#stormthinken

[gwaedhannen]

Ways to poetically say "forever" if you're an elf

"Until the stars go out": classic from Cuiviénen, never lost its charm.

"When Laurelin frosts": rapid decrease in popularity for obvious reasons.

"While Telperion has leaves": rapid decrease in popularity for obvious reasons.

"Unto world's end": used once and very rarely thereafter.

"When the sun freezes": nothing quite like a reprise. Rapid decrease in popularity for obvious reasons.

"Until day comes again": popular in Angband, with varying sincerity.

"While Gil-Estel shines": If a fuckhuge winged dragon couldn't stop it from shining, what could?

"Until the last ship sets sail into the West": 95%+ of uses were by the guy building the dang ship.

"When Fëanor apologizes": What exactly he is apologizing for is sometimes included, but largely deemed unnecessary.

"When the world is mended": steadily increasing in popularity and decreasing in sincerity.

#silmarillion #the silmarillion #lord of the rings #lotr #tolkien #stormthinken

[gwaedhannen]

"Was The First Age Worth It" - the greatest thread in the history of the Halls of Mandos, locked by Vairë after 7,050 years of heated debate,

#silmarillion #tolkien #stormthinken

[gwaedhannen]

Funky AU ideas that Tolkien already wrote for us that I feel like I don't see much at all:

Amroth as the son of Galadriel and Celeborn. (Unfinished Tales: Concerning Galadriel and Celeborn)

Nimloth survives the Second Kinslaying, escapes to Ossiriand with Elwing and the Silmaril, and goes to the Havens after the refugees of Gondolin settle there. (War of the Jewels: The Tale of Years)

Orodreth, Angrod, and Aegnor go across to Beleriand on the Swan Ships along with the Fëanorians due to their friendship with Celegorm and Curufin. (The Shaping of Middle-earth: The Earliest Annals of Valinor)

Míriel survives until Fëanor is fully grown, but he still ends up Like That. (The Peoples of Middle-earth: The Shibboleth of Fëanor)

Celebrimbor as a Sindar descendent of Daeron. (The Peoples of Middle Earth: Of Dwarves and Men)

Celegorm and Curufin found Nargothrond after the Nirnaeth Arnoediad. (The Lays of Beleriand: The Lay of the Children of Húrin)

Amanyar Noldor Eöl and Maeglin, with them and Aredhel being extremely attracted to Melkor's lies. (The Nature of Middle-earth: Ageing of Elves)

Teleporno.

In all seriousness, Amanyar Teleri Celeborn where he's also a grandchild of Olwë, and he and Galadriel sail separately to Beleriand after fighting for the Teleri in the First Kinslaying. (Unfinished Tales: The History of Galadriel and Celeborn)

(and this isn't even getting into BoLT funkiness)

#silmarillion #tolkien #stormthinken #go write these and poke me about it

[gwaedhannen]

Thing I want to see more of in Silm fic: all the weird unexplainable shit that's in The Hobbit and LotR.

Where are Beleriand's instant-sleep rivers, and semi-sapient angry mountains, and doors that only open on a single day of the year when a thrush crunches a snail nearby, and Old Forests (ok that's probably just Nan Elmoth), and foxes passing through the wood on business of their own, and lakes that let you see a crown of stars, and nameless things gnawing the roots of the world, and Tom Bombadils?

#silmarillion #the silmarillion #tolkien #silm fic #stormthinken #seriously what's Tom up to in the First Age #probably the exact same thing he's up to in the Third Age now that I think about it

[gwaedhannen]

I'd like to think that when Galadriel got coup'd and removed from power in Eregion, she threw down her crown (or equivalent) and looked right at Celebrimbor as she did.

#silmarillion #the silmarillion #lord of the rings #lotr #tolkien #galadriel #celebrimbor #finrod (implication of) #eregion #character meta #stormthinken #annatar thinks it's the funniest shit ever but can't say a thing #and the left-behind (hostage?) Celeborn cuts his hair and starts wearing black cloaks #I dunno if people have just decided they don't want to use this quasi-canon but I barely ever see the coup in fics

[gwaedhannen]

Thus ended Nirnaeth Arnoediad, as the sun went down beyond the sea. Night fell in Hithlum, and there came a great storm of wind out of the West.

Hey so the fuck's with this windstorm anyway. The capitalization of West makes it clear it's coming from Aman and presumably Manwë, so is it:

A "we warned you" to the Noldor?

A "time to run" warning to the people of Hithlum whose first knowledge of the defeat would instead be Orcs and Easterlings?

Clearing away the cloud of smoke that Morgoth generated at the start of the battle?

A "we're still watching" warning to Morgoth?

A completely coincidental natural storm accidentally attributed to the Valar?

#silmarillion #tolkien #nirnaeth arnoediad #manwe #morgoth #stormthinken #I kinda want to write something going with the “time to run” theory for Manwe week

[gwaedhannen]

I kinda feel like with how much Elrond gets depicted as the heir to Doriath or Gondolin or the House of Fëanor, or all or none of the above, we sometimes forget about his human half.

(or human 3/8ths, whatever)

On Balar, did he ever wander among the escapees from Dor-lómin, the fled from Brethil, the survivors from Sirion, learning their songs and stories and hopes and griefs? Did he find his childhood playmates, now grown? Did any survive? Does he remember them?

Did he ever stand beside his brother as Elros gave mighty speeches of unity and the strength of the Secondborn? Did he, in battle or in uneasy alliance, meet the descendants of those who betrayed Maglor and his kin, who enslaved Tuor and his kin?

Did he ever brave the moonless dark of Taur-nu-Fuin, seeking the ruins of Ladros or the mire that was once Tarn Aeluin? Did he ever wander the scorched plains and shattered encampments of Estolad? Did he see the Hill of Slain and guess which skeleton may have been more recent than the rest? Was another skeleton holding its hand, an arrowhead in its skull?

Did he grudge Elros the Bow of Bregor or Dramborleg or the Ring of Barahir? Did he think to keep relics for himself, if immortal memory could not suffice? Did he know the Bow's name?

In Lindon, did he befriend the Men who refused Númenor? Did he live alongside them for centuries as they lived and died? Did he seek out Dor Firn-i-Guinar, if it may have survived?

Did he find it?

Did he send letters to the West through Númenor, seeking the truth of Tuor's fate? Did he ask after the ancient legends and myths of the House of Bëor, now only remembered by Finrod Atandil? Did he befriend the ancestors of the Dunlendings, distant kin of the House of Haleth? Did he speak against the deforestation of Enedwaith and Minhiriath, their homeland? Did he welcome those who fled into Imladris, if they sought it?

Did he visit Númenor? Did its kings listen to his counsel? When did they stop?

Did he welcome Elendil as a kinsman, as a nephew, or as a stranger?

(I could go on into the Third Age but I think this is getting long enough already.)

#silmarillion #the silmarillion #tolkien #elrond #elrond peredhel #character meta #stormthinken

[gwaedhannen]

⚓ Pick a Silm ship to go down with. What is compelling about their dynamic?

I am extremely normal about Elwing and Eärendil.

Losing your homes to war as a child. Finding a new home in a place you do not know, among unfamiliar people suffering the same loss as you, more universal than your different kindreds. Surviving in the last bit of unpoisoned land on the continent. Thriving in the last bit of unpoisoned land on the continent.

(As an aside, was there ever any other place, in all of the history of Middle-earth, like the Havens of Sirion? Where elves and mortals of all kindreds came together to build a home and live, in defiance of the losses they suffered?

I like to think that there was, and it was called Imladris.)

Being the only two of your kind. Being the heirs to four of the greatest bloodlines of the Age (arguably five, since Eärendil is the only known surviving descendent of Haldad). Perhaps you were allowed to just be children for a while, in spite of the requirements of your roles. Perhaps not. Being almost expected to be with each other. Falling in love regardless. Bringing life into a dying world in defiance.

Choosing, to give up the chance to be a father to your sons as they grow up for the slim chance of buying a world where they might grow up at all. Choosing, to wait at the shore in sorrow, holding the beacon that keeps your love safe, not knowing when or even if he will return. Choosing, to turn back for your love. Choosing, to buy time for your love to return. Defying your nightmares to the bitter end.

Being reunited in utter despair. Choosing, together now, to give up your children for the slim hope of buying a world where they will grow up at all. If they're even still alive. Freely giving your love the jewel your people willingly died for, your last inheritance. Wandering for four years until at last, at last! you reach your goal. Trying to spare your love from the wrath of the Gods. Being unwilling to be left behind once again; "but all thy perils I will take on myself also." Being separated again regardless, because only one can walk this path. Being reunited once again, having each gained an army and a navy. Being given a Doom and a Choice together. Choosing, to stay with your wife no matter what. Choosing, to live and see the future your sacrifices have bought.

To be given the greatest ship that ever shall be, and sail where none else have sailed. To be given a lighthouse at the shore, and to know, every morning, that your love will return, and you will fly to him on your own wings.

Extremely normal about them.

#silmarillion #the silmarillion #tolkien #elwing #earendil #elwing/earendil #character meta #stormthinken #ask game #anonymous

[gwaedhannen]

I wonder if Elladan and Elrohir don't go to Valinor because they're afraid of showing their mother what they turned themselves into to avenge her.

#lord of the rings #silmarillion #tolkien #elladan #elrohir #celebrian #“he who fights with monsters” etc etc #all the orcs they kill and not one death can undo what happened #stormthinken

[gwaedhannen]

Silm AUs I see decently often: The Falmar lend the Noldor their ships, or Fëanor actually sends the stolen ships back for Fingolfin's host.

Silm AU I don't think I've seen yet, but must surely exist somewhere: Fëanor ignores Alqualondë and drags the Noldor across the Helcaraxë himself.

Anyone got examples?

#silmarillion #tolkien #silm fic #feanor #stormthinken

[gwaedhannen]

I'm always a little confused when people draw the stars of Gondor/Elendil with eight points, because:

A) We have Tolkien's own art showing the symbols of the King with five-pointed stars:

B) We have a pretty obvious inspiration for the shape of said five-pointed stars:

#lord of the rings #tolkien #stormthinken #it's probably the movies' fault isn't it

[gwaedhannen]

End of Year Fic Recs

Recommend up to 5 series or multi-chapter fics from 2023 that everyone should read (multi-year WIPs count, if the last update was in 2023).

Recommend up to 5 single chapter fics/one-shots (long or short) from 2023 that everyone should read.

Recommend up to 5 fics NOT from 2023 that everyone should read (oldies but goodies).

Recommend up to 5 of your own fics (completed or WIP) from 2023 that everyone should read.

Open tag courtesy of @grey-gazania. No-pressure tagging everyone here and anyone else who wants to participate.

All Tolkien stuff. Mind the tags on AO3. Nothing Explicit but some Mature.

5 series/multichapter fics:

1. sir, take it easy by @exercise-of-trust (Maglor, Finrod, Celegorm, Maglor/Maglor's Wife)

“I thought you were adamant that no music was bad. And what would do you suggest, that we go back to Ráincë’s parallels in fifth, or Ambalincë’s discant exercises in fourth? Those were old before either of us were born, and you know it.” “I am not saying it is bad. I am saying that to me it sounds like all the fiends of Morgoth, but worse, because the fiends of Morgoth were not taking a clausula I wrote for my parents’ anniversary and mangling it. However, as its inclusion in this anthology shows, there are other people who like it, and while I do not understand it, I am not about to give up my Neldor or my Palecéva because the wind of scholarly opinion has blown against them from time to time.”

2. Spun by Grace by SpaceWall (Galadriel, Lúthien, Maeglin)

“Did you see them? The kinslayers who took your Nana? Who tried to take you?” “Ada says I did, but I don’t remember them. I don’t remember anything, except Nana screaming.” “Did your Ada say anything after? Aside from telling you to hide and stay safe.” The child nodded, bravely, and said in as clear a voice as he could manage. “He said they took Nana because she was bad. He said she was a kinslayer like them, and I had kinslayer blood in me, and they’d take me too if I wasn’t good.”

3. An Oral History of Dying in the Dagor Bragollach by Beleriand Death Trip (too many characters to list)

Please note that all participants were recently rehoused, but not extremely recently (this is regarded as unethical in our field). They have all had the opportunity to reflect on historical events after their death, both during their stay in the Halls and after being rehoused. We do not regard this as “contamination” of their recollection for our purposes, but rather as part of the normal process of narrative formation.

4. Foresight by @aotearoa20 (Fëanor and sons)

“He’s so small,” he said, not softly, “Such a beautiful baby.” “I know. He’s mine.” Fëanáro glared, he dared not do anything else. “You should appreciate it while it lasts,” when he smiled and the scar on his lip twisted strangely, “He’ll not be either for long.”

5. The Hazards of Love by @aipilosse (Finrod/Amarië, Anairë, Findis, Elwing)

Excerpt from The Empty House by Vatharwë Lelyindë held herself straight and tall, undaunted by Helluinon’s greater height. “You, my Lord, are free to live as you would, but others bear chains you cannot see. You speak of oaths and bonds, and yet you must see that when an oath comes in conflict, it is yours that is always the greater, and the other party must always acquiesce. So it is with me, so was it with your mother, your younger brother, and even your dearest friend!

5 single-chapter fics/one-shots:

Raised by Wolves by @warrioreowynofrohan (Elrond, Elros, Gil-Galad, Maglor, Maedhros)

“I hate him, and I do not hate him. Or, I do not hate him for cruelties. I hate him for kindnesses.”

2. The Hope of Love: Eärendil and Elwing as Symbols of Romance in Popular Culture by @imakemywings (Elwing/Eärendil)

Capping off these mesmerizing performances is Elwing’s final speech to the Teleri of Aman, a moment so fascinating that it has become the basis of many other dramatic confrontations throughout popular media. Almost anyone will recognize the line “I plead my hope,” or even its more extended version “Oh ye of foreign shores, I plead my hope. Let my home not be crushed ‘neath the boot of Bauglir,” even with no familiarity with the film. The passion of Torthoriel’s performance here has brought many a moviegoer to tears and captures a moment few had before bothered with—Elwing’s part in gaining the aid of Aman.

3. the bones of small contention by @quixoticanarchy (Celegorm, Oromë)

“You see, evil haunts a hungry man. If he eats his fill, he is called immoral; if he refuses, he will starve honorably. But free is the man who realizes that there is no satiety to be had, and equally there is no reward waiting in starvation. If my end shall be evil regardless, then my deeds matter not. I may eat as I please, and in that transgression, I find some shadow of liberation. A kind of laughter, almost - a light and wild feeling, like the moment after releasing an arrow, or the moment after the plunge off a cliff. You would not understand.”

4. all the daughters of my father's house (and all the brothers too) by Chestnut_pod (Fin-Galad)

These are the things ladies are, in the songs that are told of Finduilas and Niënor, her mirror: Love. Beauty. Laughter. Inconstance. Haunting. Sorrow. Screaming. Silence. In fact, the tales are not told of them. They are merely there. Many songs are written of Gil-Galad. Centuries after his death, Hobbit-children learn to sing of him.

5. Fire From The Ashes by @herenortherenearnorfar (Nienna, a Balrog)

“There is a terrible pain to conciousness,” Nienna acknowledges. She has not yet let go. “I just want to be an instrument.” Coals glow bright for a moment in the wind and then fade. “I was made to remake worlds, not feel this guilt.”

5 oldies but goodies (fair warning these are all liable to make you cry):

1. The legacy of a failure by from_the_wood (Frodo, Merry's Granddaughter, Merry, Pippin, Sam)

That's the thing with despair: it wants to erase everything, all of you, all that had been, or could have been - kind word, memory, hope for the future - but it cannot do so. It cannot. It should not.

2. An Oral History of the End of Innocence by @ceescedasticity (House of Olwë, Galadriel)

I think Hawser Road probably had the highest proportion of… Noldor swung their swords at a moving group and hit Noldor. Lindar shot arrows into crowds and hit Lindar. Noldor tried to ride down Lindar and also rode down Noldor. Lindar trying to get away trampled Lindar. Torches everywhere — I have never been so grateful the city is mostly stone, but wagons set on fire, sheds and stalls and barrels set on fire, there were some wooden additions… Panicked horses. Panicked cows, of all things, who brings cows when you're fleeing the gods to fight another god. There was so much screaming.

3. The One With All The Birds by @clothonono (Elwing/Eärendil, Elrond, Nerdanel, Sons of Fëanor)

What was her desire? "I desire my father, given back to me again," she said. "And my mother, and my brothers too. And my people, and my home, and all the years of my children's lives. Can the Lords of the West grant me this?" No one answered. Everyone knew the answer. "Equally I might desire that my enemy be punished. Let him go to the Halls of Mandos, whence none escape. Let me know that he is prisoned, so that I may gladly walk free." Is this your desire? "No," said Elwing. "I already told you my desire. Let justice be done. There is no vengeance that will satisfy me; there is no redress that can restore to me my father, my mother, my brothers, my home, and my children. There is nothing I want that he or you can give to me."

4. To Love What Is Mortal by @astridbecks (Lúthien/Thuringwethil)

Splintering pain as she was torn apart, yet as she parted beneath the hands of Lúthien there was a curious want mingled with the agony – strip me of this darkness, lay bare my soul, remake me – break me – and she had known pain before, had always known pain, but this was new and different and somehow right. (hurt me, because I deserve it. break me and make me as clean as you.)

5. woman into bird by @arrivisting (Elwing/Eärendil, Idril, Tuor, Elrond, Elros)

This is the best gift parents doomed to die can give their half-elven children, after all: to spare them the sight of their ends.

5 of mine from 2023:

1. Kill the Flame (Galadriel, the whole 3rd Finwean generation)

For Angrod, laughing at everything and everyone. You were an ass but you were our ass. You taught me patience, however little you meant to! For Aegnor, firebrand of our family. You saved me when the cold of the Ice tore into my heart. From you, I learned when to burn, and when to smoulder. For Finrod, dearest brother. What can I say? What words would suffice? Your ring’s bearer is worthy of his ancestors. I miss you. I miss you I miss you I miss you I miss you I miss you.

2. The Myth Hanging Heavy Over You (Elrond & Elwing)

He sends radiant wings, dark hair streaked with silver, a queen’s pride, laughter among the waves, lembas, handkerchiefs. He receives home, with such ardentness that he weeps for a week.

3. Sorrow Beyond Words, Collected Testimony of the War of Wrath (Finarfin, Lalwen)

The Valar said that he could no longer twist elves into orcs even by the time of his first imprisonment, but from the conditions there, from the bodies we pulled out…I don’t think he cared. Every torture, every debasement, every abomination against the Eruchîn that could be imagined. For each we thought might survive if we got them to the surface, there were five who wouldn’t, and ten corpses.

4. Shall we look at the moon, my little loon? (Aerin, Aerin's mother)

Aerin stands in her mother’s dress before the looking glass, eyes unseeing. Hitheth adorns her with the jewelry which will be her dowry, the only riches of her house, the last gift of the elves who vanished into the mists as if they never were.

5. Still-untitled "What if Fëanor took the Helcaraxë" AU (Círdan, Thingol (for now))

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.)

#fic recs #silmarillion #tolkien #stormthinken

[gwaedhannen]

1, 10 and 24 for celebrían?

(Sensory headcanons ask game)

1. Their most visually striking feature

Her hair! Vivid silver with hints of bright gold. She could and did set fashion trends in Ost-in-Edhil just by wearing a new hairdo.

10. A texture they hate

She always prided herself on never having one "signature" Craft and being good at everything, but she very much enjoyed jewelry making. She was wearing at least twelve rings when captured. The orcs made a game out of heating up the rings and shoving them back onto her fingers, and seeing how many it took before she screamed.

(Screaming was always against the rules. She learned very quickly that there were punishments for breaking the rules.)

Elrond made her a new wedding ring out of leather and cloth in the year between her rescue and departure, inscribed and embroidered with the names and symbols of them and their kids, and it's the only one she wears now.

24. Do they have any sense-related fears or phobias?

The calling of gulls has never signaled anything good. It's the sound of the sea-longing that drove her mother to lament at the shores of Edhellond for half an age. It's the sound her brother followed to his doom and the scavengers who feasted on his bloated corpse. It's the sound of the mother-in-law who left Elrond behind, and if he's too noble and pitying to be senselessly bitter, that doesn't mean she needs to be. It's the sound of the port where her friends and her people have been leaving for millennia and she doesn't want to follow, and where she in the end leaves her family and her world behind.

#silmarillion #tolkien #celebrian #ask game #that-angry-noldo #stormthinken

[gwaedhannen]

🍁+✨ for Doriath?

(Unusual headcanons ask game)

✨ - Worldbuilding or background story elements.

It wasn't just Menegroth and trees! There were lots of scattered villages, trading posts, towns, arguably several semi-independent cities within the Girdle. Many of the ones in Neldoreth had massive population growth after the Bragollach as refugees from the north poured in, only to have a sudden population drop as Carcharoth rampaged through.

They were often minimally-defended, as marchwardens patrolled the borders, the main army was encamped in Menegroth, and the Girdle took care of everything that mattered (besides giant wolves) until it didn't.

The dwarven and Feanorian armies left none alive as they cut through Region. Neither wanted word of their approach reaching Menegroth until it was too late.

🍁 - Physical locations, flora & fauna.

Arthórien/Radhrim (the blob of forest between Rivers Aros and Celon), where many of Denethor's folk who joined Thingol's people after the First battle settled, had a real problem with invasive cats after Men settled in Estolad next door. Now I'm not saying that Amrod and Amras, technically the Lords of Estolad, stole Men's cats and ferried them across the river and pushed them towards the Girdle but no actually that's exactly what I'm saying.

#silmarillion #tolkien #doriath #ask game #anonymous #stormthinken

[gwaedhannen]

badly summarized WIP game

lmao, thanks to whoever invented this. TY for the tag, @searchingforserendipity25!

Tagging @outofangband, @polutrope, @melestasflight, @starspray, @sallysavestheday!

#tag game #stormthinken #polls

[gwaedhannen]

I.e. "was anyone giving Círdan his boats back?" and "could Elrond visit his parents?"

#silmarillion #the silmarillion #tolkien #lord of the rings #lotr #stormthinken #stormpollen