#tolkiening

[ameliarating]

The Nauglamir with the Silmaril really was the pinnacle of Elven and Dwarvish craftsmanship joined together into a single beautiful unit, each more lovely and radiant than they had been on their own.

The fact that it led to enemy and bloodshed between Elves and Dwarves rather than the sort of unity found in the necklace itself is just another one of those side tragedies of the Silmarillion

[apaleflame]

battles of beleriand cheat sheet

cant remember the names of which battle or what or in which order they happened or who died when? me neither! here’s a guide:

#1 the first battle of beleriand (YT 1497): 

the players: the sindar of doriath and falas, the green-elves, the dwarves of mt dolmed, the forces of morgoth

results: orcs defeated in the east, the siege of the falathrim cities of eglarest and brithombar, and the creation of the girdle of melian 

deaths: denethor

#2 dagor-nuin-giliath, battle-under-stars (YT 1498): 

the players: the noldor following fëanor, the noldor following fingolfin, the forces of morgoth

results: the orcs besieging the falas move north, the orcs are defeated, balrogs curb-stomp the noldor, the forces of morgoth retreat to angband, fingolfin’s host defeats the remaining orcs in lammoth

deaths: fëanor, argon

#3 dagor aglareb, glorious battle (FA 60): 

the players: the noldor, the forces of morgoth

results: utter defeat of the invading armies of orcs, the 400 year siege of angband

deaths: probably a lot of guys, but no one named

#4 dagor bragollach, battle of sudden flame (FA 455): 

the players: the noldor, the edain, the forces of morgoth

results: morgoth gains control over most of northern beleriand, almost total destruction of the house of bëor, the sons of fëanor are scattered, fingolfin challenges morgoth to a duel

deaths: fingolfin, angrod, aegnor, bregolas of the house of bëor, hador lórindol

#5 nirnaeth arnoediad, battle of unnumbered tears (FA 472):

the players: the union of maedhros (the noldor, the sindar of mithrim, the edain, the dwarves of belegost, some falathrim, beleg and mablung), the forces of morgoth

results: the union of maedhros is betrayed by uldor, who was an agent of morgoth. turgon comes to reinforce the army, but being already outflanked, the noldor were defeated. húrin is taken captive by morgoth

deaths: fingon, huor, azaghâl of belegost, bór the faithful

#6 the war of wrath (FA 545-587):

the players: the valar, the maiar, the vanyar, the edain, eärendil, the eagles, the forces of morgoth

results: destruction of (most of) the balrogs, the death of ancalagon the black, the defeat and banishment of morgoth, beleriand laid to waste and sinks beneath the sea, númenor created and given to the edain

deaths: no one named, but like, a lot of guys 

[ameliarating]

@paradife-loft​ recently posted something jokingly commenting about how the fact that Hobbits call the Baranduin the “Brandywine” implies that the words for "brandy” and "wine” in Westron are in fact, “brandy” and “wine.”

I used to wonder about that myself and a while ago I looked it up. The truth is, maybe unfortunately, something different, but really interesting and it involves not one but two layers of puns:

 Brandywine is actually a very loose translation of the pun. The Hobbits first named the river Branda-nîn, which means border water, because it is, in fact, a border marker, and it sounds like the Sindarin name, Baranduin. But then later they started calling it the Bralda-hîn, which means “heady ale.”

So from there we have Tolkien “translate” it to Brandywine, to preserve the pun being based on a very Hobbit-like alcoholic drink and the sound similarity to the Baranduin, even if it did miss one of the linguistic layers.

But here’s the best part - the Hobbits named the river the Bralda-hîn because it was the color of ale. And the original Sindarin name, Baranduin? It means golden-brown river. So basically the Hobbits took a Sindarin name whose meaning they probably didn’t know, gave it a similar sounding name in Westron, and then made a pun off that Westron to give the river’s name a meaning similar to its original Sindarin one in the first place.

[apaleflame]

controversial midnight silm take: i know think that maedhros and maglor were kind to elrond and elros, in their own way, and dont think there was nothing positive came out of their relationship at all but like... elros and elrond were straight up kidnapped by maedhros and maglor to assuage their own guilt and it gets on my nerves when this is glossed over or dismissed as maglor & maedhros being the twins “””foster parents”””

[ameliarating]

Creative fantasy... has a statement to make about the real nature of the world... so when we fantasize, when we wish for something, such as an escape from death, or to speak to other living things, or to fly like a bird,  we are not simply escaping from a painful life... We are seeking fulfillment... In "On Fairy Stories," Tolkien writes that fantasy provides... escape and consolation. Escape is not to flee from the world but affirm  its value by seeking to realize wishes and desires. The great wish is to have a 'happy ending' to a story... In part we have observed the power of words to create a Secondary World which, in one sense, is a disguised world, on in which truth is hidden so that it must be searched for. We know that Cinderella has the... virtue and the destiny to marry a prince; her story creates in us a sense of wonder at the happy ending not because it surprises us but because it fulfills our hopes.

Robley Evans, J.R.R. Tolkien: Writers for the 70′s

[apaleflame]

you know i really feel. hm. angry! that we never get to see nerdanel’s reaction to her husband taking all of their children with him, or for anaire’s reaction to the same, or earwen’s reaction to the kingslaying or her husband coming back but none of her children, or how eldalote felt about angrod leaving her behind

all of them are just left behind, both by their husbands and by the naritive

[apaleflame]

the logistics of how arda worked while a) being flat and b) having no sun or moon is mind boggling