#he has so many stories and they're all of doom and despair and fear

[somuchbetterthanthat]

On the one hand it's probably easier narratively if Sam ended up in the TMA universe, can hear all about the apocalypse and why his universe might have gotten the fears, etc.

On the OTHER HAND -- S2 being Sam desperately trying to find his own universe back, travelling through worlds upon worlds and realizing that as long as there are people, there are monstruous beings feeding off them and being worshipped by them. Sam slowly loosing sight of "just coming home" because it's so much bigger than his home, his world, their little problems. They can't get rid of the monsters in just one place. They can't destroy just /one/ universe.

They have to destroy it all.

[findrahil]

Hi! Would you like to wax lyrical about Findrahil? (I haven’t seen a lot for this ship and I’m curious)

hello!!!!!!!!! <3 <3 <3 thank you for HITTING my EXCITEMENET buttons!!!!

these two are my favourites

what we know from canon:

all we know from canon is that edrahil is the one to step forward when finrod casts his crown at his feet and declares that he's leaving nargothrond

edrahil is the one who asks finrod to give the crown to a steward "until his return," and leads the ten faithful who follow finrod from nargothrond

"for you remain my king, and theirs, whatever betide"

this is very much gay emotion

obviously, edrahil dies in tol-in-gaurhoth, before finrod. i like to think that he and his comrades did their best to protect their king to the very end.

to me, edrahil is one of the examples of unfailing loyalty and love that tell the greatest stories of tolkien's legendarium: like maedhros and fingon, like beren and luthien, edrahil walks into darkness--runs headlong into it--for the person he loves. and he doesn't come back, because sometimes the doom is stronger and he has cast his lot in with one upon whom the shadow lies; but that's not the part that matters. what matters is that he was willing to face it--death, darkness, and despair--for loyalty. i'm sure he was afraid, both when he left and at the end (for who wouldn't be? fear, as much as the courage it inspires, is what makes us human), but he saw finrod, and he saw fate, and he said to finrod, at least you will not be alone.

he could have turned away, and he didn't. this is an elf who died for love.

my personal hcs:

@raisingcain-onceagain's concept of avarin edrahil!! there's SO much to explore: language, custom, even power dynamics!

in particular, i like concept of avarin edrahil ending up under sindarin/doriathrin control, likely through a term-of-service agreement to secure passage for his kin. have not clearly fleshed out this hc yet.

anyway, at some point he leaves with finrod. probably, finrod buys out the rest of his contract (this leaves room for very many lord/vassal dynamics)

and so begins their journey, from uncertainty to city-building to being initially king and captain, then friends, then lovers. and in the end the darkness comes for them (for there must come to them rain and cold), but when finrod asks, in words or not, do you regret it? edrahil smiles faintly, and answers, never.

some fics!! (under a cut bc they're all rated M or E, lol)

dear fellow traveler by @raisingcain-onceagain (rated M): tells the story from their meeting to the end and an epilogue

An Adequacy of Consideration by @raisingcain-onceagain (rated E): finrod/edrahil/curufin + exploration of nargothrondin politics

salt, crimson, and the thread of fortune and death (mine, rated E)

devotion (mine, rated M): the night before they leave nargothrond; doomed lovers

A Spanner in the Works by @sianascera (rated E): from their meeting till the quest for the silmaril, finrod lives!au

and tenderness makes it holy (also mine, rated E): plotless smut, finrod is Tired Of Responsibility

i intend to write that longer fic starting from edrahil's time in doriath all to the end, but that hasn't materialized, unfortunately

thank you for the ask!! i LOVE these two, if you couldn't tell :D