Tag: replies

Castamir or Fingon }:)

Oh honey, this is so easy.

Castamir by huge leagues.

Which character is actually interesting? Which character has a more compelling story? Which character overall comes across as more competent in scheming and political leadership and ruling? 

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Castamir as part of the most interesting period of pre-Ring Gondorian history. Who stands with his cousin until his well-planned and executed betrayal, steals the throne using the popular support of the people of Gondor, rules for years making more enemies, that you could write a Shakespearean tragedy so easily about the whole thing, and then Eldacar returning in the one Return of the King for Gondor I have zero problems with – that Castamir and all his triumphs and cruelties and mistakes are so very real to history. The parallels to not just ancient Roman, but anything. The playing on Númenorean purity – and how such blood purity fears were proved by history to be wrong. How this leads into Gondor’s problems with Umbar. How this echoes down into Faramir and Eowyn. Exciting meta and great story setting potential!

Fingon has the tag bland beige wallpaper boy for a reason, and one of the reasons I like Gil-galad as his son is that it gives Fingon a great accomplishment of being at least the sperm donor to a great king and an excuse to pull into the narrative the OCs of the Sindarin ex-rulers of Mithrim. Fingon is the too-brash lesser son of a great man who when you read between the lines was not trusted to rule over his own territory (said territory gifted to the Edain). He’s Takeda Katsuyori to Fingolfin’s Takeda Shingen. Quite frankly I don’t get too upset at the idea of Maedhros stuck hanging off the side of Thangorodrim for all of the First Age. Fingon’s greatest feat = meh. So much M/M fic and art it would have spared us. Fandom puts him on a pedestal I see very little reason to have earned it. He wasn’t the one to make alliances and bring kingdoms together – that was Finrod and to a much lesser extent Maedhros. Fingon is a kin-slayer and I never saw on-page signals of his repentance for it.  Yes, Castamir is also a Kin-slayer, but the text treats him as vile for it and he pays for it. I will always like a good villain admired as a villain over a lackluster hero who inspires boredom.

mahidevrans replied to your photo:Three evenings later – making good progress. 

ahhh which one are you making!?

Ah, it’s not clear? The first lúthien one as i figured it most appropriate. The next one I’ll attempt with probably be a toss-up between lúthien 2, beren as to have a matching set, finduilas, or one of the random ocs- poppies or swans maybe…

cornflower-queen:

squirrelwrangler:

heget’s Silmarillion Sigil Set

your daily dose, (17/?)

Disclaimer: Here is a blend of Original Tolkien creations (aka my best efforts at recreating the author’s drawing), modifications on the original, and designs completely from cloth.

Please credit if use.

In order:

Green Elves of Ossiriand (Laiquendi or Nandor), Mirkwood (Oropher, Thranduil, Legolas)

Previous Entries:

  • HERE is the master-list.

Notes:

Here are sigls for two generalized Sindar-Silvan groups, both with near identical stories on how I created them.

I had some color palettes for houses, one of which I used a lot in the Amanyar elves. I would make random sigils using those color choices as practice. Originally the first one was just a palette swap of one of those old designs. It sat around in my geometric heraldry folder until I was making banners. I applied it to the mesh and thought, “Okay, the Nandor. My Green Elves need a banner, and this is plenty of green.” Art Nouveau pea flowers (sort-of) became House of Denethor (The Original). Another random design attempt had the right browns and greens that when I was pressed to give something to the whole Oropher-Thranduil-Legolas clan, I also revived this one from the back of the folder and rechristened it Mirkwood. Actually I may go back and make a more Sindarized version of this for Oropher in the First Age, but this is the sigil for the Second and Third Age in Mirkwood/Greenwood the Great.

I love your sigils so much – will you do more for the third age and more in the Mirkwood clan?

Here’s where I made a few more Third Age sigils on request, including Legolas LINK. I haven’t made any sigils recently, but I have my request box open at all times.

Thank you for all the well-wishes on my birthday!

heckofabecca said: happy birthday, dear one ❤

anghraine said: happy birthday, yearmate 🙂

Birthday buddies! It was very cool to learn I was only a day behind becca and it’s a comfort to know I share old-timer fanning it up on tumblr status with elizabeth. ;p

crocordile said: awwww the big 30!! hehehe I’l be following u in a couple years 🙂 happy birthday, my friend!!

And then juliana to make me feel all old again. ;p i tease yet again, dear heart.

vefanyar said: Happy birthday! ❤ And the big 3-0 is a lie anyway, I’m beginning to think “adulthood” as such is a myth anyway.

I’m with you there; adulthood is definitely an artificial construct!

tindez said: Happy birthday! Sounds like a pretty excellent way to celebrate, for those around our age lol? (definitely not old but also not young enough to make a big, loud mess of it?)

Yep, cake and opening just a few presents (I got the coolest glittery cat bracelet watch from my grandma and bought myself awesome shoes) and not making a big deal of it is the way to go once you’ve aged out of your teens.

And to everyone else, Thank you!

C E L E B O R N

C: Can they swim well?

Very well. Not every Sindar is a great swimmer, though they love rivers and ponds even if no longer enamored of the sea. And Celeborn is someone who loves to boat, so he’d’ve have practice swimming in the rivers.

E: How are they with children?

Definitely. Celeborn for best dad. He’s patient and supportive, the dad to sits and play tea parties and it’s a gut thing, but I feel Celebrían was closer to her dad than mom. I’m not sure which parent was the disciplinarian.

L: What is their favourite board game?

Oooh, do we have any info on board games in Tolkien? I think there’s a chess metaphor in the books, but I’m not sure. So I wonder what ancient board games would fit in the universe. Would a mancala-like game be popular or something involving black and white pieces on a square board that could be as simple as checkers/draughts, the roman game of latrones, or as complex as go? Before the arrival of Morgoth’s feel wolves and monsters and later orcs, there wouldn’t be the need of a military tactics training game, so the board game model would be gambling/collecting stones/passing the other person in the model of a backgammon-like game. Which fits in nicely with the Royal Game of Ur, and isn’t that an elf-like artifact? Afterwards (and I have to believe one of these games was part of the initial strong cultural exchange between the dwarves and the elves of Doriath) such a draughts/chess game would have been very popular for princes during the First Age, and Celeborn would have played. I’m sure Galadriel introduced him to Amanyar board games and repeatedly and soundly beat him at most of them, but i can imagine him holding his own and beating her as well, fueling her interest and her competitiveness driving her to spend time with him, growing their romance. Patolli doesn’t seem like his thing. …wow i’m overthinking this without giving a definitive answer.

B: Do they have any allergies?

I don’t think elves did? Except for sensitivity to Melkor/Sauron’s evil.

O: What would it take to break them, inside and out?

Depends on how broken he was at any point in canon. but he did survive the destruction of his home -repeated. He survived the deaths of his parents, grandparents, king and great-uncle, the deaths of his cousins, his niece, his great-nephews, his home sacked twice,his king again, losing the continent of his birth and long deep attachment, being overthrown in a political coup over the land and new home he had established, having that destroyed by Sauron again, his wife living centuries under strain and the fear of losing her, losing his daughter*, etc… and still he rebuilds and endures and moves on. Only Círdan of all the elves possibly can claim to have endured and survived more than Celeborn, and no one has lost more. If he broke during any of those moments, or repeatedly, he recovered as to have hope of victory in during the War of the Ring three ages later. I don’t think even the possibility of Galadriel seizing the One Ring and going Dark Mistress of All would permanently break Celeborn inside and out.

*Not even bringing up if Amroth was Celeborn’s son or just quasi-adopted and loved as one, or here he goes to the list.

R: What are their hands like?

Large, very handsome, but scarred. Calluses from the bowstring and centuries of wielding the ax. long fingers, nails short and neat,tries and fails to clean all the dirt from under them. Doesn’t wear rings.

N: What do they usually eat for breakfast?

Whatever is normal elven breakfast- I imagine honey is part of it.

kareenvorbarra replied to your post:Star Wars opinions that will or will not put me at…

maul is garbage omg i was so angry when he showed up in clone wars

YESssss~ And it was so unnecessary because I know he has fans but, uh, they didn’t need his character to return at all. Having the brother out for revenge worked perfectly fine to bring up all the old Obi-wan angst and plot points from TPM and was a more interesting character by default. Thank goodness for the Clone Wars for expanding the screen time and plot characterizations for Count Dooku and General Grievous (and who was just as if not even more interesting as the cut-and-run coughing cyborg villain we got in the movies than the animated “Bad-ass Untouchable Jedi-Killer” of the first animated Clone Wars cartoon). But Maul’s role in TPM was to be the red herring, to be Sidious’s brute dragon, to be the menacing violent threat as to kill and be killed and just enough backstory and depth to hint at that he was a child soldier sacrifice raised from early childhood by Sidious but still, he’s a flat character with a solid visual design and that’s it. I don’t care about his motivations, his revival was beyond stupid, and it killed my interest in the tv show.

Hello! I am VERY interested in that idea that E&E were rescued by Nandor scouts rather than willingly given back. Could you elaborate on this??

Here is the very sloppy outline of the idea, and the OC Laegrim leader inspired one of my sigils. 

Summary version goes like this:

  • having been in the Silm fandom long enough to grow out of some initial and/or shallow impressions (while some initial thoughts have only solidified over the years), fanon stories of Maglor as Elros and Elrond’s caring and loved tragic father repels and disgusts me.
  • there is no canon for how long Elros and Elrond were held captive by Maglor and Maedhros or how or when they made it back to their actual kin
  • Nor is there a reason why Maedhros and Maglor, having their perfect hostages, would return them (certainly not fear of the Valar/reprisails from all the boys’ kin, as that last attack of theft and murder after the end of the War of Wrath proved)
  • The two traumatized children can still feel the start of Stockholm Syndrome towards Maglor (who has classic Lima Syndrome) and plot to escape
  • They free the picketed horses and run away from camp – and this time make it far enough into the woods
  • patrolling Nandor refugee scout leader who has gone a little harsh and fey after centuries of warfare and having his kingdoms destroyed comes across the twins
  • (said Green Elf party at first mistakes them for the legendized Elured and Elurin, who have become figures of ‘the kings/glory that shall return’ a la King Arthur)
  • (said elves were also very close friends of Beren, Lúthien, Dior, and Nimloth)
  • They realize who Elros and Elrond really are, take them up into the trees to hide just before Maedhros and Maglor arrive
  • Nandor scouts almost turn the two Kinslayers into very decorated archery targets but instead decide to give a plethora of sharply aimed warning shots
  • a bit of barbed banter
  • Maglor and Maedhros concede defeat, suspicions confirmed that the Nandor have the boys and they aren’t getting them back
  • The Green Elves take Elrond and Elros to Círdan and Gil-galad on the Isle of Balar where the boys are reunited with the few survivors of the Mouths of Sirion (I know there’s a footnote about Eärendil’s nurse Meleth making it to Sirion and I think also being a nurse of the twins, but I think that same footnote mentions she died in the attack)
  • Also an open question whether anyone in Balar believed the twins alive until this point, because until the few survivors said they say otherwise, everyone believed Maedhros and Maglor had killed the boys- and all they saw was the two taking the twins. Unless Gil-galad and Círdan got a letter otherwise, by reputationa dn previous tarck record, the twins are beliveed dead
  • twins spend rest of the First Age with the mixed Edain/Elf survivors in Balar and in Elros’s case at least fighting alongside the Edain during the War of Wrath
  • Maglor and Maedhros no longer half their hostages to keep Círdan/Gil-galad and later the various members of the Army of the Valar at bay, thus slip deeper into hiding in the Taur-im-Duinath until the war is over

The only problem with this for me is that lingering question of the Aranrúth.