#silm reread

[arafinweanappreciation]

i really really like the valar actually, cont.

(also apologies if these aren't entirely in order. I deleted the Tumblr app so I have to email these photos to myself and they don't stay in the order I took them lol. I tried to at least group them coherently)

this is just such a funny image to me. the rest of the valar doing their thing in the spring of arda and melkor sulking in the corner over the fact that tulkas stopped him from knocking over everyone else's block towers. maybe with the anime black line/blue gradient face. you know the one i'm talking about

i do think it's funny that we basically get a full record of the valar workshopping their lighting options. first JUST daylight. then daylight ONLY in Valinor. perpetual twilight everywhere else. and then the two trees die and varda's like. well. hear me out on this one

is. is Tolkien describing the equator (or fantasy equivalent thereof ig)

just thinking about how nienna weaves mourning into the song from the beginning, and how her tears are a necessary part of the process of growth for the two trees. there is very much Something here but i'm not sure I feel like getting into it at the moment

a twelve hour day is crazy. it's a good thing elves don't physiologically require sleep or else they probably would have gone insane trying to adjust to days of the sun.

firstly, i'm not sure i've ever seen a Bibically Accurate(TM) depiction of the two trees. I don't blame anyone tho--- that's a headache-inducing amount of detail on the leaves alone. secondly, I find it interesting that Tolkien is consistent about the association of feminine with the light of day and masculine with the light of night. I would guess this also has something to do with Germanic mythology? if I recall correctly, Norse mythology has a sun goddess and moon god, so that might be part of it? idk

lol. yeah you could say that. (also taking notes for the religious aspects of btmats)

direct comparison of the ainur and the elves! interesting! going back to the shared binding to the world, etc.

this is also something I find super interesting. I wonder if this is a difference already apparent between those peredhel who choose the doom of men and those who choose the doom of the elves, just in terms of personality, or if it's something that comes with choosing that fate

if Men are the Guests, who are the Hosts? the valar? the quendi? do the quendi consider it important to be good hosts? did finrod write a philisophical treatise on this? (my heart says yes)

EVEN THE POWERS SHALL ENVY THEIR FATE. I feel this is largely ignored! I think a lot of people try to downplay the gift of Men in comparison to the immortality of the elves, perhaps because it's meant to be something that we already have, but Tolkien is explicitly going out of his way to demonstrate how desirable it it

i'd completely forgotten about this??? and that's insane??? the elves have no idea what's going to happen to them, either. Men may have to face the unknown sooner, but at least part their ultimate fate has been revealed. that's gotta be one heck of an existential crisis for the quendi-- to know that your entire people are preparatory to another and nothing else about the ultimate point of your existence. when finrod tells andreth to await him and aegnor at the end of the world, he's probably less sure that they'll be there than that she will

First off:

Secondly, further fuel for my theory that Melkor is, on a cosmic level, the worst deadbeat dad of all time

that humility theme cropping up again. (there was also a bit about aule in "of aule and yavanna" that explicitly used the word, too). I think there's a c. s. lewis quote about humility being not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less.

anyway. I also love that manwe has a favorite color. and that the noldor made a scepter for him! they were friends once! and they gave him a scepter in his favorite color!

the teleri are known for writing amazing sad/bittersweet music. noted

new rule: you're not allowed to say you have the most obscure silmarillion blorbo unless you're out here stanning our good buddy salmar the maia

crying over ulmo's reach and compassion and dedication... he has not ceased to take thought for it... and will not...

tolkien: yeah the ainur weren't really all that concerned with anything besides valinor

also Tolkien: proceeds to describe how half of the valar refuse to forsake the rest of their creations

also here to point out that yavanna is a little bit of a firebrand. good for her. (angrod and aegnor parallel, too? just a little?)

this just in: aule is the patron vala of geologists. seriously though, it really sounds like he's important for whatever the valinorean equivalent of scientists are. I find it interesting, as well, that "tillers and husbandmen" are kinda listed as craftspeople

no because I love aule so much. he just wanted people to LOVE and to TEACH. he put so much thought into making sure the dwarves could withstand melkor's interference!

find it interesting here that Eru seems more concerned with aule's intentions wrt the dwarves having free will than simply with his creation of them. this is explicitly connected to that humility thread on the next page.

this is so sweet actually. I feel like there's not a lot of discussion about how elves and men feel about their creator (iluvatar), but the dwarves specifically believe that aule loves them and has a particular place reserved for them on par with the elves! that he knows of and particularly gathers them!

what would a being created as a collaboration between aule and yavanna even be like? I would say hobbits but i'm not sure they're curious enough in general to be aule's children. maybe just tooks

that's COLD yavanna

love that yavanna is casually roasting aule and implying that he doesn't love her and he's just very calmly reassuring her that her creations have worth and that people will respect them. is this something that happens often. the more i'm reading about her the more dramatic she seems lol

okay for context no one else knows about the dwarves yet and yavanna is trying to keep them under wraps while also explaining her concerns. and this is so funny to me. "okay, but why were you talking about this? and taking comments from someone less qualified?" followed by awkward silence while she comes up with an excuse. Tolkien continues to be funnier than we give him credit for. also manwe just straight-up telling yavanna that she's weird. you have no room to talk, bird boy (affectionate)

THIS IS SO CUTE. YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW MUCH I WANT TO DRAW THIS

I LOVE HER YOUR HONOR

i love this little scene at the end of the chapter because it's 1. hilarious and 2. surprisingly domestic-feeling. rarely do we get something so narrative and descriptive of action as this in the silmarillion. fun little peek into their lives

anyway I love aule and yavanna and manwe now. there will be elves next chapter so stay tuned for updates ig

[eri-pl]

Silm reread 18: Tears Unnumbered ye shall shed

So, we got here. But first, B&L get an epilogue.

First, a tidbit about reembodiment: B&L take their physical forms again in Doriath. I guess they go from Mandos to there in spirit. (It's all "allegedly", anyway). Everyone is happy and afraid when seing them (very reasonable reaction I think) and Luthien heals Thingol from (depression, more or less).

Melian looks in Luhien's eyes and is sad. She "realized they will be apart till the end of the world and after" (huh?) and again, we have Pengolodh's favorite stylistic tool: "nobody ever suffered more from any loss than Melian suffered then".

Oh, I found the quote in original: “But Melian looked in her eyes and read the doom that was written there, and turned away; for she knew that a parting beyond the end of the world had come between them, and no grief of loss has been heavier than the grief of Melian the Maia in that hour."

B&L go to Ossiriand, it vaguelly feels like they don't neet to eat anymore? But unclear.

Anyway, back to the proper plot Feanorians. Maedhros gained hope, because he saw Morgoth is not untouchable. He starts creating the Union, but the wording about him doing it … even without knowing the story, if I read it carefully, I would probably be worried about how it will go.

And we have a clear reminder of the Oath and all that. Orodreth doesn't trust the Feanorians because C&C (makes sense I guess) (Finrod would probably join the Union but anyway). Gwindor joins Maedhros, going against his king's orders… we know how this will end for Gwindor.

doriath. Mae&co had sent brash letters to thingol along the lines of "you will be our enemy if you don't give the Silmaril back" and Melian advised Thingol to give it to them! But he is angry at their tone and at C&C, and also B&L have suffered so much for this jewel…

Sidenote: If your main claim to a piece of treasure is "but I/someone have sufferred so much", keeping it is probably going to end badly.

Also thingol wants to keep the Silmaril, because it is this jewel's power…. wait what? "And every day that he looked upon the Silmaril the more he desired to keep it for ever; for such was its power." [original] WHAT.

Ok, that is new. So, the Silmaril is canonically addictive? Or is it only because it has been in Morgoth's crown?

So, anyway, Thingol sends Maedhros a dissing answer and Maedhros leaves him be, because the Union is more important. Yay, Maedhros, great job, you are doing well! (For now :((( )

Unfortunately C&C threathen Thingol with genocide, after they win the wart. Which they assume they will. So thingol fortifies and doesn't go to the war. (Mablung and Beleg go, but Thingol allows them reluctantely, so they end up better than Gwindor)

Bór! :) and Ulfang :(

Maedhros plays his hand a bit too early :(

Also, another mention of Morgoth's spies (plural) and traitors. So, I guess the fallen Men, enslaved Elves and shapeshifting wannabe-Saurons sabotage the Union as much as they can.

Battle, Fingon doubtful, problems, suddenly: Turgon! First good surprise of this battle (it will be a whiplash…)

The Noldor want to charge too quickly, but Hurin stops them, because he is wise.

Morgoth wants to kill Fingon especially. Why? Probably to break Maedhros. (Also, revenge for the rescue, maybe.)

Gwindor gets unlucky chance (that's what happens when you go to war against your king's orders, I suppose)

The Noldor get really motivated and almost win. Morgoth is trembling of fear XD as they bang at his door. This is pretty cool of them. But then they all die. :(

Another turn: the Noldor might have won, but Ulfang. :( [Maglor kills him and it's probably the only named character that we are told is killed by Maglor, which is interesting]

Also, Glaurung is there.

Fingon dies. Also, his banner is silver and pale blue, which I did not remember.

Hurin, Turgon, foreshadowing for Earendil. Maeglin hears it all, but does not comment, and he remembers it and I have no idea why the book tells us that, this line feels so odd. "Maeglin, Turgon's sister-son, who stood by, heard these words, and did not forget them; but he said nothing" It's apparently odd to more people because there's a reddit thread about it. huh, ok, makes sense.

So, Hurin is brave and great and I will need to make a post about how the story is an ecosystem and the benefit of one character's heroics sometimes lands to another character's lap and it's painful but also quite real. So. Hurin. But we'll get back to him later.

Morgoth is happy, because divides and betrayal and stuff like that. :/

Also this (Ulfang) is why the Elves don't like Men anymore (except the Edain).

Cirdan is besieged, allo we learn that there are Orcs who can use explosives, and orkish engineers and what not. Interesting. they destroy the ports, Cirdan&co escape to the sea and to Balar.

Turgon again sends ships to Valinor, again it doesn't work (again I suppose he didn't ask Ulmo about his opinion or ignored it), and we are told who kills those sailors: not the Valar. "Only one, Voronwe, was saved by Ulmo from Osse's wrath". So yea, it's the "not rebel, but not not-rebel" sea guy. Don't blame the Valar for this.

Turgon is the rightful king of the Noldor (says the book), Morgoth hates him, because Fingolfin, and because he's a friend of Ulmo, and because Turgon's vibe scares him. We have a wonderful line about how even back in Valinor Morgoth was anxious every time he saw Turgon and tbh this is criminally underexplored in fics (this whole period is) and must have been quite hilarious.

Hurin disses Morgoth, Morgoth curses him and his wife and kids, takes him high up, and curses him again for a good measure.

Results of that: in the next chapter.

[gizkalord]

about to completely lose it over maglor and how borrowing the imagery of the wanderer injects the wanderer’s themes into the maglor (and the feanorion) story but also transforms the original theme..... the wanderer contrasts the impermanence of life (material wealth, comrades, lord and lands) with the inevitability of death. after expounding on the narrator’s despair, the poem ends nearly on a reassuring note that when going through earthly trials, one can draw strength from having faith in the permanent heaven and succor from God that awaits the narrator beyond death.

but for one such as maglor - who turned away from valinor, who has committed unspeakable acts in the pursuit of the silmarils - what succor would await him over the seas? is that even a path open to him, unlike the wanderer? when he wanders the seashores like the wanderer does, does he even hold faith that there could be a place for him in eternity? even if he is given grace, even if he regrets and repents, could he bring himself to accept that grace? is it, then, a choice for him to wander middle-earth forever, to turn down that reassurance, to remain faithless, to fade away into a “shadow of regret” because he does not think himself worthy of it all?

[rivalsforlife]

AND HE SHUT THE DOORS OF HIS HOUSE IN THE FACE OF THE MIGHTIEST OF ALL THE DWELLERS IN EA. I forgot how much fun feanor is. faces the literal embodiment of evil and is like get the fuck out of my house. can’t imagine how significantly worse any of the silmarillion would have gone if he’d lived any longer

[arofili]

[art from here]

[houseofmaedhros]

“…they may clothe themselves in their own thought, made visible in forms of majesty and dread”

- ainulindale, about the Valar

[arafinweanappreciation]

VALAQUENTA AND AINULINDALE PT. 2: ELECTRIC BOOGALOO

i apologize in advance bc this is going to be a lot less coherent and well-thought out than the last post. this one is mostly just about me liking the valar and having forgotten a bunch of the stuff we get about them in these chapters

Ulmo

first off, I love this intro to his description. ulmo said aro rights

secondly, this is from the ainulindale and it intrigues me. Manwe is said to be the noblest and the dearest to iluvatar, and melkor is the most powerful, but it's ulmo who is tutored the most closely in music. I don't even know where i'm going with this it's just interesting. (actually, I wonder if this has some sort of connection to his love of the Children? as either a cause or a consequence or both)

hey. hey. why do we not talk about this. ulmo has horns made of shells? that cause sea-longing? there is no fanart of this, as far as i've seen?

also this. I know we all love semi-corporeal ocean grandpa but there is a canonical description of his preferred fana and it is extremely intimidating (also that second sentence goes extremely hard?)

Osse

This is so heartbreaking actually. Osse loves the Lindar and the Falathrim so much he literally begs them to stay by the coastline. and they love him back! but his is nature is such that they cannot trust him! I need an entire book about his relationship with the Teleri. I would read an entire lotr-length trilogy about them and uinen and ulmo. please

Tulkas

I cackled at this bit. why does this sound like the author has personal experience with this and is just. mercilessly roasting him. (this also sounds like something turgon would write about fingon imo)

Yavanna

petition for us to draw yavanna as taller than aule from now on

she loves the moss! and the mold! does she know that I love her

Orome

The use of the word "delights" here is adorable. it brings to mind a mental image of a very large eldritch hunter being giddy over a litter of puppies and I love it

Why have I never seen a post discussing the fact that one of his names is literally one (1) consonant away from sauron, especially with how melkor tried to make the elves at Cuivienen afraid of him

i love the imagery here. especially the bit about "the upgoing of the sun in scarlet," considering that one of only two people in the entire legendarium who is directly compared to orome is theoden, who has a very famous speech containing the words "a red day, ere the sun rises!"

Uinen

I have nothing deep to say about this, I just think it's cute

Nienna

Mostly I'm just going to leave this here, but I also love that she's described as mighty. she doesn't have a wide-reaching physical domain or fight many battles, but she weeps for others and teaches pity and hope and wisdom and brings strength to the spirits in the halls of Mandos and that's enough to call her mighty.

Manwe

Again I don't have anything ground-shaking to say, I'm just so charmed by the way the Valar are described as being so invested in the things that they created. Manwe loves the breeze that blows in the grass! and he likes birds! if he had a phone he would text varda blurry pictures of birds he sees with either their scientific names or just the word "birb" (she just hearts all of them). I bet he has chickens. he's the king of all arda but also he's a meteorology nerd. just a silly little guy, if you will

Olorin/Gandalf

if we joke about mairon being the patron saint of logistics I think this makes gandalf the patron saint of motivational speaking. seriously though, this makes a lot of sense with the amount of banger quotes he has in LOTR and his ability to restore theoden in the two towers. makes me wonder if he could have helped denethor given more time and less palantir-viewing on denethor's part. maybe even sauruman if he had been willing.

As a Group

this is from literally the first paragraph of the ainulindale. and in general I like the valar, assume that they were trying their best, and that most of their actions are reasonable. but I also wonder if this is just something that they struggle with a little. maybe one of the reasons they can seem so restrictive to some people is that they just have issues with perspective-taking, y'know? they love the Children, but have trouble figuring out what the Children actually want from them, rather than what they themselves want for those they care about. they're trying! but if they were created to be perfect there wouldn't be a section labeled "enemies"

also I just find it interesting that even the valar need to take vacations. not completely surprising considering that manwe must have a perpetual stress headache that his fana is not supposed to be capable of getting

was also just a little surprised at the order the names were listed in here, especially that nienna, ulmo, and orome are as high up as they are.

also interesting to me that the valar are so inextricably connected to arda, almost like elves are. also wonder what it means for them to be "contained and bounded" in it. what is it like for the ainur who are not?

i'm sure the fact that the number of ringwraiths and the number of original valar is the same is a total coincidence. means absolutely nothing. for sure.

THIS MAKES ME UNREASONABLY SAD. like I know that probably one of the reasons that ulmo is so sympathetic to the elves of middle earth is his own desire to roam, but the indication that he and manwe aren't close friends anymore is T^T

hm. so eru made fair regions for the ainur but some preferred to leave and live in a place far less paradisiacal but more rewarding. sounds familiar

AND THAT'S A WRAP. be back tomorrow with the first few chapters of the quenta

[arafinweanappreciation]

now we're getting into the family drama portion

thinking about this with the context of the majority of the last survivors of the first age taking refuge in the mouths of Sirion. the place where they stay and long for their friends, the place where they stay and wait for the intervention of the valar. to steal from my star wars roots: it's like poetry; it rhymes.

lumping all of these together because a. Osse being friends with the Teleri is everything to me and b. I have a lot of questions about how much contact he had with the Falathrim, now. It seems like he wasn't quite as consistently present with them as, say, Melian was with the Iathrim, which is in line with his character, but it doesn't seem like he would have fully abandoned them, either? again I need an entire trilogy about them

okay so we do have confirmation that thingol was willing to abandon his journey because he found the light of the two trees again in Melian.

also I don't think we play around enough with the idea that thingol could apparently be easily mistaken for one of the maiar himself? imagine not knowing anything about elwe originally and just stumbling on a group of elves living in the forest who seem to be ruled by two maiar completely independent of any of the valar. I feel like that would look extremely suspicious lol

*general incoherent screeching*

HA. HAHA. HA. i'm normal about that. that's fine.

(had to be one heck of a reunion)

again that repetition of hoarding not and giving freely. really setting up a contrast with feanor's possessiveness over the silmarils. I get the feeling that we're supposed to understand that feanor being unwilling to give them freely for the greater good is something that would have been nigh unheard of in aman at the time. I think people come at this a lot from a very modern, individualistic/westernized view of property rights, but I really don't think that's what we're supposed to be focusing on. much more interesting things to dig into there, of which this is only one

AUGHHHH

the swanships being as precious as the silmarils in part because they commemorate a lost friendship with osse... osse knowing that some of the noldor have killed some of his old friends and stolen symbols of that friendship and then burned them. I would be angry too.

no thoughts just my firm opinion that alqualonde is the coolest-looking city in eldamar

found this passage interesting because 1. fanfic tends to place the Feanorions in tirion a lot for convenience's sake (which I completely get. willing suspension of disbelief and all that), so I think we kind of forget that they were all very much wanderers. and 2. it's pretty clearly stated that all of the sons of feanor, except for celegorm, were spending significant amounts of time with aule, including maglor and the ambarussar, who are usually far less associated with handicraft than their brothers

describing him that way certainly seems like. A Choice. considering everything that comes afterwards. maybe he only means during the noontide of valinor? in which case feanor is in fact goob

still turning over the implications of this. certainly doesn't give us a lot of information based on the silmarillion alone, since we get basically zero description of miriel's personality in the first place lol

again, still kind of mulling this one over, I just thought it was interesting that he was essentially promising to fix what he broke

rude.

my personal theory is that the teleri are simply too chill to be subverted, thus why finarfin prefers them to his family