Horror and survival

[sff_corgi_lj]

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Conan O'Brien said on tonight's show that TBS announced they were going to do a 'real life' version of Gilligan's Island -- with a real skipper, a millionaire, a movie star and a professor. The winner will be the person at home who watches something else.

Anyway. [shudder]

[shudders some more, thinks longingly of plastique]

Anyway: Círdan the Shipwright! I've been wanting to say something about him for a bit, but it's been kind of busy inside my head for various reasons [looks sidelong at sosirius and medeni_ci_jones].

After I finally got the Silmarillion CDs straightened out and got to the end of the book, where the Third Age is reviewed in a fraction of the space of Lord of the Rings, the three Rings of the Elves are discussed in a good bit of detail. It's said that Círdan was the original holder of Narya. Curious, though, that he wasn't given Nenya -- the Ring of Water is entirely appropriate to his life's work. That made me curious about why he would have been considered a suitable Ringbearer. Galadriel was, for instance, the last of the Noldor living in the mortal lands. The Noldor were the smallest group of the elves who were brought from Cuiviénen (where the race of elves awakened) over to Valinor and then returned to Middle Earth (under shady circumstances). They were called the 'Deep Elves' and regarded as being the smartest, cleverest with making things and most doughty warriors -- although as we have seen, anyone in Ea who gets involved in serious craftiness is suspect. Galadriel was one of those who had seen the light of the Trees. She was a third-generation elf, being the granddaughter of Finwë, who was one of the first elves to be taken to meet the Valar. Then there is Elrond Peredhil, holder of Vilya, the Ring of Air. He was the second holder of this ring, after Gil-Galad was killed by Sauron in the final battle of the Last Alliance at the end of Second Age. Elrond was widely regarded as extremely well-learnéd and wise even among the Noldor; part of this was due to his captivity with Maglor, the son of Fëanor, who cherished the two boys and took good care of them. For all of their oath-compelled corruption, Maglor and his brothers were still clever and knowledgeable elves, and Elrond was taught well. Elrond also studied many disciplines ('master of lore') and was gifted with foresight as well (a sliver of the Song of Eru?) which made him a wise councillor to Gil-Galad and later to the remainder of his people in Middle-Earth. He, like Galadriel, had special ancestry -- his great-great-grandmother was a minor goddess (sort of). So there's two Rings. Círdan apparently had the third, from Celebrimbor grandson of Fëanor via Gil-Galad until Olórin came to Middle-Earth as Mithrandir; the Ring was then passed to him. But why did he have it in the first place? Perhaps because he was one of, if not the oldest surviving elf in the mortal lands. It's strongly implied he was one of the Awakened, one of the First-Born. If not, he was born shortly thereafter on the travels into the West following Oromë. He is counted among the Moriquendi, the Dark Elves, those who never dwelled in the light of Aman; more specifically, the Teleri, and the lord of the elves living at the Falas in west coastal Beleriand, known as the Falathrim. So unlike Galadriel, with her Calaquendi status; or Elrond, with his ancestry and studies... he was though worthy because he was a bloody good survivor. Through the War of Wrath, the Akallabêth, the Last Alliance and the War of the Ring, Círdan moved from the Falas, to the Isle of Balar, to the Grey Havens without any record of severe damage/limb loss/scarring or losses other than that of property and real estate. It's not that he wasn't an active participant in all these events in some wise or another... but he came out of everything intact, up to the point when the very last elves planning on leaving Middle-Earth did so. Think about it. We know the Third Age was about 3 millenia long; the Second Age apparently nearly 3.5 millenia. The First Age, according to the accounting I'm finding was a little over 500 years, and the Age of the Trees preceding it at least another 3 millenia after the elves awoke, maybe longer. A lifetime of a myriad. 10,000 years. That's some excellent surviving. Enough to become one of the Wise and figure out how to manage a Ring of Power. Here's interesting essays: Who Is Like the Wise Elf?; Middle Earth: the Lore of the Rings et al. They have a search function....

Incidentally: LotR as a metaphor for pregnancy

Comments

[drachenaugen.livejournal.com]

Then I get angry people when the hear someone say that Sam and Frodo are gay LOL (even if it's a joke mind) Well, it's an "interesting" point of view. Hopefully by the time I get a boyfriend/husband and decided to have a family I'll have forgotten this funny point of view or else I'll be walking around thinking, this is my journey to Mordor >_