#annatar x narvi x celebrimbor

[saintstars]

Narvi is definitely standing on something tall

[halbrannatar]

Celebrimbor&Annatar

[thephoenixandthecrocodile]

I can’t be the only person who’s HC is that Celebrimbor will sleep with just about any race

Human: sure

Elf: a little predictable but all right

Dwarf: love those beards

Maia: hell yeah!

Uruk: if it’s the right one *coughadarcough*

the other Elves, especially Gil-Galad dread hearing about his latest boyfriend bc really Celebrimbor a dwarf?

[tathrin]

💚 a ship that you think deserves more love

[from this ask meme]

Okay hear me out: Celebrimbor/Narvi/Sauron.

It's a disaster! It's three incredibly talented smiths trying to one-up one another all the time; it's three creative outcasts supporting one another in their shared craft; it's three people from the most different possible backgrounds imaginable coming together to forge something greater than any one of them could have made alone.

It's beautiful! It's the heart of what the Gwaith-i-Mírdain was supposed to be about... (and only one of them knows that it's been rotten at the core all along.)

It's hopeful! It's overcoming suspicion and distrust on all sides with the power of love... (and then dying alone in the dark.) It's doomed! It's lovely! It's tragic! It's terrible!

It never could have ended well...but it could have ended better than this.

(Is Celebrimbor's grief over Narvi's mortal death part of how Annatar entices him to push further than before and make the Rings of Power? Rings that greatly extend the lifespan of whatever mortal wears them? Rings that could have kept Narvi alive and with them if they'd only been forged sooner?)

(Is Narvi's distrust of Annatar part of what pushes Celebrimbor to overlook his own suspicions of the maia? Because after all, he and Narvi were suspicious of one another at first, and now look at all they have done together! Or maybe it was the other way around; maybe Celebrimbor was the one who distrusted this ostensible emissary of the Valar, and good-hearted Narvi who urged Celebrimbor to open his heart again...)

(Is Annatar's initial dismissal of Narvi part of what first draws them all together, as Celebrimbor determines to prove to this stuffy maia that Aulë's children are just as noble and good and talented as those of Illuvatar, even as Narvi shrugs and shrugs it off because it's hardly the first time someone has looked down on a dwarf...

...but Celebrimbor won't allow anyone so smart to be stupid enough to disrespect his beloved, and he pushes and pushes and pushes until Annatar finally sees and agrees; and then when the three of them finally do put their heads together there's nothing, nothing they can't do...unfortunately for everyone.)

(Maybe Sauron did think briefly about just being Annatar; maybe he let himself toy with the idea that he could really, truly, be happy without domination; could be happy here, in Ost-in-Edhil, with them... but mortals die. Mortals die. And Annatar, even with all his necromantic arts, could not stop that. He needed more power. He needed to never, ever let that happen to anyone he cared about again. He needed the Rings...which meant that Annatar had to die too, and leave only Sauron to remain.)

(Is the strength of Narvi's heart, distilled in their thoughts as they craft the Rings, part of why the Dwarven Rings are less devastatingly corruptive than the Nine? Because they were forged with a knowledge and respect of dwarven strength, and so they can only strengthen dwarves—especially their worst aspects admittedly—rather than consume them, as Men are consumed?)

(Maybe the strength of a dwarven heart, the unshakable mountain of dwarven love, was briefly enough to hold the past at bay; to let Celebrimbor step beyond his fear of what the works of his family's hands could do, and embrace the risk of forging to the very best of his ability, because he knew that Narvi would be there to steady him...and if not for Narvi, he would never have had the courage to follow Annatar into the making of the Rings.)

(Did losing Narvi—and worse, watching Celebrimbor lose Narvi—teach Sauron some of the crucial lessons that allowed the Necromancer to bind and break mortal souls that way he does with his Rings? Or did it just convince him that mortals are weak enough to be dominated after all, given how fast they die?)

(Maybe the strength of a dwarven heart, the unshakable mountain of dwarven love, was briefly enough to hold his past at bay; to let Sauron step beyond Morgoth's shadow and shine as Annatar, as the memory of Mairon that had lain so long dormant: to make for the sake of making alone instead of in pursuit of power and domination. And then, when Narvi died, that shattered and all that was left was the comfort of command and corruption and Sauron, again, for all time; the safety of keeping a wounded heart safe behind hatred.)

(Does Sauron sometimes look at his Nine Ringwraiths and wish that he had Seven more, dwarven-strong and bright and clever, to remind him of better days in Ost-in-Edhil? Or is some small part of him glad not to have seen dwarves corrupted that far? And does he hate that little thread of weakness that his lingering affection for Narvi begets, or does he cherish it as one last reminder of what oh-so-briefly almost was?)

(Maybe they were never all three of them together at once; maybe it was Celebrimbor and Narvi first, and Annatar on the outside trying to worm his way in; not jealous of course, oh no, never jealous of a mere dwarf don't be absurd! but they were such a closed-loop, such a perfect pair and partnership, he could not help but envy them...but mortals are so momentary. Sauron knew all along that all he had to do was wait. Knew that his best entry to Celebrimbor's heart was through Narvi: that by earning Narvi's friendship he would earn Celebrimbor's trust, and then when Narvi—inevitably, as mortals do—died, then the greatest living smith of Middle-earth would be lost and vulnerable and his to mold as he desired...)

(Does jealousy of Narvi—of the fact that Celebrimbor died still loving Narvi, and hating Annatar—drive Sauron to make war on Erebor, to want to see Moria torn down to ruins, to bend all the dwarves finally, finally to his will with the Rings and promises that came so close to almost working once before?)

(Is memory of Narvi why the dwarves of Erebor are given three chances to change their minds and do Sauron's bidding before he tries to destroy them? Does he think that, like Narvi, surely they'll be clever enough to come around eventually...or does he know all along that, like Narvi, they'll be too strong and stubborn to give-in, but he gives them the chance anyway in hopes of getting those clever hands and minds pledged to his cause?)

The Rings were as great as they were because the three of them, together, were made for greatness. The Rings were terrible because love built on a lie always is.

What wonders could they have made together, if Sauron's heart was true? How could he have ever made the Rings at all, if their own hearts hadn't first been won by his lies?

How much of their love was him lying to them, and how much of what came after was him lying to himself?

[tathrin]

how can you not love dwarves like so much. there's so much there to love. dwarves are the best why does everyone sleep on how much dwarves rule

[arofili]

Back to Middle-earth Month is all but over...but if you’d like to play around with the bingo cards I made, please do! I had a lot of fun making and using these, and I’d love to see what other people do with them!

(transcriptions under the cut)

Bingo Board 1: Fun with Fanon!

Line 1: Tom Bombadil is Eru || Fiber artist Caranthir || Maedhros gives Fingon his gold ribbons/wire || Maglor is Lindir || Celebrimbor reforged Anglachel into Gurthang Line 2: Fingon names Maedhros “Russandol” || Míriel and Indis were besties || Female Narvi || Ex-thrall Rôg || Maedhros gives Narsil to Elros Line 3: Sauron personally tortured Maedhros in Angband || Celebrimbor’s father-name is “Curufinwë” || FREE SPACE (Who’s the Gil-gaDad?) || Yavanna made the Hobbits || Fëanor was friends with Findis Line 4: Photosensitive Maeglin || Maedhros finds Fingon’s dead body || Elf hair kink || Celegorm’s nickname is “Tyelko” || The Arkenstone is a Silmaril Line 5: Silver-haired Celegorm || Dwarf braids express gender/class/marital status/etc || Huan is a Maia || Lalwen befriends Círdan || Fingon’s mother-name is Astaldo

Bingo Board 2: Russingon Tropes

Line 1: Size kink || Post-Thangorodrim recovery || Maedhros gives Fingon his gold ribbons/wire || Gift-giving (Dragon-helm, Green Stone of Fëanor, etc) || Marriage bond Line 2: Fingon names Maedhros “Russandol” || Post-Angband nightmare (with comfort) || Political drama in Valinor || Aredhel is Fingon’s confidante || Fingon visits Himring Line 3: Sauron takes Fingon’s form to torment Maedhros in Angband || Maedhros visits Hithlum || FREE SPACE || Secret relationship || Stump-fucking (aka Wristing) Line 4: Gil-gaDads || Maedhros finds Fingon’s dead body || Hair kink || Fingon rescues Maedhros from the Void || Reembodiment and reunion Line 5: Maglor is Maedhros’ confidante || Fealty kink || Maedhros ties a gold ribbon around his stump post-Nirnaeth || Maedhros names Fingon “the Valiant” || Post-Nirnaeth nightmare (no comfort)

Bingo Board 3: Shades of Sauron

Lord || Tar-Mairon || Sûr || The Black Hand || Þauron (Thauron) Line 2: Ñorsus || Wolf-Sauron || The Lord of the Rings || Artano || Zigûr Line 3: Thû || Aulendil || FREE SPACE || Mairon || The Deceiver Line 4: The Nameless Enemy || Sauron || Fankil || The Sorcerer || Vampire-Sauron Line 5: Annatar || Tuvon || The Necromancer || Gorthaur || Tevildo

Bingo Board 4: Wait...that’s not my ship!

Line 1: Celegorm x Orodreth || Daeron x Maeglin || Finrod x Anairë || Turgon x Elwë || Annatar x Celeborn Line 2: Gwindor x Findis || Erestor x Glóredhel || Melkor x Mahtan || Maedhros x Finrod || Galadriel x Celegorm Line 3: Edhellos x Angrim || Elwing x Eärwen || FREE SPACE || Curufin x Fingon || Idril x Huor Line 4: Celebrían x Elros || Glorfindel x Egalmoth || Beleg x Tuor || Andreth x Aerin || Fëanor x Finarfin Line 5: Aredhel x Eönwë || Caranthir x Haldir (you pick which one) || Fëanor x Nerwen || Finrod x Beorn || Lúthien x Bereg

[theoldsongsandtales]

100 Theme Drabble Masterlist (50/100 Complete)

I’m writing 100 drabbles based off a list found here, x

Will be updated as I complete it.

‘Introduction’ - Fingolfin, Finarfin, Galadriel

‘Complicated’ - Aragorn, Arwen, Bilbo

‘Making History’ - Arien

‘Rivalry’ - Éowyn

‘Unbreakable’ - Thranduil

‘Obession’ - Melkor

‘Eternity’ - Arwen, Elrond

‘Gateway’ - Soldiers of Gondor

‘Death’ - Mandos

‘Opportunities’ - Annatar/Mairon, Galadriel

‘Dance’ - Manwë, Varda (Pairing)

‘Dead Wrong’ - Olwë, Ossë

‘Running Away’ - Bilbo, Belladonna

‘Judgment’ - Eönwë, Mairon

‘Seeking Solace’ - Estel/Aragorn, Elladan, Elrohir

‘Excuses’ - Legolas, Gimli

‘Vengeance’ - Fëanor

‘Love’ - Frodo, Sam

‘Tears’ - Maglor

‘My Inspiration’ - Aulë, Yavanna (Pairing)

'Never Again' - Maglor, Elros, Elrond

'On The Web' - Gollum, Shelob

'Failure' - Aragorn

'Rebirth' - Finrod, Amarië (Pairing)

'Breaking Away' - Saruman, Aulë

'Forever And A Day' - Frodo, Sam, Fëanor

'Lost And Found' - Thranduil

'Light' - Celebrían, Galadriel, Elrond

'Dark' - Aredhel, Maeglin

'Faith' - Woman of Númenor

‘Colors’ - Nerdanel, Amras, Amrod

‘Exploration’ - Thorin, Fili, Kili

‘Seeing Red’ - Maglor, Maedhros

‘Shades of Grey’ - Elwing

‘Forgotten’ - Dwarves of Khazad-dûm

‘Dreamer’ - Irmo, Olórin/Gandalf

‘Mist’ - Niënor 

‘Burning’ - Mairon

‘Out of Time’ - Fingon, Maedhros

‘Knowing How’ - Fëanor, Nerdanel, Maedhros, Maglor, Celegorm, Caranthir, Curufin

‘Fork In The Road’ - Finarfin

‘Start’ - Marcho and Blanco

‘Nature’s Fury’ - Tom Bombadil

‘At Peace’ -  The Valar Couples (Pairing)

‘Heart Song’ - Beren, Lúthien, Dior

‘Reflection’ - Melkor, Mairon

‘Perfection’ - Celebrimbor, Narvi

‘Everyday Magic’ - Merry

‘Umbrella’ - Bilbo, Elrond

‘Party’ - Éomer, Elfwine, Aragorn, Arwen

[saintstars]

Do you ship narvi x annatar? It would be funny seeing them compete for celebrimbor 's attention and falling in love themselves with each other

Well now I sure do

[tathrin]

I am so beyond amused at the idea of Celebrimbor and Narvi watching from opposite ends of the afterlife as Legolas and Gimli bumble their way through their unrealized mutual pining, absolutely S-C-R-E-A-M-I-N-G at these two idiots to get their shit together already oh-em-Eru!!!

Narvi is practically tearing their beard out in frustration. Celebrimbor has transmuted into the physical representation of the Barbossa “JUST KISS” gif. If they weren’t both already dead, they’d be dying. Dying. In fact, Celebrimbor is going to speed-run his recovery just so he can get re-embodied and knock some sense into these idiots! And Narvi is going to give Mahal a stroke with all the badgering to be sent back, no seriously Maker just for five minutes, five minutes that’s all it’ll take me, I promise, I’m just going to bang their skulls together and scream at them until they figure it out—okay, two. How about two minutes? I can do it in two, watch me...

We’ve had the sheer poetic perfection of Sansûkh’s emotionally devastating voices-from-the-afterlife story. Now we need the unhinged crackfic of Narvi and Celebrimbor simultaneously and separately hacking and rules-lawyering their way out of the Halls of Mandos solely to come back and kick Legolas and Gimli’s asses into figuring out they love each other DAMMIT.

And if Narvi gets to help kick Sauron’s ass somehow along the way, good. That’ll teach the smarmy fucker to put his hands on someone else’s elf.

[tathrin]

A little moment that might take place between the pages of this Fellowship AU, featuring Celebrimbor's return to Moria after being re-embodied in the last years of the Third Age.

For the Whumptober prompt "Like crying out in empty rooms; with no one there except the moon."

The Fellowship slept around him, their breath echoing like drums off the empty stones of Khazad-dûm. Celebrimbor rose and crossed the room on noiseless feet, his heavy cloak clutched tight around his shoulders. He passed between his companions unnoticed by any save for Frodo, whose turn it was on guard; Frodo caught his eye quizzically as Celebrimbor paused on the threshold of the hall, but did not speak.

Celebrimbor was not sure how to explain, especially succinctly enough to avoid waking the others; and they needed their rest, after the swift pursuit of the wolves and the terrible thing in the water and the long, long march in the dark.

He hesitated, searching for the words by which he might answer Frodo's unspoken question; but before he could craft them, Frodo nodded in silent understanding and offered him a nod and a thin, sad smile.

Celebrimbor blinked, and managed somehow to force himself to smile back, although he knew it did not reach his eyes; then he turned his back on the Ring-bearer and stepped out into the darkness of the empty, echoing Mines.

It was so strange, to walk through Khazad-dûm in the dark. All the many times that Celebrimbor had come here before, the great underground caverns had been lit by clever mirrors that channeled sun- and moonlight down into the depths of the mountains; by great lamps of glass and crystal that hung from the tall stone ceilings and cast light of soft and marvelous color across the pale grey stones until one felt as though one walked within a geode or a rainbow.

Celebrimbor was not used to seeing these great halls dark, but he did not lose his footing; did not lose his way. Even lightless, he knew these rooms of stone too well to trip or stray within them.

He knew them well, and so he mourned them.

He mourned each crack that marred the walls, each chasm that broke the floors, each empty room where once light and life and noise had been. He mourned each dwarf that had ever walked here, every craft they had ever forged or might have forged in lost days that never came.

He mourned his friends.

He mourned his lover.

He walked into the dark, alone, and his broken heart screamed into the hollow silence.

On the far side of the lightless hall a doorway stood open, its wood long gone to rot or scavengers. Celebrimbor stepped across the threshold and stopped, staring, at the sight before him. A single shard of mirror remained somewhere in the walls above, tilting a sliver of cold moonlight out upon the floor, and by its feeble glow Celebrimbor could see the empty workshop that had once rung with laughter and with hammers and with song.

He moved forward as though in a dream, his feet carving a shallow path through the dust that carpeted the smooth stone floor but making no sound; he moved like a shadow, like the ghost of one already dead, and he left nothing but sorrow in his wake.

He had been dead for so long, now; dead, while all he loved was dying for his sins and for his folly and his love.

He had loved Ost-in-Edhil, and he had invited its murderer to come within its walls; had welcomed the Enemy to make himself a home there, in their city and in their hearts. He had loved Khazad-dûm, and he had not been here to help guard the Doors he had helped craft; the Doors that had not been enough to keep it safe. He had loved his smith-craft, and had allowed his pride and grief and folly to turn that skill to darkness and to evil; had forged things of beautiful destruction with his own two hands, like his grandfather before him.

He had loved Narvi, and been able to do nothing but watch and weep as mortality stole that one true and good bright love from him; he had loved Narvi, and yet his love had turned to grief so bitter that it could only be classed as a betrayal.

He had loved Annatar, and in so doing he had doomed them all.

Celebrimbor sank to his knees before the worn stone workbench where he had once annealed starlight into silver; where Narvi had once forged moon-silver into magic. He pressed his hands against the stone, feeling the chips and pockmarks left behind by all their tools; but he could not feel the warmth they had once conjured there. The forges here had long gone cold; and Narvi was longer dead.

Narvi was so long dead.

And Celebrimbor was, once again, alone.

He folded down low upon the floor and pressed his face into his hands and he wept and wept until his voice gave out, and still he was alone. The pale sliver of reflected moonlight swam before his eyes like a band of bright ithildin, but there was no one here to forge the metal; and no words that could ever do justice to the weight of grief upon his heart regardless. It mattered not what he might say: Narvi was dead, and could not hear him.

Narvi was dead, lost to whatever dreams Mahal kept for his dwarves; lost to Celebrimbor now and to the breaking of the world. Narvi was gone, and a sliver of Sauron's soul called to Celebrimbor now softly from within that terrible band of gold that Frodo bore. Narvi was gone, and Sauron was here, and Celebrimbor was alone with no comfort but the cold and careless eye of a distant moon. Tilion did not look down on him in mercy; Tilion did not look down on him at all. He was alone.

There was only the darkness of once-bright Khazad-dûm, and the aching sorrow of Celebrimbor's shattered heart as he wept into his empty, shaking hands.

"Celebrimbor?"

The voice was soft, little more than a whisper; for a moment, it sounded like Annatar, and Celebrimbor froze, his tears choking-off wetly in his throat. His tattered soul twisted, cold and sharp against his bones. His spirit reached out, yearning still for the remembered comfort so often offered that lovely voice; it recoiled, fearful and burning with hate, from the memory of its own destruction at the speaker's hands.

"Celebrimbor, are you there? Are you all right?"

Celebrimbor drew a shuddering breath and lowered his hands. It was not Annatar—Sauron—who spoke now, he realized; was not the architect of his destruction, but rather Frodo, the small Hobbit who had all the bravery that Celebrimbor lacked and who had volunteered to carry the Ring that Celebrimbor could not dare to touch. The Ring that had destroyed him, once; that Ring that now he must destroy.

"I am here, Frodo," he made himself say. His voice cracked on the words, brittle as overheated steel or ill-carved stone. He swallowed another sob and wiped at his streaming eyes.

Frodo padded forward across the dark room on his quiet, furry feet. Celebrimbor watched the small figure of the Hobbit cross the sliver of moonlight and settle to the floor in the shadows before him. He looked up at Celebrimbor, his little face drawn tight with worry and compassion.

"Are you all right?" Frodo asked again.

Celebrimbor opened his mouth to reassure the Ring-bearer, but what came out instead was: "No."

Frodo smiled at him. There was no joy in that smile, but a great deal of kindness. "I didn't think so," he said simply. "Would you like to tell me about it?"

"No," Celebrimbor said again.

Frodo's smile did not waver. "I didn't think so," he said again. "That's all right. Can I sit with you anyway, for a while?"

No, Celebrimbor meant to say for a third time, but instead: "Yes," he whispered. "Yes, Frodo, thank you. I would like that."

Frodo nodded, and reached out wordlessly to take his tear-damp hand, and Celebrimbor let him.

They sat there together, the Ring-bearer and the Ring-maker, in the black darkness of Khazad-dûm and watched in silence as the faint sliver of moonlight moved across the floor.

In the back of both their minds, the Ring was laughing.

[tathrin]

What's that, somebody sliding in at the very last minute to post one more entry for whumptober before November begins? Who could that be, not me? Oh surely not! Shhhh.

Anyway: The Last Temptation of Narvi of Khazad-dûm

a.k.a. that "little snippet" I've been working on, wherein Narvi discovers that Annatar is up to something terrible and goes to confront him and maybe just maybe save all of Eregion in the process...provided that Narvi can resist Sauron's honeyed words and stand stalwart in the face of terrible doubts.

So that should be fine I'm sure.

Anyway I figure it's about time for me to finally post something for my favorite-underated-(nonexistant?)-ship that desperately needs more (any) people writing for it, right? So here we go!

(Also I'm really not sure it merits the M rating but that one paragraph felt a little too overtly descriptive to be T? idk, let me know your thoughts, I feel like I'm always bad at judging that stuff.)

[tathrin]

Well, it turns out I'm a dumbass who doesn't understand how prompt-fills on AO3 work, so my LotR Secret Santa gift is a late delivery due to author-not-knowing-how-to-hit-the-damn-post-button-on-draft...but here it finally is, for anyone who wants to read a rambling meander on human genders seen through the eyes of a baffled elf and dwarf: https://archiveofourown.org/works/52665241

And more importantly, if you have not yet read the gift that was written for me, I cannot heap enough praise upon this masterpiece of Narvi/Celebrimbor/Sauron that oakenting Jarakrisafis created so please, go read about my favorite doomed ot3 of all time: https://archiveofourown.org/works/52667359

[tathrin]

So because I apparently still haven't learned Not To Make Posts On Mobile Because I Am Going To Screw It Up, let's try this part again: hey everybody, you remember all the gushing I've been doing about Sauron/Celebrimbor/Narvi as a ship-concept, yes?

Good, now go read the exquisite story that Jarakrisafis wrote for me as my gift for this year's LotR Secret Santa, which encapsulates the beauty and joy and darkness and tragedy and destruction of the idea of them so damn well!

[tathrin]

Oh. well. shit. I guess my "short little snippet" that was supposed to be like. a page at most, with Narvi discovering Sauron's plans and then getting mind-whammied with doubt enough to doom them all has uh...

Has turned into a full-on fic of Annatar endeavouring to seduce Narvi to the Dark Side as a co-conspirator in the whole Evil Rings Scheme he's working on.

So that's um...yeah that's not going to be finished in time for today's whumptober entry then, I guess XD

[tathrin]

Who wants some Celebrimbor/Annatar/Narvi smut? You know you do! They're the best tragically-doomed OT3 that you've never thought about before!

Well, fortunately for all of you, that's exactly what I asked for from the My Slashy Valentines exchange this year, and that's exactly what the lovely @solmarillion delivered for us all! Go read it, and see the light of this lovely ship before it all falls to shadow and destruction.