Tumblr crosspost (29 October 2020)

[anghraine]

hmm

“But in the wearing of the swift years of Middle-earth the line of Meneldil son of Anárion failed, and the Tree withered, and the blood of the Númenoreans became mingled with lesser men.”

—Elrond, Fellowship of the Ring

“Kings made tombs more splendid than houses of the living, and counted old names in the rolls of their descent dearer than the names of sons. Childless lords sat in aged halls musing on heraldry; in secret chambers withered men compounded strong elixirs, or in high cold towers asked questions of the stars. And the last king of the line of Anárion had no heir. But the stewards were wiser and more fortunate. Wiser, for they recruited the strength of our people from the sturdy folk of the sea-coast, and from the hardy mountaineers of Ered Nimrais.”

—Faramir, The Two Towers

hmmmm

Tagged: #obviously they both have their biases in their interpretations #but also they're both pretty clearly characters who are meant to be speaking for tolkien #at least to some extent #(he said so outright of faramir iirc) #and so it's interesting to me that their takes on this are so different; faramir sees the /cultural/ shift as regrettable #but the actual integration of other peoples as wise #and i'm not sure that would be the impression generally given at all if not for his monologue #(which i think people still tend to overlook; there's a lot of UMMMM in fandom takes on gondorian dúnedain's ~impurity) #anyway this certainly is a ....... thing