#two trees

[taika-waititii]

More Silm shit posting

RIP to Finwë. And like why would you say it that way Mandos lmao

[tophlovesbeer]

[meneliltare]

@antlered-vixen said he'd love to see, and honestly, it was probably high time for me to throw my lack of confidence where it belongs and share this with this nerdy litte corner of the world... my in-progress, Fëanor-themed full sleeve (for this purpose, please ignore my cat paw bracelet - I am a passionate cat mom in real life too :D). Here you have it...the proof that I am hopelessly addicted to Tolkien's world. For more than 20 years of my life it has now been my safe haven, my joy and my source of endless dreams and inspiration, and I always knew that IF I would ever get larger tattoos, they would be Tolkien-themed.

We are by no means done with this yet, but today in our 4th session my artist and me reached a milestone that could not mean more to me if it tried - to finally, finally have a piece of Tolkien's original artwork under my very own skin is such an honour to me, and I can't possibly describe how much joy it gives me. (Please also ignore the ridiculous swelling, all photos have been taken when the tattoos were very fresh.)

All work on this has been done by the incredible JB (who did not know the Silmarillion before I came to him with my request and specifically made the effort to read it for me!) at Extreme Tattoo in Inverness, Scotland. He's also done my first bigger tattoo, which is my Smaug on the other arm:

Sooo... yeah. This is a very personal thing for me to share, but I hope you enjoyed this little glimpse at my madness.

To all my fellow Tolkien addicts - I feel you from the deepest depths of my heart.

[arofili]

During the Years of the Trees, the Amanyar lived on a flat world, and of course had no Sun and Moon. But perhaps they had the concept of a horizon, even if landmarks always remained faintly visible no matter how far away they rode.

"Horizon" did not represent the curving of the earth, but rather the ephemeral line where Treelight could not reach. It was a distant horizon indeed from the center of the Light, and many elves could not imagine wanting to cross that line, but there were some who possessed that curiosity, that drive, that impulse to go, to see for themselves the limit of the Valar's power, or just to see the stars in all their glory, unclouded by the Two Trees' overpowering glow.

Of course Fëanor and his sons were among them, explorers and travelers (and even blasphemers) as they were, but I like to think that re-embodied Avari also sought a life beyond the horizon, beneath a sky more like their own. That old souls from Cuiviénen would drift there when they felt melancholy for the old days, for those they left behind. That artists and poets bathed in the faint, mingled light of distant Trees and further-distant stars, straddling the Valinorian horizon for inspiration. That Oromë and his hunters sought strange and beautiful game too fragile for brighter climes.

Horizon was a concept long before the Darkening and the Downfall. It had a different meaning than the one Men of later years understood, but it still represented lands beyond, places unexplored, and the tantalizing, tempting promise of something more, just beyond your line of sight. Just outside of what you know.

[lyr-4x]

Little comic of Aredhel and Maeglin

[velvet4510]

Tolkien’s subtle connections between LOTR and The Silmarillion are just glorious to discover. Like the reason Gollum hates sunlight and moonlight is the same reason the Nazgûl get scared off when Frodo calls out to Varda! Sauron - and thus his servants and his Ring that has completely corrupted Gollum’s soul - shares the absolute darkness of Melkor, who always hated and feared Varda because she is absolute light and thereby she created the Sun and Moon in defiance of that darkness… and she created them out of the last remaining light of the Two Trees which Melkor destroyed, so every time a piece of Melkor’s darkness comes into contact with the light of the Sun and Moon, it is reminded that Melkor did not destroy that light completely, that it lives on. Gollum can feel Varda’s creations forever clashing with what is indirectly Melkor’s creation.

[quinn10121012]

“And in that very hour Melkor and Ungoliant came hastening over the fields of Valinor, as the shadow of a black cloud upon the wind fleets over the sunlit earth; and they came before the green mound Ezellohar.” - the Silmarillion, J.R.R. Tolkien

[inthehouseoffinwe]

Maybe the reason Legolas always looks so perfect is elves don’t need to sweat to regulate body temperate. Maybe they just don’t sweat. Or it needs to be some seriously extreme physical strain.

Like I don’t see immortality working if elves are going to overheat as easily as humans do.

Then again maybe it’s an evolutionary trait of later elves born under the sun, and the later they’re born, the better the evolution (eg. Legolas’ is way better than Elrond’s because he was born 3rd Age.)

Which would be really funny to hold over the heads of these older ‘hardier’ elves. Like yes they’re harder to kill, but they also sweat worse than humans do. It’s only said hardiness which stops them very literally boiling to death, but it’s still an all round uncomfortable experience.

Because I don’t think the trees gave out heat? Unless it was a byproduct of the light, but I don’t think so.

…unless it’s a Laurelin specific thing because the sun and moon still come into existence and seem to work the same as ours.

Either way I imagine Valinor had some kind of thermostat keeping everything within a certain range. Then we get to Beleriand and sun and moon and everyone’s in for a surprise.

Fingolfin’s host included. They’ve seen the ice, sure. But they have no idea what deserts, or even hot summer days are like.

Even in Valinor it takes time to devise a new thermostat that accommodates for the new temp changes between day and night and all the stuff that comes with it.