And I will definitely third @mercuryreads.bsky.social's work! ❤️

Credit for the original image that the image in this thread is largely based on goes to NASA, ESA, P. Kalas and J. Graham (University of California, Berkeley), and M. Clampin (NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center) /End🧵

This peer-reviewed paper is based on two separate papers presented at PCA in April of 2023 and Tolkien@UVM in April of 2024 and forms the theoretical basis of my larger #SauronProject. 7/

That high degree of indeterminacy and ambiguity has implications for how Sauron is interpreted by readers, fans creating fan works, and those producing adaptations that feature Sauron. 6/

Lastly, it argues that when viewing Sauron across the entire legendarium, Sauron can be said to be gestalt across an additional metatextual dimension. 5/

Further, it argues that #RingsofPower season one *attempts* to mimic the indeterminacy of Sauron in #TheLordoftheRings through the construction of a “Schrödinger box” (as opposed to a “mystery box”). 4/

Building on the semiotics work of Nagy (2013), it argues that Sauron in The Lord of the Rings can be read as gestalt across the spatial, temporal, and mythological dimensions of the Secondary World and has a geographical dimension that can be interpreted through the Gestalt laws of perception. 3/

It argues firstly that Sauron’s high degree of indeterminacy and ambiguity suggests he can be read as a gestalt entity, one the reader creates by mentally constructing a whole from (seemingly) disparate parts. 2/

Thank you! Glad you enjoyed the episode. It was a lot of fun!

❤️🥰❤️

Thanks @thetolkienist.com! ❤️

This paper came up a lot in the @podcast.athrabeth.com episode I was invited to guest host. I'm glad I finally get to share this conference paper!

This paper posits explanations for this lack of synthesis and also argues that aspects of each of these modes can be traced back to abandoned characters who appear in The Book of Lost Tales.

Some of the evolutions that accompanied this expansion are not retroactively reflected in the tales already written, hence these “modes” of Sauron could be said to remain in tension.

...Sauron’s role in the Legendarium expanded significantly across Tolkien’s lifetime as Sauron became the primary antagonist of two additional Ages of Middle-earth.

While Sauron’s most robust First Age appearance (in the tale of Beren and Lúthien) remained relatively unchanged from his introduction in the 1920s until Tolkien’s death...

Abstract: this paper argues that Sauron is a metatextual shape-shifter. Through diachronic analysis it identifies and charts three distinct “modes” of Sauron coexisting in Tolkien’s legendarium.

She is totally awesome!!!