#sorry celeborn

[lorelei-4]

When I first read the Silmarillion, I was mostly new to the lore and it was very hard for me to remember all the names, which some times sounded alike (Tuor and Huor, Hurin and Tuor, etc), and not to mix them up, so for a brief period of time I thought Galadriel married Celegorm, son of Feanor.

[darklinaforever]

Decidedly, we are all fans of the headcanon of Celebrian as the daughter of Sauron / Halbrand and Galadriel...

[valar-did-me-wrong]

Part: 89/?

[erendur]

I'm strongly convinced that the reason Maglor took so long to complete the Noldolante (he wrote it "ere he was lost", which to me suggests it wasn't done straight after Alqualondë or even soon after reaching Beleriand, but was the work of many years, maybe even written in his last years before the 4th Kinslaying, as a "where did it all go wrong" retrospective kind of work after everything had been lost) was because he wrote it on "down" days, when he was feeling depressed and hopeless, but these were, before the 3rd kinslaying, interspersed with "up" days, during which he would, instead, gleefully write incredibly mean songs directed at the people who had annoyed him.

And I mean INCREDIBLY mean songs, as in everybody would have expected Fëanor's son, haughty and fell and gifted with words, to write mean things, but they would have been SO mean that somehow every single one of them managed to seem unbelievably mean - and clever of course.

Obviously a lot of them would have been directed at his brothers. Yes, even Maedhros, because when you are a grown-up Elf who has been regent for years and also is the lord of the Gap there are only so many times you can listen to your big brother instructing you about the proper way to train a horse or the correct way to handle underlings or the frequency at which you should practice with your sword, really, before snapping and smiling and say "Yes, of course Nelyo" before darting to your room and write a mean song about your brother's braids that will somehow ("somehow") have done the rounds of Beleriand in a matter of weeks.

Nobody called Celegorm "the fair", before his failed attempt at wooing a Sinda princess. Yet somehow ("somehow"), that's the name under which he is remembered in (*checks notes*)..."songs". If not for songs, nobody would have remembered that Thingol was decidedly much, much better looking AFTER having met Melian than before. Who would have remembered "Beren's Leap" (ie, the fact that the guy - *checks notes* - jumped far), if not for a particularly catchy song that described with great gusto how Beren unhorsed and throttled Prince Curufinwë before stealing his knife ?

Fingolfin tried to explain for years to all that would listen that he actually "gave as much as he got" and had some burning one-liners directed at his brother during the famous sword incident. Alas, none are recorded in the songs describing the incident that have passed down to posterity. Finrod was not the only Elf lord to have a hard time leaving his jewellery behind, but is, somehow ("somehow"), the only one to be recorded hauling his treasure over the Ice.

In spite of valiant attempts coming year after year from Lothlórien trying to explain that "Felagund" was an praiseful nickname given to King Finrod by his Dwarven friends and meaning "Hewer of caves", "the wise" haven't been able to completely dismiss the idea that it actually meant "badger" and found its origin in a song that had circulated in Beleriand circa YS 54.

You wondered why Eöl had such a beef with the Noldor ? One song too many. He tried to leave Doriath and live alone with his MUTE people in the depth of the forest but, somehow, ("somehow"), some of the catchy mean tunes directed at him always seemed to be able to make their way to him, carried by the wind through the dense dark foliage of Nan Elmoth.

How do people know what went on between Turgon and Ulmo, you say ? Well, funny you ask, most of what we know comes from a couple of songs that heavily seem to imply that King Turgon was a bit...simple, to put it much more mildly than the songs do.

Yes, all of the songs were pointedly written in Quenya. Yes, in spite of the fact that the Sindar did not learn Quenya, there somehow still managed to be some available translation of every single one of them, to be sung along with the very catchy tunes. Yes, they were so catchy that they were sung all over the place. Some even whisper that Lúthien might have been singing something something Caranthir sucks when Beren saw her for the first time. And something something the Valar suck when putting Morgoth to sleep. What she sang to Namó nobody can say, but if she is famous for her voice, she isn't for her song-writing abilities. Enough said.

The only reason Celeborn has a clean record (ie : almost doesn't exist) in the records of the First Age is because the one condition Galadriel selflessly put to giving her consent for her daughter to marry Elrond was that he would personally undertake to track down and destroy every single copy of the mean songs written about her husband because they made him cry (given that most of them were kept at Imladris, that was promptly done). The only remaining unflattering depictions of him are kept in the halls of King Thranduil in Mirkwood, but they are of a much inferior quality and "the wise" are inclined to think that they were not, in fact, penned by the famous Maglor. Who their real author might be remains a mystery.

[sortumavaara]

Scribbles&Drabbles 2024

It is again time for me to dump my sketches here. @fall-for-tolkien This year I managed 11 slides /o/

Slides 19 (Replaced), 45 (False hope (of a future magistrate) and 58 (Portraits):

[cottoncandiescupcakes]

People: Celeborn should be in The Rings of Power

You want A YOUNG VERSION OF THIS ELF

To exist in that world

You think he can handle ANY of that he can't even process looking at a hobbit for three seconds, Galadriel literally said his armor didn't even fit right which, he has a nice muscular figure so I assume he was a lot skinnier in his younger years

I don't think he's dead but I think he's imprisoned Princess Peach style and Galadriel is going to save him in like season 5 HES BETTER OFF IN PRISON RIGHT NOW it's a full on lawless war zone out there

A world without eyebrow gel or nude lipstick, he'll instantly jump off a tower

[pursuitseternal]

“𝕭𝖊𝖆𝖚𝖙𝖎𝖋𝖚𝖑 𝕮𝖗𝖊𝖆𝖙𝖚𝖗𝖊 𝖔𝖋 𝕯𝖆𝖗𝖐𝖓𝖊𝖘𝖘”

First Age Sauron/Galadriel, Phantom of the Opera/ Gothic Romance AU

First Age Sauron x Galadriel | E | 58K Complete

Summary: Inspired by “The Phantom of the Opera…” Galadriel lives a life very different from her days as Commander, now in the court of her brother Finrod, a survivor of the lupine horrors her endured with Beren. Finrod is now an Elven king in the new realm founded on the ruins of Dol Guldur. The evil is gone, or so they think. Rumors of a Phantom in the wood begin to surface, as he sabotages and steals… and seduces.

CW:Masquerades, forge sex, Vampire form sex, Annatar form, Celeborn as Roaul, Finrod with PTSD, Morgoth returns, Major character death with a glimmer of hope at the end.

Tolkien Fic Masterlist

[thedeadtravelfast]

[saintstars]

Comfort (repost)

[gwaedhannen]

[Excerpt from Sorrow Beyond Words: Collected Testimony of the War of Wrath, 4th Edition; ed. Elrond Peredhel. Archive of Cîw Annúminas, inaugural collection]

“Simply reaching Menegroth was a struggle. Doriath had become a twisting nightmare of overgrowth and rot and mists, as Morgoth’s power warred with the remains of the Girdle and our old songs. Ai, our home, our haven! I know the name of every holly in Region, before the exile. We found deadfalls surrounded by dozens of animals who’d lain down beside the trees and rotted before they died. Blind moose more antler than flesh staggered towards us even after a dozen arrows. Vines covered in dripping thorns reached for our eyes. The cherry trees were overladen with fruits that smelled like gangrene. Deildhod stumbled into a nest of maddened vipers, and only escaped because their tails were all tangled together into a festering mass and could hardly move. We never saw or heard a single bird. I’m amazed we lost no one in that whole push through Region. No, I speak a lie. I know how we passed through with nothing worse than scrapes. Elrond was with us, and the ghost of Melian’s love still recognized her kin.

“Esgalduin had nearly been dammed by one of Hírilorn’s fallen boles, but the bridge still held. We crossed and reached the ruined gates, wrought twice and broken twice. Within there was only darkness to be seen; we knew not what manner of horrors Morgoth had sent to infest the city, but Ingwion was unwilling to leave them at the rear of his forces as he moved north, if it could be helped. Celeborn stood at Elrond’s right and myself at his left. Far less an honor guard than the heir of Elu Thingol and Melian Besain deserved. Yet in those dark days it was all the honor we could muster. King Dior Eluchíl had known thirty-six summers when he was unrighteously slain. Queen Elwing Nimaew thirty-five when despair took her to the sea. Lord Elrond Peredhel beheld the city of Elu for the first and only time in his twenty-ninth summer.

“Elrond stood before his inheritance and Sang. He sang a lament, for the lost endless years of joy and peace, for deep halls lit by birdsong and echoing with wisdom, for the Forsaken People who awoke the forest and earth with many voices, for the works of beauty never to be seen again on this side of the sea. He sang a promise, that the glory of Menegroth will be remembered in the songs of Middle-Earth for as long as its children endure. He sang thanks, for the protection the halls granted us until it could shelter us no more. As his song at last ceased, I thought I heard nightingales answering him.

“Stars shone on his brow, and his hair glistened as the vault of night, and the memories of our once-eternal bliss in the woods of Thingol’s realm under Elbereth’s gifts arose in my mind. Let Oropher dream of a deep hall for his own; let Celeborn reign where he will at his wife’s side! I knew in my heart, as the echo of nightingale songs faded, that there was no lord or king I would ever stand beside save Elrond Elwingion.

“The living stone in which our kingdom once thrived knew his voice, and at long last laid down its burden and passed. The darkness over Menegroth was lifted, and we went forth into its corpse, and no beast or orc could stand before us. I do not sing of what we found and left behind when we cast down the bridge and gave leave for the river to flood the caves. It is not worth remembering.”

[lesbiansforboromir]

It's so funny when my ancient 'stop saying dwarves dug too greedily' post hits some new untapped sphere of tumblr. WITHOUT FAIL someone will claim 'Gandalf ghostwrote this', often with that exact phrase used, and I will spiral back into this groundhog day sensation where I resist absolutely exploding into a thousand fragments because Gandalf is LITERALLY the one who said the dwarves dug too deep and greedily in the first place. Like Peter Jackson the damage you do could be no more clearly on display right now.

[laginestra98]

After all your marvellous and complex posts about Celeborn, I just wanted to add a silly little thing.

SPOILER FOR 1899 (NETFLIX) AND INTELRUDE IN PRAGUE

I think that, if they must cast someone in that role, the perfect choice would be Aneurin Barnard.

First, because he already worked with Clark in Interlude in Prague, in which they have a love story that ends tragically (very tragically) and The personal history of David Copperfield. In Interlude they even meet at a ball!! Coincidence?? I don't think so, lol

(he play a goofy Mozart, here)

We met in a glade of flowers. I was dancing and he saw me there Galadriel, 1x07

Second, he is the perfect "husband who stays on the background while his strong-willed wife flirts with the mysterious handsome co-protagonist"

Here (1899) she, Maura, doesn't even remember who he is, neither that they have a son; she is too preoccupied to solve the mysteries on the ship they are in (is more complicated than that, btw) with the captain (Eyk, in the gif below) she barely knows, whom she (probably, but we'll never know because Nteflix cancelled it, sigh) has a cosmic connection with (ring a bell?)

I mean, imagine this

with this

He's perfetc for the role!

[chaos-of-the-abyss]

Hello, it's ok to send another Nimloth ask? Since you were the one remembering me that Galadriel and Celeborn WERE married before the second Kinslaying (for some reason i thought that they got married later ... ): do you have some hc about Nimloth's relationship with Galadriel? Or with her uncle and aunt in general? I think that's interesting that Dior and Nimloth marriage got mentioned in the same line where we're told about Galadriel and Celeborn's one!

YES IT'S ABSOLUTELY OK TO SEND ANOTHER NIMLOTH ASK. and now that you mention it, tolkien didn't have to say that celeborn was married to galadriel when bringing up nimloth's relation to him. he could have just stopped at "nimloth, kinswoman of celeborn." hmmmm. realistically he might have just wanted to give readers a reminder of celeborn's position in relation to other major characters in the verse, but i say this is my excuse to hc that nimloth and galadriel are close!

so tangent here that'll be relevant when i talk about my thoughts on their relationship: i fully subscribe to the, ahem, non-teleporno version of galadriel's history (though i do like the name alatariel very much). imo in that version there's reasonable room to argue -- and is something christopher tolkien stated is a natural enough assumption, i believe -- that galadriel was present in doriath during the second kinslaying. in my books she doesn't stick around with elwing in the havens of sirion, but she alongside celeborn do help elwing and the other iathrim refugees escape menegroth and ruins of doriath.

anyway back to nimloth and galadriel. my hc as i mention in one of my earlier nimloth hc posts is that nimloth was born around the time construction of nargothrond and gondolin was completed, so ~f.a. 102-116. that means she's younger than galadriel by a significant margin, and in fact the house of finarfin has already been well settled in doriath by the time of her birth. nimloth and galadriel's earliest meetings happened when nimloth, still a pretty young child, visited and stayed in doriath with her parents. i don't see galadriel as someone who likes kids that much, so there wasn't too much meaningful interaction between them at that time. celeborn did love to dote on his niece though, so galadriel spent more time around young nimloth than she would have most children. and nimloth was one of those super friendly and inquisitive kids, so while galadriel would sometimes come away from interactions with her feeling a bit drained by her enthusiasm, she was definitely fond of nimloth!

they become a lot more meaningfully close when nimloth gets older and enters her late teen / early adult years. she has the same competitive drive that galadriel has, and she loves to learn and try new things. she's also diligent and hardworking -- all things galadriel finds endearing about her -- and has a very academic streak, which jives well with galadriel too. they spend lots of time together, one-on-one or with others (celeborn, melian, luthien, etc.), when they're both present in doriath. nimloth, for her part, admires how knowledgeable and competent her aunt is. i like to imagine she learned a good bit from galadriel! maybe some enchantments, and maybe about the history of ea and arda. nimloth doesn't go out of her way to learn about aman or valinor, as she's not super interested in the west, but she does pick up some tidbits of knowledge about it, and about the valar, while listening to her aunt. they also spar together, and nimloth -- who really loves hunting -- drags galadriel along on hunting trips. (galadriel doesn't dislike hunting, it's just not on her list of 'best ways to have fun' like it is for nimloth. she does enjoy the opportunity to spend time with her niece, though.)

last hc is that galadriel definitely recognizes that nimloth has ambitions, and is not at all surprised when she and dior step up to the task as the new ruling couple of doriath despite the difficult odds. she's one of the people nimloth turns to for advice during her tenure as queen. and while she's worried for her niece -- they first met when nimloth was a child after all -- she's also proud to see how well nimloth fills the role of one of doriath's two highest-ranking people in such difficult circumstances. galadriel having one of those "they grow up so fast" moments anyone?

anddddd you know since we talked once about how celrond parallels dior/nimloth... maybe galadriel got a sense of deja vu as she watched her silver-haired daughter take the hand of a dark-haired peredhel...

[eloquentsisyphianturmoil]

freaks me out that people call celeborn teleporno for many reasons

It sounds stupid

there’s linguistic inconsistencies with ‘silver’ as ‘telep’ in quenya and as ‘telpe’ (ex. tyelkormo, tyelperinquar, telperion)

he’s Moriquendi so he has no quenyan name

Did I mention it sounds stupid

[tathrin]

I'm working on some Background Timeline Nonsense for my Celebrimbor In The Fellowship AU fic and trying to put together stuff in a way that both makes sense and is fun (and reconciles some of the Unfinished Tales mess). I've already blathered at poor @babybat98 about this, but I figure I might as well subject the rest of you all to it share it here too, in case anyone has Thoughts or Suggestions:

A Timeline of the Lords of the Woodland Elves.

506 F.A. Doriath is sacked (about 30 years before the Third Kinslaying at Sirion).

By 511 F.A., refugees from Gondolin and a few Drúadain joined them there, and by 525 Earendil and Elwing were wed and ruling the Havens of Sirion.

539 F.A., the last of the Fëanorians show-up in Sirion and do their usual silmaril-slaughter, and Elwing jumps off the cliff. The Havens are left in ruins, and Morgoth has control of all Beleriand, blah blah blah.

545 F.A. the Host of the Valar land in Beleriad. The War of Wrath begins.

590 F.A. Morgoth defeated, War of Wrath ends, First Age ends. *Galadriel probably doesn't actually marry Celeborn until now, possibly because of the whole "don't marry during war" thing the Calaquendi tend to do? unclear, because everything involving them is unclear lmao

1 S.A. the Grey Havens are built in Lindon, the only place in Beleriand that really survived the War of Wrath.

By 20 S.A. Galadriel and Celeborn leave Lindon, where Gil-galad is now king (probably crowned because of Galadriel's influence somehow? Unclear, again!). Galadriel and Celeborn go to Eriador and dwell near Lake Nenuial, where they are accounted "the Lord and Lady of the Eldar in Eriador" according to one version of the Unfinished Tales. They have a lot of Noldor, Grey-elves, and Green-elves with them at this time. Now for the fun backstory stuff...what if we say that Celeborn, Oropher, and Amdír were all basically BFFs from their youth in Doriath, and will remain thus for many years before the eventual splintering around 750 S.A.?

So, as of S.A. 10-20 when Galadriel and Celeborn leave Lindon, what if we say that Amdír and Oropher are with them also at this point, and with them their sons? They can be part of the company of mingled Noldor and Iathrim who are mentioned there at Lake Nenuial, with Celeborn (relative of Thingol) and Galadriel (sister of Finrod) as the "highest ranking" of their little quartet, and also the ones (especially Galadriel) who care the most about rank/leadership, and thus fall naturally into that role both in behavior and in the eyes of everyone around them, while Amdír and Oropher are more advisors/etc (maybe they end up in charge of guarding everybody, as the Warriors of the group). Amroth could be as young as 110 right now if he was just a wee little lad when Doriath was destroyed, barely an adult, or at any rate easily less than 200 yet. Perhaps Amdir never made it to Sirion at all, and only rejoined his son after the War of Wrath? (Perhaps Amdir's mom died in the Kinslaying, like Nellglind?) Regardless, Galadriel and/or Celeborn could have been doing most of the looking-after of him during the War either way, and thus we get Amroth as sort of "their kid" like he was in that draft, while not actually being their son which wouldn't make sense. Maybe Celeborn looked after both Amroth and Thranduil while the other adults were involved more in the fighting, given that picturing either Amdir or Oropher NOT fighting if they were still in Beleriand at this point is difficult (albeit not impossible: they could always have gone "fuck this shit, this is a Calaquendi Problem, you deal with it") and Galadriel is The Mighty One while Celeborn is more chill (and because I like not having The Woman be the one doing the child-minding lol). Alternatively, they could have all fought to varying degrees, with young Thranduil the one charged with looking after younger Amroth? idk most of the War of Wrath is pretty hand-wavy even in Tolkien's stuff so this can stay vague lol

At any rate, we pick-up the thread with our next Known(ish) event:

300 S.A. is when Celebrían is probably born. At this point, her parents are presumably still in Eriador. So, we could have them all living together as a little found family unit of survivors at Lake Nenuial, with Amroth and Thranduil acting as sort of older brothers/cousins to Celebrian. Perhaps she has more of a brotherly relationship with Amroth, who is younger, and a little more distance between her and Thranduil, because he's so much older (and lived through the trauma of everything more directly)? He sees himself as the Sensible And Mature One who has to look out for the younger/more naive kids, perhaps? At some point, of course, there must be some kind of a falling-out of some sort between Oropher and Galadriel/Celeborn, because we need to have some reason as the driving factor (combined with the increasing numbers of Dwarves in Moria, which we know Oropher wasn't pleased by; hello Doriath Trauma Round One!) for him to do the whole "moved his people north three times" from the original location of Amon Lanc in order to avoid being near Galadriel and Celeborn in Lórien. Perhaps the falling-out can be traced back to Ost-in-Edhil somehow?

750 S.A. is approximately when Eregion is founded, and construction is begun on Ost-in-Edhil. 750 S.A. is also around when we're told that Oropher and Amdir took up lordship of their respective Silvan lands (although I'm already deviating from those details a bit because fuck colonialism lol; but that's easy enough to do and still claim canon-compliance due to the vagueness of all of this in "canon" anyway, so we'll still use that as the rough date of when the Sindar refugees came to Laurelindórenan/Greenwood, and just say the whole "king" thing in Greenwood happened later and the Noldorian historians never caught the nuances, shhh) So if we extrapolate from all that... What if the falling-out happens because of Eregion? What if Amdir and Oropher are not about to accept an open and friendly relationship with the local Dwarves, after what happened to Thingol and Doriath; and Galadriel, with her foresight and her stubbornness and her Noldorin love of craft (and the fact that her first main trauma was Alqualondë long before the Sindar were scarred by the Battle of a Thousand Caves), refuses to let her Goals™️ be held hostage to their grudges and trauma, and insists that the only way forward for this land is hand-in-hand with the Dwarves of Khazad-dûm. Celeborn reluctantly sides with his wife (even though he loathes dwarves as much as any of them) over his friends, and Amdir and Oropher go off in a huff with those others of the Elves of Eriador who aren't interested in More Noldorin Bullshit, crossing the mountains and joining with the Silvan Elves in the east. So:

750 S.A. Amdir and Oropher leave with a group of followers, while Galadriel and Celeborn found Ost-in-Edhil with Celebrimbor, the two of them being taken as Lord and Lady of Eregion while he's (presumably) just in charge of the smiths for now.

1000 S.A. Sauron, not wanting to start shit with the western elves or Numenorians right not because they're too strong (and presumably just not giving a shit about the little Wood-elves in their forests), beings building Barad-dûr.

1200 S.A. Sauron tries to beguile the Elves of Lindon, and Gil-galad tells him to fuck-off. He tries again in Eregion, and despite Galadriel going "big nope!" the Gwaith-i-Mírdain there welcome him.

1350 S.A. Sauron manages to get Galadriel ousted from Ost-in-Edhil, and Celebrimbor becomes lord of the place. Galadriel and Celebrían leave via Moria, and spend a while in Khazad-dûm with their dwarven friends before making their way eventually to their old friend Amdir and foster-son/brother Amroth in Lórien, where they are welcomed, and Galadriel and Amdir reconcile (possibly enthusiastically, possibly awkwardly) but Celeborn, refusing to step foot in a dwarven kingdom, stays in Eregion, where he is "disregarded" by Celebrimbor. So I like to picture him skulking about as That Grumpy Old Man muttering and scowling at everybody as they pat him on the head and go "there, there grandpa" and whisper apologies to whatever dwarf he's offended today.

1500 S.A. by this time, the Seven and the Nine are made, and Sauron leaves to go make the One Ring in secret in Mordor.

1600 S.A. Sauron makes the One Ring and proclaims himself as Sauron, and ready for war. Celebrimbor goes OH FUCKSHIT and runs through Moria to consult with Galadriel in Lórien. He gives her Nenya, and she convinces him to send the other two to Gil-galad in Lindon, and get them the fuck out of Ost-in-Edhil.

1605 S.A. Sauron's immediate attempt to start said war is potentially delayed by the first two of the Istari, the Blue Wizards, who in a much later draft of Tolkien's actually came to Middle-earth during the Second Age, long before the rest of them, rather than all coming over together. Instead, he had them come over with Glorfindel, and while Glorfindel hung around to help Gil-galad et al they made their way East, to try and save the tribes of Men who had fallen under Morgoth's worship, and to discover where Sauron was hiding, and work against him. I think I want to go with that version, simply because I like the idea of Glorfindel coming back with some of the Istari? But I ALSO like the idea of him having fought in the Last Alliance, which means I need him to come over before Gandalf, Saruman, and Radagast do in the Third Age. So this splits the difference nicely! So, as of 1600: the valar have gone "oh fuck!" and thrown two maia and one reborn elf on a boat and thrown them back to Middle-earth to clean-up the leftovers of the mess left by the War of Wrath when they failed to drag Morgoth's most powerful lieutenant back to face judgement in Valinor OOPSIES, presumably because they figured out that Shit Was Hitting The Fan thanks to the whole One Ring Thing being big enough to be Noticed By The Powers lol Anyway, thanks to Morinehtar and Rómestámo being fucking badass, Sauron's plans for war are delayed several years, and Celebrimbor has time to hide the Three and presumably to warn the Dwarves about the Seven. Ooh, what if we say that he's been spending a lot of this time trying to devise some way of un-linking the Rings from the One Ring? He apparently has the Nine with him when Eregion falls, and Sauron just takes those, but the Seven and the Three aren't there; maybe he was working on the Nine, and knew the Seven were safe in Khazad-dûm where his dwarven smith-friends were doing the same there? And that's why he never tried to destroy them: he was still holding out hope they could be saved, be fixed. That he wouldn't have to destroy the greatest things he ever made, and all the hopes he put into them. He just needed a little more time...

1693 S.A. the War of the Elves and Sauron (finally) begins.

1695 S.A. Sauron slinks through the Gap of Rohan, thus avoiding the Elves in the Greenwood and Lórien, and invades Eriador. Thanks to the Númenóreans having cut down many of the Trees of Minhiriath and Enedwaith, the people in these lands welcomed Sauron's conquest and let him pass without trouble. (Well done, Númenor! Didn't anyone ever teach you deforestation is bad?) Celeborn leads the forces from Eregion (presumably having said "I told you so" to Celebrimbor a few times) and they manage to defeat the first wave of Sauron's army, but are then overwhelmed and forced back to Ost-in-Edhil. Gil-galad hears about this and sends Elrond leading a force from Lindon to help, and also sends messages to Númenor pleading for help. Nobody answers (men, pah!). Elrond's force is too small, and can't break-through to get to Eregion to help.

1697 S.A. Ost-in-Edhil falls. Celebrimbor is tortured into giving up the location of the Seven, but dies without revealing the Three. Sauron, not being an entire idiot, guesses that they're most likely with Galadriel and Gil-galad anyway, but is pissy about being resisted, and turns Celebrimbor into a banner that he carries into battle. Elrond's tiny army is about to be overrun when the Dwarves of Khazad-dûm attack Sauron from the rear, along with the force of elves that Amroth has led through Moria from Lórien, (because whatever Issues™️ his father might have with Dwarves, he's not about to let his foster-father die). This allows Elrond to gather the survivors of Ost-in-Edhil, including presumably Celeborn, and flee. The Dwarves are driven back as well, but they shut the Doors of Moria and Sauron can't get in. Haha, thwarted by Celebrimbor and his previous sweetheart, sucks to be you Sauron! The Doors of Durin are apparently not opened again until the Fellowship of the Ring comes to them (although that doesn't make sense, because Gandalf and Aragorn both passed through Moria at least once before LotR, so they must have been opened at some point; but perhaps the text only means they were not left open again after this point, and is not referring to when/if they were ever opened from inside by someone walking through and out?). The retreating elves found the stronghold of Rivendell, to which many of the survivors of Eregion flee. (Celeborn, presumably, says "I told you so" a lot at this point too, but not often enough for them to murder him.) The rest scatter, some fleeing Middle-earth altogether and some disappearing into the Wild with others fleeing through Khazad-dûm (before the Doors are shut, presumably) thanks to their dwarven friends, and make their way eventually to Lórien, where they join their fellows who left Ost-in-Edhil earlier and merge with the Silvans and Sindar there.

by 1700 S.A. Sauron has overrun all of Eriador except for Rivendell, which is besieged, and Lindon, where Gil-galad is also barely holding him off at the River Lhûn and Mithlond. Finally the Nûmenorian fleet arrives, and kicks Sauron's ass all the way back to Tharbad, although he burns the forests of Minhiriath and Enedwaith as he goes. He gets caught in a pincer between the main force and a smaller one that Ciryatur landed at Gwathló behind him, and barely escaped "with his bodyguard" to Dagorlad. It is unclear at this point if Sauron actually HAS any or all of the Seven, or just knows where they are; sources say that Durin at least was given his Ring by Celebrimbor himself, so perhaps Sauron never actually manages to collect all the Seven at this point? but still has his original influence over them. He does have the Nine, we know, because he gathered them up when he came to Ost-in-Edhil and defeated Celebrimbor on the steps of the House of the Mírdain.

1701 S.A. the first Council is held in Imladris, when Galadriel and Celebrían come looking for Celeborn and meet-up with all the other leaders of the various forces of Elves and Men. They decide to make Rivendell the new elvish stronghold in Eriador, as Eregion is in ruins and remains thus. Gil-galad at this point gives Vilya to Elrond (it's unclear when Cirdan gets Narya, because of course is it; he might already have it, or he might not get it until Gil-galad marches to War in Mordor, although wtf was he thinking leaving Narya behind when he went to war just when he would need its power most? Gil-galad wtf mate???) and declares him his vice-regent. This is also when Elrond and Celebrían meet for the first time. (Presumably at this point her foster-brother Amroth teases her mercilessly about her very obvious crush on Gil-galad's pet peredhel, and she probably smacks the crap out of him for being a jerk.) At some point after this, Galadriel and Celeborn (and Celebrían presumably) leave Rivendell to live near the sea, probably because Galadriel was apparently "striken with sea-longing" the moment she put Nenya on. They go to Belfalas, which will be later called Dol Amroth, and apparently visit Lórien at least twice more before the end of the Second Age, but we don't know anything else about them here.

At this point, there isn't much relevant canon information until the Last Alliance happens, since most of what's going on of import now is happening in Numenor, but let's hit the highlights in case we want to expand on any of this later.

2251 S.A. the Nazgûl appear.

3262 S.A. Sauron taken to Numenor as a prisoner.

3319 S.A. Numenor sunk, Sauron flees back to Middle-earth, and the world is reshaped.

3429 S.A. Sauron seizes Minas Ithil.

3430 S.A. formation of the Last Alliance.

3431 S.A. the Last Alliance marches to Rivendell.

3434 S.A. the march to Mordor, and the Battle of Daglorlad, where Oropher and Amdir both die. Siege of Barad-dûr begins.

3441 S.A. Sauron defeated (for now), war is over. Thranduil and Amdir go home with their scant surviving forces.

[ellrond]