#the numenorean kings

[ebaeschnbliah]

“Dark is the Shadow, and yet my heart rejoices” ...

... Arwen said. “For you, Estel, shall be among the great whose valour will destroy it.’’

But Aragorn answered: ‘‘Alas! I cannot foresee it, and how it may come to pass is hidden from me. Yet with your hope I will hope. And the Shadow I utterly reject.”

JRR Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, APPENDICES: Annals of the kings and rulers, The Númenórean Kings, Tale of Aragorn and Arwen

[whats-in-a-sentence]

Fëanor was the greatest of the Eldar in arts and lore, but also the proudest and most selfwilled.

"The Lord of the Rings: Appendices - Appendix A" - J.R.R. Tolkien

[tenth-sentence]

But in Gondor south of the mountains things were less evil, and before spring came Beregond son of Beren had overcome the invaders.

"The Lord of the Rings: Appendices - Appendix A" - J.R.R. Tolkien

[velvet4510]

For all the male domination of the line of the Rulers of Númenor and Gondor, let’s not forget that Elendil, and thus Aragorn, are actually directly descended from the female line of the House of Elros, via Elros’ great-great-granddaughter Silmariën.

AND let’s not forget that Aragorn’s only connection to Anárion’s line (the actual line of Gondorian Kings) is through his female ancestor Fíriel - who actually is the one who joined the two lines by marrying Isildur’s descendant Arvedui.

Aragorn would never have had any claim to the throne, let alone existed, if it weren’t for those two very important women. The Kings did NOT do it all by themselves.

I just love that Tolkien wrote it like that, instead of having Aragorn be descended entirely from royal men. There’s a lot of “oh his father was this important guy” and “he was the son of this cool dude” but if you look closely, in the end it comes down to two foremothers.

[sesamenom]

no living man may hinder me: The Gilded Wraith of Numenor

from the Reverse Gondolin AU, based on @who-needs-words's idea for Ar-Pharazon's fate! (they also wrote a ficlet for it, check it out here!)

[glorfindelridesagain]

Legolas talking of the Paths of the Dead: They say many years ago Isildur cursed these mountains.

[A long time ago]

Isildur: Fuck these mountains!

[pacificgasandelectric]

having some Thoughts N Feelings abt elrond & elros + the historical practice of rulers taking children from the families of their tributaries or even their (nominal) allies as hostages

primarily that (1) the Politics of the Fëanorions having the heirs of Fingolfin AND Thingol AND All Three of the Three Houses as their hostages is like… soooo overlooked and underutilized in the fanworks I’ve seen

and (2) i think it would be rlly funny and also fucked-up if most elves are Totally Scandalized And Horrified by this Weird Human Behavior of “hostage-taking” if/when they see it happening in the second & third ages as human settlements & societies in M-E grow & develop, while Elrond is just like, “this is Normal, what are you Talking about”

[oh-dear-so-queer]

'(...) But these evils can be amended, so strong and gay a spirit is in him. His grief he will not forget; but it will not darken his heart, it will teach him wisdom.'

"The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" - J.R.R. Tolkien

[arofili]

@halfelvenweek​ day three | heritage ✦ númenóreans | the king’s men

Now this yearning grew ever greater with the years; and the Númenóreans began to hunger for the undying city that they saw from afar, and the desire of everlasting life, to escape from death and the ending of delight, grew strong upon them; and ever as their power and glory grew greater their unquiet increased. For though the Valar had rewarded the Dúnedain with long life, they could not take from them the weariness of the world that comes at last, and they died, even their kings of the seed of Eärendil; and the span of their lives was brief in the eyes of the Eldar.

[...]

But the King said: ‘And does not Eärendil, my forefather, live? Or is he not in the land of Aman?’

To which they answered: ‘You know that he has a fate apart, and was adjudged to the Firstborn who die not; yet this also is his doom that he can never return again to mortal lands. Whereas you and your people are not of the Firstborn, but are mortal Men as Ilúvatar made you. Yet it seems that you desire now to have the good of both kindreds, to sail to Valinor when you will, and to return when you please to your homes. That cannot be.’

[silver-grasp]

Like to be clear I am 100% in the Rings of Power hate camp at this point, for a long time I was taking a wait and see stance but now that we’re actually getting to see some of what they’re doing I am duly unimpressed and pissed off. That said, some of the criticisms the rest of you all are making are driving me fucking insane lmao.... some of you are acting like the Second Age already exists as a cohesive novel-like narrative that can readily be adapted to screen when that truly could not be farther from the case, lmao. The Second Age is the least narratively developed age of Middle Earth and exists almost exclusively as a three-millenium historical index. It works for the LotR appendices and it works as a springboard for fanfiction but it does not work as a cohesive story - certainly not in its entirety. This is why hand-wringing about the timeline compression drives me insane. They had two options! One, (which, for the record, I think would have been a better choice) would be to have each season of the show cover a particular section of the Second Age, with large timeskips in between seasons and minor time compression within them. Ergo, first season be the founding of Numenor, Gil-Galad’s early kingship, and the founding of Eregion by Galadriel, Celeborn, and Celebrimbor, season two would be Annatar, the forging of the Rings, Numenorean expansion, and Sauron’s war on Eregion and Celebrimbor’s death, then seasons three and four would be Sauron in Numenor + aggressive Numenorean imperialism, and the Downfall of Numenor and the Last Alliance, respectively. The issue here is that they’d have to replace their mortal characters every season, and I can see why they’d be hesitant to do that. Instead, they seem to have taken option two, which is move all the important events up to the timeframe of Late Numenor so that they can maintain their cast of mortal characters. I can see the logic there! I don’t think, on its own, it’s an inherently bad choice - I just think that current evidence suggests that they’re not doing it well, which is the greater issue at hand.

[ebaeschnbliah]

On his way Aragorn came to the borders of Lórien  

It came to pass that when Aragorn was nine and forty years of age he returned from perils on the dark confines of Mordor, where Sauron now dwelt again and was busy with evil. He was weary and he wished to go back to Rivendell and rest there for a while ere he journeyed into the far countries; and on his way he came to the borders of Lórien and was admitted to the hidden land by the Lady Galadriel.

He did not know it, but Arwen Undómiel was also there, dwelling again for a time with the kin of her mother. She was little changed, for the mortal years had passed her by; yet her face was more grave, and her laughter now seldom was heard. But Aragorn was grown to full stature of body and mind, and Galadriel bade him cast aside his wayworn raiment, and she clothed him in silver and white, with a cloak of elven-grey and a bright gem on his brow. Then more than any king of Men he appeared, and seemed rather an Elf-lord from the Isles of the West. And thus it was that Arwen first beheld him again after their long parting; and as he came walking towards her under the trees of Caras Galadhon laden with flowers of gold, her choice was made and her doom appointed.

Then for a season they wandered together in the glades of Lothlórien , until it was time for him to depart. And on the evening of Midsummer Aragorn, Arathorn’s son, and Arwen daughter of Elrond went to the fair hill, Cerin Amroth, in the midst of the land, and they walked unshod on the undying grass with elanor and niphredil about their feet. And there upon that hill they looked east to the Shadow and west to the Twilight, and they plighted their troth and were glad.

And Arwen said: ‘‘Dark is the Shadow, and yet my heart rejoices; for you, Estel, shall be among the great whose valour will destroy it.’’

But Aragorn answered: ‘‘Alas! I cannot foresee it, and how it may come to pass is hidden from me. Yet with your hope I will hope. And the Shadow I utterly reject. But neither, lady, is the Twilight for me; for I am mortal, and if you will cleave to me, Evenstar, then the Twilight you must also renounce.’’

And she stood then as still as a white tree, looking into the West, and at last she said: ‘‘I will cleave to you, Dúnadan , and turn from the Twilight. Yet there lies the land of my people and the long home of all my kin.’’ She loved her father dearly.

JRR Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, APPENDICES: Annals of the kings and rulers, The Númenórean Kings, Tale of Aragorn and Arwen 

[whats-in-a-sentence]

There were thirty-one kings in Gondor after Anárion who was slain before the Barad-dûr.

"The Lord of the Rings: Appendices - Appendix A" - J.R.R. Tolkien

[tenth-sentence]

Dior was her son.

"The Lord of the Rings: Appendices - Appendix A" - J.R.R. Tolkien

[velvet4510]

If you say no, tell me why not!

(I am aware I misspelled; I meant primogeniture)

[sesamenom]

some funny snippets of a tentative timeline for the reverse gondolin au

[sweetearthandnorthernsky]

thinking thoughts about gondorian coinage rn [for no particular reason other than gondor go brrr] and i feel like on one side is the white tree & on the other are the seven stars in an arc. this leads to ‘heads or tails�� in gondor to be referred to as ‘[the] Tree or [the] Stars’