the days have gone down in the west

a place to put stuff; atm mostly tolkien and sometimes needle lace

[helyannis]

I finished sculpting my very first miniature! say hello to tiny fingon!

[helyannis]

‘Awake! Help is near’

Manthor and his men find Húrin

a tiny sketch for the Wanderings of Húrin

[helyannis]

Item: The Time Machine Rarity: ⏶ Common

What game do you associate most strongly with a specific time in your life?

Feed your dashboard by answering my question, blogger.

i'm not much of a gamer so i can't answer most of mysterious cat's asks BUT for this one: nothing screams year 2000 like L'Album secret de l'oncle Ernest.

it's an adventure puzzle game. you start on some pages in a notebook that contain different minigames or tasks (like taking a photo of a mouse that only comes out in the dark) that unlock more pages

i loved it as a child! it's available as abandonware now, so maybe i'll play it again some time

[helyannis]

that was fun! blast from the past 🥲

[helyannis]

rest

[helyannis]

[Huor was] a swift runner; but if the race were long and hard Húrin would be the first home […]. There was great love between the brothers, and they were seldom apart in their youth.

[catilinas]

a nargothrond gold stater was an ancient coin minted in the city state of nargothrond and used in various regions of beleriand

[helyannis]

… I'm so sorry I made something cursed

but when I hear bactrian gold stater i next think of Demetrios in that elephant hat. And since one version of the meaning of Felagund is 'badger' …

[helyannis]

sometimes when there's nothing to do at work for 10+min, I'm making little clay creatures from the clay I find here :3

[helyannis]

I added a border to this thing from 5 years ago, so it's truly and officially Finished

[helyannis]

Brodda and his men break down the door to Aerin's house

[helyannis]

i started sculpting miniatures (~35mm)!

i love it! everything is so tiny!

since i'm new to it and only home on weekends AND scared of squishing what i made if i work on more than one tiny section at a time, it takes aaaaaageeeesss … in 1-2 decades i may have something to show XD

[catilinas]

canto vi of the lay of leithian says Fuck your attempts to figure out a chronology of composition. ok. yay

[catilinas]

ignore so much of what i said yesterday. the lay of the children of hurin has a character references the existence of the lay of leithian:

and the lay of leithian includes prolepses of: maglor’s eventual fate, the nirnaeth arnoediad, and turin:

so our options are like. a) the manuscript transmission of either or both lays is fucked. one morbillion later interpolations. b) the time implosion

[helyannis]

I love these discussions of in-universe tradition!

My personal assumtion is that the Lay of Leithian, probably in contrast with the Narn (for which we have a named poet!), is not from the beginning one static work. I think this is a case of "many songs are sung".

One version is inserted into the Narn, and it is related to but not the same as the version Strider sings to the Hobbits. He says only Elrond remembers the Tale "aright as it was told of old", so by then there exists some notion of a "correct" version, but we don't know it that means form or content. Crucially, nobody knows it!

The Lay we have is probably (a translation of) of one version of the story in a manuscript extant at the end of the Third Age, thousands of turbulent years after the events, because that's the usual framework. When it was first written down *in this form* cannot be determined.

BUT we know that the Elves of Doriath weren't using Daeron's runes very much, so the first songs come from a purely oral tradition. Many poets/singers may have interpreted what's known about the events, and improved upon each others works and interpolated them. The tradition probably lived on independently from any written versions at any time. Elvish memory is good but not perfect, but more importantly they are intentionally creative!

[helyannis]

Ufedhin

[helyannis]

the duality of man

[helyannis]

… starting the year with something completely different XD

I've been nostalgically re-reading some Magic: The Gathering novels, specifically for this character who has permanently altered my vocabulary 20 years ago with his introduction: “My name is Skellum, and I wear a silly hat.”

he's a polite little man with a silly hat full of unspeakable nightmares <3

[helyannis]

The die is cast. Now comes the test, in which my boast shall be made good, or fail utterly. I will flee no more. Turambar indeed I will be, and by my own will and prowess I will surmount my doom – or fall. But falling or riding, Glaurung at least I will slay.

[helyannis]

@tolkien-food-week is a good occasion to make some good, plain bean soup!

While this a vibes-based, add-what-you-like dish which you don't need a recipe for, here's what I do:

Dice carrots, celery sticks and an onion, fry them for some minutes in butter or oil, then add whatever legumes you happen to have at home, some water (or stock if available), some big bay leaves and juniper berries. Season when the beans are soft.

You can add whatever vegetables you like: potatoes, turnips, leeks, green beans, courgette, cabbage etc. Instead of legumes, barley works very well too!