#fingolfinians

[myceliumelium]

what a woman

[moosalicious]

[silmawensgarden]

Fingon the Valiant 💙

Felt like drawing Fingon again. Missed drawing his hair 😌

Learning to draw with colored pencil only~

(believe it or not it's quite challenging since everything has to be drawn correct from the start.....)

[dialux]

Finwëans: The Fingolfinians

5/7

Fingolfin was the strongest, the most steadfast, and the most valiant of the sons of Finwë. He was wedded to Lady Anairë of the Noldor, the daughter of a Noldor courtier and a much-vaunted orator herself. Sharper of tongue and quicker in temper than her husband, she sparred often with her kin in both the debate chambers and the duelling grounds. Their sons were Fingon, who was afterwards King of the Noldor in the north of the world, and Turgon, lord of Gondolin; their sister was Aredhel the White. She was younger in the years of the Eldar than her brothers; and when she was grown to full stature and beauty she was tall and strong, and loved much to ride and hunt in the forests. There she was often in the company of the sons of Fëanor, her kin; but to none was her heart’s love given. Ar-Feiniel she was called, the White Lady of the Noldor, for she was pale, though her hair was dark, and she was never arrayed but in silver and white. Arakáno was the tallest of the brothers and the most impetuous, but his name was never changed to Sindarin form, for he perished in the first battle of Fingolfin's host with the Orcs, the Battle of the Lammoth.

[tanoraqui]

Incomplete list of name origins/motivations of the House of Finwë, according to me (and sometimes canon). Any names not listed were given for normal “parent liked it and it fit the baby (fathername)/young child (mothername) well enough.”

Original Brady Bunch:

Finwë (epessë, "hair/crowned guy") - as discussed here

Miriel - [normal name origins]

Indis (mothername, "bride") - true maternal prophecy. “She’s going to fuck her way into trouble and, if we’re lucky, fuck her way out of it”

Fëanáro (m, "spirit of fire") - not prophecy so much as really really obvious right away Curufinwë [I] (fathername, "clever finwë") - Finwë, proudly watching his son build cities out of blocks: “He’s like me but even more clever!”

Findis (f, [finwë+indis]) - Finwë has the naming instincts of Bella Swan and we should mock him so much more for this

Arakáno [I] (m, "high chieftain") - warning label Fingolfin was a very bossy toddler; Indis thought it was adorable and was sure he’d grow into it (he did)

Lalwen/Irimë - [both normal name origins]

Ingoldo [I] (m, "the noldo") - spite. born 2 months after Nelyafinwë due to total lack of parental coordination. Indis looked Fëanor straight in the eyes while introducing his new, distinctly blond and Vanya-looking baby brother to him. Effectiveness as a warning label is entirely accidental.

Fëanorians:

Nelyafinwë (f, "third finwë") - spite Maitimo (m, "well-shaped") - Nerdanel: Attention, everyone! I have made the PRETTIEST BABY EVER!!;

Makalaurë (m, "golden voice") - Nerdanel, proudly: Yes, his beautiful voice is very loud [functional warning label]

Tyelkormo (m, "hasty riser") - warning label Nerdanel, loving but strained smile: My newest beloved son. Will not. Stay. Asleep. :)

Carnistir (m, "red-faced") - Nerdanel: Lookit how red his little face gets when he cries! Don’t you just want to squish it even more?!

Atarinkë (m, "little father") - Nerdanel, delighted: FËANÀRO, IT’S A BABY YOU!; Curufinwë [II] (f, "clever finwë") - Fëanor, awed whisper: holy shit you’re right, it’s a baby me

Ambarussa & Umbarto Ambarto (m, "red-topped" & "doomed" "up-exalted") - as told in The Shibboleth of Fëanor: Nerdanel, desperately ignoring the growing sense of true maternal prophecy: They’re both redheads! Fëanor: Beloved, you can’t give them both the same name. Nerdanel: Yes I can. Fëanor: No you can’t. Nerdanel: Yes I can. Fëanor: No you can’t. Nerdanel: Fine, his name is Doomed, are you happy! He’s doomed to a terrible fate! He’s going to suffer and die alone! Fëanor: Haha you mean fated to great things, upwardly mobile, right?! Nothing has ever gone wrong when I ignore you, and probably nothing ever never will! Ambarussa, jointly, as soon as they're old enough to speak: We like having the same name actually also, Telúfinwë (f, "last finwë") - Fëanor: "Okay, even I think we should probably stop at 7"

Fingolfinians:

Findekáno (f, "hair[crowned] commander") - a little bit of spite ("Finwë" + "Arakáno"), but mostly Fingolfin liked how it sounded and didn't realize until it was too late that he'd just swapped the syllables in Kanafinwë, and had to pretend real fast that he didn't care

Turukáno (f, "strong chieftain") - Fingolfin decided to lean into the káno root for his kids, and he likes how this name sounds and he doesn't care that it's the same root at Turkafinwë! Not everything is about Fëanor!

Írissë (f, "[something] femine") - Fingolfin, standing on top of a roof, holding baby Aredhel up like Simba: "WE HAD A GIRL!!!" ("Ir" from Anairë)

Arakáno (m, "high chieftain") - Anairë: haha holy shit, Nolo, he's a baby you

Finarfinians:

Findaráto (f, "high/noble finwë") - Finarfin shortly before his first son is born, moving around scraps on paper on which are written root words: "Okay so it has to include 'fin' and a part of one of my names which is not 'fin' (how stupid would two 'finwë's sound in one name!), but it for the sake of individualism it shouldn't be literally my name nor, preferably, Nolofinwë's... Ingoldo (m, "the noldo") - warning label: Eärwen, preventing her son from trying to eat his fourth very child-chokable random gem from the ground today: "Ara, he gets this from your side." (Effectiveness as a warning label for nude werewolf combat is entirely accidental.)

Angrod - [normal name origins]

Aegnor - [normal name origins]

Artanis (f, "noble lady") - Finarfin standing on the opposite roof, holding baby Galadriel up like Simba: "GIRL! GIRL! GIRL!" Nerwen (m, "man maiden") - Men already barely understand Elvish gender, especially as filtered through the Professor. We cannot begin to conceive of what Galadriel was doing with it, nor should be be so hubristic as to try

Grandchildren, birth order according to me:

Orodreth (m, "mountain climber") - warning label: if this child is not given something to climb, he will Find Something to Climb

Celebrimbor (f, "silver-holding/handed") - named after his mother, Maltrinbor ("gold-holding/handed") Curufinwë [III] (m, "clever finwë") - Maltrinbor, proudly watching her son gnaw on jewelry: He's going to be just as crafty as his father and grandfather!

Celebrindal (e, "silverfoot") - I don't care that canonically it's because she went barefoot; it's because she lost both feet to frostbite on the Helcaraxë (when the ice cracked and she fell in frozen water and Elenwë dove in to save her, a task at which Elenwë did succeed at cost of her own life), and shortly after reaching Middle Earth she got silver prosthetics (Curufin made the first model after Maedhros glared at him really hard)

Maeglin/Lómion - [both normal name origins]

Etc:

Finduilas (f, "hair + ?? + leaf"?) - [normal name origins]

Ardamirë (m, "jewel of the world") - true maternal prophecy (more vibes than literal vision, but she knew he'd hold a Silmaril) Eärendil (f, "friend of the sea") - Tuor: [loves Gondolin but wants to show his son the sea so bad]

Elros & Elrond ("star foam" & "star dome") - to both the Noldor and Sindar, a mothername is more intimate and meaningful than a fathername. But for the Noldor, the fathername comes just after birth and the mothername comes later, when the child's personality is more evident. In Sindarin custom, the mothername comes at birth because who knows the child better than the mother who has just been holding its fëa as close as possible for 9 months? and the fathername comes later. Elwing and Eärendil named their children together: Elwing chose to name them both "El-" for her family; and Eärendil named one "-ros", which like "-wing" means "foam/spray"; and the other "-rond", "star-dome" for the sky that is most beloved to admiring Elves and sea-navigators alike.

Celebrian (m, "silver queen") - Galadriel named her first, Sindar fashion, and named her partly after Celeborn because she is in fact a romantic sap. She suspected early that Celebrian would never be a queen in title, but she never wanted to shut down the option

Elladan & Elrohir ("elf man" & "elf rider[mannish root[" - half-blooded children both, Elrond and Celebrian also named their firstborn sons cooperatively - "El-" less for Elrond's family directly than because Celeborn would be so disappointed if they discontinued this tradition which dated back to his king, Elu Thingol; and "-adan" and "-rohir" for the Men of Númenor, lost and saved alike, whom they had both loved

Arwen (m, "noble maiden") - "Ar-" for Artanis and Arafinwë. Celebrian: "I have the weirdest instinct to go stand on the roof and shout about how she's a girl?" Elrond: "So do I! That'd be so weird, though. Anyway, you choose a name entire, for I must have my own for this one..." Undómiel (e f, "evening star") - mirror to Elros's daughter "Tindómiel", "dawn star" - both, of course, being the same star: Gil-Estel

[warrioreowynofrohan]

Your description of the Nargothrondim (I don't know how to spell it, lmao) is really fascinating (Honestly, First time I saw a post describing them in a bad light). Initially, I was shocked at how negative it was, but then reflecting on Finrod's oath and the moment when Beren had come asking for help, made me think how selfish the Nargothrondim are, no matter how understandable it was not wanting to die for an Edain. This made me wonder though, whether it was jealousy over how much Finrod loved the Edain more than them, or was it because of Celegorm and Curufin's manipulation (or other factors) that made them distasteful to you?

Thank your for the question!

I find the Nargothromdim and their motivations interesting. (I’m not certain which post you’re referring to, but looking back I really do have quite a few on them: this one on Finrod is at the heart of it, there are a couple follow-ups on similar themes, and then two posts from my set of posts on the poetic version of the story of Beren & Lúthien).

They are, I think, in an interesting position in Beleriand. They’re sheltered against the war, relative to, say, Dorthonion, Hithlum, and Himring, but they’re not completely cut off from it like Gondolin is. The Battle of Sudden Flame has brought home to them just how dangerous the war is, after 400-odd years of relative peace. And - I think crucially, for their reaction to Beren - they’re not living side-by-side with the Edain like the Fingolfinians are with the House of Hador. The House of Bëor has been a long way off, in Dorthonion, so the Nargothrondim don’t have an immediate emotional connection with the House of Bëor and what they’ve done.

And this is pretty important to me, because Finrod helping Beren isn’t just him fulfilling a personal debt to a friend. Finrod and the Finarfinians are liege-lords to the House of Bëor - that means the House of Bëor are loyal to them and will fight in their defence, and that the Finarfinians will come to the aid of the House of Bëor when it is in need. Due to what is probably a combination of not knowing everything that’s going on in Dorthonion (due to the war disrupting communications) and being physically cut off from it by the capture of Tol Sirion, the Finarfinians haven’t provided that aid. Beren is literally the last surving man of the House of Bëor; all the rest of them have died in defence of Dorthonion, which has helped to keep Nargthrond - well, if not safe, safer than it would otherwise have been. For Beren to then come to Nargothrond for help and Nargothrond to refuse to do anything comes across as profoundly ungrateful.

I do think that Finrod’s closeness to the Edain played a role in their refusal. Finrod’s the diplomatic linchpin of Beleriand - it’s no accident that relations between the different realms unravel very quickly after he dies - but that puts him rather in the position of a head of state who is always focusing on foreign policy and holding diplomatc summits around the world, and rarely focusing on domestic policy. Namely, the people at home get cranky. It seems very plausible that the Nargothrondim had concluded Finrod cared more about the Edain than them, and that this played into their refusal to take risks to aid Beren.

It’s their actions after Finrod’s departure, though, that have the most negative impact on my opinion of them. They basically take Celegorm and Curufin as their leaders and don’t seem opposed to that, despite the fact that the core of Celegorm’s speech invoking the Oath was threatening to kill them if anyone helped Beren get a Silmaril. It’s not them just refusing to help Finrod, but also, after that, choosing to take Celegorm and Curufin as their leaders over Orodreth in everything. Even when Lúthien arrives and Celegorm and Curufin imprison herand try to forcibly marry her to Celegorm, no one does anything to help her. Both the prose and the poetic versions of the Beren and Lúthien story note this:

The Silmarillion: Orodreth had no power to withstand [Celegorm and Curufin], for they swayed the hearts of the people of Nargothrond; and Celegorm sent messengers to Thingol urging his suit.

Lays of Beleriand: It was not hid in Nagothrond / that Fëanor’s sons her held in bond / …Orodreth knew / the purpose dark they would pursue: / King Felagund to leave to die / and with King Thingol’s blood ally / the gouse of Fëanor by force / or treaty. But to stay their course / he had no power, for all his folk / the brothers had yet beneath their yoke, / and all yet listened to their word. / Orodreth’s cousel no man heard; their shame they crushed, and would not heed / the tale of Felagund’s dire need.

This is incredibly strange to me, because forcing someone into marriage against their will is basically unheard of and unthinkable among elves [yes, there’s Eöl, but he lives off on his own and I don’t think anyone outside Nan Elmoth would know that Aredhel didn’t marry him out of free choice]. And yet this entire group of people is just shruggling their shoulders and tolerating it. The best defence I can think of is that they’re afraid that, if free, Lúthien will run off to Tol-in-Gaurhoth and get captured by Sauron, and they think her being held captive by Fëanoreans is less bad than her being held captive by Sauron. But even if that’s the case, the inaction reflects very badly on them, especially because Celegorm and Curufin have no actual power aside from the Nargothrondim’s acquiescence - as wel see when everyone suddenly does a 180 and turns against them when Lúthien defeats Sauron.

It’s possible to headcanon that Sauron could even be somehow psychically affecting Nargothond to encourage apathy and despair - as we see his Ringwraiths affecting Minas Tirith during the siege in The Lord of the Rings - just to help make sense of the complete and apparently unanimous reversal of Nargothrond’s opinion following his defeat. The other possibility is simply that, because they didn’t want the risk of doing anything, they convinced themselves nothing could be done, and then were ashamed of that when Lúthien showed them that it had been possible to do something.

When you add in their reactions to Túrin later in the story (which, granted, is likely also affected by shame over their previous decisions), they just seem very easily swayed, and every time they are swayed it seems to be towards the wrong decision. So it makes me wonder why they are like that.

[lovefairymina]

Elrond, how would you like to do your hair today for the banquet? I know you complain how the dignitaries would complain your hair is either too Feanorian, too Fingolfinian, too Noldor, too Sindar, not high enough for your position or too high above your station, so I was just thinking we could style it in the manner of men and say you’re from the House of Beor or scandalize them all even more today by wearing it down without any decorations or accessories, what do you think, love? 

“I was unaware of people whispering about my hair given my lack of discrimination towards all. I see nothing wrong with the way it is styled.” He turned around to face you with a look of confusion. “I am Eldar and I will wear my hair with pride as I have always done. I will adorn my hair in my usual Noldorin braids.”

[arafinweanappreciation]

May I ask for some fic recs for the fingolfinian and arafinwean family?

Hello friend!

Unfortunately, I do not read a lot of Silm fic. I can give you a few recs, but I would recommend keeping an eye on the notes, where my followers may have a wider selection to share than I.

I highly recommend @that-angry-noldo and @actual-bill-potts for Arafinwean content, and I've reblogged some fics here: X X (oh wow i thought there was a lot more) and I also recommend noldo's in-progress multichap fic Of Sand Of Pearls Under the Sun

And if I'm allowed a shameless self-plug I have a couple written as well: X X

I'm not as familiar with the Nolofinwean side of fandom, so I don't have any recs for them, I'm afraid :(

[hhimring]

Extract: Don’t you want to know how they died?

Extract on the subject of the march across Helcaraxe for @march-of-the-noldor

As I received positive responses for the previous reblog of The Bitterest North for this event, I thought there might be interest in an extract from the fic that inspired that drabble and that I had referred to.

Characters: all OFCs (Fingolfinian Noldo, Feanorian Noldo, Sinda)

Warnings: see extract title: very much what it says on the tin.

Erien survives the Ice and arrives in Mithrim. Her only surviving family member, this side of Valinor, is in the Feanorian camp. Some time before the leaders have resolved their differences, Erien receives messages and other things, carried to her by a Sinda...

From the POV of the Feanorian cousin, with a little more context to explain the setting of this dialogue.

-

Naurthoniel halted in the shadow of an oak at the edge of the clearing. Huntress took another step, noticed at once that Naurthoniel was not following her and turned to look at her questioningly. On the other side of the stream, near the edge, stood a tall lonely figure, waiting. The fitful starlight illuminated her just enough for Naurthoniel to be certain of her identity.

She had come as arranged—Erien, her second cousin once-removed, her closest remaining relative in the Fingolfinian camp. And she had come alone. It was unlikely that she had not told anyone at all who she was going to meet, Naurthoniel thought. But whoever she had told, they had let her come alone. There could have been the High Lord Fingolfin himself out there, waiting to reduce her to cinders in his wrath. There could have been—far more likely—a troop of guards waiting to drag her into the Fingolfinian camp and before the authorities. But apparently there was not.

Slowly, she went down into the hollow, Huntress following now. When they came to the stream, Naurthoniel walked straight into it without remembering to take off her shoes. She shrugged slightly, when she realized, and just went on, under Erien’s unmoving gaze.

As Naurthoniel approached, she could see—with increasing clarity—how gaunt that rigid figure was: the hollow cheeks, the dark rings under her eyes, the bony hands. She came closer and saw that, in more prosperous days, what Erien was wearing they would both have called rags, barely fit for outdoor work in the shed or in the byre. She came up out of the water and could go no further.

She took off her tall basket and sank down behind it—like a propitiatory offering, like a shield wall.

‘I brought some more things’, she whispered. ‘I thought you might want other things than food, but I wasn’t sure what was needed.’

She began fumbling with the familiar fastenings, but now she was all thumbs.

‘Don’t you want to know how they died?’ her cousin asked. Her voice was clear, almost unemotional.

Naurthoniel shrank down over her basket like a hare under a stooping falcon. In the pouch at her belt burnt the letter, the anxious message that she had sent to the one person in the Fingolfinian camp that she had been confident was still talking to her—if only to scold her within an inch of her life. Huntress had returned it to her and, when she had unfolded it, she had read the words, in cramped letters squeezed into the blank space that remained underneath her signature:

Elvea is dead. So are Ninde and Rusco. Erien

‘If you want to tell me’, Naurthoniel whispered now.

‘Ninde died almost as soon as we started the Crossing’, began Erien, as if reciting a well-rehearsed list. ‘She slipped on the ice, fell into the icy water and her heart stopped.

‘Elvea broke her leg, twisting it in a crevasse. Out there—no warmth, no light, hardly any food—the break refused to heal. We pulled her along with us, limping arm in arm or dragging her on an improvised sled, but she became convinced she was slowing us down too much and, when we lay down to rest, she managed to hide from us. We looked for her all round about, but in the dark we could not find her.’

‘Rusco almost lived to see the moonrise. But he kept crying for his mother—and most kinds of food I could find him out there he refused to eat. I woke up beside him and he was dead, already frozen stiff. I was so exhausted I had not felt it when he died.’

Naurthoniel lifted her head and said; ‘You must not blame yourself.’

‘No’, said Erien distantly, ‘I’m not the one who must blame herself.'

Naurthoniel shrank down again, cowering over her basket. If anyone had asked her, at any time, whether she wished to leave her relatives and friends behind in Araman, she would have said no. That being so, there must have been a point she had missed—there must have been several points at which she ought to have raised her voice in protest, rebelled, taken a stance, put her foot down. And she had failed to do so.

You would have thought they would have been obvious—those moments at which she ought to have firmly said No—but looking back on events, they had not been. What her memory of leaving Valinor and Araman showed her was a great deal of confusion and uncertainty, a jumble of moments of unsuspected courage and unsuspected cowardice—and the sudden sharp shock with which she found herself staring at the smoking wreckage drifting in the shallows and knew herself twice separated from her kin--those she had left in Tirion and from those she had left in Araman. She ought to have seen that coming, surely—she must have, at least hours earlier than that. It was ridiculous, self-serving, yes, patently untrue—and yet that was how she remembered it: herself in the middle of a knot of four or five friends, staring at the charcoaled hulls in dumb-founded silence.

She bowed her head and pushed her basket forward across the ground until it rested at Erien’s feet. Then she gathered herself, rose up and turned to go.

‘Narye’, said Erien—and when Naurthoniel looked back, her face looked more animated, alive.

‘Tell me, Narye’, Erien asked, ‘is it dangerous what you do—for you?’

We are all in danger, together, every single one of us, thought Naurthoniel. But what Erien clearly meant was: danger from Feanorians, if she was discovered carrying food around the lake.

She shrugged.

-

Possibly of interest: This was part of a challenge response, an early attempt to write a plotty fic that would pass the Bechdel test.

The rest of the fic is here.

Thank you very much for running this event; perhaps I can write something new for it later.

[gwaedhannen]

Feel free to ignore if you didn’t want questions to you about this but in the au about Fëanor you mentioned, do you think the percentage of losses would have been about the same? And without the kinslaying do you think Nolofinwë would still have followed immediately or do you think his host would have waited to build ships of their own, perhaps

I really love your writing and ideas!

-@outofangband

Good questions!

Losses: hard to say. On the one hand there's Fëanor around to invent snow-powered space heaters and a few more princes to drag their people forwards through sheer force of will. On the other hand, without the drive to get to Middle-Earth to yell at Fëanor there's less motivation among the hesitant Noldor, and probably many who want to/try to turn back (such as those who turned back after the Doom in canon) or who simply lie down and die.

Fingolfin delaying: I think he still follows Fingon, who's following Fëanor and his boyfriend. One of the reasons in canon why Fëanor turned to Alqualondë is believing that the Noldor couldn't make enough ocean-worthy boats to cross to Middle-Earth by themselves, but the Falmar both refuse to give their own boats and to teach the Noldor the craft. It's possible they would be more willing to teach Fingolfin's host if Fëanor's host marches north without them, especially due to Finarfin and his kids' kinship (and the Fingolfinian's friendship with them). Depending on how quickly the boatbuilding goes, they might even reach Beleriand fast enough to stop the Falas from falling! And give Fëanor's host a nasty shock once they arrive from the Ice.

[myceliumelium]

I just think Aredhel deserves hugs from all her loved ones

[uwudet]

my hc of finwean 3rd generation birth year

birth

1. maedhros 1220

2. maglor 1236

3. celegorm 1258

4. caranthir 1279

5. fingon 1281

6. finrod 1300

7. turgon 1300

8. curufin 1302

9. orodreth 1315

10. angrod 1337

11. aegnor 1349

12. aredhel 1362

13. galadriel 1362

14. amras 1400

15. amrod 1400

16. argon 1413

i believe feanor and nerdanel already have a lots of child even before fingolfin and finarfin conceived one, or more precisely i just want most feanorian is older than fingolfinian and finarfinian lol (ambarussa is a baby tho). and yes orodreth is finarfin son here.

and i like to point out some interesting hc i have here, i make argon younger than ambarussa is because i think it funny that amrod father’s name is telufinwe (last finwe) ignoring the fact that his brother’s might not finish having a child (aka argon) so its like nelyafinwe (third finwe) case all again

so their age counting till their death or the end of third age should be:

by age

1. argon: 87

2. amrod: 97

3. aredhel: 538

4. aegnor: 606

5. angrod: 618

6. amras: 627

7. finrod: 665

8. orodreth: 680

9. fingon: 691

10. curufin: 704

11. turgon: 710

12. caranthir: 727

13. celegorm: 748

14. maedhros: 867

15. galadriel: 8321

16. maglor: 8447

yea i believe amrod died in losgar, and maglor lives version

[child-of-hurin]

Gonna propose an angle here:

Nothing unites two people like a secret. The Noldorin excuse for the Mereth Aderthad is the Fingolfinians forviging the Feanorians and letting bygones be bygones -- but the cement is the Fingolfinians becoming the Feanorian's secret keeper, them meeting the Lindar as a united front.

Like, afaict this fandom doesn't much consider the possibility that Fingolfin and his people might have sought revenge, or at least washed their hands off the Feanorians. They might have sought an alliance with the Lindar and offered the Feanorians' crime as a proof of frienship, a sacrifice to justice. Nobody needed declare war on the Kinslayers: if the Lindar and the Fingolfinians (and whoever else) were hostile to them instead of welcoming, how would they have fared in complete isolation from their kin?

But Fingolfin doesn't do that, of course. He arranges a big party and sends for ambassadors of all people. Fingolfin is a highly competent leader and his reasons are practical, but of course feelings weighs in too. His son is a Kinslayer. So the Noldor host a feast and invite the Lindar. My brother killed your brother, my kin killed your kin, but I'm going to embrace you and smile and make vows of friendship and none shall be the wiser.

[dialux]

Like I REALLY get why people have a certain read of the Feanorian wives but also:

A) it's so intensely interesting to me when people are quasi-normal in peacetime but the moment stress is placed upon a relationship their priorities are really fucking clear, and I love to think the famed Feanorian ruthlessness is something that freaks out quite a few of the wives that haven't fully drunk the kool-aid.

B) when you have a little more distance from a situation/trauma you're more likely to be rational about AND to think someone who's closer to the trauma is acting irrationally. Which is literally the whole of the Feanorian/Fingolfinian dynamic in a nutshell: everyone is acting irrationally! Everyone has centuries if not millennia worth of alliances and agreements and history that inform their next approach to a problem! But if you're standing outside of that thicket you're left wondering: what the actual fuck is wrong with these people.

C) a bit more of a meta textual point but the point of the Feanorians is that they're alone. They drive off everyone over the course of the Silm. They break their oaths and they break the laws and they break all bounds of morality. They are left by the end of the First Age with only two of a once proud family: no servants left, no friends, no family, just Maedhros and Maglor. And having those warning signs be there from the beginning? Fantastic. The wives leave, following Nerdanel, and the sons leave, following Feanor. It's the circle of life (abuse) baby!

D) toying with the idea of women as the torchbearers of cultural heritage is in fact an interesting tension: and I just flat out think these women saying that's it we can't and don't want to participate in this farce (because we know it's a farce and a tragedy and how it will end) fucks really hard! They say No and Not like this and Even if I thought you were right I do not think it is worth it. All of which are worthwhile views to be had, and, perhaps more importantly, views that aren't discussed or even mentioned in the actual books.

[erynalasse]

Sometimes I just wanna see an AU where Fingon and Maedhros reunite in Beleriand without Thangorodrim in the middle of it all. 

The thing about the rescue is that it’s very heroic, very dramatic, and very conclusively proves that Fingon can put friendship and loyalty above whatever betrayed feelings he carries about Losgar. I’m sure there were conversations—lots of them, surely!—but at the same time, when your cousin braves Morgoth’s fortress itself to save you, the rest kind of follows from there. 

Just can’t get the idea out of my head, y’know? There’s nothing more tasty than someone expecting the most final of rejections and getting a hug instead.  

Picture Fingolfin and his sons sending a delegation to the Fëanorian camp after they cross the Ice. I don’t think anyone on either side knew what to expect. The Fingolfinians have no explanation for what happened to the ships, and the Fëanorians weren't even expecting the other force to show up. There’s tons of tension, probably a lot of saber-rattling on both sides, and Fingolfin is genuinely thrown by seeing Maedhros wearing the Noldóran’s crown when he spent days preparing to face his mad half-brother. 

I think at this point Maedhros was probably already planning to give the crown to Fingolfin. Rescue aside, all the other reasons why the abdication made sense in canon still apply. The entire house’s legitimacy for the kingship is in ashes just like the ships. But something that big comes out in a private discussion between Maedhros and Fingolfin, not in public, not during their first meeting. So the two rulers bow to each other and make all the right speeches of humble apology and gracious acceptance, and all the while Maedhros is very carefully not looking at Fingon. Somehow nobody dies. 

Maedhros knows his cousin can’t kill him because that would really set this fragile peace on fire. But almost anything else is fair. Fingon may never speak to him again, especially after his brother’s wife dying on the Ice. What good did standing aside at Losgar do for that?

Finally, finally, Maedhros gets a moment alone with Fingon in the middle of this chaos. Fingon probably comes to him, since Maedhros is probably assuming the worst until he’s proven otherwise. What can Maedhros say to him? I missed you deserves an acidic response. I tried to stop him is a pathetic excuse. I never meant this to happen can’t bring back the dead. I will make this right is already a lie, because there are no reparations for a betrayal this complete. 

In the end, Fingon speaks first. “I heard about Ambarto. I'm sorry, Maitimo.”

Maedhros nearly loses his composure altogether at the fresh grief. “I heard about Arakáno,” he returns. Fingon’s head bowed, and this bridge of shared grief for little brothers lost far too soon gives Maedhros something to cling to in the storm. 

“I am so, so sorry.” There. The only words he could give. 

Fingon’s face crumples in the way that could mean he wants to laugh or weep or start screaming. Sometimes it also heralds a very unwise decision, like— 

“Maglor told me you stood aside.”

Where is this going? Fingon has stepped closer, and Maedhros can’t breathe. “It stopped nothing, Findekáno, you know that—”

“—it matters to me—”

“—that just means I could have betrayed you more fully, Findekáno, what is there to appreciate—”

“You are so infuriating, Maitimo,” his cousin hisses, yanking him forward into—an embrace? “Stop taking your father’s blame on yourself.”

Maedhros stands there and trembles for a few minutes before squeezing Fingon back fiercely and burying his face in his gold-braided hair. He doesn’t mean to weep, but he can’t seem to help it either. The crushing relief leaves him breathless. He has spent so long holding together his brothers and his people through one loss after another that the joy blooming in his heart hurts almost as much as the grief. 

“We have so many things to talk about, Maitimo,” his cousin says, pulling back enough to wipe roughly at his own face. “But we are going to talk about them together,” he emphasizes, after taking in Maedhros’ renewed tension. 

For the first time since Valinor, Maedhros finds he can laugh joyfully, not bitterly. “Yes. Together.”

[tanoraqui]

I think the Silmarillion fandom is very inclined toward hindsight bias re: the homicidality and moreover the perceived homicidality of First Age Fëanorians. To be fair so is the text of The Silmarillion! But I do think it’s important, when considering political and social dynamics of Beleriand, to remember that:

the majority of kinslaying was 85% of the way through the First Age or later, AFTER everything else had gone to firmly hell first

for that matter, Celegorm & Curufin’s attempted coup of Nargothrond was 80% of the way through, when everything had gone halfway to hell first

the Doom mentioned the House of Fëanor specifically, and of course there’s the Oath, but the Doom very much included “and everyone who follows them” and nobody knew exactly what the Oath would lead to (see: point 1)

exactly 2 people are named in conjunction to the Kinslaying at Alqualondë. One is Fëanor, starting it. The other is Fingon, the Valiant, rescuer of kings and foiler of dragons and High Prince then King of the Noldor, ending it with “the foremost of the host of Fingolfin.”

With that in mind, I think a highly likely summary of Beleriand social/political dynamics is,

Fëanorians, on average: Fuck you all, we did what we did and we’re doing what we’re doing!! (But we did not mean to kill (so many) people to get here, and we’re even kinda glad Fingolfin & co are here for backup, because we may have bitten off more than we can chew. (Wasn’t it generous of King Maedhros to let him wear the crown for now?)

About 1/3 Fingolfin’s people: @Feanorians you bastards led us into kinslaying and Doom and then you burned the ships and LEFT US to suffer on the Ice. You TRAITORS.

About 2/3 Fingolfin’s host, especially those who ended up in Nargothrond and Gondolin: @Fëanorians you bastards led our people into kinslaying and Doom and then you burned the ships and left us to suffer on the Ice. You TRAITORS. / @the ‘foremost’ of Fingolfin’s host: Why the FUCK did you run in and start killing people; what the FUCK is wrong with you

Beleriand locals, led by Thingol: You’re ALL a bunch of lying kinslayers, some more duplicitous than the others I guess—except you, Finrod, you’re an angel and we’re delighted you’re here. Your followers are…alright. Have a third of the continent <3

A number of locals significantly less affiliated with Thingol and Doriath: …okay kinslaying is BAD, obviously, and ship-burning and abandonment…also bad, but less so. Definitely wasteful, definitely a dick move. Your royal family has weird internal feuds. But thank fuck someone is here with better weapons to aim at the Enemy so I can keep living on my farm rather than die or move to Doriath!

That said I can easily believe Fingolfin took general responsibility his people’s part in the Kinslaying, and even when apologizing, specific names of which of them took part, up to and including Fingon, were deliberately left out of the commonly known narrative. Better to have any given individual plausibly innocent (while potentially guilty) rather than some definitely guilty and the rest assumed still potentially guilty and lying about it! But I’m equally sure that detailed gossip from Noldorin infighting slipped through, albeit garbled. Just how much might’ve depended a great deal on specifically how Finarfin’s kids were all feeling about their eldest (full) cousin.

Tldr: for most of the First Age, if someone was side-eyeing the Fëanorians really hard over Alqualondë, they were almost certainly side-eyeing the Fingolfinians for the same reason, and if they were side-eyeing the Fëanorians over treachery/abandonment, it was equally based on hearsay and obvious old grudges, rather than anything they had done in sight in Beleriand.