#this time sons of feanor focused

[thescrapwitch]

I am once again planning a Fourth Age “get these Feanorions some therapy” fic because apparently I just can’t stop writing those 🙃

[lesbiansforboromir]

Inspired by the Hunt for Gollum 2 day fiasco (I suppose it wasn't really a fiasco, genuinely happy they came to such a quick resolution, I will give it to them), I noticed a bunch of people said they'd never heard of the Hunt for Gollum fanfilm and was surprised! So here are some more tolkien fan films on youtube that you can watch right now! A friend of mine coalated all of these for our server and we binged them all, which was a really great time and I would heartily recommend.

Obviously, first; The Hunt for Gollum, a 40min shortfilm pretty much entirely about Aragorn, you guessed it, hunting gollum. But there's also a few neat interactions with other characters too and the production is of an extremely good quality for what it is.

Then you have Born of Hope, from the same company as hunt for gollum, this one focuses more on Arathorn and Gilraen's relationship and Aragorn's tumultuous birth. It's very depressing but I also really liked the casting of Arathorn and is worth a watch.

Horn of Gondor is a short 20min fanfilm with a pretty inventive premise, focusing on Borondir's in-universe fabled ride to deliver Steward Cirion's request for an alliance with the ancestral rohirrim to Eorl their king, thereby saving Gondor from defeat. I find it a little lacklustre and it doesnt really measure up to it's concept but the attempt is still admirable and there is some real and clear passion behind it so still worth a watch.

Wings Over Arda is, gonna be honest, my favourite one of the lot. It is an hour long and extremely ambitiously attempts to feature events from Tuor's meeting with Ulmo, to the attack of the Sons of Feanor upon Doriath. It essentially fails to live up to the auspicousness of any of these things, but it is EXTREMELY earnest and the casting for Dior in particular is now just burned into my brain. It feels kind of like it was made in the 1980s too which I just love for a film that came out 2 years ago. It's really fun, give it a go.

One of the Seven is more of a hobbit movie fanfilm, referencing PJ's Thranduil backstory of losing his wife and the hunt for her jewels, but also involving dwarves and elves bickering over unspecified rings. It has the brightest colour pallette of all the films which is a visual relief and all the costumes are really detailed, mainly because I suspect this was made my cosplayers who just had some time on their hands. It's fun and campy and only 25mins so fully digestable, even if it's a little dwarf-ist.

Lastly there's The Peril to the Shire, even though cards on the table I have not watched this one. It is three hours long and was made by a bunch of homeschooled children somewhere, featuring entirely child actors and about Rosie Cotten defending the Shire pre-scouring. From what I've seen, the kids are having a great time doing it, but the audio is also really hard to hear clearly so this is more of a challenge than a suggestion.

[curufiin]

i have some thoughts regarding Celebrimbor’s mother because i disagree with the idea that good people with shitty fathers must’ve gotten their ideals from their mothers. WRONG! We need shit mom representation so here we go

I don’t have a name for her yet. Sorry guys

She’s a highly renowned and respected noldo linguist who focuses on etymology. She is also older than Curufin.

She is NOT a fan of the Noldo royal family, especially the feanorian line. The kids Finwe had with Indis are ok but my god Feanor and his brats are insufferable.

Unfortunately her being so respected, especially in one of Feanor’s own fields, means that he gave her a few glances, decided he liked her, and arranged with her family to have her wed Curufin.

And you do not just say to the crown prince of the Noldor that no i don’t want to marry your twat son, so…

Needless to say neither of them were happy about it.

She was especially not pleased because let’s just say she enjoyed the company of her own sex or whatever GRRM likes to say. And Curufin is eyeing up Finrod but we knew that already

Anyway they have a som because Daddy Feen reaaally wants a grandchild.

Fucking Curufin reaffirms her opinion that the sons of feanor have absolutely zero redeeming qualities. Curufin’s only redeeming quality is that he’s snarky and mean and she kinda likes it after thinking about it for a while

Brimby is born.

Curufin: we must name him Feanaro in honor of- her: you will NOT name our son feanaro or so help me manwe

As compromise, brimby is named curufinwe but she got to name him tyelperinquar. <3

She didn’t do much of the child raising thing at all outside of breastfeeding because baby shit and piss is gross and Curufin agrees on that, so they mutually dump the responsibility on servants. She goes to mingle with her girl friends.

Brimby grows up, she gets along with Curufin just a little more because he is also annoying about linguistics. They complain about his brothers together. Curufin has a lot of drama and gossip that she shares with her girl space friends.

The thing with Fingolfin happens. She reluctantly goes with the fam to Formenos, mostly for Celebrimbor’s sake.

Unfortunately the first kinslaying thing happens. Perfect time to finally ditch the royal fuckheads once and for all. And the rest is history.

[doodle-pops]

Hey girl! 😁

How you’ve been?? I hope you are doing great and that things are easy.

I wanted to ask if you had any advice for writing Maedhros and a little bit of Namo as well? While I have my own thing going on I don’t think I like it and wanted to know if you have some tips and tricks.

With my love! ❤️🫂

Heyo! My life has recently been a tragedy as a series of unfortunate events (nothing severe, more comical) keep occurring to me. All my years of being accident-prone have caught up to me. I hope you’re doing better than me 👁👁🫵

Description & Dialogue:

But onto your question. Everyone has their view on a character's personality, and for both Maedhros and Námo, it seems pretty evident in the source material what their traits are.

Maedhros

Prideful & Tempered

Determined & Ambitious

Brave

Burdened

Compassionate/Caring

Intelligent

Enduring

Conflicted

Propriety-based

Family-oriented

LOYAL

Reserved

Námo

Authoritative

Solemn

Stern

Just

Omniscient

Detached & Reserved

Respectful

Wise

Mysterious & Enigmatic

Those are also the personality traits I tend to use when writing their character with the inclusion of them having a bit of humour, ie; their sense of humour. It is also important to remember that it’s fanfiction, so you have free will to alter their personalities a tad bit based on the genre and AU. At the same time, keep certain traits they are renowned for having.

Example: Maedhros being the son of Feanor enables him to have the classic Feanorian temper and pride. Furthermore, taking a look at his role during their exile, he becomes driven and feels burdened by the weight of the war. In any situation for Maedhros, we can assume that’s the qualities he’ll display for sure, not just in exile.

When writing, dialogue or describing an action is a great way to display their quality. For most people, dialogue tends to be easier than going through the trials of describing. It all depends on you the writer and the scene you’re setting. There are times when description is better than dialogue and vice versa because show and not tell. So, ensure the scene you’re creating focuses on whichever is your strong point.

Writing Tips:

I sometimes feel like I’m the wrong person to give writing tips when I write like a mad woman when inspiration hits me out of nowhere. So:

Create lots of headcanons to make writing scenes and personalities better, and then include them in the stories. Eg: Námo reacting to you falling into Middle Earth, Maedhros Meeting Modern Reader (Valinor or Beleriand), Námo adopting Reader…

Play around with the timelines and find which suits you more, which would give you more room to create, or source material. You can turn it into Canon Divergence, an AU or the 4th Age when everyone returns.

Write down dialogues and descriptions when they pop up and note the scene it would occur.

Make lots of drafts and edit over and over and over again until it’s to your standard.

Get yourself into a writing mood. Listen to music, watch a show/movie, or a cartoon, go for a walk and let your mind wander. It’s terrible writing a story or creating a plot on an empty brain.

Sometimes the original plot you had in mind for the fic doesn’t work out. That’s alright. Do a little more brainstorming, rewrite the storyline or lastly, alter the plot.

Let me know if you require any more assistance! 😊

[veliseraptor]

Top 5 fucked up family bonds!

oh mannn. I feel like this one fluctuates depending on, like, what fandoms I'm focused on at the moment, but to try to shake it up a little since I've answered a question like this before (though that was specifically for siblings! and no shade! just challenging myself, mostly, since most of these are probably going to end up being siblings, that's just what I'm like)

1. Azula and Zuko. Since Avatar is in the air lately and I just queued a post about them, and I am deeply invested in their relationship even if I don't talk about it a huge amount these days - I think about this one in particular from Azula's persepctive. The way that Zuko is the negative that Azula measures herself against, that she pretends not to care about him but I think he occupies a substantial part of the way that she constructs herself in opposition to him, as everything he isn't, the negative model she will never be. But then there is Zuko's end of things, the push-pull between the ever-present comparison between them where he falls short and the fact that I think he genuinely does care for her even as he doesn't, I think, really know how to deal with her, or really understand her. And also any family relationship involving attempted murder is going to be like catnip to me.

2. Kinn and Vegas. Family dynamics where I am both very into the family dynamic and also kind of ship them occupy 3/5 positions on this list, which says something that I think is just about the way that sufficiently obsessive and entangled relationships between a pair of people is going to lure me into seeing what I can do to make it more fucked up (with possible fucking). But anyway!

I love how they make each other worse, all of the time. They bring out the absolute worst in each other, always; they fail to see each other clearly and perceive each other beyond their flaws but also beyond how their respective fathers have pitted them against each other like fighting roosters. They're mutually obsessed with each other no matter how much I think Kinn would like to pretend that he is aloof and indifferent. It's a mess. It's delightful. Also the only non-siblings on this list. Notable for the fact that in their first scene I failed to recognize them as cousins and assigned them ex-boyfriend energy.

3. Felix and Mildmay. Okay so I've included them on lists like this before but they deserve a mention anyway. Because boy! What a mess! From the beginning! They love each other so much and it's a disaster! Felix's attraction to Mildmay at least in part because he doesn't know how to love without sex! Mildmay's hopeless attachment to Felix despite all the cruelty he dishes out! They're just...I love them and I love their mess of a relationship and I also love how it develops over the course of the books into something better. Honestly the only one of these pairs that does that. Kudos to them.

4. Celegorm and Curufin. Okay, this one is built a little bit on a towering edifice of headcanon, but so sue me, and it's not entirely! There is on page content for these two! So there!

A friend of mine has the tag for these two #the other brotherwives and I feel like in some ways that sums it up for me - the way that they are, again, entangled in each other in a way where they always come as a pair, and their personalities both complement and contrast each other, and they're just so. All the sons of Feanor are a mess of codependent relationships but these two kind of stand out by virtue of always being paired, in everything, including all their worst choices, even their deaths. And again, I have a towering edifice of headcanon in particular about how their relationship both decays and calcifies over time, becoming both more desperately close and also more tangled with resentment at the way things fall out, but ultimately they can't be separated from each other.

5. Millions Knives and Vash. Throwing out a wildcard I haven't talked about much, but like. Wow! Another sibling relationship tailored to cater to me that came as a surprise out of left field and decked me in the face! I still need to read the manga but at least when it comes to Trigun: Stampede the sheer toxicity here, the fucked up love and protectiveness and possessiveness and guilt and the way that ultimately while Knives' goals exploit Vash it doesn't, I don't think, erase the love; I think he still sees it as for Vash's own good, even as he's doing much the same thing he deplores when humans do it. I have headcanons about part of Knives' motivation for crashing the ships has to do not just with self-protection but protection for Vash, and the way that decays over time is. Chef's kiss. Love it.

Bonus mention to Lucivar and Daemon and, because I just can't leave them off and they do still have a special place in my heart, Thor and Loki. But also for a non-sibling relationship again possibly out of left field, I actually think a lot about Loki and Odin too, and if I still have MCU feelings sometimes those are one of them.

[the-golden-ghost]

Naturally I have to ask you about Fingolfin in turn, and also Curufin!

Fingolfin:

Obsessed with their character arc

What's wrong with them (affectionate)

This is the best character in the work

Not enough screen time

Brilliant showstopping incredible. He's the High King with the noble veneer and the hell of a lot of brother issues and daddy issues beneath the surface. I want to know more about his interpersonal relationships. He's a character that's got a lot of presence but is somewhat enigmatic and rarely takes the spotlight but when he DOES take the spotlight OH BOY does he ever take it. And then you have to wonder what was going on behind the scenes, what led to that, you know?

Also, and the reason I listed him as the best character in the work and not Feanor even though Feanor has more... character, I guess, is because I actually was aware of only one Silmarillion character (not counting Elrond) before picking up the book and that's him. His influence and legacy <3

I will say I agree with what you said about the fandom tending to not focus on his flaws, but I think that's part of who he is as a character - it's hard to separate Fingolfin, the person, from Fingolfin, the king. He's the wisest of Finwe's sons, he's the noble and steady and forthright leader who takes command in the worst of situations, the moon rises at his arrival, he's the picturesque image of the Good and Venerable Warrior-Monarch.

He's also a petty bastard who openly voiced his plans to usurp his brother. But that's kind of easy to forget in the grand scheme of things because of Fingolfin, the symbol. Because even if he wasn't a wholly flawless ruler with no personal foibles, when he dies... you kind of feel like he was. Truly, who could ever replace him.

Curufin:

Everyone but me is wrong about them <3

They got done dirty by the creator (?)

Rotating them in my brain like a fork in a microwave

What's wrong with them (affectionate)

What's wrong with them (derogatory)

Curufin's tricky (pun intended). There's a lot there and there's also not much, and what we DO have is hard to pin down and conceptualize in a single character, if that makes sense? What I find fequently with him in the fandom (although I confess I haven't delved super deep either) is that he only gets focused on when another character is being explored through him. Celebrimbor, Feanor, sometimes Maedhros. That or it's his dynamic with Celegorm, which is fun but I wish he was more fleshed out in his own right, not just what he can be to other people.

On the other hand though I get why this happens, because in canon he's largely a minor antagonist and we have so little of his internal thoughts (if any?). The few times he speaks he's starting shit and someone else is finishing it. He had a son (and maybe a daughter, hard to tell what's deep lore and what's fanon/someone's headcanon). He's in like every battle. He's got so many hobbies and he's not legendary at any of them. He's mostly just following Celegorm around. And yet.

I sort of get the feeling even Tolkien didn't really see him as much more than a vehicle for the Themes. He has to have son, because the rings need to be made by a descendant of Feanor. He needs to be proud and arrogant and a skilled craftsman, good with languages, because he's Feanor's son and image, but he can't be exceptional at it in any way, because Feanor can't be lessened. He needs to be Celegorm's right hand man and the one to put darkness into his heart, because Celegorm could not have turned dark on his own, or else the gods may have been wrong in selecting him as a favorite. He was married offscreen so that he could have a child, and then his wife vanished equally offscreen because Curufin is too wicked to be happily married, and we'll never know what happened to her, not even her name, or how that may have affected her husband, her child(ren?), her family. He has no motives of his own because he is not meant to be an active agent in the story, he's reactive. He's the little shit so Maedhros doesn't have to be. He's the conniver and the woman-stealer so Celegorm doesn't have to be. He doesn't even get the cool narrative fall into darkness that Maedhros gets - he was always dark. Someone had to be.

I guess my thought on him is that even if he was largely a character that seems to have been cobbled together to make the Narrative Flow with no thought for who that would turn him into, I want to know about that. There's plenty of Doyalist explanations for who he is and why he's like that - but the Watsonian ones I think there could be some interesting stuff there. What is wrong with him, indeed.

[eri-pl]

Silmarils, grief and hope.

We all know grief is a big theme and all that, and related to Tolkien's life. But. The Silmarils.

Long chaotic post about "wanting the Silmarils is related to having unprocessed grief" and "the Silmarils are hope, but Not Like That".

(I'm not sure how many there are for whom it makes a difference, but I assume it's a non-zero amount: sort of Morgoth-pov at the very end which may be emotionally intense. For convenience, it's separated with a picture. The rest is much more calm, I think. Just chaotic and may have autocorrect errors.)

Why do so many people (allegedly) want them more than it would make sense, even if they aren't cursed?

So many events on the story of those jewels are related to grief. Feanor makes them after his mother does and he cannot process his feelings properly (which is not his fault; where would he learn to process them? But it is a thing.)

Then he loses them when his father dies and really wants them back, swears the oath. Then he does and his sons swear the oath again, and of course they don't process their grief properly either.

Oh and I forgot, before that, the Valar. They lose the Trees and want them back. Interestingly, it's not Manwe (the king) who is most focused on getting the Silmarils for that, nor Varda (most associated with them), but Yavanna (sure, it was her trees, but also she's the most loss-avoiding Vala, she misses each tree that is being cut) and Tulkas (lowest emotional intelligence of all proper Valar). Again, the perceived need to get the Silmarils is where there's some unprocessed grief, and most intense in those Valar who would have the hardest time processing it.

(and Aule! He actively advocates for granite keeping it. But I'm sure the "my best Maia joined Morgoth, I'm constantly bullied, my wife doesn't like me, and I am never a jerk despite it all" guy is pretty good at processing his negative feelings.)

(Also, how the sun and moon are made? The fruit grow when Nienna cries, and it is Nienna, she is processing the grief in a proper, healthy way. And it... It solves the problem (lack of light) for which the Silmarils were "necessary". Sure, the moon and sun are lesser, not as beautiful... But there's a theme there. Namely, the third of them. 🙂 Things change. You can't fix anything important by going Ctrl+Z on it. You have to go forward, not backwards.)

The Silmarils are the feeling of hope (see: reactions to Gil-Estel, and it's very name) they are a promise that it all will be good. They are a good thing, but to an untrained eye the promise seems much more immediate, much more like something that can be done here and now.

If I only had them, all would be fine.

And they are not this, Nienna would know, I'm pretty sure Varda knew too when she blessed them (she may have not realized how others see it). They are just a reminder of something unsaid. Estel, not amdir. (It's a little funny to me how this means "looking up" but it's not for this post)

Anyway, the Silmarils. Thingol who realizes he'll lose his daughter (doesn't know how much he would lose her, but a sad marriage to a diet Man is enough, also a kid growing up can be a grief in itself. Or maybe it is because she will be mortal, maybe he suffers from what @dfwbwfbbwfbwf called "pre-traumatic stress disorder"). And a Silmaril is the only thing that could let him through the pain of losing his daughter.

And then he carries it, of course he does, if he let it go he would have to face his pain. He dies and Luthien wears the jewel, then after her death - Dior. A chain of deaths and losses and a beautiful gem.

It is too much for their half-mortal eyes, too much hope to be able to let go of it even if they had a reason.

And Maedhros starts demanding it after Unnumbered Tears (unnumbered, unprocessed, unhealed), which sure, has also a more political/reasonable explanation (he's out of other options), but also, it's a lot of grief.

And it goes into a chain of deaths.

Melian never cared about the Silmaril (she cared about it as a problem, but not about having it). Beren gave it up easily. Earendil have it to the Valar (they have it back later).

The dwarves... There are two things here. One is generational trauma of "the sindar hunted our ancestors for sport"+general racism. The other is that dwarves generally have more need of hope I think... Elves are reborn, Men are said to go somewhere beautiful and mysterious, and the Dwarves??? It's very uncertain.

And at the end it is Makalaure "singing apology songs which doesn't make me less of a murderer, just a hypocrite, but at least helps me process my traumas" Kanafinwe who throws the hope away because someone else would make a better use of it probably, and goes on to live through his darkness.

It's so hard to face your pain and start looking not only at hope for you, but at hope for the others. And sometimes what the world needs to have more hope, is you facing your pain.

I can't find a clear name for what the Silmarils are/mean in this... Something close to hope, but also something you must let go of to process your grief... It's inherently good, but can be overused... I'm sure there's something fitting, I just can't find it.

And the "Feanor will break the Silmarils" thing? For the trees? Seriously? No. He will break then because he will learn to live without them, to live with his pain. He breaks then because they aren't relevant anymore. (Who said that about fulfilled hope not being called hope anymore? My favorite "I can write more weird and more enigmatic stuff that you, but it makes waaay more actual sense than your posts anyway" guy?) He breaks them, but it's not necessary, it's just natural.

(but also tbh they do look a little like seeds so idk why not have new trees, they are kinda cool... well my perception of them looking like seeds is based mostly on "need to break" anyway... My thinking goes in atypical ways)

And there's Morgoth. Oh of course there's Morgoth. The dark Vala who couldn't (wouldn't) process his feelings even if they came with a manual. (He's an Ainu. They very likely initially came with a manual. But he thought he knew better)

He wants to steal hope and blacken it, and destroy it, right?

So... He feeds the Silmarils to Ungoliant? Tries to break them? Hides them far away?

No.

He wears them on his face, even if it hurts terribly. It hurts like dying. This is how clinging to your ego defences feels like. "the pain demands to be felt", to quote my favorite psychology YouTuber writing someone else. If you don't face it, it will still burn. If you run away from it, it will still be there. If you cling to the "I am not sad, everything is fine, it's great", it will burn your face.

But anything else would mean admitting there's a problem. Admitting that they burn would mean admitting that he was wrong. That his pain is there, and also it's not purely (not mostly tbh) others' fault, that he's not the victim in here.

What pain?

Well if you want my opinion, it's funny that it was Finwe who guarded the Silmarils. Finwë who favored his older, more temperamental, more brilliant son and made him the crown prince. Finwë who never told Feanor to sit down and cut his BS. Finwë who everyone says it's such a great father. So if everyone says that, it is rational to expect such behavior, right? It's valid to be angry about being treated in a different way? It must be. Anything else would mean that he was wrong.

It's better to burn.

[annoyinglandmagazine]

5 Times the Feanorians were frustratingly siblingy and 1 time they weren’t

4. The general’s knock was greeted by a calm ‘come in’ as he pushed open the door to the lord of Himring’s drawing room with the days schedule already on his lips before he was abruptly interrupted by Celegorm pushing his way past, grabbing a pastry off the table and flinging himself down onto the couch next to Huan, forgoing any invitation from either the guards or his brother. He tried to ignore it and begin his report but he was immediately cut off by the second son of Feanor who was tuning his harp while lying on a rug with his feet resting up on an armchair ‘No talking about work during midweek breakfasts.’ What? He’d never seen his lord have a problem with working from the crack of dawn onwards before nor had he heard such a complaint from any of his contemporaries either.

Maglor continued while closing his eyes as if focusing on his composing before strumming out a few clear notes ‘Not literal midweek breakfasts. We just call it that.’ This answered precisely nothing and just left him wondering what ‘it’ was supposed to be. He didn’t have the chance to spend more time wondering though because Caranthir chose this moment to make himself known from whatever corner of the room he’d been hiding in by perching on the desk Maedhros was leaning his elbow on while flicking through some journal on linguistics. Caranthir nudged his shoulder with a little glare while inclining his head toward the tray Celegorm had had no qualms about pillaging. ‘You should eat. At least take an apple.’ Maedhros laid his book down to meet his brothers eyes with an unimpressed eye roll ‘I thought we agreed not to criticise each other’s personal habits. Because I can tell you right now that your sleep schedule is no where in the parameters of normal and never has been.’ Caranthir reached back and scraped a thin layer of butter and marmalade onto a few slices of bread and cut them into quarters on a plate along with a few pieces of fruit all while maintaining eye contact. ‘You don’t have to eat much. I know you don’t feel like it. But just take something. Please Nelyo.’

Maedhros sighed and ate a slice of bread to subtle exhales of relief from the siblings who had been watching the interaction with no small amount of trepidation. Caranthir smiled softly and kissed his brother’s cheek before pulling some embroidery out of his pocket and splaying himself across the armchair with Maglor’s legs in his lap. He looked more closely around the room, not wishing to be caught off guard by more princes materialising from the walls and sure enough there was Curufin fiddling with some metal rods on the windowsill and Amras helping Celegorm untangle some kind of snare.

He was no more sure about what was going on than he was before. ‘Are you just going to stand there?’ Curufin raised an eyebrow in that uniquely Feanorian manner that he saw far too much in his chosen career path. ‘We’ll be there for the meeting at noon, we’d prefer to be left in our own company until then. Give us two hours.’ He backed away to the door in a daze without any further prompting necessary to make him want to get away from whatever was going on here.

That many Feanorians in a room, fully alert, and wishing to keep their conversation secret even from their own vassals? Governments, monarchies, even gods should be getting very nervous for their job stability. The brothers came out of the room two hours later without a detailed plan to stage a coup. There did however appear 14 essays on the history of Kuzdhul, 4 new operas, a detailed sketch comparison of different methods of trapping wild boar, 17 embroidered blankets, a prototype for a new tool for forge use and twenty mended deer traps. The kitchens also noted the loss of a concerning amount of pastries and caffeinated beverages.

[thescrapwitch]

Perhaps its bad fanfom etiquette but may I ask what fics or concept of a fics you are working on lately ? Or more exactly the ones you are the most excited about ? The one that spark joy

Sorry if it is rude

-mellon

Hello! Its not rude at all! I am always happy to ramble about my writing 😊

So, my current WIPs can be broken up into three categories: my ongoing multi-chapter fics, my new multi-chapter fics, and my one shots (I have too many WIPs as you can guess from that). They are all in varying states of completion, but the main ones I'm focusing on right now are:

Ongoing fics

Chapter 14 of For Want of A Crown (my Canon-Divergent AU where the Teleri agree to give Feanor the ships but things still go very wrong anyway)

Chapter 3 of Ashes to Ashes (my Feanor is Gil-Galad AU)

New multi-chapter fics

Chapter 1 of Oh Sing, Defiant Stars (where Maglor gets amnesia during the 3rd kinslaying and kidnaps E+E anyway - if you remember the little writing snippet about "Lindir", Maedhros and the stones, that is from this fic)

Chapter 1 of Restoration (the Sons of Feanor are re-emboided but exiled to a ruined Formenos and together must repair their old home and their lives)

One shots

Where Love Resides (a ruined, sentient Imladris tells its history to a visiting hobbit)

Little Crab on a Big Mission (Maedhros plans to propose to Fingon, but accidentally leaves behind the ring. Maglor must brave great dangers - aka a house packed with people - in order to return it to him before its too late)

Little Crab in the Big City (Feanor loses his crab-son at the mall. He and Maedhros scramble to find him. Meanwhile Maglor and Bilbo go on a tour of Tirion)

This is Not a Second Chance (Celebrimbor gets dragon-amnesia after the fall of Nargothrond and is his rescued by his family. As he heals, so does the rift between them, but this is a mostly canon-compliant fic so it all ends tragically anyway)

Long Awaited (the next fic in my The Stars Thy Witness series, where Thingol reunites with an old friend and must decide his place in growing war)

Rewrite the Stars (the next and final fic in my Terrible Decisions series, a Silvergifting second chance AU where the world's most dysfunctional couple get therapy through time travel)

Again, these are only the ones I am currently focusing on. There are so many, many more in my Google Docs. I am haunted by WIPs, and who knows what new ones will suddenly pop into my brain in the middle of the night and highjack my brain (ex: I had a thought last night about Feanaro facing orcs with a tiny Maitimo and Makalaure hiding behind him. Why is this happening? Who knows, but the image intrigues me).

[feanorianweek]

Hi there, thanks for running Feanorian Week again! A few ideas that come to mind for the prompts, feel free to take or ignore of course:

Consider expanding the character list to include Celebrimbor and the mentioned wives of Feanor's sons. I know some folks have fantastic ways of approaching these canon ghosts. Perhaps also Finwe and Miriel.

The daily prompts could include quotes from the Silm focusing on different characters/periods that inspire folks to revisit canon

The Feanorians have a lot of interactions with other characters from the Silm - Valar, other Valinorean elves, Sindar, Elves of Ossiriand, Dwarves, Easterlings, etc. It could serve as a neat prompt list.

Thank you for the suggestion! I love including the wives, that's not something I thought of before. The quote idea is also very interesting too, especially for the reason you mentioned (if you've got any suggestions, don't hesitate to share them). And the last one, I love!

Thanks, i'll find a way to incorporate them. If not, feel free to let me know again! The prompt list will be coming out after the holidays, so it should give me enough time to make the changes, and even then new suggestions are still encouraged.

[lordgrimwing]

I'd like to know more about your Old Gods thingie, if you'd like to share. :3

Of course! you can also find an older post about it here.

As so many things often do, the OG universe has gotten kind of large and out of hand with so many characters and things that need to happen (I am but one lowly writer). As you can likely tell from looking at a few stories, the series focuses on our dearly adored family of Feanor. The basic idea is that there's this great and powerful malevolent force trapped under the mountain the family lives on, and It's escaping. Of course, I am a sucker for writing silly slice-of-life things, so we haven't seen much of the evil entity.

Here's some things that I like:

the homestead where much of the story takes place is the same one Feanor grew up at. Finwe sold it for a nominal price to Feanor and moved to the other side of the mountain with Indis and the rest of the family.

Is Nerdanel a witch? I wouldn't go that far, but certainly some of what she does is unexplainable.

Celegorm was abandoned in the forest as a little baby. Feanor found him and brought him home. Nerdanel was pregnant at the time, so Celegorm and Caranthir are only a handful of moths apart in age. Despite this (because of it?) the two sons do not get along very well.

Maedhros thinks cousin Fingon is very cute (there is so much incest in this au, let's be real).

Maglor is transmasc. His family is completely supportive but things get a little awkward in the nearby town at times. After a decade or two, most townsfolk forget that Nerdanel ever had a daughter.

Celegorm and Curufin are thick as thieves (of course, how could they be anything else?) and get into more than their fair share of trouble growing up. Curufin tries to be more level headed and focused after he has Celebrimbor.

Amrod and Amras were the surprise babies that came along a good 10 years after Nerdanel thought she was finished with babies. Of course, Feanor and most of the older brothers are excited to raise some cute little red haired babies.

Somehow, Celegorm still doesn't get the chance to be Maeglin's coolest uncle in the whole wide world.

Ah, I could go on and on.

Ask me about my WIPs!

[stilltrails]

I also think their pain is vastly different, and that might contribute to his choices.

Feanor lost a mother. Elrond lost a daughter, and that pain was shared by everyone. By Galadriel, Elladan and Elrohir, Celebrian, Celeborn--

While the story focuses on Elrond, he is not alone in his grief. He has an existing support system that understands him because his grief is not singular. Elrond was not the only person to love and lose Arwen, so many other did and are able to understand that grief with him.

Feanor did not have that option. At the time his mother left, no one understood what it was like. By the time Arwen left, Elrond had an entire family who understood what he went through because they were going through it too. Feanor was also a child, Elrond was not.

I don't think Feanor could do any of what Elrond did because he didn't have any of what Elrond had. I think they're similar in one sense, but Elrond succeeded in what he did because the people around him didn't fail him. They loved and share in his grief because they experience it.

And while Finwe experienced grief, he didn't do so with Feanor. He healed on his own, and left his son behind.

I'm not excusing Feanor at all. He could have absolutely done what Elrond did, but the barriers before him were considerably harder than they were for Elrond.

I think Bilbo would probably be a better comparison to Feanor in this instance. Not saying that Elrond isn't, but I feel like when it comes to being isolated from a society, those two have a lot in common.

So I think one thing that really drives Feanor is his grief– he looses Miriel, and he very clearly never recovers from that. There's the pain of loosing a parent and the added layer of Miriel's death being, on some level, a choice to leave Feanor. You can't tell me he didn't internalize the idea that he wasn't good enough for his mother to stay ay least a little. And I can't help but imagine that most of Valinor really wasn't helpful. There was probably a lot of vague sympathy with no real understanding of the situation, people who in theory thought Feanor had the right to grieve but reacted pretty badly to any actual displays of grief, and some people who insisted that Miriel chose to stay dead, Finwe and Indis were happily married, and therefore, Feanor shouldn't feel sad about it anymore. Even for those with more understanding of grief, it's still a really complicated situation. But you know who would understand Feanor?

Elrond. And the reason is Elros and Arwen– Elrond knows what it's like when someone you love dearly chooses to leave you, essentially forever, not because they don't care about you or because you weren't good enough, but because they have to make the best choice for themselves. And how you can respect that choice, and be glad that they did what they needed to, but still grieve them and the relationship you had with them. He understands those complicated feelings and how to process them in a healthy and non-destructive way.

And I'm losing my mind over this because Feanor is the one who starts the kinslayings and the cycle of violence between elves, and Elrond is the end result of all that violence; born to two refugees and raised largely by Feanor's sons. But despite all that, he's good and kind and able to focus on healing instead of pain. He ends the violence and makes a sanctuary where everyone is welcome. And he's able to do what Feanor never could, and not be consumed by his pain. And that means so much.

[eri-pl]

Musing, rambling, essay, headcanons: masterlist

(I don’t subscribe to all, those are potential HCs) (yes, you can use those)

Of the Ainur

old Valar headcanon for personalities and looks part 2 (back in the time I didn’t even remember Nienna too well) part 3: Melkor (2022) (I had that book and now I lost it…. :( )

Varda and Ulmo comparison (2024)

Namo HC (the problem of free will - related) (2024)

Namo’s feelings HC (mostly outsourced to siblings) (2024)

Aule and Yavanna and they work on their relationship by making stuff (2024)

What were the Blue Wizards for? (less fangirling edition. Spoiler: Sauron.)

Loose images of “Valinor is getting old and fading”, had a second part but it’s not publicly posted (because of too intense incomprehensible fangirling)

On the origins of Olorin and some other Maiar (it involves Melkor)

Olorin as Feanor’s fan (includes previous HC)

re: asks on Namo

re: what's my thing with Melkor exactly? (complicated, tldr: he's cool but wrong and it's sad, also he's got issues) | more thoughts

maybe they just asked to go govern Arda?

Re: asks Voices: Melkor; the rest of the Valar (focused on the Great Music)

Give the other Feanturi some psychopomping too

Melian didn't abandon Doriath (partially canon, partially hc)

[canon-ish] it was Sauron who "lost" Maedhros as a prisoner (Morgoth was busy with Men)

[TW very dark post incl sexual themes] Morgoth's loss of shapeshifting

Numerology of the Rings

Sauron's loss of "fair form" — was it a punishment or just a rersult?

Athrabeth, fangirling over the Gift of Men etc.

Whet is the Gift actually

Trying to explain what Men are for

East vs West (reclaiming the symbolics)

humans are to Legendarium as quantum mechanics is to physics.

Can "Athrabeth Finrod ah Andreth" be canon? (no, unless we blame Pengolodh, as we often do)

"the darkness in his eyes" (it's probably half in this category but anyway)

Weird musings on the term "Everlasting Darkness"

Chromaticism!!! (Or: the dissonance wasn't the problem) p1

Of Feanor (&sons)

About how he came to be (involves Sauron)  (old)

Another origin of Feanor (involves: the Valar don’t have a manual for Eruhini) (old)

Why does Melkor hate him more than any other Eruhini (2024)

Doom of the Noldor doesn’t work (this inspired Serindo the Intern)

Feanorians, Polish history and self-destruction (loose rambling)

“Thou” AKA Feanor being rude to everyone

How Maedhros pronounces his name

Let’s (for some reason) map the sons of Feanor to the Valar

Discussion about M&M stealing vs legally reclaiming the Silmarils, and related topics

re: Asks about Maglor and Maedhros

A bit more feels for Fëanáro

How he understood the “not the first one” remark.

The third Silmaril wouldn’t (maaaybe) burn them.

[crack lawyering] The Oath is cancelled

No, the weird wording of the Oath makes sense

So does the ship-burning (still wrong, but logical)

What did he mean by "Everlasting Darkness" (being a jerk edition)

But what about the Silmaril's rights?

How were the Silmarils made (the actual "technological" process)

About M&Ms discussion at the end (+ discussion on Melkor, his lies and various things in the reblogs) (re: to this earlier post)

A portrait from the days of bliss

Who gave them the idea of "all will be condemned to the Darkness if one breaks" (and yes, I think they did assume this)

Maglor + a Dwarf = Hobbits

The Feanorian heresy

Of language

Alliterative verse (the Oath, both versions, with marked alliterations). (Quenya, both in normal letters and Tengwar); early Feanor's speech alliterative; early Earendil poem alliterative;

“Anna” is a cool word

Quenya post-Third Age HC

Tengwar, it’s structure and names of the letters

Silme, sule, orthography and stuff

Boromir would be a perfectly legit Medieval Polish name

With edennill, trying to name the Silmarils (inspired by Silmarillion-ways-to-die)

Of Numenor

LotR movies should have less Isildur and more Ar-Pharazon

Making myself sad about Amandil and Pharazôn an all that 1 2

one good thing about Pharazôn's awful grandfather AKA Tar-Palantir's awful father

about Pharazôn's mother

Of other things - link

[annoyinglandmagazine]

♦️▪️for the ask game - the sons of feanor? (don’t feel pressure to talk about all of them 😅)

Thank for the ask! You’re right all 7 of them might be a bit much for one post and i don’t want to take too long but I think I’ll start with Maedhros and I’ll try to add to do some of the others later? I was going to do more but the Maedhros stuff got way out of control and I didn’t want to take too long on it if all of them turn out this length so I thought I might post it as it is and if there’s anyone in particular you’d like me to do please feel free to send a follow up ask!

He has always had a huge interest in politics. Like he’s not just good at it, he finds it fascinating the way that there can be so much hidden beneath the surface of every interaction and how much can be said and implied while remaining perfectly civil. He he spent of his youth and adolescence just watching the way people go about things and keeping up with everything that went on in court and he absolutely loved it. He spends days in the library reading diplomatic correspondence in the archives and trying to read the political climate from between the lines. He also learns by the time he’s almost of age that there are kinds power and influence that you can’t get with a title you were given at birth. For some situations the best kind of power you can have is for people to actual like you and want to help you. This is conveniently also around the time he’s coming of age and beginning to grow out of that gawky stage of being all limbs. So as well as his Prince Nelyafinwe mannerisms of extreme political awareness and intelligence he also learns how to lean into the fact that most elves of varying genders find him absolutely stunning. He doesn’t flirt exactly and never goes beyond a fairly innocent dance but he knows that aesthetic appreciation is a pretty big thing for a lot of elves and they can definitely be more inclined to cooperation when focused on his wide, pleasant smile. And one of the particular habits he picks up from this is that, since one of his most admired features (so much so that one of his name is based around it) are his waist length copper curls, he often subtly draws attention to them while in social situations. A little stray lock tucked behind an ear, tightening some braid work, pulling it over a shoulder, whenever he’s trying to make connections at some kind of function his hands will always run through his hair. It’s not even conscious at some point, he begins to find it reassuring because he subconsciously associates it with being something to fall back on when he doesn’t like where a conversation is going. He still finds himself doing it in Beleriand and he hates it. Partly because as soon as he feels hands in his hair he thinks of it being grabbed and stroked to taunt him in Angband but also because the reminder of the elf he used to be hurts, how small his worries were in comparison that something like a pretty smile would ease the things he considered tense discussions. The idea that something like that would mean anything to the Sindar ambassadors was laughable and he got frustrated with himself every time he slips into that particular mannerism though no one else sees it, except perhaps his brothers.

I feel like in Himring Maedhros has the most impersonal chambers out of any of his brothers. He’s paranoid about revealing too much and he hates the idea of extravagance mainly because of the fact he has an excessive fear about appearing weak so he overcompensates by making everything needlessly unpleasant for himself. There’s a constant draft and the stone floors aren’t carpeted so it’s even colder. He has fireplaces but he rarely uses them only really when he has visitors, which he doesn’t often do in his private rooms because of aforementioned paranoia, so we’re mainly talking about his brothers and Fingon who worry about his wellbeing in such temperatures even if they’re fooled into thinking he normally has a fire going. He receives gifts of things like blankets, rugs, wall hangings and paintings but never puts them in his living quarters out of a reluctance to attach personal value or sentimentality to material things (is this about the Silmarils? Probably.) Caranthir has more than once visited his brother in Himring and seen one of his embroidered blankets hung in the banquet hall like a tapestry. And he knows that he couldn’t possibly express offence, it was a very respectful place for a diplomatic gift, but it hadn’t been a diplomatic gift. He hadn’t spent some politically calculated sum of money to buy it for the Lord of Himring as some show of his loyalty, he’d knitted that with his own hands for his brother because he’d heard it was going to be a cold winter. It hadn’t been meant for the Lord of Himring it had been meant for Maedhros. Caranthir was beginning to worry his brother couldn’t tell the difference anymore. So he’s not offended but he is hurt, though he never shows it. He keeps sending them but knows deep down none will make it past that wooden door.

[lendmyboyfriendahand]

Half a dozen mutually exclusive ideas about Maedhros and Fingon getting married. These are all with marriages being oaths rather than just sex (If sex is enough to make someone married, they got married at a scandalously young age in a guestroom in their grandfather’s palace.)

In Tirion when they are young, knowing they are immortal and wanting to spend every second of eternity with each other. Life in Valinor is nearly perfect bliss, and marrying the best elf in the world will cut out the ‘nearly.’

In Formenos, while Feanor is exiled. Tensions between their families are the highest they’ve ever been, but Maedhros and Fingon still love each other. Surely now they have proven that their love can withstand the worst Fate throws at them.

By Lake Mithrim. When Maedhros asked Fingon to shoot him, Fingon requested that first they marry, so Fingon would at least have it for a moment before they were separated for neither knew how long. Maedhros refused to marry Fingon only to widow him, but said “Please do this for me; I shall marry you when next we meet.” They had not previously discussed marriage seriously, as it was forbidden due to incest / homosexuality / family politics. But now they realize they both want it, and say the vows the next chance they get alone together.

In Himring, a night much like any other in the past few centuries. They’ve changed over the years of war, but their trust in each other has hardened into steel rather than bitterness. They’ve seen enough couples torn apart by war to seize every moment of happiness they can get.

They were planning to get married after the fifth battle, but that didn’t happen.

In the Halls of Mandos, as soon as Maedhros is vaguely emotionally stable. It’s really not supposed to be possible to marry while dead, but one of them walked into Angband with nothing but a hope and a song and the other has the characteristic Feanorian stubbornness. “Impossible” doesn’t phase them as long as they have each other.

The first day that they are both back alive in Valinor. Maedhros awakens in a peaceful garden, and Fingon rides without stopping from Tirion to be by his side.

It actually takes a while after they return, as they both assume the other will want nothing to with them.

Maedhros is a kinslayer, the worst mass murderer in history. In Beleriand, though he wasn’t beautiful anymore, he was fierce in battle against Morgoth; that’s not a virtue in peaceful Valinor, and Maedhros is left with nothing to recommend him.

Fingon is the one who attacked too early in the Nirnaeth, enabling Morgoth’s victory and the decimation of the Noldor. He had been cavalier towards Thingol holding the Silmaril, thinking it a low priority; if he had used his position as king to negotiate Maedhros would have never been driven to attack Doriath or Sirion.

Caranthir shows up to Fingon’s house to yell at him for ghosting Maedhros, instead of having the courage to break up with him face to face. This actually clears thing up surprisingly well, and they have a tasteful spring wedding, with both families in attendance.

[swanhild]

I agree with the person who said that Curufin had the exact same potential to do great things as his father and his son, but at first he was too wrapped up in Feanor/too focused on pleasing him to really branch out on his own and then the oath and subsequent war against Morgoth happened and he shifted all his mental focus and energy towards developing weaponry and armor and so on. Something he was good at, but didn't find particularly mentally stimulating or enjoyable. In my post-canon headcanons/fic that I dream of writing one day Curufin will be the one to eventually invent photography, however. A huge hit with the wider populace of Valinor who don't necessarily have Finwean-style money to have portraits of their babies or weddings done by a professional painter.

He also learns to detangle his existence from Feanor's post-canon (I headcanon he gets released from the Halls before Feanor does) and goes through some personal growth. He also manages to repair his relationships with Celebrimbor and Finrod during that time and grows closer to Nerdanel. He and Celebrimbor actually start collaborating on a whole bunch of projects together and the two of them are directly or partly responsibly for a lot of technologial innovations and revolutions in post-canon Valinor (I mean sure, Curufin is #problematic, but the things he comes up with are just too good/tempting to ignore. And Celebrimbor is okay in most people's books anyway, so...)

I personally am a Curufinrod shipper, but whether platonically or romantically, I think Curufin has a lot of strong feelings about Finrod, most of them quite overwhelming and difficult to deal with for him. And his tried and true method for dealing with such feelings is repressing them. Until he can't anymore and things get crazy. But anyway, one of the more straightforward and normal feelings he has towards Finrod is gratefulness for taking care of Tyelpe after he was re-embodied. I headcanon that Celebrimbor was re-embodied before Curufin and was and still rather unwell by that point, which caused Curufin a lot of worry. Celebrimbor canonically loves Finrod and I think the feeling is mutual (Finrod thinks of him as a son, in a way), so I feel it makes sense for Finrod to be there for Celebrimbor during that time period.

He's a disaster bisexual with internalised homophobia and everything else @gardensofthemoon mentioned on that subject.

He used to have a crush on Aredhel when he was a kid/teen and is still very fond of her.

He secretly craves affection and attention though under normal cicumstances he'd rather bite off his tongue than admit that out loud (or even to himself most of the time). Luckily for him, I headcanon Celegorm as being quite affectionate with the people he loves (in a very casual, easy-going, dude bro-y sort of way: he will slap people on the back, casually drop his arm around them and/or pull them into hugs, ruffle his younger brothers' hair etc.) Curufin will act annoyed with Celegorm when he does these kinds of things, but really, he doesn't mind at all. (In time, Curufin does get better at expressing his wants and needs though, and other people, like Finrod, also begin to understand this about him, so it all works out in the end.)

He's actually rather conflict-averse and tends to avoid direct confrontation in favor of scheming and manipulating his way through life. Direct confrontation rarely goes well for him when he does try, so he leaves that kind of thing Celegorm for the most part. (Another avantage of having Celegorm around. And Celegorm doesn't mind fighting some of Curufin's battles for him).

The siblings he has the most difficult relationships with are Maedhros and Caranthir: When he was younger Curufin felt somewhat resentful and jealous towards Maedhros for being the firstborn son (it should have been him, obviously). He claims Maedhros is doing a terrible job of being their father's heir by frequently going against Feanor or what Feanor would have wanted. A part of him admires Maedhros for being able to stand up to their father and following his own mind, but another part of him is just about self-aware enough to realize that this makes Maedhros more similar to Feanor than Curufin could ever be and resents Maedhros even more for it. He also can't help but feel that Maedhros can read him like an open book (which is true) and in his most paranoid moments Curufin is convinced that Maedhros thinks him pathetic and all kinds of other things he secretly fears about himself. Caranthir can also see right through Curufin, but unlike Maedhros, he doesn't mince his words and very bluntly says what he thinks of Curufin or his actions right to his face. Caranthir is also very close in age to Curufin and doesn't really have Maedhros' older brother instinct of "must protect my little sibling and be nice to him even when he's being a terrible brat". This means that Caranthir can and will say things that cut Curufin right to the core (and which will keep him awake at night because he can't stop thinking about them.)

He is what would nowadays be called neurodivergent (like most of his family) and has a bunch of very specific hyperfixations and interests that only very few people can relate to.

He also suffers from anxiety (something he has in common with Maedhros) and used to bite his nails when he was younger. He still does it sometimes, but he thinks it's a shameful habit and tries very hard not to.

He loves Celebrimbor above all else and genuinely tried his best as a parent (although he didn't always succeed and failed quite badly a couple of times). But particularly when Celebrimbor was younger? I really think he was a pretty involved and good father to him. Also is super proud of Celebrimbor (and Celebrimbor outdoing him bothers him much less than he himself being unable to live up to Feanor).

He usually calls people he loves by their mother names (incl. Celegorm, Celebrimbor and Finrod), but he himself doesn't like being called Atarinke. Most people he's close with just call him Curvo.

He's quite a picky eater and somewhat embarrassed by that as well (it's immature and childish in his mind), but he just can't bring himself to eat certain things.

I also agree with the people who mentioned him enjoying mathematics (he and Celebrimbor like poring over difficult math problems together in my mind), that dark blues and greens look much better on him than Feanorian red, that he's deeply insecure, that he's a night owl (he'll often stay up all night and sleep during the most random hours of the day) and that he speaks in a soft tone of voice.

Hey fellow people who presumably enjoy curufin. Can you reblog with some curufin hcs? I think we truly need more Curufin Attention (either positive or negative but if you hate him why are you even here) in this fandom and I will be the change the world desperately needs. Cheers