#re-embodied maedhros

[silmarillaure]

Canonically Feanor’s eyes may have been gray but…

no one is going to stop be from believing that he has these one of a kind holographic crystal like eyes.

Forget Galadriel’s hair resembling Silmarils, she’s not that special.

Feanor poured himself into those jewels and the windows to his soul should reflect that.

[gwaedhannen]

Dispossessed

They don’t drift apart so much as never coagulate again.

Celegorm vanishes into the deep woods as hastily as he can manage, before the shock of his Return (“Him first? Of all of them!?”) fully ebbs; if the hounds of Oromë howl in strange voices, they have always been a little wild.

Caranthir builds a house on a quiet hillside, and counts naught but the stitches in his tapestries; he has not ceased to weave since with the first thread he closed his harsh mouth for ever.

Curufin lifts a hammer once—and sees only shattered fingers upon the anvil.

Maedhros lies at the feet of Mercy Undeserved until he remembers how to cry again, then dons a dark veil of his own, padding through the halls of Fui to lend what tears he may, unnumbered as they are.

Ambarussa are never seen again—not directly; a lick of flame, trembling leaves, a fox’s scream; at the edge of perception, copper entwines with fate, glimmering beyond reach.

Maglor returns with pride tempered but unquenched, with a tongue tired of laments, with many deeds of selfless kindness ready for praise, with expectations—and finds ashes, and a land long moved on.

Edit: now on AO3 with some slight changes: https://archiveofourown.org/works/53245837

[tanoraqui]

Thank you @tolkien-feels for reminding me about Six Sentence Sunday. I just finished my longfic (!!!!), so here’s a (7-sentence) snippet in celebration!

Scholars, rulers, and common forest elves who hadn’t set foot in a building in six thousand years all came, and spoke. Every member of the House of Finwë came, and elves who’d just Sailed from the Sunrise Lands and hadn’t heard of Fëanor until they arrived in Avallonë. Those slain at Alqualondë, Doriath, Sirion, and the last, quick fight in the Valinorian warcamp came, and the long-bereaved, and they all spoke.

Celechwes and Fingon debated between themselves. They fought. They wept in each other’s arms. 

Then they borrowed Turgon’s third-best light projector (the first two being occupied with architectural projects) and presented the Mahanaxar with the most practical, reassuring, and eminently well-reasoned argument anyone had ever seen.

[elvinye]

fully committed to the headcanon of itty bitty elros biting either maglor or maedhros, take your pick, during an escape attempt

elros lives to regret it because maglor/maedhros are so proud of him for it. look at that little peredhel go. look how brave he is. he's definitely going places. and they continue to be proud of him for it his entire life.

if maglor: elros knows maglor is alive because someone keeps sneaking into the numenorean palace to add "bit maglor" to the records as a heroic deed

if maedhros: it's his favourite scar. he's devastated when he's eventually re-embodied without it, especially when he hears elros is gone

[balrogballs]

Yet another day of illustrating moments from my fic instead of editing the last two chapters and posting them like a normal person might do 😇✨

(this is a fun little sequence where Maglor is pouring his heart out into a lament to a tragedy in the general Fëanorian past, as he tends to, whilst the adolescent Estel, aka Elros II — the bane of Maedhros' re-embodied life, smells a business opportunity and starts selling overpriced tickets to local children)

[whovianofmidgard]

Summary: Finrod and Maedhros talk about their experiences with Sauron. Not of the torture and pain he inflicted on them, but instead of how much of a preening, narcissistic peackock he was, always going on about how beautiful he was. Celebrimbor and Maeglin join in on the gossip.

Inspired by this post by @inthehouseoffinwe

Snippet:

The Gardens are a place of healing and tranquillity, a transition for the newly re-embodied between Death and Life. There is quiet, but not the lack of all sound that forces a fëa to fill it with thoughts of contemplation like in the Halls. It is the quiet of nature, where the breeze gently rustles the canopy of leaves, where the slow flowing stream trickles along the bend, where the bees buzz about the pastel petalled flowers. A quiet filled with life, a quiet that is peaceful.     

"So..." Finrod, a visitor to the Gardens, one re-embodied long ago and in no urgent need of healing, breaks the silence.   

"So..." Maedhros, newly released from the Halls and still reacquainting himself with his new hröa, rumbles back in answer.   

A short pause, where they allow a red robin to say his piece as he flitters by, and the two elves size each other up. Finrod is bright eyed, his golden hair shimmering in the scattered beams of sunlight filtering through the leaves. He is a riot of colours, of expensive fabrics and jewels, smiling comfortably and perfectly settled in his skin, a paragon of joviality, just as Maedhros remembers him from his youth. There is the silver outline of a large lupine bite mark across his exposed throat.   

Maedhros' eyes are no longer dark and haunted, though neither light with innocence like in his youth. His hair is neither sparkling copper wire, nor a fountain of red blood, but the in-between that turns out to be the fluffy orange coat of a fox. He is getting used to his soul being clothed in flesh again, the breeze lightly caressing his unmarred skin, the smooth stump of his still missing right hand absently running through the soft grass he sits on.   

"Sauron, right?" Maedhros dips his toes into the murky waters of what some would consider a fraught topic of conversation.   

Finrod raises a curious brow but grins nonetheless. "Sauron, indeed."   

Maedhros sagely nods, and in a grave tone he declares, "What a pompous ass."   

"Eru Ever-loving! I know right?!" Finrod throws his head back as he cries out. "He was such an insufferable peacock!"   

"Always strutting about the dingy dungeon corridors like he was on the latest Vanyar fashion exhibit," Maedhros complains.   

"Yes!" Finrod exclaims. "Like every time he came down to our prison cell, he was wearing something different. Flowing robes, black silk dresses, giant fur coats, a full set of armour..."   

"Jewel encrusted layered skirts, gold embroidered mantle with a ten feet train behind him, lace tunic that left so little to the imagination he might as well have walked around completely bare chested..." Maedhros lists off.   

Finrod leans in, an almost manic glint in his eye, and regardless of their perfectly secluded spot in the Gardens, he drops his voice to a whisper like all the old Tirion gossips do at dinner parties.   

"Once he passed the cell I shared with Beren twice in less than an hour, and he was wearing two entirely different outfits both times."   

"Nooo," the eldest son of Fëanor gasps in mock disbelief, barely containing the delighted toothy grin that wants to break out across his face.   

"Yes, he did!" Finrod cries. Then continues, "I will never forget the loud echoing sound of his clip-clopping steps as he marched down the stairs in his..."   

"...stupid twelve-inch high heeled steel boots," they both say at the same time before dissolving into tittering laughter like a pair of old mortal ladies. 

Read the rest on Ao3

[queerofthedagger]

It Certainly Is a Day Snippet

I was tagged by @melestasflight @sallysavestheday @luthnethril and @aredhels thank you all so much! Have a snippet from a little russingon post re-embodiment thing that won't leave me alone! <3

They move into a small house south of Tirion, overlooking the Bay of Eldamar. They can see Alqualondë from here, Tol Eressëa on a clear day. Each morning, Maedhros stands on top of the jagged cliff, and thinks of falling. Of how it feels like flying, right until it does not. He thinks of his brother, still wandering shores he cannot see no matter how he strains his eyes. Each morning, Fingon appears beside him, steady to his left. Takes Maedhros’ hand and looks down at the white shores that, ages past, had been soaked red by both their hands. They both think, then, of how it had been the worst of Fingon’s deeds, save loving Maedhros only. How it does not even make the top five of Maedhros’ ranking anymore. It is not, Maedhros thinks, that Fingon is no longer angry. It is just that Fingon has never let anything as clean-cut as betrayal stop him from loving Maedhros in despite.

Tagging @hobbitwrangler @elevenelvenswords @amorbidcorvid @swanhild @thescrapwitch and anyone else who'd like to! <3

[russingon-week]

Russingon Week 2024: Prompts!

Russingon week will run June 10th to June 16th, 2024.

Day 1: June 10th: Light

Valinor

Princes and exiles

Joy in the past 

Family

First time 

Childhood friends to lovers

Day 2: June 11th: Darkness  

Doom of the Noldor

Angband and the Helcaraxë worldbuilding

Kinslayings

Grief and bereavement 

Despair and hope

Angry sex/hate sex

Day 3: June 12th: Song

Rescue from Thangorodrim

Religious faith and worship headcanons 

Unchaining 

Trust and pity

Betrayal and reconciliation 

Hurt/comfort

Reunion sex 

Day 4: June 13th: Peace 

Long Peace

Himring and Barad Eithel

Politics and diplomacy

Fealty and devotion

Noldorin traditions

Fluff

Tender sex 

Day 5: June 14th: War 

Archery, sparring and battle

Battlefield traditions

Fire

Union of Maedhros

Horror in the past

Unhappy ending

BDSM/kink

Day 6: June 15th: AU 

Canon divergence and fix-its

Time travel/time bending

Unusual headcanons

Different setting

Roleswap

Sexual experimentation

Day 7: June 16th: The Future  

Weddings and oaths

Re-embodiment

Laws and Customs of the Eldar

Transformation

Parenthood, children, lineages 

Ósanwë

[thelordofgifs]

Friday Fic Recs: Long WIP edition

I’ve been thinking a little bit about the (very arduous) process of writing longfic, and how much of a difference support and cheerleading can make on that particular journey; so, although it’s been a while since I’ve made a Friday rec list, I thought I’d put one together celebrating all the incredible in-progress longfics in the Tolkien fandom I’m keeping up with at the moment!

Atandil series by @eilinelsghost. Such a gorgeous graceful moving exploration of Finrod and his relationship with Men, and the slowest and most sensual of slow burns in his romance with Bëor. The amount this series has made me THINK – about love, and hope, and memory, and Taliska grammar – is off the charts, and to top it off it’s written in the loveliest most Tolkienesque prose.

we will make this place our home by @leucisticpuffin. Ohh this AU is just like a warm gentle hug after a long day. The “kidnap fam but make it a classic children’s novel” concept is so so inspired, all the characterisations are so nuanced and moving (Maglor my beloved!!) and the OCs will steal your heart.

And Love Grew by @polutrope. On the other end of the kidnap fam spectrum, this complex and careful examination of the time after the Third Kinslaying is SO brilliant. Incredible characterisations of all the key players, some truly fascinating OCs (Dornil!!) and of course beautiful graceful prose.

tongues of the sky series by @welcomingdisaster. The first fic in this series, seabird, was written for me and I can be SO obnoxious about this :) but also it’s a wonderful moving ultimately hopeful fix-it AU with note-perfect russingon and m&m dynamics. The sequel, sparrowhawk, is currently in progress and soooo good.

ashes, ashes, dust to dust — the devil’s after both of us by @that-angry-noldo. This is SUCH an original and fascinating take on an AU where Maedhros and Maglor take Finarfin captive to bargain for the Silmarils, featuring incredible character dynamics and a terrifyingly eldritch Eönwë.

and all his towers cast down by @actual-bill-potts. What if Finrod survived the events of the Leithian? Well, angst and trauma, to start off with. And also beautiful beautiful writing, impeccable characterisation and a Maglor-Lúthien teamup!! I adore this AU.

All That Glitters Gold Rush AU series by @allthatglittersisnotgoldrush. This one is LONG LONG LONG, but also SO worth it. Ever wanted to see the entire Silmarillion retold as a western, complete with a terribly tragic and complicated Maedhros, Morgoth the terrifying slave-owner, and a beautifully multicultural Doriath? The authors have you covered.

And the Stars Shine the Same series by @runawaymun. OC-centric fic is such a rare delight and this series set in early Third Age Rivendell is just wonderful, tender and complicated and with a truly incredible Elrond.

Retelling the Hobbit comic by @retellingthehobbit. Something a little different, but I binged all of this comic retelling of The Hobbit on a plane recently and GOD it’s so so beautiful. A truly gorgeous art style, and slowly converting me from a Bilbo/Thorin sceptic into an enjoyer!

In Heart by @tanoraqui. An AU where Fëanor takes the Doom of the Noldor as a what-not-to-do manual and ends up making better choices! Featuring incredible worldbuilding and fantastic characterisation.

Please add on the longfics you love in the reblogs! Let’s get some love going for these difficult beasts!

(Couple of incest recs under the cut.)

naught green upon the oak series by @welcomingdisaster. A CoH-inspired Maedhros/Maglor AU in which Maglor winds up with amnesia after his encounter with Glaurung. I’m SO insane about this series that I can’t be coherent but it is fantastic and chilling and devastating with the most beautiful prose aahhh.

Strange Currencies by @jouissants. Maedhros is re-embodied at last only to learn that he is married to Maglor: a touching and painful post-canon fic interleaved with incredible flashbacks to the First Age.

[twailia2455]

When and if the feanorians or just any of the 1st age elves in general get re-embodied they probably just have a very strict unspoken what happens in exile stays in exile policy.

Bonus points when like Elrond or other elves travel west and it just gets re invented into a what happens in middle earth stays in middle earth and he like just has to pretend to meet Maedhros for the first time at a family get together.

[crownedwithstars]

Valinorean and Eressëan attics, cellars, backrooms, solars and other private spaces are often filled with very ancient relics from distant times - Míriel's embroideries from happier days, jewels and trinkets brought from Middle-earth, Aegnor's cloven helmet that is the only thing left of him in the world of the living, prized and famous weapons, Lúthien's magical cloak, bits and pieces of armour from Middle-earth, Finwë's favourite brooch made for him by Fëanor - that have somehow ended up in the closets of relatives (near or distant).

Elves don't really know what to do with these things (some of them are obsolete, others are just too precious or strange to be actually used), but since time works differently in the Undying Lands and things don't rot, rust or decay, even objects brought from Middle-earth stay as they were, they keep filling whatever storage space they were stuffed into.

Enter Frodo Baggins and Bilbo Baggins. They introduce the idea of the Mathom-house to the Elves, who get very excited about this concept and proceed to build their own Mathom-houses in Tol Eressëa and eventually even in Valinor proper. (Stuff gets lost in translation, though: these galleries are not called Mathom-houses, but Michel Delving, which is actually where the hobbits' Mathom-house was located in the Shire. Frodo and Bilbo are contented enough and eventually give up trying to clear it up; it's nice that a bit of the Shire will live on forever in the Undying Lands).

Michel Delving of Tol Eressëa is a huge hit and families of Elves come there to learn about the ancient days of Valinor and Middle-earth, gazing in wonder at the only tapestry made by Melian and her maidens that survived from Menegroth, small shattered pieces of the images of the Trees that Turgon made in Gondolin, a collection of rocks from beyond the Misty Mountains, weapons that struck down Balrogs and dragons, pictures of flowers and trees that long ago flowered in Middle-earth, and various objects that allegedly belonged to such legendary characters as Lúthien, Húrin, Elendil, Maedhros and so on. (The keepers of the house live in fear of the days when Galadriel comes and points out things, saying "that's a fake. that too. also that is so fake that even Annatar would call it out.")

There are painful memories, too. Who of the Arafinwëans would want to see Aegnor's helmet, the reminder of how violently he passed and how he will never return from Mandos? Neither Melian or the re-embodied Thingol bear to look at Lúthien's shadowy cloak. Fingon sees his on sword, with which he fought Gothmog, and must be escorted away shaking and wide-eyed (it takes a long sojourn in Lórien for him to recover).

At some point towards the end of his life, Frodo donates his most important artifacts to the collection: the Phial of Galadriel, the mithril shirt, the Sting and his Elven cloak of Lothlórien are given a place of honour and the brave Halfling who sacrificed so much to save his home is revered in the Undying Lands long after he is gone.

[welcomingdisaster]

for no reason, here is a list of aus that i constantly think about in my head and have written less than 1k words for. perhaps one day some of these will happen.

au where i have genderswapped every eldest son in the legendarium (feanor, maedhros, fingon, finrod, etc) and assumed that traditionally daughters can Not inherit titles under noldor law. woe complicated sibling dynamics be upon ye

au where fingon is captured during the nirn

role reversal au where (the majority of) the nolofinwions end up on the swan ships and (the majority of) the feanorians end up on the grinding ice.

urban fantasy au in which fingolfin runs a museum, maedhros gets accused of faking his own kidnapping, turgon kills someone in cold blood and buries him in gondolin retreat, hurin isn't paid well enough for this shit, and finrod does magic tricks

modern au where indis and miriel team up to investigate their mutual ex-husband's murder, university student feanor hacks the government, 13-year old fingolfin sneaks into places he's not supposed to be in, and 7-year-old finarfin mostly plays a lot of minecraft

au where every dead elf is eventually re-embodied as a baby so long as someone is willing to pick them up from the halls. woe reverse sibling orders be upon ye

[elronds-library]

sparrowhawk [WIP]

by welcoming_disaster (@welcomingdisaster)

Part 2 of tongues of the sky

Sentenced to serve the Valar for six hundred and thirty-three years as retribution for their crimes, Maedhros and Maglor return to Middle Earth to seek the ghosts of those they had doomed. Of the re-embodied Noldor, few accompany them; only Fingon, for loyalty's sake, Aredhel and Idril, seeking to re-unite with Turgon, and Orodreth, in search of his daughter's wandering spirit. But the land, broken by war and falling swiftly into ruin, is treacherous, and danger awaits from the moment they disembark. The elves will be forced to reckon with old friends and enemies alike, and sometimes these two may be harder to tell apart than they seem.

Mature/Explicit, No Archive Warnings

Words: 27,488

[balrogballs]

Finally got around to uploading Chapter 4/5 of Cast in Stone after procrastinating by illustrating it for literally no reason, and it's Maedhros-joy and Legolas-winning hours here!

Summary:

"What Elrond did was simple. He partitioned the layers of his soul and allowed nothing to permeate across them, never let the Lord of Imladris and bearer of Vilya cross into the bossy little elfling Maglor and Maedhros had loved."

A re-embodied Maedhros and Maglor arrive in Imladris with only fragmented memories of their final years — and find that Elrond had built an enormous statue glorifying their redemption, yet omitted their final fates from the histories he wrote as a loremaster.

A Return to Imladris fic with elements of magic realism, postcoloniality and the politics of memory, also featuring teen sleuths Legolas and Aragorn.

[stilltrails]

I'm interested in Fingon and Maedhros having a very rocky relationship in Valinor (re-embodiment) based on the fact that Maedhros attacked Sirion, which directly consisted of Fingon's own relatives.

Earendil was his grand-nephew (?), some of the people in Sirion are survivors of Gondolin so that's Fingon's family too. And Maedhros attacked them all, still.

Fingon, who so readily believes that Maedhros would make an exception for him of all people, for his family, to realize that he does not. That in the end saving Maedhros harmed him more, and that he would have been kinder to himself to let him die.

This would probably come out at an argument.

And because I always like throwing Elrond into these messes, I imagine he is also consequently a reason Fingon is less than happy to see Maedhros, most likely believing Elrond was mistreated.

Elrond helps clear up Maedhros's reputation, and it is a relief to know that the evils Fingon thought Maedhros capable of creating were not entirely true, though it dampens Elrond's opinion of Fingon and Maedhros together greatly.

[echo-bleu]

those towers we built

Alright, so the (very AU) concept I've been toying with for a bit is this: the Valar, fundamentally misunderstanding the nature of elves and the concepts of consent and self-determination, after beating Morgoth and getting the Silmarils back, decide to just... erase the war.

Like, Ëonwë doesn't let Maedhros and Maglor go, instead fights them, they drop the Silmarils when they get burned and run (and still kill themselves/end up wandering). Everyone goes back to Aman, Yavanna restores the Trees, and the Valar, who don't understand the nature of trauma, decide that the best way to heal everyone is to just erase their memories of what happened. Námo agrees to release everyone who died (short of Finwë and Fëanor) and everyone's memories of everything from the Darkening forward is removed.

The Valar kind of suggest a version of events (Morgoth killed Finwë, Ungoliant ate the trees, there was a fight, but Morgoth was captured and Fëanor sacrificed the Silmarils and himself to remake the trees) and lets the Song run from there. The Noldor naturally take Maedhros as their king, and he has no reason to abdicate.

Eärendil, who doesn't have a star to sail with, is the only one whose memories weren't removed, and he's tasked with watching the seas, so no one can sail between Middle Earth and Valinor. In Middle Earth, everything is going as programmed, with Maglor and Galadriel among the only Exiles remaining. Their family thinks them dead in the Darkening and not ready to come back.

Of course, the issue with all that is that erasing memory doesn't erase trauma, and none of the re-embodied elves were actually ready to be re-embodied. Everyone's memories are kind of vague, but the suggestive power of the Valar is strong enough that they're not exactly questioning anything. They have the strangest triggers and nightmares. It's especially noticeable with the Exiles who were very young, or those actually born in Middle Earth, like Maeglin, who straight up doesn't remember his former life.

There's a general uneasiness that no-one can quite put a name to, and they ascribe it to Arda Marred. More people are re-embodied with no or confusing memories -- Gil-galad, Celebrimbor.

And then one day in Middle Earth, Elrond, watching his wife start to fade, prays loud enough that his father hears it. And Eärendil, fed up with the charade and deciding that he'll show up for his son the way he couldn't before, sails with his daughter-in-law to Aman.

Celebrían's memories and knowledge of the First Age are veiled on the way, but things have already started to unravel, and the mismatches are becoming glaringly evident. King Nelyafinwë Maitimo is no fool, and neither are his Consort Findekáno or his First Advisor Ingoldo. It might take them another five hundred years, but they'll get to the bottom of this mystery, and find the missing members of their family in the process.

Only the truth may prove to be much harder to bear than the lie they've been fed for six thousand years.