#that made the sons of feanor so interesting to me in the first place

[dovesandmagpies]

Thoughts rereading the Lord of the Rings for the first time in 10 years, (in no particular order and with no claim to literary expertise beyond reading a lot of books)

When I was younger I would always skip the old forest, Tom Bombadil and the barrow wites, because I didn't think they were necessary to the story, it still makes sense if they're not there and the barrow wites (is that how you spell it?) creeped me out.

Listening to it now, yes they're not essential, but they make the world feel more real. There are evil things that don't have anything to do with Sauron, old man willow is never explained, he's just there, hating people, with no giant evil plan for world domination or anything.

Tom Bombadil makes much sense when you think that the world of middle earth was sung into being, a guy who sings all the time is (a little) less strange in that context.

And the barrow wites are still the creepyist things in the whole story but I appreciate the creepyness more as an adult.

Merry is still my favourite character, I always feel sad when I remember how reduced his character was in the movies

I find the songs more interesting, I only read the Silmarilion once, and that was over 10 years ago (I am currently rereading it, I am not even half way through though) But the fact that it exists, that the history that is referenced or hinted at in the Lord of the rings is actually there all written down some where so you can read it if you want to know more, it is what makes the Lord of the rings one of my favourite books.

It also makes it a very sad story, yes they win, the villain is destroyed, but the time of the elves is finished, all that history that happens in the Silmarillion has come to an end. There is a deep feeling that something important has been lost and no matter what happens it can't be the same as it was.

The kingdoms of Gondor and Anor remind me very much of the Roman empire in the middle ages, (I feel like I may be pointing out the obvious here, but I never noticed this before) All the lands used to be part of one great kingdom/empire, the kingdom broke in to two halves one of the which fell and the other survived but was not as great as it had been. There are ruins and old buildings all over the place that no one at the time of the story could build. Even though Arnor has been gone for hundreds of years people still refer to it as something to be admired. Most people speak the same or similar languages because of it. Numenor conccered most of middle earth and made it this huge kingdom, which then collapsed and split apart in smaller kingdoms none quite as great as the original. There are probably parallels to other things but this is what stood out to me.

I understand why they didn't put the scouring of the Shire in the movie, but I think it is an important part of story. It shows how evil isn't all huge and far away, sometimes it's small, pathetic, sneaky and done or helped by people you know, and that is much scarier.

I forgot about how many side characters they didn't include in the movie, particularly in the Return of the King.

When Gandalf and Pippin get to Gondor is the point I really remembered that Tolkien lived through WWI and 2, there are little things before that (the dead marshes for instance), but in Gondor they're sending all the women and children to the countryside so they won't be caught in the fighting. There's rationing of the food, all the lights must be dimmed or put out so the flying creatures can't see anything. It's something only someone who lived after WWI would write because before that it just wouldn't enter your head that war could be like that.

Going back to the Silmarillion for a moment, theoretically, if the sons of Feanor had broken their oath, would they have turned into ghosts like the ones in the Paths of the Dead? Or are they ghosts because Isildur cursed them?

I occasionally see people criticising Tolkien for making Eowen marry Faramir and give up war, this is generally portrayed as Tolkien being sexist for letting a female character fight and then immediately taking it away and marrying her off to some random guy.

I disagree with this perspective and I don't understand how you could think that after reading Eowen's part of the story.

By the time Eowen faced the Witch King she had no hope, she thought the only thing she had to live for was the hope of a glorious death in battle, she wanted to die. When she survived what she needed was hope that there was more to life than death in battle, that's why her marrying Faramir is a happy ending for her. He is able to help Eowen see that there is more to live for than she believed and she is able to hope for the future instead of wishing to die from despair.

Is it canon that Feanor made the Palatri or was that just an educated guess on Gandalf's part?

Is that giant "as big as an elm tree and walking" the hobbits talk about in the pub in one of the first chapters an entwife? I always assumed it was but I've never seen anyone else mention it.

Is Goldberry a maia? If not what is she?

Gollum is a lot funnier than I remember, he's just such a drama queen. He can't eat lembas? "oh poor Smegol, he must starve! "

The orcs come across as a lot smarter and more like real people than I remember, yes they're evil but they're just doing their jobs, trying to get promoted and not lose their heads. Also they have wages. I don't know why but this was one of the biggest surprises in the whole book, how "civilised" the orcs were. They, and Mordor in general, are really an industrial power fighting a medieval one. Which shouldn't be a surprise considering what Tolkien clearly thought about industry, but I was caught off guard by it.

That's all the thoughts I have, for now at any rate, hopefully it wasn't too confusing.

[hirazuki]

Give me all the hot takes

🔥🔥🔥

OMG I feel like I have nothing but hot takes, if I listed them all we'd be here for years 🤣 I will give as many as the number of flames you sent!

Under a cut, because (unsurprisingly) it got long XD

There is ✧･ﾟ:* nothing *:･ﾟ✧ in the published text of The Silmarillion to indicate that Eol was chronically abusive/violent towards Aredhel or Maeglin during all their years together. One single snippet of dialogue of one single exchange of heated words does not constitute an abusive environment, as neither do arguments/disagreements or the experiencing of anger. If anything, instead of being present and violent, it seems as though distance grew between them and he made himself scarce more often than not. His relationships with both his wife and his son are clearly shown to be cases of mutual deterioration over time -- people who are fundamentally at cross purposes with each other, as far as wants and beliefs and desires go, and the text quite solidly implies that Aredhel had her share of the blame, given as she was to recklessness, impulse, changeable mood and mind, etc. -- and this decline was almost exclusively exacerbated by the effect of outside forces on their lives (Sindar vs. Noldor, the ban on quenya, Feanor's sons and Aredhel's connection with them specifically, etc.), rather than any more domestic issues between them. Was it unhealthy? Sure, but certainly nowhere near the picture general fandom paints "canon" out to be, and I wish more people would engage in the wonderful nuance the text provides us with. Also, as far as published Silm goes, Eol wove enchantments to draw Aredhel to his dwelling, but it doesn't say he forced or coerced or enchanted her to enter; she entered and stayed willingly. And it drives me crazy to see people flay Eol as a rapist in one breath, while going 'YAS QUEEN' for Melian with another*, when it's the same scenario in, incredibly, the same place -- it smacks of double-standards, and a couple of other words that I will refrain from using, as some people on this website think I'm nice and I'd hate to shatter that illusion XD *I have absolutely no issue with Melian; I really enjoy her as a character. It's the hypocrisy that I can't stand :)

I've ranted about this before in the tags of some post somewhere, but: Celebrimbor. It's been my experience that, fairly frequently, there's a tendency to portray him in a manner that tends to make him very... bland. Wonderbread™, if you will. Idk if it's to contrast Annatar or to contrast Feanor and Curufin, but it ends up making Celebrimbor far too soft and pliable and people-pleasing, distastefully so, taking away all of the interesting hard surfaces and edges. Yes, he distances himself from his family and rejects them; yes, he can want to build a new reputation of his own, untainted by the First Age; yes, Ost-in-Edhil can be a place of open doors and second chances; yes, he can be hyper-aware of his legacy as Feanor's grandson and seek to present an opposite image through his words and actions -- all of this is beautiful. But it's even more beautiful if he's allowed to have traits that are callbacks to his father and grandfather; let him be angry (in private or in public, in short isolated spurts that come out of nowhere or as a simmering undercurrent), let him be shrewd and sharp and opinionated (let Annatar cut himself on him a little). This doesn't mean he can't also be kind and earnest and honest and trying his best. Most of all, let him be greedy -- not only for knowledge or power in and of themselves, not necessarily, but for what those things can afford him: the ability to make that which he loves (i.e. Middle Earth) a better, grander place. We're all greedy for the things we want, and I would argue most of those things aren't negative -- stability, acceptance, a better tomorrow, etc. Greed isn't limited to physical things or luxuries and it isn't inherently a bad thing! [/troy baker voice]. There's just so much there to play with, even completely aside from his dynamic with Annatar, and it just makes me equal parts sad and upset to see a character with such ambition and potential and fire frequently so babied and made naive, that he is reduced to the written equivalent of a soggy waffle.

Okay, now for something that is a bit more lighthearted and personal, but no less hot -- and perhaps? may contradict your own Mairon interpretation (in which case, I'm always happy to agree to disagree ^^) -- I can totally see why fandom makes Sauron into this super sexy/sexual creature but... it's a hard nope from me. He's certainly alluring and attractive to others, and knows how to use it to great effect, but I just can't see him genuinely vibing with it, relishing in it for himself ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I know I keep harping on the Luthien incident, but it's just such a stark contrast to literally everyone else who comes across her -- including Melkor -- that it's really difficult to interpret his utter non-reaction to her as anything but a personal disinterest in matters of the flesh, at least in and of themselves without some kind of connection/relationship there. Everyone likes to joke about him being the whore/slut of the Silm, and sure it can be funny at times, but that concept is just so alien to how he reads to me.

[eri-pl]

Silm reread 15: Sudden Flame

The 15 is a good number for it, as Melkor was 15-th Vala (before Feanor's curse kicked him out from being a Vala, somehow) so I hc this as an unlucky number.

So, Fingolfin has a lot of army and plans a war. And with the language of it, I'd bet that if he managed to convince everyone and attack Morgoth, the result would be exactly the same (he would lose terribly).

Why? First: "he saw how numerous the Noldor were and how strong his allies were" makes my Bible-sense ring with "oh, he will lose this so hard" (the whole "betting on your power" vs "betting on God" thing. sorry, I forgot the proper word, so "betting" it is today). Second: "the plan seemed wise". seemed. Which very much feels like "but was not".

Oh wait, it's even explicitely said later that the war was hopeless.

Anyway we don't get to see it, because most Noldor disagree with Fingolfin anyway, they think the siege works perfectly well and why would we go to a battle, which is inconvenient and somebody may even die.

Especially the sons of Feanor don't like this idea. Sorry, what? The "we swore vegnence on Morgoth" guys? the "we must reclaim our Silmarils" guys? they don't want to fight? I don't get it at all.

Only Angrod and Aegnor agree with Nolo, which, of course, has the added irony of "Aegnor will die on this battlefield" (I don't remeber what happens to Angrod, probably dies too.)

Morgoth gathered army and grew even more evil, somehow. And kind of dumb, because he was too inpatient and that's why any Eldar survived that battle. Yea, he's the worst, but anyway.

Iron Mountains "spew fire in various poisonous colors" is such a cool description. I imagine itt as Disney-villain-green + magenta, mostly.

Glaurung debuts as an adult + volcano + Balrogs, generally it is bad and many die.

the Noldor get split and lose communication, Thingol grows in power. dfw is sad ;)

Yep, Angrod the angry dies too. But Finrod does not die and we have the Barahir situation. C&C go to Nargothrond, the narration comments on this.

Maedhros is ultra cool and the orcs fear his face and generally he is awesome. The Feanorians generally have to regroup (run away).

Fingolfin decides that this is the end of the Noldor and gets so upset that he goes to get killed by Morgoth. I don't think it's an overstatement.

"Nobody listened to me, so now we are destroyed. I'll get killed and they'll understand that they should have listened to me. Then we would surely win the war!" — that's how I imagine his decision-making process here.

But he is cool nonetheless, looks like Orome, is so angry, disses Morgoth enough to get him out of his castle. Morgoth is still the most powerful being (says the book) but regardless the only reason he agrees to fight Nolo is that otherwise he would lose face in front of all his minions. This is so… he's so cowardly that it's cringe.

Also, Nolo has a gem-incrusted shield. Peak Noldorin style.

He hits Morgoth 7 times, and each time Morgoth screams like a baby and his soldiers are so scared that they fall down. And the foot is the eight hit. Wow.

Everyone is sad. Maybe Turgon is a bit less sad because he gets to build his dad a grave.

Especially Morgoth, who has permanent pain in all those places + Thorondor messes up his face.

Another scary forest is made.

Beren's mom is really cool!!!! Her name is Emeldir and she is brave and fights with the reast of her family, only later she leaves with the other women (many plot-relevant ones)

Sauron makes the Werewolf Island, also gets a description. He is the mightiest and scariest of all Morgoth's servants. And warps everything he touches (that sounds interesting!). Also his skill at torture is explicitely mentioned.

Also, he starts by cursing the island. Which, I guess, makes it more habitable for evil forces?

Doriath is surrounded. Many elves are captured and enslaved and investigated and sometimes send back as sleeper agents.

Also, an explicite mention of Morgoth's spies who shapeshifted and lied and manipulated Elves and Men this way. Spies. Plural. So sauron was maybe like, a chief of the "shapeshifting spies" division, but by far not the only one. (I imagine him making courses on "how to lie more subtly" — especially for that one guy from that one scene. Yes, I will keep making fun of that.)

Morgoth is apparently not as dumb as it seemed, because he pretends to pity Men and tells them it's all because they listen to the evil, disobedient Elves, and they should listen to him instead. Unless it is just Sauron doing the PR… Morgoth canonically stayed in Angband. No, wait, it mentions the Men not buying that even when tortured in angband, so he did say that. Maybe Sauron wrote his speeches. Or maybe Morgoth was less dumb at this point than I assume.

Easterlings appear. Excuse me, professor, but this part is pretty racist. Even if you tell me that "not all" of them served Morgoth, you clearly show the three tribes as superior. Anyway, let's move on.

We get Bór!!! My favorite Easterling.

We get many family trees, also edain seem to have a thing with "two sisters amrry two brothers", ok, why not if both pairs are ok with marrying. It was a thing in some cultures, iirc.

Sirion is a very Ulmo-infused river.

And, speaking od Ulmo, he does sent Turgon a lot of messages, telling him that things are getting worse and to treat Hadorians well. Micromanagement continues.

Also, the relationship between Turgon and Ulmo confuses me. Ulmo giveshim detailed manuals for some things (historically relevant, mostly) but no advice about "maybe don't kill all the trespassers?" (unless there were really no legit trespassers there before Eol). Turgon listens to him (mostly), but doesn't go "My lord Ulmo, please protect my siter / can you tell me where my sister is / generally anything about that stuff". And no "My lord Ulmo, I am really angry at this Dark Elf who killed my sister, any advice what to do with him?"

Anyway, Hurin and Huor visit Gondolin, because Eagles. Turgon likes them, but Maeglin does not. Maeglin doesn't like Men in general (Why? Too loud?).

Also Maeglin gets passive-aggressive at Turgon for, idk, forcing him to stay in Gondolin? But he seems to like to be there? OK, I think he gets passive-aggressive at Turgon for putting Eol in a position that resulted in him killing Aredhel, but tbh it's unfair. Turgon wasn't the one who killed Aredhel.

Also, Turgon sends people in secret to try to sail to Valinor and ask for help. And, as with most cases of "secretely", it doesn't help. Also, Turgon, my guy, Ulmo talks to you, coulnd't you at least check this with him??? (Iirc, Voronwe was one of those guys. So don't blame the Valar for his death. Blame Turgon's strange mental process.)

He's starting to get into the "tall as a birch, stupid as a goat" mode. Which we'll see more of later.

At least Morgoth is afraid of him.

Also, Hurin becomes the ruler of Hadorians, and he is short. Yay, finally a short heroic character! (He will end badly but anyway)

[rivalsforlife]

TWO TREES OF VALINOR. these are gorgeous. I gasped even though I knew it was coming. I remember losing my mind at that first teaser picture that showed them and seeing it up close is beautiful. pretty much just how I envisioned. I like how telperion is a little gentler/dimmer comparatively I cannot remember if it was confirmed that they brighten/dim according to what time of "day" it is or if I just made it up but either way that's great. gorgeous.

ok this. ok this. I saw the leaked teaser a while ago so this has been on my mind. they're falling through some sort of suspension it looks like, which could be some terrible trauma-induced vision or it could be water.

The three possibilities I have for this scene are War of Wrath, Dagor Bragollach (aka Battle of Sudden Flame), OR, most interesting to me, the First Kinslaying.

If it is water it kind of rules out sudden flame since that wasn't really. water-based. like it could be in a lake or something but that doesn't make sense. I was leaning more towards war of wrath because of how it would make most sense where they are in the timeline (continent sinking is on everyone's minds.)

This image of Galadriel is interesting to me too. She looks very rough here. Everything is red even in the air. That atmosphere also kind of implies bragollach to me with all the fire and smoke, and it is also where she lost two of her brothers, so it would absolutely make sense that she's got trauma from that, buuuut it doesn't explain the water.

War of Wrath would have a lot of fire and smoke and devastation, but considering this comes at the part where Galadriel is telling Elrond "You haven't seen what I've seen" in the trailer, Elrond probably wasn't here for these scenes. He was alive during War of Wrath though you could argue he probably wasn't caught up in the middle of it. But if we rule out "things Elrond may have seen" that narrows it down to Bragollach and the Kinslaying.

This being the Kinslaying, though, would be super interesting to put into larger context the downfall of the Noldor which would be on everyone's minds around the second age particularly with Galadriel refusing the pardon of the Noldor given that she was exiled despite fighting against Feanor and co in the kinslaying at alqualonde. This would also be a very devastating moment for Galadriel. All the smoke is a little bit out of place here admittedly, but the weird red lighting could be the combination of fire and a lack of light, and it would definitely explain the water.

And I don't think the Kinslaying is at all unreasonable, despite it not being in the appendices, considering we're seeing this.

THIS HAS TO BE THE OATH OF FEANOR I REFUSE TO ACCEPT EVERYTHING ELSE. It shows us like four elves standing in half a circle and I think it's reasonable for there to be like seven/eight depending where the man himself is standing. They're raising their swords in the air. and they sure as hell LOOK like noldor. I'm just imagining all the redheads are on the other side though. I wish I had a better image of this so I could tell if they have the star of feanor on their armor because that would be confirmation but literally what else could it be.

I can't even remember how I reacted to this I think all the neurons in my brain started firing at once and I reached a new mental state for a moment. I did not expect to see more than like a passing mention of feanor nevermind THE OATH ITSELF. This has incredible implications both for noldor lore and also celebrimbor backstory going so much more into like the feanorian drama which is all I am here for it was absolutely my favorite part of the silmarillion. the feanorians are my favorite part of the entire tolkien legendarium.

I'm not expecting them to go into much more detail than this on the individual sons of feanor so maybe none of my favorite guy maedhros :( but I do believe he's standing right behind the camera and has red hair.

love the juxtaposition of "this could be the beginning of a new era" re: second age with the rebellion of the noldor that sure was an era.

anyways I've heard the first season is going to be mostly setup and I was like "what are they setting up" but if it's a first age history lesson I am sold. I am more than sold. I am currently trying to find a way to psychically project my consciousness into september so I can see this full oath scene, the whole 2 seconds it might get.

and nothing else in this trailer matters to me honestly I forgot it already I literally care about nothing other than feanorians. (and galadriel she gets a pass. and fingon but there's no way he's here. and I'll stop while I'm ahead.) I didn't think they would give it to me, but they have. never thought I'd say it but thanks amazon

[absynthe--minded]

This is going to be a long questions, but I feel you are the right person to ask this too... How late in the many rewriting of the Silmarillion material does the rescue of Maedhros from Thangorodrim appear? The reason I ask is that I have been wondering how that plot line, which is objectively a) pure fire b) a very clean "stand alone" narrative, did not in time evolve to receive a more similar treatment to the three "great stories" (CoH, B&L, tFoG), and my best hypothesis is that iirc in general the Sons of Feanor become the characters we know relatively late in the process, being more straight up villains before. Or maybe you have some different thoughts about this...

oh this is a great question and I am somehow the right person to ask this to because I have an answer for you, but it’s not quite the one you’re expecting, I think. this story is stupid old, and also, it’s pure fire, exactly like you said. this is a LONG post but I’m trying to be brief.

Maedhros’s rescue is inherently tied into the story of and the development of the Oath of Fëanor, which in its earliest appearance wasn’t actually connected to Fëanor at all. Maedhros has basically always been a captive, and always been important, but Fingon’s part in the tale is what’s newer. In The Book of Lost Tales vol. I, Christopher says that the earliest iteration of what would become the Oath was sworn voluntarily by Maedhros and his brothers after Fëanor’s death - he led an assault against Angband, and was captured, and his torture and torment were because he refused to give up the secrets of Noldorin jewelcrafting. It’s never explicitly said he escaped or was rescued or freed, but he gets free somehow, because once he rejoins the others they all collectively swear an "oath of hatred, for ever against all, Gods or Elves or Men, who should hold the Silmarils” and then the seven of them and their host withdraw from the rest of the Noldor and live in Dor-lómin.

Christopher mentions in his commentary that Fingon plays no part in any of this and that there’s no mention of Maedhros being maimed but he finds it interesting that the story still has quite a lot of its core elements in place despite that - the Oath, withdrawing from the Noldorin people at large, capture and freedom - and I’m inclined to agree with him. I also want to point out that these earliest versions of the stories place a much greater emphasis on the Silmarils as objects, and jewelcrafting as a skill to be coveted and stolen, where I think later versions focus more on Finwë’s death with the Silmarils as a sort of proxy for Fëanor’s grief. I also feel like the Oath makes way more sense as a response to trauma in the “sworn out of anger and the desire for vengeance towards Morgoth for years of torture” version - if I were tortured over a bunch of rocks I’d sure as hell be mad at the guy who did that.

In The Lays of Beleriand, which is the next volume chronologically and the next phase of Tolkien’s writing, we get mention of “Maidros whom Morgoth maimed and tortured” wielding his sword in his left hand, and later (I think in version VI of the Lay of Leithian) we also get a verse telling of the swearing of the Oath on Túna (here called Tun) by Fëanor and his sons. All the key pieces are already in place, even “Be he friend or foe” (though what follows after is in verse and paraphrased). Fingon is here! We’re told he freed Maedhros, and that Maedhros was hanging from Thangorodrim in a cruel shackle, but we don’t see how or hear any of the key details. Though, this is an introduction to the world designed to set the stage for Beren and Lúthien, so I don’t actually mind too much. Too much. (I’ve talked before in my own meta about the connections and thematic parallels between the Thangorodrim rescue and B&L, so I think it’s interesting that JRRT explicitly mentions it in this context). Fingon is also then immediately said to have fallen in battle with his “white banners and his lords”. because this is the Silmarillion, did you expect happiness here?

By the time we hit The Shaping of Middle-Earth, we start to see things really come together. In what Chris calls “the earliest Silmarillion,” Fingon (here called Finweg, hilariously) resolves to heal the feud, goes off to find Maedhros, and finds him but can’t release him because he’s trapped by an “enchanted bond”. Maedhros begs to be slain, Thorondor shows up, Fingon cuts off his hand, Thorondor takes them back to Mithrim, we know the story from here on out. The Quenta is much the same, though he’s still called Finweg, and here we get the first mention of the bow and Maedhros begging to be shot with it. After Fingon gets to Maedhros, we get another “please kill me”, the hand is cut off, and off to Mithrim we go. Here’s also the first mention in prose that I could find of Maedhros being more deadly with his left hand than his right.

The Lost Road doesn’t have anything new, and then we get 6-9 talking about the history of LotR’s drafts; anything after that is what Chris refers to as “The Later Silmarillion”, which has basically everything you’d expect.

The thing I find most interesting personally is how complete this narrative element was basically right from the start, after the early installment weirdness of the Lost Tales - it’s a lot like the Great Tales in that respect, where the core of the story doesn’t shift much at all. Fingon’s prominence and characterization, and the details surrounding his rescue, get more and more pronounced with time. Fingon and Maedhros being tied together by some form of friendship is new, I’m fairly certain that Fingon being the person Maedhros asks after at Losgar is new, and by the 50s and the Grey Annals in The War of the Jewels we get “and their love was renewed” and mentions of the green stone as a gift to Fingon. From a Russingon perspective it’s a bit like the inverse of Túrin and Beleg - those two start out extremely textually gay and get more and more subdued with time, where Fingon and Maedhros get fleshed out more and more as they go on.

As to your theory about how the Fëanorians got more developed over time, I think there’s a lot of truth to it. I don’t think that they were ever solely villainous - even in the Lays they’ve got some ambiguity - but all of the elvish characters began to develop their individual identities more and more over time, and the intricacies of the family drama really flourish in Morgoth’s Ring as opposed to Shaping (though, in a moment that made me laugh, Tolkien talks about there being “little love” between the two camps of Noldor in Mithrim in that book, and I have to imagine them glaring at one another across the lake). But I think that the rescue did evolve, it just didn’t ever become its own Great Tale, and my best guess there is that it’s just too interconnected, almost? Like, in order to understand (in the latest versions of the story that coincidentally have the most emotional impact) what’s going on, you have to care about the characters’ ties to one another, and you have to know about Valinorean family drama and Fëanor vs. Fingolfin and the Silmarils and all of that stuff.

despite the length I absolutely loved talking about this, holy shit, I’d wanted an excuse to go digging in HoME on this subject and boy do I have it now.

[warrioreowynofrohan]

Any thoughts on what Finwe could have done to make things go less horribly wrong? Especially re: Feanor and Fingolfin.

It’s a challenging question, because it wasn’t an easy situation, but it seems to me that there are a lot of things he could have done better.

Firstly: I recently realized that he remarried quickly, and while Fëanor was still quite young - probably not an adult yet - which could not have helped matters. In the account of the story of Finwë and Míriel in History of Middle-earth Vol. 10, it says that “the wedding of his father was not pleasing to Fëanáro and..as soon as he might he lived apart from them.” This sounds more like he was a still a minor when they married and couldn’t move out until he was an adult. Other lines within the account line up with that. Also very notably, he went to the Valar regarding remarriage before he had any particular desire to marry Indis specifically; saying “I want to get married (to a nonspecific person) so I can have more kids,” while your first child is still a child, in a heretofore unknown circumstance for the Eldar, is understandably going to cause abandonment issues. He also married Indis only one year after they see each other again and fall in love. (At this point Fëanor is a teenager; he is mentioned as being “in his youth”, but old enough to be hiking alone in the mountains of Valinor.)

So, while I don’t think the remarriage itself was wrong, especially given that Míriel said with great certainty that she never wished to return to life, he needn’t - as an immortal in a land of immortals - have been in such a hurry about it.

Secondly: If you are going to make the decision to remarry, commit to it. Don’t plat favourites and treat your children with Indis as second-class children as if you need to apologize to Fëanor for their very existence. There needs to be a way to communicate that love is not a finite and scarce quantity; that loving Fingolfin and Finarfin does not mean he loves Fëanor any less. The moment when Fëanor theatens Fingolfin’s life and Finwë sides with Fëanor is the absolute worst of this favoritism and compulsion to put aside his two youngest children for Fëanor’s sake, but his favoritism has been contributing to the problem for a while during the unrest of the Noldor. Giving the impression to your two youngest children that you feel guilty for their very existence is not a good look.

Thirdly, tying in with the last point: During the Unrest of the Noldor, show leadership. A feud between your children is causing evident, though latent, conflict among the whole of your people. Talk to them about it. Don’t be passive. Make it clear that this is something you are against. Fëanor is said to love his father more than anyone else in the world - Finwë at least has the chance of making a difference by telling him, and Fingolfin and Finarfin that this conflict within the family is making him unhappy, and it would mean a lot to him if they at least attempted to resolve their differences.

Fourthly: after Fëanor pulls a sword on Fingolfin, do not effectively-abdicate and leave for Formenos. Stay in Tirion and rule. Make it very clear to Fëanor that you still love him, are willing to see him at any time and in any place that is not Tirion, but that you are not pleased with his actions. And then work to calm the tensions among your people. The problem with Finwë is that, after rushing into remarriage to have more kids, he then turns around and acts as though his own role that holds any importance is that of Fëanor’s father - more than being Fingolfin and Finarfin’s farther, and more than being king of the Noldor. And this is actively counterproductive - as the Silmarillion notes, it makes Morgoth’s claims that Fingolfin was after the throne look true (further aggravating Fëanor), simply because, due to Finwë’s actions, there’s no one other than Fingolfin available to rule. Staying in Tirion as king while still visiting Fëanor would avoid that. It would not mean that Finwë had to cut ties with Fëanor unless Fëanor - who, again, is said to love his father more than he does anyone else - flat-out refused to meet with Finwë even if he came to the doors for Formenos for a visit.

I’ve seen the Valar criticized for punishing Fëanor, even if that punishment is nothing more than “go cool off somewhere that isn’t Tirion and think about what you’ve done.” And I’ve seen it called the Valar overriding Finwë. But what else are they supposed to do, when Finwë has made it clear that he will never do anything to either control or penalize or even disagree with his eldest son, even when he threatens another of Finwë’s sons with death? The words “conflict of interest” aren’t remotely strong enough for that situation.

There is a difference between unconditional love and unconditional approval. If your grown-up child is behaving in a manner that’s destructive to themselves, others, and the rest of your family, there does need to be a capacity to tell them so, and not unequivocally take their side - again, taking their side against your other children - as if they had done absolutely nothing wrong and were the aggrieved party. Towards Fingolfin, it’s outright cruel for his father to side with the person who threatened to murder him. Towards Fëanor, it’s the worst kind of helicopter parenting. And towards the Noldor as a whole, it’s simply bad governance and neglect of duty.

[galadhremmin]

silm asks - 1, 9, 13, 22

1. Favorite Section (Ainulindalë, etc.)? The end, because it breaks my heart! The sense of loss is so palpable. You really experience a feeling of mourning for the destruction of a world that never existed in a way I have never experienced with other fantasy. I do love the Ainulindale because the idea of a world made of music and responsive to it is incredible appealing to me. ‘Is that not a silmaril,’ or! that sentence about the death of Miriel...  ‘ and the sky reeled, and the hills slid, and Númenor went down into the sea, with all its children and its wives and its maidens and its ladies proud; and all its gardens and its halls and its towers, its tombs and its riches, and its jewels and its webs and its things painted and carven, and its lore: they vanished for ever. And last of all the mounting wave, green and cold and plumed with foam, climbing over the land, took to its bosom Tar-Míriel the Queen, fairer than silver or ivory or pearls. Too late she strove to ascend the steep ways of the Meneltarma to the holy place; for the waters overtook her, and her cry was lost in the roaring of the wind.’ Painful; beautiful. But yeah, I can’t really choose. Though I’d still say the end.   9. What Age of Arda would you like to live in? I love reading about heroic and tragic events and enjoy dramatic irony, but I want none of those things in my own life! Years of the Trees in Valinor. Every time I try to think about what Valinor would be like in a slightly more concrete way it grows stranger and more intense in my imagination. Even if it would speed up my death-- fine. See Valinor And Die. ‘ And tales and rumours arose along the shores of the sea concerning mariners and men forlorn upon the water who, by some fate or grace or favour of the Valar, had entered in upon the Straight Way and seen the face of the world sink below them, and so had come to the lamplit quays of Avallónë, or verily to the last beaches on the margin of Aman, and there had looked upon the White Mountain, dreadful and beautiful, before they died.” -- That’s the spirit. If it actually existed I’d swim upstream towards the blessed realm like a salmon in season, right here right now.   13. Would you want The Silmarillion to be made into a film or tv series? Only if it was animated, and only if it was done by people like the ones who made Song of the Sea, The Red Turtle or similar. I don’t think the entire thing would really work in the same style; an anthology of separate stories by different creators might work best. The only live action version of a Silm story I’d like to see would be Del Torro in the spirit of Pan’s Labyrinth. But overall I think the Silm material and the way people interact with it would suffer from a big studio laying claim over it. Copyright and capitalism don’t go well with this sort of story.  22. What is your opinion of Fëanor? He’s interesting. This is getting a bit long, so cut.

I think it doesn’t do the character or the story justice to make his conflict with Fingolfin entirely about his father’s affection; there’s a interesting sentence in one of the versions of the stories that indicates Fingolfin was at least perceived as threatening not just Feanor’s but also Finwe’s authority, in favour of the Valar;  Whispers came to Feanor that Fingolfin and his sons Turgon and Fingon were plotting to usurp the leadership of Finwe and of the eldest house of Feanor, and to supplant them by the leave of the Valar-- for the Valar were ill-pleased that the Silmarils lay in Tuna, and were not given in their keeping. [..] on the high day of the Valar Feanor spake words of rebellion against the Valar, crying aloud that he would depart back to the world without, and deliver, as he said, the Gnomes from thraldom, if they would follow him. And when Fingolfin sought to restrain him Feanor drew his sword. ' Combined with from yet another version; 'said Finwë: ‘While the ban lasts upon Fëanor my son, that he may not go to Tirion, I hold myself unkinged, and I will not meet my people.’ ... I think there’s room for more than just a narrative about a child insecure about his father’s love. That is also there; and it is fascinating all on its own, because he is the first person in Valinor to lose a parent, the first for so many things. But this is there, too; a potential politico-religious conflict about authority supported by Noldorin tradition vs. the Valar. Given that Ulmo called Feanor’s birth a result of Marring and Indis line the good to come of it I think this makes sense on both levels.  Anyway, aside from that I think his devolving into a state of horrible, selfish paranoia and grief leads him to do entirely awful things in an interesting way. I don’t read the character as a parallel for real world fascists/nationalists because that just doesn’t make sense in context of, well everything. Being a King in a feudal society is only the start of it... But given Tolkien’s life experiences I’d say when he uses a sentence like ‘no other race shall oust us’ the wording is deliberate, and you’re supposed to feel those associations; the way his spirit starts to twist, the wrongness of the words he uses to motivate those not convinced by the need for vengeance etc. Feanor is a character who often plays the oracle without knowing it. He predicts his own son’s final fate (Maglor) without realising it. When he sees the future he doesn’t know it, and when he is justified in his emotions or even opinions he reacts in the worst possible way. It makes him fascinating. He is too much of everything, and you get the distinct sense that he doesn’t truly understand himself.  Aside from that; well, the slender dexterity of Feanor’s fingers... haha. He was Tolkien’s favourite, clearly, and it shows. I really love what seems like his intense curiosity and need to engage with the world he lives in. I love that his heraldry seems related to the spectrum of visible light, when so much about him is about light. I think Nerdanel might be the only woman in Tolkien’s work who is not loved for her beauty but her spirit, and that in turn tells me something about Feanor’s spirit. I could go on, probably verging into headcanons. I enjoy the character; I think of his actions and eventual implied ideology are indefensible. I also think that the circumstances being what they were (no one born in the blessed realm truly understood loss, or having to let go of a possession, for one) and with the qualities ascribed to him his choices make sense. 

[lendmyboyfriendahand]

Still something left to save

Maedhros had sent the letter two days ago. Two days of agonizing waiting while the whole camp held its breath.

Maglor still acted like the Valar might have mercy, and return the Silmarils in exchange for repentance. Maedhros knew better though, and was reviewing his weapons and armor. The Valar would refuse the plea, as they had wished to refuse Feanor’s claim when he had not yet harmed any - if indeed they bothered to answer at all.

So a single rider approaching under a flag of truce was not completely surprising. Maglor claimed it was a hopeful sign, that the hosts of the Valar might truly wish to negotiate. Maedhros was of the opinion that the Valar had no faith in the house of Feanor at all, and believed them so low as to murder anyone not conspicuously nonthreatening.

The messenger was ushered past the sentries to the tent Maedhros and Maglor used as an improvised command room. He was wearing a helmet that blocked his face. The voice that called out in greeting was oddly familiar, as was the glint of his eyes, but Maedhros couldn’t place it.

“What news do you bring from the Hosts of the West?,” Maedhros asked.

“Morgoth has fallen. Lords Tulkas and Orome have bound him in chains and shall throw him into the darkness beyond the world, from where there is no return.”

“And what of the letter we sent to Lord Eonwe?”

“The Silmarils shall return to Valinor where they were created. You may go as well if you wish, and plead your right to them in the Ring of Doom.”

Then Maglor desired indeed to submit, for his heart was sorrowful, and he said: ‘The oath says not that we may not bide our time, and it may be that in Valinor all shall be forgiven and forgot, and we shall come into our own in peace.’

But Maedhros answered that if they returned to Aman but the favour of the Valar were withheld from them, then their oath would still remain, but its fulfilment be beyond all hope; and he said: 'Who can tell to what dreadful doom we shall come, if we disobey the Powers in their own land, or purpose ever to bring war again into their holy realm?'

Yet Maglor still held back, saying: 'If Manwë and Varda themselves deny the fulfilment of an oath to which we named them in witness, is it not made void?'

And Maedhros answered: 'But how shall our voices reach to Ilúvatar beyond the Circles of the World? And by Ilúvatar we swore in our madness, and called the Everlasting Darkness upon us, if we kept not our word. Who shall release us?

''If none can release us,' said Maglor, 'then indeed the Everlasting Darkness shall be our lot, whether we keep our oath or break it; but less evil shall we do in the breaking.'

The messenger burst out, “Do you care so little for the life of your kin? You are arguing where and who to kill if your demands are not met; can you not simply seek peace?”

Maedhros rounded on him. “What right do you have to speak such to us? What can you possibly know of our oath, and the cost of defying it?”

“I know as much as you told me, in Himring when you knew the foolishness of marching north unprepared but still felt the call. Perhaps you’ve forgotten though, in the years since.” The messenger took off his helmet.

Maedhros was stuck speechless.

Maglor was not. “Fingon? You’ve been reborn? I thought we were supposed to abide long years in Mandos and yearn for our bodies.”

“It’s been a century, isn’t that long enough?”

“I suppose so. Is my father back yet?”

“No. The dead cannot leave until we are repentant, and that will be a long time for him.”

“Is your father back?”

“Yes, and ruling Tirion while Uncle Finarfin fights here. Before you ask, Grandpa is still in Mandos, as are all your brothers. I didn’t get a complete list; I was only in Valinor for long enough to arrange passage on the next ship leaving.”

“Why?" Maedhros whispered hoarsely. “Why would you give up on a chance for peace after centuries of war and death?”

“I could hardly sit by and do nothing when Morgoth was still running rampant! Besides, I wanted to see you in person.”

“You did?”

“Yes. After the tales I heard from Doriath and Sirion, I wanted to see if there was anything left to save of the man I fell in love with.”

Maglor said, “I’ll give you two privacy. I will return in an hour, and in the meantime will inform the army that we are in council over our next course of action.”

“There’s no need for that. After your brother’s speech earlier, I really don’t have much left to say to him.”

“No?” Maedhros asked. “As steadfast as you are renowned to be, you can exchange your love for hate in an instant?”

“I don’t know if I hate you. But I can’t love you, not when you’re drenched in blood and only wading deeper.”

“You accuse me of forgetting what we talked about in Himring, its you who are ignoring it. Or did you never listen in the first place? Each day, each hour, each breath is an effort, each moment that the Oath is unfulfilled worse than the last. A century ago I was carrying a stone; now it is a boulder.”

“So why do you not set the boulder aside? Why not surrender to the Valar, or found a new kingdom in the East, or ask me to ride off with you and live far away from all oaths and kings and fathers?”

“If I cast the Oath aside it would not be gone, merely underfoot waiting to reach up and pull my down with it rather than crushing me.”

“Would that not be better?”

“Until it reached up and choked me, and I moved once again according to its string. The Oath will be there waiting for me wherever I go for the rest of my life, unless I can fulfill it.”

“Then let it wait. Better to have peace for a few decades, in which time you may understand how to evade your Doom.”

“If you refuse to accept that certain things cannot be changed, I don’t have any answers that will satisfy you.”

“And if you refuse to see any path forward but over the bodies of innocents, I may as well be shouting at the wind.”

“I begged you once to kill me and you refused. If you cannot stomach having released me onto the world, that is your problem, but I will not be crushed by your guilt as well as my own.”

“I rescued you because I loved you. What you have done is horrific, but it was not fated from that moment. I take no part in your guilt, but as a friend would aid you towards repentance.”

“There is no penance that could make up for what I have done, and even if there were I would refuse to take it. It is better to live scorned but free than to bow and scrape in desperate hope a jailer will be amused enough to grant a moment of relief.”

“The Valar are not Morgoth, and have no interest in cruelty.”

“And if you’re wrong? Or if they are merciful, but someone decides I’m not being appropriately punished, what then? Once I surrender, I’m sure I won’t be allowed so much as a belt knife for eating. There will be escape from the inside, whether you call it captivity or repentance. Will you come to my heroic rescue once again, or will you let vengeance and justice be played out upon me?”

Fingon looked at him steadily. “If you are imprisoned I will some to your aid, if only to offer the arrow you begged for last time. I don’t think an eagle will help you escape the Valra’s own sentence though.”

“So if I surrender I am trapped between captivity or death, until at last I weary of holding back the Oath and am struck down for my arrogance at believing a son has a right to his father’s work. Whereas if I pursue the Silmarils now, I may be struck down or I may escape, but in either case I have at least chosen the hour and the manner of my fate. You’re making a very persuasive argument.”

“If all you care about is your own skin, and no thought at all for the lives ended beneath your sword if you attack, then perhaps what you have said is accurate. But I had thought that you were kinder than that once; perhaps I am mistaken and you care no more for elven lives than an orc would.”

Maedhros recoiled as if struck.

Maglor jumped into the conversation before his brother could find the words that would skewer Fingon’s weak point as thoroughly as his own had been. “You both speak as if there are only two options. We don’t have to choose between surrender and attack.”

“Oh?” Maedhros said,”What other way is there? Fingon made it very clear that fighting is for orcs and crawling back to the Valar is for good little elves.”

“I never said-”

Maglor interrupted Fingon before the two of them could get into it again. “There are men and dwarves in this world as well as orcs and elves, whatever we might have thought when we left Valinor.”

“Dwarves and men there may be, but little help it does us. We don’t get to change our nature like your precious peredhel princes, nor would I want to.”

“We don’t have to. I’m merely saying, we don’‘t have to choose between attack and surrender. We can retreat, regroup for another angle.”

“I am right here, as a messenger of the Valar, and can’t honestly report that you two are going in peace if you merely are waiting until you re strong enough to storm Taniquetil.”

Maedhros drummed his fingers on his sword hilt. “We don’t have to let you go. You say being prisoner of a kind master is a good fate, now would be your time to prove it.”

“Must the two of you be so literal? We retreat physically, but regroup spiritually for another metaphorical angle of attack.”

“You’re speaking in poetry when we need tactics.”

“Fine.” Maglor began ticking points of on his fingers. “We retreat physically by moving our forces away from the land that’s collapsing beneath our feet. Everyone is going east, but if we angle north-east, perhaps across the Grey Mountains, we should be able to establish a fortress without being bothered. We regroup spiritually by announcing to our soldiers that we’re not going to attack civilians again. We can spend a decade or two building our new home, farming and crafting and hunting rather than waging war. And our metaphorical angle of attack is diplomacy. You and I always were the best at it of our brothers; if anyone has a chance of convincing the Valar to return the Silmarils it’s us.”

“How exactly are we making diplomatic overtures with the Valar from another continent?”

“Letters should be able to get through. The Valar are creating an island for the Men that’s close to Valinor but still in Middle Earth. Elves from Valinor can visit the island, and the Men can travel here.”

“We tried letters before, three times now, and it didn’t work.”

“It didn’t work on Sindarin child-monarchs, the Valar are wiser and can understand more lines of argument.”

“They refused our last request and Fingon is right her telling us so.”

“Eonwe refused, because he considers it beyond his authority. The Valar themselves have said neither yay or nay.”

“You think they’ll decree us worthy of the Silmarils, when they condemned us for ever trying to leave their precious paradise?”

“I think if we’re on another continent they won’t sentence us to execution, an the rest of the details can be worked out without an audience.”

“I’m not here to spy on you,” Fingon said.

“No, you’re here to see if you’re still impulsive enough to kiss my brother if he looks at you sweetly.”

“That’s not it either!”

“I don’t care what you two get up to at this point, but Maedhros and I really do need to come up with a detailed plan, and we can’t tell you anything as long as half the continent is willing to shoot us on sight. So leave the tent so I can bring out the ledgers.”

“You still haven’t answered the message from Lord Eonwe calling for your surrender.”

“And we won’t have an answer that satisfies both your sensibilities and Maedhros’s paranoia for several hours. Go tend to your horse or something.”

Maedhros said, “If we discuss this for hours, he’ll won’t have time to return by nightfall, and we don’t have any spare tents.”

“I’m sure the two of you have shared a bed often enough, you can do so for one night.”

“I can sleep under the stars well enough,” Fingon said coldly.

“Like I said, I don’t care what you two do, as long as you leave now and let me speak with my brother in private.”

“Fine.”

Once Fingon was well away, Maedhros breathed deeply and practically collapsed onto a stool. He looked up at Maglor, “Do you really have a plan that could work?”

“I do. It was a mistake to ask for the Silmarils in the first letter to Eonwe, it shows our hand and makes us look greedy. The first letter to the Valar will be an acknowledgement that their prophecies of death in the outer lands were right, it will sound like respecting their wisdom...”

[ambarto]

This might be a weird prompt, but could you please write Fëanor and Beren meeting in the Halls of Mandos, before Luthien retrieves Beren?

Feanor strode through Mandos. Other fear quickly moved out of his way. He was fire, in death as in life, and the other residents of Mandos did not want to find out how colliding with him may feel.

Anger crackled as he made his way through the Halls. Not unusual, Feanor almost always found himself angered since he had died. There was nothing here to do other than thinking, without paper to write his ideas or metal to bend into place. His mind was constantly full of thoughts, of Morgoth and the Silmarils and his sons and the mess Beleriand was. Were there trees in Mandos, surely they would have caught fire by mere proximity with him and his temper.

In truth, Feanor could not quite remember the last time he had not been angry in life either.

He did not pay a thought to all the other dead around him. Not until one failed to get out of the way.

“You seem to be in a hurry, Elf Lord,” the fea said.

A Man. Feanor had not met any in life, but he had seen enough of them in Mandos to recognize the differences between them and Elves. The fear of Men always seemed thin, as if about to dissipate.

Clearly Feanor had ended up crossing through the Halls dedicated to Men while he was deep in his thoughts. No matter. He sidestepped the Man, whose stay here would be brief. Not like Feanor’s.

“What is your name?” the Man called, unexpectedly.

“Feanor, son of Finwe and Miriel,” Feanor replied.

“I see. I thought you may be.”

Feanor turned back to him. “You did?”

“I heard tales that your spirit was as fiery that it burnt your body when you died. I thought them exaggerations, but I see now that it might have indeed been so.”

“I’m surprised a Secondborn knows of me.”

“Beren, son of Barahir is my name. And I could I not? I doubt anyone in Beleriand will ever forget about you so long as your sons roam.”

“Are you familiar with my sons?”

Beren’s figure shimmered. Perhaps he shrugged. It was hard to tell. “Had the wolf not gotten to me first, perhaps it would have been them to send me here.”

“Why?”

“For starters, because they have camped on Morgoth’s doorsetps for centuries and have yet to recover one of the Silmarils, but I and my beloved were easily able of ripping one of out of his crown.”

“You and your- what are you talking about?”

“My beloved. Luthien of Doriath, most beautiful of the people who walk the world,” Beren said, his voice wistful. “My wife, if only briefly. Daughter of Thingol of Doriath. When I asked for her hand, he told me he would only consider allowing it if I brought him a Silmaril from Morgoth’s crown. I did. I don’t believe your sons were pleased.”

“Those stones are not yours to take.”

“You may bring up your concerns with Thingol, if you ever happen across him. He was the one to set the price, not me.”

Thingol. Little more than a name, for Feanor. He had died too soon in Beleriand for Thingol to be a problem, and from what Feanor had heard Thingol had proved himself a significant problem for his sons and all the Noldor. Feanor had had scarce love for him, and now he was told Thingol demanded Silmarils as a price for his daughter.

Thingol would have to hope to stay out of Mandos, or Feanor would have words with him.

“Your sons are certainly loyal,” Beren continued, “but I must say that you could have educated them better.”

“Don’t insult me, Beren son of Barahir. Or them.”

“Is it then a custom for the Noldor to steal women and attempt to force them into an undesired marriage?”

Feanor’s spirit crackled. “What?”

“The light haired one, Celegorm I believe his name is,” Beren said. His voice had been calm, conversational so far, but anger laced it as he spoke of Feanor’s son. “He was quite infatuated with Luthien. He kidnapped her, with the help of Curufin, and tried to force her to marry him. He may have succeeded, had she not escaped him.”

“Lies!”

“What reason would I have to lie to you?” Beren replied. “We are both dead. I will depart this place soon, many times has Mandos already told me that I cannot linger long. I speak nothing but the truth.”

“Do not challenge me, Secondborn,” Feanor snarled, taking one step towards him.

Beren laughed without mirth. “Or what, Feanor the great? I have faced Morgoth and his most foul servants. I have lost my life, and I have lost my love. What would you do to me? Scorch me?”

Feanor turned on his heels, and left. He had no interest in listening to the- the lies of some mortal!

He knew he and his sons were not well liked. Far from it. Many of their actions were called cruel, and Feanor - Feanor was not an idiot. He knew very well not everything that he had done could be called right. Slaying the Teleri in Alqualonde was from a good action, Feanor was well aware of that, regardless of what Mandos seemed to think.

But sometimes, evil is necessary. Sometimes one has to be cruel to reach noble goals. The slaying hadn’t been done for the sake of pain. Feanor had had his father to avenge, and Morgoth to dethrone, and the Silmarils to retake. He had hurt and killed, yes - but he had not done so because he enjoyed it. It would have been much preferable to avoid bloodshed. He could be cruel when he had no other choices, but he would never do cruelty for the sake of cruelty. He would never- steal a woman for his own fancy, or other pointlessly evil actions. And neither would his sons.

...wouldn’t they?

[fuckingfinwions]

Prompt: Maedhros/Fingon/Nolofinwe/Curufin/Celebrimbor, servant AU-Au where maedhros becomes king, submission, power play: Fingon being head concubine of the pseudo-harem, Fingon & Nolo teaching Curufin the ropes (or not! because fingon hates him?), stuff about tyelpe being the least used concubine, curufin being forced to submit and broken down while nolo & fingon enjoy relative calm and freedom, the orgy where maedhros takes control for the first time, fingon/nolo being ordered to dom curufin?

(This doesn’t cover all of that, but here's Curufin being "broken in" with lots of power play)

Curufin had been tied to the wall in Maedhros's bedroom for two days straight, ever since Feanor's death. There was a spreader bar between his ankles, and ring gag buckled in his mouth. Occasionally Maedhros ordered Fingon or Nolofinwe to turn him to face the wall so that Maedhros could fuck him, but most of the time he faced the room with a plug in his ass.

Maedhros returned from his business ruling the city.

Maedhros idly picked up a crop, twirling it in one hand as he looked at Curufin. "Hmm. I want to relax after a long day, but you're just going to cause me more stress, aren’t you?"

Maedhros summoned Fingon and Nolofinwe. While he waited for them to arrive, he played with the crop, striking Curufin's chest and thighs but avoiding any particularly sensitive spots.

There was a knock at the door. "Your Majesty?"

"Come in." Maedhros sat in the armchair by the fire. "Fingon, strip and come over here. Are you prepped for me?"

"Not yet, your majesty."

Maedhros sighed in disappointment. "Open yourself quickly then, you know where the oil is. I want to fuck someone interested in my pleasure before spending an evening training this stubborn new one."

"Yes, your majesty," Fingon said.

Curufin made a noise behind the gag that was presumably intended to be a cutting remark about how Maedhros could just not rape him at all.

"Nolo, discipline your new friend for me while I'm busy. Five hits with the crop, anywhere except his cock. And take your tunic off first, I like your back when you move.”

"Yes your majesty." Nolofinwe had imagined many times what it would be like to make Prince Curufin endure the beatings he regularly dished out. But still, there was no joy in forcing another to the same life as his family.

Fingon rode Maedhros to completion - Maedhros's if not his own. Fingon let Maedhros's cock slide out of his hole, began to stand up.

Maedhos's hand on his ankle convinced him to pause. Instead, he sat back down, careful to place his weight on his spread legs rather than on Maedhros’s lap. Maedhros kissed him once, then ran a hand down his back, slipping between his cheeks and back out again.

"Nolo, what advice do you have on how to break him in?"

"I'm sorry, your majesty, I don't understand what you mean?"

Fingon wished he could exchange glances with his father, see if he should distract Maedhros or let this continue, but turning to look would be far too obvious.

"To teach my former brother his new place in this household, and stop having him try to bite in spite of the gag."

"I'm afraid I don't know, your majesty. I doubt I have a more informed opinion than anyone else."

"Oh, don't be modest. My father trained you in similar circumstances. Since he's no around to ask for advice, you're the only one with firsthand experience."

Nolo generally tried to put the whole year after his father's death completely out of his mind. "I have not thought on that in a while, your majesty. It was a painful time."

"I'm telling you to think on it now. How did my father turn you from a noble prince of the Noldor into an obedient servant and whore who will follow any order I give, regardless of the pain?"

Nolo sighed. “Feanor started by having me do normal servant’s tasks. When I protested that they were demeaning, he kept me in his bedroom for three days, beating me and raping me.  The guards had orders not to let me leave, and though I might have fought free alone, I had three small children and would not abandon them. I continued to do servant’s work in the day. For the nights, I would rather walk to Feanor’s room and walk out in an hour than be dragged there for all night - or even several.”

Fingon shivered. He had never heard any of this, and had not known he was the reason his father submitted to this mistreatment.

“Tell me the details. I’m sure I’ll do some things differently with my own servants, but it will be a good start. Were you told the rules at the start, or only when you broke them? Was it pain or humiliation that you noticed most? Did the old king let you think you had any power at all to bargain away, or did he make clear your worthlessness immediately?”

Fingon didn’t want to hear any of this. “Should we be speaking of such in front of him? He can fight back better if he knows the plan.”

Maedhros wrapped one hand around Fingon’s balls, stopping just short of making a fist. “Do not interrupt. When I ask a question, I want to hear the whole answer. And you will address me by title unless I’m fucking you, in which case you may use my name, but you can never just skip addressing me at all, as if we were peers.”

Fingon’s eyes watered from the pain. “I’m sorry, your majesty. I intended no insult. I won’t speak out of turn again.”

“If you do, you’ll have to put on a gag,” Maedhros warned, though he loosened his grip. “Nolo, speak.”

“Of course, your majesty. King Feanaro didn’t explain the rules at all, unless you count saying that I was his personal fucktoy now. I was punished for being late or rude, but he did not tell what counted as rudeness until I had overstepped - and sometimes not even then.

“The pain was harder to ignore, but the humiliation hurt more. I could at times almost disconnect, focus only the next necessary action rather than its reason, but pain was always going to happen. The first few weeks - perhaps months - I was constantly in pain, whether because I had disobeyed or simply because Feanaro wished to see me cry."

“That is useful to know,” Maedhros said. “Hand me the crop now and get between him and the wall. I’m going to hit him while you pleasure him, but don’t bring him off.”

Fingon asked, "Your majesty, is there a reason you haven't been calling him by his name? We all kept ours when we were made servants."

"None of you are named after the previous high king. I suppose Nolo technically is, but that's easy enough to shorten. This one, though, used to be called Curufinwe Atarinke. There's very little to that name that doesn't indicate he is the son of King Curufinwe Feanaro, a title he no longer has a right to."

Curufin yelled at that, trying to bring his legs up and kick Maedhros.

"What should the steward put on his lists then your majesty, once the new one is..." Fingon paused as he searched for term Maedhros would like better than ‘beaten into submission’, "properly trained? Painslut or pet might be confusing."

"Hmm," Maedhros said. "I'd name him after a feature, but those are all so extremely Nolodrin it's hard to pick one out. Cumdump is likewise not specific. Perhaps Inke would do. It's already part of his name; should be easy enough to change the records."

Curufin protested wordlessly.

"I didn't ask for your opinion. Nolo, pull his legs up and fuck him. Don't bother with oil, he's had a plug in all day."

Curufin may have been plugged, but it had been hours ago. He was practically dry by now. Nolofinwe sheathed himself in one thrust, and his own moan of pain was covered by Curufin’s louder scream.

Nolofinwe didn’t dare take long to adjust though, with Maedhros staring at them. He slowly began to thrust, trying to focus on how nice it was to be topping for once, and not on how rough the slide was or on Curufin’s tears of pain.

To the sound of flesh slapping against flesh, Maedhros said. "Yes, Inke fits him well. Such a tight little thing to stick my cock in. Lissinke if I want something longer, once he eventually sweetens up."

Maedhros allowed Nolofinwe to come in Curufin’s ass. When he pulled out, there was a sticky mess dripping between Curufin’s thighs, but no trace of blood.

Maedhros turned to Fingon, who had been obediently waiting, kneeling with his cock hard and his arms behind his back. "Is Inke any good at sucking cock?"

"I have no idea, your majesty."

"I though he might have swallowed one of you before; those lips would look perfect stretched wide."

"He was very conscious of his station - I mean his former station."

"Take him down and try him out. Report to me whether or not he knows what he's doing."

"Your majesty, is that wise?"

Maedhros slapped Fingon across the face. "Don't question my orders. I don't plan to leave Inke on my wall forever; it’s very inconvenient to use him like that, and some nights I’ll prefer to not see him at all. Take him down and fuck his throat."

Fingon did so, with his father helping control Curufin’s flailing arms until Fingon could get them properly cuffed together. He tied to crawl away repeatedly, until Fingon tied Curufin’s feet to a small table and sat down himself in one the chairs nearby.

Fingon was still reluctant to put his mouth in Curufin’s face when he was so angry, and looked around for more things he could do to waste time.

"He has a ring gag, he can't bite,” Maedhros said. “Fuck his face now, or else I'll take the gag out and you can do it to shut him up”

“Yes, your majesty.” Fingon grabbed Curufin’s hair and yanked him into position - it was only fair after all, with the number of times Curufin had done the same to him. Fingon kept moving Curufin by the hair, setting a harsh pace and barely giving Curufin time to breathe.

“Well, how is he?”

“He has absolutely no idea what he’s doing, but his mouth is gorgeous. And he’s not choking.”

“Then let’s see how well Inke does with multitasking.”

Maedhros oiled his cock and thrust into Curufin’s ass. Curufin choked as he was shoved forward and further onto Fingon’s cock.

Fingon winced as his cock bumped into Curufin’s back teeth, but in a moment he was down Curufin’s throat. It was hot and tight and wet, and Fingon barely remembered to let Curufin breathe. He had never been deep-throated before, and it was amazing from this side of the experience.

Fingon and Maedhros quickly fell into a rhythm, one of them pulling out of Curufin as the other pushed in, tugging Curufin’s body between the with no care for his comfort or pleasure at all. Fingon wondered if this was how the Princes always felt, when two of them took him, or one of them ordered him to team up on Turgon and Fingon spent the whole time hoping his little brother didn’t pass out.

Fingon liked it a lot. He told himself it was justice, that Curufin had raped him and others often without even the excuse of orders, and so deserved to know what it was like to be on the receiving end of such treatment.

But it wasn’t any high principles that Fingon though of when he came. It was simply his cock in Curufin’s throat and his hands in Curufin’s hair, and Maedhros’s tongue licking open his lips, pleasure without any hint of pain.

Maedhros came a few moments after. Curufin didn’t move when he pulled out, simply laying on the ground and trying to catch his breath.

“Nolo, pick a plug and put it in Inke for the night; something different than he had earlier so he doesn't get too comfortable. Get a guard in here to put Inke back up, and then you’re dismissed. Fingon, you’ll sleep in my bed tonight. I’ve been busy lately, and haven’t touched you nearly as much as I would like.”

[arianaofimladris]

English version of my contribution to Tolkien Secret Santa 2020, written for @meg-pond

The sins of fathers and sons

 Festivals and feasts at the royal palace were always a thrill for both adults and children, the latter finding each time something new and exciting. For Celegorm it was watching everything from a new perspective. At first he stayed with his older brothers, glad that he had been deemed old enough to sit with the grown-ups, but when the gathered elves dispersed in the halls and the gardens and his brothers disappeared somewhere with Fingon, he found himself being bored. So when Amme asked him to check if his younger brothers were not quarrelling, Celegorm used the pretext eagerly and left. Curufin and Caranthir had solemnly promised Nerdanel they would behave, but... Celegorm hoped he wouldn’t have to intervene. He wasn’t Maedhros to know how to deal with soothing ruffled feathers.

The festivities were also a wonderful opportunity for the younger participants to explore the palace gardens or usually unused chambers when the feast was becoming too long. It took a while before Celegorm located his younger brothers building a tower along with Angrod and Aegnor out of everything they could find, from twigs to empty plates. He didn’t really want to join them or startle them and thus ruin their work, and he was about to venture further to find perhaps Maglor, when he heard someone calling him.

“Tyelkormo, come help us!”

Turning around, Celegorm saw Finrod waving at him. He and Turgon were trying to carry a pile of boards, which was intriguing enough.

“What is it?”

“Grandfather has had the wainscot replaced before the feast in one of the halls,” explained Turgon. Unlike Feanor, Fingolfin and his family had come a few days earlier to grandfather Finwe. “These are no longer needed, but look how smooth they still are, they will be perfect,” he claimed excitedly and Finrod nodded in agreement. Seeing that Celegorm had no clue what they were talking about, they started explaining one over the other what idea they had for fun. The smooth boards, they said, should be great for sliding down one of the wide staircases in the palace. They had in mind using the one in the western wing leading to the gardens. It wasn’t frequently used at the moment and the stairs rose in a gentle flight that curved halfway up at a right angle and disappeared in a corridor on the next floor.

“Sound’s like a plan,” Celegorm grinned. He no longer needed to find his brothers to keep himself occupied. “Give me some.”

“Perhaps we can make a competition, if these boards work well,” suggested Finrod. “We have plenty of time.”

Sliding down the stairs was not something any of them had ever tried and the idea sounded appealing. The less appealing part was the fact that there were more tiny interested ears around to hear them.

“What competition?” Celegorm heard Angrod asking and wondered when he had joined them. Turning around, he saw that both his cousins and brothers had sneaked on them, their tower all but abandoned.

“Don’t you want to go check what Artaresto is doing?” Finrod asked weakly, clearly without holding too much hope that his younger brothers would leave, now that they knew what kind of play he and his cousins had in mind.

“Sure not!” puffed Aegnor. “He’s minding Nerwen.”

“We want to play too,” Curufin stated. “You can’t say we can’t.”

“Or what?” Turgon crooked his head as he teased the younger boy.

The ‘I will tell Atto’ hung unsaid in the air, but before any of them vocalised it, Finrod gave his brothers a board to carry. Curufin and Celegorm took the remaining two, while Caranthir trotted behind. Turgon and Finrod clearly had planned everything beforehand, for they led their cousins picking routes where no one could see them. The echo of the feast could still be heard through the open windows they sneaked past, but their way was clear. They found the staircase empty and waiting for them.

“Alright, let’s try them from here first,” suggested Turgon standing just a few steps above the ground floor. “We couldn’t check the balance earlier.”

While the older boys tried to stand on the boards and slide without falling, Aegnor and Caranthir grabbed one of the shorter boards and dragged it up as well. There was a short argument about who was going first, but in the end Caranthir kept the board in place while his cousin straddled it, then let him go. Aegnor slid down with a giggle, Caranthir running after him. They dragged the board up again and again, taking turns. Angrod and Curufin couldn’t really decide whether it was better to slide down sitting or standing, so they were switching from one style to the other, while the older focused on the latter. It took some practicing and quite a lot of hasty jumping off the board was involved before Turgon, Finrod and Celegorm mastered balancing during the slide enough to feel confident enough to drag the boards higher.

“I want too, Ingoldo,” Aegnor called after his brother.

“Oh, we can slide together I guess,” Finrod offered after a moment of hesitation. “I will hold you.”

Celegorm finished his slide and looked up just in time to see Curufin dragging a board up after Finrod and sighed inwardly. He hated being the adult one.

"You are not doing this alone." He ran up, taking two steps at a time.

"I'm hardly younger than them!" Curufin protested and waved at Finrod and Turgon. “And I know how.”

"You are younger. You can slide alone from the tenth step. That's-"

At a startled cry above, Celegorm turned from Curufin, but it was already too late. He could only watch as Finrod lost balance and suddenly the board escaped from under his feet. The boy sat abruptly with a grunted "ouf!", but the momentum dragged him and he slid down after the board still carrying the now screaming Aegnor. The younger boy swept Caranthir on his way and they both tumbled down, falling to the sides at the bottom of the stairs.

For a moment there was a startled silence. Finrod, blinking in surprise, sat on the last step where he had finished the slide, with Aegnor sprawled at his feet.

Leaving the cousins to take care of one another, Celegorm rushed to his brother, who laid unmoving, glued to the marble floor. When touched, Caranthir jerked and looked up, his mouth and chin covered with blood. And then the crying started.

Celegorm picked his brother, feeling utterly helpless. He was never as good as Maedhros or Maglor in comforting his younger brothers and now, between the hysterical sobbing, he couldn’t even get a proper look at his face, as Caranthir wouldn’t even let him touch him.

Aegnor sat up, blinked at his brother, hiccupped and flooded in tears. Turgon ran down to help his cousins, with Curufin and Angrod watching the whole scene in alarm from the middle of the staircase.

“Don’t just stand like that! Bring Atto!”

“Which one?” Angrod glanced at Finrod, who scrambled on his feet and was trying to soothe his crying brother.

“Whichever,” snapped Celegorm over Caranthir’s head. “Just be quick.”

 Meanwhile, in one of the smaller chambers prepared for the festivities, Feanor, Fingolfin and Finarfin were deeply involved in a discussion regarding the necessary changes in the royal palace that would improve the functionality regarding the growing needs of their growing family. When gathered together in times like this, they would often stay for days and their father’s palace was getting crowded. Since they already had Finwe's approval and some of the works were already taking place, the brothers found themselves a relatively safe topic.

Fingolfin wished to use opportunity to force some changes he had had in mind, while Feanor brought forth new ideas about the lightning. Finarfin backed their plans with structural design details and what was at first a leisure chat about the possible ideas, the three brothers quickly turned into a vivid discussion with sketches made on the nearest available sheet of paper, with splashes of wine here and there as one of them tipped a goblet. There were healthy proportions of fun and arguing as the ideas kept evolving, but before the brothers could talk about the possible rearranging of the palace gardens, they were quite abruptly interrupted by a pit-a-pat of tiny feet and then bombarded with a chaos of explanations provided by Curufin and Angrod, both too agitated to be making much sense. There wasn’t much point in trying to make them slow down and explain what was amiss, so the fathers just followed their sons. Fingolfin joined them as well, as his own offspring was likely involved too.

 The boys did well and instead of bringing one, they brought all three fathers. Celegorm would have thought it amusing, for it wasn’t everyday one could see the three High Princes going in such an agreeable haste, had his brother not smeared the blood running from his nose all over his cheeks when he had tried to cover his face. And had he not been crying so hysterically.

“What happened here?” Feanor glanced at the children, then at the board by Finrod’s feet and looked like he fought an urge to roll his eyes.

“It was an accident!” Finrod and Celegorm both rushed to reassure them.

“I’m sure it was.” The eldest son of Finwe nodded distractedly and knelt by Caranthir. He firmly took his hands away from his face and first of all made sure the nose wasn’t broken, then gently wiped the blood from the cut lip with his finger.

”It is alright, Moryo, just lean forwards and let it pass,” he instructed calmly and placed his hand on the boy’s shoulder.

Carnistir sniffed and glared, then, seeing his father still kneeling at his level, wrapped his thin arms around his neck and did as he was told, burying his face in his collar. With a sigh, Feanor picked him and stood up.

“Here, it’s cold,” Fingolfin came closer and passed him his goblet, now almost empty. Feanor nodded in thanks and forced his son to let go of his collar. Once he could see Caranthir’s face again, still red, though some of the blood had been smeared on his robes, he gently pressed the cool metal to the tender nose.

The boy yelped and tried to escape, balancing on his father’s hip.

“Be still, Moryo, it will help.”

"Whose brilliant idea was this?" asked Finarfin once he too made sure Aegnor needed mostly wiping tears and washing his scraped palms.

Finrod and Turgon glanced at each other, but stayed silent.

“We really didn’t mean that...” Celegorm tried to support his cousins.

"And you didn't know better than to stop this foolishness before someone got hurt?" Fingolfin asked, turning towards Celegorm, the eldest among all the children present.

Celegorm looked offended. "I didn't let Moryo or Curvo go all the way down on their own!" he exclaimed and Curufin's annoyed huff backed him up.

"But it was perfectly alright to let the other youngest go."

"Leave it, Nolofinwe," Feanor cut him off with a hint of annoyance, rocking Caranthir in his arms. "My son is not a handler of your offspring."

“I don’t need handling,” muttered Turgon under his breath before Finrod stepped on his foot.

“We are still waiting for an explanation,” Finarfin reminded them sternly. “How did you come up with such a foolish idea to let your younger brothers participate in your hazardous and foolish antics?”

“We didn’t!” objected Finrod weakly. “We went together, only it didn’t work...” he trailed off and winced. Aegnor nodded and looked at his hands, sniffling.

“Did you hurt yourself as well?” Finarfin turned towards his eldest.

“No, no,” Finrod reassured him and wiped his trousers. “I’m fine, Atto.”

Finarfin wasn’t convinced, but he didn’t comment. The children still were not too eager to enlighten their fathers as to what exactly had happened that had resulted in a quite unexpected landing, but any further inquiries were interrupted by Lalwende who came in from the gardens. She stopped at the doorstep, quite surprised to see the whole gathering.

“Why are you occupying the corrid-“ she noticed the boards and grinned. “Oh, so you’re here already.”

“Irime, you’re not helping,” Fingolfin sighed ostensibly.

“Don’t intend to when you’re having fun without me,” Lalwende’s melodious laughter echoed on the corridor as she regarded her brothers and nephews critically. “As far as I can see, everyone’s more or less in one piece. And don’t tell me you forgot how much fun that was.”

Celegorm had hard time trying not to snicker. His father looked a bit like Maedhros, whenever he tried to act like an adult towards his younger brothers and failed. Feanor was doing only marginally better.

And it was all the boys needed.

”Atto, does it mean you too...?” Turgon bolted a question just as Finarfin had to deal with three pairs of curious eyes looking at him expectantly. Caranthir was still sulking, but Celegorm and Curufin were too interested in hearing a story that would not involve them giving any explanations.

“Leave me out of it,” Feanor huffed at his sister.

“Oh come now, you did play too!” Lalwende objected. She was clearly having too much fun at her brothers’ expense. “If only to make sure we wouldn’t mess up.”

“That was not the point,” Finarfin cut them off. “Whoever came up with this idea, I believe you all can draw conclusions for yourselves,” he looked sternly at both his sons and nephews.

“And I think you have some mess to clean.” Fingolfin added and pointed at the disregarded boards. It seemed, though nobody said anything, that they all assumed the eldest boys were responsible for the whole idea.

“Oh...”

“Want Amme,” muttered Caranthir over the hesitant objections. His voice was still thick and he was unusually clingy.

“Yes, I think that was enough excitement for today,” agreed Feanor and passed the goblet back to Fingolfin “Let’s get you cleaned before Amme sees you and then,” he looked pointedly at his brothers, “perhaps we can finish. Curvo, you are going with me too.”

“But-“

“No ‘buts’.”

Beside them, Finarfin was having the same argument with Angrod and Aegnor, who were clearly unwilling to leave. Neither of the fathers surrendered and the youngest offspring of the House of Finwe was promptly taken away.

Not fast enough, however, not to hear Lalwende who stayed behind.

“Alright, before we clean all that. Want to see how it’s done?”

[kendrixtermina]

Assorted House of Feanor Thoughts

I wrote this as a reply to someone, but then realized that this should be a post of its own. 

Line between extrapolation, interpretation & headcanon is going to be fluid here

Long post under cut

The seven sons in general:

all moody, fierce, intense and brilliant, each in various different ways

none of them can really stand to be cooped up in one place for long

F R E C K L E S you will not convince me otherwise

Apart from the ones explicitly described as pretty (ie, Maedhros and Celegorm) they’re actually relatively plain by elf standards, or at least sort of rugged-looking, especially compared to their part-Vanyar cousins - I mean, figures that some would turn out more like Miriel or Nerdanel both of which were supposedly more average.

all are very resourceful having spent most of their lives helping out with their parent’s projects, exploring the wilderness, or (save for Celegorm) hanging out in Aule’s halls. Most can probably whip up a steampunk or magitech solution to basic war-related problems

Because of this they’re a very tight-knit group

growing up, they did not know many children their age; Ironically the most contact they had was with their cousins because Feanor paid semi-regular visits to Finwe. Apart from Turgon (and Orodreth if you place him in the second rather than the third post-journey generation) the cousins really dug the adventure stories. (Galadriel pretended not to be interested and offered plenty of critiques, but listened anyways)

more survival skills and just a lot more casual than your average princes

They’d all been adults for a good while by the time of the rebellion; the twins are a tad older than Aredhel, Galadriel and Argon; Caranthir and Angrod are about the same age. Curufin is younger than Aegnor.

They all look back at that trip to the lightless shore of the outer sea as a cherished family memory

Also I don’t think Feanor disciplined his sons very much after all his own father let him get away with everything. In his eyes the brats can do no wrong especially not Curufin and to a lesser extent Amrod Nerdanel tried her best to counterbalance this and it kind of worked on some of them, but the three middle ones were a lost cause

I think a lot of the weight behind the oath comes from how Feanor made them promise him to see it through on his deathbed. It was his literal last wish.

Maedhros:

The Leader™, the most strong-willed and the deadliest fighter by a huge margin. What the orc under your bed has nightmares about.

Obviously a very competent diplomat, strategist, and the sort to put constructive results over personal glory; resilient, formidable, unpretentious and tough as leather

but not at all overconfident, and the type who is not blind to the flaws of the people he loves. He knows very well that Feanor wasn’t perfect and does many things that his father would not have agreed with - at the same time he has a strong sense of obligation, honor and loyalty which turns out to be his fatal flaw in the end when being loyal and keeping his word  increasingly requires him to do dishonorable things

if there was a definite breaking point it was the fiasco with Dior’s sons

Stoic but courteous and eloquent; From Finwe’s death onwards increasingly grim, grizzled and not very hopeful, though he’s the sort to give his all and try to be noble even when there’s no reward or even thanks or respect.

Despite this, he has as a dry sense of humor and at times uses it to defuse tense situations or disarm people he’s negotiating with (see the scene with Thingol’s message) - does have a streak of gallows humor to him especially after the Thangorodrim incident

As the heir Feanor actually let him in on trade secrets and scientific speculation; Their relationship is probably the most equal; I do think Feanor was capable of actually appreciating that Maedhros got a mind of his own and isn’t afraid to stand up for himself. Feanor values independent thought, even if he’s not always good at really living that value with his tendency to take things personally and see others as taking sides for or against him.  

Can’t really craft stuff to the same degree without his right hand. He then focussed on more abstract/mental pursuits which were perhaps his forte, to begin with but it still bothers him more than he lets on, especially since he still retains, or swiftly regained, his skill at making things dead. 

He may or may not qualify as a cinnamon roll but he definitely looks like could kill you

Maglor:

Maedhros might have been the token responsible sibling, but Maglor was the understanding, comforting one and always had a nurturing streak - hence why he was the one to take in the kids.

Sensitive Artistic Type™ - goes from quirky and passionate back in Valinor to melancholy & tormented as the war drags on

one of those people who despair over & get self-critical over their work even when it’s regarded as masterpieces

Like Feanor and Miriel before him, he tends to get super absorbed in his work/art and just plain disappears for days

Now some ppl hold that he didn’t start having second thoughts until near the end, but judging from how he comes along to Fingolfin’s party or to hang out with Finrod, I’d hold that he was always ‘the nice/gentle one’, but not solely in a positive way; Unlike Maedhros he did not stand up to Feanor about the thing with the ships and indeed lets Maedhros talk him out of turning himself in at the very end, so he’s probably somewhat lacking in assertiveness

Even so, he’s probably one of the better fighters, given the difficult territory he gets, that he’s the one to kill Ulfang, and how long he survives. He probably feels ambivalent about this. 

I imagine him having an agility-based fighting style

Probably codified the heroic epos as a specifically Noldorin art form

Celegorm:

A lot of ppl focus on the barbarian aspect, but I’d say he actually has some degree of ‘subverted prince charming’ going on, with how he sweet-talks Luthien at first before throwing her in the dungeon, and how he seems to have been one of the more accomplished ones, joining a respected order and all

He’s actually pretty elegant and perhaps playfully gallant, but it’s a facade; He’s an animal underneath; though his instincts are probably somewhat nobler than what ends up happening when he gets roped into Curufin’s schemes

usually, the first to react and leap into action when something happens.

Herculean strength, daunting presence

also a fairly efficient general, if a bit of a glory hound and pretty fearless in the pursuit of victory

very much has an ego and doesn’t like being humbled at all

Strikes me as the sort of person who would take badly to the realization that they can no longer return to the glory of the past or being judged unworthy, not that he’d respond with anything but defiance

Wrestles giant monsters barehanded

Always low-key wished to fight creatures of darkness before the rebellion to test his might against them; Orome and the Maiar members of the hunt would have told stories of them

though he gets his pretty face from Daddy, his strong build comes from Nerdanel, possibly somewhat accentuated by his being a dude

Caranthir:

grumpy, moody, no filter, likes his alone time, shows his feelings mostly through actions, also somewhat pragmatic

the quartermaster; Actually one of the smarter ones, if not outright the second smartest after Curufin, though he has more a logistic/administrative sort of intelligence

generally one of the more prosaic, practical family members, or maybe he’s just more subtle about his dramatic side or has a harder time expressing it. Definitely has Hidden Dephts™

I mean, putting your hideout on the slope of a mountain near a deep, dark lake circled by mountains? Goth AF. A+ aesthetic there.

Hosts the family get-togethers at his fortress. Has most certainly shoved Celegorm and Curufin in the lake at some point

has a certain respect for strength, valor and skill even in ppl he doesn’t necessarily like; Not at all diplomatic or polite, but also not finicky or fastidious, so actually forged a whole lot of alliances on a “everyone’s money/swords are equally good and we don’t have to set conditions” basis and seems to have been pretty successful at this

started out haughty but definitely learned to be more open-minded/ broaden his horizon over his time in Beleriand - but as no good deed goes unpunished, Ulfang happens

Whereas Curufin and Celegorm can put up a noble veneer but will totally stab you in the back if provoked, Caranthir’s sort of the opposite, in that he’s rude and quarrelsome on first contact but has a good heart deep down (see the Haladin incident) and doesn’t keep grudges long term once he’s done grumbling where Celegorm is sore loser and Curufin a spiteful twerp.

though personally, I don’t see Caranthir as trying to reign himself in. He wouldn’t really be known as “the harshest” in that case. Who was gonna teach him to behave himself, Feanor maybe? kek. 

Curufin:

We have a lot of actual dialogue & description for him - he has this characteristic little defiant smile, is often coldly contemptuous in tone, some level of ruthless pragmatism

has mild/vague foresight - nothing as impressive as what Finrod and Galadriel have, but he has it more or less to the degree that Feanor did.

actually pretty insightful, thought-through and political-minded in some ways, too bad he shares Feanor’s tendency for unwarranted suspicion and factionalism, as well as a tendency to just act on his own without checking with anyone

always either filthy from work or fully blinged-out and impeccably groomed, no in-between

more calculated and subtle than Feanor - not that Feanor ever needed calculation or subtlety since he could get by on sheer awe or intimidation. Celegorm and Maedhros have that same quality in spades and Curufin’s a little bit jealous

Not actually that much older than the twins, but always acted older than his age, especially once he heard that Feanor was the same

collects weapons, loves fancy horses, the most traditionally aristocratic of the seven

Got married relatively young; saw it as a matter of honor to further his family’s line

continued his scholarly pursuits in Beleriand; this is part of why he elected to share a territory with Celegorm

The last Celebrimbor ever heard of him was a magically sealed box filled with research notes he sent out in case he didn’t make it out alive

Did not take his parents’ estrangement well and is stubbornly salty toward Nerdanel (though deep down he misses her as much as his brothers if not more)

Frequently the Bad Influence/ Shoulder Devil to his brothers.

But when he gets excited about his research/craft he’s got this “exited cocky little boy” side to him that’s surprisingly pure. 

Only Nerdanel and possibly Celebrimbor’s mom are allowed to call him ‘Atarinke.’ His brothers might still use it when they’re teasing or scolding him. 

The Twins:

Every time a fic does something else with them than “generic prankster redheads” I cry with joy

We don’t have that many data points on them, but most of them suggest they’re every bit as fierce as their brothers

they’re somewhat aloof & mostly do their own thing;

As kids they’d mostly sit in a corner and play with each other. Possibly deliberately played up their identicalness as a kind of emo fashion statement / to fuck with people (”Should we do this Ambarussa?” - ”I don’t know, what do you think, Ambarussa?”)

never really gave up their semi-nomadic ways

Compared to Celegorm they probably more on stealth and precision than strength and bravado. They suddenly appear in front of you, and bam! You’ve got an arrow poking out of your face. Probably the ones scouting the perimeter of the camp.

Amras is a bit sassier, but it’s actually Amrod who’s a little bit braver.

Hardly ever argued until their parents’ estrangement; That led to quite a few quarrels between them.

For all his faults, Feanor made a point of doing things with each of them individually.

quietly nursing some level of pent-up despair and frustration until they push for the assault on Sirion

In the version where one of them dies, and then no one ever talks about it, - I imagine that the remaining one ended up cynical in a “let’s just get it ever with we’re already doomed after all’ kind of way

Bonus:

Celebrimbor

“Curiosity killed the cat but the second mouse gets the cheese” incarnate. He’s a sweet, excitable,  deeply good guy, but Curiosity is the strongest force within him, besides maybe “think of the potential”

very bold in his thinking, not held back by any conventional boundaries. This is partially why he ended up more independent than his father and uncles but ironically that might in a sense make him more similar to grandpa than any of them

Really looks like Feanor. Like, Arwen and Luthien level of resemblance. It takes ppl a bit to notice because of how different his general demeanor and surface-level personality is. 

Very scattered and absent-minded, prone to sudden flashes of inspiration, often shows up in some form of disarray

spent his adolescence at Formenos. Retained a certain affinity for wintery places ever since

He sensed something fishy about Sauron before long, but between wanting to avoid the family propensity for unwarranted suspicion and being tempted by all the possibilities of what he could do with that power/knowledge even if it did come from a fishy source, he didn’t act before it was too late - he can't have been fully clueless since he hid the three; There was definitely just a bit of actual seduction/forbidden fruit appeal in place there, whether to use the word “hubris” probably depends on your philosophy. 

He drops the ‘th’ once he renounces Curufin, but slips right back into the old habit when excited or exasperating. At some point during his rule of Eregion, he stops bothering to hide it - A similar thing happens when he’s talking Sindarin with his northeast Beleriand accent. 

I know this is a very popular old hat headcanon, but... His other name is also “Curufinwe”. Everyone called him Telperinquar from the start, lest all three come running and grumble about being distracted from work, but after the Nargothrond debacle, he had other reasons for not using it. But really, Telperinquar/Celebrimbor is just another more metaphorical way to say “this baby shall be good at working with his hands” so yeah

My HC for where he was between the Finrod incident and the second age is as follows: He departed for war with Gwindor’s troupe (this is someone who tried to engineer a way around entropy - not a “do nothing” sort of guy) and fled the battlefield with Turgon. (hence some of the passages that place him in Gondolin can still be made to work. He totally made Earendil’s baby-sized mail coat) He fled with Idril’s party. Had she not tipped him off somehow he would probably have died with the rest of the smith’s guild. Or perhaps he grabbed all the valuable records he could find and ran for it because someone needed to preserve them. As living surrounded by the survivors of Doriath would have been awkward to say the least, he went to the isle of Balar to offer his skills and service to Gil-Galad. This is where he befriended/ reconnected with Galadriel and Celeborn. 

Finrod once told him the “faithful stone” legend from Brethil. It would be an inspiration to him much later. Generally credits Finrod with being a good influence on him. 

Judging by the stars on the doors of Durin his stance on his family probably softened over the years. He essentially attained their original new dream of exploring distant lands and building unparalleled new realms, at least for a while - also definitely has a similar “screw destiny!”/ “I defy you stars!” attitude. Perhaps he wanted to see their vision done right. 

But on some level, I think he also wanted to associate himself with their fame eventually especially once his own accomplishments grew. His feelings were probably always very ambiguous because he must have admired and envied their great works but also lived getting weird looks whenever he did what he’s best at and loves doing most in the world because it associates him with these very ambiguous people whom many hated... at one point in the past he must have really admired his father and grandfather, I mean, he came with them across the sea. 

Nerdanel

She got Feanor the apprenticeship / gave him the idea after they met on their travels. 

Were seen as something of an eccentric hippie/ hipster couple in the early days

She’s tough, confident and definitely quipped/ yelled back at times. Definitely described as ‘strong-willed’ and individual. Like this was a ‘kindred spirits’ thing before everything went to hell

it counts for something that even during the ugly bitter parting scene the worst Feanor could say was “someone must’ve turned you against me because you definitely cared once” rather than “you’re a traitor” for all that everything else in that scene made him very punchable

Their relationship dynamic, as I see it, is that she’s the one person who just sees and treats him like a normal dude. No apprehension, no fawning. He’s not “the greatest” or a tainted aberration to her, he’s simply a like-minded friend. So she’s pretty chill about his idiosyncrasies and doesn’t see them as a big deal, but on the other hand, she’s not overawed and will not take bullshit

Since she is good at understanding people she probably usually gets where he’s coming from even when he’s not being reasonable

possibly invented abstract art; was most certainly influential. 

the elves who serve Aule probably have their own little traditions. She might’ve imparted some of those on her descendants

Also ppl tend to forget that she also does metalwork. Again, it’s quite possible that she got him into it and that if they’d never met, he might have landed in a completely different discipline

I think it says a lot about Feanor that he chose her for being smart, creative and independent-minded. It shows that he actually values these things and that it’s not just a rhetorical device;  he’s not a hypocrite, he failed at what he was genuinely trying to aim for. 

She had Finwe won over the moment she mentioned that she likes children. To Feanor’s chagrin, she proclaimed that his then-tiny half-siblings were the cutest thing ever but since he was trying to impress Nerdanel, he actually kept his composure there. 

She was totally buds with Earwen and Anaire. 

I really like those fics where she played some part in the reconstruction efforts. She’s already renowned for her wisdom and has some familiarity with the court, so why wouldn’t Finarfin make her an advisor? 

Miriel

She was described as having “silver” hair like what the teleri sometimes have, but that was for lack of a better world. It’s actually pretty close to pure white. It was an unprecedented anomaly. Celegorm got it. Though overall Maglor might be the one who most looks like her. Or maybe Caranthir. 

Well, her tendency to refuse to eat her words no matter what has certainly proven highly heritable

Canonically one of those ppl who talks very fast 

Feanor doesn’t look very much like her at all, but he talks like her and is similar in his body language etc. The shape of her hands, however, has made it all the way to Celebrimbor in an unbroken line. Maglor’s got em too. 

She was the only one of her family to make the great journey. That’s why “the names of her kin are not recorded”. You see, they tried to convince her not to go, and that only made her more determined. 

Miriel and Indis used to have this thing where Miriel would sing while Indis plays the instrument. First time Indis caught Maedhros and Fingon doing something similar she got very emotional about it. She told them how she and Miriel also used to have a sort of odd friendship despite their opposite looks and personalities. Maedhros had at this point never even heard that they used to be friends. She proceeded to tell him some fun stories from Miriel’s youth and encouraged the two to spend time together. 

We’re told that Miriel and Finwe only got together in Valinor; Since Indis had a thing for him since before the Vanyar moved out of Tirion it’s fully possible that Indis actually liked him first. Maybe she actually introduced them to each other, like she wasn't confident enough to ask him on a date so she brought her friend, only for the two to be immediately smitten with each other. Poor Indis decided that she had no chance and moved out of town when Ingwe did. 

Miriel definitely expresses her love/admiration in the way of “You! You’re perf! I must make art of you!”

Since his arrival in the halls of Mandos, Feanor has made several of Vaire’s Maiar cry with his critique of their tapestries, but he holds that his mom’s are best. 

Feanor himself

In general, I hold that while he said many things that were not right, there’s a lot of what he prophecied that was not quite wrong and does come true in a kind of way, even if not necessarily for himself and his family. They sort of pave the way as Promethean figures. The second mouse gets the cheese (it’s usually some Nolofinwean)

Though he’s also the ultimate example of “you are not immune to propaganda”. Literally the smartest man in the world; Still touchy enough to be an easy mark for emotional manipulation. 

I think a lot of ff undersells what a polymath he must’ve been and that part where he worked on many different topics and was “the most learned”. 

You know the type of author who has a bazillion unfinished wips going and jumps wildly from topic to topic? Feanor’s research notes are exactly like that, especially the tendency to disintegrate into cryptic jottings and notes right before the most interesting part.  Just like the unfinished texts from HoMe Just like Gauss or Euler, having invented everything a hundred years ahead and 40% more discoveries buried that he never felt ready to publish. (I can also definitely see the sons – especially Maedhros and Curufin – spending the better part of the siege of Angband compiling some of it into a presentable format. Celebrimbor would then be the one to stumble upon implications /corollaries that had somehow been missed for thousands of years. 

For all that I enjoy fics where they’re all smoll and adorable as much as the next person, canonically we’re given every indication that he was an adolescent or young adult by the time the remarriage occurred. The published silm has him “well-nigh full-grown” by the time Indis started having kids; In the HoME passage detailing the romantic meeting on the mountain it’s said that he was “wandering in the mountains” (ie, old enough to do so on his own) at the time. He moved out as soon as he could, so he and his half-siblings never actually spent any significant time in the same household

I mean, he reacted like a teenager would, and IMHO neither his character nor Finwe’s make any sense if this wasn’t a single parent situation early on. 

Personally, I really don’t like that headcanon that he was nicer to the sisters for no reason. I don’t think his relationship with Fingolfin was ever much better than the sort of “awkwardly tolerating” we saw at the reconciliation scene; At the same time, I don’t think things would ever have escalated to that degree if Melkor hadn’t gone mucking things up. 

In the same vein, I don’t think he always had beef with the Valar. He used to hang out in Aule’s halls and let Celegorm study with Orome after all and studied their language. - he certainly seems to have had some romanticism for the Hither Lands evident in his speeches, he traveled far past the well-lit areas, made crystals that shine in starlight etc. so he was probably always somewhat independent-minded and he certainly knew, better than anyone, that the Valar are imperfect and can’t fix everything (they couldn’t heal Miriel after all) - but it’s a long way from healthy skepticism and understandable disappointment to asserting bad intentions where there are none. 

There’s a long way between not wanting a relationship with someone, and pointing stabby objects at them. Feanor was always difficult and never the type of person to be easily satisfied but at the same time, he clearly had his “delight” in his work and life as it was pre-Melkor. He could’ve gone on as an inventor and author of strongly worded opinion pieces; perhaps the elves were even “meant” to go back & come into contact with the Edain for a brief while, just without all the murder. 

The thing about Melkor’s lies is that they made a complicated situation conveniently easy in a way that he (and Fingolfin!) would want to believe. It’s not really either of their fault that they both exist, but if your rival is actually out to get you then suddenly all your negative feelings are justified 

Personally, I don’t think it the remarriage made that much of a difference - Miriel would still be dead. What Feanor’s really mad at is the inherent unfairness of the world. But he can’t fix or fight that, so in a misfire of his engineer’s mindset that thinks in terms of simple cause and effect and wants the world to be logical and controllable, he blamed something tangible (Indis.)

I think Melkor hates him so much because he’s kinda what Melkor wishes he was or likes to think he is. They’re both the mightiest of their respective kinds and don’t really fit in, but Feanor’s actually extremely creative. He goes and does his own thing, and maybe errs in overlooking that no man is an island and that all works are built on those of others, but, look at Melkor who wants all the scale of a group project but none of the “cooperation” part and basically can’t make anything of his own. “You’re like me, yet you’re successful? I cannot allow it!” 

In a sense you have classic Satan and Miltonian satan in the same setting, and they can’t stand each other

[lesbiansforboromir]

In a shocking change of pace I’m going to talk about the oath of Feanor because I feel like Maedhros’ actions are very telling and I want to. Sorry love u Boromir just give me ONE sec-

Be he foe or friend, be he foul or clean Brood of Morgoth or bright Vala, Elda or Maia or Aftercomer, Man yet unborn upon Middle-earth, Neither law, nor love, nor league of swords, Dread nor danger, not Doom itself Shall defend him from Fëanáro, and Fëanáro’s kin, Whoso hideth or hoardeth, or in hand taketh, Finding keepeth or afar casteth A Silmaril. This swear we all… Death we will deal him ere Day’s ending, Woe unto world’s end! Our word hear thou, Eru Allfather! To the everlasting Darkness doom us if our deed faileth… On the holy mountain hear in witness and our vow remember, Manwë and Varda!

A while back I was thinking about how the oath was never anything to do with reclaiming the Silmarils. There was no stricture that demanded the sons of feanor had to retain a silmaril once it was wrested from a hoarder’s hands. The emphasis was only ever upon ensuring no one coveted them. No one had a right upon them or kept them away from others. It’s a very interesting oath in light of Feanor’s own hoarding of them, but what I focus on is the fact that the oath probably would have been satisfied if the Silmarils were constantly changing hands, taken from place to place and presented in public spaces to be seen but never possessed.

Which I would like to posit for a moment as Maedhros’ original plan. He strikes me as a fellow who makes plans, and before the Nirnaeth Arnoidiad there’s a real sense of drive and hope in his actions that would seem odd if he were always burdened with a doom he felt he and his family could never escape. Even afterwards his actions are still structured, clear. 

So perhaps he had this goal in mind. Find the silmarils, destroy Morgoth and then set up a system in which the Silmarils were owned by no one and never stayed anywhere, ever shifting their home to bathe a new city or place in their glow. Perhaps that was the light at the end of the tunnel he saw for not just himself and his family, but for elvendom as a whole. The Silmarils were to be protected and given freely about middle earth. 

And hence, going further into Maedhros’ motivations to achieve this, I think Maedhros autopsied the oath and it’s meanings, writing it and re-writing it, understanding it inside out and then making sure that his behaviour followed it’s demands to the letter. No more, no less. Which were!

1:  Establish if someone was intending on keeping a silmaril for themselves (asking for the Silmaril)  Whoso hideth or hoardeth, or in hand taketh, Finding keepeth or afar casteth

2: Kill them no more than one day later.  Death we will deal him ere Day’s ending.

That dark doom the oath speaks about is vague, and therefore dangerous and not something Maedhros felt he could risk. I’m sure he felt guilty about Elured and Elurin’s deaths, but I think he feared what kind of doom would come upon them because of it more. Because the twins hadn’t hoarded the Silmarils had they? And I think perhaps Maedhros feared it was their deaths that made Elwing refuse his request for the silmaril herself later, thereby forcing him to more violence. 

Also why I think he was so against Maglor’s adopting Elrond and Elros. Yet another extra action that could spell more doom later. There’s this frantic sense of Maedhros trying to battle doom and fate itself, contending with every possibility and trying and failing to overcome it. All with a view to eventually finding a peace where the Silmarils belonged to no one and everyone at the same time. 

But that hope would have been ended when Earendil took the Silmaril over the sea. Maedhros would realise the Valar had gotten what they wanted and now there would be no way for him to cease this endless cycle. Hence the very dark path he took that bypassed much of the tennants he’d laid down for himself in the first place. 

[curufins-smile]

In the Shadow of Þerindë

Young Feanor discovers the cause of his mother’s condition

-

Fëanáro was content. His father gave him free rein of the palace, and Fëanáro was allowed to go wherever he liked so long as there was no danger of him hurting himself. He had mapped out all the little nooks and crannies from the kitchens to the highest rooms, and found many excellent hiding spots for a young elf to conceal himself in should he wish.

There was a set of rooms, however, that he loved most, and those were his mother’s personal chambers. She was gone, now. Fëanáro had visited her body many times in the gardens of Lórien with his father, but her hröa was cold and still no matter how he attempted to rouse her. He always brought a drawing or something he made to show her, but her eyes would never open to see it. When he was too young to understand that she would not wake, he would pepper her face with kisses, and pat at her with his tiny hands in an attempt to get her to look at him. But she never would.

Fëanáro loved her rooms the most, for they were filled with her works. He would run his fingers over the bright embroidery, that shone with such colours and was in such fine detail. Even at a younger age, he knew it to be special.

He had much of her work himself. His father could not usually bear to speak of his mother, but from what he had said when he could, Fëanáro knew that in the year before his birth his mother had spent all her time obsessively embroidering and sewing clothes for him. Most of her work had been in stitching on rich and beautiful fabrics that he could have outfits made in by other seamstresses as he grew older. There was enough to last until he was beyond fully grown.

It was as though she had known her time was short.

Of course, Fëanáro still had Owl too, beloved and battered, though he felt he was a little old to carry it around now. He still found comfort in it when necessary though.

Fëanáro was currently sat in his favourite spot in the gardens. He had his bound sketchbook for him, and was practicing busily. His father had arranged for the great loremaster Rúmil to tutor him in sarati, and the letters had captured Fëanáro like nothing before.

He was putting the finishing touches to a slightly wobbly line of sarati when he heard the voices. It wasn’t unusual for courtiers to wander this part of the gardens, but his alcove was secluded, and his curious ears pricked up to listen to something children might not be meant to hear.

“Honestly,” a lady’s voice was saying, “King Finwë was looking absolutely delicious this morning.”

Her companions emitted various levels of agreeing noises.

“All that lovely hair,” sighed a second female voice. “His fëa must be so strong.”

Fëanáro screwed up his face in disgust. Of course his father was the strongest and most handsome, but he was not for the likes of these people. He was for Ammë.

“Of course,” said a slightly nasal male voice, “that’s part of the problem, isn’t it.”

The two ladies hushed him, sounding suddenly fearful. “Quiet!” said the first, “There’s a ban on speaking of it!”

The male voice laughed. “Please, this part of the gardens is always empty. And anyway, everyone knows what happened. Such a shame, I’d do anything to get my hands on a Serindë original.” Fëanáro scowled at the mispronunciation of her title, but his interest was piqued.

“Except the prince,” said the second lady. “Poor mite.”

Fëanáro did not even dare to breathe. What was it that he did not know that all others did?

The first voice snorted. ”Poor mite?” she said incredulously. “The Valar called his birth a product of Arda Marred. If you ask me he’s no better than the fallen Vala, Melkor.”

The second lady gasped. “How could you say such a thing?” she exclaimed. Fëanáro agreed with her. His head was spinning. The Valar had said that about him?

The male voice spoke up again, nasal tones smug. “Please, Rielle, don’t act like you don’t think the same. Everyone knows the prince is the reason that Queen Míriel is dead. He consumed her very fëa, so that all that she is is lifeless and grey. That ill omen stole her energy for his own.”

Fëanáro dropped his charcoal. He could barely hear the first lady agreeing with the male. “Yes, it’s true,” she said. “Have you never touched him? His fëa is so bright that the very heat of it means his skin is hot like a stove.” She sniffed. “I suppose that’s what having two souls does to a person.”

Fëanáro slid off the bench with a thump.

“What was that?” cried one of the ladies, startled.

“I knew we should not have spoken of it,” said the first. “Come, let us leave before whoever is spying sees our faces.”

The trio bustled off noisily, leaving Fëanáro finally alone to sob.

-

It was getting towards Telperion waxing, and it was time for Finwë to find Fëanáro. It was a daily game the pair played. Fëanáro would be off in some hidden nook, and Finwë would track him down for dinner. Today, however, Fëanáro was in none of his usual spots and Finwë was becoming a little anxious. He had found Fëanáro’s art tools abandoned in his favourite garden alcove, so he flagged down a passing servant, who told him that the prince had been seen going into his mother’s rooms.

Finwë himself had not been in Míriel’s chambers since shutting up almost all her work inside. He could not bear to see most of it. It was the ultimate expression of the sheer life force she had had, the fire of her colours and the intensity of her designs.

Fëanor was in there, surrounded by tapestries. He had clearly been tearing through the bags in a fit of almost madness, trying to find something. He was sat with his back to Finwë, and laid in front of him was Míriel’s last project.

It had been intended to be a family portrait. Both Finwë and Míriel were stitched in minute detail, so real that Finwë could not stand to look at her embroidered face. But she had left a large space in her arms where she would have put Fëanáro.

“I don’t know what he will look like!” she had laughed, when he had questioned her about it. “Some days I think I should simply stitch myself holding a flame, for I feel that more strongly than anything.”

Soon after she had not the strength to even lift her needle, and it remained unfinished.

Fëanáro was running his small hand over the design again and again, feeling the difference in texture between the embroidery and the gaping hole.

“Fëanáro?” Finwë asked softly. The place felt almost sacred, and he did not laugh loudly at discovering his son as he might usually. The lack of cheerful greeting was highly disconcerting too.

Fëanáro turned to look up at him, and Finwë immediately knelt to gather him into a hug on seeing his red rimmed eyes. He had clearly been crying for some time.

His son’s voice was hoarse from weeping when he finally spoke, face muffled against Finwë’s chest.

“Did I kill Ammë?” he asked. Finwë felt his heart drop.

“What?” he asked, hoping he had misheard. He loosened the embrace to allow Fëanáro to pull back slightly and look him in the eyes.

“Did. I. Kill. Ammë?” Fëanáro enunciated clearly and deliberately, staring Finwë down.

Finwë was suddenly incandescently angry. He had worked so hard to try to ensure that Fëanáro was shielded from this. Who had told him? Finwë had endeavoured for these last years to keep his son forever smiling her smile. His rage was interrupted by Fëanáro squirming to get free.

“I knew it!” he cried, tears running freshly down his face. “I killed her and you hate me!”

Finwë realised it was the first time Fëanáro had ever seen him angry and immediately scrambled to fix it, pulling Fëanáro back to his chest despite his protestations.

“No, no, no,” Finwë said, burying his face in Fëanáro’s dark hair. It wasn’t the same colour as Míriel’s, but the texture was almost identical. He felt Fëanáro’s sobs more than heard them. “I’m not angry at you, my son. I’m angry for you.”

Slowly, tentatively, Fëanáro’s arms encircled him, returning the embrace.

“Did I kill her, Atya?” Fëanáro asked him, still pressed close.

Finwë still wasn’t ready to deal with this. “No,” he said emphatically. “I don’t care what whoever it was said, you did not kill her.”

“Then what did?” asked Fëanáro.

“Your mother was-“ Finwë stopped to swallow down a lump in his own throat. “She was exhausted.”

“Because of me,”  countered Fëanáro.

”No!” cried Finwë. He let Fëanáro go again to look at him properly. “Listen to me,” he said. “They don’t understand. No one understands. It was no one’s fault but He who marred the world’s.”

It was the wrong thing to say. Fëanáro broke into fresh tears.

“So they were right? My birth is the product of Arda Marred?” he sobbed.

Finwe cradled Fëanáro’s chin in his hands, looking into his eyes.

“Hear me this, Finwion,” he said, and watched Fëanáro’s eyes widen at the name that he had not used since deciding to go by his mother-name. “You are my son, and I would have no other. Even if it would bring your mother back, I would cast you aside for nothing. Nothing I say can change the thoughts you have already decided on about the circumstances of your birth, but know you that you could kill a thousand people of our blood and I would love you all the same.”

Fëanáro sniffled slightly, and Finwë decided to press his luck with a joke. “But please don’t, because I don’t know what I’d do if you killed a thousand people.”

That made Fëanáro at least crack a wobbly smile. “Now then,” Finwë continued, forcing down his own pain to paste on a smile of his own. “I believe that dinner tonight is your favourite,” he said. “Something so spicy that the rest of us want to weep!”

Fëanáro’s smile became a true one, and Finwë stood and lifted his son onto his hip. “Oof!” he said. “You’re getting too big for this now. Soon you’ll be carrying me!”

They left the room of beautiful things behind them, and Finwë did not let himself look back.

[ellrond]

Of Celebrian

Having a lifetime love of Elrond means that, of course, I have a keen interest in the characters around him. Perhaps the easiest character to love, simply because of the lack of textual evidence of her and so as a reader your imagination can go wild, is Celebrian. 

I have gathered all mentions of her in Tolkien’s works and they will all be undercut, with any additional information, in the hope that it will be a resource for all fans of Elrond, Celebrian, or any other character that she may have come into contact with. Please reblog if you have found it helpful, and let me know if you would like further posts like this for other characters. 

This should be all you ever need to know about her all in one place! 

If you have found any errors please message me. If there is any missing information please message me. 

Lineage: 

Celebrian is the daughter of Galadriel who is the daughter of Earwen and Finarfin (daugher of Olwe and son of Finwe), and of Celeborn the grandson of Elmo (brother to Thingol). 

Through her parents she is of the Sindar, (1/2) the Noldor (1/8), the Vanyar (1/8) and the Teleri (1/4). Her extended family includes the kings of the above races. She is the great granddaughter of the first High King of the Noldor (Finwe) and the granddaughter of the remaining High King in Valinor (Finarfin). Thingol King of Doriath is her great-great uncle. 

Name and appearance:

Her name means ‘Silver’ [Celeb] ‘Queen’ [Rian] in Sindarin. 

No physical description of her is given. Her mother id described as taller than all other female elves in the Silmarillion, and in the Fellowship of the Ring her father is described as the same height. 

In the Silmarillion Galadriel’s hair is described as having silver and gold tones almost like the Light of the Two Trees (leading to Feanor asking for strands of it) and in the Fellowship, Celeborn’s is described as silver. 

The Unfinished Tales: The History of Galadriel and Celeborn

The earliest mention (in the timeline of Middle Earth) of Celebrian is found in The Unfinished Tales in the chapter called The History of Galadriel and Celeborn. In part of this telling, Amroth (later King of Lorien) is the son of Galadriel and Celeborn, however in every other telling (and even later in that chapter) he is written as the son of Amdir and is of no relation to the House of Thingol. It is also mentioned in this telling that Celeborn was actually a Telerian prince and Galadriel’s first cousin. However Christopher Tolkien points out that this contracdicts the telling of Celeborn found in the Silmarillion and the Lord of the Rings. This telling (where we find the rather comical Quenya name of Teleporno) is discounted by most because it is in direct contrast to the above publications. Christopher Tolkien points out in the text that JRR Tolkien revised this telling of Galadriel and Celeborn in the last months of his life. 

In this text it states that Galadriel and Celeborn were pushed out of power in Eregion by Sauron (under the disguise of Annatar who was working closely with the powerful master smiths known as the Mirdain) between 1350-1400 Second age.

“Galadriel thereupon left Eregion and passed through Khazad-dum to Lorinand, taking with her Amroth and Celebrian; but Celeborn would not enter the mansions of the Dwarves and he remained behind in Eregion, disregarded by Celebrimbor. In Lorinand Galadriel took up rule and defence against Sauron.”

There’s a lot to unpack here, mostly regarding Celeborn. If we accept Celeborn as the kinsman of Thingol, the anti-dwarf sentiment has more context due to the role some dwarves from Nogrod played in the death of Thingol and the fall of Doriath. That’s a very long story that is described in the Silmarillion but you can get the gist of it on the Tolkien Gateway page of Doriath. Celeborn didn’t like dwarves (we see this very clearly in Fellowship as well) but Galadriel was a friend of those in Moria at this time. 

The next we hear of Celebrian is in around 1800 Second Age by which time Sauron has control of Eriador save for the stronghold of Imladris on the western face of the Misty Mountains. This place was founded by Elrond, Gil Galad’s friend and herald. Gil Galad is cited in the Silmarillion as the last living son of the House of Finwe in Middle Earth being the son of Fingon, son of Fingolfin. Celeborn may have also played a role in the founding of Rivendell but, as with most things about Celeborn, it is never stated or implied, we can only infer from where he was at any given time what he actually did. 

“The army that was besieging Imladris was caught between Elrond [holding Imladris] and Gil Galad [an army coming from the west], and utterly destroyed. Eriador was cleared of the enemy, but lay largely in ruins. At this time the first Council was held, and it was there determined that an Elvish stronghold in the east of Eriador should be maintained at Imladris rather than in Eregion. At that time also Gil Galad gave Vilya, the Blue Ring [the Ring of Air] to Elrond, and appointed him to be his vice-regent in Eriador [...] In its concluding passage the narrative returns to Galadriel, telling that the sea-longing grew so strong in her that she determined to leave Lorinand and to dwell near the sea. She committed Lorinand to Amroth, and passing again through Moria with Celebrian she came to Imladris. There she found him, and there they dwelt together for a long time; and it was then that Elrond first saw Celebrian, and loved her, though he said nothing of it. It was while Galadriel was in Imladris that the Council referred to above was held. But some time later Galadriel and Celeborn together with Celebrian departed from Imladris and went to the little-inhabited lands between the mouth of Gwathlo and Ethir Anduin. There they dwelt in Belfalas at the place that was afterwards called Dol Amroth; there their son Amroth at times visited them, and their company was swelled by Nandorian elves from Lorinand. It was not until far on in the Third Age, when Amroth was lost and Lorinand was in peril that Galadriel returned there in the year 1981 Third Age.”

The History of Galadriel and Celeborn tells us that Celebrian and Elrond wedded at last in 109 Third Age. 

It also dates the birth of Elladan and Elrohir of 130 Third Age, and of Arwen Undomiel in 241 Third Age. 

The Elessar

The History of Galadriel and Celeborn in the Unfinished Tales also tells us of the Elessar and how it came to be in Arwen’s possession. Two tellings of the Elessar there are and described below. 

The Elessar was first crafted in Gondolin by an elf smith named Enerdhil. He made a green jewel within which the light of the sun was captured when the sun was still young. It was set in the shape of an eagle with outstretched wings. He gave it to Idril the daughter of Turgon the king, and she wore it with delight. IT carried the power of healing and prosperity and she then gave it to Earendil the Mariner her son. He eventually left his home of Sirion and passed into the West. The full story of his life is told in the Silmarillion, and you can get an overview of it here. Earendil is the father of Elrond and Elros. When Olorin (Gandalf) came to Middle Earth in the Third Age, he brought it with him from the West. It is told that Yavanna gave it to him as a sign to those in Middle Earth that the Valar had not forsaken them. He took it to Galadriel who was in Thranduil’s kingdom of Mirkwood at that time and gave it to her for safekeeping. He told her: 

“It is not for you to posses. You shall hand it on when the time comes. For before you grow weary, and at last forsake Middle Earth one shall come who is to receive it, and his name shall be that of the stone; Elessar he shall be called.” 

And so in this telling it passed from Idril to Earendil to Gandalf, and in the Third Age to Galadriel and then to Aragorn who fulfilled the prophecy. In this telling it bypassed Celebrian. 

The second telling agrees that the Elessar was first made by Enerdhil and ended up in Earendil’s possession and thus left Middle Earth. This one, however, states that a second one was created by Celebrimbor in Eregion before he made the Three Rings. Celebrimbor made it for Galadriel as Galadriel was distressed by the swift passing of life in Middle Earth and the decaying of living things so quickly and she wished to prolong life and help it thrive. She wanted a land of her own where life lasted longer and flourished. Celebrimbor told her: 

“You know that I love you, though you turned to Celeborn of the trees and for that love I will do what I can, if haply by my art your grief can be lessened.” 

Celebrimbor knew Enerdhil in the old days and knew of the Elessar, and so set about creating a gem to echo it. He too made a jewel of green and in it captured the light of the sun, so that it emitted light as if the sun was shining through the leaves of the trees. It was set again in the shape of an eagle with outstretched wings. It, like the first, had the power of healing and prolonging good life and Galadriel used it and “all things grew fair” about her. It was the greatest of Celebrimbor’s work, surpassed only by the Three Rings. When he gave to her Nenya one of the Three, Galadriel had no further need for the Elessar and she gave it to Celebrian at that time. This was after Celebrimbor had discovered that Sauron had forged the one ring in 1600 Second Age, and he had travelled to Lorinand [later know as Lothlorien] to seek her council. At this time we know Celebrian was with her, and so it was then that Galadriel was given Nenya and Celebrian was given the Elessar. Celebrian would have had it the first time she arrived in Rivendell. 

In Fellowship we learn that Celebrian passed it onto Arwen at some point, but that it came back to Galadriel’s possession. 

It is worth noting that in The History of Middle Earth we learn that it is customary for the family of the bride to give the groom a jewel prior to a wedding, and so the passing of it to Aragorn by Galadriel is not just fulfilling Gandalf’s prophecy but also a prophecy in itself of the marriage of Arwen and Aragorn. Galadriel gave it in Celebrian’s absence. 

Lord of the Rings

Outside of the appendices Celebrian is rarely mentioned. 

“Long had [Arwen] been in the land of her mother’s kin, in Lorien beyond the mountains.” - Many Meetings, Fellowship of the Ring

“Elladan and Elrohir were out upon errantry; for they rode often far afield with the Rangers of the North, never forgetting their mother’s torment in the den of the orcs.” - Many Meetings, Fellowship of the Ring

“Then [Galadriel] lifted from her lap a great stone of clear green, set in a silver brooch that was wrought in the likeness of an eagle with outspread wings; and as she held it up the gem flashed like the sun shining through the leaves of spring. ‘This stone I gave to Celebrian my daughter, and she to hers; and now it comes to you as a token of hope. In this hour take the name that was foretold for you, Elessar, the Elfstone of the House of Elendil!’” - Farewell to Lorien, Fellowship of the Ring

The appendices list Celebrian’s capture of orcs as 2509 Third Age at the Redhorn Pass on the southern side of Caradhras in the Misty Mountains (this is the pass that the Fellowship attempted to take to cross the mountains). She was journeying to visit her parents in Lorien who were at this time formally Lord and Lady of Lothlorien after the disappearance of Amroth. Her company was scattered and she was given a poisoned wound. In the orcs’ captivity she suffered ‘torment’ and was saved by her twin sons Elladan and Elrohir, and they brought her back to Imladris. There, Elrond healed her in body but she lost ‘all delight’ in Middle Earth and sailed West a year later in 2510 Third Age (cited in Lord of the Rings and Unfinished Tales). 

The History of Middle Earth

In early notes by Tolkien the marriage of Elrond and Celebrian was 2500 Third Age by which time her mother is described as Galadriel of Lorien. Tolkien originally planned to have Celebrian travel to Lothlorien in 2600 Third Age when she was actually killed, a mere hundred years after her marriage to Elrond. This timeline was quickly altered and in all other publications the marriage takes place much earlier and Celebrian is not killed. 

Another passage dates their wedding as 2300 Third Age, during the Watchful Peace:

“Elrond, who had remained unwed through all his long years, now took to wife Celebrian, daughter of Galadriel and Celeborn of Lorien. His children were twin brethren, Elladan and Elrohir, and Arwen Undomiel, the fairest of all maidens of the Third Age, in whom the likeness of Luthien her foremother returned to Middle Earth. These children were three parts of Elven-race, but the doom spoken at their birth was that they should live even as the Elves so long as their father remained in Middle Earth, but if he departed they should have then the choice either to pass over the sea with him, or to become mortal, if they remained behind.” 

Other mentions include Elrond saving Celebrian: 

“Celebrian, wife of Elrond, journeys to Lorien to visit Galadriel her mother; but she is taken by orcs in the passes of the mountains. She is rescued by Elrond and his sons, but after fear and torment she is no longer willing to remain in Middle Earth, and she departs to the Grey Havens and sails over the Sea in 2509 Third Age.” 

Of the twins:

“From that time forth, [Elladan and Elrohir] never cease from war with the orcs because of Celebrian.”

“Now the sons of Elrond did not hunt wild beasts, but they pursued the Orcs wherever they might find them, and this they did because of Celebrian their mother.”

Of Elrond sailing: 

“For after the destruction of the Ruling Ring the Three Rings of the Eldar lost their virtue. Then Elrond prepared at last to depart from Middle Earth and follow Celebrian.”

“For when the Great Ring was unmade the Three Rings of the Elves failed also, and Elrond was weary of Middle Earth at last and departed seeking Celebrian.” 

Letters

In Letter 345 dated 30 November 1972 to a ‘Mrs Thurston’, Tolkien confirms that Celebrian means ‘Silver Queen’. 

Other major works

Celebrian is not mentioned in any of the other major or minor works, including The Hobbit or The Silmarillion.

Of the Fates of her family 

Regarding the fates of her family, we know some answers and some we do not. Elrond and Galadriel sailed along with the other Ring-Bearers in 3021 Third Age and it was this that marked the end of the Third Age. Arwen we know chose mortality and lived out her days as Queen of Elves and Men, Queen of Gondor once the War of the Ring had been won. She had two daughters and one son, Eldarion (meaning Son of Elves) who became king after Arwen died. After the death of Aragorn, Arwen went to live out the last year of her life in Lothlorien. 

There, we do not know if she saw her brothers and maternal grandfather, as their fates are unknown. After the War, Celeborn expanded territory into Mirkwood and established East Lorien, coming to an agreement with Thranduil, but he grew weary without Galadriel and he retired at last to Rivendell where his grandsons still dwelt. Celeborn did not take the White Ship with Galadriel and Elrond and in the Fellowship of the Ring but he did sail eventually with Cirdan on the last ship to Valinor, and they were the last of the high elves to sail in the Fourth Age. There is no mention of Elladan and Elrohir or their fates. 

Given what is said about the fate of the children of Elrond and the choice they had to make, it may be that the twins chose mortality as they did not sail with the father or grandfather. However, their departure may have just been unremarked upon given their minor character status. Their fates remain open-ended. 

[elyarond]

*NOTE.    i have not read the silmarillion in it’s full context     ( the wording is difficult,   even for me. )    most of what i know has been told to me by @aeternitie​, @elyaros​, @finarfiniel​, @laurelote​, @luktiene​​, and @edhelgund​.    and everything else has been heavily expanded on with headcanons.    this post is going to be ungodly long,     but it will go over the span of elrond’s life,     and will dive in depth about my characterization of him.

following the attack of the havens of sirion by the sons of feanor,     with his parents   (  at least in his eyes,  )    dead,     elrond and his twin brother, elros,    were taken captive and raised by maglor.    as a child,    his only constant was quite literally elros,    and elrond relied on his brother heavily.     he was fearful of the world,     and everything in it.     you’d often find the twins together,     but elrond was always the one trailing behind.      elros was unbelievably protective of him,     and elrond was very much scared,    all the time.     his first,     strongest memory is of the attack on his home.      he does not remember much of his parents,     aside from feelings of love and care.     but as far as comprehensible memories,     he does not have them.

and truth be told,     even though maglor did his best to care for the twins,     elrond was still very much afraid of him.      same goes for maehdros,     though he was not as active in raising the twins as maglor was.

the twins were ultimately sent off to live with gil-galad    (   we won’t dwell too much on this,    but because of the fact that elrond is specifically mentioned being with gil-galad when the elves are allowed to return to the undying lands,    it’s pretty prevalent that elrond was with him as a child.     and because of corresponding headcanons with @elyaros​,     elros was as well.   )

because of their heritage,    the twins were given a choice.      whether to be counted among the kindred of elves or of men.       elrond chose first,     and ultimately chose to be counted among the elves.     his transformation would happen first,     and elros would witness this.       he had asked elrond to come with him to their father’s lands,     elrond would ultimately say no.

it’s good to now mention that elrond has never felt,    even before being given the option of making this choice,     as though he belongs among men.      his elven heritage is so prominent in him,     and it persuades his choice.      it’s also good to mention that elrond has...  a lot of trauma regarding his childhood and his upbringing by maglor,     and in his heart he feels that it will take him more than one lifetime to move pass this pain.      he makes this choice knowing his life will be filled with grief and heartache,     but ultimately knows that an eternity is what he is destined for.

that is not to say,     that he doesn’t visit numenor once it’s established.     and for elros’ life,     elrond is appointed as an ambassador on gil-galad’s behalf,     and resides in numenor with his brother until his death.      mind you,    there is no war happening at this time,     and gil-galad recognizes how strong the bond is between elrond and elros,     and recognizes elrond’s pain about having to be separated from him.      he’s ultimately sent on gil-galad’s behalf to congratulate the king on the birth of his son,    vardamir,     and once elrond is there,     elrond is appointed as the official ambassador for the high king of noldor.

he’s there for the birth of the next three children - and plays a very active role in their lives.      by this time,    he is already an established healer and loremaster,     and definitely passes his knowledge and stories down to his niece and nephews.      he indulges in their interests and often times just lets them be what they are,    children.    they are royalty,    yes,     but they are at heart just children trying to find a place in the world.     this never goes over well with elros and his wife,    ithildiren    (    found on @aeternitie​,    )     and elrond always feels a little guilty about it afterwards.      he just wants the kids to have a good time.

the death that he holds the most painful,     and most memorable,     will always be elros’ death.      it was in elros’ final years that he confided in elrond,     and even confessed that he felt that he chose incorrectly,      as he,     though mortal,     ultimately outlived many of the people he loved.      elrond reminds him that the other choice would have been no better,      as elrond will spend his life outliving everyone he loves - there really isn’t much difference in their choices.     elrond chose immortality because he knew it would take longer to overcome his grief,      elros chose mortality because he felt that being immortal would only grant him a lifetime of pain and suffering.      by the end of elros’ life,     i think they had found peace in each other’s choices.      no matter how different that choice was,     they loved each other.     

before we dive deeper in that,      it’s good to understand that elrond and elros share a very big connection to each other on a level much deeper than brothers.     as twins,    they are bound to each other.       they share the capacity to feel each other’s emotions, their feelings, can feel when another is in pain, etc.

this means that through all of elros’ hardships,     in the life that he lived that was filled with emotional turnmoil,      elrond shared in this pain as well.      and it is for this that elrond was always there for his brother,      as he was the only one who knew   exactly    how elros felt,     even when others truly thought they had him figured out.     many would believe elros to be emotionless,      but elrond knows it is not true.     where elrond is sensitive and open with his feelings,     elros is withdrawn and keeps his feelings locked down.      they are constantly feeling each other’s pain,    their joys,     their sorrows.       the bond can be cut off if one of them chooses so     (     and elros has done this     )     but for the most part,     that bond is allowed to exist freely.

elros’ death was not surprising to elrond,      he knew it was coming.     he could feel the weariness,     he could feel the exhaustion like it was his own.     he felt elros letting go and submitting to his death.      moments prior to his death,     elros had finally found peace with his life,     and elrond felt that wave of peace wash over him,      before that connection was severed completely.      

the loss of that connection serves as a constant reminder to elrond that he now,    in this world,     is alone.

once elros was gone,     elrond felt little tying him to numenor,     and promptly returned to gil-galad in lindon.      it was then that annatar came seeking entrance to lindon,     and was denied by gil-galad and elrond,      as they sensed something wasn’t right.      and the war of the elves and sauron would begin.

in s.a. 1695 gil-galad sent elrond to aid eregion.     elrond's forces came too late and proved too small to defend eregion.       sauron sent most of his army west to attack lindon, he left a strong detachment behind to contain elrond.      in two years eregion was lade waste and elrond along with the noldor survivors fled far north.      there, he established the stronghold of imladris.     imladris was home to many refugees in this war,      and though besieged,     was not under sauron’s control.     it was liberated by gil-galad and tar-minastir’s forces,     and once sauron was defeated this time,      imladris was established as a elvish stronghold,     and elrond himself was appointed to gil-galad’s vice regent,     where he would have the ring of vilya passed to him.

in the war of the last alliance,     he marched with gil-galad and elendil.     he witnessed both of their deaths,      and witnessed isildur cut the ring off of sauron’s finger,     destroying him,     and ultimately tried to ensure the rings destruction.     he was unable to do this,      as isildur refused.     and for those questioning why,      i’d like to remind the class that isildur is a descendant of elros.      elrond could not lift a hand to kill isildur himself.

with the third age,      he would marry celebrian - something he truly did not ever expect to do.    (    this is headcanoned with @elyaros​ and @aeternitie​.     )    he witnessed how ithildiren’s death destroyed elros,      and destroyed the progress he had made over the course of his life.     elrond was never looking for love,     he never wanted to feel that pain.    )

but then he met celebrian.     and it changed.      he never spoke of his love for her,     only once she had prompted that the she had feelings for him,     would he speak of his.      their courtship lasted   most likely,    close to a hundred years,      though the feelings for each other existed a lot longer than that.     for elrond,     it was the ultimate hesitance of love    (     as you read the reason above,    )     but once the mutual feelings were in the open,     he, of course, is all in.      elladan and elrohir are born in t.a 130,      and arwen would follow in t.a 241.

this is something i wanna talk about,      as @aeternitie​ brought it to my attention.     but the names of elladan and elrohir are something elrond chose for them,     and it is reminiscent of he and elros.      let me explain,    with direct quotes from rune.       

o Elladan is very clearly “elf-man”, which is a reference to Elrond and his children’s status as half-elven, but Elrohir has no confirmed etymology. Parf Edhellen lists “elf-knight”, or (literally translated) “elf-horse lord”, which is valid because horse lord/knight is “rochir” from roch “horse” and “hir” master, but... while the most obvious etymology, it’s not the only possible one.

Why? Because when you cut out the “c” from rochir, from roch, with Elrochir being an entirely possible name, it seems to me that... “rochir” is not what you had in mind in the first place. Anyway, if the first element is unambiguously meant to be “elf”, it could very well be spelled Ellrohir.

“El”, with one L only, is “star”, present in both Elrond and Elros. Which makes a lot more sense, considering how common it is for fathers to give their children names that contain an element of their own. (see Celeborn and Celebrían, plus lots of other people) In which case, “hîr” is still “lord”, but “ro” is a shortening of another word. Which word? Well, it could be rom (horn, trumpet), it could be ron (smooth by polishing), it could be a lot of words... including ross, “foam, spray”

basically, elrond named his twins after he and his brother,     and i will die on this hill.

anyway continuing on !

elrond raises the dunedain,     and takes in almost all of isildur’s descendants.     he maintains and preserves the shards of narsil,     and essentially raised these children like his own, in some ways.      but i do not believe elrond felt an outward fatherly protection over them,      nor do i believe they actually viewed him as a father.

i won’t go too much into the events of the hobbit and lotr,     because that’s all known and i pretty much abide by that canon.

NOW WE CAN GO INTO MY CHARACTERIZATION.

as kind as summer,     is a big thing.

he is always ready to welcome guests to rivendell,     we see this with the dwarves in the hobbit.     they were unexpected,     but he did not turn them away,     and he did not make them leave.    the dwarves were there for 14 days,     and he even offered to bilbo that he could remain in imladris if he chose not to go on with the dwarves to erebor.

he’s warm ! warm hugs ! warm smile !     he’s the embodiment of summer.

he’s.    the best dad.     though, for the amount of children he raised    ( i.e :     elros’ children to an extent,     isildur’s descendents. )    he is very stressed over his own children,     especially the twins.     they mirrored he and elros in a lot of ways,     and because of their antics,     he is constantly stressed.     but he loves those boys.

the boys are big mama’s boys,      and arwen is glued to elrond.     i accept nothing else.

he could have been a king,    but he chose not to.

no,    he doesn’t view himself above any of his people,     even though he is their lord.      he simply views himself as a protector of his people,     and would do anything to protect them.

he could have been high king of the noldor when gil-galad died,    but chose not to because there weren’t enough of the noldor left to need a king.

his anger is.... something else.

where elrond is summer,     elros is winter.     but their anger is the polar opposite.

elrond becomes extremely cold and icy when angry,     and his words to have a tendency to hurt,     even though he doesn’t intend for them to.

when pushed to the absolute end of his anger,     when he’s engulfed in it,     he’s explosive.     and stay out of his way.     it takes a lot to get him here,     and he’s only been pushed this far a few times in his life.      this side of elrond is essentially elros’ anger.

celebrian sailing  -  his sea longing begins.

this was by far the most horrific moment in his life,     and he had witnessed a lot of horrific things.      he was unable to heal her fully,     her physical wounds may have been healed,     but the scars on her mind remained,    and he could not touch them.

she figuratively took his heart with her when she sailed.      her absence has left elrond with very little cares about this world.     he isn’t outright heartless anymore,     he is known for his kindness and his compassion,     and he still has it.     but the only thing keeping rivendell in its state at that point is vilya.     he isn’t lifting a hand to make it better or make it prosperous,     it’s all the ring’s doing by that point.     it takes a lot of effort not to fade and die for him at this point,      but he is hellbent on following her into the undying lands once she’s gone.     he won’t give up.

arwen’s choice.

this also... destroyed him.     not only because it meant she would die,     but also because he knew he would not be around for it.   like with elros,     he wants nothing more than to be with his daughter until the end.

ultimately,     he accepts her choice.     he wants her to be happy,    and if this is what she wants,     he has no say in telling her she can’t have it.     if she wants to be mortal with aragorn,     elrond will not deprive her of this.

however,    once the war of the ring is over,     he knows he will sail.     he stays just long enough to see her wed to aragorn and become queen of gondor.

this hurts him deeply.     and his time in the undying lands is spent constantly wondering how she is,     what she’s doing,     what are her children like,     etc.

he realizes after a few centuries that she’s gone,     and now suddenly you have a very depressed elrond in the undying lands.