#Maedhros being kind to Elrond & elros

[silmaspens]

Inktober days 13-15

Kind | Empty | Armadillo

[sesamenom]

Quick hand sketch that turned into elrond with athelas water

I always forget to draw him with it but I headcanon him having pretty bad burn scars on his right arm/side from the kinslaying

[annoyinglandmagazine]

One aspect of the House of Feanor I’d like to talk about is the idea that they all really love children. Like Feanor has seven sons more than any other elf we’ve ever heard mentioned. You’re telling me this guy doesn’t really love kids? So I like to believe that all the Feanorians are all inherently great with kids and just melt every time they see a child.

Feanor hates his half brothers for the whole Indis thing but he’s the only one who gets away with hating them. Anyone else tries it and they are hit with the full force of an angry Feanor. Yes he hates them but he will also be tutoring them because how else will he make sure it’s done right and they won’t disgrace Atar? And no he was not just bouncing Arafinwe on his lap what are you talking about?

Curufin is an excellent father which he inherited from his own father. Tyelpe also has six uncles who never tire of spending hours playing with him. They all fight for the title of best uncle and Tyelko very firmly believes it is him.

At family gatherings it is understood that no matter your reservations about Feanor’s side of the family if there is an upset child a Feanorian will know how to deal with it. Feanor himself will rarely object to being handed a crying baby regardless of it’s parentage. Maedhros has been the assigned babysitter for what feels like an eternity and his abilities are regarded as near magic.

This does not go away once they get to Middle Earth. The Feanorians all go to great lengths to provide adequate parental leave in their armies and frequently stop round to check in with any new parents to meet the child. They know all the names of most of their followers children and ask about them regularly.

One of the first things that endeared Caranthir to Haleth was how kind he was with some of her younger relatives. The children of the Haladin all love him because he plays with them sometimes and brings them little sweets. His good with children instincts are activated with any child regardless of race and it helps him build relations with other races more easily.

When Maglor brings Elrond and Elros back Maedhros is a lost cause within a month. He knows this s unhealthy on so many levels but children. They’re so innocent and tiny and he’s going to protect them. They are both referring to them as their children within a week.

Elrond inherits this. Erestor and Glorfindel see his adoption problem and immediately think oh shit our lord is definitely a Feanorian.

[echo-bleu]

Noldor hair headcanons (2/4)

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | On AO3

By the time they’re settled in Beleriand, the Nolofinwëans have largely switched from elaborate styles done by someone else to (slightly) simpler self-braided styles. They’re at war now, so they turn toward practical braids that keep their hair out of their face during combat. There’s more and more of a gap between everyday styles and ceremonial styles.

The Fëanorians however are still doing things the old way. Maedhros is very unhappy that he can no longer braid people’s hair properly (especially Fingon’s) (he learns to do it one-handed eventually, but it’s never as perfect) (Fingon doesn’t mind).

The Sindar wear their hair half-up or even loose. However, they like to play with each other’s hair, and it’s not reserved for family, which is Very Weird for the Noldor to see. Galadriel has a hard time getting used to it and doesn’t let anyone touch her hair beside Celeborn, but she eventually figures out that her hair dazzles people even more when it’s loose, so she starts leaving it down.

It’s even harder to untangle as a result, and Celeborn suffers. (Galadriel is not not into hair pulling.)

Melian and Lúthien’s hair is so silky that braids just undo themselves. Elrond and Elros partly inherit that, and Elrond spends his whole life mourning that fact (he wants to do his hair like Maedhros, okay?).

Finrod is the first elf to let a Man touch his hair. He’s travelling alone and he’s touch-deprived, can you blame him? (It’s Bëor. It results in several uncomfortable conversations.)

Curufin makes himself and his brothers sharpened hairpins and various other weapons disguised as hair jewellery.

Hairstyles mingle during the Siege until, in the more cosmopolitan realms, Noldor and Sindar are no longer identifiable at first sight. Some Noldor elect to keep their hair mostly loose (though almost never entirely) while many Sindar learn the Battle Braids. They are very convenient, after all.

Avari hair customs are very different. It’s mostly about hair brushing/care being very intimate. They usually wear hairdresses or hair covering of some kind, depending on the tribe they belong to.

Gondolin has stayed highly conservative about hair, with hairstyles almost as complex as Tirion in its noontide.

Maeglin hates having his hair touched even more than his mother.

I’m tempted to make Eöl an asshole on this too, who cuts Aredhel’s hair or something, but I think she just never lets him touch her and he doesn’t care enough to try.

Maeglin grows up with his hair loose up until Aredhel takes them to Gondolin, where she remembers how Turgon is about hair, and braids Maeglin’s and her own in hopes of Looking Natural.

Maeglin’s first impression of Gondolin is that Hair Braiding Hurts (though not as much as adar’s hands). It goes downhill from there.

He’s still jealous when he catches Idril doing Tuor’s hair. Tuor doesn’t even have the decency of having beautiful Noldor hair, so it doesn’t even look that good. The next day, Idril’s braids are very wonky and Maeglin, upon seeing her, completely messes up the hair clip he was making her.

Eärendil has Tuor’s hair. It’s fine, because Elwing refuses to do Noldor braids.

Glorfindel is a Vanya and wears his hair completely loose.

We all know how that ends.

Maglor’s hair is partly burned off in Dagor Bragollach. He spends an uncomfortable few years growing it back and recovering from smoke inhalation. He revives some ridiculous hair-related ditties from his youth as voice therapy and they’re soon heard throughout Beleriand.

Finrod, badly injured and with no bodies of his brothers to bury, makes up a self-braided version of the Mourning Braids (It involves only braiding the hair from the shoulders down. That’s largely because he couldn’t raise his arms at that point, but it becomes a feature of all Mourning Braids—except Maglor’s style—for two ages to come.)

For the first time since the Ice, Fingolfin asks Fingon to do his hair, the morning after they hear of Morgoth’s victory.

He braids Rochallor’s mane and tail before setting out.

Rochallor walks back into Hithlum some days after the Eagle comes, his hair still braided. He lies down and dies with his head in Fingon’s arms.

Turgon braids his father’s hair before burying him, as he did with Elenwë, as he did with Aredhel. There is a custom that’s been developing among the Noldor of Beleriand to only give the dead a single, simple braid, so that they don’t risk being too attached to their body and miss the call from Mandos, but Turgon doesn’t know of it. No one has died in Gondolin since it was built, aside from Aredhel and Eöl.

Finrod and his Ten braid each other’s hair the night after they leave Nargothrond. Beren watches them with no understanding of the custom.

They later find out that werewolves spit out the hair when they devour someone.

It’s not a nice sight.

Beren and Lúthien do their best to clean Finrod’s beautiful golden braids of blood before they bury him, even though neither of them quite get what the braids mean to the Noldor.

Fingon’s golden ribbons are marred with blood when they find his body on the battlefield. His braids are the only way to identify him for certain.

Maedhros revives Maglor’s Mourning Braids. Mostly because Maglor does them for him. Maedhros would be fine with No One Ever Touching His Hair Again, but he’s close to catatonic.

Then the Oath awakes once more.

Celegorm’s white hunting braids and Dior’s black silky hair mingle on the blood-stained floor of Doriath’s throne room.

It takes Maglor longer to find Caranthir and Curufin. He carefully braids their hair into a single plait before they burn the bodies, in case it could help them find Mandos.

Maybe they are for the Void, but at least he feels like he’s done something.

The years up to the Third Kinslaying are awful. Maedhros and Maglor are codependent to an unhealthy degree, while the twins will barely speak to them, or each other. Maglor still does Maedhros’s hair. Maedhros doesn’t return the favour. They scream at each other daily.

Sirion is unthinkable. They attack anyway. Maedhros and Ambarussa’s braids look like bloodstains in the twilight.

Elwing’s hair floats around her as she falls.

To be continued

[bralesscommie]

Elwing and Eärendil were both wrong for leaving their children, and that in itself can be traumatic, but Elrond (and Elros, but this post is about Elrond) are also traumatized by the third kinslaying. He was litteraly six (6) years old when he watched an entire town slaughtered, and then his mother jump into the sea (because of one glowing rock. I repeat one fucking glowing rock). Though Elwing and Eärendil were definitely not ideal parents, there is nothing (in my opinion) that points to them being abusive. Elrond and Elros would miss both of them after being kidnaped.

As we all know, it is stated in the Silm that there grew a great love between Maglor and the twins (Maedhros' involvement is of course questionable, but I chose to believe he was around). There being love between them does not mean their relationship wasn't complicated as hell. First of all, the twins are (as I've said) traumatized by the third kinslaying, which means they are (at least initially) terrified of Maglor and Maedhros, and even later on may suddenly be frightened of them sometimes. Not to mention that they first left them in a cave, and Maglor only went back for them later.

Then, when the last hunt for the two remaining Silmarils started, that was one more abandoning, once again for some fucking shiny rocks (in this case far more excusable than with Elwing, the oath was threatening).

We also know that both Maglor and Maedhros, but especially Maedhros, were traumatized, which doesn't lead to the most stable parenting. This is a good time to note that Eärendil also escaped Gondolin at the ripe old age of seven, and Elwing escaped Beleriand with the Silmaril, so neither of them were the picture of mental health either, most likely.

Whatever mistakes/abuse/abandonment which the twins original or kidnap parents committed are not excused by their trauma of course, just explain them.

In conclusion, Elrond is fucking amazing for being 'kind as summer', because after everything in just his childhood alone, he turned it all around. Yes I am normal about him, no I am not tearfully writing this in the middle of the night

[tar-maitime]

bring myself to hold you

Rating: G Characters: Maedhros | Maitimo, Maglor | Makalaure, Elrond, Elros Relationships: Maedhros & Maglor, Maedhros & Elrond & Elros Additional: post-Sirion, questionable adoption, slowly becoming a family WC: 1k

“What’s the Quenya word for ‘mother’?” Elrond asks.

The question is a little out of nowhere, but ever since Maglor started with his insistence on teaching the twins Quenya, one or another of them will pipe up with a random vocabulary question at odd times. Maedhros shrugs, and tries to not let the mental image of Elwing falling with the Silmaril clutched to her heart take over.

“There are several,” she says, not looking up from the maintenance she’s doing on a pair of daggers. “Ontaril is perhaps the most technical of them - it only means ‘she who begets’. The most commonly used is amil, although there are several variations on that, as well as a couple of...warmer diminutives - ammë and amya.”

Elrond nods, looking serious, thanks her, and goes his way. 

Maedhros doesn’t really think about it afterward. Even if it’s been pretty much assumed that they’re keeping the twins indefinitely ever since the new star rose, she doesn’t like to let them occupy too much of her thoughts. She helps Maglor with them as needed - probably everyone who’s left has at some time or another - but she won’t play along with his fantasies of parenthood, won’t get too comfortable. If Maglor can fool himself into thinking he’s unmonstrous enough to raise children, good for him, but she can’t.

“Really, Nelyë? I know you weren’t like this with Gil-galad,” he’d said to her once, early on.

She’d stiffened at the mention of her no-longer-son. “That was entirely different,” she’d said shortly. “I was not responsible for his first home’s destruction. And even he wants nothing to do with me now.”

And there is, after all, plenty to concern herself with besides the idle questions of children, if they want to keep on surviving here in this poorly-manned fortress in the midst of the wild, so she’s almost entirely forgotten the conversation a few days later, when Elrond says casually over supper, “Ammë, would you pass the bread?”

At first, Maedhros ignores him entirely - it’s been decades since ammë meant her. When he nudges her and repeats, “Ammë?”, it finally dawns on her who he’s talking to.

She continues to not look directly at him. “I don’t know who you mean,” she says evenly. “No one’s mother is here. Yours is...in the West.”

“Naneth is in the West,” Elrond agrees. “You’re here, though. Do...do you not want us to call you that?”

“I told you she wouldn’t,” Elros mutters from the other side of the table. 

“It was worth a try!” Elrond retorts, with a brief glance at Maglor, whom Maedhros has been trying not to notice gaining the title of Atya occasionally from the twins. Maglor, for his part, is a study in neutrality, although she knows him well enough to see the hope seeping through the cracks.

“If you insist on giving me some kind of familial title,” she manages, “I would have thought you would try atarnésa.” ‘Aunt’ is still not something she thinks anyone ought to call a kinslaying kidnapper, but it would make more sense if they insisted on calling Maglor a father.

Elros shrugs. “We’ve never had an aunt, so we don’t know what it’s like,” he says. “And you - you’re like Naneth.”

Aside from them both being female, Maedhros cannot think of anyone else she would be less likely to be compared to.

Elrond seems to sense his brother’s floundering and picks up the thread. “You’re busy a lot, and you’re always working to make sure everyone stays safe and has enough. You don’t like to stop and rest in case somebody thinks you’re broken, but you will if it’s to spend time with us. That’s how it was with Naneth, too.”

Maedhros is unable to speak for a moment, and when the ability returns, she rasps, “I drove your mother off a cliff. I was part of the reason she was hurt like she was.” She doesn’t usually lay it out that baldly for them, but there doesn’t seem to be anything else for it.

“We know,” Elros says, not casually, but calmly. He shouldn’t know how to sound like that at his age. Just one more thing she’s broken. “It’s...marred. So is everything. But we’re all here now, and it would only make things worse to hate each other, so we might as well try the other thing.”

“We don’t have to call you Ammë if you don’t want it,” Elrond says quietly. “I just thought it might be nice to try.”

Maedhros is silent for a few long seconds. She’s not sure how to explain that Ammë isn’t supposed to mean her, Ammë is supposed to mean strong, gentle, chisel-callused hands and a warm smile and the smell of clay and dust and someone who can comfort and fix things. The name had only barely started to sit right with her when she had to send Gil-galad away, and now it chafes against the sticky new blood on her hands.

But the twins seem to think it would make them happy, to call her this, and doesn’t she owe them that, after everything? She took away their real mother; she can deal with them using her as a substitute, wrong as it is, if they consider it some kind of restitution.

“It’s all right,” she finally says. “You can call me that if you want to. Whatever you like.” 

The children’s eyes go wide with delight, and a hopeful smile slips onto Maglor’s face.

[runawaymun]

I'm sure you'll get/have gotten other asks about this same thing, but I would love, love, love to know more about your ideas for a messy kidnap fam fic. :)

(also, accidently unfollowed when trying to hit the ask button. it's finally happened)

Ask me about my not-yet-written-fics from this list

The Messy Kidnap Fam Longfic

Under a cut for length

It all starts with Mae and Mags finding Elrond and Elros in Elwing's wardrobe post-oath-induced-rage fugue.

Elros and Elrond put up a hell of a fight to Not Get Taken and are absolutely convinced that a) Elwing has been murdered and b) they're also about to get murdered.

Maedhros gets bitten by Elros >:3

Mae and Mags have a debate about What To Do With them. I feel like maybe Mae initially is like "Put Those Back Where They Came From or So Help Me" at Mags, but the only idea they come up with is maybe leaving the twins at the edge of what's left of Sirion in the hopes that they'll be found (because if they tried to drop off the twins in person they'd get attacked on sight by Gil Galad and Cirdan). But Mae can't stop worrying that they'll die of exposure that way (he still feels awful about what happened to Elured and Elurin at Doriath).

They both realize at the exact same time that Elwing and Earendil Might Want Their Kids Back and Might Be Willing to Do A Lot to get them back, and so Elrond and Elros would be excellent hostages who could potentially be ransomed for a Silmaril.

So Elrond and Elros are very much hostages at this point. Mae and Mags do not really interact with them at all (save for Mags poking around in their minds to try and get some information out of them. Which Mae disapproves of but doesn't care enough about to stop him. He's in a bad way rn. Like his last other baby brother save Mags just died and he himself just participated in a massacre and he doesn't feel particularly good about it. They didn't even get a Silmaril and their own forces are fragmented post Sirion. My boy is barely keeping things together. They're together with duct tape and string at this point).

The twins are carted along the road back to Amon Ereb but kept under too heavy guard for them to be able to escape.

Also absolutely nobody in camp understands how to look after Peredhil. The twins do not get enough food to start with and they probably get sick from the elements, and this does go unnoticed for a WHILE.

They get back to Amon Ereb and are promptly put in a horrible little white room with a lock on the door. Again, Mae and Mags are not much interested with interacting with them at this point. Mags is a bit more interested but that's mostly because the twins remind him of Ambarussa and he's also emotionally unstable.

Mae sends ransom demands to Elwing, Earendil, and Gil-Galad, and they wait.

The twins are still hungry and sick, and convinced that they're gonna die. Also Mags keeps interacting with them and it's scary.

(They do get a window because keeping elves or elf adjacent beings away from view of the stars is unthinkably cruel, even for Mae and Mags. But they also still continue to be pretty neglected, and there is really nothing to do in that room. Elrond goes pretty catatonic at this point and Elros starts trying to tear holes through the drywall).

At some point it occurs to Mags and Mae that the twins are in poor condition and that's not really good when it comes to trying to ransom them.

They don't really know what to do though and so they consult some humans in their service, who are understandably like "uhhhhhhhhh they need more food and some medicine probably boss. Also it's kind of cold for them actually like sure it's fine for an elf but these are actual half-human babies).

Cue the twins finally getting some basic help. I have a vague idea that they bond with a human nurse that's sent in to look after them because Mae and Mags just cannot be bothered to Think About It.

Mae especially is pointedly staying away because it's too painful to be around the twins because a) they remind him of his brothers and b) they remind him of everything awful he's ever done and he can't handle that guilt.

Things continue to be Bad For A While.

Also I forgot to mention that Elrond and Elros have a poor grasp of Quenya at best, and so they really don't understand anything being said around them. They're picking it up fast though. Especially Elrond.

Finally a rejection of the ransom demands comes back.

What the fuck.

Mae absolutely goes into a rage over this because he literally does not know what else he can do. Because apparently Earendil and Elwing are on a boat somewhere with his father's Silmaril.

"What are we doing with the twins?"

Elrond and Elros are more convinced than ever that they're gonna get killed.

It's agreed that the twins should be dropped off somewhere to be found by Gil-Galad, and that trip begins. They likely send a letter to Gil-Galad announcing that they're returning the twins.

Gil-Galad has absolutely no reason to believe that the twins are alive and smells a trap. He does not come to pick up the twins.

Mae and Mags do watch (or have someone else watch) from a distance to make sure the twins are collected. The twins are not collected. The day wanes on into night. It gets really cold. The twins start bawling because they really think they're going to die now.

Mae really can't bear that and also at this point he's mad at everyone and everything.

They recollect the twins and decide that they're just going to have to look after them now until they're old enough to go back to Gil on their own.

Cue a very long tiptoe process of Mags getting attached to the twins and Mae refusing to (he's actually a big softie though so eventually he does).

I have way more ideas about later stages but this is already getting ridiculously long, sorry.

TLDR: (but I can elaborate more if people want me to): Mae and Mags finally start to get a grasp on Peredhil needs but wow is the damage done.

Elrond and Elros are veeeery slow to trust.

Super codependant relationship forms, with Elrond especially terrified of being left again because Mae and Mags are the only people who seem to want them now. Elrond starts emotionally regulating Mae and Mags just as much (if not more) than he used to for Elwing.

Mae and Mags get very attached to the twins and use them to cling to the last remnants of their personhood. This is not a good thing.

There's obviously more here I've thought this out very thoroughly.

Love grew between them but it was fucked from the start, essentially.

Also um something something the twins losing their Sindarin and not being raised in their Sindarin culture and essentially getting unintentionally completely colonized by Mae and Mags :/ icky and unavoidable.

[lendmyboyfriendahand]

Even more in the older kidnap fam fic

At Amon Ereb, accommodations for the twins do get marginally more comfortable.

It is, after all, a proper fortress complete with prison cells. All the Feanorian fortresses have them; for criminals, or captured orcs they want to interrogate, or for the rare occasions the sons of Feanor were aware they needed to be stopped.

The cells have solid stone walls and floor, with metal gratings for doors, so the prisoners can't escape by setting a fire or digging.

Some of the cells are missing doors, where the metal bars were taken down and reforged into armor or weapons, but there are still several in good shape.

And the Feanorians are putting both princes in one cell, anyway. It will be easier to guard one place than two.

Elrond and Elros are very agreeable to sharing a cell, rather than being put at opposite ends of the dungeon, with who knows how many days or weeks before they see each other again. And it's not like they'd have actual privacy with their own cells, there's going to be a guard outside constantly.

They are marched down by a half dozen guards, with their arms tied. Once Elros is untied, he has to stand his facing the wall opposite the door before the guards will bring Elrond forward and untie him.

Elros kind of wants to laugh at how intimidating he and his twin apparently are, to warrant this hassle, but it's not funny with swords inches from his brother.

Still, eventually all the guards leave, except for one who locks the door and stands across the hallway.

The cell has a bed, a chamber pot, a bucket of fresh water, and a bed roll designed for camping. There's room for one person to pace, if the other sits on the bed.

Elrond and Elros can talk to each other. Not unobserved, but without a sharp deadline. Better than since they left Sirion.

After reassuring each other that they have no serious injuries, they compare their experiences of the battle, particularly the end.

Elrond and Elros conclude that Elwing is dead, but the Valar sent an eagle (or perhaps another bird, Elrond is unsure of the species he saw) to retrieve the Silmaril.

The Valar have sent eagles to help the house of Fingolfin twice before, and retrieving Fingolfin's body was a lesser favor than saving Maedhros's life (as evil as he is). It's reasonable that the third aid from eagles would be even smaller, not saving the queen's body but saving only her jewel from her enemies.

Elros and Elrond are still confident that it's better than the Feanorians having the Silmaril, though. Who knows what evil they would be able to accomplish with its light?

They are very sad though that their mother is dead. And it's been over a year since Earendil left on his latest voyage, so he's probably dead too, though Elwing hadn't admitted it where they could hear.

That makes Elros king of Sirion, heir to Gondolin and Doriath. Elrond kisses his brother's hand and pledges his fealty.

In practical terms though, Elros and Elrond aren't sure this changes the situation at all. Sure, Elros is king - of a people he can't reach.

They're still prisoners, and there is no Silmaril to trade them for - though of course they are brave warriors who would rather die than give such a holy object over to the evil Feanorians.

They seem to be just here as hostages, so Gil-Galad doesn't sack Amon Ereb, and because the Feanorians still have enough pretense at honor not to kill enemies who surrendered.

The first of those conditions has no end date, and the second only does if they're unlucky. Elros and Elrond will be prisoners until they learn if peredhel can die of old age.

Meanwhile: Maedhros has commanded the guards to keep a watch on the cell, feed the prisoners from the same food as the soldiers, and stop them from escaping. Preferably non-lethally, but if the prisoners reach the courtyard go ahead and shoot them.

He's taken a report from the seneschal, confirming nothing has changed at the castle in his absence.

Maedhros has made his own report of names of the dead, so their work can be redistributed among the living. He's passed on news of Elwing's escape with the jewel, and the signs of orcs they saw on their way. No one pursued the army from Sirion though, which is good.

Maedhros does all the tasks that need to be done to settle his army back in the castle, or at least all that can't wait a day.

He then locks himself in his room to cry over his dead little brother.

Pretty soon it turns to screaming. Wordless cries of pain, insults to the Valar and Eru, curses to the idiocy of child queens.

It's audible outside his room, but he doesn't care. Let them think him mad, being sane has never won him a battle. (Nirnaeth Doriath Sirion, never achieving his goals, and always those he loves dying for him.)

The soldiers are uneasy, but tell each other loudly that it's just his nightmares. Lord Maedhros is sane while awake, and none of them will judge for troubled sleep. Definitely that.

From the prison cell, all that can be heard is the occasional scream. Elrond and Elros thought they were the only captives, but is someone being tortured?

Maglor sleeps for a day straight on arriving at Amon Ereb. He's the best rider left, and switched between advance scouting and Singing their trail cold as needed for the whole journey. It's not literally true that he hasn't slept since Sirion, but he hasn't been fully rested since they marched out from Amon Ereb.

He's still the first one to approach the twins for conversation though, late the next evening.

He's done diplomacy with Fingolfin after leaving him to die, how much worse can it be?

(Okay, he didn't actually get any concessions out of Fingolfin. And he gave up his entire city. But no one died! And people unassociated with the royal family were exchanging small items and food with each other! He's sure it would have taken less than a century to create an actual formal relationship.)

@tar-thelien asked to be tagged for updates!

[elerondo]

rambling probably unpopular opinions or idk

the Noldor are great craftsmen and smiths & Elrond's favourite gifts are gems ( pardon the irony of it all ) but his are special in a way that he writes runes into them & they protect heal or guard the wearer in some way

i think he could have gotten a lot of side eyes in Lindon like ' o another devil spawn who likes shiny things is finwe's line just doomed forever and ever or what '

can u imagine if he gave sb a jewel but their parents just slap it out of their hands ahjdsfgajsh or he overheard someone call his things "cursed" maybe not to his face coz

Elrond being the most important elf after Gil-galad, but also being the most disliked based on his upbringing through no fault of his own ( okay maybe some fault, because i headcanon him as an awful rebel the first few years in Lindon under a new ordered society and king, but still: No Fault how can anyone blame him ?? uwu ?? )

Oropher suppresses some kind of traumatic reflex when Thranduil comes home w some new shiny thing lol

and i generally think also that Elrond fights like Maedhros because that was his upbringing and he didn't really know anything else, until he comes into his own style he definitely terrified every pair of eyes who knows. Sure anyone could be ambidextrous but not as ambidextrous as Elrond who lived under the looming shadow of Maedhros thrice reminding him that he needs to be fluent in the sword and bow in either hands, just in case. " if you are going to be valiant then you are going to suffer tremendously. but you will live no matter what, no matter what happens to you! "

maybe Maedhros failed his own words in the end, but Elrond would never !

surely, right, that the feanorian brothers would train and empower the twins as much as they can, purely out of guilt. yes the oath of feanor happened to Elros and Elrond, but the doom is not true. it just isn't! The twins didn't turn to evil.

[fabulous-feanorians]

Elrond, the last Feanorian

sounds contradictory, doesn’t it? After all, how can kind as summer represent a bloodline that was so violent that it destroyed itself before it could even truly rise and brought whole kingdoms down with it?

picture this for me: maedhros and maglor, more accustomed to war than peace, wearied by centuries—millennia—of discord, of death, of their curse of an oath, of being the villain in history’s tale. Picture the heaviness beneath their zeal, of their countless sins and yet—

and yet here they have elrond and elros. Something new. Something young. A chance, maybe, for a side of them that was forced into hiding since their pursuit of moringotto to slip out.

and so under their influence, would not elrond and elros be a different side of their same coin? The oath brought out feanorian violence, but the twins are a product of feanorian mercy as elured and elurin were not. As elrond and elros could have so easily followed them into death at the feanorians’ hand.

would they not have steered the twins in the opposite direction of where maedhros and maglor had gone? Would they not have tried their best to spare the twins of that heavy, heavy fate?

is that why elrond is known to build homes instead of burning them? To end wars and not begin them? To heal life and not end it?

alright, you may say elrond is not truly a feanorian. But let him be a product of their influence. If they cannot be redeemed through Mandos, let him be the evidence of their regret and repentance. Of their humanity.

let him be what they were not.

[gwaedhannen]

End of Year Fic Recs

Recommend up to 5 series or multi-chapter fics from 2023 that everyone should read (multi-year WIPs count, if the last update was in 2023).

Recommend up to 5 single chapter fics/one-shots (long or short) from 2023 that everyone should read.

Recommend up to 5 fics NOT from 2023 that everyone should read (oldies but goodies).

Recommend up to 5 of your own fics (completed or WIP) from 2023 that everyone should read.

Open tag courtesy of @grey-gazania. No-pressure tagging everyone here and anyone else who wants to participate.

All Tolkien stuff. Mind the tags on AO3. Nothing Explicit but some Mature.

5 series/multichapter fics:

1. sir, take it easy by @exercise-of-trust (Maglor, Finrod, Celegorm, Maglor/Maglor's Wife)

“I thought you were adamant that no music was bad. And what would do you suggest, that we go back to Ráincë’s parallels in fifth, or Ambalincë’s discant exercises in fourth? Those were old before either of us were born, and you know it.” “I am not saying it is bad. I am saying that to me it sounds like all the fiends of Morgoth, but worse, because the fiends of Morgoth were not taking a clausula I wrote for my parents’ anniversary and mangling it. However, as its inclusion in this anthology shows, there are other people who like it, and while I do not understand it, I am not about to give up my Neldor or my Palecéva because the wind of scholarly opinion has blown against them from time to time.”

2. Spun by Grace by SpaceWall (Galadriel, Lúthien, Maeglin)

“Did you see them? The kinslayers who took your Nana? Who tried to take you?” “Ada says I did, but I don’t remember them. I don’t remember anything, except Nana screaming.” “Did your Ada say anything after? Aside from telling you to hide and stay safe.” The child nodded, bravely, and said in as clear a voice as he could manage. “He said they took Nana because she was bad. He said she was a kinslayer like them, and I had kinslayer blood in me, and they’d take me too if I wasn’t good.”

3. An Oral History of Dying in the Dagor Bragollach by Beleriand Death Trip (too many characters to list)

Please note that all participants were recently rehoused, but not extremely recently (this is regarded as unethical in our field). They have all had the opportunity to reflect on historical events after their death, both during their stay in the Halls and after being rehoused. We do not regard this as “contamination” of their recollection for our purposes, but rather as part of the normal process of narrative formation.

4. Foresight by @aotearoa20 (Fëanor and sons)

“He’s so small,” he said, not softly, “Such a beautiful baby.” “I know. He’s mine.” Fëanáro glared, he dared not do anything else. “You should appreciate it while it lasts,” when he smiled and the scar on his lip twisted strangely, “He’ll not be either for long.”

5. The Hazards of Love by @aipilosse (Finrod/Amarië, Anairë, Findis, Elwing)

Excerpt from The Empty House by Vatharwë Lelyindë held herself straight and tall, undaunted by Helluinon’s greater height. “You, my Lord, are free to live as you would, but others bear chains you cannot see. You speak of oaths and bonds, and yet you must see that when an oath comes in conflict, it is yours that is always the greater, and the other party must always acquiesce. So it is with me, so was it with your mother, your younger brother, and even your dearest friend!

5 single-chapter fics/one-shots:

Raised by Wolves by @warrioreowynofrohan (Elrond, Elros, Gil-Galad, Maglor, Maedhros)

“I hate him, and I do not hate him. Or, I do not hate him for cruelties. I hate him for kindnesses.”

2. The Hope of Love: Eärendil and Elwing as Symbols of Romance in Popular Culture by @imakemywings (Elwing/Eärendil)

Capping off these mesmerizing performances is Elwing’s final speech to the Teleri of Aman, a moment so fascinating that it has become the basis of many other dramatic confrontations throughout popular media. Almost anyone will recognize the line “I plead my hope,” or even its more extended version “Oh ye of foreign shores, I plead my hope. Let my home not be crushed ‘neath the boot of Bauglir,” even with no familiarity with the film. The passion of Torthoriel’s performance here has brought many a moviegoer to tears and captures a moment few had before bothered with—Elwing’s part in gaining the aid of Aman.

3. the bones of small contention by @quixoticanarchy (Celegorm, Oromë)

“You see, evil haunts a hungry man. If he eats his fill, he is called immoral; if he refuses, he will starve honorably. But free is the man who realizes that there is no satiety to be had, and equally there is no reward waiting in starvation. If my end shall be evil regardless, then my deeds matter not. I may eat as I please, and in that transgression, I find some shadow of liberation. A kind of laughter, almost - a light and wild feeling, like the moment after releasing an arrow, or the moment after the plunge off a cliff. You would not understand.”

4. all the daughters of my father's house (and all the brothers too) by Chestnut_pod (Fin-Galad)

These are the things ladies are, in the songs that are told of Finduilas and Niënor, her mirror: Love. Beauty. Laughter. Inconstance. Haunting. Sorrow. Screaming. Silence. In fact, the tales are not told of them. They are merely there. Many songs are written of Gil-Galad. Centuries after his death, Hobbit-children learn to sing of him.

5. Fire From The Ashes by @herenortherenearnorfar (Nienna, a Balrog)

“There is a terrible pain to conciousness,” Nienna acknowledges. She has not yet let go. “I just want to be an instrument.” Coals glow bright for a moment in the wind and then fade. “I was made to remake worlds, not feel this guilt.”

5 oldies but goodies (fair warning these are all liable to make you cry):

1. The legacy of a failure by from_the_wood (Frodo, Merry's Granddaughter, Merry, Pippin, Sam)

That's the thing with despair: it wants to erase everything, all of you, all that had been, or could have been - kind word, memory, hope for the future - but it cannot do so. It cannot. It should not.

2. An Oral History of the End of Innocence by @ceescedasticity (House of Olwë, Galadriel)

I think Hawser Road probably had the highest proportion of… Noldor swung their swords at a moving group and hit Noldor. Lindar shot arrows into crowds and hit Lindar. Noldor tried to ride down Lindar and also rode down Noldor. Lindar trying to get away trampled Lindar. Torches everywhere — I have never been so grateful the city is mostly stone, but wagons set on fire, sheds and stalls and barrels set on fire, there were some wooden additions… Panicked horses. Panicked cows, of all things, who brings cows when you're fleeing the gods to fight another god. There was so much screaming.

3. The One With All The Birds by @clothonono (Elwing/Eärendil, Elrond, Nerdanel, Sons of Fëanor)

What was her desire? "I desire my father, given back to me again," she said. "And my mother, and my brothers too. And my people, and my home, and all the years of my children's lives. Can the Lords of the West grant me this?" No one answered. Everyone knew the answer. "Equally I might desire that my enemy be punished. Let him go to the Halls of Mandos, whence none escape. Let me know that he is prisoned, so that I may gladly walk free." Is this your desire? "No," said Elwing. "I already told you my desire. Let justice be done. There is no vengeance that will satisfy me; there is no redress that can restore to me my father, my mother, my brothers, my home, and my children. There is nothing I want that he or you can give to me."

4. To Love What Is Mortal by @astridbecks (Lúthien/Thuringwethil)

Splintering pain as she was torn apart, yet as she parted beneath the hands of Lúthien there was a curious want mingled with the agony – strip me of this darkness, lay bare my soul, remake me – break me – and she had known pain before, had always known pain, but this was new and different and somehow right. (hurt me, because I deserve it. break me and make me as clean as you.)

5. woman into bird by @arrivisting (Elwing/Eärendil, Idril, Tuor, Elrond, Elros)

This is the best gift parents doomed to die can give their half-elven children, after all: to spare them the sight of their ends.

5 of mine from 2023:

1. Kill the Flame (Galadriel, the whole 3rd Finwean generation)

For Angrod, laughing at everything and everyone. You were an ass but you were our ass. You taught me patience, however little you meant to! For Aegnor, firebrand of our family. You saved me when the cold of the Ice tore into my heart. From you, I learned when to burn, and when to smoulder. For Finrod, dearest brother. What can I say? What words would suffice? Your ring’s bearer is worthy of his ancestors. I miss you. I miss you I miss you I miss you I miss you I miss you.

2. The Myth Hanging Heavy Over You (Elrond & Elwing)

He sends radiant wings, dark hair streaked with silver, a queen’s pride, laughter among the waves, lembas, handkerchiefs. He receives home, with such ardentness that he weeps for a week.

3. Sorrow Beyond Words, Collected Testimony of the War of Wrath (Finarfin, Lalwen)

The Valar said that he could no longer twist elves into orcs even by the time of his first imprisonment, but from the conditions there, from the bodies we pulled out…I don’t think he cared. Every torture, every debasement, every abomination against the Eruchîn that could be imagined. For each we thought might survive if we got them to the surface, there were five who wouldn’t, and ten corpses.

4. Shall we look at the moon, my little loon? (Aerin, Aerin's mother)

Aerin stands in her mother’s dress before the looking glass, eyes unseeing. Hitheth adorns her with the jewelry which will be her dowry, the only riches of her house, the last gift of the elves who vanished into the mists as if they never were.

5. Still-untitled "What if Fëanor took the Helcaraxë" AU (Círdan, Thingol (for now))

It's still Y.T. 1497. Morgoth hasn't had centuries to innovate his siege technology, but Círdan's cities also haven't been rebuilt with Noldor walls. The Grey Annals says Fëanáro's host arrives some seven solar years after Melian raises the Girdle. (Yes if we go by the usual "1 tree year = 9.582 solar years" then it could've been upwards of 25 solar years since the Darkening in 1495 before the landing at Losgar.) (I hate Tolkien's timelines sometimes.)

[polutrope]

About controversial opinions, I don't like when in fanfics, Elronde Elros call Maglor or Maedhros their fathers/dads, I like them having complicated feelings for them, love for Maglor, but still guilt and a little anger, even if they are kind and love them, but it bothers me a lot if Elrond calls Maglor his father, says that Maglor is his father too or if the twins say they see themselves as Feanorians

Whoa now, we like to keep the controversy down at polutrope.tumblr.com! But, to be fair, ambivalence can be controversial 😉.

I feel you, Anon. But I suspect you already know this about me.

The El-twins calling Maglor "Father" is actually a good example of something I have become "radically ambivalent" about. I'm not ambivalent about kidnap fam being complicated, but I have become "meh" about calling Maglor "Father, Atar, Atto," etc. He does, canonically, raise them. "Foster father" imo is the most appropriate term for the role he plays in their childhood.

I can see them only ever calling him by his name, or something else (potentially something rude), but I can also see situations where one or both twins would call Maglor "Father" while still maintaining a very complicated relationship to him and to that word applied to him. I mean, how many people out there have complicated paternal relationships and still call Dad "Dad" or whatever?

I became open to it when I started writing this relationship and struggled to convince myself that they wouldn't have ever called him father.

Here's Elros in my fic Scorched, which kind of summarises my feelings on them:

Maglor is to blame. Maglor who failed to guard them from the monster Maedhros became; who gilded his brother with praise and fond looks and gentle words. Even his anger, when it rose, was sinuous and soft. Elros turns on his heel, sharp and resolute, and with hands bunched tight at his sides he seeks the one who by long familiarity has eroded his resistance to naming father.

I don't think it's impossible that Elrond or Elros in their adulthood would continue to think of Maglor as "father", either, if only out of habit. But I'm with you in that I think with their illustrious and diverse heritage, "Fëanorian" would be the last thing they'd identify as. At least not much past young adulthood.

As for Maedhros, well. I've talked about where I stand on that one before.

[cochart]

Some blurbs about Silm headcanon and interpretations that I DON'T enjoy.

I mean, why bother talking about stuff I don't like? But here's some random hump day chit chat. These are just my preferences so I hope people can just fun-read this.

Feanorians forcefully taking the twins: Technically, they end up taking Elrond&Elros away from their people, but I personally don't enjoy the interpretation/characterization of murder bros cruelly/violently taking the kids. My personal interpretation is that Maedhros and Maglor didn't mean to take the kids, but by the time they were done in Sirion, everyone--including their remaining brothers--was dead and Elwing was gone with the Silmaril. So the brothers took the twins as a sort of selfish/twisted repentance. They remember what happened to Elured and Elurin back in Doriath, so maybe that played into their decision. Though their act in the end is as noble as someone running a mother cat over and adopting the kittens, I don't think the two brothers stooped so low as to actually rip away the children from their mother or use them as bargaining chips.

Elwing vs. Feanorians/good vs. evil trope: I don't really find pure, innocent Elwing against evil Feanorians trope that interesting personally. I also don't enjoy Elwing the tragic holy mother characterization. While I don't think she's "bad" for "choosing Silmaril over her kids," I don't think she's a kind of loving, tragic mother either. I always enjoyed portrayals of "less than perfect" moms Tolkien's texts. Elwing loved her kids, but her husband likely mattered to her more. She likes having a family with him, but if she had to choose between being with her husband or her kids, she would probably choose the former. She chooses to stay with her husband after Ulmo turns her into a bird, and Earendil basically chooses Elven fate over Men's fate for her sake. I think for Elwing, who had a pretty depressing life, Earendil was her hope and light, and nobody could take his role, even her own sons. Anyway, I really enjoy seeing women who are not "my kids are my everything" once in a while. As an extension of this, I don't enjoy Elwing bickering with Feanorians and all that drama either.

Maglor being an innocent victim in the final act: I don't think Maglor was an unwilling victim/participant when he and Maedhros went to steal the Silmarils nor was he ever a victim in any of the kinslayings. He probably didn't enjoy any of it, but he knew he couldn't escape the Oath alone so he decided to just face it. He knew what was coming, but he didn't want to leave his brother alone or betray him. So he joins in knowing this would only end badly. Btw I think Maedhros is the type to unalive himself when he's faced with overwhelming tragedy/guilt, but Maglor is the type to live forever in misery because he thinks he deserves an eternity of punishment.

[annoyinglandmagazine]

Elrond and Elros Series Ideas 2

For a framing devise, which maybe shouldn’t be revealed until maybe halfway through the first season, I think it’s probably Elrond explaining it to Bilbo as he tries to compile his songs and history extracts of the Old Tales and takes full advantage of any primary sources he can find. The story is interspersed with Elrond packing things away for his journey west, you see things like murials of ships coming to life at the start of an episode and rings being taken out of their boxes suddenly switching to a scene where you can see them on the hands of one of the characters of the show.

As a battle scene with Maedhros taking out an entire battalion of orcs single handedly (pun fully intended) fades out you can see the same sword carefully taken out of its intricate scabbard and despite the layer of dust it is sharp as ever as it is cradled in hands that clearly aren’t the scarred one’s from the scene. The finale absolutely has to end with Elrond balancing on the prow of the ship to Valinor with a soft smile on his face and one tear rolling down his cheek as he gazes at the horizon.

The framing will also serve to explain why most of the first half of the season or so, four or five episodes, are in a more broad strokes epic style with very few little details or casual dialogue, mostly it’s political and military discussions, it comes across as if it’s more a story that’s been passed down because it’s not from Elrond’s point of view. It’s mostly a large scale kind of story with big battle scenes and political drama.

This is juxtaposed with the clips of the twins and their relationship with the Feanorians in the camp and Maglor and Maedhros in which we see Elrond learning how to heal because he’s the only one there that can and there’s loads of really sweet emotional moments where it looks like Maedhros is finally starting to accept them and you get much more dialogue with little bits of humour as well because this is what Elrond remembers.

Basically it feels like an entirely different show about two feared war lords letting down their barriers in order to try and form a tentative bond with these scared children as they grow up and it’s a really moving subplot next to the main plot of armies fighting dragons and Balrogs and kings and lords trying to form stable alliances in the unnavigable situation that is elf politics (especially the Finarfin and Gil Galad High Kingship of The Noldor situation because there is a lot of mileage in that one.)

The first time we see the Third Kinslaying properly is a bit later in the season, there’s vague flashes that allude to it in the twin’s nightmares, is Oropher explaining to Thranduil that they mustn’t fully trust the Noldor which comes on the heels of intense political manoeuvring the entire episode between him and Gil Galad. He refers to how they destroyed two of their people’s cities and ended the line of their royal family in one brutal attack. The way this scene is done should definitely open up with warning bells ringing louder and louder as the camera cuts from Mirkwood to Sirion and the most menacing music possible plays over the Feanorians entering.

It absolutely has to be an intensely brutal scene, maybe not in the graphic violence sense but emotionally the destruction has to be devastating, buildings set on fire, maybe a toy in a child’s limp hand or something like that; it’s horrifying is the point. Elwing flings herself into the sea and it ends with Oropher looking over the burning wreckage from the distance, just a few hours too late, a thriving settlement reduced to nothingness in the space of a day.

The Sindar all believe the twins to be dead and no one ever speaks the name of Elwing’s child or children, it isn’t specified, because it’s such a dreadful tragedy; they don’t show Elrond and Elros as Elwing’s sons until the end of the first season when we see two six year olds hiding in a wardrobe in a burning building and suddenly there’s footsteps and the door is thrown open to reveal Maglor stained with blood.

It’s referenced previously that the twins guardians have a dark reputation and it may have already been said that they are the sons of Feanor who were responsible for the massacre so it’s not a leap for it to be confirmed that they found the twins through dubious means but this is the first time people who don’t have the background knowledge will see where the twins came from.

Elros might brandish a sword at him but Maglor slowly takes off his helmet off and tells him they won’t come to any harm. Eventually he manages to coax them out and takes them in his arms and just as the camera pans out over the wreckage of Sirion once more you can hear the hushed voices of a conversation something like this; Maedhros: Elwing’s sons? Truly Maglor? Maglor: Well who else will take them? We killed their mother after all.

[echo-bleu]

End of the Year Fic Recs

thank you @thescrapwitch and @sallysavestheday for tagging me!

This is a wonderful game, I love reccing fics and I should do it more. I'll keep it all Silmarillion for the recs, since that's the bulk of what I've read this year. I haven't had the spoon to leave proper comments on some of these, so hopefully reccing them can count too?

Recommend up to 5 series or multi-chapter fics from 2023 that everyone should read (multi-year WIPs count, if the last update was in 2023).

- The Harrowing by @chthonion. I am forever in awe of this whole series and of Chthonion's writing. Somehow every single sentence is relatable and at least half of them are a punch in the gut, but in a healing way. A delightful Frodo, Celebrimbor and Finrod working through their trauma and Annatar, remade as an elf, learning how to be a good person (and a person at all, really).

- we will make this place our home by @leucisticpuffin. Truly delightful 70s AU as narrated by 8 year old Elrond, who just makes my heart melt in every chapter. Maedhros and Maglor as traumatized foster parents doing their best, the twins with their antics and their fears and joys, it's such a breath of fresh air and I can't get enough of it.

- Hanged Man by @tethysresort. Second age fic about the fall of Eregion and the start of Imladris with so much interesting worldbuilding and plot, and characterization of Elrond and Glorfindel especially that I really loved.

- Everlasting Song by @amethysttribble. This is perhaps a little more niche, a crossover with A Song of Ice and Fire, but I'm not an ASOIAF fan at all and I have like two whole memories of the books and I'm still finding absolutely delightful. Top-notch characterization of the Fëanorians, and it really keeps you on your toes.

- Aurë entuluva by @theheirofashandfire. Just very recently caught up with it and I love it to bits! The time loop is all kinds of angsty and breathtaking, and I really love the world that is being constructed afterwards. Wonderful Russingon, and I'm also, especially, in love with her Curufin and Celegorm.

Recommend up to 5 single chapter fics/one-shots (long or short) from 2023 that everyone should read.

- Wayward Son by @thescrapwitch. Angst exactly like I like it. Fëanor and Maglor, and it will make you cry. @thescrapwitch writes Maglor just wonderfully and I really love this Fëanor that will do absolutely anything for his son.

- On the difference between hostages and sons by leodesic (and the rest of the series as well). Absolutely delightful Elrond and Elros, as seen by Gil-galad when they first come to his court. I love Elrond defying expectation, and this was such a wonderful read.

- the world to come by arriviste. Arda Remade, told through the shadows and the gaps of what's missing. It's eerie, and I love a well-written eerie fic that leaves you feeling a little off-balance. Wonderful reflection on the price of perfection.

- Sea-Bells and Sunlight by @actual-bill-potts. Finrod, Lúthien and Beren in Mandos. This broke my heart in the best way.

- in the breaking by @thelordofgifs. Short but terribly impactful study of Maedhros and Maglor before the end, one of the best I've read of them.

Recommend up to 5 fics NOT from 2023 that everyone should read (oldies but goodies).

- A Farewell to Arms by MorwenSteelsheen (LOTR, Farawyn). Such a wonderful characterization and development of Faramir and Éowyn's relationship in a slight canon divergence where Éowyn arrives in Gondor two years before the end of the war of the Ring.

- The Splintered Light by @thearrogantemu. The whole series. These Gifts That You Have Given Me (Silvergifting) is well-known in the fandom, I think, and I absolutely loved it, but the other fics set in the Fourth Age were among the first I read in this fandom that I just fell straight in love with.

- The Host of the West by @mynameisjessejk. Various fics of the Otter Mayhem and Otterless Mayhem series could have gone into every category here because I love them all, but this is the one I chose because I reread it yesterday for the fourth (fifth?) time and it still had me bawling my eyes out. Probably my favourite Finrod, and definitely an inspiration for my own writing. The whole series is about healing and redemption and elf therapy and all of it is delightful.

- The Peril (and Potential) of Unleashing Lightning in a Fishbowl by @dawnfelagund. This one took everything I thought I knew about Caranthir, threw it out the window and gave me a truly brilliant characterization I didn't know I needed in my life. The worldbuilding is also delightful, and so is Amarië.

- Aranya by SpaceWall. I read this recently and it's really staying with me. Some people in my asks have expressed interest in fics that take the Valar to account for their mistakes, and this is a wonderful one. With a bonus revolution. I really love the non-linear storytelling as well, a hard-to-use tool that is done wonderfully here. Plus the title is inspired.

Recommend up to 5 of your own fics (completed or WIP) from 2023 that everyone should read.

- your veins are empty of dust. Character study of Nerdanel as feels her family die across the sea, and she sculpts. This is also the fic for which I made the art I'm probably the proudest of to date.

- your smile tells me I'm safe. Modern AU with aro Maedhros and a Russingon QPR.

- silver. Míriel, Celegorm and Celebrimbor, and living with chronic illness.

- the light that you keep burning there. Part of a much larger AU where the second and third kinslayings don't happen, but this one is about Maedhros, Maglor and Fingon in the later years, as the world crumbles, trying to remember what (who) they're fighting for.

- if I am to braid my mystic crown. The Silmarillion retold through worldbuilding headcanons about braids.

Tagging @unforth @foodsies4me @wren-of-the-woods @camille-lachenille (I don't know who has already done it, so feel free to send me a link if you have!)

[hhimring]

In Rivendell: Elrond and a Feanorian OC

@halfelvenweek

This is a section of a WIP that I think I haven't ever posted publicly, I think, although it wasn't written recently.

It features Elrond in Rivendell some time after the Fall of Eregion, although it looks back on his past in the First Age.

He is speaking with one of my ex-Feanorian OCs. She insists on serving Elrond fresh-baked cinnamon rolls every morning.

Elrond was alone in the breakfast room, keeping tryst, but it seemed the rest of the household had been slower to rise this morning. Naurthoniel carefully set down her tray of fresh-baked rolls before him as usual, but, as she did so, the scent of cinnamon wafted up and she spoke.

'Of course, we did not have any cinnamon, in Himring.'

She raised her eyes and saw that Elrond was listening—his face so intent that she could not help it, she went on speaking.

'Well, I guess we did, sometimes, that is, I can remember perhaps two or three occasions when we received a consignment of cinnamon from Cirdan, but it was precious. I would not have wasted it on a private breakfast, then, not even for Maedhros himself, I would have kept it for a formal banquet, with guests. That was during the Long Siege. There was none at all to be had, during the early days—and none at all in the time you were with us, as you know. An entirely false tradition, really—it was in Tirion that my cinnamon rolls were famous. Maedhros used to praise them extravagantly...'

She stopped, feeling abruptly that she had run out of breath, as if she had run a very long way.

'I know,' said Elrond. 'It is a good tradition nevertheless and the rolls are excellent. I am sure there could be none better in Valinor.'

'You are far too kind to me,' said Naurthoniel. 'You have been putting up with me all this time... I was not nearly good enough to you when you came to us, after Sirion, and don't deserve so much consideration.'

'I remember you as kind,' said Elrond. 'You did much more for me than you remember, probably. You were grieving bitterly for your cousin Ceredir, but that didn't stop you from taking care of our needs, mine and Elros's, as best you could. I can recall at least half a dozen occasions when you went without just so we could have a treat.'

Naurthoniel regarded him dubiously, but he really seemed to mean it.

'I should not have left you to go to Ost-in-Edhil,' she said then. 'Especially not if you remember me like that. I felt, even then, that I was deserting you.'

'But how could you have resisted, Narye?' said Elrond, using her old name, the one they had used in Beleriand. 'There was so little for you to do in Lindon, by then, except to try not to tread on anyone's toes and avoid offending people by being Feanorian!  I wasn't at all surprised when, after that visit to Eregion, you chose to stay.'

Elrond put his hand over hers, on the table.

'I'm just so glad you're still here, Narye,' he said.

She considered the surprisingly sane and well-balanced person sitting before her and just how many people in his life he had already lost. Then she squeezed his hand. She did not feel she had the right to, but someone should, even if it was just her.

'I'm not leaving, Elrond,' she said firmly.

And Elrond smiled, as if she had given him a great gift.

He had really been afraid of losing her, like the rest. The discovery overwhelmed her just a bit, so much that she found she needed to go away and think about that.

(Naurthoniel is still traumatized by the fall of Eregion. Elrond has been handling her with care.)