#to watch their much-despised younger sibling expire just the same way in their arms just after awkward spiteful but also true reconciliation

[tanoraqui]

Your what if fics are so so good. I reread them often. I love the entire worlds you make out of a question

-@outofangband

Thank you! I love For Want Of A Nail AUs so much, ie, change one thing and see what spirals out. They’re such a good time for exploring the consequences in a story, the what-leads-to-what, and for examining the characters—what about them is fundamental to the character, and what is shaped by circumstance? What is part of them as characterization, and what is part of them as narrative function? What plot points will they always do because of who they are as a (fictional) person; what will they always do—or not do, in an au!—because to not do so would be to completely change their narrative/thematic place? What major plot points must happen, but it would ring differently if a different character did them? How would a certain plot point not happening change the events and the themes of the story? 

Eventually you start to realize that every story is an elaborately branching tree starting from the first words, potential paths of divergence in every character, every choice, every scene…and it’s so fun to explore what’s down a different path!

Also, when writing them out, I’m always picking and choosing the most interesting paths—which is a good writing technique in general. For instance, in last night’s oh-god-I-accidentally-wrote-4k Fëanor-Fingolfin Mom/Birth Order Swap…a small example is I faced the choice of, which son of Fëanor Curufinwë should Finrod be assigned Best Friends From Birth? (Taking “Finrod gets a parentally-assigned Best Friend From Birth as a staple of any timeline, not bc it’s thematic so much as bc it’s fun, but adjusting to the fact that Fëanor and Finarfin are the full-brothers in this au, and Fingolfin is Miriel’s son who hates the existence of all his half-siblings). By my personal timeline of Finwëan births, moving the House of Fëanor forward to start at Fingolfin’s birth but leaving Finarfin as-if puts Finrod between Celegorm and Caranthir, so those were my choices. Celegorm would make fun (painful) cross-timeline echoes of What Could Have Been re: What Happened In Nargothrond, and potential future-in-this-au interesting divergence or even greater betrayal…but, especially with the limited timeframe I was writing, I decided that was less good than the raw humor of the grumpiest and friendliest Finwëans being best friends. So, Caranthir is it!

(Also, obligatory reminder that Caranthir was diplomatically skilled enough to have a thriving, very profitable trade network, and the real result of a Caranthir-Finrod friendship would be a friendly, all-consuming trade empire spanning continents.)

A more notable choice, for The Argument: I actually do lean toward the position that it’s a fundamental part of Fëanor’s characterization that he’d be the one to say, “fuck this, let’s go somewhere else!” Plus I’ve established Arakáno as so firmly settled in Tirion…but that’s why I chose to flip it, because, frankly, if Curufinwë son of Indis started agitating to leave Aman, sure there’d be a fight, but I think ultimately it’d shake out to Arakáno son of Miriel being like, “Great! Good riddance! Here’s your stuff, here’s your boats I negotiated Olwë—look, Father, I’m helping. Have fun in Middle Earth! Never come back!” Not many people would go with him, even for the Silmarils, and Melkor would have them ambushed and the gems stolen the second they set foot in Beleriand, and it just wouldn’t be as interesting a story.

…Or maybe there is potential there! But the other chief problem is: the Story has then moved to Beleriand and Arakáno himself is no longer in it, and THAT fundamentally doesn’t work bc the real trick to this au, the reason I wasn’t sure it would work and frankly I’m still not sure it’d work long-term, is that the protagonist has changed. When I saw canon!Fëanor, Miriel’s son, has a literal excess of fëa energy, what I’m really doing is creating an in-world mechanism to express his role as Protagonist. Or, as Driver of the Story? Let’s use them interchangeably. Fëanor is a well-built character, so his personality and his actions and his narrative function all tie together—he makes hot-tempered decisions at key moments! He creates world-changing gems! He rouses crowds to follow him! He drives the story, and he drives it so hard that it’s driven in the direction he sets for the rest of the First Age, and for the rest of Arda that we know! (Aragorn heir of Isildur heir of Elros, whose childhood was utterly shaped by the Oath and those who followed it! The One Ring made to master the Nine, Seven, and Three, made by “Annatar” and the Gwaith-y-Mirdain because Celebrimbor chose not to say “Get thee gone” to the Maia at his door! The star-glass!)

So, what is characterization and what is narrative function? I posited: the hot temper and creative genius are fundamental characterization, but without the semi-literal Protagonist Energy, the temper is a little calmer, or at least less enduring, and less able to sway others, and the creative genius…will lead him exactly down Miriel’s road. For Fingolfin, I posited: even with extra fire in his soul, he will always be the second to lose his temper, and the one to set his feet and his people and say, “Here I stand and defend.” But I also posit: Miriel’s child, born Marred, born Too Much, feeling abandoned and robbed so early, will never be content in Valinor! And isn’t it neat to dwell on how even canon!Fëanor had so many reasons to be aligned with the Valar? (Studying in Aulë’s halls and marrying Aulendil’s daughter; one of his sons is favored by Oromë; Varda herself hallowed his greatest work…)

But after the Darkening we get to the Oath, that greatest of plot-drivers, and okay, that should really be a Protagonist thing even though the total lack of forethought is very Fëanor… I can see Curufinwë collapsed with the theft of the Silmarils, maybe even expiring (last breath, exactly a la Miriel) in Arakáno’s arms, and then the news comes about Finwë… Arakáno reacts to all of this Completely Normally, by which I mean fire, wrath, and Oaths… (though I’m not sure which sons would swear with him, and also, the wording and sentiment would be a little different, and that all matters…) They still steal the ships and kill for them, of course they do; nobody wants to cross the Ice if there’s another option and the Teleri would always fight back. Doom, fear of betrayal and theft once more of ships…

BUT THEN, even if Arakáno did burn the ships behind him, I think it IS a fundamental character aspect that, where Fëanor leaps from fiery rash decision to fiery rash decision (Alqualdondë! Losgar! Charging Balrogs!), Fingolfin makes 1 notable Terrible Idea then grits his teeth and carefully, strategically follows the fuck through (Ice, Siege)…until he EVENTUALLY hits a This Isn’t Working despair threshold, snaps, and charges Morgoth singlehandedly… In short: I don’t think Arakáno son of Miriel would get himself killed 3 days after reaching Beleriand? Which changes…everything, bc then you still have your Protagonist around, driving the plot in person rather than with the ghost of him, and idk what to do with that bc I think practically he’d do much the same as Fingolfin in canon but that doesn’t feel enough, and…

Thus, I stopped the story where I did. Also because it was 5am.