I think we really don’t give Tolkien enough credit for writing passionate male characters. And by passionate, I mean caring, kind, perhaps even emotional.
Like Finrod Felagund, who gave his own life to protect the son of the man that saved his life, and sang to the humans and loved them and wanted to teach them all he knew.
Like Elrond half-Elven, who despite having lost so much and having lived through so much bloodshed, still cares enough to read moon runes to a bunch of stubborn dwarves, and to give Bilbo a place to stay in his old age even if just for a little while.
Like Frodo Baggins and his Samwise Gamgee, who against all odds fought for a noble cause despite personal expense and who truly loved each other, because like Sam said, ‘I love him whether or no.’ And like Bilbo, who had a kind soul and wept when Thorin Oakenshield died.
Like Maedhros and Maglor, who despite their misdeeds, raised Elrond and Elros in an attempt to make up for all the harm they did, and wanted to find Elured and Elurin. And because in the end, their repentance was what decided their fate in the sea and under the earth.
Faramir’s love and mourning for Boromir, Turgon’s love for Hurin and Huor… you could even talk about Melkor’s desire to create. I could keep going on and on but I think the point is clear. Tolkien just didn’t write male characters, he wrote sensible, caring male characters.
The media often makes it so that female characters are seen as more emotional, more passionate about certain things… like Hermione Granger, who was so passionate about domestic elves, or Deanna Troi, the ship’s counselor in Star Trek TNG that tries to help everyone. But how often do we ever see male characters like the ones Tolkien gave us? Male characters that actually cry, mourn and feel openly?
I would just like to thank Professor Tolkien for actually writing real, feeling men. As a guy that feel that he has to repress his emotions to feel manly, these characters mean the world to me.
Tag: tolkien
Me: “so then there was a linguistic split along political lines when the thorn sound was superseded by an s sound and
My flatmate: “You could say it was a TengWAR”
Aha!
I just figured out that when people complain about Tolkien’s elves being too perfect, they are talking about them being almost universally pretty, strong, agile, fast, good singing voices, usually skilled in at least one art form (broadly interpreted), etc. etc. etc.
Whereas I’m looking at how many of them do not even REMOTELY have their act together, and how they continually get themselves into (or sometimes are put into by circumstances beyond their control) situations where being pretty and strong and agile and so on just isn’t good enough. So they fail.
And – to me – failure is INCOMPATIBLE with perfection. It may be ACCEPTABLE, it may even be unavoidable, but it rules out perfection. Ergo, elves are not perfect.
I wonder if this says more about the way I see elves or the way I see perfection?
I think it says more about your perception of Tolkien’s elves. You understand that they may be more or less physically perfect – agile, beautiful, artistic, etc. But you also appreciate their pride, avarice, vengeance, sheer bullheadedness and snobbery.
Recklessness, fecklessness, self-centeredness, questionable prioritization abilities, obsessiveness…
…dumbshittery, assholishness
It’s not that they don’t HAVE good points but they spend SO MUCH TIME being
I was going to say “failboats” but I had better not, as boats are potentially a DELICATE SUBJECT.
every time I see the words “Tolkien ripoff” in reference to fantasy I laugh, because while there’s a lot of Tolkien ripoff in worldbuilding it almost never crops up in plot or theme or characterization
like
where are my stories about the decay of the world from the glory of days gone by?
where’s the motif of limb loss?
where’s the longing for the return of something worth following?
where are the bloodthirsty oaths that tear sanity to shreds?
where are the evil spirits who try and destroy the gods with steampunk V-1 buzz bombs (looking at you, The Lost Road)?
where’s my continent-wide dialectical shift ending in massive arguments over the proper pronunciation of a name? where’s my family drama centered around sparkly rocks? where are my dragons the size of mountain ranges?
Tolkienesque Fantasy™: there’s a quest, the elves are bitchy, the dwarves drink a lot, farm boy hero.
Tolkien’s Actual Writing: absolute power corrupts absolutely, a little bit of power corrupts a little, to what extent are people responsible for their actions? does God/the gods really answer our prayers? and pacifistic undertones.
Also actual Tolkien: The world is full of hope even in dark times. Kindness and friendship are what heroes are made of. Absolutely do not fuck with nature or you will regret it.
Also actual Tolkien: actual heroes are little people who band together because it is right, and because they must.
Tolkien’s lesser-known nickname
According to a letter Tolkien wrote in 1971, his school-friends “used to write his initials as ‘JR2T’ and pronounce them ‘to rhyme with dirt’.”
you: jolkein rolkein rolkein tolkein
me, an intellectual: jirt
Sauron’s life stages as wolf pupy tweets
Lieutenant of Angband: i don’t disagree with satan’s core policies i just feel i would do a better job
Thȗ: [david attenborough voice] wolves, also known as nature’s best animal, have been cool for hundreds of thousands of years
Post-War of Wrath: if history has taught us anything i don’t plan to learn it
Annatar: everyone who died and was killed on my quest to get really good hair and fashion deserved it and i don’t care
Tar-Mairon: at the end of the day whats important is not the enemies you’ve crushed and killed, it’s the gems, coins, and jewels you got from doing it
The Zigȗr: another wonderful blood ritual, looks like the satan has done it again. thank you to everyone who was killed
Post-Númenor: if people would just stop constantly betraying me it would cut the amount of time i spend on revenge in half
The Necromancer: had to downgrade from the skull throne to an inflatable chair filled with blood, it sucks.
Lord of Mordor: i can’t be bothered justifying my actions any more
that post i keep meaning to make about the Oath
So I should preface this post by saying that if you like you
can just read this
ficlet I wrote and gogol’s
much superior meta on the subject instead, it’s fine, this probably won’t
add much, but: here’s my opinions on the Oath of Fëanor, you’re welcome!So, there’s this tendency in fandom to treat the Oath as a
magical compulsion rather than just an ordinary promise – which is not entirely
without canon support. The clearest example I can find is the way Finrod talks
about it:For the Silmarils are
cursed with an oath of hatred, and he that even names them in desire moves a
great power from slumber; and the sons of Fëanor would lay all the Elf-kingdoms
in ruin rather than suffer any other than themselves to win or possess a
Silmaril, for the Oath drives them.On the other hand! I don’t mean to discard Finrod’s insight
into the situation – he probably knew as much as anyone other than the
Fëanorians about the Oath, and he’s a knowledgeable and intelligent person. But
even here, it’s equally easy to read the whole passage as metaphorical. And
Finrod himself isn’t an unbiased source: he’s (currently) on friendly terms
with Celegorm and Curufin, some of the people who killed his own kin at
Alqualondë. He kind of has to find a
way to reconcile their behaviour to himself. (And he’s about to get killed
fulfilling his own oath. There are a lot of reasons he might want to see what
happens as inevitable.)I could keep going with examples but it’s pretty much all
equally ambiguous – maybe it’s a compulsion, maybe it’s a metaphor, maybe the
narrator themself has no idea and is extrapolating and/or being hyperbolic. So
that established, I am not really interested in trying to grind through the
evidence to try and force some sort of definitive answer that doesn’t exist.But the thing is, I like
writing about mind control. I find the idea of not being able to control your
own thoughts squickily fascinating. It horrifies me, so I want to keep poking
it with a stick.
Elves and Songs of Power Idea
longish but one of my fav ideas yet!! do read!
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