#grobglas | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

annabawritersdream · 1 month ago

Note

Fanfic Trope

Sunshine x Grumpy

Hi and thank you for the ask!

I would definitely write this trope and I am actually going to! I happen to have created two OCs that perfectly fit this dynamic (although I only realized it quite recently). The people that fit this trope are….*drum roll*…

Eradan and Aeliniel

Before actually explaining how they fit this trope, I'm going to provide some general information and their backstory. Eradan is the second born of Faramir, Steward of Gondor and Prince of Ithilien and his second wife, Finduilas. Finduilas is the youngest daughter of Angbor the Fearless, Lord of Lamedon. By the time we meet her in The Lady of Ithilien she's pushing thirty and still unmarried. She's refused every single marriage proposal she's received and Angbor is worried because he basically has no heir. For the longest time I thought Finduilas would come from a large all-girls family (she was supposed to be youngest of six sisters), but as I've started developing her I thought of making her Angbor's only daughter. Angbor is desperate for an heir to Lamedon and with six daughters it would unlikely for him not to have one already—I suppose that at least one of them would give birth to a boy, after all. So that's basically why I made Finduilas an only child. She's an old maid by Gondorian standards and Angbor has been looking for a suitable match for years. He does not believe in arranged marriages and always allowed Finduilas to do whatever she wanted, but he'd be lying if he said he wasn't at least a bit concerned about it. He's at a crossroads and has no idea what to do. Unbeknownst to him (and luckily for him), Enna suggests Finduilas as a potential new bride for her father. Enna wants Faramir to remarry both because of the disdain she feels towards Éowyn and because of an issue which is slightly rooted in culture and, by extension, politics. As I explained in my post for Day 3 of Tolkien OC Week, Enna has been mocked, ridiculed, marginalized and abused by her fellow ladies because of her perceived inferiority due to her mixed blood. Gondorians in my AU(s) are extremely uppity, stuck-up and racist and they hate all people who happen to be even just slightly different from them or people who come from different cultural backgrounds. Gondor is the center of the universe and everyone/everything else just sucks and isn't worth mentioning. As a result, Gondorian ladies deliberately make Enna’s life hell and the fact that she is initially betrothed to the Crown Prince only worsens her relationship with them. They think her unfit to be Crown Princess and, ultimately, their future Queen and are even more intolerant and aggressive. Enna genuinely fears that people might treat Elboron the same way (he's a toddler at the beginning of the story, but Enna loves her baby brother and thinks ahead) and wants him raised by a Gondorian woman so that he may be shielded from any harm. She's already met Finduilas and deems her suitable to be Princess of Ithilien. She manages to persuade Aragorn to accept her idea and the two of them are engaged pretty quickly. They marry in FoA 16—for reference, Éowyn died giving birth to Elboron in FoA 11—and Enna marries Eldarion three weeks later. They're both spring weddings so I'd say they might take place in…March? April? I haven't quite decided yet. Anyways, they get married and their first child, Faelivrin (everybody calls her Fae) is born either in late FoA 16 or early FoA 17 (though I am probably going with early FoA 17 since Arwen and Aragorn will have twins in FoA 16. I don't want a single year to be jam-packed with too many events). Eradan, their second child, is born in FoA 18.

This was just a bit of backstory to introduce Eradan as a character. Now, I'm going to delve into his personality. Eradan is the baby of the House of Húrin and, as such, he is babied a lot, especially by his mother and Enna. Everybody loves him but Finduilas and Enna are absolutely all over him. Enna loves both Fae and Eradan tremendously and practically raises them. They're her babies and she actually “uses them” to practice her mothering skills. As I mentioned earlier, Eradan is born in FoA 18 and Enna marries Elphirion,her second husband, later that year (I still have to decide whether Finduilas is pregnant on the day of Enna’s wedding or she attends with newborn Eradan. Or maybe Eradan stays back in Ithilien with his wet nurse and nannies while Enna gets married in Pelargir. Elphirion is heir to Lebennin, but I actually don't know if all noble marriages take place in Minas Tirith regardless of fiefdoms. I don't have a headcanon about it yet. I would love for her to have a quiet ceremony in Lebennin though. It's her second marriage so I suppose it will be very different from her first. After all, Eldarion was the Crown Prince and Elphirion is “just” a lord. I guess I'll have to think about it).

Anyways, Enna gets pregnant soon after the wedding and her first son, Anárion, is born on FoA 19. I imagine she will visit her family pretty often—she and Faramir are still on extremely good terms at this point in time—and she takes Anárion with her. Anárion and Eradan are extremely close in age and they have more a brotherly relationship than an uncle-nephew relationship. They're children and play together as much as they're allowed, but it's clear pretty early on that they have pretty different personalities. While Anárion is bubbly, constantly asks questions and tends to talk all the time, Eradan is quiet. He's very perceptive and smart, but he's shy and not at all gregarious. He likes spending time alone and, generally speaking, he likes to be left alone. He's kind and polite to others, but social gatherings cause him major anxiety and he sometimes feels out of place even with people he trusts and is comfortable with. Though he may not always be grumpy, he kind of always looks like he is? It's not his fault, but he truly doesn't like being around people. As he grows up, his natural inclination to loneliness gets worse and worse and it gets harder for him to socialize with people. He spends his time reading and taking care of the many stray cats he rescues—he loves animals and is obsessed with cats. He has plenty and generally reads old myths and old lore just to get inspiration for cat names. All of his cats named after historical people from the Elder Days, such as Gothmog, Glorfindel, Celebrimbor etc. I've actually come up with a snippet of him looking his two most recent cats: Finwë and Fëanor. Finwë is white and Fëanor is black. I can see him running around and trying to pet them. Finwë is a cutie who adores being held and Fëanor is little troublemaker who basically hates him and scratches and bites him constantly. His name is Fëanor, after all.

As Eradan grows and matures, he starts feeling more and more alienated from his family and, although he deeply loves his siblings, he starts to feel like he doesn't belong in the same room as them. He doesn’t physically resemble his parents that much and his big, protruding ears are cause of major insecurity and distress for him. He hates the fact that they stick out and often wears hats and bandanas to conceal and cover them. He has Angbor’s ears and mostly looks like him, which isn’t to say that he's ugly. On the contrary, he is considered to be handsome, but he feels ugly and unimportant. He feels, for lack of a better word, like a spare. He's seven years old when Enna marries Eönwë and becomes the most powerful woman in all of Arda and, despite being hated by many, she's also revered and respected. Elboron is Faramir's heir and has relationships with guys, girls and whatnot. I'm not saying he is playboy, but he does have a few relationship on top of those with Eglerion and Meleril. He sure as heck isn't a virgin when he marries Meleril. 🤣

Everybody likes him and Eradan is jealous of his charisma and natural charm. He wishes he could be like him and often cries himself to sleep because he feels like no one truly loves him. He has no true purpose in life except being a replacement if something happens to Elboron. He feels like he's not valuable and his cats are the essentially the only reason he doesn't self-harm or kill himself. He knows his cats need him and they would die if he weren't around so he tries to be strong for them. After they marry, Eönwë and Enna move into Emyn Arnen and revamp it so that it can be a home not just to them and their ever growing family, but also to the many Maiar coming from Aman that have chosen to stay in Middle-earth. This is why Faramir and the rest of Enna’s family move full time to Minas Tirith (he takes all of his cats with him of course). The fact that he doesn't look like his parents attracts unwanted attention in the capital and instead of thinking he might look like his paternal grandfather or simply minding their business, the people at court—who are always looking for ways to slander one another in order to stay relevant—start accusing Finduilas of infidelity and claim that Eradan is not Faramir's son. These claims cause him to have a full breakdown. He locks himself in his room and refuses to get out (he's a pre-teen when all of this takes place). His cats and the memory of Aeliniel are his only comfort as he plunges deeper and deeper into paranoia and depression.

Aeliniel is initially a Maiarin child Enna takes into her service pretty early on after her marriage. She's sensible and ladylike, but also bubbly and charming and Enna thinks she is the perfect match for Eradan. Though she doesn't think of marriage straightaway, she thinks Aeliniel might cheer him up and be a good friend to him. Enna knows Eradan has a hard time making friends, but hope she'll win him over somehow. She's pretty adorable and she likes cats, so that's a start. Enna temporarily dismisses her from her service and sends her to Minas Tirith. As her relationship with Faramir is practically non-existent by then, she sends Elboron a letter detailing every single thing and Aeliniel eventually reaches Minas Tirith, accompanied by a few Maiarin guards—yes, that's definitely Eönwë being overprotective. She may be a Maia, but she's a child and Eönwë has a soft spot for children. She's received by Elboron and he arranges for her to start her formal training and schooling in Minas Tirith upon Enna’s command. She attends her lessons—because she's a Maia she knows almost everything, either by hearsay or because she witnessed it—but she notices a meek young boy meticulously taking notes. She thinks he looks lonely and rather sad and her first instinct is to ask for his name. Enna hasn't exactly told her why she sent her to Minas Tirith—other than her, only Elboron knows—but she's surprised when the boy’s name is Eradan as she heard a lot about him. He initially doesn't even want to speak to her (he's afraid she'll mock him or accuse him of something), but he slowly realizes she just wants to be his friends and that she is genuine and bears him no ill-will. As they get to know one another, Eradan learns she likes cats and starts trusting her when he sees his own cats are comfortable around her. From then on, they become friends and Eradan sees her as his only friend. They spend all of their time together (Eradan still sees Anárion from time to time and the two of them send each other letters. Enna’s other kids also send him letters and presents) and they're attached at the hip. It doesn't take much time though for other boys to start noticing a beautiful Maiarin girl and sons of noblemen start gifting her things and she receives love letters. Eradan doesn't really like that and is suddenly afraid of losing his only friend. Although he doesn't understand why, he feels incredibly jealous of any boy who tries flirting with her. They're just friends, it shouldn't be a problem, right? Aeliniel takes part in several balls and social gatherings while Eradan stays behind. As the years go by, she starts receiving marriage proposals and even thinks of saying yes to at least a couple people (she's been in love with Eradan for years, but the guy is so socially awkward he probably didn't even notice her clues). In the meantime, Eradan has finally understood he's in love with her, but he has no idea how to express his feelings and thinks it's useless since he assumes she doesn't like him at all. Oh, you, fool of a Took. He believes her friendship was fake all along and assumes she just talked to him because she pitied him. He keeps a diary where, among other things, he basically admits he's madly in love with Aeliniel and dreams to marry her, but is interrupted as he's writing the last sentence and leaves the diary on his bed. This whole diary thing happens on his birthday. Aeliniel enters his room to bring him her gift and notices the diary. She reads the page and tears of happiness start flowing. She waits for him to return and jumps on him kissing him. Then, she whispers happy birthday and gives him her gift. They court for a while and Eradan finally starts smiling and is a bit more social. He needs to be encouraged to make friendships, but Aeliniel’s naturally bubbly personality is his blueprint. Sometimes he's a little too bubbly and Aeliniel needs to warn him to tone it down a bit. He’s been alone for so long that he really doesn’t know how to talk to people.

They marry a few years before Enna dies (I think around FoA 40/41). I don't know whether Angbor is still alive by then, but they move to Lamedon and Aeliniel helps Eradan overcome his anxiety and helps him in being a good lord to his people and comforts him when Enna dies. Her death will be a major trauma for him and it will almost cause him to revert to the grumpy, depressed teenager he once was. It's safe to say he'd probably be dead without Aeliniel. She's everything to him. When Angbor dies, they officially become lord and lady of Lamedon and Aeliniel organizes parties and social gatherings. She's a very skilled entertainer and Eradan lets her take care of that while he handles business, politics and paperwork. They start adopting even more animals, not just cats, and their palace becomes a sanctuary for hurt dogs, cats and whatnot. They'll probably have one son, but I'm still not sure about that.

That's it. Thank you for the ask! This is all I have for now, but, who knows, I might come up with even more info. For instance, I imagine Aeliniel to have a prankster side, which Enna would definitely not have approved of, but I don't know exactly what it entails. I know her jokes are pretty harmless, but I don't know anything more than that.

Thank you again for the ask!