#not half of them involving celegorm

[silmarillaure]

Something I noticed about the Feanorians…

A&A seem to take mostly after Nerdanel, specifically in the later drafts

Amrod clearly had very different ideas from Feanor at Losgar, wishing to leave & get back to his mother who initially pleaded with him to stay. Or if he wasn’t on the ships to go back, he at least seemed to expect the ships would be sent back to his uncle’s host.

Amras was brave enough to speak against Feanor after losing his brother, something the others did not do, & then minded his own business in ME instead of causing trouble besides his involvement in the Kinslayings, which may be inherited wisdom from Nerdanel as she also stayed out of conflict.

3C almost take exclusively after Feanor

Celegorm is Feanor with a greater fall from greatness

I think Celegorm started out as a better person than Feanor. Maybe it was due to lacking the trauma & grief that plagued Feanor since birth, but he seemed to have held no ill will towards even those his beloved father held in contempt. He was once someone who befriended so many of his half cousins with little reason to have an ulterior motive for doing it, and was a valued companion of Orome, being the most famous elven hunter in the Legendarium.

He doesn’t sound like someone rotten from the start, yet he became someone more infamous & hated than Feanor had ever been.

Caranthir is Feanor who changed for the better

The dark one, the angry harsh one, the loner. You’d think this would be the son of Feanor who turned out the worst & most hated right, rather than his fair & social brother who was once favored by a Vala?

Caranthir’s descriptions do not paint him pleasantly. He inherited a temper from Feanor & he was undoubtedly being a little cruel, like his father was capable of being, in that scene with Angrod. Yet unlike Feanor, he changed. He never became a perfect person, but he learned to keep his emotions in check & became a better person. He went from a haughty a-hole who fought with everyone he was displeased by to a guy who helped others, made alliances, & saved people.

Coming to Middle Earth improved him as much as it worsened Celegorm. Had it not been for the oath & kinslayings, I think he could have been fulfilled to his greatest potential as much as Finrod & Turgon were.

Curufin is Feanor without an identity

I have less to say on him than I do the other 2 Cs because we already know how Curufin is like Feanor. He’s Curufinwe, but he’s not Feanaro.

He has the face & body, but not the soul. The spirit of fire, an essential component to who Feanor is.

Feanor was revered as much as he was hated, Curufin is just hated. Feanor was everything Curufin is, yet Curufin is nothing close to what Feanor was.

M&M have both so much of Feanor & so much of Nerdanel in them at once, yet in different ways

Maglor's temperament is canonically his mother's. He has her gentleness & rationality. But though he is kind, he has a brutally unforgiving side to him, which likely comes from Feanor. He's an artist like both his parents, but like Feanor, he's a prodigy.

Maedhros's most famous feature, his hair, is Nerdanel's. His kindness, wisdom, & morality are his mother's.

Everything except for his father's craft, Maedhros's shares with Feanor. His fury, his pride, his fierce unshakable love, his loyalty, his bravery, his soul, are all his father's.

[lordgrimwing]

Marsupial au

[from this ask!]

The basics: everything is the same but the elves are marsupial and have pouches to carry around their babies!

Why would @nighttimepatrons and I make this au? Because it’s cute. Imagine little elflets trying to climb into their parents’ belly pouches to hide. Imagine the process of pouch-weaning an elflet who is really too big to be climbing in anymore. It’s just cute, ok?

Now, let’s talk about some elves and their pouches!

Nerdanel: Very roomy, very comfy. She’s had a lot of kids in there. Solid 8/10 (points deducted because occupants might get banged against rock she’s chiseling for her latest sculpture)

Feanor: Comfy place to curl up for a snooze but it gets a bit hot, and he will kick you out when he goes to the forge. 7/10

Maedhros: Excellent, so roomy, can easily hold two or more elflets at once, he’ll never bump against pointy table corners. 9/10 (some argue it’s too roomy)

Maglor/Celegorm/Caranthir: it’s fine, I guess, but why would you go in there when Maedhros is an option? 5/10 (at least Celegorm has good stories)

Curufin: “Leaving was the right thing to do, but I miss him sometimes. I miss all of them—who they were.” 3/10 (sample size of 1)

Ambarussar: The only things in those pouches are arrows. Unrated.

Glorfindel: A good place to hide for a few minutes or to peek out of during hikes to enjoy the view but he will evict you when he’s busy. 6/10

Erestor: Due to unfortunate childhood experiences, the only thing getting into this half-elf’s pouch is lent and yeast infections. 1/10 (Glorfindel’s trying to help)

Celeborn: He looks like the weak link during pouch-weaning, but it’s a trick. Grandpa will Not let you inside when mom says no more pouch. 7/10

Galadriel: No one’s dared to get in lately, but Celebrian reports that she was quite comfortable. 5/10 (points deducted for intimidation factor)

Celebrian: Cozy, a little tight with twins, very easy to fall asleep. 8/10

Gil-galad: Little Arwen’s claimed it as hers and only hers, so it mut be good. 7/10 (unfortunately she had to be pulled out after he fell at Sauron’s hands, which is very traumatic for an elflet)

Elrond: Much to his children’s confusion, he doesn’t have a pouch. No one in Melian’s line has one.

Marsupial clothing would be designed so that elflets have pouch access, so it isn’t an uncommon sight for little heads to suddenly poke out from between the folds of a robe, or for an elflet to start pulling at their parent’s clothes, trying to find the opening. Pants are a no-go when an elflet’s involved, there’s just no room to stretch.

Pouch hygiene is very important. A healthy pouch is a little moist and it should be regularly cleaned to prevent itchy yeast infections. Lent and dust can also cause irritation. Elrond gives Glorfindel salves to try to get Erestor to use in his crusty pouch so he doesn’t itch himself raw in his sleep.

There are some less fun parts, too, of course. Like the fact that itty bitty elflets might not be noticed if they fall out of the pouch, leaving them abandoned on the ground and too small to be alone for long. Or the way kidnappers can hold out a sack and some elflets will climb right in because it looks like a pouch. But most of this is happy! (outside of Erestor being relentlessly teased by his human playmates and Arwen being traumatized by Gil-galad’s death)

Oh, did I mention that Gil-galad, Elrond, and Celebrian are a threesome yet, because they are.

And kidnap fam totally happens. E+E like Maedhros’ pouch more than Maglor’s.

Ask me about fics that live rent-free in my head!

[eccentricmya]

The Second Killing

"We lost."

It was Caranthir who voiced it. The stark truth uncoated with unnecessary emotions.

Maedhros chuckled at the brevity of this opener for the long overdue post-battle briefing they had gathered that day for. Those two words indeed encapsulated the whole battle.

"We were never meant to win," Maedhros said, yet another truth bared.

That had Maglor shaking his head in immediate denial, "Nay, we had hope. United we had stood a chance."

Ah. There it was. As much as you could trust Caranthir to strip feelings from his practical analysis, you could just as much trust Maglor to add them instead. And his feelings on the battle were evidently still revolving around the traitor he had slew in single combat. As was natural.

"A chance yes," Maedhros agreed with a tilt of his head, "but not at winning."

Amras scoffed, "then what?" He stalked back into the study from his perch on the balustrade of the adjoining balcony. The view from there was the best Amon Ereb had to offer, or so the twins had claimed when they had showed him his new study. Though, to Maedhros, it still paled in comparison to even the most uninspiring sight Himring had provided.

"Why did we throw everything at the enemy if we had no chance at winning?" Amras questioned, coming to stand beside where Amrod was seated in front of the cold hearth. "Why go through this farce of a 'Union' if you believed unity too would be futile against the wretchedness of that blasted Vala?"

"If not even the combined might of all of free Beleriand can make a dent in the enemy's forces, then why go to the gates of Angband and seek death?" Amrod added, the quiet of his rasp a sharp contrast to the agitated voice of his twin, even as he echoed the other's sentiment.

Maedhros didn't answer, he refused to. Instead, he fixed his glare on the ones who shared the blame with him, who had hatched a plan behind closed doors and persuaded him to allow a cover for their folly. They shifted in their seats by the window under his glower, the silence stretching longer until the rest of their brothers followed his line of sight to the two co-conspirators. Celegorm was the first to break under the added scrutiny; "it was a distraction," he said and no more.

When no words were forthcoming anymore, Caranthir lost his placid expression and his face turned red in exasperation. "For what?" he asked in annoyance, "do not tell me it was for the Silmarils."

Sarcastic his tone might have been, but their most astute brother had once again stuck true, making Curufin bristle. "You do not tell me that you did not feel the Oath stirring when that half-breed and her pet mortal stole our father's jewel yet again!"

Another uncomfortable silence took hold of them after Curufin's words, for they all had felt the chains of their vow clinking as the Silmaril had left the confines of Morgoth's crown. Maglor was right on one account: there had indeed been hope before the battle. Hope that a Silmaril could be stolen back from Morgoth—the sole pillar their mad plan had relied on. If their mere idea of pulling such a stunt could be called a plan, that is. With Curufin's adamant refusal to involve Maglor as their lullaby singer—which Maedhros had supported, though not for the reason of Maglor possessing 'a weaker disposition' but rather because he had not wished to place the burden of such a pivotal role on the bard's shoulders—their plan had depended on Celegorm being an uncanny marksman and Curufin having a distractingly similar appearance to their father, along with Maedhros' ability to goad Morgoth into emerging from his iron fortress.

None of that had come to pass, perhaps for the better. Maedhros had not let it show then, but his faith in his brothers' capability to execute this monumental feat had been minimal, especially after what they had done in Nargothrond. But they had made compelling arguments, so he had given in at last, urged by the desire to see Morgoth without the bejewelled crown he had mocked him with during his captivity. The aftermath of this battle, though, made him believe more and more strongly that this desire of his, too, shall remain unfulfilled.

"So all those countless lives… all those tears unnumbered of our people… they were a mere distraction for the Silmarils?"

The horrified disbelief in Maglor's voice cut deep inside Maedhros. Oh, what he wouldn't give to reassure his brother that 'no, your Nelyo has not stooped so low as to lead our people under false pretences to serve as bait'. But he had. Maedhros had done exactly that. There was no use in pretending otherwise.

So when he steeled himself to meet Maglor's eyes, it was to utter one final facticity. "The people will know this battle as a failed stand against the enemy. Our greatest loss amidst debilitating treachery," Maedhros said wryly. "But only we would be aware that the true treachery was committed long before Ulfang and his ilk turned coat. Only we would know that the battle was fought not for freedom but for the Silmarils. Only we would be privy to the secret… that the Nirnaeth Arnoediad was, in truth, the second killing of elf by elf."

[tar-maitime]

no better love

Rating: G Characters: Maedhros | Maitimo, Fingon | Findekano Additional: modern AU, family, fun and shenanigans WC: .6k

For @russingonweek Day 7 - The Future Prompt - Transformation

The house was unrecognizable.

“I think,” Fingon said slowly, “that we might have made a slight tactical error in allowing Curufin and Turgon to collaborate on decorating for Gil’s birthday party.”

Maedhros, at his elbow, snorted. “You’re assuming that ‘allowing’ them entered into it at all. I couldn’t stop Curvo from getting involved and going all out, and you couldn’t stop Turgon, and we should probably just thank our lucky stars that an inventor and an interior designer with thwarted dreams of city planning didn’t do worse to the place.”

“And that they were too busy competing to kill each other,” Fingon agreed. He looked dubiously around him again. Perhaps he was just taking his long-overdue turn as the more practical of the two of them, but giving their house a (theoretically temporary) makeover into a startlingly lifelike replica of a medieval castle’s interior seemed a little over the top. Gil was turning six.

But he was still healing from the burns he’d gotten in the car crash, and so had been forbidden from doing anything for the party at all besides showing up, which had led to Turgon and Curufin getting involved...which had led to this.

“It might be a little bit my fault,” Maedhros confessed. I wouldn’t let Turno throw you a ‘welcome home’ bash when you got out of the hospital - I wanted to keep things quiet - so I think he poured all that energy into this. And then of course Curvo can never let anyone outdo him at anything.”

Fingon laughed, and reached out to pick up her hand and kiss it. “It’s all right, Russe. Both our families are a lot, but we knew that pretty much from the start, didn’t we?” 

She nodded ruefully.

And that was all the time they got to discuss it, because at that moment, the doorbell rang, announcing the advent of the first of a small sea of children dressed as knights and princesses, and their parents, and over the next half-hour, all the siblings and parents and uncles and cousins from all three corners of the family, until the house was packed to the gills. There were almost too many people to tell whether the house was decorated or not.

Fingon and Maedhros found each other again somewhere between presents and cake, and exchanged eloquent looks. “Next year,” Maedhros murmured, “neither of us will be injured or taking care of the other, and we’ll be paying attention when Gil asks if he can have a party with all his friends, and we’ll say no. Keep it just the three of us.”

Fingon nodded, even as he surveyed the chaos of the party. Gil was happily at the center of a ring of friends, paper crown completely askew, with Maglor’s foster twins pressed in at either elbow and Tyelpe trying to break up a nascent quarrel between Idril and Maeglin a few feet away. By contrast, no one was stopping Angrod and Caranthir’s argument, but at least they didn’t seem in danger of breaking anything - unlike Aredhel, Celegorm, Amrod, and Amras with whatever gymnastic showing-off they were attempting. Curufin looked like he was going to intervene to save his handiwork, though - one more thing covered.

Feanor, thankfully, was nowhere near either of his stepbrothers nor the toaster or any kitchen appliances. He was casting a contemplative eye over a couple of battery-powered toys Gil had received, but Fingon had reasonable confidence that he would either leave them alone or improve them in ways Gil would like. It was probably fine.

He glanced back at Maedhros. “I don’t know. We might at least have the family over, next year. It’d be too quiet otherwise.”

Maedhros snorted. “You’re impossible,” she informed him.

“And that’s why you love me,” Fingon bantered back. It still hadn’t gotten old, saying that.

“It is,” Maedhros admitted. “Among many other reasons, but yes.”

She punctuated it with a kiss, what Fingon had been angling for all along, and he settled in against her side to watch the controlled chaos of the party together until the next minor crisis.

[silvantransthranduiltrash]

What if Beren and Luthien were genderbent? How does this change things?

Oof,

Well i think it would depend on how much you think the elves put weight into gender roles. If they don’t put a lot of weight on it, i personally don’t think it would chage that much.

If you do think the elves would put a lot of weight in it, i think it can change so much as to say that they don’t even go out to steal a silmarillion.

I do think that if Luthien was a guy, he might have been let out of the girdle more/would have become a warrior, maybe. His parents might not have been as overprotective, especially Elwe. However, it can still be argued that male!Luthien is a soft boy™️ that isn’t a fan of fighting. Furthermore, Elwe can still be overprotective of Luthien by virtue of Luthien being his kid and not wanting to loose him.

Idk, if there would be a close relationship between Luthien and Galadriel, or if now it’s Luthien and Finrod that are best buds.

(Mind you, i’m thinking through all this as i’m writing it, so apologies if it’s not so coherent)

You know what? If Luthien and Finrod are friends, Luthien might be more involved with Nargothrond/might have visited there. Maybe he met C&C there as well. Food for thought.

Regardless, even with the gender changes, Elwe would still oppose marriage between Luthien and Beren, bc he doesn’t think anyone, let alone a mortal, is good enough for his son.

Beren, i think, regardless of gender would still be Beren, up until she meets Luthien.

How they would meet could either stay the same, or change a bit. I do think them meeting in a peacefull setting is important. You know what? Let’s keep it the same/similar. Beren sees Luthien dancing in the moonlight and promptly goes “holy shit he’s pretty”.

And luthien spies her and thinks “oh, she’s cute”.

I personally hc Beren as socially awkward, charismatic when s/he wants to be, but socially awkward when it comes to one on one converstations. Don’t get ‘em started on romance.

And maybe Luthien invites Beren to join him, just for fun (for some reason i have the scene from httyd where stoick and valka are dancing together in my head).

And they have fun, which kickstarts their affection for one another.

I think both of them would appreciate having a partner who’s strong in their own right, just because they’re scared of possibly loosing the other, so with Luthien being son of a maia, and Beren being one of the most wanted people on the planet, they also feel more comfortable trusting each other.

I think Beren would like the levity Luthien would bring, and also not be bothered by Luthien being half maia bc, fuck man, she’s seen so much weird shit. And Luthien likes Beren’s pragmatism, and also that Beren fell for him before she knew he was a prince.

Moving on-

Of course you have the whole drama with Elwe.

Elwe’s like “this bitch is not marrying my son” again, how elwe goes about it would be influenced by the emphasis he would place on gender roles. I think if he were more traditional, he would maybe say things like “she’s not pretty enought for him” “she won’t make a good wife” etc.

Tbf, in this scenerio Beren can still pull something like “well, what if i wore a silmaril around my neck, would i be pretty enough then?” Which can still lead to a quest for the silmaril.

Or elwe could have a whole different challenge for her to win Luthen.

But we’re gonna go on the assumtion that there is still a quest to steal a silmaril.

So Beren sets out with Luthien, bc i think elwe would have a significantly harder time keeping him in place, especially if Luthien is a warrior himself. And they go to Nargothrond for help from finrod, who’s indebted to Beren’s family and who is Luthien’s friend.

And then of course you’d still have drama with C&C.

Bc Beren and Luthien arrive together, i don’t think C&C would bother them individually as much. Also, no kidnapping of Luthien by Celegorm.

There would still be a stir, idk how the party would go, maybe there would be less members, and Beren and Luthien could convince Finrod to stay bc *motions to Luthien* they have a half maiar on the quest, they don’t necessarily need more man power, especially on a stealth mission.

Also, bc of Luthien’s open presence, there might not be a coupe. And maybe even grudging respect.

You know what? What if Celegorm or Curufin or both join them on the quest? I mean they’re going for the silmarils right? With the help of a half maia, surely they’ll do better.

So like the 4 + huan set out. And Finrod still stays on the throne. (Wow, history really is changing)

And maybe, just maybe, the 4 do manage to sneak past sauron. Or maybe they immediatly go option: nuclear and just destroy sauron on their way through.

Celegorm shoots at sauron: THIS IS FOR MY BROTHER YOU POS!!!

And they travel on.

And with Curufin there, when Luthien lulls Morgoth to sleep, with his tools they manage to snag all 3 jewels instead of just one.

And they run.

But instead of headin towards the girdle they go to one of their brother’s outposts. Let’s go with himring.

(Is this slowely turning into a fix it? Maybe.)

And well, since curufin and Celegorm technically have the silmarills in their porssession (and for cautious sake the 2 brothers are the ones holding the silmarils) the vow is lifted.

So all their brothers go “wtf”.

Yada yada yada

They make it to himring and are like “hey look what i got!”.

Cue maedhros having a small panic attack.

Bla bla bla bla bla.

Of course is Luthien excited to be amongst kinslayers? No. But, tbf, he’s also half maia and maia don’t exactly have the same taboo. Beren’s human, kinslaying in and of itself doesn’t bother her.

Tbh, i don’t know how Luthien would handle being around the feanorians, bc yeah they did kill his kin, but also... it’s complicated for him. And clearly finrod doesn’t seem to have too much of a problem with then if they were letting C&C stay with him.

I’d like to think that, now that the vow is lifted (almost called it a curse for a second there), maybe curufin fashions one into a beautiful necklace for Beren as a big fat fuck you to elwe and a thanks for helping them get free.

Idk, it depends on what you think the silmarils are, are they just shiny jewels or do they have a bit of feanor’s faer in them. For the sake of where i’m going, it’s the former.

N e way, beren and luthien get back to doriath with Beren wearing the silmaril necklace while staring down elwe defiantly. And Luthien’s like “i’m gonna marry this women”.

Bc Beren said that “if she were to wear a silmaril as a necklace, would she then be pretty enough?” As opposed to promising to hand elwe a silmaril, the silmaril stays with beren, or maybe she gives it back after having proven a point.

N e way, bc Elwe isn’t the one to have the silmaril in the end, i think both massacres are avoided, so doriath still stands proud for a lot longer.

Also, bc they didn’t die/have to come back to life, idk if Luthien should choose to follow his wife after she dies of old age. It’s be interesting if he didn’t bc that means that the “choice of the peredhel” maybe wouldn’t exist, and that opens up whole new possibilities with aragorn and arwen down the line, and even elros. (Ngl, a little fuzzy on the whole “choice of the peredhel” thing)

Or maybe he does give up his immortality and follows his wife, convincing mandos to let him.

Either way, the story would change significantly enough that the impacts is different (for one, instead of Arwen being as beautiful as luthien or smth, it’d be more that she’s as powerful as luthien? Idk.)

Or you know, maybe canon would still happen, just with genderbent Luthien and Beren.

I really do think that the amount of impact their gender has on their story has to do with how you interpret their characters.

...

You really made me write a lot, huh?

It was fun.

Did it come off across as a bit like a fix it? Yes. But, tbf, Luthien being arguable the most beautiful elleth in the world is such an important aspect of the story, that taking it away would change how people would treat him, and thus the whole storyline, drastically enough that i think a completely different outcome is possible.

[memorymessage]

i had this posted on my old main blog, but honestly, i'm too embarrassed to keep it there. so i'm just gonna tuck it away here.

-

turgon never thought to remarry in gondolin... because he was spiritually married to aredhel.

sorry, not sorry.

(this started as a short meta-piece of my ideas that basically turned into an outline of a fanfic. so maybe i will use this as a rough draft and return to fanfic writing after all.)

very, very rough stream of consciousness-esque turgon/aredhel, celegorm/aredhel, celegorm/curufin idea-based drabble

honestly, there's not enough turgon/aredhel out there

i had this fic idea, that in aredhel's closeness with celegorm during the years of the trees, while also coinciding with her having the knowledge of the true nature of celegorm's relationship with curufin, she eventually feels comfortable enough to confess and divulge her feelings about turgon to celegorm. to which celegorm responds with a large, teasing grin, and full support. he even continually prods her to 'get it over with and tell him already.'

i also do envision their relationship to be rather physically intimate, as much of the fandom does (they're wrong about many things, but they're right about this one.) but, contrary to the fandom, i imagine them as supportive stand-ins for each other's true loves. curufin obviously takes a wife at sometime during the years of the trees, since celebrimbor is presumably born around this era. meanwhile, aredhel is harboring feelings for turgon.

with celegorm and curufin, i can't imagine their relationship being anything other than a push-and-pull, inflammatory codependency, wholly reflective of the source material. i imagine celegorm would have taken great issue with curufin's marriage, all the while being a giant hypocrite by being intimate with aredhel. it would be character-fitting of curufin to marry and father a child out of pure spite in witnessing the relationship between celegorm and aredhel progress, to send the message that he didn't need celegorm.

(but, undoubtedly, the seed of this idea of finding a wife and fathering a child also comes from being so close in resemblance and craft to fëanor, who also married and sired children fairly young. curufin would want to live up to fëanor's reflection in every facet, to bring honor to his namesake, even if he wasn't truly prepared for marriage or children.)

celegorm only ever viewed the relationship with aredhel, and his other flirtatious ventures with other men and women, as simple fooling around with friends. although, whether celegorm admits it or not, curufin can see the relationship with aredhel is different—closer, more emotionally involved. many arguments are had on the matter, but eventually curufin sees there is no progress to be had, and seeks to instill within celegorm the same feelings he's experiencing, as retaliation. and curufin never takes any half measures.

thus: wife and child.

aredhel is experiencing similar grief—having to silently watch as turgon courts elenwë, his intended betrothed. she sympathizes with celegorm's plight with curufin, and feels guilt in her unintentional involvement in estranging them (though celegorm quickly hushes her), but, ultimately... she is jealous. at least celegorm and curufin got to experience the joy in reciprocation, and though they may quarrel and separate, she knows they will inevitably find their way back to each other. meanwhile she's sure turgon sees her as nothing more than his whimsical, adventurous, hotheaded little sister.

beyond the trifling (yet entirely consuming) feelings, there was also a matter of law at hand. aredhel was raised under different circumstance to her fëanorian half-cousins, in the house of king finwë and queen consort indis. her grandmother was of the vanyar, kindred uniquely reverential to the valar, and highly respectable to the laws the eldar are ordained to live under while in aman. her brother was also due to marry a vanya himself. she is well aware of the offense her feelings for her full-blooded brother would cause, and her intimate relations with her half-cousin not to go unmentioned.

there were those moments, where celegorm would lightheartedly encourage aredhel to make an advance: "go on, i say. tell him! if you're none too bold yet, rest your hand upon his, and simply assess his reaction." only to be met with a glare of frustration. "i can't! our family- we're not like yours!" celegorm's brow would crease, eyes narrowing in judgmental suspicion... until aradhel stammers, looking away meekly and finishing with, "i only mean... we don't have your same freedoms."

those days, it was not rare for the night to end with aredhel curled up in celegorm's arms, suppressing quiet sobs, gripping with the futility of it all. 'how could it possibly be,' she thinks, 'that love could be so torturous and inescapable? so all-consuming?'

eventually, after many years, aredhel is proven right. with the banishment to formenos invoked upon fëanor by the valar, fëanor's sons follow ever steadfast to their father's side. the wife of curufin, however, does not. and aredhel only smiles forlornly when celegorm comes to bid his farewells before their departure. curufin is in tow, whatever resentment that had silently built between him and aredhel now nowhere to be found. a rare display of acceptance and sympathy from the younger brother— (did celegorm tell curufin of the reasoning behind their closeness? surely he wouldn't do that to her without her consent. no one must ever know.) curufin was once her friend too, before strife had torn them apart, and it felt good to shake his hand once again.

and yet... now aredhel has no one to confide in—no outlet or relief. so she must swallow her grief and longing before it consumes her. or worse, the dam breaks and the flood takes over.

but things change quickly, far quicker than ever expected, and only a few years after fëanor's banishment, aredhel finds herself crossing deadly ice on a frozen ocean, marching with the rest of her father's host. they are poorly equipped for such a swift change in course—they had expected to cross the ocean upon ships with fëanor's host, only to be suddenly betrayed and left behind. in this poor preparation, many people succumb to the elements, and among them... the wife of her brother. elenwë.

genuinely, she grieves alongside her dearest brother and young niece—the niece with the same yellow hair as elenwë. but there is another feeling in her heart. she condemns and buries it deep beneath the surface, unwilling to confront it. however, it lingers. she longs to fill the empty place in their lives—to be a mother to young idril, and a wife to beloved turgon. just how long had she dreamt of this ideal? long before idril's birth, and long before turgon and elenwë's first meeting.

the ice sheds all concept of propriety, like the bodies they bury at sea. the need to survive trumps all, and it cannot exist without comfort. they lay with their hands intertwined, and bodies pressed tightly together, sometimes idril lie between them for warmth and familial protection. this isn't how she envisioned it. there is little joy to be gleaned in this togetherness, so desperate to simply survive they are. their noses red, and their eyelashes coated in a thin layer of frost. memories aredhel will carry for a lifetime, for all the wrong reasons.

decades later, in the completed and fortified structures of gondolin, a shining reminiscence of tirion, where her brother rules as king, aredhel finally confesses. by then, what had developed between them need not be voiced, so mutually understood and reciprocal was their togetherness. a confession, it could barely be considered.

in mithrim, the closeness they shared while on the ice was replicated, unbidden and unconscious. turgon reaching his hand to aredhel's, brushing her hair from her face. at night, unbeknownst to their family and the rest of the host, they share the same tent. uneasy though it was, for they no longer had the excuse of frostbite and survival to press themselves close. idril sometimes still slept between them, just as before, and, other times, she stay in her grandfather fingolfin's tent. before she had even realized, aredhel saw her dream of love requited take root.

during mereth aderthad, aredhel regrets not reuniting with celegorm. she had only seen him in mithrim but briefly, before the host of fëanor dispersed, and celegorm and curufin went to occupy himlad. 'i wish you could see,' she muses, her fingers trailing patterns along the top of turgon's hand, 'see my bravery, tyelcormo. you would be proud.'

and perhaps that had been the first seed planted, to grow (fester), and bring about her greatest unhappiness.

while in gondolin, tucked beneath the sheets, hidden safely in the bedchambers of the king, almost 200 years spent in the bliss of the hidden valley of tumladen, aredhel's heart begins to stir in restless longing. she speaks with turgon about their fëanorian cousins who dwell in beleriand, but never divulges the nature of the intimacy between herself and celegorm. turgon's heart had turned towards hers, his own sister, though she knows not if he would still perceive offense in such a tryst with their half-cousin. he remains yet loyal to the valar, and continues to uphold their laws and cutoms in gondolin.

'hypocrite,' she thinks, when his lips press against hers, far away from prying eyes.

at first, turgon listens to her stories and retellings of the past, a wistful smile on his face, fascinated by his sister's ever-fiery and passionately energetic nature. but before long, he grows weary and suspicious, knowing too well what these repetitive imaginings may entail. he quiets her enthused ramblings about horse riding in the forests of oromë, and takes her by the hand through the king's gardens instead.

over time, their bliss soured, and so the day came when aredhel asked to depart the hidden city of godolin. turgon's ceaseless denials only reaping further discord between them—aredhel began to distance herself from him. she no longer came to his rooms, nor sat at breakfast with him and his daughter (though close she remained to idril, in separate), nor walked with him through the gardens.

he would begrudge her no longer, foreseeing only dread in either course of action, and eventually gave her his reluctant approval to take temporary leave. he grants three lords as accompanying bodyguards to his beloved sister, and instructs them to take her only to their brother fingon.

he had half a mind to execute those lords, if he were a man of lesser honor, for daring to return to his gates bereft of his sister, claiming aredhel lost to the elements of beleriand. twice, then, he envisions an execution site, when learning they had betrayed his orders and acquiesced to aredhel's new order of seeking out the sons of fëanor—celegorm and curufin.

though grief consumed him, a king he yet remain, and he kept his sorrow and wrath close to his heart. reprieve and happiness brought to him now only by his daughter, who bore the resemblance of her mother, but the mood and countenance of her aunt. his two lost loves, represented now by his only remaining nearest kin.

for almost one hundred years, turgon persisted, and gondolin continued its prosperity in splendor. until the unthinkable happened, and a lord of his council told him of the arrival of his lost sister, passing through the gates once again, a strange young man in her company. he felt as though his heart had, at once, ceased to beat.

-

in the early morning on the day the judgment of the dark elf was set to proceed, turgon was bent in pain over his beloved sister's lifeless, cold body. she had slept seemingly in peace, her handmaiden had informed him, recovering from the minor injury of the javelin, but it was an illusion, for aredhel had silently succumb to poison in the night, unbeknownst to anyone. in anguish, he kissed those pale lips farewell—a silent promise to meet again, a silent promise for revenge—uncaring, then, who witnessed his blasphemous devotion.

the execution brought no relief. an act of justice and vengeance served, but no relief—no respite from the continuous agony aredhel had left in her absence.

turgon regarded his nephew strangely, for the young man seemed reticent to show emotion. red were the whites of maeglin's eyes in his loss, and his eyelashes stuck together with long-dried tears, but no word did he say on his grief. still, turgon looked upon him with welcoming solidarity. he saw not the resemblance of eöl on the boy, however prominent it may truly be, but rather, every little piece of aredhel reflected in his pale skin and dark hair.

'in another life,' turgon smiled to himself, 'you would have been my son.' and so, as his son, turgon took maeglin into his house, and raised him to great stature among his council.

he could have never known just how faithfully alike to his dark elf father maeglin indeed was, and what would come to pass in the years that follow. the doom eöl had passed onto his son before his death.

(turgon had never known just how long aredhel had held back her pining of turgon, and just how long maeglin had for his own thoughts of idril. thus, turgon would never come to understand how incredibly alike mother and son were.)

"the eldar wed not with kin so near," turgon repeated from the laws and customs, mechanically, devoid of emotion, as a king should. his teeth clenched, his mind filled with visions of aredhel, and their love. he did this for idril, he excused himself, for idril bore maeglin no love, and it was easier to feed the boy the laws of the valar than to sit with him and explain the fallacy of keeping an unrequited love, or to help him move past these feelings. what would his people think if turgon acknowledged it, entertained it, and gave maeglin council in this matter? it was easier to outright condemn these feelings of maeglin's, and brush them aside. these sorts of unclean emotions were evidence of the doom of mandos, after all.

('hypocrite.' turgon could almost hear her voice, distant in memory, more distant still in the memory of ósanwë.)

this was for the greater good.

[searchingforserendipity25]

Curufin!

Character Ask Game 💚🤍🖤

Thank you @welcomingdisaster! :)

Give me a character and I will give you my thoughts on

Curufin

one aspect about them i love 

Favourite Daughter Syndrome, and committed to it. 

one aspect i wish more people understood about them

As much Aredhel’s friend as Celegorm or Caranthir. Well-spoken and very compelling; very strongly attuned to everyone's position and presentation in any conversation, and when he talks/acts it's very deliberately a give-take-overcome situation, both in Nargothrond and confronting Beren and Lúthien.

Very reactive, aware of other people's possible reactions. Shows a remarkable talent in slipping in and saying the correct thing at the correct time with fantastic oration skills. These are good qualities and not evil in themselves! It's what he uses them for that's the problem.

one (or more) headcanon(s) i have about this character

Genuinely liked Telchar more than most elves, including his brothers. A true friendship of like minds, soul sisters of the craft, bffs of the forge. Celebrimbor wants what they have (and he gets it with Narvi, but not after pining after a number of cool dwarrows and having his hopes for a partnership dashed.) 

as well as

one character i love seeing them interact with

Finrod. Everything about the bonds of betrayal and gratitude and betrayal again, mutual attraction and mutual (dis)illusionment, a far clearer mutual understanding than either of them wants to admit, both regarding the best and the worst parts of their characters…

one character i wish they would interact with/interact with more

Aredhel! Again, I find their friendship fascinating.

one (or more) headcanon(s) i have that involve them and one other character

Felt pretty bad - as in, mind-breaking guilt very badly managed - about telling Eöl where Aredhel and Maeglin were going, in hindsight; but genuinely thought this was a political move on Aredhel’s part at the time.

Marry a Sindarin lord, start thawing Turgon’s anger about her disappearance by presenting her cute kid, and then her husband shows up and boom! diplomacy happens. There’s a half-Noldo with a feet in Nan Elmoth. Not a bad choice, as far as he's concerned; Finrod and his siblings have Thingol’s favour, the Feanorians are all out, where does that leave Fingolfin and his children in terms of footing?  Eöl’s chase seems consistent to what he knows of Aredhel - hardly the first time she got an idea in her head and left others behind in the assumption they’d do what she planned them to do.

He didn’t at all think she did it on purpose for mere political convenience - Aredhel only does her own convenience, mostly, and power plays of the polis kind aren't her thing. But he knows how she chafes at restriction and longs for vastness, control, agency and liberty, and if she fell in love with a treacherous sentient forest, well, it’s not that surprising. 

Curufin’s failure is always in underestimating everyone else. The forest gripped Aredhel not the other way around. 

Quite envious that Turgon got to kill Eöl - but also very glad that he wasn’t the one to do it and deal with the consequences to his network in Himlad and in the dwarrow kingdoms.

Knowing Eöl, he suspected the consequences would be quite terrible; would not have been surprised at the Doom he cast over Gondolin, and indeed counted on it and mentally scrapped Gondolin as any kind of use afterwards (went so far as to be glad that they weren't joining the Union, and lowkey blamed them for the defeat and how it changed their plans/added another Doom).

If Aredhel and Maeglin had stayed in Himlad, Curufin would have done so much for them (derrogatory but mostly well intended). The coup of Nan Elmoth by Maeglin’s regents would be truly a tale for the ages (a horror tale). Strangling vines, poisonous ponds, anti-colonialist spiders, Aredhel vs Mablung in a fight for survival in the wilds when Thingol sends someone to figure out what’s going on, Maeglin running around with a cursed blade - we could have had it all! 

[theworldisquietheretooquiet]

Lúthien for the ask game please !

Oo ok this is a character I really like, although it has been a while since I read B&L specifically

One aspect about them I love

There are many more impressive things about her but I generally love her magic hair lol- it feels so Maiaish to use your physical self as a cloak and rope.

One aspect I wish more people understood about them

She is one of the most active of Tolkien's women and has a lot of agency! She's not a 'perfect' female character but I think it's cool that a woman has such power to change things in a story all about futile attempts.

One headcanon I have about this character

She's held against her will twice - first by Thingol then by c&c and I like to think this influenced her choice of mortality at least a bit. Obviously mostly she just wanted a life with Beren but I also think she disliked the idea of living forever in Valinor as it made her think of being kept and preserved as a beautiful thing, away from even the possibility of death. Which was at least a little Thingol's aim and how Celegorm saw her.

One character I love seeing them interact with

Huan! I love how loyal he is to her and how he genuinely seems to appreciate her power and skill, and his words to Beren show that he respects her free will. Also he's a talking dog and she's a half-angel Princess. Best duo in Beleriand

One character I wish they would interact with/interact with more

Finrod! I like to think they were close. They miss each other so narrowly in Leithian, it's agonising!

One headcanon I have that involve them and one other character

I'm thinking Finrod thoughts so carrying on in that direction, when he first met her he wanted to teach her songs of power but she was like fathoms better than him already lol so she ended mostly teaching him, although he did share Valinorian techniques!

[lordgrimwing]

hi! just wanted to say I love your Caranthir and I have a couple of questions relating to him:

About Halenthir in the old gods au 👀 I saw your posts mentioning that Caranthir will meet Haleth at Maryann's funeral (love that, even though it's sad that Maryann dies :/) and he's the first to marry & move away from the homestead. Do you have anything for their story written yet? I'm wondering how they end up falling in love, how Caranthir's family will take this (I highly suspect there will be teasing), what it'll be like when Haleth meets his family and vice versa, and when in the timeline they get married and move away. I'd love to hear about any of those things and/or more! (Sub-question: Is there anything you can share about Haleth, her family, her history, where she/her family fits into the world, etc.? I know Haleth isn't in the story yet.)

Is there any kind of backstory or reason for Caranthir's childhood tendency to have accidents? XD I saw another fic a while ago that bestowed the same torment upon him ("Another Man's Cage" by dawnfelagund), so I wasn't sure if it was a headcanon or just an unspoken agreement that Caranthir would be the Fëanorion who peed his pants the most often as a kid, lol. (Amrod being kind and thoughtful towards him in "Just A Small Thing" was so sweet btw!)

Hi, hello! Yes, please ask all the questions about these characters :) :) 

On Halethir - I don’t have anything written for them yet, alas. They likely won’t get married until after the main events of the series (which is supposedly building up to a specific event, if I ever get there) and at this point all Nightie and I have done at this point is think about it a little. Of course, it wouldn’t be the Fëanorians if there wasn’t some level of laughing and teasing about these kinds of things, however I think Caranthir likely gets away with very little of that this time—for once in his life. That’s partly because Celegorm was the main brother who would not-so-good-naturedly tease him, and he’s kinda out of the picture by that point in the storyline. For the most part, his family takes it pretty well. Sure, Fëanor will probably put up a half hearted fight when he announces he’s leaving the home, but the overall vibe of the story will be calmer and about squaring people away to their happy endings if they get them. Nerdanel will be very happy for Caranthir.

As for Haleth’s family, well, she’s grown and has children of her own when they meet (her last husband probably died, though divorce is possible just less likely because of the timeframe), so her parents really aren’t involved too much. They likely live in/near a big town or city and are well-educated, so they probably don’t have a great appreciation for why Haleth would marry Caranthir but what are they going to do about it? Haven’t thought too much about how her children adjust. Hmmm.

As for meeting his family, Haleth is very strong and confident so that helps, but meeting 10 new people at once would still be a lot. Definitely an event that could do with some more thinking about. Of course, she isn’t going to embrace everything about his family (because there are some legitimately irrational and not great things they think are normal), which may impact Carathir’s decision to leave. They don’t go too far away, don’t worry.

Re: Caranthir’s nervous bladder - uh, I don’t think there was any deep reasoning for this, other than Nightie and I wanted to do it. I think it might have been connected to something else way back when, but I’ve completely forgotten what that might be (it is entirely possible that we got the idea from someone else because we take a lot of inspiration from different sources). Oh! No, I think I just remembered it! 

So, Celegorm was brutal to Caranthir when they were growing up. Nightie and I jokingly came up with a time when Celegorm blamed Caranthir for wetting the bed (Curufin actually did that), and one thing let to another and eventually we realized that Caranthir did have a very weak bladder when he was little and had a number of accidents, which is why the parents believe Celegorm at least a few times about Caranthir wetting the bed when he’s a bit older. Or something along those lines.

Anyway, Caranthir didn’t really have many bladder issues after adolescence, but he is pretty sensitive to Celegorm’s teasing about it. 

(Fëanor does Talk™ to Celegorm about knocking that off eventually, because it’s really mean, actually)

Thank you so much for the questions! I love talking about my aus!

as always, feel free to chime in @nighttimepatrons

[echo-bleu]

Alright but.

Faramir and Éowyn also end up in Beleriand after falling on the Pelennor

It's a few months/couple years after Boromir, who has successfully adopted the Fëanorians (though Maedhros would swear that he's the one who did the adopting)

Faramir ends up in Hithlum and is adopted by Fingon in five seconds flat

(They recognize each other's "I was not made for this (being King of the Noldor/Captain of Gondor) but I'm going to do it anyway and be good at it if it kills me, and stay hopeful throughout)

(Faramir is also very just a little awestruck to meet his childhood hero)

Éowyn ends up in messy Beren-just-showed-up Nargothrond

She's not going to let this random blond elf and this ridiculous lovestruck man (who kinda looks like Aragorn?) go alone against fucking Sauron, thank you very much

It's refreshing that no one cites her gender as a reason to stay behind but now she's the wrong race? She will have none of that, master elf.

The fact that she just showed up out of nowhere behaving like a horselord princess and got straight into Curufin's face about his behaviour doesn't strike her as a reason why anyone should be suspicious

(This is a very strange afterlife but there's definitely a version of a Rohir myth where dead warriors get to kick people's ass forever in a huge green field, so she's just wondering what she's doing in a forest)

She's done being told what to do. She's also an expert of poisonous advisors and toxic environments. She won't take any of Curufin and Celegorm's bullshit

Letters are sent, everyone is stayed long enough for 1) Lúthien to start thinking for herself and escape her father, 2) Maedhros and Boromir to show up and 3) Éowyn and Finduilas to become besties

Éowyn and Boromir recognize each other and are very confused

Neither Maedhros nor Boromir are impressed with Celegorm and Curufin

Finrod is somewhat bewildered about it all but he loves these new Men suddenly taking charge (something something competency kink)

With conflicting oaths involved, none of the ruling elves can be objective and tensions are high, so Maedhros decides to get Fingon involved (because Fingon makes everything better, in his entirely objective opinion)

Fingon and Faramir arrive for an all-around reunion

It takes Faramir a few days to stop being awestruck at Maedhros and Finrod enough to notice Éowyn. It takes Éowyn even longer to find anything remarkable about Fingon's discreet human shadow.

Maedhros and Fingon decide to go all in and kill all their birds with as few stones as possible. They'll launch the alliance they've been tentatively talking about and they'll assault Angband together, while a team composed of Beren, Lúthien, Celegorm and Curufin will take advantage of Morgoth's disctraction to sneak into Angband and steal the Silmarils (hopefully all of them). Finrod and Nargothrond's army will attack Sauron on Tol-i-Gorgauth to free the way, which will fulfil Finrod's oath, and Beren will take one Silmaril in hand and hope that the Fëanorians don't feel obliged to kill him before he can pass it on to them.

It's not a great heist plan but it's the best they have

Let's be honest, half of it relies on Lúthien's singing abilities (whose limit she doesn't know) and Celegorm and Huan's fighting skills against various monsters, and the other half on all of their Oaths not being too specific about the details.

Tiny pause here because of Tumblr's characters-per-block count limit

The time-travellers (Faramir has explained to Éowyn that no, she isn't in some weird afterlife) are given the choice of where to go

Boromir is a good commander and strategist and goes with Maedhros to plan the assault

Faramir I-held-Ithilien-under-the-noseeye-of-the-enemy-for-decades turns out to be scarily good at planning under-the-radar operations

By which I mean: he competently but compassionately gets a mostly coherent map of Angband out of Maedhros and actually draws up a proper plan for the heist

Éowyn kisses him right there and then

Boromir is very misty-eyed suddenly

So is Fingon

By the way somewhere along the way Maedhros (still under the impression that he adopted Boromir), Fingon and Finrod have each begun referring to "their" time-traveller as "my (wo)Man" while Boromir, Faramir and Éowyn refer to them as "my elf", but only between them so they don't know it about each other

Also Faramir met Finduilas and cried

Faramir is also the only one who really knows how each of the elves died in their timeline (beyond "they all died in the First Age"). Boromir has a vague memory of the Lay of Leithian and something about the Sons of Fëanor but he was never really interested in history lessons

Faramir is keeping all that to himself very carefully and straight up denying any knowledge, because he knows the weight of foresight

But Finrod also knows the weight of foresight

And he knows that his own foresight just took a dramatic turn left

"I was going to die on this quest, wasn't I?" he asks Faramir one day, while they're planning

"Yes."

"What about the others?"

Faramir just shakes his head. He's not sure yet what they've managed to avert. He will not talk about the Nirnaeth. He will not talk about the Kinslayings.

He hopes. And he wonders what Finrod's survival, what this whole plan, will change to his timeline.

That is, if they still exist and can eventually go back, because it's not going to matter much if they die in battle (again) or even live out their short mortal lives in the First Age

The alliance takes several years to organize, of course

Faramir and Éowyn, by being fellow newly-in-loves, manage to calm Beren and Lúthien's impatience

Thingol isn't happy, but since his daughter won't be dissuaded from being part of this, he'll lend some of his forces to the alliance

Everyone tries to contact Turgon who doesn't answer, of course

Finally everything is ready

Éowyn and Faramir join the heist team (and get engaged because YOLO)(though is this technically their second life?)

What they don't have in Ancient Elf Power they make up in sheer determination

And depression willingness to die for a cause

Things don't quite go as planned

Or really they do but as we know Morgoth isn't really killable by incarnates

The assault works for a time. Morgoth is distracted. Between them, the Heist Team manage to 1) get the crown and 2) incapacitate Morgoth a little further (as he was already wounded by Fingolfin)

The escape is messy. Beren is killed by Carcharoth, who is killed by Huan. Faramir takes a poisonous orc arrow to the shoulder. Lúthien calls to them the eagles of Manwë, who take Faramir and Éowyn on their backs to safety. She stays behind and tells Celegorm, Curufin and Huan to run and she slays many of Morgoth’s servants before the doors of Angband before she is overcome.

Meanwhile the battle is raging on further away. The Eagles drop Faramir and Éowyn in Fingon’s tent and Celegorm and Curufin just barely make it to Maedhros’s camp

In Mandos, Lúthien, who has spent some years getting to know the Finwëans + our time travellers, is thinking of more than her love story. She screams sings at Namo until he calls for Manwë. Manwë, who has seen things through the Eagles’ eyes, understands that it’s time for the Valar to intervene

He sends Tulkas, Ulmo, Ëonwë and a bunch of other Maiar across the seas. They’re Maiar so they don’t need ships

The alliance, which was better organized and didn’t suffer from the Gelmir situation, just barely holds together long enough for the Ainur to arrive, thanks to Turgon showing up

Bim bam boom big battle

Fingon is wounded very badly but Maedhros makes it to his side and protects him until he can be evacuated

Éowyn and Boromir fall fighting back to back, when a balrog shatters Éowyn’s shield and Boromir is riddled with orc arrows

Lúthien and Beren are released from Mandos and come back

Maedhros, Fingon and Finrod mourn their humans very much

But their bodies just vanished when they ‘died’ so they have hope

Sauron escapes

Beleriand is a bit worse for the wear because Tulkas and Ulmo together aren’t subtle, but it’s also not completely sunk

Curufin has had the Silmarils in his pocket the whole time

They send a message to Thingol to show up at the border of the Girdle, and Curufin very reluctantly lends a Silmaril for Beren to hold in his hand for one second to show that he’s fulfilled his oath

Beren and Lúthien get married. The Fëanorians are not invited because it’s in Doriath, but they don’t care

Maedhros and Fingon also get married (“we have sons that are brothers, might as well make it official”)

Peace time! Everyone spreads out over what remains of Beleriand and into Eriador, Lindon and Eregion are founded

Celebrimbor who never renounced his father is very much protected as soon as his family figured out who that Annatar is. Sauron has already made the One Ring, but he finds Ost-en-Edhil a whole lot more defended than he expected

Éowyn and Faramir wake up to Aragorn healing them, while Boromir washes up somewhere near Belfalas

He is found by Lóthiriel and her staff, who treat his wounds and bring him along to Aragorn's coronation

There is a whole group of First Age elves standing by Elrond and Galadriel at Aragorn and Arwen's wedding

(Don’t ask me about how Elrond grew up. I’m not rewriting the entire thing. I guess Maedhros stayed friends with Lúthien and her descendants ended up very close to the Fëanorians. Or something.)

Éowyn and Faramir get married the next year and can boast that they’ve technically been betrothed for longer than Aragorn and Arwen

(and quite literally everyone else in Arda)

For two orphans, there are a lot of parents and siblings and cousins at their wedding. They’re all immortal with various degrees of Treelight in their eyes.

Crack fic idea inspired by this post:

At his death, Boromir gets transported to First Age Beleriand, and upon finding out Sauron -what do you mean, "Mairon"? why does everyone have so many names?!- is around, he promptly joins the Feanorians in attacking Morgoth. His reasons?

No one, especially not some god who doesn't even have the courage to show his face is going to stop him from killing Sauron himself and saving his friends. He'll march in there alone if he has to.

The Feanorians have an eight-pointed star just like Gondor, so they are definitely trustworthy (also to him it seems like they're the only ones doing anything)

Someone responsible needs to take care of this disaster of a family, and he will adopt them if that's what it takes (what do you mean, of course it is absolutely not because he's missing his brother)

[youareunbearable]

Headcannon that Celebrimbor and Thranduil were childhood Frenemies because I don't like how the Mirkwood Elves were left out of everything that happened so pls enjoy this fliclet

---

Once the Feanorians touched down in Hithlum, Thingol sent his younger brother's brother in law Oropher to be his ambassador. Oropher, of course, brings his son Thranduil along because this is a great chance for diplomatic training

Maedhros, this is during the time Morgoth is sending his own persistent ambassadors, thinks it would also be a great time to start Celebrimbor on diplomatic training, because before this he was just in the forge with Curufin and Feanor. And it doesn't look like the rest of the Sons of Feanor are going to have kids so he'll be inheriting the crown one day.

So Celebrimbor and Thranduil are pushed together on children "play dates"

They hate it, they always fight with each other and have competitions and as soon as they see each other they will throw down and scream new insults they learned since the last time they met. Sometimes they spent entire visits only speaking to each other in their own native tounges and mock the other for not properly understanding what they are saying. This particular game didn't last long, but Tyelpe did become the first of the Noldor to speak Sindarin fluently with no accent and Thranduil enjoys the annoyed tick in Galadriel's typical serene expression when she hears him speak flawless Quenya with a Feanorian lisp

Oropher is concerned, being the youngest of 4 he never had an antagonistic relationship with any of them. But Maglor (the new depressed Noldor High King) just gives a small smile and shrugs. He grew up with 6 brothers and even more half cousins. Little Tyelpe and Thrandy are just playing like boys and future best friends do

And they keep up this frenenimes relationship even after Curufin moves them to Himland. When it gets sacked during Dagor Bragollach and Curufin, Celegorm, and Celebrimbor all flee south to their cousins home, Thranduil sends them some relief supplies. When Celebrimbor disown his father, Thranduil comes to visit and generally be annoying until Celebrimbor can stop feeling like shit

When Thranduil, his parents, and their people leave eastward after Thingol's death but before the second Kinslaying (for Oropher is older then the Sun and Moon, he is not about to be led by a boy not even in his 30th year, Maiar blood or not, and many Sindar agree with him) Celebrimbor travels with them and secures them safe passage through the Blue Mountains.

They both grieve when they hear of the Second Kinslaying, then the Third, and then when the East sinks under the waves. Not many in Lindon support Celebrimbor wearing the eight pointed star again, but Thranduil just rolls his eyes and tells him red looks dreadful with his complexion

During the Second Age when Thranduil gets married, Celebrimbor is invited to the wedding and vis versa when Celebrimbor marries Narvi

(Both marriages involve lots of teasing over their partners of choice. Thranduil laughs over the fact that of course a Noldor would marry a Dwarf, they are basically the same, what with their love of rocks and metal work. Celebrimbor rolls his eyes and snorts that he's surprised Thranduil didn't end up marrying an Ent, what with his love of trees, but he supposes that marrying a lady named "tree maid" is close enough. What next? Will he name his children "sapling" or "twig" or "leaf"? Thranduil shoves him off his chair, spilling wine all over the table and floor and growls that at least his children will have original names, and not share a name with two of his forefathers like Men)

They visit each other a lot during the second age, and Thranduil tries to help him as best he can during the fallout of Narvi's death, and when Celebrimbor is designing his rings of Power with that suspicious Maiar of his (who Celebrimbor SWEARS is helping him craft to work through the grief he has no other intentions) he had Thranduil (or Oropher) in mind when he created Vilya

When Thranduil heard about what happened to his friend and his land during the War of Elves and Sauron he grieved deeply. The only thing he had to remember his friend by was some forgotten blueprints of unfinished jewelry, an Age worth of letters (mostly written in Quenya, he of course had replied in proper Sindarin), a clumsy eight pointed star he laughingly embroidered onto the breast of Thranduil's favourite robe, a set of Sindarin long knives overly embellished with Noldorian swirls, and a box of white gems Celebrimbor hand crafted and left with a promise to come back once he finished his rings and use them to make a matching crown set for Thranduil and his wife to wear whenever he inherited the crown

("There may be even enough left over for a third crown. For your 'little leaf' to grow into whenever you two get around making one." Thranduil's wife laughed with Celebrimbor and sent her husband a leer that set his ears ablaze and Tyelpe's laughter began anew)

And enough regrets to haunt him for Ages. It seemed like bad things always came in three. Celebrimbor, his father, his new homeland. Thranduil led his people north, away from everything he had loved, and kept what remained close to his chest. After his wife was slain shortly after the birth of his son, he refused to lose anyone else. Greenwood the Great began to mirror his grief and became Mirkwood

It was almost another another Age before he decided to commission the Dwarves of Erebor to turn those precious white gems into the crowns Celebrimbor intended. Not for him and his now dead wife, but maybe for Legolas and his future partner. (His little leaf, he could hear Celebrimbor's laughter every time Legolas calls himself "Legolas Greenleaf" with that cheeky grin of his) And if Celebrimbor couldn't make them himself, he would be happy to let his Dwarven friends do the job for him

Thranduil almost burned down the mountain himself when they withheld those gems and one of the last pieces of his dear friend from him

Under the bone deep fear of watching a dragon from his nightmares sack the kingdom, he was a little pleased. Jewel thieves get their due

(He knows that Celebrimbor never swore his grandfather's Oath, but sometimes late at night he wonders if he still carried the curse of it. If that Oath and the Curse of Feanor are the reason his dearest friend died that awful way he did)

It was the beginning of a forth age when those sparking white gems were finally turned into the crowns they were destined to be. And Thranduil could almost hear Celebrimbor's delighted laughter as he watched his only son and heir, his little leaf, marry a dwarf.

When it came time to sail, Thranduil stayed with his people, he has coveted them for so long he now refused to leave unless he was forced too. Legolas, who had somehow made a small boat that could barely withhold the waves of the Western Sea, was greeted with a welcoming and joyful embrace by the Elf he only heard stories about

"Hail Celebrimbor, Lord of Eregion, Crafter of the Rings Of Power, Husband of Narvi son of Vilarvi of Durin's Folk, and most importantly, the dearest friend of my father!" Legolas greeted in flawless Quenya with a very noticeable Feanorian lisp. The gathered crowd twitched a little and Elrond (who was hoping of news of his sons) gave a sigh. "I have much to say, and so does my husband Gimli, but first I must give you my father's message!"

Legolas cleared his throat, and then with mock superior expression, one that made him look just like Thranduil, he said: "Celebrimbor you Spider Spawn of the Shadow, if you worked on my crown instead of those thrice damned Rings like you said, my son would never have married a Dwarf. Once I am reborn you better start running because I am going to burry you in my forest and chop down the tree you become with my anger alone!"

There was a startled gasp of silence on the shores of Valinor, before Celebrimbor burst into peels of joyful laughter. Legolas smiled at his honorary uncle and laughed with him

"As you can see, father missed you very much"

[ceescedasticity]

Unforsaken, 3e

I'm not totally happy with this, but here it is anyway.

(All sections on tumblr)

(AO3, lagging behind but more polished)

It's still not like anyone is planning to let this stop them either, so Elrohir asks if there's any procedure of arming for umaiar.

"Fire-resistant armor and the best weapons you have," says Turgon.

"That's balrogs specifically," Celeborn says. "More generally, you need to be aware of the mental and spiritual influence — like the Black Breath of the Ringwraiths, but possibly much worse — and be prepared to resist it."

"Just about anything dies if you cut its head off," Celegorm offers.

Maglor gives Celegorm a 'I know you are not actually this book-dumb, will you stop embarrassing me' look, which Celegorm ignores. "There are seventeen known repeating types of umaiar, and any individual might be unique. What Lord Celeborn said is the only consistent rule."

"Mithrandir left Glamdring here, though," Elladan says, half-joking. "He killed a balrog with Glamdring, so it could be considered a weapon for use on umaiar?"

"Hmmmm."

"I forgot to mention that," Glorfindel says to Turgon. "Glamdring is here — we don't know how it got to Eriador, but after it surfaced Mithrandir wielded it until he sailed — do you want it back?"

"…No thank you," says Turgon. "I don't think it would like being wielded by an orc."

Is there anything in the armory that would? They'll have to check.

Anyway, what about Maglor's anti-maia capacity? Clearly he's been keeping in practice driving orcs into the Sea…

Maglor wants to avoid admitting to weakness in front of Turgon, Celeborn, and the children more than he wants to yell at Celegorm for having unreasonable expectations. He says he can play a harp if necessary, but it's been a while since he did anything big.

Turgon says he thought they were already counting on Maglor to break the Crucible open. Asking him to fight the Warden at the same time seems a bit much.

Sharlinnu asks how the Dark Lord was defeated, anyway.

…They don't know?

Well, they know it happened fast and unexpectedly and Mount Doom erupted—

The One Ring was destroyed in Mount Doom, that's how.

…Wait, do they know what the One Ring is?

Yes, they know what the One Ring is.

…Actually Whiterot and Sharlinnu are a little vague on that.

Okay, if anyone wants details, there's a book. Suffice to say: No one actually fought Sauron.

All right, so there's no one — other than Glorfindel and Maglor, hopefully — particularly equipped to fight the hypothetical warden. Are there other people they could call on for more strength in general?

Well, there's Thranduil. He's pretty busy right now, though.

And while he's been easy-going about old Sindarin grudges in general asking him to work directly with Maglor Fëanorion might be a bit much to ask for.

Not to mention the orcs. Thranduil still struggles with dwarves.

Whiterot asks if knowing he has a… personal stake… would make it easier for him to handle it.

Nimloth? Maybe…

No, Oropher.

…

(Turgon, Celegorm, and Sharlinnu actually do all recognize the name — highest-priority Greenwood target in the Second Age. —Also Reckless and Sly really wanted to kill him. None of them had any idea he's an orc, though.)

(Celeborn is horrified, but not as shocked as he would be if Celebrían hadn't identified Ningloreth of Lórinand, who died in the same battle as Oropher and had less of a reputation for obstinacy.)

(Maglor never heard the King of Greenwood's name while he was king of the Greenwood, but recognizes the name from old intelligence on Iathrin nobility. He does not mention this.)

(Khitwê remembers the name from various history lessons in Imladris and has to remind Risyind.)

Personal stakes notwithstanding, Thranduil is still very busy and not guaranteed to keep his temper even when he's trying very hard. Celeborn would rather not involve him in this and would really rather not tell him about Oropher.

Círdan? Probably not.

…Although they should probably keep him in the loop.

Maglor sighs dramatically and asks if anyone knows where Daeron is.

Sailed under a false name, Celeborn says. So much for that idea.

What about dwarves? Or Men?

Dwarves might be able to help if not with a warden specifically, but… this isn't really their problem, is it? It's an elven problem. (It could be the dwarves' problem if it turns out there's a warden and it can trigger orcs multiplying, but that's never happened that they know of.)

It's an old, terrible, horrific, even shameful elven problem. Elves should take care of it.

(Discord link: https://discord.gg/DtrS2Xmr )

[elspethdixon]

If I was god of the universe, instead of some lame third age miniseries we’d just straight up be getting an Amazon or Netflix series based on the Silmarillion.

My personal favorite parts are the Feanorian-centric bits, of course (show me a trashfire woobie antagonist I won’t invariably adore) but since TVs audiences are composed of 98% basic hets, If I were in charge of producing a Silm tv show I’d do the story of Beren and Luthien, AKA “Luthien-Sue and her Gary Stu boyfriend go on a quest to bring her racist father the broomstick of the Wicked Witch of the West a Silmaril from Morgoth’s crown.”

No need for writers to make up a female character in order to shoehorn in a bullshit het love triangle like they did in Peter Jackson’s Hobbit movies: Luthien is the One Mary Sue To Rule Them All, and she and her amazing hair (the Luthien actress’s wig will consume every $ of the costuming and make-up budget that doesn’t go toward Morgoth and his crown) will be the Disney-princess-style star of the narrative.

She and her boyfriend-accessory, Beren, faithful animal companion, Huon, and sexy elven badboy and potential-love-triangle fodder, Celegorm, go on an epic quest together to pick a fight with Sauron and Morgoth in the name of true love/fulfilling a sacred vow to one’s dead father.

Celegorm would be sexy and broody and wear a lot of leather and be half the potential viewership’s preferred boyfriend for Luthien right up until his sudden-but-inevitable betrayal.

Beren would be noble and square-jawed and handsome and very much the sidekick to Luthien’s heroine role.

Huon is a very good boy and the audience’s favorite.

The overall narrative would be structured so as to imply that the true villain of the story is King Thingol as much or more than it is Morgoth or Sauron, because the whole involvement of Luthien, Beren, and Finrod, the subsequent destruction of Finrod’s kingdom, and the (heavily-forshadowed throughout the show) future conflict the possession of a Silmaril will inevitably bring to Doriath all only come to pass because of his petty refusal to let his daughter marry a mortal/spiteful assigning of what’s supposed to be a suicide mission to said mortal to try and prevent said marriage.

[veliseraptor]

Top 5 favorite characters?

like. ever??? anon idk how I'd even answer that, there are a lot of characters I have loved at various times over the years and even those I no longer feel as close to still hold a special place in my heart even now. so like. how do I begin to choose just five? I have a hard time choosing five in a single fandom sometimes. so because I needed some kind of limitations I decided to go with "top five favorite characters from non-webnovel books" and keep it to that.

1. Felix Harrowgate. One of the original blorbos. Not the but he was certainly a character I imprinted on very strongly at the time and I’m still deeply attached to him in all his...dysfunctional mess of a human being, often not very nice, doesn’t like himself very much half the time, traumatized disaster, self. He’s just so important to me, you guys.

2. Shuos Jedao. What a character. Seriously, this is one of those “I feel seen by your narrative choices” characters for me - I mean, Machineries of Empire generally but in particular Shuos Jedao for several reasons mostly involving the atrocities and people who are willing to go to absolutely nuts ends for a cause even if it means self-destruction. Maybe especially if it does. Love that.

3. Francis Crawford of Lymond. Speaking of “dysfunctional mess of a human being, often not very nice, doesn’t like himself half the time, traumatized disaster” with a side of hypercompetence! I feel like actually. Most of this list you could say at least part of that list but Francis “I never met a problem I couldn’t solve by myself while also making things worse for myself” Crawford of Lymond is truly. What a protagonist. Drama himself entered, mincing like a cat. Talk like a normal person for once (he will not). Well done, Dorothy Dunnett. You got me.

4. Rand al'Thor. Speaking of “original blorbos” - it’s funny to me that I didn’t so much adopt Rand as mine in an obvious and immediate way as that I adopted Rand as mine when I wasn’t looking, if that makes sense. I wrote a brief essay about my Rand al’Thor feelings in another post; suffice it to say that out of the list of the above we’ve got at least 2/4 with a pile of hopeless despair about the future and yet enduring anyway.

5. Maeglin. I waffled between putting down Celegorm or Maeglin for this one and you could kind of consider this spot as belonging to both of them, but I feel like Maeglin has been owning more of my heart in recent years. My trash son. Love him so much. Wish things hadn’t gone so awfully for him. But also as usual the fact that things went awfully is part of why I love him so much. It’s a complicated emotion.

[nikosheba]

Hi Tolkien fandom can we please stop bringing up Túrin/Nienor whenever The Incest Discourse comes up? I see this often, with people saying things like, “If you’re uncomfortable with cousin marriage, you probably shouldn’t be in a fandom where Húrin’s kids marry each other lmao.” 

Why do I hate this argument? Thank you for asking, here are some reasons why We Should Not Do That.

It’s a false comparison.

Túrin and Nienor don’t know that they’re related when they get married, so comparing that to something like Fingon/Maedhros as a ship, where we know full well that they know who they’re related to, isn’t the same at all. The idea that someone has to think Túrin and Nienor as a ship is morally equivalent to a pair of half-first-cousins is ridiculous. The characters involved don’t even think this is good (notably, upon finding out they’re brother and sister, they both immediately commit suicide. Rather notably!!!).

It’s a different kind of relationship.

The Eldar don’t consider first cousins to be incest. We know this, because it’s in LaCE, and because there are other instances of cousins marrying in the Legendarium. Not every culture does! However, every culture considers siblings to be incest. Please stop conflating them. They are not modern, Western humans, they are mythological immortal royalty and applying the same standards to them isn’t helpful. (Don’t @ me about Maeglin, that’s Turgon’s rule not mine, in TFoG he forbids the marriage because he thinks Maeglin just wants to marry Idril to get clout and to use her.)

There’s some staggeringly weird consent stuff going on.

Túrin and Nienor were literally set up to fail by Morgoth’s curse and Glaurung’s mind magic, and were married for two months before they found out what had been done to them. Fingon and Maedhros (Or any other pair of cousins in the Legendarium, canon or popular ship--Elrond and Celebrian, Galadriel and Celeborn, Aragorn and Arwen, Celegorm and Aredhel) is an inherently different kind of relationship, just based on the fact that the characters aren’t being tricked or blinded to what’s going on.

It muddles whatever message you’re trying to make.

Shipping cousins in Tolkien is fine because shipping cousins in Tolkien is not considered inherently problematic by the text. “Elsewhere, a brother and sister were deceived into loving each other” is not helpful to anyone’s argument here??? If your message is, “Incest in fiction is fine,” Túrin/Nienor hardly helps you there, because it’s not an intentionally incestuous relationship. If your message is, “Shipping cousins isn’t considered incest in Tolkien,” Túrin/Nienor doesn’t help, because they’re far closer than that, and are in fact an incestuous relationship (notably!!! and are considered so!!! by the characters!!! as I pointed out!!!) 

Also I’m very defensive of Nienor as a character and hate seeing her reduced to the worst thing that happened in her too-brief life thank you for coming to my TED Talk.

[warrioreowynofrohan]

Character Thoughts - Maglor

This isn’t particularly novel since I’ve seen most of these ideas before in meta and fics, but I still wanted to pull them together.

During the years in Valinor, and especially before the tension within the Finwëan family turned into outright military factionalism, Maglor would have been one of the most famous and admired people in all Valinor. Music is not a “lesser” art in Elven culture, it’s the single greatest of all the arts; it’s the way that the world is created. And within Valinor, Maglor is unrivalled in this art; the other character who’s on a similar level, Daeron, is far away in Beleriand. All the Finwëans have fans within the Silm fandom, but Maglor is by far the likeliest of them to have had large numbers of in-universe fans.

Fëanor would not have been dissatisfied with Maglor for excelling at music rather than at craft work; he would have been extremely proud of him, to the point of boastfulness. This is particularly the case because music and specifically song is also Indis’ particular skill, so this is something he can throw in the face of his half-family: we’re better than you even at the things that you’re especially good at!

Another interesting thing about Maglor’s music is that, for all fandom’s love of portraying him with musicl instruments, I’m not aware of any line in The Silmarillion that describes him as playing one. Daeron is a piper, Fingon and Finrod both play the harp, but Maglor’s musicianship is described solely in terms of his voice. So it’s possible that he didn’t play any instruments, or did so only rarely. [EDIT: Correction - @cycas has pointed out that Maglor is in fact referred to as a harper in the poetic Leithian.]

The material we have on Maglor from The Silmarillion suggests someone with a high degree of physical courage combined with a distinct lack of moral courage. He stations himself on the one part of the front lines with no geographical defenses, and he holds his forces together and brings them to Himring - enabling the Fëanorians to keep strength of arms on the front lines - during the Battle of Sudden Flame, despite his portion of the lines being directly attacked by Glaurung. (Whereas Celegorm, Curufin and Caranthir, who are all in somewhat less exposed and difficult positions, nonetheless all retreat far to the south.) During the Nirnaeth Arnoediad, he is the one who slays Uldor after the betrayal by Uldor’s forces. So Maglor is clearly formidable both as a warrior and a commander. (This is quite separate from whether Maglor himself thinks he’s a coward. I suspect he’s thought so since the day Fingon returned from Thangorodrim with Maedhros, accomplishing something Maglor had spent all the years since the Return telling himself was impossible and reckless.)

In the years between Fingolfin’s arrival in Beleriand and the Nirnaeth, Maglor is on better terms with the non-Fëanorian Noldor than his you ger brothers are. He doesn’t have any moments of active hostility or unpleasantness towards the other Noldor the way Caranthir, Celegorm and Curufin do. He’s the only brother Maedhros brings to Mereth Aderthad (given the military undesirability of having both your frontline commanders absent at the same time, this strongly indicates that he’s the only one Maedhros can trust to behave himself), and he and Maedhros are the ones Finrod comes to visit prior to his first encounter with the Edain.

The lack of moral courage is something that can be derived from the points in the Silm where Maglor isn’t mentioned. He makes no objection to the burning of the ships. There is no point at which he objects to or is mentioned as opposing any of the Fëanorians’ actions up to and including the Second Kinslaying. Maedhros is horrified by the abandonment of the twins, searches for them, and attempts to forswear the Oath in the subsequent years. We’re given no mention of Maglor’s reaction. Nonetheless, we do know, from the Noldolantë, that he regrets the Kinslaying at Alqualondë. Combined with his reaction to Sirion and his desire to surrender to the Valar at the end, it shows that he does recognize what he’s doing as wrong. He just doesn’t do anything about it until after the Kinslaying at Sirion, when he and Maedhros are the only two left.

This gives me a picture of Maglor who is deeply averse to conflict within his family and who is unwilling to stand up against either his father or his brothers regardless of his own reservations about their actions. There’s a line in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone about it taking courage to stand up to one’s enemies, but also courage in another way to stand up to one’s friends. Maglor has the former and not the latter.

But after Sirion, in contrast to all the previous events, it’s Maglor rather than Maedhros who is showing the most resistance to further crimes. Maglor is the one who fosters Elrond and Elros; Maglor is the one who’s openly happy about Elwing’s Silmaril, as the Star of Eärendil, being beyond their reach and able to be seen by all; Maglor is the one wants to surrender after the War of Wrath. I think there are two elements to this. First, Maedhros is, within the family, the one Maglor is closest to (they’re frequently mentioned together), and so Maglor is more willing to disagree with him when there’s only the two of them left. Secondly, I think that the Kinslaying at Sirion was most probably led by Maedhros, and this disturbed Maglor deeply. Maedhros is supposed to be the one holding them back, and now he’s doing the opposite, and Maglor is, in addition to coping with his own guilt, desperately trying to get his brother back to being a person he recognizes and remembers. Or a person at all. But Maedhros is pretty much gone by this point.

Another example of Maglor being avoidant is his initial suggestion after the War of Wrath, that they go back to Valinor without rejecting the Oath and just hope that the Valar will give them the Silmarils one day. This is an even worse plan than the one they end up going with - as long as they hold to the Oath, they will keep doing violence in its name - and Maedhros is right to shoot it down. It’s only after that exchange that Maglor reaches the point of saying, well, if we’re damned regardless, let’s at least be damned in a way that doesn’t hurt anyone else. And even after reaching that conclusion, he still gives in.

This makes his fate/decision of ultimately avoiding everyone, and choosing to punish himself in a way that doesn’t involve interacting with other people or grappling with what he’s done to them, particularly fitting. (And is what makes forcing him to grapple with that such an appealing topic for Fourth Age fic.)