#silmweek

[luthien-tinuviel]

S I L M W E E K ⤷ day 4: locations

For if joyful is the fountain that rises in the sun, its springs are in the wells of sorrow unfathomable at the foundations of the Earth.

[pondmelody]

silm week day #5 → villains: Mairon

       “Sauron was become now a sorcerer of dreadful power, master of shadows and of phantoms, foul in wisdom, cruel in strength, misshaping what he touched, twisting what he ruled, lord of werewolves; his dominion was torment.”

       ― J.R.R. Tolkien, Quenta Silmarillion, The Silmarillion.

[anthropologyarda]

Tolkien’s Rejected Villains

For Day 5 of Silmweek, I haven’t got enough time for a full meta, so I thought that I’d talk about some fun evil minions from the weird early versions of the Legendarium. Some of these are quite interesting figures, so I thought that fanfiction writers especially might be interested in rescuing them from the scrap heap, and polishing up some new background characters they don’t have to name. Remember that the early drafts are kind of crazy sometimes and often aren’t canonical to Tolkien’s later writings. It’s pretty great. 

Lungorthin was a balrog and Melkor’s Master of the Guard. He spent most of his time in Angband’s throne room, guarding his master. Why does a Vala need to be guarded by a less powerful being? Paranoia I guess. Lungorthin’s claim to fame is that he burns with white flames, rather than red ones like regular Balrogs. Since white flames are hotter than red ones, Lungorthin seems like an extra special kind of evil you should definitely avoid.

Langon was the herald of Melkor who was sent to negotiate with the Valar when they besieged Utumno in the Book of Lost Tales. Probably had a great voice.

Fankil - a proto-Sauron figure from the early outlines, he was Melkor’s lieutenant and the leader of dark armies in the East (Palisor). After Melkor was imprisoned, Fankil started corrupting the first Men with his Dwarves (who were evil at the time) and goblins, turning them against the elves, and starting the first war between Elves and goblins. In an even earlier version, he and his evil dwarves conquered Palisor. 

Fluithin or Ulbandi the Ogress. What’s an Ogre? In the early drafts, a race of cannibal giants. In later versions they don’t appear except in tales, and were probably either a mythological race, or possibly another name for trolls. I prefer to think of ogres as prototype trolls myself. Fluithin is from the earliest drafts, which were pretty weird, and in that version the Ainur had children and behaved more like pagan gods. Fluithin had a child with Morgoth, and that is literally all we know about her.

Kosomot/Kalimbo - the earliest version of Gothmog the Balrog, where he was the giant ogre son of Morgoth and Fluithin the Ogress and wasn’t on fire.

Tevildo, Prince of Cats. Certified children’s book villain. A great black cat with a collar of gold who ruled a castle full of giant cats. What did Tolkien have against cats anyway? Beren is sent to Tevildo when he’s captured by Melkor, and Huan and Tinúviel defeat Tevildo, free Beren, cast down his castle and turn all his cats regular size. Several rewrites later, Tevildo eventually becomes Sauron. Yes. Sauron was originally a giant magic cat.

[chrissycvnningham]

Silmarillion Week Day 4: Realms of Beleriand 

[ohmyarda]

Oromë and Vána

[celebrlan]

silmweek: day 4 ↳ Locations

Angband was a primarily subterranean stronghold under the three volcanic mountains of Thangorodrim, the largest mountains in Middle-earth. Before the Great Gate, there was a somber court area flanked by frightening cliffs and walled by the towers of a great battlement. Through the gate, there was a long great tunnel leading to a ‘labyrinthine pyramid’ of stairs to corridors, tunnels, smithy chambers which a tall chimney went up through the mountain to the smokey towers of Thangorodrim, which spewed poisonous fumes.

[gurthang]

Part 2 of my Noldor crown project - Feanor! Incidentally finished on the elf-themed day of silm week, so that’s cool.

Finwe - Feanor - Maedhros - Fingolfin - Fingon - Gil Galad

[nevui-penim-miruvorrr]

Silmweek! 

Ainur 

Melkor & Manwë