#silmreadalong

[a-tehta]

Fëanor is not always the easiest person to talk to, not even for a powerful Vala like Melkor. Luckily, one of the Fëanorions has better taste in conversation.

As a result, Melkor gets to indulge in two of his favourite pastimes: stirring up trouble, and discussing his creative process.

...

(So, yes, I finally finished this story I started during WEEK ONE of the Silm Readalong. Be warned: it's pretty weird. And self-indulgent. And totally gen.)

[a-tehta]

Gondolin Bingo: Tuor

Continuing my attempt to finish filling a Gondolin bingo card with various snippets... Here is a description of Tuor written without any adjectives, like, a decade ago, when I was learning to write! (Although I do not seem to have learnt much since.)

Behind a cut because the POV character is not kind, and the description is rather unpleasant.

How can they fail to see that the mortal is a beast? Yes, I know he can speak, but so can parrots, and one does not invite a parrot to dinner. Besides, he mangles our language. He chews on the consonants and mashes the vowels, so half of the words he grunts out confuse even the scholars. He tries to compensate for this with gestures: his hands snap up and down, his fingers--which do not taper like ours do, but end in nails like shovels--crush and puncture the air. I watch him speak with her, and I shudder. It is like watching an ox dance around a glassblowers' workshop. Yes, an ox. Look at those shoulders. See how his tunic stretches across them, how the sleeve-tops bulge whenever he lifts an arm? His body calls out for a plow-yoke; wrapping him in silk and satin is folly, a waste of our weavers' arts. Velvet, with its nap, mocks him, for it contrasts with the hair that covers his skin, beast that he is. Clothes cannot conceal this pelt: it peeks out at his throat and through the slits in his sleeves. I have heard that it grows even on his face, that he scrapes it off in the morning, as tanners scrape the bristles off pig skin, in an attempt to look like one of us. He will never succeed, not while those lines mar the corners of his eyes and mouth. Such creases develop in parchment, with use, before it falls apart. They are marks of his doom, I suppose; harbingers of the death that will prove that I have the right of it--that he is a beast in truth.

[a-tehta]

Poetry time!

So, the readalong is almost over, and it is pretty clear that I won’t be able to write several more chapters of Gondoling to fill my bingo square. Instead, I have decided to use some shorter snippets, old and new. (But always new to tumblr…)

So, for the Maeglin square, here is some poetry my Maeglin wrote in the background of one of my older stories:

To Idril, from an Admirer, an Appeal

Oh noble, proud and sweet Idril Though your fair hair my heart does thrill, Your coldness is a bitter pill. At times it makes me feel quite ill. Your words so chill anneal my will, So once again I fill my quill In hopes of gaining your goodwill With a display of poet’s skill. Now like a dwarf with a rock drill I’ll work with endless zeal until

I reach the ruby that is your heart And from then on we’ll never part.

To Idril, A Second Appeal

Pure gold is prized because it’s rare. Pure gold, the colour of your hair. Rare also is the blood we share: Our lineage is beyond compare. Each time we meet I walk on air, And yet when I my love declare, You answer with an angry glare. Your words so sharp my heart do tear And maul it like an angry bear To leave me sobbing with despair.

Yet still I dare to hope you care, Since we would make such a great pair.

[a-tehta]

I don't always promote my existing fics, but when I do... it's because they match the first part of a current chapter pretty exactly. 

Fic summary: Finrod longs to tell his absent love everything, including all he has learned of Men.

Warnings for mild slashiness and truly terrible jokes.

[toomanybrowsertabs]

So far Finrod has made friends with...

(as of the end of chapter 14 of Silm)

-Turgon -Some dwarves (okay it doesn't say they were friends, but compared to Thingol and Caranthir's interaction with the Khazad, there's a noted lack of description of how they didn't like each other and only worked together due to a shared enemy... plus they gave him a name and he kept it so Finrod at least is clearly friendly towards them, even if what the dwarves think of Finrod is more along the lines of "what's with this weird friendly elf?") -The elves of Ossiriand (who are described as being able to completely hide from people passing through their land so I'm guessing they're not the most trusting of outsiders) Finrod you're just friends with everyone, aren't you?

...also I can't help but wonder whether Galadriel's kind attitude towards Gimli isn't a bit to do with her brother carrying a Khuzdul title for such a long time.

[toomanybrowsertabs]

Okay I can't decide if that's metal or creepy.

"Then he died; but he had neither burial nor tomb, for so fiery was his spirit that as it sped his body fell to ash, and was borne away like smoke; and his likeness has never again appeared in Arda, neither has his spirit left the halls of Mandos."

On the one hand, that's incredibly badass.  Feanor's spirit was so strong that not only did his birth take so much out of his mother that she was like "yeah I need an eternal nap after that one" but his body turned to ash as he died.

On the other hand, when I think of a body turning to ash as it dies all I can think of is the weird CGI death sequence they gave Voldemort in the last Harry Potter movie.

And that was more disturbing than badass.

[teamdoriath]

This Friday 22nd August at 11pm GMT (click here to see the time in your time zone) we invite all participants in the Read-along to join us in the Silmarillion chat to watch The Two Towers!

[bachesmith]

I've been super AWOL from the Silmarillion Read-Along because of work, but rest assured, things are going to clear up soon, and I'm almost back to being on track! *knocks on wood*

So, here's my (VERY late) contribution to the Team Ainur Spirit Party – an array of my Tolkien books collection, mimicking the Ainur crest, with my actual doodle of the crest in the center. 

Go Team Ainur!