It May Be That We Fled From A Fear Of The Dark

updated pinned post and commissions

This is my blog for The Silmarillion and The Children of Húrin! Requests and asks of all kinds are open and welcome. Even if you’re unsure if something has been asked before! I love infodumping and will be glad to link to an answer or answer again! I did a list of the kinds of requests I do

areas of interest to me are world building (environment/nature/society/culture/etc) of Angband itself, Beleriand/Middle Earth and Valinor! Please ask questions about this! I now have a masterlist for environmental world building here and one for societal world building here and my Newest Masterlist: Aerin and post Nírnaeth Hithlum HCs with other CoH lists

I am autistic. I get over excited so sometimes come off as rambling, awkward or repetitive. Please tell me if I’m interacting in a way that’s annoying or if I’m talking over you. I do love complimenting other’s works and talking with others so feel free to message me!

note about commissions

(Updated!)Tengwar commissions! $1.00 to $3.00 My kofi (if you have questions about why I link these feel free to ask. I also do take commissions for writing or world building/research though I am slow at times. Here's an example of commissioned world building! I typically charge five dollars for world building/research and honestly pwyw for writing

Springtime in Doriath board, to go with my winter and summer ones!

x x x x x x x x x

Vaguely related to my old post on variation among the Maiar but I’m so fascinated by the variety of things in Arda that are ambiguously Maiar; the Eagles, Huan and Nahar, the creatures that are described as spirits in the form of dragons like Glaurung is…then there are things beyond that like Ungoliant and the Watcher in the Water…things that either are beyond Maiar or force the definitions to twist and change…

I’ll expand on this later, I just enjoy categories and hierarchies and find these really interesting

Hey everyone I had to take Túrin back to the vet today so my daily post will probably be a shorter one but I’m so happy people were so nice about my idea to do a post on nut trees of Beleriand so I’ll be working on that and am hoping to have it out tomorrow or Friday!

I’ve mentioned this a couple other places but I often think of children born or growing up in Hithlum after the Nírnaeth, who hear the rumors about Morwen and accept them as much as they accept anything else…perhaps some Hadorian children fear her more than their oppressors. But likely some hope the stories are true; they hope there is a witch in the woods who defies and frightens the incomers. Perhaps one even tries to find her, out of this hope.

I wonder also how Aerin and those who know Morwen respond day to day, knowing that both denying or re enforcing the rumors could be deadly

Elven word of the day, 277/?

Gwirith from Sindarin

Meaning “April” ; the literal translation is freshness

Víressë is the Quenya cognate and both derive from the primitive elvish root wir meaning new, fresh or young

Earlier words for April are also very cool! An early Quenya name for April, Lunde Timpínea, derived from the word Timpínea which meant “made of spray, full of fine showers, showery (of weather)”

🌦️🌧️🪻🌱 Happy April everyone! 🌱🪻🌧️🌦️

“But have a care! It is a bitter blade and steal serves only that which can wield it. It will cut your hand as willingly as ought else.”

Húrin to young Túrin, “The Childhood of Túrin”

I don’t devote enough attention to this bit of foreshadowing in The Children of Húrin. It has nothing to do with this exact knife of course and that almost makes it, and the sense of fatalism in the foreshadowing, even more severe

It’s so early in the book, in the middle of such a sweet and innocent scene, and well, that’s it. I often wonder if these lines are meant to be read as foresight as well as foreshadowing; certainly Huor’s line to Turgon about a star arising from both their houses is meant as this.

Do you think Húrin, looking up at the young son he just set on the table, beaming at him, feels a shiver he can’t explain? The knife held for just a moment, in less than steady hands…

Elven word of the day 276/?

Felmë from Quenya

Meaning “impulse, emotion”

See also hröafelmë meaning body impulse and fëafelmë meaning spirit impulse

Derived from the primitive elvish root phel meaning emotion

Source: Vinyar Tengwar

Reposting this tiny Aerin musing from awhile ago because tumblr decided to lock the original post and won’t let me edit it

I’m thinking so much about Aerin burning down that house with the context that the battle cry of her people is

Lacho calad! Drego morn!

Flame light! Flee night!

I've mentioned how I think Aerin imagines the burning of the hall years, maybe decades before (I can never stop thinking about the anguish and fury she is forced to suppress for so long…) I think she repeats these words to herself, when Brodda can't hear it and maybe once where he can despite the repercussions.

I think some other Hadorians say it too, some bitterly, almost sarcastically, but others with meaning. A whisper, almost like a prayer even among those who don't believe the night will ever leave.

And even if she doesn't say these words that night, I imagine she remembers them

Flora and Fauna Specific to Tolkien’s World

Flora, fauna, environment and geography of Arda  I’m going to do specifically named and individual animals and trees, plants and animals canonically named and  elven words for various plants and animals in future posts

These descriptions are pretty brief but I’d be glad to go into more detail about anything!

Elven word of the day 275/?

Bloss from early Sindarin

Meaning “wheat”

Derived from the primitive elvish root mul meaning grind (fine)

See also losc meaning rye, ruthli meaning oat and gaus which means corn or other cereal crops

Also mulë which is a Quenya word for meal/ground grains

Source: Gnomish Lexicon

Tolkien did give answers for this in some versions but I just imagine that Formenos is utterly abandoned after the Darkening. We know from Morgoth’s Ring that Morgoth ransacked much of the house after killing Finwë, not in search of the Silmarils, he knew exactly where they were at that point, but simply out of spite.

I doubt the wreckage was ever dealt with. Perhaps it remained that way indefinitely. Somewhere between a museum, a memorial and a mausoleum.

No one ventures there for centuries, the atmosphere too somber to even be approached as a dare. Perhaps webs, glistening and deadly, still cling to various surfaces from Ungoliant’s encroachment. Trees, flowers and water poisoned from a venom with no cure.

A desolate cold estate in paradise. A haunted house in a land without death or ghosts.

@silmalope asked me Does Morwen like riding horses, do you think? Is she an animal person in general?

Here is my response! (Also I adore your art so so much)

Linking my mammals of Dor-lómin and mammals of Dorthonion posts for reference

I headcanon that while Some Bëorian soldiers have horses but for the most part they keep donkeys for moving objects rather than riding, and Morwen did not grow up riding horses in Dorthonion so she was pretty wary of them when she first came to Hithlum. Morwen didn’t learn to ride until she was thirteen or fourteen. Aerin was the one who taught her as I’ve talked about before:) The first horse Morwen rides that she likes is one of Aerin’s mother, a brown and white paint horse named Daisy.

Morwen gains skill and confidence quickly (we know in canon she must have been skilled because she survives Glaurung’s attack on horseback; even if she was thrown off she clearly had the knowledge to know how to fall; that’s a skill in itself). She’s not a particularly flashy rider but she’s resilient and observant, with elegant posture.

That being said while she’s bonded with a couple of her own horses, she doesn’t share the love of them that others like Húrin and Aerin have; which makes sense, I headcanon horses are an incredibly important part of Hadorian culture and life as I’ve talked about

For animals in general I honestly don’t think she likes a lot of them; she doesn’t hate them or anything, it’s mostly ambivalence. I think her approach would be somewhat similar to her human relationships; mostly neutral but with one or two special exceptions.

Elven word of the day 274/?

Axan from Quenya

Meaning “law, rule, commandment”

This is actually derived not from primitive elvish as most of Quenya (and indeed all other elven languages are) but from the language of the Valar. The root word is akašān in Valarin meaning it is said or he says. akašān is one of only a dozen or so recorded Valarin words (with a handful of other proper nouns)

Axan is an element in the Quenya word Axantaur meaning master of law

Source: The War of the Jewels

And flowers sprang beneath his marching feet and the age of the stars was ended

x x x x x x x x

I love the imagery that comes from the host of Fingolfin seeing the moon for the first time and leaving the desolation and danger of the Helcaraxë for the (also dangerous!) lands of Beleriand

It also puts me in a spring mood! Here's my other Helcaraxë board!