#nerdanel the wise

[balrogballs]

Nerdanel the Wise

Amusingly I have finished this Vermeer-inspired courtly portrait of Nerdanel commission I’ve been working on For A While on International Women’s Day so enjoy, snack on, etc! Very happy with how this one turned out!

On the fashion front, late-Victorian inspired with the high frilled collar and brocade but I gave her a furry mantle because she deserves it.

commission details

[anattmar]

young Nerdanel <3

[ayaosguqin]

“He gazed upon her visage, the mother who once shaped him with love, now a distant memory. Regret lingered in his eyes, but the oath had bound him—too late to turn back, too far gone to seek her forgiveness.”

For @feanorianweek

[feanors-mom]

As a follow-up to my prior post, I present:

Top 10 Characters in the Tolkien Legendarium who are so psychologically healthy my broken ass finds them difficult to relate to but nonetheless is inspired by.

10) Gandalf: if it weren’t for the pipe-weed dependency he’d rank higher. But he’s late for Council meetings and annoys Galadriel, who has better things to do. Yeah I know he’s on the other list too, but I am large, I contain multitudes.

9) Celeborn: not a jealous bone in his body, content to be a background wifeguy who somehow wasn’t even a little bit annoying. Utterly unrelatable

8) Nerdanel: Literally the only reason Fëanor didn’t go off the rails sooner. If those 7 little shits were still minors you can BET she would’ve been granted full custody.

7) Sam: only crime was loving too much (see: Frodo, potatoes)

6) Legolas: a literal prince content to risk his life for a cause bigger than himself. Also a silly boy.

5) Fingon: did what even Maedhros’ nuclear family couldn’t (or wouldn’t), now he soaks in Bubble Bath and sips miruvor in the Undying Lands

4) Glorfindel: could have rested on his Balrog Blaster laurels but willingly went back to a shitstorm. Sort of regretted it as soon as he landed but shrugged and just did what needed to be done.

3) Miriel: the human one (the elf one is as broken as they come, but damn I love her for it) . She tried her best but just couldn’t win against Tar-Patriarchy.

2) Aragorn: head on straight. But yeah, completely unrelatable

1) Finrod: so good Mandos just fist-bumped him back into a body

[astral-aromance]

A royal portrait of Nerdanel, taken shortly after her marriage to Fëanor, before the births of their children.

For @finweanladiesweek 2025.

Better late than never, she took much longer than I expected! I intend to still do the OC day, but not the 7th day, unfortunately.

[shuicxiii]

the house of Fëanor is latino btw Tolkien wrote this to me before he died

[red-sky-in-the-morning]

New headcanon that Nertanel (rough translation is "daughter of the man-smith") was the original Quenya name of Nerdanel, but it was mangled by Sindarin soft-mutation.

The thing is, we don't actually know what Nerdanel (the name) even means. This is because the actual etymology of Nerdanel is probably something like nerdo "large, strong man" + ⚠️anel "daughter", but anel was generally replaced by seldë in later notes, which renders this void. And also this meaning makes no sense.

So I made a few alternate names for Nerdanel:

Nertanel from nér "man" + tamo "smith, builder, wright" + -(i)el "daughter"

Nerdantel* from nér "man" + √DAT "fall down" + él "star"

Nernanel from nér "man" + nan- "back (again)" + él "star"

Nertiel from nertëa "ninth" + -(i)el "-daughter"

Nerdarel from nerdo "large, strong man" + seldë "daughter"

*I think this would probably be Nellantel in proper Quenya, using lanta- "to fall".

Given that Nerdanel was the daughter of Mahtan (literal translation is "forger smith"), I feel like Nertanel would be the best fit. And we have examples of names being half-Sindarised — just look at Fëanor!

Can someone check that I'm compounding Quenya the right way, please?

[saintstars]

Why Fëanor insists on fighting with his kid brothers, Nerdanel will never know