““Stop hitting yourself. Stop hitting yourself.” Tulkas commanded, yet Melkor could not, as the Vala had him by the wrists and was hitting him with his own hands.”
@crazy-write said: I went to the Tolkien exhibition in Oxford and it had an early manuscript where Thorin was named Gandalf and Gandalf was named … Blorfindel
I saw that too & it was like a glimpse of a bizarre alternate timeline
master blorfindel said not to leave you and i dont mean to, bingo bolger-baggins, i dont mean to
*Aragorn voice* for Bingo
Sorry I think you meant to say:
*Peregrin Boffin voice* for Bingo
wait so, I’ve read that Frodo was originally the name given to one of the other hobbits. if Aragorn was at one point going to be Peregrin… does that mean Pippin was going to be Frodo??
It was kind of complicated how the original hobbits all developed. Original Frodo kind of disappeared, this dude Odo stuck around for aaages and a lot of his lines ended up going to Pippin but it wasn’t a case of Tolkien just changing Odo’s name.
Aragorn was originally called Trotter instead of Strider. Tolkien wrote a bunch of dialog with him and I think was still playing with his background and real name when they got to Rivendell. By that point iirc Pippin was present but was called Fastred. Tolkien eventually decided Trotter was a human instead of a hobbit and so abandoned hobbit-y names like Peregrin, which he then gave to Pippin (and briefly considered calling him Perry).
Uh,,, hope that makes sense. Anyway the History of Middle Earth is fucking wild.
I’m so glad we don’t live in the timeline where Pippin’s name is Perry or Fastred bcos those both sound like asshole names.
The album retells the events in The Silmarillion, beginning with an episode at the end:
In “War of Wrath”, Sauron advises his master Morgoth to flee the triumphant Valar in the War of Wrath. Morgoth sends him away and reflects on the events leading up to his defeat.
In “Into the Storm”, Morgoth and Ungoliant, fleeing from Valinor after having destroyed the Two Trees, struggle for the possession of the Silmarils.
“Lammoth” is the scream of Morgoth with which he fights off Ungoliant.
In “Nightfall”, Fëanor and his seven sons mourn the destruction wrought by Morgoth, including the slaying of Finwë, Fëanor’s father, and swear to get revenge on him, in spite of the Valar’s disapproval.
“The Minstrel” is most likely about Maglor, son of Fëanor, who composed the song “The Fall of the Noldor” based on the Kinslaying.
In “The Curse of Fëanor”, Fëanor expresses his wrath and anger and
relates the misdeeds he commits, especially the Kinslaying, in pursuit
of Morgoth.
In “Captured”, Morgoth addresses the captive Maedhros, Fëanor’s son, and chains him to the Thangorodrim mountains.
In “Blood Tears”, Maedhros relates the horrors of his captivity and his deliverance by Fingon.
“Mirror Mirror” recounts how Turgon, in view of inevitable defeat, builds the city of Gondolin, aided by Ulmo (“The Lord of Water”).
In “Face the Truth”, Fingolfin reflects about the destiny of the Noldor.
In “Noldor (Dead Winter Reigns)”, Fingolfin recounts his Noldor army’s passage from the icy waste of Helcaraxë and the prophecy by Mandos about the Noldor’s fate; he reflects on his own and his people’s guilt and foreshadows their ultimate defeat.
“The Battle of Sudden Flame” refers to the battle in which Morgoth breaks the Siege of Angband using his Balrogs and dragons. The lyrics tell of how Barahir of the House of Bëor, with great loss to his own company, saved the life of the Elven king Finrod Felagund, and in return Finrod swore an oath of friendship to Barahir and all of his kin.
“Time Stands Still (At the Iron Hill)” is about Fingolfin riding to the gates of Angband to challenge Morgoth to a duel. Fingolfin wounds Morgoth seven times but is eventually killed.
In “Thorn”, Maeglin reflects on his situation and decides to betray Gondolin to Morgoth.
“The Eldar” is Elven king Finrod Felagund’s farewell to his people, dying from wounds sustained by saving his human friend Beren from a werewolf, thereby fulfilling his oath to the House of Bëor.
In “Nom the Wise”, Beren mourns his friend Finrod. Nóm means “wise” and was the name given to Finrod by Beren’s forefather Bëor.
In “When Sorrow Sang”, Beren sings about his love to the Elven princess Lúthien and his death at the teeth of Morgoth’s wolf Carcharoth. Last part is about Mandos listening to Luthien song about their grief experienced by being different in kin.
“Out on the Water” refers to the last dwelling-place of Beren and Lúthien.
In “The Steadfast”, Morgoth curses his captive Húrin who steadfastly refused to reveal the secret of Gondolin.
Right now I’m definitely in the boring Bilbo phase of life, but I’m looking forward to my Mad Baggins phase, when I’m super rich, look great for my age, and corrupt the youth with my stories.
Cruel wars raged among them, from which some were withdrawing westward, with minds filled with hatred, regarding all that dwelt in the West as enemies to be slain and plundered.
The point? It’s probably something Catholic. Athrabeth Finrod ah Andreth (published in HoME vol 10, Morgoth’s Ring, which has a ton of Tolkien’s metaphysical and philosophical worldbuilding*), is a discussion that took place during the First Age between the Elf Finrod Felagund and the Man (woman) Andreth, Finrod’s brother’s would-have-been lover. The conversation, which Tolkien intended to include in the Silmarillion, revolves around the Elvish and Man beliefs about death, including how Men no longer view it as a gift but rather a doom, and believe it is a corruption, their punishment for being tempted to worship Morgoth. (cf original sin.)
*(For example, “Morgoth’s Ring” is the world, because he changed it so
much that he put his essence and power into it, like Sauron did with the Ring.
There is a fundamental marring of the world because of Morgoth, in the land and in its people, and only
when it is destroyed and recreated will it become the perfect world the
Eru intended it to be. For another example, see the nature of Orcs.)
Andreth goes on to describe those of her people who hold to the Old Hope, that one day Eru himself will enter into the world and heal Men from the marring.
‘Are you then nor one of them?’ ‘How can I be, lord? All wisdom is against them. Who is the One, whom ye call Eru? […] How could Eru enter into the thing that He has made, and than which He is beyond measure greater? Can the singer enter into his tale or the designer into his picture?’ ‘He is already in it, as well as outside,’ said Finrod. ‘But indeed the “in-dwelling” and the “out-living” are not in the same mode.’ ‘Truly,’ said Andreth. ‘So may Eru in that mode be present in Ea that proceeded from Him. But they speak of Eru Himself entering into Arda, and that is a thing wholly different. How could He the greater do this? Would it not shatter Arda, or indeed all Ea?’ ‘Ask me not,’ said Finrod. ‘These things are beyond the compass of the wisdom of the Eldar, or of the Valar maybe. But I doubt that our words may mislead us, and that when you say “greater” you think of the dimensions of Arda, in which the greater vessel may not be contained in the less. But such words may not be used of the Measureless. If Eru wished to do this, I do not doubt that He would find a way, though I cannot foresee it. For, as it seems to me, even if He in Himself were to enter in, He must still remain also as He is: the Author without.’ […] ‘Then, lord,’ said Andreth, and she looked up in wonder, ‘you believe in this Hope?’ ‘Ask me not yet,’ he answered. ‘For it is still to me but strange news that comes from afar.’
This is very much a Jesus reference, and sooooo Catholic. Tolkien generally eschewed allegory (he thought C.S. Lewis was basically trying way too hard with Narnia), but per one of his letters, he said “The Lord of the Rings is of course a fundamentally religious and
Catholic work, unconsciously so at first, but consciously in the
revision.”
The main books are subtle, but his notes (unpublished in his lifetime) far less so.
Though if we step away from the Catholicism, there’s another belief of Finrod’s that may apply here. Quoting the wiki’s summary:
Men were not the ‘followers’ of the Firstborn but the heirs of Arda, who
will heal the Marring of Arda and enlarge the Music to surpass the
Vision of the World.
In this way, the Eldar may be saved from their own death, which was
inevitable with the ending of Arda. Through the fulfilment of the errand
of the Second Children,
they will be restored. And he has a fair vision of the Eldar and Men
dwelling in the beautiful, green world together. The Eldar would then
sing to Men of all that had been from the beginning. The world remade
would be the true home of Men’s spirit, with their fëar and hröa
united, and it would then be the Eldar who, unchanged, remembered and
spoke of the world that had been to teach the love of it to Men. The Eldar’s burden of memory, which weighed down their spirit in life, would become their wealth in the Days to come.
So the point of the different fates of Men and Elves is that each will have a different role in the future Arda Remade. Men and the spirits of Men (returned from wherever Eru has sent them), will heal the world and make it perfect as it should be, even greater than Eru’s original vision. And there Elves, the keepers of the history of the world, will share all that they know with Men.
Anyway, there’s far more to the discussion, all about the nature of death and the fear that comes with it, for both Men and Elves. And then Tolkien comments on it, and Christopher Tolkien comments on it, it does go on. It’s extremely metaphysical, too much for me to discuss here without pages of quotes, and I’m not even sure I fully understand it myself. There may be academic essays elsewhere on the internet (with Tolkien fandom, of course there is), but I suggest reading the Athrabeth yourself to start. (Libraries often have copies of the History of Middle Earth, among other ways of acquiring them.) Still, I hope that what I have here helps, a little bit at least…
There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.
J.R.R. Tolkien (The Return of the King) (via monte-cristos)
“A fox passing through the wood on business of his own stopped several minutes and sniffed.
‘Hobbits!’
he thought. ‘Well, what next? I have heard of strange doings in this
land, but I have seldom heard of a hobbit sleeping out of doors under a
tree. Three of them! There’s something mighty queer behind this.’ He was
quite right, but he never found out any more about it.”
Avelera 