bro u really tell on yourself when you cope about your AGP so hard...you're not in a place to be speaking to what's normal for women. how tf would you know đ€Ą
I'm not sure what you're attempting to communicate by "when you cope about your AGP". I've never heard that phrase before. But I'm willing to understand it, if you're willing to explain.
How do I know what's normal? The same way as anybody else I guess: research, study, experience, getting to know people on a personal basis, being in a state of mind that allows me to see others perspectives, understanding that my worldview isn't the same as everyone else. What even is the definition of normal?
Are you in a place to know what's normal for women? All women or just some women? How tf do you know? đ
Hello! Can I respectfully request the promised lecture and Powerpoint about Fingon/Maedhros? I'll be honest here... I just do not see it, and I truly do want to understand. There are other relationships in the Legendarium that I really do think Tolkien deliberately and unequivocally coded as queer, and I've used all those same examples you list to back up my arguments. And I do see the parallels with Luthien and Beren (just as Sam/Frodo has parallels with that). But otherwise, I don't see a lot of queer coding. Which is not to say that I think it's a bad ship, just that I don't really see much in the text to support it or see much indication that it's what Tolkien intended. I would love to be convinced, though! I swear I'm not trying to bash Russingon or provoke anything. It seems like you have put a lot of thought and research into this, and I'm honestly curious, because this is a ship that has always puzzled me a bit.
First, thank you for asking! Itâs always a pleasure to talk about my boys and my OTP to end all OTPs
I want to start whatâs probably going to be a long series of self-reblogs by saying something thatâs going to be important in the long haul: there is a difference between âI personally interpret this in a way that enhances the story, and itâs canonically compliantâ and âI think and will seriously argue that Russingon is supported canonically by things that explicitly exist to point toward it being more than friendshipâ. The line can get kind of fuzzy, but it does exist, and the foundation of any good queer analysis is recognizing that.
So before I get into Sarah Waters, Mary Renault, and what the British legal system has to do with any of this, Iâm going to make three lists.
Stuff That Probably Doesnât Mean Anything, But That Is Fun To Examine From A Shipping Perspective:
Maedhros wears a copper circlet, Fingon wears gold in his braids
Maedhros abdicated the throne in favor of Fingon entering the line of succession
Maedhros stepped into a position of military authority after Fingon took the throne, working closely with him specifically to attack Angband after the Bragollach
Fingon is stated by Tolkien himself to have never married nor had biological children, and Maedhros never married nor had biological children either
Stuff That Is Ambiguous In Intent, But Is More Significant Than The Above:
Fingon clearly still cared enough about Maedhros that despite probably not knowing whether or not he burned the ships, he set out to rescue him alone in a display of loyalty to the rival royal line that put his priorities firmly in the âthis nĂ©r whom I loveâ camp. Itâs worth noting that Maedhrosâs family are the reason that his sister-in-law is dead, the reason many of his own people froze to death, and the reason his brother is dead. Maedhrosâs rescue, and forgiving him, is more important to Fingon than any of that. Why?
Morgothâs battle plan for the Nirnaeth Arnoediad (as relayed in the Grey Annals in The War of the Jewels) involved forcing Maedhros and Fingon apart and trying to take both of them down simultaneously. Fingon was of course ultimately killed by Balrogs, and Maedhros avoided being killed by allies-turned-spies, but the goal was to keep them apart and incapacitate them both. Why?
Maedhrosâs mental stability, willingness to exist in a society, passion for fighting Morgoth, and desire to curtail his brothersâ worst impulses all evaporate after Fingonâs death and Fingonâs death specifically. Why?
Maedhros and Fingon maintain a relationship with each other that is significantly more important to their actions than similar relationships between Finwëan cousins. Aredhel is never recorded as prioritizing Celegorm to the same extent, and Finrod only goes on a hunting trip with Maedhros and Maglor after things between their families are patched up. Why are they different from others in this way?
Stuff That Actually Matters In Analysis:
Fingon and Maedhros, Beren and LĂșthien, and Frodo and Sam all share very nearly the same story at a crucial point. All three feature a situation where a rescuing party feared the one they loved was dead, discovered they were actually held prisoner by Sauron, went alone into peril, and used a song to find who they searched for successfully. Both Maedhros and Beren lost a hand in the course of their journey. Frodo lost a finger, and Sam cut the hand from the orc whipping him. All three pairs were rescued by at least one of the great eagles. Sam and Frodo have on-page declarations of love. Beren and LĂșthien are the self-inserts of the author and his wife. This connection is not accidental; the author explicitly compares Frodo and Sam to Beren and LĂșthien on the Quest for the Silmaril in the text of The Two Towers. If Maedhros and Fingon are being linked thematically with the central romantic relationship of the Legendarium, there is a reason why.
The Grey Annals tells us that Fingon rescued Maedhros âand their love was renewedâ. Thatâs a direct quote from the text, not an exaggeration. This is more canonical proof of love than we get for some married couples (notably FĂ«anor and Nerdanel, who are never stated to love one another in the text).
Laws and Customs Among the Eldar explicitly states that half-first-cousins are allowed to marry without it being considered incestuous, so long as their parents arenât close. That seems like an extremely odd standard, until you remember that there is an unusually close pair of half-first-cousins whose parents donât get along.
(Obligatory note: the published Silmarillion does state that Idril and Maeglin are too close to marry. The published Silmarillionâs treatment of Maeglin is also almost certainly invented by Christopher Tolkien - Maeglin in the drafts written by JRRT himself is wildly different than how he appears when Chris writes him. Tolkien himself avoided making any such statements about cousin marriage and Turgon opposed Maeglin marrying Idril because he didnât think it was a love marriage.)
The Grey Annals also discusses one of the histories of the green elfstone that Aragorn receives from Galadriel as a wedding gift - in this draft, it was made by FĂ«anor, and Maedhros gave it to Fingon. When Aragorn receives it, itâs been set in a brooch in the form of an eagle. Here we have another thing that passed between Maedhros and Fingon that is explicitly linked to romantic relationships between two characters echoing Beren and LĂșthien. This is once again not accidental.
Fingonâs harp is almost certainly a reference to the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, which also heavily inspired LĂșthien pleading for Beren in Mandos. Yet again, we have deliberate intent by the author to position this relationship in a light that reflects romance above all else. You could even go further and point out that there are parallels between Thingolâs hostility toward Beren and FĂ«anorâs distrust and hatred of the NolofinwĂ«ans. TĂșrin and Beleg, who get to kiss on the page, are also echoes of Russingon - early bliss marred by a kinslaying, a hopeless quest alone armed with a bow, an injury that results from freeing the captive party.
The fact of the matter is that none of this is accidental. Tolkien was deliberate in his worldbuilding, his parallels, his setups and his plot choices. There is a reason that Fingon and Maedhros are linked to so much romance, a reason that they are positioned on equal footing with other more clearly queercoded ships, a reason that itâs their relationship that shapes the First Age. When you accept that none of it happened accidentally, that allows you to broaden your scope, and look at Tolkienâs inspirations, his life, his friendships, cultural influences, and why he might have been so cagey about his M/M ships when they arenât just important but vital to the text. (After all, Sam and Frodoâs happy ending comes after Samâs time in heteronormativity, and TĂșrin and Beleg fall apart in a similar fashion.)
Itâs just - itâs not crazy or insane or Shipper Goggles to say âthese relationships matter, and the stories actually donât make sense without themâ. Thatâs all.
(Next time, if you like, weâre going to talk about historical fiction, and there will be lesbians.)
A short comic I made about my experiences as a seasonal worker, and the way places change you.
Prints & PDF
posts that make me want to rip my heart out part 5
"Aphrodite loves terfs" do you really think a goddess of love formed from a literal penis and the mother of Hermaphroditus, an intersex god who was associated with androgyny and feminine men, fucks around with transphobia?
she is a literal trans icon and to deny that will get you smited by all the gods
Two Women Kissing in Nature (b. 1859)
â by Georges Rochegrosse
Is birthday. I honestly debated mentioning that at all but, Maybe itâs a bit of self care to admit that I donât have to be rich , or free from Oklahoma, to celebrate surviving another year in these nightmarish circumstances. Ramble over, enjoy the bat.Â
just a handy little info chart on the spectrums of sexuality.
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Helicopter mechanic. Witchy. Granola. Gamer. Mother. GSXR750. Trans-Lesbian switch. 40+yo.
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