an education in politics, history and spycraft and was intended to one day marry into a rivalling family to serve as a spy there.

At 9 years old his magic manifested causing a snowstorm during Summerday festivities - after which he was sent to the Ostwick Circle of magi. Before even his Harrowing he was targeted by a pair of Antivan Crows from House de Riva, who were scouting for potential candidates for their mage-assassin training. They abducted Idris and smuggled him out of the tower along with his phylactery, and the templars, not wanting to admit to their inattention, claimed he died during the Harrowing.

Antivan Crows

During the scarring and traumatizing ordeal of the assassin training he used his own blood to summon a despair demon - which the then-Talon decided was interesting enough and allowed the possession to progress. He ended up being the only recruit to survive, albeit as an abomination, and soon after House the Riva lost interest in mage-assassin project as the Talon was bloodily replaced by another one. Under the new name Morgan de Riva joined the ranks of the Antivan Crows.

Very soon he presented himself as a very cunning and cautious assassin, preferring the use of poisons, spycraft and well placed entropy spells to eliminate his marks. He picked up necromancy both for his own innate curiosity, but also as a method of extracting information from his marks even after they were disposed of. He was considered a good candidate for undercover missions amongst nobility, due to his knowledge of politics and etiquette, but he proved to be unreliable every time any templars came into picture - forgoing his actual marks to go after the members of the Order. Despite known and serious repercussions of this type of behavior his handler eventually deemed him ineducable in that matter.

In one of the missions he lost his right eye, which made him mostly too conspicuous for most high level undercover work, yet his skills with poisons and necromancy proved to be too useful, and higher ranking Crows accepted his oddities on account of his other utilities. Morgan rose to the position of Master Assassin under the leadership of Viago de Riva and became his right hand due to their both interest in poisons.

Skills

He achieved his position of Master Assassin in House de Riva mostly due to his skills with poison making, but in close combat he is known for a clever use of entropy magic to weaken his enemies and dispose of them easily. He rarely uses magic in more offensive way, due to it bringing more attention and leaving lasting signs that he prefers to avoid as an assassin.

Well versed in politics, religion and history due to early life education. He speaks Trade, Elven (with a bad accent, mostly learned from books) and knows the basics of Qunlat.

Being a despair abomination makes him resistant to a number of mortal wounds, blood loss, freezing and starvation, but doesn't prevent him from receiving permanent injuries.

Appearance.

White, middle aged half-elf, short and of slight built. He has dark red graying hair he usually wears in a braid, and freckles that get more visible in summer. Has dark brown eyes and lost his left one in a fight - sometimes covers it with an eyepatch, sometimes leaving it and the scar visible. His most common expression is frown and is hardly ever seen smiling.

Wears typical Crow light armor leaving the least amount of skin visible, with multiple vials of poisons at hand. His weapon of choice is a dagger, and he never uses a staff for casting spells.

[nemxricultrix]

Morwen actually graduated a high elven mage's college with honors in Conjuration and Transmutation, facts that were hard earned due to the headmaster and staff wanting to give her a rough ass time for being a half elf, the supposed heir of Aredhel Urithriel, and obviously had no acreditted mentor outside of literally teaching herself after her mother passed.

She downplays her power but given the right situation, calling the physical avatar of gods or daemons is not out of possibility.

[fatewild]

there’s quite a few characters on my page, so here’s a comprehensive list of my original characters with bad short summaries:

unaffiliated

shiri madrala,  wood elf druid. can be mean because she only knows how to talk to plants and snails. her first time out of her woodland ended up with getting a strange parasite, so she gets a bit defensive. wants to be able to turn into a stone golem.

tomcat,  faerie changeling sorcerer. pink disaster. used to be a slave to a witch who was stealing his magic and gave him permanent scars. despite that, he’s a sweetheart and a clingy optimist. can’t read, but can draw really well. has sunlight powers.

charis fray,  tiefling wizard. pink disaster 2.0. used to be a princess locked in a tower, and raised by a wailing wraith, hence why she can can be a little deranged at times. learned illusion magic from books inside the tower and is on a quest to learn more.

vesper ‘vale’ vallen’as,  3/4 elf cleric. professional curse breaker, secretly an author of erotic novels under a pen name. comes from a long line that originated from celestial bloodline, but basically left to live alone in his woodland home for years and years. has social skills of a wooden stick.

ginny montague,  human wizard. your friendly neighbourhood necromancer. comes from a happy family that lived by a graveyard, hence why her expertise is what it is. used to be bullied as a kid, but grew not to care. wants to become a dead people’s lawyer.

jinho,  half-elf monk. with a dash of sorcerer. the grumpiest doctor you’ll ever meet. it’s very easy to read him, so he’s not very mysterious. he died and got resurrected by his brother, who gave up his life, so he’s been accused of killing the only person he actually liked.

roberta silkwater,  halfling warlock. local housewife makes pact with a sea hag to save her son, has a year to live before her soul is consumed and body overtaken by said fiend. may or may not have the hag’s voice inside her head at all times.

dustin the just,  human fighter. formerly a noble, got disowned after he protected people they didn’t want to protect. currently sword for hire, a bit oblivious, easygoing. lights torches for other adventures and often tends to befriend monsters instead of killing them.

crime clan

morwen shask,  elven blooded half-orc rogue. equivalent to fantasy millennial. works as a waiter and bartender during the day, professional thief during the night. a really chill, but firm guy, who has big, warm hands and fairly attractive looks. is currently looking for his sister.

jade / mya oriseis,  elven blooded half orc sea cleric. runaway from home, formerly a pirate captain before a mutiny occurred and she was killed at sea along with her husband. resurrected by an enemy to the god she used to serve, currently amnesiac.

wren oriseis / wu haoran,  half-elf bard. adoptive favourite child, certified eldest sister. businesswoman first, performer second. runs an inn and a spy network, taking care of her baby siblings. very passionate about cooking, gordon ramsay style.

immortals

svalin / strife / dalen (originally),  demon / fake deity. formerly a half-elven bard. local bard gets randomly selected for a curse, sets a chain of events where he’s eventually thrown into the abyss, gets turned into a demon because he can’t die and becomes a substitute for a lazy deity at a wishing well.

salazar rust,  ghost in a locket, formerly half-drow warlock. former courtesan gets killed and put in a locket, slowly fading into oblivion and forgetting himself. is stuck in an antique shop of an aged gnome with zero trading skills. bored to death (literally).

affiliated

nayan searlas,  human rogue. former prince whose (almost) all family got killed before he ran away. has chronic main character syndrome, but tries to avoid it like a plague. for a while worked for a theatre group as a scenographer, costume designer and stage assistant.

[xmarchwarden-of-lothlorienx]

-Morwen Half-Elven, Last Queen of the Moredhel moodboard

(Aka my dark elf OC)

[tolkien-feels]

I thought the point of Gwindor bringing up Finduilas as standing between Túrin and his doom was just that if Túrin marries Finduilas then he can't later marry Níniel, thus avoiding one of the worst results of the curse.

Possibly! But I think it's more than just avoiding the worst case scenario, I think it's actively the best case scenario

The reason I'm so very attached to it is specifically this

‘A Man you seem in stature, and indeed more than many already,’ Thingol answered; ‘but nonetheless you have not come to the fullness of your manhood that shall be. Until that is achieved, you should be patient, testing and training your strength. Then, maybe, you can remember your kin; but there is little hope that one Man alone can do more against the Dark Lord than to aid the Elf-lords in their defence, as long as that may last.’

Then Túrin said: ‘Beren my kinsman did more.’ ‘Beren, and Lúthien,’ said Melian. ‘But you are over-bold to speak so to the father of Lúthien. Not so high is your destiny, I think, Túrin son of Morwen, though greatness is in you, and your fate is twined with that of the Elven-folk, for good or for ill. Beware of yourself, lest it be ill.’

Nellas and Finduilas also both remark on the similarities between Turin and Beren, with Nellas saying not everybody would be able to see it. Which makes me think Finduilas is genuinely onto something, rather than just... wishfully thinking of a man who married an elf.

Anyway, before Luthien, Beren is fighting Morgoth in a way not too dissimilar to Turin. Besides, in terms of inheriting broken houses, Beren and Turin are pretty much the same, though of course with the houses of Beor and Hador respectively. There's a parallel there.

Now, I'm not suggesting Turin would personally walk into Angband and live, and Melian straight up says that's not his fate, but I do think he might've been able to accomplish more if he had Finduilas. Of course, Finduilas isn't half-Maia either, so there's also that to account for. But in my mind (and I'm fully aware that I may be wrong) there seems to be something going on here beyond just making Turin unavailable for Nienor.

Now, I don't actually like Turin and Finduilas marrying, because I much prefer them as friends, but historically, men who marry up in Tolkien (assuming Finduilas counts as "up" which Tolkien would probably say she does) tend to have a better shot at life than even men who marry non-sister wives of the save social standing.

I think Turin's fate as it is is twined with that of the Elven-folk very much for ill, but perhaps the thing Tolkien might've been trying to get at is that if he married Finduilas, it'd be for good. How? I don't know. Like I said, it doesn't even appeal to me (give me BROTPs or give me death), but if I'm just following the patterns Tolkien's stories seem to follow, that does seem to be a strong possibility? Maybe even just... Continuing the Hadorian bloodline, Peredhel version, which of course Tuor also does, but maybe since the Hadorians are the First House they're supposed to have more Peredhil than the Beorians? Or maybe it's about having Arafinwean Peredhil running around? I don't know, but it feels significant (but full disclaimer, I haven't read this book in a decade, so I'm going off my impressions from when I'd read it, so I may be saying nonsense here)

[tyelkormo]

cannot think of first age elves (at least) as anything but at least half-feral beings, either because of the environment (melkors influence upon beleriand and his shadow at their doorstep, constant war, the doom in case of the noldor) or because its inherent to them and worsened by the environment (i always like thinking of elves as a bit too wild, a bit too raw) because i cannot think of finrod, a prince of the noldor and a king on his own right, killing a werewolf with his bare hands and teeth and lúthien, a princess of the sindar, killing a vampire and wearing her skin as a disguise and not believe that theres something violent and maybe a bit sinister to them, especially when both of these figures are highly looked upon in elven culture. that, paired with the fact that, if im not mistaken, both túrin and morwen are kind of described as fearsome for their resemblance to elves makes me think of all elves as a lot scarier than theyre commonly depicted in mainstream media and first age elves as especially wolfish and maybe even vicious.

[warlock-enthusiast]

Ravenloft session One happened yesterday and it went pretty great. Everyone had fun and I got some love for my DM style <3

We lost a player before starting, so the gang currently:

Birel- female elven wizard with really pointy ears, a slightly chubby appearance and super awkward with people (also doesn't pick up on social clues that well)

Bran - young, human cleric who is really into "Lathander is guiding my way! Lets bring some light to Barovia." and was shocked when Madame Eve told him that he may falter on his way to break the curse of the land

Treia - aasimar druid of stars with completely black eyes and blue hair, who is almost as socially inept as Birel (which made their scenes so wonderfully awkward) and flees from her past and is pretty happy to be in Barovia right now

Damir - half-elf Paladin born and raised in the village of Barovia! Having to hide his heritage, he is also not the most social person and overwhelmed by the presence of strangers, but he needs help with the attacks on his village and is relying on them.

I went with the Lady Morwen of Daggerford start and made her a really eccentric person that collects a lot of different things. Birel accepted the mission and was surprised that the Vistani are kinda welcoming and nice to her.

Bran rescued a young Vistani girl from a bear trap and meet Treia on their way back to the camp. They joined up with Birel after Stanimir did the whole green fire, tale of the prince thing and invited them to Barovia and off they went! They met Damir in the camp of Madama Eve and agreed to help him with the problems in his home village.

Did the card readings and the personal readings. Also picked out Treia for potential flirt interest of Strahd.

Running joke of the game? "MADAME EEEEEVE!" when something became to stressful

Team name now right now: Team Awkward

Next time they will go all in into the Death House!

[liltalle]

Peredhil are Everywhere, or A Sketchy Unified Theory of Halflings

(Very well, last thing I reblogged, here's an impromptu essay.)

I'm a peredhel enthusiast, and I've been thinking lately about peredhel conspiracy theories (like that Morwen Elfsheen and therefore Túrin Elfman are Peredhil), but I realized that I can construct a more general argument that peredhil are everywhere, and so any particular speculations is not so far out there. For the purposes of this essay, "halfling" refers to any half-Ainu, Peredhel, Peradan, or Perhadhod.

We begin with the First Age. Lúthien's line is the best studied, so I won't say much of them. Lúthien is the only half-Ainu we are aware of (unless Goldberry the River-daughter is the daughter of a river Maia, which makes the most sense to me). Dior is a mystery, but that's a tangent. The important thing about the First Age is that among our sample population of Beleriandrin royalty, Lúthien and Idril both marry Men, Aegnor gets quite close, and Finduilas falls in love with Túrin. Dior marries Nimloth, and Eärendil and Elwing marry each other. Unless there is something very unusual about our sample population of named characters, Peredhil ought to be quite common.

Part 2, the Númenóreans. Now, the impression I've gotten from the text is that the only Peredhel ancestry in Númenor is the line of Elros, but I don't really buy that. Númenóreans are different enough from other Men to be somewhat distinct from them into the Fourth Age. One peredhel, dozens of generations ago, in a world-spanning colonial empire... seems rather implausible. On the other hand, early Númenórean culture has the biggest Elf fetish imaginable. They speak Elven languages, they regularly visit Elves on two continents (and perhaps meet them on others), and they practically worship the Great Peredhel in the Sky. And we have two canon examples of later Númenóreans (Aragorn and Imrazôr) marrying Elves and reintroducing Peredhel heritage to their lines. My analysis? Early Númenóreans were fucking Elves quite regularly. (This reminds me of a blog post about Elves visiting from Valinor for what were euphemistically called "Númenórean marriages", similiar to our Vegas weddings, brief trysts with mortals who wouldn't live long anyway.) This gives a narrative irony to the later resentment of Elves and coveting of immortality. As Númenor lost the faith (fetish), they stopped reintroducing Elven heritage into their population, and so their average lifespan declined. The whole population of Númenóreans are canonically fractionally-Elven, but this analysis makes how that works make a lot more sense to me.

And now we get to the interesting bit: hobbits. Now, hobbits are something of a plot hole with Tolkien, they come out of nowhere late in the histories, shoehorned in to fit into his later stories. But I think there's actually a simple explanation for them. We ignore the supposed etymology of "halfling" as "they're as tall as half a Númenórean ranga" and take it at face value: The hobbits, I argue, are descended from Men, Elves, and Dwarves. Now, hobbits are generally agreed to be most closely related to Men. But what does "related" mean here? There's hardly been enough time since the Men woke for biological evolution to take place. The only other meaning I see is for it to mean interbreeding, that the majority of their ancestry is from Men. Now Elves and Dwarves are the only other options if we're not involving Orcs, Ents, or Ainur, which seem unlikely, but there's further suggestive evidence. Hobbits are said to live slightly longer than Men of non-Númenórean descent, while Elven heritage is known to increase mortal lifespan and Dwarves live somewhat longer as well. Furthermore, the hobbits are divided into three kinds: the Harfoots, considered the baseline, the Stoors, who grew facial hair, and the Fallohides, who were comparatively fair, tall, and slim. And so, I suggest, perhaps a hobbit is about what you get when Men interbreed with fewer Elves and Dwarves. Hobbit height comes from Dwarves, and their lack of facial hair and odd magic comes from Elves. The Stoors have comparatively more Dwarven or Mannish ancestry, while the Fallohides have comparatively more Elven. Interestingly, Harfoot traits are said to later become "the norm". This could just mean a social norm, or perhaps that as the different hobbit kinds interbreed, the variations averaged out into the Harfoot type. The term "Periannath" might be the only memory left of this history, with "half a ranga" as a later explanation or convergent evolution.

Thus, by the Third Age, we have two large populations of different halflings, the Númenóreans and the hobbits. (I can also add a note here about Treebeard's speculation that the Uruk-hai are part-Man, part Orc.) Halflings aren't rare at all. Yet as the world changes, and the Elves and Dwarves disappear, they will never be so numerous again. I'll end with what would be a vaguely religious note coming from a scholar of Middle-Earth, which I guess translates to a question for Tolkien. Though they were not born into the world at its creation, the First, Second, and Third Ages seem to turn on the actions of these halflings. What do we make of that?

[redbootsindoriath]

So I was joking around with my closest friend about how humans probably can’t tell if an elf is married or not just by looking at/listening to them like the elves can.  And my friend was like “Haha, humans would seem autistic to elves because they don’t pick up on those social cues” and then I was like “Sure but then in return, all the elves would seem autistic to humans because they’re so obsessed with their special interests and knowledge” and then she was like “Hot take: everyone in Middle Earth is autistic” (we already had a kind of headcanon about both Túrin and Beleg being on the spectrum due to various things in the story, so it wasn’t the first time we’d discussed autism in Tolkien’s works), and then the more we went into it the more things I started noticing, and the long and the short of it is I now have a new only-half-crack sorta-headcanon.  You guys ready?

The word “autism” comes from an old, little-used Westron word for “socially blind”, which in turn came from mixing some early Mannish and Sindarin terms for “another race”.  Allow me to explain...under the cut, in case anyone doesn’t want to have to scroll past the whole essay, LOL.

Literally autistic individuals (cf. my earlier comment about autistic-Túrin and autistic-Beleg) might stand out a bit when they’re among their own race, but no more than an allistic individual would when among a different race.  You don’t catch on to some dwarven social cues even though you’re a dwarf?  Yeah, well, any dwarf is gonna have that problem when encountering humans, we’ve all been there, no one is going to judge you for missing a few of the other dwarves’ social cues.  (Gonna just add here, by the way, that in many parts of Middle Earth, it seems that social obligations are less of a legal requirement than just a general expectation, cf. Nellas just living in the woods and never even going inside until there was a super important reason, and Finrod literally abandoning his kingdom without warning to hang out with humans for a year, and Beleg just disappearing from the north marches and nobody even bothers to look for him; and even come the Third Age Bilbo is considered strange but in only a curious way rather than a dangerous way.  You don’t want to live in the city?  Cool, there are plenty of woods to roam around in instead, nobody cares.) 

This brings me to my second point.  What if sometimes when a human is referred to as seeming elven, it means that they seem to be of another race (as in they mistake a lot of social cues as meaning other things, and come at problems from an unusual angle, and have other traits that are just a little bit different or could come across as impolite, which are all already things that we see a lot in inter-species communication in Middle Earth)?  Being called another race isn’t always used as an insult, just as a descriptor.  Of course sometimes it’s used as an insult, most often by the folk that hadn’t had much positive exposure to other races (eg the Easterlings calling Morwen a “white-witch”), but usually it’s just a way of saying that someone is a little bit different and so you should adjust your manner of speech accordingly when talking to them.

Are there plot holes in this?  Yeah, of course, hence why it’s half-crack.  However, I’m working on closing them up and stuff just as a bit of an exercise in researching Tolkien’s world rules (and also because it’s fun, let’s be real).  I came up with this theory after only getting two hours of sleep one night, so it’s gonna need a lot of work but I thought maybe somebody else out there might like it.

(I have a lot of more thoughts on this topic but I’m not sure how to organize them in a way that would make sense, what you see here is just what I was able to make somewhat coherent.)

[outofangband]

Characters when sick or injured, Húrin and family

I did the Fëanorians here and I went through pain tolerance of the family here

feel free to ask for any more characters or ask questions!

I also have a series of ficlets with each family member and fever though I want to add to those

also finally I’m writing a meta about what the breath of death was at some point if there’s interest 

I thought way too much about this and still am

Túrin is a bad patient unless he’s with his parents and even then he’s not super easy about it. He doesn’t like being sick at all. He’s unhappy and uncomfortable and prone to complaining though in his defense it’s usually proportional to the situation. He also was very preferential about which parent could do various things when sick (usually towards Morwen).  

Lalaith is an agitated little baby when sick or hurt. She fusses a lot and regresses to shorter sentences, less real words, more babbling. She also gets even more clingy. Húrin had to take a week off of work (captaining?) once.

Niënor is a pretty good patient though she does get anxious and bored easily if she’s confined to bed rest. She was also the kind of kid who thought pus and blood had the potential to be really cool. She doesn’t complain often so when she does complain about a headache or something that’s usually a sign to Morwen or others that she needs to be on sickbed. 

Húrin is similar to Niënor. He’s agreeable and won’t lash out when sick or hurt but he gets restless easily. He gets a lot of minor injuries during his time as a captain of Fingon, half of them from various fights and ambushes, the other half from stupid dares and wrestling. 

 (Obviously this doesn’t include post Angband stuff, for a full account of injured Húrin post Angband see my series on The Wanderings of Húrin. Let’s just say he does indeed lash out)

Fun fact: Once Húrin got drunk on an especially strong elven wine because no one told him this particular kind would effect humans much differently and another elven captain of Fingon had to bring him back home. Luckily Húrin is just very giddy and drowsy for about eight hours. He does get very emotional in the last hour or so before he finally passes out.  Morwen brought him a glass of water and he started crying saying that’s the kindest thing anyone’s ever done for him. 

Morwen uh. Hm. She’s not a bad patient because she won’t be a patient at all. She’s very stubborn about it too. She doesn’t like healers and she doesn’t like being touched or worried about especially by people she doesn’t know well and honestly people who she does know well are on thin ice. She will absolutely refuse to admit she’s sick and push herself to the extreme to hide it. One of the only major disagreements Húrin and her had was whether to allow an elven healer to attend to her when Túrin was born. I don’t say ‘argument’ because there wasn’t much actual arguing. 

On a more serious note, I actually do headcanon that she has pretty severe trauma from how she was treated by the healers and other authorities in Brethil as a child when she was there with Emeldir following Dagor Bragollach. There’s no canonical evidence for it exactly but Morwen’s intense mistrust of staying with others or needing their help has always struck me as likely a trauma thing as much as it is just her principles (which I think it also is!) and we get a not too flattering look in The Wanderings of Húrin regarding how some in Brethil treat outsiders especially those who are neurodivergent, mentally I’ll or traumatized.

If that’s how they treat a nobleman and war veteran of high status, I hate to think how they would treat a probably neurodivergent little girl with no parents to stand up for her.

And I know Morwen’s unease at the mention of Brethil during her conversation with Húrin pre Nírnaeth is supposed to be foreshadowing but I can also imagine it relates to her time there as a little kid in a terrible situation.

I have a longer meta about Morwen’s part of that conversation I’m actually working on rewriting but I think there’s a lot of interesting implications there

 this list is mostly for fun but I couldn’t help going into one of my darker headcanons for Morwen pre events of the book too

[losto-vae-mellon-nin]

Chapters: 18/18 Fandom: The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings - All Media Types, The Lord of the Rings (Movies) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Major Character Death Relationships: Aragorn | Estel/Arwen Undómiel, Aragorn | Estel & Arwen Undómiel, Aragorn | Estel & Elrond Peredhel, Aragorn | Estel & Gandalf | Mithrandir, Aragorn | Estel & Gilraen, Aragorn | Estel & Original Male Character(s), Aragorn | Estel & Elladan & Elrohir, Aragorn | Estel & Elladan, Aragorn | Estel & Elrohir, Aragorn | Estel & Legolas Greenleaf, Aragorn | Estel & Glorfindel, Celeborn/Galadriel | Artanis, Aragorn | Estel & Halbarad Characters: Aragorn | Estel, Arwen Undómiel, Gandalf | Mithrandir, Elrond Peredhel, Elladan (Tolkien), Elrohir (Tolkien), Sons of Elrond, Glorfindel (Tolkien), Galadriel | Artanis, Celeborn (Tolkien), Haldir of Lothlórien, Orophin (Tolkien), Rumil (Tolkien), Thranduil, Legolas Greenleaf, Tauriel (Hobbit Movies), Halbarad (Tolkien), Barney Butterbur, Barliman Butterbur, Gilraen (Tolkien), Théoden, Thengel (Tolkien), Morwen Steelsheen, Denethor II, Ecthelion II, Bilbo Baggins, Gollum | Sméagol, Original Male Character(s), Original Female Character(s), Frodo Baggins, Sam Gamgee, Pippin Took, Merry Brandybuck, Original Rohirrim Character(s), Original Elf Character(s), Bill the Pony Additional Tags: Middle Earth, middle-earth, Pre-Lord of The Rings, Post-The hobbit, Elves, Rivendell | Imladris, Gondor, Rohan, Eriador, Action/Adventure, Mild Blood, Battle Scenes, Sindarin, Sindarin with translations, Elvish, Wizards Summary:

Imladris, or Rivendell, the house of Elrond Half-elven, being known as one of the last Elven-homes of Middle-earth, was a home for many refugees. One of those refugees was very important in helping to fight one of the servants of the Great Evil, although he did not know that yet.

or

Aragorn’s adventures after leaving from Rivendell to go into the wild

[namelists]

names inspired by: lord of the rings

this list includes names inspired by tolkien’s epic high-fantasy, and the various people, places and things that inhabit it

disclaimer:

please don’t take this too seriously. it’s just a list of words from lotr that i think would make cool names. if i changed any spellings, i put “from [language]” in the meaning. i had fun with this, and i hope you will too!

Adan: the Elves’ name for those Men who first crossed the Blue Mountains

Aduiel: from Sindarin (an Elvish language), meaning “eventide, twilight, star-opening”

Adun: Adûnaic (an extinct Mannish language) meaning “west”

Aelin: Elvish, meaning “lake, pool”

Aiglos: Sindarin for “icicle”

Ainura: from Quenya (an Elvish language), meaning “holy ones”, refers to the angelic spirits created by Ilúvatar

Alda: Quenya, meaning “tree”

Aldaloma: from Quenya, meaning “tree-shadow”

Alqua: Sindarin, meaning “swan”

Amarië: a Fair Elf woman of ancient Valinor

Ambarona: Quenya, meaning “world’s birth”

Amila: from the Elvish for “mother”

Amon: Sindarin, meaning “mountain, hill”

Anarya: Quenya, meaning "day of the sun”, the second day of the Elvish week

Anna: Sindarin, meaning “gift”

Anodo: from Sindarin, meaning “Ent”, the ancient race of tree guardians

Anárion: a human who lived in the Second Age

Aragorn: the king who returns in Return of the King

Arda: Quenya, meaning “region, realm”, became the term for the world

Áre - Quenya word for ‘Sunlight’.

Ari: from Adûnaic, meaning “royal”

Arnu: Adûnaic, meaning “king”

Arwen: half-elven daughter of Elrond and Celebrían, and wife of Aragorn

Avallone: the name of a city on the eastern coast of the Elven island realm

Avari: Quenya, meaning “unwilling”

Balin: Dwarf companion of Thorin Oakenshield in The Hobbit

Barliman: the owner of The Prancing Pony Inn in Bree

Beleriand: a vast region located in north-western Middle-earth during the First Age

Benadar: another name for the enigmatic Tom Bombadil, a nature spirit who lived in the depths of the Old Forest Beren: a hero whose romance with the Elf Lúthien was one of the great stories of the Elder Days

Bilbo: the hobbit from The Hobbit who discovered the One Ring

Boromir: warrior of Gondor and member of the Company of the Ring

Bowman: Bard the Bowman was a Man of Esgaroth who slew Smaug the dragon

Brethil: Elvish, meaning “silver birch”

Calaquendi: the Elves of the Light

Calen: Sindarin, meaning “green”

Calma: Quenya, meaning ‘lamp”

Coirë: Elvish, meaning “stirring”, the last of the six Elven Seasons

Corana: from Quenya, meaning “sun-round” (aka, a year)

Cormallen: Sindarin, meaning “ring bearers”

Cuivie: Elvish, meaning “awaking”

Círdan: Elf leader. Shipwright and bearer of a Ring of Power.

Dae: Elvish, meaning “shadow”

Dagor: Sindarin, meaning 'battle’

Denethor: the name of at least three rulers

Dina: Elvish, meaning “be silent”

Drego: Sindarin, meaning “flee”

Drúedain: a strange race of wild Men that lived in the Drúadan Forest

Duin: Elvish, meaning “long river”

Echor: Elvish, meaning 'encircling mountains’

Edhel: Sindarin, meaning “elf”

Edhellen: Sindarin, meaning “of the Elves”

Elbereth: the Vala Varda, goddess of light

Eldaliéva: Quenya, meaning “elven spirituality”

Eldar: Quenya, meaning “people of the stars”, the Elves’ name for themselves

Eldarin - Quenya word for the languages spoken by the Elves

Elear: Sindarin, meaning “visionary”

Eleni: Quenya, meaning “star”

Elenya: Sindarin, “day of the stars”, the first day of the elvish week

Elessar: another name for Aragorn II

Elrond: powerful leader of the elves, and ruler of Rivendell

Emyn: Sindarin, meaning “hills”

Endari: the middle of the year in the Elvish calendar

Endóre: Quenya word for 'Middle-earth’

Éomer: the eighteenth King of Rohan, and first of the Third Line of their kings

Éowyn: female member of the royal house of Rohan who kills the Witch King of Angmar

Eriador: a region of Middle-earth located between the Blue Mountains and the Misty Mountains

Eryn: Sindarin, meaning “forest, wood”

Esse: Quenya, meaning “name”

Estel: Sindarin, meaning “hope”

Estellio: Sindarin, meaning “trust”

Ethuil: the first season of the Elvish year, equivalent to spring

Eärendil: First Age half-elf who eventually became a legendary figure. He and his wife Elwing are key to the victory of good in the Silmarillion.

Falas: Elvish, meaning “shore, line of surf”

Faramir: the Captain of the Rangers of Ithilien

Faroth: Elvish, meaning “hunt, pursue”

Finwë: First king of the Noldor

Firith: Sindarin, meaning “fading”, the fourth season of the Elvish year

Formen: Quenya, meaning “north”

Frodo: the nephew of Bilbo Baggins who bore the One Ring to its destruction in Mount Doom

Fëa: Elvish, meaning “spirit”

Fëanor: one of the Elves that first departed from Valinor

Galad: Elvish, meaning “light”

Galadriel: Queen of the Elves

Gandalf: ancient wizard badass. a member of the Fellowship of the Ring

Gildor: Elf of Rivendell in the Third Age

Gilthoniel: Varda, the Vala responsible for the outlining of the stars

Gimli: Dwarf and member of the Fellowship of the Ring

Gondolin: a hidden city of the Elves

Gríma: an ally of Saruman who gave false advice to the King of Rohan

Haleth:  Haleth was the daughter of Haldad, leader of the Haladin

Húrin: a hero of Men during the First Age

Iarwain:  another name for the enigmatic Tom Bombadil, a nature spirit who lived in the depths of the Old Forest

Ilúvatar: the supreme deity of Arda

Incánus: another name for the badass wizard demigod Gandalf

Indis: a female Vanyar Elf of Valinor

Istari: five Maiar spirits sent to Middle-earth as human forms to aid the Free Peoples against the threat of Sauron

Kaliondi:  the Elves of Darkness

Khôr: Adûnaic, meaning “lord”

Laira: from Quenya, meaning “summer”

Lalaith: an Edain child, named Urwen at birth, but renamed after the stream running by her house

Legolas: beautiful elf warrior, member of the Fellowship of the Ring

Lindon: an important Elvish realm, known for its harbors and Elven Ships that would sail for the West.

Luin: Sindarin, meaning “blue”

Lórien: a magic forest and Elven realm into which evil could not enter without difficulty

Lúthien: An ancient elf, predating the First Age

Maedhros: one of the princes of the Ñoldor, the eldest of the seven Sons of Fëanor

Maia: near-primordial spirits that descended into Arda to help the Valar first shape the World

Melkor: the original evil being in Tolkien’s legendarium, succeeded by Sauron

Mellon: Elvish, meaning “friend”

Meriadoc: a hobbit and companion of Frodo Baggins, and member of the Company of the Ring

Merry: Meriadoc’s nickname

Minas: Elvish, meaning “tower”

Minelle: from Adûnaic, meaning “sky”

Mithrin: Sindarin, meaning “grey”

Mordor: the Land of Shadow, a dark volcanic plain that Sauron used as his military base

Moria: an underground kingdom beneath the Misty Mountains

Moriquendi: the Elves of Darkness

Morwen: Wife of Húrin. one of very few female characters in this series

Muindor: Sindarin, meaning “brother”

Muinthel: Sindarin, meaning “sister”

Namárië: Quenya, meaning “farewell”

Narya: one of the three Elvish Rings of Power, described as having the power to inspire others to resist tyranny, domination and despair

Navaer: Sindarin, meaning “farewell”

Nelya: the largest of the three houses of the Elves

Nenya: one of the three Elvish Rings of Power, wielded by Galadriel, normally invisible

Nikerym: Elvish, meaning “captain”

Nilu: Adûnaic, meaning “moon”

Nimir: Adûnaic, meaning “elf”

Nimrais: Sindarin, meaning “white peaks”

Nin: Elvish, meaning “my” (example: ‘mellon nin’ means ‘my friend’)

Olórin: Gandalf’s original name

Orod: Sindarin, meaning “mountain”

Palantíri: Quenyan, meaning “far-seeing”

Parma: Quenya, meaning “book”

Peredhel: Sindarin, meaning “half elvish”

Peregrin: a hobbit companion of Frodo Baggins, and a member of the Fellowship of the Ring

Pharaz: Adûnaic, meaning “gold”

Phelle: from Adûnaic, meaning “daughter”

Pippin: Peregrin’s nickname

Quelre: Sindarin, meaning “good day”

Quenya: one of the Elvish languages, along with Sindarin

Rivendell: a peaceful, sheltered Elven town, located at the edge of a narrow gorge of the river Bruinen

Rohan: a great kingdom of Men, located in the great vale between the Misty Mountains to the north and the White Mountains to the south

Samwise: loyal companion of Frodo Baggins who accompanies him to Mordor

Sarati: an alphabet and writing system invented in Valinor by Rúmil of Tirion

Saruman: A wizard. Once a leader for good, he formed his own empire as a rival of Sauron and was defeated at the Battle of the Hornburg.

Sauron: The primary antagonist of The Lord of the Rings. He crafted the One Ring, and was destroyed upon its destruction at the end of the The Return of the King.

Shire: the homeland of the majority of the Hobbits in Middle-earth, located in the northern region of Eriador

Silma: from Quenya, meaning “starlight”

Silvan: the name given to the woodland Elves

Sindarin: one of the Elvish languages, along with Quenya

Strider: one of Aragorn’s nicknames

Taliska: the language of the Bëorian and Hadorian Houses of the Atanatári

Tauriel: Elvish, meaning “daughter of the forest”

Tavrobel: a town in the northwestern part of the island of Tol Eressëa

Teleri: the third of the Elf clans who came to Aman

Thalia: from Elvish, meaning “bravery”

Thalin: Elvish, meaning “dauntless”

Thorin: Dwarf that led the company of dwarves that retook Erebor from the dragon

Théoden: King of Rohan

Tuilë: Quenya, meaning “spring”

Túrin: A First Age man who later became the subject of legends

Undómiel: another name for Arwen

Ûrî: Adûnaic, meaning “sun”

Urulóki: Quenya, meaning “hot, heat”, also used as a name for Fire-Drakes

Vala: Elvish, meaning “mighty”

Valar: the Powers of Arda who shaped and rule the world.

Valdra: Elvish, meaning “inferno”

Valinor: Quenya, meaning “land of the Valar”

Vanya: one of the Fair Elves, or Light Elves

Vilya: one of the three Elvish Rings of Power, may have provided the ability to heal and to preserve

Zadna: Adûnaic, meaning “house”

Zimra: Adûnaic, meaning “jewel”

Zîra: from Adûnaic, meaning “friend”

Zôr: Adûnaic, meaning “flame”

[theoppositeofprofound]

Kind of question the Tolkien bona fides of people who think that first age elves as a whole have an anti-human bias. Third age, maybe, sure, Mirkwood had gotten a little isolationist and Galadriel is eldritch at the best of times. But first age elves are just trying to survive the apocalypse with their exciting new allies (who die permanently, how novel). 

The only elven characters called out as anti-human are Saeros-- who gets killed for it-- and Thingol, mostly because he got the Forebodings that human lust would kill his precious child (also Thingol historically has all around issues). Everyone else is 100 percent on board. Nargothrond? Loved Beor and was totally ready to build a death bridge with Turin (who admittedly has his own anti-charisma curse advantage). Fingolfin needed five minutes to adopt Hador and the rest of Hithlum seems to have done the same. Caranthir was ready to hand Haleth (the crummy) half of his kingdom. Maedhros picked up human followers left and right. Even Thingol softened up and Doriath seems to have warmed considerably to Morwen and Nienor during their time there.

Most tellingly, by the end of the First Age several elven populations have part human monarchs and no one seems to have any concerns about this. There are no objections to Dior in the text. Doriath just gets on board with their new mortal(?) king. Gondolin-sans-Maeglin also seems to have no issues with Tuor marrying their princess. They’re just happy he’s here. Earendil and Elwing are basically in charge of the Havens of Sirion despite being part human and the elf equivalent of toddlers. 

Elf-human relationships are sometimes a bit one sided (we see far more elves fostering humans than the other way around, humans pick up more elven cultural traits) but a lot of that is just a result of population factors. Elves were there first and the humans, who come in small groups, are prone to assimilate more than the other way around. That doesn’t mean that there’s not respect and affection. Just because they’re sometimes a bit baffled by each other doesn’t mean that there’s dislike there. They’re all on this sinking continent with an evil god together. 

[xmarchwarden-of-lothlorienx]

My Headcanons For Dark Elves in Tolkien

I’ll try to cover some of my general headcanons and ideas in this post. I’ll make a separate post going specifically into my OCs (Morwen’s) life and family history. Some of it will be touched on here though because it’s relevant to her story and the down fall of her people. Also, any elf groups that aren’t dark elves will just be referred to as “light elves”.

If you guys have any questions, or want me to elaborate on something, please ask! I am very passionate about this!!

Appearance

Dark elves (also known as night elves) have a slightly different appearance than their elven kin. For starters, their ears are longer/larger. Living primarily in the dark, this helps them stay aware of their surroundings by providing better hearing.

During the day, their vision is not as great as the other elves. Bright light can be incredibly disorienting to them. Their sight could still be considered better than a humans, but much poorer than let’s say a “light elf”. Since they live primarily at night, their sight works much better in the dark (superior to humans and most other elves). Night elves tend to have brown/green/hazel eyes. The few humans that have ever seen them have said that they give an unsettling glow when the light hits them (Much like a nocturnal animal).

Hair colours for night elves range from medium brown to so black that it looks blue. Hey, they aren’t called dark elves just because they live at night 🤷🏻‍♂️

Culture

•Dwellings: In Middle Earth, the dark elves came to dwell in what would become Fangorn forest. There, they would build a city called Gladuial, located in the southern half of the forest. The city was built of marble and quartz and emits a soft glow in the night, much like the moon. As for architecture style, they don’t live in the trees like the elves of Lothlorien do. To compare it to something already established, it’s more like the Grey Havens.

•Fashion: Fashion for Dark elves is generally similar to that of their elven kin, with some slight changes. Being more of a warrior people, their hair is shorter than that of light elves. The few that do have longer hair almost always have it up.

With clothes, they prefer the same rich fabrics and elegant designs as the other elves. The most popular colours amongst the court are blues, purples, and the occasional reds, all in darker shades. Black of course goes with everything and is also popular. Darker colours help them stay hidden from those they don’t wish to encounter (like humans and dwarves). They’re also great for going unnoticed when sneaking up on your enemies.

Elves love the stars, but none more so than the Night Elves. They craft jewels that glimmer and shine like stars. Silver is the most popular metal for necklaces and bracelets. The Queens/Kings crown always features a moonstone as its centerpiece (both for its beauty and spiritual qualities)

•Government: As mentioned above, the Dark Elves are ruled by a monarch. The Queen during Morwens time is her mother, Faelwen. I could make an entire post on Faelwen and how she completely changed everything for the dark elves, but in her ~350 year reign she began to make peace with humans and even married a man of Gondor (Morwens dad and the man who named her, hence the name Morwen). This would cause a huge rift between the dark elves, and planted the seeds of treason in Thalion, Faelwens younger brother and Morwens uncle.

As for a crown, the picture below is the closest to what I could find for what Queen Faelwen wore. After her death during the Siege of Gladuial, Morwen would be coronated and come to wear her mother’s circlet as well (though not immediately, as the pain from the loss lingered and she couldn’t stand the sight of it at first).

•Beliefs: My interpretation of the dark elves is influenced by “dark” faeries from Celtic mythology. Like dark faeries, the dark elves dislike humans as they see them as being destructive and uncaring towards nature. Dark elves wouldn’t go out of their way to harm humans, but they definitely wouldn’t go out of their way to help or teach them either. The bad blood between these two lasts for centuries and their relationship only begins to mend when the two must fight alongside each other during the War of the Ring. Faelwen comes into power shortly after the war ends, and she makes an effort to make peace with the other peoples of middle earth. This causes a major divide between the people as some support their queen and others don’t. These tensions would brew for over 300 years before leading to a civil war.

Speaking of the War of the Ring, gaining the support of the dark elves was vital in winning the war. All of the elves are skilled warriors, but this field is a specialty for the night elves. From their weapons training, knowledge of battle tactics, and general talent for the art of war, they make a formidable enemy. With their support and training, the victory from the Last Alliance was made possible.

Besides the Wood elves of Mirkwood, the night elves are very deeply connected to nature. The way it loops and forever continues was something they found fascinating. In Fangorn, they would teach the trees to speak and helped to herd and tame the forest. Once they were gone, the forest became wild and their spirits are said to still haunt it at the end of the Third Age.

I didn’t cover everything, but please comment what you guys would like to know more about! Thank you :)

Tags: @themerriweathermage @iwenttomordor @elarinya-nailo @entishramblings