#northern Sindar

[warrioreowynofrohan]

Summary - Who Is and Isn’t Allowed Into Doriath

I wanted to make this post because I’ve had some things drawn to my atttention that I hadn’t noticed before, and I see a lot of misconceptions around this. Doriath is not nearly as closed off from the rest of Beleriand as is often assumed.

Who Is Not Allowed In

The starting point for this is Thingol’s statement to the Noldor:

“Into Doriath none shall come to abide but only such as I call as guests, or who seek me in great need.”

This is often taken as meaning that no Noldor except Finarfin’s children are ever permitted into Doriath, but the latter part specifically does allow for the possibility of war refugees ‘in great need’ entering Doriath, and as we will see, this is followed up on later.

Men are also forbidden from entering Doriath, and this is a blanket statement. However, Finrod does later convince Thingol to let the Haladin settle in Brethil, which is considered part of Doariaty but is outside the Girdle of Melian, and Doriath provides military support to the Haladin during the Dagor Bragollach.

We have, that I am aware of, only one specific described instance of an elf seeking entrance to Doriath and being refused: Aredhel.

Aredhel seeks to travel through Doriath to reach the lands of the sons of Fëanor so she can visit them. She is not allowed in, as being used as a cut-through for people to visit people who, the Doraithrim already dislike is really not considered sufficient reason. Now, Aredhel has other options - either go the long way around to the south of Doriath, or go north and cross Ard-Galen or northern Dorthonion. The latter is how the Men of what will later be the house of Hador get into western Beleriand:

Most of these took the long road northward, until the ways became well known to them…some came to Hithlum, but Magor son of Aradan and many of the people passed down Sirion into Beleriand and dwelt a while in the vales of the southern slopes of the Ered Wethrin.

Aredhel instead chooses the most direct but much more dangerous route through Nan Dungortheb. But that isn’t a decision Doriath is forcing on her, and they in fact warn her of its dangers.

Likewise, Haleth leads her people through Nan Dungortheb “without help or guidance of the Eldar,” and thus may not have known that there were safer routes available.

Who Is Allowed In

Doriath is open to all of the Sindar (Círdan’s people come and go freely, and it’s from them that Thingol first hears the rumours about the Kinslaying); to Dwarves, who trade with the Sindar; to the refugees of Nargothrond; as well as to the children of Finarfin and to the family of Húrin and any househokd retainers who come with them. Additionally, there is no mention, anywhere that I am aware of in The Silmarillion, of elven refugees of war, Noldor or Sindar, being refused admittance to Doriath, and the examples from both the Bragollach and the Fall of Nargothrond indicate that refugees who came there were admitted.

Dwarves continue trading with Doriath throughout the bulk of the First Age. In the years after the Nirnaeth:

In those days the Dwarves came still on their journeys into Beleriand from their mansions in Ered Lindon, and passing over Gelion at Sarn Athrad, the Ford of Stones, they travellee the ancient road to Doriath; for their skill in the working of metal and stone was very great, and there was much need of their craft in the halls of Menegroth. But they came no longer in small parties as aforetime, but in great companies well armed for their protection in the perilous lands between Aros and Gelion…

So the Dwarves have been coming to Doriath over a long period of time, in small companies during the Long Peace and in larger groups after it ended.

Refugees specifically come to Doriath after the Dagor Bragollach. I know there’s material in HoME about Thingol mistrusting the Northern Sindar, but irrespective of that, it is very clear that they were allowed in:

The most part of the Grey-elves fled south and forsook the northern war; many were recieved into Doriath, and the kindom and strength of Thingol grew greater in that time.

There is no mention, anywhere, of the Fëanoreans seeking entry to Doriath after the Bragollach, and given their pride and their open contempt for it, it would be rather uncharacteristic of them to do so. Instead we are told Celegorm and Curufin went south and west, suggesting first south, and then west, around the south borders of Doriath. They could have joined up with Caranthir and the twins on Amon Ereb, but for whatever reason chose to go to Nargothrond instead.

There don’t appear to have been many in the way of elves of Dorthonion, Angrod and Aegnor’s people, left to seek refuge anywhere; it was sparsely populated (their people were few, “Of Beleriand and its Realms”) bore the brunt of the attack, and few survived.

After the Nirnaeth, Elves who participated in the battle (apart from Mablung and Beleg) seem to fall into three groups: those who died on the battlefield (the vast majority), those who retreated to Gondolin (Turgon’s forces, and any remnants of Fingon’s forces they could gather), and the Fëanorean forces who fled south to Ossiriand. There’s not really any Elves who would be seeking admittance to Doriath; certainly not the Fëanoreans, who have openly threatened to murder them all!

And after the Fall of Nargothrond, refugees from there come to Doriath and are admitted - it’s how Thingol (and Morwen) learn of the kingdom’s fall in the first place:

Now new tidings came to Doriath concerning Nargothrond, for some that had escaped the defeat and the sack and had survived the Fell Winter in the wild, came at last to Thingol seeking refuge, and the march-wardens brought them to the King.

This is even more significant given, well, Nargothrond’s complicity in the whole kidnapping-and-attempted-forced-marriage-of-Thingol’s-daughter thing.

So in sum, the idea of Doriath turning away Elven refugees of the wars is pure fanon, and all the canon evidence that we have points to the direct opposite. The cases where Doriath did turn people away who directly sought entry involve people in peacetime who wanted to travel throught it but had the option of other, and relatively safe (if less direct) routes, even if they did not take them.

#tolkien #the silmarillion #doriath #thingol #aredhel #sindar #northern sindar #iathrim #doriathrim #nargothrond

[outofangband]

Birds of Dorthonion

Flora, fauna, geography and environment of Arda Masterlist

Dorthonion was a region north of greater Beleriand. It was a cool region covered in steep slopes, conifer forests and Heath covered highlands. The mountain range Ered Gorgoroth bordered it on the south and above it was the fields of Ard Galen. It was inhabited by the Arafinwëan host following Aegnor and Angrod and later, the human host following Bëor. Nomadic and semi nomadic groups of the northern Sindar and Avari also possibly lived there

As always I included world building notes at the end so it’s not just a list of species

In the conifer forests: black grouse, willow tit, goldcrest, mistle thrush, pine grossbeak, common tree creeper, common redstart, black woodpecker, chiffchaff, coal tit, common raven, crested tit, wood grouse, goshawk, spruce grouse, black throated thrush, pine bunting, boreal owl

The highlands and around Tarn Aeulin: graylag goose, common nightjar, common kestrel, snow crane, hen harrier, tundra swan, horned grebe, common crane, blue duck, water rail, black francolin, northern pintail, velvet scooter, great bittern, pallid harrier, rough legged hawk, little egret, wood lark, corn crane, black necked grebe (migratory), garganey, Merlin

The cliffs and slopes: see see partridge, rock dove, great bustard, long legged buzzard, common quail, black headed bunting, booted eagle, chukard, barred warbler, northern wren, little owl, white throated dipper (near Rivil’s well), black winged kite, steppe eagle, roller

The mountain border: bearded vulture, red fronted serin, black stork, snowcock, horned lark, rock bunting, wallcreeper, blue rock thrush, red kite, peregrine falcon, golden eagle (rare), white wagtail

World building notes:

-The vague images of pine grossbeaks were embroidered on the blankets of Bëorian children using a diluted version of the dyes created from blood madder and coal. The name in Bëorian Taliska translates to pine song bird.

-The Arafinwëan host of Dorthonion as well as some of the Avarin groups hunt with birds of prey which are also used by some of the scouts. Kestrels and Harriers are the most commonly used species. The practice is less common than among the Noldor of Eastern Beleriand however.

-Feathers (usually of peregrine falcons or common kestrels) were also used as a method of communication among Arafinwëan scouts during the times of year where weather would allow for this, left in strategic locations, lodged into the earth or tucked into trees to indicate presence or dangers.

-Eggs of various ground species were eaten by the Bëorian population and there was a practice of burying the eggshells. This was learned from the elves of Ossiriand prior to their settling in Dorthonion.

-Birds eggs appear in Northern Sindar art, in or separate from nests. Though the eggs of certain species have different meanings, they are commonly associated more generally with fragility and defense. Their images may be created through pigments made from certain actual eggshells as well as minerals and plant based dyes. One common motif involves a nest of eggs upon a steep slope or cliff.

-Birds appear throughout Bëorian songs and poems. Most commonly mentioned are the general name for the “fisher birds” (wading and diving birds) seen on and around Tarn Aeulin, as well as several of the smaller songbirds found in the pine forests such as pine grosbeak, tree creepers, and thrushes. After the Bragollach the names for some species became lost or translated differently.

-Also it’s been a headcanon of mine for awhile that Baragund would take Morwen when she was a young child out to the cliffs to watch the birds. He would teach her to identify them by their call. She remembers a lot of them, even as an adult though they are called different names and their habits are often unfamiliar.

#the silmarillion #the children of húrin #Dorthonion #beleriand #musing and meta #Morwen #baragund #houseless for exiles #northern Sindar

[grey-gazania]

I would die for the Northern Sindar.

#northern sindar #sindar #hithlum #mithrim #my loves

[eleneressea]

Elrond trying to woo Gil-galad but Elrond was raised with just about every culture *but* Falathrim Sindar, so Elrond is rotating through Northern Sindar, Taur-im-Duinath Nandor, Valinorian Noldor, Belegost Dwarven, and various Edain customs trying to find courtship customs close enough to Gil-galad's that he'll recognize them.

Gil-galad is…not entirely sure what his herald is up to.

#elrond #gil galad #gilrond #everyone else in lindon has noticed and is giggling about it #gil galad at least once: gosh that's almost a declaration of love #gil galad: should i let elrond know so that he doesn't send the wrong message to someone? #elrond contemplates trying bird courting behaviors in case that works any better #unfortunately getting the crown makes you incapable of making good decisions in your personal/romantic life #as evidenced by finwe and thingol #so gil galad is just. very clueless re: elrond's feelings towards him

[mynameisjessejk]

Ruin on the Mountainside

The Feanorian forces hadn’t quite been willing to give up their place in the war, even as the Armies of the West pushed them further and further to the eastern front. They fought on, and they kept the eastern flank clear.

The day the dragon crashed down on the mountain, their tattered encampment threw a celebration. The survivors were evenly split between Feanarian faction Noldor and Northern Sindar, with a handful of Laegrim left with them, and more than half of their force was former thralls, at this juncture.

A celebration was certainly in order, for the destruction of the Iron Hells. A bonfire, a few treats people had been saving away, good wine (which had probably been begged, borrowed, or stolen from the Amanyar), and it was never hard to convince Maglor to play.

He played a couple of old dancing reels, a jaunty number of his own composition about the fall of the dragon, and then handed his harp off to a willing volunteer and went to find his brother.

Their General wasn’t celebrating with their troops. Maedhros stood, looking north in the moonlight.

Maglor slipped his right hand into his brother’s left. It was the first time in what felt like years that he hadn’t been holding a sword.

Maedhros brushed their shoulders together, acknowledgement and welcome, but kept his eyes on the ruin of the mountain.  It felt strange, to be without words, but he had no idea what to say to his brother in this moment.

Maedhros saved him the trouble. “I appreciate the irony.”

Maglor made a curious noise.

“That the Mariner wore a silmaril when he crushed the Pits,” Maedhros said. “And also that one of his own creations destroyed the place.”

“Both are neat pieces of work,” Maglor agreed. “Eru has a sense of theme.”

Maedhros laughed, a sound Maglor heard so rarely now. “I’m trying to decide how hard to blaspheme,” he said, still smiling.

“Please do not,” Maglor replied.

Maedhros bumped their shoulders together. “You have to admit, not every theme of the Song has been quite so well composed.”

“When your soloist is enough of a diva to try to steal the show, the composer can hardly be blamed,” Maglor retorted, gesturing at the ruined mountain with the hand not still tucked in his brother’s.

Maedhros inclined his head. “True enough.”

“What now?” Maglor finally dared to ask.

“There’s nowhere left to hide,” Maedhros reflected. “He’ll come forth soon enough, and the Powers will take him down.” Then he shrugged. “After that it’ll be a mopping up campaign,” he predicted. “It’ll be slow and terrible, probably, trying to clear up all the creatures.”

Maglor looked west, seeing the fires of the encampment of the Host.  “You think they can beat him?”

“They sent Eonwe,” Maedhros answered. “They’ll send Tulkas too if that’s what it takes.”

Maglor hummed. Then he turned south, towards the slowly-encroaching sea. “And then?” he asked softly.

Maedhros looked down at him, moonlight catching on his scarred face and making his eyes glow. “Then we take what’s ours,” he answered. “And then we’ll see.” And he looked away from the mountain for the first time, following Maglor’s gaze south. “A new world,” he said quietly.

Maglor leaned into him. “That sounds nice,” he murmured.

Maedhros kissed the top of his head. “Maybe it can be,” he replied.

#jessewrites #maedhrosmaglorweek #Maedhros #Maglor #gen #fanfic #tolkien #day 4: New Horizons

[tanoraqui]

one of my favorite tragedies (tragicomedies?) about the “kidnap fam” situation is that even if Maglor, Maedhros et al TRIED to give Elrond and Elros some education in their rightful cultures…how could they possibly do that? They don’t know shit about what life was like in Doriath, aside from, like, Finrod’s secondhand accounts and a couple Northern Sindar still in their host who spent time in Thingol’s realm before the Girdle went up with their homes on the other side. (That’s not nothing, really—the culture didn’t change much in 500-odd years.) They know even LESS about Gondolin—they can guess based on Tirion, but unlike Doriath, you know the traditions and memes all went wild in that isolated little multicultural valley city.

One of Curufin’s closest confidants has survived this long; she tells the twins about the time she brought Lúthien lunch while they were secretly holding the princess captive in Nargothrond.

For some reason, the library at Amon Ereb includes a set of treatises Fingolfin wrote in Tirion on the philosophy and application of law, in general and in some cases specific. Maglor says, “Here, this is part of your heritage,” and hands it to them for reading practice. Young Nolofinwë had heard of resource scarcity from his parents’ generation, but only considered it as an intellectual exercise here and there. The fortress nearly starved that year for lack of unpoisoned soil.

The assault on Sirion was malice aforethought. Everything after that was pretty much making the best of a situation that got worse every day.

#the silmarillion #elrond #elros #maglor #kidnap fam #peredhil

[nyxshadowhawk]

I Read The Silmarillion So You Don't Have To, Part Six

Previous part.

Chapter 14: Of Beleriand and its Realms In which we get a geography lesson.

Had enough political geography yet? I’m not going to summarize this whole chapter, because it’s exactly what it says on the tin: it describes the realms of Beleriand. It is impossible to make sense of this chapter without looking at the map. And most of it is information that we already know. For the sake of being complete, and of helping myself keep track of all this information, here’s what’s important:

The northern land where the Noldor live is called Hísilomé (in Quenya) or Hithlum (in Sindarin), both of which mean “Land of Mist.” It’s called that because of all the smoke that comes from Angband blows over it. It’s co-ruled by Fingolfin and his son Fingon.

In the westernmost part of Beleriand, on the coast, is a land called Nevrast. Turgon, Fingolfin’s other son, rules there. It’s completely surrounded by mountains in a kind of triangular shape, which is not how mountains work. Its population consists of an even mix of Noldor and Sindar.

Remember how I said there were two Minas Tiriths? The one we know is the second one, in Gondor, many thousands of years later. The first one is a watchtower built in a small mountain pass on the River Sirion, here in Beleriand. Finrod built it, but he leaves it in the care of his brother Orodreth. (“Minas Tirith” just means “guard tower” in Sindarin, so that’s why there’s two fortresses with that name.)

The River Sirion flows south. West of it is the realm of Nargothrond, ruled by Finrod, and east of it is Doriath, the forest ruled by King Thingol of the Sindar.

The eagles live on a chain of mountains called the Crissaegrim. (Yes, the name of the best sword in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is a reference to this! )

In the eastern part of Beleriand is the River Gelion, running parallel to the Sirion. It has six rivers that flow into it. That land is called Ossiriand, and the Green Elves live there. Directly north is Thargelion, where Caranthir (another one of Fëanor’s sons) has his castle.

In the northeast is Lothlann, which is the plain that’s most exposed to Morgoth. Maedhros has his castle there.

I feel like this chapter should have come before the last one. It describes a bunch of places which have already been referenced in relation to each other. So, why are they being described now, after they’ve already become relevant to the story? Like, for example, the Thangorodrim. In this chapter, we’re told that the Thangorodrim are mountains made out of the refuse from Morgoth’s excavations while he was building his fortress. That would have been nice to know before Mædhros was nailed to the face of them. Back in the last chapter, the text just sort of assumed that we already know what the Thangorodrim are. I gathered from the context that they’re mountains and that they’re connected to Morgoth. I guess that’s all one really needs to know, right? No story actually needs this detailed a description of the geography… but this book is 300 pages of straight infodumping. So, we get all the geography, and out-of-order.

Okay, now that that’s over, let’s move on to something interesting!

Chapter 15: Of the Noldor in Beleriand In which a legendary city is built, and Thingol hears all the dirt on the Noldor.

Remember Turgon? He’s Fingolfin’s son and Fingon’s brother, and he received a prophetic dream from Ulmo, the Vala of Water. The dream led him to finding a hidden valley in the north of Beleriand. Feeling homesick for Valinor, Turgon decided to build a city on the hill in the center of the valley, which would be like a New Tirion — the original city of the Noldor, replicated in Middle Earth!

Turgon brought many of the most skilled Noldor to the valley to build the city, and then ditched them to live comfortably in Nevrast while they did the work for him. After fifty-two years, the city was complete. Turgon named it Ondolindë, which means “The Rock of the Music of Water” in Quenya. But it’s better known by its Sindarin name, Gondolin.

The Hidden City of Gondolin by Aesthetica

Gondonlin is the Elven City (which is why it’s kind of surprising to learn that it’s a copy of an even greater one). It’s gorgeous and bright white, with beautiful fountains and gardens. The giant tower in the middle is Turgon’s palace, and in it he creates images of the Two Trees of Valinor, wrought out of literal silver and gold; the gold one is called Glingal, and the silver one is called Belthil.

The most wondrous treasure of Gondolin is, of course, Turgon’s beautiful daughter Idril Celebrindal. Like Galadriel, she almost has the light of the Gold Tree, Laurelin, in her hair. So, that makes her one of the prettiest Elves alive.

Ulmo promises to protect Gondolin, and ensure that no one will ever be able to find it against his will. But he straight-up tells Turgon not to get too attached to Gondolin. (Actually, he says “the work of thy hands” — lol, Turgon did nothing to help build it.) Ulmo also tells Turgon that his little safe-haven isn’t going to protect him from the Curse, so, he can expect treachery within Gondolin’s walls at some point. The only hope is going to be someone who comes from the west.

What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

A third of the Noldor and even more of the Sindar pass secretly into Gondolin, apparently disappearing overnight. (Nevrast is completely abandoned) Then the gates are shut.

Meanwhile, Galadriel is enjoying her life in the court of Thingol. Remember, she’s one of the only Noldor Elves who’s allowed to be there, past the magic wall. She has long talks with Queen Melian, the Maia, about Valinor. But Galadriel refuses to say anything about how and why the Two Trees died. Melian can tell that something’s wrong, and asks Galadriel what happened. Galadriel says that she wants to put the past behind her, and try to have some hope for the future.

Melian presses her — she knows better than to think, as everyone else does, that the Noldor were sent by the Valar to swoop in and save her people from being assaulted by Orcs. She notes that the Noldor don’t speak of the Valar at all; they just sort of pretend that the Valar don’t exist. From that, she concludes that the Noldor aren’t messengers, they’re exiles. Something went badly wrong.

Galadriel caves, and tells Melian about the Silmarils, about how Morgoth stole them, about the death of Finwë, and about how the Noldor left Valinor willingly despite the Valar not wanting them to leave. She neglects to mention any of the worse stuff, like the Oath that Fëanor’s sons took, or the kinslaying, or the Curse, or the burning of the ships. Melian senses that she’s still holding back information. She doesn’t press Galadriel any more, but she does tell her husband Thingol about the Silmarils.

Only Melian is really able to put two and two together, and realize just what a big-ass deal the Silmarils really are. They contain the last remaining Light of Valinor, and if Morgoth has them, then any attempt at recovering them is almost inherently pointless. It’s going to take far more power than Elves have to take the fight to him. Fëanor tried that, and now he’s dead, even though he was one of the greatest Elves. If anyone else tries to take on Morgoth, they could risk destroying the world in the process. For better or worse, the fate of Arda is tied up with that of the Silmarils.

Thingol is distraught to hear that Finwë is dead, and figures he was right not to trust the Noldor. The only silver lining is that at least the Noldor will make good allies against Morgoth, because peace with him doesn’t seem to be an option. Melian tells him to be wary of Fëanor’s sons. She could read between the lines and figure out what Galadriel wasn’t telling her. Fëanor’s sons are all guilty of crimes against the Valar, their own families, and even themselves. There’s a lot of unresolved tension between them that’s only dormant for the time being, and it can only get worse from here. Thingol dismisses her concerns. All he cares about is that Fëanor’s sons will give him his best shot at taking down Morgoth. Whatever drama is between them is their business.

Melian and Thingol decide not to speak of this again, but rumor spreads amongst the Sindar about what the Noldor did to get kicked out of Valinor. Many of these rumors are spread by Morgoth. Spreading rumors was how he set the Noldor on their dark path in the first place, and the Sindar were too naïve to know not to believe rumors. Círdan, however, catches wise. He perceives that the rumors are being spread maliciously, but doesn’t think to blame Morgoth. He assumes that the Noldorin princes are spreading rumors to slander each other. He sends messengers to Thingol to tell him about the rumors.

By pure bad luck, Finrod and his brothers happen to be there in Thingol’s court, visiting their sister Galadriel. So, Thingol hears all the rumors while they’re there. He explodes at Finrod for having lied by omission. Finrod protests that he’s never done anything to Thingol, nor have any of the other Noldor. Thingol cooly responds that all the Noldor have blood on their hands for kinslaying, but they don’t try to defend themselves or seek pardon. Finrod has nothing to say to that.

But Angrod, his brother, speaks up. Angrod blames Fëanor for the whole thing. The other Noldor are really the victims in this situation, he claims, because they were intoxicated by Fëanor’s words, and then Fëanor abandoned them to freeze to death. The reason why Thingol hasn’t heard any of this before is because it’s an act of treason against the Noldor to talk about it. Surely, Thingol can understand that?

Melian is less than impressed. She points out that, according to Angrod’s own account, Mandos doomed all the Noldor. That means that he and his siblings are just as damned as the rest of them. They're all affected by the Curse.

Thingol is silent for a moment. Then he tells Angrod and co. to get out of his house. He’s not going to shut them out forever, because they’re family. He’s also going to maintain his friendship with Fingolfin’s people, because he needs them to take down Morgoth. But, he refuses to hear their language be spoken in his presence, and he commands that none of the Sindar use it, either. Anyone who speaks Quenya will be branded a kinslayer.

So, now you know why Sindarin is the dominant Elven language in Middle-earth.

That sort of puts a damper on Quenya; it seems like such a magical and elevated language, but now it’s associated with the Noldor’s crimes. I suppose that makes sense, if the Noldor are the ones who primarily speak it. But it also seems a bit draconian for Thingol to consider someone guilty of a serious crime just for speaking Quenya.

Quenya therefore ceases to be a spoken language, and becomes mainly used for writing lore or singing old songs. It’s the Elvish version of Latin.

After that, things become a little awkward for Galadriel in Thingol’s court, so she leaves it and comes to live with her brother Finrod in Nargothrond. She asks him why he hasn’t taken a wife yet. Finrod gets a flash of premonition, and tells her that nothing of his realm will remain to be inherited by a son. But the real truth is that he left his true love, Amarië, in Valinor.

Finrod by _star热爱生活呀巴扎嘿

Chapter 16: Of Maeglin In which we meet an edgy bad-boy Elf.

Did you remember that Fingolfin had a daughter? It’s okay, I didn’t either. Her name is Aredhel Ar-Feiniel, and she’s known as the White Lady. She lives with Turgon, her brother, in Nevrast. She follows him to Gondolin, but she doesn’t really like it there. She prefers to wander freely in forests or ride horses in the fields, and she can’t do that if she’s effectively imprisoned by mountains and high walls on all sides.

Two hundred years pass (which I’m guessing is like twenty in elf years), and she finally asks Turgon if she can leave. Turgon doesn’t want her to leave. If anyone leaves Gondolin, then that risks revealing its existence to everyone else in the world, and that would be bad. Eventually he gives in, but tells her that she’s only allowed to meet with Fingon, their brother. Aredhel takes offense at this. She’s Turgon’s sister, not his lackey, and he has no right to tell her where to go or what to do. She leaves, and Turgon tells three of his lords to go with her to protect her, with the condition that they come straight back.

Aredhel immediately decides not to go see Fingon. She wants to find the sons of Fëanor (Maedhros, Caranthir, and co.), because they’re her friends. She tries to cut through the forest of Doriath, but the Sindar turn her away, because Thingol hates the Noldor now. She has to go around the long way. That way is dangerous, and polluted with poisonous water and evil creatures left behind by Morgoth and Ungoliant. Aredhel gets lost, and her escorts barely escape with their lives. They make it back to Gondolin, but have to give the terrible news to Turgon that they lost their charge along the way.

Turgon is grief-stricken and very, very frustrated. Aredhel survives, though, and ends up in Himlad, the land of Fëanor’s sons Celegorm and Curufin. They’re away, traveling further east with their brother Caranthir, but Aredhel is welcomed by Celegorm’s people.

Aredhel enjoys herself for a while, wandering in the forests like she used to, but a year passes and Celegorm still hasn’t come back. She starts wandering further and further, until she ends up in a small forest on the eastern edge of Doriath.

Aredhel lost in the dark forest by @gemennair

This forest is the darkest of all the forests in Beleriand, and it’s inhabited by an elf called Eöl, known as the Dark Elf. Eöl isn’t actually a Dark Elf (Moriquendi); he’s one of the Sindar, but he left Doriath when the magic wall went up. Now he’s basically nocturnal. He blames the Noldor for the return of Morgoth. He mostly doesn’t interact with other Elves, but he does like Dwarves, and gives them information about the Elves when they ask. The Dwarves taught him metalwork in exchange, and he designed a special kind of armor that’s thin and light and yet repels all weapons. It’s jet black, and he wears it all the time.

Skulking in the shadows, Eöl sees Aredhel enter his forest, and he lusts after her. He enchants the forest so that she can’t find her way out, and the forest always turns her towards the center. (Kind of like the Old Forest does to the Hobbits while they’re trying to pass through it in Fellowship.) When she finally arrives at Eöl’s house, tired from wandering, he welcomes her in. And that was the last her family heard of her for a long time.

Aredhel and Eöl by Elena Kukanova

It’s unknown exactly how Aredhel responded to Eöl’s intent to marry her. Maybe she fell in love with this edgy bad-boy elf in his spooky forest. But she landed in kind of the same situation that she was in back in Gondolin. Eöl lets her wander, at least, but only at night. He also forbids her from seeking out the other Noldor, and the sons of Fëanor in particular, which is what she wanted to do in the first place. Honestly, their relationship reminds me superficially of Hades and Persephone.

Eöl and Aredhel have a son. Secretly, Aredhel gives him a name in her forbidden native tongue of Quenya — Lómion, which means “Child of the Twilight.” Eöl doesn’t give him a name until he turns twelve, and that name is Maeglin, which means “sharp glance.” Maeglin grows up to resemble the Noldor, but he is more like his father in temperament.

Maeglin by @elfinfen

His father takes him to meet the Dwarves, who teach him mining, smithing, and metalwork. But Maeglin has a special relationship with his mother, and enjoys hearing her tales of Valinor and the House of Fingolfin. He especially likes hearing about Turgon and Gondolin.

In telling all these stories, Aredhel realizes just how much she misses Gondonlin. She wonders how she could have left in the first place. After such a long time in the dark shadows of the forest, the bright walls and fountains of Gondonlin seem lovely. But she refuses to tell Maeglin where Gondolin is, because that is such an important secret.

Eöl is also mad that Maeglin wants to meet his Noldor relatives. He’s an old enough Sinda to still identify himself as a member of the Teleri, and therefore, he thinks of his distant relatives in Valinor as his own people. He forbids Maeglin from seeking out the Noldor for the same reason that King Thingol banned Quenya — he takes the Noldor’s crime of kinslaying personally. (He probably should have thought of that before deciding to marry Aredhel, but whatever.) Maeglin, like any edgy teenager, does not take this well. He stops going to visit the Dwarves with his father, and Eöl starts to distrust his own son.

One summer, when Eöl is gone on one of his visits to the Dwarves, Maeglin suggests to his mother that they go to Gondolin. What’s the point of sticking around? She wants to see her people again, and Maeglin has learned all he can from Eöl. There’s no sense in remaining trapped in a dark forest with nothing else to do. So, they up and leave.

When Eöl gets back, he is furious to find them gone. Despite his hatred of the sun, he chases after them, but he’s waylaid by Curufin, one of Fëanor’s sons. Curufin asks what he’s doing there. Eöl lies, saying that his wife and son were on a casual visit to their relatives, and that it only makes sense that he should be with them. Curufin sees right through him, and tells him that they’re already gone. He gives Eöl permission to pass through, but tells him that the sooner he leaves, the better.

Eöl by @bohemianweasel

Eöl snipes that this isn’t the proper way to treat a kinsman. Curufin replies that it’s pretty rich for Eöl to ride upon his wife’s title when he’s been keeping her imprisoned in a forest for decades. If he wants the honor due to a kinsman, he should have acted like one. Curufin also gives Eöl a warning: He should return to his forest now. If he pursues his family, he’ll never come back.

If Eöl hated the Noldor before, now he really hates the Noldor.

As you probably guessed, he decides to chase after his family, and he eventually catches up with them just as they’re about to enter Gondolin. Gondolin, the secret city that no one is supposed to know the entrance to.

You can imagine how Turgon must have reacted when he sees his sister come back with a son in tow. She went out for a simple family visit, and returned with an adult child that she had with some creepy dude in a dark forest. But he’s happier to have her back and see her safe. Turgon also takes a liking to Maeglin, and thinks that he’s worthy to be one of the Princes of the Noldor. Maeglin swears fealty to Turgon.

Gondolin surpasses Maeglin’s wildest dreams. After having spent nearly his whole life in a dark forest, Gondolin is a whirl of light and color and interesting people. But more than anything else, he’s attracted to the king’s daughter, Idril… his first cousin.

Meanwhile, Eöl finds his way in. You know, the one thing Turgon didn’t want to have happen. Because he claims to be Aredhel’s husband, the guards restrain him (with difficulty) and bring him to Turgon. Aredhel is aghast that her abusive husband followed her all the way to her secret safe haven, but she tells the guards not to kill him. After all, he is telling the truth, and he’s still Maeglin’s father.

Eöl stands “proud and sullen” before Turgon, but despite his bad attitude, Turgon treats him honorably. Unlike Curufin, he accepts Eöl as a kinsman, and tells him that he’s welcome to stay in the city so long as he doesn’t leave it. E��l goes on a rant about how this is the Tereri’s land, and (paraphrased) “you colonizing kinslayers don’t have any right to tell me where I can and can’t go, and how dare you keep my son from me!” He commands Maeglin to come with him, but Maeglin huffs and says nothing.

Turgon retorts that the only reason why Eöl’s woods are safe is because the Noldor protect the land from Orcs, so, he owes them. If it weren’t for the Noldor, he’d be Morgoth’s slave in Angband. And besides, you can’t argue with a king in his own castle. Either Eöl will live in Gondolin, or he’ll die there, and Maeglin will get the same choice.

Turgon by _star热爱生活呀巴扎嘿

Eöl just stands silently for several minutes. You could cut the tension with a knife. Then, in a sudden motion, he takes a javelin that he had concealed in his cloak and throws it straight at Maeglin. If he’s gonna die there, he’s taking Maeglin with him. Aredhel jumps in front of her son, and the javelin hits her in the shoulder.

Eöl is instantly beset by guards, who bind him and lead him away. Maeglin is just silent through all this, not knowing how to react. Aredhel and Idril both try to convince Turgon to be merciful during Eöl’s trial, but that night, Aredhel dies. The tip of the javelin was poisoned. Therefore, Turgon shows Eöl no mercy. He sentences him to die by being thrown from the top of the tower. As he falls, he curses Maeglin to have all his efforts fail and to suffer the same fate.

Caragdur - the same fate by SaMo-art

Most of the people of Gondolin believe justice has been served, but Idril is troubled. From that day onward, she distrusts Maeglin.

For the time being, Maeglin’s life is good. He rises through the ranks of Turgon’s court, and Turgon favors him. He finds many valuable metals in the mountains around Gondolin, and forges powerful steel weapons for the people of Gondolin. Maeglin is also wise, tough, and valiant in battle, making him a true asset to Gondolin. All is well… for now.

The only problem is that he’s still in love with Idril, who’s his first cousin. The Noldor don’t marry their cousins, and until now, none of them have wanted to. Idril also doesn’t love him; she can’t help but associate him with his insane father, and she thinks there’s a darkness in him. Somehow, he’s affected by the Curse. Slowly, Maeglin’s love for Idril festers into resentment. I’m sure that won’t cause any problems down the line.

Chapter 17: Of the Coming of Men into the West In which the Men finally arrive in Beleriand.

It’s been three hundred years since the Noldor first arrived in Beleriand. One day, Finrod Felagund is out exploring the countryside, and he sees cheery campfires and hears the sound of singing. That’s weird, he thinks, the Green Elves who live here don’t light campfires or sing at night. He worries that they might be Orcs, and sneaks closer, but he doesn’t recognize their language. They’re humans, the first Men to enter Beleriand. These Men are the people of Bëor the Old, and they’re singing because they believe that they’ve finally found a paradisal land without fear of Morgoth. Finrod finds them endearing.

When they go to sleep, Finrod sneaks further into their camp, picks up a crudely-carven harp, and begins to play. The Men wake up and are spellbound by the beauty of the faerie king’s music. Finrod sings about the creation of the world, and about Valinor. Although the Men don’t understand his language, images of what he’s singing appear in their minds, and so they learn about how the world was created.

By _star热爱生活呀巴扎嘿

By Elena Kukanova

By pan_brooke

By @pansen1802

(I couldn’t pick just one image for this scene. There are so many good ones!)

After all the Elf Drama that we’ve had to sit through, it’s easy to forget what the Elves really are. They’re the Fair Folk. This scene really speaks to their folkloric roots.

At first, the Men think that Finrod is a Vala, which they’ve heard of. Finrod decides to stay with the Men for some time, in order to teach them things. They call him Nómin, which in their language means “the Wise.” Finrod can understand the Men’s speech realtively easily, because he can read their minds, and because they learned how to speak from the Dark Elves (the Avari) in the east. (This is important because it means that all of the Children of Ilúvatar’s languages descend from the original language of the Elves. It’s the Proto-Indo-European of Middle-earth.)

Finrod asks Bëor why the Men are there. Bëor doesn’t really know, because Men have short lives, and it’s taken many generations for them to get this far. Whatever it was they were fleeing in the first place, it was bad, and they’ve heard enough about Valinor to know that there’s Light in the west. Morgoth did something to corrupt them, as he always does. In fact, as soon as Men arrived in Middle-earth, Morgoth considered this such a big deal that he abandoned the war in Beleriand, putting Sauron in charge of it. Morgoth immediately went to go mess with the Men. Therefore, there’s some human equivalent of the Noldor’s Original Sin of kinslaying. But what it is, no one knows. Bëor tells Finrod that there are more Men heading westwards.

Some of the Green Elves send messengers to Finrod to ask about the Men. They’re not happy that these refugees of an unknown race are moving onto their land. They consider Men their enemies, because the Men cut down trees and kill animals. They tell Finrod to tell the Men to either go back the way they came, or move forward.

Finrod advises the Men to keep moving. They head further West, so that they’re just east of Doriath and just south of Eöl’s dark forest. This is the land that Amrod and Amras, the twin sons of Fëanor, rule over. This land is now called Estolad, “Encampment.” By that point, a year has passed since Finrod first found the Men, and he decides to return home to his own palace, Nargothrond. Bëor begs to come with him and serve him, so he does, leaving his son in charge of the Men.

Soon after, more groups of Men make their way into Beleriand. They settle in whatever little niches they can find amongst the lands that the Elves had divided up amongst themselves. The Elves are extremely interested in the Men, whom they call Edain, “the Second People.” Both Noldor and Sindar alike go to see them. They send messengers to welcome the Men, and some of the Men go to serve in the courts of the Elven kings. Overtime, more and more of them go to serve the Elves.

Thingol, however, is unhappy about the coming of Men. He already was not pleased about the arrival of the Noldor in his lands, even before he found out that they were kinslayers and banned their language. Now, a whole separate group of refugees is invading his kingdom from the other direction, dividing it into even smaller portions. What’s worse, he keeps having troubling dreams about them. The only person he’s willing to talk to about this is Finrod. Thingol decrees that the Men are only allowed to live in the north of Beleriand, and that the Elf lords that they serve are responsible for them. None of the Men are allowed to come into Doriath.

Melian knows that the arrival of Men means that big changes are coming. She whispers to Galadriel that one of the Men will eventually break through her magic wall, because the power of that Man’s destiny will overcome her own. People will sing about that event until the distant future, when Middle-earth is unrecognizable.

Many of the Men are still interested in getting to Valinor, so they can live with the Gods. They’re frustrated and disappointed to know that Valinor is even further west, across the sea. The only God that’s there with them is Morgoth, the Lord of the Dark. (This echoes the Christian idea that God is removed from the world, while Satan is here on earth with us and troubles us while we’re alive.) The Men basically have two options: to try to get across the sea to Valinor, or to try to help the Elves defeat Morgoth.

One Man, Amlach, makes the bold suggestion that there is no Valinor, and that the Elves have been lying to them. The Men have no proof that the Gods exist, and they don’t even have any proof that Morgoth exists beyond the vague evil that their great-grandfathers fled. Maybe it’s the Elves and not Morgoth who want to take over the world! Sound familiar? These are basically all the same conspiracy theories that drove the Noldor out of Valinor.

It’s darkly telling that the source of evil in The Silmarillion is conspiracy theories, lies, misunderstandings, and miscommunications. Morgoth didn’t force the Noldor to kill their relatives — they did that on their own. Now, he’s trying the same tactic all over again with the Men. All he needs to do is sew distrust amongst the people, so that they’ll attack each other instead of him, and destroy everything in the process. This speaks to Tolkien’s general theme about the power of language, but it also seems particularly poignant right now.

Morgoth’s not done yet, though. Despite his best efforts to sew distrust, the friendship between Elves and Men still holds. He decides to try a more direct approach, and sends Orcs to attack a group of Men. The Men are a lot weaker against the Orcs than the Elves are, and they barely survive the siege. Caranthir arrives with the cavalry at the last minute to drive back the Orcs. Caranthir offers the Men protection in his lands in the north. Their leader, Haleth, refuses; she doesn’t want to live under someone else’s rule. She tells Caranthir that she’d rather go further west. She gathers what’s left of her people, and brings them to Estolad.

Haleth leads her people further and further west. They travel through the land north of Doriath, the same poisonous land where Aredhel originally got lost. Many of her people die, and the survivors regret making the journey, but it’s too late to go back now. She tries to restore their way of life best she can.

Haleth by @yidanyuan

Now, Haleth and her people are living in a forest called Brethil, northwest of Doriath. This is too close for Thingol’s comfort. Finrod vouches for Haleth and her people, and tells Thingol about the hell that they went through. Thingol reluctantly permits them to live in the forest, so long as they remain outside the magic wall and help defend the forest from Orcs. He worries that the Men and Orcs could become allies and try to attack Doriath. Haleth is disturbed that Thingol would let that thought cross his mind; why would she ally herself with Orcs, after Orcs laid siege to her village and killed her father and brother? If Thingol wants her to kill Orcs, he doesn’t need to tell her twice. She remains in Brethil until she dies, at which point her people build a great barrow for her.

Overtime, the Men learn Sindarin. They remain enthralled by the Elves, and want to learn as much of their lore as possible. But the Elves recognize that Men need to have kingdoms and leaders of their own. The different ethnic groups of Men are therefore given their own lands by the Elven Kings. In addition to Haleth and her people, there are two other important kings of Men:

One of the kings of Men is Hador Lórindol (“Goldenhead”), a member of Fingolfin’s court, whom Fingolfin is fond of. Hador’s people speak both Sindarin and their own language, which eventually evolves into the language of Númenor (which in turn evolves into Westron, the in-universe language that The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit are written in, rendered as Modern English by our good Professor Tolkien). One of Hador’s sons is named Galdor. Galdor has two sons, Hurin and Huor. They each have a son — Húrin’s son is Túrin, and Huor’s son is Tuor. Tuor has a son, Earendil, whose name should ring a bell. Húrin, Huor, Túrin, and Tuor are all going to be important characters going forward in The Silmarillion. Earendil is the father of Elrond and his brother Elros, and much further down the line, Aragorn will be born from his lineage.

The other important king of Men is Boromir — no, not that one, this one is the son of Bëor the Old. One of his great-great-grandchildren is Morwen, the mother of Túrin, and another one of his great-great-grandchildren is Rían, the mother of Tuor. A third great-great-grandchild is Beren, who’s also a significant character going forward, and his daughter becomes the wife of Earendil, therefore the many-times-great-grandmother of Aragorn.

TL;DR: These two important kings’ grandchildren will marry each other, and their descendants will be the Kings of Numenor, whose line will eventually end with Aragorn. This is where it starts. Also, most of these great-grandchildren are about to become relevant here in the Silm.

Bëor is the first of the Men to die of old age, rather than being killed in battle. The Men are struck by their own mortality. They’re not just vulnerable to being killed — unlike the Elves, they actually have an expiration date. The scope of Men’s lives is barely a hundred years. In the First Age, the Men are practically mayflies. They also have no idea where they go when they die.

Still, the Men that settled in Beleriand are vastly superior to the Men that remained in the East, because they had the opportunity to learn skills, lore, and craftsmanship from the Elves. Also, the men are elevated somewhat just from having seen the Elves’ beautiful faces, because the Elves saw Valinor. Even secondhand, the light of Valinor is just that powerful.

#the silmarillion #the silm #the silm fandom #the silm art #silmarillion #summary #j r r tolkien #the lord of the rings #lotr #finrod #finrod felagund #eol #maeglin #haleth #curufin #celegorm #turgon #aredhel #tolkien #middle earth #elves #tolkien elves #silm elves #beleriand

[gwaedhannen]

Preamble: the state of Beleriand after the First Battle

Ah fuck guess I'm writing this now. Bullet-point style because all the best AUs use it (yes I'm talking about @thelordofgifs's The Fairest Stars) and definitely not because I'm lazy.

Quick synopsis of the First Battle in Y.T. 1497:

Morgoth upon his return sends two orc-hosts through the northern passes, the west-host down Sirion and Narog and the east down Celon and Gelion.

The east-host is beaten by Thingol and the Laiquendi, but the Laiquendi take heavy losses, and their king Denethor and his kin are all slain on Amon Ereb before Thingol can reinforce them.

The dwarves of Mount Dolmed deal with the surviving orcs.

The west-host cuts Thingol off from Círdan, and the Falathrim are driven back to Eglarest and Brithombar and besieged.

The aftermath:

Thingol pulls his people into Neldoreth and Region, and Melian raises the Girdle. Doriath is founded.

The surviving Laiquendi either scatter into Ossiriand or join with Thingol's people.

Orcs have the run of West Beleriand.

Eglarest and Brithombar are besieged until Fëanáro's host arrives and the siege is called off to go deal with them (and they're destroyed by Tyelkormo's forces).

...But in this universe, Fëanáro and the rest of the Noldor are still on the Helcaraxë for another 25 solar years.

Now we're getting into conjecture:

In canon, Eglarest and Brithombar are besieged and destroyed a year after the Nírnaeth, thanks to Morgoth's siege engineers. This is despite the elves of Nargothrond helping to rebuild the cities during the Long Peace, and the Falathrim's reinforcement by survivors of the battle and the fall of Hithlum. Only a few survivors escape with Círdan to Balar and the mouths of Sirion. Three fleeing ships also sail far further south and found Edhellond near where Dol Amroth will eventually be. The rest of the Havens' inhabitants are killed or captured.

It's still Y.T. 1497. Morgoth hasn't had centuries to innovate his siege technology, but Círdan's cities also haven't been rebuilt with Noldor walls.

The Grey Annals says Fëanáro's host arrives some seven solar years after Melian raises the Girdle.

(Yes if we go by the usual "1 tree year = 9.582 solar years" then it could've been upwards of 25 solar years since the Darkening in 1495 before the landing at Losgar.)

(I hate Tolkien's timelines sometimes.)

Círdan holds out for over a decade. The orcs can't completely starve them thanks to the ocean, but repeated assaults on the walls wear down the defenders, and there's only so much fish and seaweed.

Meanwhile, the Northern Sindar of Mithrim and Nevrast are constantly harassed by the rest of Morgoth's west-host. Círdan sends ships north to evacuate those he can, but he only has so many ships and men.

The orcs have them cut off from Doriath, but they're not living this far away from Menegroth because they like Thingol's rule. They theoretically acknowledge him as king but realistically mostly ignore him.

(Any claims that Thingol hates them due to closeness to Angband and rumors they sometimes serve as Morgoth's spies are unfounded exaggerations.)

And while normally he'd ignore them in turn, they're still his people in some form or another.

Thingol sends what sorties he can to harry the west-host, but Doriath's forces are still exhausted from the First Battle and much of the kingdom's resources are tied up in getting the many refugees settled.

It also doesn't help that Melian warns him that should he die, her grief will not allow her to stay on the continent and maintain the Girdle.

One of his chief vassals is dead, and the other is besieged. His lands are being ravaged. But he can't leave his borders, because he isn't willing to risk himself (and therefore the Girdle) falling and exposing the main part of his people to attack.

So he throws himself into making sure his people are as happy as can be and entrusts the war to his captains.

So that's the state of things for the next 15 solar years. Orcs gradually hunt down the remaining wandering Sindar who don't find shelter in Doriath or some hidden refuge. Mithrim and Nevrast slowly depopulate from the Falathrim's evacuation missions, orcs, and what few refugees can sneak by Morgoth's forces to Doriath. Thingol holds lavish banquets and listens to Beleg and Mablung's reports while everyone else sleeps off the wine. He doesn't permit himself time to cry.

Midway through Y.T. 1498, Brithombar falls.

(to be continued eventually)

#silmarillion #tolkien #silm fic #thingol #feanor #cirdan #stormwritten #this AU needs a name #something representing how Fëanor crosses the Helcaraxë #fire meeting ice and the songs people will sing about that #hmmmmmm #wait who the fuck is George Raymond Richard Martin

[aspenrockymountainhigh]

Legolas was the son of Thranduil, King of the Woodland Realm of Northern Mirkwood,who appeared as "the Elvenking" in The Hobbit.Thranduil, one of the Sindar or "Grey Elves", ruled over the Silvan Elves or "Wood-elves" of Mirkwood. ~Hope

#legolas #the hobbit #lotr

[ceescedasticity]

fic: well-behaved women (rarely make history)

Sixteen times Artanilmë Angarátiel failed to make it into the historical record.

1. Finwë's first great-grandchild might have drawn a great deal of attention. But Angaráto and Eldalótë were aware of this, and wary of it; they dwelled in Arafinwë's house near Alqualondë and visited Tirion only discreetly, until Artanilmë was no longer a child and also was not Finwë's only great-grandchild. (Nor was this itself notable: Curufinwë and Turukáno in turn also strictly limited their children's public appearances while they were children.)

2. Studying and practicing healing is just not a notable thing for a Noldorin woman to do, even in the royal house. It was more notable that she was one of the first to treat (accidental) sword injuries, and studied Lindarin techniques not dependent on the Valar in order to do so discreetly, but not being obvious about that was the entire point.

3. Artanilmë did not join the debate at the bonfires; with her brother, grandfather, father, uncles, and aunt already there, she felt any opinion she might offer would be superfluous. There were still many people suffering the effects of the Unlight, and others who had been injured in the panic of the Darkening. She was needed more elsewhere.

4. Perhaps it would have been noted had she acted on her impulse to refuse her aid to any Noldor injured in the Kinslaying at Alqualondë. (They had no right to expect the teachings of the Lindar to help them now.) But she looked to her duty, and swallowed her grief and rage to tend the wounded, though in stony silence.

5. No one was writing history while crossing the Grinding Ice, nor did anyone wish to speak of it afterwards. The brutal learning curve of the limits of healing when the healers themselves were at their limits was not discussed. Artanilmë nearly killing herself failing to save a child was not discussed. The reinvention of amputation was not discussed.

6. Arameldis was never the only one bringing Doriathrin medical knowledge to the Noldor and vice versa. There were healers of the Falathrim and the Northern Sindar who crossed the borders as freely, and the odd healer of Doriath who came forth, and Galadriel also learned and shared many things. And, regardless, none of that was thought interesting enough for anyone's annals.

7. Many Noldor reached out to provide aid and wisdom to the Edain. Not so many sought to learn from the Edain in turn, but Arameldis was certainly not alone in the House of Finarfin in doing so. The treatise she wrote on best practice for elven healers treating injury or illness of Men was of limited interest outside of the community of healers and some conscientious leaders.

8. Perhaps it would have been noted had Arameldis died with her father and uncle in the Dagor Bragollach. But she was ordered to lead the retreat and evacuation to Nargothrond, and followed those orders, and the journey was not as perilous as some.

9. When Beren came to Nargothrond, Arameldis was in the Falas, lending her skills to those without a hidden city to keep them safe. Had she been present, perhaps her strength and her counsel might have made some difference, or at least captured enough attention to be recorded; but she was not.

10. Had Arameldis returned while Celegorm and Curufin ruled in Nargothrond, she might have been able to stir the people to drive them out: She was not wounded as Orodreth was, and she was older and taken more seriously than Finduilas, and a battlefield healer must be able to stand her ground against irrational princes. But she suspected nothing of the state of things at home until Finrod's death.

11. Some in Nargothrond witnessed the debate of Orodreth and Arameldis over the Union of Maedhros. Voices were raised, tears were shed, and many of the arguments for and against joining were neatly summarized. It would likely have entered the histories of the First Age had any of the survivors of Nargothrond spoken of it. They did not. Survivors of Nargothrond seldom spoke of the Nirnaeth Arnoediad.

12. That Arameldis appeared for the Fifth Battle was far less notable than Gwindor's small defiant force. She went where she was needed in those days; it did not need to be said. No one thought she would be needed at Gwindor's side. If she tried to scream any orders from the rear no one took note of it.

13. Arameldis shed her share of the tears. She kept working until she was forcibly carried away by Mablung of Doriath. And she did not speak of it for anyone to write of it, save only: "I can recognize a mortal wound." This was, perhaps, too cryptic to be thought worth repeating.

14. Finduilas did not seek Arameldis's insight on the matter of Túrin. Why would she? Her aunt was very open that she had no experience in even simple matters of the heart. Arameldis was involved in what healing they could offer Gwindor. Obviously.

15. On the matter of the bridge and later Círdan's warnings she was publicly silent. When Orodreth sought her counsel in private, she had little to say. Venturing forth to seek battle was a terrible risk, evacuating in a large group was a terrible risk, and if they stayed where they were and did nothing they would surely die of internal injuries, metaphorically speaking. She had no conclusion.

16. Of course Arameldis rode out with the warriors of Nargothrond. Of course she was at Tumhalad. Of course she was slain. Of course none of the handful of survivors saw her fall. They could only say she was definitely dead, not captured, and while that was preferable it was also not noteworthy.

#a tolkien tag #reckless application of spackle #I am probably going to keep going with these self-indulgent extended family tree things #because that's what the writing brain is interested in writing #oh well

[undercat-overdog]

I will never get over Earendil, Elwing and language, and how it’s used to show their connection to each other and to their heritages.

Earendil is canonically trilingual (Quenya, Sindarin, and Taliska) and he pleads to the Valar for the peoples of Middle-earth in all three languages; he succeeds in his plea in part because he can speak in all three languages - he’s asking on behalf of (almost) everyone in Beleriand - the Exiles, the native Sindar, and the Edain, and though he doesn’t have any Sindarin ancestry (though his wife and children do) he can speak the language and does.

Earendil also named Vingilot after Elwing 🥺🥺💖. Tolkien makes note of it more than once and at one point says that the ship has to be called Vingilot (or a variation thereof; there are multiple forms) because it references Elwing’s name. From Problem of Ros:

[Elros] called [his ship] Wingalôtë*, which like his own names were Quenya in form; for Quenya was his childhood's speech, since in the house of his mother's father, Turukáno (Turgon), King of Gondolin, that speech was in daily use. But Vinga- was not a Quenya word: it was a Quenyarized form of the Bëorian wing that appeared in Elwing the name of his spouse. The form given to this name in Sindarin was Gwingloth, but as said above it was in the Adunaic of Númenor translated as Rôthinzil.

[...]

[Christopher says that his father] still held to the view that the word wing  (‘spray, spindrift’) was of Bëorian origin; and while noting that the name Wingalôtë [> Wingelótë] of Earendil's ship had not appeared in print, [Tolkien] observed that it ‘must be retained, since it is connected with the name Elwing [...] Concerning wing he said again that Earendil named his ship in Quenya form, since that language had been his childhood speech, and that he intended its meaning to be ‘Foam-flower’; but he adopted the element wing from the name of Elwing his wife. That name was given to her by her father Dior, who knew the Bëorian tongue [Dior grew up either bilingual or with Beorian as his first language; Luthien and Beren spoke it to each other.]

Earendil likely learned the Edainic language Taliska in Sirion. It’s questionable whether Tuor spoke it - certainly it wasn’t Tuor’s native language, which would have been the Sindarin spoken by Annael and the other Elves who raised him.

Elwing spoke Taliska too, and gave Elros a name with a Taliska element. She (obviously) speaks Sindarin as well, probably multiple dialects thereof, since there were multiple dialects spoken in Sirion (there were several tongues to be heard [in Sirion]. Not only the Sindarin, which was chiefly used, but also its Northern dialect**).

But I also think she speaks Quenya. Firstly, she speaks to the Teleri. Telerin and Quenya are mutually intelligeable - that is, someone who speaks one language can understand someone who speaks the other, though there may be some difficulties. Meanwhile, Sindarin would not at all help her speak to the Teleri - Telerin and Sindarin don’t have much in common aside from a couple sound changes not found in Quenya (/kw/ to /p/ and the prenasalized voiced stops becoming voiced stops rather than nasals). A monolingual speaker of Sindarin would not be able to communicate linguistically to a monolingual speaker of Telerin. Elwing was without a doubt exposed to Quenya - she married a native Quenya speaker who went by his Quenya name and lived in a city where a large portion of the population (the Gondolindrim) had at least some knowledge of it.

And her husband named a ship after her in Quenya - a clear act of love and acknowledgement, and also acknowledging their mutual human ancestry. Elwing and Earendil are so clearly devoted to each other and their love for each other informs everything they do - I can’t see Earendil using a Quenya name for Vingilot if Elwing didn’t like it; I can’t see Elwing as hating Quenya when it’s Earendil’s language. I can see her learning it because it’s Earendil’s language and she wants to learn it to learn him and be close to him, just as I can see Earendil learning Taliska because it’s a language she speaks or a language that she wants to learn because of her father and Beorian heritage. But just... language and sociolinguistics as a thing of connection and liminality and heritage and love, and the multilingualism of the Peredhil as a way of signifying their heritages.

*In later Exilic Quenya Vingilóte or Vingilot. Tolkien varies between i, e, and a for the second vowel; the published Silmarillion uses i. The /w/ -> /v/ change occurred in Exilic Quenya sometime in the Second or Third Age (I’d place it in the early Second, personally, and might headcanon it as starting in the First but not a change that happened in isolated Gondolin.) The lóte -> lot shows fairly common Exilic changes: one is that long vowels shorten in final syllables and the other is that there’s often alteration between -CV:Ce and -CVC (see also Númenóre ~ Númenor).

Incidentally, Rôthinzil (also Rothinzil) is very pretty I think. Adûnaic is often very pretty.

**what Tolkien means by “the Sindarin but also its Northern dialect” is unclear. Sirion was founded by Falathrim refugees after the Nirnaeth, so their dialect woud have been spoken first and it’s also the dialect that becomes Standard Sindarin, as seen in LotR and Jirt’s writings. I don’t think he’d refer to the Iathren dialect as plain “Sindarin” and the Falathrim/Standard dialect would definitely be spoken in the Havens so I think that’s what he’s referring to. Presumably there would be some Sindarin of Doriath as well, so all three major Sindarin dialects there (not that the dialects are all that divergent). Sirion is very multilingual!

#meta #sorry really rambly! #but i think it's really neat how all three languages intertwine in earendil and elwing's story #conlangs #elwing #earendil

[sallysavestheday]

Hoping you've seen some light, sally! If you're still up to it, I'd love your thoughts on the Fingolfin & Maglor dynamic.

True North is still spiraling in my brain, the rotating definitions of kingships, who wants it, who deserves it, what it all means. They are both so sharpened when they meet at that point.

And then what? Neither of them is King, not officially. How does this work? How do people react? How does it all develop when Fingon brings Mae back from Thangorodrim?

Many questions, I can never get enough of the Mithrim era. Feel free to choose one or none, or something else entirely.

Thanks for the ask!

That time in Mithrim is so interesting, isn't it? True North was a dive into it, but I suspect I'm not yet done playing around in those waters.

This is a place where I really do hew closer to canon than some, in that I prefer to treat Fingon's rescue of Maedhros as first and foremost very much an effort to heal the wounds between their factions and prevent further disaster. I do frequently write those two as lovers, but Russingon or no Russingon, the stalemate of Maglor (holding Maedhros' regency, which is really his standing in for Feanor) versus Fingolfin (crowned in name by his own host but definitely not by the Feanorians) was an explosion waiting to happen. It took Fingon's courage, and then Maedhros' in abdicating, to move the Noldor to a point where they could actually pursue their goals of revenge for Finwe's death and Building a Better Life in the Old Country. More under the cut...

Where this period gets really headcanony is in the interpretation of Fingolfin and Maglor. I just don't like the take that Maglor was a failure as regent. The Feanorians established themselves in those years. There was no alliance with Doriath, true, but they were working with the Northern Sindar and with Cirdan, which is not nothing. And not launching another frontal assault on Morgoth in that time is not necessarily the wrong choice. You're outnumbered in a strange place, facing an enemy much stronger than you thought. Dig in, strategize, resupply, forge alliances, etc., before you try to repeat what has been proven to be a failure. And I do write Maglor as having facilitated those things. For him to just shrug and hand everything they had built over to Fingolfin would have been disastrous, particularly because he was only regent. The rights of the House of Feanor were not his to give away. If Maedhros were known to be dead, maybe he could have done it, but that wasn't the case, and everyone knew it.

Both Fingolfin and Maglor have to have been tempered and sharpened by leadership in the time between the Darkening and when the Indisian Host arrives in Mithrim. They both suffered in somewhat similar ways, in particular in losing the brothers they each fell into line behind. I choose to write them both as dangerous for that reason. Neither has enough authority to force a position on the other, and neither is willing or able to back down. So you end up with the split camps, the lost focus on why they're there in the first place, and the rift that threatens to turn into war.

Maedhros' rescue changes everything, because he can defer, and he chooses to, with a little wordsmithing that can still keep his people hoping. It's the smart thing to do, politically, and it's the right thing to do, emotionally, especially in the wake of the previous Kinslaying.

I occasionally tinker with some ideas about conversations Fingon and Maedhros have about that transition. I prefer not to think Fingon was surprised. But that's a story for another day!

Thanks again for this ask. Good stuff to chew on!

** I'm still taking random questions on my older fics, if you'd like to pop into my inbox. Help keep me sane while convalescing! **

#asks and answers #fingolfin #maglor #my fics

[outofangband]

Summer headcanons for the elves

Summer festivals post

Autumn, winter, spring

World Building Masterlist

Obviously I couldn’t go through each group or culture so please feel free to send one and I’ll tell my ideas for them! I’m going to do humans next. Feel free to request for outside of Beleriand too!

Note: trying to determine climate in Beleriand pre sun years is an endeavor for another post so this is primarily post the rising of the sun

I like to use these posts to explore a variety of short world building topics that I can then return to and elaborate on as well as working out some climate HCs

In Summer when the ocean is calm, young children of the Falathrim and the Sindar of Nevrast are given their first lessons in swimming and in living by and respecting the sea that is so central to their lives.

Many youth of the Falathrim learn to sail in the summer, often upon boats they have wrought themselves from wood and flaxen sails and ropes. Sindar children in Nevrast jump from lower cliffs into the water below. At the Havens of the Falas, many activities move outside; the weaving of sails and baskets, stonemasonry, cartography and more are done outside in the nicer weather. Open air forges, rooms where looms are kept and other such work places are constructed specifically so people can work in the mild weather, offering more company and conversation between them.

The Sindar of Mithrim travel frequently in the mild weather. Their homes are constructed for sheltering from harsh conditions and they prefer to live out in the open more than their kin in Doriath and even the Havens. They have two festivals of stars, one of which is held near the summer solstice. Constellations are used as landmarks for meeting places and families often congregate together.

Summer in Doriath is long and green. The movement in the forests is unceasing. There are many periods of heightened activity, song, artistic pursuits, and exploration. It is not uncommon to go without sleep around the solstice for many days. Court in Menengroth is often halted for these periods (I always remember that detail in the Narn too, about Thingol and Melian traveling together in the high summer.)

I headcanon that elves have a specific sense for growth; they can hear and feel for lack of a better phrasing, shoots of grass growing, flowers blooming, roots expanding out. Not all are equally attuned to it or aware of it and some can become extremely overwhelmed by it if their ability to process is affected.

In the Dorthonion highlands, the summers are dry and often dusty. It is common for elves and humans to cover their mouths with cloth in windier weather. Many of the elves retreat deeper into the pine forests where there is more reliable sources of water and shade. A lot of time is devoted to the crafts and projects that can be accomplished here, mainly weapons manufacturing from conifer wood and bark, building shelters, and cartography.

Ossiriand rarely reaches very cold temperatures, even in the winter. The climate is mild and the summers warm but not oppressive. The rivers and streams rarely dry and the green elves of Ossiriand rely heavily upon them for fishing, washing and play in those months. I’ve mentioned that the green elves of Ossiriand hold farmers markets, particularly in Southern Ossiriand. These are most common in the summer months.

#the silmarillion #beleriand #Sindar #mithrim #nevrast #falathrim #musing and meta #I hope these are ok! #if there’s any way I can improve please let me know! #northern Sindar

[grey-gazania]

I'm not gonna deny that I'm a hardcore Noldor girlie, but I think it's actually my intense love for the Northern Sindar that's rendered me so ambivalent about Thingol and Doriath.

#northern sindar

[hirazuki]

Me, harmlessly doing fic research: :)

Tolkien Wiki: Eol had "servants similar to himself."

Me: ......................... okay, I know this almost certainly means similar in demeanor (published Silm says "silent and secret as their master") but I'm a slut for the former thrall version of Eol's backstory, so what if we take it to mean that they were other escaped thralls of Angband?

•────────────────────⋅☾ ☽⋅────────────────────•

What if, whether through genuine escape (a rare occurrence) or by Melkor intentionally letting them "escape" to sow distrust and discontent among their kind with their mere presence, even if they do not prove to be his spies, they find their way back to their original lands and homes, only to be shunned and persecuted, just as Melkor had forethought?

(^ which is canon, the text actually goes into it but for the life of me I can't remember where, right now).

What if, through endless wandering thereafter, trying to find a place where they can reside, their footsteps lead a few of them past Nan Elmoth?

What if the primordial night of the world that was, which still resides in this isolated stretch of woods, nestled in safety and secrecy among the roots of ancient trees hidden away from the sun, calls out to them, offering refuge from the sunlight to them, too?

What if Eol, travelling back from the deep mansions of the dwarves in the Blue Mountains, chances upon them: lost in the forest, tangled in the enchantment that had been laid on it in the twilight of Middle Earth when all was young, and that lingers still?

What if, in looking upon them, he immediately recognizes the marks of thralldom -- the scarring, the burning, the bowed backs; misshapen or missing limbs; hollow stares and cracking skin, of a degree more severe than his own, that cannot conveniently be explained away as a result of smithwork, that make it impossible to eke out an existence in even the mildest of conventional society -- and decides to take them in?

What if, quietly, word somehow spreads -- borne by beast or trickling stream or on the chill of northern wind -- that there is a place for the survivors of Angband in the sunless woods, and more start to appear; sometimes in twos, rarely in threes, but mostly alone, ragged and haunted and fever-eyed?

What if Eol, who had been ill at ease within the Girdle and fled from it -- choking, strangling thing that it is -- right into the hungry, snatching all too inviting embrace of this lightless forest, a recluse and his forge, nothing more than a fading echo of the twilit world, suddenly finds he has near-silent footsteps in his hall and low voices in his kitchen and the space that seemed superfluous for a single occupant is now, altogether, not enough?

What if, with every expansion of his abode, his anger at the Noldor for what they brought upon this land -- initially a dim, philosophical thing, that snarled when prodded but, all in all, rather easily fell back into slumber -- also magnifies, until it produces fangs and claws that won't retract, and, in growing large, grows sleepless, too?

What if, with every arrival seeking a position in his service -- Avari, skin shining with sweat, hunted from within and without; Sindar, who can no longer recall the play of starlight upon leaves; even a Noldo, whose shattered eyes render them more alike than not -- his fury grows blacker, unchecked in his isolation from all else, until it matches the shadows that swallow the forest floor?

What if, with every soul he saves from the ravages of daylight, he forfeits a piece of his own?

WHAT IF

#eol #silmarillion #tolkien #... this... this is not what i'm supposed to be working on *facepalm* #this was not supposed to happen #and yet here i am airing new headcanons as a means of fleshing them out and exploring them before incorporating them in my writing #everyone is powerless in the face of nan elmoth's enchantments and apparently i'm no exception lmaoooo #i know i know; this is wayyy off the deep end lol #what can i say? #jrrt gives breadcrumbs that don't even actually exist; i make a week-long feast out of them XD #silm musings #silm

[tanoraqui]

was trying to think up a succinct way later-Age Elves might say “those who lived in Beleriand for the whole First Age (or until they died)”, hit on “Beleriandrim”, now having a lot of emotions about the “people of Beleriand” (including Ossiriand). How they’re distinct from those who merely came to fight in the War of Wrath. 

How an explicit function of Valinor is that healing from great traumas can be found there, that everyone might fully come home from the long, dark war - but even if they returned easily to the Shire in a way Frodo couldn’t, Merry and Pippin were still changed from their adventures and trials, they still stood taller, laughed louder, and rode at times with swords at their sides; and I can’t imagine Elves are any different. The Beleriandrim, those who fought the long defeat!  There are things the people of far northern Hithlum and far souther Ossiriand have in common which the boldest warrior in the Vanyarin host could never understand, no matter how many orcs and balrogs they personally faced. There are memories shared between bright-eyed kinslayers of Himring, grey-cloaked gardeners of Doriath, and rigging-running sailors of the Falas, and bristle-bearded dwarves of Ered Luin and stubbornly independent Men of Brethil, though none of either mortals are left alive today.

Beleriand! Avari, Returned and finally-sailed, sing of it around their campfires in the distant corners of Valinor’s many forests, and Finrod still-called-Felagund sings of it in his father’s high court in Tirion. They were Doomed and forsaken there (except by Ulmo; always shoutout to our bro Ulmo), but what a wild glory there was in that abandonment! What glorious wildness! They cannot know, those who were only there for 40-odd years of war - not like even those who were born late and so only knew that last war. Only by living in Beleriand, with no hope nor thought of anywhere else - only by tasting every day the faintest acidity of rot in the air, a flavoring like spice in every meal which simply isn’t found in eternal Valinor, and knowing everything more precious for it. Only by turning your face to the cold northern winds that blew dark thoughts into your soul, and laughing. Only by having been there for the heady, in retrospect absurd confidence of the Long Peace - “Save by treason among us, Morgoth could never again burst from the leaguer of the Eldar,” Fingolfin is said to have boasted, and he was wrong, he was so terribly wrong - but it is worth remembering that the treachery and further kinslaying didn’t start until after all were pushed to much greater extremis. They weren’t as strong as they thought they were, but they were united, the staunch Siege-line of the three houses of Finwë’s royal sons - and the Northern Sindar with them, and the newly found and befriended Edain, the Dwarvish trading partners, the Laegrim who shared their tricks for slipping unseen through the land and Círdan’s Falathrim who eventually got the chance to return the favor of sailing to the rescue, and provided refuge unto the end...even a couple Marchwardens of Doriath fought in the Nirnaeth Arnoediad!

Beleriandrim!

#the silmarillion