findrahil

[findrahil]

Turukáno the Wise King of Gondolin

[findrahil]

Elrond is said to be "as kind as summer", which I absolutely love as a descriptor. I imagine this as resting under a weeping willow by a river bank in the middle of June. Every time you start to feel uncomfortably warm, a gentle breeze sweeps over the cool water and brushes your hair away from your forehead. That feeling of restfulness and comfort, that feeling of the warm sun and gentle breeze that is always there for you, that is the kindness of Elrond Halfelven.

[findrahil]

how do i keep my love from hurting the one i love? how do i love in a way that doesn't exceed what the one i love would want/need from me? i feel like it is so much more than what i can carry and yet it will not be taken from me

give some of it to god. he's lonely

[findrahil]

          I will not say “do not weep,”                    for not all tears are an evil.

[findrahil]

you know what, fuck you *unkills your character*

[findrahil]

Jesus, after coming back from the dead: hey guys it’s me Jesus, just look at the scars on my hands

Thomas, a known freak: show us the feet as well please

[findrahil]

The inherent homoeroticism of kissing the cheek of the man you are about to betray

[findrahil]

yall telling me he died getting nailed 

[findrahil]

Reading Tolkien’s annotated translation of Beowulf, and learning all kinds of things about LOTR and the Silm from it!

First:

Leave here your warlike shields [from Beowulf]

[Tolkien’s commentary; bold mine:] Note the prohibition of weapons or accoutrements of battle in the hall. To walk in with spear and shield was like walking in nowadays with your hat on. The basis of these rules was of course fear and prudence among the ever-present dangers of a heroic age, but they were made part of the ritual, of good manners. Compare the prohibition against drawing a sword in the officers’ mess. Swords of course also were dangerous; but they were evidently regarded as part of a knight’s attire, and he would not in any case be willing to lay aside his sword, a thing of great cost and often an heirloom.

This gives me some perspective around Tolkien’s probable intended tone for the moment in Meduseld in The Two Towers where Aragon strongly protests against being told to leave Andúril (a sword of very great value and ancientry, and very much an heirloom) with the door-warden. From a contemporary perspective it’s easy to read it as Aragorn being unnecessarily prideful and combative, but this passage strongly indicates that Tolkien intends it to be Théoden who is being unreasonable in that event, an indication - along with many others in the scene, prior to Gandalf dislodging Saruman’s influence - that Théoden is being discourteous and behaving in a manner unworthy of a king who is recieving heroes offering aid. (The fact of Meduseld being a ‘golden hall’ like famous Heorot in Beowulf may be deliberate to strengthen the parallel.)

Second (immediately following the above commentary):

But against this danger [from swords] very severe laws existed protecting the ‘peace’ of a king’s hall. It was death in Scandanavia to cause a brawl in the king’s hall. Among the laws of the West Saxon king Ine is found: ‘If any man fight in the king’s house, he shall forfeit all his estate, and it shall be for the king to judge whether he be put to death or not.’

This adds context to the incident in the story of Túrin in The Silmarillion where Saeros taunts Túrin in Menegroth and Túrin responds by throwing a heavy drinking-vessel at him and injuring him (it’s indicated the injury is serious, so I’d take it along the lines of him giving him a broken nose and knocking out some teeth.) It is stated in at least some versions of the story that death is the punishment for drawing weapons in the king’s hall, in line with the historical customs mentioned here. This gives a further emphasis that what actually happens - Túrin is not punished at all and Mablung strongly reprimands Saeros for provoking him - illustrates that Túrin is, Saeros’ behaviour notwithstanding, in very high favour in Menegroth. (Saeros as the king’s counsellor is also in roughly the same position as Unferth in Beowulf, who taunts the titular character - Beowulf responds heatedly but without violence. Tolkien may be setting up a deliberate contrast here.)

Third:

The word hádor is an adjective meaning ‘clear, bright’…it is almost always found in reference to the sky (or the sun or stars). But that association is in description of brightness…

This was one a lightbulb moment: oh, in the name of Hador Goldenhead (the ancestor of Húrin, Túrin, and Tuor in The Silmarillion), ‘Goldenhead’ isn’t an additional name/epessë so much as it’s a glossed translation of ‘Hador’! The guy with bright, golden hair.

Fourth: Going back to the Rohirrim - Edoras, the name of their capital city/royal court, is basically just the Old English for ‘courts’:

under was very frequently used in describing position within, or movement to within, a confined space, especially of enclosures or prisons, ‘within four walls’. Cf. in under eoderas (eoderas being the outer fences of the courts), ‘in amid the courts’….‘eoder’ means both ‘fence (protection)’ and ‘fenced enclosure, a court’.

I’m also learning a lot about Beowulf - Tolkien’s notes are clarifying a lot of tone and nuances, not to mention the political/diplomatic relationships between the different kingdoms, which were confusing me - but it’s amazing how much it reveals about ways that Tolkien’s knowledge informed his legendarium!

[findrahil]

“Thus [Círdan] forfeited the fulfilment of his greatest desire: to see the Blessed Realm and find again there Olwë and his own nearest kin. Alas, he did not reach the shores until nearly all the Teleri of Olwë's following had departed.”

Tolkien Reading Day 2024, Service and Sacrifice

[findrahil]

i absolutely LOVE how we hyperfixate on the smallest details like the fucking gold ribbons, like love grew between them, like the whole celebrimbanner thing. just. tolkien wrote a tiny little line (that may have only seen the world years after he died) and thousands of people made it the point of their existance. we write fics about it, draw fanart of it, make endless jokes about it. good for us

[findrahil]

[findrahil]

A Mathematician Learns To Program

def max(a, b): # without loss of generality a < b return b

[findrahil]

At the gate for my flight home from visiting friends and there's a woman here with a service Shiba Inu. No pics because he has a Do Not Disturb vest and taking pics of strangers is illegal but I need to stress how ON DUTY this animal is. Ears up. Eyes doing Lazer scans of everything. Examining everyone who passes within 10ft like a security guard. Ass planted on her feet. I have never seen a dog with such intense chivalric guardian energy before. He has tiny eyebrows and they are FURROWED with concentration.

[findrahil]

So I’ve been re-skimming some LotR in between looking for new books to read and Boromir mentions his brother like, three times in the Council of Elrond. And I realize it’s dramatic foreshadowing shit, but consider (modern au apparently) Boromir who just talks about his brother all the time and has so many pictures:

“Hobbits like poetry? My brother won a poetry contest in third grade!!! You know who’d love to hear more about Dwarves? My brother. Gosh, I can’t wait until we all get to Minas Tirith so I can show you all the best things about my city and you can meet my brother.”

–

“Yeah, I’ve seen Boromir, he’s a great dude,” says Eomer, “but I hear he talks about his brother a lot?”

–

“How do I know you’ve actually met my brother?” asks Faramir. “And how do you know who I am?”

“… I have seen probably a hundred pictures of you and heard the stories behind all of them,” says Frodo.

“Ah,” says Faramir, resigned. “Yeah, okay, you’ve met him.”

[findrahil]

Listen to this, whenever you’re sad or mad, down or unhappy, and tell me it doesn’t put a smile on your face. 

[findrahil]

Findarato and Amarië in Aman. "While Felagund laughs beneath the trees in Valinor, and comes no more to this grey world of tears and war" (c)

Well, not only beneath the trees))