#tar-aldarion

[kisses-in-the-void]

[edennill-archived]

🔥 Tar-Aldarion

This isn't solely about Tar-Aldarion as a person, but since it pertains to the era he more or less kicked-off, I thought I'd use this space to share some of my quite complicated thoughts about early Númenórean involvement in Middle-Earth.

To start with, no one can deny that Aldarion himself handled some things with the Men of ME extremely badly from the beginning (Vinyalondë, I'm looking at you). I find extremely notable the fact that the native inhabitants of the area attack and destroy the port (edit: and it is damaged by flooding), just as his ships are stranded by storm in the south. Almost as if the Valar themselves were passing judgement on Aldarion's lack of consideration, especially given how often the connection between their favour and Númenórean luck in sailing weather is lampshaded by the text.

So far so good. The "hot take" part begins when I note that at the same time I... still find it very hard to entirely agree with the fandom-wide denouncement of the Númenóreans as a whole in that pre-decline period in "how dare they think the Men of Middle-Earth could possibly need their help to fight with Sauron?" terms. I don't know, perhaps this is my background as a member of a mid-sized nation with dangerous neighbours — and notably not an American — but no, sometimes you aren't strong enough. Sometimes you need to choose between potentially becoming dependent on one or the other, and you are going to be glad to have an option that isn't the local tyrant. And for many ages, this alliance does for the most part pay off to the "Lesser Men". I don't doubt some of the Númenoreans are haughty, I don't doubt more debacles of the Vinyalondë kind take place, but they are a bulwark against Sauron.

This actually brings me to my other point which is that the Númenoreans being kind of imperialist and improving quality of life in the places they colonised (up to a certain period of their decline) is an early 20th century writing choice for sure... but also maybe not implausible per se given Rome — or at least the popular perception thereof. (Roads in Britain! Please can your legions return here because everything is falling apart! Et cetera). Please don't get me wrong — I'm not trying to excuse colonialism, but sometimes political developments are not black and white for the people who live through them, and I suppose that if they hadn't turned as bad as Sauron in the meanwhiles, there would have been far more people mourning the Downfall.

Send me 🔥 + a character/place/theme/subject and I'll reply with a hot take about them

[eglerieth]

Help Aldarion make up his mind, since he seems to have some trouble.

Erendis, and Númenor, and his daughter, and his promises to his father and wife

the Sea, his Venturers, and the downtrodden in Middle Earth

Voting ended onOct 23, 2023

[spruceneedles]

A little drawing of Ailinel, Almiel and Aldarion

[thefashbasher]

aldarion and erendis meeting for the first time

[elronds-library]

Here, By The Sea

by Gilded_Tweezers

Glorfindel, the heroic Balrog-Slayer of Gondolin, has returned to Middle-earth as emissary of the Valar, but beneath the mantle of divine authority ancient wounds still fester. At Gil-galad's court, ambitious young Erestor struggles to escape the long shadow of his own less glorious origins. Can a struggling golden hero and a Dark Elf save each other?

Explicit, No Archive Warnings

Words: 1,577

[phynaofithilien]

Reading the tale of Aldarion and Erendis, and remembering Fëanor, I really wonder why Tolkien seemed to belief that the oldest son should always be the best suited to inherit the throne when he has himself written prime examples where the eldest was just better suited for something completely different. The history would look much better if neither Fëanor nor Tar-Meneldur had ever assumed the crown automatically goes to the oldest son. And why did the elves assume that anyway? Finwë was, after all, democratically elected and no-one was supposed to die; who got the idea that there should be an inheritance law giving the crown to the oldest son?

[biginvisiblespider]

a quick drawing of tar-aldarion

Little aldarion on one of his first voyages so he's kind of sunburned and freckled,, don't ask about the hair, I don't know either.

I have a few thoughts about him being blond, as he has always seemed to me a bit of an earendil-type character, leaving his wife and young child to satisfy his sea-longing and the physical resemblance just makes that more apparent.

I have decided that I am a tiny aldarion gap-teeth truth, the first of the name, because i just think it's cute