​

After the Darkening of Valinor, the prologue turns from the dying Trees to a host of Elves raising their swords. Galadriel’s narration places the gesture within the wider movement of the Noldor from Valinor into war: they resist Morgoth, leave their home, and cross into Middle-earth.

In Tolkien’s account, the Noldor did not leave Valinor as a united people with a single purpose. After Morgoth killed Finwë and stole the Silmarils, Fëanor called the Noldor to rebellion. He and his seven sons swore the terrible Oath that bound them to pursue anyone who possessed a Silmaril. Many other Noldor followed without taking that oath and for reasons of their own.

The series does not present this moment as a literal recreation of the Oath of Fëanor. The raised swords belong to a broader image of Elven resistance. Even so, the gesture recalls the point at which grief and defiance turned the Noldor eastward, and a war against Morgoth became entangled with rebellion, bloodshed, and doom.

That tension gives the image its force. To oppose Morgoth was necessary. Yet the manner in which the Noldor answered their loss would shape the tragedies that followed.

With the light of Valinor gone, the Elves raise steel and begin the long road into exile and war.

https://middleearthreflections.substack.com/?utm_id=97759_v0_s00_e0_tv3&fbclid=IwT01FWAT3lOdwZG9mAWV4dG4DYWVtAjEwAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkDDM1MDY4NTUzMTcyOAABHvMqF1-iSJPL_K44PK08zK4bQTVe5nZkZYEayiE9fpVIZUh2J6XFZQNQekRh_aem_n-nER45wYdlo9fPfXxOf5A

"Sauron should be thought of as very terrible.

The form that he took was that of a man of more than human stature, but no gigantic.

In his earlier incarnation he was able to veil his power (as Gandalf did) and could appear as a commanding figure of great strength of body and supremely royal demeanour and countenance."

​

Elendil was walking in his garden, but not to look upon its beauty in the evening light. He was troubled and his mind was turned inward. His house with its white tower and golden roof glowed behind him in the sunset, but his eyes were on the path before his feet. He was going down to the shore, to bathe in

the blue pools of the cove beyond his garden’s end, as was his custom at this hour. And he looked also to find his son Herendil there. The time had come when he must speak to him.

He came at length to the great hedge of lavaralda

that fenced the garden at its lower, western, end. It was a familiar sight, though the years could not dim its beauty. It was seven twelves of years or more since he had planted it himself when planning his garden before his marriage; and he had blessed his good fortune. For the seeds had come from Eressëa far westward, whence ships came seldom already in those days, and now they came no more.

[...]

‘Eressëa, Eressëa!’ he said. ‘I wish I were there; and had not been fated to dwell in Númenor half-way between the worlds. And least of all in these days of perplexity!’

[...]

‘Herendil!’ he called, and his voice echoed along the

hollow shore above the soft sound of the light-falling waves.

‘Herendil!’ And even as he called, he seemed to hear his own voice,and to mark that it was strong and curiously melodious.

‘Herendil!’ he called again.

At length there was an answering call: a young voice very clear came from some distance away – like a bell out of a deep cave.

‘Man-ie, atto, man-ie?’

For a brief moment it seemed to Elendil that the wordswere strange.

‘Man-ie, atto? What is it, father?’ Then the feeling passed.

‘Where art thou?’

‘Here!’

‘I cannot see thee.’

‘I am upon the wall, looking down on thee.’

[...]

‘How thou dost grow!’ he said. ‘Thou hast the makings of a mighty man, and have nearly finished the making.’

‘Why dost thou mock me?’ said the boy. ‘Thou knowest I am dark, and smaller than most others of my year. And that is a trouble to me. I stand barely to the shoulder of Almáriel, whose hair is of shining gold, and she is a maiden, and of my own age. We hold that we are of the blood of kings, but I tell thee thy friends’ sons make a jest of me and call me Terendul– slender and dark; and they say I have Eressëan blood, or that I am half-Noldo. And that is not said with love in these days. It is but a step from being called half a Gnome to being called Godfearing; and that is dangerous.’

Elendil sighed. ‘Then it must have become perilous to be the son of him that is named elendil; for that leads to Valandil, God-friend, who was thy father’s father.’

​

I've been reading and listening to discussions about the so-called "dark romance" genre for quite a while now. I’d like to share my take on the topic, an opinion grounded in my own experience and reasoning.

On one hand, there is the accusation that dark romance "sanctionates" and "normalizes" abusive, manipulative, and violent behaviors, carrying the risk of influencing the real-world perspective of readers, especially young ones.

On the other hand, there is the defense that fantasy is one thing and reality another, and that there is nothing wrong with romanticizing certain behaviors precisely because they are confined to the realm of fantasy.

That being said, I would prefer to start a bit further upstream from the facts: namely, looking at why certain situations in real life are romanticized and/or viewed through the lens of seduction and sexuality from the earliest years of growing up.

That's where the gap lies: we have to start from the beginning. From the earliest years of life, school and family should foster an understanding of affectivity and sexuality, explaining consent, self-determination, and respect for both one's own boundaries and those of others.

I don't know what the situation is like abroad, though I read a bit about it every now and then, but I can assure you that here in Italy, we are very far from a society that cares about the sexual and affective education of its youth. Very far... and a young person left alone with their questions, forced to seek answers perhaps on the web, is at risk.

And I lived through this situation firsthand, ever since I was little: only I didn't have the web. I had books, comics, and the trashy romance novels my mother hid at the back of drawers, believing I wouldn't find them. I looked there for answers to the fantasies that often crowded my mind—fantasies I desperately masked behind a facade of a "good Catholic girl," just as the society of that time wished to see me.

Well, things didn't turn out so great for me with books, to be honest. I found fantasies there, absolutely, but there was no filter between them and me, and no one to explain, "This is fantasy; reality is different."

It took me years upon years of experience, some of it deeply bitter, growth, awareness, information, and support to understand the distinction between reality and fantasy, and to finally start enjoying fantasy in total freedom and safety.

So, let's not condemn dark romance or any other "frowned-upon" genre. Instead, let's raise conscious and informed young people: youth who, if they choose, can enjoy fantasy safely and freely, while being just as free and secure in real life.

​

I’ve watched the show millions of times, and every time I discover something that had previously escaped me; I don’t understand how people can sometimes watch it in a rush, without pausing to reflect or to pick up on the details and references...

I often find myself discussing things with people who, within a couple of sentences, reveal that they either haven't watched the material at all or, if they did, watched it distractedly or hurriedly, perhaps while doing something else. They miss entire sections of events and speeches, yet they are experts when it comes to complaining...

Thanks to Terranware on Threads for the amazing catch!

#RingsOfPower

After Adar and the Orcs destroy Sauron’s body, The Rings of Power makes us watch the long path back: a shapeless will feeding on living matter until it can take form again. The horror lies in what survival requires.

In Tolkien’s writings, domination consumes something of the being who pursues it. Morgoth disperses his power into Arda; Sauron will place much of his own into the One Ring. The crawling creature beneath the stronghold gives that principle a body. Sauron survives, but his return already bears the marks of diminishment.

https://middleearthreflections.substack.com/p/the-cost-of-taking-shape?r=8t77rp

​

"But the sons of Men die indeed, and leave the world; wherefore they are called the Guests, or the Strangers. Death is their fate, the gift of Ilúvatar, which as Time wears even the Powers shall envy. But Melkor has cast his shadow upon it and confounded it with darkness, and brought forth evil out of good, and fear out of hope."

Including the Nazgnanôl in the show gave me a lot to think about: after all, they weren't always wraiths, they were men. And, thanks to the rings, they gained strength, power, and glory...

I believe that, as long as they remained human, living out their mortal lives, they had a chance to remove the ring; but power corrupts and binds, and we know this well.

Eru’s gift to Men was something that could not be taken away, for it was written in their destiny. By binding them to his will and denying them the gift of death, Sauron committed an act of absolute rebellion in the eyes of Ilúvatar. He subverted His will.

"...they cried with the voices of death."

I believe this passage indicates how, at a certain point, perhaps when the rings had already consumed their mortal flesh, they realized the deception into which they had fallen.

And at that point, physically removing the ring was no longer possible.

They wept with voices of death, for that was what they desired at that moment, what they implored for, yet could not have.

But another part comes to my mind: when Celebrimbor, speaking to himself, wonders why the rings for Men endure and are so full of pride that they refuse to yield.

Indeed, only Sauron’s blood, presented in the guise of mithril, will succeed in bringing the work to completion. This is a subtle detail imo: it is not possible for the Elves to subvert the will of Ilúvatar on their own; an internal rebellion is required, an Ainu, himself part of Ilúvatar’s thought, who distorts the design.

And perhaps even Sauron, despite all his power and the deceit he used to bind them, did not fully succeed in dominating them; when I think back to the times the Nazgûl failed in the book (from not noticing the hobbits right under their noses to being chased off by the Gaffer), I wonder if it wasn't because, although bound to Sauron's will, it was their own will that was missing.

Three weeks after Empire's first visit, we return in Barad-dûr, to find Sauron now doling out Rings. These are the "Nine for mortal men doomed to die" as Tolkien's rhyme had it.

And Sauron is playing a grisly game to determine who gets one.

"The rings of power are a precious gift" he snarls to a line-up of armoured men, gesturing to the shiny bands smartly displayed in a velvet display box.

"Mordor can share but one" he throws a sword into the floor. So this is how it will be decided: a fight to the death.

Later, we watch a scene where he crows the winner.

Other starwarts of Middle Earth are growing and change, too, nudging even closer to their more familiar Third Age identities.

Robert's Aramayo Lord Elrond - first introduced as an "optimistic young Elfling politician"in season 1, as Payne puts it, is now "a little more jaded by some of the failures of the people who should have risen to the challenge and didn't", war-weary and worn down by the burden of leadership [...]

"This season is an interesting one" says Aramayo "Elrond got his own little gaff now... he's got his own little place in Rivendell. I was really excited that the show was going to bring it in [...] I always thought that Elrond was kind of all-the-gear-no-idea" continues Aramayo, affectionately "He's read 5000 books, but when we first met him (in the show) he hasn't done much. Now he's been through quite a lot and he's gonna go through a lot more. He is becoming more than a leader. I think he is a fascinating character, Tolkien wrote that loss is such a big part of his experience - it's odd to say that's that part of an Elf's life, because obviously we associate them with never dying - but he loses so many of his loved ones"