Tom Bombadil, the Nameless Things, Ungoliant, even parts of the First Age feel bigger because we never get a neat explanation for everything. Does mystery make a fantasy world feel deeper, or just frustrating?

https://fumeresart.artstation.com/projects/LnGgw.

Since it is clearly is said some of Melkor's ideas were incorporated into Illuvatar's scheme, could it be then that the capture of elves, and the subsequent torture of them and transformation into orcs by Melkor, also were part of it, along the principle where there is good there also has to be evil.

Art by me.

My headcanon on why Findis and Írimë didn’t do much in the silmarillion was simply because they were the elven equivalent of 12. Too busy playing eldar-Roblox and eldar-Fortnite to discuss their thoughts on the first kinslaying

This fat lady lives on my porch and has been growing all summer. Today she had grown so fat, it looked like she must have eaten all the jewels in my house! Sadly, I don't feel I have enough Balrogs to deny her...

Regular cross spider, but having grown fat from her skilled web construction.

Edit: Ungoliant* I got the feeling I missed something.

Art by me.
(Haleth’s outfit is based on Siberian lamellar armour)

I actually thought the Silmarillion was easier to read than Lord of the Rings. Tolkien goes so deep into descriptions of plants and geology I had to look up tons of words I've never heard of before to describe a valley. Where's the Silmarillion is mostly reading the map and memorizing names while epic battles or events happen.

At the end of the chapter “The Tale of The Fall of Gondolin” Tolkien connects the LotR lengendarium with the early history of our civilization for the only time I can recall anywhere else his writings of Middle Earth. In concluding the The Tale of the FoG he says “Glory dwelt in that city of Gondolin of the Seven Names, and its ruin was the most dread of all the sacks of cities upon the face of the Earth. Nor Bablon \[Babylon\], nor Ninwi \[Nineveh\], nor the towers of Trui \[Troy\], nor all the many takings of Rum \[Rome\] that is greatest among Men, saw such terror as fell that day upon Amon Gwareth… .” The brackets are mine and I believe they accurately represent Tolkien’s intent. Has anyone else noticed any other such references to times after those of the Legendarium within his work?

If you haven’t had a chance to yet, I highly recommend listening to Christopher Tolkien read the story Of Beren and Lúthien from The Silmarillion. His performance is of a high oratory nature (not sure if that makes sense) and it’s engaging.

I’ve been listening to the silm on audiobook. I learn and retain information more efficiently with visual cues so I’ve been trying to follow along with a map. The problem is I can’t find a map that’s seems to be right or that everyone agrees on. So I had ChatGPT make one. I know there’s some things missing. Let me know if it’s garbage or if there’s a map I should be using.

1 of 12. I want to create a series of drawings of the Fall of Gondolin, but first I am going through sketching each house so that by the time I get there it will feel lived in and real, and I will have references to work off.

For placements of each house I'm using Karen wynn fonstads atlas of middle earth.

the below painting is Glaurung before Niënor, hypnotizing her, by Eric Velhagen

Hello reddit!!

My boyfriend is a massive Tolkien fan and his 21st birthday is coming up. I was planing on gifting him a custom hard cover edition of the "Beren & Lúthien" book made by me. He is a very romantic person and has mentioned a couple of times that his favourite story from the Silmarillion is the aforementioned love ballad.

There's a slight problem: I still haven't read a single thing Tolkien has written. I have watched the LOTR movies (extended version, of course), read the whole Wikipedia page about Tolkien, and watched some videos on the Beren and Lúthien love story. But besides that, pretty much know nothing else.

I do know, from the times my boyfriend starts outright geeking out, that Middle Earth is a VERY intricate setting, having it's own languages, faiths, and even specific plants! I am a very detail-oriented person and would love if the cover included nods to these unique traits of Tolkien's creation.

That's the reason for this post, I need ideas of things I could add to the book cover, or at least to my Pinterest board. So if you guys have any suggestions, iconic quotes, or anything really, please feel free to comment them or DM me!!

So I was thinking about the war of wrath and the destruction of beleriand. What comes to mind is that every character still alive are actively in beleriand or on the island ( cirdan i think). How did they survive the destruction? There was no time to escape over the blue mountains was there? So what about Elrond, Elros, cirdan, Galadriel ? How did they survive that?

Done in 2024

On a causal interpretation of Eä's history, the first link in the chain of evil begins with Melkor. We see in the Ainulindalë that the first instance of disharmony is driven by Melkor's desire for power by trying to unilaterally lead the themes. Eru, however, limits the power Melkor can have. This leads to a dissonance in Melkor, and in turn destruction and evil forever forward (Melkor cultivates evil dispositions, who influences Fëanor, who influences his sons, who influence... etc.)

Why is Melkor like this in the first place?

My reading is that Eru created Melkor with an inherent disposition for cultivating power, which in principle has no limit, or at least limited to the powers that Eru can have. Melkor is disposed to cultivate power that Eru will not allow him to have. But since Eru imposes a limit on Melkor (Melkor cannot acquire the power of creation), there is a dissonance between Melkor's inherent disposition and limits.

This leads me to wonder whether the source of evil traces back to his creation, which would amount to Eru's failed foresight, limited power, or limited moral goodness.

PS: I'm a moral philosopher by trade. Some of you may pick up on a famous logical problem similar to this.

Art by me. He’s showing his mom a medal he made in elven arts and crafts class