Angsty Tolkien Corner

E tu brute? (Don't ask who hurt me)

[cadillacjohnf1]

i'm gonna be honest you're never gonna catch me diehard defending any F1 driver because in the end that's just a millionaire tax evader whose end goal in life is to make me buy his merch

[flnno]

Maeglin, son of Aredhel: gift for r_melko on X.

[gracefallingart]

Ëol, Aredhel, and Maeglin

Here is one of the most controversial families in the Silmarillion.

The full plan? Now people have requested the Mirkwood gang.

More to come, where will I fit them.

[ferithtolkienesque]

The Silmarillion fandom is genuinely insane. Like, you hang out on tumblr, read fic on AO3 and you think, yeah. Lots of people have read the Silmarillion. It’s Tolkien. Everyone’s read Tolkien. Barnes and Noble has a whole bunch of the HoME and also a bunch of books by people writing about the legendarium. This is mainstream, surely.

But then you actually touch grass and talk to normal people. Not even that, you talk to people who self diagnose as hard core Tolkien fans. And. None of them have read the Silmarillion. The Silmarillion is famously a book that nobody reads.

And yet. On AO3 The Silmarillion and Other Histories of Middle Earth has more works than The Lord of the Rings. Think about that. That’s baffling. It’s ridiculous. Like I realize that LotR fandom is split a bit by the movie, but still. The Silmarillion has almost four times as many fics as the LotR movies. Everybody has watched the movies!

I need to know what percentage of people who actually read the Silmarillion went on to write fic or draw fanart about it. Because it must be insane, surely. Like, I’m pretty sure the Silmarillion wins some kind of record in this department.

Thinking about the fanfic bell curve where on one end you have “Perfect, needs no improvement or elaboration” (LotR sits here) and on the other you have “So bad it’s no fun to even think about” with the middle being the fanfic zone. But I think there may be a secret fourth Silmarillion option. Which is a book that is perfect* but simultaneously non existent. It’s not even a real story! The language is super pretty and deeply incomprehensible (especially to people who, unlike me, were not raised from early childhood on both the Bible and classic literature). And it’s more of an outline and an abstract painting of cultural and world building vibes (not cultural and world building facts and information) than an actual narrative. There are story hooks galore. There are vivid and fascinating characters, but their lives are glossed over and you only get one or two paragraphs of prose that will reorder your brain chemistry and haunt you forever. There are countless more characters who only exist as names, the implication of whose existence is fascinating. All of this is deeply frustrating, both to casual readers who just want a Normal Enjoyable Book, and super fans who want All the Lore. But it is catnip to anyone who engages in transformative work.

*I am aware that not anyone who is a fan of the silm thinks it’s perfect

[atthispointidontevenknow]

Does Fingolfin want to meet Maeglin?

Is Idril in Valinor, or is she bound to a mortal fate, and if not does she and Maeglin ever make peace with what happened?

And what about Turgon? And Aredhel?

[atthispointidontevenknow]

I want more Celegorm & Caranthir fanfic. Two brothers who annoy each other 24/7, Caranthir sometimes takes some of Celegorm's jabs a bit too hard but when it comes to outsiders they are completely united.

Ps. Even better if Huan has a star role

[elves-as-things-my-friends-said]

Maeglin, after choking on his drink: if I can indulge in some blasphemy for a moment—

Glorfindel: when aren't you?

Maeglin: —the human body is proof of either the theory of evolution or an uncaring God, because this design is ass. Who the fuck's bright idea was it to put the breathing hole next to the food hole?

Glorfindel: you can't say that!

Ecthelion: no, I think he's right...

Glorfindel: well he shouldn't say it!

[aran-morinorea]

Nan Elmoth time!

"Over here," Maeglin calls, heading for it.

Glorfindel starts, and jogs to catch up with him; they shouldn't be too loud. "How do you know? You've never been here before."

"Well," Maeglin explains, pointing, "This flat vertical boulder over here fits into the rock around it quite like a portcullis."

Glorfindel squints at it, and looks at their path, and looks back at the gate. "… And you could see that from there?"

"Glorfindel," says Maeglin, reminding himself firmly that patience is a skill, "What is my name?"

There is a pause.

"Right, yes, carry on."

Maeglin gestures for Glorfindel to lead the way under the mountain. He would prefer the face familiar to the guards to be in front.

[basic-treat]

I sang about gods, I sang about heroes,

about clanging blades and bloody battles

—

Maglor writing in the sand

[tanoraqui]

my real Leithian hot take is that Thingol did not mean it. He did not value his daughter at 1 Silmaril - he did not "value" his daughter like a thing to be paid for, ever. He did not mean to set her would-be-betrothed a politically fraught and inevitably deadly task, or even a Legendary Impossible Task. He did mean to tell Beren to fuck off and never darken their treestep again, but he said, "Bring to me in your hand a Silmaril from Morgoth’s crown; and then, if she will, Lúthien may set her hand in yours." the same way you or I would sarcastically say, "I'll do that when Hell freezes over" - and the great and terrible harmony of the Music of Ëa itself rose to back his words, in a chorus that would echo throughout Arda and reprise until the very End of Days, and every since person in the room with the faintest Song-sense went, oh fuck; except Beren, who, being a Man, had only the very faintest Song-sense anyway, just went, "Bet."

(This didn't entirely help Thingol's case in his daughter's eyes, because he very much had intended for Beren to fuck off and die, albeit only in the way that Men always do and Lúthien, in her father's eyes, was never supposed to; and when it was clear that this was now a Legendary Impossible Task, he very much did have her locked in a treehouse rather than let her go help her lover. He still made some Choices. But he didn't start All Of That; That just happened.)

[indigedwarf]

nothing will ever make me hate boromir. he is just genuinely so sweet with merry pippin and his brother, you can tell he’s a good guy when not being corrupted by the ring

[happyperle]

Every Feanorian kid had his job , maglor was their public relations guys , he made people forget their mistakes by the power of his incredible songs

his job got suddenly a lot harder one day

[fugamalefica]

Bellatrix is very verbally, physically, and facially expressive. She has very specific mannerisms and a distinctive way of speaking. Nothing ruins a characterisation of her more than stripping her of how animated she is and making her flat or cold. She's anything but that. She laughs, sneers, screams, cackles, and gestures. Her eyes flash and her vocal tone shifts constantly. Monotony is the cardinal sin in writing her because if she isn't spontaneous, uninhibited, and immediate, she won't ever feel like Bellatrix. She's not and never was the type to keep a stiff upper lip, not even at her own trial.

[oscpiastriminus80]

every time oscar piastri sets foot in the MTC we get the most MOUTHWATERING pictures. lando hold him hostage there for us!

[thethirdtreeofvalinor]

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

[atthispointidontevenknow]

not even túrin? I'm sorry

You would think wouldn't you.

(ps. on an other note I had forgotten all about Turin, thanks for reminding me that he exists)

[lemxnerror]

Practicing how to draw faces with the gaang