#3. kinslaying

[mossy-thing]

I watched the Czech Silmarillion musical, and I LOVED IT!! Here's some of my favourite bits (though not all, this thing has a lot of gems, please check it out.)

Also, I decided to start posting my art on this account, rather than only on @evil-crayon , since this way, more of my mutuals actually see it.I'll make that same announcement over there too and then repost my old art from there here.

[jubilantjubi]

Thinking about how in a Lord of the Rings mod for Crusader Kings 3 you can play as Maglor (of Silmarillion fame) and you have the option to give him a redemption arc, at the end of which Ulmo gives him his Silmaril back so the oath can be fulfilled and he can go home. Of all places to find what is basically a Maglor Redemption fic. A Crusader Kings 3 mod. Just thinkin’ about it.

[andreawritesit]

I would like to wish Aemond Targaryen a very happy "FUCK YOU"

[southfarthing]

hes a kinslayer, valient and nobel he may be but he has doomed himself through his own choices and nothing but suffering was ever going to wait for him and them all screaming crying throwing up

eru forbid guys misinterpret social situations and have a weird time at the beach.........

[theworldisquietheretooquiet]

Hi! I don't know which characters you like to write so here's a few options for the Silm Prompts: Nerdanel & Indis (or just one of them) + forsaking the past Tuor/Voronwe + seeking the unknown Beren/Luthien (or just one of them) + joyful labours any character(s) + Havens of Sirion + unlearn in bitterness

Thank you!!

I decided to do the last two :)

I headcanon that Amras (& Amrod) were killed by the rebelling Feanorians at the 3rd kinslaying so wanted to explore that!

The first is 559 words. The second is 731, and cw - kinslayingesque violence, mention of beheading

Beren/Luthien + joyful labours

The mewling cry of an infant cuts through the peaceful quiet of Tol Galen. Beren groans and flops face down onto his pillow, pressing it around his ears.

It is the third time this night Dior has awoken. And the moon has not even reached its full height. He groans once more and then a third time. For dramatic effect.

His Tinúviel laughs, warm in her exasperation. “I know,” she says sympathetically. Then she picks up her pillow and whacks him with no little force on the back of his legs.

“I went last time, so, hmm whose go is it now? Let me think… Ah yes! It is the turn of Beren Erchamion, Beren Camlost, the son of Barahir, the hunter of Carcharoth, Bëor’s heir –” Lúthien punctuates each title with a thwack of her pillow.

“Ok, ok!” He laughs despite himself, and pushes up from the bed, edging away from his wife and her merciless use of cushions.

He walks out the room shaking his head in fond annoyance as Lúthien makes a great show of curling snugly up under the covers.

“You won’t be so smug when you have to hear my attempts at a lullaby!” He calls over his shoulder. There is, predictably, no answer.

Beren enters his son’s room and makes his way over to Dior’s cradle. His usually adorable face is red and scrunched up in miniscule rage, and his tiny mouth is open in an indignant cry.

Beren smiles as he reaches down and picks him up, moving the mobile out of the way as he does. It is an exceedingly beautiful one, made up of intricately carved nightingales. It had arrived the day of Dior’s birth, before they had even sent word to Menegroth. That and the fact he swears he hears the birds singing whenever he looks away, makes him suspect the Queen of Doriath may have had a hand in this gift.

Beren begins to pace the length of the room, gently rocking Dior, and humming to him a little.

“I know, I know, my voice isn’t a patch on your mother’s.” He murmurs. “But we Edain can’t rely on magic songs all the time, dearest. We had to come up with actual techniques for calming upset babes.”

His son shows what he thinks of the talents of the Secondborn by beginning to howl louder. Beren sighs and after a moment of thought, begins to make his way outside. The night is warm, and this way Lúthien may be able to get a little rest. The stars seem to shine brighter here than anywhere else he has ever known, and he is pleased to see his son calm a little in their silver glow.

Of course, the child of Lúthien Tinúviel is never quiet for long and soon enough he begins to cry again. Beren groans and sets off, walking around and around the courtyard.

He is so tired he could sleep standing up and he lets out a gigantic yawn. He startles as an answering little giggle rings through the night air and looks down in amazement to see that Dior is no longer wailing, but instead emitting joyful hiccupping laughs.

The sound is so infectious Beren begins to chuckle himself. It is an exhausted and slightly hysterical laugh, but it is also so, so full of love.  

any character(s) + Havens of Sirion + unlearn in bitterness

Gweririen looks at Lord Amras.

She had looked at him first as a child, when he and some of his brothers had been leading an archery class in Formenos.

Celegorm and Amrod had clearly not wished to be there. She remembers how flustered their cutting criticism and laughs had made her as she fumbled with the bow and arrow. But Amras had bent down beside her and spoken softly.

“Pay no heed to them. Why, I remember Prince Turcafinwë once missing a shot on a hunt because of a sneeze!”

She had laughed shyly and allowed him to demonstrate the correct way to hold the bow and aim. She had gotten her first bullseye that day.

Gweririen had looked at him in Alqualondë as she plunged her sword into the Teleri woman’s back. He’d been disarmed and knocked down, his attacker approaching, fishing spear raised. Amras’ eyes were wide in shock and thanks as he got to his feet, grasping her arm in gratitude.

“I am in your debt. Come, I believe the victory is nearly ours and I want you by my side on the first boat across the Sea.”

She had followed him back into the fray and to this day, no matter how hard she tries, she cannot remember if she had glanced at the splayed, silver haired corpse even once.

She had looked at him in dulled surprise when he made his way to her, amidst the chaos and carnage of that terrible battle. She had been sitting for how long she did not know in the mud and filth, cradling her son’s body.

He had kneeled there with her, in the churned earth, and slowly peeled her bloodstained hands away from where she clutched her son’s shoulders.

“Gweririen, I am sorry. I am so very sorry. But we must go now. The field is lost, perhaps we are all lost. I do not know.” He had looked at her and his eyes had been so dark. She had barely been able to discern the echo of Tree light. “We are retreating, my brothers and I. Come, let us flee.”

Gweririen had looked at him as they had sat around a fire, camped a little way from Menegroth’s eastern border. Amras’ hair had glowed dark red in the light, and she had gazed at him long before speaking.

“My Lord, I council you again to reconsider this assault. Yes, Thingol’s folk and the boy king have no right to the jewel, and they have aided us so little in our war. But if we follow through with this cowardly attack, creeping into their home in the dark and cold? I fear your House will be forever sundered from all the Eldar. Surely that can only harm our aims, in this Valar-forsaken land?”

He was silent for so long; she had been sure she would receive no response. But then –

“Pass me my sword, Gweririen, if you please. I believe it must be sharpened.”

She had looked at him only once before making her way to Lord Maedhros. He had already removed the heads of two of Celegorm’s servants. The third of those who had led Dior’s sons to their deaths, stood upright still, though he stared at the floor.

“My Lord,” she said, and he turned to her, his eyes dull and hollow. “May I do it?”

After a long moment, Maedhros had nodded jerkily, dropped his sword, and walked away. Amras had not looked at her after and she’d been glad.

Gweririen looks at Lord Amras.

The crashing waves can barely be heard over the clash of steel and the screams. She is so very tired of hearing Elven screams.

“Gweririen, I want you to search every house for Elwing’s sons. No matter which way this battle goes, they will be invaluable in our aim.”

She looks at him. This is not a battle; the woman whose blood is dripping off his sword had attempted to defend her house with a lantern. They do not have an aim; they are here to feed their oath with a little more slaughter so it will give them peace for perhaps five years or even ten.

As he turns away from her to deliver more orders, she reaches for her bow. As she notches the arrow and aims at Amras’ chest, her shot is exactly as he taught her.

[the-timelord-a-tardis-stole]

"For the Lord of the Galadhrim is accounted the wisest of the Elves of Middle-earth, and a giver of gifts beyond the power of kings. He has dwelt in the West since the days of dawn, and I have dwelt with him years uncounted; for ere the fall of Nargothrond or Gondolin I passed over the mountains, and together through ages of the world we have fought the long defeat."

So this is more of a Silmarillion thing but is Galadriel saying that she came to Lorien before the fall of Nargothrond and Gondolin? Bc if she was far from the events of the Silmarillion for all that phase of the Silmarillion, it changes how I see her a bit

[caelmewedd]

@kinslaying-archetype continued from X

Aevon smiled at Aemond, perfectly understanding that everyone sometimes needs a moment alone. It was nice to have friends and be with them but sometimes everyone needed a respite from the crowd. Of course she wanted to accompany him wherever they wandered, but the sky was slowly darkening from heavy clouds from which rain would soon pour, so she didn't plan to walk outside for too long.

"I will be happy to accompany you. Oh and no 'madame' thank you very much. I'm seven years old and call me by my first name." Aevon replied, then got up from her seat and gently took him by the arm. She was of the opinion that he should not walk alone in this forest for too long because if a storm came along with the downpour, something could happen to him. "Let's go then, there is a nice lake here not far away. Do you want to see it? And by the way we will look for my…friend who likes to run away. I hope we can make it before the storm."

So together they set off through the woods towards the lake. Aevon looked around while looking for her 'runaway friend' who, although she was her great delight and pride, liked to get into trouble. So far she saw no sign of her, so she turned her attention to Aemond, who seemed to be relaxing and enjoying the walk.

"Tell me, Aemond, do you have many friends where you live?" Aevon asked curiously, already suspecting what the answer would be. According to her, Aemond looked to her like a very lonely boy who hides a lot of suffering.

[eri-pl]

Thank you for the @ !

I made the joke because @dfwbwfbbwfbwf devised a Quenya name for the Nauglamir and it sounded very much like Castamere. I didn't watch GoT (even with the book I managed to read just one tome, got squicked), but I love this song. It's so emotionally intense.

Ooooh, how beautifully she sings! <3

A Parody of Rains of Castamere

Inspired (many months ago) by this post

Lyrics:

“And who are you,” King Dior said, “That I must yield this jewel?”

“Only a son of Fëanor; you take me for a fool!

My father’s blood and mother’s song threw Morgoth from his throne

Now their prize has passed to me. I claim it for my own!”

So he spoke, and so he spoke, that king of Menegroth.

So brought ruin to his halls. He called upon our Oath.

And so brought ruin to his halls entangled in our Oath.

[myceliumelium]

The first sons of Maedhros

Excerpts of “Pre-Numenorean Elves and their Influences on the Blessed King Elros, Volume 3” by Idril of Dol Amroth, under the Stewardship of Thorondir.

“The descendants of Nelyafinwë “Maedhros” Fëanorion are a matter of great confusion and consternation to the histories of the First age. This confusion and consternation is only made worse by the fact that Maedhros claimed to have no children at all. Throughout his long life, we have no record of a wedding or dalliance whatsoever, as the Annals of Numenor, preserved by the blessed King Tar-Minyatur, list him as childless and wife-less. However, there have been many individuals who either claimed to be his children, or were rumored to be such. In this study, I intend to parse out the truth of these claims. Thirty two letters addressed to “Atya Nelyo” commonly translated as “Father Maedhros” have been uncovered in the archives of Rivendell, and I have gone through the great effort of having my assistants travel there to transcribe them.” pp. 14

“The earliest of these letters are somewhat of a curiosity, as they are attributed to elves whom by dominant account already had a father. The twin sons of Fëanor, Amrod and Amras who’s valinorian names are lost, only the shared epessë Ambarussa survive to us, were the earliest figures to claim Maedhros a their father. The common knowledge places the Ambarussa as the sixth and seventh sons of Feanor, but interestingly enough, these letters are not the only time that the Ambarussa have rejected this parentage. In an argument between Amras and Curufin, recorded by a scribe in the planning of the second kinslaying, Amrod is reported to have interjected, say “I recognize no father but the one who raised me. The madman who named me forteit his claim on the banks of Beleriand.” Other letters, in dealings with the elves of Ossiriand, have Amras signing as Amras Nelyion, likely in reference to Maedhros’s Quenyan name.” pp. 68

“I feel confident in saying that even if all speculation about the Ambarussa’s actual parentage is erroneous, they, and Caranthir to a lesser extent, conferred onto Maedhros the respect and deference owed to a father, rather than onto Feanor. This role as the patriarch of the house of Feanor, and a father-figure both to his siblings and a number of fostered thrall-children previous to the blessed king Elros and his brother Elrond, raises questions upon the exact conditions, and emotional situation surrounding this period of the king’s life." pp. 205

"Lord Elrond has declined to comment. Repeatedly.” pp. 209

Translation notes

“It’s quite cute, really, the way that they address each other. Lots of little nicknames, though I find it strange how few of these letters have been signed. One can only assume that it went without saying for the recipient.”

“The thirty second letter is nearly unreadable, by what seems to be water-damaged. It is addressed to Ambarussa, and likely authored by Maedhros himself, and thus unsent, since these were letters in Maedhros’s possession before his death. Tentatively dated to 539 Y.S. based on a smudged date at the top left of the page.”

[sakasakiii]

not really a modern au but more like a weird future timeline thing where beach hermit maglor Hibernates™ all through the 2nd and 3rd ages & misses the last boats to Valinor.... thus resulting in him skulking about history until he ends up living among modern day humans haha?? the kicker is that he one day finds an abandoned baby thats all-too-suspiciously like a certain dead brother and becomes a single dad-younger brother-adopted guardian person...

i wrote a few pages of this back in 2022 but never really thought abt it further after i started posting less frequently hahaha.... heres just some feel good domestic sketches of this AU bc i miss drawing modern clothes 🤭 i have sooo many thoughts about it that i couldnt fit into these doodles !! its quite a lot of yapping so feel free to skip past the cut haha

assorted au thoughts:

i planned for maglor to eventually find all 6 of his brothers one by one through the power of Accidental Child Acquisition ✨ example: he'd spot a kid lurking around some woods near his home and eventually realise said wild child living amongst stray dogs is a bit too similar to celegorm

i just couldnt fit in the time to draw that this round... maybe next time!

though he's raising reincarnated-Maedhros, i think it makes more sense for him to give him a modern name and not explicitly call him Nelyo/Maitimo/Russandol just bc he'd not want to get his own hopes up or shove said identity onto the kid

(the occasional 'hey Nelyo' does slip out by accident from time to time however)

i think as Mae-the-kid grows up he will in time start to remember bits and pieces of his original identity? with the nicer familial things (like valinor, his brothers, feanor and nerdanel) first, and then the darker things (kinslayings, angband, war) once he's grown up that Maglor will struggle explaining or even helping him through

i promise this is a wholesome au 😭

side characters include a high-strung but good guy policeman named Officer Borden who's very suspicious of Maglor bc of all the random kids he keeps adopting.... and his younger brother Farren, who happens to be Maglor's scholarly coworker

as well as Maglor's next door neighbour Morgan, a witch-woman married to some guy named Hugh... she's got 3 kids who visit from time to time but from what Maglor's heard, the oldest son is followed by misfortune and has supposedly never met his youngest sister...?

credit to Ted Nasmith and Cartoon Network for some assets used in the doodles :D

[erendur]

When did the Fëanorians lose their right to the Silmarils ?

I had a brief conversation somewhere (can't find the post !) about this the other day, and so I was wondering today about when, exactly, did the Fëanorians (I'm using this term broadly, as you'll see) lost their right to the Silmarils.

I had thoughts about this, so explanations about the options I came up with below, and I'am asking the question from the point of view of the Silmarils (they're sentient, magical objects) :

I think that there are two things to take into consideration here :

a. What Eönwë tells M&M when they ask for him to return the Silmarils, which is the first time we hear the idea that they have lost their right to it ;

b. The fact that the Silmarils are magical, sentient objects, who might have their own ideas about who to reject /accept.

Eönwë tells the sons of Fëanor "that the right to the work of their father, which the sons of Fëanor formerly possessed, had now perished, because of their many and merciless deeds, being blinded by their oath, and most of all because of their slaying of Dior and the assault upon the Havens. (...) to Valinor must Maedhros and Maglor return, and there abide the judgement of the Valar, by whose decree alone would Eönwë yield the jewels from his charge."

He is right of course, the Silmarils reject them, but a few things to note here : he says they formerly had a right to them ; he says somehow the slaying of Dior is on equal par with all the rest of the killings they'd done ; and he concludes that it's basically the Velar's decision (he's pretty much just giving his opinion there).

So, I'm asking the question not from the point of view of the Valar, or property rights, but from the point of view of the Silmarils themselves.

Here is an explanation for the choices I came up with :

The Silmarils would reject Fëanor and his sons after he refused to give them up to heal the trees : we don't see Fëanor ever interacting with the Silmarils again after their theft, so maybe they would have rejected him on that basis. @eri-pl pointed out in a post that repeated mentions of Silmarils being put away in the dark when they were living creatures that loved light made her think about Bible verses using the same imagery of a 'light' being covered, hidden, which I think would explain why Fëanor's attitude to the Silmarils is referred to as "greedy", and would lead to the Silmarils eventually rejecting him.

2. They lose their right after swearing the oath :Eönwë mentions the oath, so maybe the "terrible oath" would have made Fëanor and his sons unworthy to handle the holy objects that are the Silmarils (which would make the rest of the story even sadder, given that they spend the book trying to fufill an oath to retrieve magical objects that would reject them on the basis of the oath.)

3. They lose their right after Alqualondë and first kinslaying, which does not get a separate mention from Eönwë, so seems somehow less important than the subsequent massacres at Doriath and Sirion. I'm of the "murder is murder" school of thought, so would personally be inclined to chose this one.

4. They lose their right after Doriath. Doriath is the first time that the sons of Fëanor kill specifically for the Silmarils, so that would be a good point. Make of Eönwë only mentioning Dior as a victim there what you will (he's the most important person in Doriath and therefore the only one the records care about / he's Lúthien's son and so somehow the only person the Valar care about/there actually weren't that many victims in Doriath, most of the fighting was between Dior, his guards whom nobody cares about, and the sons of Fëanor and the rest just fled away).

5. They lose their right after Sirion. Sirion is presented in the text as "the worst" of the kinslayings (highest number of victims ?) so that was the real turning point. For some reason.

6. After M&M attack the host of the Valar. Goes against what Eönwë says, but again the Silmarils have a mind of their own. I find this option interesting because here M&M are not just rejecting the Valar's authority anymore, they are actively fighting them, which would be an even greater fall from grace.

7. They lost their right to the Silmaril B&L stole. The Simaril just really likes B&L and decides to change owner.

8. They lost their right to all Silmarils after B&L stole one : the other Silmarils are jealous and all want to belong to B&L.

9. They lost their right to the Silmaril they were trying to get when attacking Doriath, but not the other two ones. Pretty self-explanatory.

10. They lost their right to the Silmaril they were trying to get after Sirion, but not the other two. Same.

And that's it :)

[sesamenom-sideblog]

oh no someone must have introduced them to caranthir

I TOLD YOU GUYS NOT TO LET THEM SCHEME

[elvinye]

when celebrian meets maglor she's openly furious with him and everyone assumes it's for a kinslaying/kidnapping related reason

except elrond, mortified, who knows it's because maglor made the mistake of teaching him the noldor equivalent of "the song that never ends" at age 8 as a way to annoy maedhros and elrond made the mistake of teaching it to his sons

you have not known suffering until you have experienced the world's most overexcited peredhil twins shout-singing at the top of their lungs at 3 AM refusing to go to bed

celebrian is willing to forgive a lot but some crimes are unforgivable

[apoloadonisandnarcissus]

Has Galadriel already touched the darkness?

Yes. When? In this scene:

And she’ll have to deal with the consequences of it in Season 3.

Until this point she didn’t touch the darkness. Her being proud, rebellious or killing Orcs isn’t ��touching the darkness”. From that point of view, every Elf was dark, which isn't the case. She's royalty, she's a princess, and behaves as such: of course she's arrogant, and proud, and thinks she's always right and can do whatever she wants. That's not being "dark". She enjoys power, and for others to bow down to her will, that's the reason why Sauron's temptation was to make her queen, because that's what she truly wants. And that D, but that's a question for another time.

The "darkness" in Tolkien lore is absolute corruption, and perversion of purpose and of Eru’s creation. It’s what Morgoth did to Mairon, and to every other Maia who became a servant of his.

We see the effects of darkness in both Mairon and Adar. Adar tell us a bit about this process, in 2x01: 

In the eldest of the Elder Days. Thirteen of us were chosen to be blessed of Morgoth's hand, with the promise of power. A new birth. I was led up to a dark and nameless peak. Chained and left. And after what seemed endless thirst and hunger...

And this is why Sauron cries in this scene: he’s recalling the “lovely time” he had being blessed by Morgoth’s hand.

Mairon being the worst case, here: he was a Maia of Aulë, as everyone must be aware by now. He fell prey to Morgoth’s seduction of promises of power, and betrayed the Valar, and eventually become Sauron.

How did Mairon became Sauron, you ask? Thousands of years of torture and corruption, where Mairon was broken, ripped apart and reshaped by Morgoth until all of his original Eru ordained purposes were reversed: loyalty became deceit; good became evil; order became control; perfection became domination; loyalty became deceit/treachery; and beauty turned into abomination.

We joked about “evil Barbie” and how Sauron gets more androgenous as he goes deep into evil, but this is also a side-effect of Morgoth’s corruption of him, actually. Because Aulë is suppose to be “macho man” on steroids (hyper masculinity). We see this with the Dwarves (Children of Aulë) too: both men and women are very masculine and have beards, and, according to Tolkien, it’s hard for outsiders to tell them apart.

The Children of Aulë are pretty much what we saw from Halbrand (Repentant Mairon) in Season 1. While Elves are "delicate beauty", these tough mountain dwellers are Dirty Hot beauty. So, I don't understand why so many in the Tolkien fandom expect the Maiar of Aulë to be any different, only more "angelic" looking.

OG Mairon would have looked something like this, but angelic instead of human:

Look at this freaking Dwarvish-inspired necklace! This is peak Mairon, the Maia of Aulë.

So, another one of the side effects of Morgoth’s corruption was the “feminization” of Mairon, and he'll get more androgynous as he goes deeper into evil. Meaning, Morgoth corrupted his hyper-masculinity, which raises some... strange questions.

So, yes, Halbrand/Mairon/Sauron is absolutely correct when he asks Galadriel “what do you know of darkness?” Because she’s acts like she does, but doesn’t. At all.

“Touching the darkness” is what happened to the Sons of Fëanor, during the quest for the Silmarils, and it involved endless bloodshed, kinslaying, etc. And at the end, Maglor and Maedhros were so corrupted by darkness they couldn’t even hold the jewels on their hands, anymore. Galadriel knows nothing of this, because she never done things like this.

[echo-bleu]

Noldor Hair Headcanons (3/4)

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | On AO3

Some lighter Kidnap Fam content, after the downhill freefall that was the last chapter. With a dash of Finrod in Valinor.

Elrond and Elros have never had their hair braided when they end up with Maedhros and Maglor.

They don’t realize what they’re asking when Elros grabs a hairbrush and puts it in Maglor’s hand.

Maglor understands that, but decides that the twins need parental care, even though he has no right. He brushes their hair and leaves it loose at first.

But the twins have watched Maglor braid Maedhros’s hair and they soon start asking for more interesting hairstyles.

Eventually Maglor explains to them that it can only be done by family.

The twins have a whole silent conversation.

“What does it take to be family?” Elros asks eventually.

Well, braiding an unrelated child’s hair is pretty close to informal adoption.

Elros forces the brush into Maglor’s hand again.

Maglor stares.

Elrond shakes his head and runs out.

Of course, Elrond must hate them. He has every right. Sure, Elros has started to warm up to them, but that’s just because he’s affection-starved, probably. They’re still kidnappers.

Maglor is about to put down the brush and try to refuse when Elrond comes back.

He’s holding a second hairbrush.

He hands it to Maedhros expectantly.

Maedhros cries.

Maglor cries.

The twins’ hair really doesn’t hold braids very well, and they’re still kids who run around and play, but damn them if Maglor and Maedhros aren’t going to do their best.

Now all of their people can see that the twins are well-loved.

Maedhros and Maglor also proudly sport a few clumsy, wonky braids each.

They’re less wonky with time, and eventually the twins are doing their fathers’ (kidnappers’) hair as often as not.

Finrod is reembodied shortly before Eärendil and Elwing gets to Valinor. It’s too early and he’s Not Doing Well. While in Middle Earth, he was the one who let basically every one of his friends braid his hair, now he can’t stand the thought of someone touching him that way.

But Beleriandic battle braids feel wrong in Tirion. And he’s desperately trying to reckon with his trauma, with Sauron defeating him by singing about the kinslaying, so he can’t leave his hair loose like the Teleri.

And he can’t quite get the sight of Edrahil’s bloody braids spat out by a werewolf out of his head.

He wears nothing but the very strange-looking (to Amanyar) Mourning Braids he designed after Dagor Bragollach for a couple of years.

Then after an episode of really bad depression and nearly fading, he cuts his hair short.

No-braiding-possible kind of short.

While not unheard of in Beleriand (sometimes former thralls keep their hair very short, like Rog), it’s unthinkable in Valinor, especially for the Crown Prince of the Noldor.

He is stared at a lot, his reputation goes down the drain, but to Finrod it’s liberating.

He does let his hair grow out again eventually, but only when other Exiles start coming back and choose to keep the Beleriandic braid styles, and it becomes a fashion statement rather than a mark of shame.

Finarfin is Very Shocked arriving in Beleriand when he finds his (single remaining) child with her hair loose and everyone else with weird self-braided battle hairstyles.

After a battle or three where he ends up with his hair matted with blood and mud, he caves and gets Galadriel to give him battle braids.

By the end of the war he’s even learned to do them himself! Let it not be said that King Arafinwë Ñoldóran didn’t rise to his calling.

The night before sending the Elrond and Elros to Gil-galad, Maedhros and Maglor undo all of their braids. Everyone cries.

Maedhros and Maglor meant this to minimize the ‘taint’ their names would put on the twins, by making it look like they were still hostages to the end, but the twins stop on the way to do each other’s hair because one does not meet a king with their hair loose, they have manners (which the Fëanorians taught them, so they’re Very Specific Manners), so the effect is lost. Gil-galad has Questions. The twins refuse to lie.

Then, before going to steal the Silmarils, Maedhros and Maglor do each other’s hair, in a style of their father’s that they haven’t worn since the Oath.

Maglor braids a single golden ribbon into Maedhros’s hair.

They have very few pieces of hair jewellery left of their brothers’, but they use all of them.

They both know it’s the last time.

To be continued

I did some sketches for visual reference of a few of the hairstyles mentioned here, if you want to see what I'm imagining!

[moosalicious]

Who's more dysfunctional

The Targaryens or the feanorians?