bamboocounting:

gurguliare:

abadpoetwithdreams:

Were stars ever visible in Valinor before Ungoliant nommed the Trees? Just wondering this suddenly in relation to how the symbol of Feanor is, of course, a Star, because Finwe’s was also a Star, but Finwe came to Valinor from Beleriand where stars were very important, soooo … I’m at work so I don’t have access to my HoME right now (my recollection is each Tree would wax and wane so that their light would commingle in a sort of twilight in-between phases but it never got truly dark?) but the potential of Finwe having his House symbol be something his children wouldn’t really have any concept of is super interesting all of a sudden, idk

…it was called Tol Eressëa, the Lonely
Isle. There the Teleri abode as they wished under the stars of heaven, and yet
within right of Aman and the deathless shore; and by that long sojourn
apart in the Lonely Isle was caused the sundering of their speech from that of
the Vanyar and the Noldor.

To these the Valar had given a land and a dwelling-place. Even among the
radiant flowers of the Tree-lit gardens of Valinor they longed
still at times to see the stars; and therefore a gap was made in the great walls
of the Pelóri, and there in a deep valley that ran down to the sea the
Eldar raised a high green hill: Túna it was called. From the west the
light of the Trees fell upon it, and its shadow lay ever eastward; and to
the east it looked towards the Bay of Elvenhome, and the Lonely Isle, and the
Shadowy Seas. Then through Calacirya, the Pass of Light, the radiance of the
Blessed Realm streamed forth, kindling the dark waves to silver and gold, and it
touched the Lonely Isle, and its western shore grew green and fair.

So the stars aren’t visible in full Tree-light; definitely are visible on Tol Eressëa; and on the shores of Aman/around Calacirya… might be sort of a twilight situation? some light coming through the pass (and distantly over the tops of the mountains?) but still certainly dark enough for stars? Alqualonde, which is on the far side of the Pélori and isn’t even as close to the pass as Tol Eressea is, seems to be dark all the time, hence later “the Haven of the
Swans, lit with many lamps.” Then there’s Tirion itself: built IN the pass because the Noldor miss stars, the Trees shine on it from the west, “and its shadow lay ever eastward”—so in its shadow the stars are visible, it seems like, which is the best thing.

…sorry to OP for the lengthy driveby answer but I love pre-Darkening lighting details, always. also very into the star of Feanor being this weird abstraction up until it suddenly isn’t—even if one has to fudge it a little I think the setup as given means that for at least the Vanyar and most of the inland(??) Noldor, by the end of the age of the Trees, stars were like, a vacation sight and not a regular thing

#the fact that alqualonde was never in tree-light at all is my favorite thing like no fucking wonder after the darkening when#everyone’s running around like chickens with their heads cut off the teleri are just#’…’ (via gurguliare)

Yet again the strong logical reason for assuming that the Teleri were on or at their Swan-ships during the Darkening, because it would be perfectly natural to have no Tree-light, just darkness and some starlight, if aboard the ships. The lack of light coming down from the Pass would have been noticeable, but not as much on the dockside of the city. And if aboard the ships themselves, would have been easy to fool themselves that nothing dire had changed. This normalizing effect would have calmed them. Also why they were psychologically ready to just wait out the Two Trees’ destruction and Darkening of Valinor instead of panic or rash action. Frankly I would not have been surprised if the Teleri floated a plan to evacuate everyone over to Tol Eressëa temporarily; it was probably only the need to stay together at all times as a community and because they were waiting for word from the Valar(Ulmo) that they stayed in Alqualondë.

Considering the very first word and first sight of elves at Cuiviénen were stars (ele!), the star imagery is highly religious and probably for Fëanor’s sigil more a symbol of being the first: the first creation, the first word, the embodiment of how elves define themselves as Eldar, and thus himself as the embodiment of this pinnacle preceding all others.