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paula-zotter · 7 months

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Why should we love you, and why should ye love us (if ye do), and yet set the gulf between?

#words by tolkien #the silmarillion #athrabeth finrod ah andreth #andreth #aegnor #history of middle earth #morgoth's ring #tolkien #silmarillion #my art

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stay-close · 5 days

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How do you move on? You move on when your heart finally understands that there is no turning back.

J.R.R. Tolkien

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surqrised · 2 months

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How do you move on? You move on when your heart finally understands that there is no turning back.

J.R.R. Tolkien

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from-the-coffee-shop-in-edoras · 4 months

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Someone asked me to expand a little on a topic that was buried down in a big chain of reblogs, so I'm doing that here--it's about the use of the archaic "thee", "thou", "thy", etc. in LOTR and what it tells you about characters’ feelings for one another. (I am NOT an expert on this, so it's just what I've picked up over time!)

Like many (most?) modern English speakers, I grew up thinking of those old forms of 2nd person address as being extra formal. I think that's because my main exposure to them was in the Bible ("thou shall not...") and why wouldn't god, speaking as the ultimate authority, be using the most formal, official voice? But it turns out that for a huge chunk of the history of the English language, "thee," "thou," and "thy" were actually the informal/casual alternatives to the formal "you", “your”, “yours”. Like tú v. usted in Spanish!

With that in mind, Tolkien was very intentional about when he peppered in a "thee" or a "thou" in his dialogue. It only happens a handful of times. Most of those are when a jerk is trying to make clear that someone else is beneath them by treating them informally. Denethor "thou"s Gandalf when he’s pissed at him. The Witch King calls Éowyn "thee" to cut her down verbally before he cuts her down physically. And the Mouth of Sauron calls Aragorn and Gandalf "thou" as a way to show them that he has the upper hand. (Big oops by all 3 of these guys!)

The other times are the opposite--it's when someone starts to use the informal/casual form as a way to show their feeling of affection for someone else. Galadriel goes with the formal "you" all through the company's days in Lórien, but by the time they leave she has really taken them to heart. So when she sends them a message via Gandalf early in the Two Towers, she uses "thee" and "thou" in her words to Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli because now they're valued friends and allies. And--this is the big one, folks, that was already alluded to in my previous post--Éowyn starts aggressively "thou"ing Aragorn when she is begging him to take her along as he prepares to ride out of Dunharrow. She is very intentionally trying to communicate her feelings to him in her choice of pronoun--an "I wouldn't be calling you "thee" if I didn't love you" kind of thing. And he is just as intentionally using "you" in every single one of his responses in order to gently establish a boundary with her without having to state outright that he doesn't reciprocate her feelings. It's not until much later when her engagement to Faramir is announced that Aragorn finally busts out "I have wished thee joy ever since I first saw thee". Because now it is safe to acknowledge a relationship of closeness and familiarity with her without the risk that it will be misinterpreted. He absolutely wants to have that close, familiar relationship, but he saved it for when he knew she could accept it on his terms without getting hurt.

So, you know, like all things language-based...Tolkien made very purposeful decisions in his word choices down to a bonkers level of detail. I didn’t know about this pronoun thing until I was a whole ass adult, but that’s the joy of dealing with Tolkien. I still discover new things like this almost every time I re-read.

#lord of the rings #lotr #tolkien #aragorn #éowyn #word nerd #respect and disrespect by choice of pronoun #thee and thou vs you #aragorn found the absolute most passive way to say ‘not interested’

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thethirdtreeofvalinor · 1 year

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elrond sipping his tea: how nice of you to join me for breakfast, thranduil. it’s certainly been a while hasn’t it. you remember bilbo, the hobbit from like seventy years ago? he has a kid now. i know you would just love frodo

thranduil:

thranduil: elrond, where’s my son

#love elrond sending thranduil’s son off without a word of warning #the fellowship of the ring #lotr memes #tolkien #lotr #the lord of the rings #lotr fandom #incorrect tolkien quotes #incorrect lord of the rings quotes #hobbit shitpost #elrond #thranduil #bilbo baggins #frodo baggins

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verkomy · 8 months

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fíli

you can get a print here: inprnt!

#words can’t describe how much I love him #fili #fili durin #kili and fili #the line of durin #durins #the hobbit #durin’s folk #longsbeards #tolkien #lotr #fanart #my art #verkomy #verkomy 2023 #procreate #prints

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thoughtkick · 24 days

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Do you remember when we first met? I thought I had wandered into a dream.

J.R.R. Tolkien

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electracution · 2 months

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Aragorn II Elessar, 03.2024

Happy (late) birthday to the King.

New colour palette unlocked! Don't get used to it, though. Aragorn is special like that.

Also, this is my favourite look of his. He looks so good, you should expect me to draw him in this outfit again.

EDIT: Second post to hit a 1000 notes. Yuppi! Thank you everyone 🩷

#aragorn #lord of the rings #the lord of the rings #lotr #tolkien #lotr art #lotr fanart #art #traditional art #artists on tumblr #a mighty king indeed #hes so silly #special boy of gondor #i want him #i wrote like a thousand words on how much i want him no joke

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fioblah · 6 months

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mr thee gray

tip jar

#thinking of a word that starts with g and ends with lf #gandalf #lord of the rings #tolkien #lotr #the hobbit #artness #do u love him i love him

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afaramir · 1 year

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when boromir died for merry and pippin and then pippin saves faramir's life. when pippin says i offer you my service in payment for this debt. when he offers it to denethor but really it's to gondor and to boromir and to the man that denethor once was. when boromir saving pippin's life directly means that pippin saves faramir's life and literally...to boromir, that would've been enough, to have his brother live. for gondor that is enough, to have their captain returned to them.

#pippin took #faramir #boromir #lotr #tolkien #dude the brain worms are WRITHING !!!!#i am having such a hard time wording what im thinking. does this post make any sense.#when i say denethor i dont mean movie denethor and when i say gondor i dont mean movie gondor #this does not mean i mean the book versions of either. yes it does no it doesnt yes no #idk! im just like having thoughts and feelings! whatever im hitting post #.txt #tolkien insp #yes i know. its my own post. BUT STILL.

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scribefindegil · 8 months

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As much as I adore conlangs, I really like how the Imperial Radch books handle language. The book is entirely in English but you're constantly aware that you're reading a "translation," both of the Radchaai language Breq speaks as default, and also the various other languages she encounters. We don't hear the words but we hear her fretting about terms of address (the beloathed gendering on Nilt) and concepts that do or don't translate (Awn switching out of Radchaai when she needs a language where "citizen," "civilized," and "Radchaai person" aren't all the same word) and noting people's registers and accents. The snatches of lyrics we hear don't scan or rhyme--even, and this is what sells it to me, the real-world songs with English lyrics, which get the same "literal translation" style as everything else--because we aren't hearing the actual words, we're hearing Breq's understanding of what they mean. I think it's a cool way to acknowledge linguistic complexity and some of the difficulties of multilingual/multicultural communication, which of course becomes a larger theme when we get to the plot with the Presgar Translators.

#imperial radch #also a great example of the 'you don't have to be Tolkien' phenomenon #if you want to think about linguistic differences by building all the languages in your setting #and being able to explain what those differences are through actual texts in the language in question #that's AWESOME #but it's not the only way to do it #it's also interesting because of course this style only works in book form #everyone's speaking different languages but in a written account they're all 'translated' for you #but of course if it was a TV series they would all have to be speaking a language the audience understands #(or you *would* have to go wild with conlangs)#and i think that's really cool as well--#how for a series where song is so central we don't actually hear any of the actual in-universe words or any of the music #it's all been filtered #and again you know this is happening but seeing the examples of how real songs--the shape hymns and 'L'homme Arme'--are presented #makes you a lot more viscerally aware of how limited your perspective is #it's good #ann leckie i love you

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perfectfeelings · 1 year

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How do you move on? You move on when your heart finally understands that there is no turning back.

J.R.R. Tolkien

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nameddame · 2 years

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Tolkien in the 30s: the elves have beautiful long hair regardless of gender even tho a man having long hair in the 30s would be seen as an egregious sign of gender noncomformity at best

Amazon rn: boy elves have short hair girl elves have long hair because this adaptation is about girlboss galadriel

#lotr #rings of power #That is not to even touch on the missing bearded lady dwarfs #Not to be a Tolkien purist but if the man spends thousand of words describing the practices and cultures and food and history of a setting #Maybe #That has something to say #Maybe the curtains are blue for a reason #Maybe the elves have long hair for REASON and taking that away for???? Literally nothing is shit #Like what is rop saying with its short hair elves??? Nothing they are saying nothing

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azaisya · 1 month

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@just-another-linguist and @melestasflight both requested Fingon which was v exciting. Fingon is one of the characters that really stuck with me the first time I read the Silm, but I’ve never actually drawn him. In my mind this is like a Valinor-era Fingon!

#fingon #silmarillion #silm art #silmarillion fanart #tolkien fanart #candlesart #here down in the valley #I’d started reading the silm after I’d just finished reading this v extensive aragorn&legolas series #that mostly just involved one of them getting whumped and the other having to rescue him #it was a fantastic time. ‘mellon’ was possibly in the title #anyway it was pure h/c w a side of road trips and so when fingon went on his road trip to rescue maedhros #my brain immediately supplemented the like paragraph of description w the tens of thousands of words of a&l fic I’d just read #which. given that my first read of the silm was mostly just a blur of names and locations #made fingon and his rescue incredibly memorable

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thehopefulquotes · 4 months

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How do you move on? You move on when your heart finally understands that there is no turning back.

J.R.R. Tolkien

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perfeqt · 6 months

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There is some good in this world, and it's worth fighting for.

J.R.R. Tolkien

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