#celebrian's torment

[nighttimepatrons]

okay but, what if what if Elrond was the one captured and tortured by orcs. They can't find Vilya, of course, but it's only a matter of time before they take him (or at least his corpse) to someone who can.

His sons still rescue him, spirit him away back to Imladris and while the healers and all that love him do everything in their power Elrond never fully heals in mind, body, or spirit.

I think, if left to himself, he would have stayed to fade in Imladris, but at the urging from his family he does eventually Sail, leaving his wife, his children, and his Ring.

[thegreatstrongbow]

@silvercrowned

Return

“She was brought back to Imladris, and though healed in body by Elrond, lost all delight in Middle-earth…” — the Lord of the Rings

For Valentine's Day💕

[galadhir]

Silver Queen

One for @mircallaruthven who requested something about Celeborn at Celebrian's birth

Silver Queen

The chamber doors open. The midwife comes forth, swathed bundle in her arms. Celeborn would rise but the strength has drained from his legs. His has been the lighter task, but still he has been carrying these fears for a day and a half: Will Galadriel live? Will she come through this battle whole as she has come through many another, creating life this time rather than destroying it?

Will she have put so much craft and magic, so much of her own creative force, her fea, into the child that she has drained herself and is lessened by it? She never did like to do a thing half way.

Vain of her dignity, aware that to give birth is a thing one cannot do prettily, and unwilling to be seen in her travails, she had shut herself in with a healer and a midwife, and permitted no others to witness the birth, not even him. Every possible disaster has tormented his thoughts ever since.

Now he raises his head and breathes out. Galadriel is too sensible to die from a thing like this. She knows when restraint is necessary just as well as when to give her all.

He meets the midwife’s gaze. Alfirin is her name. She is nearly as old as he – he remembers her as a child in Menegroth, and even then she was never without a pocketful of newly born beasts. Doubtless, she has ushered more lives into the world than he has dispatched from it.

“You have a daughter, my Lord.”

The joy tries to hit him then. He pushes back the great shining silver wave of it long enough to gasp, “Galadriel?”

“She is well. Resting. Here.”

All this time she has been approaching. Now she lowers the bundle toward him. His arms come up to cup it, in an instinct born of long practice. There is an echo of Nimloth, of Dior, of Elwing, and then he parts the white cloth that swathes her and sees her tiny face and all at once there exists no one but her in all elven history.

Here is the little one to whom he sang the Nandorin songs of strengthening, when she was wrapped up in her mother and Galadriel’s bright eyes shone above her, humouring him. Here she is, whom they loved already, but whom they clearly had not loved enough.

He ghosts a fingertip along the slope of her nose, and the joy that had been oncoming now breaks over him, cutting the world out from beneath him, reshaping him. His chest aches as it is expanded to hold her. Part of him now.

Oh look at these tiny hands! Have there ever been hands as perfect as this? With their tiny moon-pale nails and their strong grip? Never, surely.

She opens her eyes, and they are Galadriel’s eyes, slate blue and imperious as she frowns at the sunbeam striking the tapestry above his head.

“Is it a little bright after all that darkness, my queen?” he laughs, feeling renewed, as though he were again no more than a hundred years old, and moves to the other side of the room, where she can look down into a shaded garden, over-run by wild roses. “There. Don’t be afraid. It’s not a bad world, and daddy will keep you safe.”

Tiny, tiny hands.

He brushes his own hand feather soft through downy hair that glints like water and tears burn in his eyes once more. “Did you know you have the King’s hair? Elu’s hair? How generous of your mother to choose it. She must have known what it would mean to me, to have his crown continue in my own child. When they see you, all the elves of Middle-earth will know you are Elu’s kindred. Royalty.”

“She must have a name, my Lord,” says Alfirin, and her brisk tone drags him back to the real world, where his daughter will be princess of a realm shared with the grandchildren of kinslayers. She will be looked down on by prideful Amanyar and eerie golden-eyed Maia alike as they pass by on their way to their forges.

Fine then. “Celebrian,” he says, in his mind already fighting any man who would disdain her, full of a soul splitting pain at the thought of anything hurting her in any way. Did she stumble and graze her knee he would break the ground beneath it. She would know only bliss. Misfortunes would have to come through him.

“For she is a descendant of kings and will be a mother of kings until the end of the earth.”

“And she’s queen of your heart,” Alfirin quipped, not quite rolling her eyes. She had doubtless heard many other similar declarations from other fathers before, and having survived Galadriel in the pains of labour was not intimidated by his bombast.

He looked back down to his daughter as she wrinkled her nose at a distant butterfly, and laughed, swinging back into worlds of joy.

“And she’s queen of my heart,” he concedes, full willingly. “So she is. My silver queen.”

[neyafromfrance95]

Many shippers are moving on from haladriel. There is no fanfic or fanart from the second season. We have all given up.

no, not all, anon! sauron will always be writing and drawing that self-insert x galadriel fic even as he floats as an disembodied spirit!

lol, i mean, unfortunately, now we have the third of what we had in s1, fanworks-wise. which is sad bc haladriel has a great fan content potential.

but some big brained people shipped sauron x galadriel even before trop, so i don't see why people would stop shipping after a season of s/g mirroring each other, it being confirmed that galadriel has taboo feelings for sauron and that sauron is obsessed with galadriel and nothing will ever replace her for him.

tbh, this is why i say endless "discourses" and doom & gloom mentality are poisonous to a fandom's longevity. "how can you ship an immoral/dark ship?"' - link them this video essay, or better, remember the essay and don't feel the need to make excuses for yourself, so just ignore the rage baits! "but what about celeborn & celebrian?!" - don't care, period. "it is not lore-accurate!" - we are talking about trop and it's its own thing, period.

they don't kiss or become an official couple? hannigram wasn't freed from a "queerbait" accusations till the very final scene yet we still shipped it. each tried to kill the other, hannibal was an evil incarnate who tormented will, will was married with a kid, hannibal hooked up many times and tried to "replace" will. yet the whole show was about their power play that was er0tic in subtext! the same as it is with haladriel! the whole show is one big haladriel parallel and a metaphor about the light and the dark having an eternal battle and dance!

anyways, if you do ship haladriel and do want fans to create for it, then please interact with the works! hype them up! let's not sustain our fandom on the frustrated screams into the void, but on the common enjoyment of the material that we are given and the potential it has!

[hikarielizabethbloom]

Just going to leave this here...

Celebrian has already been born. She was just a child when Galadriel left and now returns as a young woman. She is filled with anger towards her mother. Galadriel attempts to explain that she didn't want to be just a mother and that her pain was so intense that she couldn't be a good mother no matter what. She had to leave. They work to repair their relationship from this point.

In the future, Celebrian's anguish becomes so overwhelming and the memories of her torments so painful that she, too, has to leave. Full circle.

[malkaleh]

In response to @plotdesigner writing some more Adar In Gold Cages (absolutely incredible no notes I read it and my brain was just going MY HEART OH MY GOSH MY HEART) have some content inspired by that.

Content Note: CPTSD, dissociation, rape aftermath, a particular kind of abuse that the author (me) has personal experiences of and is attempting to find words for.

did you have someone to do this for you - celebrimbor does not ask it for it does not seem fair to pry into such pain - not when Celebrimbor knows his own hurts are far far less than Adars. And far more his own doing. Perhaps all my own doing, Celebrimbor thinks in his bleaker moments - and this is merely the chains I deserve.

And he is not…Sauron does not hurt him, not really. The bruises and marks on his skin, they are gentle, not meant to hurt - he is kept so very well, such a precious treasure Sauron says, my jewel I will not have you in lesser dwellings.

He should be grateful Celebrimbor knows, when he thinks he might welcome the pain again, against this deeper pain every time

Sauron whispers love against his skin, every moment that he must have him inside his body is an ache that should not be. It is a stain upon him, Celebrimbor knows that and he should bear it better than he does - for afterwards he will vomit - shaking in the room in his chambers set aside for bathing - pale and sick - almost a phantom here, he thinks - perhaps I will fade away but he knows he cannot. He must not. He has done enough harm.

And then, then one morning when Sauron cradles him in the bed that is not where Celebrimbor slumbers when he is alone, one morning Sauron looks down upon him and asks him to craft - to make jewels for the other three and he freezes.

Please. Please he wants to beg. I cannot, I cannot, do what you wish to me but I cannot forge, not for you and perhaps not for anyone again for you have reached inside my body, my craft and my very being and none of it is mine.

But it will not be him who bears the cost. All he can do is…Eru help him, perhaps they might find their escape in this but he does not think he can.

“Have you hurt yourself so that you cannot, my jewel? I will make an eternity of torment for what they have done to you - oh my dearest, do not worry. There will be need for haste.”

A kiss to his shoulder, a cradling of his hand and Celebrimbor knows he must not look ill. He must be good, be sweet. A part of him is almost away entirely - perhaps half in the forge of his childhood, his grandparents proud faces, the love before it all went wrong.

“I will…it is only, it is my failing alone, that I cannot.”

No my jewel, there is naught for you to be sorry for - after all I have plenty of adornments to give all of you. I will wait until you are ready.

-

She knows Celeborn cares for Adar in ways that she could never do - it is too much for each of them - both trying to build understanding across blood and grief and anger.

Betimes Galadriel thinks of who she had been, before. Before. It sickens her that it is here that she has found more of the self she thought had been vanished with Finrod - but then Celeborn is here. And Celebrian lives. She lives in safety though they do not speak of her to anyone, least Sauron learn of her. She will not have it - he has taken so much from her, of her and not their daughter so newly found - living and safe.

It is the greatest pain of her life almost that so many of those who are her heart are here when this, this is her doing. Her pain had led them here, though that thought is an indulgence of self reproach she tries not to allow herself.

And Sauron who is never Halbrand even as he might wear Halbrands form when he comes to her, Sauron catches her in his arms, spins her around to him - is sweet and worshipful and she wants to rend him to pieces.

In this Adar never looks at her with anything but understanding.

Finrod. She wants her brother sharply and thinks, why, why must you have gone out of kindness, out of your love and duty and brightness. Why could you not stay, could not be less than you are so you would not die in horror. So I would not know that he wants you too.

Because he never knew he had you until you had gone and he does not know of you and Beren and Luthien (sometimes Galadriel thinks she might be angry at Beren for the way he had captured Finrods heart (not Luthien who had done the same, but Beren had taken him to his death).

But she is glad he had Adar at the end.

-

Elrond sings and it is beautiful for his kindness and gentleness - he is a warrior but he is not - was not fashioned for it and it is a foolish thing, that this one who can wield the tools of war and yet it is not him.

He heals only that which the others wish healed or eased. And he is so young, painfully young still. Mairon does not care - for he is possessive of all of them but Elrond, Elrond he seems terrified he might simply fly from his grasp so he keeps Elrond firmly in his cage.

It is killing him.

@nocompromise-noregrets @opheliaalwaysfalls @themalhambird @eowyn7023

[melorambles]

can't stop thinking about Rings of Power and I have Opinions. They gave Galadriel the Captain Marvel treatment. why? yeah she's the most badass female character the general audience will recognize by name alone, but she's not badass because she's a petite warrior woman. she's badass because she's incredibly wise and magically powerful and trained under the Tolkien equivalent of either an angel or demigod or a minor goddess (depending on how we interpret Melian).

If they absolutely had to make their female character a combat badass who is hotheaded, angry, and revenge driven. In the same setting as young Elrond, Gil-galad, and Celebrimbor. And they couldn't change the major plot points of what we've seen so far. I think they'd have been better off using Celebrian. (It also solves the problem of me screaming at the screen about where that Celeborn is.) Hear me out: yeah, Tolkien probably wouldn't have ever thought of her as a warrior, but technically he never said she wasn't. There isn't really enough information about her to contradict existing canon, especially in the setting they picked.

They could still name drop Galadriel; contrasting Celebrian with her mother at every turn. Give us the conflict of Celebrian trying to get out from under her mother's shadow and being compared to her and how Galadriel would handle everything. Maybe the problem stems from the fact that they are reacting oppositely to grief and Celebrian cannot understand her mother's seeming lack of reaction and Galadriel thinks her daughter is reacting as a hot-headed youth. Maybe Celebrian doesn't take her mother's foresight and visions seriously (because you're mother saying she's 'seen the road you're taking and it is a dark one with many challenges' or something definitely is something a daughter would be pissed to hear, no matter how wise your mother is) and Galadriel is trying to give her daughter space. I don't know, i've never emotionally communicated a serious issue in my life. that's what writers are for.

Those of us familiar with the lore would get the treat of watching her interact with Elrond for the foundation of what we know will become their love story. (it doesn't need to be shown at all, cause elrond loved her in secret for literal decades if not centuries, so they can still try to BS us with fake-out relationships.) Those not familiar get to see the contrast of Celebrian, daughter of the wisest most powerful elven lady in existence, on a revenge quest for the death of her beloved uncle (if they still had to use Galadriel's brother's death for backstory purposes) versus a brilliant young healer Elrond half-elven, survivor of what is functionally mass murder and having lost pretty much everyone he cares about (multiple times). They probably approach loss and death and grief very differently and it could create great character moments and conversations.

the fact that the show hasn't really done anything with elrond eventually becoming the best healer on middle earth is also disappointing. if they'd made celebrian their protagonist, and focused on elrond as a healer it would have also provided an interesting flip of the more typical man-warrior/woman-healer setup.

Also, if we go the route of Celebrian having spent years as a terrifying avenging warrior, scourge of the Enemy, it creates a new sort of dynamic to what happens to her in the future. Her capture and torment at the hands of orcs in the future isn't a woman getting fridged (possibly as revenge against her family members) to give her sons motivation to become terrifying warriors, and add another entry to the long list of reasons her husband is sad. It's a legendary and terrifying warrior in her own right getting overpowered, tormented, and instead of succumbing to her injuries, choosing to seek healing and trusting her husband to take care of the kids and follow when they were ready. If handled well (not that I think the show would actually cover that time gap and event), it could be done in Tolkien's 'war is horrible and love drives us' themes.

[fatcatlittlebox]

I’m not the previous hateful anon. I’m very in support of Haladriel theories, even if they don’t come into fruition, its just good fun. Would love to make an extensive post with all of the half maia Celebrian theorizing that precedes this show, but I’m afraid I wouldn’t even know where to start looking. I adore how you’ve framed it as a potential thing in the show though, I do hope something along those lines comes about.

Seriously, it's all in good fun. Honestly, Ainur "shippers" have been around for decades: Melkor/Niena, Melkor/Varda, Melkor/Mairon. On message boards and on Reddit. I think the Celebrian half-Maia theory was probably extrapolated by the original mairondriels and saurondriels. I'd say their case was pretty solid based on the subtext they interpreted from the Tolkien material. I had never thought that much about it before the show because I never considered Tolkien a subtext kinda guy if you know what I mean.

I think where it gets interesting is that Celebrian is a pretty mysterious character in the Tolkien text. I don't know everything but I know quite a bit about it. And not much is known about her. Not what she looked like. Not her love story with Elrond (they met and got married...hundreds of years later). Tolkien didn't even explicitly say when she was born and how she died. She's actually one of the more intriguing characters from the appendices for me because of that. What is known about her is marked by tragedy. Tolkien wrote that later in life, she was "waylaid" by orcs and eventually rescued. That part is very clear and that is why I think Adar saying he caused a child "pain" is such a significant line. In that brief appendix mention, she was kidnapped and tormented by orcs but Sauron is not mentioned as the actual perpetrator. It is hinted that she suffers psychological trauma so great that she decides to leave Middle Earth. Now that's another Reddit debate: what did she go through? Perhaps it's then, she discovers her origins and is traumatized by that knowledge. But like I said, Tolkien doesn't strike me as a big subtext guy so who knows.

[annoyinglandmagazine]

In Which A War Is Safer Than This Family Reunion Chapter 1

Summary: Frodo Baggins came to Valinor to find healing and peace. But he will probably need to find additional healing and peace to recover from the severe trauma of meeting anymore of Elrond’s relatives.

Elrond had been visibly anxious the whole journey. When Bilbo had asked Galadriel if he was quite alright she told them that it was to be expected on this particular journey. She looked slightly apprehensive herself which left the hobbits quite unnerved indeed as these particular two elves had always stuck out as being unflappable and anything that put them ill at ease was cause for concern. They were reminded how little they actually knew about what awaited them on the other side of the sea as they gazed out at the seemingly endless horizon before them.

But when they got there there was no obvious threat. The docks were swarmed with more elves than they’d ever seen before in one place and in a great deal more ceremonial wear. The crowds parted however, to make room for the passengers to disembark and allow passage through to a select number, content enough to watch proceedings eagerly. One silver haired elf maid stood at the front of the crowd and all moved to give her room. Elrond’s gaze had rested on her for what Frodo suspected was before the dock had came into his line of sight and it had not moved since.

The moment they were moored he was walking towards her as if in a trance. They stood still, eyes meeting, an arms length apart, and the whole world seemed to pause for a moment as the maiden reached out and took his hand in her own and leaned in to kiss him softly. Ah well that made sense he supposed, Arwen and the twins must have a mother after all and she seemed like a perfectly lovely young lady. Good for him.

After she’d drawn back, perhaps a little later than was wholly respectable but allowances could be made for such a reunion, she smiled and took his arm as they made it down to the pier to catch a few quiet words of endearment before Galadriel cut in to greet who, now that he saw them side by side, could only be her daughter.

Bilbo noticed that those around them started to bow their heads as a lordly elf emerged before them, melting out of the crowds. So he would finally get to meet an Elven king of Valinor then, most likely one from his poems, how dreadfully exciting.

‘Celebrian, I do so hate to intrude but would you mind terribly if I borrowed your husband for a minute?’

‘Oh you go right ahead, your majesty,’ she replied cheerily with a little knowing look to her mother and fond smile. Bilbo could have sworn he heard her whisper ‘sometimes I wonder which one of us my husband is actually wedded to,’ but then it must just be his hearing, he was very elderly and all that.

Elrond placed his hand over his heart and motioned to a dignified kneel as Galadriel scoffed, why he did not understand, and made no motion to do the same. ‘My king. My loyalty is to you undying and my life as ever lies at your disposal, as it did for the many millennia I have served you-’

‘Oh sweet Elbereth, Elrond lay off would you? Yes, yes I know, you escaped the crown, congratulations, rub it in why don’t you?’ He rolled his eyes in a very unkingly manner and put his hand to his hip with an exasperated tone of one repeating himself.

‘I’d have thought that in the several thousand years since I’d seen you last you’d have finally stopped delighting in my torment so but no you’re just as vexing as ever.’

Elrond placed his hand on his hip and quirked his mouth in a very unfamiliar manner while speaking perfectly earnestly. ‘Well, my dear I should be most hurt to hear otherwise. Vexing you is a well honed skill and the thought of getting out of practice after only three thousand years-’

Without much warning he strode forward and swept the Lord of Imladris off the ground, spinning him in the air. To his surprise Elrond simply twined his arms about the former high king’s neck and laughed.

‘Oh how I missed you my darling, you beautiful terror, do you know how long it’s been since someone insulted me to my face? I’m afraid my ego was in danger of growing quite inflated, and now you and Galadriel are here both at once and I should never worry of such things again!’

‘It’s incredible to see you again, my love! You know no one gets my sense of humour anymore, whenever I try to joke everyone just tells me to stop being so morbid! Galadriel understands it I think but she just gives me her ‘Elrond would you grow up?’ face, entirely unfair considering I’m about seven millennia in this world and as mature as I’ll ever be.’

Elrond’s wife covered a giggle with her hand while Galadriel merely rolled her eyes at the antics, while the two embraced perhaps more indecently than Elrond had with his wife, that had been intimate certainly and made most onlookers deeply guilty to intrude on but this was a great deal more exaggerated and over the top. When Elrond’s feet finally settled in the ground and he released the High King with shared breathless laughter he left one slightly more reserved and earnest kiss to the knuckles and began an animated discussion between him and his wife.

Pushing through to greet them came three golden haired nobles that could be none other than Galadriel’s kin. ‘Sister! You did it! Congratulations I always knew you had it in you!’

Another one chimed in ‘Cheers Artanis, do you know how much coin you won me with this? No one believed me when I said us Arafinweans would outlast them all but now look at us! Victory over those idiotic kinslayers yet again-’

‘Calm down Angrod. But seriously little sister we’ve got to celebrate, we’re all so proud of you!’ This last one pulled her and the other two in for an awkwardly long embrace before he finally seemed to notice they had company.

‘Ah! So these are the hobbits, I really scarcely believed my ears at some of the things I’ve been hearing, but then victory always has a habit of coming from the most unexpected places, I’ve always said.’ A pointed cough to his left, ‘yes, alright fine, I plagiarised that, thank you for your assistance Galadriel.’

‘But regardless, there are a great deal of people who are most fascinated by goings on and would adore to hear the whole story why we haven’t had so many new faces all at once since Mandos- oh.’ His face stilled and he seemed to be trying to come up with some means of backtrack on whatever he’d said wrong. ‘Oh shit.’

‘What Finrod?!’

He chuckled awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck and staring at the ground as he mumbled, ‘Why did I have to go open my big mouth? We all agreed, give it a day or so but now they’ve just got into the harbour and I’ve already-’

‘Oh just spit it out, brother! What’s going on with Mandos?!’

‘Well, uhh funny story, long story really, better told over some wine,’ he looked up to meet Galadriel’s glare and winced before changing tack.

‘They’re out.’ At this everyone stilled, seeming to have a clear idea who the elusive ‘they’ referred to and no desire to fill a poor old hobbit in.

Galadriel’s eyes widened and Frodo told him later that even when discussing Sauron and the destruction of Middle Earth, never had she appeared so shocked. ‘When you say they you better not mean what I think you-’

‘All of them. They’re all here.’

Glorfindel blinked slowly with wide eyes before saying slowly ‘I came back to life and survived two wars against Sauron just to get murdered again didn’t I?’

[lordgrimwing]

you know I gotta ask about more mouths AU

Ask me about my WIPs!

Ah, More Mouth, the first au Nightie created while I cowered in the background, horrified by the torments heaped upon upon Glorfindel.

The premise: simple (Sauron captures Glorfindel in the second age and warps his body and mind into a monster). The genre: horror (body horror, specifically, as we see our hero twisted until he is nearly unrecognizable). The word count: low (a lot of aus have been made since then and it's hard to write stuff like this. there are three stories and some art on ao3--which I can't link now because ao3 is down).

To give more detail (because I can):

Sauron turns Glorfindel into a werewolf of sorts (Nightie's lovely art) in defiance of the Valar and their emissary. During this time, Suaron sends letters to Imladris, taunting a helpless Erestor with the details of each new torture. He eventually abandons Glorfindel as the forces of evil are driven back into the depths of Mordor, thinking the elves will be forced to kill the monster (a moral blow). Glorfindel is now a raging beast with a taste for flesh and the keen mind of a deadly predator. The elves will surely have no choice but to kill it.

Against all odds, Erestor (and Elrond) convince Gil-galad and the generals to stay their hand. Some claim that it no longer has a fea, that the Necromancer cast the soul from the body and replaced it will a fell spirit as he did so often for the Dark Lord. Erestor is sure his lover is still in there somewhere (or, if he is really honest with himself, he just can't bare to lose the last remnant of his husband, perhaps forever this time).

And then the au progresses through the rest of the second and third age as Erestor cares for the monster that used to be Glorfindel.

Ok, ok, because of who we are, there is a happy ending at the end after all the torment and angst.

Some of my favorite parts:

The beast still screams like an elf.

Erestor knows he shouldn't read the letters but he can't let Glorfindel suffer alone.

The beast seems to recognize Erestor and (usually) won't attack him.

Erestor hides injuries from Elrond because he is so sure that Glorfindel doesn't mean to hurt him.

One day, well after it is tamed and settled into its new life, Erestor is relaxing with the beast when suddenly he feels a fea touch his. For a moment, Erestor is elated. After all this time, proof! But then the connection opens and all he can hear are Glorfindel's tortured screams and pleas to be killed.

The Mirkwood elves think beast!Glorfindel is actually really cool once he's back in his right mind again and not likely to eat them.

And the absolute best part of the au, hands down

Celebrian doesn't sail.

(yes yes, of course she is still captured by orcs. of course things still happen. But not as much and not as long and she recovers in Imladris with Elrond and their children)

That about covers it. A very indulgent au that is actually really cool and deserves more attention than I give it.

More Mouths. More mouths... Why more mouths? No clue but Glorfindel certainly has more mouth now.

I'll see myself out

[edennill-archived]

I can't stop thinking about Celebrian in Aman. The way she's -- despite the fact that she Sailed -- closer to one of the Returned than to anything else.

It's the way she went through the most terrible time in her life + immediately found herself in such a different land... and at the same time she hasn't yet been healed and doesn't have any such foolproof way to put up a mental barrier separating her from that torment. I think she wonders sometimes if it wouldn't have been easier if she had died and taken the "low way" (as songs call it) to Aman.

And she's not adamant in that thought, because, death is another thing, and such an unnatural separation... but she does feel uncomfortably in-between two groups with such different experiences.

[hollowwhisperings]

Justice For Celebrian!

Celebrian is a Character of Absence in Tolkien's Legendarium: we never truly meet her and yet her absence lingers throughout the text, affecting most every major actor of the Third Age (the eldar most of all).

How-so it this? Through this: the devastating grief, unspoken yet doubtless, of those who knew & loved her.

For Celebrian was this: to Celeborn & Galadriel, their daughter and only child; to Elrond, the Great Love of his life; to Elladan & Elrohir, a mother whom they failed to quickly rescue; to Arwen Undomiel, the mother whom she was never to meet again for choosing the Path of Man.

Celebrian was the Lady of Imladris, the princess in all but name to Lothlorien. She was kin to two Ringbearers and yet neither Ring could save her. We know only that she was gentle and beloved, by some of the most crucial players in the events of the Second & Third Ages of Middle-Earth.

Why Celebrian is Absent

Celebrian's status as one "beloved" by the eldar creates a formidable motive in their hatred of The Shadow. For the means by which Celebrian was "absented" from Middle-Earth was entirely of Its Reckoning: in the 2509th Year of the Third Age, Celebrian was "waylaid by orcs". She was "captured and tormented" until she was, at last, found and rescued by her twin sons.

This Fate is one of Horrific Implication, one that Tolkien's Appendix B avoids elaborating upon (beyond her "receiving a poisoned wound").

Fans have Imagination Enough to consider what Hurts could be beyond even Lord Elrond's means to Heal, beyond any of Galadriel's many powers, beyond the careful comforts found in Imladris & Lothlorien. Whatever befell Celebrian by the creations of Sauron, it left her so wounded that Sailing West (& thus Away from most everyone she had ever known) was her only Hope for recovery.

"Justice" within the Legendarium

The Fate of Celebrian was yet one blow more in a long list of Personal Grievances borne by her Kin against Sauron. The vigilance and ample assistance of Celebrian's Kin during the War of The Ring was undoubtedly inspired, in no small part by her Fate & subsequent Departure.

While Elrond & Galadriel would doubtlessly have aided The Fellowship without this most recent grievance to drive them, the otherwise reclusive eldar of Imladris & Lothlorien would certainly have found Celebrian's Fate "inspiring" enough to take arms once more, "postponing" (or hastening) their Leave of Middle-Earth to seek Justice for their Lost Lady.

"Injustices" in Adapted Works

The Injustices that adapted Tolkien works have done unto Celebrian are many: they have erased her very existence (TROP); they have denied her her Epic & Untold Love Story with her Husband (TROP, again); they have Lessened the person she chose to love by making him a Minor Antagonist (both of PJ's film trilogies); they have stolen the kinship between other characters that they share for her existence (PJ's trilogies imply her existence but fail to utilize its possibilities, many of them comical: Elrond is Galadriel's Son-in-Law; Gimli's Championship of "Grandma Galadriel"; Arwen's Looks being inherited not from Celebrian but from Elrond; etc).

The effects the Live-Action Adaptions have had on the Modern Tolkien Fandom are also Significant: Hugo Weaving's portrayal of Elrond is the most commonly known, despite its OOC-ness; the relationships between Celebrian's Family are unrealised or dismissed; the "Last Homely House", a title probably earned by Elrond & Celebrian both, is considered falsely named; the Many Incentives for Galadriel to Hate Sauron & to have ALWAYS Hated Sauron are... forgotten to enable a "will-they won't-they" romance(???).

To erase Celebrian is to remove from the Second Age one of its silliest love stories: she & Elrond were silently pining for each other for almost 2000 years! This surely amused her mother, who had become afflicted with Sea-Longing some few years prior, & caused Conflict at the Court of King Gil-Galad (for, by wedding Celebrian, Elrond's Claims for High Kingship of the Eldar would become even stronger). The politics are, perhaps, the primary purpose of the would-be couple's long silence: audiences do not know as the potential of their love story has had little attention dedicated to it.

Injustice to Celebrian exists also in the mischaracterization of Elrond: what impression must an audience have, afterall, of the one to love & be beloved by someone so antagonistic to those most in need of "The Last Homely House"? The hostility, the begrudging "hospitality" exhibited by the Elrond of PJ's film trilogies tarnishes not only Elrond but the Legacy of Celebrian as that House's Lost Lady.

(It also creates some varyingly minor/major Plot Holes, such as Elrond's ability to host a Council of the "Free Peoples" in the first place. If his hospitality is so poorly to non-elves, why on Arda would he so frequently be sought for counsel? Furthermore, the Elrond of the Third Age has made himself a Healer: how many elves of this Age would ever need his skill?)

More, varyingly serious charges of "injustice" to Celebrian are sure to follow: my discontent began in the rendering of her husband into a petty antagonist; it has been reignited upon my learning of Amazon's choices in its adapting of the Second Age. Mostly, however, my rallying cry is made in jest: "failures" of adaptions to make Elrond sufficiently pretty for his wife; the lack of "Celebrian/Elrond" content in tumblr feeds; melodrama over how many elven names start with "Celeb".

[apathyislikeawoundedsoul]

Ever Companionless

They call me Kind as Summer

With the wisdom of one with grayed hair,

The strength and beauty of starry space.

They think of me as a gentle season,

A flowered garden

Bathed in sunlight of gold.

But the tempermant of gold

Is one of summer,

So kind to gardens

For a moment, just a hair's

Breadth before it burns. Everyone has their seasons.

For my life, I've been kind for a beat of space.

That is to say, even a Lord will need space.

Most see their memories bathed in gold,

A nostalgic season,

Warm as Summer.

My nostalgia is lackluster with grayed hair

In a sad, brown garden.

How to care for a garden

That's been left in a lonesome space?

So I cared for others, brushed back their hair,

Made them shine like gold

Companionless, until the Summer

That became my happiest season.

She stayed for many a season,

Planted a garden,

Made every day Summer,

Brightened and warmed the whole space,

Shimmering like gold

With silver-shined hair.

"Silver Lady," They called her, for her hair.

But she tempered my season

And to me she was made of the kindest gold.

Young green and gold was her garden,

Bathing my gray and silver space

Once again in a kind Summer.

But even Summer has its seasons and she was taken from us, tormented in a dark space and with the apathy of her wounded soul, there was no joy left for her garden. Red tarnished green, and so my golden woman entered myth. Far away, she heals and waits, until the hours run dry.

I will see my silver lady again.

I challenged myself to write a sestina for Elrond and Celebrian! @runawaymun ty for letting me run a draft by you ♥️ it took me a while to decide I liked enough to actually post it 😂

[celevrian]

@pertadhel redirected from here

Elrond   stood   still   at   the   embrace   given,   eyes   close   upon   dear   touch   and   breath   her   in,   his   heart   heavy   with   the   burdens   of   the   past   days   and   nights,   yet   also   inexplicably   lightened   by   the   warmth   of   her   touch.   The   weight   of   their   shared   grief   lay   between   them,   an   unspoken   acknowledgment   of   what   they   had   lost,   of   the   beauty   shattered   and   lives   cruelly   extinguished   in   Eregion. He   opened   his   eyes,   his   gaze   falling   tenderly   on   Celebrian   as   he   drew   her   closer,   one   hand   moving   to   the   back   of   her   head,   cradling   her   as   gently   as   if   she   were   something   precious   he   feared   breaking.   "I   am   here,"   he   whispered,   his   voice   carrying   the   gentleness   he   often   muster   for   the   sake   of   everyone.   "And   so   are   you." Elrond   pulled   back   slightly   to   look   at   her,   his   face   lined   with   exhaustion   but   softened   by   deep   compassion.   "True   fear   has   touched   us   both,"   he   said,   voice   thick   with   emotion   he   usually   kept   well   hidden.   "But   we   are   not   defeated.   Not   as   long   as   we   can   still   find   each   other   in   the   aftermath."   He   searched   her   eyes,   trying   to   will   some   fragment   of   hope   into   the   broken   spaces   left   in   their   souls. "Celebrimbor   is   gone,...   yet   we   live,   and   that   means   we   have   the   power   to   endure,   even   to   heal."   He   lifted   a   hand   to   brush   a   strand   of   hair   from   her   face,   the   smallest   act   of   comfort   in   the   face   of   everything   they   had   witnessed.   "I   had   many   things   precious   to   me   lost   today.   I   am   glad   you   are   not   among   them."

It was as if a well of open emotion at last let go, and she leaned heavily into his embrace, clinging tightly as if he was a dream that would leave her in the nightmare once again. Yet there was his touch, gentle and delicate; there was his voice, and his strength amidst the strain of exhaustion. He assured her of his existence, of the truth of his being there. Not a dream, nor a vision meant to torment her. Here in spite of it all.

Her tears fell easily with his words, relieved--barely restrained from the edge of despair, but tethered to safety by him. The bewildered shock was ebbing, and she leaned her into his brief touch. "You have no idea how much I hoped you would come. This entire siege--weeks of despair. I clung to the hope you would arrive somehow, even though I half expected to perish at any moment." her voice felt distant, detached from her body as her mind relived again the numerous times she'd narrowly dodged a falling rock, a wall, a sword.

"Gone. . ." her echo was whispered, and silver pools lifted to look at him, her lips trembling as her chest ached. "Gone but not forgotten. I saw him in the end, he had regained himself at last after weeks of madness. He died nobly, he died well." she knew he did very likely did not know much of what had happened, she wanted him to. He was Celebrimbor's friend. But he was right, they would heal, stronger than they were now, and they would see their friends again one day. Hope had survived, and so had they. That was enough to build from, for lingering in death would only allow the darkness to win.

In mirroring, her hand moved to his cheek. "My heart sings to see you, Elrond." She said, her thumb stroking the line across his cheek with gentle care. "I worried when I heard you were the commander of the army. I may not be a fighter, but even I knew it was an impossible battle to win." Her tears were drying, and her brow furrowed in concern. So strong he was, so brave, but she could not help but ask now that her own fears were slowly draining away in his arms:

"Are you alright?"

[cycas]

I’d love to hear about the Celebrian Sails fic!

Oh, that one has been lurking around for a while. I don't know if I will manage to finish it or not...

There were four figures waiting on the long white quays of Alqualondë as the white ship drew in and began to tie up: three in richly-embroidered tunics, tall, with golden hair that caught the light, and one, smaller and slighter, with long tresses star-silver pale, in a dress that shone with the greens and blues of the Sea. 

A faint scent was on the warm air, pinetrees, seaweed and a warmer richer scent that Celebrían did not recognise.  It was a warm day, and yet she still felt cold.  

She pulled her cloak tighter around her head and shoulders, keeping her back to the smooth planks of the ship and the water beyond.  It was easier if she did not have to think about people coming up behind her.

The shock and pity on their faces, as they turned to look at her was hideously familiar.

She knew how she looked.  Two years ago, if she had seen any of her kin bald and hunched and scarred, no doubt she would have worn the same expression. 

She would not have thought she cared so much for her own beauty, until she lost it.  

At least these were strangers. 

When Elrohir and Elladan had found her, they had looked at her like that.  

Her own children, and yet it had taken them a moment to recognise her, then another long, terrible moment of shock, when she wanted to comfort them, and at the same time, would have given almost anything for it to have been anyone else seeing her her crouching, filthy and terrified, in the stinking pit where the orcs had chained her. 

Then after that, the terrible, unbearable pity from all three of her children: Arwen, too. 

Elrond had tried so hard not to make that expression, once he realised that it upset her even more. But the pity was in his eyes. 

The tallest of the strangers, bright-eyed and eager-faced, stepped towards her, and she braced herself to try to talk to him, and not to duck away or shiver. Then one of the others caught his shoulder, shaking his head. He spoke briefly to the silver-haired lady, who nodded, and came over the deck towards her, alone. 

“You are Galadriel’s daughter, aren’t you?” she said, gently.  Her voice was high and musical.  Celebrían’s own voice had sounded like that, once.  “I am Eärwen, your grandmother.” 

Celebrían nodded, but could not find words to say.   Eärwen hesitated for a moment, and pointed.  “That is your grandfather, Finarfin, the tall one who wants so much to come hurrying over and is almost burning up the deck with eagerness, and then your uncle Finrod on the right, telling him not to, and Angrod on the left.  We didn’t want to startle you.”

“My greetings to you, Grandmother,” Celebrían said, hoping that it sounded natural, the sort of thing anyone might say.

Not the sort of thing that only someone who had been taken by orcs and tormented by them, and had been rescued by her own children would think of.   With a great effort, she collected all her remaining resources and stepped forward to take Eärwen’s offered hand. 

[ravencounsellor]

playing with the idea of Imladris Erestor having two elves employed as his top ranking spies and he calls them his “ravens” bc no one except Elrond and Glorfindel (and Celebrian) know that they’re a thing but they’re like. Erestor’s right and left hand essentially? I think that they originally came into his service to help him with his work while he recovered from his imprisonment & torment in Mordor; aka they’re one of a small handful of people that are in the know about his eye situation.

I imagine that they’re a pair of siblings with a tragic past. I dunno. They may even be connected to the time of his imprisonment; maybe they were all rescued together?? I’m also toying with the idea of them having been children when Erestor meets them. All I really know about them is that they’re siblings (maybe even twins), they have black hair, and they have dead parents