perfection is found in middle-earth

Aman, Ennor and elves // RoP/Silmarillion/Tolkien

[eliounora]

young celeborn and galadriel 🖤

[maglor-still-lives]

NERDY GRAMMAR POST WARNING: Why do we, the Silmarillion fandom, write “Feanorian” instead of “Feanorion?” Specifically, when we’re writing about Feanor’s children.

The -ion suffix exists (I believe) to denote a patronymic: for example, Legolas Thranduillion or Gildor Inglorion. By that logic, we should write “the Feanorions,” rather than “the Feanorians.”

The term “Feanorian” should probably refer to things that are connected to or owned by Feanor. For example, one could say “Feanorian lamps,” “the Feanorian wars,” or “I’m currently dealing with a paranoia outbreak that feels downright Feanorian.”

Does anybody know if there’s a reason that the fandom predominantly writes it in the second way, or if it’s just convention? I might be totally wrong about this, but I’ve been wondering for a while.

[eccentricmya]

Exactly what I was thinking! My inner Fëanor disapproved a lot whenever I read ‘Fëanorian’ for the Sons of Fëanor when it should’ve been ‘Fëanorion’. Thank you for penning this down.

Embarassing confession time. I used to read Fëanor as ‘Fay-nor’. Only much later did I actually check and realised that it’s pronounced ‘Fe-anor’. Anyone else do that too or was that just me?

the thing for me is that fëanorion is a sindarin* construction, and thus ‘fëanorions’ is a bizarre mix of elvish and english—it sounds wrong to me. i’m not sure what the proper plural of fëanorion would be—maybe ‘fëanorionath’?

fëanorian, on the other hand, uses the english suffix -ian, and so fits better with the english -s plural

the point mentioned in the original post still stands, however, in that -ian is usually an adjectival suffix meaning ‘to do with’. i don’t think this is a hard and fast rule though—consider comedian, or american (using -ian’s variant -an)

*technically the proper sindarin form of fëanáro is faenor, thus making fëanor a sort of mix of sindarin and quenya. the fact that both languages use the suffix -ion makes it slightly ambiguous—although regardless it’s a far cry from english

[arofili]

Personally I used Fëanorian in a Sindarin context, or when talking about things relating to Fëanor…and people of the house of Fëanor who aren’t his sons, like Celebrimbor or warriors under his banner or his creations (and the creations of his sons), etc. I use Fëanárion (note the use of the á derived from his Quenya name!) when specifically speaking of his sons (ions) and within a Quenya context. This is just what I do as a fic writer, tho, and I’m not a linguist!

This is really interesting. If I’m honest I’ve been using ‘ian’ simply because it seems to be convention when referring to Fëanor’s sons as a group. I’ve actually been confused about its use over ‘ion’ too! That said, I just assumed it was because the ‘ian’ could be used to include Celebrimbor too without changing the construct too much? I’d always use ‘ion’ though if I was writing a full name for one of the sons though, seeing as it seems to be the correct patronymic form. However, I’m not very well up on Tolkien linguistics.

[maironsmaid]

I know this !!!

-ian is the plural of -ion. That’s why my inner Feanor always dies when I read Feanorians… It’s basically Sons of Feanors

[eccentricmya]

Respectfully disagree. -ian is not the plural of -ion. The plural would be -ionath as user peredain rightfully pointed out (with the plural suffix -ath combined with -ion). -ian(d) is a Sindarin suffix which is used for denoting lands/regions like in Beleriand. -ion is also used as a suffix for lands in Sindarin, e.g Eregion, along with its use as son as in Eldarion.

In Quenya, there is no plural as such for the suffix -ion which is used exclusively for son/descendant. The closest I could find was -ioni as used in Isildurioni to mean heirs of Isildur (this uses the common plural suffix -i in addition to -ion). To that end, I would also like to say that Celebrimbor is a Fëanorion as well as a Curufinwion and a Finwion. Grand or no, all sons originating from that person will be counted in the suffix -ion. It’s because ‘son’ as a class can mean ‘of my blood’ and that includes daughters and grandchildren and all the descendants thereafter.

Coming back to the -ian v. -ion debate, the whole confusion was caused by the books using Fëanorian to describe Fëanor’s inventions. The suffix for ‘of’ is -o and not -ian. The closest we can come to find -ian as a suffix to mean ‘of’ is the suffix -a which is used to make adjectives, like in Laurëa meaning golden (from laurë i.e. gold). So when we say Arafiwëan we are most likely using the noun Arafinwë as an adjective to describe things related to him. I still stand by my belief that it should be Arafinwion to denote his sons/descendants. As for the English ending -s that we use to make it plural, like Ñolofinwions, I personally do it for ease. It rolls off the tongue better than Ñolofinwionath… a mouthful no?

[tolkien-meta-library]

This is all beyond me, but I’ll reblog

[hellofeanor]

Prev tags:

No you’re right and you should say it. I also prefer the double N (or ND in Quenya) and here’s why.

The patronymic suffix -ion comes from the archaic word jondo. You can still see this form in the full Quenya version yondo. What this means is that there’s a secret D in this word, and friends, we gotta respect the D. These extra archaic letters DO affect many Quenya and Sindarin when we make compounds or add suffixes.

You’ve seen this before. The word Silmaril, for example, becomes Silmarilli in the plural, with a secret extra L pointing back the full form of the word: rille. A few other words/names I can think of off the top of my head that would have secret extra letters in the long form are iel(l-), tol(l-), Perian(d-), Mandos(t-), and Sauron(d-).

The form ionnath does appear in the King’s Letter in Sauron Defeated.

Now, we do also see the compounds Isildurioni (Q) and Hurinioni (S) in Peoples of Middle-earth. So these can be considered valid formats BUT! ☝️ For normal reasons, I have Problems™ with that particular book (ASK ME ABOUT MY OPINIONS SOMETIME!) and vastly prefer the SD example. Because of this and because of other similar examples we see of how the full-form words and archaic versions affect compounds, I would choose to add the extra N while making an -ion- compound in Sindarin, and an extra D in Quenya. So:

Sindarin Feanorionnath (or Faenorionnath if you want to be That Guy and be annoying in a particular way)

Quenya Feanoriondi (or Feanáriondi for equivalent annoyance)

Thank you for coming to my elf linguistics TED talk. I’ll be here all week.

[jacobpking]

Círdan the Shipwright✨ (NEW)

[finrodsketchbook]

princess Disa stone singing

[metamorphesque]

van gogh green | monet violet | salman toor green | van gogh yellow

[balrogballs]

a very quick sketch of The Bird Lady [Elwing] done with the single colour-pencil I found in the bottom of my bag on an overnight train from hell, drawn for @spring-into-arda Back to Middle Earth Month Basketball Championship for ✨ Team Idril ✨ for the prompt “Connection” + some fun prose I couldn’t resist

[aamuusva]

Finally finished this one of Aredhel

[myfanfictiongarden]

Feel like not enough people give enough credit to what character growth Theo went through in these two seasons.

We meet him as this moody brooding teenager, angry at the whole world, at the Elves, the Orcs, his people, himself. He feels so powerless against the whole world drawing close at him. He does try to do good, he loves his mum, but it all always seems to backfire. After the eruption of the volcano and his travel with Galadriel he realizes just how much his anger might have cost him. He is ready for a fresh start, appreciating more what he has.

Then his mother dies and the world breaks apart once more. Who is Arondir to offer him words of comfort? He’s too old to be treated like a baby, yet the pain is too great to ignore. The conversation he overhears Isildur have with Estrid is the first step to healing, realizing that life is a gift our parents give us that is impossible to repay, so you have to treat every moment as something precious. And after he is taken captured by the Ents and finds Arondir came to find him despite the harsh words before, another emotional wall breaks. The world may be full of pain, but it is also full of endless love. 

So Theo accepts and embraces the love Arondir has for him. The people his mother led need someone to look out for them, to heal their wounds. And who would be better for it than the healed son of a healer. 

[verecunda]

Not many people know this, but I know for a fact that Celebrimbor provided Fëanor with invaluable creative advice during the crafting of the Silmarils. Don't believe me? Just picture the scene...

Fëanor, scribbling in his workshop: I'm so close to perfecting this silima formula, but still something is missing. What? What?!

Baby Celebrimbor, perched in his accustomed place on the workbench: hurgleburbleburble :D

Fëanor: You think I should add another measure of silver?

Celebrimbor: Goog! *lil pudgy hands clapping*

Fëanor: Interesting... of the same purity as the last, I take it?

Celebrimbor: Ah! Ah!

Fëanor: Yes... I think you might be onto something here... and should this go into the compound before the vanilla extract?*

Celebrimbor: *sneezes, tries to stick a spare stylus up his nose*

Fëanor: *gently extracting the stylus* No, you're right, I don't think that would work either. Maybe it's something to do with the timing?

Celebrimbor: Ahh!

Fëanor: *scribbling madly* Yes... yes! The elements must all be combined at the precise moment... when the mingling of the Tree-light is balanced absolutely equally... only then can the silima capture its essence! That's it!

Celebrimbor: :D *jabbers happily, clapping*

Fëanor: We've done it at last! Tyelperinquar, you are a marvel! The greatest smith in Aman.

Celebrimbor: *yawns, ready for a well-earned nap*

*Well, you tell me what the fuck silima is made of. XD

[fantasyquests]

Alfirin flowers, which will one day grow on Elendil's tomb, are mentioned in the very first episode.

[thethirdromana]

I don't know if this was obvious to everyone else, but I just realised that one of the reasons why the Hobbit is so effective as a children's book is that while Bilbo is an adult, the skills that make him a hero are all those of a child.

By human standards he's child-sized, which makes him unobtrusive and light on his feet. He can slip by unnoticed where bigger people can't.

He's good at playing games, and even cheats (successfully!) in a way that - let's face it - is not so different to how children try to cheat at games. He's polite in a way that's fully comprehensible to children (rather than, say, being able to perform courtly manners). He's quick-witted, but the trick of keeping the trolls talking is also one that would be achievable for a child.

He doesn't have magic powers, he's not a great fighter, and he's not some kind of Chosen One. There's not much that he does that couldn't be done by a ten-year-old, but the story shows just how valuable all those skills and traits are. It's very empowering.

[furupops]

@mori-no-majou why hide this in the tags?

[le-velo-pour-dru]

[Image ID: Tags that read, "#LOTRposting #there's also something to be said for how often he Does It Scared. particularly early on #[because] a lot of the situations he winds up in would be scary for a kid too #and the narrative doesn't mock him for being scared. usually it acknowledges that He Is Only A Little Hobbit You Must Remember #so that's also very easy to empathise with as a kid (particularly if you're imagining 'little' to mean 'even smaller than you') #it's a story about someone small and timid gradually developing the confidence to try new things and stand up for himself and his friends #which if anything is [all caps] more [end all caps] empowering for a kid than the power fantasy of being born as The Most Special Boy In The World #[because] the underlying message is that you can also learn to be brave and clever like bilbo does. like. in real life". /end ID]

[grundyscribbling]

It is stated in The Hobbit that continuing down the tunnel into the Lonely Mountain, after stopping because he knew there was definitely a live dragon at the end, was the bravest thing Bilbo ever did. It made specific that the real battle was fought in the tunnel alone, before he saw Smaug.

The Hobbit is a children's story, invented by JRR Tolkien for his young children. In the finest fairy tale tradition it is not there to tell children dragons exist. It is there to tell them dragons (and fear) can be overcome.

[paedme]

Alan Lee + lotr & scenery

[that-catholic-shinobi]

Thinking of the larger context of LOTR and like, the fellowship swapping old war stories and shit and Sam just says “Yeah I killed a huge spider…Shelob, I think?”

And Gandalf just blinks and is like, “You what now?”

“Yeah, killed it. Had to save Frodo”

Gandalf elects not to tell Sam that he killed the spawn of a primordial demon.

[disgruntledexplainer]

the daughter of the embodiment of darkness which ate the original sun and moon and almost ate the devil.

[matrixdragon]

That's not important. What is important is that it was a danger to Mister Frodo.

[0gl1tch0]

Time for me to info dump about Sam and Shelob.

In lord of the rings lore, there are three tiers of deities. The highest tier and most dangerous includes Morgoth - Sauron’s master, and Ungoliant, Shelob’s master. The middle tier includes Shelob, Sauron. Then there’s the lowest tier, which includes the wizards Gandalf and Saruman as well as the Balrog (this is why Gandalf couldn’t 1v1 the Balrog). It also explains why Gandalf doesn’t take the ring, the magic of a tier 2 deity would absolutely corrupt him. We even see that happen with Saruman and the Palantir.

This leads to the start of the answer to some interesting questions. Why does Sauron tolerate Shelob being in his territory, and why does Sauron tolerate there being a secret back door into Mordor?

On the surface, he does it because he might not be able to beat Shelob in a fight, after all they’re the same tier of deity. And since Shelob’s domain is the secret way into Mordor, he can’t close it off, and he seriously doubts anyone can use it to get in. He doesn’t monitor the path with guards either - Shelob would eat them.

It gets more detailed than that though. Sauron’s boss, Morgoth, and Shelob’s boss, Ungoliant, made a deal. They’d attack the tree of life together. Morgoth would drink the nectar, and Ungoliant would keep all of the jewels and magic they earned along the way. Morgoth broke this deal because there was a particularly powerful gem he wanted (the gem in Sauron’s helmet), and as a result Ungoliant went to war with Morgoth.

Ungoliant won, Morgoth barely escaped with his life.

So not only does Sauron maybe lose if he attacks Shelob. Even if he were to win, it might provoke Ungoliant into attacking Morgoth again, and Ungoliant wins that fight, she’s already done it once.

With all of that established, how the hell does Sam hurt a deity that powerful?

Well, to start, it’s impossible. Shelob’s hide is so tough Sam could never pierce it with all his might. However, Shelob had grown old and arrogant. During the fight, Sam winds up directly underneath Shelob, and Shelob decides to crush Sam with all her strength.

Unfortunately, Sam is pointing sting straight up.

While Sam lacks the strength to hurt Shelob, Shelob herself is plenty strong. She accidentally impales herself on sting, finding herself injured for the first time in thousands of years. Which is the sort of poetry I really appreciate about Tolkien’s writing.

No matter how powerful or evil or ancient or indestructible your foe, if you stand for what is right and hold your sword out, they will impale themselves upon it.

Sam’s backstory in this scene is much simpler. He has to save Frodo.

[that-catholic-shinobi]

I love it when tolkien fans reblog posts with the deep lore receipts. Thank you

[alinaastarkov]

ARWEN, DAUGHTER OF ELROND ...and so like was she in form of womanhood to Elrond that Frodo guessed that she was one of his close kindred (insp.)

[celevrian]

"She [Galadriel], committed Lórinand to Amroth, and passing again through Moria with Celebrian she came to Imladris, seeking Celeborn. There (it seems) she found him and there they dwelt together for a long time. . ."

- Unfinished Tales, History of Galadriel and Celeborn

[elena-kukanova]

Eowyn & Faramir

mixed media, 53*25 cm

[luzelms]

ISMAEL CRUZ CÓRDOVA as ARONDIR in The Rings of Power °˖➴2.08 "Shadow and Flame"