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SoundingShores · 03-01-2025, 06:26 AM

Hi Everyone,

I posted the third chapter, it's about Denethor and can be found here for anyone interested: https://archiveofourown.org/works/61...ters/162711493

Writing this got me thinking about parental and filial love in the Legendarium in general. I feel like these forms of love get a bit shafted in Tolkien's writings, which is very strange, considering he wrote some of these stories for his children (and other stories too, like his Father Christmas letters).

But parents in Tolkien often seem to exist mainly to provide lineage to a character (Arathorn, Celebrían) or to be romantic obstacles (Thingol). Romantic love, friendship and a kind of "brotherly" love for other people save the world in Tolkien, more or less. But on the topic of parental love, we've got things like Arwen "losing all that she had gained" before her death, which is a neat concept, except she's got at least three living children! This seems to treat romantic love as a lot more important than parental love.

Arguably the most prominent example of parental love is Denethor, and that's obviously a much more complex and less idealized depiction than many of the love stories and friendships. The more positive parental examples are often not biological parents and so they are kind of a mixture between parent, friend and mentor, like Bilbo to Frodo. There's Elrond, but his parental love also doesn't get that big a role. Ironically, the only time I felt like Tolkien is drawing on his parental experiences was Gimli's line to Pippin: "I love you, if only because of the pains you have cost me."

Or on the topic of filial love, there's Fëanor's sons, also not exactly an idealized depiction compared to, say, Beren and Lúthien.

But then I'm not as knowledgeable about the Legendarium as many others, so I might be missing a lot. What do you guys think?

03-01-2025, 06:26 AM	#10
SoundingShores Pile O'Bones Join Date: Nov 2024 Posts: 14	Hi Everyone, I posted the third chapter, it's about Denethor and can be found here for anyone interested: https://archiveofourown.org/works/61...ters/162711493 Writing this got me thinking about parental and filial love in the Legendarium in general. I feel like these forms of love get a bit shafted in Tolkien's writings, which is very strange, considering he wrote some of these stories for his children (and other stories too, like his Father Christmas letters). But parents in Tolkien often seem to exist mainly to provide lineage to a character (Arathorn, Celebrían) or to be romantic obstacles (Thingol). Romantic love, friendship and a kind of "brotherly" love for other people save the world in Tolkien, more or less. But on the topic of parental love, we've got things like Arwen "losing all that she had gained" before her death, which is a neat concept, except she's got at least three living children! This seems to treat romantic love as a lot more important than parental love. Arguably the most prominent example of parental love is Denethor, and that's obviously a much more complex and less idealized depiction than many of the love stories and friendships. The more positive parental examples are often not biological parents and so they are kind of a mixture between parent, friend and mentor, like Bilbo to Frodo. There's Elrond, but his parental love also doesn't get that big a role. Ironically, the only time I felt like Tolkien is drawing on his parental experiences was Gimli's line to Pippin: "I love you, if only because of the pains you have cost me." Or on the topic of filial love, there's Fëanor's sons, also not exactly an idealized depiction compared to, say, Beren and Lúthien. But then I'm not as knowledgeable about the Legendarium as many others, so I might be missing a lot. What do you guys think? Last edited by SoundingShores; 03-01-2025 at 06:35 AM.