I don't feel like doing a deep dive but I clicked around and I'm not 100% convinced it's (all) AI. Each album links back to an artist and several have been making music for awhile. One of the albums I clicked is a decade old. That said, there were several with only 2024-2026 releases. So I don't know.

I don't listen to dark ambient so I don't think I'd be able to spot it by listening

Hmm, more than a hint of slop to this imo. So many solo artists all releasing dark ambient on a similar subject? I'm calling this fake music

this is dope

The choice was only given to Earendil and Elwing after then went to Valinor, and then to their children and grandchildren from Elrond.

Elored and Elurin died as mortals like Dior.

It's integral to the genre that sometimes we say "that's a mystery, we just don't know"

You shall not pass...you BITCH!

In the books Morgoth is gone for over a thousand years before any of the events leading to the forging of the rings even start to happen. In the TV series the timeline is compressed, but even the Elves think that Morgoth's reign of terror is a thing of the past.

I shouldn't have leaned this heavy into the comparison with our own mythologies. Regardless of the fact that it is a descriptive name given to him by Fëanor, RoP makes light use of it. There is not enough gravitas.

I don't think that is something implied by Tolkien. Morgoth is a name given to the Valar Melkor to mark him forever. The name is not banned it is itself a form of ban.

Sauron is a similar name and he in fact forbids his servants to speak this name as he dislikes it for that reason.

Sic! Bookmarked!😁

Rumpelstiltskin comes to mind. The TV Tropes (time-sink warning!) page "I Know Your True Name" has other examples.

I have never read Tolkien fan fiction, but I'd be happy to if somebody could answer your questions! Let's keep our fingers crossed. 😁

In the meantime, here is the audio book version that I am listening to at the moment: https://swiftaudiobooks.com/unfinished-tales-j-r-r-tolkien-christopher-tolkien-j-r-r-tolkien-christopher-tolk/

I like the idea of reading more Tolkien, but the idea of reading a story without any end is a hard sell. I assume there are lots of fanfic that have made attempts and writing endings. Is there a single repository for finding these, and further, is a there a set of fanfics that are generally accepted to be the best fanfic endings to Tolkien's unfinished stories?

Totally forgot that Enoch was taken by God. And I agree with you that the Ainur are more like angels.

That’s a very interesting point, thank you. I remembered the ‘ascension to heaven’ of the prophet Elijah, and also the ‘disappearance’ of Enoch, but I had completely forgotten about the things attributed to Melchizedek. And let’s not forget that Tolkien was a Catholic, and so he certainly had Mary in mind as well; according to Catholic tradition, she did not die but was assumed into heaven in body and soul, as is supposed to have happened to human beings if there been no sin. There is, however, a difference compared with the cases in Jewish and Christian tradition: the Elves would have been immortal within the physical world in any case, whereas Enoch, Elijah and Mary did not die but left the world.

If any comparison with angels is to be made, I would rather think of the Ainur, especially those that entered the world (Valar, Maiar, etc.), since Elves are seen as normal physical beings, or at least "enhanced humans" if we can say!

Not really answering your question but your post got me thinking. Is there a person in the bible who is immortal like the Elves? And God and Jesus do not count. So I found these three on the internet:

Enoch: In the genealogies of Genesis, everyone's story ends with "...and he died." Enoch is the sole exception. Genesis 5:24 states: "Enoch walked faithfully with God; then he was no more, because God took him away." The New Testament confirms this in Hebrews 11:5, stating he was taken "so that he did not experience death."

Elijah: The fiery Old Testament prophet did not die a natural death. Instead, while walking with his successor Elisha, a chariot of fire and horses of fire separated them, and Elijah "went up to heaven in a whirlwind" (2 Kings 2:11).

Melchizedek: He is a mysterious king and priest who briefly meets Abraham in Genesis 14. In the New Testament, Hebrews 7:3 describes him in highly unusual terms: "Without father or mother, without genealogy, without beginning of days or end of life, resembling the Son of God, he remains a priest forever." A bit like Tom Bombadil.

Or should we see Elves like Angles on Earth?

I heard that the Tolkien Foundation had the letter of dismissal framed in their office and laugh about it when they can. Do not know if it is true but I would do the same.

The Fellowship of the Ring in my opinion contains the most beautiful words to describe places like the Shire which just come alive in my mind. I have been to the Shire without ever being in the Shire. And Beren and Luthien and The Children of Hurin are the best fairy tales out there. And if you do not like fantasy than Leaf by Niggle is amazingly well written. No dear Nobel Prize, this guy was and is a Master in Literature.

Admittedly, a lot of the Lord of the Rings is very dry. While descriptions are vibrant and world building is incredible, characters are mostly flat and hardly relatable, outside of the great epical moments the rest of the books are mundane I would say.

Why is “being known by millennial Americans” important in this context?

Hmm. Lot to unpack here.

I mean it's generally accepted that most of Ecos books are hard to read, even you had to slow down, right? Many people do not like that or have the mental energy to read one page phrases. Some don't amuse themselves reading those kinds of books, and read books that are simpler. Most good books are not simple even if there are counter examples (L'etranger for example is dead easy to read).

Maybe you're checking out bad litterature prices? Kundera got the nobel price, and I understand why (not because of the book itself, which is one of his worst IMO, but for his life œvre).

Also maybe you just don't appreciate some types of books? Do you have an example of a known book that's particularly bad in your opinion ?

If you like world building, and Eco, go read Baudolino if you haven't yet (it's fabulous in French if you do read that).

Yep. Cannes, Berlinale, etc. All movies that would not exist without 80% external funding, because they are only shown in small cinemas as part of the Sunday matinee. And most of them have not much more story than "Watch Paint Dry" (an actual movie of 8 or 10 hours length).

I have both, and I like both (in a library of 10k books in different languages). Umberto Eco still makes sense, I crass contrast to a lot of literature price recipients.

Hard reading is not the issue. I actually liked how "The Name of the Rose" dropped my reading speed down to a hundred page per hour.

What I regularly notice in books rated high in literature circles is lack of internal integrity. Those people have not a single molecule of world building in them - they don't really think about what they write.

TBH, I'm kind of with the advisory board on that one.

This demonstrates how low we went for literature since TV appeared. Literally what is happening right now on our eyes with movies after we switched to internet.

I've read a good portion of it in English. It's a good read if you like historical dramas. It's about a Bosnian village called Višegrad. In the 16th century, the Ottoman Sultan has the titular bridge built there to connect two parts of his empire. The book follows the residents of the village as the construction and then continued operation of that bridge shapes their lives over the centuries, all the way up to the start of WW1.

It's not character-centric, because it covers such a huge time period, but it's still great if you have any interest in the history of that part of the world.

You can also visit the bridge itself if you have some time to spend in Bosnia. I've not been there yet, but I imagine it's more impressive than the street corner in Sarajevo where Franz Ferdinand was shot, which I have been to and can confirm is very underwhelming.