Tolkien Meta Week Starts December 8!
Join us December 8-14, here and on Tumblr, as we share our thoughts, musings, rants, and headcanons about all aspects of Tolkien's world.
About Olwë, the king of the Teleri in Aman, little is known, but a series of difficult events marked his life until he fades from the pages of The Silmarillion in the First Age.
Celegorm emerged early in Tolkien's work on the "Silmarillion," but his evolution into the villain he would become in the published text is complicated, and he filled two surprising roles before coming fully into his own. The first of two parts considers how early work on the "Silmarillion" shaped his final characterization.
One of the gods of music in the early legendarium, Ómar is called by Christopher Tolkien "a divinity without much substance" and swiftly faded from the story. His brief existence may shed light on Tolkien's evolving sense of how his fictional universe aligns with the historical peoples that inspired him.
After the Nirnaeth Arnoediad, Húrin's heroic life takes a turn for the tragic and illustrates themes of courage, betrayal, and the promises and perils of vision. Although given one of the most inconclusive endings in the legendarium, Húrin retains a heroic reputation that resonates through the ages to follow.
Annael was the foster-father of Tuor and a Sindarin Elf who played a minor but important role in his life.
A character who remained in the legendarium, largely unchanged, since its earliest writings, Húrin lives an early life defined by valor and heroism. This first part of his biography explores his heroic youth, including connections to ancient and medieval history.
A tragic figure of the Second Age, Tar-Míriel should have been the ruling queen but was usurped and forced into marriage by her cousin, leaving her to witness Númenor's fall.
Salmar appeared early in the legendarium in a muddled variety of roles only to disappear swiftly, known in the published text as the artificer of the horns of Ulmo, the Ulumúri.
As one of the most beloved Silmarillion characters, Maglor is a bundle of contradictions undergirded by a complex textual history. Warrior, musician, wanderer, and survivor, Maglor brings to the fore key themes in Tolkien's early legendarium, such as the role of music, oaths, and exile.
From the earliest version of the legendarium, Ulmo existed as the Lord of the Waters, although over the decades his character would evolve to fit the changing tone of the "Silmarillion." Part One of his biography considers his domain, his relationships with the other Ainur, and the symbolic significance of the watery element in Tolkien's work.
The final installment of Túrin's biography considers his life in Nargothrond, his return to Dor-lómin and time in Brethil, his fateful marriage to Nienor, his battle with Glaurung, and the ever-disastrous consequences of all of these, culminating in his death by his own hand.
Túrin's tale is the lengthiest and one of the most tangled of the tales that make up The Silmarillion. This section considers the center part of Túrin's life, after his exile from Doriath but before he fell into utter ruin, a time defined by friendship and honor rather than ruinous choices.
Ulfang and his sons, of whom Uldor is the most prominent, are notorious for their betrayal of the Fëanorians during the Battle of Unnumbered Tears. Their early association with dark coloration and betrayal introduces questions of how characters of color are depicted in the legendarium and in-universe textual history.
Tinfang Warble is a character who fits best in the early, whimsical fairy-story mode of the Lost Tales before receding to a figure of folklore and legend and finally disappearing altogether.
Túrin's life illustrates Tolkien's concept of dyscatastrophe: an unexpected turn toward the tragic. The first part of this three-part biography of Túrin considers the early tragedies and downfalls of his life, through his years as an outlaw.
Telchar emerges in some of Tolkien's early writings but remains elusive, despite his status as a great Dwarven smith. However, some of what is known about his character is revealed in his creations.
Maedhros is one of the most popular—and controversial—characters in The Silmarillion. The first part of this two-part biography considers his early years, before his capture and torment by Melkor, and how he was shaped by his years in Aman, his impetuous father, and the mediating influence of Nerdanel.
One of the longest-enduring characters in the legendarium, Ossë evolved over the decades from a perilous character adjacent to Melkor himself to a figure both dangerous and benevolent.
Over the course of Tolkien's development of the legendarium, Uinen evolved from a morally murky nature deity to a protector of Arda's mariners.
Idril Celebrindal's footprint in the canon is light and hard to discern beyond the bare bones given in The Silmarillion and The Fall of Gondolin, yet she exists at the epicenter of the most ancient and shifting ground of Tolkien's entire legendarium.
A man of his times, Tar-Minastir perpetuated Númenórean policies of the past and foreshadowed those that would follow.