#elrond's favorites

[elronds-library]

Scars

by leodesic (@elvinye)

People stared at her in Valinor. It was not that scars were unheard of, but few had scars so dreadful as hers. Even with all Elrond’s talent, there was no hiding what she had endured. Celebrían sailed to Valinor to find healing, but she does not find it. Lorien does her no good and many elves there are unused to scars like hers. There is one elf, though, with scars like hers. Maedhros quickly proves that Elrond's memories of him were nearer to the mark than the horror stories she has heard and Celebrían finds herself adopted by the Fëanorians.

General, No Archive Warnings

Words; 3,425

[fukutomichi]

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power / S1 / 2 Sep. 2022 - 14 Oct. 2022 Robert Aramayo as Elrond Half-elven

[sunnyshinesunshine]

I love Kidnap Fam a lot, I really do, but I’ve seen a trend of brushing over the worst parts of Maglor and especially Maedhros’ history in Kidnap Fam works.

And I suppose that’s fine sometimes you don’t wanna deal with atrocities and you just want fluff.

But I think a lot of the time when writing the Kidnap Fam there’s a tendency for mostly Elrond to sort of excuse the actions of the House of Feanor.

I think maybe that’s because it is hard to conceptualise Mags and Mae being both kind to the children and villains at the same time.

And don’t mistake me, I think all the sons of Feanor were villains by their deaths. Maedhros, in my opinion, is the definition of ‘die a hero or live long enough to be a villian’.

Being critically online (guilty) I find it hard to remember that the world isn’t black or white. People are multifaceted. Their goodness doesn’t wipe away the harm they’ve done and vice versa.

All this to say that I’m really looking forward to some more Kidnap Fam fics that explore the idea of Elrond loving and honoring them as his parents, all the while being like ‘yeah they were also horrible but I still love them and don’t think they should be doomed forever’.

Because at the end of the day, neither Mags nor Mae were truly monsters (just straight evil with no goodness), but people who were capable of hunting for hours for a pair of lost boys, and refusing to burn the ships for love, as well as slaughtering an entire city full of refugees.

So yeah! Let’s see some Elrond having complicated feelings about that!! Woo!

[melorambles]

losing my mind that Elrond hasn't gotten to interact with his brother's descendants. Losing my mind even more that an elf went to Numenor and it wasn't him. You're telling me the island nation of people who are extremely long-lived (for Men) don't have lore, and statues, and paintings of their first king, Elros Tar-Minyatur? Famously the half-elven twin who chose mortality??? And they don't have feelings about his brother, Elrond? And none of that gets mentioned.

(I get this is partially a rights thing, but if they wanted to have Elrond and Numenor in the same setting they should have made arrangements to do it properly.)

You can't tell me the elf who goes on to be the greatest healer on middle earth didn't stick around for the birth of his brother's children. That he didn't visit for years or decades at a time, especially in the older days when they lived for multiple centuries. (Especially if he was trying to avoid getting placed in an important position in Gil-Galad's court. Sorry, can't be the heir I'm too busy. it's my great-nephew's half birthday, see you in a decade!)

We could have had Elrond, ageless young Elrond, walking past statues of himself and his brother. Looking like one of those statues just got up and took a stroll. The Numenorians reacting! How do you even address him? Is he your uncle? He looks younger than your own son, but he was here when they build the kingdom. Is he the Herald of a foreign king? And sure, they don't particularly want elvish influence but he's basically your uncle, are you planning on saying he can't visit?? Is he the brother of your first king? What the hell kind of political descriptor does Numenor have for Elrond. Elros had to have prepared for that! He knew Numenor would outlive him. He would have prepared his line for his brother's company (and probably for the eventual family of his brother). For all that Elros made the choice that was right for him, he didn't wish Elrond any grief.

We could have had parallels!!! Elrond calls Durin brother and happily plays uncle/playmate to Durin's children! And we don't even get a flashback that this might not have been his first time doing so???? We don't even get significant eye-contact or a reaction from Isildur/Elendil to a namedrop of their famous many-greats-uncle.

(Though, if they used this backstory, Elrond would be the last elf in existence to forget how fleeting a mortal life can be. Dude is pretty famously sad about the whole thing, many times over. And they got over it in the show fast enough that they could have used something else.)

[localmdderes]

I wish summer were actually as kind as Elrond.

Or at least half as kind as him I guess.

[pepart]

One of my favorite moments of the Rings of Power - season 01 💍

[cyanorhis]

Sauron's action of forcefully binding Galadriel to him by stabbing her with the crown has opened a huge can of worms in my head. The episode ends saying some things are lost forever and it got me thinking about how insane it is that he was willing to give up a part of her light in a sense just so he can Keep her, because he is Greedy, because he might lose her otherwise (well, he probably thought he was cooking by taking the "touch the darkness" to another level but that is beyond the point right now).

He marks her because he is desperate. He would rather risk have her completely corrupted than not have her at all, despite her absolute light being one of the factors that drew him in from the beginning.

Also worthy of mention how he literally lost his mind with Celebrimbor. He was pretty intent on going full "I will keep you alive through torture" but as soon as Celebrimbor pulled at his strings (masterfully must I say), Sauron lost his shit. He cried. He was terribly impulsive at that moment and I personally think it shaped their interaction afterwards. Not to add how he simply appeared and killed Adar with theatrics instead of... I don't know? Emotionally manipulating them further? Playing with Galadriel? In any case, it makes sense that he got a perfect payback but then again, he literally came out of nowhere and ruined her date (exchanging armies is kind of Galadriel's love language at this point).

All of this to say... Somewhere in the Future, it is not impossible for me to imagine that Celeborn returns, Galadriel and he have some emotional moment or whatever thinking "Oh let us have a nice life for a little while. Let us forget about your ongoing divorce with the Dark Lord to indulge in married couple affairs" and Sauron is out there watching through his live service wound-webcam feeling repulsed. He says (again) "Touch the darkness once more" so he makes an apparition Rosemary's baby style but worse because he'll be there to weaken her resolve and make her admit she's longing for him instead just for a little moment and then boom! Celebrian. 100 years of delicious denial/hurt/comfort/longing/hating/etc. After the season 2 finale, I wouldn't put it above him tbh. I saw someone say the last ep was for the dead dove enjoyers and I couldn't agree more...

[eerieechos]

I bet the Battle of Fornost fucking sucked lol

[iamnotshazam]

New Gil-galad origin theory: the remaining Noldor realized the High King position was absolutely cursed. After they met the barely adult but still baby-faced Elrond and Elros (freshly returned from the dadnapping), the ranking Noldor all turned to each other, sighed, and then agreed to a random drawing for the kingship. Better to deflect whatever nasty juju is following the position than let either of these two politely blunder their way into leading a people so legendarily Fucked. Especially Elros, who even before he decided what he wanted to do, just kinda had that sheepherding dog energy, and might as well have a sign taped to his forehead that says "will one day lead a large group of people on some zany pursuit"

[asyourbodyremains]

haven’t drawn anything in MONTHS but after my second watch through of rings of power season two had me itching to draw a very sad elrond

[thesolarangel]

Best of accidentally mistyped names (by myself, @elronds-pointy-ears and @queenmeriadoc):

Gil salad

Celebimbo

Brumby

Erlands

Elrobd

Elrod

Elland

Wlrond

Elend (it means "hardship" in german... Whoops, accidentally accurate)

[elronds-library]

Less Than Kind

by orphan_account

“I hardly believed it,” said Maedhros. “What are you doing here?” "I bring a message from my father." Maedhros blinked. "Really?" Fingon grinned. "I believe his exact words were: you're visiting who, well if you must you must, say something suitable, something something friendship something something kinsmen, tell him good job keeping my brother's sons out of trouble, I'd rather wrestle another ice bear myself – but don't say it like that!" _ Fingon goes to visit Maedhros, accidentally arrives during a Fëanorion family reunion, and quickly regrets many (but not all) of his life choices.

Mature, No Archive Warnings

Words: 14,260

[mag-lore]

Ëarendil Ardamírë the Mariner

[eri-pl]

A bit more feels for Fëanáro

There were 3 Silmarils to symbolize his mother, his father and him. To remind him of the time when they were together.

This would explain a lot. Why not two like Two Trees. Also, his reaction when asked to give them up.

[nerevar-quote-and-star]

Trying to transliterate Leara's name into Quenya, and it somehow becomes, uh,

Lëarra

Which basically means "You Sealion!"

And I'm just, "Oh yes, this is That Sealion Woman, and she can breathe fire, as all sealions do."

If Leara, for any reason at all, needed an actual Quenya or Sindarin name for any fun Elvish shenanigans, we'll just use Calairie/Calearil, which is "Light of the Sea" in Quenya and Sindarin, and what Leara actually means.

[tanoraqui]

The Rise and Fall of Empires

Chapter 8: Mastermind, Makers, Pirates, Spies…and Necromancer (Part 2)

Fuck the update schedule, we deserve an extra chapter this week. Flashbacks, part 2 of 2!

On balance, Annatar was enjoying himself. The loss of his jewel of a city still burned like a brand, and Celebrimbor and many of his lesser favorite elves were under constant threat, out of his reach, or both. And the obsequious manner he had to maintain with the lords of Númenor was wearing thin.

But it was so pleasant to not only flex skills he’d let lie dormant for most of an Age of the World, but to have a real project for which to do so. Celebrimbor’s method of perfecting Arda was so slow that it became seductive, a never-ending series of daily, yearly, centennial minutiae. Now, Annatar held ever-fluctuating thousands of variables in his hands, and with every step of the equation he reduced them—though to the layman they seemed at times to grow—down toward perfect nothingness. 

Most of all, Annatar enjoyed practicing necromancy again. It was the one craft he’d never been able to convince Celebrimbor to appreciate, much less to practice. (To be fair, it required power and perception far beyond that of a mere elf.) The marvel of a captured fëa in his hands, thrashing in desperate frenzy with every last speck of life and will that Eru had gifted it! The moment of unmatched beauty when it finally submitted and fell still, like a lake returned to picture-perfect after a stone’s ripples finally ceased! And the picture it then reflected, of course, was Annatar’s own admirable will…

Not that he pursued such stillness now, of course. These were not the grand old days of hunting prey through a dark forest or sweeping a net through a bloody battlefield and mauling, warping, breaking to bloodlust and chaining to service... Just a bud of trust watered here, a nightmarish memory muffled there—nothing that stood out from the natural effects of time and acclimatization.

[keep reading on AO3]