#Dayel Elessedil

[shannara]

This is completely out of the blue, but I would like to hear your HCs about Durin and Dayel.

hahaha this is because I did the post it note thing, isn’t it? ok buckle up 

So! Since I recently did go through the entire tsos for all references of these two, most of this is going to be either 1. overlooked canon or 2. inferences from canon -- also all page notes are for the edition of tsos that is the entire og trilogy bound into one. 

ok so, first of all - this was something abt Dayel that I was going to make a separate post about but! it belongs here. 

“ ‘Eventine will come,’ Dayel spoke quickly, trying hard to sound cheerful.” (tsos, 353)

So there’s a lot to unpack here. Throughout tsos, we’re reminded that the other members of the party are fond of Dayel in part because he’s the youngest + that they feel protective of him for that reason. What I take from the above quote is not just Dayel’s awareness of this dynamic, but also a degree of...social literacy?...emotional intelligence? I’m uncertain as to the right phrase -  that I don’t really see in the other main characters (except *maybe* Menion who can be decently manipulative if he feels like it)? As in - because of his position as the cheerful one people like, it becomes his role even when the circumstances are pretty grim. 

To be a little more coherent (hopefully) I think Dayel is someone who fills silences, is generally upbeat by nature, and is probably the one friend who makes plans and texts first  - but who is also very aware of his position and will step into that role even if he doesn’t really feel up to it. I hope I explained that well lol

Anyway ages! So Dayel is 19. I think he’s the only tsos mcs to have an exact age - though this is being taken from the fact that he is 1. old enough to get married (but doesn’t look it) and 2. once specifically referred to as not being 20 yet. Ig he could be 18? But I’m more inclined to believe he’s 19 with a baby face. I generally think of Durin as the oldest of the non-boomers which gives us this layout for ages - 

Dayel & Lynliss (19) -[couple years]-> Shea & Flick (arguing over whether a month is enough of an age difference to validate a “respect your elders”* claim) -> Menion (Brooks can’t decide if he’s the same age as Shea [said in tsos] or older [said in twos] -[a couple more years]-> Durin.

(We have no indicator of where Shirl falls on this. I usually assume her to be the second oldest besides Durin)

*I use “respect your elders” on a friend who’s a week younger than me, so I’m inclined to agree with whichever is the elder on this one.

Speaking of quotes I can’t find the page of but distinctly remember reading (sometimes too many tabs is a bad thing) I’m pretty sure Dayel is described as the company member who’s physically the smallest?** Which, given how many times Shea and Flick are described as small, this means he must be tiny. 

I’m not saying trans Dayel but I’m also not not saying trans Dayel.

[Shea voice] Dayel walk next to me i want to look tall for once

**on pg. 142 he’s described as frail (possibly in comparison to Menion?) but I’m certain I remember reading him being described as the smallest

For Durin - I noticed he’s the company member who really stands out as being on the lookout for everyone else? For example, when they’re having the serpent miniboss fight in the hall of kings - Flick and Hendel are knocked out. For a while (ok...half of page 163. but a lot happens in that half page) Durin is the only one who notices Hendel is down (he had been previously helping Dayel and Shea evacuate Flick) but he also doubles back and tries to rescue him - something that he is literally not strong enough to do (only Balinor showing up and carrying Hendel out saves them). 

The one exception to this is that there’s a part (pg. 189) where Flick has been missing for a while and only Dayel notices. But you know we all have off days. 

Durin also gets injured the most out of all of them - but also appears to be the first one to jump to fight. Granted, he’s always engaging in defensive violence, but it’s still an interesting note that when everyone present is on guard, it’s usually Durin who’s noted as acting first (and when it’s not Durin, it’s usually Menion). Examples include - in Paranor against the gnomes (pg.183), probably when chasing Stemin (pg. 350)***, and being the only one between himself, Balinor, and Dayel to have been noted to prepare to attack (pg. 258). 

***I say “probably” because Brooks says “Durin and Dayel” which I usually take to mean “Durin with Dayel following” - though it could very well be because he prefers that to how “Dayel and Durin” sounds

This is getting really long so I’m gonna do one more and then wrap it up. Ik I posted “Durin gay” a couple days ago as a meme but tbh Durin and Flick are the two tsos characters that I really read as gay men (which, fwiw, is projection on my part but hey who cares)****. Ik you wrote in your Flick post that you read him as being seeming largely uninterested in romance, which I agree with! I just happen to read him as gay but deeply closeted - which goes hand in hand w my assumption that Vale culture is what we would recognize as deeply conservative. In contrast, I hc Durin as the one who, due to different cultural circumstances, is able to be out. Which is why I’m on the Durin and Flick should be friends train. 

****And just to clarify no I don’t ship them. It just doesn’t work imo 

I have two pieces of textual “evidence” for this - one is this whole thing here that I posted a couple days ago and the other is. god. it’s this part early on (pg. 114) - 

“ ‘Nice shooting, Menion,’ Durin approved at his shoulder...” and at some point I read that be like a  “wow 😳 what nice shoulders you have 😳 you doing anything after this quest” moment. I have not been able to get that read of this line out of my head and I am so sorry for inflicting it on the 3 other people in this fandom but there it is. 

I’m gonna wrap things up here lmaooo this got wayyy too long 

[eventine-elessedill]

The spiderman pointing meme but it's Durin and Eventine

Accurate. This is canon cousin interaction. 

[incorrectshannaraquotes]

Flick: I see the glass as half empty, Shea sees it as half full. That's why we're a good team. Menion, on the other hand, just drinks right out of the bottle. Durin wonders why it has to be a glass. Dayel usually breaks the glass by putting his feet up on the table.

[eventine-elessedill]

uhh ok happy prompt! so! you've mentioned b4 that you think Shea would've gone to Arborlon at some point post-tsos and *gestures towards previous Flick appreciation discussion* I think Flick would have gone with him so consider: Elessedil and Ohmsford reunion a couple years post-tsos!

Oh, yes absolutely! I greatly like this idea in all forms. The concept of reunion without pretense, just because, is just such a nice thing after all the crap they went through.

I was drafting something up that will probably never be finished (because idk how to end things) in regards to their first trip to Arborlon post SoS, but now I'm thinking a couple years later, things are more settled, getting back to normal, and they visit again and reunite with Durin and Dayel! They meet Durin's new husband, who's a carpenter, and their dogs. They stay with Lynliss and Dayel (because they insisted and refused anything otherwise - perish the thought) and their new baby, and Lynliss feeds them too much (and here they thought elf food was rabbit food). They offer to help around their little farmyard, but Dayel refuses. The elf brothers are familiar, yet wholly foreign in their natural environments, and Dayel has lost a bit of the sparkle in his eyes but they welcome Flick and Shea into their circle with open arms, like they never left.

Flick actually talks to Breen fully and finds out he's got an incredibly dry sense of humor like he does. They get along quite well.

They visit with Eventine again, informally, with his family, like they were part of it, and this time there's little Ander clinging to Eventine's robes, shyly hidden away, and Arion (who was around the first time, but asleep and away from the festivities) bold faced and full of questions. Eventine readily welcomes them. He is different when he is happy and not bogged down; he looks younger, almost, though Flick still has flashes of different memory from time to time.

Neither Flick or Shea really saw elf kids before and now they've seen three in less than day. They're tiny, much more akin to Valeman height, and, like, Arion does not believe they are grownups at all and says as much. Ander takes his thumb out of his mouth and asks if they shrunk so they could play with them.

Shea is somewhat wary of his reception at first, but turns out being in with the Elessedil family does wonders for people leaving you be.