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#tolkien fandom on the other hand
mediumsizedpidegon · 1 year
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when it comes to my Bleach/Silmarillion crossover where Maeglin dies, loses his memories and falls into Hueco Mundo (subsequently becoming a hollow)– one of the fun things to come up with is what the FUCK is going on in Arda while Maeglin is gone.
Of course, the second age and third age go as planned, the lord of the rings happens unchanged, because Middle Earth is divorced from the dead. Elves reembody into Aman, not Middle Earth and so no one in ME has any idea that Maeglin is lost to Arda (nor would this fact really change,,, any events).
But in Aman? Tolkien doesn't really talk about what's going on in Aman. In that way it's sort of a blank slate because– are the Feanorian followers allowed to leave the Halls and if they are, how are they settling into society? Who are they giving their loyalty to? Has the system of government changed over the years? What are Teleri-Noldo relations like, several Ages after the First Kinslaying? What is the balance of authority and power like with so many kings, queens and lords stuffed into one land? Who has reembodied and who refuses? How does the absence of well known figures (Finwë, Míriel, Fëanáro and his sons, Celebrimbor, Maeglin, entire generations preceding Finwë) shape politics and healing? Who forgives, who tries to forget, and who holds onto their grudges?
I imagine that at first, no one is looking for Maeglin. Why would they? He just betrayed Gondolin and caused the deaths of a good chunk of people. Those newly-dead aren't going to want to even look at him. Those that survived and sail to Valinor (like Idril) are glad to not see him among the reembodied. They aren't going to look a gift-horse in the mouth and ask questions.
The only ones who would want Maeglin back are his parents.
On the topic of Eöl, I personally find it more interesting if he wasn't evil and his and Aredhel's relationship was happy and healthy for a time. The progression of a paranoid, traumatized parent and husband trying his best to what Eöl ended up doing just. makes a bit more sense to me, especially because I keep the bit of canon where elves can't have kids accidentally. I imagine Eöl passes through the Halls in a matter of decades instead of centuries, not because he is fast to heal, but because being in the domain and under the mercy of a Vala is doing the opposite of helping him. And since he's out before Gondolin falls and lives in solitude, he even doesn't know that Maeglin has died until Aredhel reembodies and personally hunts him down to interrogate him on whether his curse (his prophecy) consigned their son to fading.
It didn't. (With where their son is now, it might have been kinder if it had.)
On Aredhel's end: she searched for her son for years within the Halls before Námo came to her, troubled, and told her that Maeglin is not in his Halls, nor reembodied in Aman, nor wandering Middle Earth– that by all accounts, Maeglin is not in Arda at all. So her son is gone, and her brother is too upset to see it, and Gondolin's people hate him enough that they would celebrate this, and when Aredhel reembodies, her niece tells her she is glad that Aredhel is freed from being bound to evil (her husband) and having borne evil (her son). Her mother embraces her but cannot forgive her for leaving her, her father sees the daughter she was and not the daughter she is, and her other brothers think she grieves having been controlled and misled. No one in her family knows her son and husband as anything but a traitor and her killer– no one in her family knows her as she is now, the Aredhel who left Gondolin and courted a elf who carried grief entangled in his every step in the dark, beautiful forest he claimed as a home. Who lived there of her own free will and had a son of her own free will, and loved them, for all that it ended horribly.
Aredhel has been mistranslated her entire life. She has borne it with what little forgiveness she has. She finds, now, she can bear it no longer.
As time goes on, some members of the family that never met him nearly forget Maeglin ever existed. Reembodied elves of Gondolin write histories of their city and Aredhel stops visiting Tirion entirely for all the stares she receives. There is still no understanding of Aredhel among the Nolofinwions for all their love and she tires of it quicker and quicker. She ends up repairing and renewing her marriage to Eöl (there is much Aredhel can forgive for understanding) and it is not the same as before everything fell apart, but it is theirs.
Maeglin will be gone six Ages before his parents succeed in calling him home. He'll be different too, older, sharper, traumatized, his body strange, but still their child.
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risoria · 10 days
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hello friends, long time no see! i’m going to try my hand at something i’ve never done before - i’m opening up portrait commissions, starting off with 3 slots just to try it out. 100% of the proceeds will go towards Palestine, i’m going to start with care for gaza and then also pcrf and individual people’s campaigns. the portraits are a minimum of 25 €/$ each BUT feel free to donate more if you feel that you are able!
some additional info: payment is via paypal, its @ strisoria. i’m happy to draw any of my realm of the elderling friends (examples are kettricken and patience, will post them individually at some later date if you want), or any other fandom i’ve dabbled in like mdzs, tolkien, black sails etc etc, i could potentially also do fandoms im not familiar with, it never hurts to ask! i dont think i have any kpop followers but i recently fell back in that rabbit hole so i could also draw some boys/girls im familiar with, which mainly is ateez and seventeen since my brain has too little space for much else (example is seonghwa). if you’re interested send an ask or dm! thank you for reading all this! 🕊️🇵🇸
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imakemywings · 6 months
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Hey, are you still bitter about the treatment Thingol gets in the fandom? Because I am, even if it's 2023. The fact that people have such visceral reactions and threw a huge hissy fit in response to Thingol banning Quenya as if his banning is equivalent to a mass slaughter when said mass slaughterers are claiming lands in Beleriand and mocks Thingol's kingship is funny to me. And the fact that people mock and shit on Thingol for being pissed at the kinslaying at Aqualonde because he wasn't even there, like hello? That's his brother's people tf? Who wouldn't be pissed when you find out your brother's family legit got slaughtered? He has flaws but like so do many characters in silm, yet he gets so much hate and is never written with justice because he's against the noldor/feanorians.
Am I still bitter about [X]? yes. The answer is always yes.
People's attitudes towards Thingol in this fandom are a perfect illustration of character-centric morality: the things the Feanorians do are excusable because they're liked, and anything Thingol does is worthy of scorn because he is not liked. That's how you get people acting like the Quenya ban is on par with literal mass murder (and no, I don't think his asking for a massive number of foreign troops coming into the area to show him respect as the local ruler, as a display of good faith if nothing else, was unreasonable).
Look, I get why Thingol is not a big fan favorite. He suffers from "show not tell" where although Tolkien tells us he was a wise and beloved king, most of what we're shown in detail are things he fucked up. He also plays the King Triton role with Beren and Luthien, and no one likes a guy who stands in the way of ~true love~. Additionally, some of his most likeable moments come in Children of Hurin, which is, of course, not a part of the core Silmarillion. We get a lot less detail in Silm about Turin's time in Doriath, which is when we see a lot more of Thingol in CoH and where we see his attitude on mortals make a complete 180 (he is in fact the only Elf lord to ever foster a Man). But even within Silm, it's rarely acknowledged that in the end, he does support Beren and Luthien's marriage.
"And it seemed to Thingol that this Man was unlike all other mortal Men, and among the great in Arda, and the love of Luthien a thing new and strange; and he perceived that their doom might not be withstood by any power of the world. Therefore at last he yielded his will, and Beren took the hand of Luthien before the throne of her father."
He seats Beren at his left hand--it's hard to overstate the significance of that.
"Then Thingol's mood was softened; and Beren sat before his throne upon the left, and Luthien upon the right, and they told the tale of the Quest..."
I think it is relevant to remember that in accepting Luthien's marriage to Beren, Thingol is necessarily accepting her death--the death of his only child, whom he holds dearer than all the land and wealth of Doriath. That doesn't make his actions in B&L right, but I think it makes them understandable.
Later, when the forces of Doriath go to hunt Carcaroth, Beren and Thingol hunt together.
"...Huan leaped from the thicket upon the back of the Wolf, and they fell together fighting bitterly; and no battle of wolf and hound has been like to it, for in the baying of Huan was heard the voice of the horns of Orome and the wrath of the Valar, but in the howls of Carcaroth was the hate of Morgoth and malice crueller than teeth of steel...There they fought to the death; but Thingol gave no heed, for he knelt beside Beren, seeing that he was sorely hurt." (Emphasis added)
But also, simply because he repeatedly comes into conflict with the sons of Feanor, he was doomed to be recast as a villain by the fandom because the sons are so popular that anyone who dislikes them is going to get shafted by the fandom. Hating on Thingol is so accepted in this fandom people don't even seem to regard it as character bashing to come onto posts or fics about Thingol and share how much they don't like him/think he's an asshole/whatever.
I really don't think there is an overreaction to hearing about unprovoked mass murder. I really think most of us would react very badly to finding out that someone we'd had dealings with had slaughtered a bunch of people, whether or not we were related to the victims. It's been said before but I'll drag it out again: Thingol had to do something. As king, he did not have the option of not reacting to that--that it happened, or that the Noldor tried to conceal it. The Quenya ban was arguably a mid-level response (Furthermore, it was a pretty deft display of Thingol's soft power--Maedhros scoffs at his claim to be king of Beleriand, yet look how instantly and totally the Sindar adhere to this directive. With this one move, Thingol displays for the Noldor how far his power reaches. If they were thinking about armed conflict with Thingol and Doriath, they now know how many of the Elves of Beleriand they would have to deal with.) It's not like Fingolfin was going to turn his people over for a trial, and accept whatever punishment Doriath's court ruled on, not least because Fingon himself was a significant part of the Kinslaying at Alqualonde. The Noldor, hand their crown prince over to a foreign justice system? Not gonna happen.
I will link to my tag for Thingol metas, if you want to see more of what other people have stated more eloquently about his character and his actions!
Long story short: I like Thingol, flaws included, and it's kind of laughable that of all the characters in the book, THIS is the one people find irredeemable.
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sewn-with-lilies-fair · 3 months
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Lay of Leithian: The Rock-Opera
Subtitled Livestream- 13 January, 2024
Two different fates are woven together when Lúthien, an elven princess, falls in love with Beren, a hero of mortal men. To win her hand, Beren is sent on an impossible quest- to cut a legendary gem from the crown of the Dark Lord. So begins this battle between light and darkness, love and duty, in the most enduring tale of Tolkien’s Middle Earth.
Здравствуйте, друзья! Hello, friends!
Want to experience a new Tolkien adaptation? Our little Leithian fandom would like to invite you to one of our livestreams! Come join myself and some other fun Silmarillion fans as we watch this Tolkien rock opera together.
Where: Cytube (video stream) / Discord (live chat) • Links will be reblogged here, 1 hour before the stream When: Saturday, 13th January, 7pm EST / 4pm PST / 1:00 CET Run Time: 1hr, 35m, with a 15 minute intermission Performance Details: Recording TBD; likely to be either the May 2023 live broadcast or the June 2022 pro edit. Language: Russian / Subtitles: English Additional Material: • Lay of Leithian translation • Links and resources
See you soon! 🤘
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annoyinglandmagazine · 6 months
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Given the nature of the Tolkien fandom and just tumblr in general I’m gonna go ahead and assume you guys have heard of Patrochilles. And so I would like to take a moment and consider the very reasonable and normal question of who is the Achilles and who is the Patroclus of Russingon. On the one hand the Nirnaeth Arnoediad followed directly by Maedhros’ descent into insanity is very Achilles coded. He blames himself for his death, there’s the whole devotion thing, Fingon being a ray of sunshine and the only good thing in Nelyo’s world, Maedhros having Feanorian related pride and stubbornness etc. This post, like Maehdros, has no other hand. That’s it that’s all I’ve got. Fingon is a Patroclus and Maedhros is an Achilles.
All I’m saying is that there’s a reason Achilles Come Down is on pretty much every Maedhros playlist I’ve seen. As it should be
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jeffersimp · 8 months
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can you do south park sleepy hcs ? like how they sleep at night or if they take naps lol (core four and maybe craig's gang as well?)
thank you : )
See my masterlist here!
—❢—
×A/N×
Omg I absolutely love this idea!! 💕
And I had a great with writing this as well-
-w-
So thanks Anon! ✨💕
×❢ About my work ❢×
basically just cuddles, sleeps and naps with them :3, awful joke, fluff fluff FLUFF, they all aged up, the reader is in a relationship with them, some Creek, they are adorable, kisses, cuddles, short, cute petnames, probably some spelling mistakes as well •v•", any gender can read this i think, oh wait- Tolkien calls the reader princess once- but that's all I promise
Fandom: South Park
Character(s): Eric Cartman, Kenny McCormick, Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Clyde Donovan, Craig Tucker, Tweek Tweak, Tolkien Black, Jimmy Valmer and Sparky :3
Ship(s): some Creek + the characters/reader
—❢—
𝐒𝐥𝐞𝐞𝐩𝐲 𝐒𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐡 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐤 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐧𝐬 :𝟑
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𝑺𝒐𝒏𝒈: Coffee Breath by Sofia Mills
“You've got those big blue eyes
Drive me crazy
Make me fantasize 'bout you baby
And you smell so sweet
Like fresh-picked daisies
Call me Dahmer 'cuz your hearts so tasty”
★ Eric Cartman ★
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• first you would think that he is lazy again
• but no
• he is now really sleepy
• he is a jerk with everyone as always
• but sometimes he simply doesn't respond back to guilty comments
• he is quiet for the whole day
• and he likes to be left alone
• "Eric?" you spoke softly. "Are you okay?"
"Leave me alone, Y/N."
• he isn't that active
• you thougt he was sick
• but there was nothing what could tell he would be sick• so you calmed down a little bit
• "Y/N..." he lies down next to you. "I'm so tired..."You smile at him softly as you start to cuddle with him.
• when you guys nappin
• he likes to watch the TV while he rest his head in your laps and you playing with his hair
★ Stan Marsh ★
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• when you two are nappig
• you usally resting on his chest
• you hear every beat of his heart
• it's so relaxing
• he moves closer to you
• and gives little kiss on your hair
• the whole room is quiet
• you can just hear the music from his phone, his heartbeat and Sparky's snuffle
• sometimes you reach down to pat Sparky
• Stan usally locks his door• first, because of his sister
• second, because of his parents
• yes, Mrs. Marsh is very sweet with you
• but no one will disturb yours and Stan's nap! >:3
★ Kenny McCormick ★
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• you guys usally napping outside
• because he says the grass is cozier than his bed •—•
• and anyway
• you guys do a bit different things in his bed ;)
• the position:
• he rests on your chest, the legs spread while he is between them (don't worry, there will just fluffy things- :3)
• or when it's hot outside (but definitely not hotter than him!)
• he takes down his jacket (what is rare)
• and you guys rest on it, next to each other while you holding hands
• sometimes he leans closer and gives kisses on your neck while you are giggling
• what he loves, because your voice is like music to him
• "Babe?" you ask while you are giggling. "What are you doing?" "Me? Oh, nothing." he asnwers with a sly smile on his face as he gives more kisses.
• you two just simply resting a bit
• or quietly talking about some random things
★ Kyle Broflovski ★
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• he will be definetly awake
• while you are resting next to him
• like he would protecting you from something
• he is just like Stan
• locks his door
• nobody will disturb you two while UnU
• he is the most emotional of his friends
• he gently holds your hips with his hands
• while he listens your heartbeat
• and sees how beautiful you are while your eyes are closed
• you look like an angel to him
• he gets sleepy as well
• he snuggles closer to you
• closes his eyes
• and slowly falls asleep with you
★ Craig Tucker ★
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[Creek version]
• Tweek has ADHD
• so he falls asleep more difficultly
• as napping or just taking a little break• they're cuddling
• Craig's head resting in Tweek's laps or on his shoulder
• while Tweek gets more flustrated everytime
• when Tweek gets a little bit sleepy
• Craig makes for him coffee
• CUDDLES CUDDLES CUDDLES!
• they are really close to each other
• sharing one warm blanket
• while Craig's sometimes gives some kisses on Tweek's cheek or forehead
• Tweek can't sleep that easily, so everytime when he wokes up
• Craig looks at him
• and the first question is:
• "Dear? Are you okay?" he asks softly. Tweek nods as he lies down again while he snuggles closer to Craig.
• he is so attentive about his boyfriend 💕💕
[Non Creek version]
• as napping
• while you sitting on the couch
• he just lies down and rests his head on your laps while he is surfing the net on his phone
• you smile, knowing what you should do
• you gently start to play with his hair
• but when YOU get sleepy
• I can imagine that he carries you to the bedroom
• he makes your bed for you
• he covers you with the blanket
• and before he leaves he gives you a kiss on your forehead
★ Clyde Donovan ★
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• he will definitely ask
• "Y/N?" he looks at you with a confused look. "Are you tired?"
• you look like you are almost dead
• and he is asking that are you tired-
• btw he is so sweet with you tho
• he will make you some coffee, chocolate, tea or anything you want
• grab a warm blanket
• sits down next to you and covers you and himself with it
• you snuggles closer to him
• and you guys watching some netflix until you fall asleep
★ Jimmy Valmer ★
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• he knows that you are already tired
• but he will definitely mess with you with his jokes
• especially the awful ones
• "What do you call a fish with no eyes?" he asks as he smiles at you evily. Your suffering definitely makes him feel better.
"I don't know." you said these 3 words again for about the fifth time.
"A fsh."
You slams your head into the table.
• you sigh tiredly as you puts your head down on the table
• he finally leaves you alone with his jokes• he can't carry you
• but he will definitely helps you with that he makes your bed
• after you lied down
• he will give you a kiss on your nose
• or on your forehead
★ Tolkien Black ★
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• he is the most gentliest
• "Aww, baby... You did a lot of work today, and I'm proud of you, but try to rest now, alright, princess?"
• he will care you into the bedroom
• before you asleep
• you two will definitely cuddle
• he will give you kisses while you are resting next to him
• he won't leave you while you fell asleep
• he will be there with you all the time
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lord-westley · 4 months
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Tav Missing an Arm HC
Fandom: Baldur's Gate 3 Characters: Gale, Wyll, Astarion Plot: Tav returns after being gone for a long time, but this time with one less limb Warnings: uhh missing arm ig? A/N: A little thing that was requested by @tolkien-fantasy, I haven't written for BG3 before and I don't have a proper grasp on their personalities, so I'm sorry if it's severely ooc
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Gale
He immediately notices your missing arm
And he doesn't know how to react
Part of him is hugging you tightly, so so happy to see you again
but a split second later he's panicking- hands on your shoulders and holding you an arms distance away
Tears of happiness and worry
He'd question you quickly, mouth running miles a second
After the initial panic and happiness to see you He'd do so much research on how he can help you
Whether it's by getting a handcrafted magic prosthetic
or researching magic spells that you could learn to conjure a temporary arm
Wyll
It's canon that if you lose an eye, he'd say that the two of you are part of "the one-eyed group"
So I imagine that when you return after a long time
he's worried but not a huge worrywort
He understands you had to do your duties and that sometimes said duties can result in injuries and losses
Wyll definitely makes sure you're okay both physically and mentally
If you aren't doing well about the loss, he'd comfort you and do what he can to make things easier
But if you're doing okay and have accepted it, he'll leave the subject be!
Same as Gale, he'd try finding magic like prosthetics if you'd want one
Astarion
I'm gonna talk post-absolute
He doesn't really know how to react to be honest
One day you left with a promise of returning, then years later you're back with a missing arm
Part of him wants to yell why you were gone for so long
and the other part of him just wants to hold you so tight and never let go
Astarion ends up doing both
holding you so tightly while quietly cursing you out while lamenting how much he missed you
You know he doesn't mean any harm though, simply relishing in his hug
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prying-pandora666 · 2 months
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Let’s be Honest About Iroh
Okay but for real.
I adore Iroh. When I was a troubled, angry teen who had been abused and had left home as soon as I finished high school, even when it led to homelessness, Iroh meant everything to me.
He was the only adult who never failed me. Who gave me kind advice and words of wisdom to soothe the raging storm of pain and betrayal in my heart.
Only Iroh and the works of Tolkien have ever given me that level of comfort and will to keep moving forward even when I messed up. To always strive to be better, even if you were misguided or lashed out the day before. Even if you’ve been wronged or hurt and lost it all.
But for real, fandom, let’s be for real.
The problem comes when fans claim Iroh never killed anyone. Or never hurt anyone. Or tried to be a “humane” general fighting a genocidal war of aggression . Or that the Siege of Ba Sing Se wasn’t a horrific 600 day campaign which caused “chaos and violence” within the walls of the biggest civilian city in their world. It makes it seem like fandom would rather deify Iroh due to their positive feelings towards him rather than confront the reality that sometimes your mentor is someone else’s monster.
That maybe the jolly, kooky, tea-loving Uncle who always forgave and gently guided Zuko, and never ever gave up on him, may have arrived at that kindness and wisdom precisely because he has seen the end of the path Zuko was walking on. Iroh in his prime was worse than Azula could ever dream of being. When he said “she’s crazy and she needs to go down”, he was speaking from experience because he knows all too well what propaganda does to a person, and that you can’t talk them out of it. They must experience the downfall and realization for themselves.
He never said “don’t help her after she falls”. On the contrary, in the comics he wishes for Azula to heal.
Iroh is not perfect. No one is perfect. And if you keep judging people by their proximity to perfection, you will always be disappointed even in people who do good. And you will also condemn people who need help and have the potential to change into good people.
There are monsters out there but none of them are born that way. They are created through a combination of experiences and their own choices along the way.
But an important message of ATLA is that while we MUST fight those that seek to do others harm, even with our very lives, we must also reach our a hand to help those that have already fallen. If they reject it, that is their choice and they can bear the consequences.
But it is still our responsibility to reach out.
Too much of the fandom seems steeped in essentialism. That everyone is only as good as the worst thing they’ve ever done.
Which is why they feel the need to pretend Iroh was always a good person who never really wanted to participate in this genocidal war.
But this isn’t the case. And the sooner we can admit that to ourselves, the sooner we can begin to understand what drives people to such actions.
And how to help those that have been groomed and exploited for such purposes. Just like Zuko.
Even if we find them unpalatable or mentally unwell. Just like Azula.
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since people have been commenting in the tags on the poll for The Silmarillion to the effect that they’re “skewing the results”, I wanted to elaborate on my feelings on the “methodology” (as it were) of this blog.
in particular, taking this comment by sesamenom as a starting point:
the reblogs (even the early ones) do indicate the post reached multiple medium-to-large silm blogs, plus the original post is tagged w silmarillion. so this probably is less of a survey of general silm readership and more of an indicator that 32% (47% now) of this post's audience is the greater silm fandom.
this is obviously one of the core “problems” of running polls like this through the medium of tumblr: it will be impossible to get “accurate” / “scientific” results, because who sees the post is entirely determined by (1) who follows the specific blog (a self-selecting audience) and (2) who reblogs it and into which communities / networks. in this case (and others), it is clear from the notes that the post is circulating heavily within Tolkien fan networks on tumblr, and this is, indeed, likely to be “skewing” the results relative to the general population (whatever we take that to mean in this context).
however!
this blog and @haveyoureadthisscifibook are not intended to find information about a general population. rather, I’m interested specifically in the much narrower group of people who are habitual fantasy and/or science fiction readers. my goal is not to determine “what percentage of people have read The Lord of the Rings”, but “what percentage of fantasy readers have read The Lord of the Rings”.
for these purposes, the self-selecting nature of tumblr is actually an advantage! I can safely assume that anyone who’s choosing to follow a specialized poll blog for fantasy books identifies as a fantasy reader at least to some extent, and if they reblog a post they’re doing so because they anticipate that the book in question is or could (or should) be of interest to their followers — in other words, they do so because they expect their followers to also be fantasy readers, or at least fantasy-adjacent.
given that the poll for The Silmarillion appears to be circulating in specifically Tolkien-oriented fan networks here, it’s probably still true that the result is going to be disproportionate, but the disproportion relative to the target larger group of fantasy readers is also likely much less dramatic or significant than the disproportion relative to any general population. we’ve certainly had some amusingly misleading results in the past (notably (to me): a random recent Warhammer 40k novel getting >25% yes on the sci-fi blog; In the Hands of the Goddess getting only 40% yes vs. the rest of Song of the Lioness hovering around the 50% mark), but since I’m interested first and foremost in averages, a few individual disproportions will even out in the long run.
so. reblog away!
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anghraine · 1 year
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It's always interesting (to me) to go back to Tolkien's descriptions of hairstyles among some of the women of LOTR.
Here is the description of Galadriel's gift to Gimli:
Then the Lady unbraided one of her long tresses, and cut off three golden hairs, and laid them in Gimli's hand.
Here is the canonical description of Arwen's hair:
The braids of her dark hair were touched by no frost ... Above her brow her head was covered with a cap of silver lace netted with small gems, glittering white; but her soft grey raiment had no ornament save a girdle of leaves wrought in silver.
Here is the explanation of Gilraen's name:
The meaning of Gilraen as a woman's name is not in doubt. It meant 'one adorned with a tressure set with small gems in its network,' such as the tressure of Arwen ... The women of the Eldar were accustomed to wear such tressures ... Names such as Gilraen, and others of similar meaning, would thus be likely to become first names given to maid-children of the kindred of the "Lords of the Dúnedain". The element raen was the Sindarin form of Q. raina 'netted, enlaced'.
Personally, I think it's interesting that it's Éowyn, a shieldmaiden from a distinctly different culture, who has the loose long hair that fandom often goes for. But I also think the canon aesthetic for Elvish women and those akin to them is really intriguing and could be quite beautiful, but contemporary fandom preferences have definitely obscured Tolkien's affection for braids and pretty hairnets.
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skyeventide · 1 year
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I'm thiking of the reclaiming of Tolkien amog queer fans. the fact that he's a author beloved by may pushes people towards reading him and his work in a manner that resonates with our priorities and experiences.
and 1) I find it important to remove him from under reactionary grabby hands that would want him sanitised for their needs. remember, "aligning with Tolkien's morals" and/or "respecting Tolkien's perspectives and beliefs" is always, always a dogwhistle. and whether these readings are possible or actively going against the grain of the text but while unearthing the queerness in the text's own silences, it doesn't entirely matter.
but 2) when it comes to my reactions to it (especially within the context of fandom), I don't want to be included in Tolkien by rewriting queerness onto those aspects that read as extremely heteropatriarchal. the famous Laws and Customs cannot really be expanded to include non-straight relationships, if it's taken at face value, as metaphysics that translate to the corporeal. no matter the amount of wiggle room, carving that wiggle room implies fitting the queer into a standard not made for it. no matter the amount of expanding of a norm, if someone manages to enter that norm, the bar will simply be moved elsewhere. the new non-normative will be something else, the in-group and the out-group shaken up — but the out-group will exist anyway. in the case of Tolkien and LaCE, that would probably be aromantic relationships, or any relationship where procreation (and/or penetration) isn't possible. I dislike trying to include myself when others wouldn't be (in fact, I don't think it's possible to do so).
and additionally, I don't want to give more credit than it's due. melotorni and meletheldi from NoME, for instance, is a passage written in a very obscure way, but the best analysis I've seen of it points out how it's essentially a de-sexualised acknowledgement of same-sex relationships — they exist in Tolkien's conception of elves, but only romantically. no consummation, which is very Catholic of him. cool breadcrumb, still worth criticising.
I don't want to leave the terrain of Tolkien's readings to bigots, especially when so much can be done with his friendships and queer-adjacent real life relationships, but when it comes to the man himself, I don't want to be included at any cost. I guess I'm fine with renouncing him, but I don't wish to let others push me out.
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absynthe--minded · 1 year
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I’m less interested in the business of hot takes these days but I do think that it’s a little crazy that a major part of Tolkien fandom discourse is still centered around the assumption that we, the readers, are supposed to think that the narrative believes the Valar are correct instead of trying their best and just as fallible as anybody else.
Not only do we have on the page canonical statements from the Valar that they wonder if bringing the Eldar to Aman was a mistake (in the various debates on the Statute of Finwë and Míriel) but we also have Manwë admitting he doesn’t know what is going to happen in the future and the many many things they attempt that are in fact failures or mistakes or consequences that they are responsible for. Not foreseeing that Melkor hadn’t reformed was a mistake. Assuming that they had any right to try and meddle in elvish marriage was a mistake. Positioning themselves as kings and rulers instead of governing powers was a mistake. Refusing to take action to help Men or to more proactively fight Morgoth after the Darkening was a mistake.
I think a lot of people assume the Valar are evil or malicious or malevolent because they look at a lot of textually fallible gods and demigods who canonically don’t know the future and are making the best possible guess at what they should do and go “oh, they’re presented as authorities, so that means Tolkien thinks they’re correct”, but every other king or queen in the Legendarium is on a spectrum from “good person who occasionally fucks up spectacularly” to “selfish abusive bastard”; even someone like Aragorn isn’t perfect all the time and takes himself over the coals for his mistakes. Ruling is about being fallible. No one but Eru makes no errors, and in fact the Valar fail so spectacularly at being in charge that their punishment at the end of the Second Age is to have their influence reduced. They had a hand in letting the situation in Númenor and in Eregion get as bad as it was, and they aren’t any less in need of correction. Magic leaves the world gradually but it starts with the rounding of Eä and the declaration that things will change. (Also, Eru has a known Mannish bias, and Men aren’t Valarists and don’t revere the Valar as gods; they have a place in the order of creation but the relationships between Men and Ainur are very different from those between elves and Ainur)
I don’t think the Valar are evil, I think they’re trying their best, but it’s possible to try your best and even to be right about some things (or be more correct than Fëanor, which isn’t that hard) and still be a mess and still ultimately overstep your bounds. But that’s kind of the point - they aren’t uniquely positioned as ultimate moral authorities, they’re spirits of nature and fundamental forces who interpret their mandate to guard and guide the world as “we have the authority to make major decisions that are ultimately correct because we made them”. (this is another post, really, but I do think they made a mistake in creating Valinor and not trusting that Eru put the Eldar on the Hither Shores for a reason)
idk this is all very messy but I think both the “the narrative praises the Valar and says they can do no wrong, and look at all the objectively imperfect things they do, so clearly the narrative is advocating for immoral stuff” and the “the Valar actually are infallible and perfect and everyone who disagrees is wrong” crowds are missing the point - everyone in the Silm is messy, the Powers included
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Author Ask Tag Game
A huge SORRY and thank you to @mjparkerwriting for tagging me in this waaaaay back in August (what the heck - how did this happen haha).
What is the main lesson of your story (e.g. kindness, diversity, anti-war), and why did you choose it?
That sometimes being a strong, independent woman isn't enough. Sometimes we can't succeed alone or even with the help of loyal friends. Sometimes it really does take structural, systemic change and that change doesn't happen in a single life time.
As for why I chose this theme... I didn't really. I started with a premise (princess runs away from arranged marriage and accidentally falls in love with guy she was betrothed to). When I turned that premise into a plot with stakes I decided to have something that pressured the protagonist to go back to her marriage. The thing I chose was needing to prevent a war. The theme just kind of emerged from the tension between her saving her people and not being trapped in a marriage she didn't want.
2. What did you use as inspiration for your worldbuilding (like real-life cultures, animals, famous media, websites, etc.)?
Southern England (loosely) in 1333 AD and some other cultures that would have been in contact with, bordering, or having diaspora in England (Wales, France, Breton, Al Andalusia, Persia, Byzantine Empire, Jewish diaspora, and like one thing from Scotland).
Other inspirations include a few Shakespeare comedies, how Tolkien uses English speech patterns to indicate social class, the Robin Hood myth, and Tennyson's poem "The Splendour Falls".
4. How many chapters is your story going to have?
Draft 2 had 15 chapters averaging between 3000-5000 words. I've already broken up one of those chapters in draft 3 and will probably break up more. So, at least 16? But I might split them all in half if I decide they are too many pages when I finally change the page size of my manuscript from standard word doc to book-sized. So maybe around 30?
6. When and why did you start writing?
The immersive daydreamer who loves to read to fandom to CinemaSins to film and tv show critique YouTube to writing advice YouTube to I'm gonna write my daydreams down so I can reread them for fun to I want to try my hand at a properly structured novel (but it's just for me) to dammit, I've put so much work in I want to polish this and publish it one day Pipeline is very, very real.
7. Do you have any words of encouragement for fellow writers of writeblr? What other writers on Tumblr do you follow?
You can edit a bad draft. It is so much easier to fix something than to make something from scratch. Your first draft is not an adequate reflection of your abilities as a writer - neither is your second, neither is your third. Asking for help is a skill, rewriting is a skill, workshopping is a skill, googling writing advice is a skill, taking a break is a skill. Your novel isn't your best work until it's done - feedback, and breaks, and months of writer's block and all. Push through. You're not a bad writer, or a good one for that matter, until there is a finished product to judge. I know looking at an unfinished draft riddled with problems can be demoralizing but you will find those problems and you will fix them. Just be patient.
I'm gonna steal MJ's idea and tag seven of my "other writers" - seven because that's how many questions are on in tag game.
@zeenimf, @ambiguouspuzuma, @macabremoons, @lexiklecksi, @sleepyowlwrites (though you've probably been tagged 1000 times in this haha), @stesierra, @ettawritesnstudies
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imakemywings · 1 year
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There’s another draft (“the Draft”) of The Silmarillion where Amrod and Amras (then still Damrod and Diriel) primarily lead the Third Kinslaying, with Maedhros and Maglor offering “reluctant” aid, and this is fascinating to me because it offers, frankly, the most characterization of the twins we get anywhere in the Legendarium.
We know almost nothing about them and I think they often get the treatment of a youngest sibling or set of twins by the fandom which is that they’re kind of cheeky and run a bit wild but are generally amiable and comedic. The picture painted by this brief mention in the Draft is very different. It presents a much darker side to the twins which perhaps existed before, or perhaps developed only after they had been apart from their brothers for a long while in Middle-earth.
Generally I still picture Maedhros as the “leader” but the idea of Amrod and Amras driving the effort to attack the Havens at Sirion even after the events of the Second Kinslaying is quite juicy. Not only are they the champions of this effort in the Draft, Tolkien describes how they “ravaged” Sirion. They were fearsome in their efforts to regain the Silmaril, perhaps to the point that their own willingness to violence led to their deaths there. This was not “just as much violence as we need to get what we want,” this is characterized as wanton brutality, which to me smacks of revenge for the deaths of their brothers.
They would have also been likely to know that the Gondolindrim--the remnants of their cousins’ people--were there as well, but clearly this did not stay their hands, if they knew it.
There’s something narratively fascinating about the twins returning from their travels and sojourns abroad in the wilds of Middle-earth as people their brothers don’t recognize anymore, in becoming drivers of the violence that’s now taken three of their brothers. Was it an act of revenge, primarily? Did they see themselves as avenging Celegorm, Caranthir, and Curufin on the refugees of Doriath? Was it about the Silmaril? And if it was, was it about retaking something that belonged to them, or avenging their father’s murder and robbery, or just about having something to show for all the years they had been chewing over that oath?
(I come again to the fact that Melkor still possessed two Silmarils, but the Feanorians chose to pursue Luthien’s--and again I think Amrod and Amras were not out for the Silmaril, but for revenge.)
And as to Maedhros and Maglor--why allow the twins to talk them into this? Did they see no other way and so considered it a necessary evil? Was it just that Amrod and Amras were willing to suggest that they all saw as the only path? Were they unwilling to let Amrod and Amras go alone, for safety? Did Amrod and Amras convince them it was necessary to avenge their brothers, or that none of them would be at peace without Luthien’s Silmaril? And what were Maedhros and Maglor’s feelings on it in the long run, when it became clear what a mistake they had made?
I know this part didn’t make it into the published Silmarillion, so it’s deuterocanonical at best, but being as it’s basically the only evidence we have of what Amrod and Amras were like as people, I can’t help but return to it. What were the twins like? Going off this, every bit as terrifying as the rest of their brothers.
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sewn-with-lilies-fair · 7 months
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Lay of Leithian: The Rock-Opera
Subtitled Livestream- 20th August, 2023
Two different fates are woven together when Lúthien, an elven princess, falls in love with Beren, a hero of mortal men. To win her hand, Beren is sent on an impossible quest- to cut a legendary gem from the crown of the Dark Lord. So begins this battle between light and darkness, love and duty, in the most enduring tale of Tolkien’s Middle Earth.
Здравствуйте, друзья! Hello, friends!
Want to experience a new Tolkien adaptation? Our little Leithian fandom would like to invite you to one of our livestreams! Come join myself and some other fun Silmarillion fans as we watch this Tolkien rock opera together.
Where: Cytube (video stream) / Discord (live chat) • Links will be reblogged here, 1 hour before the stream When: Sunday, 20th August, 1pm EST / 10am PDT / 19:00 CET Run Time: 1hr, 35m, with a 15 minute intermission Performance Details: 24th November 2022 live broadcast Language: Russian / Subtitles: English, Finnish, Spanish Additional Material: • Lay of Leithian translation • Links and resources
See you soon! 🤘
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Glorfindel and Erestor for the ship alignment chart?
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Glorestor is so funny because of course it compels me, can you not tell from my blog and entire shipping, even pre-AO3 career? I have been shipping these two for 20+ years, but whether they make sense or not depends on who you ask and what you mean by “makes sense”. I am very aware that Glorfindel and Erestor are shipped literally by virtue of them standing next to each other—twice, mind you, which in the 90's and heydays of shipping, was plenty. (Once, after all, was enough. 🤣)
I can write (and have written lol) entire essays about why I love this ship so much. Glorfindel is my one true favourite Tolkien character—my one true favourite fandom character, period—and have devoured every lore available for him to come up with pretty solid headcanons for the guy, if I do say so myself. Erestor, on the other hand, is pretty much a result of my by now life-long quest to give Glorfindel the most delicious happy ending an absolute Best Boy™ can deserve. These two characters on their own are individually compelling. Glorfindel easily just is, because how good must a person be to be returned from death, to be released from Mandos early, to become an emissary of the Valar, to be reborn better than before, equal to the Maiar? And Erestor—who even is he? What does it take to become the chief counsellor of one of the wisest Elves of the Third Age, in Imladris where Elves who have seen the light of the Trees still dwelt? I even read in a forum (lol omg remember forums) once where people wondered who even had the higher rank: Glorfindel or Erestor. Imagine being at a level where one could potentially be Glorfindel's superior—it blows the mind. But also personally for me, I love the idea that someone like Glorfindel could get quite lonely returning to an unfamiliar world—not only is Gondolin gone, but it's not even Beleriand anymore. I also imagine that returning from Mandos comes with its own grandeur that would set him apart from younger Elves in Middle-earth. It comforts me to know he would still have equals in a world like that, who would not be intimidated by him and with whom he could forge a trusting friendship.
The other thing that works for this ship is the setting with which they could meet. I have said in the Russingon post that the First Age is a painful age to me. Not only that, it's comparatively short; Glorfindel was “Glorfindel of Gondolin” for a mere 400 years (even less) before he died. Meanwhile, assuming he returned to Middle-earth c.a. 1200 in the Second Age (which is the most likely among all “canon” possibilities), the Second Age spanned for a good 3,000+ years; the Third Age, another 3,000+. Lindon under Ereinion Gil-galad’s reign saw the longest peacetime, and Rivendell once made and ruled by Elrond is arguably the most comforting Elven realm ever made. There is simply much more one can do in a setting like this, with characters like this who have so much history—or, in the case of Erestor, potential history. It's that ✨ potential ✨ that I find most compelling, and honestly I have been writing for these two for years and I feel there is still so much one can do and unearth with them.
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