#numenorean fashion

[sesamenom]

Aragorn and Arwen taking a walk through Minas Tirith (she's venting about how maglor disappeared again right before el&el were going to drag him to valinor)

(Aragorn has a very good fashion sense, if he was a Noldorin ambassador living in Numenor during the Late Elros Era. Arwen is also very stylish for early Doriathrim royalty. The rest of Gondor got used to it eventually.)

[giaffa]

Ar-Pharazôn and Tar-Míriel

[torchwood-99]

From your Thematic Headcanon ask game:

hc + 😡 for a headcanon about something that makes them angry

I totally LOVE stuff to get angry about! And I’m having a chaotic day, so it feels fitting!

Oh yes here we go!!!!

Eomer

People who abuse women. His love for Eowyn and his inability to save his mother instilled him early on with a fierce hatred of people who mistreat women. A hatred that goes beyond rationality sometimes, if he sees someone treat their wife or daughter harshly he will act first, think later, barging in on the situation without considering the ramifications of his actions, and how his interference could cause harm. That said, in the aftermath, once his rage has cooled, he always tries to help in a constructive way as well. This results in several laws for the protection of wives, daughters and other female kin being passed in his day.

People making fun of his beard. Stealing this headcanon, @konartiste, because of his Numenorean blood, it took Eomer longer to grow a beard than his peers, and even after it grows in it's not so naturally lustrous as theirs. He spends hours trimming it and brushing it to give it volume, and he can't grow it too long because it comes in patchy.

People who mistreat horses. Needs no further elaboration.

Eowyn

Feeling boxed in, confined, mollycoddled, overlooked, underrated, left out, overworked, exploited or generally done shit by because of her sex. Not a headcanon just canon but it's such a pressure point (rightfully so) it has to be said.

Being sick. She hates being sick. Her relationship with her body is fraught, because on the one hand she has suffered from being relegated to certain roles because of her gender, with the onset of puberty in particular hailing a stronger enforcement of gender roles in her life, but through training and effort she has been able to give her body a great deal of strength and skill, and so any feeling of "weakness" causes her to feel like her body is betraying her. Her periods are actually quite irregular, but when they come they can be truly painful, and this she hates above all else. Working as a healer makes her more forgiving of her own weakness, and her marriage to Faramir, who never treats her as less because she is a woman, (and introduces her to a lot of fun stuff her body can do and feel) makes her more at peace with her sex, but her monthlies still cause her a fair bit of frustration, as it really does dredge up the worst feelings she has about sex and weakness. Her first period itself was pretty traumatic, without a mother or female relative to help her through it. With her mother and aunts all dead, and her entry into womanhood being marked with blood and pain, womanhood seems interconnected with suffering and death, and it takes her a long time to put that all into perspective.

Impractical shoes. She hates shoes that pinch or have high heels. She hates any female specific fashion that significantly impedes movement or comfort. If it's inflicted on men and women alike, she can stomach it (like high collars on formal occasions) but anything that singles women out for discomfort/lack of mobility is her sworn enemy.

Also, side-saddles. Absolutely detests them. Side-saddles at the end of the third age, beginning of the fourth age, are the ones that have women sit entirely facing the side, and give women riders significantly less control over their horse than front facing saddles. Lothiriel's time as queen sees the development of more practical side saddles, that allow women decent control over their horses, which Eowyn grudgingly accepts, but still holds in dislike. She actively fights against Rohan adopting them for widespread use, because the reasons for women riding side-saddle (to protect their chastity) is an attitude she rightfully sees as harmful to women. As a result of her influence, the side-saddle comes to be seen as a fashion accessory, to show off a lady's gown on formal or ceremonial occasions, and women for the most part ride astride for sport and day to day use.

Faramir

Intellectual debates. He says he's always up for an intellectual debate, he says he loves discussing ancient texts and laws and poetry, but in truth he can't stomach people having different ideas to him, whether it be philosophy, history, art etc... He tries to play it cool, and when someone says something wrong, he is happy to explain to them why they are wrong. But if they insist on being wrong, it sends him into a cold, hard fury. He maintains decorum in front of them, but then rants for hours to Eowyn about it afterwards. The thing is, he usually is right, and usually the people disagreeing with him are wrong and wilfully so, but nonetheless, it makes him a little tiresome. When he actually is wrong, and it's explained to him, he takes it on board with good grace. It's just most of the time, he's in the right, so it makes him come across as intolerant of other people's views.

People underestimating his wife. He knows that under Eowyn's proud veneer, she suffers from self-esteem issues, and he gets very angry at people dismissing her or overlooking her, because he knows it causes these issues to flame up. Also, he thinks she's absolutely amazing, and as we've established, he struggles with people having different opinions

He can camp out in absolutely filthy conditions, and put up with dirt and blood and grime as part of being a soldier, but at home and in court life, he likes things neat an orderly. He's actually a bit precious about his fine clothes, and if there's a smudge or a stain, it bothers him like an itch until it's sorted out. Eowyn sometimes teases him by wearing her coronet at an angle, and watching him resist the urge to straighten it for her. (She likes it when he does, because he's very gentle when he does it, and takes the opportunity to run his fingers through her hair.)

[morgulscribe]

Sauron and Colonialism

If one studies the ancient texts closely, it becomes clear that, while Sauron desires to rule Middle-earth in an oppressive theocracy, he is against colonialism. In the Second Age, Sauron aids the native peoples of Middle-earth in their struggle against the Numenoreans. As Numenorean power grew, the nation turned its attention back to Middle-earth, where it began to establish settlements along the coasts. While at first the Numenoreans had a goal of helping the natives, as the years went by, they began to oppress them and exploit the natural resources of Middle-earth in true colonial fashion.

To the peoples of the South and East, Sauron provided great aid in their struggle against the Numenoreans. It is important to keep in mind that Sauron is a divine being with vast, far-reaching goals, not some generic villain with petty ambitions. The people of the South and East literally had a god on their side, and the only reasonable thing was to worship him so that he would continue bestowing his favor upon them.

Even after Sauron's surrender to Ar-Pharazon and later defeat in the Battle of the Last Alliance, many of the people of the South and East continued to worship him. Perhaps one of the reasons for this adoration was because Sauron had never attempted to colonize them, as had the Numenoreans. He had come to them as a divine ally, and so they worshiped him, and feared the men of the West.

Even in the Third Age, it seems that Mordor, while an imperialistic power, has allies instead of colonies. In the real world, small countries have wielded great power through their colonies, but Mordor is somewhat different in that its true power does not come from colonies but rather from the cult of Sauron. As the divine ruler of a theocracy, Sauron can call upon his followers in other countries to wage war for him as part of their religious obligations. If the people obey Sauron and serve him well, then they will be rewarded greatly. He IS called the Lord of Gifts, after all.

As for those caravans of slaves that are sent to Nurn? Quite possibly it is the divinely ordained duty of every ruler allied with Mordor to send tribute as a form of gratitude for the favor that the Lord of Gifts has bestowed upon their nation or tribe. This could even be seen as a form of sacrifice that doesn't involve the shedding of blood. Now whether a country sends their own sons and daughters as tribute, or takes captives from a rival nation, is another matter entirely, but I think Sauron is more interested in numbers than technicalities. Tribute is tribute, after all, and Mordor needs slaves to keep the gears of industry running.

A related essay: Sauron as the God-King of Middle-earth

[delphinidin4]

The eruption of the volcano on the island of Thera was likely one of the inspirations for the legend of Atlantis.

Thera was inhabited by a Minoan colony, and the Minoan culture on Crete was very negatively impacted by the eruption of Thera.

Numenor is posited in Tolkien's writings as Atlantis.

Conclusion: Please draw Numenoreans in Minoan fashions!!

[magpiecaranthir]

Hi! Hope your ask box sitch gets fixed soon 💜 Do you have any thoughts or opinions about clothes and fashion in middle earth from any time period and any people? I’m doing a little fashion timeline project for myself and thought it could be fun to hear other opinions if you feel like it 💜

Oh, from what I hear it's not going to get fixed like, ever. But that's fine that's what I have this acc for now :)

Ok ok so you opened a big can of worms I'll try to keep the lid on best I can

So I'll ramble about the Dunlendings first because I have been knee deep into their existence with my recent fics I cant leave my babies alone. It's all over the place bc I got in ramble mode sorry. Also, it's very long lol.

Ok so dunlendings are said to be the descendants of some of the haladin, right? So their clothes are partially influenced by that in the same way gondor is influenced by former numenorean trends and the likes

I fucking hate the movie depiction of the dunlendings. Look at this shit. No. I refuse.

What I will take from that shitshow is the primarily dark hair and the preference for shorter (not more than like 5cm) unadorned beards, and some incorporation of furs.

The dunlendings used to live in the forests of Middle earth, not just in what would come to be Dunland. But when the numenoreans needed wood they chased them off.

Based on that I think they used more muted, natural colours like greens, deep reds and oranges, brown, the occasional black. They preferred light fabrics back then, especially in the settlements close to the shores and further south. They did a sort of tiedye to imitate natural fur patterns during hunting. That's something they do even in later ages.

When they were forced to migrate inland and into the mountains (what would be Dunland) their fabrics in general became sturdier. Thicker linen, more wool, and the likes.

They keep the population of larger predators in check in the mountains, so their furs make it into the garments fairly often. Usually used for children's clothing because they are very much mortal and they know babies and elders need a bit of extra protection from the cold.

Usually they also have ceremonial furs for special occasions (usually any type of bear for holidays of sorts)

And pelts with peculiar colouring/patterns or from mountain lions/wolves/other pack animals and the likes for special festivities relating to members of the community. (Think wedding, burial, birth).

Not everyone wears those to all celebrations. They are worn by the one who is the star of the show and their family, so to speak. Bride and groom's families wear those, while everyone else wears normal festivity clothes.

Those are accompanied by fairly unadorned clothes with sturdy but artful geometrical embroidery, usually around the hems, collars and cuffs.

Belts worn by the males are the centerpiece beside the felt, and are very artful, especially because in my hcs every village has mastered the art of burning patterns into leather. The belts are wide and loose, and usually are made from a prey animal of their formal fur garment bc they believe they should not deprive predator from prey, even in death.

Women wear usually dresses for celebrations, they are sturdy and have several layers so you can mix and match depending on the season. So several underlayers, chemises, stockings per ensemble.

The dresses themselves formal but not center-stage formal, but every single one has a decorative overskirt you tie around the waist. That comes on and off, and the dress is perfectly complete without it. That one has lots of embroidery.

The women in the family usually start embroidering a fabric when the baby is around 5 and shows some character, and its finished when they marry. Jts their dowry of sorts. If no women are in the family/can sew then theres usually elders who are more than happy bc while dunlendings do not particularly care for fashion statements, the overskirts are an expression of love from the community for the girl/woman.

Every day clothing is still muted in the later years of the 3rd age, and each settlement has their own preferred garment and usually pelt of choice. For example, you'll have a settlement close to the mountains of Dunland where the people prefer bear fur over wolf, while a settlement further towards Rohan/south prefers wolf pelt over bear. It's not entirely dependent on where they live.

Also families that havent moved away for a few generations have developed special embroidery similar to family heraldry, which gets more elaborate with every generation bc they take pride in their heritage and survival despite the numenorean's best efforts to get rid of the dunlendings.

I'll cut myself off here because it's already so long lol.

Idk if the dunlendings are something you're interested in, but imo much of these things (use of natural colours and tyedye to blend into woodland realms, use of ceremonial furs and artful belts and hand-me-down dedicated embroidery) are what have been passed down from the haladin people, and adjusted to the current time/living situation of the dunlendings

[marta-bee]

When I first started thinking about a M*A*S*H/Numenor crossover, I was just thinking it was the closest canon gave us about wars over imperial expansion and competing worldviews and spheres of dominance, which Vietnam and even Korea is so centered on. So if we're going for farce in the shadow of all that, it really wasn't a hard decision.

But look at the canon I'd forgotten about:

The Edain brought with them to Númenor the knowledge of many crafts, and many craftsmen who had learned from the Eldar, besides preserving lore and traditions of their own. But they could bring with them few materials, save for the tools of their crafts; and for long all metals in Númenor were precious metals. They brought with them many treasures of gold and silver, and gems also; but they did not find these things in Númenor. They loved them for their beauty, and it was this love that first aroused in them cupidity, in later days when they fell under the Shadow and became proud and unjust in their dealings with lesser folk of Middle-earth. Of the Elves of Eressëa in the days of their friendship they had at times gifts of gold and silver and jewels; but such things were rare and prized in all the earlier centuries, until the power of the Kings was spread to the coasts of the East. Some metals they found in Númenor; and as their cunning in mining and in smelting and smithying swiftly grew things of iron and copper became common. Among the wrights of the Edain were weaponsmiths, and they had with the teaching of the Noldor acquired great skill in the forging of swords, of axe-blades, and of spearheads and knives. Swords the Guild of Weapon-smiths still made, for the preservation of the craft, though most of their labour was spent on the fashioning of tools for the uses of peace. The King and most of the great chieftains possessed swords as heirlooms of their fathers; and at times they would still give a sword as a gift to their heirs. A new sword was made for the King's Heir to be given to him on the day on which this title was conferred. But no man wore a sword in Númenor, and for long years few indeed were the weapons of warlike intent that were made in the land. Axes and spears and bows they had, and shooting with bows on foot and on horseback was a chief sport and pastime of the Númenóreans. In later days, in the wars upon Middle-earth, it was the bows of the Númenóreans that were most greatly feared. "The Men of the Sea," it was said, "send before them a great cloud, as a rain turned to serpents, or a black hail tipped with steel;" and in those days the great cohorts of the King's Archers used bows made of hollow steel, with black-feathered arrows a full ell long from point to notch. But for long the crews of the great Númenórean ships came unarmed among the men of Middle-earth; and though they had axes and bows aboard for the felling of tmber and the hunting for food upon wild shores owned by no man, they did not bear these when they sought out the men of the lands. It was indeed their grievance, when the Shadow crept along the coasts and men whom they had befriended became afraid or hostile, that iron was used against them by those to whom they had revealed it.

Learning weapon-making as an art from the Noldor (and we see how well that worked for them in the longrun?)-- check. Swords as ceremonial objects but not put to any use in Numenor, versus how they were such objects of terror in Middle-earth? The Edain native to Middle-earth complaining (not unjustly!) that they showed the Numenoreans how to find all that steel in the first place? The fact that weapon-craft was such an artform among the Numenoreans, that they were so known for it, what that tells us about their character and reputation?

..... That's damned sexy, that is.

[warfantasy]

Numenorean Defensive Works

Numenorean architecture was massive. Tolkien states that in the fashion of Egyptians, Numenoreans built very large things. This is shown almost immediately upon the Fellowship arriving to old borders of Gondor: Argonath, two massive statues of kings on Anduin, and the Helm’s Gate – a massive fortress said to have been built with hands of the giants. Argonath was built by Minalcar in the 13th…

[squirrelwrangler]

The Falmari woman sits in Lord Círdan’s secretary’s office -the one for visitors and show, not the real working chamber piled with books and scrolls and calcified bread rolls that Seregeithon knows is where the majority of written tasks occurs, a den into which he will not dare venture again. Somewhere in-between these meetings Helcerían acquired a new piece of clothing to add to her ensemble- one of the Númenorean female vests, a sleeveless jacket that covers her midriff finally, if nothing else. Helcerían lacks the endowments of a mortal woman to fill out the loose shirt that would pair with the vest, if she wore one, but her skimpy silk jacket covers almost all the remaining skin. Still, Seregeithon calculates angles- if she were but to raise her arms then-

The secretary coughs. Helcerían shifts uncomfortably in her chair. Seregeithon would have warned her that the carpenter purposefully made the legs uneven. He knew better and chose to lean against the wall.

Stationary, he can finally get a detailed look at the large silver brooch that gathers her skirt up and to the side. What he first thought was just a simple penannular brooch and large pin is a stylized horned whale. The long pin is the size- and sharpness, Seregeithon suspects- of a good dagger. A smaller whale brooch decorates the gray ribbon at her neck. 

[lesbiansforboromir]

poster analysis (unhinged)

I’m splitting these images up into vague catagories based on my ASSUMPTIONS of races and origins SO!

The Numenorean section. Lets go through them from the top left to bottom right; - This guy’s Ar-Pharazon. I hate it, because he looks fucking great, the green of his sleeve with the fish scales marked in gold and the islamic style gauntlets and the golden sun motif... literally impeccable fashion and it’s just so delightful to see so much colour everywhere it’s assuaged a lot of my fears but golden armour with golden sun has to be Ar-Pharazon :( - Now this fellow, I am actually still very curious about, the printed fabric is what made me put him into the numenorean camp. Also the red fabric in the left looks to me like it comes from the next costume along, but other than also just loving this look, especially the orange silk sleeves, I couldn’t place this fellow. Suggestions of him being Elros have been going around but I’m assuming all these are main characters and I’m still utterly confused about why a show about the OTHER rings of power has a main plotline in Numenor to begin with but whatever. - I’m going to guess this lady is the Isildur’s sister we’ve been hearing about. The embossed book with the waves has potent ‘chronicler of the disaster’ vibes, perhaps with an emphasis for some visions of the future? Even this single colour simple dress is more exciting a costume design to me than anything I expected, the deep red/orange is very lovely, the rope very cool and the black pearls on the sleeves slap. - Next line and this is Miriel, which makes me now pretty certain Maxine Cunliffe is going to play Miriel. The fish scale mail is beautiful and the way she’s cupping one of the white flowers of Nimloth ;;;n;;; very prominent sense of her trying to preserve numenor etc etc. Very sad. Very cool. - So here this I am assuming is Elendil. A little confused about why he’s holding the rod of the king, (rod of the king also fucking slaps, wings marking kingship etc) but being associated with the kingship whilst also obviously being dressed quite plainly says Elendil to me. - And I’m pretty sure this last fellow is Isildur. Others have suggested Cirdan which is still possible but a young fellow with similar motifs as the other numenoreans and hefting rope in preparation... for... sailing? Seems like Isildur to me. I... guess they did have to make him younger than he is supposed to be, but then again the timeline with this show is absolutely bananas to me, I’m now so sure they must be hopping about.

DWARVES! We’re supposed to be getting Durin in this show and if that’s the case then this first red haired fellow is a little disappointing. BUT the red painted scalemail still looks gorgeous. Worryingly, a translation of the runes on his hammer (into english not khuzdul strangely) sEEMS to say ‘awaken sleeping demon’ which is... so exhausting AND INSANE! When the balrog only awakened like 500 years ish before the end of the THIRD AGE. So either their timeline editting is going to make me tear my hair out or we’re dancing around timelines.  THIS LADY THO... absolutely obsessed, I’m really hoping the gold dust on the fingers of them both is more a fashion statement than some antisemetic greed for gold moral hint but the triangle jewelry, the flowing silk looking dress, the jewel studded bracelets, I’m in love. AND this has to mean we really are gonna see Khazad Dum at it’s height and I really wont survive that. God.

Elfses.  - So this first fellow... now... I have been creeking back and forth on him, Celebrimbor or Gil Galad? Now, the two possibly three stars pinned to the fabric really FEEL like silmarils right? And the rings all have a kind of uniqueness to them, not precisely all of a common theme, one of them feels dwarven, all of which points to Celebrimbor. HOWEVER. Celebrimbor, as the name suggests, was fond of silver not gold, which would make this immensely gaudy fashion odd. Can’t really trust the show runners to go into that detail, but also! The star pins could just be stars! Especially because it looks like there are pearl sewn cirith runes on his sleeve that MIGHT spell out Elb, ie Elbereth. And I would call Gil Galad the more star aligned religious one. Still, whatever, I love this, the noldoring gold aesthetic I’ve been missing.  - This is Galadriel, I have no proof it is about the vibes. The armour is boring but the Telperion and Laurelin merged dagger is quite cool.  - Elrond possibly? I have put him here because Elrond apparently loves crushed velvet and such but I’m still not sure about this one. It honestly could also be Ar-Pharazon or another Numenorean. The lettering on the scroll apparently mentions something about ‘looking from the south’ and ‘king’s sky’, I think there’s a quenyan month of the year named king’s something? But I wasn’t sure about that and I am doing none-research for this. 

HOBBITS!! I do like the concept of making small things large to make their hands look small, a neat trick. Admittedly I don’t have much to say about these, the costumes look good for nomadic harfoots and stoors and I’m very into this plaited horse hair (?) rope for a burlap sack. This staff contraption has what looks to me like a wolf claw but big (again to make Lenny Henry’s hands look small) but in general! Cool intriguing. 

??? Evil?? So we have who I assume is our season one villain on the right, our ‘Adar’ who’s leading a gang of orcs and is also somehow one of Galadriel’s brothers which is a concept I find insane but only in a funny way because I dont care about elves. If they make Aegnor or Orodreth evil I would just laugh.  On the left tho?? He’s really only here because the swords look so similar. I mean do we have Turin’s evil talking sword? This broken one looks like it’s made out of obsidian more than metal. But the baskets are similar and such so.

Miscellaneous! Just a group of whatever the fucks.  Admittedly though, starting from the top left again, I am going out on a limb and saying these first two are connected. This is purely because the segmented belts are the same, but essentially I think these are Balchoth/Wainriders/people from the Sea of Rhun. The horse is worrying, (after shadow of wardor’s timeline nonsense with the rohirrim I’m suspicious) but on the sword the horse motif has a sea serpent’s tail which feels more Sea of Rhun to me and Wains are driven by horses SO! Ugh I love this blue and gold fellow though, the circles and the colours and the patterns! Impeccable taste. Little worried he’ll eventually become the witch king. We’ll see.  - Next fellow with the map! Looks very cool and the map itself has pictographic writing I dont recognise. Or I assume it’s a map! It has that vibe but perhaps not. The fellow has a style that I am tentatively calling part of PERHAPS a section of characters who are indigenous to middle earth, perhaps ancient dunlendings or mountain men from gondor etc.  - Next one with the apple is gandalf, regrettably, but at this point pretty sure if rumours are true we’re going to see gandalf arriving in a meteor. Hilarious also. - Not THIS... this fellow I’m intrigued by. He also worries me, but I am intrigued. This bark based armour with a kind of green man motif is beautiful. Big theorising here, but if we’re seeing numenorean deforestation, then it would make sense for us to see people allying with the Ents in defending the forest. That would be... SO MISERABLE to see and nigh on impossible to do sensitively since canonically... the numenoreans fully do win but! hhh We will see. - And finally! I have no idea who this woman is but I love her. The mixed fabrics are so interesting, I have no idea where she would be placed, perhaps alongside the indigenous people but I’m excited all the same. Initilly I thought she was a hobbit but they’ve done nothing to make her seem smaller and also her clothes are more complex than those other images.

[galadhremmin]

Any Numenorean fashion HCS? Court or countryside or colonies, no matter :^)

oh there are so many possibilities with Numenor. I adore Tolkien's Numenorean helmet, you know that very colorful thing that looks a bit like a chameleon or trireme (or both). I'm always tempted by ancient Aegean or otherwise late Byzantine Numenor clothing ideas. I feel like they would utilise a lot of sea-material-- while byssus is a bit too hard and costly to harvest for everyone, I can easily imagine the King and Queen wearing byssus! And lots of purple, of course. They probably had a lot of tyrian purple at court. They also receive visitors from Valinor, so perhaps a few glowing, delicate works from Telerin and Noldorin smiths, a fashion for those moving tapestries the Eldar are capable of making... and they themselves would probably innovate with fibers made from various sea plants and creatures. A lot of innovative quick drying fabrics in which you could easily go for an impromptu swim! I think you might see a lot of bird-like shapes in the silhouettes-- feathery sleeves, trailing tail-like trains... oh! a fashion, for a time, for braiding one's hair in the shape of a ship!

But we're talking centuries of fashion here. I feel like, given the way they emphasise descent from Beren and Luthien or Earendil in NoME-- there would be trends based on Iathren, Beorian and Gondolin fashion just... sort of coming and going-- maybe even something based very specifically on Sirion, but fancy. Which is to say, reeds! Because of course Sirion was surrounded by reeds. I'm thinking fancy reed capes on days dedicated to the events in Sirion, maybe (I'm sure they had those). Willow patterns too, for Sirion.

Nan tathren is supposed to be the place where butterflies came from, so I expect a lot of butterfly motifs. Also because, of course, Luthien-- and Finrod comparing mortals to moths, and the butterfly's seeming rebirth...

[vardasvapors]

Do you think the peredhil could have beards?

As I’ve once mentioned, they can only grow ANIME SIDEBURNS, obviously!!!

[morgulscribe]

Ancient Numenorean Costume

I just watched this video on YouTube about ancient Minoan clothing, and it made me remember discussions Angmar and I had in the early days of The Circles. He had a great love for ancient history, and the stories of Numenor reminded him of Atlantis. The Minoan culture from the island of Crete is often associated with the Atlantis legends, as the civilization was all but destroyed by tidal waves caused by a volcanic eruption. Angmar thought it might be interesting to imagine the Numenoreans as wearing Minoan inspired costumes. However, he didn’t think that the Professor would approve of the topless styles worn by women.

Art by Giovanni Caselli

Sundeep Saini - Minoan Men

A tidal wave sweeps through a Minoan city. From “Is Crete or Sanortini the Lost Atlantis?” Read the article to learn some interesting historical facts and theories.

Angmar was very impressed by “The Haven of Morionde” by Roger Garland, which depicts Sauron’s arrival in Numenor. He felt that the painting had some ancient Minoan and/or Greek influences, which was one of the reasons why he liked it so.

In 2004, “The Haven of Morionde” was one of the few artistic depictions of Sauron that showed his fair form (at least in the English-speaking Tolkien fandom). The majority of fans that Angmar encountered in his internet travels were movie fans who believed Sauron was a giant eyeball atop a tower. Whenever Angmar showed them this painting, their minds were blown and they had difficulty accepting that Sauron ever had a fair form.

While Angmar did like the idea of a Minoan inspired Numenor, he let the concept slide for the most part. Although Numenor bears some similarities to the Roman Empire, he did not imagine the Numenoreans as wearing togas. (He did play around with the idea of the Numenoreans and Gondorians depicting the Valar as wearing Greek and Roman style costumes, however.) 

So, going a bit forward in time from the height of the Roman Empire, I thought perhaps it might be interesting to depict Numenoran costume as having some Byzantine influences. The problem with Byzantine fashion, however, is that a lot of the artistic depictions I’ve been able to find are religious iconography and images of royalty. So I’m not sure how commoners, artisans, and merchants would have dressed.

Art by Tom Tierney

I believe that we ultimately settled on early medieval styles for Numenorian costume, or just avoided describing clothes altogether... (The Second Age section was told as a first person narrative, so lengthy descriptions of clothing would have been out of place.)

Here are some Anglo-saxons to show the early medieval inspired costumes worn by characters dwelling in Third Age Eriador and Rhovanion. It is a lot easier to find information on this style of dress, plus it pays homage to Tolkien’s love of the Anglo-saxon and Viking time periods.

Whenever I get to the Second Age storyline for The Circles, I might have to create a unique costume for the Numenoreans, maybe something which combines Minoan, Byzantine, and early medieval styles.

[happymetalgirl]

October 2020

Six Feet Under - Nightmares of the Decomposed

I wrote a full-length review of this disaster of an album earlier in the month, and yeah, wow. Between the phoned-in performances from the instrumentalists who have proven themselves far above this joke of a band and the half-assed production this would have been a pretty crappy album even without Chris Barnes’ milk-aged vocals. But he’s here, and he’s managed to actually get worse too, gasping his way through the whole album and littering it with these ludicrous “high” squeals that would make Smeagol sound like a more competent death metal vocalist. It’s the worst thing I’ve heard all year, and what’s worse, I don’t think Six Feet Under is stopping.

1/10

With that out of the way, let’s cleanse the pallet right away with some really good shit.

Greg Puciato - Child Soldier: Creator of God

Ever reliable in his artistically integrity, explosive former Dillinger Escape Plan frontman, Greg Puciato, has been pretty sonically and artistically adventurous since the honorable dissolution of the iconic mathcore outfit, his most notable music project being the ethereal, synth-heavy The Black Queen. This year, however, Puciato has gone fully solo for a full-length project, and something told me to get ready for a wild ride, and boy was I right on that hunch. Borne out of an exponentiated process of songwriting that produced songs Puciato deemed unfitting for any of his current projects, what was planned as a small release to ship these songs out of the writing room eventually spiraled into a full-blown debut solo album clocking in at over an hour. A lot of solo projects play like clearly indulgent amateur hour sessions from an artist whose ego has been boosted pretty well from significant success from their main project, leading them to overconfidently try their hand at music they have no business trying it at. And it’s often approached under the understanding that it is a victory lap, more or less, and a satisfaction of creative impulses for the sake of it. Sometimes the resultant material is clearly inspired and showcases a side of an artist that certainly deserves some spotlight. Other times it feels like being trapped in an awkward situation with an acquaintance where they just show you all their newest pedals and production software and you’re just stuck there watching them fiddle around while you nod along and offer the occasional “wow, that’s pretty crazy” every now and then while they don’t pick up on the obvious cues that you are just waiting for them to finish playing with their toys. While Puciato was open about this album being borne from the very creatively borderless mindset that so often damns solo projects, Child Soldier: Creator of God is an actual realization of the type of grand, genre-spanning album that so many solo artists envision themselves making and set out to create, and it’s hardly a whimsical, amateurish crack at the styles within either. Puciato’s foray into sludge metal, industrial rock, harsh noise, darkwave, synthwave, and shoegaze, (1) makes for a hell of a dynamic and exciting track list, and (2) shows a much deeper than average respect for and relationship with the styles being played here. This isn’t some frontman thinking his charisma can carry him through a whole rap solo album; this is a well-rounded artist (also a hell of a frontman, no denying that) giving the most comprehensive look yet into his creative mind. The album leaps around in patches of different styles, strung together mostly by ambient connective tissue of various types, all with a great attention to detail paid to both texture and progression. We get early patches of smooth ambiance, but also aggressive industrial and sludge metal, eventually moving to more soothing and meditative synthy stuff around the middle, finishing with some serene, Have a Nice Life-esque shoegaze. But really there’s no way to sum up this album stylistically without breaking down every single song on here, and that would just ruin the fun and the experience. You really just have to experience it for yourself.

9/10

DevilDriver - Dealing with Demons I

Embarking on a conceptual double-album, Dez Fafara and DevilDriver’s first installment in the pair is a scoop of the, indeed, slightly above average, but unfortunately still plain and predictable modern groove metal they always offer up. I’ll give the band credit for keeping the pace up and clearly putting substantial energy into the performances on this album, while also trying to squeeze in a few shake-ups to their sound, like the clear Gojira-inspired riffage on the opening track. The album loses steam, unfortunately, as its punches lose their impact as it goes on.

6/10

Anaal Nathrakh - Endarkenment

While certainly cultivating a unique sound, Anaal Nathrakh’s unholy fusion of nasty modern blackened grindcore with sweeter metalcore and melodic death metal elements has its mixed results. And while that might at first sound like a relatively critical assessment of the Brits’ eleventh album, I’d say that there is actually a lot to enjoy and take in for at least the interesting mix of styles, most of which are hits rather than misses as well.

7/10

Enslaved - Utgard

Having been a fan of a good amount of their recent output, especially 2015’s In Times, I came out of Utgard moderately disappointed with how infrequently Enslaved galvanized their potent brand of Viking folky, progressive black metal effectively; the few moments the band do channel their strengths cohesively and purposefully left me wanting more rather than savoring those moments.

6/10

In Cauda Venenum - G.O.H.E.

It’s hard to, and indeed seems kind of in just to, sum up a heaping prog metal serving like G.O.H.E., comprised of two 22-minute halves, in a capsule review, but that is kind of the format my current busy circumstances have forced me into. French outfit In Cauda Venenum made a self-titled debut in similar two-long-track fashion back in 2015, and the band’s gothic and somewhat theatrical brand of atmospheric post-black-metal is continued on their sophomore effort here, drawing the obvious comparisons to Opeth and Katatonia, as well as Der Weg Einer Freiheit, Numenorean, and Sólstafir, and apart from the more frequent sample usage and extra drawn-out songs, there really isn’t that much to differentiate In Cauda Venenum stylistically. The band’s second album, unfortunately, resembles so many others in the field with big aspirations and the same inadequate means of getting there.

5/10

Apparition - Granular Transformation

A much more bite-sized early two-track offering, Apparition’s debut EP offers a more promising glimpse into a heady, atmospheric, yet still visceral manipulation of modern death metal that I would be curious to hear in a more long-form format. In a genre as extreme as death metal in recent years has been, finding artists effective at working with negative space can be difficult, but the two songs on Granular Transformation showcase a formidable dexterity from Apparition that I think can take them places.

6/10

Molasses - Through the Hollow

While indeed marred by some rough performances on songs with sometimes more desert to cross than water to make it there, there’s an undeniable occult hypnotism about the Dio-era-esque doom metal hollow that Molasses ritualize their way through.

7/10

Death Angel - Under Pressure

While certainly an odd choice on the surface, Death Angel’s acoustic EP and cover of the famous Queen song actually comes out pretty alright. The acoustic version of Act III’s “A Room with a View” comes off with the energy of something like Rush whenever they went acoustic, and the original acoustic cut, “Faded Remains” isn’t too bad either. The acoustic format did not, however, mask the drabness of “Revelation Song” from last year’s overall disappointment, Humanicide.

6/10

Necrophobic - Dawn of the Damned

The Swedes’ melodic brand of blackened death metal is nothing if not thorough on the quintet’s ninth full-length, Dawn of the Damned, covering all the ground that their fans expect their style to cover and doing so with more compositional and performative stamina than their average contemporary. While the band’s broader compositional approach is akin to the beating of a dead horse, I can’t deny it produces some tasty motifs in the process.

7/10

Bloodbather - Silence

After coming onto the blossoming metallic hardcore scene in 2018 with a standard, but potent enough 14-minute EP, Pressure, Bloodbather are back with another 14 minutes of similar, yet less promising material, doing little to set themselves apart from or on the same level of the likes of Jesus Piece, Vein, Knocked Loose, or Harm’s Way.

5/10

Infera Bruo - Rites of the Nameless

The Bostonians’ fourth full-length is, at the very least, a rather well-executed forty minutes of modern black metal a la Craft or Watain, but beneath the seams the band’s progressive tendencies twist what would otherwise be a fresh, but standard, slab of black metal into a more head-turning offering of the usual shrieks and blast beats.

7/10

Touché Amoré - Lament

While somewhat shaky in their compositional exploration in their fifth LP, the firmness of their emotive post-hardcore foundation allows for Touché Amoré to build upwards relatively steadily without losing that raw vulnerability that has made them so captivating to begin with.

7/10

Gargoyl - Gargoyl

This is the self-titled debut from Bostonian four-piece Gargoyl; a novel blend of dirty nineties grunge and gothic prog metal, Gargoyl come through with one of the more impressive genre fusions of the year, meeting the lofty sufficiency for dexterity with excessive vocal harmonies in a manner so uncanny that would make habe to Layne Stayley proud. While there is the expected room for improvement on the compositional end that many debut projects come with, Gargoyl have laid the groundwork for themselves fantastically and started off on a good foot.

7/10

Crippled Black Phoenix - Ellengæst

Through creative gothic flair and full-bodied guest vocal contributions that bolster the somber atmosphere beyond the typical post-metal album, the UK band’s most recent offering of “endtime ballads”, despite its few low points that undo its otherwise immersive atmosphere, serves as one of the more engaging releases under the broader post-metal umbrella of the past year.

7/10

Wayfarer - A Romance with Violence

The Denver-based quartet follow up 2018’s strong emotive case for the potential for evoking cathartic power of the atmospheric black metal which has so saturated the American scene to the point of numbness, their Americana-tinged third LP, World’s Blood, unfortunately, with a fourth LP whose compositional homogeneity and mere few intermittent bursts of enthralling atmospheric instrumentation more represent, rather than advocate the merit of, the saturation of the American atmospheric black metal scene.

6/10

Armored Saint - Punching the Sky

Though I think the structural homogeneity and John Bush’s similarly limited vocal delivery holds it back, with crunchy bangers like “Do Wrong to None” and “My Jurisdiction” alongside more tempered tracks the clearly grunge-influenced “Lone Wolf”, Bush and company provide a relatively stylistically diverse traditional heavy metal album for an age that could use more contemporary representation of classic styles (beyond the entire stoner metal genre LARPing as Black Sabbath too).

7/10

Spirit Adrift - Enlightened in Eternity

But it's not just the old guard representing their era of classic heavy metal robustly; a year and a half after their energetically melodic third album, Divided by Darkness, which took a triumphant melodic approach to classic heavy metal and doom metal similar to that of Khemmis on their excellent third album, Spirit Adrift ease up a bit on the hyper-soulful approach to guitar melody that had led me (and others I'm sure) to draw the comparison to Khemmis, and instead dive deeper into the headspace of the genre's earliest progenitors to achieve that unabashedly glorious rallying cry that is evoked by the very front cover of Enlightened in Eternity. While I am personally pretty partial to the very vulnerable and heartfelt melodic approach that characterized Divided by Darkness, the effectiveness with which Spirit Adrift are able to wield the sometimes Maiden-esque, sometimes Testament-esque sounds of the 80’s on this album is undeniably impressive.

8/10

Fever 333 - Wrong Generation

Providing the correction to this generation’s answer to Rage Against the Machine (after Prophets of Rage’s insufficient attempted revival) Fever 333 follow up last year’s debut of heavy, fired-up and modern take on rapcore with another 14 minutes of righteous anti-racist hardcore anger that’s attuned to the issues to a level that I wish more artists would at least express in their art. While the EP is 18 minutes long, the last two songs, “The Last Time” and “Supremacy”, don’t match the sonic energy of the first six tracks. The somber piano-led snippet-length ballad, “The Last Time”, should have been the conclusion of the album, but the closing track, “Supremacy”, while as conscious as the tracks before it, is basically a late-stage formulaic Linkin Park track that flatters neither of the two bands. Despite botching the landing though, Wrong Generation is a ripping batch of songs that well represent the current unrest and provide a positive hypothetical idea of what it might be like if Rage Against the Machine were in their prime and active today.

7/10

Mörk Gryning - Hinsides Vrede

The Swedes return from their 15-year disillusioned absence from the studio with a concise and clearly renewed enthusiasm for the energetic black metal that they put forth on Hinsides Vrede. Dynamically bolstered by folk-metal compositional tendencies and more than a dash of that famed Gothenburg melodicism (I know they’re from Stockholm and in fact their melodic approach often does heaven to that of their close neighbors from Uppsala, Watain), Mörk Gryning’s seamless return to music finds them jumping into the modern black metal scene’s advanced compositional rubric with relative ease.

7/10

Zeal & Ardor - Wake of a Nation

Having covered their output since their debut and being a big fan of Manuel Gagneux’ project, it pains me to say, especially given the noble pretext and occasional momentary flashes of sobering messaging, that this six-song mini release really doesn’t capture the unique sonic pallet that has made Zeal & Ardor such an interesting act to listen to for the past few years in the most flattering light. The title track is possibly the least of the offenders here, but all the songs here function by taking a little snippet of sound that samples Zeal & Ardor’s broader stylistic range, and drawing it out across these short, but all too minimally composed tracks in such a way that they lose their momentum very quickly. Like I said, I wholeheartedly appreciate, sympathize with, and support what Manuel Gagneux is doing to lend his band’s platform to the addressing of the dire issue of today’s racism through musical means with this project, and when its social motivation is at the forefront, it’s at its most potent, but musically, unfortunately, it’s just desperately underwritten in a way that doesn’t fairly represent how accomplished Zeal & Ardor really are with their sound.

5/10

Sevendust - Blood & Stone

The flashes of crushing grooves reminiscent of their earlier work on Blood & Stone that highlight how well Sevendust can harness nu/alternative metal to execute pummeling attacks with the right crunchy guitar tone, unfortunately, don’t come frequently enough on their twelfth LP to mirage the exhaustion that has come of the band’s writing process after such frequent, unrelenting output and the all too apparent desperate need for a recalibrating, refreshing break, which they certainly deserve for their tenacity.

5/10

Undeath - Lesions of a Different Kind

In one of those cases where the ridiculously gratuitous album cover actually represents the album’s sound quite well, Rochester, New York five-piece, Undeath mince neither words nor sounds on their debut LP in their 100% upfront, no-nonsense, and wonderfully nasty delivery of death metal. Eschewing even the slightest sense of snobbery or pretense for aimless ambition, the band simply compile the genre’s tried and true elements of bellowing growls, filthy riffs, mean-ass down-tuned chugging, and blood-pumping double-bass with blast beats into an addictive slab of raw, uncured death metal that serves as a testament to the merit of not overthinking shit.

8/10

Griffon - Ὸ Θεός Ὸ Βασιλεύς

On their sophomore LP, Parisian quintet Griffon channel the world innovative ethos that has become rather prominent in their scene into a somewhat short, but definitely sweet offering of modestly ambitious black metal that captures much more effectively than most albums of similar style and lesser imagination, the divine grandeur that the genre so often tries and fails to embody.

8/10

Bring Me the Horizon - Post-Human: Survival Horror

After taking the hard left into current pop music trends very transparently on their controversial, which was at least partially intentional on their part, and ultimately really patchy, but not wholly awful, 2019 album, amo, Oli Sykes and co. walk it back substantially for this smaller release here, back to That's the Spirit, even Sempiternal, a prospect that might get a lot of the band's more long-time, metalcore-centric fans excited, but I would suggest those fans temper their expectations of Post-Human: Survival Horror. The band reunite with the anthemic metalcore/deathcore that put them on the map for a good chunk of this album, and the intro track, "Dear Diary,", might even give some false hope of the prodigal sons returning home. But songs like the cookie-cutter single, "Teardrops", provide strong evidence that, while the band have re-embraced their old aesthetic, they have not kicked the pop vocal or compositional habits. And the project really does run out of energy in its final third because of this compositional homogeneity. I do want to highlight the song, "Kingslayer", which features a very in-form Babymetal (I loved their album last year), because their fun, not-so-serious approach to the crossing of J-pop and metal music in their feature on this track among the other songs around it provides a contrast to the more formulaic, disinterested radio pop swagger that Bring Me the Horizon have been trying to jam into their sound that could perhaps inform Bring Me the Horizon's artistic approach to integrating pop music if they really are so hellbent on doing so. Ultimately though, as much as they want to move into newer territory, this trajectory-revising release shows just how much more solid Bring Me the Horizon are in their metalcore territory than they were on amo. It had its predictable hiccups, but this thing wasn't too bad.

7/10

Pallbearer - Forgotten Days

With the slow, sludgy, down-tuned riffing of the menacing opening title track and the similar chug of “Vengeance & Ruination” being the sole exceptions, the remainder of Pallbearer’s fouth full-length largely sees them operating in the same niche they have in their three previous albums. And while this could invoke accusations of playing it safe, the brimming heartfelt sorrow and resistance to succumbing to despair across Forgotten Days is enough to wave that away, as Pallbearer showcase just how emotive doom metal can be.

8/10

Bleeding Out - Lifelong Death Fantasy

The very new act and fresh Profound Lore signing, Bleeding Out, certainly display more dynamic capability than your average local grindcore scene’s biggest names here on their 18-minute debut for the label, but as of now it is still just a glimpse of potential for more effective future implementation. It’s a good start, though, and I’ll be looking forward to a more long-form project from these guys.

6/10

Evildead - United States of Anarchy

Every year we get the resurrection of some long-inactive old-school band who seem to have found that missing spark at last; we’ve seen the return of smaller bands to the studio like Angel Witch or Sorcerer and long-awaited revivals of iconic acts like Possessed. This year, Los Angeles’ Evildead has seen fit to make their commentary on the massive ongoing sociopolitical upheaval. Despite my love for the 80’s thrash scene they were born out of, the combination of the utterly lame band name, logo, and covers for either their ‘89 or ‘91 albums never really made me want to check them out, but seeing the horridly cheesy and incoherent cover of United States of Anarchy (I mean how much more on-the-nose can you get), my morbid curiosity got the best of me. Maybe I’d be wrong to have judged them by their cover, plenty of my favorite 80’s albums have particularly goofy cover art. So what do we get from Evildead in 2020 with this fucking album? Well, it’s not as poorly performed as the past few Anvil albums I’ve had to review have been, but Jesus the lyricism is similarly cheesy 5th-grade-level stuff and smacks of silly political incoherence that essentially boils down to “enlightened centrism” with mix of that good ol’ Illuminati-conspiracy-theory belief that no political thrash album is apparently complete without. I mean there’s just basic acknowledgment of the prominent problems of the day and the fact that both major political parties are bad and that corruption is rampant all throughout DC, but Evildead not only barely scratch the surface, they apply the same level cynicism to the “both sides” they criticize with no substantiation to their criticism despite that mindset being a big reason for our being where we are right now, mixed in with the occasional conspiracy-paranoia about the shadowy underworld running everything, so no real solutions or even proper addressing of these problems. Like, the same level of criticism is levied at right-wingers and communists, like communists are at all why this country has gone to shit. And the generic Anthrax/Megadeth type of thrash instrumentation, while rumbly and mixed well to highlight its bass heaviness, doesn’t exactly make it easy to get past the commentary deficiencies on here.

4/10

Emma Ruth Rundle & Thou - May Our Chambers Be Full

Rounding off their year (at least I think), with a long-teased collaboration with Emma Ruth Rundle, Thou finally present their massive sludge-doom sound in a much more flattering light than the previous cover albums this year did. Thou's original material continues to highlight just why their relatively stiff sound is much more cut out for that, original material, than for trying to bend beyond its flexibility to tribute grunge songs. And while Thou being back in their more effective department, Emma Ruth Rundle's contributions, beyond just her gorgeous and ethereally haunting vocals, to the album's atmosphere, dynamic, and structuring really take the collaboration to the next level. Not to say that Thou are completely overshadowed and relegated to the background on this record or that they don't contribute to a fair share of the legwork here; the workload is shared pretty equally, and both collaborators have their moments of prominence, but Emma Ruth Rundle's ever-present gothic/folky influence really directs the music in a way that plays to Thou's strengths in a way I'm not sure they would have been able to on their own. It's great work from both of them, and I'd be eager to hear Thou find more collaborations like this in the future that push them into doing more interesting things with their crushing doom sound, as opposed to the rather tepid collaborations with The Body.

8/10

Auðn - Vökudraumsins Fangi

Sadly, three albums in, Auðn have only barely exceeded the bare minimum for naturalistic atmospheric black metal, with no signs of significant improvement to be found. The Icelandic band earn points for their earnest delivery, but they never seem to fully make it out of the rut that the genre’s many contemporary acts have dug.

5/10

Botanist - Photosynthesis

The black metal traditionalists might have had to accept that the floodgates to bright ambience and serene shoegaze in the genre have been opened and that there's no going back now, but even as an avid Deafheaven fan, I'm sometimes momentarily surprised at just how heavenly some black metal has gotten lately, and this new album from Botanist is one of those albums. And while it sometimes slips into some of the current wave's typical ruts, the sheer blindingly illuminating aura of this album when it reaches those high points (and it does so frequently) is enough to pull it out from those gutters and high into the cosmos. Yeah, another splendid offering of nature worship from Botanist.

8/10

Mr. Bungle - The Raging Wrath of the Easter Bunny Demo

Making their return after over a decade, Mike Patton recruits both Dave Lombardo and Scott Ian for the long-awaited fourth Mr. Bungle album, which is titled in homage to the first Mr. Bungle demo which it is comprised largely of much clearer re-recordings of. Ever impressive, Mike Patton balances aggression and eccentricity like a tightrope walker on this project too, while his bandmates do the same with thrash metal’s natural adrenaline rush while pushing the genre into new compositional and stylistic territory without sacrificing that crucial whiplash. It’s a great time, and definitely one of the year’s best thrash albums.

8/10

Carcass - Despicable

While they've been much less prolific since their reboot than they were prior, Liverpool's melodic death metal pioneers simply continue to demonstrate their excellence in this seemingly effortless four-track appetizer to next year's Torn Arteries. Anyone familiar with the band's brutal form of melodic death metal will certainly be pleased with the four quite sufficiently pulverizing cuts here; those who may only be familiar with some of the band's many less muscular imitators might be surprised, and pleasantly so, with the Englanders' ability to lay on the infectious guitar melody without sacrificing an ounce of force.

8/10

[paradoxcase]

Gandalf says something interesting when he meets up with Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli in Fangorn: he’s just gotten done telling them that Merry and Pippin were found by Treebeard and they’re fine, and about how he actually just saw Treebeard the other day, and then:

‘Perhaps he also thought that you were Saruman,’ said Gimli.  ‘But you speak of him as if he was a friend.  I thought Fangorn was dangerous [which is something Celeborn said to them when they were in Lothlorien].’

‘Dangerous!’ cried Gandalf.  ‘And so am I, very dangerous: more dangerous than anything you will ever meet, unless you are brought alive before the seat of the Dark Lord.  And Aragorn is dangerous, and Legolas is dangerous.  You are beset with dangers, Gimli son of Glóin; for you are dangerous yourself, in your own fashion.  Certainly the forest of Fangorn is perilous -- not least to those that are too ready with their axes; and Fangorn himself [i.e. Treebeard], he is perilous too; yet he is wise and kindly nonetheless.  But now his long slow wrath is brimming over, and all the forest is filled with it.  The coming of the hobbits and the tidings that they brought have spilled it: it will soon be running like a flood; but its tide is turned against Saruman and the axes of Isengard.  A thing is about to happen which has not happened since the Elder Days: the Ents are going to wake up and find that they are strong.’

This is a mistake that Frodo makes, too, when he offers to ring to Gandalf and Galadriel, assuming that the people who are helping him are safe and not dangerous.  I like that Tolkien makes this distinction, that dangerous doesn’t necessarily mean bad, and good doesn’t necessarily mean safe.  Actually, when Merry and Pippin are talking with Treebeard, Treebeard tells them that there are some bad trees that have bad hearts because they were corrupted by Morgoth when that shit was going down, and the hobbits are like, oh, you mean like the Old Forest in the Shire?  And Treebeard does in fact know about the Old Forest, because Treebeard is like the oldest thing in Middle-Earth except for a handful of Elves and Tom Bombadil, but he’s like, nah, they’re not that bad up that way, I’m talking about other places.  And you have to realize, really, that the Bucklanders have roughly the same relationship with the Old Forest as the orcs have with Fangorn, they go there and cut down trees all the time and when the trees start to get to uppity they go and slaughter a whole bunch and make a big fire to scare them away from the settlements.  Like, the Old Forest, isn’t really evil, the trees have a legit reason to hate the hobbits, and I think Tolkien would take their side of it.  Old Man Willow might be a little evil, but that’s probably the extent of it.

This is all in the context of Celeborn having warned them to stay out of Fangorn because it was dangerous.  What’s interesting is that when the hobbits tell this to Treebeard, Treebeard is like, yeah, I probably would have given you the same advice about Lothlorien if you were headed in that direction, and this brings to mind Boromir and Eomer’s thoughts about Lothlorien and how it is dangerous.  And I mean, it probably is dangerous - if you go there without the blessing Celeborn and Galadriel you’re probably in for a bad time, and Gimli was even told by Haldir that after a certain point they were not allowed to leave before meeting with Celeborn and Galadriel and would be killed if they tried.  Gimli especially got very mad at Eomer for his characterization of Lothlorien, but was he really that wrong?

This little speech also made me realize that Gimli is kind of the spring chicken of this group.  Legolas is maybe not, like, one of the original original Elves, but his father was, so he’s almost certainly been around for a really long time.  Aragorn is in his 80s, which he claims is not exactly young even for Numenoreans, and it’s pretty old as far as most other humans are concerned.  And Gandalf is an immortal Maia, who’s been around since the very beginning.  But Gimli was just the son of one of the dwarves from the Hobbit, and I think was not even born yet at the time the Hobbit took place - he might actually be younger than Frodo, and could possibly be the youngest member of the Fellowship other than Merry and Pippin.  He doesn’t really have great martial renown, either, unlike Aragorn and Legolas.  So he is only dangerous “in [his] own fashion”.

[benjimirthursby]

The Faithwrights of Numenor

A Record of  House Ciryaturs and  the rise of the Faithwrights of Numenor as compiled and illuminated by Handuli of the House of Ciryaturs, S.A. 1812

Loximir Thursby, T.A. 3002

Tinifalas Thursby, F.A. 18

Preface to the Third Revised Edition of the Faithwrights of Numenor.

The Faithwrights of Numenor (FoN) is compiled from the fragments and precious few complete scrolls and tales from the Eldar Days of the First Age and Second Age of this Middle-earth.  My predecessors in their fashion have done yeoman's work building the foundations on which I have continued the efforts.  It has been only with the insights of the Fare Folk, long friends to the Thursby Kinship much has been preserved of our history and for this I mark here our gratitude.  

- Tinifalas Thursby, Minas Tirith, Fourth Age 18.

Preface to the Second Revised Edition of the Faithwrights of Numenor.

Here is set the known words attesting to the history of the Thursby Family in the bygone ages of Middle-earth.  The luminary historian Handuli of the House of Ciryaturs laid down the first collection of stories from which I have added the accumulated knowledge gained since in this edition. Lore Masters of our Age would be aghast at the lack of original sources, however it is widely understood such is due to the oral traditions giving way to properly scribed records. -Loximir Thursby, Third Age, 3002

Preface to the First Edition of the Faithwrights of Numenor.

The House of Ciryaturs set to put to record the tales passed down from its founding fathers.  Owing to the nature of these earliest years, no proper record was kept until the House had come into being for some many years.  Nevertheless it is my hope this scribe's efforts will not be in vain and give knowledge to those yet to come of our earliest struggles and for what we stood for. - Handuli of the House of Ciryaturs.

*******

“Souls weary rise anew from the promise of new life on unknown shores amidst a vast sea.” ~Nathamir of the House of Ciryaturs. 28 S.A.

Wars of The First Age and the Coming to Elenna-nore.

In the years of the First Age people of original Edain blood settled near the shores of the Bay of Balar in the town of Arvernien.  Theirs was a life of peace, attuned to the rhythms of the sea and its life.  Soon these men came into friendship with the Eldar who made hearth and home in the Havens of Sirion. For the greater portion of the Age man and Elf enjoyed fellowship with one another.  

Drawn by the lustrous blue of the sea of Belegaer and learning at the knee of their ageless friends, the men of Arvernien came to achieve skill as shipwrights that rivaled any in Beleriand.  In this age it was not the custom of the race of men to take a sires name, the kindred took to title themselves as being of the House of Ciryaturs, or Ship Masters in the tongue of Quenya.  

The rise of shadows and the convulsions of the land and sea heralded the great War of Wrath in the halls of the House of Creatures.  Patriarch of Falathrim who dwelled in Havens of Sirion, ’Tsubchi, rallied the spirits of the Edain through the tales of their Teleri kin and so marshalled the men to war for the first time under the banner of their chief, Nathamir.

The war concluded the stern Edain returned to their homes overlooking the Bay of Balar. They were quick in action and sacrifice yet reticent to claim glory.  By deed they earned immense yet silently given esteem.  It was only with much urgent counsel that Nathamir heeded the call by Elros, son of Earendil, to take-up the gift of rest the Valar bestowed to the race of Men.  Thus the shipwrights of House Ciryaturs saw the Age end as they crafted many white vessels in their traditional fashion.  In turn these ships carried many of the race of men to their reward far to the west during the coming two score and ten years.

The isle settled and the realm of Numenor declared in 32 S.A., Nathamir settled the kin of his house in the city of Andunie on the shores of the bay taking its name from it.  Ensconced in a great fjord on the north western spur of the isle of Numenor, it afforded a secure, sheltered harbor and was nearest to the forbidden Valinor.  This was much desired as they had fought closely alongside the Elves in the concluding war of the first age and his house was named Elendili, “Elf-Friends” by the First Born.  

These Elendili were predecessors in their devotion to the Valar as the Faithful later in the age.  Those of the kin quickly and long kept ties and trade with the Faire Folk of the Undying Lands and those Edain whom kept their homes on Middle-earth.  Likewise, they became fast friends to the men of Hyarrostar and skilled in the husbandry of trees there which were the root of their earliest and best known trade, the building of fine ships.  In service to their early trade, kin also settled in Romenna in eastern Numenor, who's bay hosted the graving docks for their ships.   

Those of House Ciryaturs were well skilled as mariners, a trait not uncommon naturally as it was said to be imbued in the blood of the men of Numenor.  However it was such that their house became among the earliest and most stout supporters of the Uinendili, the “Guild of Venturers” whose guildhall, often kept aboard a ship, was hosted in their home of Andunie in SA 750.

Shadows rose again and the men of Westernesse rose again to meet them.  Tar-Minastir dispatched a great fleeting to aid Gil-galad in the War of the Elves and Sauron in year 1700 of the S.A.  It’s commander was the Numenorean admiral Ciryatur.    His own mother was from the House of Ciryaturs. Ciryatur crossed the sea of Arda aboard a flagship crafted by the House Ciryaturs and many from it took arms and sailed with the kindred admiral.

They sailed to aid the high Elven king whose Elves had been driven back to the River Lhûn by Sauron.  The high King was near defeat when the great fleet from Númenor arrived and Sauron was repelled with great loss.  The Ciryatur was able to effect landings on inhospitable shores thanks to the ships and skills of the House of Ciryaturs.  In so doing the Admiral was able to effect a secret envelopment of Souron’s forces, appearing in force at his rear as he fled the onslaught at the Lhun. Then fully routed at the Battle of the Gwathló, Sauron escaped and fled to Mordor following utter defeat at Calenardhon.  

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"The doom of men ought to keep us from dwelling too much on the ephemeral and seek the greater truth beyond. Too many fail to seek and only escape the doom." - Ocala of Romenna

Fall of the Kings and the Plight of the Faithful.

After the War of Wraith and the breaking of Beleriand, House Ciryaturs returned to their havens on Numenor and resumed their work. The House Ciryaturs had much involvement with the building of the harbors at Umbar, Pelargir and Belfalas.  Dry goods and stores from Middle-earth became an expanded source of wealth for the house.  Trade and other commerce ensured that news also flowed into the halls of Andunie continuously.

All the while the shadows of the Enemy never fully lifted from Middle-earth and even cast darkness over Numenor.  Edain from far away lands held dominion over isolated lands on Middle-earth and became sundered from men of High Blood.  Thus the Middle-men came to be.  Resentment and presumption drove Kings to assert tyranny over the lands beyond the island, exacerbating the change of esteem the blood of Numenor was held in.  

Among the men of High Blood, across Numenor a rift developed between those who honored the Valar and precips of Eru and those aligned with the Kings.  The Kings grew in resentment of the Eldar and the seeming inquiry of lifespans.  The Kings came to pursue corporeal power and to halt the slow decline in longevity which seemed to beset some blood lines more as the age progressed.

The chiefs of the House came into close council with the Lords of Andunie even as ties to the Kings of Numenor frayed.  Relations with the Elves of Valinor and the havens on Middle-earth  remained warm.  Which only gave root to suspicion of the House among the Kings as they lost faith in the patronage of the Valar.  

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"The Doom of Men meant words of lore faded even with the long lived blood of Numenor.  It was with hope of aiding in the passage of wisdom and awareness of darkness that the Falathrim gave their Elf Friends the most revered relics of their House." - Tinfalas Thursby, The Book of Thursby, Volume One.

"Seminal Icons of the House of Ciryaturs." 

The great Seeing Stones and legendary weapons of the age were coveted for their imbued qualities.  They were the highest examples of their kind and we're never replicated as the skill in craft which produced them diminished.

It would be wrong to describe the seminal Icons of the House Ciryaturs as lesser examples of their craft however.  Rather they were with specific and narrow purposes.  These icons were gifts given by Falathrim, who had divided their dwellings between the havens at Edholland and the Undying lands.  They were to provide warning and guidance.  

The first of these icons was the Dagger of Warding.  This dagger was presented to the chief of the House of Ciryaturs and passed to its successor for ages to come.  It possessed a blade of traditional Elven design with a curved blade and grip.  It's pummel featured a crystal  which with a twist of it's true silver mount could be concealed.  The makers imbued the crystal with qualities that gave the blades keeper warning in times of approaching danger.  The crystal would demonstrate a hue when the daggers carrier had need to be weary or mindful.  The hue had no specific threat tied to it.  Rather, like the second icon, its meaning was left to the mind of its keeper.

The second icon gifted to the House of Ciryaturs was named the Beacon of Andunie.  The beacon was a palm sized crystal whose hue was fluid. When spurred to life the beacon was ever changing from transparent to opaque and luminous to dark.  The quality the Elves imbued the Beacon with was to forewarn of interesting times.  The Beacons keepers may devine images and notions from laying of hands over it or gazing into its depths.  However over the ages the Beacon was said to provide guidance best  through inspiring dreams which its keeper was left to determine the meanings of.

These gifts were kept secret and safe from the knowledge of the King of Numenor.  They would prompt their keepers to view their times with clear minds and if not to give foresight, pause at least to consider and prepare for the possible.

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"The dead return to the ground but sometimes the soul rots before the body has fallen." - Tondera of Andunie. "Of the Fall."

"The Fall of Shadow, Rise of Fear and the Flight from Numenor."

Nothing living with any modicum of comfort lacks a fear of it's own demise.  Therefore it is no surprise that the short lives of the race of men by the reckoning of the other races of Middle-earth, created a unique mix of fear and resentment.  Concordantly it was among those with the greatest wealth and power the greatest depth of these sentiments were harbored.  None were more fearful than the nobles and Kings of Numenor.  None were more driven to tap powers and walk paths to abate the inevitable doom all shared than the Kings of Numenor.  

Those men of lesser means and bloodlines rallied to the King, forsaking ancient faith in the purpose of the Doom of Men.  They sought to abate fear by subordinating their wisdom as Kingsmen and the fellowship of others like them.  

Those who sought only to remain faithful to the teaching of the Valar and Eldar became an intolerable reminder of the fear the Kingsmen held in their hearts.

The Eldar, their presence, craft, spoken and written words were bitter reminders of what the Kingsmen coveted.  Soon the use of the ancient Elven tongue was forbidden.  Title and lore became rooted in more common tongues.  The House of Ciryaturs was compelled to move from it's ancestral home in Andunie to Romenna and even forsake their house name.  It took in place of the house name the secret identity of the Faithwrights of Numenor. 

It was in the reign of the last King of Numenor that the disciple of the first Dark Lord feigned supplication before a host of Numenorean might before his gates.  A ruse which earned the title Deciever among those of the Faithwrights.  To the dismay of the Faithwrights, blinded by pride and fear the King took the Deciever to the very shores of Numenor.  There the King harkened to black council which gave root to the eventual doom of Numenor.

In these years the Beacon of Andunie shimmered vigorously in the quarters of the matron of the Faithwrights, Tondera of Andunie.  From dreams filling her sleep Tondera resolved she needed to prepare against a calamity yet unknown.  She took counsel with the Elven friends of the Faithwrights at sea and in the new settlements of Belfalas.  She took heed of the guidance of Cirdan and Elrond in the years that followed.  As ever more terrible acts were visited upon the Faithful she prepared her House for the future.

So it was the Faithwrights redoubled building ashore in Middle-earth and began to craft new and spacious white ships.  These Tondera had kept unfinished but whose parts could be drawn together in great haste.  The Dagger of Warding remained at her side waking and at rest.  Her eyes frequently consulting the pummels crystal.  

So it was that the Deceiver at last put the King's mind to the unthinkable and the greatest host of Numenors history sailed in anger to the shores of the Undying lands.  So awakened by the bright and urgent sheen from the Dagger of Warding that Tondera gave the orders and the White Ships of Numenor were assembled and took those of the Faithful to sea as the island was sundered and consumed.  

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"Foresight prepared them, destiny rewarded them." - Benjimir Thursby, "The Analects."

"The Turn of the Age and the Rise of the House of Thursby."

The Fall of Numenor realized the Deciever's desire to heap vengeance on Numenor.  It did not however purge it's pride and wisdom from Middle-earth.  Arnor and Gondor and their fortress cities had long been founded.  Havens and bastions of the Faithful were well established when Westernesse fell.  Aboard ships of the Faithwrights Elendil and his sons were conveyed to new shores with the icons of Numenor and a resolve to preserve it's memory.  

The Faithwrights took to their own haven in Belfalas and tended their work and business throughout Middle-earth.  Content to take their reward from lives of peace along the shores of the Bay of Belfalas, the Faithwrights sought no title or fiefdom from the named King.  As they had since the First Age they took to service as trusted counselors to the King and the Prince, given lordship over Belfalas.  

Tondera gave command to raise a hall on the greater island in the Bay of Belfalas.  It was also at this time she took as her husband the chief of a stalwart clan of Middle-men.  The clan had over the Age founded settlements and merchantiles in the Faithwrights stead.  As a token of solidarity with and to seal their bond the Faithwrights took as their own the sire name of the clan.  Thus was founded the House of Thursby.

The Faithful were not alone in escaping Numenor's doom.  Kingsmen had long held sway in the haven of Umbar.  Their blood would run thin and diminish with speed after Westernesse fell.  Yet the hate of the Valar, Faithful and the engrained resentment that infected the Kingsmen remained.  From the haven the Corsairs of Umbar gave body and name to the shadow of the Kingsmen.  Soon they grappled with the Navy of Gondor and thus with the ships and men of the House of Thursby throughout the coming  Age.

Even as this bitter rivalry took root House Thursby was called upon by the King as he marshalled the might of the race of men to the Last Alliance.  Once more ships and men under the House banner conveyed might to war.  The Deciever fell and the long Second Age came to an end.

Yet the Last Alliance's victory was incomplete and the Third Age of Middle-earth began under shadow.  It was long after the Deciever fell before the Dagger of Warding and the Beacon of Andunie fell dark.  A great ring of power was lost.  Fell folk remained throughout many a mountain range.  Corsairs challenged for supremacy at sea.  New and hateful foes plagued the Kingdoms from the east.  Most disconcertingly, the bloodlines of Numenor scattered, sundered and diminished.  Strife, pride and petty wants buckled the bonds among men of High Blood.  Middle-men carried on and looked with weary eyes on the Lords who presumed Dominion over them yet provided little wisdom or prosperity.  

The House of Thursby settled into the long watchful peace and laid foundations to guard against the shadows seen in dreams of the future.  The House sent it's sons and daughters to learn and serve in the halls of man, King and Elf alike.  They kept watch over Middle-earth with the pride of true sons of Westernesse and the absolute resolve that against the Shadows, Numenor would prevail.

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