#himlad

We know from Tolkien’s canon that elven and human cultures in Beleriand and elsewhere in Middle Earth had cattle, horses, and sheep and we can likely extrapolate from other details that they also kept chickens and possibly pigs in some cases. But as there are dozens of animals kept in real life I wanted to explore some other possibilities

Today I'm thinking about emus!

I’ve mentioned them in a couple places before namely my birds of Himlad post! I headcanon that emus, primarily found east of the Ered Luin but also in scrublands of Beleriand. Emus have been raised for meat, leather, and feathers as well as kept, funnily enough, as guards.

In Beleriand they’re primarily kept in Himlad by the host of Celegorm and by Avarin groups in Eastern Beleriand. The Drúedain humans who are nomadic also keep them. Their primary purpose is meat, eggs and leather and they can sometimes be kept as long term companions. Emu feathers are a common motif in Eastern Avarin art and appear on the heraldic device of one of Celegorm’s lords in Himlad.

Some of the Noldor of Himlad have also trained emus to follow alongside them and a few do employ them as guards

Elsewhere in Middle Earth, I think they could be kept in Gondor, perhaps in the lands around Minas Tirith. I love the idea of the people living there keeping them as guards and for eggs. The feathers could be used in decorative items including jewelry and household decor. and motifs of them appear in embroidery. Children’s illustrations sometimes depict soldiers as emus with Gondoran heraldic devices

I know I have a couple of Gondor experts that I follow and I’d love to know if this makes sense for your visions of Gondor!

Also, I couldn’t resist adding, though they would likely not live in western Beleriand, I would still love to give Aerin a baby emu...I feel like the colors would fit her too. The Drúedain who travel through Hithlum occasionally (from which Wilwandrëa is from) probably aren’t the same ones who keep emus but if they are, maybe Aerin could at least hold a baby one…

"Between Himring and Dorthonion there was a pass, exceeding steep upon the west, and that was the Pass of Aglon, and was a gate unto Doriath; and a bitter wind blew ever through it from the north. But Celegorm and Curufin fortified Aglon and held it with great strength, and all the land of Himlad southward between the River Aros that rose in Dorthonion and his tributary Celon that came from Himring." - J.R.R. Tolkien, The Silmarillion, "Of Beleriand and its Realms"

@cnc-week day 6 ⇢ HIMLAD ERA

[ID: a picspam comprised of 12 images primarily in earthy shades of brown, green, and black.

ATLAS OF ARDA ⇢ HIMLAD

↳ for @feanorianweek 2025 Day 3: Celegorm and Day 5: Curufin

You know what gets me about Celegorm and Curufin specifically? They are quite possibly two of the least redeemable characters in the Legendarium (saying a lot) and are equally fucked up but in fundamentally different ways. Curufin believing in his father absolutely even after everything and still being convinced in his righteousness and resenting others for standing in the way of what the sees them as morally entitled to whereas Celegorm just doesn’t think in terms of right or wrong anymore, he’s not trying to be ‘good’ he has a goal and he’ll take any path available to achieve it.

Purely selfish in both cases but Curufin has a god complex (or more like he puts Feanor on a pedestal and agrees with his god complex) and hates the Valar with a vitriol and has successfully bent himself over backwards to consider all his actions entirely justified. Whereas Celegorm genuinely doesn’t bother justifying himself at this point and has the ‘well we’re all doomed anyway so who the fuck cares anymore?’ attitude to future actions. He doesn’t hate the Valar for the same reasons some of the others do, he doesn’t distrust them or believe they’re evil, he feels his people were abandoned and resents it because he knows he was in the wrong but Morgoth is very clearly worse and haven’t they suffered enough yet?

Very different and terrible kinds of evil, but equally evil. Do they really understand each other’s moral compass (or lack of it)? Probably not, but they accept it anyway. They know that nothing they do will ever disgust or horrify the other because they’re both as bad as each other and there’s something freeing (if decidedly unhealthy) about that lack of judgement.

I am so obsessed with the dynamic of two mass murderers with no morals whatsoever never once contemplating stabbing each other in the back because they love each other just as much as any of the heroes love their family. Think about it, Curufin has his father’s name, his face, his skill set, and we know these are the things that Curufin would consider of utmost importance. There’s no way Curufin doesn’t think he should be on a throne, he was most probably out for Fingolfin’s and canonically out for Finrod’s. But he wasn’t out for Finrod’s throne to take himself, he wanted to place Celegorm on it.

He thinks insanely high of himself and thinks he’s worthy to be a king but he clearly believes Celegorm just as worthy and has trust that his brother would value his input and treat him as an equal, which doesn’t seem that far fetched because, even with all the clashes you’d think would come between two strong personalities like them, they ruled Himlad jointly for years with no power struggles. What’s more it seems like this was by choice, that instead of ruling their own realms, which you’d imagine proud people like them would want to do, they preferred to share Himlad in an equal partnership.

Curufin is so terrible even his own son, and presumably wife, can’t bear to be around him anymore but Celegorm? He’s never going to leave him, never, they are always going to back each other up and everyone else will suffer for it.

One of my favourite moments with them is when everything goes to hell, they’ve been banished, Finrod’s dead, Luthien escaped and then, to top it all of, they try to get revenge on one maiden and a mortal and not only get utterly trashed but Celegorm’s dog who he’s had since childhood and kept as a companion through everything up until this point finally changes sides with no warning whatsoever and chooses Luthien over him (on another note, what the hell Huan? You seriously haven’t had moral qualms before now? Even if this was the last straw for you could you not have picked a better moment than when Celegorm looked like the only person who was going to stop his brother being throttled to death?)

So Curufin’s almost died and Celegorm, after they got absolutely humiliated and have lost everything due mostly to the two people in front of him and he’s not known for his ability to control his anger, is ready to leave. After Curufin is released Celegorm takes him unto his horse and starts to ride off with him before Curufin initiates again and fires after them. Celegorm is the hunter among them, presumably he’s far better with his own bow and he definitely wants revenge, but he doesn’t shoot after them. He’s willing to give up his revenge for his brother’s safety and that’s more of a show of love for them than anything else could be.

Celebrimbor: (hears a bunch of crashing downstairs) Oh no

Celegorm: YOU! Have you ever heard of a mountain chicken!?

Celebrimbor: Please don’t hurt me…

Celegorm: Have you ever heard of a mountain chicken?

Celebrimbor: …

Celebrimbor: No

Celegorm: What do you think it looks like?

Celebrimbor: …like a really big chick-

Celegorm: That’s what I thought! But No!

Throwing down an entire frog onto the table