multi muse

1. Okay so In LaCe, it says “elves wedded….for love or at least by free will upon either part”

So this means

Elves were not always “soulmates”

A lack of love does not prevent the marriage

Elves could marry for reasons other than love

Social stuff? (Ect, two high class families) Arranged marriage? Money? Just want a kid?

I’m getting that “disney princess is told to marry a prince but instead wants to marry for love rather than social expectation” (I’m looking at you, Jasmine) kinda vibe

2. Marriage is the “natural course of life” and “might choose one another early in youth, even as children.”

I get the impression that there is a high social pressure here

Sort of like how in the olden days, a 30 year old woman was considered hopeless at getting a shot in the marriage world

Children don’t know shit about romance so??

Elves marry their friends occasionally even without romantic love

Elves marry who their parents pair them off with

3. “The desire for marriage was not always fulfilled. Love was not always returned”

This directly contradicts the earlier statement. Before, lack of love does not prevent marriage. Here, lack of love can. So perhaps it depends on the situation.

If your parents arranged something, lack of love won’t stop you from obeying the social expectation

If a maia wants to marry you, you don’t say no just because you don’t love them

If you’re just two random kids outside of big social expectations and customs, go marry whoever the fuck you want, love is the only factor

4. Maglor, Curufin, and Caranthir were canonically married but, unlike Turgon, they did not bring their spouses with them. Girls were not discouraged from joining (ect, Aredhel, Galadriel) but merely came by choice. Why did their wives not come? The reason for at least one of these three, likely Curufin (the favorite!) would be a social arrangement thing. Probably married some suitable noldo Feanor found for him, but there wasn’t really much love. 

5. I think some of the more “romantic” elves would have shunned the concept of marriage completely. Not because they want to remain single, but because they don’t want to follow the “marry off in your youth at age 18, come on lets go” custom/procedure. They hope that they’ll meet someone that they love, of their own accord, later on. Some elves are lucky enough to be able to find and wed someone they love early on (Feanor and Nerdanel) but not all are. Some would rather remain unmarried, but hopeful, rather than give up and just marry someone they feel neutral about. 

6. I think maiar married elves plenty often. Remember Melian and Thingol? (@inkstranger can help on that bit). Melian just saw Thingol and went “yep, I like that one. Alright. Imma enchant him. Lets go” before even talking to him and Thingol just. Went with it. Combine this with “you marry who you are paired with because it is socially expected even if there is no love” thing, and I think the concept of maiar just seeing and selecting an elf they fancy would be very common. What family would say no? It fulfills that social rank need that elves love so much. A huge honor on the family. Love doesn’t matter. What matters is that the elf is with someone who can take good care of them forever. So yeah I think this would definitely be a thing. We know it’s canon that ainur ARE very attracted to elves. Melian + thingol, Melkor + luthien…they’ve got a thing for elves plenty. It was also canonically noted that the ainur really had a thing for how pretty the vanyar and their fancy hair was. I think there was a specific line that said maiar liked to have elves around for their beauty. So really I see no reason why maiar wouldnt just go “Oh, I like how that elf running the perfume shop looks, dibs on that one” and just marries them. 

I know that another fish might eat this bullfrog right after I spend months rehabilitating it.

I know that turning a beetle back onto its legs won’t save it from falling over again when I walk away.

I know that there is no cosmic reward waiting for my soul based on how many worms I pick off a hot sidewalk to put into the mud, or how many times I’ve helped a a raccoon climb out of a too-deep trashcan. 

I know things suffer, and things struggle, and things die uselessly all day long. I’m young and idealistic, but I’m not literally a child. I would never judge another person for walking by an injured bird, for ignoring a worm, or for not really caring about the fate of a frog in a pond full of, y’know, plenty of other frogs.

There is nothing wrong with that.

But I cannot cannot cannot look at something struggling and ignore it if I may have the power to help.

There is so much bad stuff in this world so far beyond my control, that I take comfort in the smallest, most thankless tasks. It’s a relief to say “I can help you in this moment,” even though they don’t understand.

I don’t need a devil’s advocate to tell me another fish probably ate that frog when I let it go, or that the raccoon probably ended up trapped in another dumpster the next night.

I know!!!! I know!!!!!!! But today I had the power to help! So I did! And it made me happy!

There was a big storm and a ton of starfish were washed onto the beach, stranded much further up than they could get back and beginning to bake in the post-storm sunshine. A little girl was walking down the beach, picking up starfish and throwing them back into the sea. Some guy comes up and asks her what she’s doing. “Saving the starfish,” she says.

He looks around at the huge beach and the hundreds of starfish, and says “You can’t possibly save them all. I’m afraid you’re not gonna make much of a difference.”

For use in future projects:

Continents don’t just sink, they’re not floating landmasses; but they can be covered by rising sea levels.

What’s a cause of rising sea levels? Melting glaciers.

Where does Morgoth live? Where all the glaciers are. 

Melkor’s forces are entrenched and burrowed all throughout the Iron Mountains. He’s got the whole north to himself, the reaches of Everlasting Cold; the opposing armies can’t even get past Thangorodrim, let alone get into all the nooks and crannies, the hiding places and secret strongholds that are scattered throughout the mountains. So, the best way to wreck his complete shit all in one pass is to simply melt the icecaps– with the help of Arien or Varda or Aulë or Ulmo or all of them.

The mountains become totally uninhabitable. The orc armies are trapped, buried in avalanches and drowned in mud, or forced to flee South, pushing Melkor’s forces into the waiting armies of the Valar. 

When the great forges flood, they explode catastrophically. The subterranean levels of Angband fill with water.

The flooding doesn’t stop once the war is over; the great thawing of the North can’t be reversed. Melkor was camped out in the highest elevation in Beleriand, everything else is downstream. 

Beleriand doesn’t sink in a day, it takes its time.

Ossiriand doesn’t stand a chance as the seas rise, Doriath is encircled by water and finally submerged;  even the Encircling Mountains and the ruins of Gondolin are eventually swamped, waterlogged, becoming a lake of brown water. 

The weather changes. Mudslides ruin the hills and mountains. The rivers back up and overflow with brackish sea water, killing all the freshwater life. Forests die, are uprooted, and swept away. 

Everything turns to mud and logjams and floating corpses long before it is taken into the sea.  Elves scramble to save what they can of their history from water damage and mildew, but much is destroyed before it can be carried to safety. And the past seems less and less worth saving, buried in the mud and volcanic ash and grey rain.

The migration east is weary and cold; men and dwarves suffer from the constant wetness in their boots and clothes, while the Eldar suffer unthinkable loss in their souls. The remaining umaiar and Melkor’s creatures slink over the mountains wherever they can, masterless, their fires dulled to dying embers.

(please read this took me like 3 hours there is some good stuff in here halfway through)

https://vk.com/eldamaranquendi

  ⋆✧⋆⋆✦☆⋆★⋆ LINDIR OF RIVENDELL ⋆★⋆☆✦⋆⋆✧⋆

                                                     ind. sel. lindir of tolkien’s legendarium.

                                                                 est 25 november 2016.

“All that is gold does not glitter. Not all those who wander are lost.”

“All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”

“If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.”

“There is some good in this world, and it’s worth fighting for.”

“Faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens.”

“The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places; but still there is much that is fair, and though in all lands love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps the greater.”

“Deserves it! I daresay he does. Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement. For even the very wise cannot see all ends.”

“I will not say: do not weep; for not all tears are an evil.”

“Do you wish me a good morning, or mean that it is a good morning whether I want it or not; or that you feel good this morning; or that it is a morning to be good on?”

“I am glad you are here with me. Here at the end of all things.”

“Courage is found in unlikely places.”

“It’s the job that’s never started as takes longest to finish.”

“May it be a light to you in dark places, when all other lights go out.”

“Moonlight drowns out all but the brightest stars.”

“A man that flies from his fear may find that he has only taken a shortcut to meet it.”

“I warn you, if you bore me, I shall take my revenge.”

“In this hour, I do not believe that any darkness will endure.”

“It is not the strength of the body that counts, but the strength of the spirit.”

“The world is full enough of hurts and mischances without wars to multiply them.”

“If by my life or death I can protect you, I will. ”

“I feel thin, sort of stretched, like butter scraped over too much bread.”

“It is not despair, for despair is only for those who see the end beyond all doubt. We do not.”

“You have nice manners for a thief and a liar.“

“It is useless to meet revenge with revenge; it will heal nothing.”

“Yes, I am here. And you are lucky to be here too after all the absurd things you’ve done since you left home.”

“Pay heed to the tales of old wives. It may well be that they alone keep in memory what it was once needful for the wise to know.”

“It is perilous to study too deeply the arts of the Enemy, for good or for ill.”

“I wished to be loved by another, but I desire no man’s pity.”

“The whole thing is quite hopeless, so it’s no good worrying about tomorrow. It probably won’t come.”

“Sorry! I don’t want any adventures, thank you. Not Today. Good morning! But please come to tea -any time you like! Why not tomorrow? Good bye!”

“How do you move on? You move on when your heart finally understands that there is no turning back.”

“A red sun rises. Blood has been spilled this night.”

“Don’t go where I can’t follow.”

“I may be a burglar…but I’m an honest one, I hope, more or less.”

“For victory is victory, however small, nor is its worth only from what follows from it.”

“I have passed through fire and deep water, since we parted. I have forgotten much that I thought I knew, and learned again much that I had forgotten.”

“Why must you speak your thoughts? Silence, if fair words stick in your throat, would serve all our ends better.”

“If you sit on the doorstep long enough, I daresay you will think of something”

“There’s some good in this world, and it’s worth fighting for.”