#“Actually I'm going to keep the Silmaril because it is the Silmaril for which my family has already suffered so much”

[erendur]

"It's a big, bloody stupid [Silmaril] with a big, bloody stupid curse on it, and every time you decide to [keep it], something bloody stupid terrible happens !" Melian (probably)

I've made a serious post yesterday so feel like I deserve a shit one today !

For those who have both read the Silm and seen the series What We Do In The Shadows, don't you feel like there is a parallel between Doriath's Silmaril and Lazlo's cursed hat ?

For those who haven't seen What We Do In The Shadows (I don't know how to capitalise in English, sorry), this guy above (Lazlo) owns a hat that is made of witches' skin, and is cursed. Every time he wears it, terrible catastrophes happen (the Irish potato famine, for instance).

It is his most prized possession and he absolutely refuses to believe it is cursed, or to get rid of it. He also thinks it makes him look cool (see picture above).

His wife keeps trying to make him get rid of it, because it is OBVIOUSLY cursed, and she has some common sense. Hence :"It's a big bloody stupid hat with a big, bloody stupid curse on it, and every time you decide to wear it, something bloody stupid terrible happens !" (Nadja, Lazlo's wife, in the series).

Elwing, and the people of Sirion : "You know what ? We have a great feeling about this ! The Silmaril is totes bringing blessings to us and our houses and our boats. NOTHING could possibly go wrong. We're totally keeping it."

The Silmaril, which at this point is either directly or indirectly the cause of (at least) the death of Finrod, the destruction of Nargothrond, the death of Thingol, the fall of Doriath, the destruction of the dwarves of Menegroth, the death of Dior, the death of Nimloth, the death of Elured and Elurin, probably the death of quite a few others as well and has been cursed at least twice : ...

Melian, from Valinor : *facepalming*

[thesummerestsolstice]

In my post about the strange residents of Rivendell, I mentioned a Feanorian die-hard and an old bodyguard of Thingol. I recently hit a thousand reblogs– which is amazing! So in honor of that, I'm writing their stories out. This is part one, I'll get the rest out over the next couple days.

The Feanorian Die-hard: Hrivossa

Maedhros' right hand at Himring, a dedicated captain with an axe and a burning hatred of Morgoth

Laiquendi former thrall, captured during the First Battle of Beleriand; when the Laiquendi king Denethor was killed

Was refused entry to Doriath after escaping from Angband– at this point, most escaped prisoners were thought to be sleeper agents sent to get information for Morgoth

Wandered for the next few years, mostly alone, occasionally finding Elvish towns that feared her because of the marks of Morgoth's torture and thought her one of his puppets

Ended up stumbling across one of Maedhros's orc hunting parties in the Early First Age, and jumped at the chance to actually fight Morgoth

Maedhros was also one of the only lords willing to help former thralls at that point; he gaze Hrivossa a new home and purpose, fighting alongside him against their shared tormentor

It's not hard to understand why she became so loyal to the Feanorian cause

This is also when she took the Quenya name Hrivossa, "winter wall," because she was as frigid and unbreakable as Himring's walls

(her original Nandor name is mostly for her close friends)

Between Denethor's death and hiding in Doriath with Melian instead of doing anything about Morgoth, Hrivossa absolutely hates Thingol

She's generally a cold person around strangers, but she warms up around her friends, and her wits and tongue are as sharp as her sword

Part of the general morbid humor culture that built up in First Age Himring

She does not have a soft spot for the Sindar claiming that the Silmaril belongs to them now

She does have a noticeable soft spot for small half-elves who keep pestering her for stories about what life was like in Beleriand before the sun and moon

She fought with Maedhros until the bloody, bitter end, being forcefully brought into the custody of Valinor's forces late in the War of Wrath

She was the leader of the Feanorian faction who chose not to submit to the Valar's judgement, or to willingly go to Aman to do penance

They generally made themselves trouble while in custody

To avoid any more ugly conflict, Elrond eventually took responsibility for this faction, becoming their lord (though Elrond did NOT become Lord of the House of Feanor) and promising to keep them from committing any more violent acts

Hrivossa and the others, all of whom had lived in Amon Ereb and helped raised Elrond, found this agreeable

All of these elves are still very much see Elrond as their Lords' child, who must be protected at all costs, so there's that

And that is the story of how Elrond became responsible for the remaining Feanorians, but only the really fucked up ones

Seriously, they don't do any other murders, but they do cause all sorts of other trouble

Also, how Elrond inherited one (1) extremely determined bodyguard

[runawaymun]

I'm sure you'll get/have gotten other asks about this same thing, but I would love, love, love to know more about your ideas for a messy kidnap fam fic. :)

(also, accidently unfollowed when trying to hit the ask button. it's finally happened)

Ask me about my not-yet-written-fics from this list

The Messy Kidnap Fam Longfic

Under a cut for length

It all starts with Mae and Mags finding Elrond and Elros in Elwing's wardrobe post-oath-induced-rage fugue.

Elros and Elrond put up a hell of a fight to Not Get Taken and are absolutely convinced that a) Elwing has been murdered and b) they're also about to get murdered.

Maedhros gets bitten by Elros >:3

Mae and Mags have a debate about What To Do With them. I feel like maybe Mae initially is like "Put Those Back Where They Came From or So Help Me" at Mags, but the only idea they come up with is maybe leaving the twins at the edge of what's left of Sirion in the hopes that they'll be found (because if they tried to drop off the twins in person they'd get attacked on sight by Gil Galad and Cirdan). But Mae can't stop worrying that they'll die of exposure that way (he still feels awful about what happened to Elured and Elurin at Doriath).

They both realize at the exact same time that Elwing and Earendil Might Want Their Kids Back and Might Be Willing to Do A Lot to get them back, and so Elrond and Elros would be excellent hostages who could potentially be ransomed for a Silmaril.

So Elrond and Elros are very much hostages at this point. Mae and Mags do not really interact with them at all (save for Mags poking around in their minds to try and get some information out of them. Which Mae disapproves of but doesn't care enough about to stop him. He's in a bad way rn. Like his last other baby brother save Mags just died and he himself just participated in a massacre and he doesn't feel particularly good about it. They didn't even get a Silmaril and their own forces are fragmented post Sirion. My boy is barely keeping things together. They're together with duct tape and string at this point).

The twins are carted along the road back to Amon Ereb but kept under too heavy guard for them to be able to escape.

Also absolutely nobody in camp understands how to look after Peredhil. The twins do not get enough food to start with and they probably get sick from the elements, and this does go unnoticed for a WHILE.

They get back to Amon Ereb and are promptly put in a horrible little white room with a lock on the door. Again, Mae and Mags are not much interested with interacting with them at this point. Mags is a bit more interested but that's mostly because the twins remind him of Ambarussa and he's also emotionally unstable.

Mae sends ransom demands to Elwing, Earendil, and Gil-Galad, and they wait.

The twins are still hungry and sick, and convinced that they're gonna die. Also Mags keeps interacting with them and it's scary.

(They do get a window because keeping elves or elf adjacent beings away from view of the stars is unthinkably cruel, even for Mae and Mags. But they also still continue to be pretty neglected, and there is really nothing to do in that room. Elrond goes pretty catatonic at this point and Elros starts trying to tear holes through the drywall).

At some point it occurs to Mags and Mae that the twins are in poor condition and that's not really good when it comes to trying to ransom them.

They don't really know what to do though and so they consult some humans in their service, who are understandably like "uhhhhhhhhh they need more food and some medicine probably boss. Also it's kind of cold for them actually like sure it's fine for an elf but these are actual half-human babies).

Cue the twins finally getting some basic help. I have a vague idea that they bond with a human nurse that's sent in to look after them because Mae and Mags just cannot be bothered to Think About It.

Mae especially is pointedly staying away because it's too painful to be around the twins because a) they remind him of his brothers and b) they remind him of everything awful he's ever done and he can't handle that guilt.

Things continue to be Bad For A While.

Also I forgot to mention that Elrond and Elros have a poor grasp of Quenya at best, and so they really don't understand anything being said around them. They're picking it up fast though. Especially Elrond.

Finally a rejection of the ransom demands comes back.

What the fuck.

Mae absolutely goes into a rage over this because he literally does not know what else he can do. Because apparently Earendil and Elwing are on a boat somewhere with his father's Silmaril.

"What are we doing with the twins?"

Elrond and Elros are more convinced than ever that they're gonna get killed.

It's agreed that the twins should be dropped off somewhere to be found by Gil-Galad, and that trip begins. They likely send a letter to Gil-Galad announcing that they're returning the twins.

Gil-Galad has absolutely no reason to believe that the twins are alive and smells a trap. He does not come to pick up the twins.

Mae and Mags do watch (or have someone else watch) from a distance to make sure the twins are collected. The twins are not collected. The day wanes on into night. It gets really cold. The twins start bawling because they really think they're going to die now.

Mae really can't bear that and also at this point he's mad at everyone and everything.

They recollect the twins and decide that they're just going to have to look after them now until they're old enough to go back to Gil on their own.

Cue a very long tiptoe process of Mags getting attached to the twins and Mae refusing to (he's actually a big softie though so eventually he does).

I have way more ideas about later stages but this is already getting ridiculously long, sorry.

TLDR: (but I can elaborate more if people want me to): Mae and Mags finally start to get a grasp on Peredhil needs but wow is the damage done.

Elrond and Elros are veeeery slow to trust.

Super codependant relationship forms, with Elrond especially terrified of being left again because Mae and Mags are the only people who seem to want them now. Elrond starts emotionally regulating Mae and Mags just as much (if not more) than he used to for Elwing.

Mae and Mags get very attached to the twins and use them to cling to the last remnants of their personhood. This is not a good thing.

There's obviously more here I've thought this out very thoroughly.

Love grew between them but it was fucked from the start, essentially.

Also um something something the twins losing their Sindarin and not being raised in their Sindarin culture and essentially getting unintentionally completely colonized by Mae and Mags :/ icky and unavoidable.

[serene-faerie]

For the silm ask meme🗡️🐉🪄?

Hi anon! Sorry for answering this late!

🗡️ Defend your favorite war criminal (or make them worse - I'm not your mom).

Oh god, this is difficult...

Since Maedhros and Fëanor are the only war criminals I actually find fairly interesting, I'll talk about them.

Even though Fëanor is kind of a prick, at least he has some redeeming qualities. I really like that he loved Nerdanel not for her looks but for her skills and character, and I do think that they had a very happy marriage prior to him making the Silmarils. What makes Fëanor interesting to me is how he had so much potential to be one of the greatest Elves in the world, but then he was corrupted by Morgoth, which brought out a very ugly side to him.

As for Maedhros, his story is very much a Shakespearean tragedy. I don't know if I'd go as far as to call him a tragic hero, but I will say that he's more of a Macbeth, in my honest opinion. Like his father, Maedhros has some redeeming qualities: he's a skilled fighter, and he has a sweet friendship with Fingon. He has a lot of potential to be one of the greatest Elven heroes of the First Age, but because of his choices, he falls into darkness and becomes one of the greatest war criminals. And that, to me, is such a compelling part of his story.

🐉 A lot of figures in the Silm have weird Eldritch powers or possibly biology. Tell us about your headcanons for one.

I'll go with my girl Lúthien.

My headcanon is that Lúthien is luminescent due to her Maia blood. However, she only glows when she's feeling safe and happy, when she's around someone she trusts. Her skin glows whenever she and Beren make love, which shows just how much she loves and trusts Beren. As for Beren, he thinks it's absolutely beautiful when she starts glowing, and he's so honored that she trusts him so much.

🪄You can change how one (1) Big Event goes down in the Silm - either in favor of something in HoME or something you made up. What happens instead? Tell us the cool stuff!

I don't know if Lúthien's captivity and escape from Nargothrond counts as a Big Event, but here's how I would make it go down.

Lúthien isn't completely isolated during captivity. Instead, she manages to befriend Celebrimbor, who is completely disgusted with how his father and uncle are treating her. He protects her and keeps her safe from their advances, and he helps her plan an escape from the kingdom. Later, when things get too dangerous, Celebrimbor sends Huan to Lúthien's chambers to help her escape. And while Lúthien and Huan are escaping, Celebrimbor distracts his father and uncle so that they don't notice anything.

And though neither Lúthien nor Celebrimbor see each other again after that, they both have fond memories of each other that they carry in their hearts for the rest of their lives.

Thanks so much for sending these! Please feel free to send some more!

[swanmaids]

hmm thinking about your everlasting darkness take - I actually disagree a little? Purely because at the end of the silm Maedhros and Maglor very obviously *still believe* that they're doomed to Everlasting Darkness if they don't get the Silmarils back: "And by Ilúvatar we swore in our madness, and called the Everlasting Darkness upon us, if we kept not our word. Who shall release us?" They clearly can't be afraid of literal darkness at that stage, since the sun and the moon have been around for centuries. Curious what your take on these lines is, if you're comfortable answering! (and I'm absolutely not trying to start Discourse(tm) or anything, I hope this doesn't come across as belligerent because it isn't meant that way at all <3)

Don’t worry about it, I know what you mean! My thoughts- and I think SE’s original post said the same thing? - is that what the everlasting darkness originates as when the oath is written is no longer what it represents to the remaining oath takers by the end of the first age. When the oath is first taken, the threat of a literal everlasting darkness is tangibly real. Feanor and sons iirc don’t know about the fruits that were salvaged? And even if they did, don’t exactly trust the Valar at this point. So they have reason to believe that if the silmarils are not reclaimed, nothing will remain of the light of the trees.

But later, the rising of the sun and moon - and even later the rising of Earendil - prove this to be incorrect, as you say. But by the time Maedhros and Maglor choose to go after the silmarils, they’re in despair, having lost their whole family and committed atrocities to fulfill their oath which they keep failing at (and realistically can’t succeed at. What’s their plan to get Eärendil’s?). I posit that at this point, Maglor the poet is using the phrase “everlasting darkness” to refer to something other than what Feanor originally intended. Maybe eternal despair - they might very well at this point believe nobody can release them from their inner torments. Does that make sense?

[thelordofgifs]

I was looking through older chapters of tfs and your character beats for Maedhros (and also fingon) are so consistent from early on up to chapter 30!!

"How very like Maedhros, to love people, and doom them for it" chapter 11

"A lot of his general worldview is predicated on Fingon being a good person" chapter 8

"You and him?” Curufin demands.

Right. Maedhros was worried about that secret getting out.

Oh well." chapter 8

"“My father doesn’t want to keep you chained,” she tells him. “Everyone in Beleriand knows what you’ve suffered! He’s only afraid you’ll do something terrible to get this.” She raises the Silmaril again. “And you would, wouldn’t you? Even though you’re afraid to touch it.” “I don’t know,” Maedhros whispers, features crumpling in misery." chapter 3!! he still doesn't know what he would do!!!

I'm going insane your character beats are so good.

Thank you!! A lot of these specific moments had actually slipped my mind lol (maybe I should reread my own fic…). But I have tried to keep characterisation details and character arcs consistent throughout, so this is a rather pleasant surprise.

I DO like the idea that Maedhros cannot see the people he loves with any degree of objectivity, that he completely shies away from the knowledge that Fingon and Maglor are both Kinslayers, and that he does on some level buy into Fingon’s legend, the image of him as the heroic prince and Eagle-rider and dragon-fighter, and forgets the darker parts of him. Which is part of why he’s in such free-fall in part 30: between the kiss (which genuinely hurt him, even if he DOES overreact a bit too) and Turgon’s hard truths, he is being forced to confront the idea that Fingon is capable of doing bad things, which terrifies him.

As for Russingon and secrecy: it’s my general headcanon that they WERE very secretive about their relationship. There was never a time when it was politically convenient, after all. So in the third arc, when I wanted to shake that dynamic up a bit, and make it something more complicated than a symbol of hope and light and steadiness to Maedhros, the secrecy thing felt like the easiest thing to go for.

The whole Maedhros-is-scared-of-touching-the-Silmaril thing was a big motif in the very first few parts of the fic, but then he finally holds it when Celegorm dies and is able to touch it which... almost felt like an anticlimax, for a while. But then I managed to work in the idea that he thinks it should burn him, just like he thinks Maglor shouldn't forgive him (these are basically the same concept to him because he is so so so normal about his brother), which drove a lot of his thinking in the third arc and was a pretty fun thread to play with! There is... rather a lot that Maedhros needs to work out about the Oath and also his understanding of himself. Unfortunately I do not think he'll be getting much free therapy atm.

[legitimatesatanspawn]

What if Beren and Luthien were genderbent?

Ooh, that's an interesting question.

Now, forewarning: this is just a bunch of theories and personal thoughts on the matter so don't take this as canon. It is rooted in what we do know of the families involved and a bit in how social structures work in the setting, but in this case it is completely me talking out of hand about this.

Names. This is a big thing to me because I love names and this will help me keep the idea separate from canon. Luthien is Quenyan for "flower-daughter" so let's go with one of the Quenyan suffixes for males… Luthion sounds good if a bit too on the nose. Another option for flower are Lot/Loth from Ninquelótë, Númellótë, and Vingilot. So Lótëmon? Now Beren was named after his maternal grandfather, but since I don't know his grandmother's name we'll go up the tree for his great-grandmother Adanel. I'm guessing his mother Emeldir got naming rights to go with Beren instead of him getting named after Bregor. Admittedly Lotemon and Adanel might not roll off as easily as Luthien and Beren but they work for this post.

Brief Discussion of Upbringing: Beren and Luthien Beren, or Adanel now as this will be easier. While Artanis (or Galadriel as we know her) is the biggest Noldorian female who stands out in my memory with the next one being Nerdanel who was the wife of Feanor who deserves her own loredump post, the laws of succession in Numenor which in turn are basically spread to the civilizations of Man to varying degrees in the known lands of Middle Earth are cribbed off of those of the Noldor. Which is why I'm bringing two Noldor elves up here. Basically titles go paternally to the nearest male descendant although in the case of a female eldest child she still receives family heirlooms as her birthright. (Doesn't make up for it but whatever.) Although I do remember there being a case where there were several older daughters onto whom one of the Numenorian kings tried to pass the title to but their grandmother spooked them like some grammas tend to do, so they refused and the title went to their younger brother. Now here's the fun bit: Beren's mother (much like Luthien's Melian) Emeldir is a BAMF. Her name and her title both basically were "the man-hearted woman". So Emeldir without doubt kicked ass, lived to at least 50 going by the events surrounding Dagor Bragollach (the Battle of Sudden Flame), and I like to think she raised Beren to understand important stuff like consent and a refusal being just that. So while I think that "Adanel" would be treated just as Beren would, she wouldn't get exactly the same equal treatment. But given her mother, her father would likely try anyway. So Beren's life as a woman would be largely unchanged. Luthien, or as she'll be here "Lótëmon", is still the only child of Thingol and Melian. Still half-maia, still likely beautiful and fairer beyond everything. Still probably has a thing for tall, broad shouldered, and golden-brown half-feral people spotted in the forest. Maybe a little more leeway when it comes to things and hopefully not kidnapped (which would mean no Huan) but considering he'll still be Beautiful and how beauty is often coveted in the setting… I suspect that "Lotemon" will also live largely the same life.

Quest and Future Rather than demanding the Silmaril as the brideprice, perhaps it is instead just a proof of strength or resoluteness or something. Again, Thingol would've probably thought Beren/"Adanel" would actually be able to do it but the sheer balls to go through with it and return with that damn bold claim of it being indeed still in hand when they return… The knockoff effects for the future will be different though. Luthien and Beren's story was fairly unusual and set the stage for an elf choosing a mortal, and a mortal pursing something dangerous in the name of love. A man may be viewed as brave in some societies/civilizations by their fellow men while a woman instead deemed foolish for the same actions which is disgusting but there it is. A woman using beauty to bewitch her enemies would be 'sexy' while a man doing the same would be different and perhaps seen as underhanded. Although it would be one of the goodside counterparts to Sauron's wiles and paint the idea that cleverness such as that is not always in service of selfish cruelty. It's possible that instead of singing of Luthien's beauty they'd be singing of "Lotemon" and his cunning. There's also some slightly different implications of the mortal woman dying and waiting for her love who when he joins her has to fight for the right for them to stay together in death or in life. This also means that Thingol taking in Turin would have a few more connotations of replacing his lost son instead of caring for a second child who is different from his daughter. So maybe Turin would be even more eager to run out to fight since he doesn't want to be seen as a pale shadow to "Lotemon".

TLDR Different names, slightly different upbringings, somewhat different after effects, but since the Song is a thing and the Silmarils are still a big big thing with the characters then the story would likely stay largely the same.

[yellow-faerie]

Silver Twins, Red Lovers - an Eluréd and Elurín fic where they're adopted by Caranthir and his wife

Maybe We Belong Among The Stars - a Silmarillion Sci Fi AU that I only ever posted one fic for

The Paths We Tread - a buckwild Silmarillion AU that I wrote loads for but I haven't touched in actual years

All Good Things Comes In Threes - a Silmaril triplets AU based off @ibrithir-was-here's AU that I keep meaning to finish...

Ah, Look At These Fucked Up Little Doctors - a name that was meant to only be a place holder for my *slightly* AU House MD fics but sorta...became permanent

Anything Goes - the title of the series that was meant to follow my Sandman AU and then...nothing happened lol

Dancing With Your Ghosts - a DSMP fic that I swear is getting updated, I just keep getting distracted lol

A Guide To Raising Elflings - that one AU where the Fëanorians are kids and end up being raised by Mairon

View With A Grain of Sand - a TMA AU where Martin and Jon go back in time in the aftermath of MAG 200 and accidentally adopt the Lukas kids

Tumblr Prompts - 😔 I do love to look at the prompts and go 'Wow! This is such a good idea!' and then not do anything about it...

Honorary Mentions (because I could only put ten things in the poll):

Twelve is a Lucky Number - an AU I've barely started where Fëanor and Nerdanel have five daughters on top of their seven sons

A Step-By-Step Guide To The Universe - an ATLA AU wherein Lu-Ten has a childhood friend except I wrote one fic and then...don't entirely know where I'm taking it from here

Time Convergences - a KOTOR time travel fic where the Jedi Exile, Revan and Alek come forward to the clone wars...in the bodies of adolescents

All Ways Lead to Hilltop Road - a fic that delves into the possibility of a TMA multiverse with a Somewhere Else that Jon has to go through to find Martin

Who on Arda Invited the Elf? - a very self indulgent fic where I put my OC Nibenaes in the Company of Thorin Oakenshield so that she can cause Chaos and generally be mad

[sillylotrpolls]

More great comments and tags:

#i want jewelry that looks simple but elegant and won't get in the way or snag or scratch my clothes or bump against things#so the little ring will do nicely#just a simple band @the-journey-was-the-point

If I'm going to get jewelry from a flea market, I'm getting my money's worth and I'm going to get some for my family members. @davetheswat6

#I took Nenya cuz I too would love to be depressed in Lothlorien#and also so I can make nenya business jokes @penthesileas

I chose the pearl. What does it do?@samuel-the-blonde22 It probably makes the dwarven Lord of Belegost mad at you for keeping it from him 😁 @arcanetrivia

#You know what#I'll take a silmaril#this will cause no problems surely @knifegiver

#I'm buying the Silmaril for $5 and then re-selling it on ebay for millions @naugimmellon

#plops down $5 for the ring of barahir!#gets home and realizes it's actually a ring of bebarahir @rannadylin

#taking the silmaril and putting it inside a giant cat trap so i can catch maglor and take him to therapy @giantnerdsnake

#lmao it doesn't matter because we're all about to meet our untimely demise when the flea market gets sacked by the feanorians#(and it's going to) @grantairzee

#hey OP quick question why does it hurt to touch#anything you wanna share with the class @lesbienj

#lol i see my taste is basic again#well. basic for tumblr. which is probably worse @404computerhamstersnotfound

#ah so we're all going to fight over one ring that's not the one ring lol @timid-booklover-in-a-corner

#Narya#though now I think of it#I am a bit concerned about this one guy#who has all this priceless jewellery to nearly GIVE away#almost a lord of gifts you might say @cycas

Hey guys, I just got back from the flea market and this one jewelry table had some GREAT stuff! Anyone want anything? $5 each or best offer.

[arafinweanappreciation]

For the Finwean Ladies ask game (which is very fun, I love it):

Can you do Nerdanel please?

1, 7, 12, 13 + 16?

Oooh. Nerdanel can be a difficult on

What's her general attitude towards the Finwean Family Drama?

Okay, so this may not be popular, but. I think she had to be an enabler if not an active participant. She married Feanor. FEANOR. And she didn't separate from him until the Silmaril obsession got unhealthy and caused some marital issues. So while I'm not sure she was actually encouraging contention, I don't think she was stopping Feanor, either. Especially since if she was persistent about it, Feanor might have stopped to listen before Morgoth got involved. She probably has some Opinions about the Staute of Miriel and Finwe that she mostly keeps to herself (except when she's talking to Feanor). Of course, this is all headcanon. Purely my opinion.

7. Thoughts on her as a mother (if applicable)?

Ummm... tbh, not many. I don't spend a lot of time thinking about the Feanorions, for some reason (see my speculation on why here), and that extends to Nerdanel and Feanor's parenting. I don't think she was bad mom. Nor do I think she was a perfect mother. I have... some questions about her naming practices for her sons, but I don't think that necessarily translates over into how she actually treated and raised them. I do think Maedhros probably ended up with some Eldest Daughter syndrome, as tends to happen in large families. She was definitely a VERY busy woman depending on how you view the timeline.

12. What's her reputation among the general populace?

I think that, first and foremost, she's known as The Best Sculptor. Other than that, whatever's going on with the Finweans can spark gossip about her, but it generally fades away relatively quickly. I remember seeing somewhere that the Noldor were kind of surprised that Feanor would marry her because she wasn't that attractive, essentially???? That probably colored people's perceptions of her for a while, and her separation from Feanor and the Flight of the Noldor would have definitely made things pretty awkward for a while. I think people mostly view in her in the two separate capacities, almost as two separate people, but equally famous for each.

13. What character do you really wish she had gotten to meet/hope she will someday meet?

Another difficult one. Like I said in the post about Lalwen, most of these are based on narrative parallels for me, and I can't really think of anyone off the top of my head.

Actually, scratch that. Belladonna Took. Bilbo's mom. They should have a ladies' night.

16. Wild card: either ask me a question that's not on here or let me ramble. Up to you.

I don't think Nerdanel was particularly close to her sisters-in-law before the Flight, but I do think afterwards she occasionally stops by to have lunch with Anaire because suddenly they have a whole lot in common. (Earwen is there, too, but she's not part of the My Husband Is An Idiot And Crossed The Grinding Ice With All Of Our Children And I Don't Know When I'll Be Able To See Him Again But We Will Be Having Words When It Happens club, so she only joins in the conversation sometimes.)

Anyway, glad you're enjoying the game! I am, too.

[sunflowersupremes]

I think I've made like, two sarcastic comments about how I'm glad the Finarfin you've mentioned isn't the Finarfin from my stories (or at least in the splinters like jewel shards verse) but I don't think I've asked, do you have any headcanons on Finarfin? I'm interested if you'd like to share any!

-@outofangband

@outofangband

Yes!!! I remember that comment. I also hope he’s a bit nicer than the Finarfin from Return in Chains, one of my fics (although that Finarfin isn’t evil… just… makes questionable decisions out of desperation, which is basically the Finwean Family Pastime).

I LOVE FINARFIN.

He thinks “Finarfin” (aka Finwe-Ara-Finwe) is a terrible name and can’t believe his brother would have done such a stupid thing. (He also thinks “Fingolfin” is a terrible translation).

After all his relatives took off and left them, he got put in charge of not only the country, but also literally everyone’s CRAP. Meaning, as the only remaining member of the house of Finwë, he had to figure out what to do with all the houses and possessions they left behind. He ended up boarding them up and leaving them, in the hopes that they would come back one day (elven possessions don’t rot or decay, after all).

The only time he used one of his relatives homes after they left was gifting Maglor’s house to Celebrían when she arrived. By that time he had accepted that Maglor would never return, and he figured she had the best claim to it (and it had the largest garden, which he knew she would like, and it was in the artist’s district which she loved). When Elrond actually managed to drag Maglor back with him, Arafinwë was SHOCKED. Thankfully, Maglor was fine with him gifting it to her and just moved in with them.

He just generally seems like he wants the best for everyone. I don’t think he’s a coward, I think he’s just very cautious (and he has a bit of foresight, which means he probably saw that the future would be WORSE if he went as well). I also like the idea that part of his reason for staying was ‘get on the Valar’s good side so I can eventually convince them to help’ not realizing that by the time they helped his entire family would be dead.

He has a great sense of humor and is generally a fun guy to be around. His assorted relatives know they’re always welcome at either of his homes (he has one in Tirion and one in Aqualonde) even if he’s not there himself. Half the time he gets back from vacation to find at least two random nieces/nephews chilling in his house.

He and Maglor both have a similar grasp of emotions and Osanwe. Maglor uses his gifts to fuck with people; Finarfin tries to use his to help people. He spends a lot of time going around fixing all the people Maglor has screwed with.

Arafinwë annoys Maglor precisely because he can see through Maglor’s attempts at manipulation. Maglor tried to trick him into doing something once and Finarfin calmly said ‘if you wanted attention you only had to ask’ (that, of course, was HIGHLY OFFENSIVE as far as Maglor was concerned).

Arafinwë does not want the crown. It is a running joke in Tirion that whenever someone from the line of Finwë is reborn or sails, he tries to give them the crown (it is true, actually, but no one else wants the thing either). He even tries to give it to Maglor once he turns up.

His attempt at inventing democracy backfired when he was elected.

Nerdanel becomes very close to him during the First Age while they bond over missing their children.

He keeps a memorial in the palace garden, with markers - made by Nerdanel - for every fallen member of the house of Finwë. They even add a marker for Gil-Galad after the Last Alliance even though no one has any idea who the fuck he is or if he’s related. The memorials are kept even after the dead are re-embodied, as a reminded of ‘that dumb thing you did that one time’

He makes annual trips to the Halls of Mandos just to ‘chat’ with Namo (and subtly inquire as to when he’s going to be getting his relatives back). Finrod’s release was, in part, to try to appease Arafinwë, but all it did was make him more determined that he COULD get the rest of his family back.

He informs Namo that no, no you will NOT be keeping my brother and his children until the Second Music, thank you very much. (Namo points out that their Fëar are very badly damaged, Arafinwë asks why the fuck Namo thinks that he - as a Vala - is best equipped to heal people who hate his guts)

Fëanor gave him a pet swan when he was five because Fëanor thinks swans are assholes and expected it to terrorize his younger brother. Instead Arafinwë befriended the swan and trained it to bite Fëanor on command.

Arafinwë typically doesn’t eat meat, the only exception is fish.

He can’t figure out why the Valar put Eönwë in charge of the host. I mean, he’s a great guy and a terrifying fighter, but he seems to have a few screws loose.

Elrond and Elros’ return to Gil-Galad was only because of Arafinwë. Maedhros and Maglor didn’t trust the host of the Valar, but Arafinwë sent them a letter promising to personally watch over the twins and arguing that they would be safer with the Host. Because of this, Elrond and Elros resented him for a long time, blaming him for taking them away from their adopted family.

Arafinwë spent a good chunk of the War of the Wrath keeping Eönwë from accidentally causing Diplomatic Incidents or Other Minor Catastrophes. The rest of the War was spent trying to work how the the fuck he’s related to Gil-Galad. He still isn’t sure, he’s pretty sure Fingon might have just picked up a random kid somewhere. Or he might be a Fëanorian, but he kind of hopes NOT. He loves his half-brother, but holy fuck.

It was his idea to turn Morgoth’s crown into a collar, because he was fucking pissed off by that point. It was mostly a joke, but Eönwë, being a himbo, went with it.

He was attempting to negotiate either the return of the Silmarils OR a different way to end the Oath when Maedhros and Maglor stole the Silmarils from Eönwë’s camp. One of the guards they killed was a childhood friend of Arafinwë. Arafinwë already had rooms waiting for Maedhros and Maglor back in Tirion, because as soon as he got them on a boat he was planning to take them straight home, whether that was the Valar’s plan or not.

Arafinwë had managed to arrange a pardon for Galadriel, but she was still angry and proud and announced that she didn’t want it, thus resulting in her getting a personal ban.

He knew Galdalf before he went to Middle Earth and gave him a very long list of things to tell Galadriel, most of which amounted to ‘get over yourself and apologize to the Valar so you can come home you fucking idiot (and please tell Elrond hello, he’s a lovely child, really)’

He adores the Hobbits and can’t believe Elrond managed to bring them. Gandalf who? He gives his grandson-in-law all the credit, thank you very much.

[tolkien-feels]

Silmblogging: Quenta 3: Of the Coming of the Elves and the Captivity of Melkor

Let's do some catching up!

Disclaimer: I'm extremely fond of the BoLT version of the Captivity of Melkor so I'm very biased against the published Silm for this one 😬 The BoLT version would never work with the published Silm but you can't beat it for sheer entertainment value

Love how Yavanna Kementari, gentle lover of everything which grows, is always down to get Morgoth's ass kicked. I mean, she can barely tolerate the Children destroying her creations, she sure won't let Morgoth get away with it. But it's so funny

Not to get on my BoLT Captivity Superiority agenda again but you know how Yavanna says Morgoth is challenging Manwe's authority and Tulkas immediately says they should fight? Watch hold on to this extremely tenuous evidence that even in the published Silm I can have the ICONIC relationship that is BoLT Tulkas and Manwe. Please Tolkien don't steal away from me the "Hot-headed warrior god is protective of pacifist king god and accidentally invents being an anger translator in the process" dynamic I'm begging you

Anyway, back to the actual text. What's up with Orome finding the elves? I mean, it's got to be Iluvatar's doing, right? Ulmo or Manwe or Varda or Mandos would've been likelier choices due to their special skills of witnessing all things that happen under certain conditions. And the word "chance" is used in the text, which is pretty much proof that it's Providence or whatever you want to call it.

But 1) what does Orome provide that other Valar couldn't? And 2) if Iluvatar can hide the Children from the Valar.... Can't he hide them from Morgoth who's traumatizing them pretty much from the second they wake up? Or rather, why didn't he?

Elves going from "The stars are so pretty!! Let's sing!!" to "There are horrors hiding in waiting to devour us, the world is fundamentally a dangerous place. Let's sing!!" is so on brand on every level, I can never read that paragraph without wanting to laugh

Not to criticize Manwe my beloved, but if he could seek the counsel of Iluvatar, wouldn't it be better to ask What's To Be Done About The Elves instead of What's To Be Done About Morgoth?

I can imagine exactly none of the great battles involving Valar but this one for some reason is especially impossible for me to picture

Iluvatar: I, a Maker, who have only created makers, shall have Children. They shall awake in the heart of Middle Earth and they'll fall in love with it.

Valar: Got it, even if we keep losing some of them we'll take them to the land where they'll have no need to create anything

I mean I understand that they love the elves and I feel a lot of compassion for them because I can see they're doing their very best but like. Feanor loved the Silmarils and we can all agree he should've given them up in order to heal Aman. Maybe the Valar should've given up the elves to heal Middle Earth. Love not too well the works of thy hands but also love not too well the works of Iluvatar's hands, guys!

I'd LOVE to know more about the friendship between Thingol and Finwe. In general, I feel like we should know more about Finwe given how important he is, but especially this. I feel it'd make the future wars in Beleriand even more heartbreaking

That's about all I can remember after a week 😬 I really have to be more timely about these

[tanoraqui]

next-day reblog with the multiple funny A/N’s I didn’t include because a) I couldn't decide which was best, and b) if you write a funny joke at the end, 90% of comments are about the joke and I didn’t want to distract from the fic

Maglor gets (Elwing gives him) a t-shirt that on the front reads, “IF LOST, RETURN TO EÄRENDIL”, and the back, “or just me give a square meal and let me wander freely; I'm like a sad, singing homing pigeon”

anyone: …Gil-Estel, that is, Eärendil bearing his Silmaril— Eärendil: And Vingilotë, the most wonderful ship ever! Eärendil and Vingilotë bearing the Silmaril. anyone: Er, okay. Eärendil and Vingilotë bearing his Silmaril— Eärendil: And it’s Elwing’s Silmaril, actually! Elwing is my wife. :D She’s the most wonderful woman ever. I named my ship after her, and the prow is a swan in her likeness! The Silmaril is really hers, I just carry it for her :) anyone: Wait, didn’t you give the Silmaril to the Valar and they gave it to you in trust to carry as a star? Eärendil: Elwing gave the Silmaril to me to give to the Valar, and when the Valar gave it back, I gave it back to her, but she said I should keep holding it because she doesn’t like sailing very much. It’s her only flaw. :( anyone: How are you doing that with your mouth? Eärendil: Thinking about my amazing wife! :D

unwritten epilogue-ish deleted scene that’s Maedhros giving Eärendil a “so you’re my little brother’s new liege lord” shovel talk/care-and-feeding-of-your-Maglor guide (mostly shovel talk). Eärendil lets him go for like 30 minutes before cutting him off like, “I appreciate your concern but trust me, I know every facet of Maglor's weird little brain. I probably know every facet of YOUR weird little brain, secondhand. Remember when he was about 100 and played angsty music all night every night for three years straight? Try six and a half THOUSAND years. I won’t say I was listening the entire time, but believe me, if there is anything to know and care about Maglor, believe me, I k n o w.”

Maglor was singing a paean to the Star far to the north when something somewhere broke, and a Shadow across the world disintegrated and faded away. Maglor finished the verse, took a drink of water from his flask, and began the Noldolantë from the beginning. The full version, which ended with a single singer wandering forever on the sundered shore. He didn’t know if this was an ending or a beginning, but either way, his purpose was clear. He even wandered closer to the nearest Mannish village to be sure he was heard. They had to know. They had to know.

A few years later—a few seasons, a few millennia—the Star came for him again.

No, no, he was fairly lucid tonight—it wasn’t for him. It was never for him. “I’m sorry, Ada, I’m trying,” he murmured to his father’s ghost. “But it’s safe from evil forever.”

Fëanor scoffed and turned away, shedding flame and ash. Enraged and embittered, Maglor spat a Song of searing whips at him, until the spirit of fire remembered that he was lost in Darkness or in Mandos and left his son alone.

The Star spun and dipped and beckoned in the way that Maglor sometimes imagined, dreamed, desperately lied to himself meant that it wanted him to follow.

[keep reading on AO3]

[rivalsforlife]

✨🛠👀 for the fanfic asks!!

✨ Give you and your writing a compliment. Go on now. You know you deserve it. 😉

I've improved a lot over the last few years! I used to not be able to write protagonists at all because they came out so bland, but I finally managed to figure out how to write Phoenix in a way I think is satisfying. ... that was two years ago but I haven't been able to write much in the last two years, so I'm going to keep praising myself for that until I can start writing more regularly again.

🛠What tools/programs/apps do you use to write?

I use google docs for autosave and storing it on the cloud so I don't have to worry about my laptop dying/being stolen/breaking/whatever. It's really not that great though it keeps telling me I'm wrong about things I'm not wrong about.

👀 Tell me about an up and coming wip please!

wellll I'm still stuck in writer's block now so I can't guarantee anything, I've been barely managing to work on zine fics. I've made some decent progress into a silmarillion fic, though I'm still trying to work out what it's actually about and am probably going to have to cut and streamline a bunch of stuff once I figure that out, but it's been generally maedhros pov reacting to the beren and luthien story and then all his attempts trying to get that one particular silmaril back. maedhros generally interacting with luthien and her descendants and how they all view him. filling in the blanks of canon pretty much. and there's lots of post-nirnaeth maedhros which is a lot of fun for me! but like I said the focus of that might change. I think I might have to cut out a good part of what I've written so far, or at least rewrite it, which is unfortunate. It's also, like I mentioned in the other ask, a general challenge for me to write because I'm trying to emulate Tolkien's style as much as I can, which is not at all what I'm used to, and I have to keep researching things and correcting myself when I come up with a cool idea and it turns out not to work. Especially given that I haven't reread the Silm in a long time and am working on a memory a few years old.

if all that was understandably complete nonsense and you want an ace attorney answer, the next thing I think I'll be posting is something I half-finished for a gift exchange back in february and really want to get done. The prompt I was given was "the AA cast watching the takarazuka musicals", which is pretty much all humor and pretty fun for me to write.

[shiroandblack]

Celebrían and Opinions Surrounding Her Departure from Middle-Earth

[TW for mentions of torture, death by suicide, mentions of rape, and kidnapping]

Celebrían is truthfully not a character I've given much thought on. To me, she was there to give Elrond a wife (Lúthien Jr needed a mother) and add more angst in his already angst-filled life by having the greatest healer in Middle-Earth fail to heal one of the people he loved the most. My opinions of her were neutral and my love of her dependent on each fanfic author's portrayal of her.

I think she was probably a genuinely pleasant person, probably politically unambitious unlike her mother Galadriel (but that's my own interpretation), but most of all unlike her cousins, Celebrían was a child born into peace. I say this because Celebrían was born in the early Second Age when Sauron hadn't started his affair with Celebrimbor been powerful enough to actually start thinking of taking over Middle-Earth. Celebrían was born in the aftermath of the War of the Wrath when Morgoth had fallen and when it looked like Middle-Earth was finally at peace again. And unlike her own children who were also born in peace, Celebrían wasn't born in the fading of her people, she wasn't born in the evening twilight of her people. I'd say she was born in the daylight of her people (at least in Middle-Earth) because in the Second Age peace lasted a pretty long time, enough that the wars with Sauron started when Celebrían was already well into adulthood.

Contrast this with Celebrimbor and Idril (and Orodreth if we're going with the version where he's Angrod's son) who were born early enough to see the Two Trees, but faced the Darkening, faced the Kinslaying, and in Idril's case, faced the Grinding Ice where she lost her mother. While these two had an early childhood in peace, their adolescence wasn't quite as kind. Not only that but I think in Beleriand they would've been more desensitised to the idea of pain, it's not just people dying but people being taken prisoners and tortured and twisted. It's a fact that they had to accept quite early in their lives, I would imagine.

So, moving onto the fact that Celebrían was kidnapped and tortured by orcs and had to sail to Valinor to find healing - this does not make her weak. I'm sorry, but it really grates on me whenever I see people dismissing Celebrían as weak because she was tortured and 'lacked strength of character' to recover in Middle-Earth. Often times these remarks are made by comparing her to Maedhros, who was tortured by Morgoth for 30 years but still recovered and was a leader of his people or some Finwëan relative who was tortured. Meanwhile, Celebrían apparently is 'a weak little flower' for succumbing to 'just days/weeks' of torture.

Let's take into the fact that perhaps Maedhros didn't have the choice Celebrían had, which was to sail. This guy was banned from Valinor. This guy also had high-strung younger brothers who frankly needed supervision. This guy also wanted to fuck Morgoth up and out of toxic levels of loyalty to his father and an Oath that may or may not have been physically binding, retrieve the Silmarils, so there's that. It's frankly very surprising that Maedhros was able to function as well as he did and keep in mind that his final fate is to fling himself into a volcano (fissure?) out of despair.

Moving onto the next point:

✨Torture is horrible. No matter who does it ✨

Objectively speaking, Morgoth sounds like a more shitty jailor than orcs but it still doesn't erase the horror of someone being tortured by another being. Celebrían being tortured is just as terrible as Maedhros or Celebrimbor being tortured. Because it's not really about who does the torturing, it's the fact that these people had to endure it in the first place. And well, torturing women tends to open the possibility of sexual assault and rape. Orc babies do come from somewhere . . . If I remember correctly, in somewhere (can't remember the name of the text) it's written that most Elves would choose to die than endure rape. They'd rather pull a Míriel than go through it. So there's that.

Also the "if Celebrían was a warrior then she wouldn't have been captured by orcs in the first place!" - and to this I say, Celebrían is not Naruto or Madara, she can't pull a bloody Rasengan or whatever Sharingan-no-the fuck technique of mass destruction. Even if Celebrían was a warrior, there are concepts like being outnumbered or drawn away from the battle. Celebrían's escort was scattered, I interpret this as them being assaulted by all sides which is why they strayed away from her or just brutally overwhelmed by numbers. I think whether she was a warrior or not, she must have put up a struggle because I don't think she was going to just lay down and let them take her. Either way, she was overpowered and taken captive.

Then her sons rescued her and she was brought back to Imladris and while Elrond could heal her physical injuries, he could not heal her spirit. Elrond couldn't heal Celebrían's trauma, no matter what he did she would always be reminded of her capture. And that's harrowing, isn't it? Imagine being surrounded by the people who love you the most and yet being unable to feel truly happy because the thought of the worst experience of your life is lingering in the back of your mind, ready to take to the forefront at any moment. What's more it's said that she couldn't find anymore joy in Middle-Earth, probably because she couldn't feel safe in her own home. The thing is that Celebrían was captured while on her way to visit her parents, so I imagine that if she had stayed in Middle-Earth and tried to visit her parents once more she would have had flashbacks of what happened. And that is tiring, the thought of something that once brought you joy now brings you fear instead is just sad, the distortion of the way you view things because something bad has happened is very much a real thing and I imagine that this is what she must've felt like.

In conclusion, I don't think her sailing to Valinor was selfish or weak at all. She realised that she couldn't heal in Middle-Earth, she couldn't be herself again in Middle-Earth and so she chose to leave to a place that might give her herself back. It's not selfish to realise that you're not okay and that you can take action to make you feel okay again, this is you taking care of yourself. Also, I think she saw how her suffering made the people she loved suffer as well so that could have been a motivator for her to seek Valinor. I think it takes a great amount of strength to leave everything you've ever known behind and seek the unknown, because keep in mind that even though her grandparents Finarfin and Eärwen are there and Finrod, she's never met these people. She grew up hearing stories about them, I would imagine, but that's who they are to her, stories not actual people. Same with going to Valinor, she's going to a place with different cultural divides than Middle-Earth, everything is hallowed there, everything is beautiful in a perfect way the same way everything in Middle-Earth is imperfectly beautiful. That's a little scary and I think we forget that Celebrían is a person in her own right, who shouldn't be defined by her capture and torture.

Thank you for coming to my Ted? talk.

[youareunbearable]

For spooky season have an AU crossover where Feanor is Lydia and Melkor is Beetlejuice

Feanor is pissed that his dad is moving on from the death of his mother, Miriel (cue him singing Dead Mom) and the entire time Melkor is just a fea spirit trying to get him to say his name three times so he can get the power break his physical form out of Bad Guy Jail (they sing Say My Name) and once he breaks out he tries to marry Feanor so he can have legal (and rightful) power of the Silmarils (which means he can touch them) so he can do Evil

Barbara and Adam are ghosts of Maedhros and Maglor who were sent back in time by Namo to help widdle Feanor NOT get seduced by Melkor as a form of penance, but they also cant let him know that he's their future dad, so theyre like "Oh yeah were the lingering ghosts of your mother's kin, and were here to help you" and Feanor is like "GREAT can you possess my dad so he divorces Indis? If not I'm going to k-word myself to teach him a lesson" and they both go "jfc yeah ok if thats the only other option" (basically Day-O happens cause Maglor Possess Indis during an important Dinner Party)

Basically they fail and make things worse and Feanor screams at them and frees Melkor out of spite and they are little shits together for a little bit (this song plays) and Finwe does some magic to try and fix the weird shit that is going on in Tirion and Maedhros and Maglor find out their feas are decaying. Feanor freaks out at the consequences of his actions and begs for Melkor's help, which he agrees on the condition they get married. Mae and Mag are horrified and beg Feanor to decline, but he agrees cause he's not going to lose any other connections to his mom because of him. So Melkor kidnaps Feanor to the Pits of Mandos, where Maedhros and Maglor flee after them, and while hes down there Feanor speaks to some of the dead and they beg him not to go through with this, to turn back and keep living and love life cause he will be happy one day (What I Know Now plays) and Mae and Maglor manage to find them and interrupt the ceremony, causing a backlash and causing Melkor to rot in the Pits forever.

After this, Namo just like, tells Mae and Mag "good job you can go home" and they hug Feanor and tell him how good he is and how many people love him so not to do anything rash then there is a white light and they wake up whole and hale and outside of Namo's Door. Their whole family is Returned and they all bond together, happy forever (also Feanor remembers all that stuff happening, but doesn't think that it was actually Maedhros and Maglor, but named his sons after them. oooo time travel~~~)