Insert Something Witty Here

⋅⋅ The Tales That Really Matter ⋅⋅

Maybe Turgon chose to follow his family to cross the Ice partially because his daughter kept having dreams of 'Tirion' getting destroyed in fire

(After Gondolin was built Idril would one day look at the city from some tower and went "oh no")

Places that inspired J.R.R. Tolkien: Part II

Fangorn: probably inspired by Puzzlewood, Gloucestershire Orthanc: probably inspired by Faringdon’s Folly, Berkshire Anduin: may have been influenced by the Danube, Germany Rohan: probably based on Mercia, West Midlands White Mountains: inspired by the Malvern Hills, Worcestershire Helm’s Deep: inspired by Cheddar Gorge, Somerset Mordor: based on the Black Country, Birmingham Minas Tirith: based on Ravenna, Italy

[screenshot] it was too perfect

I do love that in Rohan culture, it seems that it's the custom for men to go out and fight and die heroically, and for women to honour their sacrifice by crying over their bodies or at their funerals. The men are to be brave, the woman to be loving. The men are to do great things. The women are to remember.

But in the film, whereas Eowyn's most iconic moment is her slaying of the Witch King, a great, heroic deed that cements her place in history, Eomer's most iconic moment is (arguably) his guttural scream when he sees Eowyn dead on the ground, dropping to his knees and cradling her to his chest.

Not only is Eowyn's most iconic moment a scene in which she takes on, by her culture's definition, the man's role, the most important role of a man, to die heroically, Eomer's most iconic moment is when he takes on the "woman's" role, to grieve.

I do love his "Death!" charge in the books so much, but because of this parallel between the siblings, I also love the film version where there is no battle for him to fight, no justice for him to wreak, there's nothing for him to do but cradle Eowyn to his chest and rock her back and forth.

one thing about Tolkien is that he never victim blamed women for the violence of men. the second kinslaying is never portrayed as Lúthien’s fault for not rewarding the men who kidnapped her with a Silmaril. the third is never portrayed as Elwing’s fault for not rewarding the men who destroyed her home and family with a Silmaril. the fall of Gondolin is never portrayed as Idril’s fault for not giving sex to her cousin.

and then I read takes on tungle dot com that are more sexist than a man born in the goddamn nineteenth century

Imagine The Fellowship all sitting around the campfire halfway up Caradhras retelling the events of the Hobbit to Boromir and Aragorn Rashomon-style with Gimli going "my dad tells it this way" and Legolas going "well, my dad tells it this way" and the Hobbits all going "but Bilbo tells it this way!" and, even though Gandalf was fucking there for half of it, he refuses to weigh in on anything because watching them argue is more fun and also he doesn't remember because it was over 75 years ago.

Thorin, Fili and Kili ⚔

THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS 2002 | dir. Peter Jackson

(Someday, in a time far beyond the counting of years, Fëanor will find himself staring at the face of his grandchild and seeing the eyes of Míriel Þerindë above the features Indis and will have a very small, very quiet meltdown.

so, a few months ago, i posted a silm family tree which excluded everyone in between elros and arathorn ii, aragorn's father. i have since rectified this, and added the line of stewards, kings of rohan, and princes of dol amroth.

the families are colour-coded, and i'm sure it won't be too difficult to figure out. however, the slate gray-ish colour is bonus characters, who don't have a big enough family for a colour, or are unassociated. please tell me if i missed anyone.

(and since tumblr destroys pixels, close-ups under the cut)

does anyone think about how scary a Calaquendë who had seen the trees walking up to you silently at night would be?

I rarely post art here but here's a caranthir wip from a few days ago 👍