Silmarillion Experiments 1.: Aulë/Mahal, Seven Fathers Of The Dwarves And Eru Ilúvatar Blessing ♥

Fingon and Maedhros in Valinor

maedhros > the entire beatles discography

Well lads, I decided to make a fourth water ranking list! Some of these were suggested or requested, in which case I’ll @ them, and others were just some that I’ve read about since my last post and wanted to talk about! Enjoy.

Zambezi River, Africa, @marshmallowmachinegun

This river is making the list primarily because of the massive, terrifying rapids that you can apparently surf on. I don’t care for that shit at all. It earns the first spot on this list for being super freaky, 1/10.

Lake Toplitz, Austria, @darthlenaplant

This is, strangely, a lake with two bottoms. Around 52 feet down is a bunch of sunken logs, essentially creating a false bottom that divers can’t get through. Below this level, there is no oxygen in the lake and life becomes very scarce. But the lake has a maximum depth of 328 feet, and allegedly contains boxes of Nazi gold somewhere in the deeps. This draws in treasure-hunters, but I definitely won’t be heading down into this false-bottomed lake anytime soon. Since this lake doesn’t have any visible drop-offs or looks particularly scary, it gets a 2/10.

Dean’s blue hole, Bahamas

Until the discovery of the Dragon Hole in China, Dean’s blue hole was considered the deepest “blue hole” in the world, reaching a maximum depth of 663 feet. One of the reasons this underwater cave is so unsettling to me is it’s proximity to land. Like, can you imagine walking along a beach and looking out at the ocean and seeing that just a few hundred feet away?? For being such a visually dramatic hole in the ground, it earns a 3/10.

Cetina River, Croatia, @imalwayssirius

Often referred to as the “natural Eye of Sauron” (or, as I saw one of my mutuals post, the earth’s vagina) this bizarre feature is the source of the Cetina River. The spring bubbles up from a cave that reaches depths of over 300 feet and drains into a river 63 miles long. Although this spring is definitely beautiful, I don’t know that I would want to raft over it. 4/10.

Red lake, Croatia

The Red Lake sits in a deep sinkhole, with cliffs soaring over 800 feet above the water. Below the surface, the sinkhole continues for another 942 feet. The depth was unknown until 2017, when a diver finally descended far enough to see the bottom. The incredible depth of this lake makes it one of the largest sinkholes in the world, and earns it a 5/10 on this list.

Lake Peigneur, Louisiana, @amzrigh

I don’t know where to start with this one. I guess we have to go back to 1980, when this was a 10-foot deep freshwater lake. Underneath the lake was a massive salt mine, and on the surface was an oil drill. Basically, a miscalculation occurred and the drill broke down into the mines and this lake began to drain into them. Unfortunately, this lake wasn’t closed off, and used to empty into a nearby bay. As the lake drained down into the mines, the water flow reversed and sucked water in from the bay, briefly creating a 100+ foot waterfall and then the largest man made whirlpool in history. Although multiple ships from the bay were sucked down and the mines were completely flooded, amazingly no one was killed in this horrifying accident. So, what was once a 10-foot deep freshwater lake is now a 200-foot deep saltwater lake. The bizarre story and extreme depth of this lake gets a solid 6/10.

Kern River, California, anon

There are signs around this river which state “Kern River, 271 lives lost since 1968”. That would be enough to scare me off, but apparently not everyone feels the same. This river is so deadly because in many places, it appears calm and inviting, drawing in swimmers, and then sucking them under with a fast undertow. In fact, you are required to wear a life jacket if you’re even walking around the river with no intentions to swim (although it doesn’t appear that the person in this picture heeded those warnings). For sheer danger, I have to award this a 7/10.

Barracuda lake, Philippines, @pineowlple

Don’t worry, the lady in the picture is fine, she was just posing for a creepy photo. And this lake is fascinating for reasons other than its sheer drop and weird rock formations! Barracuda Lake has one of the most bizarre thermoclines and haloclines in the world, drawing in divers from far and wide who want a unique experience. The surface of the lake is freshwater and roughly 82 degrees F, but as you descend to about 50 feet down, the temperature in the lake suddenly rises to 100 F (only slightly cooler than an average hot tub)! This is because the lake contains both fresh and saltwater, separated by a hazy boundary. If you continue heading down to the bottom, the water will become cool again. Divers often describe swimming in this lake as a strange sensory experience, with some people claiming you feel weightless and liken it to being on another planet. Even stranger, the sandy lake bottom is described as being “jelly-like”. Definitely an 8/10 for how downright strange this lake is.

Enchanted river, Philippines

This river is a popular tourist destination for its beautiful blue waters and fascinating history. Some local legends report seeing fish down in the depths that cannot be caught by any line or net, and claim that the river’s color came from fairies. The mysteries of this river continue in modern day, as no one has been able to find the source of it. Exploration of the enchanted river started in 1999, and a hidden cave was soon discovered 98 feet down. During the sixth exploration of the cave, a diver died after reaching 130 feet deep. So far, divers have descended 269 feet into the cave, and mapping efforts are underway, but the bottom has yet to be found. 9/10 for the strange legends and seemingly being bottomless.

La Fosse Dione, France

This beautiful karst spring has a name which literally translates to “Divine Pit”. The spring has been used for water since Roman Times, but despite its long history it is shrouded in mystery. The strangest part of this pit is that no one knows where the water comes from. Roughly 82 gallons of water enters this spring every second, but the source is unknown. Several divers have descended into the depths of this pit, and none have been able to locate the bottom. In 1974, two divers went down and never resurfaced. In 1996, another diver attempted to find the source and died as well. In 2019, yet another diver went down and reached 1,213 feet before having to resurface. He did not find the bottom either. 10/10 to this lovely, French bottomless pit.

Tolkien Playlists Masterpost

I made a lot of Tolkien related playlists on spotify during the last year to organise my music library, if anyone is interested here they are:

The Legendarium

From the Ainulindalë to the War of Wrath, with an extra mention of the Dagor Dagorath at the end to close the narrative (events in chronological order, mostly metal with some acoustic and ambient pieces)

Second and Third Age, from Numenor to the events of The Hobbit to the full lotr storyline (events in chronological order, mostly metal with some acoustic and ambient pieces)

From the Ainulindalë to the end of the Third Age (events in chronological order, instrumental classical and acoustic music only, including the movies soundtrack)

One Playlist To Rule Them All: a selection of my favourite Tolkien astists on spotify (mostly metal, tracks sorted by artist)

Chill Roadtrip AU: small selection of Tolkien themed chillhop and downtempo

Characters

Eärendil: mostly ambient metal and some acoustic tracks to journey through the stars

Thingol and Melian: Doriath ambient playlist, with some medieval and acoustic tracks, enchanted forest and fae court vibes

Aragorn: acoustic and metal songs for reclaimed kingdoms and long distance love stories

Tar-Miriel: slow and haunted vibes for the Downfall of Numenor, water and drowning themes

Legolas: soft acoustic and folk tracks, relaxing and nature themed with some sea longing vibes

Maglor: metal and acoustic songs for the poorest little meow meow

Fëanor: power metal only for the Spirit of Fire himself

Sauron: mainly black metal, playlist for evil necromancers only

Vibes only

Not strictly Tolkien related lyrics but if you need more vibes I can offer you these playlists:

Cuiviénen: ambient metal to wander under the starry skies

Dreamless Sleep: lullabies for the enchanted forest

Lugbúrz Lo-Fi: dungeon synth ambience for your tower dwellings

Mordor Metalfest: black metal for your evil festival needs

The Party goes on a Roadtrip: epic metal for your epic quest

Sword and Sorcery: ultra epic metal for your ultra epic quest

Songs of Enchantment: soft acoustic folk and fantasy songs to sing in a field

brothers adopting brothers

the title of the last song you listened to is the epitaph on your tombstone

Here it is folks:

My definitive ranking of my least favorite bodies of water! These are ranked from least to most scary (1/10 is okay, 10/10 gives me nightmares). I’m sorry this post is long, I have a lot of thoughts and feelings about this.

The Great Blue Hole, Belize

I’ve been here! I have snorkeled over this thing! It is terrifying! The water around the hole is so shallow you can’t even swim over the coral without bumping it, and then there’s a little slope down, and then it just fucking drops off into the abyss! When you’re over the hole the water temperature drops like 10 degrees and it’s midnight blue even when you’re right by the surface. Anyway. The Great Blue Hole is a massive underwater cave, and its roughly 410 feet deep. Overall, it’s a relatively safe area to swim. It’s a popular tourist attraction and recreational divers can even go down and explore some of the caves. People do die at the Blue Hole, but it is generally from a lack of diving experience rather than anything sinister going on down in the depths. My rating for this one is 1/10 because I’ve been here and although it’s kinda freaky it’s really not that bad.

Lake Baikal, Russia

When I want to give myself a scare I look at the depth diagram of this lake. It’s so deep because it’s not a regular lake, it’s a Rift Valley, A massive crack in the earth’s crust where the continental plates are pulling apart. It’s over 5,000 feet deep and contains one-fifth of all freshwater on Earth. Luckily, its not any more deadly than a normal lake. It just happens to be very, very, freakishly deep. My rating for this lake is a 2/10 because I really hate looking at the depth charts but just looking at the lake itself isn’t that scary.

Jacob’s Well, Texas

This “well” is actually the opening to an underwater cave system. It’s roughly 120 feet deep, surrounded by very shallow water. This area is safe to swim in, but diving into the well can be deadly. The cave system below has false exits and narrow passages, resulting in multiple divers getting trapped and dying. My rating is a 3/10, because although I hate seeing that drop into the abyss it’s a pretty safe place to swim as long as you don’t go down into the cave (which I sure as shit won’t).

The Devil’s Kettle, Minnesota

This is an area in the Brule River where half the river just disappears. It literally falls into a hole and is never seen again. Scientists have dropped in dye, ping pong balls, and other things to try and figure out where it goes, and the things they drop in never resurface. Rating is 4/10 because Sometimes I worry I’m going to fall into it.

Flathead Lake, Montana

Everyone has probably seen this picture accompanied by a description about how this lake is actually hundreds of feet deep but just looks shallow because the water is so clear. If that were the case, this would definitely rank higher, but that claim is mostly bull. Look at the shadow of the raft. If it were hundreds of feet deep, the shadow would look like a tiny speck. Flathead lake does get very deep, but the spot the picture was taken in is fairly shallow. You can’t see the bottom in the deep parts. However, having freakishly clear water means you can see exactly where the sandy bottom drops off into blackness, so this still ranks a 5/10.

The Lower Congo River, multiple countries

Most of the Congo is a pretty normal, if large, River. In the lower section of it, however, lurks a disturbing surprise: massive underwater canyons that plunge down to 720 feet. The fish that live down there resemble cave fish, having no color, no eyes, and special sensory organs to find their way in the dark. These canyons are so sheer that they create massive rapids, wild currents and vortexes that can very easily kill you if you fall in. A solid 6/10, would not go there.

Little Crater Lake, Oregon

On first glance this lake doesn’t look too scary. It ranks this high because I really don’t like the sheer drop off and how clear it is (because it shows you exactly how deep it goes). This lake is about 100 feet across and 45 feet deep, and I strongly feel that this is too deep for such a small lake. Also, the water is freezing, and if you fall into the lake your muscles will seize up and you’ll sink and drown. I don’t like that either. 7/10.

Grand Turk 7,000 ft drop off

No. 8/10. I hate it.

Gulf of Corryvreckan, Scotland

Due to a quirk in the sea floor, there is a permanent whirlpool here. This isn’t one of those things that looks scary but actually won’t hurt you, either. It absolutely will suck you down if you get too close. Scientists threw a mannequin with a depth gauge into it and when it was recovered the gauge showed it went down to over 600 feet. If you fall into this whirlpool you will die. 9/10 because this seems like something that should only be in movies.

The Bolton Strid, England

This looks like an adorable little creek in the English countryside but it’s not. Its really not. Statistically speaking, this is the most deadly body of water in the world. It has a 100% mortality rate. There is no recorded case of anyone falling into this river and coming out alive. This is because, a little ways upstream, this isn’t a cute little creek. It’s the River Wharfe, a river approximately 30 feet wide. This river is forced through a tiny crack in the earth, essentially turning it on its side. Now, instead of being 30 feet wide and 6 feet deep, it’s 6 feet wide and 30 feet deep (estimated, because no one actually knows how deep the Strid is). The currents are deadly fast. The banks are extremely undercut and the river has created caves, tunnels and holes for things (like bodies) to get trapped in. The innocent appearance of the Strid makes this place a death trap, because people assume it’s only knee-deep and step in to never be seen again. I hate this river. I have nightmares about it. I will never go to England just because I don’t want to be in the same country as this people-swallowing stream. 10/10, I live in constant fear of this place.

Honorable mention: The Quarry, Pennsylvania

I don’t know if that’s it’s actual name. This lake gets an honorable mention not because it’s particularly deep or dangerous, but it’s where I almost drowned during a scuba diving accident.

Tom Bombadil, and water lilies in the Old Forest…I drew this one last summer  (with no-good old watercolors on pretty bad paper, since I was camping in the middle of forest myself  :P )

last doodles for tonight: tiny Olorin helping Varda to put the stars in place, and tiny Mairon bringing some fire to the forges of Aulë

stjärnfall / falling stars