#almaren

in the days before… well, everything

two babies 🥺💕plus some dumbass behind the bush (affectionate)

link to Growing Mushrooms🍄‍🟫

close ups below:

Mairon: What an idiot

back to middle-earth month 3/2/26 | 2007: the silmarillion | the isle of almaren

Then the seeds that Yavanna had sown began swiftly to sprout and to burgeon, and there arose a multitude of growing things great and small, mosses and grasses and great ferns, and trees whose tops were crowned with cloud as they were living mountains, but whose feet were wrapped in a green twilight. And beasts came forth and dwelt in the grassy plains, or in the rivers and the lakes, or walked in the shadows of the woods. As yet no flower had bloomed nor any bird had sung, for these things waited still their time in the bosom of Yavanna; but wealth there was of her imagining, and nowhere more rich than in the midmost parts of the Earth, where the light of both the Lamps met and blended. And there upon the Isle of Almaren in the Great Lake was the first dwelling of the Valar when all things were young, and new-made green was yet a marvel in the eyes of the makers; and they were long content.

Mairon: I cannot imagine. But don't come crying if it goes downhill.

Eönwë: You are about as romantic as a rock. (Rolls his eyes)

Mairon: Curumo keeps yapping about Olorin all day in at the forges, and I am up to here in lovesick tales of anticipation. I just want to work.

...

Also Mairon, alone, whining into the void: Why am I feeling?! This was not planned, nothing of these stupid butterflies in my insides was intended! Melkor! I hate you!

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Eönwë/Sauron (Tolkien) Characters: Sauron (Tolkien), Eönwë (Tolkien) Additional Tags: Romantic Fluff, Stress Baking, Almaren (Tolkien), Pre-Slash, First Kiss, Years of the Lamps (Tolkien), Prompt Fic, Challenge Response, Silmarillion Writers' Guild Summary:

So I'm currently thinking about Ainur designs during the Almaren era, Melkor and Mairon in particular (this is not a serious headcanon post, btw, this is a brain dump that I feel like sharing with the besties on here). Anyway, I would like to try out some "weirder" designs, reason being that at this point Ainur haven't seen humanoids and are going with what they remember from the music and copy from one another. Adding various supernatural and/or animal features is a good start, but what I'm playing with right now in my head is also this angle of them looking kind of... proto-humanoid? Like basically "humanoid according to Eru's description, artist's rendition".

In Mairon's case, I've always liked the idea that his first forms while studying under Aulë looked like a statue of sorts. He made his first fána because he had need of it for work reasons, and while some of his peers may have kept it simple and others added their own flair (see above), he went about it like a craftsman would. Again: Artist's rendition of a humanoid body. And since Mairon is an ambitious artist and craftsman, he carefully crafted and sculpted a lovely shape for himself. The Ainurin version of Michelangelo's David, if you will. I also imagine Mairon's forms (all of them) as androgynously beautiful, the kind that's just absolutely gorgeous and stunning and inspires gender envy in all genders (nobody is safe).

Other ideas I had include making his skin either golden or marble with golden patterns and his hair being kind of... heavy? Like he shaped it into artistic curls and waves, but they would barely move in the wind, if at all; reason being that, at this point, he's a fire spirit working with rocks and metal, so flammable organic material is not his forte (to the chagrin of Yavanna. I like to think that, ironically, Melkor taught him about such material in depth later. But those are stories for another time).

As for Melkor, I want him to look the most human out of all the Ainur, funnily enough. I know this might sound odd considering he was barely even listening to the third theme, but he did have the greatest insight into the vision and it's a big theme that he's the most human out of all the Valar. Nevertheless, his fána would still have its "odd" and "unique" properties, just due to the fact that a) he's Melkor and b) he's weird and extra. Since he's still in a state where he can match all the other Valar and their Maiar on his own, his skin is pretty much impervious to any and all harm, to name just one example.

The main design elements I've been rotating in my head for his earlier forms revolve around his hair. I like to imagine it being pitch black at the roots, like the darkness of outer space, but becoming luminous at the tips. He's rocking the anglerfish ombré. Also depending on the angle and lighting and his mood the lights are constantly shifting in wavelength, and you see all colors of the electromagnetic spectrum flickering in and out of existence. Another thing I've been picturing for Melkor's hair in general is that it's constantly in motion, similar to Manwë who always has his wind around him. The difference is that there is no wind around Melkor. His hair just does that. If there's no wind at all, it's moving, and if there is wind, it's still moving, but not as it should. It's not super noticeable, rather subtle, but if you were to look at it for a long time, you would wonder if his hair is alive and has its own chaotic agenda. Also I'm fond of the idea that he likes to use it as additional arms, think Midna from Twilight Princess (either one big hand or smaller tendril hands, depending on what he uses it for).

I tried to do the little bastard in his main outfits during Arda history. Here he is.

Hope you Enjoy him .