#and elros would give him love and a home

[soothingmoonlight]

@dreamingthroughthenoise

“Out of the Great Sea to Middle-earth I am come.”

I was inspired to draw this when Clamavi de Profundis released their cover of the Oath of Elendil, but then I just left it to gather dust in my folders for months loll As messy as it is, I’ve decided to post it anyway because I really do like it (though I wish I had the energy to clean it up more).

Anyways, for context, it’s yet another scenario with Maglor and Tar-Minyatur! Maglor was wandering around the beach, only for Elros to sneak up on him and bring him back to Numenor. As for how Maglor was caught off-guard, I imagine Elros used a trading ship that Maglor was tracking in the hopes of doing some trade with humans, and he didn’t expect Elros to be there.

Then again, I think it’d be funnier if Elros appeared out of nowhere in his fancy king’s ship, and Maglor just stood on the beach staring at him like a dumb crab XDD

[serene-faerie]

Elrond and Elros have different ways of expressing their anger towards the Fëanorians as teenagers.

Elros is blunt in his anger. Whenever Maglor tries to apologize to him, tries to weakly justify the Third Kinslaying, Elros tells him where to shove it. He openly curses Maglor and Maedhros to their faces, uncaring of angering them. If Maglor even tries to give him a hug, Elros will push him away or slap his hands with a growl. "I hope your Oath destroys you the way you destroyed our home," Elros snarls at him and Maedhros more than once. "I hope you never get those accursed Silmarils ever again!"

Elrond isn't as blunt, but his anger is cold, scathing. Whenever Maglor tries to sing to him, like how he used to when he was younger, Elrond just gets up and walks away. If Maglor tries to talk to him, Elrond remains silent and glares at Maglor until he gives up. He never shouts or curses at Maglor like Elros does, but he expresses his anger quietly. His words are harsh, cutting deeper than even a blade ever could. "You drove our mother into the sea after slaughtering her kindred twice," Elrond tells him and Maedhros coldly. "And you truly thought that I would forget about it?"

Their feelings towards Maedhros and Maglor were no doubt complicated. As children, they were able to develop a tentative love for Maglor, who was kind enough to raise them.

But now, as teenagers, Elrond and Elros are able to make sense of their nightmares. They understand what Maedhros and Maglor did to their mother, how they drove her to throw herself into the sea. Their teenage years are tense and difficult. They both long to escape the Fëanorians, but to where? Morgoth controls virtually all of Beleriand. The Havens of Sirion are destroyed. There's no place of safety in Middle-earth anymore.

But then, the War of Wrath begins. The host of the Valar has arrived in Middle-earth, ready to wage war upon Morgoth. This was their chance.

And so, in the middle of the night, the twins escape to fight alongside the Valar.

And not once do they look back at the Fëanorian camp.

[chocmarss]

LOTR Ask Game

Tagged by @mithrandirl! 💛💛

How old were you when you were first introduced to LOTR?

My first memory of LOTR was the Xbox game and how my cousins were playing it at our grandmother’s house, but my mum read the books and watched the movies when it first came out and did family movie sessions with the trilogy, so since I was a wee toddler, I guess

Favorite LOTR character?

I have to say Book Bilbo in The Hobbit because he’s just a funky lil guy, like he fights Golumn in a battle of wits in a cave and wins because he can be a little mischievous about it sometimes, and I like that about him

Books or movies?

I haven’t read the books except for The Hobbit (that’ll change someday I swear) so I’m gonna say movies for now

Which location in Middle Earth would you want to visit?

HMM Rivendale simply for the vibes. But I’m not immune to wanting to walk around The White City

Favorite movie?

The Fellowship of the Ring hands down, like!! Everything is new and magical, and every time I sit down to watch it, it feels like coming home

Favorite scene?

There’s so many to choose from, this isn’t fair, but if I have to, it had to be Aragorn’s heartfelt talk to Frodo about following him everywhere, he’s just so sincere, I’m [bites fist]

But overall, I just love the affection they have between all of them? They give their love so freely, and it’s so so good because they don’t have to be embarrassed about it!! I love it

Favorite quote?

Refer above, “I would have gone with you to the end, into the very fires of Mordor.”

What Middle Earth race would you want to be?

A DWARF. But being part of the direct descendant of Elros Tar-Minyatur is pretty cool too

Favorite LOTR ship?

I don’t have one as of now, I think.

Tagging: Open tagging! Whoever wants to join is welcomed ✨

[dysfunctional-family-fight]

Round One

House of Finwë (The Silmarillion) VS the Preaker/Crellins (Sharp Objects)

House of Finwë art by Jenny Dolfen

House of Finwë

Members: Finwë, Míriel, Indis, Findis, Fëanor, Fingolfin, Finarfin, Lalwen, and many others

Propaganda:

"The whole events of the Silmarillion - including a few wars, a dark lord, the destruction of a continent, etc - revolve around this family's drama" "Well míriel died and finwë remarried to indis, and fëanor hated his half siblings, going so far as to threaten fingolfin with a sword. Then after the fëanorians and fingon and maybe others killed a bunch of people, fëanor abandoned fingolfin so he couldn't follow, and when finarfin turned back his kids didn't and they left him. After that it's all feuds and murders and death and treason and such. Greatest hits of that include maeglin betraying turgon and trying to murder idril and eärendil, plus maedhros and maglor kidnapdopting elrond and elros. Also we don't even know who gil-galad's parents are" More propaganda here

The Preaker/Crellins

Members: Adora Crellin, Alan Crellin, Camille Preaker, Marian Crellin, Amma Crellin

Propaganda:

CW: Munchausen by proxy, murder, self-harm, drugs, strangulation

"Adora has Munchausen by proxy and, before the start of the book, slowly poisons Marian to death while accepting all the praise everyone gives her for being such a devoted caretaker to her “sick” daughter. She also completely ignored Camille during that time because she refused to take “medicine” and caretaking from Adora, which ends up driving her to self harm. Years later, Camille returns to her home town (and her mother) to investigate the disappearances/deaths of 2 preteen girls. She ends up bonding with her 13-year-old sister, Amma, who leads a near double life of sweet, obedient, devoted daughter vs rebellious teen that drinks and does drugs and parties. Adora tells Camille one night that Camille is cold and that’s why she could never love Camille. Alan is heavily implied to know what she’s doing to her daughters, but only turns up his music to ignore what’s going on. Adora is arrested for the dead girls' murders, along with Marian’s. Amma comes to live with Camille and Camille tries to help heal Amma and herself from Adora’s abuse. It goes well until Camille compliments Amma's friend. Amma’s friend is found strangled, the same as the two other girls, and Camille realizes that Amma was the one who had killed the other girls because Adora had been tutoring and paying more attention to them than Amma. Amma was jealous and wasn’t willing to give up Adora’s attention, even though she knew it would kill her." Note: edited for length, full submission here

[thelordofgifs]

Obscure Tolkien Blorbo: Round 2

Nerdanel vs Elros

Nerdanel:

Nerdanel, called The Wise, was the wife of Fëanor, and known as a great sculptor. She refused to follow her family to Middle-earth in the revolt of the Noldor.

Best known as the woman who looked at the hot mess that is Fëanor, went “is anyone going to marry that?” and did not wait for an answer, Nerdanel is also so much more than just the beloved wife of Fëanor. Most notably, she is a sculptor (apparently a male-dominated field in Noldorin society) - her statues are so life-like that the friends of the depicted would go up and talk to them! She is also wise enough to land the epithet Istarnië, which means Wise One, and she is the only person Fëanor ever listened to, which borders miracle territory. Although when she married the pretty young crown prince of the Noldor, people said she was not good-looking enough for him, Fëanor begged to differ, as they had seven kids together, which is the largest amount of kids any Elven couple ever had. There must have been a lot of passion there (or maybe they just really wanted a daughter?). Although Nerdanel always seemed to have wise counsel for her husband, apparently she did not put up with his, as she was close friends with Indis, his stepmother he did not like. Unfortunately, their marital bliss did not last; when Fëanor pulled a sword on his half-brother Fingolfin (Indis's son) and was exiled, she did not come with him and instead stayed with Indis. This is often seen as her inventing divorce, although a more boring reading could simply suggest she disagreed and did not fancy accompanying him (LaCE does say Elven couples could keep separate households for extended periods of time). She also did not think about coming to Beleriand with him after he swore his terrible oath, although she did beg for him to leave her at least one of her kinslaying spawn sweet adorable baby boys (preferably the one she very ominously tried her hardest to name The Fated as a baby). I suppose the resulting, kind of permanent, separation, could definitely count as divorce.

she is a sculptor and an artisan so skilled that Feanor’s love for her competed with his own love of craft and creation. She raised seven sons and pleaded for their fates with Feanor because of how much she loved them and even though she loved him too, she stuck to her own beliefs and refused to leave Valinor….she’s so girlboss and she said you can go be a tragic archetype but our children don’t deserve that and also I will stay right here. We love a woman who refuses to give up her joys and her home even for a man she loves and ESPECIALLY since it was Feanor….the strength of her will is insane. I love her.

Elros:

Twin brother of Elrond, son of Elwing and Eärendil, and the first King of Númenor.

He's always overshadowed by his brother but Elros is EVERYTHING actually. The only person to ever choose mortality for its own sake and not because of love, the first and greatest king of Númenor, the wise leader of men, the open-hearted adventurer!!

Round 2 masterpost

[fuckingfinwions]

Elrond and Elros were lovers, and that's the founding of Numenor's royal family.

Elrond brings this up casually with Celebrian a couple years after they marry and is surprised she's so upset. She already knew that he'd had others lovers but promised he wasn't married and he was over all of them, what's the big deal?

Elrond and Elros were everything to each other. They had to be, with their family gone, their captors who raised them gone, their home city sacked, their childhood prison abandoned, the land they grew up in crumbling into the sea. They loved each other in every way, and relied on each other utterly.

But they knew it couldn't last. Elros wanted to venture beyond the very bounds of the world, while Elrond wished to learn everything he could about Arda no matter how many ages it took. Elros chose the fate of Men, and Elrond the fate of Elves, and in a few decades or centuries they would be sundered forever. Indeed they would be parted even sooner, as Elros was now a king of Men, and would leave to the Isle of the Gift to found his kingdom once things were prepared.

Elrond wasn't going to let him go alone though. Sure, Elros would have soldiers and servants and subjects, but no family. (Elrond at least would have cousins, Celebrimbor and Galadriel and Gil-Galad and Celeborn, even if no closer kin.) Elros needed someone who loved him unconditionally, who was devoted to him entirely, who understood the burden of royalty.

Elrond bore their first son. He named the boy Vardamir, as perhaps there were enough El- names in the family for now, but it was still good to honor the stars and their lady.

Elros took the next turn being pregnant, letting Elrond smooth ruffled feathers at Gil-Galad's court. They told no one, of course, who had gotten Elrond with child, as no one would ever understand. But the pregnancy and birth had been hard to disguise, and so too it was strange to all that the babe would be raised by his "uncle". Elrond explained that the child seemed like a Man, and so would have greater joy in a Mannish kingdom, and none but Elros knew enough to contradict him.

Tindomiel had just begun the flower of her maidenhood when Elrond bore the twins' third child. He spun the same tale about a mortal lover who didn't wish to be named, and a certainty that the child was mortal. No one quite knew how Peredhel inherited, including Elrond and Elros, but having a Man as another parent seemed plausible enough. And Elrond's repeated unwed pregnancies were scandalous and unconventional, but naming the boy Manwendil seemed appropriately pious. Elrond told his brother that he had no motherly foresight, only good wishes. But perhaps Manwendil and Vardamir would love each other as well as their namesakes; perhaps Elrond and Elros's love for each other would be reflected in their sons.

Vardamir was tall and strong with a full beard when he helped his king and father onto the ship that would take them to Numenor. Normally Elros was a capable sailor, but Vardamir worried for him, already halfway along in his pregnancy. It seemed fitting, for the King to be the first one to give birth in their new homeland, the youngest child of the royal family as the first native of Numenor. Truly, Atanalcar was evidence of the glory of Men.

[catyo90]

Starstruck: Elendil x GN!Reader

Anonymous Request: Short Drabble

SOME SPOILERS FOR THE SILMARILLION. SO IF YOU DONT WANT TO KNOW THE CANON OF SOME THINGS. YOUVE BEEN WARNED

The stars were high in the sky as they danced around the moon as you looked over the horizon seeing the sun setting over the waves making the waves look like shattered glass as they crashed along side of the ship. The ocean made you feel at home the most, you’d spent a lot of your time on the beach as a child. Despite having a great love and desire for the ocean, there was always a small hint of fear of the deep and because of that, you were a little afraid having been at sea for so long.

It had been weeks since the faithful set sail for middle earth. You were part of Elendils crew and had somehow been separated from Isildur and Anarion ships during a horrible storm that caused the ships to go in opposite directions. Now with Numenor gone Elendil decided it was best to make straight for the lands otherwise the others would run out of food and fresh water before they arrived. 

The last you saw of your home was the great wave taking the island back into the sea as flames of Sauron's temple to his master Melkor extinguished into nothing but mud and ash. As the screams of those who stayed behind echoed on the waves reaching no help. You recalled the sight of the Queen Regent being taken by the sea as her cry to Valar fell silent. You closed your eyes in pain from the memory of seeing her fall into the depths below. The weeks before the ships left you begged her to flee with you, but she would not. She was a Numenorian, she would not leave her home no matter how much it had defiled.

 Now you had no home and only the hope of you and your family would reach the northern shows of middle earth where Elendil had confided in you that the people would rebuild. However the days had now stretched into weeks as no land had come into sight. In truth you felt it was not to be for the ships to reach the land.

“Surprised to see you up so late Y/n”

You turned around with your journal and quill in one arm as you looked at him as he looked over your shoulder to see you writing the accounts of the days before.

“It is best not to dwell on the past.” He said as he stepped forward leaning over the railing looking outward across the sea rubbing his hands together. You saw his worry for his sons. You closed the journal and placed it down on the deck bringing yourself to stand next to him placing a gentle hand on his shoulder causing him to look at you for a moment before smiling a half hearted smile as he placed a hand over your own.

“They are strong and stubborn boys Elendil, I believe they are safe. It is us that I worry more every day. No birds for days and no sight of land either. Perhaps it would be better to make a floating city on the ocean itself.”

Elendil chuckled to himself for a moment as he sighed. You smiled only for a moment hearing him chuckle. It had been so long since you heard him laugh or at least so himself in any sort of relaxed manner. 

“I would not blame you, you know, if you decided to simply leave to find your sons in the south.”

Elendil looked at you with a slightly hurt look.

“You think I would abandon them in search of my own?”

“Not abandon. Just...at least find something to give you hope. After all no one would blame if you did. Any parent would understand.”

“My sons can handle their own, they have each other and their families. Its time I focused on helping those who need me more.”

He stopped for a moment as he looked down at you. You couldn’t help but admire the silver hue of his eyes. They were not common in many Numenorians but only in those who had more blood of Elros in their families. Even his name meant both ‘lover of stars’ and ‘elf friend’, clearly truth in both ways to him. You had always admired him not just a a captain of the guard but also just as he was.

“Your not wrong, as long as I have known you and your sons, they somehow always managed to get into and out of trouble seemingly okay.”

Elendil smiled and noticed you were rubbing your hands against your arms shivering at the cold ocean air. He walked over to the side of the ship and grabbed a small fur cloak and walked over from behind placing it on your shoulders and clasping the pins to your guard uniform. You smiled at the gesture as you clung to the cloak a little tighter. You saw him offer his arm out for you to take.

“You need all the warmth you can get.”

You feel your cheeks flushing slightly at this, but you take hold of his arm and just hold on step a little closer to him. You stay close to his side, clutching his arm with yours wrapped around his back.

You looked up and noticed the stars appearing out of the sky more and more. The sight of constellations you had never seen before made you smile. Elendil looked up and leaned over to you and pointed up just a bit to the side.

“That one is Telumendil.”

You saw it was quite beautiful with five small stars connected to one very bright star, you looked at Elendil and smirked.

“Telumendil huh? I have a sneaky suspicion that means something close to your own name.”

“Well your not wrong, it means ‘Lover of the Heavens’

You smiled to yourself as you saw the last of the suns light recede away and the moon started to show more clearly. 

“Such a beautiful sight.” He said looking out onto the ocean. You snuck a glance out of the corner of your eye to look up at him and smiled to yourself as you thought that he was actually what made the night even more beautiful. 

-

After an hour you felt yourself starting to feel a bit drowsy as you wiped your eyes trying to keep them open. Elendil had noticed you yawn and gestured for you to go downstairs to retire for the night.

“Oh no, I’ll be alright. I still have so much writings to record. Besides someone needs to keep a look out.”

“Y/n, your chilled and clearly need rest. I’ll have one of the others to join me to finish up for you.”

You hated when he was right, you trying to recount everything for the records and history of those who would come after. You felt it was your only way to keep those who had died back in Numenor from being forgotten. You leaned down and grabbed the journal you had earlier and nodded to him in agreement. You were starting to feel your exhaustion coming along quicker than you expected as you grasped the side of the railing. Suddenly you felt two arms around you, one at your shoulders and one under your legs lifting you into a bridal style. You couldn’t help but gasp at the gesture as you turned your gaze up to him with a small blush on your cheeks, secretly you were thankful the night was hiding it.

“There’s no need for that Elendil. I’ll be alright to get to my room on my own.”

“It’s alright Y/n, besides you’ve been up for three days straight. Better safe than sorry.”

You simply nodded in agreement as you walked both of you down the stairs. You felt so warm being held by him in such a way. You could smell the scent of sea salt on him but also a hint of pine which made you sigh a bit making your whole body become more and more relaxed. Even in your groggy state though you had sensed that you both at reached the side of the far back room as you felt him sliding the door away. Elendil saw the room was filled with unfinished scrolls and books open with notes written in the margin. Even some of the candles you had lit earlier still dripped some wax onto the small desk you usually would be found at. The bed to the far right was perhaps the only thing not covered in work.

“Hard at work I see?”

You lightly tapped at his chest but you were too tired to even come up with a remark. In truth you had wished you knew he would ever see your room, if you had you would have cleaned it up. You felt him walk over to the side of the bed lowering you down into the soft sheets as he look the journal from your hand and placed it on the nearby nightstand and the quill back in the inkwell. Elendil turned to face you to see that your breathing was slower and a bit steadier knowing that soon you really would be asleep for the night. He sighed at the sight of your sleeping form. He looked down at your feet and gently took off the boots you wore and placed them down by the side of the bed and unpinned the heavy cloak from your back and draped it over your lower body knowing it would keep you warmer that way.

“Get some rest Y/n”

He said as he stood up and was about to blow the nearby candle out but was stopped by you gently taking a hold of his hand that was at his side.

“Elendil...How have you kept your faith?”

He sat down on the edge of the bed and gave you a slightly puzzled look.

“During the great wave?”

You shook your head.

“No I mean now...Our home is now nothing but ruin, Your sons are so far away from you and the people are looking to you everyday for guidance. How...how have you not lost faith?”

He was silent for a moment before he spoke looking down at you.

“Tar-Miriel told me once that the faithful must suffer many losses as a test. I thought years ago I had lost my son when we first ventured to Middle Earth. I thought right then and there that my faith had failed me. But when he returned. I understood what she meant when she said that. Even her last words to you were of complete faith that our home would survive.”

He looked down at you and smiled to himself at the sight before him. Your hair was pressed into the pillow with your arms across your torso loosely as the sleep in your eyes could not hide the beauty of your own. It was always his eyes that captivated him every time he saw you. He enjoyed your company far more than many and felt a way around you that he had not felt in a long time. He took his hand to lay on top of yours and smiled to you.

“I have you Y/n...Not many are lucky enough to have someone like you with them.”

You gave a weak smiled as you felt your body relax more and more into the bed. You squeezed his hand in yours and spoke once more before you truly were taken by sleep.

“You always....will.”

Elendil smiled to himself as he leaned down and placed a gentle kiss to your forehead taking a moment to himself as he carefully moved his hand from yours and took a gentle grasp on the blankets to the side and covered you. He sat off the bed and stood up to walk over the desk and snuffed out the rest of the candles as he walked over to the doorway and looked over at your sleeping form once more before gently closing the door.

-

You felt your body gently being nudged as you opened your eyes to see Elendil’s silver ones meeting yours. 

“Y/n... We’ve landed”

Your eyes went wide as you quickly stood up from the bed walking past him forgetting about your shoes as you walked up the stairs and saw the ship had indeed anchored to see deep woods stretched over the mountains to see the others walking off the ship as the families wept with joy knowing they had arrived safety. You turned to Elendil and couldn’t help but smile at him as you walked you off the ship. You smiled as you felt the sand underneath your feet as birds flew above you whistling as the warmth from the sun made your skin feel warm even against the cold sea breeze. You turned around to Elendil smiling at the fact that after reaching shore after an extremely harrowing past few days/weeks. Suddenly you saw him step onshore and collapse to his knees on the sand, utterly exhausted. 

You kneeled next to him and saw him bring a hand to his eyes and you saw him weeping. You took your arms around his neck and held him close. You knew what he was feeling, everything that had happened and the stress of it all had hit him. You gently spoke his name and as you rubbed small circles on his back. After a few moments, he closed his eyes, taking a deep breath as you saw him slowly compose himself. You stood back from him and offered a hand. 

“I’m here with you...” He looked at your hand and took it to as you helped him stand. You smiled as you held his hand  a bit tighter as you leaned forward and pressed a kiss to his cheek causing him to look down at you. He was given no time to process what had just happened before you walked off to help the others. All he could do was smile at the realization that he had a chance to be with you.

[leohtttbriar]

Choose violence 8, 10, 24 for Tolkien? :)

<3 when i saw you had sent me an ask, i blushed so hard i'm pretty sure i gave myself a mild fever. omg hi <3

also, so sorry but i def employed some tolkien-esque verbose-ness in answering these lol. especially the last one, whew. like, im embarrassed.

8. common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about

what’s funny with the tolkien fandom is that the movie fans and the book fans have whole different spheres of bugaboos and Annoying Habits so it’s easy to vacillate between either camp when you keep encountering the Nonsense.

that being said, i one hundred percent consider myself a “book fan” and think movie fans are more annoying than all of us literates. like, they can’t help it—the movies are the source of most their ills— but as a rule movie fans are wrong about like all of the characters. as in, legolas isn’t mister stoic badass, sam isn’t More Heroic, aragorn isn’t pathetically reluctant, elrond is much prettier than hugo weaving, and denethor is not nutso (to name a few).

i would say, though, that book fans are generally really bad at figuring out what parts of the movies to pick on. like for years i’ve been so baffled by people still being angry over glorfindel’s exclusion in the fellowship movie and no offense to people who have read the silmarillion and the fellowship…but that was not only the best adaptational change but it also improves on the book. in that, sending arwen to guide them to rivendell and to physically hold frodo to her as she defended the last homely house with water horses, is an genuine story improvement—not just because lotr is a sausage fest and that Sucks but because it foreshadows arwen giving frodo her passage west, via a flight east, it lets arwen actually parallel luthien riding across middle earth on huan, which in turn gives arwen an equal sort of challenge in living up to a legacy, something that can thematically help aragorn live up to his, doing that thing tolkien does best and telling the same story over and over until the song finally scans and the rhyme resolves and the Big Story ends.

of course, the movies left out the arwen-giving-frodo-the-evenstar-gem thing so in terms of Sexism both media are equivalent.

i think book fans in general are wayyyyy too like faithful monk readers of the bible. and not even like medieval monk readers, where there’s a clear delineation between various interpretive approaches, going from the literal to the poetic in degree. no, tolkien fans i think have mistaken a rich creative world for something near perfection, to the point where they don’t really know how to explain why the amazon series is bad beyond “amazon is bad” and what makes tolkien’s fantasy unique. tolkien fans, in terms of pedantry, are worse than dune fans.

but yeah. everyone is wrong about glorfindel in fellowship. he is Not as interesting as arwen as a character and does Not really fit in the story.

10. worst part of fanon

definitely the freaks who treat genuine baddies as misunderstood kittens. like, i don’t feel very sorry for maedhros? also, why is the elrond-considers-maedhros-and-maglor-as-dads caucus in the tolkien fandom so loud??? look, there’s no arguing these are tragic and pathetic blorbos, and i personally love stories in which they seek atonement, but elrond had a dad. if i were elrond or elros, i wouldn’t even be considering letting someone else slot into that position. especially not with my dad constantly being in the sky, like a particularly unfair reminder. maedhros can be complicated and alluring, but i hate the fanon of him or maglor genuinely adopting the baby half-elves out of untainted goodwill. it softens them in a way that makes me like them less.

also, the fanon of people being like “tolkien wasn’t sexist. look at melian.” does that count as fanon? if so, i hate that too.

24. topic that brings up the most rancid discourse

i feel like this goes for all fandoms, but by far any sort of accusation of racism in the work or in fan works is the most grenade-like kind of accusation one can lob.

with tolkien, i see a lot of people often focused on tolkien’s own opinions on “allegory,” and to be quite honest, anyone who uses that to say tolkien isn’t as racist as you might assume, is dumb as a rock.

tolkien’s frustration with "allegory" is the concept of 1 to 1 relationships. he didn't like when people were like "rohan is anglo saxon england" or "aragorn is [insert historical figure]" or any sort of reductive comparisons of lotr to real life figures and struggles in world war ii. (interestingly, however, he has said that dwarves were very inspired by jewish people. like, to the point that saying tolkien's dwarves are jewish is as accurate as saying shylock in merchant of venice is jewish--in that, they are characters in a story written by a christian who didn't really understand a whole heckuva lot about judaism. but that's a whole other topic.) and while that might tempt you to think that he therefore was not trying to represent any person or civilization from the real world in his books, unfortunately the core tenet of analytical reading is to assume deliberation over every single detail. you do in fact have to choose an idea before you write it down. and tolkien wrote the word "swarthy" one too many times for any of us to assume good-faith.

of course, there's also the claim of lotr not being as racist as the man (tolkien) likely was because art and the artist are not the same thing. and yeah. but again. "swarthy."

there is no easy answer to the whole death-of-the-author debate and questions over how much biography should be allowed in critical readings--at least no easy answer that doesn't just boil down to the simple demand to "think critically" (which isn't all that simple, in the end)--so i'm definitely not going to try to arrive at one now. but when it comes to tolkien's little made-up world, there are certain tropes in the fan interaction with it that make me somewhat queasy? like tolkien was so demonstrably inspired by real-world mythos and folklore that it is so easy to fit some of his characters and stories into real-world folk art and aesthetic. and to me there's a sliding scale of acceptable inspiration to maybe-we-shouldn't(?) inspiration. like when i see fan art that is labeled "indigenous tolkien," with no tribe or even geographic region specified, i find that weird.

and the reason i find that weird is the fundamental reason that i think discourse in fan circles over racial biases can get so rancid (unlike the discourse in non fan circles! just kidding, fandom discourse has nothing on a medievalist conference with a panel on white supremacy in the field, lol), and that reason is: tolkien's made-up world is not as made-up as the immersiveness of his world suggests. it is very rooted, and deliberately so, in the histories and folklore of western-european people (in particular) and thus the stories, the characters, the aesthetics, the ethics, and the themes are all off-shoots of these traditions. there is a missing element of material recognition in the interpretations of tolkien as really one thing or the other. material culture plays a much bigger role in the whole of all his arda-tales than is immediately obvious.

people want to give fantasy a pass when it comes to certain biases and they use that annoying allegory quote to do it with tolkien's work. because they are enlightened and do not project white supremacy and other legacies of colonialism onto a "made-up world." but tolkien would probably be the first to say that his work was built off fairy-stories, as a contribution to the genre.

he even goes on this relevant tangent at the beginning of "on fairy stories":

It is perhaps not unnatural that in England, the land where the love of the delicate and fine has often reappeared in art, fancy should in this matter turn towards the dainty and diminutive, as in France it went to court and put on powder and diamonds.

whether or not he's right about this distinction between english fairies and french fairies, this still shows that he considers the fantastical an expression of real and observable culture. therefore, despite the fact that it is bad-faith to read anything in tolkien as 1 to 1, he was trying to represent our world with his because he doesn't see the fairy/monstrous/supernatural as entirely separate from the physical/metaphysical or the human imagination. he was just trying to tell the same story that has always been told, from creation and onward.

so yeah. it is entirely valid to call aragorn's Specialness as a Special Sort of Human kind of fascist.

(and just as the rooted-ness of tolkien's fantasy world means that his work cannot escape accusations of bias, the rooted-ness also opens the way for a specific kind of progressive reading that is less about plugging one's ears to the bias but leaning into it. the real-world is more complex than one man can imagine it and when that one man is trying his hardest to represent the world, as any good writer would do regardless of genre, things will slip in to the story that the man chose but may not have understood. eowyn's speech about staying in the burning house is feminist thought even if tolkien would probably never have claimed it as such. the love between legolas and gimli is canonically transgressive and metaphysically-challenging--aspects of a love that tolkien probably would have assumed of gay love, in his time. if that makes sense. his biases don't define the art, even if they are present. especially since he was a very good writer and reader.)

[crownlessliestheking]

🗡️💀😈 for the ask game!!! i couldn’t choose so you can pick one if you want (or all :3c)

🗡️ Defend your favorite war criminal (or make them worse - I'm not your mom).

I want you to know this was absolutely agonizing. Like. WHO do I choose. Who indeed....

Anyway, it's Maglor, and I'm making him worse. Now I am not thee esteemed Maglor scholar -- this is @samarqqand, whose phrasing I am borrowing when I say that Maglor's a moral invertebrate. Like. For real. It's overcooked linguine in place of a spine. And I think that specifically is what makes him worse. Fanon likes to characterize him as softer than his brothers (certainly, he wasn't as vocal about certain things as Celegorm and Curufin), but that -- does not make it better. He commits 3 kinslayings. He holds the Gap through the entire Siege; he cleaves to Maedhros at every available opportunity -- damningly, even when he disagrees. If Maglor does not think that there should be a kinslaying at Sirion, he either does not protest, or does protest and is not recorded and then does it anyway. If Maglor is a Soft Boy (TM), if he is only a tender musician, then why would he turn his sword and voice (arguably the greater weapon of the two) against innocent people? And yeah, the folks at Sirion were innocent. I could even argue that Dior didn't deserve what he got, nor did the majority of the people at Doriath! (The first kinslaying is trickier because I cannot point at Maglor and go, yeah, he has a pretty large share of the blame.) He exists in this liminal space between accountability and denial for much of the Silm, one that he is desperately trying to maintain; look at his reign as High King, however brief it was -- he doesn't do anything. Maglor sits there and is paralysed, because all the choices are on his shoulders. He either damns his brother to torment for good or he loses more of his people trying to get Maedhros back. He either leads a charge for the Silmarils like Curufin is maybe advising, like his father would do, or he remains cautious, starts properly settling Beleriand and keeps a watch on Angband while extending diplomatic overtures. And...all we know of his kingship is that Maedhros is chained up. It says a lot, you know? He is consumed by despair, sure, but I tend to read his action of casting the Silmaril away at the end as not like, a plea for redemption, or 'get this away from me, I am above the Oath' or whatever, but as an act of cowardice. He could keep the Silmaril, yes. He could hold to what is left of his family, but then he'd have to face what they became. He could go back to Valinor, even, really take advantage of that pardon (or create one for himself, Silmaril in hand), but then he would have to face what he did. He could (as fans enjoy) even go visit Elros and Elrond in their respective places, or stay at the Havens, or see Celebrimbor (and who is to say he did not, or that these people didn't come looking for him), but...as far as we know, he doesn't. He knows what he did, and I think by the end of the FA, he can no longer justify it, which means that he is incapable of looking at it head on. What else is there to do but fade to a voice in the wind? By that point, I think he knows full well that it doesn't matter if he didn't want to hold the sword, he still killed with it; it doesn't matter if he tells himself that he never made the call, he still went along with it. The everlasting Darkness isn't for him, but he is not brave enough to face going home.

😈 Give the villains some love. Which antagonist is most interesting to you and what about them draws you in?

I mean, Sauron is the obvious answer. The camp, the glamor, the deep, deep tragedy of Silvergifting and the concept of a villain whose initial goal is to order, to put things A Certain Way. The concept of a villain who loses bits of themselves completely and utterly, who is given a chance to repent and who says no. I am also very into Ar-Pharazon these days, but only as he exists in my own head. I fucking love that guy's hubris and his ambition, the two things that make him so great and frankly a bit scary to Sauron that ultimately end up being his downfall -- like, sometimes I stop and I think to myself, damn, did Sauron really need to do that much work to manipulate this guy into trying to get to Valinor and seize immortality? And the answer is...honestly, probably not. Pharazon was terrified of dying, he was flush with hubris, and, well. All he needed was to know that it was an option. I love Akallabeth Numenor generally, though.

Maximum chaos bonus question (💀): You have a "Get out of jail 'Doomed by the Narrative' free" card. Who do you give it to?

Oooooh, this is really, really hard. I honestly think I'd give it to Finduilas. She's not even doomed by her own narrative! She's doomed by Turin's (although to be fair, so is everyone else that Turin meets or so much as looks at.) Plus I'm really fond of the Fin Galad theory.

[eunoiaastralwings]

How Ardently

-ˋˏ ༻❁ characters erestor x lúthriel (my oc), maedhros, maglor, celegorm, @calistefinwe (@aeonianarchives 's oc), caranthir, curufin, ambarussa, nerdanel

-ˋˏ ༻❁ fandom tolkien- the silmarillion

-ˋˏ ༻❁ summary Lú learns an interesting and shocking connection between her lover and best friend requested by my wonderful friend @aeonianarchives

-ˋˏ ༻❁ a/n for content everyone this is based of a roleplay myself and Kaiden is doing - Erestor is Lú's canon love interest, whom we are also basing off as Cara's child - and well you know Dior, Lú's twin, could have possibly killed Cara too (he did in the rp au) and Faeron (who happens to be Cara's twins and one of Lú's best friends whom she lost connection after the ruin of Doriath but found again after Rivendell) had killed Dior too after well witnessing Cara's death - Fae didn't swear the oath btw :) ABSOLUTE CRACK

“It’ll be alright, meleth. . .” Erestor tightened his hold on Lúthriel’s hand – which made her look at him unsurely, but she gave him the most reassuring smile she could muster at the moment. Her nerves were getting the best of her – and she let out a shaking breath.

“Do you really think they’ll approve of me? – After everything my family and your family. . .-”

Lúthriel sighed not knowing how to even begin explaining their situation – it was a type of forbidden love. Erestor belonged to the Nolder family that caused ruin to her home and Lúthriel belonged to the Sindar family were their enemy.

“It was a long time ago.”

Erestor reassured her.

“Besides my uncles had taken in Lord Elrond and King Elros in their days – they raised and protected them. Everything will be fine, dîs nin. . .” (my bride).

He whispered – and tucked a lose strand of her dark hair behind her ear and looking into her green and blue eyes with so much reassurance Lúthriel felt like she was floating.

Lúthriel finally gave him a stern nod – holding her chin high to which Erestor smiled and finally knocked on the door to the banquet hall.

Lúthriel nervously straitened her mother’s hair pin she wore and her dress when the doorknob turned.

To her surprise a tall and freckled woman with bright auburn hair had opened the door. She smiled sweetly at them.

“There you are, come in. They are waiting for you.”

She said opening the door wide for them to enter – Lúthriel didn’t even need to look up but she could already sense many pairs of eyes on her.

“Oh, you have got to be joking me!”

Lúthriel looked up to see one of the silver-haired Feanorians glaring down at her with hatred. The silver eyes of Celegorm bore into her, but Lúthriel didn’t dare, she only glared back at him. She wanted to say something, but she bit down her tongue – Erestor caressed her knuckles hoping to calm her down.

“Tyelko, that’s enough!”

Nerdanel snapped – the fondness in her voice had suddenly disappeared.

Her gazed then shifted to his brother – she nervously avoided eye contact with Erestor’s father, but she smiled to the ellon who stood beside him, Faeron. They put their different aside and saved their friendship through understanding.

Lúthriel felt like she would have done the same thing – so she chose to forgive him and apologized to Faeron on behalf of Dior.

But for some strange reason today – Faeron had her arms crossed and somewhat glaring at her, which only made her frown at him. She silently gave him a questioning look and Faeron raised his sharp eyebrow as her.

Lúthriel was about to speak – but her betrothed beat her to it.

“Well – you have met my grandmother, Nerdanel.”

Erestor said and she smiled warmly at holding nothing by approval and fondness in her eyes for the Sindarin princess, which made her feel a little more at ease.

“And, you know my uncles. . .”

He said very awkwardly – gesturing to Nerdanel’s sons one by one.

“Maedhros, Maglor, Celegorm. . . – then there’s Curufin and the Ambarussa. . .”

Lúthriel had been too busy giving Celegorm murderous glares to notice Erestor had introduced Faeron as his uncle. Celegorm had a long line of history with her family – including kidnapping and lusting after beloved mother to a point her mother was almost shuddered in fear at the mention of his name.

She did not feel one bit of remorse when Dior had beheaded – her only pain was seeing Dior had to be one to do it. Seeing her own twin do the kill certainly took a toll on her.

Erestor slowly stood in front of her eye line and gently gestured her to Caranthir.

“My birth father, Caranthir – Morifinwë.”

Lúthriel’s sharp glares suddenly disappeared and she found herself gulping under his dark judgemental gaze. He really wasn’t called ‘Dark Finwë’ for nothing. She wanted to say something but she couldn’t – for the first time in her life she found herself unable to take a stand. This was the father of the ellon she loved, who also happens to be killed by her own twin.

Just when Lúthriel believed it could not get any of dramatic, Erestor finally gestured to the last Feanorian; Faeron or Calistefinwë – whim she thought she knew well enough as one of her best friends now.

“And finally, you know well enough here – Calistefinwë, my adopted father. He raised me.”

Erestor smiled softly at Lúthriel, knowing they were friends – but to his utter surprise Lúthriel looked too shocked, like his adopted father had grown two heads.

“What?!”

She suddenly shrieked – letting go off Erestor’s arm as she broke all proper etiquettes belonging to proper princess, which made Nerdanel throw her head back and laugh.

“I could ask you the same think, Lú! What the actual fuck?!”

Faeron shouted at her.

“You’re asking me that!”

She flared back – the sudden exchange making both Erestor and Caranthir shift unfortunately. Caranthir didn’t know where he stood in all this – it was his first time meeting his son whom he last saw as a toddler and now he was suddenly betrothed to, not only the twin sister of his killer, but she also happened to be a friend of his own twin?

“YES! I WAS SUPPOSED TO BE A BROTHER TO YOU AND THIS IS HOW YOU TREAT ME FOR STEALING YOUR NIECE’S KIDS?!”

Faeron shot back.

“Aren’t we the one who took Elrond and Elros?”

Maglor suddenly questioned to Maedhros.

“I think he means after the War of Wrath.”

Maedhros replied – pinching the bridge of nose as their voices raised.

“I NEVER KNEW YOU WERE HIS ADOPTED FATHER, FAE! YOU NEVER TOLD ME!”

Nerdanel looked at them with curious eyes – this was certainly drama at its finest. She did not involve herself, unless another one of her sons chose to intervene.

“Well, this is quite dramatic!”

Celegorm stated – sitting back to enjoy how would this turn out for Lúthien’s daughter.

“Hope it ends terribly for her!”

He said and suddenly getting sharp glares from his non-occupied siblings, bar Curufin who looked like he rather wanted to leave this whole ordeal and meet up with his own son, Celebrimbor. But Celebrimbor purposely chose not to be here – as he still was not ready to come face-to-face with his father, but promised to his first cousin Erestor and Lúthriel in private afterwards.

“So, you’re telling me, if you had known he was my son you wouldn’t have fallen for him?”

Lúthriel let out something in between scoff and a laugh – Erestor looked at her concerned, perhaps a little scared too and Caranthir watched the emotions on Erestor’s face, realizing his features were an awful lot like his own, only missing his ruddy skin – Erestor had his mother’s slightly tanned skin.

“Fae, you know as much as I do how love works – it has no boundaries. I fell in love with him, even knowing he was a Feanorian, what makes you think I wouldn’t have fallen for him when knowing he was your son too!”

Lúthriel told him with a stern voice, making Nerdanel smirk – the more she saw this Sindarin elleth the more she approved her. Lúthriel reminded of herself, stubborn and won’t back down easily – and for Feanorian someone like that simply needed.

“Now, all I am asking you is for your blessing for your son and I, is that so hard?”

Lúthriel stated dramatically.

The Ambarussa came to sit beside their mother.

“How did see not know Erestor was adopted by her friend?”

Armod asked and Nerdanel chuckled.

“This is you brother Telpërinisquar we are talking about! When has he made it easy to understand and perhaps it never came up until now.”

Nerdanel replied with a shrug – fondly using the name she has given Faeron.

“Yes, it is hard! It’s you, you of all people with my son. MY SON.”

Caranthir then tried to say something – however it went in one ear and out the other.

“He’s actually my son, you know? Eve though you raised him. . .”

But Faeron paid no heed to his twin and shouted.

“LÚ YOU’RE CRAZY!”

“I don’t think we should keep talking about this. . .”

Erestor tried to say as he looked around the room with a sigh – certainly this wasn’t how he hoped it would go. His uncle Maedhros and Maglor looked like the were used to something like this – but it not mean they enjoyed it.

“Oh please, Fae! How am I crazy for falling in love? It is not like I fell in love with an orc! Besides! You always encouraged to try and court and fall in love!”

That middle sentence made Erestor raise an eyebrow at Lúthriel.

“Seriously?”

He questioned.

“Shh! Not now!”

She snapped at him.

“He is an orc when it comes to you and I never said my own son you missed the assignment!”

Faeron snapped suddenly – making Erestor look at him unbelievably. Both Erestor and Caranthir let out an offended scoff at the same – Caranthir somewhat smilrd at his son noticing he had some of his habits even though he did not raise him.

“How? How did miss it? You were specific Fae! You said I should date anyone! Anyone! Be it maiar, ellon or elleth! Erestor is an ellon!”

Lúthriel shot back.

“I thought you would know my son wouldn’t be part of ANYONE!”

Faeron shouted.

Every one in the room looked at one another awkwardly – this clearly wasn’t ending any time soon. However, Nerdanel still watched on making no move to end this – she clearly knew what was happening and perhaps that’s why no one chose to move.

“Excuse me! You make it sound like I was some sort of witch that wrongfully seduced your son!”

Lúthriel was not going to back down out of this – and Erestor regretted on telling her beforehand. He thought both of them would have been excited to know.

“Knowing your part maia.”

Faeron muttered.

“AND YOU'RE MARRIED TWO MAIAR - NEED I REMIND YOU ?!”

“He’s my son, his actual father is my twin here– what would he think of you worth his son!”

Faeron snapped – making Caranthir turn red as he was unexpectedly mentioned.”

“Can’t you are friends with the twin of my killer.”

Caranthir muttered to Faeron with small glare.

“She is friends with the killer of her own twin”

Faeron muttered back.

“Doesn’t make it any better”

Caranthir replied to his twin.

“To be honest it happened before your death I was pissy for a while and then friends again”

Faeron explain easily.

“Loving this family drama we have going on here!”

Celegorm decided to comment.

“Oh shut up, you are cause most of it most of the time!”

Faeron snapped at him.

“Are we done here? Can we get the blessings we came here for?”

Lúthriel spoke again – raising her eyebrow.

“No you are not getting any blessings from me!”

Faeron erupted.

“Ada. . .” (dad).

Erestor tried to intervene then – too shocked by Faeron’s behavior. He really wanted to pull the both them into another room and demand to stop this – but knowing his own stubborn lover and an even more stubborn father it wouldn’t be that simple.

His eyes twitched as he felt a headache coming on.

“How the hell not?”

Lúthriel suddenly cursed – surprising everyone in the room.

Armas chuckled.

“Nolder or not, I actually like her!”

He said – making faeron snapped his eyes at him.

“Don’t encourage her. And you know exactly why, Lú!”

He spoke to the both of them at the same time.

“Do you know how much trouble you have caused me?!”

He asked her.

“Yes you! - I do that on purpose! Not with Erestor!”

She smirked and leaned on Erestor again – hugging his arm and Erestor sighed in exhaustion.

“You are nothing but trouble did Ranya curse me to deal with you! I swear he may of done!”

Faeron questioned – referring to one of the Mandos’ horsemen; the youngest brother of his beloved.

“Maybe, so you going to give us your blessing now?”

The elleth smirked.

“If you are a curse, I will exercise you with exorcism!”

“I am no curse, Fae! JUST GIVE US YOUR BLESSING!! WE DONT HAVE ALL DAY”

Lúthriel exclaimed, throwing her hands.

“Then no. No blessing for you. You rush me to much and will be even more of a pain in the ass if i give it to you”

Faeron said – brushing her off.

“So no blessing?”

Lúthriel grumbled under her breath – Erester sighed out loud again and looking away to the side. He really regretted not telling either of them.

He debated whoever or not just leave them be – but they had promised to never walk put on each other. Erestor would break her heart if you would do such a thing.

“Yes none! No blessing and no other one of his fathers to get it from.”

“BUT IT IS WRONG TO GET MARRIED WITHOUT BLESSINGS!”

Lúthriel tried to explain – reaching to a point she was almost desperate and this would be the one time she would be doing for Erestor’s sake.

“I am saving my son from a life with maiar and a pain in the ass won't shut up. Half elf who always believes she is right and doesn't take a no as an answer, and is quite frankly reckless and will never listen, unless, it is to help with something she asked for help with and it is not saying something going against.”

Lúthriel let out something in between a scoff and a laugh as she said so – while his words somewhat stung, there was nothing he could or anyone could throw at her that would make her leave Erestor. Unless it was Erestor himself.

“Telpërinisquar!”

Now Nerdanel chose to step in – unsure what exactly her so was planning– calling him sternly by the name chosen by her.

But Faeron only send her a gaze – silently asking his beautiful mother wait, though he knew the impatience was starting to get the better of her.

“Fine! So be it! We do not need your blessing! We shall do this ourselves Fae! I will show I can make an excellent lover and wife to your son – I WILL SHOW YOU!”

Lúthriel chose to say and took Erestor’s hand again – she almost sighed out in relief as he held her tightly.

Even Erestor seemed to shocked by Faeron’s response and he hoped to have his birth father’s approval, but Caranthir only stood there looking with a frown on his eyes as if he was deep in thought.

“i was hoping you would say that, I would hate if my son chooses a push over, like i know you have been so many times before, but step out of line and you are ending up like your brother!”

Faeron finally said and delivered with a massive grin.

Lúthriel gaped at him for second her eyes widening – she decided to have him a murderous gaze and whacked Faeron’s shoulder.

“You little-”

She screamed – but Erestor immediately grabbed her by her waist and pulled her back, holding her back from attacking his father.

“Really?! You had be scared, Ada!”

Faeron rolled his eyes and muttered about taking the blessing away – and Lúthriel only retorted back with:

“You can’t take away a gift!”

“I can and I will – besides you should have known I would do this after all that training I gave you back in Doriath.”

But Lúthriel only muttered something incoherent under her breath and crossed her arms.

“Well – if that is all let me get the dinner out and so we can finally eat!”

Nerdanel announced going into the kitchen – Maglor willingly followed.

Lúthriel was about to as well – but not before whispering to Faeron and Erestor.

“Can I poison Celery’s food?”

Which Caranthi happened to overhear and he raised and eyebrow. Before Faeron would answer, the eldest twin answered first.

“Any other time, I probably would have said yes – but we promised our mother not to upset her this evening.”

Lúthriel sighed with a fine and walked herself over to the kitchen.

The food was sound with the help of Lúthriel and Nerdanel smiled at her gratefully. As they sat to eat – Nerdanel stirred away from hurtful topics with a stern voice and sharp glare to any one of her sons and the entire time Erestor held Lúthriel’s hand underneath the table. . . Never letting go.

Taglist form

oc taglist: @a-contemplation-upon-flowers @aeonianarchives @mismaeve @fizzyxcustard @spidergirla5

[elithilanor]

I don't think I sent this one yet? Can you write a piece where reader's twin sister died (bc my twin sister just died) & Elrond knows what it's like to experience that kind of loss so he comforts her? I really need dad comfort bc my dad is stuck in his own problems and has been for a while. Ty ❤️

I honestly had a handful of drafts I had for this and it was difficult to settle on one; hopefully this one provides some form of comfort or catharsis.

My many, many apologies for the delay! 

My condolences on your loss. May you find some temporary relief in the waves of grief. 

TW: grieving people finding solace watching the weather up on some cliff sides (no suicidal ideation); familial death; grief

Small language note:

* hína = Quenyan word for gender neutral "child"

* nethel = Sindarin word for sister 

I fully believe Imladris is a multi-linguist and dialectic household. 

.

.

The winds whistle across the grasses in the valley below, the ripple visible even from this high up on your cliffside perch. The wind howls louder the higher it climbs and you shiver as it bites into your skin.

You hug your knees closer to your chest. 

Yet still, the chill and the silence are a welcome reprieve from the heavy and busy atmosphere that has taken over Imladris since the news of your sister's sudden passing. 

The long-awaited clouds begin to dust snow across the landscape, making the world look as grey and numb as you feel inside.

"I thought I would find you up here." Your father says gently as he sinks to sit down beside you, tucking his thick, woolen cloak around you both, preventing the wind and any further chill from finding you. 

You don't respond at first, unsure of what to say as you track a small flurry dancing in the air before it plummets towards the churning Bruinen.

You don't want to look at him. Your father has a habit of making people feel their feelings and honestly, you just wanted a break from it all. 

At the same time, you were relieved he was here. 

"Oh?" You ask, twirling the fabric and fur in between your fingers for a distraction. 

He hums and loops his arm gently around yours, tugging you closer to his warmth as he looks out and watches the storm rage in. "I spent many nights here after your Naneth left."

You close your eyes, the ache intensifying in your chest. It really was like losing Nana all over again. Only worse. It was worse and he didn't understand -

"I do." He says gently. "Oh, sweet child, I do." 

He brushes a hand through your hair, his fingers carefully untangling the knots that came from the neglect of despair. His voice is quiet and full of loss.

"I spent so much time up in the cliff caves of Lindon "exploring for new species" after Elros was lost to me that Ereinion threatened to revoke my status as herald, if only to get me to come back down to him and Erestor." 

He shifts closer and braids your hair down your back, his steady warmth enveloping you and fighting off the worst of the bone-deep cold.

His cloak smells of his library: ink, oakwood, and cedar. It reminds you of the nights curled up with your siblings while he read you bedtime stories by the dimming light of the candles.

"Erestor kept vigil at court the years Glorfindel carried me home after your Naneth sailed. Her loss nearly broke me, but…losing my brother," he clears his throat and his voice is thick with unshed tears, "is different somehow. No matter how much love I have to give or how much love is given to me, there will always be an Elros-shaped hole in me; one half of a whole person that isn't there any more. I don't believe it will ever change."

Your father smiles sadly at you as he thinks of his long-departed brother. "It hasn't yet, though there are many parts that have gotten easier.”

You look away. It's too hard to see the same pain you feel reflected in someone else. 

You feel the words bubble up anyway. 

"I feel so empty, Ada." You whisper suddenly, taking a sharp breath in through your nose trying to say the words before you couldn't. "It's like - it's like an Elros-shaped hole is left in me except it's not Elros and she was my sister and she's gone-" A sob wrecks itself through your form and your father pulls you into his arms, holding you close to his chest. 

"Oh, hína*." He whispers, rubbing your back soothingly. "I know. I know."

"I don't know what to do." You weep, "I don't - everything hurts. It's worse than Nana because I know I'll see her again because she's in Valinor but nethel* won't be because she married that ridiculous mortal and Ada it hurts."

Your father holds you tightly to him, understanding the emotional anchor he has on you and your feä and this plane. 

He tucks your head under his and rocks you as you cling to him, sobbing.

The wind shrieks around the two of you and snow pelts the landscape, held back only by the rocky outcropping above you and the security and safety of your father's arms.

"You should go." You say, oddly guilty as the sun's weak rays finally disappear, shrouding the hills of your home in darkness. It's been hours and your eyes are heavy. "I know there are more preparations for tomorrow." 

Your father shakes his head and presses a kiss to the top of your head and lights his lantern, setting it beside you.

The light holds steady in the moonless tempest. 

"I'm exactly where I'm meant to be."

[tanoraqui]

Do you ever wonder if Elrond had a really personal grudge against Sauron for the fall of Numenor? I think he must have. Even through Aragorn’s time, those were his brother’s people and so they were his; those were his nieces and nephews. And I refuse to believe Elros didn’t lead his people to love him in return - Elrond had his own duties in Arda, but he was always welcome as a guest, as counselor and kin to every king of Numenor since the first. 

Even as they started to build their tombs grander than their homes. Even as whispers grew (even before Sauron came speaking golden poison) full of jealousy toward the elves, bitterness toward the Valar. Elrond was still (to my mind) known, respected, if not loved than certainly still welcome - not least by the Faithful who fought back against the whispers. “See, here!” they could say, pointing at Elrond who pretends not to notice. “Here is an elf who is our kin, who is not prideful and selfish but rather shares his wisdom freely, always to our aid!” And perhaps that even cooled some heads, even when Sauron arrived with his poisonous silver tongue.

Because isn’t that so much worse? How many times did Elrond visit Numenor to watch Sauron whisper in Ar-Pharazon’s ear, to try to provide some counter-argument that was listened to less and less? How many times did he have to bite his tongue and say nothing, because to fight the tide would only be to strengthen it, and the best he can do is maintain his (decreasingly) tolerated presence and be living proof that not all elves are their enemy, that the Valar give the best justice they can? All the while knowing that this did nothing to stem the tide either...

Maybe Sauron even supported him, indirectly. “But Lord Elrond-” someone says in doubt. “Yes, of course, he tries his best,” the deceiver replies, “It’s not his fault the Valar forced this choice on him, even as they refuse it to you...”

Because then when Elrond finally does snap - when some diplomatic incident with Gil-Galad’s people comes to a head, when Sauron or more likely some puppet makes one insinuation or outright lie too many; when he shouts or just politely makes his farewells and walks out - look how even this one good elf, this one who claims to support and cherish you, look how he betrays you! Has he not forsaken you, betrayed you, robbed you just like the rest? Damn them all! It’s time to reclaim what is rightfully yours!

...Yeah, I think that Elrond might’ve hated Sauron viciously, especially in the days of the Last Alliance.

[arlenianchronicles]

Inspired by LOTR’s “Twilight and Shadow,” and later on by this cover of Ensiferum’s “In my sword I trust.”

(Long poem ahead! ^^;;)

“Thou keep us here, fair Dusk and I;

“Thou answer us whene’er we cry,

“See to our wounds, our fears and more.

“‘Tis much than those who came before,

“Who fought for me and my dear twin,

“Possession over us to win

“So that they might force us to grant

“Their wishes: either to supplant

“A rival king, or gain such wealth

“Of jewels and gold, or improve health

“So much that they are granted pow’r,

“Long life and youth, fair as a flow’r.

“‘Twas all of this that broke our home,

“That drove dear Night and Day, alone,

“On that dark path over the sea,

“Forced to depart from Dusk and me.

“And we were left to watch the Dark

“Spread far across these lands, and hark

“To those whose boons we had to give

“With such faint hope that we might live

“To see our freedom once again

“And bring back light upon the plain.

“So now I say, O Warrior dear,

“Who brushed away our every tear,

“What of me dost thou wish to ask?

“I have no fear of any task;

“All those who’ve met us always want,

“And us their voices always haunt.

“What is thy price? Thou may speak so;

“There’s nowhere else for me to go.”

“One thing I ask,” the Warrior said,

“Of me, I bid thee, have no dread;

“I’ll keep thou safe within my might.

“The Harper too, with his sharp sight,

“Will guard fair Dusk as like a shield.

“Fear not our strength! To thee I yield

“My skills and wit and love most true,

“Though this old shell has lost its hue.

“If thou wilt have me, I will call

“Thee as my child within our hall

“And what e’er comes, I will not turn

“Against thee. I give thee my word.”

~~~

Whelp I didn’t expect this poem to get super long! Essentially, I wanted to explore the twins’ backstory in my nursery rhyme AU, which I think I managed to describe well enough in this poem ^^;;

I debated on whether the twins should’ve already granted wishes in the past, or maybe this is Elros’ first time trying it ... But I do feel it would be more sad if he’s already been conditioned to expect people using him and Elrond. Even if he believes that Maedros and Maglor wouldn’t do that to them, there’s some deep-down part of him that does. So I suppose this is his way of trying not to disappoint himself, and stop delaying the inevitable pain (as he sees it).

Good thing Maedros has plans to (kinda) subvert his expectations! XDD

[wildfaeworld]

it is once again time to be emotions about Aragorn son of Aragorn, Isildur's Heir, scion of the line of Numenor, and the history behind Arwen's declaration "you will face the same evil, and you will defeat it"

once upon a time, before the last gasp of the apocalypse (yes the entirety of LOTR is set in a post-apocalyptic world) there was an island kingdom partway between Middle-Earth and Valinor, land of the Valar and home of the elves. This island kingdom was Numenor, and it was ruled by the descendants of Elros, brother of Elrond, son of Earendil and Elwing, grandson of Beren and Luthien, she who was daughter of Melian, Maia and Queen of Doriath. Numenor was the greatest of the human kingdoms, and it fell to the orchestrations of Sauron. Now in those days Sauron was not bound to the One Ring, and could appear as he pleased, and his preferred form was incredibly pleasing to the eye of any beholder. His main mechanisms towards his goals were flattery, deception, and manipulation, and he successfully orchestrated the downfall of Numenor by feeding generations of kings' hubris and until the last king of Numenor launched war against the Valar themselves and got his kingdom literally destroyed for it. Numenor as a landmass ceased to exist.

The survivors of this devastation were led by Elendil and his son Isildur. They later rallied with the elves to face Sauron in battle, which led to Isildur cutting the One Ring off of Sauron's finger and then falling prey to its evil.

So Aragorn knows that failure in the face of Sauron specifically is a generational trait. He carries the weight of his ancestor's history in his bones, in his blood, and he worries. He does not believe he, scraggly Strider of the North, could succeed where generations of his ancestors failed. Why would he be any better than Isildur? Than the kings of Numenor?

But Arwen, she whom the elves called Luthien come again to earth, believed in him. Arwen, daughter of Elrond, granddaughter of Galadriel, one of the last of the Noldorin, believed that Aragorn would face Sauron and defeat him. She believed in him, loved him forsook immortality for him. When she told Aragorn he would face Sauron and win, they both knew what she was saying. She was telling Aragorn in the way he most needed to hear that he was enough. That he was a worthy successor of his ancestry, that he was capable of not only carrying that weight but lifting it from the muck and obscurity into which it had fallen. She was giving him the greatest gift (after her heart) that she could, and he knew it 😭

[riding-with-the-wild-hunt]

Do you have any headcanons about the kidnap fam, especially Mae’s interactions with the twins and mags, and how his trauma affects them? Thx :)

my dear new friend. of course. what else would approximately 68.3% of my brain space be devoted to?

i think maedhros was a gentle parent, the let me do that for you. are you sure? wear a jacket. don't be frightened. you need to eat one out of the pair. as he became more vicious towards his enemies post-angband, so he became proportionately--perhaps even disproportionately--gentler with anyone under his care. he fastidiously keeps his own pain and trauma and fear as far away from elrond and elros as he possibly can. he's always afraid of damaging them the way he's been damaged, a fear that he channels into protection, so he's very much the watchdog of the family unit. when e&e are younger, i think that they read this as inaccessibility or coldness, and there's some resentment there, especially given that they don't know very much about maedhros's reasoning and the motivation behind his actions. i really don't imagine maglor and maedhros having a good relationship at this point, and i think, to some degree, maglor actually encourages this thought process in the twins, or at least doesn't actively discourage it. i think maedhros also feels a lot more guilt about the whole kidnapping-and-home-destruction thing than maglor does, or is just better at processing it, which motivates his protectiveness and desire to be a good parent. there's a piece of him that's trying to make the twins his own little restitution project--that if he does a good job, he'll be able to balance out his other actions.

i think maglor was an intense parent, always fluctuating between extremes. when he's in a stable, happy mood, i honestly think he would be wonderful to e&e, much more like an older sibling than a parent. he plays with them, gives them gifts, really showers them with love and affection in the effusive way that maedhros wasn't quite able to do. he's fun and silly and caring and seems to know everything, which is awesome when you're eight and want to know what bugs eat or why fire is warm. but on the flipside, i think he could have long periods of despondency and anxiety where he was barely able to look after himself, much less care for the twins, or intense energy, which would manifest in anger and recklessness. honestly, i think at some points, a lot of maedhros’s fears for the twins’ safety would be precipitated by maglor’s behavior towards them (he would put them in dangerous situations, involve them in arguments as pawns to make maedhros feel guilty, or be materially and emotionally neglectful). maglor was deeply unpredictable and when he lashed out, he lashed out hard. he could be threatening, manipulative, and hurtful, and his struggles with accountability often prevented him from really apologizing or even talking about it. elros, i think, was a lot closer to maglor and would often take his side, even as an adult, portraying him as a wholly good and caring parent and accusing elrond of exaggerating his faults to make maedhros look better and maedhros of being biased.

e&e, especially as teenagers, i think, felt a lot of frustration and impatience with m&m’s shared unwillingness to have upfront conversations about difficult topics. maglor and maedhros would have discussions (on good days) and rows (on bad days) about these things in front of e&e, but they were often exceedingly vague and truncated. elrond and maedhros talked a few times about maedhros’s past towards the end of their time together, and maglor definitely told elros a lot more than he let on to mae he had, but they never really talked things over, leaving elrond and elros to come to their own, often incorrect conclusions, or find out later.

during the kidnap-fam era, i think, as i’ve mentioned before, that m&m’s relationship was really deteriorating. depending on how well maglor was doing, maedhros often had to play parent to him as well as to the twins. this generated a lot of bitterness between the two of them, as maedhros was frustrated by what he saw as maglor’s incessant need for melodrama and attention and maglor felt that maedhros didn’t care about their family and their relationship as much as he should. to get some kind of emotional rise out of maedhros, maglor would often turn to provocation or manipulation--he would start arguments, threaten to hurt himself unless maedhros did something he wanted, use the twins as a guilt-tripping device, or be sexually perturbing. maedhros would rise to the bait, whatever it was, then berate himself for being amoral. most of the time, m&m were caught in a feedback loop of masochism and self-hatred that looks something like this:

provocation from maglor → violence from maedhros → inappropriate reaction from maglor → maedhros feeling he’s the root problem because of Internalized Issues™️ → maedhros withdraws → maglor gets lonelier → provocation from maglor

and so on. they’re both terribly unhappy most of the time. :)

anyways, thank you so much for asking! i treasure you with all my heart ❤❤❤

[polutrope]

Amrod & Amras Headcanons

In the version wherein Amrod (Ambarto/Umbarto) is killed in the burning of the ships and is the youngest. (I wanna hear yours too!)

Amrod and Amras were still quite young by elf standards when they swore the Oath. Let’s say mid-20s in human years. 

There was a big gap between them and the other brothers. In human family terms, imagine Fëanor and Nerdanel were in their 20s for the births of the first 5 and then the Ambarussa came along when they were, say, 40.

They were possibly conceived because Fëanor was being petty about Fingolfin and Finarfin having #4 on the way, and the fact none of his eldest were making any progress producing grandchildren when he already had 5 at Maedhros’ age (Celebrimbor is still about a human decade away). Possibly also an attempt to save their marriage?

So the Ambarussa are slightly younger even than Argon and Galadriel. They were never friends with them, though. Fingon and Aredhel were the only cousins they got to know. 

Fëanor and Nerdanel’s relationship was already pretty bad when the twins were born, so they didn’t get the same care and environment as the other five. 

Maedhros cared about them, of course, but he had a lot of other responsibilities at that point so it was mostly Maglor who fed/washed/entertained them when Nerdanel couldn’t be present for them (she was busy babysitting Fëanor). Maglor sometimes resented being thrust into this role because he wanted to focus on his Art but he loved them and did a good job. Of everyone in the family, he was the most reliably there for them.

They did get crumbs of Good Dad Fëanor, enough to make them think they loved him and follow him. 

When they were kids/teenagers, Celegorm was their best buddy among the brothers and he taught them to hunt, but he was also sometimes a bully, especially when they insisted on tagging along when he went with Aredhel. 

Caranthir found them kind of annoying and Curufin resented them for taking his spot as spoiled baby brother. 

As soon as they could function on their own, they mostly just raised each other. 

It’s canon (well, HoME canon, whatever that is) that Amrod was probably on the ship because he was planning to go back to Nerdanel. So Amrod was willing to ditch everyone including his twin. I think that would have hit Amras pretty hard even if Amrod hadn’t been burned alive. 

Amras on his own

He was an active participant in the burning of the ships (mixing and matching versions) so while outwardly he blames Fëanor (after he’s dead), deep down he blames himself. 

After the death of Amrod, Amras is the most disaffected and disillusioned of the brothers. 

He basically foreswore the Oath from Losgar onwards, it’s just the first time he tried to bring it up with his brothers after the death of Fëanor and capture of Maedhros, tensions were high and it was not well-received, so he doesn’t talk about it. 

After the loss of Amrod, he is reckless because he doesn’t really care if he lives or dies. This makes him seem like a fun person to those who aren’t perceptive, but sometimes he snaps and then he’s a loose canon. 

In Beleriand he’s a bit of a loner like Caranthir. They develop a loner-brother bond, despite having little else in common.

He befriended the Ossiriand elves and was the reason they all took refuge with them after Nirnaeth.

During the second kinslaying, it was Amras who tried to stop Celegorm’s servants from taking away Elured and Elurin. If not for him, Maedhros wouldn’t even have known they didn’t escape with Elwing. 

During the third kinslaying, Amras was among those who rebelled.

Below the cut: Maglor recounts the death of Amras. CW for violence.

Sirion. Elrond and Elros have run ahead and Elwing is behind them with the Silmaril. 

“‘Please, Maitimo,’ I said, ‘she will die before she gives it up.’ ‘She will not let the children die,’ he said, and ran after them without us. 

“Amras threw down his sword and screamed. ‘No, Maitimo, no, leave the children! Leave them!’ he screamed and screamed, again and again. He tore at his face and hair in a fit of madness. The flames were closing in on us. He would have run directly into them if I hadn’t held him back. ‘No, let me die in the fire!’ he cried. I slung him over my back and stumbled towards the sea, our only way of escape. 

“Amras, he… when he saw our people escaping in rowboats, he began to set fire to the craft that were still on the shore. He was trapping all of us. His face twisted into a horrible sneer. ‘Umbarto!’ he cried. Someone drove a sword into his back. As my brother folded over, I shot an arrow into the attacker’s throat. I don’t even know if it was one of our own people or not. There was so much confusion. With the sword still in his back, I cradled my little brother in my arms and watched his eyes go cold. 

- unpublished fanfic by polutrope