#silvans can talk to trees

[silvantransthranduiltrash]

Oropher: *talking about how he can’t wait to see Cloudryad again after millenia of seperation now that doriath has been destroyed once*

Cloudryad, through her tree telepathy: go back and get the twin peredhels

Oropher:… what?

Cloudryad: GO BACK AND GET ELURED AND ELURIN, DORIATH HAS BEEN RAIDED FOR A SECOND TIME AND THEY’VE BEEN ABANDONED IN THE SNOW. GO. GET. YOUR. NEPHEWS!

Oropher: ok ok!

[sotwk]

We don't talk about Eryn Galen enough.

I think the fandom might not always consider or imagine how BEAUTIFUL Eryn Galen must have been in its prime (Second Age 750 to Third Age 1,000). In its true, natural state, before the Necromancer invaded and spiders and filth settled in.

Have you checked a Middle-earth map lately?

Do you see anything in Middle-earth bigger than Greenwood the Great? It is a magical forest inhabited and kept by Elves who are essentially the best wildlife experts of that world. Think of the thousands of different, gorgeous plant and animal species that must have lived and thrived there! The little streams and ponds and glades and dells and cottages and dwellings!

Maybe it's a good thing Silvan Elves were seen as "dangerous", because it's a wonder other races didn't just straight up try to invade it. Sauron knew what was up, and so he targeted it.

Just saying, I think Greenwood the Great (not just Mirkwood) remains criminally underappreciated. It's sad that not even Professor Tolkien told us much about it; he who could wax on about trees for an entire chapter. We can probably use more fics and artwork for Eryn Galen.

[carlandrea]

Why Legolas Greenleaf was Chosen for the Fellowship of the Ring

First, Why Not Glorfindel, (with Glorfindel standing in for, in general, any ancient heroes who might be hanging around Rivendell)

This is a stealth mission. The first priority should not be Heroics, which, if anything goes well, should not be necessary. It would have been useful to have Glorfindel when they encountered, for example, the Balrog, but ideally, they would not have encountered a balrog

So then, if you're not expecting to use Heroics, than having someone that much more powerful than the rest of the party is actually a massive liability. If Legolas fell victim to the ring, then Aragorn and Boromir could take him out. If Glorfindel was sent on the mission and tried to take the ring, then everyone else is kind of just fucked. He's Glorfindel. It's the same reason none of the people Frodo offers the ring to takes it. (Gandalf is mildly a complication for this point but like Gandalf just really needs to be here. We need Gandalf.)

Could Gandalf fight Glorfindel? idk. I feel like a redditor just asking the question. it wouldn't be good for anyone if he did, that's for fucking sure

Why Legolas Specifically

He's good at stealth. He's a good scout. He's cheerful and not prone to despair. He's a good fit for this kind of mission

As a Mirkwood elf, he does not have the same vested personal interest in the Three surviving that a Rivendell or Lothlorien elf might have. He is not going on a specific quest to destroy his own home, which would be the kind of thing the Ring would love to latch on to.

Also, as a Silvan elf, his people mildly have a much better track record with the cursed shinies than like. the high elves. the wise. et fucking cetera (I am not open to corrections as to whether Legolas is a silvan elf <3)

But also—specifically—Legolas is someone who is very used to creeping dread and despair, and he's still Like That. He's still Legolas. He's still weird and cheerful and excited about trees. My first point is that he's not prone to despair, and I just want to stress that he has been under this kind of pressure—under the creeping shadow—for his entire life.

he's not tired in the way that so many elves are

Also—

I made another short post about this, and I got this response:

#personally I've always thought it's because #he's actually from one of the places right now #where Men Dwarves and Elves all talk to each other#whereas an elf from Rivendell or Loth Lorien may be very wise and learn'd in what you need to know to be considered learn'd #but have they spoken to someone who isn't of their kin in the last thousand years? #have they experience traveling paths unknown to them and finding their way? #can they hear an insult and try to reach through cultural differences? #would they be able to walk into a texmex restuarant for the first time and go 'oh it's spelled t-a-c-o gotcha CHOMP mmm' #(I suspect not)

(tags by @fairy-anon-godmother)

Which I really agree with!!

In Conclusion:

My boy was perfect for this quest :) He's cheerful, he's young, and he's exactly what the fellowship needs in their elf

[disasterofastory]

‌👀Oh is your request box is open? If I may, could you maybe do a piece where Thranduil is trying to court reader but she's too focused on her food? Lmao. And maybe we can pretend that a corsage type flower was a courting gift in Silvan elves culture, so Thranduil try to do it for reader since she has many Silvan elves friend, hoping reader notice his intention. Btw thank you

Dinner Thranduil x Reader Warnings: none

A/N: Thank you for your patience! I hope you will enjoy it. :)

You've never been in his room before. You never had the reason for it until now. And you don't understand why you are feeling so nervous about it. You shouldn't. It's just a room, and Thranduil is your friend. There is nothing you have to worry about.

It will be fine.

"It will be fine," you breathe out, forcing a shaky smile on your face as you knock on the tall wooden door. You are not even sure what you should do. Should you knock again? Or just enter? Does he hear you? Maybe you should really knock again just to be sure. "Y/N," the elf greets you with a slight bow of his head. His impossible blonde hair falls over his shoulder. "Hey," you reply. Without your notice, your smile becomes genuine. The nerves relax in your body. "I hope I'm not too soon." "You are just in time," he says. "Come in."

His room is much bigger than yours with a similar style. The bed is huge, with soft blankets and pillows. One of the nightstands is full of books and papers. A mirror stands next to the door with a beautifully crafted wooden frame. "I thought we could have dinner on the balcony," Thranduil says after a few moments, giving you enough time to look around to your heart's content. While you are busy getting familiar with his space, he watches you the whole time. Your hand touches one of his books on his desk. Your finger smooths over the title. Your hair is tied in braids, and the silver embroidery on your dress glints in the light as you move. The long skirt highlights your height, and the leather belt adores your waist perfectly. "We will eat outside?" You ask, turning your attention to the balcony. "Oh, Thranduil," you gasp. "It's beautiful." "It is," he hums in agreement. You don't notice his gaze on you. "Shall we?" He asks, putting his large hand on the small of your back to lead you to your seat.

The balcony is just wide enough to give enough space for a small table and two chairs. Lush, green leaves run all over the wooden railing and the tall, slim columns, framing the view of the woods that are covered in an orange hue by the slowly disappearing sun behind the trees. "Thranduil, this is truly beautiful," you break the silence. Your eyes still scan the view with awe as you sit down. "I don't even know why you don't spend your every time here," you add jokingly. "I can't rule from a balcony," he smiles, sitting down in front of you. "It would be worth a try."

"And you asked for my favorite," you gasp again, looking down at your plate. "What is the occasion?" "It's… I-" "And it's delicious!" You groan between two bites. Thranduil opens his lips to say something but decides against it and smiles. "I'm glad you like it."

"And where is Legolas?" You ask him after a while, looking back into his room. "He won't be mad because we eat without him, right?" Thranduil's usually hard expression softens at your worry. "No," he says. "I told him it will be just the two of us because-" "Where is he? He came back from the woods already, right? It's getting darker." The elven king's teeth clench for a second. His chest swells with the words he can't say out loud. With a deep breath, he nods to chase away your worries. "He is in his room."

"So," the elf starts again after a while. "I asked you to spend dinner with me because-" "It's not your wine, is it?" You suddenly ask him. "It too… spicy." "I asked for the dwarves," he replies. His voice is tense. He really doesn't want to talk about the dwarves right now. "I know how much you like it." "It's really sweet of you, Thranduil," you smile at him. "I-" "Can we not talk about them?" He snaps, making you freeze with your glass in midair. Your eyes widen at the sudden change in his mood. "Sure," you murmur. "I'm sorry, I-" It seems like it's his turn not to let you finish your sentences. A heavy sigh leaves his lips as he closes his eyes for a second. Even though you are familiar with his moods, he doesn't want to ruin the night because of his impatience. You deserve better than him shouting his confession. "Thranduil," you say softly, reaching out for his hand. "Are you alright? Did I do something?" And now, he feels bad. He squeezes your hand in his, lifting it to his lips to kiss your soft skin. "You did nothing wrong, Y/N," he says. His voice is calm and collected. "I apologize for my behavior." "Don't worry about it," you smile at him to make the frown between his thick brows disappear. "I am the one who should apologize. I know I was rude. I just… Everything is so beautiful and… I feel nervous," you confess, biting your bottom lip. "I don't know why."

Silence falls on you for long minutes. None of you say anything as you wait for everything to calm down. Looking back, you feel a bit embarrassed because of your behavior. No matter how much you thought you were calm and relaxed, the small knot in your stomach didn't let you enjoy your night with Thranduil completely. You made a fool out of yourself.

"I just wanted to make this night special for you," Thranduil begins, and this time, you press your lips into a thin line to stop yourself from saying anything. "I'm sorry if I ruined it." You squeeze his hand to argue. He ruined nothing. "I have to tell you something." You nod. He laughs. "What? Now you won't speak?" You grin but say nothing. You just watch the curve of his lips and the brightness of his eyes. Happiness looks really good on him. After another deep breath, he confesses. "I want to ask your permission to court you." Your mouth falls open with shock. "What?" You gasp. That one world is barely louder than a whisper. The knot in your stomach starts to burn with full force. "I really like you, Y/N," he explains. "And if you give me permission, I will…" "Yes!" You snap, then jump on your seat. "I mean… And now I'm rude again. I'm sorry! Please, continue!" Amusement shows on his handsome face instead of frustration. "I will show you how much you mean to me if you let me." "Can I speak now?" You whisper. "Yes," he laughs. "Please, Y/N, talk. I start to miss your voice." "I like you too," you tell him. The words leave your lips with a slight tremble. Nervousness and excitement bubble in your chest. "And I would really like to see where it goes." "Good," he smiles. "You want to go for a walk in the garden? It's not too late for that." "Could we stay here?" You ask him. "I really like the view from here." "Of course, Y/N, whatever you want."

Thranduil only hopes this view becomes a part of your daily life when you move in with him.

[meluiloth]

Let's talk about Thranduil (and the Mirkwood Elves)

The Woodland Elves are well known for being a suspicious and reclusive people, Thranduil most of all - but they are also as merry and light-hearted as the other Elven civilizations when it comes to their own people.

So I want to talk about why that is, why Thranduil is so determined to remain isolated. The reason is actually pretty simple: he lost everything in the War of the Last Alliance.

The army of Greenwood joined forces with the Elves and Men against Mordor, though their army was smallest and their people less skilled with open war, led by Oropher, Thranduil's father. Thranduil himself was there as well (and though not much is known about his wife, I headcanon her as fighting alongside her husband and her people).

The Free Peoples won that war, but with a heavy cost - and the Silvan Elves suffered greatest of all. They lost two-thirds of their army and their King, and returned to Greenwood crippled and mourning. (I headcanon that's when Thranduil lost his wife, too). The Prince of Greenwood had to take the burden of the crown while his people were suffering and while his home was rapidly falling into decay, along with struggling through the grief of losing his father (and his wife).

To my knowledge, there is nothing in the lore about the Silvan Elves receiving help from their allies, so I assume that they were left to rebuild alone, and also to contend with the Necromancer who had taken up residence in their home, and who they were not strong enough to exorcize themselves. They were even forced to take refuge underground, which hurt their woodland and tree-loving souls.

Thranduil was alone. Of course he would become bitter and reclusive, wanting to focus on helping his own people while resenting the fact that, though they had sacrificed so much, no one came to their aid. He decided that he would lend no more aid, make no more sacrifices, and suffer no more losses on account of those who would not return the favor. That was the end of that.

And really, who can blame him?

[outofangband]

Winter in Doriath HCs

Note: I referenced a few of my earlier HCs in this but they’re definitely not necessary to read for this! There is more in the Doriath tag for anyone interested!

Elves and winter general HCs

As always please feel free to ask more or give a specific area to talk about, these are fairly random!

The girdle of Melian provides protection against the harshest weather however, Melian intentionally does not exert significant control over the climate. Snow falls lightly throughout the colder months, many trees lose their leaves and most flowers do not bloom until the stirring. Average temperatures for the coldest months are around 4-7 degrees C or 40-45 degrees Fahrenheit.

Menengroth maintains comfortable temperatures throughout the year. Both the protection of the caves and the magic of Melian defend against extreme cold or heat. A small population of Doriath live in Menengroth in the winter only.

There is a section around Menengroth, part of Melian’s gardens, that is warm throughout the year. This has both outdoor and indoor sections and there are fruit trees in the outdoor section that are more or less free to take from (though some of the species are…unique or possibly dangerous and plenty choose not to take this risk)

Food in the winter comes from this, from foraging and the cultivation that is done throughout the forest, from the rivers, from private collections and storage, and, depending on the time, through trade.

Many of the Iathrim eat little in the winter and some even enter periods of contemplation and reduced movement almost akin to a sort of hibernation. This is also similar to the trances I described as part of Doriath’s summer solstice celebration however longer and less intense. Consciousness is not necessarily reduced or altered during these.

(I will make an entire post just about this to go with my posts about the Ainur and food but in essence, I do not believe elves can go indefinitely without food and water however energy, nutrients and strength are conserved and processed differently than in humans and they can go significantly longer without adverse consequences however they will eventually begin to suffer from them. Like humans, water is more important than food. Many elves eat primarily for pleasure. Maedhros, his life was extended without food or water through Morgoth’s power, similar to how Húrin’s was)

On that note there is also a winter solstice tradition. Like the summer one, many travel for it to obtain privacy, often sitting in trees or upon hilltops by the northern border for days. Most of the week long winter solstice event is significantly more somber than the summer one and there is a day dedicated to mourning. At the end however there is a joyous feast in Menengroth.

Doriath marks the new year in the beginning of the elven season between autumn and winter, Fading. I mentioned their record keepers preserve petals from the first flowers of each year and this tradition is related to other Sindar, Silvan and Avari traditions but their actual new year is in Fading. It is a also a reflective celebration where the sun and moon are honored (after they exist of course) and the past mourned.

Despite the more somber winter celebrations, mentions of snow and winter in song and poetry are commonly playful and whimsical rather than melancholy. Less direct Winter symbology in Doriath include constellations, certain species of ferns (which resemble frost patterns), wood white (butterflies), and maple trees.

Like the Sindar outside of Doriath, the patterns of migrating birds are often remembered and used for indications of weather changes.

[loremastering]

~ - Mountain Sound - ~

“I only went out for a walk and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in.” - John Muir. 

- ESSENCE -

Alias: Halordin (Father name) Telphindor (Mother name) Daerhovan (Epesse and main name.) 

Other names: Heruthan (given by Mallovorel) Madhawin (by Lossenduin, shortened) 

Age: Mid 600's.

Born: T.A 2390. April 9th. 

Species: Silvan Galedhrim elf. (Quarter Sindar on his mother’s side.) 

Gender: Male

Sexuality: Bisexual. Monogamous. Demisexual, Demiromantic

Scent: Pine woods and decaying leaves. 

Vocals: Deep-ish voice with the musical lilt of the elves. Speaks loquaciously as his people do, but gradually begins to adopt quirks from other languages.

Build: Lean physique and sinewy limbs. 6′1 at the crown. Weighs at least 170 lbs. 

Occupation: Vine tender, (former) scholar of the trees (former)  nomad, wanderer, herbalist, conversationalist, biologist, zoologist, botanist.

Residence: Was both in Caras Galadhon, Lothlorien, but considers the whole world his home.

Ref sheet: X

Theme Song: Lonesome Dreams - Lord Huron.

- NATURE -

Protective - Independent - Playful - Affectionate - Nomadic -Adaptable - Inquisitive  - Patient - Genuine - Humble - Collected Circumspect - Neutral - Vindictive - Impulsive - Dense - Melodramatic

Daerhovan was always a restless soul from the day he was born it seemed. Desiring to find new lands and discover what secrets they hold. He has an almost ravenous yearning for knowledge, a trait that got him into trouble in his youth, and shaped him well into his adult years and onward. His favorite subjects are those pertaining to the natural world, but he’ll dabble in the histories of the free peoples on occasion. It can be said he never learns some things however, as Daerhovan gets rather impulsive, which has led to dangerous situations. He calls it thinking on his feet.

In social situations he can come across as aloof and even cold. With so few children to grow up alongside with and living in self isolation for centuries while he studied; conversation can be awkward with him. Getting him to talk about a subject he knows or likes can make him a little more involved and even lively. He does crave interaction at times, but doesn’t know how to go about it often. Small-talk is his bane. Jokes have a tendency to go over his head. 

While he’s happier than most of his elven peers during the years they’re still around it seems, he s subject to existential crisis’s every now and then, especially as he ages. Can be very melancholic during episodes as he thinks about the eventual fate of all temporal beings and his place in the big picture. 

He’s normally a calm sort when it comes to disagreements and can keep a level head most of the time. Hurting anyone or thing he loves or considers his own however, can incite a violence within him that can scare both the antagonist and the person who was wronged. 

- Has a long scar from his left pectoral to his navel from a maddened huorn that never fully heals. Though it becomes a white line that can be hard to distinguish in his older years. 

- A little bit neutral. But can be easily swayed by the opinions of close friends and loved ones. The only forces that are black and white to him are Sauron and the Valar. 

- Knows a vast slew of languages. Silvan, Sindarin and its dialects. Westron, and just a smidge of khuzdul.

- Will hoard things he finds interesting in chests buried throughout multiple regions of Middle Earth.

- Extremely connected to the natural world. Can mostly understand the language of beasts, and knows how to communicate with them in turn. Can sense when an environment is plagued with blight if it’s not obvious at first. Tends to feel depressed in places that have been ravaged somehow by disease or very heavy industry. The longer he stays in a place as such, the worse he begins to feel.

- Fond of wearing feathers in his hair in memory of avian friends. 

- An avid scholar, mainly of nature and history. Has written tomes on the study of living things himself. Likes to hoard books and find abandoned ruins or peaceful glades to spend days reading/studying in.  

 - COMBAT -

- Avoids conflict when he can, but will fight when the need arises.

- Uses his staff as a club when it’s useful.

- While he doesn’t claim to be a swordsman, he’s quite proficient with them thanks to training by his nephew. Often carries one and can dual wield on the battle field with both sword and staff, making him a force to be reckoned with.

- Used to be a very competent healer, but because of his much needed efforts to fight in the War of the Ring, has lost most of his ability to heal by elvish means. Can still do basic procedures, but the magic associated with elves who are true healers has gone.

- While not as in tune with the elements as he is with flora and fauna, has some influence over them. As little may be thought. Can beseech trees for help in battle to stir the earth. If purified by elvish means, can use water to more proficiently heal wounds and encourage plant growth. Senses that something could be done with fire, lightning, and air, but will need to study further on it.

Relationships:

here

Experience:

here

[growingingreenwood]

In your stories, only the silvans can talk to the trees right? So when oropher and the other sindars came by did it took them too long to trust them enough to teach them how to connect to the trees the same way they do? And how is this knowledge kept in greenwood?

The other Elven realms can HEAR the tree’s in extremely specific circumstances, namely, the tree’s themselves are very motivated to tell the elves something and just sort of ‘pop in’ long enough to get their message across and then vanish away again. But the elves can’t really create that connection of their own volition, and usually it's has to be a pretty ‘awake and aware’ tree to be able to accomplish speaking with them.

The Silvan Elves also do much more than simply speak to and with the trees, they’re 24/7 telepathically, emotionally, and ‘soul-lly’ connected to the forest. The information that's shared between the elves and the trees is often in the form of feelings and sensations, rather than just verbalized thoughts.

I don’t think it's necessarily a ‘skill’ that’s taught, but more something that naturally begins to occur once you start forming a strong enough bond with the Greenwood Forest, that you can then get guidance and advice about from other Silvan elves. So when Oropher and the rest of the Sindar arrived it wasn’t up to the Silvan elves to teach them how to speak to the tree’s, it was up to the Sindar to foster a positive enough relationship with the forest that it would be willing to open itself up to their minds and souls, and it’s up to the Silvan’s to patiently wait for that change to being to occur before offering advice or help in any capacity.

Once the forest trusted the Sindar elves, then so did the Silvans.

When a Silvan elf is born, the forest already knows that it loves and trusts them because it loves and trusts the people who made them, so there is no ‘buffer’ period to acquire the connection to the forest that the Sindar have. Similar to how (generally speaking) human children can begin to pick up a lot of the basics of language by simply observing those around them using it, the Silvan Children can do the same thing with speaking to the trees.

There are some specific elves that consider themselves a tutor of sorts when it comes to the different ways to utilize that connection to the forest, but most elves don’t need the extra help.

When it comes to their connections to the things that grow outside of the forest, plants can very often sense the leftover ‘soul’ of the tree’s that linger within the Silvan elves. Partly because they've just been connected for so long the Elves have absorbed some of the forest's specific magic, and partly because the Greenwood Forest purposefully leaves ‘markers’ in the Silvan elves so that they’ll get help from others when they leave the forest. The Greenwood Forest loves the Elves as much as the Elves love the Forest, and want to do whatever they can to help protect them when they're away from home. The ‘markers’ are the most efficient way of doing that.

So basically, its was largely up to the Sindar elves for how long it took for them to be taught how to communicate with the forest, depending on how much effort they put into getting to know the forest and getting it to trust them.

(I think that Thranduil was probably one of the first to begin to form the connection, his enthusiasm of having a new home and desire to know and understand it had him running around every single inch of the forest within a week of arriving. So the forest was very swiftly able to sense his intentions and his heart and decided that they liked him quite a bit. A lot a bit.)

I hope that answered your questions, let me know if you have any follow-ups!! Have a wonderful day and stay safe out there!! 💛💛

[nyxshadowhawk]

I Read The Silmarillion So You Don't Have To, Part Three

Please read parts one and two first: https://nyxshadowhawk.tumblr.com/post/726120109073104896/i-read-the-silmarillion-so-you-dont-have-to-part https://nyxshadowhawk.tumblr.com/post/726261927846772736/i-read-the-silmarillion-so-you-dont-have-to-part

Chapter 4: Of Thingol and Melian In which Elwë/Thingol gets horny and abandons his quest, and behold, a language is born.

I said that Melian would be important, but that’s because the book said so. Unlike with Olorin, I don’t actually know anything about her in advance. So, now we’re going to find out what her role in the story is! Melian is a Maia and she lives in Lórien, where she is best known for her singing. The whole world stops to listen to her sing. Before dawn, she comes to the “Hither Lands” (Middle-earth?) to teach the birds to sing.

While the Elves are traveling, Elwë, the leader of the third group of Elves (the Teleri) is scouting by himself. He hears the voice of Melian and is entranced. He finds her in a forest glade, and as soon as he touches her, she traps him there. He stays in the glade while time moves on around him. His brother Olwë takes over the kingship of the Teleri, and Elwë never sees Valinor again. He and Melian are quite productive, though, and end up becoming the ancestors of an entire race of elves, called the Sindar, “Grey Elves” or “Twilight Elves.” Sindar are “grey” because they are neither Light Elves who saw the trees of Valinor, nor “dark elves” who chose not to go to Valinor. Elwë Singollo became known as Thingol, which still means “Greymantle,” but in Sindarin. Thingol and Melian became King and Queen of the Sindar.

To elaborate on the significance of this: “Elvish” is probably the best-known of Tolkien’s conlangs, but there’s actually two completely different Elvish languages. One is Quenya, the language spoken by those Elves in Middle-earth who are descended from the “High Elves” or Light Elves of Valinor, and the other is Sindarin, the language spoken by the Sindar. When you think of “Elvish,” you are probably thinking of Sindarin, because it’s the most common Elven language in Middle-earth. The Elves of Mirkwood are descended from yet another subgroup of Teleri Elves, called Nandor (no, not that Nandor), who split off from Olwë’s group and went off on their own to live in the forests. They have their own language, Silvan Elvish, but Thranduil definitely spoke Sindarin, and his name is in Sindarin. So, the Sindar are kind of a big deal.

Thingol and Melian by Elena Kukanova

Chapter 5: Of Eldamar and the Princes of the Eldalië In which the Elves settle into their new home.

The Vanyar and Noldor finally reach the westernmost coast of Middle-earth, and are confronted with the ocean that they have to cross to reach Aman (the continent where Valinor is). Ulmo comes and talks to the Elves, playing his shell pipes for them, and they lose their fear of the ocean. Ulmo drags up an island from the ocean, and brings it into the bay as if it were a ship, and all the Elves climb on it to sail it to the other side of the ocean. (Part of the island was broken off and remained in the bay, becoming the Isle of Balar.)

The Teleri arrived too late. They missed the island-boat, Elwë abandoned them for Melian, and now they’re stuck in East Beriand. They name Elwë’s brother Olwë as their king, and they learn about water and music from the Maiar Ossë and Uinen. Everything’s fine for a while, but the Noldor in Valinor missed the Teleri, and asked Ulmo to go and get them. Most of the Teleri are willing to uproot themselves again and continue on to Valinor, but Ossë (the Maia of waves) is sad to see them go, and persuades a few to stay so that they can continue to sing for him. The ones that stay become the Falathrim, the first mariners. Had enough subdivisions of Elves yet?

No you haven’t, because there’s another one — the friends and family of Elwë who are still wondering what the hell happened to him. They still want to go to Valinor, but Ulmo doesn’t wait for them to find Elwë, so they’re left behind. They call themselves Eglath, the Forsaken People, and live in the forests yearning for a place that they will never see. Elwë does eventually find them, though, and he looks so glorious and beautiful with his silver hair and his unusually tall stature that they almost mistake him for a Maia. So, they’re okay now. Presumably they become Sindar.

Ossë chases after the other Teleri. When they hear his voice, the Teleri beg Ulmo to lock the island in place in the Bay of Eldamar. Ulmo doesn’t mind doing this, because he didn’t think it was a good idea for the Elves to leave Middle-earth in the first place. The island becomes Tol Eressëa, the Lonely Isle. So, after all of that, the Teleri still don’t make it to Valinor (because they just love the sea too much, I guess). The Valar aren’t happy about this, and Finwë (the leader of the Noldor) grieves to hear that not only are the Teleri not coming, but Elwë got lost somewhere along the way. The Teleri are happy, though (and literally within sight of Aman so if only they had a boat or something…). The important thing is that this is why they speak a different language from everyone else. Like I said before, language is what drives the worldbuilding, as opposed to narrative or character or anything else. In Tolkien’s defense, this is definitely how real-life ethnic groups form (not islands magically moving and stopping, but groups breaking off from each other during migration) so he’s doing a great job on that front.

Eventually, the Teleri do make it to shore. Elves are like moths in that they’re constantly drawn towards the light of Valinor. So they change their minds, and ask Ulmo to bring them to shore. Ulmo tells Ossë to teach them how to build boats, and Ossë does, though very reluctantly. As a parting gift, he gives them swans to pull their boats. (My immediate thought was that this is a reference to the Tuatha Dé Danann in Celtic mythology, but I might be misremembering it, because I can’t find any proof of that. Moving on.) The Teleri come to live on the shores of Aman, within reach of Valinor, but closer to the sea because they like the water so much. The Noldor give them lots of jewels, which they scatter across the beaches, and they build themselves palaces out of pearl in their city of Alqualondë.

The Ships of the Teleri Drawn by Swans, by Ted Nasmith

There’s three cities in total: Valmar, the city of the Valar, Tirion, the city of the Noldor, and Alqualondë, the coastal city of the Teleri. The Noldor built Tirion on top of a hill called Túna (I know it means something in Quenya, but there’s no way I’m taking that seriously). They love Telperion, the White Tree, so Yavanna gives them one of its seedlings, which becomes another white tree that looks just like a smaller version of Telperion, except that it doesn’t glow. In Sindarin, the little tree is called Galathilion.

The Noldor like to learn things, discover things, and make things. They were trained by Aulë himself, so they’re experts in all kinds of craftsmanship. Their masons discovered precious stones hidden in the earth, which they learned to cut. Noldor have an insatiable love of learning, and whenever they find something new, they make up a new word for it in their language (Quenya). The dark side of a love of learning is that one might not know where to stop, i.e. “just because you can doesn’t mean you should” and “these were things mortals were not meant to know.” The Vanyar live directly with Manwë, which makes them both the coolest Elves and the least interesting because nothing about them is known to anyone else. The Noldor, however, still remember Middle-earth — dark, quiet, and full of stars. The grass is always greener, I guess.

We know next to nothing about the Vanyar because they stayed in Valinor, but the Noldor eventually came back, so we know their whole genealogy. As boring as that sounds, I do have to describe the whole thing here, because it is important: The King of the Noldor is Finwë as we’ve said before, and he has three sons: Fëanor, Fingolfin, and Finarfin. Fingolfin and Finarfin have the same mother, a Vanyar elf called Indis. Fëanor’s mother, however, is another Noldor elf called Míriel Serindë. Of the three sons, Fëanor is the smartest, Fingolfin is the strongest, and Finarfin is the wisest and the most beautiful. He eventually befriends the Teleri and marries one of Olwë’s daughters.

Finarfin, Fingolfin, and Feanor by _star热爱生活呀巴扎嘿

Fëanor has seven sons: Maedhros the tall, Maglor the singer, Celegorm the fair, Caranthir the dark, Curufin the crafty, and the twins Amrod and Amras. Fingolfin has two sons and one daughter: Fingon and Turgon are the sons, and Aredhel the White is the daughter. Finarfin has four sons: Finrod the Faithful, who eventually gains the epithet “Felagund, Lord of Caves” (really interested to hear that story), Orodreth, Angrod, and Aegnor. He also has a daughter — Galadriel. (Yes! Finally a character you know! Well, apart from Olorin, that is…) She is known for her golden hair, so shiny that it is if the light of the golden tree, Laurelin, shines within it.

That’s all the genealogy we need to know for now. Again, Tolkien gets points for authenticity here — a significant portion of real historical epics are long lists of everyone’s names and who they’re related to and who their kids are, which is of great interest to historians, but not very exciting if you’re primarily interested in a cool story about people killing each other. You know what, even if Amazon did get the rights to The Silmarillion for Rings of Power, they would probably have the same trouble adapting it that people usually have when they try to adapt epics like The Iliad or Beowulf: Epics just aren’t structured like conventional narratives. Even if there is a story, it usually plays second fiddle to all these historical details and other infodumps. Don’t get me wrong, epics are more than capable of being emotionally impactful, and I was pleasantly surprised by the Iliad and Odyssey more than once. But they don’t follow the same kind of five-act story structure that novels and films typically do. The narrative is interspersed with records of events and people, since an oral tradition needs to be able to preserve cultural history in addition to telling a good story, and the result is more like a series of significant events rather than an actual plot with a tidy ending. The cultural history is very important to the people whose history it is, and the people who study it, but when you have a complex cultural history of people who don’t actually exist, then the only people who are going to be interested are people who are already invested in Tolkien and his world. Basically, you can (sort of, barely) get away with infodumping if you’re intentionally following the conventions of an obsolete literary genre, and people already care about your worldbuilding.

If LotR is the story of the One Ring and the things that happen around it, then The Silmarillion is the story of this family, and the things that happen around or because of them. So, you’re going to want to keep track of them:

House of Finwe by @cy-lindric

Chapter 6: Of Fëanor and the Unchaining of Melkor In which we meet our… uh… protagonist?

You can tell just by the title that this is when everything goes to hell, right? It was too good to last. Although the Elves lived in bliss in Valinor for however many centuries, if someone didn’t fuck everything up, we wouldn’t have a story. That someone is Fëanor, who is the nearest thing this story has to a protagonist.

Fëanor by Insant

He was born in Valinor. His original name (or patronymic name) is Curufinwë, but his mother called him Fëanor (FAY-ah-nr), which means “spirit of fire.” Míriel, Fëanor’s mother, all but died in childbirth. After he was born, she refused to bear any more children, because all of her life-force and that of any future children had gone into Fëanor. Giving birth to him was like being burned away by fire, to the point where Míriel basically didn’t have any will to live… except that elves don’t die. So, Finwë went to Manwë for help, and Manwë allowed Míriel to go live in the beautiful gardens of Lórien with Irmo, the god of dreams. Once she got there, she basically died; her body went to sleep, but her spirit passed on to the Halls of Mandos.

Finwë was very sad at having lost his wife, but dedicated as much love and attention to his son as possible. Fëanor quickly proved himself to be one of those gifted kids who are naturally good at everything. He excelled in craftsmanship, figured out a way to make gems bigger and brighter by infusing them with starlight, and invented lenses. He didn’t invent writing — that was an elf called Rúmil, shortly before he was born — but he did improve upon it to produce the Elven alphabet that Elves still use today. And that was all while he was practically still a teenager!

Fëanor marries an Elf called Nerdanel. His father-in law, Mahtan, learned metalworking and masonry directly at the feet of Aulë, so Fëanor learns a lot more about making things from Mahtan. Fëanor’s relationship with Nerdanel is summed up pretty well by this quote:

Nerdanel also was firm of will, but more patient than Fëanor, desiring to understand minds rather than to master them, and at first she restrained him when the fire of his heart grew too hot; but his later deeds grieved her, and they became estranged.

Yeah… that tells you everything you need to know about Fëanor. He’s one of those arrogant, hotheaded men who needs his wife to put a lid on him so that he’ll calm the fuck down before something blows up. And eventually, managing him becomes too much for her. I guess we’ll find out why.

Meanwhile, Finwë remarries. His new wife is a Vanya elf called Indis, a close relative of the High King Ingwë. Fëanor is not happy about his father remarrying, and mostly ignores his stepmother and half-brothers. The thing about familial strife amongst royalty is that it ends up affecting everyone else, too, usually in catastrophic ways. Looking back, the Elves wonder if everything might have been different if Finwë had just gotten over the death of his first wife and been content with having only one son, especially one as mighty as Fëanor. On the other hand, the world would also be lacking if Fingolfin and Finarfin hadn’t been born, so… this is one of those “what if we went back in time and killed Hitler” questions; history would have been so different if Finwë hadn’t remarried, it’s almost impossible to tell whether it would be for better or worse.

As Finarfin and Fingolfin grow up, Valinor’s heyday is already almost over. The thing about Sealed Evil in a Can is that it doesn’t stay sealed. Eventually, it gets out, and when it does, it’s like a volcano erupting. For once, though, it’s not because some idiot went and broke the seal on the can of evil — it’s because Melkor finished his sentence. The Valar decide that it’s time to put Melkor on trial again. Melkor’s envy and hatred are dialed up to eleven when he sees the Valar on their shining thrones and the Elves gathered at their feet like kittens. He also really likes the look of all the gemstones that the Noldor have dug up, and wants to steal them. But, he’s more cunning than to make his evil thoughts obvious. He really sucks up to the Valar during his trial, in the most cloying and pathetic way possible. He even promises to fix all the things that he broke (which, I’ll remind you, was everything).

Manwë buys it. I guess he just really wants to believe that there’s good in everybody? Or that everybody deserves a chance at redemption? Tolkien’s explanation for why Manwë pardons Melkor is that, just as pure evil cannot comprehend goodness or happiness or love, pure goodness cannot really comprehend evil, either. As far as Manwë is concerned, a sincere apology is all that’s needed, and why wouldn’t Melkor’s apology be sincere? After all, Melkor and Manwë were both Ainur created by Ilúvatar, so there must be good in him somewhere, right? The other Valar aren’t as easily fooled, though. Ulmo knows better than to trust Melkor, and Tulkas is just itching to punch him. But it’d be pretty hypocritical of them if they punished Melkor for rebellion and then turned right back around and disobeyed the orders of their king, so they don’t do anything.

Remember, Melkor blames the Elves for his initial downfall, because the Valar fought for their sake. And also because they’re happy-go-lucky little Elves in their little Elf world and everything is bright and shiny and so saccharine it makes your eyes bleed. So, Melkor responds by being even more saccharine and kissing up to the Elves as much as possible. “Oh, do you need help with anything? Can we be friends? Do you want to know everything about how the world was created?” The Vanyar aren’t interested, because who needs lore when you have trees? The Teleri don’t even interest Melkor because he sees them as weak and useless. But the Noldor, oh, the Noldor like making things and they like secret knowledge. They’re just the kind of people who would eagerly agree to a deal with the devil to learn all the secrets of the universe.

Melkor claims that Fëanor learned everything he knows at his knee, but as usual, he’s lying for clout. No one hates Melkor more than Fëanor. In fact, it was Fëanor who first called him “Morgoth” (“dark enemy”). Besides, Fëanor himself is just as arrogant, and insists on working alone. The only person he ever goes to for help is his wife.

[palmviolet]

I'm not sure of your views on the amazon lotr show and I'm sorry if they don't agree with what I'm about to write next.

I decided I wouldn't be that harsh and thought that I should at least check the first episode. I did not like it very much to put it mildly.

But! In less than an hour it turns out you posted a fic that maybe I hadn't gotten around to reading yet but the email itself made me so excited and solved all my life problems.

I love your work so much and I'm happy I got to experience it so like. Thank you so much! I hope you have a good day/night ❤️

oh my goodness, thank you so much!! i'm so glad my fic can make up for your disappointment in the show. as for my own views, i'm honestly not a big fan. the haircuts make me wish that scissors had never been invented and a lot of it is very heavily relying on fantasy cliches, which is a strange circular fallacy because so many of those cliches are bastardised elements of tolkien's work, so it ends up feeling like a parody of itself on some levels. i enjoy halbrand and the speculation about whether he's sauron, and i enjoy the sense of mystery and horror in the southlands, but other than that i'm not very interested.

i think it was a grave error to make a tv show based on the second age without any rights to the first and indeed to the years of the trees etc — without the massive scale and complexities that the oath of feanor, the doom of the noldor, thingol and luthien and the ban on quenya etc bring to the story, it feels very vague and shallow. the politics of sindar vs silvan vs noldor are very much brushed over, and while the diversity is wonderful it does concern me that the only elf who isn't white is a 'common' silvan elf, an original character, while all the aristocratic and canon elves are white. i think also instead of critically examining the more problematic elements of the work, such as galadriel's imperialist motivations, they've decided simply to erase them to make it more palatable, which is a very lazy approach in my opinion. it's also rather lazy to focus the story on galadriel and elrond, two characters who weren't actually all that major players in the second age, simply because audiences are already familiar with them from lotr. why is the focus on elrond having a connection to durin, instead of celebrimbor to narvi, for example? it lacks creativity, and relies on the success of the pj movies instead of creating its own.

there are definitely elements of it that i enjoy, and i'm interested to see how they present sauron, and the way they wrap up the first season. the sense of evil is actually the only bit i think they've done really well — some of it feels viscerally creepy, which is a nice effect. i refuse to talk about meteor man. i hate meteor man.

we are only a few episodes in, and some of my issues here may well be addressed as the series continues. i am just a bit of a hater who read the silmarillion far too closely for her own good.

[silvantransthranduiltrash]

What most elves thinks it’s like talking to the trees:

Silvan: mighty oak tree, is there some trouble of which you would like to warn us?

Tree: no, my kind silvan. There is no darkness of which that can cause you harm.

What a silvan talking to a tree is actually like:

Legolas, cackling, landing on a tree branch: babe, you’ll never believe what happened!

Tree, lighting up and shaking their leaves: Legolas, my good bitch! I got news!

[staryglen]

Legolas headcanons

Youngest child of three

He is closet with his sister and find his brother too uptight and not fun enough. Though pities his brother for having to be that way, he is the crown prince after all

Loves to wear leaf clusters in his hair

His sister would put them in his braids for him

Likes to draw

He is the artist in a family of scientists

He can feel the emotions of the trees and can communicate with the in his own way. He in inherited this from his father who can actually talk to the trees

He is an amazing dancer

Has many Silvan friends, way more than the rest of his family save his father, and even that was in his youth

Is very affectionate

Loves to hug his friends, and isn’t afraid to even cuddle his closest friends (he gets this from his mother)

He does have emotional outbursts. He has been known to cry, and have a fit of rage while hunting the spiders that poison his home.

You do not want to get on his bad side

His mother is alive and well

[undercat-overdog]

Yesssss, I forgot how much Quendi and Eldar validates various linguistic and ethnic headcanons of mine:

The Sindar and Noldor looked alike:

In general the Sindar appear to have very closely resembled the Exiles, being dark-haired, strong and tall, but lithe. Indeed they could hardly be told apart except by their eyes; for the eyes of all the Elves that had dwelt in Aman impressed those of Middle-earth by their piercing brightness.

But I love this bit because we’re told that all three kindreds had a strong clan identity, yet also told that the Tatyar and Nelyar looked alike. So how are they distinguished? Language. Dialects. It’s never outright said, but if it’s dark and those two groups generally look alike, it’s the obvious way to distinguish. Elven ethnic identity caught up in language use? Yes please! Also very fun to come up with linguistic headcanons about dialectal features, and I love what you could do in Aman after Middle-earthians start returning with language politics.

The merging of the Noldor and Sindar in Beleriand and how they came to be regarded as one people:

Dúnedhil ‘West-elves’ (the reference being to the West of Middle-earth) was a term made to match Dúnedain ‘West-men’ (applied only to the Men of the Three Houses). But with the growing amalgamation, outside Doriath, of the Ñoldor and Sindar into one people using the Sindarin tongue as their daily speech, this soon became applied to both Ñoldor and Sindar. 

While the Ñoldor were still distinct and whenever it was desired to recall their difference of origin, they were usually called Ódhil (sg. Ódhel).

This is talking about the First Age, so I think it highly, highly likely that they merged further in later years. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think there’s a single reference to a people or group being called “Sindar” or “Noldor” in LotR, or third and second age writings, though there are some references to specific groups of the Sindar (who, for that matter, didn’t really view themselves as one people in Beleriand). There’s also places like Lindórinand/Lothlórien where the distinction - and conflict - is between the Silvan and the non-Silvan, the latter of whom would have originally been primarily Iathrim but after the War of the Elves and Sauron composed also of refugees from Eregion, who don’t seem otherwise distinguished as a group; Legolas, who counts himself as Silvan folk, views the Elves of Lothlórien as different from his folk. (Side note that Amdír seems to have gotten along just fine with Eregion and Khazad-dûm.) But the distinction in LotR between Elven (or Eldarin, rather; the Avari don’t appear) groups is that of Silvan/wood elf vs Dúnedhil/high elf. The folk of Lothlórien appear to fall in between, perhaps because of general cultural merging by the late Third Age or because it was a mixed polity.

(To be fair, there is some text in the essay that can be read otherwise re: ethnic identity, but it’s written from an Age of the Trees and First Age perspective, and if we’re told that the Sindar and Noldor have become one people in Beleriand?)

[desiderium-if]

Could you give us some facts about the ROs?

yup yup of course!! <33

Leona 

she was sent to the palace by her parents at the age of 12 because they didn't have enough money to raise her.

she worked hard maybe a little too hard and became your royal guard when she was 15.

Leona has beautiful freckles all over her body. the ones on her face look like they resemble constellations!

her favorite thing to do in her free time is pottery, working with clay and ceramics. she sometimes gives you handmade mugs <3 (will be talked about in the game)

TEAM ORANGE JUICE ALL THE WAY!! it’s her favorite thing to drink in the morning, it makes her feel ready for the day ahead.

the mom friend.

(the rest is under the cut since i've learned today how to do that ;D)

Silvan/Silva

they've mastered the art of playing the piano and violin when they were a teenager.

S would play the piano when they were angry or sad, they’ve almost broke the instrument a few times from hitting it too hard. the violin, on the other hand, could be heard from their balcony whenever S was in a good mood (will be talked about in the game).

both M!S and F!S like to wear makeup (and they do it themselves too!). red lipstick is a MUST, you’ll see them wearing it everywhere they go no matter the occasion.

they pay a lot of attention to their skin and take great pride in their skincare routine! (they like to use things such as rose petals, sage and honey)

the smart and quiet one.

River

deep dimples when he smiles, though they can be seen when smirking as well.

which is pretty often considering his default resting face is a slight smirk of his left lip corner.

because of spoilery circumstances, River ended up on the streets and learned how to steal food and coins at 14 years old. by 17 he was already part of his first pirate crew. 

he's always seen wearing his mother’s necklace, he doesn’t even take it off when going to sleep. it looks something like this and it’s the only thing he has left from her.

he’s a GREAT dancer and can dance pretty much to any song (except ballroom music, that’s way too fancy for his taste).

loud flirty troublemaker #1

Clover

they have a pet spider named Ghost! her favorite spots to sit on are Clover’s chest and shoulders.

they're the proud owner of a tarot deck with wood carved cards. and yes, they WILL brag about how they carved it themselves to everyone they meet.

because of spoilery circumstances, they don’t really have a home anymore and move around a lot. they mostly live in the woods. they had a lot of time to kill by themselves, so they learned magic it might have something to do with how their father’s biggest wish was to see them become a mage.

has a scar on their left temple and another one on their chin from the time they fell down from a tree when they were 7 years old.

Clover is an AMAZING cook and they’ll definitely make you your favorite meal as a way to cheer you up. 

your mom’s favorite.

The God

they sometimes like to go on earth, change in their human body, and walk around the markets pretending they’re a mortal. it’s kind of lonely to be a god, they just want to make friends!

he has a lot of piercings, and i mean A LOT. places he has pierced: right eyebrow, lower lip, tongue, both ears , nipples, private area.

they’ve never fallen in love before, it’s literally on their bucket list to fall in love at least once. the god tries to not think about it too much though. they know no one would love them anyway.

LOVES to draw and is surprisingly good at it! you’ll know when he’s around because he leaves cute little doodles everywhere he goes! 

loud flirty troublemaker #2 but make them completely and utterly dumb.

[elamarth-calmagol]

What actually is LACE? (an informal essay)

What’s LACE?

Laws and Customs among the Eldar, or LACE, is the most popular section of the History of Middle Earth books.  It's available online as a PDF here: http://faculty.smu.edu/bwheeler/tolkien/online_reader/T-LawsandCustoms.pdf .  There’s a lot of LACE analysis in the fandom, Silmarillion smut fics are usually labeled “LACE compliant” or “not LACE compliant”, and I’ve been seeing the document itself show up in actual fics, meaning that the characters themselves are discussing it.

LACE is an unfinished, non-canonical essay split into several parts.  It covers the sexuality of elves, which is mostly what people talk about.  It also covers elvish naming (which I want to make a whole different post about), the speed at which elves grow up, changes that happen throughout their lives, their death and rebirth, and finally the legal and moral issues of Finwe remarrying after Miriel’s death.  The discussion about rebirth conflicts with Tolkien’s later writings about Glorfindel’s re-embodiment, but to the best of my knowledge, LACE is the best or only source for most of the topics it covers.

However, LACE is not canon since it doesn’t show up in the Silmarillion.  Counting all of the History of Middle Earth as canon is literally impossible, considering Tolkien contradicts himself all over the place.  It is only useful because it has so much information that is never discussed in the actual canon.  Many people consider it canon out of convenience.

Another important thing to remember is that, other than presumably the discussion of the growth of elvish children, the information is only supposed to apply to the Eldar (meaning the Vanyar, Noldor, Teleri, and Sindar) and not the dark-elves such as the Silvan elves and Avari.

The rest is behind the cut to avoid clogging your feeds.

Problems with LACE interpretations

But because it’s hidden in the History of Middle Earth (volume 10, Morgoth’s Ring), barely anyone actually gets the opportunity to read it.  I don’t think most people are aware that you can get it online, so it doesn't get read much.

I feel like this leads to a handful of people saying something about LACE and everyone else going along with it.  I definitely did this.  I was amazed by all the things that were in the actual essay that nobody had ever told me about, or had told me incorrectly.  For example, most people seem to believe that elves become married at the completion of sexual intercourse (whatever that means to the fic author).  In fact, LACE explicitly says that elves must take an oath using the name of Eru in order to be legally married.  Specifically: 

It was the act of bodily union that achieved marriage, and after which the indissoluble bond was complete… [I]t was at all times lawful for any of the Eldar, being both unwed, to marry thus of free consent one to another without ceremony or witness (save blessings exchanged and the naming of the Name); and the union so joined was alike indissoluble.

I’ve seen a marriage oath being included in a few stories recently, but most writers leave out the oath entirely and just have sex be automatically equivalent to marriage.  What would happen if elves had sex without swearing an oath?  I don’t know, but I’d love to see it explored.

Then there’s a footnote that might explicitly deny the existence of transgender elves... or not, but I’ve literally only seen it mentioned once or twice.  Overall, I feel like all of LACE is filtered through the handful of people who read it, and we’re missing out on a lot of metanalysis and interpretations that we could have because most fans never see the actual document.

Who wrote LACE?

I mean within the mythology of Middle Earth, of course.  Since LACE appears in the History of Middle Earth and not the Silmarillion, we can be pretty sure that J.R.R. Tolkien himself wrote it and it wasn’t added to by Christopher Tolkien.  But that’s not the question here.  Remember that Tolkien’s frame narrative for all of his Middle Earth work is that he is a scholar of ancient times and is translating documents from Westron and Sindarin for modern audiences to read and understand.  The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings come from the Red Book of Westmarch, and I believe The Silmarillion is meant to be Tolkien’s own writings based on his research (though it might also be an adaption of Bilbo’s “Translations from the Elvish”, but I haven't looked into that).  So what does LACE come from?

Christopher Tolkien admits in his notes that he doesn’t know.  He says, “It is clear in any case that this is presented as the work, not of one of the Eldar, but of a Man,” and I agree, because of the way it seems to be written as an ethnographic study rather than by someone who lives in the culture.  Honestly, it talks too much about how elves are seen by Men (e.g. speculating that elf-children might look like the children of Men) to be written by an elf.  This changes once it gets to the Doom of Finwe and Miriel, but that could be, and probably is, a story told to the writer by an elf who was there at the time.

Tolkien actually references Aelfwine in the second version of the text.  The original story behind The Lost Tales, which was the abandoned first version of the Silmarillion, was that a man from the Viking period named Aelfwine/Eriol stumbled onto the Straight Road and found himself on Tol Eressea.  He spoke to the elves and brought back their stories to England with him.  So it makes a lot of sense that Aelfwine would also write about the lives and customs of the elves for an audience of his own people.

Does LACE exist in Middle Earth?

I keep finding fics where first age elves discuss “the Laws and Customs” openly, as if it’s a text in their own world.  I usually get the impression that it was brought by the Noldor from Valinor.  But did the document actually exist in that time period?  For me, the answer is definitely not.

First of all, LACE was probably written by a Man, meaning it could not have dated back to Valinor in the years of the Trees, because Men hadn’t awaked yet.  In fact, the closest thing to an established frame narrative for it is that it was written by Aelfwine, who comes from the time period around 1000 CE (though Tolkien doesn’t seem to have pinned him down).  This is at least the fifth age, if not later.

But what if you don’t believe that it was written by a Man?  It still couldn’t have been written in the First Age, because it discusses the way the relationship between elves’ bodies and souls changes as ages go by.  For example:

As ages passed the dominance of their fear ever increased, ‘consuming’ their bodies... The end of this process is their ‘fading’, as Men have called it.

A lot of time has to go by in order for elves to get to the point of fading.  As a bonus, here’s another reference to the perspective of Men. LACE also discusses the dangers that “houseless feas”, which are souls of elves who do not go to Mandos after their bodies died, pose to Men.  How would they have known about that in the First Age?  It further says that “more than one rebirth is seldom recorded” (which isn’t contradicted anywhere I know of), and that’s not something you would know during your life of joy in Valinor, where almost nobody dies.  That’s something you learn after millennia of war.  This has to be a document written well after the Silmarillion ends.

So what about the sex part?  That’s all we care about, right?  Well, it is entirely possible that this was written down by the elves and Aelfwine translated it (though my impression is that he mostly recorded stories told orally to him and that elves were not very much into writing, at least in Valinor where you could get stories directly from someone who experienced them).  However, why would the elves write this down?  They know how quickly their children grow up.  They’ve seen actual marriages.  They don’t need that described to them.  And if they did have a specific document or story explaining the expectations of them when it comes to sex and marriage, why would they call it “Laws and Customs”?  That’s a very strange name for a set of rules for conduct.  I’m sure they had a list of laws written out somewhere in great detail, like our own state or national laws (that seems very in character for the Noldor, at least).  But I seriously doubt that those laws are what we’ve been given to read. LACE is not an elvish or Valinoran document.

Is LACE prescriptive or descriptive?

Here’s the other big question I’m interested in.  Prescriptive means that the document describes the way people should behave.  Descriptive means that it describes how people do behave.  And the more I worldbuild for Middle Earth and the culture of elves, the more I want to say that LACE is prescriptive in its discussion of sex, marriage, and gender roles.

But wait.  I’ve been saying for paragraphs that I think LACE is Aelfwine or another Man’s ethnographic study of elvish culture.  Then it has to be descriptive, right?

Does it?  How long do we think Aelfwine stayed with the elves?  Did he wait fifty years to see a child grow up?  Did he get to witness a wedding ceremony?  Did he meet houseless fea?  I don’t think he could have done all of that.  Maybe a different Man who spent his entire life with the elves could, but then when was this written?  When the elves were still marrying and having children in Middle Earth or when so much time had gone by that they had begun to fade already?

Whoever wrote this was told a lot of information by elves instead of experiencing it firsthand, the same way he heard the stories from the First Age from the elves instead of being there.  Maybe it was one elf who talked to him, maybe several different ones.  But did those elves accurately describe their society the way it was, give him the easiest description, or explain the way it was supposed to be?  If I was describing modern-day America, would I discuss premarital sex or just our dating and marriage customs?  Maybe people would come away from a talk with me thinking that moving in together equated to marriage for Americans in the early 21st century.  And I don’t even have an agenda to show America in a certain way, I'm just bad at explaining.  Did the elves talking to what may have been the first Man they had seen in millennia have an agenda in the way they presented themselves?

Or did the writer himself have an agenda?  Imagine going to see these beautiful, mythical, perfect beings, and you find out that they behave in the same immoral ways Men do.  Do you want to share the truth back home?  Or do you leave out things that don't match your worldview? Did Aelfwine come back wanting to tell people what elves were really like?  Or did he want to say “this is how you can be holy and perfect like an elf”?

Anyone studying the Age of Exploration will tell you that Europeans neber wrote about new cultures objectively, and often things were made up to fit the writer’s idea of what savages looked like. For example, my Native American history teacher in college told a story of how explorers described one tribe who (sensibly) didn't wear clothes as cannibals, because cannibalism and going around naked went together in their minds and not because of any actual incident.  Unbiased scholarship barely existed yet. Even Tolkien was extremely biased and tended to be imperialistic, as we all know.  There’s absolutely no reason to think that Aelfwine wasn’t biased in his own way.  (Of course, now we have to consider what biases a Danish or English man from the centuries around 1000 would have when it comes to things like gender roles. I assume he would have been more into divorce and female warriors than the elves are said to be.)

But is that what Tolkien intended? Probably not. He probably wanted LACE to be descriptive. But he also never got much of a chance to analyse the essay after the fact, which might have led to him discussing its accuracy and even the exact issues I just pointed out about explorers. Anyway, we know he's biased, and honestly, what he intended has never slowed down the fandom before.

Conclusion

In short, I take LACE to be a prescriptive document describing the way elvish culture is supposed to be, not a blueprint I have to stick to in order to correctly portray elves.  I also don’t believe the document that’s available for us to read existed even in the early Fourth Age, where The Lord of the Rings leaves off.  There maybe have been some document outlining the moral behavior of elves, as a set of laws, but thats not the Laws and Customs we have.

Of course, canon is up to you to interpret.  If you want Feanor discussing LACE with someone back in Valinor, go ahead.  If you want to throw out LACE entirely, go ahead.  It’s not even a canonical essay.  All of this analysis is honestly useless when you consider the fact that no part of LACE exists in any canonical book.

But that’s Tolkien analysis for you.

[nerdy-catfish]

So I’m aware I’ve never posted here before and might never do it again, but I had to get this brilliant semi-crack theory I had out into the world of people who will understand it:

Movie!Thranduil is from Gondolin.

Keep in mind I’ve only watched the Theatrical Cut of the Hobbit movies, so I don’t know if anything in the Extended version contradicts what I’m saying, but here are the points that put this idea into my head, judiciously sprinkled with quotes because that’s fun. This got longer than I expected, so it’s under a cut if I can figure that out.

Thranduil’s isolationism in the films is a lot more pronounced than it was in the books, in my opinion: “I want the watch doubled at our borders; all roads, all rivers. Nothing moves but I hear of it. No one enters this kingdom ... and no one leaves it.” That sounds very familiar. Maybe he’s trying to do better than Turgon did. After all, Gondolin did last nearly to the end of the First Age by keeping out of things, and was only revealed because of two “outsiders” Turgon let in, Húrin and later Maeglin. Perhaps Thranduil is trying to continue with that idea. “The fortunes of the world will rise and fall, but here in this kingdom we will endure.”

Then we have the scene where Legolas captures the Dwarves: I know the captions claim he says “This is an ancient Elvish blade,” but you can clearly hear the word “Gondolin” in there. (My Sindarin isn’t as good as my Quenya, so I don’t know exactly what he’s saying, sorry 😅) And his next line is “Forged by my kin.” He could be referring to Elves in general, as opposed to Dwarves, but he specifically mentioned Gondolin in the last line.

Later when Tauriel and Thranduil are discussing Legolas we have this exchange:

“I do not think you would allow your son to pledge himself to a lowly Silvan Elf.”

“No! You are right. I would not.”

Again, this could be because Thranduil (and therefore Legolas, at least in part) is a Sinda of Doriathrin descent and Tauriel is a Silvan Elf, but there really wasn’t much conflict between these two groups in the books. They were both originally Teleri, the Silvan Elves took Sindar as their leaders multiple times, and we know that the Sindar of Doriath who came to Greenwood “were soon merged with the Silvan Elves, adopting their language and taking names of Silvan form and style.” (Unfinished Tales, “The History of Galadriel and Celeborn”, Appendix B) Heck, even Legolas’s name itself is Silvan in form. This ‘class’-based exclusion of Tauriel as a suitor would make a lot more sense if Thranduil were a Noldo, part of a group known for their pride. Even if he’s one of the Sindar native to Nevrast who were part of Turgon’s people, Gondolin seems to have been mainly Noldorin in culture. I seem to remember that Turgon’s court specifically still used Quenya after the ban, but I can’t find any direct quote about this beyond “[...] the High Speech of the West was spoken only by the lords of the Noldor among themselves.” (The Silmarillion, “Of the Noldor in Beleriand”) It makes sense that Thranduil would consider his family “above” the Wood-elves, having lived in one of the greatest Elven cities in history.

And finally there’s Thranduil’s dramatic line “Do not talk to me of dragon-fire. I know its wrath and ruin. I have faced the great serpents of the north.” A Sinda born in Doriath during the First Age or elsewhere in the early Second Age would have had no opportunity to encounter "serpents of the north”. But an Elf of Gondolin? As far as I can tell there were dragons present in every version of the Fall of Gondolin: “[...] and with them came dragons of the brood of Glaurung, and they were become now many and terrible.” (The Silmarillion, “Of Tuor and the Fall of Gondolin”)

When I remembered there was an Elf called Legolas Greenleaf in The Fall of Gondolin, I was fully sold. He’s even of the House of the Tree! It makes perfect sense. Thranduil lived through the Fall of Gondolin, and Legolas of Gondolin and Legolas of Mirkwood are the same person.

Of course this is all just from a film perspective, since the movies contradict the books in several places, but this was a fun semi-AU-theory thing that helped distract me from the glaring discrepancies I noticed while watching the Hobbit films for the first time after having read the Silmarillion and become obsessed with Tolkien's lore 😆

Thanks for reading if you got this far!