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[nelyos-right-hand]

I was just spontaneously hit by sadness over Finrod's fate. We often make fun of him for the let's-challenge-Sauron-to-a-rap-battle-to-the-death idea, which is then often compared to Fingolfin, but I keep thinking about how absolutely terrified he must have been.

Because, contrary to Fingolfin, he did not want to fight Sauron. He probably didn't want to be on this quest at all. He went out of loyalty to the son of his friend, and because of the oath he had sworn, but I highly doubt he enjoyed the thought of going on a suicide quest to steal a Silmaril. Finrod wasn't stupid after all, he knew their chances of survival, and he had probably already made peace with the thought of his death.

And then, after he gets betrayed and abandoned, he suddenly ends up in Sauron's throne room. And Sauron starts singing.

That wasn't a dramatic act of bravery the way it was in Fingolfin's case (though it was of course incredibly brave) (and less stupid), but of pure desperation. They had maybe seconds left until their disguises failed, so Finrod had to do something right now. So he just started singing.

And I just keep thinking about how afraid he must have been. He just started a singing contest with an Ainur. One might think that he really wasn't risking anything when doing it, the result of loosing would be that same as doing nothing at all, but that's not the case.

Had Finrod not started singing, Sauron would have seen through their disguises immediately and probably just killed them. End of the story. As it is, the disguises fail anyway, but now Sauron is faced with an elf who can stand against him in songs of power. He is both angry and curious.

And, as I said, Finrod isn't stupid. He has seen the scars on Maedhros body.

He took the greatest risk possible when fighting Sauron, and he escaped only so closely from paying the greatest price possible. Really, being killed by that wolf shortly before Luthien arrived was tragic, but from Finrod's perspective, who had no idea that Luthien was coming, that was probably the most optimal outcome.

I know this is nothing new that hasn't been analysed in 200 fics and tumblr posts before, but, you know, I was sad, so I shared my pain with the fandom the way we do it here 🙂

[gaydhros]

hey do you guys ever think about what it was like to be finrod during the dagor bragollach. the flames coming so suddenly, without any warning, destroying every living thing in their path. riding north as fast as you can with your army in the midst of the chaos and confusion. the horror of a landscape burning down around you. walls of fire rising up, enemies everywhere you turn, all closing in to cut you off from your men. knowing in your bones that you're about to die or be taken. hoping against hope that somewhere, somehow, the people you love have managed to get themselves to safety. and then, by some miracle, you survive. you owe your life to this descendent of your long-dead friend, this man who arrived unlooked for and saved you against every odd. and so you retreat. you have to; there's nothing left to save, nothing left for you to do except try to keep living, and so you return to your delved halls, safe when so many still aren't. eventually the flames recede and the last sparks die, and they reveal a land of utter ruin, ash and devastation, bodies charred beyond recognition. in the confusion it's impossible to know who survived and who didn't, which lands stood and which fell. until at last the smoke clears and the dead are counted as best they can be, and you finally learn for certain that the thing you feared the most, this terrible truth that you've been trying so hard not to face, can be avoided no longer: they're gone. both of them. your brothers are dead, just like that, taken from you in one fell swoop. their lands— so much closer to angband's might, so much more vulnerable than your own— burned around them, and the enemy swarmed, and the flames rose to swallow them, and you weren't there. anyway do you guys ever think about that

[trans-noldor]

look I love ghost hunting on tol himling as much as anyone but tbh I think we're sleeping on tol fuin. you're telling me that a significantly sized portion of the evil haunted forest even orcs were afraid to pass through, where sauron fled as a vampire after the lúthien incident, survived the sinking of beleriand and we aren't writing about it??

[thesnakeisfair-deactivated20191]

You know that I really like Caranthir and I know that part of why I like him has to do with Haleth.

I like the way he met her and the way they parted.

Usually we get lovely ladies meeting men or elves and the male characters fall in love with the loveliness of the girl, or her singing or her gentleness. And you know what? That’s WONDERFUL and I enjoy reading about it but I also like it when the situation is a bit different. And that’s why I like how Caranthir met Haleth.

Theirs is not a story of the elvish prince or the loyal mortal warrior falling in love with the fair maiden. Theirs is a story of war and death and pain. Haleth taking the leadership of her people, desperately trying to fight for their lives. Caranthir coming to their aid and fighting together with her. And that’s how they meet. Caranthir, who is the harshest of the sons of Fëanor and the most quick to anger. Caranthir who would openly mock the unloveliness of the dwarves. Caranthir met Haleth and realized how worthy the Edain were, because of her. He saw their worth not in a mighty man, he saw it in Haleth. And I think that’s one of the most beautiful things from this book. There’s no love story in this. There’s no apparent loveliness in her but we see Caranthir admiring a woman because of her prowess and her leadership and fighting skills. Had they got to know each other better he might have fallen for her and her for him, I don’t know, the thing is that here we have Caranthir who saw her and valued her for what she was, no love or romance involved, no talk about beauty. She’s just Haleth, the chieftain, Haleth the one with her female bodyguards, Haleth that said “thank you but no thank you, Lord” to Caranthir’s offer. And he respected that. He didn’t grudge that, he didn’t rage. He saw her worth and understood her wish.

This is why Caranthir is one of my favourite characters (and so is Haleth). I think this wee part in The Silm shows us that there is a lot more to him than just being angry. Ever loyal, honest Caranthir, kind and understanding Caranthir. Yes, I like him. A LOT.

[drowprsn]

I absolutely admire the genius move by JRRT to leave people to wonder if the cursed blade Gurthang really had consciousness or it was just the unlucky Turin pushed to his limits, on the verge of suicide, hallucinating the voice of his sword, telling him that it wants his blood to make up for Beleg’s and Brandir’s, iniquitously spilled by him.

There’s this idea in my head about the Dagor Dagorath, that a reforged Gurthang is what leads a revived and reluctant Turin into battle: a vengeful bloodthirsty blade that got shattered once by feisting over his owner’s iniquous blood, and now wants to take revenge on Melkor, the most evil one, for the curse he put on Hurin and his children.

[drowprsn]

I would love that choice!

[aroacebaggins]

Currently drawing Daeron bc I got a request for either him or Voronwë and I'd been thinking about him lately anyway.

Specifically about how much I prefer the older version where he's Lúthien's brother rather than being in love with her. because I'm sick to death of love triangles. But my brain has now given me "Aroace Daeron" as a concept as well, and putting those together:

They grow up together. They are the children of Thingol and Melian, of the only union between an elf and a Maia. There are no others like them. They are the only ones who truly understand each other. Daeron assumes this will never change. They are immortal, they live in a sheltered kingdom. They have eternity.

Then Lúthien starts being secretive. She's never kept anything from her brother before. He finds her sneaking around with a mortal man, and he is confused. He goes to their parents because "no one is supposed to be able to get in, I thought we were safe here?".

When Lúthien explains, he doesn't understand. She says she loves the man. But there is love in their family already, and she has not acted like this. When their father sends the man away, he's relieved. He thinks everything can go back to normal. But later when she asks for his help, Daeron can't understand why she would want to put herself in danger for a man she practically just met, because what is so special about him? Why is he suddenly the most important thing in her life, worth risking herself for? So he goes to Thingol again because he's worried about her, she's been acting so strange.

Lúthien is angry, but Daeron tries to mend it. He plays music for her during her captivity, he reminds her that he will always be there, that the two of them need not change. He is grieved at her anger and so when she asks for a loom he obliges, and for once he says nothing because he will not damage their relationship more, and because she is his sister, surely she wouldn't lie to him again. And then Lúthien is gone.

And Daeron doesn't understand.

He goes looking for her. She is his sister, his closest friend, the only one who understood him, the only one who could. He needs her. He had thought that went both ways.

He never stops searching.

Maybe he hears about her fate. He questions why Lúthien would follow the man into death. Why, he thinks, was he suddenly all she had to live for? He prays to understand why she left, why all they had was nothing compared to what she called love.

But he never understands. And there were two of them but when she leaves the circles of the world he knows, he knows he is the only one. There are her descendants. But they are not the same, and he cannot bear to see the resemblance, almost her, so close, and yet not.

And so he sings, because it is all he has left. He sings laments for her, and maybe he sings her tale as well. He writes so many iterations of that song. The story does not make sense to him. He thinks maybe if he sings it over and over, with different words or different notes, he will start to understand.

Hey so what the hell I was trying to write a short quick post. Anyway I'm driving myself insane over this concept and I WILL be writing something longer with it at some point.

Also maybe he ends up in a weird QPR with Maglor where they bond over their siblings abandoning them and complicated relationships with the Peredhel

[aroacebaggins]

Reblogging aroace Daeron for @aspecardaweek

The fic is in progress but I don't have any new presentable bits right now.

[arafinweanappreciation]

for the record, I do think finrod has a moment where he's forcefully confronted with the enormity of what he's done with continuing on to beleriand after the first kinslaying and keeping silent about it afterwards. however I have no idea why people keep insisting that it's during the battle with sauron when it's literally in the text of the silmarillion that thingol looks him in the dead in the eye and calls him "son of ëarwen" while expelling him and his siblings from doriath

[arafinweanappreciation]

also I think it's kinda funny that finrod has to deal with all of the fallout from this while his baby sister is crashing on his couch. trying to fight off the bouts of intense regret and self-loathing long enough to draft a letter to fingolfin explaining what happened when galadriel pops her head into his study like "btw you're out of cosmic brownies"

[arafinweanappreciation]

endlessly fascinating to me that angrod very often gets painted as a hothead for walking out of one (1) council meeting. where caranthir essentially suggested that he and his family could not be trusted because of their mixed heritage while simultaneously insulting his relatives. kinda including his mom. like idk angrod could've fully punched caranthir in the face over that and I would still see him as a relatively steady and reasonable guy. in fact I think the fact that he didn't immediately verbally escalate points to a lot of restraint

[arafinweanappreciation]

okay thinking about this a little more and maybe this actually comes from him spilling the beans to thingol after cirdan sends on what he's heard about the kinslaying? which, I will grant, the text does seem to indicate is motivated partially by built-up resentment, while finrod was, at the very least, still considering the implications of giving thingol the whole truth, if not intending to stay silent on it forever. but I still think this is a relatively reasonable move in terms of self-preservation coming from the guy whose first big job in beleriand was establishing contact with thingol in the first place. most people would have done the same thing in his situation imo

[catilinas]

pretty epic how felagund turning faltering into staying is—in a battle of song—reflected in what would be a rhyming couplet concluding in his failure being resolved into a triplet where he continues instead. like the power of the song is metaleptic. yippeeeeee

[catilinas]

felagund dying like. mind if i bend the metre to a single line of iambic pentameter as i go ⁉️

[sesamenom]

my aunt and uncle (architects) use drafts of blueprints for packaging paper (this year i got a christmas gift bag with a side of kaiser permanente building). anyways feanor & nerdanel would definitely do something similar

[whirlception]

"The Sindar" are not a singular group with a coherent leadership structure and unified political goals. Specifically, Thingol's priorities, grudges, etc cannot be assumed to be accurate for all of the Sindar, despite the overwhelming presence he has in the Silmarillion.

The Falathrim, under Cirdan, are nominally Thingol's vassals, but notably act independently to build friendships with the Noldor. Cirdan swore friendship to the Noldor at the Mereth Aderthad; gave military aid to Fingon during the 2nd attack on Hithlum; is very close to Finrod, who also built him a watchtower; and by the end of the 1st age, when he is on Balar, is notably not Elwing's vassal. From then through the end of the 2nd Age is primarily associated with Gil-Galad, a Noldorin king.

The green-elves, per Tolkien's notes and IMO a lot of in-text evidence, are not Thingol's vassals but a separate but allied kingdom and people with what appears to be complex internal politics. After the death of Denethor, they refuse to name another king and pull back from the war against Morgoth, but some green-elves live within Thingol's realm (Saeros; the guest-elves). Beren and Luthien live in Ossiriand after the Silmaril quest, and Dior (in some continuities) marries a green-elf; additionally, Beren and Dior rally an army of green-elves to defeat the dwarvish army that sacked Menegroth. However, the green-elves are not noted as participating in the defense of Doriath during the 2nd Kinslaying (the precise date of which may have taken Dior by surprise, but considering his ongoing correspondence with the Sons of Fëanor regarding the Silmaril was not exactly unforseeable). The sons of Feanor are strongly implied to also have a consistently decent relationship with the green-elves, including after the 2nd Kinslaying. Strong factionalism or politically independent clans seem likely.

The Northern Sindar are shunned by Thingol for possibly having fallen under the sway of Mordor; some go east with the Sons of Fëanor while some remain in Mithrim as vassals of Fingolfin (and, depending on the continuity, Turgon). Northern Sindar probably made up a significant portion of the Fëanorian forces in particular, which were presumably more-or-less in line with Fëanorian policy until the noted rebellions at the 3rd Kinslaying-- that is, through both deeds of surpassing valor during the Bragollach and the 2nd Kinslaying (it's possible that some portion of Celegorm's "cruel servants" were of the Northern Sindar).

[aroacebaggins]

"Fingon brought a harp to Thangorodrim because he's just Like That" actually I'm pretty sure this is just harpist behavior. One of my previous mentors has a story about skiing with her lever harp because it was the only way to reach the remote location she was supposed to play at. Fingon is not special I'm afraid, at this point I'm half convinced all of us are at least a little insane. Maglor and Finrod are doing nothing to disprove this theory.

[aureentuluva70]

I don't think we talk enough about how terrifying Morgoth's return to Beleriand must have been for the Sindar, and how Morgoth's bonechilling scream that was so loud nearly all of Beleriand could hear it when Ungoliant attacked him was likely many of the sindarin elves' first impression of him.

Like, just imagine going about your day as usual only to nearly jump out of your skin when the most ear-shattering, bloodcurdling scream you've ever heard nearly destroys your ear drums. And then it's gone. Just like that.

Then only a little while later, fleeing from the Balrogs, the absolutely enormous, horrifying spider demon that fled from Valinor with Morgoth starts tearing her way through Beleriand, proceeding to run directly towards Doriath, and would have probably entered it and destroyed it all if it hadn't been for Melian's power(which, given the fact that the girdle didn't yet exist at this point, likely meant that Melian had to fight Ungoliant off). So instead she flees northward and makes her home in Nan Dungortheb, which while already said to be filled with giant spiders and other horrid creatures proceeds to only get 100x worse after Ungoliant comes to call it home, making it on par with the horrors of Angband.

Speaking of Angband, there are suddenly three flipping volcanoes jutting out from the northern mountains now, orcs begin to spill out from Angband's fortress which for a very, very long time had sat dormant for millennia, and news comes that its lord has returned again, and he is ready to launch an assault with the intent to destroy everyone in Beleriand.

Like that must have been terrifying.

[sewn-with-lilies-fair]

i'm going to hell for this, but i was watching a straps circus act (the one where artists hang by locking wrists or ankles into straps) and suddenly wondered if Maedhros could do as much from his chain

[sewn-with-lilies-fair]

obviously torture and torment, but after being there for *checks wiki* thirty years, he's probably built up some kind of stamina and ability

i'm not saying he's doing a full aerial routine (i'm also not NOT saying it, tbh it seems like a sadistic entertainment option for Morgoth, to go to visit the base of Maedhros' cliff and demand that he dance)

but i don't think that he'd hang there passively for that long

surely he developed a daily ritual of positions to relieve the torment; changing arms, wrapping ankle or leg instead, standing against the cliff face (either at the top or the length of the chain)

how long is this chain anyway, what are the aerial rope options?

[sewn-with-lilies-fair]

the first thing you learn with aerial silks is a foot lock, which would be incredibly painful with chains, but would be also be a HUGE relief from just one wrist

Maedhros has options, is the point

also just the concept of Fingon finally finding the cliff and looking up and Maedhros is like this

"what the hell are you doing, Maitimo?"

"uhhh my usual right ankle evening yoga routine? obviously?"

[sewn-with-lilies-fair]

on a more depressing note though,

when Maedhros is rescued from his torment and taken back to Mithrim, and the marks of torture are written all over his body... imagine that Morgoth had to do next to nothing for that to be so

imagine that, as shocked as Fingon and the Feanorians are, how much more horrified they are when they learn that what Morgoth actually did was lost long ago- buried beneath the scars of chains that were knotted by Maedhros himself

because that is what hurt less than Morgoth's original design

[shrikeseams]

Honestly incredible to me that people buy the calm-upstanding!Nolofinwe propaganda re: his relationship with Feanor. Do none of you have siblings?? That is CLASSIC younger sibling with hothead older sibling behavior. He is setting Feanor off deliberately, for fun and for profit.

[nelyoslegalteam]

oh. oh THAT’S why aredhel went to fucking gondolin. a thing that like. given how that GOES for her i have never been able to figure out why she even did that in the first place.

that’s why. that’s why.

[shrikeseams]

the real bitch here is, (as with some of my fave silm theories, see also that silma is made from bits of soul) that it does not have to be true. It is enough for specific characters to interpert Fingolfin's action's that way for them to stop trusting his judgment.

[firsthousepacifist]

Unpopular opinion no one asked for: I don’t headcanon Maglor as a subtle, melancholic minstrel with a tender soul of an artist, though I love this interpretation as well.

Idk, he’s just. He’s a son of Feanaro with hot blood boiling in his veins. An over-privileged prince from the land of Gods. A representative of a nation which became famous for their love for drama and bling. A superstar. A legend. An icon.

You know, not the type to sing ballads for a sleeping forest under a starry sky. More like gathering a full stadium of devoted fans and running across it with glittering makeup and in a jumpsuit made of diamonds, mostly because he can.

[sesamenom]

daeron is the elegant-poetry-in-a-quiet-glade bard. timpinen is the lilting-birdsong-flitting-between-the-trees bard.

maglor invented pyrotechnics.

[mhevarujta]

While I have nothing against Caranthir x Haleth, I just don't go there.

I'm more fond of the idea of asexual and aromantic Haleth. I think that she remained alone because she was very aware of what she wanted, or more correctly of what she never wanted. And she was not willing to compromise even to have a heir. She was completely unwilling to live dishonestly.

Caranthir crushed on her hard when he met her and he would have liked her to remain close, but he wouldn't have pursued her either way because he wouldn't allow himself to drag her into the mess that his and his family's oath entailed.

But eventually he realized that she would never have been with him. And instead of that making him angry or annoyed, he respected how Haleth felt and appreciated her even more for living the life she wanted instead of conforming to people's expectations. In fact, realizing that nothing would have happened between them even if he had been free of his oath was quite freeing.

Eventually Caranthir's romantic feelings started fading and what remained between him and Haleth was a deep platonic bond that lasted until the end of her days, even as they were apart.