#the Fencing of Valinor

[ylieke]

Doom of Mandos Judgement of the Valar pronounced on the Noldor that carried out the Kinslaying, promising tears unnumbered and fencing Valinor against them, so that not even the echo of their lamentation shall pass over the mountains.

[antlered-vixen]

What are you thoughts on the Valar? I've seen varying perspectives in regards to them, either people love them or some are highly critical of them (mostly due to their inaction when it came to the race of men) sometimes it's both, a bit critical but they still like them. I'm curious to read your thoughts.

(English is not my first language sorry if it's a little confusing)

Oof. That's a very complex one. I have a lot of thoughts, and they are not entirely monolithic, because Manwe, Ulmo, Namo, etc each have behaviours and make statements that are quite fascinating and distinct. I will oversimplify and speak of "the Valar" in general, but even that will not be brief, sorry. 1) The Valar are flawed, and failed their test of faith. They were not supposed to remove to Elves to Aman, or to shy from facing the Marring. This is not my take, this is Tolkien himself: Evidence: -- “But in this 'mythology' all the 'angelic' powers concerned themselves with the world were capable of many degrees of error and failing between the Absolute Satanic Rebellion of Morgoth and his satellite Sauron, and the faineance of some of the other higher powers or 'gods.'” - Letter 156 -- The Valar – all save one, Melkor, – obeyed this prohibition by Eru [not to dominate the Children of Eru], insofar as their understanding of that command went and in accordance to their wisdom.† But there was thus introduced an element of uncertainty into all their operations after the Coming of the Elves and Men. The wills and desires and the resultant deeds of the Elves remained forever in some measure unpredictable, and their minds not always open to admonition and instruction that was not (as was forbidden) issued as commands supported by latent power. This was even more evident in the case of Men, either by their nature, or by their early subjection to the lies of Melkor, or by both. It was also held by some that the Valar had even earlier failed in their ‘trials’ when wearying of their destructive war with Melkor they removed into the West, which was first intended to be a fortress whence they might issue to renew the War, but became a Paradise of peace, while Middle-earth was corrupted and darkened by Melkor, long unopposed. The obduracy of Men and the great evils and injuries which they inflicted upon themselves, and also, as their power increased, upon other creatures and even upon the world itself, was thus in part attributable to the Valar. Not to their willful revolt and pride, but to mistakes which were not by design intended to oppose the will of Eru, though they revealed a failure in understanding of His purposes and in confidence in Him.

†This is said because the invitation given to the Eldar to remove to Valinor and live unendangered by Melkor was not in fact according to the design of Eru. It arose from anxiety, and it might be said from failure in trust of Eru, from anxiety and fear of Melkor, and the decision of the Eldar to accept the invitation was due to the overwhelming effect of their contact, while still in their inexperienced youth, with the bliss of Aman and the beauty and majesty of the Valar. It had disastrous consequences in diminishing the Elves of Middle-earth and so depriving Men of a large measure of the intended help and teaching of their 'elder brethren’, and exposing them more dangerously to the power and deceits of Melkor. Also since it was in fact alien to the nature of the Elves to live under protection in Aman, and not {as was intended} in Middle-earth, one consequence was the revolt of the Ñoldor. - Parma Eldalamberon #17 -- Thus the Hiding of Valinor came near to countering Morgoth's possessiveness by a rival possessiveness, setting up a private domain of light and bliss against one of darkness and domination: a palace and a pleasaunce (well-fenced) against a fortress and a dungeon. - Notes on Motivations in the Silmarillion, Morgoth's Ring: -- Eru accepts and ratifies the position – though clearly he thinks the Valar should have contested Melkor’s domination of Middle-earth earlier, and made it “safe for the Elves” – they had not enough estel [‘trust’] that in a legitimate war Eru would not have allowed Melkor to so damage Arda that the Children could not come, or live in it. - Reincarnation of Elves, The Nature of Middle-earth.

2) I would argue, howbeit, that the Valar are also fundamentally benevolent. We are repeatedly told they love Arda and the Children. Nowhere do we see in any but Morgoth clear malice, and not only does Manwë cry for Fëanor, but also: "[...] for Manwë still had pity for the exiled Elves. And the Eagles brought news of much that passed in those days to the sad ears of Manwë”. And of course, what few times they do intervene, they seem to want to prevent suffering. Ulmo sends visions to Finrod and Turgon, and Varda hears Sam's prayer. The only exception is Namo, who is a complicated little beastie, and I do not merely speak for the Doom (who I would argue is not merely a foretelling but a punitive act - but that's also a whole wall of text argument, haha), but also the eagerness to slay Eärendil upon his arrival, which is a bit chilling. But even there, I would argue the cruelty is incidental, not malicious. In fact, the Ñoldor were "most beloved [...] by Aulë (the Smith) and Mandos the Wise." So go figure. 3) Their failings are rooted in passivity, lack of understanding the internal lives of Incarnates (HoME tells us, for example, that "the Valar were in doubt" about whether the aches of love were part of the Marring or not), thinking rooted in hierarchies and orders, and their static nature (and how that does not work well with the non-static nature of Arda). Especially regarding their static and "faineant" (as Tolkien calls it above) stance, I would dare to claim that an (unmarred) Melkor was meant to be Lord of Change ( but that's a whole other argument I will not make here) and this without him, the "pantheon" has a clear lacuna. 4) I do, however, believe there is something off about their fundamental stance in terms of their approach to power. They believe, clearly, in punitive justice. We are not sure why they would assume that to be the uncontested, natural way. They see Arda as a "kingdom", intrinsically and by nature a "thing to be ruled. We are not sure why, either. They say things like "Thou speakest of thraldom. If thraldom it be, thou canst not escape it; for Manwë is King of Arda, and not of Aman only." Which... I know it's not a confirmation of seeing Incarnates as thralls, rather just an angry refutation of Fëanor's venom, but is still a wild thing to say and not feel deeply discomfited by. Their bypassing of Finwë's rights as King and father to deal with his own family are, I believe, a strong factor in why also left for Formenos "unkinged" - possibly rather resentful. On a Doylistic level, of course, all of this is because Tolkien cannot conceive of a universe without some level of imposition, punishment, stern gender roles, etc. But I'm being Watsonian, and therefore have to interrogated the Valar here - why is their worldview so stiff, limited, and incapable of grasping restorative social structures and true equity? Perhaps the turning of Melkor against Manwë for power fundamentally injured the mindset of all Valar in constitutional ways.

[pavooko]

Okay I DID FIND the doom of mandos rock version (by Ondolindë btw) but the way it sounds like the thing u would describe as “… by Fëanor ft. Namo Mandos”

Cus it’s like….

Namo in the background, whispering in the micro while hitting the guitar strings:

When the Noldor was marching…

Mandos warned them…

Fenced would be the Valinor against you…

Tears unnumbered you shall shed…

Fëanor, STRAIGHT UP SCREAMING IN HIS MICRO:

MARCHING ON WITH HATRED

REVENGE WE DESIRE

SILMARILLS.

WE’LL.

HAVE.

BACK.

[silmarillion-ways-to-die]

"What wouldst thou have more? Dost thou desire all the world for thy belly? I did not vow to give thee that. I am its Lord." – Morgoth, The Silmarillion

"Tears unnumbered ye shall shed; and the Valar will fence Valinor against you, and shut you out, so that not even the echo of your lamentation shall pass over the mountains." – Mandos, The Silmarillion

"Their swords and their counsels shall have two edges." – Melian, The Silmarillion

"Love not too well the work of thy hands and the devices of thy heart; and remember that the true hope of the Noldor lieth in the West, and cometh from the Sea." – Ulmo (through Tuor), The Silmarillion

"That is a small price for so great a treachery. So shall it surely be. Say on!" – Sauron, The Silmarillion

"Many are the strange chances of the world, and help oft shall come from the hands of the weak when the Wise falter." – Gandalf, The Silmarillion

"Deserves it! I daresay he does. Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement. For even the very wise cannot see all ends." – Gandalf, The Fellowship of the Ring

"So do I, and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us." – Gandalf, The Fellowship of the Ring.

"You have grown, Halfling. Yes, you have grown very much. You are wise, and cruel. You have robbed my revenge of sweetness, and now I must go hence in bitterness, in debt to your mercy. I hate it and you! Well, I go and I will trouble you no more. But do not expect me to wish you health and long life. You will have neither. But that is not my doing. I merely foretell." – Saruman, The Return of the King

"Behold! The shadow of my thought shall lie upon them wherever they go, and my hate shall pursue them to the ends of the world." – Morgoth, The Children of Hurin

"Fool of a Took! This is a serious journey, not a hobbit walking-party. Throw yourself in next time, and then you will be no further nuisance." – Gandalf, The Fellowship of the Ring

[hailturinturambar]

“Tears unnumbered ye shall shed; and the Valar will fence Valinor against you, and shut you out, so that not even the echo of your lamentation shall pass over the mountains. On the House of Fëanor the wrath of the Valar lieth from the West unto the uttermost East, and upon all that will follow them it shall be laid also.

Their Oath shall drive them, and yet betray them, and ever snatch away the very treasures that they have sworn to pursue. To evil end shall all things turn that they begin well; and by treason of kin unto kin, and the fear of treason, shall this come to pass. The Dispossessed shall they be for ever.

Ye have spilled the blood of your kindred unrighteously and have stained the land of Aman. For blood ye shall render blood, and beyond Aman ye shall dwell in Death's shadow. For though Eru appointed to you to die not in Eä, and no sickness may assail you, yet slain ye may be, and slain ye shall be: by weapon and by torment and by grief; and your houseless spirits shall come then to Mandos.

There long shall ye abide and yearn for your bodies, and find little pity though all whom ye have slain should entreat for you. And those that endure in Middle-earth and come not to Mandos shall grow weary of the world as with a great burden, and shall wane, and become as shadows of regret before the younger race that cometh after. The Valar have spoken.”

The Silmarillion by J. R. R. Tolkien

[eri-pl]

So, the Doom of the Noldor

Isn't very strict, to put it politely.

Tears unnumbered ye shall shed; and the Valar will fence Valinor against you, and shut you out, so that not even the echo of your lamentation shall pass over the mountains.

...except that one time when Manwe sends an eagle to Fingon to save Maedhros (both kinslayers) precisely because of Fingon's lamentations prayer...

On the House of Fëanor the wrath of the Valar lieth from the West unto the uttermost East, and upon all that will follow them it shall be laid also. Their Oath shall drive them, and yet betray them, and ever snatch away the very treasures that they have sworn to pursue.

...except that one time M&M actually get the Silmarils. Yes, it's kind of ambiguous with this wording, because they do lose them eventually. But still, this 'prophecy' seems a little misleading here.

To evil end shall all things turn that they begin well; and by treason of kin unto kin, and the fear of treason, shall this come to pass.

...except Galadriel's woodland realm, which, sure, fades but doesn't end up evil. Also, Celebrimbor technically wasn't betrayed by his kin, and definitely in was not fear of treason what killed him...

The rest is ok, but even three mistakes— Even one mistake would prove that it wasn't Namo speaking those words. Namo makes no mistakes, doesn't lie, doesn't joke and doesn't use hyperboles. (Yes, that's headcanon.)

Namo is too omniscient to not be literal.

Many of you will say I'm being picky, and the eagle doesn't count or the words meant something else, and Galadriel wasn't with the Noldor but went separately (per later writings) or something.

Anyway, I'm pretty strict-minded when it comes to prophecies and I really don't think Namo would be that imprecise. Must have been one of his Maiar or whatever.

[outofangband]

Mammals of Maglor’s Gap and Lothlann

Now that I’ve finished world building posts on birds for each Fëanorian realm pre Amon Ereb, I’m going through mammals next! Mammals of the March of Maedhros can be found here and my environmental world building Masterlist is here!

Maglor’s Gap was the widest break in the mountains and cliffs dividing Beleriand and the lands to the north. It lay between the blue mountains to the east and the March of Maedhros to the west. Lothlann was a wide expanse of plains to the north of the Gap. The rivers greater and little Gelion ran around the western and eastern borders.

Forest steppes: wild goat, wood bison, southern white breasted hedgehog, gray marmot, ground squirrel, dormouse, woolly hares, long eared hedgehog, gray shrews, northern hog badger, sable (rare), steppe mouse, lesser noctule (bat), wildcat, red fox, red deer

Bordering mountain fences: Caucasian Tur, mouflon, chamois, alpine pika, pond bat, marbled polecat, saiga antelope, steppe polecat, mountain weasel, ibex (rare), argali

Plains: goitered gazelle, steppe wolf, wild horse, northern water vole (by the rivers), snow vole, grey dwarf hamster, common hare, common rabbit, striped field mouse, ural field mouse, harvest mouse, mountain hare, field vole (also primarily by rivers), wild horse

World building notes:

The horse based cavalry of Maglor is one of the few details we have about this region. I headcanon that the horses in question are a mixture of the descendants of the Valinor born horses brought by the Fëanorian host as well as wild horses from Estolad, Himlad, Lothlann and the other plains regions of Eastern Beleriand.

Sheep and goats provide the majority of milk and cheese products in the Gap. Some of these species are imported from other regions like sheep from Thargelion.

Domesticated bovine are rare in Eastern Beleriand outside Thargelion and parts of Estolad. There are however wild and semi domesticated bison such as the wood bison, especially on the borders of forested and forest steppe regions. Fur, skin and bones from bison are used by both Noldorin and Avarin elves for clothing and other materials.

Wild hamsters, rabbits, hares and voles were used by a select few of Maglor’s cavalry as companions and even spies.

A regiment of foot based scouts had the sigil of a hare in the form of a light silhouette upon a black background.

[sonofeomund]

“Kill them with kindness.” Wrong. DOOM OF MANDOS

“Tears unnumbered ye shall shed; and the Valar will fence Valinor against you, and shut you out, so that not even the echo of your lamentation shall pass over the mountains. On the House of Fëanor the wrath of the Valar lieth from the West unto the uttermost East, and upon all that will follow them it shall be laid also. Their Oath shall drive them, and yet betray them, and ever snatch away the very treasures that they have sworn to pursue. To evil end shall all things turn that they begin well; and by treason of kin unto kin, and the fear of treason, shall this come to pass. The Dispossessed shall they be for ever.

“Ye have spilled the blood of your kindred unrighteously and have stained the land of Aman. For blood ye shall render blood, and beyond Aman ye shall dwell in Death's shadow. For though Eru appointed to you to die not in Eä, and no sickness may assail you, yet slain ye may be, and slain ye shall be: by weapon and by torment and by grief; and your houseless spirits shall come then to Mandos. There long shall ye abide and yearn for your bodies, and find little pity though all whom ye have slain should entreat for you. And those that endure in Middle-earth and come not to Mandos shall grow weary of the world as with a great burden, and shall wane, and become as shadows of regret before the younger race that cometh after. The Valar have spoken.”

[crumbsintopebbles]

Frodo Baggins - headcanons

Mutters to himself sometimes (kind of canon).

Has a nice voice, singing or otherwise (also kind of canon).

His voice is a bit on the higher side, I guess. His usual register when speaking isn't really that high, but he's got range and it can get pretty up there. Especially when he's, like, stressed or afraid (also supported by canon, I guess?)

He laughs like a fucking seagull. Very pitchy, wheezy, admittedly contagious laughter. Or he just cackles, no in-between.

He has freckles. Admittedly, I'm a bit on the fence about this one. Perhaps they fade during the Quest? I don't really think they would be super prominent anyway.

For the rest of his life, the arm that got paralyzed when he got stabbed would sometimes 'act up' (i.e. Not Work), and it takes hours for him to be able to use it again. Once in Valinor, it doesn't happen nearly as much anymore, but it still happens.

His teeth aren't perfectly even in length. For example, the two front ones are just a bit longer than the rest.

His nose isn't that straight, has a bit of a curve to it.

Random, but... I feel like within the context of acting (theater or whatever), he would absolutely nail villains and mean characters. Don't get me wrong, in general he's very sweet and good-natured. He definitely can do bitchy, though, and with acting he's able to kind of tap into that. Of course, this one's very hypothetical.

He loves dark, olive greens.

If *anything happened* between him and Sam, I feel like it would have in that period after the Quest before they got home. Things would've been much more prone to get messy (in several ways) once they were back in the Shire. This one too is very hypothetical.

Also, let's be real, why would he write down those very personal details?

He's actually a decent cook, he can fend for himself just fine in that area. Sam is much better, though.

[dawnfelagund]

Hi!!! I was at the Tolkien conference today and I loved your paper!!! I was too nervous to ask during the Q&A, but I was wondering how the Catholic belief that you should not grieve the dead because they're in a better place had effected Tolkien's writing about death and grief. Especially in the context of his own life, and how he writes death as something to be celebrated and that it is a gift from the Valar.

Thank you so much!!!!

I'm glad you enjoyed the paper and thank you for asking about it! The paper Grief, Grieving, and Permission to Mourn in the Quenta Silmarillion is on my website (and the SWG), for anyone who is interested.

Whether or not there is a connection between Catholic belief and Tolkien's idea of "the gift of Men," I cannot say. There might be! But I think it's also important that Tolkien's eschatology for Mortals was emphatically not consistent with Catholic doctrine. At first it was. The Book of Lost Tales describes an afterlife for Mortals that Christopher Tolkien identifies as strongly parallel to the Catholic ideas of Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory. Christopher calls these lingering parallels "disconcerting." (This can be found in his commentary on the chapter Of the Valar and the Building of Valinor in BoLT1.)

In the published Silmarillion ("Of the Beginning of Days"), there is some degree of uncertainty still, among the Elves, about exactly what "leaving the Circles of the World" actually means: "It is one with this gift of freedom that the children of Men dwell only a short space in the world alive, and are not bound to it, and depart soon whither the Elves know not." This has always struck me as a very Elven perspective: They know that they are bound to the world and will receive no reprieve from it and will grow weary in its confines. It's a typical manifestation of the aphorism that "the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence." To Mortals, who are subjected to this mysterious leaving of the world—often prematurely, from their perspective—this doesn't seem a great deal. We see this in the Athrabeth Finrod ah Andreth, where we actually get the Mortal perspective, and later in the unease of the Númenóreans about their fate. (Conveniently, any Mortals who don't go along with the Elven perspective are "confounded" by Melkor. Mmmm, right.)

But, importantly I think, these Mortals are not going on to a reward in their afterlife, like the Catholic conception of Heaven. They don't know what lies beyond the Circles of the World, and neither do the Elves. The Elves just think, whatever it is, it must be better than their own fate. It actually reminds me more of the Hindu concepts of samsara and moksha: release from the travail of constant rebirth, constant life. From the Elven perspective, Mortals just get to take off for the weekend; Elves are stuck always on the graveyard shift.

Now do I think that the Elven conception of Mortals getting the better death might explain why only six of sixty-four named Mortal characters in the Quenta Silmarillion are grieved or mourned. It is very possible that an Elven narrator saw these deaths as going off to something better ... but we know clearly that Mortals don't see it that way, so why Pengolodh doesn't report more frequently on the grief of Mortals for their lost friends and family remains an open question that I think is probably explained by bias: not so much political bias in this case but the bias of a long-lived being to the perceived ephemerality (and inconsequence) of shorter-lived beings.

Elven grief really has no parallels with Catholicism that I can see at all. While one can make the argument that death is the natural outcome for both Tolkien's Mortals and in Catholic belief, it is not the natural outcome for Elves, and "death" is an unnatural and certainly painful separation for them.

Finally, as for grief more generally, I think there are also two different things happening in how Primary World humans experience grief. I am not Christian and so cannot speak to Christian or specifically Catholic teachings around what is or is not appropriate in terms of grief, beyond what I can observe of the people around me in a culturally Christian country. But I wonder if "the Catholic belief that you should not grieve the dead because they're in a better place" is a different thing from grieving someone because you ... simply miss them. Even if you believe that you will be reunited in the afterlife with them at some point. But again, for Mortals in Tolkien's world, even this is confounded by the fact that there is no certainty of this; there are much larger questions for them than for faithful Christians around what happens when they die.

[dlatl98]

Elrond, who went to Valinor, became a local celebrity as soon as he arrived there.

Elrond's loved ones were merciless to him. His parents left them for the greater good. He knew he had to give in, because it was ultimately for them and for the world. But in the end, the saddest thing was the fact that I couldn't get to know them, to the point where their loss was nothing more than emptiness rather than grief. His brother had left him for the human path. Do as you wish. You die, not me. Well, this brother had never been helpful to him in life. Maybe growing old as a man would have helped the fool grow (and it didn't). Maglor and Maedhros would not allow him to be called father (so they called him by his name). They chose their sense of Lack of qualifications that they could not be his father because they had taken away his parents, rather than Elrond's desire to call them "father," a title that would warm his heart and mouth just by calling them father. There is also advice that being a Feanorian will not help you in life. He really appreciated that. For destroying his fence and kicking him out of it again under the pretext of doing it for him. If you break one, you have to give me another! He couldn't decide whether he hated Maedhros more for killing himself, which was like a grand announcement that he was no comfort to him, or whether he hated Maglor more for not coming to him or coming to his aid while he was alive. His damned cousins, his king and the Lord of Eregion, died at will. Of course, Elrond understood that they had no other choice as monarchs. His wife… was sorry first. And he was sorry that he couldn't leave with her. He had rejected the king, but he was like his cousins ​​after all. Still, there was a merit to giving up the king. A queen can't leave easily. It was good that he didn't become king, but he often wondered about the path not taken. And his daughter…

No words are possible. No parent should have to go through this.

"I'm sorry. We didn't endure it. We were young at that time, and the children we thought were dead were young. It's not possible to compare, but I can't compare it to you, who I lost after raising everyone and becoming more attached to them. Losing the child I raised. There's nothing sadder than that. I'm truly sorry, but I'll never be able to comfort you. but.....we will be here."

"I'm sorry. I really couldn't go to you. I was too ashamed. I didn't reject you. I didn't think you wouldn't help me. I just couldn't go any further. And I felt betrayed because I thought Maedhros had abandoned me… but at the same time, I understood his choice. I understood how tired he was, how he had no more strength. I knew he couldn't continue, not because he chose something else over me… so I can't compare him to you. Of course, I'm not criticizing his choice. But I still feel resentful towards you. I'm sorry. I won't be of any help. But… I'll be here, so come see me whenever you want."

“Come out now! Even if you can ignore me, don’t ignore him Come out now! Don’t make him feel like you chose someone over him this time either!”

“If there’s anything I can do to help, I’ll definitely help. After all, it was thanks to you that that bastard got out.”

"……I'm sorry. But please understand this. I didn't abandon you. It was just……I really couldn't continue. I'm really sorry. I'll be here. I won't be of any help to you, but still…"

"Hey, let's have a drink!"

"I don't know if it'll help. But…..I made it like Celebrian told me. I showed Galadriel the mirror too. Does it look the same to you? No, don't worry about what I think. If you don't need it, throw it away. It's okay. If you like it…..I have plenty of time. I can make it as much as I want."

"How did you endure this?" "What?" "That your loved ones don't follow you. That you might never see them again. That you won't see them again."

"I didn't endure it. When they came, I was helpless and fell. Instead, I'd like to ask. Does it help that you have many friends that you can meet here?" "……I'm sorry to them, but that's that, and this is this." "Right?"

"Still……"

Elrond took his wife's hand and kissed it. They sat on the threshold again, looking out into the dusk. "I am glad you are here."

[dwarrowdelf]

the draw, chapter three

@maedhrosmaglorweek | day three: captives G | 100 words | Read on AO3

This swear we all become as shadows of regret unto world’s end and the Valar will fence Valinor against Fëanor’s kin by torment and by grief foul or clean On the House of Fëanor the wrath of the Valar lieth hear in witness and our vow remember–

“Be careful! And be back by suppertime!” Ammë calls from the back door. “We will!” Maglor calls back, dragging a laughing Maedhros behind. They’re going to explore the creek that runs not far from town. Maglor wants to climb the peach tree along the way, bring some home for Ammë. “Promise!”

Maglor wakes.

[pavooko]

Tears? Unnumbered. Valinor? Fenced. Hotel? Trivago.

[conundrumoftime]

I don't know why, but I love how—at least to me—your Celeborn seems always at the edge of losing his mind. I don't always agree with your headcanons, but this is so funny to me. Boy acts like he is going mad with these powers that are beyond him.

Well thank you, heh! I have to say that I don’t always agree with my own headcanons either, as such, but I keep writing them so long as they’re interesting, and the ones around him have definitely stuck a lot longer than I expected them to.

Because. If you put yourself in his position, as a prince of Doriath (which I’m assuming because I find the other versions of him less interesting): You were born after the Fence went up, and Doriath the protected, isolated, safe and magical place is all you’ve ever known. Your grandparents’ generation remember the First Battle and you maybe got some tales, growing up, of what that was like, but you had to beg and pester to hear those because you’re one of the young ones - you’re one of the ones who doesn’t need to worry about this. You’re probably told that a lot. Beleriand is dark and brutal and cruel, but in Doriath everything is fine. You have everything you ever want, and if you question this your very questioning is seen as proof of your youth and inexperience.

By the time you’re old enough to start asking pointed questions about all the Sindar who live outside the Fence, Doriath has been so isolated for so long that they don’t even sound like you.

You aren’t content with this. Everyone assumes you’ll grow out of it as you get old enough to gain some perspective and be grateful for how protected you are, but you don’t, not really. You want to hear of other lands and other peoples. You pester Melian to tell you tales of Valinor and Almaren, you pounce on any news that filters through from beyond Doriath’s borders. There is so much in the world to know, and you’re frustrated that those who know it - who saw it - aren’t interested in telling you about it now they’ve built this refuge for themselves. It doesn’t feel quite like a refuge to you, though.

(When you’re older you’ll collect tales of Gondolin, hidden and protected and beautiful. In Gondolin nobody was permitted to leave. In Doriath, nobody was permitted to want to.)

When the Noldor return you’re fascinated with them, to the point where your brother rolls his eyes and says Galadriel’s going to find you embarrassing. She doesn’t, though. She seems to quite like you. She tells you about Valinor, about the ice she crossed in the north, about how she plans to rule lands of her own one day. She speaks to Melian like she knows countless Maiar; she speaks to Thingol like she knows plenty of kings. She is bold and bright and fearless and you are helplessly in love.

When you hear about the horror at Alqualondë, you are, of course, appalled. For a while everything that you thought you knew is shaken. You do not blame Thingol for banning the rest of the Noldor from Doriath or for refusing to allow Quenya spoken anywhere. But when you hear that Maedhros laughed, of all things, and dismissed your great-uncle’s authority, some part of you is darkly fascinated all the same. No-one questions Thingol’s authority in your world. No-one. And yet… and yet.

You start finding Doriath more tolerable after all, now Galadriel is there; and her brothers come and go, and you are not short of people who will tell you about the world beyond the Fence. You don’t leave yourself, though. It hasn’t truly occurred to you that you even could.

And then something happens that changes it all. Or a confluence of somethings. Perhaps it’s the dwarves killing Thingol. Perhaps it’s Melian leaving Middle-earth after that, and the horror of realising along with all the others that much of Doriath’s protection will go with her. Perhaps you beg her to stay; perhaps she can’t even hear you, she’s so lost in grief. And then Galadriel’s cousins destroy Doriath and you realise it’s all lost and you can’t ever, ever go back.

(Or in Rings of Power canon - you go off at some point, presumably from Doriath, to fight a war you are very obviously unprepared for both practically and psychologically. You leave your enchanted, perfect magical forest kingdom where nobody ever wants for anything and find yourself in Middle-earth’s equivalent of the Somme. You realise that everything you thought you knew about the world has been not only incomplete but wrong. You don’t know where to go or what to do when the battle’s over and you’re somehow still breathing, but when you realise everyone at home will assume you’re dead, you think it’s maybe for the best you don’t correct them.)

And you spend the next five thousand years or so married to Galadriel, who is more terrifying and more powerful than you had ever, ever appreciated and even more so after she gets Nenya. You’re glad you can stand at her side for this fight you never realised you’d be fighting, but sometimes you wonder how much help you’re even being. Oropher, who has dealt with everything by withdrawing to the Greenwood in an attempt to return to the life the elves knew before the Valar came to them, takes you aside at one point and asks you very quietly - in the Doriathrin you both grew up speaking - if this is really, truly what you thought you had chosen. It isn’t. But you chose it all the same.

Lothlórien is protected, isolated, safe and magical, a beautiful golden refuge in the middle of a dark land. It’s hundreds of years before you realise that Galadriel has re-made Doriath for you.

[lairesta]

"Tears unnumbered ye shall shed; and the Valar will fence Valinor against you, and shut you out, so that not even the echo of your lamentation shall pass over the mountains. On the House of Fëanor the wrath of the Valar lieth from the West unto the uttermost East, and upon all that will follow them it shall be laid also. Their Oath shall drive them, and yet betray them, and ever snatch away the very treasures that they have sworn to pursue. To evil end shall all things turn that they begin well; and by treason of kin unto kin, and the fear of treason, shall this come to pass. The Dispossessed shall they be for ever. Ye have spilled the blood of your kindred unrighteously and have stained the land of Aman. For blood ye shall render blood, and beyond Aman ye shall dwell in Death's shadow. For though Eru appointed to you to die not in Eä, and no sickness may assail you, yet slain ye may be, and slain ye shall be: by weapon and by torment and by grief; and your houseless spirits shall come then to Mandos. There long shall ye abide and yearn for your bodies, and find little pity though all whom ye have slain should entreat for you. And those that endure in Middle-earth and come not to Mandos shall grow weary of the world as with a great burden, and shall wane, and become as shadows of regret before the younger race that cometh after. The Valar have spoken."

-- J.R.R Tolkien, Quenta Silmarillion --

.

[edennill-archived]

...and the Valar will fence Valinor against you, and shut you out, so that not even the echo of your lamentation shall pass over the mountains.

Pet theory:

The Valar are at first incredibly opposed to the idea of telling the elves who stayed in Valinor anything about their exiled kin — not for any nefarious reasons, but it takes a while for the remaining Amanyar to convince them that actually no news is much more nerve-wracking than bad news.

I mean this is actually very illogical and I wouldn't expect beings that experience emotions very differently if at all to guess, but it is like that nonetheless

not that it would have been possible to hide how bad things are once people start to feel their family dying en masse anyway