[ SECRET POST #3039 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #3039 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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[Starsky and Hutch]


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(legend of Zelda)


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[Ernest Hemingway (and his cat)]













Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 018 secrets from Secret Submission Post #434.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 1 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 1 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

Re: Tolkien - Elwing and Finwe

[(Anonymous)]

I feel like how you interpret Elwing depends heavily on how you interpret the Silmarils. I don't have a consistent headcanon about her, just a lot of branching speculation.

Finwe I think was kind of an idiot about his family. It wouldn't have been catastrophic if Feanor hadn't been involved, but Finwe just didn't handle things well.

Re: Tolkien - Elwing and Finwe

[(Anonymous)]

Yeah, that was the thing that surprised me about all the meta regarding Elwing - that somehow the Silmaril was a drug that influenced her, which I don't buy but seems rather prevalent. What are some of your speculations? I'm also on the fence and keep changing my mind.

I desperately want to know more about how Finwe dealt with Feanor and Fingolfin. Was he blind to the tension? Did he try to stay out of it? I mean, he's said to favor Feanor and yet Feanor still acts like he's so insecure; it would help immeasurably if I knew just what Finwe did or did not do about the situation.

Re: Tolkien - Elwing and Finwe

[(Anonymous)]

My take on Finwe & sons is that Finwe completely forgot about Feanor's feelings when he wanted to remarry. Just, completely ignored them, didn't take them into account at all, did everything you don't want to do when introducing a step-parent. And then Feanor reacted badly, and Finwe realized he'd been an insensitive idiot, and he's been trying to make up for it ever since. And it's never quite enough to make up for it, and it only encourages Feanor's... Feanorness.

idk about Elwing and the Silmaril. People do seem to be really fond of them, and refuse to give them up when common sense might suggest they should. One way of spinning this is the fairly common Tolkien trope of treasures corrupting people. Another possibility I've seen is that the Silmarils are... quasi-alive? Vulnerable and need protection. Either way, you need some way to explain her taking the Silmaril and not coming back for her kids. Maybe she just didn't get the choice, after turning into a bird, which is pretty ouchy.

Re: Tolkien - Elwing and Finwe

[(Anonymous)]

It's interesting to me because the only issue I have with Elwing is her initial choice to jump rather than trade for her kids' lives. Like, I thought it was pretty well spelled out in the book why she and Earendil don't go back (or can't go back). So, her actions up to that point are understandable to me and her actions afterward are pretty straightforward too.

I never realized how many people think that the Silmarils are pretty much evil. Or to say it another way, how simple it seems to some people that they should just give them away and anyone who didn't was clearly not thinking straight. I never had that thought. To me, when I first read the book, I saw the hand of Eru in them and the curse of the Noldor. The Feanorians were never meant to have them back so everyone else sort of fell into their roles to make that happen. And, the Silmaril was meant to return to Valinor. They are clearly Holy Objects, and in Tolkien's world, something that is Holy would be pure and good (very Catholic reading). I always read Elwing as more of an instrument of some divine plan. (This was compounded with knowing more about Tolkien's writing process and that her sacrifice predates her place as Elrond and Elros' mother.)

I do have a hard time trying to fit this into her actual thought process. How does she fall into the role she is clearly destined for? How does she make that decision? I've come up with some ideas that mitigate her decision to abandon her children but also see how it could just be that she did indeed choose the Silmaril over her kids. My basic thing that I keep coming back to is that there isn't enough information about what happened. Where exactly are Elrond and Elros? Where exactly is Elwing? How did they get there? What exactly is the layout of Sirion? What were the escape routes? Etc.

Until I know that, it's really hard to see her point of view because I don't really know what her options were or how things unfolded to lead her to her choice. So, it's difficult how to read her.