#I think Elwing should have handed over the gem and I absolutely understand why she didn’t

[absynthe--minded]

just so everyone is on the same page with what I believe regarding the Kinslaying discourse, since we’re starting this up again

it doesn’t matter to me who had the greater right to the gem, who thought their claim was better or who argued the best in favor of said claim or who was right. I don’t think the damn rock is important enough to sacrifice a kingdom for, and I think the narrative knows this, and that’s part of the point of the story.

the Fëanorians never should have attacked Doriath at all, or Sirion, because people > things. Dior and Elwing, in my opinion, should have given over the jewel even if they had the truly valid claim to it, because people > things. at the end of the day I do not care who deserved the Silmaril. it is not worth that much bloodshed, and no one deserved to die for it.

the Sindarin people, and the refugees from Nargothrond and Gondolin, did not deserve to get slaughtered over a rock, even if they agreed with their monarchs’ decisions to keep that rock. no, they weren’t utterly powerless just because they weren’t all nobles, but they had distinct leaders whose duty it was to shoulder the brunt of the responsibilities of decision-making, and as a result it’s those people who should have been held mainly responsible, regardless of how popular their choices were. the majority of the victims in these slaughters were civilians who had limited say in their rulers’ decisions, and therefore, I hold that even if those decisions were supported by the populace, that populace was deserving of death. if anyone deserved to die - which they didn’t - it was the governing bodies who originally made these calls.

the right thing to do with the Silmaril is “whatever causes the least amount of bloodshed”. if you’re willing to kill for it you don’t deserve it, and if you’re willing to hold it as worth the lives of an entire kingdom, I think personally that you’re pretty dumb. I love the Fëanorians and the Sindar and the Sirion refugees equally in this, it’s not about favoritism. it’s about how murdering people for a fucking rock, even a holy rock with supernatural powers, always makes you the bad guy, no matter what your motivations are.