#reaaaaally telling how pengolodh gets bashed for being biased against feanorians and maeglin

[aipilosse]

🔥PENGOLODH

thaaaaaank you!!!! I have so many unpopular Pengolodh opinions!

A lot of the hate he gets centers around the idea that he 'wrote' the Silmarillion. So, I guess first to address that, that's not really accurate. Yes, there are HoME drafts where Pengolodh and Rumil are the authors of the annals with Pengolodh the author of all the Beleriand events, but there are drafts where the authors are unnamed 'loremasters' too. There's also the fact that, depending on the version, the Silmarillion is framed as having been transmitted through a number of parties: Aelfwine, the Numenoreans, Bilbo, Merry, and probably some others. There are also versions where there isn't any framing, including but not limited to the published Silm. So yes, thinking about the Silmarillion as recorded by historians is a great way to approach the stories, but thinking about the Silmarillion as a history with a single author with a singular viewpoint is a mistake.

OK with THAT all of the way, I do actually enjoy thinking about Pengolodh as having a hand in writing the Silmarillion and, unpopular opinion number 1, think he was uniquely situated to be an excellent compiler of the tales of the First Age due living in Sirion! He was from Gondolin, so he knew what had happened there unlike most people, and he was with Falathrim, Iathrim, probably Mithrim and Noldor from Nargothrond, and potentially even Feanorians after the Third Kinslaying, if any survived rebelling against Maedhros and Maglor. And that's just the elves, he would have had great access to all the surviving Edain, AND he speaks Khuzdul! He truly had the opportunity to hear the stories of the first age from greatest number of perspectives.

Second unpopular opinion, I think he liked Feanor. He chose to become a Lambengolmor despite being born in Beleriand after Feanor's death. I think he was actually a huge Feanor *fan* and admired him immensely, especially in the field of linguistics. Perhaps that's why he cut so much slack for Feanor's sons, despite having survived a massacre at their hands.