#this is not meant to be like. feanorian negative or kidnap fam negative

[welcomingdisaster]

disclaimer: this is very much not intended to be referring any one specific depiction and more of a general fandom trend-- i am not talking about any one specific art, fic, etc.

that being said: does anyone else feel a little strange about kidnap!fam depictions that have m&m hugging/holding/picking up the twins early on in that relationship?

i do believe in that line about love growing between maglor and the twins, and i do 100% accept that could have been sweet/cuddly at some point. but i've noticed a trend where adults tend to ignore the emotions/bodily autonomy of children in fiction, and a lot of the depictions that have m&m cuddling e&e on their way out of the havens kind of give me that vibe?

like, i used to work in a daycare with four year olds. i would have kids that came to me every day, who trusted me and liked me, and felt safe with me. and still, when those kids got truly, really upset, most of the time they wanted their parents, and comforting them often felt like a poor substitute. and a lot of kids, even at that age, do not wanna be touched by strangers, even strangers they have good reason to trust.

kids are smart. they know who has been there for them, they know who is hurting the people they care about, and they are not going to just latch on to the closest adult and forget their parents.

i fully think a year into living with him, elrond and elros love and trust maglor. but immediately after the massacre? those kids are not going to want to be picked up by two scary enemies covered in blood. those kids are most likely screaming and crying and hitting. those kids want their mom. those kids are telling maglor they hate him 1000x times.

and i feel like that messiness only makes that relationship more interesting and compelling to me? like, i think it's more compelling for maglor to decide to take care of kids who are (rightfully!) very hostile to him, i think it's more interesting for elrond and elros to have very mixed and very complicated feelings, and i think the fact that the three of them end up loving each other like family is only more powerful in that scenario.