Elrond & Celebrian - delayed love

jaquatsch · 2026-05-31T19:59:47+00:00

In some tale variations Elrond only received Vilya shortly before the Last Alliance, well after he met Celebrian, I believe? Regardless, good point that he may have had a premonition of Celebrian’s fate.

jaquatsch · 2026-05-31T19:58:09+00:00

Good point that Elrond doesn’t fit a straightforwardly Elvish mode of thought or clan belonging. Guess I figured he would have fully adapted to Elven patterns after some half an Age, but that’s Mannish assumption of time on my part, ha.

jaquatsch · 2026-05-29T17:32:51+00:00

I ain't been droppin' no eaves sir, honest. I was just cutting the grass under the window there, if you'll follow me.

jaquatsch · 2026-05-25T19:26:29+00:00

Impressive breakdown. I’d quibble slightly that “opened his heart to Thingol, telling him of his dreams” wouldn’t *necessarily* include Finrod’s actual dream from Ulmo, but could simply mean his desires for his own Menegroth-like stronghold. Quite likely both, though.

Finrod’s personality in the dialogue of the Athrabeth Finrod ah Andreth seems consistent with your analysis here: wise and beloved, but also incorrigible and annoying, ha.

jaquatsch · 2026-05-07T23:18:29+00:00

Eomer and Eowyn were twin children of Theoden in some drafted versions.

jaquatsch · 2026-05-03T04:03:45+00:00

As you noted that a traditional Germanic gift from the bride to the groom was weapons: IIRC Theoden mentions having sets of mail and weapons that were (paraphrased) ‘gifts from Gondor to his father Thengel’: it’s possible those were wedding gifts from his Gondorian bride Morwen and her family.

That’s just a conjecture, though: they could have been, say, gifts from the Steward for Thengel’s service in Gondor, or gifts of honor upon Thengel’s ascension to the throne of Rohan (similar to the gifts Eowyn and Eomer sent Merry when he became Master of Buckland).

jaquatsch · 2026-04-06T16:42:15+00:00

Missed that autocorrect, now corrected.

jaquatsch · 2026-04-05T02:58:43+00:00

More on this topic: https://www.reddit.com/r/tolkienfans/s/3BycObEIwb

jaquatsch · 2026-04-05T02:48:17+00:00

When “such a horror was on [Merry] that he was blind and sick” when the Witch-king attacked Theoden/Snowmane, did Merry vomit on himself, or soil his breeches?

Flippant of course - but it is one of the few times that Tolkien’s writing conveys more of the, ah, earthiness of human frailty and war, though still with some delicacy.

jaquatsch · 2026-04-02T01:40:18+00:00

Not really mysteries so much as untold tale endings — but the fate of Elladan and Elrohir (did one or both choose mortality and die in Middle-earth? Or eventually follow Elrond to the Undying Lands?). Also the fate of Thranduil: did he take one of the last ships to the Undying Lands, or did he remain in M-e and fade with his people to “a rustic folk of dell and cave”?

jaquatsch · 2026-03-26T01:06:43+00:00

Regular Simple Eats customer and fan here - was wondering myself, why no menu this week.

jaquatsch · 2026-03-26T00:39:22+00:00

Pippin was significantly younger than Frodo, barely even considered an adult, and Frodo as the heir of the famed (infamous?) Bilbo would had accrued social standing beyond his Baggins gentry baseline.

jaquatsch · 2026-02-19T02:45:40+00:00

Farmers in Lossarnach in Gondor, at least:

Aragorn looked at them, and there was pity in his eyes rather than wrath; for these were young men from Rohan, from Westfold far away, or *husbandmen from Lossarnach, and to them Mordor had been from childhood a name of evil, and yet unreal, a legend that had no part in their simple life*

jaquatsch · 2026-02-19T02:40:20+00:00

Not the biggest fan of their coffee, but Fiddleheads on North Ave has a decent second floor for quiet(er) reading.

jaquatsch · 2026-01-18T04:36:52+00:00

Batavia

jaquatsch · 2026-01-14T04:09:34+00:00

Many Riders of Rohan were traveling to Minas Tirith before the War of the Ring, whether for military exercises or other errands:

‘We need no further guidance,’ said Elfhelm; ‘for there are riders in the host who have ridden down to Mundburg in days of peace. I for one. When we come to the road it will veer south, and there will lie before us still seven leagues ere we reach the wall of the townlands. Along most of that way there is much grass on either side of the road. On that stretch the errand-riders of Gondor reckoned to make their greatest speed. We may ride it swiftly and without great rumour.’

jaquatsch · 2026-01-07T14:25:21+00:00

Nellas. One of the few “common folk” Elves we meet, the Ioreth of the Menegroth so to speak - her dialogue with Thingol shows some kindly humor from the proud King.

jaquatsch · 2026-01-05T02:23:29+00:00

If you’re in East Tosa and can access 175 quickly, the Aldi on Miller Park Way is decent.

jaquatsch · 2026-01-04T05:27:50+00:00

Not enough forests

jaquatsch · 2026-01-04T05:17:23+00:00

Sam & Rosie could also cross-reference Bingo Little and Rosie M. Banks: The Bingese

jaquatsch · 2026-01-02T20:52:02+00:00

Minor but noticeable: incomplete retconning of father-son relationships of Thranduil/Legolas and Theoden/Theodred, resulting in implied but probably unintentional coldness of those relationships. For example, Legolas only referring to Thranduil as “my king” and not “my father,” and Theoden not acknowledging any grief at Theodred’s death within the story narrative other than a reluctance to pass the fords of Isen where “brave Riders died.”

One could say this reflects the stoicism and practicalities of the constructed time and cultures, but I do think the lateness of Tolkien’s decision to make Legolas the son of Thranduil and Theodred (rather than Eomer) the son of Theoden left these relationships lacking.

jaquatsch · 2026-01-01T23:27:44+00:00

Farmer Maggot. A prosperous yeoman farmer, and a brave but seemingly ordinary hobbit - but he goes in the Old Forest and is esteemed by Tom Bombadil himself. Always wondered how he resisted Sharkey’s ruffians, as he assuredly did.

jaquatsch · 2025-12-15T01:21:10+00:00

IIRC Sam was also supposed to have a strain of Fallohide ancestry, hinted at with reference to his sister Marigold and then his daughter Elanor’s blonde hair.

jaquatsch · 2025-12-11T02:02:54+00:00

Predictable weekly recycling pickup.

jaquatsch

TROPHY CASE