#definitely before the Quest for the Silmaril or the Nirnaeth

[lendmyboyfriendahand]

Parentage

When Gil-Galad was twelve he decided it was time to find out about the facts of life.

“Who's really my father?”

Maedhros looked up from the map he was studying. “Why do you ask?”

“I know Fingon’s not my father, and you know it too. So who is?”

“Unimportant.”

“My father is some random nobody?”

“Most likely, but that’s not what I meant. Who really fathered you is far less important than who people believe did so.”

“Easy for you to say.”

"Perhaps. Let me ask you, who was my father?”

“Feanor. Everybody knows that.”

“They do. You never met Feanor, but you have met Curufin, yes?”

Gil-Galad nodded warily, wondering if this would turn out to be a revelation that he was Feanorian.

“Curufin is a mirror image of his father, different in stance but not in feature. Tell me, do I have a single feature in common with Curufin?”

Gil-Galad thought for a moment. “You have the same shaped eyes?”

“As do all the rest of the Noldor.”

“Then no, I can’t think of any.”

“Precisely. I do not resemble Feanor any more than a random elf on the streets of Tirion, and a good deal less than some of them.”

Gil-Galad was frustrated. “But it doesn’t matter if you resemble him, because he really is your father. It matters that my eyes are the wrong color and my nose is the wrong shape to be Fingon’s because I am not his son!”

“You are Fingon’s son. He took you in as an infant, he claimed you as his own, he loves you, and he is raising you to lead his people after him. By that same token, I am Feanor’s son.”

“But - everyone knows you’re Feanor’s son.”

“And everyone knows you’re Fingon’s.”

“Who’s son are you then?”

“Feanor named me for my heritage, both blood and adopted. You should be able to figure it out from that.”

“Nelyafinwe...” Gil-Galad hummed under his breath. “The finwe is obliviously for King Finwe of Tirion. But nelya, three, if it’s not just an insult to Grandpa... is it for the tribe from Cuiviénen? The Sindar - or they’re Teleri across the Sea, right?”

“That’s correct.”

“Who was he? Are you related to Thingol?”

“No one you would have heard of.” Maedhros looked at Gil-Galad’s eager expression, and sighed. “His name was Penmalaclar, he was a ropemaker who would also pose for artists. Nerdanel had him model for several sculptures. She joined with him while she was engaged to Feanor, but Feanor forgave her. He knew quite well how rumors around a child’s birth can hurt them, so he told no one else, and only told me when I was old enough to understand.”

“He really didn’t tell anyone? Not even King Finwe?”

“King Finwe knew he had a grandson, who would be smart and strong, and would be raised with all the dignity of a prince of the Noldor. He had no right to, and or interest in, details about his son’s marriage bed.”

“But that means you never really should have been king in the first place! Does Grandpa know?”

“He does not. And why shouldn’t I have been king? I was raised to it, I understood it, and the people trusted me.”

“But you aren’t Finwe’s line at all!”

“I spent my life as Finwe’s beloved grandson. I learned how to listen to his people’s concerns, and how to solve them, by watching him in court. I was Duke of Formenos, and spoke on Finwe’s behalf in the remote reaches of his realm. I am a far more accurate representative of Finwe than say, Findulias, who has never met him, and whose father did so only as an infant. Is she more Finwean than I am? Is Lady Anaire?”

Gil-Galad thought about this for a moment. “So you’re part of Finwe’s line because everyone thinks you are?”

“Because everyone thinks so, and because the rest of them want me. Blood is neither necessary or sufficient to make people family. Think of how Fingon speaks of Elenwe for the first case, and Galadriel speaking of my father for the second.”

“Really no one knows though?”

“My parents know, as presumably does Penmalaclar. I told Fingon before we married, as he was worried about a marriage of half-cousins. No one else knows - not even my brothers.”

“And you don’t worry that they would love you less if they found out?” Gil-Galad asked quietly.

“They might be more annoyed at me for yielding the crown, but they’d still love me. They know I love them for who they are, not just because we’re supposed to love each other, and I know they love me the same way. Besides, Father loved me and counted me as his son, and Feanor’s word is good enough for us.”

“Will Fingon’s word be enough?”

“For some people. Most of the rest will accept his actions, that he wouldn’t have raised you as his son if it wasn’t true. There will probably be a few who spread rumors, as they do about anyone who is different. People liked to speculate that Celegorm was illegitimate or adopted, because his hair is silver and he’s not as studious. Never mind his nose and cheeks are a perfect match for Feanor, as is his ability to inspire a crowd.”

Gil-Galad considered that for a minute. “Why did Dad take me in to start with? You said that Feanor was already engaged to Nerdanel when she got pregnant with you, so Feanor would have had to give up his love as well as the strange baby. But I don’t know my mom, and Dad certainly isn’t in love with her.”

“Fingon has always wanted to have a child. He and I obviously can’t make any. When he showed up with a baby, I asked him why as well, he said you needed somewhere to go. He had a point, and another layer to the succession is probably good anyway.”

“So you really don’t know who my father is? Or my mother?”

“You are Gil-Galad son of Fingon. Whoever sired you doesn’t matter.”

“But I want to know.”

“Then you should ask Fingon. I spent the year after your birth pretending I was mad at him. If there was any coordination with your blood parents, I didn’t see it.”

“Why would you be mad at him?”

“For having a baby with someone else even though we’re married.”

“But he didn’t.”

“He wanted to keep you from the moment he saw you. If that meant the two of us had to be apart for a little while, it was worth it, for both of us.”

“Oh. Who knows about me?”

“Fingolfin knows as much as I do. I don’t know if anyone else knows at all, besides Fingon and your blood parents.”

~~~~~~~~

'Penmalaclar’ translates to “man who loves gloriously” in Telerin. Inspired by my own post on my sideblog.

[feanorianethicsdepartment]

five+-season quenta silmarillion tv show outline:

or, what i would have done if jeff gave me all that cash

season 1: how we all got into this mess. the first few episodes cover All That Noldorin Nonsense as an elaborate political costume drama, and then right in the middle of everybody’s arcs the trees get eaten. things in valinor take a turn for the apocalyptic, we get new points of view in beleriand and angband as everyone reacts to the return of the dark lord, the full scope of our story is revealed and events keep getting faster. we follow the chaos train up to... say the mereth aderthad? about the point when the status quo of the long siege sets in, in any case. might be a bit of a squeeze fitting everything in, might have to leak into season 2

season 2: tales of beleriand. we need a season or two set during the long siege, to establish what it is that gets lost when it’s broken. i kinda wanna do a long story arc about the arrival of men, but at the same time there’s other stuff we gotta set up that wouldn’t timeline easily with that. maybe one season-length arc surrounded by a bunch of one-off specials? one about finrod, one about maeglin, one about haleth, this’d probably the best place to insert original characters and storylines to flesh out the world. we get nice and used to how beleriand works, and then dragons

season 3: the quest for the silmaril, extended remix. we start from beren coming across lúthien in that grove, and from there we build up a portrait of beleriand after the bragollach. the old man and his wife’s self inserts are definitely our focus characters, but there’s a ton of b-plots weaving through the background, lots of flashbacks, lots of cameos from characters we’ve already met. we see the sincere hope that runs around the continent after the power couple do the impossible, and once they retire from the stage we follow that hope riiiight up to the nirnaeth. season ends with a panning shot of the hill of tears

season 4: everything goes to shit. our starting point is, of course, túrin too-many-names, but from his misadventures we chain into the ruin of doriath and the fall of gondolin, a three-part story in which basically the entire continent gets trashed. we’d probably need to fudge the timelines a little to make things flow dramatically, have stuff that’s actually a year or two apart happen simultaneously, but i feel like we could make it work, and it’d really emphasise how interconnected these three tragedies are. we end at sirion, first with the survivors building a new home together, and then, just when everyone’s had a chance to breathe, we smash cut to the third kinslaying

season 5: the war of wrath. we’ll start from the arrival of the hosts of valinor, with some conveniently placed flashbacks to fill in on how everything’s somehow gotten even worse since we last saw everyone. i kind of want to have post-war elrond doing a frame narrative kind of thing? certainly him and elros coming of age in a dying world would be a good throughline. we’re going to drown this thing in everything that’s left of the effects budget, and we’re going to make it very clear that despite all the heroics there’s almost no one and nothing left in beleriand to benefit. how i want to play the series finale, i’m not exactly sure, but we’re definitely going a little past the theft of the silmarils, enough to see the utter devastation

the seasons (and the s2 specials) are meant to function as full stories individually, forming a grand epic narrative as a whole but also providing a satisfying tale within themselves. at the start of each season we’ll have an abstract animated short film going over whatever background lore you need to know to understand what’s coming and also looking very pretty. once we start having human characters we’re gonna have to change them all every season, but it’s apparently been done before, i think we could make it work. the dwarves we can slowly put in old-age makeup, the elf actors are going to age but we can blame that on the war. outside of our heroes of legend and myth, i feel like we should have a few ‘touchstone characters’ (or families, for humans) that recur across seasons that we can check up on and see how they’re doing in each new period, relatively unimportant in the grand scheme of things but providing a barometer for How Things Are Going. there’s enough space in the margins of the quenta silmarillion that would allow you to tell some really good stories around the ones we already have, yanno? that’s the kind of silm adaptation i’d love to see

[warrioreowynofrohan]

Silmarillion Ask Game:

@arrivisting : 19! Or 9!

As I’ve done 9 in my previous post, I’ll do 19! Thank you!

19) You get to save one character from dying. What would they do instead?

I thought about this for a bit and didn’t come to any definite conclusions, so I’m going to work through it in real time. There are two possible directions I can come at it from. Option 1, pragmatic: Which character’s survival would act as the greatest roadblock against future tragedies? Option 2, emotional: I like this person and want them to live.

For Option 1, we start at the beginning. Míriel? No - that feels oddly like a violation of free will given that she chose to die - and, to paraphrase Námo, Fingolfin and Finarfin and their kids are awesome. I want them to exist! Next choice - Finwë? That’s an intriguing possibility, for all that I don’t like him - if he goes to Valmar with Fëanor and doesn’t die, how does that affect Fëanor’s actions? Does the Return still happen? I have to think Fëanor would still be angry enough over the theft of the Silmarils (he swore an oath to take vengeance on anyone who had them, not to avenge Finwë, after all; though he may have also thought the former inherently incorporated the latter) that he would want to chase down Morgoth - but would the rest of the Noldor be inclined to go with him?

There are characters who are among my favourites who I definitely wouldn’t choose. Maedhros? Absolutely not - that would be outright cruel - he needs a good long time in the Halls, very badly. (I’ve envisioned a scenario where Elwing says to the Sons of Fëanor, ‘Come unarmed and alone; if you can hold the Silmaril you can keep it, if not we take you prisoner,’ with the strong expectation that they won’t be able to. They aren’t. They’re taken prisoner. Eärendil and Elwing go off on their embassy to Valinor. Better ending for Sirion, a worse one for Maedhros, who is now alive with a heaping amount of guilt and 0 functioning hands. I’m not big on the concept, as I don’t believe that any elven characters concieved of the possibility that the Silmarils could burn elves, and the utter shock of that realization to Maedhros and Maglor is crucial to the story.)

Beren and Lúthien? I can only save one, and neither would want to live without the other, so again, absolutely not.

Finrod? That’s appealing from both perspectives. If he survives, does Nargothrond fight in the Nirnaeth? Dies Nargothrond refrain from listening to Túrin’s bad tactical ideas? Let’s say Lúthien gets to Tol-in-Gaurhoth about a day earlier than she does in canon, and is able to heal Finrod after she defeats Sauron. What happens next? Well, he continues with them on the quest, we have to assume; his oath’s still in effect. (Making him a very awkward third wheel if Beren and Lúthien still spend months lovering around the general Brethil area before heading for Angband.) Maybe he comes up with the Thuringwethil-and-Draugluin disguise idea and disguises himself and the three of them go to Angband. What happens then? Well, in canon the situation with Carcharoth comes about because Lúthien is exhausted and Beren is unarmed; if Finrod’s there we probably get the ‘killed by a massive wolf in defence of Beren’ ending after all, just with a more impressive wolf. And Carcharoth doesn’t go mad, and Beren and Lúthien don’t die…but Beren is still mortal. Would Lúthien follow him into death all the same?

Irrespective of that, I don’t think this scenario can work. I don’t think any of the Noldor can be part of the recovery of a Silmaril. It’s the original sin of their enterprise, killing and straling other people’s treasures to avenge murder and the theft of treasures; even for those who were only accessory after the fact.

Aredhel? Oh, I like that possibility. Eöl misses, or she’s healed of the poison. Can’t quite wrap my brain around what happens to Eöl in this scenario - I can’t see him staying willingly in Gondolin under any circumstances, nor can I see Turgon letting him go. Even if Aredhel lives and he isn’t executed, I think he’d end up getting killed trying to escape. Does Aredhel stay in Gondolin? After her father’s death, and his body being brought to Gondolin, I think from her personality she’d want to go out and fight; and that Tyrgon would be very unwilling to let her leave a second time, after what happened the first one. Let’s say he manages to delay her until the Nirnaeth, and she rides to war then. And still survives. Who knows, maybe Maeglin isn’t as unpleasant or restless, maybe isn’t captured. Maybe Gondolin doesn’t fall. Or maybe Morgoth, learning its general location from Húrin’s wanderings, manages to find it anyway. Point is, I can imagine a scenario where Aredhel survives, where she fughts in the War of Wrath; where, like Galadriel, she chooses to stay in Middle-earth. She gets to explore and have fun adventures, like she wanted in the first place. I like that for her.

Another tempting possibility: Beleg survives. This could head off some of Turin’s recklessness in Nargothrond and prevent its fall; and without the fall of Nargothrond and the Nauglamír, Tjingol doesn’t die and Doriath doesn’t fall. And Túrin’s story doesn’t end so horribly. That’s also appealing.

One last possibility. Possibly the one you were thinking of, given your character preferences. Fingon? This is intriguing to me, but for reasons beyond just not wanting to to die. It raises two crucial questions. First, if Fingon survives - let’s say he makes it south with Turgon’s retreat but doesn’t go to Gondolin and remains in West Beleriand somewhere - does Maedhros still go along with the Second Kinslaying? Secondly, and the point of key interest to me - if Maedhros does, then what does Fingon do? (One of my imagined conversations in the Halls of Mandos has Maedhros and Fingolfin discussing this hypothetical. Fingolfin doesn’t know what the answer to this question would have been, and is extremely unhappy about that; he doesn’t think Fingon would have participated in the Second Kinslaying, but he doesn’t know whether he’d have stayed out of it or fought to stop Maedhros. [Fingon is, in retrospect - in the context of Maedhros’ deeds and death - fully convinced that fighting against Maedhros would have been the best choice for everyone, Maedhros included. But that doesn’t speak to what he’d have done without that information, if he’d been alive at the time.] Fingolfin is extremely angry with Maedhros and entirely convinced, not at all without reason, that he is a corrupting influence and that if Maedhros had the remotest shred of decency he’d never interact with Fingon again.) Anyway, setting aside the parenthetical digression. Would Fingon have tried to talk Maedhros and the other Fëanorians out of the Second Kinslaying? Almost certainly. If he didn’t succeed, would he have been willing to fight Maedhros in defence of Doriath? I don’t know, and that introduces some additional moral complexity.

On the whole? I’m going with Aredhel. She deserved very much better, and I want her to get to survive, and fight in the War of Wrath, and then go have adventures. She feels to me like one of the few Finwëans who loved and wanted Middle-earth for itself, not for a realm or a vengeance quest, and she should have that.

[an-eldritch-peredhel]

Dior for the character ask?

Oh boy! I've been thinking about him a lot lately, so this is good timing.

How I feel about this character:

Conflicted. Actually, no. I like him, a lot. The conflict comes from pretty much the only thing he's know for: refusing to give up the silmaril, and honestly I think it's understandable. Dior grew up with the Feanorions (at least C&C) portrayed as cartoony villains who plot evilly and cause some destruction but are soundly beaten and ride away in shame while the good guys win and get the girl (or guy), and I don't think the Kinslaying was emphasized. Basically: it happened centuries ago, on a different continent, and while Luthien probably harbored resentment over that I think the whole Quest incident would weigh heavier in both their minds. And of course: the Feanorians were significantly weakened by the Nirnaeth.

So I don't think Dior saw them as a threat: at least not to the extent that they were. That was (obviously) a mistake, one probably made out of not-insignificant pride, anger, and naivety, but justified, again. Dior is young- maybe not that much for a human, but certainly for an elf. I'm not sure if the timeline exactly lines up (does it ever?) but I think that B+L died around time that E&E 1.0 were born, which was only a few years before Elwing was, and then the Kinslaying. So I see his thought process as going something like: "The dicks that tried to kill my dad and kidnap my mom are asking me to give up the silmaril- claiming it's theirs by birthright- or else: even though it's part of my inheritance because my parents managed to steal it from Morgoth and they couldn't beat him even with an army. And now my parents are dead and they were too scared to threaten my mom for it but see me as a weaker target and think I'll give it up? Screw you, screw this, screw off!" That Nauglamir is probably cursed doesn't help. Also, I'm not even sure he'd know about the Oath...

All the people I ship romantically with this character:

Nimloth? He's definitely not someone I really think about in relation to romance much, and I'm not a huge shipper in general unless I get convinced by either fanon or canon (or both *cough*russingon*cough*). I have been developing Nimloth more lately though, and their romance is very sweet- lots of mutual pining and "wow that person is so incredible compared to me, I don't have a chance". Very fluffy romcom style.

I did read a fic (that I can't find ;-;) where he and Celebrimbor are in a pre-relationship which was interesting, but I think it only really worked in that AU.

My non-romantic OTP for this character:

I might be misinterpreting this question, but my entirely headcanoned relationship between him and his uncle Daeron makes me sob every time I think about it. This post talks some about their relationship and my specific headcanons for Daeron, but in short I think it was Daeron who taught Dior how to be an elf, and that he had a kind of godfather role. I'm working on a post with headcanons for the Spooky Family's missing names, and I have Dior as partially named after Daeron (Aludae. I refuse to believe B+L would name him 'Elu's Heir' so Eluchil's an after-name.) and they call eachother Dae-pin and Daer-dae (little shadow and big shadow) and my heart squishes every time I think about it. I just adore. Let there be ONE generation of ONE family with MOSTLY HEALTHY DYNAMICS.

My unpopular opinion about this character:

He's human, 100%. I have a draft about this, but the main force behind my reasoning is "it makes the math easier". However! Luthien's magic and whatnot isn't tied to her race, so he still gets that passed down and has some peredhel-ish perks. On the other hand, because I hate causing unhappy endings, he does get to copy his mom and share his true-love's fate because if Tuor gets to be immortal so does he. I wrote about it more eloquently at the end of the linked post above. *hannah montana voice* It's the beeessst of both worlds.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon:

...You know what I'm gonna say. I wish he'd given up the Silmaril. I have an everything is better and less stuff hurts au percolating in my head where Luthien and Maedhros becoming friends pretty much saves the world, and I could see him giving it up in that case. In canon... unfortunately not.