#This isn't in response to anyone specific I was just thinking about that Elwing doesn't deserve the fandom hate post

[elvenmoans]

The kidnap fam being sweet at times doesn't conflict with the fact that M&M don't deserve the boys or their love. And it absolutely doesn't conflict with the fact that Elwing and Earendil were unforgivably wronged and deserve their children back. And the boys loving them doesn't even conflict with hating them as well.

The fact that Maglor and Meadhros don't deserve domestic happiness is what makes it interesting to explore. I don't see the point in flattening it out. And I really don't see the point in Elwing hate.

[the-elusive-soleil]

Been thinking (as a thing to maybe write in the far future) of an AU where Fingon essentially Dernhelms his way back to Beleriand during the War of Wrath, and comes and finds Maedhros et al at Amon Ereb or wherever.

Context: since his death in the Nirnaeth, Fingon has been watching the tapestries in Mandos for news of how everyone is doing. So he knows how disastrous things are generally, and he also is aware of how Maedhros specifically is Not Doing Great after Fingon's death. In a battle that Maedhros organized. If Fingon were able, he'd tell Maedhros that it's fine and he doesn't blame him, but he just has to watch.

He watches through the Second and Third Kinslayings, grieving for what his cousin/best friend/person is going through and becoming, and then he finds out about Earendil and Elwing making it to Aman with the Silmaril and pleading for aid. Against all odds, it seems like they might actually get what they're asking for.

If he can get out, maybe he can find a way to tag along with whoever/whatever is going to Middle-earth. If he can get to Middle-earth, maybe he can track down Maedhros and...something. Not kill him, he's almost certain, not if there's anything of the person he knew still in there. Honestly, he doesn't have a detailed plan beyond "get back to Maedhros and hope that this helps somehow".

In a stunning display of dissembling, Fingon manages to convince Namo that he's fully healed and ready to return to life and definitely not going to do anything reckless once that happens. This works somehow, and Fingon finds himself back in Aman. His still-living and reembodied family members are delighted to see him, and also very clear that he is not going to join the Host of the Valar and jump back into a war.

And Fingon completely agrees! He's not joining the Host so much as hitching a ride with them, after all, and he has other priorities than getting tangled up in the war.

So he basically sneaks out and disguises himself as an ordinary Amanyar soldier, and is able to keep from being discovered until they complete the crossing and start marching through Beleriand. And then once he reckons they're as close to Amon Ereb as they're going to get, he grabs a horse and slips away and rides as hard as he can.

(It's been maybe a few months since he was last able to check the tapestries for news, and he's fairly sure that nothing more can have gone wrong in such short time, but then again...)

As luck would have it, as he's approaching, he runs into Maedhros, who's out on a patrol ride and doesn't have anyone with him (because there just isn't enough manpower left to send multiple people on a patrol when one of the people in question is him).

This might also be a bad thing, though, because it means that there's nobody else around to assure Maedhros that yes, they're all seeing the same thing he is. Which means Maedhros' first response is to ignore Fingon, thinking he's an illusion/hallucination.

Fingon loses his patience with this pretty quickly and reaches out and grabs Maedhros' arm to prove he's real and. Maedhros' eyes get very scary very fast.

Because.

Namo said that Noldor who died in Beleriand would receive little pity when it came to reembodiment, and everyone has pretty much interpreted that to mean that none of them will ever be reembodied. So Maedhros' first instinct is to assume that this isn't really Fingon come back.

And he spent time in Angband. He knows how orcs are made. He knows exactly what kind of twisted makings Sauron and Morgoth are capable of.

And they never got what was left of Fingon's body back, did they?

He wrenches his arm away, hissing, and goes for his sword. "You cannot fool me. I see you for what you are--I should have known such a torment would be devised eventually. Does your master truly value my pain above the havoc you could wreak in these lands? Or does he simply believe I am maddened and desperate enough to accept the deception that others would see through?"

Fingon has no clue what is going on.

He tries to get out some kind of explanation, but Maedhros raises his sword to his throat.

"Perhaps he thought I would not be able to kill something that looked like him," he muses. "A foolish assumption. I have killed him before, if not with my own hand; I can strike down an abominable copy, when I know that his fea at least is safe in Mandos, beyond all harm."

But for all that, Maedhros can't bring himself to do it right that second, because this thing, this shell, is looking at him with Finno's eyes and speaking with Finno's voice, and once he moves, there will be a bleeding body on the ground looking like Finno's to haunt his nightmares.

And that ends up giving Fingon time to talk Maedhros down, and convince him that it's really him and that he talked his way into reembodiment and came across the sea with the Host of the Valar so that he could find Maedhros, because he saw everything via the tapestries and knew he needed to.

Maedhros makes a small, broken noise,

drops his sword,

and stumbles forward, and Fingon just barely catches him in a tight hug before he falls.

...

And I have no idea yet where to go from there besides the obvious plot points of Fingon meeting his great-great-nephews and of a less murdery and fiery solution to the Silmaril Problem at the end of the war, because my plan is also basically "get Fingon back to Maedhros and hope that this makes things better somehow".