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#sighs – @elf-esteem on Tumblr
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Elf-esteem

@elf-esteem / elf-esteem.tumblr.com

I'm just another Tolkien fan girl. All about the Elves.
I have a broad view of Tolkien canon beyond The Silmarillion, The Lord of the Rings, and The Hobbit. If it is something Tolkien wrote about Elves, I consider it a reference point. Some people do not agree with this scope of canon. *shrugs* Sorry, not sorry.
I admire Tolkien fan art, fanfic, and anything humorous or beautiful about Tolkien's world, especially involving the Elves. I like to write. If I have any purpose at all with this blog, it will be to help people see what Tolkien really wrote (and also to be silly).
I have a canon-hammer forged from the text of Tolkien's own writing; I named it Grond, which means 'very weighty and ponderous' in Sindarin. I smash things. ♥
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Nerdanel in the time of stars. I really appreciate the thoughtful look in her eyes. She was known as Nerdanel the Wise, not just because she refused to join the rebellion against the Valar, but because she truly sought to listen to and understand others. Fëanor would seek only her counsel, and for a time, she was able to temper his fiery spirit.

“Nerdanel also was firm of will, but more patient than Fëanor, desiring to understand minds rather than to master them, and at first she restrained him when the fire of his heart grew too hot.”  (The Silmarillion - “Of Fëanor”)
“He asked the aid and sought the counsel of none that dwelt in Aman, great or small, save only and for a little while of Nerdanel the wise, his wife.“ (The Silmarillion - “Of Fëanor”)

(Name interpretation below):

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Fun Times with English Literature

So, a paid ad showed up on my dash (as they sometimes do) declaring, ‘Ya Bish!’ And ya know, bro, I don’t even know you, so no, I do not bish.  But, it made me think of something else.

Percy Bysshe Shelley’s middle name is pronounced ‘Bish’.  God bless the English (and their really silly names).  It’s a simple name that just means bush.

Look at that quote, if that isn’t Elven, I dunno what is.

Anyway, if you have nerdy, well-read friends, and if you’re checking out this blog, you probably do, call them a Bysshe in a text or send them out a ‘ya Bysshe’ when you know they get you.  And indeed, they might.

Quick Tolkien tie-in (straws, I’m grasping them!) like, Percy Bysshe Shelley’s  literary essay “A Defence of Poetry” and Tolkien’s oft-discussed but criticized essay “On Fairy-Stories” are both analytical works on the uses of the literary imagination.

CliffsNotes: They’re both defenders of imaginative writing.

So, go them!

A paragraph I especially like from Tolkien’s essay “On Fairy-Stories”, ya Bysshe.

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Okay but can we just look at the elf-human relationships in Middle Earth

Beren: can I marry your daughter Thingol: not unless you bring me a Silmaril from Morgoth Aragorn: can I marry your daughter Elrond: not unless you become king of both Gondor and Arnor Tuor: can I marry your daughter Turgon: k

Yes but who loves their children more? The ones who protect them, or the ones who let them make their own (possibly stupid) decisions?

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elf-esteem

Let us remember, Tuor is the only child of mortal Man who was granted the fate of the Eldar.  His pairing with Idril did not sever the family, and he was already sent to Gondolin with a high-doom as a herald for Ulmo himself.  I mean, once you speak for a Vala, literally, you’re pretty much in like Flynn.  The ‘prerequisite’ of worthiness is fulfilled.  Beren and Aragorn had not done their important thing yet.  Tuor had. 

Tuor and Idril were the first recorded union of mortal Man and Elf, and yes, their life had many sorrows.

(Source: Liga-marta and Ann Lee)

On the other hand. Thingol kind of made a mistake.  He could not simply give his daughter away to a brief man with no show of worthiness.  To give him an errand to prove his merit was fair.  But, he erred in judgment and tied his fate, his daughter, and his kingdom to a stupid silmaril by sending Beren on a death-quest. 

(Source: Donato Giancola)

Elrond was wiser than that, surviving in Middle-earth since the First Age will do that to you, and he accepted that his time in Middle-earth was near its end.  The best chance Middle-earth had was to have Sauron fall and to have a worthy king in Gondor.  If Arwen was Aragorn’s inspiration, so be it.  It was Man’s best chance after the departure of the Elves.  Even if it meant losing his daughter forever, he was willing to take that chance to, ya know, save the whole world.  Elrond is cool like that.

(Notice how Aragorn is still wearing the ring of Barahir (Bara means ‘fiery’ or ‘eager’ and hir means ‘lord’ - Sindarin) in this image. It probably shouldn’t be there.  That ring was given to Arwen as their engagement ring in 2980 T.A..  Although it’s neat to think of the rightful king wearing his First Age bling, a trope used in the film and the game, it’s inaccurate. 

That gift is particularly significant because due to Elven custom, an engagement with the Eldar can only be broken if the silver rings are unmade in the place where they were wrought. This ring was forged in Tirion (the high-elf city in Valinor) as it was a ring of Finrod, bearing the emblem of the House of Finarfin.  It could not be unmade in Middle-earth.  Aragorn would have understood this before giving Arwen the ring.  She was his high-elven (Noldo) lady, and although she would choose a mortal life with him, he would follow their customs with her.)

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elf-esteem

Elrond: (mind scolds) Kids! Stop fighting.

Arwen: (after she punches Legolas in the arm...) Ada, he started it!

Elrond: (mental sigh and a warning) Legolas, shall I tell your father you cannot behave yourself and send you back to the Greenwood?

Legolas: (apologetically) No, Lord Elrond... forgive me.

Arwen hears this and sticks her tongue out at Legolas.

Elrond: Arwen!

Tolkien wrote that Elven children would need less 'governance' than mortal children, ha!  I think it's just because Elves could share their thoughts and probably scolded their kids so no one else could hear.  All the other Elves are trying to be serene and mature, and these two rascals act like cousins on a playdate.

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