Elves and Dwarves: Alliances

It’s not lore-breaking at all! There have been quite a few elves who developed good relations with dwarves in Middle Earth’s history! Sometimes the relationship was purely business, such as: Thingol hiring the dwarves of Nogrod and Belegost to build Menegroth (though the relationship soured in the end.) Finrod hiring the dwarves of Nogrod and…

Space Swords

So, Turin’s sword Gurthang originally went by the name Anglachel. The sword was given to Thingol by Eol, basically as rent for living in Nan Elmoth. Anglachel was unique, because it was “made of iron that fell from heaven asa blazing star; it would cleave all earth-delved iron” – the iron used to make it…

Thingol and Maedhros

Okay, so a little context first: After the Noldor arrive in Beleriand, Angrod figures that somebody should go pay a visit to Thingol, since he’s king of the Sindar and all that (plus, Angrod and his siblings were related to Thingol.) He talks to Thingol a bit, and then returns to the rest of the…

The First Battle of Beleriand: Cirdan in the West

While Thingol and the elves of Doriath and Laiquendi are victorious in the east, Cirdan hasn’t had nearly as much luck in the west. His army is defeated by the attacking orcs, and so they retreat to the coastal cities of Eglarest and Brithombar. There the orcs lay siege, and Cirdan’s people are trapped. Thingol…

Thranduil and the Gems of Pure Starlight

(I thought I’d already written a post about this, but can’t find it anywhere – in case this actually is a repeat, sorry about that, lol) First of all, if you haven’t already seen it, I highly recommend you watch the extended version of that scene (it’s on Youtube here.) Because it makes a lot…

tolkienreadalong:

Tolkien gave us a lot of information in the last couple of weeks, so I figured it was time for another batch of infographics (if you missed the last group, which focused on the Noldorin royal family, you can find them here.)

Let me know if there’s anything I didn’t cover that you still find pretty confusing – I’m here to help! 🙂

More infographics for the Silmarillion Read-Along.

Who Originally Owned Narsil?

(Okay, this came up because of a post I wrote yesterday in which I mentioned that Narsil was originally owned by Maglor… and then later realized that we don’t actually know that for sure. As soon as this is posted I’ll edit that first post with a link to this one, which explores who might…

Would Doriath’s ruin come sooner had Túrin stayed?

If anything it might have come later. (Again, the “what-if” game is very very tricky, so it’s of course totally fine if you disagree with me.) Sure, Turin’s decisions partially led to Nargothrond’s downfall, but more specifically it was Nargothrond’s king allowing Turin’s decisions to become reality that led to the city’s downfall. Somehow I…

It seems like Thingol loved Túrin more than Túrin loved Thingol. He seemed so keen to get away from Doriath. I don’t know what I’m asking, but I’d just like to hear your say regarding their relationship.

Yeah, I get what you’re talking about. And at least part of it is probably just the way the narrative works – while it’s important to point out that Thingol chose to raise Turin as his foster-son, there isn’t really time in the story to develop their relationship or show Turin’s side of it. But…

I’m just curious, but what would’ve happened if Beren and Luthien stole all three of the Silmarils instead of just one?

Aside from some specific logistical issues (would Carcharoth tried to eat both of Beren’s hands, assuming he was holding all three silmarils at once? Or would he have stopped after just the one hand? And just how much bling was Thingol willing to put on his new and improved Nauglamir?) I’m not sure it would…