the days have gone down into the west

Thanks for the ask! 💛 I feel like going with the unexpected here and doing Háma, but if anyone wants to hear my Éowyn thoughts, let me know and I'll do her too (but beware it will probably be an essay, and probably only semi-coherent; if I loved her less I could talk about her more etc. etc.).

First impression: "Finally someone’s giving Eowyn the respect she deserves!" Although I have to admit that after that he got a bit lost in the murk of trying to keep him, Erkenbrand, Elfhelm, and Grimbold (and all of their respective titles/roles) straight.

Impression now: He ranks first and foremost in my mind as @from-the-coffee-shop-in-edoras' guy and—in no small part because of her love for him—holds a special place in my heart now for his quiet, steady defiance of Gríma and Saruman’s machinations. "Such is oft the course of deeds that move the wheels of the world: small hands do them because they must, while the eyes of the great are elsewhere," indeed.

And it must be said, there are few things better (or hotter) than when a man recognizes a woman is being sidelined because of sexism and then uses his privilege to do something about it.

Favorite moment: I have to go with the classic: "'I said not Éomer,'" answered Háma. "And he is not the last. There is Éowyn, daughter or Éomund, his sister. She is fearless and high-hearted. All love her. Let her be as lord to the Eorlingas, while we are gone.'" Before I had this URL, I had one based on this scene. I love it dearly.

Idea for a story: None right now, although I do have a WIP involving Éowyn’s handmaiden and her resistance of Gríma that might incorporate him.

Unpopular opinion: Théoden might have called Éowyn "dearer than daughter," but Háma lived it out (at least in the text).

Favorite relationship: Éowyn of course! Which leads me to…

Favorite headcanon: I headcanon that Háma saw Éowyn’s deepening despair, and that while he didn’t know exactly what was causing it (but probably had a good idea, as he watched Théoden decline and saw more and more fall upon her shoulders as a result), he did what he could to aid her, like taking on tasks that normally would have fallen to her and ordering parts of the household that, while not his duty, fell close enough under his purview that others wouldn’t question it, so that she wouldn’t have to.

I like to think that there were a few people who saw her, and who tried to help, and while their help wasn’t a replacement for the lack of effort or understanding from her family, it wasn’t nothing, either. And Háma seems like just the kind of guy who would do that.

I also headcanon that someone within the household guessed what he was doing (or perhaps he confided in them, so that others could help remove things from Éowyn's plate) and told Éowyn about it after the war, and that she commissioned a tapestry of him defending the gate of the Hornbug to be hung near the door of Meduseld, and another to be hung in the Hornburg.

Fic rec: A Good Lad by @from-the-coffee-shop-in-edoras (G, Háma & Théoden, 1.5k):

Tar-Míriel my beloved! I'm so glad you asked about her!

First impression: I don’t remember much from my first read-through of UT, but I do remember feeling so unbelievable sorry for her and so upset that that was her ending.

Impression now: I fell into a Tar-Míriel obsession this past year and haven’t yet crawled out of it. The queen in chains trope is catnip to me, and she serves it up in spades. And I still feel unbelievably sorry for her, while also tormenting her like a dog's very battered squeaky toy.

But mostly I love her for clinging to her faithfulness by her fingernails, no matter the cost. She doesn't get any kind of reward for it (although I hope that she does after her death), but she tries to the bitter end nonetheless.

Favorite moment: She doesn’t really have any moments of action described within the text outside of her last, but this never fails to break my heart, so: "And last of all the mounting wave, green and cold and plumed with foam, climbing over the land, took to its bosom Tar-Míriel the Queen, fairer than silver or ivory or pearls. Too late she strove to ascend the steep ways of the Meneltarma to the holy place; for the waters overtook her, and her cry was lost in the roaring of the wind." And thus came a thousand Tar-Míriel feelings.

Idea for a story: I have a couple fics in progress about her, including the timeloop one I've shared before, which may or may not fold my Tar-Míriel does a Judith fic idea into it (thus far it consists only of that title and many thrilling mental images in the vein of Artemisia Gentileschi's painting). I've also been working on one concurrently about her marriage to Pharazôn and the things she does to endure it, but tbh it's dark even for my standards, and I'm on the fence about continuing it.

Unpopular opinion: I find her potential relationship with Sauron much more interesting than Pharazôn and Sauron’s. Not necessarily in a shippy way (although Sauron trying to seduce her a la Celebrimbor would be equally horrifying and fascinating), but more from the perspective of how they exist alongside each other, when they both from the very beginning know exactly where the other stands. I headcanon that they can read each other very clearly and that both of them excel at very veiled, politic barbs and threats, which is a delicious dynamic to me. And Sauron being the master mental torturer that he is adds a whole other level of yikes and yum.

Favorite relationship: I headcanon that Tar-Míriel was very close with Amandil’s wife (Elennúmene in my fics). I envision her living a very isolated life after her marriage to Pharazôn, especially after Sauron's arrival, as it would be dangerous for her to continue openly affiliating with anyone among the Faithful, but I imagine that she would still be permitted to interact with Amandil's wife for a while longer, since he stays in Pharazôn's good graces for a while due to their past friendship, despite being a known leader of the Faithful. And I headcanon that Elennúmene is a major source of strength and comfort for her, especially as Sauron's influence grows and the plight of the Faithful worsens. Elennúmene also helps her keep in contact with others among the Faithful and helps her participate in what acts of resistance she can.

Favorite headcanon: Continuing from above, I headcanon that she led and participated in every small act of resistance that she could without further imperiling herself—nothing that would turn the tide of Númenor’s downfall, but small things that made her feel that she had more agency over her life, and that she was doing all that she could for the Faithful, despite having very little power with which to keep them (or herself) safe. And that knowledge, that at least she was making some difference, however small, was what kept her going through the worst of Númenor's last days.

Fic rec: The Last Queen of Númenor by NevillesGran (G, 2.1k, character death):

Thank you for the ask! <3

First impression: Something along the lines of "omg she is SO cool." I first read the Silm when I was about 13 or so, and she was my favorite character and the inspiration behind quite a few usernames over the years.

Impression now: I've moved onto other favorite characters now, but she still holds a special place in my heart. I don't write about her nearly as much as 13-year-old me would have expected, but I do find her relationships with Eöl and Maeglin very intriguing and enjoy reading others' takes on them and writing my own interpretation(s)...which is also something 13-year-old me would never have expected lol. (I was very pro Aredhel striking out on her own and having nothing to do with any of the men in her life.) And her time within Nan Elmoth and her relationship with the forest itself remain endlessly fascinating to me.

Favorite moment: “I am your sister and not your servant, and beyond your bounds I will go as seems good to me” has ranked supreme since the first time I read the Silm. I grew up in a women-must-always-be-submissive-to-men kind of environment, so her defiance was a breath of fresh air, and she and all of Tolkien’s other defiant women have remained deeply special to me because of that.

I also love her traversing Nan Dungortheb alone, which is something that the text makes a big deal about Beren doing later on, but she did it too! And so did Emeldir and the refugees of Dorthonion, most likely. And neither she nor Emeldir and the women and children of Dorthonion get quite enough credit for it, I think.

Idea for a story: I didn’t think I had any on the docket, but I just checked my notes app and I did scribble down an idea for a fic about her and Galadriel’s reasons for leaving Valinor. I have no idea where I was going to go with it, but maybe the inspiration will come back at some point.

Unpopular opinion: I love a good Aredhel kills Eöl fic as much as anyone and am a fan of Turgon pitching Eöl off the walls of Gondolin, but it’s very clear in canon that Aredhel does not want Turgon to kill him—whether out of lingering love for Eöl or a desire for Turgon to not stain his hands with the blood of his kinsman, or perhaps to spare Maeglin the sight of it. I think she would be furious to hear that Turgon overrode her wishes, and the fact that it’s her last request before dying adds an even greater weight to Turgon's disregarding it. I would hazard a guess that she’ll be having some stern words with him once they're both re-embodied, if those kinds of resentments linger beyond the Halls.

Favorite relationship: Elenwë. I headcanon that she and Aredhel were polar opposites in a lot of ways, but that being so different removed any element of competition that Aredhel might have felt with someone of a similar temperament as her and enabled her to more easily accept and appreciate Elenwë.

Favorite headcanon: I'm very attached to the fanon idea of her being part of Oromë's hunt, and I headcanon that her woodcraft—beyond natural affinity—stems from the fact that the woods and land recognize her as once having been one of Oromë's hunters.

Fic rec: Phantasm by ncfan (Aredhel & Eöl & Maeglin, G, 1k):

Yesss, Arwen! Thank you so much for the ask!

First impression: The first time I read the books as a kid I read them out of order, so it was probably something along the lines of “huh I wonder who she is.” But admittedly even after reading the books in order a couple of years later and then reading the appendices several years after that, I for a long time didn’t have much of an opinion about her. (I will readily admit my Éowyn blinders were simply too strong for many years.)

Impression now: I love her! She’s a deeply fascinating character to me now, in ways that she wasn’t when I was younger. I’m very intrigued by the other glimpses we get of her in the appendices—her scorn for the Men of Númenor, her pride in her lineage and her desire to marry someone of equal standing, her resentment over the path she’s chosen and that she only begins to understand as she nears the end of her relationship with Aragorn. Her bitterness about Aragorn choosing what he wants (death before he begins to fully decline) and thus having to die herself before being ready to because of a choice she made before knowing what it would fully require of her is so deeply tragic and horrifying, and even more so because it's so very foreseeable (to readers). How could she know what she was signing up for? How could she understand a race she's had very little contact with other than those of Aragorn's ancestors who have stayed at Rivendell, much less anticipate how she might feel if she lived as one of them?

I also am very interested in her relationship with Lúthien and her thoughts on being compared to her. She seems to treat Aragorn with curiosity when he calls her Tinúviel, but I do wonder if she gets tired of living in the shadow of a woman she’s never met, and who she knows she will never have the chance to try to distinguish herself from, simply because of the time she lives in. And the onus of knowing the choice that’s before her, and that choosing mortality means even further comparisons with Lúthien—there’s so much untapped depth there. In a lot of ways, her story’s been written before she’s ever had the chance to decide what she wants it to be, and I can’t even imagine what that would feel like.

Favorite moment: Giving the white gem to Frodo and telling him he may sail in her stead. I love the part in one of Tolkien’s letters where he writes that it was Arwen, Arwen who watched Celebrían lose all joy in Middle-earth and is so intimately acquainted with witnessing that kind of trauma, who first thought of sending Frodo to Valinor, and sought to have Gandalf petition for him to be able to sail. It’s a real eucatastrophe moment of Arwen using her grief to help alleviate Frodo’s, and also a rare moment of agency, where she not only questions the "rules," so to speak, regarding who can sail, but successfully petitions Gandalf and thus the Valar to change them—which is no small thing!

Idea for a story: I don’t have any concrete story ideas atm (unless there’s a WIP I’ve forgotten about, very possible), but I do have a lot of Fourth Age headcanons centering on Aragorn’s war campaigns and how they impact Arwen and Eldarion that I would love to write about eventually. I just haven’t figured out how to approach them yet.

Unpopular opinion: I don’t tend to see many headcanons about her in the Fourth Age so I don’t know if this is unpopular or not (and perhaps it’s only unpopular in so far as it pushes back against the fairy tale-like portrayal of her relationship with Aragorn that I tend to see in fandom), but I headcanon that her first taste of bitterness over her choice happens well before Aragorn’s death, while he is away at war and she’s alone in a new city with a new people of an entirely different race, raising a child/children by herself (granted, with staff to help her, no doubt, but still) without the support of family. And while it’s common, of course, for Elves to spend many years apart from their spouses, there's a significant difference for her because she knows her relationship with Aragorn will of necessity be much, much briefer than Elves’ relationships normally are.

I imagine she has to have some level of resentment that Aragorn is squandering the time they have together and spending it away at war (and so soon after the last war, that she waited until the end of to marry him). And for someone who has spent her whole life being compared to Lúthien, there must be some bitterness in the fact that she's made Lúthien’s choice and sacrifice without Lúthien’s reward—e.g., Lúthien got to spend all the rest of the years of her life with Beren, but Arwen must share Aragorn with the empire that he is intent on building.

Favorite relationship: Frodo. I like to imagine they have a good many more conversations in Minas Tirith (or even earlier in Rivendell) before he leaves, and that she finds some solace in helping to prepare him for his eventual choice.