Rise Up, Oh Heart, For There is Another Battle to Win

misbehavingmaiar:

sebastian-bond:

but-the-library-of-alexandria:

the thing about writing fantasy stories is that language is so based on history that it can be hard to decide how far suspension of disbelief can carry you word-choice wise - what do you call a french braid in a world with no france? can a queen ann neckline be described if there was no queen ann? where do you draw the line? can you use the word platonic if plato never existed? can you name a character chris in a land without christianity? can you even say ‘bungalow’ in a world where there was no indian language for the word to originate from? is there a single word in any language that doesn’t have a story behind it? to be accurate a fantasy story would be written in a fantasy language but who has the time for that

Tolkien had the time apparently

LIsten. Linguistics Georg, who invented over 10,000 conlangs each day, is an outlier and should not have been counted. 

(via dukeofbookingham)

akaltynarchitectonica asked: any thoughts on elf sexuality?

determamfidd:

one-go-alone:

cptsdcarlosdevil:

ONLY ALL OF THEM

The interested reader should consult What Tolkien Officially Said About Elf Sex, the most extensive guide to elf sexuality I’m aware of. Also, be aware that I haven’t read Silm and anything in here contradicted by Silm is a result of ignorance.

The bits I find interesting are that (1) elf marriage is defined as being sex— the party is considered a good idea, but strictly optional, (2) elves don’t commit adultery and (3) elves can apparently tell from the way someone moves whether they’re wed or unwed. Now, this may just be that elves are Good Catholics, but are you kidding, there is an opportunity for my favorite tropes. I propose: elf hypermonogamy!

(I actually totally thought elf hypermonogamy was canon until I was researching my answer for this ask. GODDAMMIT TOLKIEN.)

Elves are universally demisexual: they literally do not experience sexual attraction to people they aren’t in romantic love with. Elves are only capable of being in love with one person at once. It takes them a long time to get over love; it’s quite common for a rejected elf to never fall in love again, and most of those who do go centuries before they do.

So, how does that affect my favorite ships?

I feel like Legolas/Gimli is super-more-awesome if Legolas was literally never sexually attracted to anyone before Gimli and has no idea what this emotion is. So he is all like OH GOD THIS DWARF IS SO ANNOYING >:( >:( >:( I JUST WANT TO THINK ABOUT HIM ALL THE TIME. BECAUSE HE’S ANNOYING. I WONDER WHAT HIS HAIR FEELS LIKE. And eventually this gets to the point where even Mr. They’re Taking The Hobbits To Isengard starts wondering if something’s up.

and then at Lothlorien he seeks the advice of Galadriel and Galadriel is like “Legolas, you’re in love” and Legolas is like “???!???!!!!!!”

and Galadriel thinks to herself “JESUS CHRIST, Legolas, Luthien and Arwen are one thing, human boys are sort of cute, but DID YOU REALLY JUST FALL FOR, OF ALL PEOPLE, A FUCKING DWARF”

(and then Gimli does the hair thing and she’s like “well, at least he has good taste”)

and then Legolas ends up having sex with Gimli. Now, dwarves totally have a culture of warrior homosexuality. (Also: everything homosexuality????) So Gimli is all like “ah, yes, manly men blowing off some steam in a manly way after battle, this surely does not mean Feelings” and Legolas is like “:( :( :( I will go stare at a river and write love poetry in Quenya more beautiful than the hearts of Men can bear” but he totally doesn’t let Gimli know because he doesn’t want to Pressure Gimli Into A Relationship and also because he will Take What He Can Get

and then at some point Aragorn is sadly singing to himself about Luthien as is his third-favorite hobby (behind beard growth and still not being king) and Gimli is like “why the hell would she give up her immortality anyway, dude, it’s fucking immortality? why can’t she marry an elf instead” and with one thing and another Aragorn ended up telling him about the Elvish Facts of Life

and then Gimli storms up to Legolas and is like YOU KNOW USUALLY I LIKE TO BE INFORMED WHEN I’M MARRIED TO PEOPLE

and Legolas is like “…I’m… married to you but you’re not married to me?”

and Gimli is like I DON’T KNOW WHAT NANCY SHIT YOU PONCY MOTHERFUCKERS GET UP TO BUT AMONG DWARVES MARRIAGE IS USUALLY CONSIDERED A TRANSITIVE PROPERTY

and Legolas was like “I am sorry, I understand if you will never speak to me again” and he is mentally drafting, like, the world’s saddest poem, like, it will win the Saddest Poem contest Elrond holds every year

and Gimli is like YOU FUCKING MORON OF COURSE I WANT TO BE MARRIED TO YOU HOW ELSE CAN I GET TO SHOW YOU ALL THE PRETTY CAVES

and Legolas is like “oh. Oh!”

and then he ends up smuggling his boyfriend into Valinor, I assume by just sort of shoving him into the luggage. “Dwarf? What dwarf? I don’t have a dwarf. What, no, my bag isn’t wriggling, you’re seeing things. Gosh, there are weird sounds on the sea, that one sounded almost like the word ‘fuck’.”

also I feel like this whole thing makes Elrond and Arwen infinitely more amusing

Elrond: NO YOU ARE NOT GOING TO MARRY ARAGORN
Arwen: GRANDMA DID
Elrond: AND LOOK WHERE THAT GOT HER
Arwen: I DON’T CARE I LOVE HIM
Elrond: THERE ARE LOTS OF NICE BOYS IN VALINOR, I’M SURE YOU’LL FIND SOMEONE ELSE
Arwen: NO I WON’T
Elrond: …fuck. You’re right.
Arwen: (looks smug)
Elrond: you know Elros really had the right idea, immortality is awesome but at least HUMANS HAVE THE CONCEPT OF SERIAL MONOGAMY

This is full of win and awesome, and I would also like to point out that if this appeals to you and you aren’t reading @determamfidd‘s Sansûkh, then do yourself a favor and go read it. Right now. Seriously. Drop everything else.

*blushy blushy* ahhh thank you so very much! You are super kind!

IS YOUR URL A ‘THE DARK IS RISING’ REFERENCE BC HOLY SHIT I LOVED THOSE BOOKS

tolkien-in-beleriand:

silverhairedelf:

celeborn-of-doriath:

silverhairedelf:

tolkien-in-beleriand:

Oh my God OH MY GOD OH MY GOD

You know I never actually read The Lord of the Rings Epilogue because I thought I couldn’t deal with it and you know what?

I WAS FUCKING RIGHT!

Have a look at this part and you will understand why

‘But the Elves are sailing away still, aren’t they, and soon there’ll be none, will there, dad?’ said Rose; ‘and then all will be just places, and very nice, but, but…’

‘But what, Rosie-lass?’

‘But not like in stories.’

‘Well, it would be so if they all was to sail,’ said Sam. ‘But I am told they aren’t sailing any more. The Ring has left the Havens, and those that made up their mind to stay when Master Elrond left are staying. And so there’ll be Elves still for many and many a day.’

‘Still I think it was very sad when Master Elrond left Rivendell and the Lady left Lórien,’ said Elanor. ‘What happened to Celeborn? Is he very sad?’

‘I expect so, dear. Elves are sad; and that’s what makes them so beautiful, and why we can’t see much of them. He lives in his own land as he always has done,’ said Sam. ‘Lórien is his land, and he loves trees.’

‘No one else in the world hasn’t got a Mallorn like we have, have they?’ said Merry. ‘Only us and Lord Keleborn.’

‘So I believe,’ said Sam. Secretly it was one of the greatest prides of his life. ‘Well, Keleborn lives among the Trees, and he is happy in his Elvish way, I don’t doubt. They can afford to wait, Elves can. His time is not come yet. The Lady came to his land and now she is gone; and he has the land still. When he tires of it he can leave it. So with Legolas, he came with his people and they live in the land across the River, Ithilien, if you can say that, and they’ve made it very lovely, according to Mr. Pippin. But he’ll go to Sea one day, I don’t doubt. But not while Gimli’s still alive.’

Is he very sad? 

HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO KEEP LIVING AFTER THIS???

HELP ME. I DID NOT NEED THIS PAIN. This family is killing me. Whenever Celeborn is ready, Celebrían and Galadriel will be waiting for him.
@celeborn-of-doriath, Are you very sad? 

OMG YOU GUYS @silverhairedelf @tolkien-in-beleriand can we please just talk about how tragic and sad ALL of the Celeborn parts are? Can we talk about this until I am drunk off all this glorious, magical, delicious angst??

I love that part from the epilogue. It’s so sad but wonderful. And the prologue is just as sad. 

“It is said that Celeborn went to dwell there after the departure of Galadriel; but there is no record of the day when at last he sought the Grey Havens, and with him went the last living memory of the Elder Days in Middle-earth.”

FOTR prologue, p. 15, Houghton Mifflin 1987 edition

So he goes but takes the last memory of the elves with him!?!? JUST MURDER MY HEART ALREADY. but are we done with Celeborn angst yet? Aw hell no y’all.

“Drink, Lord of the Galadhrim! And let not your heart be sad, though night must follow noon, and already our evening draweth nigh.” - Galadriel to Celeborn, FOTR, Farewell to Lórien, p. 365, Houghton Mifflin 1987 edition

HOW IS IT SO ROMANTIC AND PAINFUL AT THE SAME TIME?!?!

“Kinsman, farewell! May your doom be other than mine, and your treasure remain with you to the end!” - Celeborn to Aragorn, ROTK, Many Partings, p. 260, Houghton Mifflin 1987 edition

I’ve heard some people say they think in the above Celeborn is referencing Lórien, which doesn’t make sense for a lot of reasons, but this debate is easily solved by reading Tolkien’s letters, where he directly states Celeborn is speaking about Galadriel here as his ‘treasure’.

AND ARE YOU CRYING YET??? Celeborn has some super sad lines that I think get overlooked, or that people just don’t realize are there. So tragic. I love him. Help. Help me. It hurts.

Since my heart is breaking into thousands of pieces, I thought I would also contribute some sad lines that Celeborn says. Let me remind you of Celeborn’s prediction of the end of Middle Earth.

“‘Now is the time,’ [Celeborn] said, ‘when those who wish to continue the Quest must harden their hearts and leave this land. Those who no longer wish to go forward may remain here, for a while. But whether they stay or go, none can be sure of peace. For we are come now to the edge of doom. Here those who wish to await the oncoming of the hour till either the ways of the world lie open again, or we summon them to the last need of Lórien. Then they may return to their own lands, or else go to the long home of those that fall in battle.’”
-Celeborn to The Company
(The Fellowship of the Ring 358)

Excuse me, Celeborn? None can be sure of peace? We are come now to the edge of doom? Then they may return to their own lands, or else go to the long home of those that fall in battle? CAN YOU STAB ME JUST ONE MORE TIME? I don’t think you’ve hurt me enough yet.

I have yet another example of sad Celeborn (and Galadriel) lines.

“'It is sad that we should meet only thus at the ending. For the world is changing: I feel it in the water, I feel it in the earth, and I smell it in the air. I do not think we shall meet again’ [said Treebeard].
And Celeborn said: ‘I do not know, Eldest.’ But Galadriel said: ‘Not in Middle-earth, nor until the lands that lie under the wave are lifted up again. Then in the willow-meads of Tasarinan we may meet in the Spring. Farewell!’”
-Treebeard, Celeborn, and Galadriel in conversation
(The Return of the King 959)

WHY? I also would like to touch upon the example you brought up about Celeborn taking the last living memory of the Elves with him when he sails. Can you imagine what he must have felt? He probably held on so long in Middle Earth BECAUSE he knew that when he goes, ALL THE ELVES GO WITH HIM. How depressing is that? Celeborn carried the memory of his people. That is no light weight to carry. He probably had to come to terms with letting that memory slip away from Middle Earth before he could sail. He had to be content in some weird way that the memory of the Elves would be no more once he left. POOR CELEBORN. MY HEART IS ACHING, EVERYONE.

@celeborn-of-doriath and @tolkien-in-beleriand, this post has become one long post of very real Celeborn feelings, AND I LOVE IT. It’s heart-breaking, BUT I LOVE IT.

**Quoted material from the Complete Classic Harper Collins 1994 edition

I am going to murder both of you for making me remember

 “It is said that Celeborn went to dwell there after the departure of Galadriel; but there is no record of the day when at last he sought the Grey Havens, and with him went the last living memory of the Elder Days in Middle-earth.”

and

“'It is sad that we should meet only thus at the ending. For the world is changing: I feel it in the water, I feel it in the earth, and I smell it in the air. I do not think we shall meet again’ [said Treebeard].

And Celeborn said: ‘I do not know, Eldest.’ But Galadriel said: ‘Not in Middle-earth, nor until the lands that lie under the wave are lifted up again. Then in the willow-meads of Tasarinan we may meet in the Spring. Farewell!’”
-Treebeard, Celeborn, and Galadriel in conversation

I HAVE SO MANY FEELINGS ABOUT THESE TWO BITS SPECIFICALLY!

Now I’ll just get back to my tears.

(via determamfidd)

hacash asked: for the valentines' day prompts may I ask for legolas/gimli and the different courtship rituals of elves and dwarves?

notbecauseofvictories:

the courtship of gimli son of gloin and legolas greenleaf, son of thranduil is a disaster from beginning to end. Because elves really only have two romantic settings:

1. “no romantic feelings whatsoever” 
2. “undying love that withstands the ravages of time and yokes two hearts together such that neither death nor fire nor void could cleave them in twain unto the coming of Dagor Dagorath, Amen”
   

which means that when legolas figures out that this strange bright-hard lightness and gladness and warmth he feels around gimli is love, that’s it, game over, his expectation is that they will either be married and live forever in joyous bliss or gimli will refuse him, and legolas will spend all his days wandering in middle earth, singing ballads he himself has composed about the prowess and kindness of gimli, son of gloin.

(elves…..don’t really court one another. Either your love is returned, or it’s not. “Not” is a perfectly acceptable answer, there is lots of room in elvish culture for unrequited love—it’s very courtly, their idea of “not”. It comes with an expectation you turn that pain into something Ennobling and Grand, and remain true to the ideal of your beloved. But that’s it, the matter is settled, and it takes monumental shifts to make either party reconsider.)

unfortunately, this means that after their shaky declarations of mutual feeling (to call it a hatchet job, gimli insists, would be an insult to perfectly decent hatchets) legolas takes it as a personal affront that gimli wants to court. To him, it seems unimaginably cruel, to spend time with a person in that way while always keeping one eye on the door, as though to say, you are perfectly nice, but only for now.

not all of us have forever to promise, amralime, gimli says, very gently.

(really, gimli’s argument is—look at how much grief has been brought into the world by elves who loved, but did not know what came after. Who did not know how to compromise, when to let a disagreement go; who struggled against their beloved’s seeming lack of affection, to give gifts that were not Portentous and Doomed. 

maybe the immortal Firstborn can afford to spend their lives desperately unhappy in a match made with love and little consideration. But dwarves do not have the luxury. All metal is tested by fire, to burn away impurities; it is not a condemnation of the ore.)

finally, finally, gimli manages to talk him around by assuring him that their courtship will mostly involve wandering in the woods of ithilien and making out against trees. “gonna smith you…so much jewelry” gimli mumbles sleepily, as their argument winds down, fading into the night. (It hasn’t been an argument in earnest for a few hours now, especially once they crawled into bed together.)

legolas smiles a little, and sleeps.

#legolas is literally so offended     #“YOU THINK YOU CAN DO BETTER THAN ME???” in equal parts indignation and hurt     #he literally does not tell thranduil they’re dating because a) dwarf     #and b) “you couldn’t even get A DWARF to marry you on the first go-around he had to think about it first? what son of mine—”     #ah good times     (x)

tolkien-in-beleriand:

Every time I read that post about doing things out of spite I remember that C. S. Lewis put that fucking street lamp in Narnia because Tolkien once said that no good fantasy story would have a lamp in it.

Also, in case anyone was curious, Lewis and Tolkien were like…strange bitter author buddies, and Tolkien complained about the heavy-handedness of Narnia’s Christian metaphor, and Lewis complained about EVERYTHING in LotR, basically, and they wrote each other into their stories.  According to most reports, the man who carved the Wardrobe was heavily based on Tolkien, and in Middle-Earth C.S. Lewis became (wait for it) Treebeard.  Which I imagine was a very interesting conversation.  

“You’re the magician who builds a wardrobe leading to Narnia!”  
“You’re a thing called an Ent that shepherds trees and takes years to make a decision.”
“….what the fuck.”

And as far as doing things for spite goes, I can think of at least two major plot points in LotR that only exist because Tolkien was bitter about Macbeth.  My takeaway from this would be that if the only thing keeping you going is Sheer Undiluted Bitterness, you’re in good company.

(via lupinatic)