Tolkien - Tumblr Posts

Beorn 🐻

Éowyn, The White Lady of Rohan

“For he was a gentle heart and a great king and kept his oaths; and he rose out of the shadows to a last fair morning.” -J.R.R. Tolkien, Lord of the Rings

Bernard Hill (1944-2024)

Rest in Peace

A weird fun fact about me is that I read all three LotR books in nine consecutive days, at the age of nine.

I did not skim read at any part, and I fully understood what was going on the books.

See, I had three things on my side: I have always been a naturally fast reader, I had a shit ton of free time at that age, and I had the power of autistic special interests.

And those nine days sparked a Tolkien hyperfixation that I’m pretty sure will be lifelong at this point lol

i got science autism, math autism, silm autism, star wars autism, dsmp autism, literature autism… i think im starting a collection

shame on y’all i got both

    ‘I am in fact a Hobbit in all but size.’

Happy Birthday J.R.R. Tolkien!

Someone asked me to expand a little on a topic that was buried down in a big chain of reblogs, so I'm doing that here--it's about the use of the archaic "thee", "thou", "thy", etc. in LOTR and what it tells you about characters’ feelings for one another. (I am NOT an expert on this, so it's just what I've picked up over time!)

Like many (most?) modern English speakers, I grew up thinking of those old forms of 2nd person address as being extra formal. I think that's because my main exposure to them was in the Bible ("thou shall not...") and why wouldn't god, speaking as the ultimate authority, be using the most formal, official voice? But it turns out that for a huge chunk of the history of the English language, "thee," "thou," and "thy" were actually the informal/casual alternatives to the formal "you", “your”, “yours”. Like tú v. usted in Spanish!

With that in mind, Tolkien was very intentional about when he peppered in a "thee" or a "thou" in his dialogue. It only happens a handful of times. Most of those are when a jerk is trying to make clear that someone else is beneath them by treating them informally. Denethor "thou"s Gandalf when he’s pissed at him. The Witch King calls Éowyn "thee" to cut her down verbally before he cuts her down physically. And the Mouth of Sauron calls Aragorn and Gandalf "thou" as a way to show them that he has the upper hand. (Big oops by all 3 of these guys!)

The other times are the opposite--it's when someone starts to use the informal/casual form as a way to show their feeling of affection for someone else. Galadriel goes with the formal "you" all through the company's days in Lórien, but by the time they leave she has really taken them to heart. So when she sends them a message via Gandalf early in the Two Towers, she uses "thee" and "thou" in her words to Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli because now they're valued friends and allies. And--this is the big one, folks, that was already alluded to in my previous post--Éowyn starts aggressively "thou"ing Aragorn when she is begging him to take her along as he prepares to ride out of Dunharrow. She is very intentionally trying to communicate her feelings to him in her choice of pronoun--an "I wouldn't be calling you "thee" if I didn't love you" kind of thing. And he is just as intentionally using "you" in every single one of his responses in order to gently establish a boundary with her without having to state outright that he doesn't reciprocate her feelings. It's not until much later when her engagement to Faramir is announced that Aragorn finally busts out "I have wished thee joy ever since I first saw thee". Because now it is safe to acknowledge a relationship of closeness and familiarity with her without the risk that it will be misinterpreted. He absolutely wants to have that close, familiar relationship, but he saved it for when he knew she could accept it on his terms without getting hurt.

So, you know, like all things language-based...Tolkien made very purposeful decisions in his word choices down to a bonkers level of detail. I didn’t know about this pronoun thing until I was a whole ass adult, but that’s the joy of dealing with Tolkien. I still discover new things like this almost every time I re-read.

Someone asked me to expand a little on a topic that was buried down in a big chain of reblogs, so I'm doing that here--it's about the use of the archaic "thee", "thou", "thy", etc. in LOTR and what it tells you about characters’ feelings for one another. (I am NOT an expert on this, so it's just what I've picked up over time!)

Like many (most?) modern English speakers, I grew up thinking of those old forms of 2nd person address as being extra formal. I think that's because my main exposure to them was in the Bible ("thou shall not...") and why wouldn't god, speaking as the ultimate authority, be using the most formal, official voice? But it turns out that for a huge chunk of the history of the English language, "thee," "thou," and "thy" were actually the informal/casual alternatives to the formal "you", “your”, “yours”. Like tú v. usted in Spanish!

With that in mind, Tolkien was very intentional about when he peppered in a "thee" or a "thou" in his dialogue. It only happens a handful of times. Most of those are when a jerk is trying to make clear that someone else is beneath them by treating them informally. Denethor "thou"s Gandalf when he’s pissed at him. The Witch King calls Éowyn "thee" to cut her down verbally before he cuts her down physically. And the Mouth of Sauron calls Aragorn and Gandalf "thou" as a way to show them that he has the upper hand. (Big oops by all 3 of these guys!)

The other times are the opposite--it's when someone starts to use the informal/casual form as a way to show their feeling of affection for someone else. Galadriel goes with the formal "you" all through the company's days in Lórien, but by the time they leave she has really taken them to heart. So when she sends them a message via Gandalf early in the Two Towers, she uses "thee" and "thou" in her words to Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli because now they're valued friends and allies. And--this is the big one, folks, that was already alluded to in my previous post--Éowyn starts aggressively "thou"ing Aragorn when she is begging him to take her along as he prepares to ride out of Dunharrow. She is very intentionally trying to communicate her feelings to him in her choice of pronoun--an "I wouldn't be calling you "thee" if I didn't love you" kind of thing. And he is just as intentionally using "you" in every single one of his responses in order to gently establish a boundary with her without having to state outright that he doesn't reciprocate her feelings. It's not until much later when her engagement to Faramir is announced that Aragorn finally busts out "I have wished thee joy ever since I first saw thee". Because now it is safe to acknowledge a relationship of closeness and familiarity with her without the risk that it will be misinterpreted. He absolutely wants to have that close, familiar relationship, but he saved it for when he knew she could accept it on his terms without getting hurt.

So, you know, like all things language-based...Tolkien made very purposeful decisions in his word choices down to a bonkers level of detail. I didn’t know about this pronoun thing until I was a whole ass adult, but that’s the joy of dealing with Tolkien. I still discover new things like this almost every time I re-read.

”Don’t go where I can’t follow”

"Girls want a taller boy" "Girls want a pretty boy"

Girls want a boy who will sit and watch all 3 extended editions of "Lord Of The Rings" with them in one sitting.

One thing I love about the Silmarillion is that because it’s so massive, its fans have to specialize.

Like I love everything but my Silm major is in Finrod studies, with a minor in obscure background characters.

Reblog this post with your Silmarillion “speciality,”

I think we need more *check notes* Caranthir content, yes.

Ungoliant was the original hangry girl

Maedhros: Where is the Silmaril?

Elwing: 🎵Have you checked your butthole?🎵

Please tell me i’m not insane

I was listening to The Milk Carton by Madilyn Mei, and I fully realized, this is Sameise Gamgee’s song.

From the entire message of leaving home and being terrified yet enthralled, to the messages about seeing things only heard of in stories and realizing the true intensity of them, and trying your best to stay there for the one you support, and that knowledge that even if you do return home somehow, it will never be the same. Even the lines of “You can still win, just gotta be faster” falls into the reassurance for Frodo. Hell, even the “Something tells me kid never learned to swim, can I do anything when i’m also drowning?” fits Sam’s entire internal conflict SO FUCKING WELL??? I have no idea if this was intentional or if i’m reading WAYYYY too far into this, but please tell me what you all think!!

(Following are the main lyrics that stood out to me as Sam’s song!!)

Can we talk about the scene in Fellowship of the Ring where Arwen first appears for a second?

Aragorn goes from “oh shit” to “really, Arwen?” in like three seconds. Like he’s scared one moment, and then he’s just fondly annoyed.

I appreciate this scene for so many reasons.

frodo and sam are fairly gay in the movies even though they cut all the hand kissing. but in the books? frodo is sam's much older and boss who also gives of major aro/ace vibes. he is aware of sam's feelings, possibly more so than sam himself, but maintains boundaries for sam's sake, while still making sure to show sam all the affection and appreciation he deserves. sam is bi but doesn't quite understand his own feelings for frodo even though they're obvious to everyone else including Rosie.

Bilbo on the other hand is 100% gay, but my headcanon is that this was 100% an accident on Tolkien's part because i don't think Tolkien had functional gaydar.

It took me entirely too long in my life to realize the parallel between the first chapter titles of The Hobbit and The Fellowship of the Ring.

Happy 84th birthday to The Hobbit!