#yes it also includes Maglor

[ryoalouette]

Maglor, from modern Middle Earth: out of curiosity, has anyone talked to uh, the Maia steering the moon lately? 

Thranduil, realizing what Maglor is about to ask: (well then, here’s a form of entertainment ig)

Finrod: You mean Tirion?

Maglor: Yes him, Tyelko’s ex-buddy. Did he say anything odd while up there?

Finrod: Hmmm. I dunno, we can ask?

-

Maglor: EY OSSE YA DUMP HAVE YOU EVER HEARD OF YA FELLOW UP THERE IN THE SKY?

Osse: WHICH ONE YA BASTARD?

Maglor: THAT STUCK UP HUNTER

Osse: ‘SAID SOMETHING ABOUT SOME ODD METAL AND WEIRDASS MORTAL-SHAPED- POKING HIS ASS WITH SOME FLAG

Finrod: Wot??

[scatteredlight1]

Am I the villain...?

Instead of 'Am I the asshole' it's just silm characters except they're going 'Am I the villain...'.

Sons of Feanor version:

Maedhros: I might have stolen a couple of jewels from my uncle. For context, these jewels were made by my father and then stolen by others. However, when I picked up the jewels they burned me and I jumped into a chasm. I am now stuck in the halls of the dead, thinking about my past actions, and the leader around here, Mandos, is accusing me of being a villain. I have committed many crimes while I was getting these jewels back, including mass murder, theft, kidnapping, arson, starting a war against the bad guy who killed my father, and perhaps a few more. But I also saved a few people. This place keeps making me think: am I the real villain here? Am I the cause of all the problems? Am I at fault for allowing my brothers to roam unchecked?

Maglor: Am I the villain? Yes. I am the villain. I kidnapped innocent children after killing their parents brutally, burned down ships when my father asked, didn't protect my lands when my brother asked, and then I abandoned those kids I stole to wallow in self-pity. I'm contemplating whether or not I deserve to be called anything right now.

Celegorm: I just got killed by the son of this girl that I liked. My dog abandoned me for her, and she stole my family's jewel and refused to return it. And now this stupid god guy is accusing me of being a villain for not respecting a person's wishes? Am I the villain when I was abandoned by everyone and accused of crimes I did not commit?

Caranthir: I was just minding my own business, scamming people and getting in the money needed to fund a whole ass war and then my brothers decided we had to kill a bunch of people and I had to participate. So I did. Now I'm dead and this guy tells me I can't get money because I was basically a horror story told to children. Would I be the villain if I killed him? (He's already dead btw.)

Curufin: Whatever anyone else is saying, I am not the villain. But apparently, it's cool to post 'Am I the villain stuff' or so my brother said. So. I might've killed a bunch of people and I might've made weapons that harmed way more people. Does that make me the villain? I think not. Those people were keeping me and my brothers from our birthright. We asked them politely multiple times, but it didn't work. Sadly, we had to resort to violence, although we were set on achieving it through peace. Additionally, those people tried to ban our language, eradicate our culture, and refused to allow our refugees to settle under their protection because they were sanctimonious, prejudiced, and stuck-up.

Amrod: Can I be the villain when I've been dead since the beginning?

Amras: My twin was killed by my father, and then my father died. I proceeded to do unspeakable things to get revenge on the guy that firstly made my father insane enough to kill my twin and then my father. Anyone else who was injured was just collateral and completely accidental. Besides, I spent most of my time listening to my older brothers and following their orders, but this random guy I bumped into called me a villain. Am I really the villain?

[sotwk]

hi! in the spirit of showing oc love, I was wondering if there's a particular oc you're looking forward to introducing to people in upcoming projects?

I'm tripping over myself to answer this Ask! (Thank you thank you thank you, Ace!)

May I please introduce two?

I've been shy about sharing these because they're not only Silmarillion OCs (I'm still intimidated by the Silm fandom, even though I have many lovely Mutuals from there, you included), they're OC WIVES of Silm Canons. Two of the most popular Silm canons. I'm pretty sure OC creators have been flogged for that.

But since you asked... onward with SotWK AU reveals and spoilers! The stories are tragic because that's the First Age for you!

Velcálë Vanandur

Wife of Maglor and grandmother of Elvenqueen Maereth (wife of Thranduil)

SotWK Fancast: Zendaya Coleman as Velcálë

Her name means "flame doer" in Quenya.

Velcálë had one child with Maglor, a daughter named Laurinwen, who was born and grew up in Tirion.

She was a Noldorin apprentice who served directly under Vána, and was thus given the prestigious epithet "Vanandur" (Servant of Vána).

She was a great tender of gardens, and her songs could cause plants to immediately flower or bear fruit.

Only out of love and devotion to Maglor did she decide to follow the Fëanorians in Exile, taking their daughter with them.

Velcálë was greatly affected by the violence of her kin and constantly homesick for Valinor. A lover of light and warmth, she suffered in the harsh lands where her family dwelt.

The toll of her heartbreak muted the strength and power she possessed in Valimar to nearly nothing, although she did her best to help sustain their people by cultivating the lands for limited-scale food production.

Because she tried to hold Maglor back from "necessary" violence and constantly made him question his commitment to the Oath, she was disliked by all of her brothers-in-law, except for Maedhros.

Velcálë was eventually slain in the battle of Dagor Bragollach when Himlad fell, leading to a permanent estrangement between Maglor and his daughter, Laurinwen.

Elemírë

Wife of Glorfindel and twin sister of Elenwë (wife of Turgon) 

SotWK Fancast: Vanessa Kirby as Elemírë

Elemírë had a fierce warrior’s spirit, but violence of any kind was considered unbecoming by her family.

She joined the Exile because she did not want to be separated from her sister Elenwë, a gentle spirit whom she always sought to protect.

She was loved by her childhood friend, Glorfindel. Although she reciprocated his feelings, he was the more passionate and demonstrative one. Elemírë factored in Glorfindel's own decision to (reluctantly) join the Exile.

Elemírë nearly died trying to dive under the Grinding Ice to save her sister, but she was held back by Glorfindel. This embittered her heart towards him. Instead of following Turgon to Vinyamar (and eventually Gondolin), she decided to join Fingon’s people. 

Over the course of the decades, she grew into a skilled cavalry rider, and was accepted into the ranks of Fingon. She became devoted to Fingon for personally mentoring and training her. 

During the Long Peace, Glorfindel (who had missed and yearned for Elemírë all those years), sought permission from Turgon to leave Gondolin so he could seek her out.

He came to Hithlum reaffirming his love for her and seeking her hand in marriage. Elemírë would not say yes, but could not bring herself to refuse him either. Glorfindel committed to staying for as long as needed to convince her, and this courtship lasted for nearly half a century.

Eventually, Fingon himself encouraged Elemírë to realize and follow her true desires for peace and love. She betrothed herself to Glorfindel and returned to Gondolin with him.

The couple married and bore one child, a son named Ingwil.

As the Lady of the House of the Golden Flower, Elemírë was also one of its fiercest warriors. She fought alongside her husband for the first time in the Nirnaeth Arnoediad.

Elemírë died during the Fall of Gondolin, rescuing her son from an attacking fire drake, which she successfully slayed before perishing.

Thank you again for the ask @hobbitwrangler, and for encouraging my foray into the Silm fandom. I hope you (and anyone reading this) enjoy learning about these OC ladies! Maybe with the right amount of courage, time, and motivation, I may someday even write some actual one-shots including them!

For more SotWK AU headcanons: SotWK HC Masterlist

Elves HC Tag List: @a-world-of-whimsy-5 @achromaticerebus @acornsandoaktrees @aduialel @asianbutnotjapanese @auttumnsayshi @blueberryrock @conversacomsmaug @elan-ho-detto-elan-15 @entishramblings @glassgulls @heilith @heranintomyknife23times @ladyweaslette @laneynoir @lathalea @quickslvxrr @spacecluster @stormchaser819 @talkdifferently6 @tamryniel @tamurilofrivendell

Special Moots who might be interested tag: @emmanuellececchi @from-the-coffee-shop-in-edoras @scyllas-revenge @g-m-kaye @quillofspirit

Other useful links:

Introduction to SotWK

Fanfiction Masterlist

Fanfiction Request Guidelines

[thevalleyisjolly]

I think part of what troubles me about the opinion that Maglor and Maedhros were the “best” people to raise Elrond and Elros is that many (though not all) such interpretations often refer to fanon interpretations as if they were canon.  Which there’s nothing wrong with enjoying fanon!  But when popular fanon starts being treated as a definitive canon and subsequently starts being used as a lens for textual interpretation and engagement (and in some extreme cases, an excuse for bashing other characters), that’s when it gets a little eyebrow-raising. 

So in this post, I’m going to examine some of the more common fanon beliefs and headcanons around Maglor and Maedhros as parental figures/guardians to Elros and Elrond.  The point is not to debunk them and say that you cannot interpret the texts this way or enjoy them as a fan reading.  Indeed, if there was no textual or analytical basis for these headcanons altogether, they would not exist.  Neither is this meant to bash anyone.  Rather, I’d like to show that many of the assumptions we hold are nowhere near as solid or definitive as they sometimes seem to be, and that there is in fact room for a plurality of different headcanons and readings to coexist without elevating one over the other.

1. Maedhros and Maglor were both involved in Elros and Elrond’s upbringing.

As the wealth of Kidnap Fam content demonstrates, this is a very common headcanon.  However, let’s look at what the Silmarillion says.  Bolding is mine for emphasis.

For Maglor took pity upon Elros and Elrond, and he cherished them, and love grew after between them, as little might be thought; but Maglor’s heart was sick and weary with the burden of the dreadful oath. (”Of the Voyage of Eärendil”)

Nowhere is Maedhros mentioned.  He is mentioned in the version of the story included in The Fall of Gondolin, where the passage instead reads:

For Maidros took pity on Elrond, and he cherished him, and love grew after between them, as little might be thought; but Maidros’ heart was sick and weary with the burden of the dreadful oath. (”The Conclusion of the Quenta Nolodrinwa”)

Christopher Tolkien’s commentary directly interjects after this to observe that the passage was rewritten to be the version in the published Silmarillion, which is an interesting distinction to make when the entire version of the story it comes from is very different from the one in the Silmarillion; it is also worth noting that apart from changing which Son of Fëanor it was, Tolkien kept this passage nearly verbatim in the Silmarillion.

Maedhros is also mentioned in the preceding chapter, in Tolkien’s sketch of the mythology, with the line:

Their [Eärendel and Elwing] son Elrond who is part mortal and part elven, a child, was saved however by Maidros. (”The Conclusion of the Sketch of the Mythology”)

So yes, there was once a version of the story in which Maedhros was the one who spared Elrond (Elros did not yet exist, at least not as Elrond’s brother, at this point in Tolkien’s thinking).  This version of the story differs quite significantly from the published version in the Silmarillion; as Christopher Tolkien comments, the Silmarils were of much less significance and had differing fates (Beren and Lúthien’s Silmaril was lost in the Sea after Elwing threw it in, Maglor threw another into a fiery pit, and the third was taken from Morgoth’s crown and launched into the outer darkness by Eärendil).  Also notably, Eärendil does not intercede on behalf of Middle-earth before the Valar.

Of course, being a Tolkien fan pretty much entails picking and choosing which bits of the Legendarium you like.  If you want to take Tolkien’s original thinking that it was Maedhros rather than Maglor who cherished Elrond and Elros, and mix that with the more common version of events in the Silmarillion, go wild.  You can say that the narrator is unreliable, that it makes logical sense for Maedhros to be involved, or that it’s simply more fun to imagine domestic shenanigans with the last two Sons of Fëanor.  But there’s a difference between blending versions of the story as your own personal headcanon, and asserting that headcanon as the one true fanon.

It is also interesting to observe that at no point are both brothers mentioned in relation to Elrond and Elros; it is either Maglor or Maedhros.  The version in The Fall of Gondolin has Maglor sitting by the Sea and singing in regret after the Third Kinslaying while Maidros saves Elrond; in the Silmarillion, it is only Maglor who takes pity on Elrond and Elros.

2. No one else cared about Elros and Elrond; only Maedhros and Maglor did.

Very explicitly in The Silmarillion, “Great was the sorrow of Eärendil and Elwing for the ruin of the havens of Sirion, and the captivity of their sons, and they feared that they would be slain...” (”Of the Voyage of Eärendil”).  But we also read:

Too late the ships of Círdan and Gil-galad the High King came hasting to the aid of the Elves of Sirion; and Elwing was gone, and her sons.  Then such few of that people as did not perish in the assault joined themselves to Gil-galad, and went with him to Balar; and they told that Elros and Elrond were taken captive, but Elwing with the Silmaril upon her breast had cast herself into the sea. (”Of the Voyage of Eärendil”)

Again, bolding is mine for emphasis.

What we see in the Silm version of the story is that 1) when Sirion was attacked, Círdan and Gil-galad raced to help but were too late, 2) a very large percentage of the population of Sirion died in the Kinslaying, and 3) those who survived reported that Elros and Elrond had been taken captive.  That’s it. 

True, there is no mention of any rescue attempts or negotiations, but there also isn’t mention of anything else because at this point, the narrative returns to Eärendil.  Which makes sense, because the voyage of Eärendil is the whole entire point of the chapter, and arguably the climax of the version of the narrative that’s in The Silmarillion.  It’s not “Of the Captivity of Elros and Elrond,” or “Of the Third Kinslaying,” the main focal point of the story is Eärendil sailing to Aman and pleading for all the people of Middle-earth.

There’s also another version of this story in The Fall of Gondolin, where we read:

...but the folk of Sirion perished or fled away, or departed of need to join the people of Maidros, who claimed now the lordship of all the Elves of the Hither Lands. (”The Conclusion of the Quenta Noldorwa”)

In this version, the survivors do not go to Gil-Galad, but either flee or join Maedhros who now claims lordship of all the Elves.  If you go by this story, then there really is very little possibility of a rescue, since 1) Maedhros is now the most powerful lord among the Elves and claims authority over all who are left, where would they even go if they got away, and 2) it would therefore be a betrayal to stand against or attack one’s lord.  It also opens up the possibility that Elrond (this is the version without Elros) had other survivors of Sirion around him while he was a captive, and was therefore not alone.

What all this means though is that we can headcanon whatever we like regarding what happens in Beleriand during this time, but we really don’t have enough information to definitively say what did or did not happen.  And what information we do have in The Silmarillion at least suggests that Círdan and Gil-galad cared about the people of Sirion and tried to help them, and also that the people of Sirion were not in great shape to be mounting any sort of attack on Maedhros and Maglor.

Also, just because someone who survives a horrifically traumatic mass murder which killed nearly everyone they knew does not immediately go out and fight for the well-being of other survivors, it does not therefore mean that they don’t care about them or that they care less than the perpetrators.

3. Maglor raised Elros and Elrond to adulthood.

This is another one of those instances where the absence of evidence does not make a positive.  We don’t actually know for certain how long Elros and Elrond were with Maglor.  In the early letter where Elros and Elrond are found in a cave, it is implied there that they were left there by the sons of Fëanor after they were taken captive, and later found by other, unspecified Elves.  In another version, in The Fall of Gondolin, it reads:

Yet not all would forsake the Outer Lands where they had long suffered and long dwelt; and some lingered many an Age in the West and North, and especially in the western isles.  And among these were Maglor as has been told; and with him Elrond Half-elven, who after went among mortal Men again... (”The Conclusion of the Quenta Nolodrinwa”)

This is also the version of the story where Elros does not exist and it is “from [Elrond] alone the blood of the Firstborn and the seed divine of Valinor have come among Mankind” (”The Conclusion of the Quenta Nolodrinwa”). 

Then there’s also this which Elrond says in Fellowship of the Ring:

Thereupon Elrond paused a while and sighed. ‘I remember well the splendour of their banners,’ he said. ‘It recalled to me the glory of the Elder Days and the hosts of Beleriand, so many great princes and captains were assembled. And yet not so many, nor so fair, as when Thangorodrim was broken, and the Elves deemed that evil was ended for ever, and it was not so.’ (”The Council of Elrond”)

What we see is that Elrond, at least, witnessed the end of the War of Wrath, including the breaking of Thangorodrim.  Then there is this passage from the Silmarillion:

Of the march of the host of the Valar to the north of Middle-earth little is said in any tale; for among them went none of those Elves who had dwelt and suffered in the Hither Lands, and who made the histories of those days that still are known; and tidings of these things they only learned long afterwards from their kinsfolk in Aman. (”Of the Voyage of Eärendil”)

In most versions of the story, the Elves who lived in Beleriand took part in the major conflicts of the War of Wrath.  Men do -“And such few as were left of the three houses of the Elf-friends, Fathers of Men, fought upon the part of the Valar...” (”Of the Voyage of Eärendil”)- but very clearly no Elves.  So Maedhros and Maglor did not participate in or witness the main battles of the War of Wrath, but according to Lord of the Rings (which I would argue holds the “most canonical” status over every other text in the Legendarium) Elrond was there to remember firsthand, if not take part in, major events in the War, suggesting that they were no longer together at that point (which does not preclude Elrond returning to them afterwards, though it would be a very tight timetable with the Fourth Kinslaying).

Returning to the original point, Elros and Elrond could very well have stayed with Maglor until they were grown, even up to and beyond the Choice.  They could equally have left Maglor and Maedhros at any point, or Maglor could have left them with their other kin.  Tolkien changed his mind a lot about the details of the end of the First Age!  There are a good number of different canons, to say nothing of opportunities for different headcanons. 

4. Elros and Elrond turned out to be great people which is all down to Maglor (and Maedhros)’s childrearing (and therefore they were the best possible people to raise them).

Hear the sound of that old familiar bell ringing again?  Absence of evidence one way does not mean that another way is automatically true!  We actually don’t have any information at all about how Maglor brought them up, only that emotionally, there was some element of mutual love in the relationship.  We don’t know for certain how long Elros and Elrond were with Maglor (a few months? a few years? all the way to adulthood?) and we don’t know how or what sort of things Maglor taught them or to what degree they absorbed those lessons.

Yes, Elros and Elrond became great people.  But there is simply too great a gap of information to correlate (either positively or negatively) all their future deeds and character to Maglor (and/or Maedhros)’s upbringing.  Not to mention, people are not only the products of the people who raised them.  So many people influence us on a daily basis, from friends to coworkers to enemies.  While Maglor (and Maedhros) doubtless did have an influence on how E&E grew up and who they became, it seems a little reductive to credit them as the defining factor in Elros and Elrond’s morality or greatness, when both of them (E&E) lived very long lives for their respective fates and met many people and experienced many things.

Narrative Analysis: What’s this about themes?

Textual analysis aside, there’s one other factor which I think is missing in a lot of these discussions, which is genre.  The Legendarium is full of tragedy.  Good people make bad decisions, or suffer (often unjustly) the consequences of another person’s decisions.  People are placed in terrible situations where there is no “good” or “right” decision, where anything they choose has tragic consequences.  Sometimes people make decisions believing that it is justified or for good, only to discover that it was very much the opposite.  Sometimes people know that what they are choosing will hurt them or others, but for one or many reasons, they do it anyways.

The point being that many of the characters Tolkien wrote are purposefully nuanced and tragic.  Yes, there’s a Dark Lord and some very terrifying spiders who are unequivocally evil, but otherwise, nearly every character is some shade of grey.  Characters make decisions with both positive and negative consequences; they exist simultaneously as figures of both heroism and antagonism.  In short, they’re complex!  That’s why they’re so compelling and enjoyable!

So why set up a dichotomy of “So and so is better than so and so”?  Rather than pitting the sons of Fëanor as “the best” in comparison to other characters, why not embrace the complexity of the narrative? 

In order to save the entire world, Eärendil and Elwing had to leave their young children forever.  They could have decided to go back and try to rescue their children, and in doing so they would have also doomed the entire world.  Whatever they chose, someone would suffer for it.  It’s a question that we see explored a lot in fiction but which most of us will never have to confront ourselves: if you were in a position where you had to choose between your loved ones and the fate of the world, which would you choose?

Maglor, a character who has acted almost exclusively as a follower throughout most of the narrative, for once realized the consequences of his actions and, crucially, took active responsibility by caring for and cherishing the children he kidnapped.  It does not absolve him of responsibility for the Kinslayings because children are not tools to redeem the adult figures in their lives, and in any case, it is a fruitless pursuit to attempt to moralize fictional characters existing in a very particular setting and narrative.  However, it is a significant moment in his character arc, especially as we afterwards see him begin to openly contradict and disagree with Maedhros, multiple times within the same chapter after being a relatively silent follower throughout the narrative.  Which makes it all the more tragic later when he slays the guards with Maedhros and steals the Silmarils because we know now that he did not want to, that he might have chosen differently, but ultimately he did not.

Maedhros knew that the kinslayings were wrong and repented of them, and did not attack Sirion for many years.  However, he still did it in the end.  *mumbles in V for Vendetta “I have not come for what you hoped to do, I have come for what you did do”* He did not kill Elrond and Elros, and in some early versions of the story, was indeed the one to save them rather than Maglor.  He also continued to kill in the name of the Oath.  Rather than isolating any one of these things as proof of goodness or badness, all of them work together as part of his tragic figure - a prince, once great, with good intentions, who has fallen to such a point in his life that all he can see around him anymore is death and despair.

(On a side note, Maedhros-Hamlet AU when)

Elros and Elrond were young children who survived a horrifically traumatic event.  They were able to develop some sort of loving relationship with Maglor (or Maedhros), and as adults, they took pride in Eärendil and Elwing as their parents.  Rather than pitting Maglor against Eärendil and Elwing, is it not more important that amidst the apocalyptic horrors of late First Age Beleriand, Elros and Elrond had adult figures in their lives who loved them and cherished them, both before and after the Kinslaying?  Love is not the only important thing in the world, of course, and it is not meant to justify any of the actions taken by the aforementioned adults.  But.  Amidst the tragedy of the broken world they lived in, they were loved. 

Summary: Headcanons are great and can co-exist with each other

Not to belabour the point, but there is really so much we do not know about the end of the First Age.  Tolkien changed and developed his thoughts on his world throughout his life, and even with what he did set down in writing, there are plenty of gaps where we can only guess.  That’s part of what makes the Legendarium so fun to engage with as readers!

With all that in mind, there’s nothing wrong with having a preferred version of the story or a favourite set of headcanons, so long as we acknowledge that they are not the only way to engage with the text.  Furthermore, fiction and fan engagement is not meant to be about the moral high ground.  Especially with the complex characters and world that Tolkien created, you don’t need to put down other characters or narratives in order to justify your preferred reading.  It’s First Age Beleriand!  To modify a parlance from Reddit, Everyone Sucks At Least a Little Bit Here.  Characters can have good intentions with tragic consequences, make bad decisions but have some good come out of it nonetheless, or do things which have both positive and negative impacts.

Eärendil and Elwing do not need to be horrible or unfit parents in order for Maglor and/or Maedhros to genuinely pity and cherish Elros and Elrond.  Those are separate relationships with no correlation.  And none of them need to be perfect parental figures in order for Elros and Elrond to have real loving relationships with all of them.  It’s not a competition for who can “best” raise Elros and Elrond or who loves them “the most.”  You can love Maglor and Maedhros as good parents!  There’s just no need to go putting anyone else down, or to treat it as the one definitive interpretation of the characters and the story.

[lamemaster]

The Silmarillion Elves Finding My Mutual's Blog

AN: why am I doing this? Lack of brain cells, I tell you. But here we go (lmk if you would like to be removed...I don't intend to offend anyone). A small gift for mutuals and feel free to add more blogs if needed.

Summary: How would characters from the Silmarillion react to finding my mutual's blogs. Purely based on my interpretation which may or may not be messed up.

@asianbutnotjapanese: the loremaster with all the records. Elrond and Finrod. Do I need to say more? This trio would sit together to appreciate all the writings together. A group that thrives together as they compare their findings.

Finrod's appreciation might originate in the form of odes complimented by the notes of his harp.

Kings and queens of reblogging stuff for easier access.

@doodle-pops: There's going to be a crowd here. But the chief guest of this gathering can be none other than Fingon. Accompanied by Glorfindel and Fingolfin (because I see you with that sugar daddy fic Mina).

I completely expect Fingon to encounter the blog, binge-read everything and then create his own the very next day (and yes, he will write the most cursed ships). This elf will create multiple other accounts to comment on the Fingon fics...Will jokingly compare the note count of his fic with that of Maedhros'.

Glorfindel is just another golden retriever. He will meticulously thank you and the rebloggers (celebrates humbly at his popularity). And he will be the one to send super sweet 'you're amazing' kind of asks to the writer.

Fingofin will become an established annon on the blog. No one knows it's him. His online personality is 180 from his real life. (He's got some ships and opinions and mans won't stop from stating them *aggressively*.

@a-world-of-whimsy-5: The Ainur. Sauron, Namo, and Irmo (Manwe and Eonwe are lurking) are here and they will read everything. Don't be surprised if you get a bunch of passionate Sauron requests by an 'annon' the next day. Very specific requests.

Irmo on the other hand reads even the spiciest fics with a poker face late at night. I can just imagine him laying with his phone in his hand as he scrolls through the blog. A quiet existence but don't be surprised when you wake up with 50 notes and a new followers.

Namo will start by restraining himself to the sfw fics but somehow ends up reading nsfw and goes down the rabbit hole. Next day the he can't look anyone in the eye (especially Manwe). Decides never to do that again only to come back for more (don't even bring him close to hurt no comfort, this Ainur cried for Luthien. He can't handle angst).

@wandererindreams: Ulmo, Manwe, Eru, and The Void. Just a merry group having existential conversations. You all would be sitting there with your copy of texts and believe me Eru will pull out receipts to prove shit.

The sight of the Void being hyped by all the extensive headcanons...chef's kiss. Literal black hole feels included in the fandom for the first time.

Manwe and Ulmo would be there with wisdom and appreciation for your deep contemplation. Both commenting their piece and views about the subject in lengthy comments.

Eru will be taking notes. I can envision Iluvatar, playing devil's advocate (ironic) and arguing against anything and everything. Eru likes hooman who challenge him (ask Numenorians).

@animatorweirdo: Maglor and Sauron. The second eldest Feanorian will be found blushing as he reads your works and he will revisit the blog in bouts of day-dreaming of his true love. Leaves adorable emojis in the comments.

Believe me, Sauron would get some pretty interesting ideas from all your sci-fi fics. Now he really really really needs a vampire plus werewolf SO so bad. This maia will flourish under all the attention given to him. Follows fervently but will like sparingly (he's got an image to maintain).

I would also spy a lingering Maedhros but he's got the tired mom energy so he'll be a flickering presence who remembers Tumblr once every 3 months.

Lamemaster: dead. Feanor or Finwe will smite me the second they see my blog.

[searchingforserendipity25]

Daemags for ship bingo of course! Also Finrod/Maglor if you're up for it.

Thanks so much @polutrope ! Cannot believe I forgot about the bingo part of ship bingo so far...but I do believe it. Sorry everyone! These two are a BINGO (otp style) and Bingo (not fwb and not qpr but a third stranger, less definable thing)

Daeron/Maglor

They are everything to me! Possibly too many things, but I will argue that their potential to destroy and consume each other does not preclude a domestic au, and indeed, it enhances it.

My comfort ship! I think about them a normal amount.

And in hindsight, I think they, too, can be yuri. Actually I think they are singularly able to Get each other, all the duty and commitment and delight of being a great minstrel, gender included (elvish minstrelsy is a gender. To me). They're camping it up in ways mortal minds simply do not quite comprehend.

And yes, they do meet each other in every iteration of the Music, I'll fight on this hill.

Finrod/Maglor

They're fun! They have fun together, I think, even after the Ice, and Mithrim, and all the betrayal. Possibly into the 5th Age onwards, if ever they meet again?

I think they have a very 'yes, and,' approach to every conversation or impromptu duet that is very difficult to kill and suppress.

They keep up with one another and read each other's tells in a way that fosters a strong sense of intimacy, platonic or otherwise. They do trust and adore each other, I think, which makes my heart ache if I think about it.

[thescrapwitch]

12, 17 and 29 for the ao3 wrapped!

Thank you so much for the ask! :)

12 How many WIP’s do you have in your docs for next year? Oh god. SO MANY. Not including my two ongoing long fics, I have: - 3 fics for my Maglor is an Eldritch Horror series - 1 fic for Maedhros and Maglor week in February - 2 fics for my Terrible Decisions series - 7 (!) fics for Feanorian week in March - And at least 6 oneshots in various states of compilation that I really want to finish and post

2024 is looking to be a very ambitious year!

17 Your favorite character to write this year? LINDIR! I adore writing him! He’s just so much fun and finding little ways to sneak in references to silly things in his songs (snails, frogs, etc), along with his friendship with eldritch!Maglor gave me so much joy. His complete lack of history knowledge despite being an immortal, his love for the world around him, his courage despite being as effective against dangers as a kitten against a wolf. I love him and I can’t wait to write more of him in 2024 (I have PLANS :p)

29 Favorite line/passage you wrote this year? That would be this bit from What Makes Us Monsters:

Maglor’s music was faint when he spoke. When the world was young, I committed a great crime, one of the first and most terrible ones. Then, as the world aged, I did the same thing again and again, until that which I fought for turned its light against me.

“Oh.” Estel tried to picture his grandfather hurting someone; shook his head. “I can’t see you being bad. You’re too kind.”

I used to be kinder. Just because one can be kind does not mean that one cannot become cruel. It is very easy for a person to make the wrong choices and become a monster.

“Maybe.” Estel thought for a moment, about the shadows in his nightmares and the shadows his grandfather carried. “But doesn’t that mean the opposite can also be true? That a monster can make the right choices and become a person again?”

The music skipped a beat. Yes. I suppose it does.

[actual-bill-potts]

For the Director's Cut game! I'd love to hear your commentary about the latest chapter of And All His Towers Cast Down, especially the questioning scene in Tol-in-Gaurhoth. That was brilliantly terrifying and this part in particular just lives rent-free in my head: “Finrod can feel the moment when Sauron realizes what he has done [...] he feels his face re-form, his bones knitting together - no - no, please - ‘I will un-make and re-make you, as many times as it takes’ “

thank you so much! and many apologies for my late response to these, afjdklsafd ive been sick and am now catching up on work and yes, Finrod and co ARE sitting in a corner staring at me as I determinedly ignore all my WIPs lmao but anyway. ok. going to talk about the entire chapter. under a cut as it's going to be a bit long lol.

So, chapter 13 was not initially planned at all. In fact (and you may be horrified to hear this), pretty much the entire first half of this fic has been mostly unplanned, because when I started working on towers I did not intend to include Finrod as more than a side character! You can kind of see it in this post which was what towers came out of - I wanted to write a story about Lúthien and Maglor, partly because they are a fascinating character combo and partly because I was really interested in the political implications of such a team-up for both the Noldor and the Sindar.

Like, with Finrod alive, Lúthien (presumably) feeling very positively towards at least one son of Fëanor, and Morgoth having been dealt a crushing blow by the combined might of the Noldor and the Sindar, does Thingol back down? Do Celegorm and Curufin? Would Lúthien and Beren feel the need to retire from the world if they had met more people who wholeheartedly supported their love, rather than being attacked at every turn? And (because this is a theme I remain fascinated by in the Silm) does any of it make any difference at all? After all, the Noldor are at war not just with Morgoth but also with the rest of the Valar, so how would being under the Doom play out during a Nirn that included the support of all the Elven kingdoms? These were the questions that I was really excited about answering when I started this fic.

When I began to write it, I was going to have the rescue play out in a chapter or two, max, and then have Finrod and maybe even Maedhros join the Silmaril squad. It was going to be so epic - but as I was writing, characters started to push back on what I was saying, lol. For instance, it took some convincing for the pragmatic Maedhros to want to even try to find out what happened to Finrod (never mind rescuing him!). No way, no how was he going to go to Angband. And after watching ten of Finrod's closest friends die for him, Beren would knock Finrod over the head with a chair and run away before he'd let Finrod follow him on any more of the quest. So that was right out.

And then the more I thought about the rescue, the more fascinated I became by Tol-in-Gaurhoth in general; it really represents a turning point in Leithian for a lot of characters. Lúthien and Huan come into their power and start taking control of the narrative; Finrod dies; Beren loses most of his agency (I find it fascinating that pre-Tol-in-Gaurhoth, Beren drives most of the plot - he becomes an outlaw, he makes it into Doriath, he decides to go on the Silmaril Quest, he goes to Nargothrond, etc - and afterwards he turns into something of a McGuffin for Lúthien, which is to say that most of what he does is either run away from Lúthien or follow her around); and Sauron and Morgoth go from having the upper hand to being caught by surprise over and over again. The difficulty in writing an AU about a key moment in the story - Finrod's death - being interrupted by new characters and events is that you still have to deal with the ramifications of that key moment, and now there are more people around, lol.

So anyway, after spending a lot of time thinking about this, I ended up wanting to tell two main stories with towers. The first is the story I originally meant to tell, that of Maglor and Lúthien wrecking Morgoth: but with the added twist that Maglor, particularly after watching how haunted Maedhros was in Tol-in-Gaurhoth, is motivated at least as much by guilt as he is by a desire to stick it to Morgoth and fulfill the Oath. He feels guilty that he didn't rescue Maedhros, and he feels guilty that he is going to Angband now and not then, and the sight of Finrod immediately post-Sauron's-hospitality is bringing a lot of painful memories back for him, so he is...not thinking very clearly. He is going to have to face a lot of that in Angband, both facing the stark reality of where Maedhros was for (REDACTED amount of time), and eventually accepting how fucking insane it was that Fingon's rescue actually worked.

The second story I want to tell is that of Finrod's reckoning with his own trauma and his own failure. Somebody else sent an ask about Finrod's character in this, so I won't go too much into all that here, but to summarize: Tol-in-Gaurhoth in many ways represents the failure and destruction of nearly everything Finrod worked on and valued in Middle-earth. Characters in the Silm tend to deal with failure by. well. murdering people. but our boi is pretty unique. How would he deal with being so thoroughly hurt in a universe in which he survives?

Both of these stories are about to actually kick off in the next few chapters (ahhh, chapter 14...where the original iteration of this story started...), but as I was working on chapter 14 onwards, I felt that towers as a whole needed a little space to breathe between the conclusion of what is essentially the World's Longest Prologue and the start of the "meat" of the story. Hence Maglor's conversation with Maedhros, which sets out the main (internal) conflicts their characters will be facing. For Maglor, it is:

Maglor drew a deep breath. "I only - the truth is that I should have done this - this quest - when you were captured. Thou art as precious as a Silmaril to me," he added, slipping into Quenya in the privacy of their chambers, "and I wish that I had had the courage to do as Lúthien did. That I am going now, and not then: it damns me. Did I care so little for our father's jewels - did I care so little for thy life - that I was content to sit behind walls until the daughter of Thingol reached out her hand and did what we could not?"

Maglor is intensely driven by guilt and a sense of competition with Lúthien, which will drive him to do. some Things.

For Maedhros, it is this:

Maglor laid his head on Maedhros' shoulder carefully. Maedhros felt his tears wetting his tunic; but he did not mind. "It is all right, Makalaurë," he said. "It is all well. Do thy great deed; and in fulfilling the Oath perhaps we will find a way to unmesh ourselves from Doom. I would like that," he added, very quietly, "for our younger brothers."

Maedhros, hearing about C&C's actions in Nargothrond, and watching Maglor be so torn apart by the Oath, is fully realizing here the impact the Oath is having on his brothers. A large part of his arc will revolve around dealing with the political and personal disaster that is Nargothrond; and he is counting on Maglor and Lúthien, maybe more than he himself realizes, to repeat Fingon's great deed.

And then we get to the Tol-in-Gaurhoth flashback! Finrod's arc in the coming chapters will be all about recovery and coming to terms with what happened to him - so it ought to be clear in the reader's mind what actually did happen to him. I tried to use my understanding of the characters of Sauron and Morgoth, as well as the canonical events of Tol-in-Gaurhoth, to work out what the experience most likely entailed (apart from the obvious, uh. getting eaten by wolves thing). We know that post-Silmaril-burning, Morgoth is incapable of assuming a fair form. From this we can extrapolate that likely those who serve him have something of a grudge against beautiful things - and Finrod is canonically very beautiful. So I think he would be a very tempting target for Sauron to smash into a pulp, alas.

Also, as several authors here on tumblr have pointed out, it's somewhat ludicrous that Sauron looked at the incredibly powerful golden-haired Elvenking in the company of a mortal and didn't recognize Finrod - unless Finrod managed to keep up some sort of enchantment that prevented Sauron from recognizing him. There's a lot of different ways this could go, but I essentially interpreted it as Finrod keeping up a spell of misdirection - Sauron knows there's something about him, it's on the tip of his tongue, but Finrod is preventing him from fully realizing their importance. So Sauron is essentially playing with his food here - I'm of the opinion that if Sauron knew what to look for with regards to Nargothrond, Finrod would stand no chance. Finrod certainly thinks so, anyway, and so he's using everything he can to keep Sauron from looking at him as anything more than a plaything. Unfortunately Finrod is a) very pretty and b) very much beloved, which gives Sauron lots of room for entertainment.

Unfortunately, and I do hate to admit this, the "unmaking and remaking" thing was almost a complete accident - I was almost done with the scene, and then I thought, "wait! I never mentioned facial injuries! fuck!" so. sauron got to be extra creepy to cover up for my lack of planning. xD

[tiredlostwriter]

Feanorian hugs rating headcanon:

Maedhros : 13/10

He's a big boy so all engulfing hugs, he likes to bury his head into the person's shoulder and smell them if he needs comfort (because I have a personnal headcanon he's at least partially blind after Angband so he relies a lot on his other senses, including smells ). Overall it feels really safe and comforting, after all he was used to comforting his brothers when they were little.

Maglor : 6/10

Not the biggest hugger out of the brothers, but he still might go for side hugs when he truly needs comfort. He was also known to rest his head on Nelyo's shoulder when he was young

He still gets a good rating because he hugged Elrond and Elros a lot and gave them the sweetest, most gentle hugs ever, as he used to with his own twin brothers.

Celegorm : 9/10

Maybe the less princely of the feanorion, he hugs a lot and is generally spontaneously touchy with people, blame it on growing up half feral in the woods. He gives the best bear hugs and is somehow pretty reassuring. Minus one point for being slightly overbearing at times.

Caranthir : 7/10

Strangely enough pretty good, I refuse to believe that after spending some times with dwarves he doesn't warms up to their culture (in my head they are way more liberal with touch than elves). Therefore he hugs loved ones at time, especially when he's drunk. Sober, he likes short greeting hugs better but once drunk, he sometimes forget to let go of them here goes my headcanon that's he's really touch starved becausd of the middle child syndrom™.

Curufin : 1/10

Does not like to hug, doesn not like to be hugged, will freeze if hugged by surprise, and scowl at any person who proposes it. The only point goes for Tyelpe as a baby and Feanor when he was young.

Ambarussa (yes they're one person now) 5/10

Really not that bad, they're the babies of the family and got doted over a lot by their eldest so they like hugging a lot, the problem is their unability to stay still for too long, they start squirming about 10 seconds in the hug.

+ Celebrimbor : 100/10

Sweetest hugs ever, he likes to bury his face in the other person's chest and radiates warms. He's a sweet angel and needs to be protected at all costs.

Link to the previous headcanon about maedhros partial blindness :

[wifeglor]

9, 19 — and 21 for dealers choice of character!

Thank you so much for the asks, and for making this fantastic ask meme!

9. How did you learn to write smut? Were there specific fics or authors that inspired you? Or novels/movies/other texts?

Hmm gosh. I think I've been mostly influenced by fic-reading. I'll go through phases where I read a LOT of fic, including smutfic. After reading/watching some new thing I tend to go through the AO3 tag at speed like a baleen whale consuming krill. Also, reading enough smut fic really gives you a sense of like, the words and moments and acts that come up such that it makes it feel doable to replicate (not saying it's "formulaic" but I was internalizing some of the formulas). And chatting with fandom friends, sort of writing out AUs in a nearly-rp-but-less-structured style, which is something I've been doing in um graphic nsfw detail for way longer than I've written actual smutfic to post, has I think also been really formative in terms of my writing.

But also, I think I've been heavily influenced by the stuff I liked in media in general (and still absolutely am, though for purposes of this question I'm listing the formative oldies). Honestly, rarely sex scenes themselves (though them also), but more the tropes and emotional beats or separate images that really grabbed me and seemed "sexy." Thinking of villainous moments ft. shirtless Gwaine and Morgana from BBC Merlin LMAO, formative. LotR naturally. The Queen of Attolia's descriptions of Irene Attolia, Name of the Wind's descriptions of Denna that baby me had memorized whole paragraphs of by heart--stuff that was plausibly kinda unhorny in these books but in reality sooo very horny. But also various depictions of sex, like the touching & radiant-with-light sex montage of Alicia/Julio's finally getting together in the TV show Gran Hotel. Also, for unbridled PASSION at the MAX despite no actual sex, Sienkiewicz's Trilogy of historical novels, which I wrote my first smut fic for. I also read romance novels ft. erotica from time to time and enjoy them a lot (if there's sufficient DRAMA), and I guess I internalize what I feel like "hits" (or doesn't, ha) in the ways that genre does sex too. It's only been fairly recently that I started to write sex in more detail in my fics and less as like a sort of brief "tasteful" "artistic" (lol) moment--those "moments" gradually grew more description. like a mold--and I still think that kinda shows in my writing in the ways the detail is sometimes not as present or bodily as it could be, and things can get glossed instead of closely inhabited. But hey I like it and am having fun :D

19. Share a favorite passage from one of your smut fics.

Hmmmm hmm. I like this one, from yes many and beautiful things (unwieldy fic but really dear to me still):

Maedhros doesn’t resist him, not on this. When Maglor coaxes pleasure from his scarred body, Maedhros lets him.

He was unmade for pleasure in Angband. He had sought to render himself the unbreakable shackle to the mountainside, the sheer cliff—but Maglor plays upon him as well as any instrument, transforming him into something alive and enjoying. Maedhros barely hears the low, ragged noises he makes, barely sees the gleam of Maglor’s eyes beneath dark lashes, as he spills down Maglor’s sweet-voiced throat.

The silence is no silence—it is Maglor choking and swallowing and Maedhros panting, the air about them like a tide in his ears.

Maglor wipes his mouth and looks very pleased with himself, though he struggles to catch his breath. His eyes are dark and dizzy.

Maedhros seizes two scraps of his strength and tugs Maglor up to him by the shoulder, none too gently. He kisses him and devours the sweet startled sound, the taste of his pleasure in Maglor's mouth, the flush, full press of Maglor's cock against his thigh as Maglor falls in a graceless drape atop him.

"Maedhros," Maglor keens.

The Sindarin name makes Maedhros all the more desperate. Yes, they are here, not in Aman; that is his name—and Maglor wants him anyway, has— And Maedhros kisses him again, winding his arms around him, pleasure still uncoiling in his own flushed body. He can feel each tremble of Maglor's, holding him so close. At last he tips awkwardly into pressing Maglor upon his back instead and unfolding him. Maglor gasps like a rustling bough when Maedhros palms over him, and both their hands trip over each other reaching for the vial of oil in its niche. Maedhros is quicker, and he tugs the cork free with his teeth.

(the VIAL OF OIL lolol... but still...)

21. Share a smutty headcanon about [character(s)].

Finrod is an effortless and true neutral switch. He just wants to have fun and he just wants his partner to have fun. I feel like he's so comfortable bottoming that that might happen more often in his long and varied life, but where that comfort and willingness comes from is the same place as the wellspring of confidence and affection that makes him such a good dom and/or top. xoxo

[ryoalouette]

(inspired by a recent ao3 fic of modern day Maglor)

Maglor, from modern Middle-Earth: Say Finrod, do we have new drinks in Valinor?

Finrod: well, there’s a lot of new methods to create wine..

Maglor: what say you of a drink that’s the best invention of the Edain? They actually do serenades over a cup of it.

Thranduil, catching up asap: oh no..

Finrod: ??? Pray tell?

Thranduil: Kinslayer, no.

Maglor: Kinslayer, yes. 

Thranduil: SCREE YOU’RE NOT GOING TO CREATE ANOTHER KINSLAYING EVENT!

Maglor: IT WON’T! THAT WOULD BE TEA, NOT COFFEE! WE ALREADY HAVE TEA (I THINK)!

Finrod: ?????

[sorrowslament]

😤 - what is your roleplay related pet peeve?

Okay so this is just this muse and one sort of adjacent to him. I hate people automatically putting others around him in ships, example is if there is a Maedhros mentioned he is almost guaranteed to be in a relationship with Fingon instead of living a happy and peaceful ace life. Turgon and Finrod is another such ship... just all the assumed ships get to me a little. Yes they can exist but I wish people would ask before including them because some days just seeing the ships irks me.

The other one is... people assume that certain things are universal with my muse. Maglor is assumed to be the sort of person who is up at all hours playing music, or he will be playing music all the time. That really irks me because that sort of thing is not a universal thing for the character, my Maglor specifically does not play music at inconvenient times for others unless they truly pissed him off, and while he loves music he also has other things he enjoys doing. So while that is a common thing for him it is not as constant as is expected.

[meadowlarkx]

Title: yes many and beautiful things

Rating: Mature

Relationships: Maedhros/Maglor

Summary:

When Maglor raises his eyes, their light still looks like home, but Maedhros can tell it’s dimmed, darkened.

He can tell that when he goes, Maglor will go with him.

Before he and Maedhros set out for Eönwë's camp, Maglor does his best to ornament himself and the story. For day 4 of @maedhrosmaglorweek, “Adornment”!

Read on AO3

Rambling under the cut:

This began thinking about the opposite of hatesex-before-Silmaril-stealing--which is ofc Tender Sex--wanting to see if that could be plausible at all because the idea hurt my heart, and it was meant to be much much shorter!

I also want to credit this quote which crossed my Tumblr:

The night gardener once asked me if I knew how citrus trees died: when they reach old age, if they are not cut down and they manage to survive drought, disease and innumerable attacks of pests, fungi and plagues, they succumb from overabundance. When they come to the end of their life cycle, they put out a final, massive crop of lemons. In their last spring their flowers bud and blossom in enormous bunches and fill the air with a smell so sweet that it stings your nostrils from two blocks away; then their fruits ripen all at once, whole limbs break off due to their excessive weight, and after a few weeks the ground is covered with rotting lemons. It is a strange sight, he said, to see such exuberance before death.

When We Cease to Understand the World, Benjamín Labatut

For recent reasons I was looking at Silm and remembered that, when they successfully steal the Silmarils, there's that line “For they said: ‘Since one is lost to us, and but two remain, and we two alone of our brothers, so is it plain that fate would have us share the heirlooms of our father.’”--which is a far cry from the despair and general wretchedness surrounding the Silmarils, wish for things to be different etc, that is so evident in their earlier conversation. Obviously some of that is just the relief and hope that their Oath can actually be "fulfilled," but I think Maglor's sustaining malleable storytelling etc hand could be spied there if one wanted to spy it

I left out whatever it is Maedhros might have said to "win" their argument about stealing the Silmarils because I really like (and am haunted by) the silence to that effect in published Silm. :')

Edit: wanted to include the poem from which the title is taken (Anne Carson's translation of Sappho fragments, If Not, Winter):

If you bothered to read these rambles, thank you for making it this far!

[thenookienostradamus]

20 questions for fic writers

Okay so this one looks insanely fun; I couldn't not hop on board. Tagged by the fantastic @nocompromise-noregrets. These are some juicy questions!

1. How many works do you have on Ao3? 45. Oh shit I just realized I have one fic for each year of my life.

2. What’s your total Ao3 word count? 957,606

3. What fandoms do you write for? Many of the ones I have written for I don't anymore, but I've written for some enormous fandoms like Hannibal, Tolkien/Silmarillion, Star Wars, Sherlock, and SPN, a couple biggish ones (Detroit: Become Human , Midnight Mass, and Foundation -TV), and a shitload of tiny fandoms including The Alienist (TV), The Following, True Detective, The Exorcist (TV), and Preacher (TV).

4. What are your top five fics by kudos? Cernunnos (Hannibal) - 1,189; Misericorde (Hannibal) - 727; Exit Music (D:BH) - 716; The Detective Doth Protest Too Much (D:BH) - 638; The Stolen Prey (Hannibal) - 579.

5. Do you respond to comments? Yes! It's super important to me to take time and thank people who have commented. Also I'm not super crazy popular so I don't get a shit-ton of comments anyway. They're all gems!

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? Hm. Most likely Nightmare Angel, my lone Supernatural fic which nobody reads because I kill Dean and send Sam on an automobile-assisted vengeance quest. Listen, it's a book-based AU and the book isn't exactly the happiest.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Probably This Night at the Edge of the World, which is a surprisingly poignant modern AU take on a Star Wars crack ship. Matt the fucking Radar Technician. Who knew?

8. Do you get hate on fics? Rarely. I've gotten a couple of comments along the lines of "Why didn't you do x?" or "If this was my fic I would have..." and I've found that a lot of those come from people who are well intentioned but possibly neurodivergent, so I try to be kind.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? Yep. All but 8 of my fics are Explicit-rated. Not sure what is meant by "what kind" - but like...hopefully the sexy kind? This is a reflection of the reason why I read fanfic. If I want character development, an engrossing story, an ingenious plot, whatever, I read original fiction. If I want to read about make-believe people banging, I read fic. I don't like longfic or romance or slow burn or whatever. Reading fic, for me, is purely for horndog reasons.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written? I guess the closest I've come to that is the Techienician ship, AKA Matt the Radar Technician (Adam Driver's undercover Star Wars character from a Saturday Night Live sketch) x Techie from Dredd (2012) as played by Domhnall Gleeson.

11. (there doesn't seem to be a question 11) Free space! I am loving the recent proliferation of interesting, complicated female characters in media!

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? Uh. I think so? Not sure if it was on AO3, though.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? Tons of them, actually. Which is weird because I typically like to write alone. But I've had some amazing collabs. I cowrote one of my Following fics with a friend (we've since lost touch). I wrote a crackfic called It's Hard Out There for a Balrog for a reverse bang, collaborating with @melkors-big-tits and his ridiculously amazing art and awesome ideas. My fave collab, of course, was the extraordinarily cracky Kylux holiday fic, Merry Huxmas, which I co-wrote with my sister, @gefionne.

14. What’s your all time favorite ship? Uh...I don't really have an all-time favorite. Just whatever is occupying my mind at the time.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? I'm not entirely sure I'll ever finish The Unresisting Heart, which is a Maglor/Sauron fic. It was an experiment in style and I enjoyed it, but I'm not sure I'm in the frame of mind to finish. I keep telling myself I'll finish In Eorum Nominibus, my Midnight Mass Riley/Father Paul fic. But again...not sure.

16. What are your writing strengths? Characterization, probably. I'm pretty decent at putting together a plot with a lot of moving pieces. Dialogue. Also making things not read like fanfic.

17. What are your writing weaknesses? I sometimes miss opportunities for character interiority, especially with a fast-moving plot. I try not to, but my writing is vague sometimes. I don't particularly think it's a weakness, but fic readers love flowery, pretty language and I refuse to write that way.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? Largely unnecessary. If you do, translate. But throwing words from another language in makes you sound like a non-native speaker trying to appear cool. If you're fluent in another language, why not just write in that language, too?

19. First fandom you wrote for? Well, if you don't count Mary Sue stories written in a spiral notebook before the computer era, probably The Matrix. Revolutions, specifically. It's not posted. It will never be posted.

20. Favourite fic you’ve written? Exit Music. Because its totally invented AU plot went on to inspire an original novel that may or may not be published before I die. People really do not want to read "unlikeable female characters." Sigh.

Tagging some new friends, including @mycapeisplaid and @madsmilfelsen, plus some beloved old friends: @thefangirlibrarian, @niennawept, @ruiniel, @i-did-not-mean-to, @cilil, and the obligatory @gefionne because she has the same parents as I do and also because she's awesome.

[aipilosse]

🔥PENGOLODH

thaaaaaank you!!!! I have so many unpopular Pengolodh opinions!

A lot of the hate he gets centers around the idea that he 'wrote' the Silmarillion. So, I guess first to address that, that's not really accurate. Yes, there are HoME drafts where Pengolodh and Rumil are the authors of the annals with Pengolodh the author of all the Beleriand events, but there are drafts where the authors are unnamed 'loremasters' too. There's also the fact that, depending on the version, the Silmarillion is framed as having been transmitted through a number of parties: Aelfwine, the Numenoreans, Bilbo, Merry, and probably some others. There are also versions where there isn't any framing, including but not limited to the published Silm. So yes, thinking about the Silmarillion as recorded by historians is a great way to approach the stories, but thinking about the Silmarillion as a history with a single author with a singular viewpoint is a mistake.

OK with THAT all of the way, I do actually enjoy thinking about Pengolodh as having a hand in writing the Silmarillion and, unpopular opinion number 1, think he was uniquely situated to be an excellent compiler of the tales of the First Age due living in Sirion! He was from Gondolin, so he knew what had happened there unlike most people, and he was with Falathrim, Iathrim, probably Mithrim and Noldor from Nargothrond, and potentially even Feanorians after the Third Kinslaying, if any survived rebelling against Maedhros and Maglor. And that's just the elves, he would have had great access to all the surviving Edain, AND he speaks Khuzdul! He truly had the opportunity to hear the stories of the first age from greatest number of perspectives.

Second unpopular opinion, I think he liked Feanor. He chose to become a Lambengolmor despite being born in Beleriand after Feanor's death. I think he was actually a huge Feanor *fan* and admired him immensely, especially in the field of linguistics. Perhaps that's why he cut so much slack for Feanor's sons, despite having survived a massacre at their hands.

[anghraine]

This is a belated reply, but:

irresistible-revolution replied to this post:

yep yep, the facetiousness and rhetorical games are truly maddening. i enjoy the pj movies a lot more than you do and they are deeply, deeply racist! pj specifically refused to let black actors try out for any of the elven parts. so it’s really fascinating how these movies are being upheld as paradigmatic against the diverse casting for ROP. there’s some deeply entrenched white supremacy that’s being troubled by the sight of black and brown elves specifically.

Yup. It's really noticeable that the nuclear rage is particularly disproportionate when it comes to characters or groups described as especially beautiful in the source material being played by Black and brown actors. As you say, it's marked for Elves especially (and detractors have been especially fixated on Arondir's hair—not just the open bigots).

You also see it with characters like Tar-Míriel; I've seen so many people heatedly arguing that the description of her beauty as superior to ivory, silver, and pearls = she is canonically pale-skinned = HOW DARE.

have also seen people complaining about the “scale” of the show as lacking grandeur, and about sauron looking “too ordinary” (again, the pj movies being used as implicit standard) instead of just…enjoying a different flavor of adaptation?

Yeah. There are legit criticisms to make, but a lot of the ones that are made seem based on the assumption that difference from the Jackson films is intrinsically inferior. If the aesthetic of a place or a people is at all different than the films, it must be for the worse, and/or less "faithful." And there's this willingness to approach the films with the maximum generosity possible (including where they're drastically at variance with Tolkien or with ... uh, decency) while approaching the show with an incredible degree of poor faith (that also leads to bad and frequently racist and/or xenophobic and/or misogynistic takes on the original material, too!).

insane insane. incidentally, someone told me ROP couldn’t get the rights to The Silmarillion and have hence had to create a lot of story to fill in the gaps, is that true?

Yes, basically. My understanding is that they couldn't actually get the rights to Silmarillion material directly, but could work with anything mentioned in LOTR (the main narrative or Appendices). There's actually a good bit of Silm stuff mentioned in LOTR in some form, like Gandalf talking about Fëanor's craftmanship, material embedded in various songs or explanations, etc, along with the quantity of background material in the Appendices.

But there's also plenty of stuff that's not there, and AFAIK they had to get special specific permission from the Tolkien Estate for basically anything not contained in LOTR. The ROP narrative is pretty clearly assembling its narrative from a mixture of LOTR details, extrapolations, and actual inventions, alongside a few isolated details from places like Unfinished Tales (there's a reference to a detail from "The Mariner's Wife" in the depiction of Númenor, for instance).

I think the end result is interesting, but unfortunately, it's also ... like, I've seen people complaining that it's problematic that ROP Elrond is more focused on his biological father, Eärendil, than his adoptive one, Maglor. That is, Maglor is his adoptive father according to popular fanon (even people who dislike Maglor will usually accept this characterization of their relationship). But Tolkien does not talk about Maglor in LOTR, so ROP couldn't have used him anyway without requesting a special exception that might or might not be granted.

...FWIW, Elrond does refer to his parents in LOTR, but he only mentions Eärendil and Elwing. Even outside LOTR, Tolkien doesn't specify that Maglor is the adoptive father of Elrond and Elros, only that he affectionately looks after them for awhile and the relationship becomes unexpectedly loving on all sides—there are a lot of ways to interpret that other than "adoptive dad" but fandom is very intent on shoving all relationships into clear-cut nuclear family frameworks.

And it just seems absurd to me that there's this whole idea that ROP had some obligation to bring in this very particular fanon reading of a line that isn't in LOTR, about a character who isn't mentioned in LOTR, who is not actually described as Elrond's father anyway, when Eärendil has a very long song about him in LOTR and is explicitly acknowledged by Elrond in the book. And that's pretty typical of a lot of ROP discourse, IMO.