User:Tar-Telperien

Tar-Telperien
Man
Biographical Information
Other names	Brel
Birth	September 7th, 1986
Death	Forget that. I plan on becoming immortal, thanks
Physical Description
Gender	Female
Height	5'6"
Hair color	Dark brown
Eye color	Dark brown

Information
This user supports Men over any other race.
lore-4 This user has an encyclopedic understanding of J.R.R. Tolkien's works.

I am the user Tar-Telperien. I grew up in Alaska and now attend university in Canada. I am the youngest of three children and, being the odd one out, I was always somewhat of a loner and geek. Ever since I was young I have had obsessions with many things, such as dinosaurs, airplanes, and just about anything having to do with animals and geology. In addition to these interests, I read many books, both fiction and nonfiction. It was perhaps inevitable, then, that I would become engrossed in Tolkien's world at some point, a fascination that has finally led me to this wiki.

In addition to furthering my interests in Arda, I like listening to electronic music, drawing, surfing the internet, reading, and furthering on my own ideas and stories. Curiously, just before I began reading The Hobbit for the first time, I began work on what has become my own constructed world (or rather continent) called Čtenzai. I have made several accounts of its peoples and legends, but my work on it has stalled due to my preoccupation with Tolkien's writings. Since I began it some time before I read The Silmarillion, I have, I believe, managed to keep it from imitating the Professor's work too much.

My thoughts on the Legendarium (the basic version)

I was introduced to Tolkien's world in the fall of 2001, when I read The Hobbit. I then tried to read The Lord of the Rings but it took me multiple attempts to complete it. I had to read The Silmarillion before I could finish it, because all the allusions to the ancient legends in The Lord of the Rings confused me. I completed my first reading of The Silmarillion in the spring of 2002. It was some time before I finally finished The Lord of the Rings; I did not reach the end of its Appendices until the following year. I was then filled with a hunger for all things Middle-earth-related, and I read Unfinished Tales, The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, and parts of The History of Middle-earth during that summer. I have since bought copies of several of these books and studied them intently, and thus I (perhaps overpompously) give myself a "lore-4" knowledge and comprehension rating.

I prefer the material in The Silmarillion as published, and all the works related to it (unfinished and imperfect though they may be), to The Lord of the Rings. I find the old legends far more powerful, beautiful, and sad; and they have an epic feel I love. I thus know considerably more about the characters and events in The Silmarillion than those in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, and concentrate on perfecting their articles in this wiki for that reason.

As my username indicates, I have, on top of an interest in all matters of Arda, a special obsession with the isle of Númenor and its history (Tar-Telperiën was the tenth ruler of Númenor, and its second Ruling Queen). I find the story of this land deeply moving, even more so than most of the events told in the Quenta Silmarillion, and I also believe that, of all the tales, its message has the most relevance to the present day (not that I am trying to make the Akallabêth an "allegorical" document!).

In addition to my studies of the legends, I have also invested a fair amount of time in learning Quenya, and feel I am fairly proficient at it. I have considerably less skill in Sindarin, however.

My thoughts on the Legendarium (the pretentious version)

I have a great interest in the philosophical, metaphysical, and "theological" issues in Arda. I often try to discern the underlying structures determining the philosophies and actions of the characters, and have made many theories concerning their thoughts and beliefs. I am concerned with the "deep questions" that people in the tales are confronted with, such as: What are Eru's intentions for Eä? How exactly do the Themes of the Music of the Ainur apply to history? What does it mean to live in Arda Marred? What does Morgoth want? What are the ultimate fates of Elves and Men? What is the nature of Mankind in Arda? Why was the Ban of the Valar necessary?, and so on. I am thus quite intrigued by such documents as the Athrabeth Finrod ah Andreth, which examine many of these types of inquiries. (It is also for this reason that I love the story of Númenor, because in it, we get to see many of these kinds of philsophical insights applied to the everyday lives of the characters.)

My own interpretations of the tales are somewhat different than those of many others. For example, I somewhat downplay the role played by Christianity in Tolkien's philosophical inspirations, and notice pagan (and even Eastern) ideas more. I also tend to view the themes of many of the stories from an existentialist perspective. I am especially fascinated with the figure of Eru Ilúvatar, the mysterious God of Eä, who seems to me to be quite unique among "religious-themed" characters from any tradition or genre.

Favorite stories and characters

Like any other Tolkien fan, I have a list of the tales and characters that I think stand out above all the rest. They are the following:

Favorite legends and stories:

• The Ainulindalë
• From the Quenta Silmarillion:
  • "Of the Silmarils and the Unrest of the Noldor"
  • "Of the Coming of Men into the West"
  • "Of Beren and Lúthien"
  • "Of the Fifth Battle: Nirnaeth Arnoediad"
• Wanderings of Húrin
• Athrabeth Finrod ah Andreth
• The Akallabêth, and other stories connected with it:
  • The Lost Road
  • The Notion Club Papers
• The Hobbit
• From The Lord of the Rings:
  • "The Shadow of the Past"
  • "A Journey in the Dark"
  • "Farewell to Lórien"
  • "The Voice of Saruman"
  • "The Choices of Master Samwise"
  • "The Pyre of Denethor"
  • Most of the material in the Appendices

Favorite characters:

• Eru
• Melkor
• Finrod
• Haleth
• Húrin
• Lúthien
• Sauron
• Eärendil
• Amandil
• Ar-Pharazôn
• Elendil
• Gandalf
• Denethor
• Gollum
• Sam Gamgee

Contact

If you wish to discuss anything with me, you can contact me on my talk page, or you can try to find me at the #TolkienGateway channel on the wiki's chatroom.