#annatar/sauron

[themalhambird]

hurt/no comfort little ficlet, filling in the gap between Celebrimbor's- are we calling it an arrest? it's basically an arrest- on the walls of Eregion, and his being chained to his own desk...

“Eregion. What have I done? My Eregion…”

Celebrimbor’s whimpered litany as they escort him back toward the tower pierces the anger in Barador’s heart with some sliver of pity. He tightens his grip on the elf-lord’s upper arm, and on the grime-streaked velvet at Celebrimbor’s back nevertheless- for the closer they draw to the tower’s entrance, the more Celebrimbor digs his heels into the rubble. “No! No- you- I command you! I am Lord of Eregion! Let me-” he bucks suddenly, wrenching free and pivoting around. Barador had not realised that Lord Annatar had been following them, but there he is- and Celebrimbor is lunging for him-

It takes less than a second for Barador and his comrades to grab a hold of their prisoner once more, but even as they seize him Celebrimbor manages to throw them off balance once again. His legs fold beneath him; his knees hit the courtyard with enough force to disturb the settling ash; he bows his head low before looking back up toward Lord Annatar. “Let me see to her defences. The walls, the- they must have dammed the river, but- that may be broken. If I can have a moment- let Eregion be saved first and I will- I will make anything you command-”

Against the background of the smoke-stained sky, the pitying yet stern set of Annatar’s face is as beautiful as the stars that can no longer be seen. He looks down at Celebrimbor, then back to Barador and his fellow guards. “See that he is restrained. We are too few on the walls to spare a minder for his madness, and I would not have any wanderings of his cause further harm-”

“I am not mad!”

It is a roar-  powerful as the bellows of a forge, authoritative as the call of a war horn- that issues forth from Celebrimbor’s throat. When he falls silent again, he is breathing as heavily. Lord Annatar closes the gap between them with a single step, halting before him with all the finality of a door slamming shut. “It was not insanity but deliberate intention, then, that led you to hurl poor Merdania from the battlements to her death?”

At the memory of the young smith’s cry- her broken body lying at the feet of a filthy orc rabble- Barador’s anger kindles once more. She had considered Celebrimbor her friend, once-

“No- no! That was an accident! That was an accident- I- I had to- she needed to see-”

“We have all seen,” Harndir says gruffly, on Celebrimbor’s other side. “My Lord- can you truly say that you are well? For months you have refused to see anyone, speak to anyone, who is not Lord Annatar. And now you emerge only to accuse the same Lord Annatar of being Sauron himself. When for days Eregion has been battered and burning, your people dying in their own streets, and you have done nothing!

“I did not know,” Celebrimbor sobs, all strength seeming to flood from him. “I did not know.”

Handir kneels down beside Eregion’s fallen master and places a hand on his shoulder. “Aye, my lord. But look around. How could you have been in command of your senses, and yet blind to all this destruction- deaf to it? There is blood on your temple, debris staining your gown-”

“I did not say I was in command of my senses,” Celebrimbor mutters, a little petulantly. “I said I am not mad-”

An explosion, screams, yet more dust and smoke fill the air. “We are wasting time Eregion does not have,” Lord Annatar says grimly. “Handir, Barador- if Lord Celebrimbor will not get up and walk either carry or drag him back to the forge- I must see to the walls; I will deal with him later.”

Lord Annatar leaves them. Celebrimbor does get up and walk, albeit a kind of sleep walking. If he and Handir were not guiding his path, Barador thinks, the smith would not know corridor from ceiling. He stumbles and drags his feet, but that is not, Barador judges, deliberate resistance. It is fatigue, and it is grief- his renewed grip on Celebrimbor’s arm makes Barador keenly aware of how badly the elf is shaking. Like a leaf, caught between its twig and an autumn storm. “Gil-galad,” he murmurs, as they bring him into the forge. It is so badly damaged- Harafir is right. How could Celebrimbor have been caught in this, and known nothing? “Has word been sent to Gil-galad? To Narvi and to Prince Durin, at Khazad-Dum? They might help-”

“Lord Annatar sent messengers. No one has replied.”

Celebrimbor groans softly. “It is hard to reply to something never sent.”

“They were sent, my lord!.”

“Who? When? Who amongst you saw them leave?”

Barador frowns in annoyance, a high pitched buzzing suddenly ringing in his ears. “Enough,” he snaps, seizing the back of Celebrimbor’s collar with his free hand and giving him a rough shake. “You have done enough. Where do we put him?” This last to the Captain, who stands surveying the damaged room. “There,” he decides. “Beneath the desk- it will shield him from any more falling rubble, and we can bind his hands to the legs. It will do, until the Lord of Eregion has a moment to make proper provision.”

“No,” Celebrimbor says softly. His tremors grow worse. “No- I beg of you. Do not leave me alone with him. You will see- you will see, when he returns, what he demands of me- you will know what he is-”

“Come and lie down, Lord Celebrimbor,” the Captain says. His hand drifts to the sword at his side; Barador and Harafir together pull Celebrimbor forward. “Rest.”

“Rest…” Celebrimbor murmurs. “Rest- yes, I am so very tired. If I make rings, he will spare Eregion, and I cannot work if I am not…if I do not rest…”

It is a relief to Barador, that Celebrimbor seems to have settled -  crawls beneath the desk when they take him to it and lies beneath it, shutting his eyes and meekly presenting his wrists to be bound against one of the furniture’s solid limbs. Angry as he still is, tired and frightened himself, he does not wish the elf-lord to come to undue harm. He is a danger, yes, but that is not his fault- the grief and tear tracks that line Celebrimbor’s face are real and true enough. And Lord Annatar is an emissary of the Valar- when he has saved Eregion (for how can an emissary of the Valar fail to save Eregion?!) surely he can do something for Eregion’s former lord. 

“It is done,” The captain says, standing. “Let us return to our posts. There is still much to do this night.”

And then, Celebrimbor is alone once more. Rings for Eregion, he thinks, shuddering in the darkness. Rings for Eregion…but there must be a way, mustn’t there, a way that he can avoid giving the rings the kind of power Sauron wants, yet still please him enough to see Eregion spared…a trick, a ploy, a way of buying time- a grain of sand dropped into the cogs. Not enough to break the mechanism instantly, but the friction, over time…

He is so very, very tired. And when his mind resurfaces, sluggish and hazy, from a black sleep that gave no true rest, Sauron towers above him, hands idly twisting a long silver chain.

with thanks to https://www.fantasynamegenerators.com/lotr-elf-names.php for help naming the show's unnamed characters

[5ummit]

Mean Girls (2004) || The Rings of Power (2024)

[sugurugetos]

DURIN IV & ANNATAR THE LORD OF THE RINGS: Rings of Power — 2.03

[myrkky]

Gaslight, Gatekeep, Girlboss

[highly-flammable]

How my intrusive thoughts happen upon me when I try to sleep at night:

[sad--beep]

[saubrimbor]

Celebrimbor made a super tiny set of elf armor for his favorite forge mouse, equipped with a trademark Feanorian star on his lil' shield. Annatar is not impressed.

Inspired by this fic from the POV of the mouse: https://archiveofourown.org/works/59500966

Happy TROP!Day! Every Thursday I'm gonna post some TROP artwork! I was going to do a serious hardcore artwork, but I wanted to make this doodle about the mouse so bad, so I did this instead.

[winterswake]

#when you gaslit too close to the sun

[toherrys]

I am the one keeping the storm at bay

I've been dreaming of seeing a live-action adaptation of Second Age Sauron looking much like this for a very long time. Had to do a redraw of this old piece

[celebrimborium]

Do you know what it is to be tortured at the hands of a god?

[notarakhae]

Nah actually nothing bad ever happened in Arda

I love unreasonably long braids 😗

(Open it if the quality looks bad)

[goodsirs]

The Rings of Power 2.02 "Where the Stars Are Strange"

[venduri]

Only you could accomplish such art, Celebrimbor

Assad Zaman as Celebrimbor from JRR Tolkien's The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales

[getooine]

Portrait of Annatar inspired by classical portraiture

Sliding back into my Tolkien phase atm

[haladrielgifs]

Galadriel and Sauron having a staring contest instead of fighting

[fukutomichi]

The Rings of Power ∙ S01 ∙ Charile Vickers as Halbrand / Sauron "Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age" is the fifth and last part of The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien.