#so he still sings the noldolante

[thesummerestsolstice]

The voyage west at the end of Return of the King is extremely funny to me, because just look at who's on board. You've got:

Frodo Baggins, hero of the Shire, in need of healing but also excited to see Valinor and meet the legendary elves who live there, a gentle soul

Elrond Halfelven, as kind as a summer, looking forward to peace west of the sea, probably wants to go chill out in a cottage with his wife for the next thousand years

Which seems fine. And then we get to everyone else.

Gandalf, cheeky bastard who's gotten so used to being a weird old wizard in Middle-Earth that's he's forgotten what Maia are supposed to act like, will immediately cause problems

Bilbo Baggins, noted storyteller, definitely planning to break into Aule's halls to see his dwarf friends, will ask all the elves weird questions and then sing about their lives and deaths in front of them, will immediately cause problems

Galadriel, who came to Aman half for Celebrian and Elrond's sake and half to taunt all her cousins about being the only one of them to survive the First Age, enjoys causing problems, will immediately cause many problems

(Also, to be clear, these are not three isolated problem-causers, they absolutely spent the entire trip to Valinor actively planning to give Amanyar society and the Valar an aneurysm.)

I just love the idea of Elrond, now reunited with Celebrian, and Frodo happily having tea with Elwing and Earendil, with nothing to interrupt them but the gentle sounds of the tides.

Meanwhile Galariel, Bilbo, and Gandalf are collectively bullying Mandos into releasing Maglor Feanorian from the halls because:

Bilbo wants to read him his translation of the Noldolante, which is written as a cheery Hobbit drinking song

Elrond always complained about how Gandalf and Maglor were both insufferably vague about advice and Gandalf needs to make sure he's more infuriating than Maglor as a matter of his wizardly pride

He still owes Galadriel money

[ryoalouette]

Customized Feanorian Stars

So the other day (or week?? Coz the idea has been sitting for quite a while between IRL’s busy af-ness) I had the idea to customize the Star of Feanor for his sons (and grandson). So that’s about what, 7-8 stars, kinda depending on the twins?

First star to be drawn was naturally Maedhros’. And just like every other Feanorians, he makes it hard for me coz... well. He got absolutely no mention about craft. A Discord fren who knows a whole lot of Tolkien more than I am suggested the use of sculpting, in reference of his mother name Maitimo, as in “well-formed”. I actually still have the sketch somewhere, but then I just. Hm, maybe I’d like to look at another angle of Maedhros. Oh I know! His capture, torture, and how he was freed by Fingon by cutting off his shackled right hand. Also the idea of bright flames inside the star being... Well, he certainly died a fiery death so..

And then we have my husbando the Drama King the last Feanorian Maglor. The idea was simple enough; inside the star being some form of water (coz he threw his Silmaril to the sea, and legends say that to this day he wondered near the shore, singing laments and Noldolante), outside being a harp. I was actually debating internally what kind of harp it should be, then pestered several of my discord servers if people there knows the anatomy of a harp (as in, how many strings to harps usually have?). And as I’m apparently a type of masochist (but kind of lazy), I also drew the tuning disks. Lazily. The color gold of his harp is a nod to his mother name. Hint: it have something to do with gold. Maglor’s star: simple in theory but effing troublesome (fondly).

Third to be drawn is naturally Celegorm’s star. He’s a hunter and he got Huan. Admittedly, the center of his star is rather confusing for me to draw coz it’s not like he got “an element” like his 2 older brothers have; he died in Doriath, so that’s trees? But then I didn’t want the brothers to have same “elements” coz if that’s the case, Celegorm, Caranthir and Curufin would have freaking trees as “elements”. So I just. You know what, he’s a hunter, let’s make his star somewhat furry. And you know what? It works. Sort of.

I might not render Huan perfectly, but I did use Irish blood hound as base and just googled how doggos sleep. So walla, a sleeping Huan somewhat surrounding Celegorm’s star. And a bow coz... hunter.

Nao the fourth one is equally as problematic as the first son: absolutely no mention about Caranthir having a craft. Actually, there’s barely anything about him unless if it’s about Haleth or how he manages to trade with the Dwarves and having a relation with Man (outside Haleth), until Ulfang betrays them all in Nirnaeth Arnoediad. So I just throw my hands and just go to that Discord friend that I mentioned, and just pokes him I guess lmao-

Ended up with that greenery in the middle of his star and green cloak (coz Discord fren said that he’s rather attached at the idea of Caranthir and green due to a Silm artist), with Haleth’s coat-of-arms barely visible. Also cloak be rather ragged coz I don’t think Caranthir and his brothers would have the luxury of having brand new items like High Kings would have?

Now Curufin. For the inside of his star, I might or might not be inspired from a fic where Celegorm said that Curufin makes him think of smokes? Eh, I’ll just put the link if someone asks what fic is that. Admittedly I also got to look for it so... And since Curufin is a smith, just go the easy way with anvil and hammer: blacksmith’s trusty items.

Ambarussa! The sixth out of seven stars- tho this one is for two people instead of one like the other Feanorian stars. Especially considering that they seem to never separated (unless in one version of which one of the twins get burned with the ships). They’re apparently also hunters. And for their “element”, well. You know what Havens of Sirion and the Burning of the Ships have in common? It’s near the sea. So if you take a minute to look at the inside of their star, bottom is the sea, above is fire. Yeah. RIP Ambarussa.

Celebrimbor, the last Feanorian Star I modified/made from the original Star of Feanor! At first I was tempted to draw the doors of Moria LOL then the One Ring. And then: oh right, One Ring was created by Sauron; Celebrimbor only does the three elven rings. Inside the star being metal-abstract thing. Am actually unsure if it shows you people that it’s supposed to be liquid silver.

[sweetteaanddragons]

The Void

It’s a question from a student that first draws him.

It’s the same lecture Rumil gives every year to the bright eyed students in his introductory course at the University in Tirion. He is in the middle of listing the reasons his Sarati alphabet was eventually replaced by Tengwar, and one of the students raises her hand.

“Did you invent the Tengwar too, Professor?”

“No,” he says, a little sourly, because the Tengwar is a better system, but there is still something about the elegant simplicity of Sarati that he misses.

“So who did?” she persists, and -

And Rumil opens his mouth and realizes he doesn’t know.

“A precocious little upstart,” he says without thinking about it, and the whole class laughs and moves on.

They’re young. They don’t remember the endless debates, fierce enough to rival the shift away from Þ. They don’t quite realize how odd It is that he cannot remember the name of the elf whose system of writing replaced his own.

A precocious little upstart, he had said, and for a moment he had inexplicably felt fond.

The moment the lecture is finished, Rumil snatches up his notes and retreats to where he always goes when he needs answers he doesn’t quite dare ask.

The library.

. . 

There are plenty of books analyzing Tengwar. He sorts through them all until he finds the oldest, the one to introduce it. 

This is no scribe’s copy, he discovers quickly as he flips through it; this is the original, written in a hasty hand, every stroke of the quill blazing with excitement. It begins in Sarati before introducing its alphabet and shifting into it with a speed that must have bewildered the original audience. 

Surely he has read this before. Surely he must have, as soon as Tengwar came to his attention. Surely - 

Suggestions for the Improvement of Our Alphabet is written grandly across the first page. A more personal note is scratched underneath: 

To Master Rumil, with my compliments.

To Master Rumil.

The book shakes in his hands.

It takes four attempts for him to notice that no matter how he tries to look at it, his eyes always glance away from the name written beneath.

He rips through the library mercilessly, scorning sleep, until he once again finds a name his eyes glance away from. He snatches it up and keeps hunting until the stack of books and pamphlets totters in his arms.

Suggestions for the Improvement of the Forging of Metals.

On the Making of Jewels.

On the Importance of Þ.

On the Imperative of Journeying East.

On the Statue of Miriel.

Miriel.

There is only one woman in these lands who has ever borne that name.

. . .

The work is - personal. Surprisingly so. 

And passionate, more so than he would have thought anyone would have dared to be once the judgement had been handed down. 

Miriel had died in childbirth, he remembers, and his mind tries to slip away from that thought, but he catches it and holds on with all his might.

Childbirth.

Miriel had died in childbirth.

Yet he can’t remember anyone ever speaking of her child.

He can’t remember.

A scroll containing the genealogy of the House of Finwe is not difficult to find. It all but falls onto the table from his shaking hands, and there they are, the familiar lines: Finarfin, Fingolfin, Findis, Lalwen. Findis and Lalwen’s names stand alone; Fingolfin and Finarfin’s split into long, complicated branches. Off to one side, there is Nerdanel, and her son Maglor, of course, and her grandson Celebrimbor -

His eyes skate away from it whenever he tries to look at it for too long. A blinding pain is building in his head, but he grits his teeth and squints his eyes and looks anyway.

Celebrimbor is the grandson of Nerdanel, but he is not the son of Maglor. He is the son of -

He takes a deep breath and shuts his eyes against the sudden stab of pain.

He is the son of Nirivel, who is not the daughter of Nerdanel, which means Nerdanel must have had another son - 

He bites his lip hard enough to draw blood, but he clings to the thought. Celebrimbor is the son of Nirivel and - someone. That’s all that matters right now.

Nerdanel herself is not the daughter of Finwe, but she’s still on the genealogy. Which means - 

Spikes of pain force him to all but collapse into his chair, but he holds on.

Which means she had married a son of Finwe. A son that is not Fingolfin or Finarfin.

A precocious little upstart, he had said, inexplicably fond.

So. So there had been - someone. Someone who had sired at least two sons. 

Someone who had wanted to go east.

And they had gone east, some of them. They had fought a war against — 

Against Sauron, yes, but it hadn’t been just him, that had come later, there had been, there had been — 

He all but staggers to the section on the war. He needs sleep, he thinks blearily, but he can’t not yet, not until he sees.

There was a war, a war against M̨͠͞͝o̧̧͘͞r̵̸̶͢ǵ̷̨̧͟o̧̕͏t̡̕͡h̵͡. The darkness had fallen and F͏́͘҉e̸̸͟͟a͘͘҉͟n̵̨̕͘͡o̢̡̧͡r̨͞͠  had led his followers to Alqualonde and stolen boats with which to cross the ocean. But F͏́͘҉e̸̸͟͟a͘͘҉͟n̵̨̕͘͡o̢̡̧͡r̨͞͠ had died soon after the crossing, and his son, M҉̀á͜͡e͜͢͜d̴̴̷̡͡h̨̧́r̨҉̕̕͡ǫs͏͜҉, had become king, but he had been captured so Maglor had taken the crown and led his five remaining brothers.

Five remaining brothers.

Rumil tried to wipe away the blurriness from his eyes.

His hand comes away streaked with blood.

His hands feel numb, but he flips back in the book anyway. There had been something. Something about an oath.

To the everlasting darkness, they had sworn and then - didn’t - didn’t -  he almost, almost remembers -

He flips to the end.

M̨͠͞͝o̧̧͘͞r̵̸̶͢ǵ̷̨̧͟o̧̕͏t̡̕͡h̵͡ had been thrown out into the outer darkness, and that meant, that meant -

The book fell from his hands. He clutches his head in his hands as he tries to bite back a cry of pain.

Into the void. They had died and gone into the void, all except Maglor and little Celebrimbor. The first time he had seen the child, little Tyelpe had been twisting pieces of wire together into something that would have been impressive for someone twice his age, and Rumil had turned to - 

  F͏́͘҉e̸̸͟͟a͘͘҉͟n̵̨̕͘͡o̢̡̧͡r̨͞͠-

To the child’s grandfather and said, “That one’ll give you a run for your money one day,” and the man -

Dark hair, blurred face, but he remembered the stress lines that had formed around his eyes, lines that he had never remembered seeing before -

The man had said -

His one-time student had said -

The pain behind his eyes felt like fire.

That was what they called you. The Spirit of Fire. But that wasn’t your name, what was your name, WHAT WAS YOUR NAME - 

“Feanor,” he forces out, and he collapses onto the desk.

. . .

He wakes up later than he should in the morning. He’ll be late for his lecture, but it’s another introductory course; none of the students will dare to mention it to him.

He must have been working far too late into the night, he muses ruefully. He can’t even remember most of what he was looking at, and the quick eye he sweeps over his books selections hardly helps. He has everything from linguistics to the history of the Great War spread before him, and while those could arguably be linked, he can’t imagine what a book on forging is doing among them. 

He has no time for more than the swiftest of glances, though, his eyes just skating along the covers. He certainly doesn’t have time to try to recreate whatever thought process had seemed like a good idea at midnight last night. He ought to know better than to try to work that late.

He’ll ask a library aide to clean it all up, he thinks, except -

He snatches up Suggestions for the Improvement of Our Alphabet on impulse and takes it to the front desk.

Elariel smiles cheerfully at him as she notes the checkout down in her logbook. “This one again, Master Rumil?”

“Again?” he asks absently.

Her mouth opens to answer, but then a puzzled look crosses her face, and she shakes her head. “I thought - For a moment I thought I remembered - “ She shakes her head again, ruefully. “Never mind me, Master Rumil. My dreams are still clinging like cobwebs to my head.”

“I know the feeling,” he says, and he hurries off to class.

The book is still clutched tightly in his arms.

[finmoryo]

My favorite Tolkien related songs (all on Spotify and Youtube)

The Song of Durin by Clamavi de Profundis

A cover of the song Gimli sings in LOTR

It’s just so good

For another good song, listen to Lament for Boromir

Finrod and Sauron by Lind Erebros

This song rocks so hard

The russian accent is amazing and fits Sauron well 

Anything to do with this song battle makes me happy (in other words listen to the Clamavi de Profundis cover of the poem)

The Noldolante and Lay of Leithian Elven Oratories are so good. A mix of rock, instrumental, and other songs that I don’t know how to describe.

The Fall of Finrod by Rivendell

Yes, it’s another song about Finrod and Sauron’s battle

In fact, it’s a cover of it

A more metal cover

Starts off calmly, screams for a while, then becomes calm again, then screams at the end

Though it wouldn’t really call it screaming it’s just kind of a rough voice

I like this band. They cover some Tolkien poems but not in the melodic calm way Clamavi de Profundis does. 

Noldor (Dead Winter Reigns) by Blind Guardian

About the Doom of Mandos

Kinda makes me sad when I think about it, but this song is very much rock

Listen to the whole Nightfall in Middle-earth album. I bought a physical copy of this album just so I could listen to it in my car every day.

Eol the Dark by Feanor

Was apprehensive at first but then listened on repeat for a day

I like the more melodic parts when Eöl begs Maeglin and Aredhel to come back

Feanor by Númenor

I just really like the part where he sings the word Fëanor

It’s the only word I can understand

A great song by a great band who I need to listen to more

Not all of their songs are Tolkien related but are still good

In fact, one of them has Hansi Kürsch from Blind Guardian in it

Bauglir by Summoning

This band was too much screaming for me at first

But I learned to love them

Listened to this song first and it was really good even though it’s not singing

About Morgoth talking to Húrin

For the Kingdom I Shall Claim by Dwarrowdelf

Beginning reminds me of Land of the Dead by Summoning and also of some of the other songs from a different album by this artist

This whole album is about Aragorn w/ an Arwen song too

I’ve heard this album described as melodeath and it’s a style I very much love

Another good song from it is The Three Hunters, I just like the mention of Boromir

Listen to the Sons of Fëanor album you will not regret it

Her Mighty Heart - Keys of Orthanc

Metal but has some melodic bits

Éowyn fighting the Witchking

My cat left the room as soon as I started listening to this to write about it

[hopefullystillliving]

On the last cousins left.

I'm having a lot of feelings about Galadriel and Maglor right now. Like, ok. Imagine that you're in paradise. You have 27+ relatives, not counting any in-laws, on just your paternal grandfather's side. Not everything is perfect, but you can walk among the gods and live and never die and no one goes hungry or cold and it is Good.

And then you loose your grandfather, and then your mother, then your father and your home and your safety and you're cursed to fade or die when it should be anathema to your very being. And all your family does. In a matter of centuries out of your eternal life nearly all of that family is lost to you, because you left, or they did, or they ran or fought or stayed and died. Every time you get someone new, they die or leave as well, sometimes before you even knew them. And there are two people from that paradise left, your cousin, and your cousin once removed/nephew, and then he's dead too, because he trusted the monster who tortured your brother.

And you have Gil-galad, who may also be your nephew/cousin once removed or maybe not, and Elrond because Elros is already dead, who is your son-in-law/a child you raised (your son though you don't deserve to be called father), and Celebrian your daughter/cousin once removed (daughter-in-law), and your husband/someone who justly hates you, and anyone else there could have been is there no longer.

And Gil-Galad is dead now too, it was Sauron again. And Celebrian is tortured and must sail to the land you left when you were young and innocent and naive, to your home that you are exiled from. And your granddaughter/(your granddaughter) is going to be mortal, and her brothers may make the same choice.

And you still have your cousin. Your cousin whose father started this whole mess, who is a kinslayer who has killed your mother's kin, and a thief and a coward and cursed. Your cousin who is holy and proud and self-righteous as though she has done no wrong, who sheds her heritage like feathers from a swan for the slightest hope of redemption and yet refuses to ever yield. And hate and love are not exclusive feelings, because how can you not hate someone who has never helped and only caused harm to you (if indirectly) and how can you not love the only person you have left who understands, intimately, what it's like to fall from paradise with everything you've ever loved burning or freezing and dying around you.

And when you both are, perhaps, forgiven to the only extent it matters, who do you hate more? Your cousin, for hating in return? Your family, for dying? Your gods, your people, your heroes, for their best never being enough? Yourself, for surviving?

Galadriel and Maglor aren't soft with each other, I think, but they have no choice but to care. The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb, so they've forged their own. They aren't siblings, and aren't friends, and at this point after centuries of us-vs-them they probably only distantly think of each other as family. But they are cousins. They have held the corpses of each others's family, and mourned together. They have lived to see the ends of three Ages and the defeats of their two great enemies and gotten drunk together off the gidiness of it. Galadriel still speaks Quenya. Maglor still sings the Noldolante. And they're the last ones left. Just imagine.

[valasania-the-pale]

Following your excellent post about Nerdanel, I wonder how would she react had Maglor returned back to Aman. Would she talk to him at all? Even though he was genuinely remorseful? Would she still love and accept him? It's likely her favorite child, but one who had done unforgivable deeds of cruelty. And do you think Maglor would be still at least barely sane? I mean, his lonely wandering and singing to the waves doesn’t seem like he was mentally healthy. Thank you for your answer!

Oh, I absolutely think she would talk to Maglor. I think she would hunt him down at the first opportunity - a tearful embrace, shouting, a lot of pounding his his chest in impotent, aggrieved rage, and a lot of 'I'm sorrys' exchanged, mostly on Maglor's part.

While I'm not convinced Nerdanel would ever take Feanor back if he emerged from Mandos, I don't personally think she has much to hold against her sons. They were young when they took the oath, and they felt is consequences to the very end - I think were she ever to face any of them again, she would want to - NEED to - speak with them, to remind herself that they existed, that their mother didn't hate them and that she just wants them home and safe and free and happy. I think she would hold them accountable, but she's not the one they harmed (relatively speaking anyways); she would probably push him hard to speak with Olwe and whoever else is relevant to any sort of atonement, so that things can be laid to rest.

Personally I think that Maglor is probably Not Okay, but still relatively sane. I've read stuff where he's unhinged, and it just doesn't really fit what I think about him. the point of his long wandering, singing the Noldolante, is that he is filled with regret and grief, but not that he's lost it. It's an intentional act. I think if he truly did snap he'd probably get killed by some wanderer or wild beast, or throw himself in the sea at last like Maedhros. But as it stands, I'd imagine it's more 'I need a thousand year nap and intensive counseling and a goddamn hug' rather than 'I am *this* far from a break in reality.'

Thanks for the ask!