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re: LMB Book Club, September 18: Silmarillion ch. 9

So...I still haven't managed to read chapter 9 myself! Gotta leave here in about half an hour and hope the highway construction isn't too atrocious by this week, but if I don't get back to Indy in time we may just have to meet and discuss freestyle without any prepared topics...


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re: LMB Book Club, September 18: Silmarillion ch. 9

Because I am celebrating reaching level 65 on my home server at Book Club Time, I won't make it again, but I've caught up in my reading! So, I shall join you next week for sure. I did have some thoughts about Chapter 9. Perhaps you need some context first. I've been thinking about tomorrow's talk like a pirate day Ales and Tales. And, I've been thinking that the long delayed second part of Gaiagil's Lore Quest is not suitable for the event and was wondering what tale I could come up with that was.

With these thoughts in mind, I sat down to catch up on my Silmarillion reading. Lo and Behold, I realized that I had stumbled upon the answer to my other dilemma. It was so clear in my current state of mind: Feanor was the first Pirate! Given that thought, I have been working on a tale for my hobbit Gypsalia to tell tomorrow about Feanor the First Pirate. I shall post it here when it is done.

So, if I were to venture to get folks thinking on this latest chapter: The Flight of the Noldor, I would want to focus on the acts of Piracy and how they are severing relationships. Where did they come from? Why commit such atrocities? How did these besmirch the name of Noldor for long ages after?

I hope that helps somewhat. If this club meeting gets postponed due to traffic, I will happily come and discuss it with you on another day.

Enjoy!
Gaiagil


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re: LMB Book Club, September 18: Silmarillion ch. 9

So, I made it back in time to prepare; but it's a long chapter, so I think we'll just focus on the first half (through the Noldor's departure from Tirion) and complete the chapter next week. This week, let's direct the discussion around key quotes to respond to:

(1) Then Tulkas cried: "Speak, O Noldo, yea or nay! But who shall deny Yavanna? And did not the light of the Silmarils come from her work in the beginning?" But Aule the Maker said; "Be not hasty! We ask a greater thing than thou knowest. Let him have peace yet awhile."

(2) [Feanor said:] "and if I must break them, I shall break my heart, and I shall be slain; first of all the Eldar in Aman." "Not the first," said Mandos, but they did not understand his word...

(3) "With one hand thou givest," [Ungoliant] said; "with the left only. Open thy right hand." In his right hand Morgoth held close the Silmarils, and though they were locked in a crystal casket, they had begun to burn him, and his hand was clenched in pain; but he would not open it.

(4) Then Feanor swore a terrible oath....vowing to pursue with vengeance and hatred to the ends of the World...whoso should hold or take or keep a Silmaril from their possession."

(5) [Manwe to Feanor:] "No aid will the Valar lend you in this quest; but neither will they hinder you; for this ye shall know: as ye came hither freely, freely shall ye depart. But thou Feanor Finwe's son, by thine oath art exiled. The lies of Melkor thou shalt unlearn in bitterness."


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re: LMB Book Club, September 18: Silmarillion ch. 9

Well, I had told my little hobbit friend, Gypsalia about my grandfather Fëanor and my thoughts about him being a pirate. I had planned to scribe a tale for her to tell at Ales and Tales, but the hobbit took me by surprise and locked me up in her kinhouse "in irons" she said. When she finally released me after forcing me to drink "grog" and eat "cram" she handed me the tale she told at Ales and Tales.

Alas! It is full of the kinds of misinterpretations of elven lore one might expect of a hobbit like Gypsalia! Unfortunately, the condition for my release was that I publish this tale for her. Sigh. So here it is. A very different take than I would have done, but entertaining nonetheless....

Enjoy!
Gaiagil

P.S. I had planned that my first creative work for book club would be some lofty bit of poetry about the Valar, or a play worthy of Shakespeare, but alas! This tale came first....

---------------------------------------------

The First Ever Pirate
By Gypsalia

Ahoy me Hearties! Tonight I tell the tale of the first pirate--Aye, aye, indeed!

And though many know of the famous dwarven pirates Blackbeard and Barbarossa known for their glorious beards, their lusty appetites, and their fell deeds, and many know of famous men who became pirates: Henry Avery and Henry Morgan of Breetown, and the Dreaded Tobias Bridge of Ost Forod who commanded ships of great worth and pillaged much and many. Some even know of the famousest of Hobbit pirates Calico Brandybuck, later known as Calico Jack known for his unending thirst for shire grog and all the kegs he did conquer. Some may know also of the dreaded female pirate, Grace O'Malley, a matron of the Forsaken Inn before she took to the seas and made her fame.

But avast! Tonight I tell of the first pirate, who was, and I tell you no lie, an Elf of some renown. Arrr! Hearken to my tale! I have this tale from great authority as the Lady Gaiagil sung it to me. It be one of her father's most famousest of songs that told this tale, so I know it to be truer than true.

Now this pirate was once an elf of a great family, but bitterness and loss drove him to the sea. He was known as Feanor the Doomed.

Long ago, he was an elf lord living in the Blessed Realm. He created wonders with his mind and with his hands. He be known for the runes that elves still use this day to write their thoughts. Aye! Tis truer than true! But mostly, he be known for creating the Silmarils and filling them with light from the rees of Valinor. These be beauties, these jewels! So glorious, so magnificent, that even their maker lusted after them. He hoarded them in a huge iron chest and rarely let anyone see them. Because of his lust for these jewels, Feanor, became a pirate.

Arrr! Hearken to this tale and learn what drives good elves to piracy!

Feanor's greed made him privy to the lies about the land. Some he believed, and some he didn't, but they sowed seeds of discontent in his already overproud heart. He spoke to his mates about rebelling against the Valar. He claimed he and his crew were captives in Eldamar and that Men were come to usurp their supremacy in Middle Earth. There were no truth to these lies, but Feanor believed them nonetheless as an Evil Blackheart Villain of a Vala, Melkor, had sowed the seeds of this discontent without poor Feanor's knowledge.

The Valar be aggrieved at Feanor's accusations and sent him away to think about his words. Feanor brooded over the actions of the Valar, his heart darkening much at his perceived mistreatment. Soon, a day of festival came, and Manwe, King of All, called Feanor to come and repair his wrongs with his own brothers. He came to the feast in dark raiment, not a jewel adorning his gear, leaving the beloved Silmarils in their Iron Chest in the land of his banishment. Many were sad not to see his glorious jewels again.

Before the King, he reconciled in word with his brother Fingolfin. Fingolfin was glad in heart to be so reconciled for he loved his brother Feanor.

Fingolfin said: "My brother ere you be. Lead and I shall follow. May no new grief come betwixt us."

Feanor looked his brother full in the eyes and said: "So be it."
The Valar looked at each other in wonder, for it be clear that Feanor was holding his brother to an unwitting oath of dire portents.

That very night, while the elves feasted and made merry, the Blackhearted Bilge Rat of a Vala, Melkor, snuck onto the green mound of Ezellohar where the trees of Valinor, Telperion and Laurelin, shone their light over Valimar. He crept up that flawless mound with a horrendous beast of darkness,
the vile spider Ungoliant. Now Ungoliant hungered after light more than anything, and she sucked the light right out of those Trees until they be dead and black as her heart.

The guests at the feast looked out in fear at the growing darkness covering the land. Many cried over the loss of the trees, but none more so than Yavanna who be the maker of them.

She begged Feanor: "Please bring me your Silmarils. Their light came from my trees, and can never be made again. If you return them to me, I can restore the Trees of Valinor."

But Feanor's lust for his own jewels overcame his reason. He said: "I will not."

Just then messengers arrived with more fell news: Under cover of the horrid darkness, the Blackhearted Villain of a Vala, Melkor, snuck to Feanor's home in banishment in Formenos.
Feanor's beloved father Finwe tried to defend the fortress. But to no avail! Arrrgh! He was the first of elves to die, and the first to fall to the treachery of that villain's sword.

Now, Feanor took this news hard, he did. Aye, that he did! He called to his mates and in rousing tones convinced them to set off after the treasured Silmarils. Many agreed to follow him. Some were none too sure as they felt his words were fed by rage.

In the end, some of the Noldor remained in Tirion, but a good many left with Feanor. Feanor claimed Kingship over his followers. Some gladly bowed before him. Some did not think a raging heart like Feanor's was meant for kingship and followed Fingolfin instead.Aye! Fingolfin, though his heart wanted to stay in Eldamar, followed his brother on this because of the vow he made before Manwe.

Then Feanor swore a terrible oath: He vowed to pursue and collect them Silmarils whatever it took no matter who had them. And many of his crew took the vow with Feanor.

Manwe sent messengers to stop Feanor. But to no avail! Now Feanor's mates hastened on their way, but Fingolfin's crew did not want to leave Eldamar and fell behind. Feanor's crew reached the shores of Aqualonde where the Teleri elves, great ship-builders, be living. He went up to their captain, Olwe and asked to use their ships to get the Silmarils.

Olwe refused, saying the ships were their treasures and they would not be parted from them.

Arrr! Feanor would not take no for an answer. His heart was full of lust for those jewels,
so it clouded his judgement like a storm on the horizon. He and his men decided to take the ships for their own, like a true pirate would! Aye! Their very own! Though they neither made nor loved those ships. A fierce battle ensued and both sides lost many a good elf.

When Fingolfin and his crew arrived, they saw Feanor beset and joined the fight without knowing what had happened. This turned the tide on the battle and gave Feanor the victory. They sailed away in the Teleri's ships, pure pirates now. Aye! Tis true!

One of the Valar, Mandos, appeared before the pirates, a dark shadow on a tall rock. In ringing tones, he proclaimed a doom on the Noldor, that forever they should be stained by this act of piracy and the killing of their kin.

Feanor laughed at Mandos. "We may be doomed, said he, but we are not cowards and our tales shall live forever!"

They went on their way, but not without a spirit of the sea, steering them into a great ice field. There they tried to figure out how to get to the farther shore. There were not enough ships for all the elves in the host that followed Feanor into Doom.

So Feanor, whose heart was now as black as any pirate's, forsook his brother Fingolfin and his mates. They snuck off into the night taking the ships and leaving the others in the ice.

Finally, they reached the other shore. One of Feanor's sons, Maedhros, asked if now they would return the ships to fetch Fingolfin and his mates. But Feanor laughed a mad laugh.

"Let those that cursed my name, curse their own fortunes," he yelled. "Burn the ships!"

With that act, Feanor destroyed the most beautiful of ships in the world, and any last remnants of the noble elf he was. A pirate to the end. Aye! This truer than true!


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