Silmarillion Quotes and Whatnot

I honestly couldn’t find it in me to simply sit through it as if I wasn’t compiling a mental checklist of all of the offences. And the offences are many. It’s just my first watch so I’m sure I missed a lot of finer details. It’s hard comparing certain things to anything because it’s all just made up by the showrunners and the timeline is at this point irrelevant because this whole thing is some weird AU.

I also mostly don’t comment on the acting because although it’s of exceptionally inconsistent quality from actor to actor, and it’s obvious that some of them have not managed to get into character, I find more fault with the writing. Had the writing been better I’m sure that the actors’ deliveries would have felt more natural. With that said…

Episode 1:

Even the opening scenes of baby Galadriel playing with other children like a bunch of little gremlins who appear of accurate age to their physical development doesn’t sit right with me. Elves mature much slower than Humans physically, but develop much faster mentally. According to The Nature of Middle-earth they reach puberty only at over 200 years old. Which means that an Elven child that looks 7 might instead be over 100 years old and has lived for what would be for a Human a whole lifetime or more. To portray Elven children as comparable to Humans in their speech and manners is absurd.

In the first few minutes of the episode Galadriel is portrayed consecutively by two actresses whose accents are cardinally different and it stands out.

The timeline is such a disaster, that much is obvious before the first 10 minutes.

Any time Tolkien describes the length of Elves’ hair, it’s always said to be long:

- Glorfindel: ‘His golden hair flowed shimmering in the wind of his speed’ (FOTR - Amroth: ‘The wind was in his flowing hair’ (FOTR) - Celeborn: ‘The hair of the Lord Celeborn was of silver long and bright’ (FOTR) - Elves even made bowstrings from their hair: ‘A bow such as the Galadhrim used, longer and stouter than the bows of Mirkwood, and strung with a string of elf-hair’ (FOTR) - Celegorm: ‘Golden was his long hair’ (The Lays of Beleriand) - The Elves of Valinor: ‘With their gleaming hair in the wind flying’ (The Lays of Beleriand); ‘There blowing free unbraided hair is meshed with beams of Moon and Sun’ (The Lost Road) - The Teleri: ‘With their long hair gleaming like foam’ (Morgoth’s Ring) - Olwë: ‘The hair of Olwë was long and white’ (Morgoth’s Ring) - Thingol: ‘Elwë himself had long and beautiful hair of silver hue’ (The War of the Jewels) - Fingon: ‘He wore his long dark hair in great plaits braided with gold’ (The Shibboleth of Fëanor) - And then there’s this quote which implies that long hair was seen as desirable among the Elves: ‘All the Eldar had beautiful hair (and were especially attracted by hair of exceptional loveliness), but the Noldor were not specially remarkable in this respect, and there is no reference to Finwë as having had hair of exceptional length, abundance, or beauty beyond the measure of his people’ (The Shibboleth of Fëanor)

But it’s not just Elves—Men are also described as having long hair:

- Aragorn: ‘He threw back his hood, showing a shaggy head of dark hair flecked with grey’; ‘His hood was cast back, and his dark hair was blowing in the wind’ (FOTR) - The Witch-king of Angmar: ‘His hair was long and gleaming’ (FOTR); in an earlier draft of the scene, Tolkien wrote that all the Ringwraiths had long hair: ‘Upon their long grey hair were crowns and helms of pale gold’ - Boromir: ‘They combed his long dark hair and arrayed it upon his shoulders’ (TTT) - The Rohirrim: ‘Their hair, flaxen-pale, flowed under their light helms, and streamed in long braids behind them’; ‘Where is the helm and the hauberk, and the bright hair flowing?’; ‘Their golden hair was braided on their shoulders’ (TTT) - Eorl the Young: ‘His yellow hair was flying in the wind’ (TTT) - Théoden: ‘His white hair was long and thick and fell in great braids’ (TTT); ‘The hair that flowed beneath his high helm was like snow’ (ROTK) - Men from the South: ‘They have black eyes, and long black hair’; ‘His black plaits of hair braided with gold were drenched with blood’ (TTT) - Faramir and Éowyn: ‘And so they stood on the walls of the City of Gondor, and a great wind rose and blew, and their hair, raven and golden, streamed out mingling in the air’ (ROTK); this would only be possible if Faramir also had long hair - Túrin: ‘For his garb was of the wild woods and his hair was long’ (The Book of Lost Tales)

What about Maiar?

- Gandalf is described as follows: ‘His long white hair, his sweeping silver beard, and his broad shoulders, made him look like some wise king of ancient legend’ (FOTR); ‘His snowy hair flew free in the wind’ (TTT) - Even the Balrog is described as having long hair: ‘Its streaming hair seemed to catch fire, and the sword that it held turned to flame’ (The Return of the Shadow)

Interestingly, I only found a few instances of characters cutting their hair short, and all of them are women:

- Lúthien cuts her hair in The Silmarillion, although it does not say how short, but in The Lays of Beleriand, it says she ‘cut the hair about her ears, and close she cropped it to her head’  - Vána cuts her hair too in The Book of Lost Tales: ‘There follows an account of how Vána…cut short her golden hair and gave it to the Gods, and from her hair they wove sails and ropes’  - In The War of the Ring, Éowyn is described with shorn hair when she goes to war, although this was changed in the final version of ROTK: ‘In the passage that follows, Éowyn’s hair is described as shorn upon her neck’

Really wanted to go to Valinor, but stayed in Middle-Earth because his friend Ulmo told him that he would be needed there;

Fought in all the five major battles of Beleriand and survived them, the only named character to have done so; 

Gets along well with the Noldor (and fought with the Feanorians), despite Thingol being his king;

Was especially friendly with Fingon, and came to his rescue during the Bragollach;

Fought in the Nirnaeth, unlike Orodreth and Thingol;

Helped Turgon send ships to Valinor to plead for aid (and I think it’s likely that some of his own people were on those ships and drowned too);

Established the only refuge in (western?) Beleriand that lasted, and apparently took in whoever needed a safe place;

Close to Gil-Galad;

Fought in the Last Alliance and survived;

Knew who the Istari were when they arrived and which one to give Narya to;

and finally got to go to Aman at the end <3.

You’re living on the coast, knowing that the Noldor have your back against the hordes of Angband who would like to kill/enslave your entire people.

You know the Noldor are losing.

You know that Morgoth isn’t going to stop at the fall of Gondolin and Nargothrond: you’ve seen his armies at your walls before, until the Noldor came.

You are forbidden to sail into the west, because, apparently, it’s your job to sit there in danger building ship after ship. Even though your family is in Valinor, and you always wanted to go there.

Oh yes, and your family, with their amazing ships that could cross the ocean even against the storms of Uinen with a novice crew, are apparently so unbothered by this that they refused to use those ships to get a rescue force to you.

So after Dagor Bragollach you know what’s coming. You’ve been there before. This time, at least, you have a plan. You build a secret refuge down the coast, as somewhere to run to when the orcs arrive at your gate again.

So, after Fingon falls, after your own cities have fallen, you’re living in hiding, and building ship after ship, seeing Turgon’s latest desperate messengers arriving from Gondolin, and knowing that each ship you build, every refinement you think of, every improvement to make it more stable, more robust, faster, is going up against the storms of Osse. (Who used to be your friend, who helped you build your first ships, who probably taught you some of the techniques you are now using to try to build a ship that will stand against him…)

They are probably all going to drown. Again. And you can’t think of a single thing you can do to change that, except to make sure the timber is properly dried, and the buoyancy and weight is distributed perfectly, and the words are said to ask Uinen’s blessing.

Oh, and look after the motherless, fatherless boy who is probably going to end up as Turgon’s heir, when Gondolin finally runs out of luck.

Too bright were the eyes of Arien for even the Eldar to look on, and leaving Valinor she forsook the form and raiment which like the Valar she had worn there, and she was as a naked flame, terrible in the fullness of her splendour.

Of the deeds of desperate valour there done, by the chieftains of the noble houses and their warriors, and not least by Tuor, much is told in The Fall of Gondolin: of the battle of Ecthelion of the Fountain with Gothmog Lord of Balrogs in the very square of the King, where each slew the other, and of the defence of the tower of Turgon by the people of his household, until the tower was overthrown; and mighty was its fall and the fall of Turgon in its ruin.

Ecthelion moodboard

The Silmarillion characters: (124/?)

The Silmarillion - Morgoth vs Fingolfin

“Therefore Morgoth came, climbing slowly from his subterranean throne, and the rumour of his feet was like thunder underground. And he issued forth clad in black armour; and he stood before the King like a tower, iron-crowned, and his vast shield, sable unblazoned, cast a shadow over him like a stormcloud. But Fingolfin gleamed beneath it as a star; for his mail was overlaid with silver, and his blue shield was set with crystals; and he drew his sword Ringil, that glittered like ice.”

― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Silmarillion

[Ancient Quenya] lammo n. “listener (spy or scout)”

SWG November/December 2019 Challenge: Season’s Greetings

The last weeks of the year are upon us once again. Whether in the cold and dark of the northern hemisphere, the heat of summer in the south, or anywhere in between, this is a time of holidays and celebrations. And like our primary world, Middle-earth knows a series of holidays - not just at the end of the year, but all year round. In many cases, we don’t have more than a name and a vague idea when these holidays are likely to happen. In other cases, bad things happen on the holidays - such as the Darkening of Valinor or the Fall of Gondolin. Only rarely do we get a little more information about how the holidays are actually celebrated.

This is where you come in! For this festive season, we invite you to create a fanwork in which one (or several) of the holidays of Middle-earth plays a role. Use it as the occasion that kickstarts your plot, let your characters prepare for a celebration never properly described in the books, write meta about the holiday/s of your choice, create postcards that the characters might be sending to their loved ones … or whatever else tickles your fancy! It can be dramatic and heartbreaking like the Nirnaeth Arnoediad, rousing like the Mereth Aderthad, whimsical and sweet like the Nost-na-Lothion, or anything in between.

We have compiled a list of holidays that are mentioned in the Legendarium, sorted by the peoples who celebrate them, with a short explanation. Can’t find a holiday that inspires you, or see that your preferred Middle-earth culture is underrepresented? No problem! We’re also providing you with a short list of suggestions for creating your own holiday, and you’re welcome to come up with additional ideas. As long as there’s a holiday somehow celebrated by characters from (or inspired by) the Legendarium, it’s fair game!