#Maeglin is 80 according to tolkiengateway which puts him at ''above age of consent below age of independence'' I think

[fuckingfinwions]

yet more comatose míriel ideas, worldbuilding edition: they do eventually figure out a way to tell if an elf has míriel's condition, which they call being a "child crafter" (noldor are all about their craft, and for some people that craft is bearing children)

most of fëanor's kids don't have it, just maedhros, and also curufin - but curufin just has one extraordinarily long pregnancy, produces celebrimbor, and declares he's made the perfect child and can stop. maedhros continues bearing fingon's children forever, in beleriand after fëanor dies he's *technically* king and fingon is his consort, but everybody knows it's the other way around

the condition isn't in all of maedhros's children either, and sometimes it skips generations (fingolfin's line has at least one at some point (probably maeglin that unlucky bastard) and finrod is incredibly happy to carry children for any human who sees fit to take him)

it becomes standard practice to marry off the child crafters quickly once they're adults so 1. they can have fulfilling perpetually-pregnant lives and 2. they don't have any illegitimate children, since the royal bloodline is too important to allow that. some are the kind that do go unconscious, but most are like maedhros. some others are *very* uncooperative about their marriages, but once they're with child that changes in an instant, they really only have to be *forced* once

They figure it out eventually, but Maedhros had no idea when he first got pregnant what would happen, if he would just never wake up as his body created more and more glorious heirs for the house of Finwe.

I wonder being a child-crafter affects Curufin specifically,what his pregnancy is like besides “long”. He obviously doesn’t get Maedhros baby-craziness, but does he pass out entirely like Miriel, or go into a suggestible haze where he can move his body to be an active fucktoy? And they obviously don’t have to worry about illegitimate children while he’s already knocked up. So if you ask Curufin, his pregnancy with Celebrimbor took a decade or so and was very boring, absolutely nothing happened worth remarking on (to hide that he doesn’t rememebr it all). If you ask Turgon though - or Finwe, or half a dozen others - they remember him as very sweet and obedient and so willing to please. (Not exactly eager, he didn’t initiate sex because he didn’t initiate anything, but he responded quite well to his skilled hands being dragged to someone’s cock or cunt or nipple, tirelessly working to give his partner pleasure until his hand was moved away.)

Maedhros is officially king, and he understands that he has to give speeches sometimes. But most of what he does to strengthen the Noldor is birthing more Noldorin citizens, who will grow up to be brave warriors or obedient child-crafters. He leaves the policy and the battle to Fingon, with Maedhros’s only input being to beg his husband to not stay away at the front for too long (so he can be back to welcome their next child and breed Maedhros again).

Finrod enjoys carrying children for the humans so much. They can’t inherit from him - they’re not proper elves, and he has a prophecy about being Doomed. But he can get pregnant, and bear beautiful half-human children who will go on to lead their people. (Ever wonder why so few of the house of Beor have recorded mothers?)

Yes, they do have to be married of young. It gives them fulfilling lives, and makes sure that no one accidentally promotes one of them to do anything essential - they’ll just have to quit as soon as they get married, so they can spend the rest of their life being pregnant.

And yeah, even the least willing only have to be forced once. For example, Maeglin. He was raised by Eol, and Eol never checked to see if Maeglin would be a child-crafter. Maeglin has heard of the term only once or twice, and had thought of it as “intense stay at home mom”. Then he reaches Gondolin, and both his parents die. Turgon’s personal physician looks him over, and shares the good news - Maeglin is a child-crafter! The Gondolin royal family will grow and he can birth many strong princes and princesses to help their city!

Maeglin does not want this. He argues that surely he’s a better smith, a better miner, a better something than just being kept in the palace barefoot and pregnant. He petitions Turgon, and asks Idril to intercede, tries to hide in the streets of Gondolin. It’s when he tries to run away from the city entirely that Turgon realizes the importance of drastic action. For Maeglin’s safety, and the safety of the whole city, Maeglin is locked in his rooms, and a wedding scheduled with al haste. Turgon has heard that some child-crafters didn’t look forward to it - Maedhros will laughingly admit that he used to have political ambitions before he married Fingon! - but they all enjoyed it in the end. Maeglin is just distressed because his body is made for carrying babies and he hasn’t been bred yet, hell be happier once he’s knocked up. (Or else he’ll go comatose like Miriel, but it’s not like she's unhappy, and either way Maeglin will certainly end up more cooperative.)

It’s possible that Turgon will listen to Maeglin’s ranting a little bit though. Maeglin mentions that all the other child-crafters might be married off young, but the others all grew in Noldorin communities, and knew their spouse for years before their wedding. Maeglin refuses to spend all the ages of Arda bound to someone he barely even knows! So Turgon agrees, and says that Maeglin can choose to marry in his own time. Any children Maeglin bears before his marriage will be considered legitimate members of the royal family. Maeglin can be bred by all the lords of Gondolin, for as many years (and babies) as it takes him to decide which one he wants to be marry.