#sirion was a shitshow on all sides tbh

[feanorianethicsdepartment]

look i appreciate the drama of maglor and/or maedhros personally finding the twins at sirion. elrond and elros cowering together in a closet until they’re dragged out screaming by a pair of blood-soaked nightmares who were loudly threatening their mother and then shrieking curses at the sea... a+, i love it, great setpiece, nice traumatic memory. there’s just other ways it could have gone, and i’m not talking about the cave thing. f’rinstance -

the sun is setting on an awful, awful day. the streets are strewn with corpses, fire rages in the distance, but it sounds like the fighting is mostly over. three fëanorian goons roam the backalleys together, all that’s left of their squad. all of them are tired, all of them are injured, all of them want this horrible day to be over

something rustles in a building they’re passing, and the guy on point ducks inside to handle it. the other two are expecting the brief sounds of a struggle, the sudden sharp death cry. they are not expecting him to emerge with two screeching children under his arms

(the following conversation happens against a backdrop of crying, struggling, and attempted escapes)

goon 1: kids!

goon 2: kids?

goon 3: why do you have kids

goon 2: did trevadrion bring his children to war again

goon 1: no they’re not ours. they’re :almost gets hit in the face: elwing’s. i think

goon 3: you think

goon 1: guy who was defending them was all ‘you shall not lay your hands on another of lúthien’s line!’ before i killed him

goon 2: :kneeling: they do look kind of turgon-y

goon 3: :reflexively spits:

goon 1: so what do we do with them?

goon 3: leave them here, we don’t need the weight

(all three goons abruptly remember what happened to the last guys who tried that)

goon 2: ...or we could take them with us?

goon 3: sounds like a plan

goon 1: where are we going to put them

(maglor is completely unaware of the twins’ existence until he hears sobbing in the baggage train. he half-thinks they’re a hallucination for the first couple of days)