Wyrd & Wonder Blog Tag, prompts 27-31

previously: part 1, part 2, part 3!

I had intended to do #16 and #19 together in a separate post (a list of favorite male characters & favorite female characters) but I don't think I'll have a chance to do a whole separate post for that as I had planned. Maybe an idea for a future post...

27. Epic / tragic death 

The Grief and Recriminations of Andromache over the Body of Hector Her Husband (1783)  

Jacques-Louis David

The Iliad: Hector! I reread The Iliad last year (Robert Fagles translation) and really loved it this time; I had read Homer before but  I had decided that I was more of an Odyssey person. And now I'm not sure which I like better, but obviously Hectors death was perfect for this prompt and I had to include it. The introduction to my copy of The Iliad has a good description: 
The whole poem has been moving toward this duel between the two champions, but there has never been any doubt about the outcome. The husband and father, the beloved protector of his people, the man who stands for the civilized values of the rich city, its social and religious institutions, will go down to defeat at the hands of this man who has no family, who is in a private quarrel that has caused the deaths of many of his own fellow soldiers, who now in a private quarrel thinks only of revenge, though that revenge, as he well knows, is the immediate prelude to his own death. And the death of Hector seals the fate of Troy; it will fall to the Achaeans, to become the pattern for all time of the death of a city. 

Also:

SO MANY epic deaths. 

Feanor: 
"Then he died, but he had neither burial nor tomb, for so fiery was his spirit that as it sped his body fell to ash, and was borne away like smoke; and his likeness has never again appeared in Arda, neither has his spirit left the Halls of Mandos."

Fingolfin:
"Then Fingolfin beheld (as it seemed to him) the utter ruin of the Noldor, and the defeat beyond redress of all their houses; and filled with wrath and despair he mounted upon Rochallor his great horse and rode forth alone, and none might restrain him... Thus he came alone to Angband's gates, and he sounded his horn, and smote once more upon the brazen doors, and challenged Morgoth to come forth to single combat. And Morgoth came."

28. Fish out of water: Carrot Ironfoundersson from the City Watch series (part of the larger Discworld series) is perfect for this prompt. After his parents died, he was adopted and raised by dwarfs, and he grew up in dwarf mines. In the first book, he learns that he is human and goes to the city of Ankh-Morpork to join the City Watch. He has some trouble adjusting, it is really funny.

29. Glorious stand-alone: I did a separate post about this already. I suppose I will add The Owl Service by Alan Garner, but I already covered that one in the previous set of prompts.

30. Break my heart: I decided to use this prompt for The Silmarillion as well. My favorite storyline in the book has always been the story of Feanor -- the greatest craftsman of the Noldor Elves -- and his sons. His wife Nerdanel doesn't get much page time, but of all the minor characters, she is definitely the one I would most like to know more about.

Star of the House of Feanor (Pixabay)

While still in his early youth he wedded Nerdanel, the daughter of a great smith named Mahtan, among those of the Noldor most dear to Aulë; and of Mahtan he learned much of the making of things in metal and in stone. Nerdanel also was firm of will, but more patient than Fëanor, desiring to understand minds rather than to master them, and at first she restrained him when the fire of his heart grew too hot; but his later deeds grieved her, and they became estranged. Seven sons she bore to Fëanor; her mood she bequeathed in part to some of them, but not to all.

My other character for this prompt is Maedhros, the eldest son. He's been one of my favorites since the first time I read the Silm.

31. Fave Wyrd & Wonder read

Spinning Silver was great. I haven't had time to review it yet. 

Whew! My first ever blog tag has been a long one. I loved doing this tag and highlighting so many wonderful books!