If you like: AU where Feanor & Co. comes to Middle-earth *without* the first kinslaying...
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AU - First Kinslaying Didn't Happen
I've had to ponder this for a while. So much conflict and plot gets sacrificed if the Noldor don't have their Fall at Alqualonde! But okay, here's what happens:
Feanor, speaks to the Teleri t Alqualonde. But ,,this time, he uses better rhetoric, and Finarfin gets there earlier to do some damage control. Feanor stirs up longing in the hearts of a least half the Teleri to return to their forsaken kin.
Olwe wishes to return and find his brother, but as leader he feels bound to remain with those who wish to stay. But his daughter Earwen goes. The Teleri follow Finarfin and Earwen.
Now there are three hosts under the three sons of Finwe, with Feanor's being the smallest.
So the Noldor & Teleri have boats (yay!) but far, far too few for so big a host. And, because the boats belong to the Teleri, the deal is Finarfin and the Teleri gets to sail them up the coasts.
Now Feanor is being humiliated (as he sees it) by not one but both of his brothers.
Earwen (Finarfin is there, but he is tired; he doesn't really want to do this, honestly) informs the Noldor that they will be sailing to Endor first. They are the better sailors, after all, and there are those among them who dwelt on the very same coasts they are returning to. Once they've scouted it out, they will come back for the others.
Feanor is not having it. He is not letting those Teleri come at Morgoth first!! He plots with his sons to steal the ships. But Earwen is not blinded by kinship and inferiority complexes wrt Feanor; she is one step ahead of him. Earwen and her children set sail in the night.
Finarfin stays behind with the noble but misguided hope that his presence there will somehow keep things peaceable between Feanor and Fingolfin, and reassure them that Earwen intends to come back.
The Teleri have an easy journey over the sea. (Osse is pleased to see them returning to Beleriand, and Ulmo and the rest of the Valar have no reason to try to stop them.)
But it's not so easy when they land. They are immediately spotted by the orc host besieging the Falas. Seeing as they did not listen to Morgoth, they have few weapons and no knowledge of warfare. If not for Finarfin's children and their small contingent of people, who do have some knowledge of war, they would have been completely destroyed.
Angrod and Aegnor drive the host back to Angband... however, they are themselves killed in the valiant push.
Back in Araman, things are tense. Feanor has got it in his head that they should cross the Helcaraxe. There's no way Fingolfin is leading his people across the Helcaraxe, that would be insane. Swords are drawn in council -- Maedhros and Fingon have to wrestle their fathers away from killing each other.
Realising it's better for everyone if they are separated, even Feanor's more reasonable sons get behind his plan to cross the Helcaraxe; in bitterness, they set out without Fingolfin's people.
Meanwhile, in Beleriand, the Teleri of Aman have made contact with the Sindar. Cirdan and Thingol's people agree to help the diminished Teleri sail back for the Noldor they left behind.
They reach Araman to find Fingolfin in conflict with his children over whether to return to Tirion (Fingolfin) or push on to Beleriand (his children). There's also poor Finarfin who would definitely go back if his wife and children were not already over there.
After much debate, everyone decides to take ship, some with more enthusiasm than others. They come to Beleriand.
Meanwhile, on the Helcaraxe, Feanor falls through the ice and dies. (Yep, just like that.)
His sons press on under the determined but untested leadership of Maedhros.
The brothers bicker a lot. Amrod gets pissed off enough to try and turn back, but within sight of his brothers he is swallowed by the ice. So: that's what happens if you try to walk away from the Oath, they all think.
The remaining six come into Beleriand with the first rising of the Moon and Sun and march unhindered straight to the gates of Angband and bang on the gates. No one answers.
The sons retreat south ...
... where they find Fingolfin fully established as a vassal king to Thingol. Fuck that: a) that's not your kingship; b) you made the kingship of the Noldor a vassalage to a Teler?
They also do some mental gymnastics to make it Fingolfin's fault they crossed the Helcaraxe. They had to leave! How else could they have kept peace between their father (dead now btw!) and Fingolfin?? And it's not like they could turn back to Tirion, they had their Oath, you know.
The situation among the Noldor is bad. And no one's captive in Angband to provide an opportunity for conciliatory rescues. What a shame.
Eventually, with all the conflicts brewing, there's still Elf-on-Elf war, but it's in Beleriand. And it's bigger, and worse, with slaying of actual close kin.
Morgoth makes popcorn and laughs.
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first art post of the new year!!! granted, i don't share my art here that much anyway, but– shhh.
hehehehhhooo,, here's something i've been working on for 'bout a month,, albeit not consecutively– took a few,, very very long breaks in between working on this,, but i managed to finish it in the end! am i satisfied with it? .......ehhhh? not completely, but if this took any longer, it might not have seen the light of day, so like. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.
anyway,, made a little poster for my favorite fic, tommyinnit's services for villains, vigilantes, and various other vagabonds, by @scorpionoesit!!! it's really really good,,, and i've always wanted to make more art for it,, so i decided– poster! at least,, that's what it's mean to resemble,,, dkdmkdmdkd.
i will freely admit,, i'm... not the biggest fan of the fan-made logo i tried to design for it,, feels a bit boring, and could definitely have used a bit more pizazz, something to make feel more like the fic itself(what does that mean? you figure that out),,,, but– again, steam was running low,, dkdnksjs. graphic design is my passion. i do also have other complaints, but i'm afraid i already punched my one-use self-critique card,, oh well,,, dkdnkxjdkd.
regardless,, even with the flaws only i can really see,, this still turned out pretty okay!! hope you enjoy it, mx. scorpio and mx. alibi!!! and i hope everyone else has a wonderful new year!!!!
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