Grief, Grieving, and Permission to Mourn in the "Quenta Silmarillion"
In the Quenta Silmarillion, the narrator of The Silmarillion allows characters to experience grief and express mourning in different ways, reflecting the biases that he brings to the text.
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Beleriand Light & Power: Or Musings on the Silmarils, Capital-L Light, and the Hoarding of Resources in The Silmarillion
Published on 21 January 2018 | Essay
In the debate over who had the right to the Silmarils, rarely considered is the idea that the Light within them was not subcreated by the Valar but created by Eru. This essay reviews the evidence for creation (versus subcreation) of the Light and the implications of this idea for understanding the dispute over the Silmarils.
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Topic: Tolkien Studies
Characters: Silmarils
Swans
Published on 11 August 2017 | Short Story
Against Maedhros's wishes, Fingon is off to a summer retreat in the mountains, a retreat designed by the Valar for newly reembodied Elves. Amid games of kickball and group therapy, Fingon makes a friend, discovers the Noldor haven't actually invented everything, and begins to grasp the complexities of his post-reembodiment relationship with Maedhros.
This work is part of the collection Republic of Tirion.
“Thus Wrote Pengolodh”: Historical Bias, Its Evidence, and Its Implications in The Silmarillion
Published on 8 April 2017 | Conference Paper
The fictional author of The Silmarillion impacts how the story is told. This paper, presented at the 2017 Tolkien at UVM Conference, makes the case for Pengolodh as the author of much of the Quenta Silmarillion and explores how his biases manifest in the text.
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Topic: Historical Bias, Historiography and Tolkien, Tolkien Studies
Characters: Pengolodh
References to Sources in the Works of J.R.R. Tolkien
Published on 6 April 2017 | Research
This document-in-progress collects all references, direct and indirect, to the narrators of Tolkien's books and their sources of information.
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Topic: Historiography and Tolkien, Tolkien Studies
Characters: No characters listed.
The Deaths of Kings: Historical Bias in the Death Scenes of Fëanor and Fingolfin
Published on 8 March 2017 | Essay
The death scenes of Fëanor and Fingolfin parallel each other closely in plot, beginning with the rash pursuit of single combat with Morgoth. Yet the manner in which the narrator of The Silmarillion, Pengolodh, employs language and symbolism leads to two very different conclusions that likely served to advance Pengolodh's political and personal agenda.
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Topic: Historical Bias, Historiography and Tolkien, Tolkien Studies
Characters: Fëanor, Pengolodh