Encyclopedia of Arda, encouraging LOTR geekiness since... well, whenever. ^^;
I seriously hope I don't get in trouble for skimming the Encyclopedia of Arda (a Wiki-esque Lord of the Rings site) during work. ^^;
Interesting things I've learned:
1. Galadriel is one interesting elf. I can't remember all that she was responsible for from the Silmarillion, but her page at E.of Arda is HUUUUGE. (For comparison, Celeborn's page is like, two sentences long.) Anyways, Galadriel was considered the wisest elf to have ever lived, and was second in power only to Feanor, her uncle. She's most probably older than Celeborn. She grew up in Valinor and apparently had tomboy-ish tendancies, apparently competing with her brothers and uncles in strength and wisdom. (Her mother called her "man-maiden".)
2. Galadriel's beautiful hair was probably the inspiration for the creation of the Silmarils which is a HUUUUUGE deal'cause those jewels eventually caused multiple wars and involved Valinor, Middle Earth, elves, Valar, and Melkor, the first Dark Lord.
3. Interestingly enough, Galadriel is half Teleri (on her mother's side), so she's not the perfect example of a Noldor elf like everyone thinks she is. ^^;
4. Celeborn is the grand nephew and Galadriel is the daughter of the neice of Elu Thingol, the Sindar High King of Doraith. This makes them cousins of... some sort. (At this point, I'm willing to bet all elves are distant cousins of each other, lol. xD; Btw, for anyone that's confused, Sindarin elves are a type of Teleri elves. See this page: http://www.glyphweb.com/arda/t/teleri.html)
5. I still can't find confirmation that Celeborn and Oropher are kinsmen. << >>; I'm SURE I read that in the Silmarillion though. *annoyed*
6. Legolas's age has been a huge debate in the fandom, and rightly so. Most of fandom (myself included) tends to prefer that he's a 'young' elf, but none of us know what age elves consider 'young'. In the books, he describes 500 years as a 'brief span of time' in his life and that he's seen a lot of trees grow up and die, so he's probably much older. He's not mentioned before the Third Age, though, so the earliest he could've been born would've been either the end of the Second Age or the beginning of the Third. (Right around the first War of the Ring fought on the slopes of Mt. Doom.) This would make him... 2000+ years of age? (That's actually right around how old the movies say he is, though there's no proof of that either, lol.) D'aw. I kinda like the idea of a young elf Legolas though. D:
7. Also up for debate is whether or not Legoals had any siblings or was the only child, because that's never mentioned in the books either. I've noticed that a lot of people in the fandom make him the youngest (never the oldest, ironically) in a chain of siblings. I saw an explanation in someone's story about Tolkien mentioning that elves "married young", so for Thranduil to have been around for at least two Ages and only have one child was probably not likely. Whatever, I like when Legoals has siblings and he's the little baby of the group. xD; It's more fun that way.
8. I disagree with E. of Arda when they imply that Oropher was probably born at the beginning of the Second Age. That just... sounds too 'young' for me, cosidering he died at the end of the Second Age/beginning of the Third. He was from the forest of Doriath (which existed during the First Age) and escaped it (supposedly with Thranduil) after it was destroyed. I think. Unless I totally remember wrong and he wasn't at Doriath at all, but I think he was 'cause Thranduil mentioned Doriath multiple times in stories written by different authors. @___@;
9. I FINALLY UNDERSTAND WHERE THE HELL BERELIAND (where the Silmarillion took place) WAS IN RELATION TO THE REST OF MIDDLE EARTH. I had no idea how this land could just 'disappear' and where everyone else (especially the elves) fled to for the other two Ages. Wow, Doriath and Gondolin and all those other areas are underwater. O_o; That would... explain a lot.
There's WAY more that I've learned today, but I can't think of any off the top of my head. That being said, I apparently fail at remembering much of the Silarmillion, 'cause I had to refresh my knowledge of a lot of the battles and places.
On a totally unrelated note, NOW I know why we've been having such beautiful sunsets lately! :D Russian volcano explodes and causes purple sunsets in the U.S. I've been taking pictures of the sunsets lately 'cause they're just so rich in color. ^^; Never really thought there would be an explanation for them.
Interesting things I've learned:
1. Galadriel is one interesting elf. I can't remember all that she was responsible for from the Silmarillion, but her page at E.of Arda is HUUUUGE. (For comparison, Celeborn's page is like, two sentences long.) Anyways, Galadriel was considered the wisest elf to have ever lived, and was second in power only to Feanor, her uncle. She's most probably older than Celeborn. She grew up in Valinor and apparently had tomboy-ish tendancies, apparently competing with her brothers and uncles in strength and wisdom. (Her mother called her "man-maiden".)
2. Galadriel's beautiful hair was probably the inspiration for the creation of the Silmarils which is a HUUUUUGE deal'cause those jewels eventually caused multiple wars and involved Valinor, Middle Earth, elves, Valar, and Melkor, the first Dark Lord.
3. Interestingly enough, Galadriel is half Teleri (on her mother's side), so she's not the perfect example of a Noldor elf like everyone thinks she is. ^^;
4. Celeborn is the grand nephew and Galadriel is the daughter of the neice of Elu Thingol, the Sindar High King of Doraith. This makes them cousins of... some sort. (At this point, I'm willing to bet all elves are distant cousins of each other, lol. xD; Btw, for anyone that's confused, Sindarin elves are a type of Teleri elves. See this page: http://www.glyphweb.com/arda/t/teleri.html)
5. I still can't find confirmation that Celeborn and Oropher are kinsmen. << >>; I'm SURE I read that in the Silmarillion though. *annoyed*
6. Legolas's age has been a huge debate in the fandom, and rightly so. Most of fandom (myself included) tends to prefer that he's a 'young' elf, but none of us know what age elves consider 'young'. In the books, he describes 500 years as a 'brief span of time' in his life and that he's seen a lot of trees grow up and die, so he's probably much older. He's not mentioned before the Third Age, though, so the earliest he could've been born would've been either the end of the Second Age or the beginning of the Third. (Right around the first War of the Ring fought on the slopes of Mt. Doom.) This would make him... 2000+ years of age? (That's actually right around how old the movies say he is, though there's no proof of that either, lol.) D'aw. I kinda like the idea of a young elf Legolas though. D:
7. Also up for debate is whether or not Legoals had any siblings or was the only child, because that's never mentioned in the books either. I've noticed that a lot of people in the fandom make him the youngest (never the oldest, ironically) in a chain of siblings. I saw an explanation in someone's story about Tolkien mentioning that elves "married young", so for Thranduil to have been around for at least two Ages and only have one child was probably not likely. Whatever, I like when Legoals has siblings and he's the little baby of the group. xD; It's more fun that way.
8. I disagree with E. of Arda when they imply that Oropher was probably born at the beginning of the Second Age. That just... sounds too 'young' for me, cosidering he died at the end of the Second Age/beginning of the Third. He was from the forest of Doriath (which existed during the First Age) and escaped it (supposedly with Thranduil) after it was destroyed. I think. Unless I totally remember wrong and he wasn't at Doriath at all, but I think he was 'cause Thranduil mentioned Doriath multiple times in stories written by different authors. @___@;
9. I FINALLY UNDERSTAND WHERE THE HELL BERELIAND (where the Silmarillion took place) WAS IN RELATION TO THE REST OF MIDDLE EARTH. I had no idea how this land could just 'disappear' and where everyone else (especially the elves) fled to for the other two Ages. Wow, Doriath and Gondolin and all those other areas are underwater. O_o; That would... explain a lot.
There's WAY more that I've learned today, but I can't think of any off the top of my head. That being said, I apparently fail at remembering much of the Silarmillion, 'cause I had to refresh my knowledge of a lot of the battles and places.
On a totally unrelated note, NOW I know why we've been having such beautiful sunsets lately! :D Russian volcano explodes and causes purple sunsets in the U.S. I've been taking pictures of the sunsets lately 'cause they're just so rich in color. ^^; Never really thought there would be an explanation for them.