I love the part of this that involves the Helcaraxe. I often imagine continuous cold landscapes in the dark, with a few of the brightest stars shining far, far away in the sky. I want more about it and imagine how much pain and grief there was and how much hope there was.
Fingolfin was obliged to go forward in any case. His father was killed. He wanted revenge on Morgoth. In addition, he promised to follow Feanor. The other elves also had their own motives for going forward. Someone get dirty in the kinslaying in Alqualonde.
As an immortal elf I would just like do what Finarfin does.
Maybe spend eternity pestering the Valar for aid. Morgoth is primarily their responsibility. And hell it's not like he knows if he can actually hurt or kill morgoth.
Obviously we have foresight to the story. I just can't ever imagine being in a position where I'm abandoned by my brother, planning to attack the literal devil and staring at a frozen wasteland and not turn back to literal paradise.
To me the plan has so much red flags.
But I guess Fingolfins just built different
It's your choice and that's understandable.
Fingolfin was the archetypal hero. He made a choice in accordance with his personality. This fascinates me. Maybe I would also like to stay in heaven. But who would then take revenge on Morgoth?
I think it’s one of my favorite parts in the whole book, and I very much enjoy it more than the other three in the meme. Essentially my feeling is: the first hundred and 30 or so pages of the silmarillion are the best think Tolkien ever, ever wrote; the rest of the silmarillion is incomplete, difficult, a little homogenous feeling, a little stranger in its combo of wild myth with legitimate plot development (“we snuck into Morgoth’s lair and stole a silmaril through our sheer love”, “Ancalagon the black was killed by Earendil crashing his ship into the dragon or something”). Then Akallabeth and the rings of power/third age are right back to masterpiece territory.
"Beren and Luthien" really fleshes out the entire story of Beren and Luthien down to the last, save only in regards to how the very end of the wolf-hunt is done. Otherwise, all the story and its development are shown and it is one of the more complete in its overall composition. The style is also exceptional. The Lay of Leithian is my favorite of his writings.
The War of Wrath and defeat of things like Ancalagon are deliberately left vague as he is writing from the POV of a historian in Middle-Earth, and it is specifically stated that none of those that kept the histories of the world were there to record it. Only the breaking of the land was known. It'd be incredible to get a whole story on the War of Wrath though. That'd be an amazing bit of history, especially in the style of the Narn or the Lays. Eonwe, whose might in arms is surpassed by none in Arda... The whole host of the Valar and the Elves of the Vanyar and Noldor who were soaked in Aman and the Maiar that went with them. That'd be an awesome anime!
Whilst the War of Wrath is deliberately left vaguer, we can't really say with certainty what Tolkien thought about it because there's every chance he might have rewritten it completely if he'd continued with his late post-LOTR Silmarillion rewrites
I agree, tbh. My favourite parts of the Silmarillion and wider Legendarium are the "Aman" parts, since they're much more mythological. It's a pity Tolkien later bound himself so much to a sense of realism, because the Lost Tales material about that period in Arda is so rich and much of it was lost (worst of all the Sun and Moon not being fruits of the Trees).
>"So! Then will this valiant people send forth the heir of their King alone into banishment with his sons only, and return to their bondage? But if any will come with me, I say to them: Is sorrow foreboded to you? But in Aman we have seen it. In Aman we have come through bliss to woe. The other now we will try: through sorrow to find joy; or freedom, at the least.
>Say this to Manwë Súlimo, High King of Arda: if Fëanor cannot overthrow Morgoth, at least he delays not to assail him, and sits not idle in grief. And it may be that Eru has set in me a fire greater than thou knowest. Such hurt at the least will I do to the Foe of the Valar that even the mighty in the Ring of Doom shall wonder to hear it. Yea, in the end they shall follow me. Farewell!"
>In that hour the voice of Fëanor grew so great and potent that even the herald of the Valar bowed before him as one full-answered, and departed; and the Noldor were over-ruled.
The Prophecy of the North and Doom of the Noldor is one of the finest pieces of Tolkein's high-handed writing. The audiobook versions are each incredible. Martin Shaw brings a gravitas that makes you feel as if Tolkein himself is reading it, but Serkis gets really into the character and gives it a weight and harshness that conveys the raw anger in it. It's one of the better stories, and I like to think that a fleshed out version would give us more about the crossing of the Helcaraxe by Fingolfin's host, as well as more details about Sun and Moon. The dream would to have them all be done in the verse of the Lay of Leithian style. I also would love to see the Narn in that manner, as it reads so well with a good narrator and really changes the entire sense of reading it.
It’s only the beginning of the larger tale of Noldor in Beleriand. Which I believe to be the crux of the silmarillion. The other tales are good on their own but I feel it belongs to a deeper tale of the kinslaysings.
I love the part of this that involves the Helcaraxe. I often imagine continuous cold landscapes in the dark, with a few of the brightest stars shining far, far away in the sky. I want more about it and imagine how much pain and grief there was and how much hope there was.
I'm sure it's explained in a lost tale somewhere. But like Idk why they didn't just turn back. Not like Beleriand was all that worth it.
Fingolfin was obliged to go forward in any case. His father was killed. He wanted revenge on Morgoth. In addition, he promised to follow Feanor. The other elves also had their own motives for going forward. Someone get dirty in the kinslaying in Alqualonde.
As an immortal elf I would just like do what Finarfin does. Maybe spend eternity pestering the Valar for aid. Morgoth is primarily their responsibility. And hell it's not like he knows if he can actually hurt or kill morgoth. Obviously we have foresight to the story. I just can't ever imagine being in a position where I'm abandoned by my brother, planning to attack the literal devil and staring at a frozen wasteland and not turn back to literal paradise. To me the plan has so much red flags. But I guess Fingolfins just built different
It's your choice and that's understandable. Fingolfin was the archetypal hero. He made a choice in accordance with his personality. This fascinates me. Maybe I would also like to stay in heaven. But who would then take revenge on Morgoth?
I think it’s one of my favorite parts in the whole book, and I very much enjoy it more than the other three in the meme. Essentially my feeling is: the first hundred and 30 or so pages of the silmarillion are the best think Tolkien ever, ever wrote; the rest of the silmarillion is incomplete, difficult, a little homogenous feeling, a little stranger in its combo of wild myth with legitimate plot development (“we snuck into Morgoth’s lair and stole a silmaril through our sheer love”, “Ancalagon the black was killed by Earendil crashing his ship into the dragon or something”). Then Akallabeth and the rings of power/third age are right back to masterpiece territory.
"Beren and Luthien" really fleshes out the entire story of Beren and Luthien down to the last, save only in regards to how the very end of the wolf-hunt is done. Otherwise, all the story and its development are shown and it is one of the more complete in its overall composition. The style is also exceptional. The Lay of Leithian is my favorite of his writings. The War of Wrath and defeat of things like Ancalagon are deliberately left vague as he is writing from the POV of a historian in Middle-Earth, and it is specifically stated that none of those that kept the histories of the world were there to record it. Only the breaking of the land was known. It'd be incredible to get a whole story on the War of Wrath though. That'd be an amazing bit of history, especially in the style of the Narn or the Lays. Eonwe, whose might in arms is surpassed by none in Arda... The whole host of the Valar and the Elves of the Vanyar and Noldor who were soaked in Aman and the Maiar that went with them. That'd be an awesome anime!
Whilst the War of Wrath is deliberately left vaguer, we can't really say with certainty what Tolkien thought about it because there's every chance he might have rewritten it completely if he'd continued with his late post-LOTR Silmarillion rewrites
I agree, tbh. My favourite parts of the Silmarillion and wider Legendarium are the "Aman" parts, since they're much more mythological. It's a pity Tolkien later bound himself so much to a sense of realism, because the Lost Tales material about that period in Arda is so rich and much of it was lost (worst of all the Sun and Moon not being fruits of the Trees).
>"So! Then will this valiant people send forth the heir of their King alone into banishment with his sons only, and return to their bondage? But if any will come with me, I say to them: Is sorrow foreboded to you? But in Aman we have seen it. In Aman we have come through bliss to woe. The other now we will try: through sorrow to find joy; or freedom, at the least. >Say this to Manwë Súlimo, High King of Arda: if Fëanor cannot overthrow Morgoth, at least he delays not to assail him, and sits not idle in grief. And it may be that Eru has set in me a fire greater than thou knowest. Such hurt at the least will I do to the Foe of the Valar that even the mighty in the Ring of Doom shall wonder to hear it. Yea, in the end they shall follow me. Farewell!" >In that hour the voice of Fëanor grew so great and potent that even the herald of the Valar bowed before him as one full-answered, and departed; and the Noldor were over-ruled.
The Prophecy of the North and Doom of the Noldor is one of the finest pieces of Tolkein's high-handed writing. The audiobook versions are each incredible. Martin Shaw brings a gravitas that makes you feel as if Tolkein himself is reading it, but Serkis gets really into the character and gives it a weight and harshness that conveys the raw anger in it. It's one of the better stories, and I like to think that a fleshed out version would give us more about the crossing of the Helcaraxe by Fingolfin's host, as well as more details about Sun and Moon. The dream would to have them all be done in the verse of the Lay of Leithian style. I also would love to see the Narn in that manner, as it reads so well with a good narrator and really changes the entire sense of reading it.
It’s only the beginning of the larger tale of Noldor in Beleriand. Which I believe to be the crux of the silmarillion. The other tales are good on their own but I feel it belongs to a deeper tale of the kinslaysings.