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One ought not assume too quickly that Maglor is the sweet, gentle Fëanorian.

THANK. YOU. This fanon is one of my pet peeves. I remember it being practically canon when I was new to the fandom. In fact, I would have sworn that Maglor was described as gentle, or as the son most like Nerdanel.

When I actually collected all that is said about him in the Silm--maybe for Seven in '07? Remember the little essays we wrote for that?--I realized that there is nothing backing that claim and he's actually quite the badass. He sought out Uldor. He took the geographically perilous Gap of Maglor for his home. When it was overrun with lava during the Battle of Sudden Flame, he went north, to Maedhros, to continue the defense of the realm. (The 3Cs went south and hid away in Nargothrond/Ossiriand!) And, well, he survived: lots of wars and three kinslayings. I don't see how it's possible to read what is actually said about him and conclude that he's soft or weak, or even particularly gentle (even if he didn't raise the sort of hell that some of his brothers did).

I can only conclude it's because he's a musician, and in modern imagination, that makes him a doe-eyed emo pining over his regrets. I'm not sure that the cultures Tolkien studied would have seen his role in that way: the maintainer of the oral tradition, the one who records and remembers important deeds, namely in battle, and whose words were taken as counsel as much as entertainment.

(A little more conjectural, but he's also the only son identified as possessing an artistic genius comparable to that of his father, which I've always taken to mean that he has more of Feanor in him than most fans want to credit him for. In my verse, it's part of why they lock horns sometimes: They're a lot alike!)

I may have written a review longer than the essay, but I loved it. Also, thank you for including my story among your recs. :)

I may have written a review longer than the essay, but I loved it. Also, thank you for including my story among your recs. :)

Don't worry. I have already decided I am going to write a real essay based on these points--with real footnotes and "stuff." I am already chewing on it and one of the things I am chewing on is your point above, "the maintainer of the oral tradition, the one who records and remembers important deeds, namely in battle, and whose words were taken as counsel as much as entertainment." I'm going to hark back to both the northern tradition that Tolkien loved so much and also to the use of laments in the classical world, which Tolkien knew quite well--and, as I have learned, one cannot unlearn what is beaten into one's head from childhood. It's still there whether one choses to acknowledge it or not.

Tolkien Gateway cleaned up their Maglor entry quite a bit with more and better cites, but still starts it with the gentle-one business and no direct citation. That is just one among many places where I have seen it. Of course, it was pervasive as fanon in the peak of post-LotR movies' fanfic! Maglor's music is not of the late 1990s--what Laura calls the Golden Age of Emo--but is something far more robust and tougher.

Your story was a gift to me--a treasured one I might add! And I tried to give a smattering of approaches also.

What I'd like to see is someone write the actual work, perhaps in the style of the Lay of Leithian. That's what you should aim for when you write it. You could do that really well.

As for Maglor being the gentle one, I can see him having a duality where he's a demon in battle but a gentle personality and has an appreciation and mastery of music his brothers didn't share. I see his power as in the ability to subtly influence and thoughtful reflection rather than in bold speeches and rash deeds.

That's what you should aim for when you write it. You could do that really well.

Are you serious or are you pulling my leg here? I couldn't write something like that! I stopped writing poetry when I was about 20. And anyway, I cannot do the archaisms of "the style of the Lay of Leithian." Maybe YOU could do that. I think you are pulling my leg! I am having a hell of a time with a few thees, and thous and thines in a few lines of dialogue my Goblin Emperor story.

I think you seriously should write a Maglor story. He's been in a lot of mine, with the exception of drabbles, I don't think he ever got one of his own.

Thanks for reading and commenting!

This essay has made my desire to delve more deeply into the story of the Feanorians told by the Feanorians greater than ever before.  It made me realize that until now my stories have been shallow in the extreme, mainly because I used to be concerned only with writing the hottest slashfic I could come up with and that was about all.

But lately I've been reading the Silm again, starting at the beginning (and only skipping a few places) because I want to gain a much more complete view (as much as possible) into the Oath and the Doom.

My Strength and Beauty story was about Melian and while reading all I could about her (from the Silm only) I found what might be many inconsistencies, and that might be because of Christopher Tolkien's editing and the pieces he decided to put in the Silm from the massive amount his father had written.  I didn't have time to refer to Melian's story from any other source but I'd like to look into it more, since it does greatly concern the Oath and the Doom.  I was interested in how she dealt with it.

Anyway, thanks for those recs!  I want to read them all.

I like what you said about a lament and that it does not necessarily have to mean it's an admission of guilt.  I'd like to delve into Maglor's story more deeply as well, since I've only used the poor guy as a vessel for slashfics in the past.

I love that you pointed out that these are complex characters and that Maglor is not the "sweet and gentle" Feanorian.  But the best thing was that the Noldolante is the only piece of information written by one of the Noldor, from his point of view.

I think that it's too often overlooked (and I am guilty of that) as a source of information.

Thanks for writing such an informative and provocative essay!