#sorry til/ions of the world but i ain't got no time for that

[masteroftheseas]

On Tides...

Whaaat is this is Ossë-mun inspired to write an old-fashioned headcanon meta post again stay calm maybe it’s just a drill.

So a recent conversation reminded me of an on-again off-again headcanon I have had in regard to science and Ainur and Middle Earth. In our world, in reality, we know that the moon’s gravitational pulls is what control the tides of the sea. And when I very first made this blog, I allowed the idea of Tilion exerting a pull on the sea to be a thing, because fact, right?

But I feel like no.

It starts with the age-old favorite game of anyone who writes for Silmarillion characters called “Which Version of the Legendarium Am I Using Today?”. As an Ossë, I like me some Lost Tales shit, because that’s where this nerd actually shines. He gets cut down to like one or two sentences in the final version, which is sad, but he’s got whole chapters in the earlier drafts. So I’m referencing shit that might not be your version of the story, though much of my thoughts about the moon still line up with Silmarillion lore.

The moon is not originally a construct of the Ainur or Eru. It didn’t exist for a pretty long time, because initially it was in the lamps, which were then turned into trees when the Ainur settled on their pretty island, and they stayed trees for a decent chunk of time until Melkor had to go fuck shit up with his pet spider. So if the moon controls the tide, that would mean there was a period of Middle Earth where there wasn’t a tide. And that would imply that Ulmo and Yavanna (and Eru) created life forms that were destined to die immediately because there are many plants and animals that actually rely on tides to survive. Which I’m not really buying as a thing, because while Ainur can be shits, they tend to be mildly intelligent shits, and I think they’d know better than to destine that many creatures to a swift and certain demise.

Also, the reason the Moon affects the tide in our world isn’t magic or random, but actual gravitational pull of a fucking planet orbiting our own. Gravity and shit, yo.Tilion sailing through the stars with the moon =/= a planet. The moon is described sometimes as like, a crystal? And sometimes as a flower of Telperion. It is in neither version a fucking planet of its own right that has a strong gravitational pull. 

Further, initially Middle Earth wasn’t round. Which would fuck up the concept of tide and gravity because currently we have two a day due to both the Earth rotating and the moon orbiting. In a world where the ‘earth’ doesn’t rotate because it’s flat, that would mean... I don’t even know. One giant tide? Erbody on the West Coasts batten down those hatches Tilion’s coming and he gots him an Ocean on his heels??

And let’s not forget Tilion is a Maia of Oromë. Not a maia of the sea. So you’re telling me some hunter is now controlling the ocean whether actual sea-spirits like it or not? Hmmm.

So my personal opinion on the tides:

My idea in how tides do is the Ainur’s favorite explanation, it’s in the Song yo. I generally consider tides to be something of Ossë’s domain, as he is described as “master of the seas that wash the shores of Middle-earth”. Generally I write it as something within his Song, something that is intrinsically part of him without thought. Tides to Ossë are very much like breathing to people. You don’t consciously think about it, it does its own automatic thing, but you can control it manually if you desire.

I don’t consider Tilion or the moon to have any influence on the tides. High and low tides happen twelve hours apart from each other, but not always at the same time of day; the moon ‘being in positions’ in the sky would also follow certain time tables, and perhaps Elves or others assumed there was a correlation. But in my vision of Middle Earth, there isn’t.