sadtimo

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End In Fire

Maedhros

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Seven Sentences Someday

Thank you for tagging me, @inthehouseoffinwe! In this challenge, you post seven sentences from a currently unpublished fic or chapter of a fanfic.

This excerpt is from Chapter 14 of my baby, Ill Chances and Strange Fates. The fic currently has up to Chapter 9 published if you want to check it out!

I wrote this scene fairly recently. I've had a lot of feels lately for the dynamic between Nolofinwë and Maitimo. Just, Nolofinwë as a calming fatherly figure for Maitimo and trying to take care of him when his family's being a hot disaster. This scene shows how Nolofinwë understands Maitimo-- and perceives what's going on in his love life-- much better than Fëanor does.

Without further ado, here's my seven sentences!

Until they got some more information, all Nolofinwë could do was protect and guard Maitimo. His visits to the healing halls grew longer and longer as he grew increasingly worried and unwilling to leave Maitimo’s side. Nolofinwë couldn’t help but notice that Aranya behaved similarly. Even as Arcamë came and went from the healing halls, Aranya remained a short distance away, seeming to focus on her embroidery. But out of the corner of his eye, Nolofinwë spotted her casting brief glances at Maitimo.

Nolofinwë smiled slightly, but turned his head so she wouldn’t see. Normally Aranya hated to sit in one spot too long.

Tags: @catstartd , @charri-fish (no pressure though) and anyone else who wants to participate. I don't have a lot of Tumblr friends yet, and most of the few people I know have already been tagged! I'd love to change this-- do say hi if you feel so inclined!

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Sadtimo in progress

Not sure I'll ever be 100% satisfied with this, because realism in digital art is TOUGH. Realism is much easier in traditional art, imo. But, I am very happy with the lighting effect so far!

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Tyelko used to jump on Maitimo's bed at the crack of dawn. Now his memory keeps him up till dawn, hoping in vain for him to show up.

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Maedhros, as a child: I can’t wait to grow up and have cool adventures!

Maedhros, grown up: I can’t wait to go to bed

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Drowned With The Souls

Five hundred fifty eight men, who died under your command

Captain

Captain

Captain--

________

Listening to The Underworld from Epic the Musical, even not knowing the story and what had happened to these soldiers, this piece of lyrics always stood out to me and reminded me of Maedhros and Nirnaeth Arnoediad. How his unfortunate luck and trust strikes again, and how it costs him the life of his best friend and king and many of his people. I imagined him haunted by their faces and voices. I imagined him overwhelmed in the sea of the numbers, and I imagined him drowned in his own unnumbered tears.

Here's a filtered, more dream-like version.

[sadtimo]

Ill Chances and Strange Fates: Chapter 8

Fëanáro continued, “This is my other grievance. When I came here to check on Nelyo, I discovered these healers here were late in giving him a draught for his pain, resulting in unnecessary suffering for him.”

The healers fidgeted and avoided his piercing gaze. Maitimo could feel his face flushing and his heart pounding with anger, and, forgetting his injuries, he struggled to sit up, but Finwë gently pushed him back down. It was a good thing he did, because even the slight movement caused another wave of dizziness to hit him, making the ceiling and all the people in the room tilt and spin. Maitimo closed his eyes, waiting for the sensation to pass.

“What is the meaning of this?” Finwë calmly asked the healers.

“We deeply apologize, Your Majesty. Prince Nelyafinwë was asleep, and we were about to wake him to give him the draught. But Crown Prince Fëanáro arrived to question us about the student, and so we did not get a chance to give him the draught in time.”

Fëanáro glared at the healers, but Nerdanel surprisingly spoke up. “My love, this is unfair to the healers. They had no chance to perform their duties.”

“Well, then there should have been more of them present besides the two!” Fëanáro shot back, spinning around to face her, his face reddened.

“To do what?” Nerdanel folded her arms and stared defiantly up at him. “Watch Maitimo sleep and give him a medicine? Could you not have simply pulled one of them aside for questioning? Had there been three, would you have demanded all three?”

Fëanáro fell silent, his jaw clenched. Maitimo always found it satisfying when, for all his self-proclaimed cleverness, Nerdanel managed to stump him.

“Enough of this.” Finwë calmly stood and motioned for silence. “Do not argue like this in front of Nelyafinwë, my children. He has been through enough. Now, I can see there are many misunderstandings. I do not believe it is fair to blame the healers of my House. They have done their duties to the best of their ability, from what I can understand. However, you also have fine healers in your House, Fëanáro, and if you believe it best to take your son home for the sake of peace, in light of these many conflicts, I understand. I trust your judgment.”

Don’t trust his judgment, Haru, Maitimo thought bitterly.

The above is a brief excerpt from Chapter 8, which I just published. There's lots of hot tempers and drama flying in all directions, featuring Fëanor desperately trying to do what's best for his injured son but having no idea what he actually needs, Finwë trying to calm him down, and Nerdanel diplomatically shutting him down in an argument. But in the middle of it all, Maitimo's own wishes are not consulted.

Want to read the full story of Fëanorian family drama? Check it out on AO3! And if you enjoy it, please let me know!

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Nerdanel: How are you today?

Maedhros: Please don’t make me think about my life

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Maedhros: Maglor, I really appreciate all you do for me. I don't know what I would do without you. Your support means the world to me

Maglor: Of course! It's the least I can do-

Maedhros: I suppose you really are my.... right-hand man

Maglor:

[sadtimo]

I believe you are correct, @insidethehalloftheflame-eyedking !

And naturally, Timo got the Big Sad once he was no longer the favorite (bro has a horrible people-pleasing weakness) 🥺

Tyelko: Maitimo? More like MY Timo!

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Sadtimo's Personal Tags

Hey all, I have added a couple of personal tags to the blog!

For artwork: #sadtimo art

For my fanfiction: #sadtimo fic

For my random thoughts and headcanons: #sadtimo thoughts

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Celegorm: Did you just faint?

Maedhros: No, I briefly succumbed to gravity.

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DUDE you nailed it with that meme! Come to think of it, I actually sketched something with similar energy once:

My idea for this picture was that somebody just insulted Maitimo. He's resigned and deadpan about it, but Aranya is like, "you INSULT Maitimo?? You insult him like the trash talking football player? JAIL FOR ONE THOUSAND YEARS!!!"

He might be a warlord who survived unspeakable horrors, but Aranya's the one you should actually be scared of.

And thank you for your kind words!

Aranya Estiel: A Tiny, Sassy and Ethically Dubious Healer

"Aranya was almost always embroidering. She told Maitimo her hands were always restless, even when she was trying to relax or talk to someone.

"And yet, as much as Maitimo loved the artistic work of her hands, he found his eyes drawn to her face. To her intently focused eyes framed in dark lashes, and her soft lips and rosy cheeks."

(Moodboard by my dear friend @tinwe-the-local-assassin !)

I recently got a request which really made my day, from @insidethehalloftheflame-eyedking, to talk more about my OC Aranya and explain who she is. This is something I am only too happy to do!

If I were to sum up Aranya in a picture, it'd be this:

I hope to digitize this at some point, but for now, the notebook sketch will have to suffice.

Basically, Aranya's thought life can be summed up as follows: Kitties, Flowers, Abs and Murder. What more does a girl need, right?

Aranya is a whirlwind of apparent contradictions. On one hand, she's demure and feminine, preferring to dress in dainty twirly dresses, adorned with lace and embroidery of her own crafting. She's a skilled gardener of herbs and flowers. She loves making flower crowns and braiding hair. (Especially Maitimo's hair...) She comes across to most people as sweet and shy.

However, there is a very dark and unhinged side to Aranya. You don't date a Fëanorian if you're not at least a little unhinged! Her dream as a child was to be a huntress, but her parents were disturbed by this and forced her to become a healer instead. This made it so that she would never be able to hunt, since healers were forbidden from killing animals (this comes directly from Tolkien in the History of Middle-Earth somewhere). Though healing eventually became Aranya's true passion, she has a great deal of repressed anger and rage, mostly towards injustices. Later on in her life as she follows Maitimo to Himring and beyond, she only wishes she could hurt and kill all those who have hurt him. Make them suffer as they made him suffer.

Even though Aranya is tiny and petite, and Maitimo is all tall and buff and alarmingly good at killing people, Aranya feels intensely protective over him. She felt that way even in Valinor, where his sensitive and giving nature caused him to bow to the often unreasonable demands of his family. Obviously, those feelings intensified exponentially after his torment in Angband. She became the healer who best understood how to manage the chronic problems he developed, and as the years went on, she barely trusted any other healer to work with him.

Aranya slowly emerged in my mind as I started to write roleplays and fanfictions about Maitimo. Before she fully existed in my mind, I just got this sense that Maitimo would develop a strong connection with a healer who helped him. That healer eventually took on a name and personality of her own, and is now the adorable ball of rage we call Aranya.

If you're interested in reading her and Maitimo's story, please check out Ill Chances and Strange Fates! The story is in progress, and likely will be for a long time, but there's already a lot of content published and plenty more ready to release. (Over 30,000 words have been published and nearly 80,000 have been written-- and the story is just beginning! The Silmarils haven't even been stolen yet!)

The journey of this story will be a long one, yet I believe it will be worth it. I hope some of you will join me on it!

[sadtimo]

Aranya Estiel: A Tiny, Sassy and Ethically Dubious Healer

"Aranya was almost always embroidering. She told Maitimo her hands were always restless, even when she was trying to relax or talk to someone.

"And yet, as much as Maitimo loved the artistic work of her hands, he found his eyes drawn to her face. To her intently focused eyes framed in dark lashes, and her soft lips and rosy cheeks."

(Moodboard by my dear friend @tinwe-the-local-assassin !)

I recently got a request which really made my day, from @insidethehalloftheflame-eyedking, to talk more about my OC Aranya and explain who she is. This is something I am only too happy to do!

If I were to sum up Aranya in a picture, it'd be this:

I hope to digitize this at some point, but for now, the notebook sketch will have to suffice.

Basically, Aranya's thought life can be summed up as follows: Kitties, Flowers, Abs and Murder. What more does a girl need, right?

Aranya is a whirlwind of apparent contradictions. On one hand, she's demure and feminine, preferring to dress in dainty twirly dresses, adorned with lace and embroidery of her own crafting. She's a skilled gardener of herbs and flowers. She loves making flower crowns and braiding hair. (Especially Maitimo's hair...) She comes across to most people as sweet and shy.

However, there is a very dark and unhinged side to Aranya. You don't date a Fëanorian if you're not at least a little unhinged! Her dream as a child was to be a huntress, but her parents were disturbed by this and forced her to become a healer instead. This made it so that she would never be able to hunt, since healers were forbidden from killing animals (this comes directly from Tolkien in the History of Middle-Earth somewhere). Though healing eventually became Aranya's true passion, she has a great deal of repressed anger and rage, mostly towards injustices. Later on in her life as she follows Maitimo to Himring and beyond, she only wishes she could hurt and kill all those who have hurt him. Make them suffer as they made him suffer.

Even though Aranya is tiny and petite, and Maitimo is all tall and buff and alarmingly good at killing people, Aranya feels intensely protective over him. She felt that way even in Valinor, where his sensitive and giving nature caused him to bow to the often unreasonable demands of his family. Obviously, those feelings intensified exponentially after his torment in Angband. She became the healer who best understood how to manage the chronic problems he developed, and as the years went on, she barely trusted any other healer to work with him.

Aranya slowly emerged in my mind as I started to write roleplays and fanfictions about Maitimo. Before she fully existed in my mind, I just got this sense that Maitimo would develop a strong connection with a healer who helped him. That healer eventually took on a name and personality of her own, and is now the adorable ball of rage we call Aranya.

If you're interested in reading her and Maitimo's story, please check out Ill Chances and Strange Fates! The story is in progress, and likely will be for a long time, but there's already a lot of content published and plenty more ready to release. (Over 30,000 words have been published and nearly 80,000 have been written-- and the story is just beginning! The Silmarils haven't even been stolen yet!)

The journey of this story will be a long one, yet I believe it will be worth it. I hope some of you will join me on it!

[sadtimo]

Hi! Your work is sooooooo lovely and sweet and funny and fascinating, I love it! Especially Aranya, and I wanted to ask you, can I draw her?

Last chapter - ❤️, their dance was… breathtaking. I feel so sad for Maitimo when he will find out that Aranya went home, he really needs her now😢

Aww, thank you so much for your kind words! You really made my day with your request! Aranya hasn't gotten much love on Tumblr so far, and to have her inspire somebody else to draw is one of the highest compliments I can think of.

Please tag me if/when you draw her! I'd love to see it!

Gonna post the referenced artwork and fic chapter for those who might not be aware:

This scene is in Chapter 7 of Ill Chances and Strange Fates:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/58293271/chapters/168380137

Also, as a reference for when you're drawing her, this little sketch is really close to how she appears in my mind's eye. My friends and I were joking around once about a Tangled AU, so I drew Aranya with the Flynn Ryder Smolder. It was meant to be really goofy, but I think it actually came out super cute!

Maitimo never stood a chance against that Smolder.

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Remember kids! Whenever you see a dh in Elvish names, it's pronounced like th (a soft th, as in "the")! So Maedhros is pronounced MY-thros (or MA-e-thros). Aredhel is pronounced AR-e-thel. And so on.

on pronunciation...

so I always pronounced Maedhros as "My-dhros" and Maeglin as "May-glin"...but I realized that the AE vowels, as in Maedhros and Maeglin, should be pronounced the same??

but like I first heard Maedhros as "My-dhros" and Maeglin as "May-glin," so. other pronunciations kinda sound strange to me.

am I just weird? what about you guys?

[sadtimo]

BTW i see these posts all the time like "ohhh i dont know what to comment on fics.." and every response is "keysmashes! or hearts!! anything works :3" and thats GREAT!! thats helpful!!

but: consider. if u genuinely like analyzing writing.. do u know ur just allowed to go through and quote your favorite parts and ramble abt what they mean to u and the author will LOSE IT WITH HYPE?

genuinely. i felt SO WEIRD the first time i did it.. but like. holy shit authors love it. its crack for authors. the first time i did it, it was on a fic that hadnt updated in half a year, give or take, and the author made 3 updates that month BECAUSE OF MY COMMENT.

LIKE. as an author every comment is INCREDIBLE!!! but also, dont feel like your comment has to be short or otherwise ur invasive or smth!! authors ADORE long comments more than ANYTHING.