Analysing Arda

Banner for the Analysing Arda challenge, showing a stack of books

This month's challenge is a nonfiction challenge. All nonfiction is welcome, from headcanons to essays to multimedia responses.

There are no claims for this month's challenge, but if you need some inspiration to get started, check out the list below of member-sourced prompts. You are not required to use one of these questions and may write about anything you would like. For even more ideas on what to write about, see Dawn's 101 Approaches to Tolkien Meta, or What the Heck to Write About.

This challenge opened in .

Prompts

Choose your prompt from the collection below.

View Prompts

It bears repeating that you are not required to choose a prompt from this list and may write about any nonfiction topic you choose.

        
  • The translation history of the works of J.R.R. Tolkien
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  • Fads and fashions in the artistic interpretation of Tolkien's works
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  • Diversity in Middle-earth
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  • Why do the Elves of Gondolin have an assigned place for execution, and other matters of crime and punishment
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  • Animals of Arda (in folklore, literature, Tolkien's life and Tolkien's writing), especially cats, spiders, dogs, horses, eagles, birds in general, and any other animals you can think of
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  • Disability and mental (un)health in Middle-earth
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  • Trade and economy in the 1st (or 2nd or 3rd, ...) Age
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  • The Gift of Men (starting from the Numenor discussion, the Athrabeth discussion, Half-Elves, or any other approach).
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  • Anglo-Saxon or Norse or Finnish, etc. parallels and influences in The Silmarillion (macro or micro: overarching ones or specific details or areas)
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  • Attested historical practice as possible background for daily life of Middle-earth characters (e.g smithwork, sword-fighting, sailing, weaving, etc.)
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  • Elvish language and script as background to aspects of Arda
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  • Social mores during the First Age and how they compared to those of the Second and Third Ages, as well as how they compare to those we experience today in the modern world.
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  • Who is Mandos and why, if he has such keen foresight, is he so rarely listened to?
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  • Why was Mandos chosen to look after the dead when other characters, such as Irmo, might be more suitable?
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  • Are the Silmarils living creatures, just like the Two Trees or Elves? Could they even be real children of Fëanor?
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  • How would the Elves deal with disabilities? Acquired vs congenital (present since birth, whether birth trauma or random genetic mutation)? How would the wars against Morgoth and Sauron affect it? Does the bit in Laws and Customs among the Eldar about Elves healing from things that kill would mortals change anything? What are the similarities and differences among the Amanyar, Sindar, other Elven groups, and the Avari?
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  • How has the depiction of a character or pairing changed across the history of Tolkien fanfic? (Or fanart?)
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  • How does bias against the Avari and other minority groups manifest in The Silmarillion and related texts?

Fanworks Tagged with Analysing Arda

This is a Writing fanwork

Power and Desire: The Silmarils vs The One Ring by StarSpray

What do the Silmarils and the Ring have in common? They are both the titular objects of their respective books around which the major plot turns, it is true. They are both made by powerful individuals, and are desired by many different people, and when they are lost and/or stolen their makers are desperate to retrieve them. Characters die for them, and kill for them. At this extremely surface level reading they do, indeed, seem very similar. But the deeper you look at each object the more glaring differences show themselves, until you realize that they do not parallel, but rather oppose each other.

Fanwork Information and Table of Contents

This is a Writing fanwork

The Influence of Tinfang by LadyBrooke

Tinfang is accounted one of the greatest minstrels, along with Maglor and Daeron.

In spite of this, the musical abilities of all three outside of sheer performance skills are described in less detail in The Silmarillion than other characters like Finrod. This essay attempts to gather the quotes that suggest Tinfang's degree of power and influence over objects and people in his original context.

Fanwork Information and Table of Contents

This is a Writing fanwork

The great dying: JRR Tolkien’s missing mothers by Idrils Scribe

In the 'real' Middle Ages women died in childbirth in droves. In Tolkien's world motherhood is even more deadly, but in a narrative sense rather than an obstetrical one.

 

Fanwork Information and Table of Contents

This is a Writing fanwork

Fingon's rescue of Maedhros in Old English by Himring

Extracts from the Annals of Beleriand, including the Old English version, that deal with the capture and rescue of Maedhros.

With a very brief discussion.

Fanwork Information and Table of Contents

This is a Writing fanwork

An Examination of Thingol as King by Grundy

A critical examination of Thingol as a leader in The Silmarillion. 

Fanwork Information and Table of Contents

This is a Writing fanwork

The Inequality Prototype: Gender, Inequality, and the Valar in Tolkien's Silmarillion by Dawn Felagund

The Valar present an interesting case study of sexism in Tolkien's legendarium because they occupy a prototypical role, representing Iluvatar's intentions on how the universe should operate. My research shows that the female Valar not only appear far less frequently in The Silmarillion than the male Valar but are less involved, less assertive, and speak less.

Fanwork Information and Table of Contents

This is a Writing fanwork

Middle-earth is Our Earth by Independence1776

A collection of quotes dealing with the fact that Tolkien explicitly set Middle-earth in our world from the very beginning of his Legendarium.

Fanwork Information and Table of Contents

This is a Writing fanwork

9 Popular Misconceptions About Elf Sex (And What Tolkien Actually Wrote On The Matter) by Lyra

There are various recurring convictions concerning the matter of love, sex and marriage among the Eldar. We've probably all encountered them at some point. But a closer look at Tolkien's writings shows that matters aren't as simple as fanon tends to believe.

Fanwork Information and Table of Contents