The first ring, Narya, from the Quenya nár meaning fire, was also called Narya the Great, Ring of Fire, and the Red Ring. It was worn by Círdan the Shipwright, who in the Third Age recognized Gandalf’s true nature as one of the Maiar from Valinor and gave him the ring to aid him in his labours. It is described as having the power to inspire others to resist tyranny, domination, and despair, evoking hope in others around the wielder, as well as giving resistance to the weariness of time.
The third and greatest of the Three was Vilya, from the Quenya vilya meaning air; it was called the Ring of Air, the Blue Ring, the Dominant Ring, or Ring of Sapphire. It was made of gold and adorned with a great blue stone. The exact power of Vilya is not mentioned, other than the power of all three to heal and to preserve. Its power of healing may be particularly strong, as Elrond, who was its bearer, is said to be the greatest healer in Middle-earth at the time of the Quest.
Scenes from the 2016 World Nomad Games hosted in Cholpon-Ata, Kyrgyzstan. The World Nomad Games brings athletes from various countries, primarily from the Central Asian region and Russia, to participate in sports native to the Eurasian Steppe. The Eurasian Steppe was home to various nomadic peoples particularly the Iranic-speaking Scythians and Sarmatians, who were a source of fear for the ancient Greeks due to their warriorlike nature and great horse-riding skills; including their mastery of horseback archery. Both groups are believed to have originated in the Eurasian Steppes, but their settlements ranged from China to Poland, and because of this they greatly impacted the genetic pool and cultures of a number of different groups in Eastern Europe and Central Asia such as the people of the Caucasus, Slavs, Turkic people, and other modern Iranic people. The Sarmatians in particular were famed by Greek historians for their female warriors and rulers that inspired the stories of the Amazons.
LotR but instead of Anglo Saxon/Scandinavians, the Rohirrm are Scythians
Listen, Scythians were a fierce nomadic horse-lords living in the steppe/grasslands, they had male and female warriors, Royal And Very Important Horses™, they had burial mounds, standing stones, elaborate gold ornamentation and knotwork, they were an empire with a language group distinct from the other bordering empires, empires for whom they sometimes worked as allies or mercenaries; the peoples around Caucasus are really diverse and sometimes have light hair/eyes…
So me and @snakecozies were having a chat about Sauron and how when and how we started to ship him in the first place. We were both affected by @phobso which I think a lot of people can relate to.
The chat then shifted to how Sauron’s popularity seemed to have risen only recently(as in the last 10 or so years, which is not very long compared to how the Tolkien fandom has been around for much longer) and we became interested in the possible factors that affected this.
The points we thought for this sudden rise were:
“Hobbit trilogy” from 2012-2014 bringing in new and old fans back to the Tolkien fandom
effect of Phobs designing a humanised (like having a face) Sauron, (also roughly around 2012)
the popularity of villain characters in general in recent years (2010s onward)
……Then I remembered that the name “Mairon“ only came out rather recently (2007 in a Tolkien newsletter) and we thought of how the name sounded rounder and more precious compared to Sauron or Gorthaur. (personally I thught Annatar sounded more awe evoking than precious-ish but may be that’s just me).
So maybe, just maybe, by having the name “Mairon” come out to the world, Sauron quite possibly gained popularity from it and thus became “Mairon the Admirable“ in the fandom as well as in the stories.
Since names are important factors in the stories, the possibility of the effect of “a name” being significant in real life too gave (at least to me) a strange and interesting thought that I wanted to share with you guys.
I’d love to hear about your opinion on this, especially from people who’ve been in the fandom way longer than me who’d have more accurate information on the fandom history.
I know there were fans of him before the name came out but I still think it did make him more popular.
As far as I can tell, Sauron’s popularity has come in two waves with little to no overlap. I looked at the number of stories posted about him each year on the Silmarillion Writers’ Guild, and here is what we have:
The spike in 2009 is partly explained because the SWG ran Akallabêth in August that year. The SWG does not capture his current popularity on Tumblr and AO3 very well because that part of the fandom has not shown much interest in posting with us, although their fanworks seem to have affected Silm fanfolk who do, as seen by his rise in popularity in recent years. But the SWG shows especially what pre-Tumblr years looked like, when the SWG did capture most of the Silm fandom’s trends.
For the record, the name “Mairon” had no influence whatsoever in my interest in Sauron as a character. This was a curious side note when it came to Tolkien fan fic’s attention not long after Parma Eldalamberon 17 (which is where it appeared) became available. As an aside, there are many more intriguing tidbits in PE17 than Sauron’s alternative moniker, e.g., detection of Maiar by odors!
Among my influences were the following:
@dawnfelagund‘s magnum opus, Another Man’s Cage. I binged on Dawn’s novel in late 2006. Her vision of Fëanor hit home in a big way and solidified my take on him as my long-suffering and conflicted scientist-hero. And let me tell you, there is plenty of kinslaying (figuratively) in my line of work (highly competitive, kinda ruthless). AMC and its characters inspired me to delve into Middle-earth and its scientists/technologists (the vast majority of whom are painted as walking on the dark side per Tolkien). I’ve encountered some larger-than-life individuals in the sciences who
are brilliant and charismatic, but who are not above figuratively
stabbing another in the back and destroying them.
Tyellas’ a.k.a. @thebyrchentwigges magnificent One Ring to Rule Them All. When I read Dawn’s AMC in ‘06, I felt like she had Fëanor covered, so I honed in on another of Tolkien’s technologists, namely Sauron. I had a distinctly unholy stew of an idea in mind after reading American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer (Kai Bird and Martin Sherwin) and The Silmarillion back-to-back, but I was curious to see how other fan fic writers had treated the Dark Lord so off I went in search of fics. This led me to One Ring to Rule Them All on the erstwhile HASA. Tyellas’ novel was immersive with its amazing world-building and so-well written! One Ring to Rule Them All remains one of the seminal fanworks on the Dark Lord. Our respective visions of Annatar and Celebrimbor, the Gwaith-i-Mírdain, and Ost-in-Edhil may differ, but there is no doubt her work was quite influential on me, if anything to write at the same caliber she did. So hat’s off, @thebyrchentwigges!
My real life experiences as a bona fide practicing scientist with a postgrad
degree, postdoc, and a long career (with publications! patents!) in one of the
most reviled industries on the planet, a.k.a. Pharma-dûr. My perspectives as a biochemist and my rationalist/humanistic philosophy significantly influence my entire view of Middle-earth, as manifested in
the Pandë!verse.
Additionally, Phobs’ (or gerwell’s for that matter) artwork has not influenced Sauron in the Pandë!verse. My Dark
Lord was quite humanized well before that (see my remarks above on life science/humanism). I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge that many fans enjoy exploring a more distinctly inhuman aspect of Sauron (and other beings such as the Elves), but I’m fascinated by the idea of how incredibly disconcerting it would be to encounter an individual who to all intents and purposes is human, but has something a bit “off.”
The sense I got from veteran fans at this time was that the new Sauron
was both unappealing and perplexing to them. They didn’t “get” Angbang
and didn’t like the aesthetic that made Sauron blond-haired and
red-eyed. There was also a sense (again, pervasive among veteran
Tolkienfic writers at the time, not just those who were writing and
reading stories about Sauron) that existing fanworks were being
overlooked by new fans.
Yep, I’d say that’s largely the case for this veteran fan, although I do “get” Angbang and how fans dig it and have fun with it. Angbang just doesn’t resonate with how the scientists in my real life milieu operate. The CEO and Executive VP of Dark Overlord Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (DOPI) are far more likely to be banging others than one another. Also, considering that the interaction of Annatar and Celebrimbor in the Pandë!verse is loosely based on the fraught relationship between my grad advisor and one of the guys on my thesis committee (also an influential mentor of mine), I’d have to bleach my brain if I imagined them in a sexual encounter. :^D Blond-haired, red-eyed Sauron, as wildly popular as that being may be, just doesn’t fit in with the Pandë!verse’s strong influences from evolutionary biology and human behavior. BUT! Everyone has their own vision so viva la difference!
And overlooked? Although some folks have recently commented on my stuff (I’m looking at you, @lordnelson100 and @prackspoor), I’ll just say hells to the yes.
Lack of acknowledgment kinda bites, too. In my Real World, authors of a publication acknowledge those who had influence on the article, e.g., reviewing, editing, ahead of publication, plus citations and such, and if that doesn’t happen, there’s hell to pay.
Of course, it doesn’t help matters (at all) that I am not actively writing fan fic these days, not through lack of interest but due to an incredibly demanding career in which my creative energy is thoroughly channeled into my work. My Dark Muse not only influences my fan fic, but also my classic ENTJ ambition, which has caused me to change companies once again. :^) However, the DM and I will return to Tolkien fan fic in the future.
[Dark Muse]Once I allow my post-menopausal gaoler to retire, that is.[/Dark Muse]
Great post @lucifers-cuvette! I love your Sauron, @vanimore’s, the one in chasing mirages by russandol, numerous others and then some. My personal head canon draws on all of them and maybe one day I will share it with the fandom and then I will acknowledge all my inspirations which are numerous and come both fromfanfiction and visual art. As this is a fandom there is no right and wrong, there is only personal taste and creativity. I’m KhamulsBurntFalafel on swg.
KhamulsBurntFalafel!!! I didn’t realize you’re @ringsnthings!
…maybe one day I will share it with the fandom and then I will
acknowledge all my inspirations which are numerous and come both
from fanfiction and visual art.
I hope you do!
As this is a fandom there is no right and wrong, there is only personal taste and creativity.
Absolutely totally agreed!
I should also note I love @vanimore‘s Dark Prince ‘verse. She’s a fantastic writer who has created a lush epic. Lots of cool fan art out there, too. My Dark Muse is deeply envious of @misbehavingmaiar‘s Sauron’s chest and abs. :^D
YOU ABSOLUTE FLATTERER ❤ they really ought to compare notes over drinks sometime in the Meta Void….
MisbehavingMaiar: Tumblr Archive 