Tag: valar

alfonso-cuaron:

Greatest in strength and deeds of prowess is Tulkas, who is surnamed Astaldo, the Valiant. He came last to Arda, to aid the Valar in the first battles with Melkor.
Nessa is the sister of Oromë, and she also is lithe and fleetfooted. Deer she loves, and they follow her train whenever she goes in the wild; but she can outrun them, swift as an arrow with the wind in her hair
And it is sung that in that feast of the Spring of Arda Tulkas espoused Nessa…, and she danced before the Valar upon the green grass of Almaren.

Omg what you’re writing a fic for this??!?!??! I didn’t know!! I would’ve put more thought into it (honestly I was kinda bullshitting everything?? Some clicked and they we’re just PERFECT!!!!! but others were just not???) I’m very curious as to how this is going to turn out!!!!!!! (if you want we can bounce a few more ideas of each other, I had multiple creatures for each one (except Ulmo sadly, honestly I drew a blank with him))

Yes! For a few years now – I can give the AO3 links, but they’re also on my blog. Of Ingwë Ingweron – it’s the long labor of love (and niche interests) where I started writing the part of The Silmarillion I thought I never would aka elves pre-Great Journey, focused mostly on the Minyar/Vanyar. So far the only Valar to appear is Oromë and Nahar, and the chapter I’m trying to finish is has the majority of the shape-changing. (a WIP is the most recent post in my young bucks of cuiviénen tag) In the side-story collection is more prehistoric animals cameos- or at least one vaguely referenced, also where I complain that having the elves encounter mammoths and mastodons don’t contradict canon, but having them gather water reeds and rushes does. But the only other fic I’ve written that uses these ‘Valar in prehistoric megafauna’ ideas is this Ilmarë one.

Eh~~ Ulmo doesn’t show up to meetings, he doesn’t get to show up on these lists 😉

And it’s a spit-balling ideas post, so these off-the-cuff ideas are perfectly fine, so yes, would love to hear ideas!

kingbratwurst:

sindefara:

squirrelwrangler:

Okay, Valar fans who are also paleontology fans or just big dinosaur fans- help me brainstorm what other extinct megafauna the various Ainur are

Ossë is a basilosaurus- those gigantic sea serpent looking toothed whales of the warm shallow seas.

Oromë is a giant ground sloth and the large antlered deer like the Irish elk.

Ilmarë is a terror bird, and so might Eönwë.

Is Aulë one of those giant beavers? 

Who is the saber-tooth cat? Or the tiny precursor to the horse?

Is Ulmo a coelacanth?

Ulmo was a Dunkleosteus)

I wanted to do all the Valar so please bear with this long post (also please excuse any language mistakes this was done by a non-native speaker in a hurry)

Keep reading

Yay, more lovely detailed replies!

So as someone who loves vultures and already wrote vultures into my Bór series as the always paired with eagles positive royal iconography of their culture and thus also very prevalent in early Númenor, having Manwë as a beautiful giant vulture is frankly more delightful that giant eagle. Also something something symbolic cleaning up after Melkor’s violence, repairing of Arda Marred so it’s livable, be nice to the scavengers and decomposers because the ecosystems depend on them.

Varda can be as big or small as she wants, and since her handmaiden is a terror bird, we can go back further. To be honest, something about that collecting and using the nectar/dew of the Trees in vaults and pools to make more stars does bring to mind the image of bees making honey, but the connection to flowers and spring and dancing means the bee iconography might show up in depictions for Vàna or Nessa instead. Still. Let’s let Varda have her bees.

Ulmo….lol, dunkleosteus, coelacanth, lungfish … yeah I don’t want some animal that’s very impressive for him. I don’t like him that much, and when he has to do overwhelming grandeur and awe, Ulmo can do that giant manifestation in scale mail that towers like a tidal wave. Ossë the basilosaurus and Uinen who switches between jellyfish and coral when they aren’t in humanoid bodies is here to stay, though.

I like armadillos too. Aulë honestly is the craftsman, so a form without thumbs probably isn’t his jam, but I ain’t saying no to a Vala as an adorable giant armadillo.

Vána as the tiny horse ancestors! OMG YES! Because that’s a) the cutest thing ever and b) Oromë the rider of horses and how this concept of Oromë and Nahar introducing the elves to horseback riding has been a multi-chapter thread so story thematic this is perfect.

Nienna the mammoth – I’m nodding along with you.

Yes- Oromë as the one with most page time and getting to show off his various animal transformations- and as the one where animal transformations seem most aligned to his character- gets to list out several choices: giant deer, over-sized auroch, ground sloth, wolf, panther, weasel… But even if I wrote the hunting scene where he only shifts between ‘elven’, deer, and bull, if Oromë is just by himself and wants to be something other than human/elf, giant ground sloth would be imho the perfect fit for him.

Estë the giant wombat I have only one minor quibble: can they swim? Because she’s in the middle of an island.

Ooo~ Irmo as a snake, and if we tie in a little bit of the caduceus symbol it connects to healing and thus Estë, but then the Sumerian rebirth says Nàmo should be the giant snake, not his brother, but then the two snakes of Finrod’s ring so one or more of the Valar have to be snakes or associated with snakes…

Tulkas is the hell pig. Of course he is the hell pig. Frey and the boars of the Celts and other Northern European traditions on which Tolkien was drawing inspiration demand that someone is a giant pig. And let’s face it, Oromë has sort of claimed the cattle iconography, so Tulkas is the only one left. Like, you have bull, pig, and bear (and deer and horse) as your main three that have to show up. If Tulkas isn’t the Entelodon, then only Melkor is. Yes, pigs are evil. 

sauwuron:

namo: melkor, for thy wicked and craven deeds, thou art sentenced to three hundred years-

melkor: hey wait don’t i get to make a defence statement

namo: you’ve been found guilty there’s literally nothing you can do to change your sentence

manwe: no it’s alright let him speak

melkor: thank you *deep breath*

MOTHERS AND FUCKERS OF THE JURY,