#Maedhros mention!!

[outofangband]

Your culture and crafting mood boards for the Noldor and Teleri are wonderful! They are so evocative and thought-provoking (and so carefully and beautifully composed). Your visuals are always such great worldbuilding references. Thank you so much for sharing! 🙂

This is such a kind ask I really really appreciate this. World building is one of my favorite things 🐢🐢🐢🐢

I love your writing! I often think of your fic where Maedhros is jealous of Húrin for his cheer and energy; it’s charming and funny and also makes me so sad knowing of course what will happen to Húrin :/

[eloquentsisyphianturmoil]

Unfinished tales: ‘Maedhros afterward sent [the dragon helm] as a gift to Fingon, with whom he often exchanged tokens of friendship’

Me: 👀

[braxix]

Maglor: I'm actually starting to get concerned about what Elrond brings home.

Maedhros: About time. What clues you in? The warg pup or the sixteen orcs he has befriended and folded into society?

Maglor: He came home with a baby dragon this time. Elros said no for us, don't worry.

[chaos-of-the-abyss]

if i was thingol i also wouldn't participate in an alliance organized by the people who only one year ago kidnapped my daughter, tried to force her to marry into their family, tried to kidnap her again, and then tried to KILL her. and don't come at me with "it was only celegorm and curufin," because 1). thingol has no way of ascertaining that they were acting alone, and 2). so what if it was only celegorm and curufin??? why should he want to be involved with anything and anyone remotely related to them? and people wonder why he said fuck that noise

[inthehouseoffinwe]

A Meeting in Valinor

Elrond comes back from his first real meeting with Eärendil tired and unsure what to do. He gets some help from an unexpected source.

Dw this isn’t hating on any of Elrond’s parents. Pure fluff :)

Elrond had returned to his house and was lying with his head in Celebrian’s lap. He’d told her how the meeting had gone and flopped on the sofa, drained, before she’d soothed away some of his oncoming headache as she’d done many years before. Now he lay with his eyes closed, soaking in the summer rays as she read.

Celebrian jerked suddenly, and Elrond shot up, hand going to the knife in his boot. Some habits wouldn’t change.

“Ai! relax! It’s just me!”

Elrond’s face slackened.

“It cannot be...”

Celebrian looked between the two, eyes lingering on the semi-familiar features before her. Round ears. Beard. Warm grey eyes, wise yet playful. Elven cut, navy tunic with silver embroidery, and brown hair brushing his shoulders. She tensed at the closed expression on Elrond’s face, reaching for her own dagger as the figure shuffled nervously.

“Hello, Ada.”

Elrond released a strangled sound and the man ran to his open arms, desperately clutching the elf. Elrond pulled back, hand smoothing down unruly hair as if he’d done so many times before.

“Estel, how- You’re *dead.*”

Celebrian relaxed at the name, a gentle smile lighting her face as the human spluttered between tears. So this was her lost son.

Aragorn smiled tremulously as he replied.

“Exactly as you used to say Ada, Illuvatar’s mind is unknown in regards to the fate of men, and I guess I was allowed to come here.”

Elrond hugged him again.

“How’s Arwen?”

“She’s doing well, recently became good friends with Andreth.” A strange look came over Aragorn’s face and his foster father laughed, kissing his forehead. He turned to his wife, and it was then that Aragorn froze, seeing the elleth before him. He shot to his feet, bowing low before her.

“Milady, I-“

Celebrian shot the half-elf an exasperated look and grabbed one of the man’s hands, pulling him up. Aragorn looked at her, confused.

“Mil-“

“Call me ‘Milady’ again and I’ll toss you out the front door. Elrond said you used to call me Naneth.” Aragorn flushed, eyes on his boots and Celebrian laughed. “I take no insult, son of Elrond! It is only right considering you were not only adopted into the family, but also married my daughter.”

The Dunedan gaped, and she pulled him onto the sofa between herself and her husband, voice softening at the sorrow in Aragorn’s eyes.

“There is no need to feel guilty Estel, I long foresaw Arwen’s choice and understand she was loved and taken care of by the best of men.” She pulled him into a tight hug. “Thank you for giving her happiness. She was so sad after the orcs, I feared she’d never smile again.”

Aragorn froze for a moment, then buried his head into her shoulder, apologies spilling out his mouth. Celebrian rested a hand on his head.

“None of that now, I’m glad Arwen was able to find her strength again, even if it led her down a different path.” She pulled back and squeezed his shoulders. “And I’m glad to meet *you.*”

Aragorn bowed his head then settled back against the sofa. A comfortable silence filled the space until Elrond spoke.

“Not that I’m not glad to see you, ion-nin, but why are you here?”

Aragorn turned to face the half elf, a mischievous glint in his eyes as Elrond raised an eyebrow.

“Well this should be interesting.”

“I had some... unfinished business to attend to.”

“Is that so?”

Aragorn sat on a chair in front of the elves, and both of them straightened. He winced at the expectant look on his foster father’s face, reminded of every scrap he’d been pulled out of in Rivendell, then later as a ranger.

“It may have had something to do with your earlier conversation.” The look didn’t change and he sighed in defeat. “Ok fine. It had everything to do with it. I had a conversation with Earendil. Interesting man. Surprisingly relaxed.”

Elrond smiled tiredly and Celebrian took his hand.

“Interesting indeed. He… wasn’t what I expected.”

Aragorn’s laugh echoed, loud and warm and *human* in a way Celebrian knew her husband missed dearly. So many of Elrond’s friends had been mortal, so much of his family.

“Now that’s an understatement!” The man smiled wide. “In any case, I had a quick conversation with him after you left. He says he’d love to take you sailing and have a proper heart to heart.” The smile dropped to something more somber, more gentle. “He also says he understands if you need more time, and will wait as long as he needs.”

Elrond seemed to simultaneously age and relax.

“If you’d take my advice…” Aragorn began hesitantly, waiting for Elrond’s warm nod before continuing, “I think you should take him up on the offer.“

Elrond gave real thought to the words and Celebrian wondered just how well this man judged characters that Elrond was willing to take another chance. Any elf would have been shut down by now. Had been in the past.

“I do not know if I can.”

A familiar stubborn glint entered Aragorn’s eye. A fearlessness Celebrian was delighted to see.

“I say this with respect Adar, but you have to stop running away from this.”

The half-elf startled at the sharp words, but Aragorn continued before he could fully recover. Smart kid.

“For your own sake, you must face him. Just as you must one day face Elwing, Maedhros and Maglor… but this is a good place to start.” He leaned forward to take his father’s tightly clenched hands. “What did you tell me when my heritage was revealed? When I was terrified the weight of my past might drown away my present?”

A suspicion began to form in Celebrian’s mind, threatening to break out in a bright laugh and smothering hug for the son she’d never met. Of course. Of course.

Elrond closed his eyes and took a deep breath, wryness and pride in his eyes when he looked up at Aragorn.

“The past is but a small part of you. You are so much more your history, no matter what anyone else says.”

“Wise advice, no?”

“Seems a little narcissistic to agree, but I suppose it is.”

Squeezing Aragorn’s hands back, Elrond sighed and slumped back, eyes closing for a long moment. Aragorn glanced at Celebrian, who returned a small, reassuring smile. It was about time someone smacked some sense into her husband’s head, and this one knew how to push all the right buttons.

“I am afraid, little one.” Elrond finally whispered.

Aragorn grinned boyishly, and Celebrian’s suspicions were confirmed.

“That’s why I’m here.”

[likesdoodling]

Guess what I just finished ehehehe >:D

Oh yeah- the 'I see your wife' was a bit hard to do so I just replaced it with the next best 'murderer plus innocence' parallel I could think of-

(and the tags I got to cover the last few bits got cut off, so I have decided to include the last minute of dramatic commentary here instead-

:(:( Alas alack~ poor Finrod-

Oh look it's Gondolin! And Maeglin too, fancy that. Wonder why he's there, anyway, moving on-

Fingon gets some more screentime, -and no. I am not naming the Balrogs involved. They don't deserve it >:(

And after that it's pretty self explanatory.

I mean.

If you know who Feanor and his sons are you probably get what's going on here. :'(

>:)

[nanawaffles]

*taps mic* Maedhros and Maglor might not have been mentioned as Elronds foster-kidnap dads openly because no rights were bought by them. But as far as I'm concerned, Elrond snapping an orcs neck and defending Celebrimbors work notes with every fibre of his being bmight as well have been explicit references. Thank you.

[victorie552]

I headcannon that after 3rd Kinslaying, and especially after Elrond and Elros left them in whatever fashion, Maedhros was a total dick to Maglor.

You know how sometimes old or sick people are nice to neighbours/nurses/strangers, but are horrible to their primal caretakers? That's them.

People aren't dicks to their caretakers just to be dicks - it's because they are often frustrated with themselves or their situation and don't know how else to deal with it or they can't deal with it the usual way. It also happens because, paradoxally, they feel safe around their caretakers - you can be a dick because you know they won't leave just because of that.

And boy, did Maglor cast himself in a role of caretaker (let's not kid ourselves, he wasn't qualified, and with his own problems to boot), and BOY, did Maedhros resent him for it. He did not NEED help, he did not DESERVE help, he's not another kidnapped child MAGLOR, I'M the older brother, I should take care of YOU YOU WRECK, WHY DO I ALWAYS HAVE TO BABYSIT YOU GROW UP ALREADY and leave me Nothing is EVER your fault, even when you left me to Angband as you should Why would you care now, it amounted to NOTHING before, it's WORTHLESS

And about half the time Maglor just takes it, actually likes it even. Mostly because of his guilt complex about how he deserves it, but also because Maedhros is only like this with him - he's trying his best to pretend to be fine and be a leader to few followers they have left, because they deserve better and that's the only thing he can give them now, and their brothers are all dead and would always be Too Little to act like that around them anyway. Maedhros would behave himself even around Fingon, to make him think rescuing him was worth something. So by being a dick to Maglor, Meadhros sees him as an equal, a safe haven. Maglor basks in that.

But obviously no one could just take such abuse like it's nothing, and Maglor is a Feanorian too, is prideful and stubborn, with his own laundry list of complains about Maedhros, and also unwell, and also thought of a new insult while lying awake at night and just wants to yell too. So half the time Maglor yells back and their yelling matches would bring orcs to tears, with hate and blame dripping from every word. I don't have enough imagination to picture it realistically, and actually I don't want to, it's too heartbreaking.

And sometimes, one or the other just starts crying. They don't talk about these times.

After some time, their arguments and insults are just a noise, something to repeat endlessly to the point of boredom.

By then, what actually hurts are the words that were not meant to harm.

Example 1:

Maedhros: 'did an all-night inspection of their stores cause he couldn't sleep' I found a herb you always liked to wash your hair with.

Maglor: 'doesn't remember last time he washed his hair, no less scented them'

Maglor: 'choked up' Appreciated.

Example 2:

Maedhros: 'feels like he's dragging Maglor to damnation with him' You could go with the twins, you know.

Maglor: 'doesn't want to upset Maedhros today so decides to pretend as if that was actually an option' Vanyar would probably like my singing but you know they would get mad at you for having better battle plans than them.

Maedhros: 'now KNOWS he's dragging Maglor to damnation with him'

Maedhros: 'dying inside' Of course they would.

When love hurts, it's easier to be a dick.

[welcomingdisaster]

Things to do When You’re Bored on Thangorodrim

Cry 

Hit the rocks a little 

Regret things 

Cry some more 

Look at the stars and feel inspired 

Hit the rocks some more 

Feel stupid about smashing up your good hand on the rocks 

Try to count the orcs passing underneath 

Give up 

Take a nap 

Feel distantly impressed the orcs are still marching 

Try to count the orcs again 

Do a lot of orc-multiplication in your head 

Realize they’re marching in a circle 

Feel kind of gaslit 

Look up at the stars 

Sing a little ditty (to the stars) 

Watch the orcs leave 

Take a nap 

Nothing, for an unknown amount of time

Try some bird calls

Feel kind of embarrassed about the quality of your bird calls 

Take a nap 

Watch the bats 

Chip off a bit of the rock and toss it in general direction of the bats to trick them into thinking it’s an insect 

Feel kind of satisfied about tricking the bats 

Feel kind of guilty about tricking the bats 

Miss your father

Get pissed at your father. What the fuck, right? 

Take shelter from the rain against the rock wall 

Get wet 

Think about how pretty lightning is 

Regret things 

Cry 

Kick the rock wall 

Chew your nails 

Scold yourself for falling back into bad habits 

Do long division in your head 

Scream 

Nothing, for an unknown amount of time 

Wake up

Look down at the marching orcs 

Think about that one time four hundred years ago you came to court with your robes undone in the back 

Miss your brothers 

Miss your mother 

Miss your father 

Think about how your father’s dead 

Regret things

Wonder what they’re doing back home 

Imagine a lot of lamps, probably 

Think about the making of lamps 

Cry 

Feel kind of stupid about crying re: lamps 

Hope the bats didn’t actually eat the rock you tossed 

Apologize to the bats for tricking them with the rock

Sing a little ditty (to the bats) 

Chew your nails 

Scream 

Kick the rock wall 

More long division 

Invent a new kind of pull-up which involves being chained to a sheer rock face by your right hand and crying a lot 

Watch eagles 

Sing a little ditty (to the eagles) 

Come up with an elaborate story in your head about how the eagles are in love 

Realize the eagles are brothers 

Feel guilty about the story you made up in your head 

Take a nap 

Look up at the stars 

Do your pull up a whole bunch of times 

Lick the rock wall 

Try to remember how to write a villanelle  

Eat a piece of your own skin that peeled off your hand after you hit the rock wall 

Feel gross 

Hope your brothers are coming to get you 

Hope your bothers aren’t coming to get you 

Cry

Swing back and forth on the chain a little 

Sing a little ditty (just in general) 

Wave to the eagles as they return 

Watch eagles 

Try to think of good and pure things while watching the eagles 

Fuck it, incest eagles 

[elves-as-things-my-friends-said]

Fingon, sighing: my boyfriend and I got a couch. Immediately after we set up the couch, we cannot use the couch, because there are swords on it.

[stacytea]

Maedhros during the War of Wrath

I've been thinking a lot about it lately. Here comes a big hc drop: For starters let me say, I imagine the War of Wrath as maybe not a really long conflict, at least not very long for elvish standards, but a very devastating one. Beleriand was hardly liveable at this point, so I imagine that most of the supplies they had was what the host of Aman had brought with them. Considering that, they probably started running out of things after the first couple of years of war effort. Yes, the Balar island was still functioning at this point, but I don't think they had strong enough economy to do much more than sustain themselves and I think maybe there were some rare deliveries from Valinor from time to time, but I have this idea that it wasn't nearly enough. The war was consuming way more resources than could've been provided and as the time was going on it was getting gradually worse. Like I think that at the most critical point there were deficiencies of literally everything, from food & medical supplies to clothes & weapons. They stopped sending archers to fight, because there was no material to make arrows anymore, thousands of soldiers were dying from curable injuries, because the healers (there was a very strong shortcoming of them as well) didn't even have things as basic as bandages & maintaining hygiene was nearly impossible ( don't get me started on how it impacted Elrond who I headcanon to be one of the healers there and only something like 18 in human years and had to witness something like 5 out of 6 of his patients die and there was no time to even sleep, not to mention rest, because every wasted second is a lost life and there was just an overwhelming amount of death and despair all around him, and he wasn't able to do anything about it, wasn't able to really help) So let's imagine these thousands of exhausted, underfed, miserable, war-worn, I would even dare to say - halfway dead people, who just want this horror to end.... and then there's Maedhros. Maedhros, who had survived horrors far worse back when he had been a prisoner in angband, had survived hunger that could never be compared by any means to these little food deficiencies he had to deal with now, yeah, he didn't get to eat anything in three days, so what? This guy had watched his own downfall from the front row, had slayed civilians in Doriath and Sirion instead of fighting Morgoth... And now he was back where he belonged. On the frontlines. Leading armies against the enemy. Once again doing what he knew he should've been doing all that time. I believe during the War of Wrath Maedhros was more alive than he ever had been since his husband's Fingon's death. He was literally radiating energy and charisma, his mental state was very much improved. Once again he was Maedhros the tall, the Lord of Himring a Noldorin Warlord, not some heinous murderer, not a monster. For the first time in many years he was doing something that actually felt right.

[outofangband]

Silmarillion and Sleep and Dream Thoughts Part One (revised and updated edition)

So I have my post on complex trauma and sleep in general but I wanted to share more thoughts with example ideas as well as cultural concepts of nightmares

I also have a follow up here which I’m in the process of rewriting

This could not encompass every culture obviously and I want to make another one with more specific character headcanons so please feel free to request!

-References to specific nightmares are relatively few in the Silm and related texts. There is Idril’s nightmare of Eärendil’s death, Túrin’s fever dreams, Morwen’s imaginings of hearing Arroch while half asleep, Húrin’s uneasy nightmare filled sleep in The Wanderings, and a few other instances of uneasy sleep or nightmarish visions, including some prophetic ones

Some general thoughts

-I talked about elven states of consciousness here! And that goes a bit into different dream states. In short, I believe that while Irmo is the master of visions, not all nighttime dreams are attributed to him or his Maiar (though it might be believed that it is due originally to their Song that these exist), one reason why elves distinguish between a variety of dream states and states of consciousness.

-Lucid dreaming is more common in the elves and practices involving it are done by many cultural groups including the Vanyar, Doriath Sindar, some Avari groups, and some of the Nandor.

-Nightmares of trauma plague the first elves, both who went to Aman and those who stayed. Some believed them to be an aspect of Morgoth’s dark powers rather than an effect of the lasting fear of them

-Elves seem to be able to go into a sort of half sleep where they can continue to move and function while part of their mind are shut down. I will be distinguishing between this and traditional sleepwalking which is not a conscious choice

-On that note traditional sleepwalking is fairly uncommon among the elves and is viewed differently by different cultural groups, some viewing it as a sign or warning, others as something inherently disordered. 

-Interpretation of dreams and even what sort of dream is significant also varies among cultures 

 Language thoughts:

-There are no known words created by Tolkien himself in any of his languages for nightmares (though there are words for dreaming, day dreaming, and visions) so these are my headcanons

-Each elven language has a word for frightening or upsetting dreams. Most have more than one and many distinguish between frightening dreams that could potentially warn of a future incident and ones that are unpleasant reminders of the past though obviously these are not mutually exclusive

-The Noldor have words for anxiety dreams around crafts and projects as well as for restlessness that comes from having to sleep when work is unfinished 

-Some of the Avari have specific words for dreams without any speech or elven figures in them

-Bëorian and Hadorian Taliska have words for dreams that invoke fear specifically that are usually meant to mean dreams of being chased, pursued or attacked. The language of the Halidan has more words for a variety of dreams including words for nightmares that cause sleepwalking and dreams not remembered. Many have a negative connotation similar to words for illness. All have a word for dreams one remembers only vaguely or from emotions. Several of these words come from Silvan dialects and the language they spoke in the East

Angband Related Things:

-I’ve talked about the Maiar of Námo and Irmo who were recruited or taken by Melkor before and it is due in part to their influence and spell work that sleep is so disrupted for prisoners within the fortress. True dreams for example are extremely rare and often heavily controlled.

-Former prisoners of Angband obviously suffer nightmares. Their sleep tends to be disordered and sleepwalking and talking are much more common. Many come to fear their sleeping hours and take precautions during them to avoid encounters with others (I’ve spoken for example about Maedhros despising sleeping near others especially ones he does not know because of what he might say in his sleep or act in the twilight between sleep and wake) Others have the opposite and hate sleeping alone, becoming acutely aware of the shadows and darkness around them, suffering paranoia and insomnia. 

-Many, especially those who had been slaves in the mines, experience panic upon waking over the fear that they should not have slept or have slept in the wrong place, the punishment for either within Angband being an awful one

-Sleep is an area where there is a lot of stigma and mistrust regarding captives. Those who return under the will of Morgoth often are described as being sleepwalkers (a translation for a term I made up that is neither the half sleep of elves or traditional sleepwalking but something in between)

Other:

The exact nature of elven foresight is somewhat unclear from the books. According to Laws and Customs of the Eldar, elven mothers often give their children names from their own foresight of their fate and there are numerous instances of visions, premonitions and dreams that predict or hint at the future as well as more explicit examples such as with Galadriel in The Lord of the Rings. 

For humans, it’s even more complicated. 

Does Huor have prophetic dreams or visions? His final words to Turgon, “from you and me, a new star shall arise” obviously foreshadows the fact that from his line and Turgon’s, Eärendil will be born and eventually become a star point in the sky. No explanation is given in the text for this and whether it is dramatic irony or textual foreshadowing or if Huor is truly capable of seeing or knowing into the future. 

[eloquentsisyphianturmoil]

POV your girlfriend puts the devil to sleep and you opt to steal his treasure instead of killing him.

My dad casually says ‘[Beren] could’ve killed [morgoth].’

Yes, Beren wasn’t considering this possibility. But: why not? I will not call Beren self-serving. But he clearly was not serving the war effort.

Very few of Tolkien’s characters are proactively good, and very few are proactively evil.

One cannot seperate morally passive characters.

[ieatwormsandtheytasteverygood]

dagor nírnaeth arnœdiad was one big wedding, and it's literally canon. you cannot prove me wrong.

LaCE takes precedence over NoME.

everyone got married except the balrogs. because of a legal technicality involving fanar. this is what they get for being úmaiar*!

　“It was the act of bodily union that achieved marriage, and after 　which the indissoluble bond was complete.” —The Histories of Middle-Earth, Volume X: Morgoth's Ring, The Later Quenta Silmarillion (II); Laws and Customs of the Eldar (B), pg. 211

they called it the union of maedhros. the union of maedhros. and they all had bodies. and they all acted (v. sense 1). and because of the treachery of ulfang? the armies of angband were also part of this act of Bodily Union (or ig corporeal union). EVERYONE got married. except for the balrogs. and maybe the fire-drakes/dragons. that one's up for debate.

just imagine the chaos in mandos. i almost feel bad for námo.

[eri-pl]

If Ossë actually turned evil

Well ok, to make things work we need him to kinda-try to be evil (as in the canon), turn back, befriend the Teleri (still as in canon) and only after the massacre at Alqualonde he says "f- it, Melkor would never be so incompetent", drowns as many ships as he can and goes away.

Or maybe Uinen flips instead of him. Or both. Hmm, both is probably the best. Yes, both turn to evil to revenge the Teleri.

They work together with Mairon, of course, and he wants to make the world more orderly, and the water uMaiar laugh at him. And I suppose the First Age is more difficult with them on the wrong side.

Anyway the War of Wrath still happens. And Ossë dies. Or Uinen. The important part is one of them dies. and because for some reason uMaiar seem to die more definitively than normal Maiar, the other is terrified and devastated.

And "make the world more orderly" suddenly doesn't seem that stupid anymore. And – for sake of clarity let's assume that it was Ossë who died – Uinen and Mairon swear an oath together (the inspiration is obvious but they don't mention it) – to set the world in order.

They try to reconcile with the Valar, the Numenor is still rised from the sea, but just as Mairon did in canon, they ultimately run away from justice, too afraid of the Valar.

And they try peacefully at first. They try diplomacy, then deceit, then Celebrimbor messes up their plans and there's a need for bloodshed — is there ever a need for bloodshed? — Uinen could calm down her husband but she can't calm down the Admirable One.

So, basically, Sauron and Uinen (or Ossë if you prefer), mirroring the dynamics od Maedhros and Maglor, but with less love and more necromancy.

Fire and water. Oath and revenge.

[redbootsindoriath]

Okay so I, like most Silmarillion fanartists, draw the Fëanorian twins as looking like...well...kids.  The book says they were the youngest in the family, and we all went, “Okay then they’re children.”  Which...yeah, that’s fair.  They really just seem to be chilling most of the time, which makes them seem a bit more innocent than the others.  But rather early on in my time doing Silm fanart, I thought about how funny if would be if they looked way older than their brothers.  But I never did anything with the idea.

Well, after finishing the Fëanorian Week drawings this year I was thinking about how I don’t really draw many Ñoldor due to not having headcanons about many of them.  And you guys know by this time that I love a bit of good angst, so I looked at the twins and said, “...ooh goody” and gave them a big old revamp.  (The drawing is of Amras and Maedhros, by the way.  For one thing, I’ve said before that I don’t like drawing identical twins. And for another…we’ll get into that in a second.)

Real quick, for those who aren’t super familiar with the different pieces of source material we have from Tolkien: in the Silmarillion both twins survive most of the story until they die together in the same battle near the end of the book. However, in one lone version of the story, Amrod dies when the ships are burned at Losgar.  Okay so.  That’s what’s been published, from here on out it’s just headcanon territory.

I think Amrod did die when the ships were burned.  Elves are spiritually a bit...different...so I expect twins have a particularly strong bond.  Amras wasn’t really able to handle the death of his brother, and went a little bit weird in the head.  He believed that half of his own soul died at Losgar, and half of Amrod’s still lived inside of him.  For the rest of his life, he answered to Amrod’s names, his own names, and Ambarussa, and signed his name and managed accounts as any of them as well.  He refused to acknowledge Amrod’s death and became irrational when any of his brothers mentioned it, so eventually they played along.  The story spreads that there were two of Fëanor’s sons that guard East Beleriand, but they are unsocial and rarely seen together.  People will report having seen one or the other of them but no one can tell the difference (in reality, this is because there is only one that is still alive.)

It’s uncertain who all knows about Amrod’s death, even among the Ñoldor that came with Fingolfin.  Most of the Sindar and Silvan elves don’t know.  Probably no humans know.  Anyone who does know doesn’t talk about it, and all everybody else knows is what they're told, and this is why in most versions of the story they both survive until Sirion.  For a while you’d see one or the other of them out hunting or going to war, and you just assumed the other was doing something else.  But then after Sirion no one ever saw either one.  Therefore, they obviously both died in the same battle.

Anyway, that’s just the version I came up with.  I don’t know if I’ll keep it, but it makes Amras a much more interesting character.  And that let me come up with a more visually interesting design, much older than I used to draw them.  Whether this was always the way they looked or a change that Amras went through after arriving in Middle Earth I haven’t decided yet.