[indis]

robin • tolkien (mainly the silmarillion) centric sideblog • 21 • they/them • main: @boyhounds • bsky: @/maglorisms • elven minstrel + scorned women enjoyer

[ulmondil]

Finduilas Faelivrin

[3in1ringbearer]

Kinship and Affection Among the Elves: Familial Terminology in Quenya and Sindarin

It has bothered me for quite some time that J. R. R. Tolkien did not develop a complete system of kinship terminology in either Quenya or Sindarin, and some of the words we do have are outdated Qenya and Gnomish which are linguistically incongruous with the later lexicon, so I have taken it upon myself to invent one. 

This is primarily for my own usage, but please feel free to use them as well.

NOTE 1: The terms for mother, father, son, daughter, brother and sister as well as the Quenya terms for grandchildren are all from Tolkien’s preexisting lexicon; except for ‘nessa’, which, while an existing Quenya word, normally means ‘young’, but I have extrapolated this colloquial form from ‘hanno’. The rest are all constructed from preexisting words and elements in Quenya and Sindarin. I have not introduced any new elements to either language.

NOTE 2: Due to the Sundering occurring rather early in the elves’ history and, presumably, before they have had enough generations to necessitate such words, I have made it so that it appears that Quenya (Valinórëan) and Sindarin (Endórëan) kinship terminology had developed independently of each other. 

Quenya

Mother 

Amillë or Amil

Ammë [diminutive]

Father

Atar

Atto [diminutive]

Son

Yondo

Daughter

Seldë or Yeldë

Brother

Háno

Hanno [diminutive]

Onóro

Otorno

Sister

Nésa

Nessa [diminutive]

Onórë

Osellë

Grandson

Inyo [Noldorin]

Indyo [Vanyarin]

Granddaughter

Inyë [Noldorin]

Indyë [Vanyarin]

METHOD: For Quenya, I primarily made use of prefixes to indicate extended familial relationships. For grandparents, I used the reversible root ‘on’ or ‘ono’ (to beget) to indicate grandparents as ascendants. For aunts, uncles and cousins, I used the prefix ‘ara’ (beside) to indicate them as collateral relatives.

Grandmother

Nóamillë

Nammë [diminutive]

Grandfather

Nóatar

Natto [diminutive]

Aunt

Aramillë

Arammë [diminutive]

Uncle

Aratar

Aratto [diminutive]

Female Cousin

Arasellë

Male Cousin

Aratorno

Niece

Araseldë or Arayeldë

Nephew

Arayondo

Sindarin

Note on Sindarin: Due to certain linguistic features of Sindarin, I have made it so that they distinguish between older and younger collateral relatives of the same generation. As for descendants, grandchildren are distinguished as grandchildren from sons or daughters.

Mother 

Emel

Emë or Emig [diminutive]

Naneth

Nana or Nanethig [diminutive]

Father

Adar

Ada or Atheg [diminutive]

Son

Ion

Daughter

Sel or Iel

Sister

Muinthel

Neth or Nîth older sister

Nethig younger sister

Brother

Muindor

Hanar older brother

Hawn or Haun [archaic] older brother

Honeg younger brother

METHOD: For Sindarin, I used reduplication to derive the terms for grandparents. This has already been suggested in Gnomish with the word for grandmother ‘mâm’, a reduplication of the word for mother ‘mamil’. Aunt and uncle are derived from attaching the diminutive suffix to grandmother and grandfather respectively, as in Latin 'avus’ (maternal grandfather) and 'avunculus’ (maternal uncle, 'little grandfather’). Cousins use the prefix 'ar’ (beside) to indicate collateral relationship. Nieces are distinguished between brother-daughters and sister-daughters while nephews are distinguished between brother-sons and sister-sons.

Grandmother

Ememel

Mêm [diminutive]

Nananeth

Nân [diminutive]

Grandfather 

Adadar

Dâd [diminutive]

Grandson

Iondion grandson through a son

Sellion grandson through a daughter

Granddaughter

Iondiel granddaughter through a son

Selliel granddaughter through a daughter

Aunt

Ememig

Mémig [diminutive] 

Nananethig

Nánig [diminutive]

Uncle

Adatheg

Dátheg [diminutive]

Female Cousin

Arneth or Arnîth older or same-aged female cousin

Arnethig younger female cousin

Male Cousin

Arhanar older or same-aged male cousin

Arhawn or Arhaun [archaic] older or same-aged male cousin

Arhoneg younger male cousin

Niece

Hanariel brother’s daughter

Nethiel sister’s daughter

Nephew

Hanarion brother’s son

Nethion sister’s son

[kibutsulove]

sort of unfinished weird and evil fucked up manwe design. if I dare

[outofangband]

Thinking about elves and sleep again. There’s so much potential. We know in canon that elven sleep is different than human’s. Though elves can lie down and sleep, they also can sleep standing, sometimes with their eyes open, sometimes even continuing activities like walking. They also appear to breathe less frequently or visibly than sleeping humans.

What signifies disordered or disturbed sleep would also thus be different from humans.

Sleepwalking itself of course wouldn’t be considered abnormal so long as it presented in the way elves are used to. Indeed, the clumsiness and senselessness that marks sleepwalking in humans would be what signifies disturbance or distress in elves. Certain patterns of sleepwalking, such as repetitive circles, are associated with former thralls and thus stigmatised

Some elves only rest in motion, especially when they’re used to it, and some develop experience extreme anxiety or agitation whenever they are still at all

Sleep talking is more uncommon but it does happen and is often seen as a sign of distress.

Perhaps some elves sing in their sleep. It is said that elves can make images appear when they sing. It is a rare occurrence that this can be done in sleep but when it does, there is a hazy, uncanny

[outofangband]

Springtime at Menengroth in Doriath

x x x x x x x x x

[elronds-library]

plundered her and stripped what remained

by swanmaiden (@swanmaids)

When Brodda and his men took Aerin’s hall, they enslaved all of her household and Brodda took Aerin to wife. The morning before the wedding, Aerin’s handmaiden dresses her in her bridal garments.

Mature, Rape/Non-Con

Words: 2,220

[seaemberthesecond]

everything reminds me of them...

[balrogballs]

QUEEN INDIS

Had a wonderful time working on this Indis commission for @valacirya - such a brilliant vision and it was really fun to work with the description and brief. Also has had the consequence of giving me Indis brainrot and I've just been reading a lot about her, ie an excellent side effect.

commission info here

[balrogballs]

13, 14 (from angamaite) (i always forget to tag myself when sending on anon)

thankies @angamaite-der-ritter !!! i have queued an answer for 14 already (and can’t think of another one) so i’ll do 13!

13. worst blorbofication

FINGON

there is one reason and one reason only that i found fingon difficult to comprehend until i reread the silm was because i just could not place fandom-blorbofied version of fingon in that position and making the decisions he does in a feudal system during a military campaign fought on two distinct fronts. wherein i just cannot see fingon as someone whose decisions are all made for hope-and-love and selfless reasons because that just makes those decisions fucking confusing.

the rescue of maedhros being a prime one here. where i’m not even saying this in an ‘i hate russingon’ sense, i have written for the pair myself, i just think that the rescue of maedhros, especially one conducted in the specific manner fingon conducted it in, has a looot of political objectives for, looking at the double-front again, the unity of the Noldor against Morgoth, as well as the crown for his father and thus his own line. like obviously the ancient friendship thing is certainly canonical and so clearly had an impact, but i just do not see even the term ancient friendship as denoting an entirely selfless act or even primarily selfless.

the recently arrived Noldor would be arriving into an environment where the other SoF have already claimed territory and thus the new arrivals would be starting on the back foot, especially because maglor would be ruling as regent and have his hands full, especially if his brothers are unhappy with aspects of his rule, and celegorm and curufin are the other large military presence and also happen to be two of the most unlikely people to let Fingolfin and co have a nice chunk of their court. so to face all this without the one guy who can technically veto the others or at least speak with the louder voice and also has, well, an ancient friendship with Fingolfin’s oldest son… i just think getting him back serves multiple purposes at once. and friendship/love/whatever can certainly be a driver, but i don’t think it’s the driver.

and i think it was @tobermoriansass who first mentioned it to me in a chat but i also fully think fingon and co would have used the iconography of manwe’s eagles (considering the spectacle the rescue inadvertently turned into—imagine seeing this guy ride in from the sunset carrying the high king of the noldor while perched on the god-eagle) for political purposes after the fact, again using that ‘divine’ iconography on multiple fronts.

and this is related, but i also feel like the blorbofication tends to just make ‘fingon the valiant’ into a very straightforward and contemporary definition of valour as just ‘bravery’ and thus ‘goodness’. when actually ‘valour’ as depicted in the silm is in fact ‘feudal valour’ or—even if we’re looking at a contemporary definition—militaristic valour. ie it’s the equivalent of being buried with a military honour. and everyone from the ww1 brits to nazis to current us soldiers in the middle east are buried with ‘medals of honour’ and i don’t think it necessarily denotes moral purity or bravery detached from purpose, especially when you consider the goals and ideologies of the noldor project in beleriand.

tldr i think the fingon blorbofication often leads to a fingon that is pretty much either ‘the good one’ or ‘maedhros’ other half’ and like i do think there are a lot of more interesting interpretations of him aside from that.

[salmonhere]

There's no turning back

⚔️Nerdanel and Feanor ⚔️

[seaemberthesecond]

Feanor having more children than any other of the Eldar is, to me, inextricable from the racial anxieties that eventually culminated in the Oath and subsequent Exile. One of the key features of such anxieties is the fear of being outnumbered, overrun, by the multitudinous throngs of the Other, your ways of life overwritten and your resources co-opted. We see these fears play out in the Shibboleth with Feanor resisting and politicizing the þ > s shift; we see it in a formerly generous people growing jealous of their rights and possessions with Feanor being chief amongst them; we see it in how the Teleri were the largest of the three clans that made the journey to Valinor. To Feanor, the Noldor are a people under attack, beset on all sides, and outnumbered. His decision to have seven sons should be understood not just as a symbol of his virility and status, or some personal fondness for children, but also as a larger call to the Noldor to shore up their numbers lest they be ousted by some lesser race.

[balrogballs]

“Harad is not waiting to be understood. We are not at the beginning of something you have already finished. We did not start late, and we are not behind, because late and behind are your categories and I am not in them. When I was thirteen, I had a teacher who said that the worst thing a mind can do is measure everything from where it is standing, as though the standing place were the centre of the world rather than just a place you happened to stop.”

obviously the next step after making my first proper tolkien OC (mehrzād, as presented in my bilbo interviews fëanor fic) is to draw him, so here he is, as cheery as ever! clearly far from my best work because it was done in a single sitting during a time crunch, but i did want to sketch mehrzād out a little as i wrote him, so here he is! he will definitely be making an appearance in more fics, though probably not in his teenaged incarnation 😇

(also yes bilbo makes a big deal about his big scary beard and mentions it no less than 9 whole times only for it to turn out that it’s just the same kind of scruffy chin hair everyone’s cousin had at 16)

[ulmondil]

really quick concept sketch of Aerin in the Sun because I’m working on other projects atm but can’t stop thinking about Aerin and Arien. So here they are hanging out together kind of

[shrikeseams]

in my heart there's a version of fingon/maedhros where fingon cajoled maedhros into a secret elopement before everything completely falls to shit in aman. He did this for 2 reasons:

love

a political maneuver to prevent feanaro's eldest son from cementing a political alliance with marriage and/or dazzling finwe with great grandbabies

centuries and many, many family deaths later, this has spectacularly backfired on fingon, who is now nominal high king with no ability to marry to produce an heir or a useful political alliance.

he broached the topic of a... sepration once, after it become clear that turgon and aredhel had vanished for good. maedhros laughed in a very ugly way, and told him that if he had wanted to follow in finwe's footsteps, he should have prayed to orome, not manwe.

[shrikeseams]

of course, if fingon married again anyway (going on to produce gil-galad etc), then he's handed some excellent blackmail to maedhros. 🤔 a nice, strong political handle with which to control events once fingolfin beefs it.

[holy-marmalade]

Almost missed @cnc-week but have a Celegorm

(Tattoos are from The Wild Hunt by Kaspar Braun)

[seaemberthesecond]

I don't know if this is just an ethnic experience but you know those grandparents who very clearly have a favourite set of grandkids and make no attempt to hide their blatant favouritism? That's finwe. To me.

[seaemberthesecond]

Finwe is ripping toys out of turgon's hand to give to caranthir the moment his face starts to turn even a little bit red.

Artanis tells him she's the youngest person ever to get into the Lambengolmor and finwe is like 'yayy <3 today marks the third day in a row that the ambarussa did not eat mud. These are equivalent achievements.'

He absolutely cannot tell angrod and aegnor apart and just calls them 'boys' to hide this fact.