It is true that powerful men frequently have the urge to cede the semblance of dominance; “lead me on a chain, make me your servant, do what you will with me, tell me I am lowly”, they’ll beg, but will take up the reigns and whip again should your “dominance” not align with their desires. They do not know what it is to serve, or truly submit one’s self; they recognize no master but their own ego.
This is what makes them easy to manipulate; you have only to convince them that an idea is theirs, and they will follow it without question. Powerful men are ever ready to believe they are the origin of all their designs and fortunes.
I can say for certain that for a time it was entertaining to keep him as a servant, though he did not recognize himself as such. Our farce continued for nearly a century before his demise, and by then it had long since ceased to amuse me. At the end he was old, frightened and quivering in the face of his own mortality. He obeyed my every word without question, reliant on my decisions out of habit. I needed no ring to keep him a slave to my will, no more than a nursemaid would to keep an invalid dependent on her care.
I hardly need such a servant for all eternity… Though if our fates had been reversed all those years ago, it might have been a different story. A brazen young conqueror at my disposal, at the height of his powers, in control of that glittering sea of an army… such a hand would indeed have made a proud seat for one of the nine.
(if you look very very closely, for a split second you can actually see some of my ancient ass melkor concept art in the google-image search she does when referencing…. dark lord shipping. is this fame? have i peaked? I think I’ve peaked guys)
(⁄ ⁄•⁄ㅂ⁄•⁄ ⁄)⁄ g-gosh ❤ thank you! I wish I could divert creative energy to fanciful Finrod AUs right now ;w; But I promise if the muse ever strikes me I will make time for it!
oh my gosh thank you! :’D ❤ I definitely want to accommodate my poor timezone pals more.
I’m loving Twitch’s ability to save streams and their moderating tools, but I’m not loving the fact that I can’t play the music I want. I don’t know how stringent their policies are yet, I still have to do more research.
I don’t know that I could shout-cast a five hour long art stream. I’m not… strong enough…. orz
This is the Poppy of good luck! She only appears once a year, to grace us with bouncing curls and unpredictable, world-ending shenanigans! Like to receive her blessing (the blessing smells like a bakery).
FAP* (*Fractal Addiction Phenomenon) seems to only occur in Maiar who have been victimized by my blog some natural inclination towards structure and geometry, or a preoccupation with higher mathematics.
Eonwë is not affected by FAP; at least, not the way Sauron is. He might be slightly more engaged by wind patterns and cloud formations than the average Maia, but natural geometry and fractals are just signs to him of Eru’s perfect harmony manifesting in every strata of creation. They do not cause FAP.
The closest he’d get to being overcome by FAP would be if he meditated too long on the immaculate design of the universe and accidentally disembodied or lost track of time for a few years– a similar outcome to someone with FAP, but not caused by external means. In other words, you probably couldn’t just plop an impossible manifestation of infinity in his lap and have him bliss out for the entire Mesozoic–
–that response is limited solely to Maiar who are unfortunate enough to come into contact with the demons that keep this headcanon alive.
I am thrilled and delighted that there are more people thinking about this problem besides me! Really, Arda is so young there shouldn’t be fossil fuels of ANY kind unless they were put there artificially. Yavanna and Aulë already had a little marital scrap over fuel sources in canon, so we can assume this problem plagued them as well!
My current theory is that Aulë is having them burn pure carbon, which he can whip up in varying degrees of purity from scratch.
*rubs hands together* I actually have A LOT of ideas about Eonwë!
starting with the fact that he’s a total hardass with a bone to pick
AND WHAT BETTER BONE-PICKING BIRD COULD THERE BE TO MODEL HIM ON THAN OUR FRIEND, the Bearded Vulture. ❤
My headcanons for Eonwë:
He takes his job VERY seriously.
Eonwë is ready to throw down any time, anywhere, with anyone– and is constantly disappointed by the lack of violence in his job description.
What is he supposed to do when haughty Elf Criminals mock his Master and laugh at his infinite clemency?? Just sit there and take it??!? JUST LET THEM SAY WHATEVER THEY WANT AND NOT SCOOP OUT THEIR EYEBALLS???
Manwë doesn’t order NEARLY enough smiting, so how is a lawful-good fanatic to cope? Sometimes one just has to take matters into one’s own hands if one wants to ensure that one’s master does not go around pardoning every traitorous backstabber and villain in Arda.
My theory is that there is a lot that can go on between when a message is given and when it is delivered, and there’s a reason why negotiations between the Valar and the Exiles, Sauron, and the Numenorians, seem to go so poorly. History does not spend nearly as much time considering the impart of scribes, translators, and heralds as it does kings and generals, but just think about how much power is given to a messenger.
For example, a message saying “come home and submit to a trial by your peers” can sound an awful lot like “go on punk make my day” if you say it juuuuust right.
__
No one is more loyal or uncompromising in their duties to the Valar. He is more than a herald of the Elder King, he his paladin, his standard-bearer, the word and the sword of Manwë. He has no doubt that those who stray from the path of light and the justice of the Valar will get what is coming to them, and he would love nothing more than to deliver that justice, swiftly and without mercy. But his master is too kind, too benevolent to deal out the punishment his enemies so richly deserve.
If Manwë has one flaw—and Ah! the flaw of a true king!, it is that he too noble to see the evil in men’s hearts; being so elevated in nature, the Elder King fails to see that his enemies are beyond redemption, and cannot imagine that Justice need be meted out with the sword and not only the open hand. All have seen what becomes of goodness and light when evil is given second chances…
But it is not Eonwë’s duty to judge. His master, infallible in wisdom and insight, has counseled him against violence, forbidden him to raise his hand against the unrighteous without leave from Valinor. So he finds other ways of enforcing justice. He would sooner be unmade than disobey his lord, but he might, within the margins of the law, find ways to accomplish what he knows to be in his lord’s best interests. He knows wicked men are filled with pride and fear; they need only the gentlest push to be convinced that a message of peace holds in store the promise of utter humiliation, imprisonment without end, the banishment of freedom, erasure of selfhood… It is what they would promise, afterall.
It might grieve Manwë that so few lost souls return to him— that the rebellious High King does not repent, Umaiar who strayed into his brother’s service do not seek redemption, do not fly home to await trial and forgiveness. But this grief is the lesser evil. Valinor is a holy refuge, no place for the wicked who turned their backs on Eru’s appointed powers.
When Eonwë is given leave to smite the enemies of Aman, he falls like lightning from the heavens, wearing lightning and storm as his raiment, the great clap of unseen wings driving a tempest before him. Kings are crushed beneath hills of salt, temples are split asunder, and devils fall before his wrath like withered leaves. He revels in the delivery of justice.
But more often he is sent to deliver messages concerning Fate and the will of the Valar, and this he does to the very letter, with utmost pride and not a whisper of doubt in his heart. It is a privilege to serve the lords of the West; he would have all remember it.
___
Some notes: My headcanon is that all things relating to Manwë are covered in bells, fluttering pennants, flags, things that catch the wind and glitter or sing, chimes and wind flutes and aeolian harps and so forth. Eonwë’s armor has tassels and small brass bells attached, bringing with it the holy sounds of Valmar. It bears the symbols of the stars and rays of light, as well as the stylized blossoms of Laurelin.
–I see him as being the unnamed messenger that delivers the ban to Numenor. (In my mind, the ban has a physical manifestation, a sort of glowing handprint that hovers in the air in the court as a reminder. The looming hand fades over the years, and by the time Sauron arrives it is barely visible, long forgotten. He waves away whatever is left of it with great amusement).
—Eonwë does not eat or drink. He does not want to taint himself with the matter of the world, or in doing so, become bound to it. He finds Maiar who partake of fleshly indulgences to be distasteful and borderline heretical.
—Favorite pastimes include: perching somewhere high in the Pelóri mountains to observe the flight of birds and the passage of clouds for days on end, listening to the wind, playing a simple bone flute which he is surprisingly good at, smiting the wicked, keeping a tally of Sauron’s ever growing list of Treason And Gross Indecencies so he can read the full list to him when he’s standing trial at the end of the world, keeping a separate itemized list for everything he’d like to do to Fëanor in order of most to least poetic, Thinking About Justice, meditating upon the Theme and the Harmony of Eru’s designs, whistling, singing.
“On the contrary, you are one month and ten days too early… or else 355 days too late. But it hardly matters– the date is arbitrary, time as a construct did not exist in the ages of our birth.
The music box is quite clever. Did Aulë let you off the leash long enough for you make it yourself? I’m touched.
Miss you also, despite everything.
~Thû
P.S. I hate cake I have always hated cake and you KNOW I hate cake”
MisbehavingMaiar: Tumblr Archive 