The Quendi

 Who would win in a fight, Gandalf/Mithrandir/Olorin or Sauron/Gorthaur/Mairon?  Rules: • No power restrictions! (As in hypothetically, the Valar tell Gandalf he has license to use his full powers, and Sauron is not disembodied) • No allies! (As in Gandalf can’t summon eagles, etc. and Sauron can’t summon Nazgûl, etc.) • Focused on three categories: strategy, combat skill, power  1.) Strategy: Gandalf Sauron’s strategic skills are somewhat lacking. For example, if the only thing that could destroy the One Ring was to throw it in the fires of Mount Doom, then why didn’t he just have his servants destroy the volcano, or at least the bridge that leads straight into it? If the volcano was completely blocked, nobody would be able to destroy the ring. He also purposefully engineers the demise of Numenor, and fails to account for his own presence in the kingdom at the time of its fall, idiotically getting himself killed in the process. Gandalf, on the other hand, tends to have g...

Introduction: Quenya is the language of the High Elves in Valinor, making it the native tongue of the Noldor who came to Middle Earth. However, when King Thingol of the Sindar heard of the kinslaying in Aqualondë against his brother’s people, he banned the language in Beleriand as retaliation. Whether or not this was a legitimate ban, many of the Noldor stopped speaking Quenya and the language was replaced by Sindarin Elvish (which had already existed in Middle Earth before the exiles arrived). By the Third Age, Quenya had become a dead language used for ceremonies and spoken almost exclusively by scholars. Let’s discuss! Part 1: legitimacy, reasoning, and impact (prior post) Part 2: perspective and world-building, concluding remarks, fun facts 1.) Perspective and world-building The language ban is presented as acceptable in The Silmarillion, and the Quenya names of places and people that were never in Middle Earth are almost always translated to Sindarin anyway. For example, Arafinwë ...

 Introduction: Quenya is the language of the High Elves in Valinor, making it the native tongue of the Noldor who came to Middle Earth. However, when King Thingol of the Sindar heard of the kinslaying in Aqualondë against his brother’s people, he banned the language in Beleriand as retaliation. Whether or not this was a legitimate ban, many of the Noldor stopped speaking Quenya and the language was replaced by Sindarin Elvish (which had already existed in Middle Earth before the exiles arrived).  By the Third Age, Quenya had become a dead language used for ceremonies and spoken almost exclusively by scholars. Let’s discuss! Part 1: legitimacy, reasoning, and impact Part 2: perspective and world-building, concluding remarks, fun facts (coming soon) 1.) Was it legitimate? Thingol is king of the Sindar, not the Noldor, but he justifies the ban through his claim of lordship over all Beleriand (Western Middle Earth). When he first claims this lordship, the Noldor basically laugh at...

Throughout The Lord of the Rings, thoughts of the Shire motivate the hobbits to continue on their respective journeys. The Shire is their home, the place they’ve always known and loved, and yet they would leave it behind to serve the greater good. Let’s explore the thematic, plot-related, and symbolic significance of this unique setting.  The Shire is not elegant like Rivendell, ethereal like Lothlorien, free like the plains of Rohan, wild like Fangorn, or even tragically romanticized like Gondor or Moria. Instead, it’s characterized by quiet nature, peaceful and unremarkable people, and average interactions for what resembles a rural countryside. Yet, to Frodo and Sam, Merry and Pippin, the Shire is the most beautiful place in all the lands. It’s the Shire that inspired Frodo and Sam during their darkest hours to keep moving forward through Mordor, and the Shire that Merry and Pippin thought of when stirring the Ents to war on Isengard. These hobbits have seen and experienced the ...

 If there was a Lord of the Rings Yearbook, what characters would win which superlatives? 

  “Valinor” — An Unfinished Tales and Silmarillion parody of Madonna’s “La Isla Bonita” from Galadriel’s perspective Nai hiruvalyë Valimar Last night I dreamt of Valinor Though many years I’m gone, I know the song A young girl with eyes like the starlight It all seems like yesterday, not far away Timeless lands across the sea All of nature pure and clean This is where I long to be Eldamar, Mélamar And while the harpists sang  The Trees would blend in light Ring through my ears and grace my eyes Your Quenya lullaby I fell in love in Alqualondë Cool foam blowing from the sea, he called to me Quentës nin: “Melin tyë” Through everything that came to pass, his love did last Timeless lands across the sea All of nature pure and clean This is where I long to be Eldamar, Mélamar And while the harpists sang  The Trees would blend in light Ring through my ears and grace my eyes Your Quenya lullaby I want to be where mountains meet the sky When it's time for the High Feast, you can w...

 

Ents are sentient, tree-like beings who roam and protect the forests of Middle Earth— and they deserve appreciation!  1.) Cool Backstory  Ents were created to be “Shepards of the Trees”  by Illuvatar at the request of the Vala Yavanna. Concerned that plants would have no protection from harm, she wished for there to be “trees [who] might speak on behalf of all things that have roots, and punish those who wrong them!” ( The Silmarillion , “Of Aulë and Yavanna”). Rather humorously, Yavanna is most definitely referring to the Dwarves her husband Aulë illegally created when she says “Those who wrong them!”. It’s quite funny to consider that she was trying to get back at him, while also protecting her dear flora. It becomes even more humorous when she triumphantly arrives at Aulë’s forge to tell him how her Ents are going to fight his Dwarves and he doesn’t even care.  2.) Powerful allies  In Middle Earth, the Ents were awakened by Elves who wanted to teach trees to...

  “In the First Age” — A parody of Katy Perry’s “Last Friday Night” (Mostly about the Years of the Sun in Middle Earth) NOLDOR: We were chill in Valinor  (Manwë in the background: Oh really?) But the two Trees are no more Morgoth stole the Silmarils And King Finwë, he was killed FËANOR: Everyone, let’s start a fight! FINARFIN: That kinslaying wasn’t right FINGOLFIN: You mean that we attacked them first? MANDOS: If you leave now, you’ll be cursed  TURGON: Fëanor just burnt the Teleri’s ships; we’re doomed! AREDHEL: We know FINGOLFIN: Let’s march through the ice, so that we can fight them too ARGON: Ugh! ALL: In the First Age! FINGON: Yeah, we sang loudly in Angband MAEDHROS: Let’s defend Beleriand! FINGOLFIN: Have a feast throughout the land ALL: In the First Age! TURGON: We’re gonna explore and expand ANGROD: I think Quenya just got banned (Caranthir: *side eye*) ALL: Against Morgoth we shall stand! In the First Age! FINROD: We were joined by the Edain...

Maedhros and Maglor swore the Oath of Fëanor, vowing to reclaim the Silmarils at all costs. In the process, they also declared their souls doomed for all eternity if they ever broke it. Obviously, this was not a very intelligent thing to do, and it forced them to commit terrible deeds they wouldn’t have dreamt of committing otherwise. Outside of the Oath (which they rashly swore in the heat of a moment), neither of them were bad people. In fact, they were actually rather good. Nelyafinwë Maitimo Russandol “Maedhros” — • Refused to burn the boats at Losgar and was strongly against abandoning Fingolfin’s forces • Prevented a civil war by abdicating the throne • Strategically moved his psychotic brothers east to prevent drama  • Maintained the March of Maedhros in Himring (an extremely dangerous region) for centuries to keep the eastern parts of Beleriand safe and absorb attacks from Angband before they reached the west.  • Organized the Union of Maedhros, which was probably one ...

There is a common belief that Tolkien failed to adequately write women into his works. He is thought of as depicting women as unimportant side-characters whose only purpose is to look beautiful, where Eowyn, Galadriel, and Luthien are the few exceptions. However, this is a false misconception based on out-of context assumptions and adaptations. The ladies of Middle Earth and Valinor are warriors, scholars, and artists… just like the gentlemen. Many of them are also mothers who would do anything for their children. So without further ado, let’s hear it for the awesome unspoken girl bosses of LOTR! (All of the images are from Tolkien Gateway)  Aredhel, the White Lady of the Noldor was known for her great strength and adventurous spirit —hunting and horse-back riding in the forests of Valinor and Middle Earth.  She was exceedingly brave and sacrificed herself to save her son, Maeglin, a feat that often gets overlooked because of his eventual actions.  Nerdanel the Wise was ...

What would the Fellowship of the Ring be like if its members were from the First Age? Introducing the Fellowship of the Ring: Epic Edition *Warning: this post is purposely very silly 😁 Frodo and Sam —> Lúthien and Huan Luthien and Huan literally showed up at Sauron’s fortress during the height of his power, killed a bunch of orcs, werewolves, and vampires, tore down the walls, freed the prisoners, and last but not least BEAT-UP SAURON… all without any army or weapons.  Outside of her obvious qualifications, Luthien would make a fantastic ring-bearer, as she has a high resistance to evil. For instance, she came face to face with Morgoth and walked away completely unscathed and unmarred. Furthermore, everybody else would be too scared to take the ring from her. Even the son’s of Fëanor, who were under oath to take back the Silmarils, just decided to completely ignore the fact that she had one for like 70 years.  Like Sam is to Frodo, Huan is extremely loyal to Luthien. He ha...

 From Aragorn and Eomer becoming “brothers” after the war, to the ideological titles of “Firstborn” and “Second comers”, there’s quite a bit of sibling rhetoric in LOTR and the Silmarillion. Let’s explore this literary technique and its purpose in Tolkien’s writing.  After the Battle of Pelennor Fields, Eomer renews the Oath of Eorl and calls Aragorn his brother, swearing loyalty and friendship between Rohan and Gondor. Of course they’re not literally brothers, but if we take Aragorn as representing Gondor and Eomer as Rohan — two kingdoms that always stand together — the word takes on a whole new meaning. Tolkien’s rhetorical choice to refer to the kings as brothers indicates the solidarity between the peoples, while also accounting for their differences. “Brothers” are not the same person, but (in this case) they share the same values. A case where “brothers” most certainly do not have the same principles is that of Manwë and Melkor/Morgoth. Here, the description is not mean...

 In an extremely literal sense, the Silmarils are just shiny glowing rocks. If that was all they were, then characters wouldn’t be willing to start wars, kill, and die to get them back. So, what is it that they’re really trying to recover? Here are two possible interpretations:  1.) The Silmarils represent (moral) perfection The Silmarils capture the light of the two trees Laurelin and Telperion in Valinor — the light of an un-marred world. When the trees were destroyed by Morgoth (a personification of evil), that pure light (symbolizing perfect goodness) was compromised, and — at least to the Noldor who left Valinor in a time of distress — so was that perfect world. By winning the Silmarils back, they would be regaining perfection. This would make sense especially in the context of Eärendil and Elwing, Maedhros, and Maglor. Eärendil and Elwing selflessly brought a Silmaril to Valinor with the hopes of redeeming the Eldar and Edain — somewhat restoring “the light”. On the othe...

 Who Was the Best High King of the Noldor in Middle Earth? First let’s layout some rules: • This analysis only accounts for the high kings who spent the majority of their rule in Middle Earth .  (Sorry Finwë and Finarfin fans!) • Only things each character did during his time as high king will be accounted for (e.g. Turgon founding Gondolin beforehand doesn’t count towards his accomplishments as high king) • Smaller Noldor kingdoms working together do not count as alliances (e.g. Gondolin, Nargothrond, Eregion, and Imladris are still technically under the High King’s jurisdiction) • A “good” high king is determined by his contributions to the Noldor and ability to lead… away from chaos.  Objectively, Gil-galad had the most successful reign. He led the Noldor during the defeats of both Morgoth and Sauron (Round 1). Gil-galad ruled for the longest period of time, had the greatest number of victories, formed one of the largest alliances, and maintained relative peace for a...

 The Role of The Silmarillion in The Lord of the Rings (History for Middle Earth or an embedded fiction?) The Silmarillion is essentially a collection of myths and ancient history for J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings universe. He wrote the story to give context to his Elvish languages, Quenya and Sindarin. It tells the tale of how the Noldor Elves came to Middle Earth, how Morgoth was defeated, and eventually how Númenor fell and the rings of power were created. It’s also referred to many times by characters in Lord of the Rings (for example, Bilbo writes a song about Eärendil).  Now, just for fun , what if The Silmarillion was actually meant to be an embedded fiction within LOTR? As in, the events of The Silmarillion (or at least some of them) never actually happened in Middle Earth, and just like it’s fiction to us in the real world, it’s also fiction to the characters in the book. So, the characters in LOTR reference The Silmarillion like we would reference a really f...

 The Three Worst and Three Best of Rings of Power Season 2 *Note: This post is highly opinionated* Three Worst 3.) Cirdan’s terrible advice Cirdan tells Elrond that just because the rings were made with Sauron’s help, doesn’t mean they are inherently evil. His reasoning for saying so is sound, but his conclusion is utterly incorrect. All the rings made with the help of Sauron were corrupting, just as Elrond feared. In season 2, we already see the negative effects of Durin III’s ring. There’s literally an entire three volume series about how the One Ring needed be destroyed because it was created by Sauron, and Sauron is evil. It just so happened that the three elven rings were made only by Celebrimbor, who was, in fact, not evil. Cirdan’s wisdom was completely misapplied and Elrond was right all along.  2.) The sympathy for the orcs storyline Orcs are canonically twisted creatures who consistently destroy and slaughter. They are established to be irreversible stains of darknes...

“Go your way therefore! Bring to me in your hand a Silmaril from Morgoth’s crown; and then, if she will, Lúthien may set her hand in yours. Then you shall have my jewel; and though the fate of Arda lie within the Silmarils, yet you shall hold me generous.” - King Thingol, The Silmarillion (Of Beren and Luthien) What did Thingol really mean when he told Beren he must first win a Silmaril before he could marry Luthien? Here are some possible interpretations (first two are from the book) 1.) Thingol does actually want a Silmaril, which seems to be how Beren interpreted the challenge. This is probably not the case, considering how Thingol shows little interest in the gems prior to this instance. Beren’s interpretation also suggests that Thingol values the Silmaril equally to his own daughter (as Beren points out). However, Thingol clearly loves his daughter above all else; the reason he doesn’t want her to marry Beren in the first place is because it would mean losing her. 2.) The quest wa...

Forged in the fires of a laser cutter with the craft of CAD… is this wooden replica I made of Glamdring, the Foe-Hammer!  Glamdring was originally the sword of Turgon — the King of Gondolin, son of Fingolfin, and forefather of Elrond. Gandalf took ownership of it during the events of the Hobbit in the Third Age. He discovered the Foe-Hammer in a troll cave alongside Orcrist and Sting.  (If you’re interested in how the replica sword was made, check out my Autodesk Instructables post 😁) https://www.instructables.com/Wooden-Sword-Inspired-by-Glamdring-From-the-Lord-o/

4 reasons they CANNOT just fly the Eagles to Mordor 1.) The Eagles are their own complex race, with linguistic capabilities, societal structures, and political alliances. For example, they converse with Gandalf and Bilbo in the Hobbit, are mentioned to be ruled by Thorondor “Lord of the Eagles”, and ally themselves with the armies of Men and Elves. So, taking this into consideration, saying “why can’t the Eagles just fly the ring to Mordor” is pretty much the equivalent of saying “why can’t the Elves just kill all the Balrogs”. Just because the Eagles technically can drop the ring into Mount Doom doesn’t mean they will, all external factors such as casualties and complications considered.  2.) If the Eagles did agree to fly the ring to Mount Doom, they definitely would have been noticed. The main virtue in entrusting the ring to a band of nine generally inconspicuous companions was that they would attract the least amount of attention as possible. Sauron already knew that the free ...

  “Hey dol! Merry dol! ring a dong dillio! Ring a dong! Hop along! Fal lal the willow! Tom Bom, jolly Tom, Tom Bombadillo!”   - Tom Bombadil, The Fellowship of the Ring Who is Tom Bombadil? Well, he certainly is a “merry fellow”.  *Note: this post mainly includes information from the Lord of the Rings, Hobbit, and Silmarillion (not any of Tolkien’s additional books)* Background Tom Bombadil meets Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin on their way to the Prancing Pony in the Fellowship of The Ring book. He is described as having a long brown beard, bright blue eyes, jolly appearance; wearing yellow boots with a blue jacket and hat. Singing in a careless nonsensical fashion and collecting water lilies at a stream, he first encounters the hobbits when he saves Merry and Pippin from being killed by a willow tree. At Tom’s home in the forest, the hobbits meet his wife Goldberry, listen to his strange tales, and take a short rest in safety. To the hobbits’ great surprise, Tom pu...

 Perspective in The Hobbit Introduction The Hobbit is an excellent, lighthearted adventure novel written for children by JRR Tolkien. However, don’t be fooled by the silly jokes and linear story. The Hobbit is more complex than it seems, where perspective and relative tone underscore major world-building principles.  Perspective and relative tone  In-universe, The Hobbit was written by the main character Bilbo Baggins. Within the book, Tolkien presents himself as a translator and narrator of Bilbo’s tale rather than the author. Even without being introduced to Bilbo as a character, his perspective and personality become apparent through the book’s writing style, especially when compared to that of Tolkien’s other books. Even though the real life author is the same, The Hobbit does not share the same tone or style as The Lord of the Rings or The Silmarillion . The differences in tone and style, therefore, seem to be purposefully incorporated as an indication of the dif...

The recent Lord of the Rings movie, “The War of the Rohirrim” tells the story of Rohan’s conflict with the Dunlendings and the siege of Hornburg. The original tale, located in Appendix A, under “The House of Eorl”, focuses mainly on the king of Rohan, Helm Hammerhand. The new movie also focuses on Helm’s daughter Hera though. Much of the movie is about how Hera came to be the hero of her people, “But do not look for tales of her in the old songs. There are none.” Warning: this post contains spoilers  What was done well: • Almost nothing from Tolkien’s original tale was removed, staying true to the short passage in the appendices that the movie was based off of.   ◦ This is an uncommon virtue, as most book to movie adaptations remove a lot of original content from books  ◦ Many specific details that were not necessarily crucial to the plot, like Helm using his fists against his enemies, were preserved.  • Most of the storyline added just for the movie was within r...