The Moment

I think it's really neat when you can actually know the moment something changes your life. I'd been watching some videos over The Silmarillion for about an hour or so. It was a lot of information to digest. Even people who have read the book first say it's easier to have some summaries going in because it's just SO much. Anyway, I was watching and enjoying it. I was forming some basic opinions about stuff and trying to reconcile all of this with what I remembered from being a child when my mom read it to me. 

Then the above image appeared. It's of Fingon at the moment when he knows he has no hope of saving Maedhros and the only mercy he can give him is death. I remember stopping the video and staring at this image. I was captivated by the anguish in his expression. I knocked the video back and listened to this part again, letting it sink in. It is a very powerful moment in the story and a very powerful visual. 

And then, of course, an Eagle comes and flies Fingon up to him. He's able to save him (except the hand, of course). It's just a beautiful story. And it's Tolkien actually subverting a trope because here we have a prince rescuing ANOTHER prince. And in doing so, finding a way to mend the rift in their family and people. 

By the end of that video, I knew it was over for me. This was the new obsession and there was nothing I could do to stop it. I was in love.