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rocky41_7Anonymous said:
I don't know why but it is honestly depressing how the book has to say something like 'Indis and her descendants committed great deeds and without them, the Eldar's legacy wouldn't live on' to justify her children's right to exist. I pity Indis and her descendants so much and the amount of psychic damage I get every time I go to Indis' tag is really a lot lol. If Tolkien didn't mention that and Miriel's love for Indis, I bet the hate for Indis and her children would be tenfold.
I said:
I don’t see the line so much as being a “justification” for their existence, either in-universe or out, but more of a way of ending the claim that “well everything would have been better if Finwe and Indis had never married.” The lines about Indis’ children are meant to highlight that negatives came from that marriage (Feanor’s reaction, the division of loyalties of the Noldor after Finwe’s death), there were also good things that came of it (Fingolfin’s courage in leading the Noldor in Beleriand, Finarfin’s willingness to turn back from the rebellion and lead the Noldor in Aman, all the way down to Earendil managing what no one else had–sailing back to the Blessed Realm).
It would be really easy to fixate on Finwe and Indis’ marriage (and some fans certainly do) as the “point” where everything went wrong. That moment where if only things had been different here, the rest of the story would have been happier. But Tolkien tells us here that isn’t so–that the story would in fact be lesser without the marriage of Finwe and Indis, and all that came of that union.
One of the things I love so much about The Silmarillion is that there IS no “one point” where everything “went wrong.” There’s no single one thing that could be changed to alter this story. He does such a fantastic job of weaving together many different threads so that it’s impossible to undo one knot and change the whole tale. Everything is tied together. It can be frustrating (good and bad) when you look at a tragedy and say “well if this one thing had been different, all of this could have been avoided.” But that isn’t the case with The Silmarillion. There’s no one off-ramp for everything that happened; there are too many things in motion.
As for Indis’ treatment in the fandom, as I understand from those who’ve been active in the Tolkien fandom far longer than I, it’s actually improved from where it was. However, I sympathize about going into her tags as I do with those for all female Silm characters…the psyche damage is real.
@welcomingdisaster has some great Indis-focused works (mainly Indis/Nerdanel) if you’re looking for some more positive Indis content \(￣︶￣*\))
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Date: 2024-07-03 09:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-07-03 10:00 pm (UTC)