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frodo-with-glasses · 2 years

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This is a post about Ghân-buri-Ghân and the Woses, or the Wild Men.

Full disclosure: When I was a kid, I pretty much skipped this part. I was already getting very lost with the logistics of the Rohirrim’s movement, and I was very impatient for Merry and Pippin to be reunited already and Frodo and Sam to be done with the quest and back on home turf. I was having a hard enough time telling the difference between Gondor and Rohan (every other race in Middle Earth only gets one country that’s very important, but for the most boring race of them all I’m supposed to keep track of two?? preposterous), and having yet another group of humans pop up out of nowhere just to disappear after half a chapter left me baffled and annoyed.

After all, the Wild Men are pretty much disconnected from everything else in the story, aren’t they? They aren’t related to any of the characters we’ve met already. They’re not personal friends with any members of the Fellowship, or even friends with the friends of the members of the Fellowship. They have very little to do with Rohan and Gondor, and nothing at all to do with elves or dwarves or ents or hobbits or wizards or anything else that Little Me thought were the Important Parts of the story. If you took your cue from the movies, this opinion would only seem reinforced: the Riders of Rohan reach Minas Tirith with no complications greater than a Mumakil, and the Wild Men aren’t mentioned even once. If you didn’t know better, you might think the Wild Men are little more than an extraneous detour.

But it’s exactly because they seem extraneous that I think we need to pay them extra attention. Tolkien is not a careless storyteller; he’s long-winded, for sure, and has a knack for descriptions in excruciating detail, but he’s not careless. Every word, every sentence, every line of dialogue and narration and poetry exists in the story for a reason. If Tolkien didn’t have to put the Wild Men in the story—if they weren’t strictly necessary to the plot, save to solve one problem that (let’s be honest) kinda looks like it was invented just so they could fix it—that means he wanted to put them there. He wanted them there, because he wanted to tell us something.

I think it behooves us to listen.

So what is Tolkien trying to say? I have no idea. The man’s dead, and I can’t ask him. But the message I’m getting here has two parts:

1. The World Is Big

If nothing else, the Woses serve as a reminder that Middle Earth is much, much bigger than even Lord of the Rings makes it out to be. That’s saying something, because LotR isn’t a small story! This is a grand legend that stretches across nations, from one horizon to the other in an epic trek, and yet it still fails to capture Middle Earth in its every detail. Entire nations and kingdoms get lost in the wash, or are only mentioned in passing, and some names we only see in the maps at the back of the book.

Remember, Tolkien’s framing device for LotR is that it was an eyewitness account, a history written by the hobbits and supplemented with accounts from their friends. The POV characters we’ve had so far—if I’m remembering correctly—are Frodo, Sam, Merry, Pippin, Fatty Bolger, Bilbo, Aragorn, Gimli, and a sort of omniscient narrator that seems to represent “hearsay” or “local gossip”. If any of these characters didn’t witness something and come back to report it, then it didn’t make it into the story. If they didn’t go someplace, or meet some people, and come back to tell about it, then it didn’t make it into the story.

But just because the unnamed peoples of Middle Earth don’t get into the histories doesn’t make them any less important. Just because we don’t learn their names doesn’t mean they didn’t suffer under the fear of Sauron, or rejoice when he was defeated. Just because we don’t know them doesn’t make them any less…well, for lack of a better word, human, or any less important.

The War of the Ring mattered just as much to the Wild Men as it did to Gondor or Rohan or the Shire. Because the War of the Ring was about saving their world too.

2. A Treatise on Treatment of Native Peoples

Again, I’m only trying to reiterate what I can see of Tolkien’s opinion in this passage. I happen to agree with a lot of what he says, but we’re talking about him, not me.

The Woses are, as far as I can tell, the closest thing to an indigenous or native people group in the southern region of Middle Earth. Obviously they must have come from somewhere—anyone who’s read the Silmarillion could probably fill me in on that—but Ghan-buri-Ghan says himself that “Wild Men live here before the Stone-houses; before Tall Men come up out of Water”. The Wild Men preceded the settlement of Gondor, and inhabited the land even before the Numenorians; they were here First, and still they remain.

So, how does Tolkien portray this native people group? Well, the first thing he does is to say—hilariously and pointedly—that the Wild Men are anything but stupid. Ghan warns, in his broken speech, that Mordor’s forces outnumber the Rohirrim, and Eomer challenges this assertion—“how do you know that?”—to which Ghan says, if I may paraphrase, “boi I’m not a child I can count as well as you can”. The first point made is that, though the Wild Men may seem ugly and primitive and are clad only in grass skirts, they are as shrewd as the tacticians of Rohan, and maybe even more.

The next thing that happens is that Ghan strikes a deal: he and his people will lead the Rohirrim to Minas Tirith by long-forgotten roads, and in exchange, the men of Rohan must battle to drive off the Darkness so that the Wild Men may go back to their lives in peace. Of course, this arrangement benefits both parties; both are in danger, and both have a common enemy. To see the end of the Darkness would be infinitely valuable to them both.

This is fascinating to me, because you can’t really say that one party here was “using” the other, or that one benefited at the other’s expense. Yes, the Rohirrim gained the guidance of the Wild Men, which furthered their goal; but in the end, it only put them one step closer to possible death on the battlefield against a great Enemy. Yes, the Wild Men get to sit back and watch the Horse-Men risk their lives in open war, but if they should fail, what then? By helping Rohan, they are establishing themselves as an enemy of Sauron; whether Ghan realizes it or not—and personally, I think he does—this single act of defiance is putting a target on the backs of his people, should the Enemy emerge victorious. Sure, they can hide in the forests for a while—as long as there are forests. But not forever. I think that’s why Ghan takes his stand now; he knows there might not be another chance.

Ghan has established that he is shrewd, straightforward, and honorable. He even vows that he will lead the Rohirrim himself, and that they may kill him if he steers them wrong; he’s that willing to stake his life on his word. But when Theoden promises to handsomely reward Ghan for his help and his faithfulness, Ghan only asks for one thing in return: “if you live after the Darkness, then leave Wild Men alone in the woods and do not hunt them like beasts anymore”.

There’s something in me that kinda…twinges, when I read this. Like I’m half-remembering a bolt of anger from Baby Me before I checked out of this passage entirely. How dare this book imply that these kind, noble horse-people would be so cruel and barbaric as to hunt other human beings like animals? Wasn’t this the same people whose king accepted Merry like a son, and who provided Gandalf with the best horse in the world? These are the GOOD guys! They wouldn’t do something like that! The book doesn’t know what it’s talking about, clearly. I wish I could get back to the hobbits again.

But now that I’m older, I think it’s more telling that Rohan isn’t spotless and blameless in this transaction. They have wronged the Wild Men in the past; out of ignorance, maybe, and out of prejudice, perhaps, and out of fear, almost certainly. We all fear what is foreign to us and what we don’t understand. But Ghan is putting that aside for the moment. Ghan chooses to extend forgiveness. For once, his people and Rohan face a greater evil, and they unite against a common enemy. All of the sudden, Rohan has an opportunity to make amends for all their wrongs, by “driving away the bad air and darkness with bright iron”.

I’m sure I don’t have to tell you about the historical treatment of native people groups in our real world. The archetypal example, of course, is the European settlers and the native tribes of North America; but we see the same thing in Central and South America too, and that’s not even getting into the British Empire’s other affairs in Egypt and India and China and Oceania. I could talk about the Spanish conquistadors; I could talk about the Dutch in South Africa and apartheid. But it goes even further back than that. It’s what the Roman Empire did to the Germanic peoples of Gaul; what the Islamic Empire did to the entire Middle East and much of Northern Africa; what the Babylonians and Persians and the Mesopotamian superpower of the week did to their vassal states on a regular basis. Standard practice in Babylonia was to invade a place and immediately ship all the smart, strong, and wealthy people off to Babylon to be assimilated, leaving behind the weak, poor, unlearned, and destitute to till the land and keep their heads down. Can’t have a rebellion if everyone’s too dumb and starving to organize it.

(Incidentally, the Roman Empire is what gave us the word “barbarian”; the speech of the Germanic peoples they conquered was unintelligible to them and sounded like “bar-bar-bar”, so they named them after it. The fact that the word they coined now refers to a ruthless, stupid, uncouth person should tell you a lot about the Roman Empire’s opinion of these folks.)

Anyway, the point is that throughout history, there’s always been a pattern: up comes this people group who’s smarter and more advanced than anybody else, and they think that gives them free rein to go wherever they want, do whatever they want, and use, abuse, and extort the people they see as “beneath” them. The Romans had figured out indoor plumbing by the time of Christ, and they thought they were such hot stuff that they took over the Mediterranean and taxed the living daylights out of them. (Some estimates put the tax rate at about 90%. 90!! Imagine keeping only a tenth of your paycheck every month. I know it already feels like that, but still!)

We’d do well to address the question that Baby Me probably thought when I read this for the first time: “Why can’t the Wild Men just be Men of Rohan?” Why can’t they put on real clothes, and pick up spears and swords, and get on horses and ride into battle and make a real contribution? Why do they insist on going back to their primitive lives? Perhaps part of the reason the Men of Rohan felt justified in hunting the Wild Men is because they saw them as more crude and less advanced people; “they live in the forests, clad only in grass, hunting and sleeping under the stars like dangerous wild animals, and therefore must be treated as such”.

But let me ask you a question: Aren’t the people of Rohan primitive too? Aragorn describes them as “unlearned, not writing any books but singing many songs”; how is that any different from the songs that may be passed down by Ghan-buri-Ghan’s people? Isn’t Rohan crude and simple in its own way, at least in comparison to some others? Just because they build houses of wood and speak with fair, beautiful speech doesn’t mean they are better than those who don’t. If Rohan had the right to treat the Wild Men as they wished—because, as “civilized people”, they were so much smarter and more advanced—then Saruman had the right to treat Rohan as he wished—because, as a Wizard, he was so much smarter and more advanced.

I want you to get this. If Rohan does not check itself here and humbly accept the Woses as equals, then Rohan is no better than Saruman.

Thankfully, Rohan does pass the test. One of Theoden’s greatest traits is his humility, and it serves him well here. A deal is struck, a path is cut, and the Wild Men make their contribution and disappear into the forests, with only a lingering portent that the wind is changing, and maybe the times with it. The book says that they were “never to be seen by any Rider of Rohan again”; by which I take it that Rohan’s side of the promise was upheld, and the Wild Men lived on, in their own ways, unmolested, in the Druadan Forest until the end of time.

I don’t have a way to end this, but maybe that’s appropriate to the subject matter; like the Wild Men themselves, this post will appear out of nowhere and disappear just as quickly as it came. I just think the Woses are fascinating—both for in-universe and meta reasons—in spite of, and perhaps because of my initial annoyance all those years ago.

We will return to your daily crack post tomorrow LOL

#ghan-buri-ghan #the wild men #lord of the rings #lotr #lotr meta #my writing #there are no tags on tumblr for ghan-buri-ghan or the wild men or anything like that #literally no one is talking about these guys #they are the cryptids that they were always meant to be #in which i wax eloquent about the roman empire and history nerd stuff for WAY too long

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smallhandsdowhattheymust · 7 months

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Small Hands 10: Ghan-buri-Ghan of the Druedain

To be totally candid, I had some hesitancy to address today's designated hero: Ghan-buri-Ghan of the Druedain. Ghan is an awesome dude, as we'll discuss further below, and he unquestionably fits the brief of what we're looking for here--someone who is often overlooked or marginalized and yet accomplished or set in motion world-altering events through their actions and words. But Tolkien's characterization of Ghan is also unquestionably problematic. The fetishization of Ghan and the "wild men" is pretty apparent in the text, and the application to the Druedain of broad, cliched stereotypes of indigenous communities does what broad, cliched stereotypes always do: they flatten nuanced, textured individuals and groups into a single representation that does not and cannot reflect anything close to reality. So we should acknowledge that.

In addition, because Ghan falls firmly into the so-called "noble savage" trope (a name that by itself makes me feel squicky), the very act of praising him for his (many!) positive attributes can contribute to/reinforce the trope. But to ignore him also feels wrong, as it denies the very real and important impact he has and erases him from the story entirely. So, this is where we landed. We're going to praise Ghan for his contributions, as we should, while also keeping all of this context and nuance in mind at the same time. Got it? Great!

Ghan is the leader of a group of Druedain who live in a forested area northwest of Minas Tirith and are seemingly intended to evoke traditional ideas of native/indigenous culture. Despite the fact that his people have an extremely fraught relationship with the Rohirrim and Gondorians (who, we are told, have at times hunted the Druedain "like beasts"), Ghan logically reasons that their fate would be even worse if Sauron and his servants were to have total control. As a result, he temporarily sets aside his grievances against the Rohirrim and allies himself with them--but in exchange for a promise that the persecution of the Druedain will end if Sauron is defeated. As such, Ghan finds a way to make his decision simultaneously pay benefits both to his own community and the world at large--that's good leadership!

Ghan easily proves himself an adept and trustworthy ally. He effectively communicates in a language that isn't native to him (while Ghan has learned the Common Speech, the Rohirrim haven't got the first clue how to speak or understand the Druedain's language) and he does it while constantly having to waste his time pushing back on the Rohirrim's consistent tendency to condescend to him. He has battlefield intelligence that far exceeds that of Rohan, and he stops them from blundering into an ambush by a portion of Sauron's army that is awaiting them further ahead on the road to Gondor. He uses his vast knowledge of the forest to help them circumvent that army, and he personally escorts Theoden through the woods as a guarantee of his good faith. And as a last act before departing, he gives the first notice of the change in the wind that portends Aragorn's ultimate arrival with reinforcements at the harbor. Not bad for a day's work!

Without Ghan's intervention, the Rohirrim would never have made it to the Pelennor Fields. There would be no ride of the Rohirrim. There would be no victory at Minas Tirith or subsequent march to the Morannon. He is literally the key to all that follows. And while we are told that King Elessar acts to reward the Druedain after his coronation by granting them protection and autonomy within their forest, that just doesn't seem sufficient recognition for the magnitude of their deeds. Despite the complexities and problems in the characterization of Ghan, he is inarguably a hero who deserves glory, even if he himself wouldn't want or seek such a thing!

#lotr #middle earth #tolkien #lord of the rings #small hands #druedain #ghan-buri-ghan

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brighter-arda · 1 year

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I am great headman Ghan-buri-ghan. I count many things; leaves on trees, stars in the sky, men in the dark. Wild Men are wild, free; but not children.

Part 12 of toi's indigenous tolkien series

images:

1. Telhueche man Rubén Patagonia. Text = I am great headman Ghan-buri-Ghan

2. Waterfall in Valdivian rainforest. Text = I count many things

3. A leaf over a different picture of the same forest. Text around the leaf = leaves on trees

4. the Milky Way over South American desert. In the middle are cartoon white stars and text around them = stars in sky

5. people around a fire, text = men in the dark.

6. Rubén Patagonia and text = Wild Men are wild, free; but not children.

#ghan buri ghan #lotr #the third age #mepoc #latam + caribbean tolkien #indigenous americas tolkien #moodboards and edits #toi's indigenous tolkien series #toi's creations #contains image description #userindomiel #tuserosie #userlyndeth

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silmarillion-ways-to-die · 7 months

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Jack Black as Ghân-buri-Ghân.

That's it, that's the post.

#Ghan buri Ghan #jack black #bad casting #peter jackson #lord of the rings #tolkien #silmarillion #lotr rop #lotr #lotr trop #fantasy #jrr tolkien #the hobbit

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vakarians-babe · 9 months

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thought too hard about tolkien things again. going steadily insane.

#pls dont ask me to talk about the dunlendings the rohirrim and the druedain i will not be coherent #the only thing i can say is that the druedain and the dunlendings deserve far better than theoden #killing him for his interaction with ghan buri ghan

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haaaaaaaaaaaave-you-met-ted · 1 year

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War of the Ring - Ghan Buri Ghan by Andrea Piparo

#Ares Games #War of the Ring #Ghan Buri Ghan #Andrea Piparo #Lord of the Rings #LotR #Fantasy #Art

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alicebeckstrom · 2 years

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DID YOU KNOW that originally, the actor Wi Kuki Kaa was listed on the cast list for character of Ghân-buri-Ghân in LOTR movies? Even though Kaa’s character was omitted from the screenplay, he ended up portraying Ghân-buri-Ghân for Decipher's The Lord of the Rings Trading Card Game, first released in 2001.

#did you know #ghan buri ghan #LOTR cast

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tenth-sentence · 1 year

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'Do you remember the Wild Man's words, lord?' said another.

"The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" - J.R.R. Tolkien

#book quote #lotr #lord of the rings #jrr tolkien #trotk #the return of the king #riders of rohan #rohirrim #wild men #ghan buri ghan

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from-the-coffee-shop-in-edoras · 7 months

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I think what I like best about Éomer and why he’s my favorite LOTR character is that he’s so thoroughly relatable. He’s not an ennobled elf with thousands of years of wisdom. He doesn’t come from an exalted bloodline with the intellectual and cultural inheritance of Numenor behind him. He’s not a sweet, gold-hearted little naif with unlimited stores of optimism. (There’s nothing wrong with anyone who meets those definitions–I just don’t personally see myself in them!) He’s a real, living, breathing human who has limitations and makes mistakes and gets cranky but is always trying to do the right thing. And that really speaks to me.

Even better, he usually succeeds despite his limitations (he is never taken in by Grima or Saruman, he helps Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli even though doing so forces him to break Rohan law, etc.) because he’s an excellent judge of character, always has good intentions, and *most importantly to me* he learns and grows from his mistakes. Éomer has no problem taking in new info, admitting that he was wrong, and then course correcting as needed (he literally says the words “I would gladly learn better” at one point!). It happens over and over, after his prejudices against the elves are called out, during his interactions with Ghan Buri Ghan, once Gandalf wizard-splains the concept of patriarchy to him, etc. He doesn’t get defensive or try to justify bad beliefs and practices. He is open-minded and humble enough to update his understanding of the world and then try to do better. Why wouldn’t I love that?

Oh, and he’s hot. Just, like, scaldingly hot.

#eomer #eomer eadig #lotr #lord of the rings #he’s the best #I love a man who can admit when he’s wrong and learn from his mistakes

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thekingofwinterblog · 2 months

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What were the "High Men" of Numenorians really? A Tolkien Theory

In the two towers, Faramir gives an overview of how the Gondorians measure the different "races' of men, High men(themselves, that is to say the Edain), the men of twilight/middle men(men who were related to the Edain, but didnt go to Valinor during the migration after the war of wrath) and the men of Darkness(Everyone else why by their definition must have served Morgoth.

There are a lot of problems with this catagorization of men.

The DruEdain that Gan-buri-ghan belongs to is, as the name implies amongst the High Men, for their ancestors joined the trip to Numenor and was presumably blessed with all the same gifts as the rest, before much later, seeing which way the wind was blowing, left back to join the kin on the mainland, and mixing with them, creating thw modern Druedain, who presumably still have all the same blessings as the numenorians, even if they long ago forgot much of the arts and lore they learned in Numenor.

This very close ethnic and cultural connection is forgotten by both Dunedain and Druedain, but they are far, far closer than any other people of numenorean connections, other than maybe the Black Numenorians.

Sinilarily, the accusation that anyone not related to the Edain are "Men of Darkness" who served Morgoth is blantantly false, as the Dunlendings fit neither criteria.

And finally the middle men is very much played loose with, as while there is a distant, distant relation between the Gondorians and the Rohirrim, it's way, way more distant than the Gondorians make it out to be.

However, while very, very faulty, there is one bit of truth to this artificial catagorization of how "important" people are deemed to be.

Namely that the Numenoreans were and still ARE different than other men.

The different peoples of the Edain, that mixed together on their new island to form the new ethnicity of Numenoreans(with only the Druedain remaining apart from the rest, despite there no doubt being intermarriages through the years) blessed with a masaive, stupidly tall height, enormous lifespans, a natural capacity for creating magical marvels unseen in any other race of men, and when they started out, a distinct non fear of death.

All of these are said to have been a direct blessing from Eonwe, Manwe's herald who defeated Morgoth at the end of the War of Wrath.

This is very much historical fact in Middle earth.

The Numenorians for their part was blessed with amazing capacity, and they got the island kingdom of Numenor raised from the bottom of the sea for them to live on as a reward for their loyalty.

It was certainpy not a paradise, as the men of Numenor were capable of misdeeds, anger and all the other bad sides of the human condition, long before they came back to middle earth, but there is also no denying that just on a mental level, during that early period the Numenorians had become something... Very different in temperment. More like the Elves mayhaps, and yet not quite, for they accepted that they had to die in those early days, and they knew when it came, and so got their affairs in order before time was up.

There was no mentions of massive civil wars or internal conflicts during that first period, instead they seemed to have gotten along incredibly well on the island, on the same level as the early Elves before war and kinstrife, or maybe even like the hobbits of the shire.

Not perfect maybe, but as close as one can reasonably have it on earth.

Then that began to change as the centuries moved past, and especially as they made contact eith the outside world again, upon which they once more began to grow leaner and meaner, and the fear of natural death began to creep back in.

What i find most interesting aboyt this though, is that their blessed powers began to wane... Not because they interbred together with the "lesser" men of middle earth, but rather because they began to decline as Numenoreans become mroe wicked and cruel.

In other words, the blessings were interconnected with the people who carried them being good people. It had nothing to do with race itself, though that is how the numenorian percieved it.

And we see this as Numenor fell, as the two different kingdoms went very different ways.

The Dunedain of Arnor eventually split into 3 distinct groups, but it's very telling that the bulk of the nation's numenorians, the people who made up the successor state of arthedain, and who would be the only survivers of the kingdom in the form of the rangers from the North, whom would eventually spawn Aragorn, are NOT "Pure blooded" numenorians, for all 3 of the Dunedain groups that made of Arnor's 3 successor states intermingled and mixed together with their respective native populations of Eriador, "Middle men" all.

And yet only Arthedain, who managed to keep the nobility of early Numenor alive, did they retain their enormous lifespans, they still had great capacity for magic both in healing and smith crafting that far surpassed Gondor, and their kings very much had that old supernatural force of will that Gondor's Kings eventually lost, which Aragorn would showcase many times during the course of Lotr.

This was best shown as the great plague ravished the entirety of western middle earth... Only for the Dunedain of Arthedain to stand left as the only kingdom the plague didnt really seem to get any sort of foothold inside.

Clearly the old blessings of long life and health had a massive hold yet in Arthedain, while it smashed through the other two successor states as well as Gondor.

Meanwhile, Gondor managed to retain a lot of those old Numenorian blessings, if nowhere near as well as Arthedain.

The Numenorians blamed the fact that many of their clans were losing these blessings, slowly but surely, on their bloolines becomingless "pure".

There is some truth to that... In the sense that once a family lost their noble character, their blessings did indeed begin to wane, and it would rarely return, except maybe if one intermarried with someone who had the blessings still.

The ultimate example of the fact that it was character, NOT race that determined wheter the Nomenorians would keep their inborn gifts, is showcased nowhere as clearly as with King Eldacar, who was the result of his father's marriage to a northern "barbarian" princess.

This marriage outside of Numenorian nobility would cause a horrible civil war that slaughtered a huge part of the numenorean nobility, but by all accounts Eldacar was as blessed as every other king who came before him, despite only being half numenorean. His father and(presumably) his mother were of good character, and so was he, and he lived for a whooping 235 years, proving that the idea of the Numenoreans blessings weaking because of intermarrying with "lesser" peoples were complete nonsense.

No, the Gondorians numenorean gifts would decline for a variety of reasons(the kinstrife wiping out a huge percentage of the numenorean descendant population, their genocidal actions against the men of Rhun during eastern campaigns, and them losing sight of their own living relations in favor of their ancestors), but intermarrying with the non gondorians of their realm was not one of them.

So with all of this in mind, we have established how the Numenorean's divinely granted gifts work.

With this in mind, what exactly the high men of numenor were are self explanatory. They are(or at least their ancestors were) divinely blessed bloodlines who managed to keep that spark of nobility that the Herald of Manwe managed to impart to the Edain, and so retained the gifts that the Valar bestowed upon them.

Case closed. Or it would be, if not for one, single conversation from from the first age, between and elf and a human woman.

In the book "Morgoth's Ring" we get the debate of Finrod and Andreth, where we get our one, and only glimpse into what Mankind was when they first awakened to the world. Before the fall. before the corruption of Morgoth twisted the entire race. before the first sin.

The debate is between Finrod, that famous king of Nargothrond, and Andreth, a Human wisewoman who knows some human lore of the first days of man, which Elves know not of.

And here we learn a lot.

We learn that Humanity at it's beginning, used to be greater, stronger, completely unafraid of death, seems to have had very long life(described as immortality, though that is probably just because none of the early pre corruption humans lived long enough in that state to die of old age), lacking fear and hatred, and with a capacity for creation that far, far surpassed even the elves and maybe even the Valar themselves, as they would surpass the vision that the Valar had been shown of the world's future during those first sets of music.

Fingon who has been blessed with the gift of sight, even managed to see what Humankind's purpose in the world was supposed to be. Namely healing Arda, that is to say undoing, or at least halting and stopping the marring of Arda, the process which Moegoth used to infuse the essence of Evil into every bit of the world.

In other words, preventing the decline of magic and wonders that would pass on as the ages moved on, only to meet it's final ending at the beginning of the fourth age when wonder and sorcery began the the road to being snuffed out once and for all.

The age of man was always going to supplant the age of the elves, but as Eru Illuvatar originally intended it, it was not necessarily meant to be a literal supplanting, where Elves were doomed to either leave for Valinor forever, or begin to eventually fade away in physical form due to the Marring of Arda.

Now, we dont know the exact details of what derailed this vision of the future, other than the fact that Morgoth corrupted the entire Human race and made them acknowledge him as God, and in the end, by rejecting Eru, they lost that incredible potential.

But lets go over what we know of unspoiled Humans.

They were stronger, their spirits greater, their capacity for creation surpassed everyone else, they were untouched by(but not immune to) the corrupting influences of Morgoth in a way that elves are not, they did not fear death, had long lives, and it was their destiny to become masters of the world.

Now this might just be me... But this sounds a LOT like like early Numenor.

The very long lives, the non fear of natural death, the greater strength and spirit compared to other men, the unmatched capacity for creation and making of wonders, somehow lacking a lot of the darker aspects of humanity, even if they are not non-existent, and a natural destiny to fight sauron and bring greatness to the world.

My theory then is this.

The blessing's Eonwe gave the Numenorians, were not so much a boon granted to them and them alone, as it was given them the capacity to reclaim their birthright. The birthright of ALL of humanity.

A birthright that was stolen from them, and yet at this point could seemingly still return, and if things went well, maybe Eru's original plan might play out yet in some form(though wheter or not that was Eonwe's intent or not who can say).

If so, the Numenoreans intended destiny in the second age, was to defeat sauron and the rest of Morgoth's forces, somehow halt the long defeat that was the marring of Arda, and begin a slow reversal of the corruption of man, the relaiming of the entire race's birthright, as they willingly shared their gifts, their technology and lore with the rest of the world, and and ushering in the Age of man, not as a heralding that the age of all otgers were over, but that it was time for mankind to spread it's wings and lead the way.

If that truly was the case, then that is certainly how it began. But alas, that was not how it ended.

The fall of Numenor, and the bending of the world signaled that one way or another, there was no turning back.

The poamssibility of an age of magic and wonders as Humanity took dominion of the world died with the great island.

Any true healing for the Marring of Arda would now need to wait until the end of the world, after which it would be remade withouth Melkor's influence.

However, there is one, final note i want to end on.

Because there is one people amongst the race of man, that seems to have avoided the shadow of Morgoth, and been untouched by the darkness that swalled the rest of the race.

That of course being the hobbits. The hobbits fit almost all of the traits seen amongst pre corruption humans, other than great strength and capacity for grand creations.

They lack a lot of the inborn brutal nature of the rest of mankind, even if it's not completely non existence, they are not immune to the corrupting shadow, but it lacks the natural bite it has on bigger humans, or the allways there pressure it has on elves. They have a remarkably relaxed attitude to the idea of their own natural deaths, they live relaticely long lives, and has a surprising apptitude dor courage in the face of adversity, and capacity for pushing through hardships and pain, and they have a natural kindness and love of peace about them, almost unseen anywhere else amongst the rest of the known race and peoples of men... Other than that brief moment of early numenoreans, before they let fear and greed seep back in.

#tolkien's legendarium #j r r tolkien #the silmarillion #lord of the rings #the hobbit #man #mankind #humanity #meta #elves #morgoth #first sin #corruption #numenoreans #theory

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buggreawlthys · 1 month

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'I will not say farewell, my lord,' said Pippin.

- almost word-for-word echo of sam's song in the tower. brb crying over hobbits again.

Now silently the host of Rohan moved forward into the field of Gondor, pouring in slowly but steadily, like the rising tide through breaches in a dike that men have thought secure.

- this is the point where i started vibrating too quickly for the human eye to perceive

And straightway all the horns in the host were lifted up in music, and the blowing of the horns of Rohan in that hour was like a storm upon the plain and a thunder in the mountains.

- there is not enough "fuck yeah" in this world and middle earth combined

And never in after years could he hear a horn blown in the distance without tears starting in his eyes.

- you & me both mate

Denethor started as one waking from a trance, and the flame died in his eyes, and he wept; and he said: 'Do not take my son from me! He calls for me.' ... Denethor followed him, and stood trembling, looking with longing on the face of his son.

- on the one hand, genuinely sympathetic. on the other hand, all this parental affection would've been a bit more useful before you Sent Him To His Death, Arsehole

'Go then and labour in healing! Go forth and fight! Vanity.'

- this isn't even "pot calling the kettle black", it's just straight-up hypocrisy.

Yet one stood there still: Dernhelm the young, faithful beyond fear; and he wept, for he had loved his lord as a father.

- ... so we're still playing this game, jirt? even now? really? *sigh* ok, fine. """dernhelm""" loved """his""" lord, got it

'Do what you will; but I will hinder it, if I may.'

- one of, if not the, all-time "fuck around & find out"s

'And I would send word to Éowyn. She, she would not have me leave her, and now I shall not see her again, dearer than daughter.'

- how many times will the sheer & shining amount of LOVE in this stories rip my heart into confetti???

'Are you going to bury me?' said Merry.

- 🥺🥺🥺

...and out of Far Harad black men like half-trolls with white eyes and red tongues.

- jfc. for every "fair for its day" moment there's one of these, whether it's enemies on the battlefield or allies like ghan-buri-ghan. repugnant actually.

'Thus we meet again, though all the hosts of Mordor lay between us,' said Aragorn. 'Did I not say so at the Hornburg?'

- yeah yeah smartarse, no-one likes an "i told you so"

...red fell the dew in Rammas Echor.

- sad but also metal af

'I have been too busy with this and that to heed all the crying and shouting,' she answered.

- Ioreth my giiiiiiiiiiiirrrrrrrrrl so good to see you sis love your life love your choices

'Not a beggar,' said Aragorn. 'Say a captain of the Rangers, who are unused to cities and houses of stone.'

- *snort*

...said Aragorn. 'One thing also is short, time for speech.'

- TAKE A FUCKEN HINT BABES (not that it does any good. ioreth will not be contained)

'My friend,' said Gandalf, 'you had horses, and deeds of arms, and the free fields; but she, born in the body of a maid, had a spirit and courage at least the match of yours. Yet she was doomed to wait upon an old man...'

- gandalf pointing out the mûmakil in the room: bigotry

'Master Meriadoc,' said Aragorn, 'if you think that I have passed through the mountains and yhe realm of Gondor with fire and sword to bring herbs to a careless soldier who throws away his gear, you are mistaken. ...he will leave you to reflect on the history of tongues. And so now must I.'

- i am howling

For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach. His song in the Tower had been defiance rather than hope; for then he was thinking of himself. Now, for a moment, his own fate, and even his master's, ceased to trouble him. He crawled back into the brambles and laid himself by Frodo's side, and putting away all fear he cast himself into a deep untroubled sleep.

- everyone say thank you to the nice star for letting sam get some decent bloody rest for a change (grumbles about hobbits with no self-care practice)

#lotr newsletter #what a day #what a read #wtf are emotions #aragorn's Extremely Long Day #sass king of sassdor

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frodo-with-glasses · 1 year

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