Poll: Fan Perceptions of Maglor

[dawn_felagund]

ETA:: Please note: As of 10 May 2009, I have collected the results for this poll. You're welcome to still contribute, if you wish, as I may return to this topic in the future, but further replies will not be used in my current essay. However, do check out the discussion on this post, which is as fabulous as I have come to expect from my flist and passersby! :) A sincere thank-you to all who participated in the poll and provided such insightful discussion of the topic. /ETA

I am getting ready to write an essay for my weble The Heretic Loremaster, and I am interested in how Tolkien fans familiar with The Silmarillion perceive the character of Maglor. I appreciate the input of anyone who has a few minutes to spare me and my LJ-created poll. :) Also, please pass the word to other Tolkienites, if you're so inclined. I would like as many responses as I can get.

If you do not have an LJ account and would like to contribute to the poll, feel free to leave an anonymous comment with your responses. (Click "Confabulate with Me" at the bottom of the post.)

Please note also that I do not expect people to look up information for this. I am interested in your perceptions of his character, not how well you can find what the book says about his character. (And, for those who do not already know, I don't believe in "canon," so I don't believe that there are right or wrong answers to any of these questions, although I certainly possess my own opinions on them. :)



[Poll #1387001]

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Anything that you'd wish to add or elaborate upon, please feel free to do so in the comments. :)

Comments

[rhapsody11.livejournal.com]

Hmmm, I found the definition of fair across the pond to be meaning blonde (American English), but when I was taught English (British), fair had all but the meaning of blonde (I still can see my teacher have this frown for that, hehe) and besides that, when browsing or perusing the Lord of the Rings (I mentioned this before) all connotations to fair refer to dark haired people (Boromir, Arwen, Frodo and so on). But what does it matter of course, it seems like such an endless debate... :) Just as long if he's written because the poor bloke gets ignored so much in favour of the eldest two... perhaps I should found a fanclub or something for Celegorm. ;)

[dawn_felagund]

do_me_turco ... it's gone inactive (last I looked), but what a stellar concept! :D

It would be cool to do a survey of the use of the word "fair" and when it means each of the three meanings in the text (just, beautiful, pale) and when it's unclear. I'm also fascinated by oloriel's points about early meanings of the word ... (see, this is why I post and let you all comment because you give me so many fantastic ideas! :D)

[rhapsody11.livejournal.com]

Trek and I run the do_me_curvo one, but perhaps we can poke around in the Turko comm :)

I did do such a 'study' for someone I dunno, two years ago. I don't know whether it was Marta or someone else, but this person got feedback that Frodo was described as fair, therefore he was blonde. Might have been MW, come to think of it. So that is why I grabbed the book and lifted out all occurances of fair. What I found that if someone was blonde (like Glorfindel, Eowyn, Eomer and Galadriel, the haircolour is was explicitely mentioned), but when they were darkhaired described (Arwen, Boromir, Frodo for example) fair was used to described them sans mentioning of hair colour. I am not sure if I saved my findings.

[heartofoshun.livejournal.com]

Interestingly enough, I found "fair" as beautiful or attractive listed as the first definition in American dictionaries just now and that meaning listed as archaic in the abbreviated definition from the Oxford English Dictionary available online. (And truly I do not care whether he is blond or not!)

[rhapsody11.livejournal.com]

Oh that's possible love, but the way it was explained to me that fair had the connotation of light haired / blonde and I am not going to argue with someone who's born and raised in the states.

(And truly I do not care whether he is blond or not!)

And me either :) I just get a bit itchy when people get uppity when it has to be written *this* way, it makes me rebellious.