Laws and Customs

From the Statute of Finwë and Míriel to the ruffian’s curfew in The Scouring of the Shire, Middle-earth is governed by laws--laws of the various people living there, or laws of nature like the Gift of Eru. Sometimes they are invisible to the reader; sometimes they can only be gleaned through the characters’ actions and attitudes; and at other times, they are spelled out for us. Some are negotiable, like the tradition of male primogeniture in Númenor; others appear to be set in stone, like the idea that an oath must be kept no matter what. For this month’s challenge, we challenge you to make these laws, customs, traditions and guidelines the focus of a fanwork. You can write about a character breaking or upholding the law, speculate about the law code of a specific place in Arda, explore the unwritten laws underneath the surface, create art for one of the prompts … or, of course, take the law into your own hands.

To get you started, we have put together a list of quotes about law, judgement, and politics from the Legendarium. You may choose the quote or quotes that inspire you from the list below.

This challenge opened in June 2020 .

Prompts

Choose your prompt from the collection below.

View Prompts

• fedhirweg: lawman, lawyer.
  ~ Parma Eldalamberon 11: The Gnomish Lexicon
• "'Why hast thou done this? Why doest thou attempt a thing which thou knowest is beyond thy power and thy authority? For thou hast from me as a gift thy own being only, and no more; and therefore the creatures of thy hand and mind can live only by that being, moving when thou thinkest to move them, and if thy thought be elsewhere, standing idle. Is that thy desire?'"
  ~ The Silmarillion, "Of Aulë and Yavanna"
• "There was Melkor doomed to abide for three ages long, before his cause should be tried anew, or he should plead again for pardon."
  ~ The Silmarillion, "Of the Coming of the Elves and the Captivity of Melkor
• "But Ulmo was not deceived, and Tulkas clenched his hands whenever he saw Melkor his foe go by; for if Tulkas is slow to wrath he is slow also to forget. But they obeyed the judgement of Manwë; for those who will defend authority against rebellion must not themselves rebel."
  ~ The Silmarillion, "Of Fëanor and the Unchaining of Melkor"
• "But now the deeds of Fëanor could not be passed over, and the Valar were angered and dismayed; and he was summoned to appear before them at the gates of Valmar, to answer for all his words and deeds. There also were summoned all others who had any part in this matter, or any knowledge of it; and Fëanor standing before Mandos in the Ring of Doom was commanded to answer all that was asked of him."
  ~ The Silmarillion, "Of the Silmarils and the Unrest of the Noldor"
• "'Thou speakest of thraldom. If thraldom it be, thou canst not escape it: for Manwë is King of Arda, and not of Aman only. And this deed was unlawful, whether in Aman or not in Aman. Therefore this doom is now made: for twelve years thou shalt leave Tirion where this threat was uttered. In that time take counsel with thyself, and remember who and what thou art. But after that time this matter shall be set in peace and held redressed, if others will release thee.'"
  ~ The Silmarillion, "Of the Silmarils and the Unrest of the Noldor"
• "They swore an oath which none shall break, and none should take, by the name even of Ilúvatar, calling the Everlasting Dark upon them if they kept it not."
  ~ The Silmarillion, "Of the Flight of the Noldor"
• "King Thingol hearkened to the words of Angrod; and ere he went he said to him: 'Thus shall you speak for me to those that sent you. In Hithlum the Noldor have leave to dwell, and in the highlands of Dorthonion, and in the lands east of Doriath that are empty and wild; but elsewhere there are many of my people, and I would not have them restrained of their freedom, still less ousted from their homes. Beware therefore how you princes of the West bear yourselves; for I am the Lord of Beleriand, and all who seek to dwell there shall hear my word.'"
  ~The Silmarillion, "Of the Return of the Noldor"
• "And it came to pass even as Thingol had spoken; for the Sindar heard his word, and thereafter throughout Beleriand they refused the tongue of the Noldor, and shunned those that spoke it aloud; but the Exiles took the Sindarin tongue in all their daily uses, and the High Speech of the West was spoken only by the lords of the Noldor among themselves."
  ~ The Silmarillion, "Of the Noldor in Beleriand"
• "But Thingol spoke slowly, saying: ‘Death you have earned with these words; and death you should find suddenly, had I not sworn an oath in haste; of which I repent, baseborn mortal, who in the realm of Morgoth has learned to creep in secret as his spies and thralls.'"
  ~ The Silmarillion, "Of Beren and Lúthien"
• "But Eöl withdrew his hand. ‘I acknowledge not your law,' he said. ‘No right have you or any of your kin in this land to seize realms or to set bounds, whether here or there. This is the land of the Teleri, to which you bring war and all unquiet, dealing ever proudly and unjustly. I care nothing for your secrets and I came not to spy upon you, but to claim my own: my wife and my son.'"
  ~ The Silmarillion, "Of Maeglin"
• "Yet many of the Edain had delight in the friendship of the Elves, and dwelt among them for so long as they had leave; and the young men often took service for a time in the hosts of the kings."
  ~ The Silmarillion, "Of the Coming of Men into the West"
• "It is told among the Elves that after Eärendil had departed, seeking Elwing his wife, Mandos spoke concerning his fate; and he said: ‘Shall mortal Man step living upon the undying lands and yet live?' But Ulmo said: ‘For this was he born into the world. And say unto me: whether is he Eärendil Tuor's son of the line of Hador, or the son of Idril, Turgon's daughter, of the Elven-house of Finwë?' And Mandos answered: ‘Equally the Noldor, who went wilfully into exile, may not return hither.' But when all was spoken, Manwë gave judgement, and he said: 'In this matter the power of doom is given to me.'"
  ~ The Silmarillion, "Of the Voyage of Eärendil and the War of Wrath"
• "But the Lords of Valinor forbade them to sail so far westward that the coasts of Númenor could no longer be seen; and for long the Dúnedain were content, though they did not fully understand the purpose of this ban."
  ~ The Silmarillion, Akallabêth
• "But Pharazôn took her to wife against her will, doing evil in this and evil also in that the laws of Númenor did not permit the marriage, even in the royal house, of those more nearly akin than cousins in the second degree."
  ~ The Silmarillion, Akallabêth
• "And most often from among the Faithful they chose their victims; yet never openly on the charge that they would not worship Melkor, the Giver of Freedom, rather was cause sought against them that they hated the King and were his rebels, or that the plotted against their kin, devising lies and poisons. These charges were for the most part false; yet those were bitter days, and hate brings forth hate."
  ~ The Silmarillion, Akallabêth
• "'Would you then betray the King?' said Elendil. ‘For you know well the charge that they make against us, that we are traitors and spies, and that until this day it has been false.'"
  ~ The Silmarillion, Akallabêth
• "The Dwarves indeed proved tough and hard to tame; they ill endure the domination of others, and the thoughts of their hearts are hard to fathom, nor can they be turned to shadows."
  ~ The Silmarillion, Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age
• "For in that time of ruin houseless and desperate men went astray: remnants of battle and defeat, and lands laid waste; and some were men driven into the wild for evil deeds."
  ~ The Children of Húrin, "Túrin among the Outlaws"
• "The coming of the Valar was not indeed welcome to Melkor, for he desired not friends but servants, and he said: ‘This is my kingdom, which I have named unto myself.' But the Valar answered that this he could not lawfully do, for in making and governance they had all their part."
  ~ Morgoth's Ring, Ainulindale C*
• "It must be understood that what has yet been said concerning Eldarin marriage refers to its right course and nature in a world unmarred, or to the manners of those uncorrupted by the Shadow and to days of peace and order. But nothing, as has been said, utterly avoids the Shadow upon Arda or is wholly unmarred, so as to proceed unhindered upon its right sources."
  ~ Morgoth's Ring, Laws and Customs among the Eldar
• "The Eldar then asked: ‘How shall the will or doom be known?' It was answered: ‘Only by recourse to Manwë and by the pronouncement of Námo. In this matter it shall not be lawful for any of the Eldar to judge his own case.'"
  ~ Morgoth's Ring, Laws and Customs among the Eldar
• "'This is time of war, Andreth, and in such days the Elves do not wed or bear child; but prepare for death - or for flight.'"
  ~ Morgoth's Ring, Athrabeth Finrod ah Andreth
• "It was also ordained at the instance of the Council that a female heir must resign, if she remained unwed beyond a certain time; and to these provisions Tar-Aldarion added that the King's Heir should not wed save in the Line of Elros, and that any who did so should cease to be eligible for the Heirship. [...] At some later date Tar-Aldarion rescinded the law that a Ruling Queen must marry, or resign (and this was certainly due to Ancalimë's reluctance to countenance either alternative); but the marriage of the Heir to another member of the Line of Elros remained the custom ever after."
  ~ Unfinished Tales, Aldarion and Erendis
• "The Council was composed of members from each of the divisions of Númenor; but the King's Heir when proclaimed was also a member, so that he might learn of the government of the land, and others also the King might summon, or ask to be chosen, if they had special knowledge of matters at any time in debate."
  ~ Unfinished Tales, Aldarion and Erendis
• "On the other hand the eastern Wainriders had been spreading southward, beyond Mordor, and were in conflict with the peoples of Khand and their neighbours further south. Eventually a peace and alliance was agreed between these enemies of Gondor, and an attack was prepared that should be made at the same time from north and south."
  ~ Unfinished Tales, "Cirion and Eorl"
• "He spoke then in a great voice the Oath of Eorl. This he said in the tongue of the Éothéod, which in the Common Speech is interpreted: Hear now all peoples who bow not to the Shadow in the East, by the gift of the Lord of the Mundburg we will come to dwell in the land that he names Calenardhon, and therefore I vow in my own name and on behalf of the Éothéod of the North that between us and the Great People of the West there shall be friendship forever: their enemies shall be our enemies, their need shall be our need, and whatsoever evil, or threat, or assault may come upon them we will aid them to the utmost end of our strength. This vow shall descend to my heirs, all such as may come after me in our new land, and let them keep it in faith unbroken, lest the Shadow fall upon them and they become accursed."
  ~ Unfinished Tales, "Cirion and Eorl"
• "In his [Rómendacil I's] time Gondor was first assailed by Easterlings; and lest the tradition should be broken because of war or sudden death or other misfortune, he caused the ‘Tradition of Isildur' to be set down in a sealed scroll, together with other things that a new King should know; and this scroll was delivered by the Steward to the King before his crowning."
  ~ Unfinished Tales, "Cirion and Eorl"
• "Then Isildur said to their king: ‘Thou shalt be the last king. And if the West prove mightier than thy Black Master, this curse I lay upon thee and thy folk: to rest never until your oath is fulfilled. For this war will last through years uncounted, and you shall be summoned once again ere the end.'"
  ~ The Return of the King, "The Passing of the Grey Company"
• "Castamir had not long sat upon the throne before he proved himself haughty and ungenerous. He was a cruel man, as he had first shown in the taking of Osgiliath. He caused Ornendil son of Eldacar, who was captured, to be put to death; and the slaughter and destruction done in the city at his bidding far exceeded the needs of war."
  ~ The Return of the King, Appendix A: Gondor and the Heirs of Anarion
• "'Moreover, in Númenor of old the sceptre descended to the eldest child of the king, whether man or woman. It is true that the law has not been observed in the lands of exile ever troubled by war; but such was the law of our people, to which we now refer, seeing that the sons of Ondoher died childless.'"
  ~ The Return of the King, Appendix A: Gondor and the Heirs of Anarion
• "Each new Steward indeed took office with the oath ‘to hold rod and rule in the name of the king, until he shall return'. But these soon became words of ritual little heeded, for the Stewards exercised all the power of the kings."
  ~ The Return of the King, Appendix A: The Stewards
• "For not all the women take husbands; some desire none; some desire one that they cannot get, and so will have no other. As for the men, very many also do not desire marriage, being engrossed in their crafts."
  ~ The Return of the King, Appendix A: Durin's Folk
• "'It is decreed by the king; but that does not make it so,' answered Elendil."
  ~ The Lost Road
• "'But thou speakest as if thou wert a leader in this matter - woe is me, for I love thee; and though thou swearest allegiance, it will not save thee from the peril of treason. Even to dispraise Sauron is held rebellious.'"
  ~ The Lost Road
• "Yet the hobbits still said of wild folk and wicked things (such as trolls) that they had not heard of the king. For they attributed to the king of old all their essential laws; and usually they kept the laws of free will, because they were The Rules (as they said), both ancient and just."
  ~ Fellowship of the Ring, Prologue, "Of the Ordering of the Shire"
• "Then Aragorn let the trumpets be blown; and heralds cried: ‘Behold, the King Elessar is com! The Forest of Drúadan he gives to Ghân-buri-Ghân and to his folk, to be their own for ever; and hereafter let no man enter it without their leave!' Then the drums rolled loudly, and were silent."
  ~ The Return of the King, "Many Partings"
• "'You're arrested for Gate-breaking, and Tearing up of Rules, and Assaulting Gate-keepers, and Trespassing, and Sleeping in Shire-buildings without Leave, and Bribing Guards with Food.'"
  ~ The Return of the King, "The Scouring of the Shire"
• "'But remember: there is to be no slaying of hobbits, not even if they have gone over to the other side. Really gone over, I mean; not just obeying ruffians' orders because they are frightened. No hobbit has ever killed another on purpose in the Shire, and it is not to begin now.'"
  ~ The Return of the King, "The Scouring of the Shire"