#The Silmarillion AU

[morvith]

I stumbled on this post by @velvet4510 : "If Míriel had lived, would Fëanor still have followed the same dark path?"

I voted "no" because so much of Fëanor was shaped by his abandonment issues.

...pause for a moment as I contemplate Fëanor growing up well-adjusted.

But, let us imagine for a moment a perfect word.

A world where Miriel doesn't die after giving birth to Fëanor and Finwë still gets his large family (The other children of Finwë will maintain their original name for clarity’s sake)

So Miriel does not die, but the birth still leaves her fragile. It takes her a long time to recover and decide that she wants to try again, so much that there is a big age difference between Fëanor and Fingolfin

Which, not that unusual among Elves, I bet it's not uncommon for siblings to have about a century between them.

However, when Fingolfin comes along, Fëanor isn't just of age, he is fully established: he has found his craft, maybe he is not a master yet but at the very least he is well on his way to it.

He definitely panics at the idea of his mother being pregnant again, since he remembers his early years when mother was recovering - how weak and wan she looked, how easily she tired. There are arguments about it, but eventually Miriel puts her foot down and points out that this is her decision, she wouldn’t do it if she did not want to or feel up to it, and that's final.

But, perfect word: Miriel's second pregnancy is much, much, much easier than her first one.

Same for the pregnancies that follow. Her difficult first pregnancy becomes something to tease Fëanor about - within the family only, of course, but still. Imagine that.

Fëanor does not go down the same dark path. That  does not mean that there is no dark path, or that it's not somebody else who takes it.

Maybe in this universe Melkor can't get his claws into Fëanor because he simply feels zero resentment for his younger siblings. Why would he?

It's not like his parents do not give him attention and if one of them is busy, he can always count on the other. 

Did he get some jealousy pangs? Yes, sure. He is not perfect. But he probably kept them to himself and thoroughly regretted them once he had his own children and got to see parenting from the other side.

But what about Fingolfin, the second son? The one who grows up in the shadow of his oldest brother?

The one who is still doing all the paperwork because Fëanor is off creating and can't be bothered. The one who is taken for granted, the one who will never be considered for Crown Prince because....well, why would he? He is the second born, after all. 

And he is Not Fëanor.

But perhaps that doesn’t work, either. 

Perhaps in this world, because Fëanor and Fingolfin are similar, they end up being close. Perhaps Fëanor here does appreciate all of Fingolfin's hard work, and since this is Fëanor we are talking about, you know he would not be quiet about it.

Imagine Fëanor taking Maitimo to meet Baby Makalaurë and whispering, "I hope you will grow up to be great friends, like me and your Uncle Nolofinwë."

So Fingolfin is out. What about Finarfin? The third son, the last child, the one overshadowed by both his older brothers? 

What about Findis? Or Irimë?

Maybe it's Fëanor who dies trying to defend his masterpieces. 

Maybe it's Finwë who, mad with grief, stands before the Valar and swears a terrible oath.

(with many thanks to @wings-of-indigo)

[mrkida-art]

I am currently working on new iterations for my version of the elves. I had this idea that the elven lifespan could be shown by their clothes by having them wear materials that are noticeably aged. So this elf is wearing oxidized metals, aged and fraying fabrics etc. I also decided to add in visible veins as well as subtle skin patterns to emphasise their otherworldly nature.

[naarisz]

Beach episode

[aamuusva]

Nargothrond cowboy au

[thesummerestsolstice]

Silmarillion AU Where all the Elves are Hobbits and the Stakes are Significantly Lower:

Finwe is mayor of his part of the Shire, happily married to both Miriel and Indis because they all have two hands

Miriel doesn't die after childbirth she just goes off on a trip to find new artistic inspiration and doesn't come back

Don't worry she eventually shows back up again– turns out she got lost and a kind elvish warrior named Vaire helped her find her way back

Feanor has a good relationship with his siblings, although he and Nolofinwe have engaged in several bouts of passive-aggressive one-upsmanship

The most famous of these ended with Nolofinwe swimming several miles across a lake in winter to prove that he was the more dedicated brother. Feanor agreed after telling him off for being reckless.

The Silmarils aren't pseudo-holy gemstones here, they're a set of three really intricately carved pipe-weed pipes that the Finweans pull out on ceremonial occasions

Morgoth isn't a fallen god he's just an asshole elf who regularly breaks into the Shire to steal things

One day he steals the Silmarils; he doesn't kill Finwe though he just knocks him out

The rest of the First Age is mostly just increasingly convoluted plots by various Finweans to break into his fortress and steal back the pipes (and all the other stuff Morgoth has stolen)

The first of these attempts involves Feanor stealing one (1) boat from Mayor Olwe. No one dies though and he puts it back afterwards. It still results in a lot of petty gossip.

After one of the attempts Morgoth catches Maedhros and hangs him up in a really tall tree

He's stuck there for three weeks before Findekano finds him and gets him down with the help of a homemade hang-glider called "Thorondor"

One of the other hobbit mayors is Thingol, a dear friend (and possible ex boyfriend?) of Finwe

Most of the Ainur are elves here but the concept of hobbit Thingol marrying an eldritch goddess is too funny to pass up so Melian is still a Maia here

She and her descendants look pretty hobbit-ish but they have fairy wings and little antennae

It causes a huge scandal when their daughter, Luthien, runs off with a dwarf prince named Beren

Thingol even writes a very strongly worded letter telling her not to marry him, which is a very extreme measure by hobbit standards, but she doesn't listen

Eventually Beren decides to steal some hobbit stuff back from Morgoth to prove his worthiness

He ends up stealing back one of the pipes and giving it to Thingol

Thingol grudgingly accepts him and Bluthien settle into a nice, quiet life in the Shire

There's no Doriath kinslaying either there's just a long, very passive-aggressive series of letters between Thingol and Feanor until Finwe eventually steps in and Thingol returns the pipe

[nynevefromthelake]

Ok it’s mermay, so what about Finrod and Beor mermaid au? Finrod is a sea prince and very curious about people and Balan is widowed fisherman who lives near the shore with his sons

[inthehouseoffinwe]

Finarfin Fades.

No one expects it, no one’s faded in Valinor since Miriel. The War of Wrath is won and he comes back, waving off the courtiers, well wishers, and congratulators with his usual grace, and walks into the palace of Tirion. To rooms abandoned since their owners left so long ago. Winding deeper and deeper his feet take him to what was once Finwë’s favourite garden.

He’s so tired.

He’s fulfilled his promise to Fëanaro and Nolofinwë, to avenge them. To make the agony of their final moments - agony Finarfin felt, falling to the floor screaming as fire and darkness consumed his spirit - count for something. Now Morgoth is finally gone, but he’s not the only one.

His brothers, larger than life, larger than death, are gone. With them his sons. Niece. Nephews. Grandchildren. His daughter is never to return. He Saw little Nelyo’s death in his dreams and is sure hopes for the child’s own sake that Makalaurë will be close behind.

Little remains. Even less on these golden shores.

So Finarfin sits on a bench long overgrown with vines and weeds, and watches the sun filter through the thicket, wishing the ghosts he sees in his father’s garden would flesh out.

He sits. He waits.

And by the time anyone finds him, it’s too late.

…at least he’s smiling again.

[sakasakiii]

not really a modern au but more like a weird future timeline thing where beach hermit maglor Hibernates™ all through the 2nd and 3rd ages & misses the last boats to Valinor.... thus resulting in him skulking about history until he ends up living among modern day humans haha?? the kicker is that he one day finds an abandoned baby thats all-too-suspiciously like a certain dead brother and becomes a single dad-younger brother-adopted guardian person...

i wrote a few pages of this back in 2022 but never really thought abt it further after i started posting less frequently hahaha.... heres just some feel good domestic sketches of this AU bc i miss drawing modern clothes 🤭 i have sooo many thoughts about it that i couldnt fit into these doodles !! its quite a lot of yapping so feel free to skip past the cut haha

assorted au thoughts:

i planned for maglor to eventually find all 6 of his brothers one by one through the power of Accidental Child Acquisition ✨ example: he'd spot a kid lurking around some woods near his home and eventually realise said wild child living amongst stray dogs is a bit too similar to celegorm

i just couldnt fit in the time to draw that this round... maybe next time!

though he's raising reincarnated-Maedhros, i think it makes more sense for him to give him a modern name and not explicitly call him Nelyo/Maitimo/Russandol just bc he'd not want to get his own hopes up or shove said identity onto the kid

(the occasional 'hey Nelyo' does slip out by accident from time to time however)

i think as Mae-the-kid grows up he will in time start to remember bits and pieces of his original identity? with the nicer familial things (like valinor, his brothers, feanor and nerdanel) first, and then the darker things (kinslayings, angband, war) once he's grown up that Maglor will struggle explaining or even helping him through

i promise this is a wholesome au 😭

side characters include a high-strung but good guy policeman named Officer Borden who's very suspicious of Maglor bc of all the random kids he keeps adopting.... and his younger brother Farren, who happens to be Maglor's scholarly coworker

as well as Maglor's next door neighbour Morgan, a witch-woman married to some guy named Hugh... she's got 3 kids who visit from time to time but from what Maglor's heard, the oldest son is followed by misfortune and has supposedly never met his youngest sister...?

credit to Ted Nasmith and Cartoon Network for some assets used in the doodles :D

[ylieke]

I am the only one in the world who ships these two. Right?

[arlenianchronicles]

After a million years' absence, I come back to you now at the turn of the tide ... with some @allthatglittersisnotgoldrush fanart! Rest assured I have other Silm art to share once the time comes (they're for TRSB and S&D, so I can't post them until the events are over loll)

The recent AU installments got me back into the Beren-Luthien-Finrod mood, which led to these portrait attempts! For starters, we have Barahir, Emeldir the Blind, and Beren, once again inspired by the Pacific Northwest tribes. For Barahir in particular, I based him off of Michael Greyeyes in the movie, Woman Walks Ahead, hence why his hair is down for now XD

The other three are Luthien, Melian, and Thingol! For Melian, her hairstyle and clothes are inspired by the Qing Dynasty since she was born during that time. I'm not quite satisfied with Thingol's look, but I'm at least glad I knew of his mustachio from the Pharmakos fic lololl

[edennill]

The house of Fëanor at the airport:

Fëanor:

still making hasty additions to his luggage ten minutes before leaving

incurably absentminded in the terminal because he just had a new idea for a project enter his mind and is upset he hasn't got time to take out his notebook

still tries to wrote something down every time there's a queue

lost the twins twice

Nerdanel:

annoyed

"some of us have also got stuff we'd rather be doing and can manage to put it aside for a moment, Fëanor"

frighteningly efficient

still stops every few minutes to remark that she would like to sculpt this or that random passerby

Maedhros:

assigned third parent™

will do everything he's tasked with without question

responsible for the well-being of at least two of the younger ones

inwardly exasperated and outwardly an example of patience

small, efficiently packed suitcase

Maglor:

has taken 3 different musical instruments with him

whines if you tell him to take care of his younger brothers

walks three yards before the rest of the family

has quarelled twice with Celegorm and once with Caranthir since they started check-in

wants to go into souvenir shops

Celegorm:

was planning to smuggle his pets into his luggage but was informed they might be confiscated at the airport

dressed way too cold for the weather

teases his brothers and gets yelled at by everyone

runs circles around the rest of the group

tries to get on the luggage conveyor belt

finds souvenir shops boring; crashes a vase in one

Caranthir:

tired and cranky

lags behind the rest

nose in a book

terrified he will forget something made of metal at security

packed way too much but later people will always ask to borrow stuff from him

Curufin:

model child

unless he's running after Celegorm

or teasing Caranthir

insists on pulling his own luggage but quickly gives up

thankfully can be trusted to keep next to his father at all times

pulls his father into souvenir shops

Amrod and Amras:

seem to be attempting to roleplay Home Alone in New York

categorically forbidden from entering souvenir shops

try to poke inside the security scanner

Bonus - Celebrimbor:

model child no.2

makes new friends who don't even speak the same language as him

bought reams of overpriced stuff in souvenir boutiques by the rest of the family

has no concept of stranger danger

[overlord-of-fantasy]

Time-traveling Galadriel will not let all that sh*t happen again

Galadriel, tying Feanor up and gaging him, before he can speak the oath: Now, uncle Feanaro, all of us are doing this because we care about you, okay? Fingolfin: Except for me. I just wanted to see the look on your face.

[mrkida-art]

Stiffbeard dwarves laughing at something (or someone)

[drawulan]

Husbands

[eyes-of-nine]

I knew I'd draw him again one day, I just didn't realise it was going to be a cowboy au

[thesummerestsolstice]

Another note on the Silm-as-hobbits AU:

Instead of half-elves, Elrond and co. are Dwobbits, so instead of making the choice to be mortal or immortal, they have to make the Dwobbit choice.™️

The Dwobbit choice is whether or not they grow a beard. They can always cut it or grow one later, so it isn't permanent. It also has very little bearing on their day-to-day lives.

It is treated exactly as seriously as the Peredhel choice is in canon by everyone except for the actual Dwobbits, who think everyone else is being insane.

Maglor, tearful: Ai, Elros, my child, I do not understand why you've made this choice, and I grieve for it, though I respect it.

Elros: Dad. I grew facial hair. Calm down.

Glorfindel: Elrond, does it ever sadden you to be sundered from your dear twin? Do you ever miss him??

Elrond: ...

Elrond: Glorfindel, you know Elros lives down the street, right?? He was at tea with us yesterday.