#unfinished tales

[distinguisheddwarffriend]

Yo I've got another for my by now mixed Tolkien survey series:

(yes, I over-simplified stuff, and had to exclude Tulkas, Melkor & Mandos for lack of answer-options, just comment if you'd have picked them)

[lowcountry-gothic]

Ulmo, Valar of the Sea, Tuor, and Voronwë from Tolkien's Unfinished Tales, by Alba Real.

[celebrimborium]

the rings of power + tolkien’s descriptions of canon characters

[anneangel]

Tolkien said that one of the things he didn't like about LotR was that the book was too short.

In a way I agree with him, because I found the ending so rushed [others always say "that evil" is destroyed in the middle of the book and everything after is just an long epilogue] and yet I found it rushed. And I wanted a lot of the appendices to be narrated chapters, it was interesting to see what the lives of each member of the Fellowship were like in the appendices, but I wanted chapters about.

And I would also like to have seen, narrated chapters, of the Battle of Dale, with Brand (Son of Bain, son of Bard) and Dáin fighting three days against enemy armies and dying. I wish had read a narrative of Thranduill and Celeborn uniting in Mirkwood and destroying Dul Guldur once and for all, and then dividing the region between them. When LotR informs that the others would not come to battle because they already had war at their gates, I wanted the plot to split to show this in other parts.

A better development of the romance between some characters would also be interesting, the Tale of Aragorn and Arwen already makes me cry every time I read it, but I feel like it would be more interesting as a narrative than an appendix. If their marriage went on for another 100 pages I wouldn't mind. And I would like Arwen and Elrond's conversations not to be just subtext.

Faramir and Éowyn, I really love them as a couple, but I think more pages dedicated to their romance would also be interesting. Sam and Rose? I would have liked it more if we had more mentions of the girl throughout the journey, if Sam mentioned her more often throughout the plot, so maybe the end wouldn't seem so sudden. When I say that don't like the development of the "love pairings" in LotR, it's not that I don't like the characters or the ships, but that the narrative wasn't enough for me. Don't get me wrong, I love LotR. But I wanted there to be more to be "narrated" than "told" or "implied" or "pointed out in the appendices."

Yes, I also thought the book was too short. There is a lot between the lines that could come to light more. It could have been another thousand pages. And perhaps it still wasn't enough. How could anyone think that LotR is a very long book?

Maybe that's the problem with Tolkien creating such a complex Universe with such interesting characters: no matter how long the book was, it would never be enough. Because as a fan, I would always want more and more of it. More immersion at all points. Is it always like this with authors who create universes that seem so incredible to read? And when it's gone, it's not enough to fill the void.

And all the posthumous books, like The Silmarillion, or Unfinished Tales (and others), with the tone of "organized drafts" and "told" instead of narrated most of the time, weren't enough for me. I still wanted so much more. And I never will have it. Don't get me wrong, I liked the posthumous books, I think Christopher Tolkien did a good work. But still, when reading, I always asked myself "if this had been published by Tolkien during his lifetime, would it have been like this? What would he have changed yet? What would he have more refined?".

Because, as much as other fans like to see posthumous books as a "canonical" part of the work, like complements. I can only see as unfinished drafts, which it truly are. No matter how well organized are, even The Silmarillion is just a draft organized in the best way, Christopher T says this.

The letters don't count for me either, because Tolkien changed his mind about several things, just like in the drafts.

So I feel that, although the Tolkien Universe is vast, there are a lot of drafts and letters, and little work is actually completed. I liked the posthumous books and the fact that they expanded the universe even further and provided more information. But it becomes a “vicious cycle”, as the information contained there also brings more desire for it be narrated by Tolkien himself in an book he finished (but will never be! Unfortunately).

And that saddens me. Because I wanted so much more. And Tolkien didn't live long enough to give it. In the end, it's a mix of happiness for what Tolkien gave, and sadness for what he still could have given.

[runawaymun]

1 for celrond. Cel’s holding the mistletoe :3

had to adjust the pose a little since they don't have a big height difference (usually). Loved doing this one!!! Thank you!!!

Winter YCH prompts

[tatyafinwe]

Galadriel wearing the Elessar

“For Galadriel Celebrimbor made the greatest of his works (save the Three Rings only) ... Wielding the Elessar all things grew fair about Galadriel, until the coming of the Shadow to the Forest.”  (Unfinished Tales)

Painted by Celebrimbor in universe

[khorazir]

“Rómenna”

The eleventh of eleven new watercolours depicting places in Middle-earth (and Númenor) for an upcoming book. All eleven artworks are available as A4 prints at my shop now, either as single prints or as a set:

[spruceneedles]

Lúthien

[seeyouatthesecondmusic]

i just started reading the quest of erebor in unfinished tales and. gandalf just said thorin called bilbo 'soft and silly'

i love this book so much already. book bagginshield is real confirmed

[gwydpolls]

Lucian's Library 7

Feel free to suggest never written books you wish you could read.

Some items suggested by impatient readers for still living authors.

[aredhels]

At that time Aldarion first looked on Erendis with love; and he stood long in the stern looking back as the Palarran passed out to sea. It is said that he hastened his return, and was gone less time than he had designed; and coming back he brought gifts for the Queen and the ladies of her house, but the richest gift he brought for Erendis, and that was a diamond.

[maedhrosdefender]

no one ever talks about the wild ass experience that is reading ALL of great tales immediately after silm and then trying to be a functioning member of this fandom. like i don’t know what canon is anymore i don’t know what’s headcanon what’s fanon what’s earlier draft what’s silm canon and what’s something christopher tolkien said in his unfinished tales footnotes. was daeron luthien’s brother or in love w her?? melko or melkor, maidros or maedhros?? tevildo canon?? legolas of gondolin?? idek anymore bro.

[sillylotrpolls]

Thanks to @feltelures for the suggestion!

[runawaymun]

anyway they are soooooooo married

[thefrostfallathenaeum]

This- This broke me

I need more, I really do.

I understand Sauron is, well, Sauron. But they have such chemistry.

I'll keep shipping them. Alatariel x Sauron forever AKA Galadriel x Halbrand

[lanthanum12]

Here's a new addition to the Cursed Names from the Legendarium List; Mairen, daughter of Amandil (no not the well known one, Elros's grandson)

Her name is literally just the feminine version of Mairon...

Someone really said 'let's name our child after Sauron'

Not to mention there's an Aulendil who's her uncle. I think the corruption of Numenor started waaaay earlier then previously thought.

Also Eonwe was in Numenor helping out for a while, and well like many others I headcanon him as being a good friend to Mairon once upon a time. So I'm not saying that he told them a lot of really happy stories about Mairon and forgot to mention the Sauron part but I'm also not not saying it. (This is canon in my Niennandil-verse AU)