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weaver
Half-elven
Feb 28, 2:28am
Views: 277
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*Silmarillion Discussion: Chapter 5, "Of Eldamar and the Princes of the Eldalie", Part 3 -- Meet the Noldor Cast**
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Can't Post
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Apologies for the delay! Here is the next installment... one more after this one...
Continuing on, Tolkien next introduces the main cast of the rest of the Silmarillion, the Princes of the Noldor (and two Princesses!)
By way of background, we are told that the Vanyar are beloved by Manwe and Varda, and the Noldor by Aule.
We also get a little bit of insight into how the Noldor develop as a people. We are told that Aule and his people come often among the Noldor, and they prosper so much that they begin to surpass their teachers on some things. They have a great thirst for knowledge, are changeful of speech, and love words – they try to name everything real and imagined. Their masons quarry in the hills for materials to build high towers, and there they find gems, which they learn to carve into many forms. They don’t hoard them, but give them out freely, and this makes Valinor an even cooler place.
The princes of the Noldor are then introduced, since they come back to Middle Earth later and star in the sequel. They are:
Finwe – King of the Noldor, he has three sons:
Fingolfin is the strongest, most steadfast, and most valiant; he has a Vanyar mother
Finarfin is fairest, has the same mother as Fingolfin. He befriends the Teleri, and marries their king Olwe’s daughter, Earwen, the Swan maiden.
Feanor has the fiery spirit, and has greater skill in hand and word; he has a different mother who is Noldor.
Feanor has seven sons –
Maedhros the tall,
Maglor the mighty singer,
Celegorm the fair (and a hunter who followed Orome),
Caranthir the dark,
Curufin the crafty (who inherits Feanor's craftsmanship);
Amrod and Amras, who are twins and the youngest; they later become great hunters like Celegorm.
Fingolfin has two sons, who go on to become kings later in Middle Earth
Fingon, who becomes King of the Noldor in the North
Turgon, who becomes king of Gondolin.
Finarfin has four sons, who are like brothers to Fingolfin's sons
Finrod the Faithful (later called Felagund, Lord of the Caves)
Orodreth
Angrod
Aegnor.
There are also two girls in the mix:
Fingolfin’s daughter is Aredhel. She likes to hunt and ride is ‘Younger in the years of the Eldar” than her brothers. She hangs out with Feanor’s kids, but doesn’t love any of them. She has dark hair, pale skin and wears silver or white and is called the White Lady of the Noldor.
Galadriel is Finarfin's daughter. She is the most beautiful of Finwe’s house, and her hair is like the gold of Laurelin, the other tree of Valinor.
Questions
1. I confess, I find all those "F" names are confusing. Do you suppose Tolkien did that so he could just file them all under "F" when he was writing this? Do you have any tricks for keeping all these characters straight?
2. Do you have a favorite name from the cast list Tolkien gives us here? Which of Feanor’s sons would you like to get to know better or have a beer with?
3. Why do royal sons outnumber daughters? And if every elven child lives forever, why doesn’t Elvenhome become overpopulated? Just how many elves can live in Aman, in Túna, or if you are Teleri, on the Lonely Isle?
4. What do you think about the description of the Noldor as a people? Can you see the connection between the qualities Tolkien shares about them here and the way they turn out later? And what kinds of things might they have surpassed their teachers on?
5. The Noldor strike me as being acquiring in nature – though it’s mostly knowledge at this point. Does the trouble start when they start to feel attached to the things they’ve learned or made? Is “attachment” the opposite (or even the dark side) of “longing” in Tolkien?
Last installment coming up next -- The Teleri finally get off the island!
Weaver
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*Silmarillion Discussion: Chapter 5, "Of Eldamar and the Princes of the Eldalie", Part 3 -- Meet the Noldor Cast**
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weaver
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Feb 28, 2:28am
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The Quenya alphabet stopped at F
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CuriousG
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Feb 28, 3:43am
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The F Words
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Finwe
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Feb 28, 2:52pm
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Jumping ahead to other chapters
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CuriousG
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Feb 28, 3:08pm
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That Makes Sense
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Finwe
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Feb 28, 3:15pm
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wait who has fins? is this a Jimmy Buffet song?
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elevorn
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Feb 28, 6:53pm
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More Late Answers
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sador
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Mar 3, 3:43pm
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a few more comments
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telain
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Mar 5, 6:39pm
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some answers
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elostirion74
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Mar 11, 9:46pm
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