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30-Day Character Study: Mairon | Day 5
Jan. 5th, 2025 06:24 pmDay 5 of SWG 30-Day Character Study. My character is Mairon | Sauron | Annatar.
Today's prompt: What’s On The Menu? Your character’s food choices will be influenced not just by taste, but by their culture, environment and circumstances. Try to find out about what foodstuffs might typically be available to your character. What would be their everyday fare? What would be a special treat? Where does it come from? Who does the cooking?
Do the Maiar eat? Do they need to eat? These were the first questions occurring to me when I read this prompt, and as far as I know, Tolkien never gave a clear answer to this important matter (or if he did, please enlighten me!). So today's post is all about my headcanons!
I don't think that the Maiar need to eat. It is one way to keep their current chosen fana healthy, but they can choose to rebuild it again whenever it starts to show signs of degradation. So I think that eating is not an essential need for them. However, Mairon is more incarnate than many other Maiar, and he's a curious being who's interested in all things in Middle-earth. I think that Mairon eats regularly; not because he has to, but because he's a sensual being who likes the act of devouring things and the taste of some foods. But he is also very picky about what he eats, and with whom.
Mairon is definitely a carnivore. Linked in lore to animals like wolves and cats, I'm sure that he enjoys hunting his own meat, and when he prefers to, he can be eldritch enough that he doesn't need to cook the meat to enjoy it. But at the same time, he loves romantic candle-lit dinners with Melkor in Utumno and Angband, and in later times, with Celebrimbor in Ost-in-Edhil.
With Melkor, the dinner consists usually of meat of some kind and some simple side dishes (think of what the Vikings must have eaten). They have Orc servants who can cook for them, but Mairon always does the cooking himself for special dinners. He doesn't let Melkor inside the kitchen, though – that would become utter chaos.
Celebrimbor and Mairon (as Annatar) cook together, as they do almost everything together. They also often visit one of the communal kitchens which are common there. In Ost-in-Edhil, Mairon learns to enjoy new tastes and dishes based on the diverse culture of the city. He's cautious at first, but Celebrimbor is patient and gradually, Mairon learns that he likes hot, spicy foods and especially chili. Not garlic, though. Eregion has coffee, which Mairon has previously only used for torture purposes on his victims. He's surprised that the Elves of Eregion drink it voluntarily. But he learns to like it in the end.
Incidentally, my first ever Silm fandom activity on my brand-new tumblr blog in June 2020 was a reblog of a comic by Phobs that handles the topic of Mairon and food. Here.
Today's prompt: What’s On The Menu? Your character’s food choices will be influenced not just by taste, but by their culture, environment and circumstances. Try to find out about what foodstuffs might typically be available to your character. What would be their everyday fare? What would be a special treat? Where does it come from? Who does the cooking?
Do the Maiar eat? Do they need to eat? These were the first questions occurring to me when I read this prompt, and as far as I know, Tolkien never gave a clear answer to this important matter (or if he did, please enlighten me!). So today's post is all about my headcanons!
I don't think that the Maiar need to eat. It is one way to keep their current chosen fana healthy, but they can choose to rebuild it again whenever it starts to show signs of degradation. So I think that eating is not an essential need for them. However, Mairon is more incarnate than many other Maiar, and he's a curious being who's interested in all things in Middle-earth. I think that Mairon eats regularly; not because he has to, but because he's a sensual being who likes the act of devouring things and the taste of some foods. But he is also very picky about what he eats, and with whom.
Mairon is definitely a carnivore. Linked in lore to animals like wolves and cats, I'm sure that he enjoys hunting his own meat, and when he prefers to, he can be eldritch enough that he doesn't need to cook the meat to enjoy it. But at the same time, he loves romantic candle-lit dinners with Melkor in Utumno and Angband, and in later times, with Celebrimbor in Ost-in-Edhil.
With Melkor, the dinner consists usually of meat of some kind and some simple side dishes (think of what the Vikings must have eaten). They have Orc servants who can cook for them, but Mairon always does the cooking himself for special dinners. He doesn't let Melkor inside the kitchen, though – that would become utter chaos.
Celebrimbor and Mairon (as Annatar) cook together, as they do almost everything together. They also often visit one of the communal kitchens which are common there. In Ost-in-Edhil, Mairon learns to enjoy new tastes and dishes based on the diverse culture of the city. He's cautious at first, but Celebrimbor is patient and gradually, Mairon learns that he likes hot, spicy foods and especially chili. Not garlic, though. Eregion has coffee, which Mairon has previously only used for torture purposes on his victims. He's surprised that the Elves of Eregion drink it voluntarily. But he learns to like it in the end.
Incidentally, my first ever Silm fandom activity on my brand-new tumblr blog in June 2020 was a reblog of a comic by Phobs that handles the topic of Mairon and food. Here.