Obsession of Choice

Tolkien Index

Silmarillion, Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, UT, HoMe, NoMe, OFS, Letters, Linguistics. Meta mostly focused on Sauron, Metaphysics, History of the development of the Legendarium, and the nature of story.

MDZS/The Untamed Index

Meta about both The Untamed/Chen Qing Ling and Mo Dao Zu Shi. Also includes a link to MDZS/CQL art and fic.

My Art and Fic Index

My original art as well as fanart and fic for various fandoms, mainly MDZS/CQL and Tolkien for now.

Other Meta, Fandoms, and Personal Stories Index

Essays on other fandoms, art, history, philosophy, anxiety, and depression as well as personal biography. Other fandoms may include X-Men, Xenogears, Xenosaga, Final Fantasy, Moulin Rouge, The Magnus Archives, Legend (film 1985), Notre Dame de Paris, Arcadia (Tom Stoppard), and Doctor Who.

Tea Index

I enjoy tea and sometimes post about different teas here.

Food Index

Work by cartoonist Tom Toro who often does cartoons for The New Yorker.

The paper I presented in 2023 and 2024 at Tolkien@UVM, GIFCon, and Oxonmoot has been published in The Journal of Tolkien Research. It's a deep dive into Sauron's name "Mairon." Find it at the link below (copy/paste to get it to work).

https://scholar.valpo.edu/journaloftolkienresearch/vol20/iss2/3/

Abstract

This paper analyzes Sauron’s “original” name, “Mairon,” in its various contexts (textual, temporal, and linguistic) and then applies it to a reading of the character in order to produce a “capsule characterization” or “minimyth” for the Lord of the Rings himself. The name “Mairon” appears only in a note to a single entry in a list of Eldarin roots, not published until 2007 in the journal Parma Eldalamberon. This niche location suggests one of the many ways in which this name is marginal: typographically, linguistically, narratively, and historically (as in the Secondary World). The name appears to have been conceived during a flurry of revision to the Legendarium following the publication of The Lord of the Rings, revision that elsewhere included additional work on Sauron. Apparently derived from maira (“admirable, excellent, precious”), the name is situated within a broader complex of entries expressing notions of greatness, art-making, service, usefulness, and value. Both “Maia” and “Mairon” are ultimately derived from the same root, suggesting a possible understanding of the pre-corrupted Sauron as in some way exemplary of his own order. The name is notably distinct from the names of most of the other Ainur, the majority of whom are named for particular domains of Creation with which they are associated (weeping, weaving, invention, birds, etc.); “Mairon” (“The Admirable”) is more closely aligned with Melian’s Quenya name “Melyanna” (“Dear Gift”) as both names suggest an implied “other.” Ultimately, the name “Mairon” is meaningful to a reading of Sauron and fits smoothly into a larger pattern of associations of the character with the notions of seeing (or not), being seen (or not), and how one is seen (or how one sees the self).

Bibliography

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Croft, Janet Brennan, “The Name of the Ring; Or, There and Back Again,” Mythlore, 35.2 (2017), article 6. <https://dc.swosu.edu/mythlore/vol35/iss2/6/>

— “Noms de Guerre: The Power of Naming in War and Conflict in Middle-earth,” Mythlore, 34.1 (2015), article 9. <https://dc.swosu.edu/mythlore/vol34/iss1/9/>

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McIntosh, Jonathan S., The Flame Imperishable: Tolkien, St. Thomas, and the Metaphysics of Faerie, (New York: Angelico Press, 2018). Kindle edition

OED, “Admirable, adj.” n.d., <https://www.oed.com/dictionary/admirable_adj> [accessed 20 December 2022]

— “Excellent, adj.” n.d., <https://www.oed.com/dictionary/excellent_adj> [accessed 20 December 2022]

— “Precious, adj.” n.d., <https://www.oed.com/dictionary/precious_adj> [accessed 20 December 2022]

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— The War of the Jewels, edited by Christopher Tolkien, (New York: William Morrow, 2023). Kindle edition

https://podcast. athrabeth.com/episodes/episode-78-lesser-trod-paths-w