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Finrod - Blog Posts
Very latish happy new year everyone! But it is never too late for kisses under mistletoe
What a bittersweet, heart wrenching moment it must have been when Galadriel first met Aragorn and saw he wore the ring that Finrod had given to Barahir so many thousands of years ago. That her brother's love was still being carried as such a treasured symbol of hope.
I think about this a lot.
Made this a little while ago, I'll be doing more when I have the spoons for it lol.
The Silmarillion as Vines
And Finrod fell before the throne
Piece inspired by the Duel of Finrod and Sauron from the Lay of Leithian rock opera.
See under the cut for some more inspirations (and a Leithian photo dump)
The pics with the screen background come after I already started on my piece but they match perfectly the aesthetic I was going for and I just wanted to post them anyways.
Another big inspo was the art used for The Battle of Finrod and Sauron by Clamavi de Profundis, here’s a mediocre screenshot:
Last in my inspirations were several fanarts I saw on tumblr using the a similar colour scheme with abstract swirls to represent the song of power.
Please help me push the "birkenstock wearing nudist" agenda. 🙏🥺💕
Absolutely. I feel like we have too many Villain with Ambiguous European Accent tropes in Anglo fantasy and action films, and we need to open the floor to the other tropes:
✅ Nudity Culture
✅ Birkenstock
✅ Sprightly tourist energy
✅ Into Weird Animals 🐺
✅ Concerning yet Expensive Taste in Bling
✅ Grungy Underground Nightclubs
You know who ticks all those boxes?
FINROD FELAGUND
Hang in there
A supportive message from Finrod for a dear friend of mine and whoever needs to hear it. Hang in there... Life is surreal. Don't let it get to you.
Who takes Middle-Earth-born Celebrian under their wing and make her feel at home in Valinor, and why is it Finrod?
The case against Finrod revisionism
I’ve always been frustrated by what I see as bad-faith interpretations of Finrod’s character. You don’t have to like him or find him interesting, but it bothers me when people make claims about him that don’t make sense. When it comes to Finrod, they usually follow a similar pattern, something like: ‘I thought Finrod was good the first time I read the Silmarillion, but now I think he’s bad.’ ‘I thought Finrod was a friend of Men at first, but now I think he actually looked down on the Edain and treated them poorly.’ ‘Finrod comes across as a perfect good guy in the Silmarillion, but what if he’s secretly manipulative and evil?’ That’s what I’m calling Finrod revisionism. This is not a callout post; I’m just giving my reasons why ‘Finrod is actually evil and the Silmarillion is lying to you’ is not a take that does it for me. I think it’s entirely fair to criticize Finrod. He’s not perfect and if he were I think he would be less interesting (more on that later). I just do not vibe with interpretations of his character that paint him as someone who intentionally sacrificed the Edain in battle, someone who committed genocide against the Petty-dwarves, or someone who held prejudiced views, and I think those interpretations are unsupported by canon. This is a long post, so I’ll put it under the cut.
Continua a leggere
I was thinking about how one of the defining features of both Fëanor and Fingolfin is anger. It’s more obvious with Fëanor (drawing a sword on his brother, swearing a very threateningly worded oath), but it’s also true for Fingolfin. Tolkien says Fingolfin was of a different temperament and yeah, maybe he was more restrained and less reckless, but still it was partially anger at Fëanor that pushed him to cross the Helcaraxë, and it was anger that made him go and confront Satan.
In contrast, their firstborn sons rarely do anything out of anger. Fingon’s driven by loyalty, friendship and compassion, even when he has every right to feel betrayed and angry. It is said he hated Morgoth only, but even that hatred isn’t shown on page through anger (defiance maybe but not anger). His last charge against Morgoth’s forces was born from hope unlike his father’s.
As for Maedhros, he laughs when he receives Thingol’s condescending answer, while his brothers are mad. I don’t think he felt angry even before/during the kinslayings but rather frustrated and desperate. While his deeds of surpassing valor during the Bragollach faintly resemble Fingolfin’s furious charge (his spirit burned like a white fire within / his eyes shone like the eyes of the Valar), the wording here sooner reminds me of the fire of life was hot within him (and whose ardour yet more eager burnt) used to describe Maedhros before. It’s fire of life / white fire for Maedhros and filled with wrath and despair and great madness of rage for Fingolfin.
Finarfin, though, is not angry like his brothers, he’s soft-spoken and peaceful, and nopes out of their mess pretty fast. At first glance, his firstborn son is like him. He’s friends with everyone, beloved by everyone, but I can’t forget the moment Finrod threw away his crown (such a great scene, it’s been living in my head since the moment I read it, probably because it was unexpected to see such a furious gesture from Finrod). It makes me think that he was more similar to his uncles that he’d like to believe, but he was slightly better at controlling his rage.
“The most important truths often are (simple)” - Finrod
Here’s a simple sketch of Finrod Felagund as seen in Rings of Power! He’s the eldest son of Finarfin and brother to Galadriel. Honestly, no one talks about him (or sketches him) enough. Great job to Will Fletcher for portraying him.
I feel like my blog is full of his older brothers and their offspring, but I actually love gentle, soft-spoken Finarfin as well 💛
So here he is, having a beach day in Alqualondë with Finrod, long before disaster struck :') For @arafinwean-week day 1 + day 2 (Finarfin, Finrod, pre-Darkening, family)
(And yes, I'm an idiot and forgot that the sky shouldn't be bright blue at this point in time (more like night sky lit with some Laurelin gold or Telperion silver I suppose), but I was already tired of messing with this, so quick questionable golden background swap it is... eeeh maybe I'll redo that at some point)
@arafinwean-week 2025 Day 2: Finrod
Suddenly Finrod there a-swaying sang in answer a song of staying, resisting, battling against power, of secrets kept, strength like a tower, and trust unbroken, freedom, escape; of changing and of shifting shape, of snares eluded, broken traps, the prison opening, the chain that snaps.
'The necklace stays on'
The WIP title of this was "Finrod in red" because Curufin likes that because it symbolizes Curufin's growing influence over Nargothrond (and its king?). Also made 2 alt versions because I'm not Curufin and usually prefer Finrod in blues and greens.
Ok so I've been working on this for like half a year and set myself a deadline to finish this in time for @silmsmutweek when I saw how well it matched some of the prompts, but well…I failed.
But in case it still counts, here is a super late Curufinrod submission for @silmsmutweek - day 6 (complicated relationships, jewellery, hair, politics, oaths)
@tolkiengenweek A day late, but have some tiny Finrod and Turgon for the friendship (and family) prompts.
I imagine Finrod was always dragging Turgon off on little adventures. Here they're building cities sandcastles and having fun on the beach :)
(I have no excuse for their clothes except that Anairë and Eärwen were besties too, so I'm gonna claim they liked dressing their kids up in matching outfits, with them being the same age and all.)
Finrod: born to tra-la-la-lally, forced to sing in answer a song of staying resisting battling against power of secrets kept strength like a tower and trust unbroken freedom escape of changing and of shifting shape of snares eluded broken traps the prison opening the chain that snaps