#My Finrod Headcanons

[inthehouseoffinwe]

Finrod and Maedhros in the halls or post embodiment talking about Sauron.

Not about the torture or the agony they went through, more like gossiping on how much of a peacock he was, strutting around and bragging about how beautiful he is.

If you came across them in the street you’d think they’re talking about one of those overdressed Tirion nobles, but then you hear “I preferred his torture to his speeches because dear Eru those were a whole new level of pain-“

“Heard all of two before being mauled. Definitely preferred the werewolf.”

Celebrimbor sometimes joins these sessions but he’s got the additional years of having known Annatar and it’s therapeutic to talk about how self absorbed he was to people who really understand. Safe to say Maedhros and Finrod sombrely commiserate the kid on dealing with that for centuries.

“How did you two become friends??”

“I think his vanity numbed my brain.”

“That’s fair.”

[feanorianethicsdepartment]

look if finwë’s kids are like this, and his grandkids are like that, i feel pretty secure in saying the elf himself must have been an absolute fucking nightmare. melkor made sure to take him out early because if given the slightest opportunity to level up he would immediately become unstoppable

[nerdanelparmandil]

Maedhros and Finrod are a study in contrasts when it comes to oaths.

Maedhros despairs while Finrod hopes, this is the core of it, and why they have two very different outcomes.

The oath of Feanor is an oath of vengeance and grief, while Finrod's is made out of friendship and gratefulness. The first is an act of ownership, the second one of service.

Both move within the heroic context, in which being and oathbreaker is shameful and will have both moral and physical consequences, so for both of them giving up on their word is not an option.

Feanor's oath pursues the Secondborn, while Finrod's oath is to their service. Feanor's oath destroys relationships, isolates the oathtakers and drives them outside of society - they become kinslayers. Finrod's oath, instead, bridges the gap between the Eldar and the Edain, supports the first union of the two races that gives birth to a line of kings that will rule Middle-Earth, while also representing the union of all the great houses of the Eldar and of the Edain.

Finrod has estel, Maedhros has lost it completely. For Maedhros, the light of Earendil announces his doom and compels him to pursue the oath to utter ruin. For the rest of the Eldar, that light represents the hope that shines despite the darkness that threatens to swallow up the world.

[thesummerestsolstice]

Fic Concept: Erestor is Maglor, Lindir is Daeron, and Gildor is Finrod. They all live in Rivendell in the Third Age. They're all using elf magic to try and hide their identities, so they don't recognize each other.

Lindir has heard Galadriel call Gildor kin but assumes that Gildor is like, Finrod's son or something because Finrod would absolutely name a child "Gildor Inglorion."

Erestor has heard Lindir sing some very familiar old Sindarin lays but assumes that he must just know them because of how popuar Daeron's compositions were. Nevermind that many of them are lost to history by the Third Age.

Gildor knows Erestor is Feanorian because he's not as subtle as he thinks but he doesn't really sing around people anymore– because singing the Noldolante for thousands of years straight has made his voice extremely dangerous– so Gildor assumes he's just another old Feanorian follower.

Elrond and Gandalf are making bets about when they'll realize. Elrond bet it would happen before the Fourth Age. It's not looking good for them.

[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!

[kanafinwe-makalaure]

I have been thinking about Maglor and Finrod again recently and how I usually characterise them kind of similarly on the surface - in their youth, they're eccentric divas who like their attention and their jewellery, whereas in later Ages, they are more mellow and have this slight, but permanent air of melancholy about them.

All of this is really heavily based on my own headcanons, but I think to me and my interpretation of them, the key difference is that for young Maglor, that loud and dramatic persona is a performance and for Finrod, it is not.

In my mind, Finrod is naturally a total sunshine, the type of person you can't help but feel comfortable and happy around. He is that type of person who you feel completely seen by and who you can't help but look at, listen to, and admire. He naturally attracts attention and he loves to just share his music and his happiness with as many people as he can; he genuinely loves talking to and meeting other people and he does deeply care about getting to know each new person he meets - everyone's lives and inner worlds, to him, are an adventure to explore! He's all smiles and flair because that is who he is at his core.

After the First Age, and especially after spending so much time alone, he is, of course, very sick in spirit, and so no longer has the energy to adopt that persona again, nor the will. It is difficult to disentangle his genuine hurt from what is simply his nature, but healing, for him, would include embracing his natural tendencies. This would be extremely vulnerable for him because that persona he embodied in his youth was his shell of protection. Maybe the awareness that he would not have the energy to perform this role anymore is even part of the reason he did not want to return to his own kind during his wanderings - the belief that no-one would want him for his true self, anyway.

It is during the First Age that Finrod first experiences loss and sadness and fear and death and discovers that half of the spectrum of emotion that he has previously never really spent too much time on - whatever grief he had was always small enough to either process or distract himself from, but those strategies no longer work for him and it fundamentally changes him and the way he interacts with the world. I also do doubt if his release from Mandos might not have been premature, so he might not have healed entirely and discovered new, healthy coping mechanisms.

He is still fundamentally a very positive person who seeks to find and spread joy, but everything that he once knew and that does bring him joy is now also tied to painful memories for him. For Finrod, healing would mean finding ways to process that grief and make more positive experiences than negative - which is difficult for him, because he is still not the type of person to dwell on sad things because maybe, it frightens him a little, and that unprocessed grief is felt in the air around him everywhere he goes.

Meanwhile Maglor (I went into my interpretation of him in more depth here) I see as someone whose nature is actually more mellow and melancholic. As a child, he is pensive and tends to spend time alone, likes to ponder the big questions of the universe and is very sensitive and quiet. Unfortunately, in a family like his, to be quiet is to be invisible, and his parents express worry about him being so prone to sadness, so he adopts a louder persona - he must be seen at all costs, he must outshine everyone at all costs. He is especially focused on pleasing Fëanor this way. Given all this, he is secretly very insecure, but hides it relatively well. Few people ever see behind his mask.

However, this means it is difficult for him to make connections that go beyond a surface level. Both with Fëanor and others, his "perfect formula" for being entirely pleasant and likeable never 100% works because the personality he shows to the world is disingenuous, and even the admiration it does get him is based on an act, so his actual self-esteem is not very great. The only thing he is truly confident about his his music, but he ties his entire sense of self-worth to it as a result, which is not great for his mental health, either.

Later, it means he lacks the confidence to stand his ground against Fëanor and Maedhros even when he disagrees, and so shrinks in the shadow of those he follows - until the very end, when they have all left him.

If he returns, it really will be difficult for his loved ones to get used to this more vulnerable version of him, but with time, they would realise he is much healthier that way. Once he builds a new sense of identity that more closely aligns with his personality, he can feel much more secure and build a more genuine connection to himself and the world around him.

[wanderer-clarisse]

cousin bonding time (I like to imagine that Maedhros is the one who tied baby Finrod's hair!)

sorry for being suddenly inactive here lately, Things Happened and I haven't really had the time to sit down and draw until this week ;-; hope this little sketch can make up for it!

[straybreeze]

Silm characters as Tarot cards

Okay so I've been thinking on this lately. Maybe it's not completely correct, but I think most of them still fits (also I was very tempted to give Maedhros the Hanged Man card fdkglfkdk).

Also I wanted to exlcude all the valar and maiar and put only the children of Ilúvatar into this list. There is one extra, who is not exactly a Silm character, but oh well.

Also I'm open to any other ideas too!

I. The Magician: Fëanor II. The High Priestess: Aredhel III. The Empress: Galadriel IV. The Emperor: Thingol V. The Hierophant: Elrond VI. The Lovers: Beren and Lúthien VII. The Chariot: Fingon VIII. Strength: Fingolfin IX. The Hermit: Maglor X. The Wheel of Fortune: Tuor XI. Justice: Húrin XII. The Hanged Man: Finrod XIII. Death: Míriel XIV. Temperance: Finarfin XV. The Devil: Eöl XVI. The Tower: Turgon XVII. The Star: Eärendil XVIII. The Moon: Maeglin XIX. The Sun: Finwë XX. Judgement: Maedhros XXI. The World: Aragorn 0. The Fool: Túrin Turambar

[kanalaure]

(*i dont know what kind of dog huan is, but he sheds. a lot. caranthir just wants to have ONE (1) space thats not covered in shed fur)

assume this is in the context of a modern au, or else that everyone is miraculously back from the dead and generally getting along fine and in the interim aman has had its industrial revolution and produced a more eco-friendly equivalent to our technologies

dont take this too seriously or get upset if your blorbo isn't represented, i filled out the ballot on a whim lmao. if you have someone you are Convinced would have one that isn't on this ballot, please do mention it in the tags

[chaos-of-the-abyss]

i have to laugh about people complaining about how Bigoted and Disrespectful thingol is to the noldor as if he doesn't:

remain friends with finrod and tell him the location of nargothrond, which finrod goes on to be the king of - meaning thingol is fine with there being a noldorin elven ruler in beleriand

outright state that he will not cut ties with fingolfin and his followers, who do participate in the slaughter of his brother's people, merely because he sees that they've atoned for their actions

host galadriel in doriath and make no objection to her wedding with celeborn, his own grand-nephew - meaning he is also fine with noldor staying in his court and marrying into his own family

the only noldor whom he openly dismisses and dislikes are the fëanorians, who participated in the aforementioned slaughter of his brother's people, insult him, and refuse to acknowledge him as a king despite him having maintained his kingdom in beleriand since before they were born and certainly long before they came there. but that's just it isn't it. fandom can't handle someone in-universe disdaining their precious innocent war criminals and that's why everything bad that happens in the first age is thingol's fault. or the fault of his grandson for not giving the silmaril that his parents nearly died to obtain to the people who disrespected his grandfather and tried to rape his mother. or the fault of his great-granddaughter for not giving the silmaril to the people that sacked her home, killed her entire family including her brothers who were children, and made her a refugee as a toddler. it is definitely not the fault of the people who decided to do all the ambushing and attacking, no absolutely not. that's nonsense, they're just victims of tyrannical close-minded racist elu thingol and his equally entitled descendants :DDD

[inthehouseoffinwe]

Just cause I think this would be cute for the Finwëans (because large extended family yanno.) Bear with me, this needs a little context.

In my culture we don’t call older siblings by their names. More than respect, we do it as a form of endearment. For example, the oldest sister is ‘Apama’

Apa - Sister (affectionate)

Ma - short form of mother (also affectionate)

Another example is ‘Apajaan’, jaan as a generic term of endearment. Usually used for people you’re close to. This also applies to older cousins, especially first cousins who get the next closest endearments. Or if you only have brothers or only have sisters, they’d take the ones available.

Eg. I don’t have any sisters but I have an older female first cousin. I’d call her Apama.

Or maybe I don’t have any older brothers, so I call my male first cousin ‘Bhaijaan’ (Bhai = brother)

SO I think it would be super cute if our resident Aman born elves with their hundred names, also had these terms for their older siblings. It would probably only be used if there’s a significant age gap, so Mae and Mags would call each other by their names, Celegorm, Caranthir, and Curufin all use each other’s names.

All of Fingon’s younger siblings call him by an endearment. Argon also uses one for Turgon and Aredhel.

All of Finrod’s siblings call him by an endearment. Aegnor and Angrod call each other by names. Galadriel doesn’t because she wants to be Different TM but it comes out in moments of high emotion. Orodreth (because I like adding him even if it was one mistake in the official stuff) calls everyone but Galadriel by one.

Ambarussa use a big sister endearment for Aredhel, since she’s so often hanging Celegorm and they see her the most. And an older cousin term for Galadriel.

The Nolofinwëans and Arafinwëans use endearments for their respective older cousins, and those of similar ages, but only those still somewhat close to the Fëanorions use any for them once they leave for Formenos.

The exception is Maedhros and potentially Maglor (depending when he was born) as the first grandchildren with a larger age gap to the rest of the family. Everyone has to call them by some term, even if it’s just out of respect. Fingolfin and Finarfin ensured this out of love for the eldest kids.

Onto Finwë’s kids.

Fëanor is oldest so it doesn’t really matter. He doesn’t particularly care if the others call him by his name or anything else.

All of Findis’ younger siblings call her by an endearment.

Fingolfin and Lalwen are pretty close in age so they call each other by names mostly (we have some more generic equal terms too.) Fingolfin probably used something for Fëanor until pride took over both brothers.

Finarfin is the baby of the family and generally a ball of sunshine until they throw the crown at him. He calls everyone by something, including Fëanor because let’s face it. He’s probably old enough to be Finarfin’s dad by the time he’s born 😂

Now the interesting thing would be seeing how these relationships dissolve over time, and when they lose these terms of respect or endearment. When the younger members start calling their siblings or cousins by their names instead. Because I don’t think it would change just because of a new language.

Most of them start calling Maedhros by his name only after the first kinslaying and Helcaraxë. Some of them return to calling him by an honorific when they see what Morgoth did to him and he gives up the crown to keep peace.

They all stop calling the rest of the Fëanorions anything but their names though. The exceptions are Fingon (who only used one for Maglor other than Mae, and that was more out of general affection than because he was older) and Finrod.

Finrod has one for Celegorm as well (he is in fact a bit younger) which he uses until the Nargothrond situation because listen. I sincerely doubt Finrod would’ve just let Celegorm and Curufin in freely if he didn’t have a good relationship with them.

Turgon starts calling Fingon by name sometimes after losing Elenwë. He doesn’t know why, he shouldn’t be angry at his brother… but he doesn’t have anywhere else to take out his fury. Fingon’s heartbroken, but he understands.

No one calls Turgon anything but his name after his disappears. Ironically enough Turgon starts calling Maedhros and Fingon by theirs again once he moves away.

Depending on their mood, the twins do or don’t call Aredhel by hers. They don’t blame her exactly, but it hurts that she’s gone. Then again, it’s not like they don’t deserve it after the boats. The younger Arafinwëans are a little less forgiving.

All the younger Fëanorions and Nolofinwëans call Angrod by name after the ban on Quenya. Some of them do the same to Finrod.

Galadriel completely stops using any and all terms after deciding to stay in Doriath. Catching herself even in those high emotion situations where it would sometimes come out. No one’s really surprised but it does hurt her brothers and Nolofinwëan cousins. She regrets this in the Second and especially Third Ages, and exclusively uses endearments when talking about them to keep some connection to her lost family.

Meanwhile on a faraway shore, Finarfin alternates between cursing his brothers and sisters’ names, and crying alone under still unfamiliar moonlight, calling for them in every term of endearment he can think of. They never answer.

…I’m sorry, this got kinda angsty towards the end 😂

Feel free to ask if you have any questions!

[barelyanartblog]

Finrod came back a few hours later

(Based off a personal headcanon where Fingon, Finrod, and Maglor were all in a band together back in Valinor but were so toxic that they refuse to ever bring it up after their messy break-up)

[silvergifting]

more silm modern au thoughts for your consideration:

sauron using social media exclusively to provoke arguments between anyone that he possibly can. his most successful attempt so far was definitely that fight he started with finrod and beren on facebook that lasted WEEKS.

[edennill]

So there he was, standing before the Powers of the World, breathlessly spilling the truth of his errand on the sand, word racing word, as if his breath could run out at any moment. Him, a mortal on this shore that he was forbidden to set foot on, who did not want to break that ancient law, unsure whether it was virtue or sin — he said that last part loud —and the words kept flowing, the incoherent ramblings of an older man, he guessed, but hoped it didn't matter. He had come with no prepared speech, or maybe he had tried and forgotten it all when the moment came, did Eärendil prepare his words, he wondered — and again he was speaking this loud, his thoughts rushing through his lips in the order that they came — and then one of the Lords; the Elder King he thought — and trembled, how could he be speaking to the Elder King — raised his hand, and Amandil felt rather than heard the command to cease, and so he did. With a last desparate effort he opened all the barriers of his mind, breathed rather than shouted "See!" and, exhausted, fell upon the ground.

He felt someone, he did not know who, brush over his mind, feather-light, and then he opened his eyes and saw the Lord of the West had crouched in front of him. It seemed incongruous. He did not have the strength of body and spirit to get up and change the tableau.

“Child.”

He was heard and answered.

~ part of a fic I will probably never finish that I found in my notes app

[echo-bleu]

Yesterday I posted more Noldor Hair Headcanons (Part 1 | Part 2 | On AO3 and @alqualonde-s wrote in the tags that she'd like some visuals. As it happens, I have very clear mental images of each hairstyle in the fic, so I did some sketches!

(individual sketches under the cut, terrible ID in alt)

Here we have:

a very sad injured Finrod with his mourning braids

Galadriel wearing the crown braids they devised on the Helcaraxë to protect their ears

Maglor and his far-too-complex mourning braids

Lalwen wearing armour and battle braids

Turgon wearing a formal style, black/kinky hair edition.

I didn't have designs yet for Lalwen and Turgon but I'm happy with these!

I'm not always consistent with my hairstyle headcanons in my art, but as a bonus, some hairstyles I've drawn before:

Finarfin in semi-formal Tirion style

Maedhros in battle styles here and here

Maglor in a slightly silly Fëanorian style

Finrod in fully formal Tirion style

Finrod in semi formal Tirion (or formal Nargothrond style)

Celebrimbor in a mixed late-Fëanorian and dwarven style

Fingolfin and Fingon in semi-formal Tirion styles (with Anairë in a simpler style)

Celegorm with his hunting braids

Elrond in a late-Fëanorian style

Fingon in two formal Tirion styles (but in trad pencil)

Bonus: "Elwing's hair floats around her as she falls."

[stacytea]

Okay, but our bois be like: - Fingon: signs up important documents with pink glittery ink - Finrod: signs up important documents with golden glittery ink - Ereinion Gil-galad: draws little hearts all over important documents