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Below are all articles on the Reference Library, indexed by topic.
The Accidental King: Five Reasons Why Finarfin Deserves More Appreciation
An essay and commentary looking at the canonical facts about Finarfin in contrast to the neglect and hostility that his character is given by the Silmarillion fan fiction community.
Categories: Character
Like so many Silmarillion characters, Aegnor has a complex and sometimes contradictory textual history. A fiery warrior and romantic with a heart of gold that could belong only to a son of Finarfin, Aegnor is one of The Silmarillion's many fascinating minor characters. Originally featured September 2010.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Like many women of The Silmarillion, Aerin receives little attention in The Silmarillion but plays a much-expanded role in other posthumously published texts. Aerin simultaneously fulfills the role of a victim and as an example of female agency. Originally featured June 2015.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
In honor of Legendarium Ladies April, this biography looks at the life of a woman who existed at the heart of the politics during Aldarion's reign in Númenor and yet remains voiceless. What do we know of Ailinel's character and what of the vast questions that remain? Originally featured April 2018.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
During Akallabêth in August we feature Amandil, the patriarch of the founders of the realms of Men in Middle-earth. Russandol addresses what the stories tell of Amandil, his evolution as the texts developed, and prompts unanswered questions for inspiration and debate. Originally featured August 2010.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Biography of Amárië of the Vanyar. Who was this briefly mentioned woman, the beloved of Finrod Felagund? Originally featured April 2009.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Biography of Amdir. King of Lórien in the Second Age, Amdír invites questions of how the Light, Dark, and Grey Elves interacted in the early history of Middle-earth. Originally featured March 2013. Originally featured March 2013.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Amrod and Amras (Seven in '07) 
Biography of Amrod and Amras. Originally featured as part of Seven in '07.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Although Amrod and Amras appeared early in Tolkien's work on the legendarium, their characters unwent significant shifts as he worked on the Silmarillion materials of which they were part. Originally featured February 2021.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Anairë, the wife of Fingolfin, is named only in the auxillary texts to The Silmarillion, yet this character offers fruitful possibilities for exploration. Originally featured May 2014.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Anárion is one of the characters that acts as a direct link between the histories of The Silmarillion and The Lord of the Rings. This biography considers his role in Tolkien's larger themes, his place in the legendarium, and thorny fannish questions about his status related to Isildur. Originally featured September 2017.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Oshun calls Ancalagon the "darkest and most powerful weapon of Morgoth" and, in this biography, explores what we know of this greatest of dragons, Tolkien's fascination with dragons, and the story's role in providing rare eucatastrophe in The Silmarillion. Originally featured November 2017.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
As the father of the tragic Gorlim, Angrim embodies both the nobility and the tragedy of the early houses of the Edain. Originally featured February 2019.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Angrod, the golden son of Finarfin who helped unravel peace among the Noldor. Originally featured October 2010.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Tolkien's books are full of characters that played significant roles in the lives of some of the major players in the legends of Middle-earth. Annael, the foster-father of Tuor, is one such character. Originally featured September 2013.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Biography of Arakáno. J.R.R. Tolkien never fully communicated how he intended Arakáno to fit into the Silmarillion, but his notes provide us with some clues about this fourth child of Fingolfin. Originally featured May 2011.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Biography of Aranwë. Father of Voronwë of Gondolin, we know almost nothing about Aranwë aside from tantalizing textual and linguistic clues that might reveal his identity. Originally featured September 2015.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Biography of Aredhel. Originally featured September 2008.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
In Ar-Gimilzôr, we see the first signs of the divisiveness and decline of Númenor into two factions. This month's biography details this prequel to Númenor's cataclysmic fall. Originally featured December 2020.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Biography of Arien. Arien was the Maia who guided the vessel that contained Laurelin's last fruit. As it's often the case with Tolkien's characters, her named changed, and her role, story, and fate evolved along with the tale of the Sun and the Moon. Originally featured December 2015.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Biography of Ar-Pharazôn. In honor of Akallabêth in August, this bio explores the history, evolution, and some of the questions surrounding of Ar-Pharazôn, one of Arda's darkest characters. Originally featured August 2009.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
One of Barahir's twelve companions, Arthad embodies the stoic bravery that characterizes the House of Bëor. Originally featured September 2019.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Biography of Arvedui. A character who bridges the stories of The Silmarillion and The Lord of the Rings, Arvedui was the Dúnedain king who first attempted to unite Arnor and Gondor under a single crown. Originally featured October 2014.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Biography of Arwen Undómiel. Largely relegated to the margins of the story, Arwen nonetheless represents a strength that is "intellectual, psychological, and spiritual," as well as serving as a symbol of the simultaneous waning of one people and rise of another. Arwen presents the usual thorny questions of how women are presented in the legendarium, compounded by a well-known film depiction that stretches the bounds of the canon. Originally featured April 2017.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
The glorious mount of Glorfindel appears to be more than a mere horse, recalling other famous steeds in the legendarium. Originally featured January 2019.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Biography of Aulë. One of the Ainur, the demi-gods of Tolkien legendarium, Aulë is said to have been created by the thought of Eru Ilúvatar. He ranks third in importance among the Valar, following only Manwë and Ulmo. Usually referred to in The Silmarillion as Aulë the Smith or Aulë the Maker, he is given the name Mahal by the Dwarves. Originally featured May 2008.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Biography of Azaghâl. The leader of the renowned Dwarven army that saved the lives of the Elven host at the Nirnaeth Arnoediad, Azaghâl appears only briefly in the published material but in scenes of cinematic scope. This bio reviews what we know of Azaghâl and what remains open for fans to explore. Originally featured November 2014.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Biography of Barahir. Barahir in many ways embodies the unrelenting and inescapable tragedy that plagues The Silmarillion. But through his son Beren and a legacy that passes through to the Third Age, Barahir also fits into Tolkien's essential concept of eucatastrophe. Originally featured May 2017.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Biography of Beleg Cúthalion. Originally featured July 2008.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Biography of Bëor. Originally featured July 2015.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Biography of Beregar of Númenor. Originally featured May 2015.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Following up on our three-part biography of Lúthien Tinúviel, this month's biography of Beren discusses his early life, the evolution of his character in the legendarium, and his particular importance as a prototype for Aragorn and the small, simple heroes who would come to characterize Tolkien's later work. Originally featured June 2020.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Biography of Brandir. Originally featured October 2015.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Biography of Brodda. Originally featured July 2017.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Burning in the House: Éowyn's Outcry and the Death of Aerin
In an attempt to allow widely separated parts of the Legendarium to throw light on each other, Aerin's final acts are compared to the imagery in which Éowyn's expresses her concerns in The Lord of the Rings. The relevant passages share the motif of the burning house. The handling of this motif suggests authorial sympathy with Éowyn's plight. Published 22 June 2018.
Categories: Character, Comparative Studies (Legendarium)
Biography of Caranthir. Originally featured as part of Seven in '07.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Biography of Caranthir. Originally featured November 2009.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Biography of Carcharoth. Originally featured February 2015.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Following the two-part biography of Galadriel, this essay considers her husband, who was notable as a warrior and a leader in his own right. A character dogged by movie fanon that would dismiss him as inconsequential and confused by contradictory texts, Celeborn emerges in this analysis as sympathetic, powerful, and wise: a fitting companion for Galadriel. Originally featured October 2018.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Biography of Celebrimbor. Originally featured as part of Seven in '07.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Biography of Celebrimbor. Originally featured March 2010.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Biography of Celegorm. Originally featured as part of Seven in '07.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Biography of Círdan the Shipwright. Originally featured July and August 2014.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Biography of Daeron. Originally featured April 2008.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Biography of Denethor. Originally featured August 2013.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Biography of Dior Eluchíl. Originally featured June 2013.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Biography of Dorlas. Originally featured October 2017.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Biography of Durin I. Originally featured April 2016.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Biography of Eärendil the Mariner. Originally featured February 2011.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Biography of Eärwen. Originally featured November 2010.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Biography of Ecthelion of the Fountain. Originally featured September 2011.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Biography of Edrahil of Nargothrond. Originally featured October 2013.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Eilinel is a little-known character, the wife of Gorlim the Unhappy, who is both central and nonexistent in the tale of the betrayal of Barahir.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Eldalótë, the wife of Angrod, is mentioned only in History of Middle-earth texts and not once in the published Silmarillion. This biography reviews what is known of this elusive character, including what linguistic clues can tell us about whether she accompanied her husband to Middle-earth.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Biography of Elemmírë. Originally featured January 2018.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Biography of Elendur of Númenor. Originally featured March 2014.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Biography of Elenwë. Originally featured May 2009.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Although not typically thought of as Silmarillion characters, Elladan and Elrohir's family tree is a veritable thicket of who's-who in the First Age. Part One of this two-part biography explores their family ties and the events in their lives up to the Ring War, while Part Two considers their role in the Ring War and the broader thematic importance of their storyline to the legendarium. Originally featured June and July 2019.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Biography of Elrond. Originally featured September 2007.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Biography of Elros. Originally featured June 2009.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Biography of Eluréd and Elurín. Originally featured November 2012.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Biography of Elwing. Originally featured December 2008.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Biography of Emeldir the Manhearted. Originally featured December 2016.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Biography of Eöl. Originally featured June 2011.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Biography of Erendis, the Mariner's Wife. Originally featured August 2012.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Erestor has long been a favorite character among Tolkien fans. This bio explores what little the texts tells of him and how some of the most popular Erestor-related fanons may have arisen. Originally featured March 2019.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Estë is the goddess who sleeps through the book--or is she? Her character illustrates both the potential and ultimate shortcomings of so many female characters in Tolkien's legendarium. Originally featured May 2020.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Biography of Fëanor. Originally featured as part of Seven in '07.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Biography of Finarfin. Originally featured September 2014.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Biography of Fingolfin. Originally featured May 2010.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Biography of Fingon the Valiant. Originally featured March 2009.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Biography of Finrod Felagund. Originally featured September 2009.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Biography of Finwë. Originally featured June 2010.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Galadriel is a rare example of a character added to The Silmarillion after and because of The Lord of the Rings. The complexity of her character development post-LotR largely comes from trying to fit her character into the existing myth. Part 1 explores her life in the Years of the Trees and the First Age; Part 2 continues with the significant influence she wields over the legendarium in the Second and Third Ages. Originally featured May and July 2018.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Biography of Gandalf (Olórin). Originally featured March and June 2012.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Biography of Gethron. Originally featured February 2018.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Biography of Gildor Inglorion. Originally featured February 2018.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Biography of Gilfanon. Originally featured December 2009.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Biography of Gil-galad. Originally featured October 2007.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Biography of Glaurung. Originally featured January 2014.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Glorfindel of Gondolin and Glorfindel of Rivendell
Biography of Glorfindel of Gondolin and Glorfindel of Rivendell. Originally featured January and February 2010.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Before he was the Unhappy, he was one of the nine faithful servants of Barahir and deeply in love. This month's bio explores an oft-overlooked but tragic downfall from The Silmarillion.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Biography of Guilin of Nargothrond. Originally featured September 2016.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Given a richer and more nuanced characterization in The Children of Húrin, Gwindor is a tenacious character who gives us insight into the lives of captives of Morgoth. The effects of his captivity haunt him as he becomes a pawn in the tragic tale of Túrin. Originally featured June 2018.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Biography of Haldad. Originally featured August 2017.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Biography of Haleth. Originally featured February 2008.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
As we honor rare characters and textual ghosts this month, we consider Hareth of the House of Haladin, on the surface yet another woman defined primarily by her [male] relations but who, with a closer look at the details of the text, begins to come to life and ask for a story of her own. Originally featured April 2019.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Biography of Huan the Hound of Valinor. Originally featured April 2011.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Biography of Huor. Originally featured March 2015.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Biography of Indis. Originally featured July 2013.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Biography of Írimë (Lalwen). Originally featured April 2015.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Biography of Irmo/Lórien. Originally featured August 2007.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Biography of Isildur. Originally featured August 2008.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Biography of Ithryn Luin (Blue Wizards). Originally featured January 2017.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Biography of Lalaith (Urwen). Originally featured November 2013.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Lámatyávë: If you have no idea what that word means, read this article
Why the "sound taste" of a name is often more important than the meaning when naming original characters. Originally featured February 2011.
Categories: Elves, Language, Linguistic Foolery
Biography of Legolas of Gondolin. Originally featured May 2013.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Biography of Lenwë. Originally featured March 2018.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Lúthien Tinúviel stands at the center of the legendarium, a character whose influence reaches past the Third Age and introduces, perhaps more than any other tale, the element of fairy-story into Tolkien's work. Yet Lúthien, who is "nobody's victim or reward," defies fairy-tale tropes in notable ways. Originally featured December 2019.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Biography of Mablung of Doriath. Originally featured October 2008.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Biography of Maedhros. Originally featured as part of Seven in '07.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Biography of Maeglin. Originally featured July 2009.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
The story of Mahtan, the father of Nerdanel, is one among many tales that illustrates the potential of knowledge to corrupt and lead to evil. Originally featured February 2013.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Biography of Maglor. Originally featured as part of Seven in '07.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Biography of Makar and Meássë. Originally featured December 2013.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
One of the Maiar, Melian is to credit for the safety and subsequent ascendancy of Doriath under her guardianship. This article explores the first half of the canon about her life and especially her status as a strong female character within the legendarium. Originally featured August 2020.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Although often depicted as otherworldly and distant, Melian's role in The Silmarillion is heavily defined by her roles as a mother, mentor, and advocate for various characters. Originally featured September 2020.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Biography of Míriel Þerindë. Originally featured July 2010.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Biography of Morwen. Originally featured June 2008.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Biography of Nahar. Originally featured February 2016.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Námo Mandos occupies a common role found in world mythology: that of the god of the dead. Shrouded in mystery and beset with moral ambiguity, Námo participates in tales with parallels in other world myths, especially the Greek and the Norse. Originally featured February 2009. Revised January 2012.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Biography of Nellas of Doriath. Originally featured June 2014.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Nerdanel is a rare character among Tolkien's woman characters, possessing skill and fortitude rather than beauty, yet due to editorial intervention, has been removed almost entirely from the published text. Fans--mostly women--have effected her rescue through transformative works. Originally featured August 2018.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Biography of Nerdanel. Originally featured as part of Seven in '07.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Biography of Nessa. Originally featured December 2012.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Biography of Nienna. Originally featured May 2016.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Biography of Nimloth of Doriath. Originally featured October 2009.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Biography of Núneth. Originally featured April 2014.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
The esquire of Isildur, Ohtar delivered the shards of Narsil to Rivendell and thus becomes a pivotal--if minor--character in the final act of the legendarium. Originally featured November 2020.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Biography of Orodreth. Originally featured December 2014.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Biography of Oromë. Originally featured October 2011.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
A biography of Pengolodh, emphasizing what he would have known of the history he wrote about and how that impacts interpreting The Silmarillion for fanfiction. Originally featured March 2016.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography, In-Universe Historiography
One among Tolkien's several fictional loremasters, Quennar was briefly an intermediary between Rúmil and Pengolodh and later attested as the loremaster who wrote on the reckoning of time by the Elves, a role that overlaps with the medieval historiography familiar to Tolkien. Originally featured September 2018.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography, Germanic History & Myth
Biography of Radagast the Brown. Originally featured August 2016.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Biography of Rían. Originally featured January 2016.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Biography of Rochallor. Originally featured February 2012.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Biography of Rúmil of Tirion. Originally featured April 2013.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Biography of Saeros. Originally featured February 2017.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Biography of Sauron. Originally featured August 2008.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
The daughter of the monstrous Ungoliant, Shelob is one of the myriad links between the First and Third Ages. This biography considers her origins, appearance, evolution, and uniquely sinister ability to spin darkness. Originally featured January 2020.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Biography of Tar-Aldarion. Originally featured September 2012.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Biography of Tar-Meneldur. Originally featured August 2015.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Tar-Palantir and his descendants tried to stem the rising rebellion against the Valar and Eldar in Númenor. Though the drowning of that land speaks to their ultimate failure, their legacy perpetuates in the Mortal realms of Middle-earth into the Third Age. Originally featured January 2021.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Tar-Vanimeldë is a character whose story "raises as many questions as it answers." In the few details he offers, Tolkien hints that her throne was usurped by her power-hungry husband. Originally featured May 2019.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Biography of Thingol. Originally featured December 2007.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Biography of Thorondor, Lord of the Eagles. Originally featured July 2016.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Biography of Thranduil. Originally featured January 2013.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Biography of Thuringwethil. Originally featured June 2016.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Biography of Tilion. Originally featured December 2017.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Tulkas evolved from Tolkien's early work on the Silmarillion from a playful, youthful character to a character more associated with unapologetic violence. Originally featured November 2011.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Biography of Tuor. Originally featured February 2014.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Biography of Turgon the Wise. Originally featured April 2010.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Biography of Ungoliant. Originally featured October 2016.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Although barely present in the published Silmarillion, Vairë emerges in Tolkien's earlier writings as a remarkably empathetic character and an apt foil to her cold-hearted husband Námo. Originally featured May 2012.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Barely mentioned in the published Silmarillion, Vána originally played a role as an active, assertive woman among the Valar. Her notable associations imply her role in the legendarium should be fuller than her meager mentions in the published Silmarillion suggest. Originally featured January 2011.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Biography of Varda Elentári. Originally featured December 2011.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
The eldest child of Elros, Vardamir serves as a contrast to later Númenórean kings. Originally featured October 2019.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Biography of Vëantur. Originally featured October 2012.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
Biography of Voronwë. Originally featured November 2015.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography
A Woman in Few Words: The Character of Nerdanel and Her Treatment in Canon and Fandom
A review of the canon facts available on Nerdanel and discussion of why she remains so popular with fans despite her scarce appearances in the texts.
Categories: Character, Fandom Culture
History of the Atlantis myth that inspired Tolkien's Númenor. Originally featured August 2009.
Categories: Classical History & Myth, A Sense of History
This comprehensive essay discusses how to write balanced and effective fiction critiques with a special emphasis on Tolkien fan fiction.
Categories: Commenting and Feedback
Burning in the House: Éowyn's Outcry and the Death of Aerin
In an attempt to allow widely separated parts of the Legendarium to throw light on each other, Aerin's final acts are compared to the imagery in which Éowyn's expresses her concerns in The Lord of the Rings. The relevant passages share the motif of the burning house. The handling of this motif suggests authorial sympathy with Éowyn's plight. Published 22 June 2018.
Categories: Character, Comparative Studies (Legendarium)
Originally featured November 2010.
Categories: Elves, Language, Linguistic Foolery
Answers from Old Sources: Elven Food
Originally featured April 2009.
Categories: Elves, Language, Linguistic Foolery
Answers from Old Sources: What Does That Name Mean?
Originally featured March 2009.
Categories: Elves, Language, Linguistic Foolery
Elven Families and What They Wore
Originally featured June 2009.
Categories: Elves, Language, Linguistic Foolery
Elven Holidays and Festivals: What do we have to work with in the First Age?
Originally featured January 2010.
Categories: Elves, Language, Linguistic Foolery
Originally featured August 2009.
Categories: Elves, Language, Linguistic Foolery
Everyday Elves and What They Do
Originally featured November 2009.
Categories: Elves, Language, Linguistic Foolery
Fact, Interpretation and the Hard Business of Proof
Originally featured October 2010.
Categories: Elves, Fandom Culture, Linguistic Foolery
Lámatyávë: If you have no idea what that word means, read this article
Why the "sound taste" of a name is often more important than the meaning when naming original characters. Originally featured February 2011.
Categories: Elves, Language, Linguistic Foolery
Name Calling: Group Identity and the Other among First Age Elves
As the names used by the early Elves to identify themselves and others evolved according the essay Quendi and Eldar (HoMe 11), relationships between the different cultures are revealed.
Not Just the Son of That Guy: Creating Effective Names for Original Characters
Originally featured March 2010.
Categories: Elves, Language, Linguistic Foolery
'Sindarin' is a Quenya Word: how the clan names make Elvish more confusing
Originally featured October 2009.
Categories: Elves, Language, Linguistic Foolery
Sindarin vs Quenya: RELEVANCE FIGHT!
Originally featured September 2009.
Categories: Elves, Language, Linguistic Foolery
Twenty-Two Words You Never Thought Tolkien Would Provide
Originally featured May 2009.
Categories: Elves, Language, Linguistic Foolery
Fact, Interpretation and the Hard Business of Proof
Originally featured October 2010.
Categories: Elves, Fandom Culture, Linguistic Foolery
The Perfect Girl: An Exploration of the Hidden and Dynamic World of Fan Fiction
An analysis of the fan fiction phenomenon of "Mary Sue" and readers' reactions to this controversial fanfic archetype.
Categories: Fandom Culture
A Woman in Few Words: The Character of Nerdanel and Her Treatment in Canon and Fandom
A review of the canon facts available on Nerdanel and discussion of why she remains so popular with fans despite her scarce appearances in the texts.
Categories: Character, Fandom Culture
Women Find a Room of Their Own in Tolkien Fanfiction 
As a genre belonging almost exclusively to women, fanfiction creates a "room of their own," apart from mainstream publishing that is often hostile to women, for women authors to critically and creatively explore ideas in popular texts and, in the style of Tolkien, create new mythologies that appeal to them. Originally published in Lembas, the journal of the Dutch Tolkien Society.
Categories: Fandom Culture, Gender
The Textual Ghosts Project is a list of the women who must have existed by inference, acting on the assumption that all characters (excepting the Ainur and the first-awakened Elves at Cuiviénen) must have had mothers and those with offspring also must have had wives.
Categories: Gender
Women Find a Room of Their Own in Tolkien Fanfiction
As a genre belonging almost exclusively to women, fanfiction creates a "room of their own," apart from mainstream publishing that is often hostile to women, for women authors to critically and creatively explore ideas in popular texts and, in the style of Tolkien, create new mythologies that appeal to them. Originally published in Lembas, the journal of the Dutch Tolkien Society.
Categories: Fandom Culture, Gender
Basic historical background on the Anglo-Saxon people that Tolkien studied. Originally featured June 2009.
Categories: Germanic History & Myth, A Sense of History
Exile, Wyrd and the Anglo-Saxon Warrior Ideal in The Wanderer and Tolkien's Quenta Silmarillion
As a professor of Anglo-Saxon, Tolkien's stories are undeniably influenced by the literature of this early people. This essay considers how exile, fate, the warrior ideal, and masculinity in the Quenta Silmarillion were influenced by the Anglo-Saxon poem The Wanderer.
Categories: Germanic History & Myth, Heroism
Tolkien is often criticized for his simplistic, knight-in-shining-armor heroes. The first in a series of essays argues that heroism and masculinity in Tolkien's works are not premised on this, but on love and loyalty. Originally published as part of the author's Master's thesis.
Categories: Germanic History & Myth, Heroism
One among Tolkien's several fictional loremasters, Quennar was briefly an intermediary between Rúmil and Pengolodh and later attested as the loremaster who wrote on the reckoning of time by the Elves, a role that overlaps with the medieval historiography familiar to Tolkien. Originally featured September 2018.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography, Germanic History & Myth
Seafaring Heroes and Villains: The Role of the Sea in Tolkien's Legendarium
Tolkien's seafarers and shipbuilders explore, challenge, define, and reframe his world throughout its fictional history, and Tolkien's use of the sea and sea-longing in particular hearkens to Germanic themes of exile and longing. Originally presented at the 2015 New York Tolkien Conference.
Categories: Germanic History & Myth
Exile, Wyrd and the Anglo-Saxon Warrior Ideal in The Wanderer and Tolkien's Quenta Silmarillion
As a professor of Anglo-Saxon, Tolkien's stories are undeniably influenced by the literature of this early people. This essay considers how exile, fate, the warrior ideal, and masculinity in the Quenta Silmarillion were influenced by the Anglo-Saxon poem The Wanderer.
Categories: Germanic History & Myth, Heroism
Tolkien is often criticized for his simplistic, knight-in-shining-armor heroes. The first in a series of essays argues that heroism and masculinity in Tolkien's works are not premised on this, but on love and loyalty. Originally published as part of the author's Master's thesis.
Categories: Germanic History & Myth, Heroism
A biography of Pengolodh, emphasizing what he would have known of the history he wrote about and how that impacts interpreting The Silmarillion for fanfiction. Originally featured March 2016.
Categories: Character, Character of the Month Biography, In-Universe Historiography
Originally featured November 2010.
Categories: Elves, Language, Linguistic Foolery
Answers from Old Sources: Elven Food
Originally featured April 2009.
Categories: Elves, Language, Linguistic Foolery
Answers from Old Sources: What Does That Name Mean?
Originally featured March 2009.
Categories: Elves, Language, Linguistic Foolery
Elven Families and What They Wore
Originally featured June 2009.
Categories: Elves, Language, Linguistic Foolery
Elven Holidays and Festivals: What do we have to work with in the First Age?
Originally featured January 2010.
Categories: Elves, Language, Linguistic Foolery
Originally featured August 2009.
Categories: Elves, Language, Linguistic Foolery
Everyday Elves and What They Do
Originally featured November 2009.
Categories: Elves, Language, Linguistic Foolery
Lámatyávë: If you have no idea what that word means, read this article
Why the "sound taste" of a name is often more important than the meaning when naming original characters. Originally featured February 2011.
Categories: Elves, Language, Linguistic Foolery
Name Calling: Group Identity and the Other among First Age Elves
As the names used by the early Elves to identify themselves and others evolved according the essay Quendi and Eldar (HoMe 11), relationships between the different cultures are revealed.
Not Just the Son of That Guy: Creating Effective Names for Original Characters
Originally featured March 2010.
Categories: Elves, Language, Linguistic Foolery
'Sindarin' is a Quenya Word: how the clan names make Elvish more confusing
Originally featured October 2009.
Categories: Elves, Language, Linguistic Foolery
Sindarin vs Quenya: RELEVANCE FIGHT!
Originally featured September 2009.
Categories: Elves, Language, Linguistic Foolery
Twenty-Two Words You Never Thought Tolkien Would Provide
Originally featured May 2009.
Categories: Elves, Language, Linguistic Foolery
Power and Choice in the Second Age: A Political Primer
Fantasy fiction is often conceived to aid escapism in a world as complex and threatening as ours is. It is also an important tool for reflecting on and critiquing our political and societal norms and deficits, serving as a great lens to understand politics, power, choice, order, and justice. Through the lens of political science, underused in Tolkien studies, this paper describes and evaluates the broad themes of the domestic and international political landscape of early Second Age in Middle-earth, examined through a framework of power and choice. With a specific focus on Númenor as a rising power, the paper will also address diverse themes of great power politics, foreign policy, technology and weaponry, ideology, and alliance systems. Originally presented at Tolkien 2019.
Categories: Political Science, Second Age
Silmarillion Chapter Summaries
Designed as a resource for leading readings of The Silmarillion, the chapter summaries are also a nice review for those returning to unfamiliar sections of the book or who would like guidance while reading it for the first time.
Categories: Reading Guide
History of Middle-earth Summaries
The History of Middle-earth project is an ongoing attempt to summarize the entire book series and put together the many ideas, commentaries, and footnotes of the series into easy-to-follow summaries.
Categories: Reading Guide
Varda kindled the stars and set them into patterns. Many of these stars the Professor named in Elvish, but which real-life stars was he referring to?
Categories: Science
Biochemist and long-time Tolkien fan, Doc Bushwell argues that the events and ideas expressed in Tolkien's works often demonstrate a strong disdain for science and technology. Originally published in SEED Magazine's Science Blogs.
Categories: Science
Power and Choice in the Second Age: A Political Primer
Fantasy fiction is often conceived to aid escapism in a world as complex and threatening as ours is. It is also an important tool for reflecting on and critiquing our political and societal norms and deficits, serving as a great lens to understand politics, power, choice, order, and justice. Through the lens of political science, underused in Tolkien studies, this paper describes and evaluates the broad themes of the domestic and international political landscape of early Second Age in Middle-earth, examined through a framework of power and choice. With a specific focus on Númenor as a rising power, the paper will also address diverse themes of great power politics, foreign policy, technology and weaponry, ideology, and alliance systems. Originally presented at Tolkien 2019.
Categories: Political Science, Second Age
Chronology of the Silmarillion
A compilation of Tolkien's various timelines from the First Age and earlier that presents dates for important events from The Silmarillion.
Categories: Timelines
History of dragons in world myth. Originally featured November 2009.
Categories: World History & Myth, A Sense of History
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