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tanoraqui · 2 years

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this stunning art says it’s time for my long-awaited (to me) extended headcanon breakdown of the kings of the Noldor

Finwe

Finwë was a good king, he really was. He was responsible, inspiring; he dared to trust and to explore; he was probably even pretty good at administration and politics

He led his people through dark lands to light and they loved him for it

He just could NOT apply these skills to family. Perhaps because he loved them all too dearly to put his foot down properly, perhaps because he kept hoping that in the promised land of bliss it would all somehow work out...but his family WAS politics...

And Feanor kinda WAS the favorite, but also the child most obviously in need of care so he got the attention for that too...

Finwe was a good king but a merely alright father, overall

Though he did try

Fëanor

Fêanor would've been, was, a terrible king and Fingolfin was SO right to say so. Fëanáro 'constantly traveling' Curufinwë. Fëanáro 'okay, buckling d- ooh what’s THAT academic/crafting/parental discipline? I bet I can revolutionize it!' Curufinwë (and then he does, of course). Fëanáro “if I sublimate all grief and guilt into victimized rage, I never even have to think about the process” Curufinwë.

This elf had 20 char, 20 int, and 10 wis at best, and alas the char+int made people THINK he'd be a good king when he insisted loudly and eloquently

But they and he were WRONG!

Fëanor has only ever read and/or signed paperwork out of spite

Fëanor would do much better as that Miles Vorkosigan kind of character, where he’s close to the throne, loved dearly and trusted utterly, but not given any sort of desk job, and instead just kind of aimed at problems sometimes while everyone else sits back and waits for the inevitable, hopefully beneficial explosions

Fingolfin

Fingolfin was a good king. He had a natural knack for responsibility, practicality, foresight, complex problems and politics, and if he wasn't as naturally charismatic as Fëanor (no one was) he was still damn compelling, and he worked at building alliances

Fingolfin studied debate like a craft. Fëanor's speeches could rile a crown but Fingolfin's rhetoric could make you forget you'd walked into this room with a different position. The only one who could out-argue him was Anairë

(Fingolfin may or may not have developed entire rhetorical strategies, ie, honed the ability to be antagonizingly calm and logical, for the primary purpose of pissing off Fëanor. It worked.)

The Noldor would do entirely well with Fingolfin as king forever. He wants the job and he wants to do it well, with intelligence and care, so he would. Whatever natural talents he lacks, he appends himself to acquiring. He would even check and balance himself so as to not lose control like either his father or his...Fëanor

(the Ice was a very good time for asking oneself things like “why am I doing this” and “what could I have done better”, and he carefully maintained the habit in Beleriand, and afterward)

Fingolfin thinks he has the capacity to be calm about things but actually it’s a lie that he tells so well he convinces even himself, until he does something like completely snap, personally challenge Morgoth to a duel, and permanently injure him with his dying blow.

Finarfin

Left out of this art but i'm including him anyway! Finarfin never wanted this goddamn job.

Finarfin wanted to live on the beach with his beautiful wife and children, and go home to his family for working holidays (working bc extended birth family). Finarfin is the ONLY child of Finwë born with a natural capacity to be Chill and not need to impress everyone he meets. (Possible other exception: Lalwen.)

Nonetheless, Finarfin rose to the challenge when he needed to, and after centuries of experience he's very good at it. He has a knack for finding the best people to delegate to, which is an UNDERVALUED skill especially in his overachieving family

Finarfin is also the only member of his immediate family who unironically enjoys reading reports and signing paperwork. It’s peaceful. Does nobody else appreciate peaceful things? (They do not.)

Also he's secretly simmering with resentment, rage and vengeance and one day i WILL write about him kicking Morgoth's ass personally, with the help of all his few remaining relatives at the end of the First Age (which wins him a few points with the still-hardline Fëanorians when they get out of Mandos)

(That said, most of Finarfin’s reputation for skilled peace-making in tumultuous early Second Age Valinor was based on him sending his eldest son to talk to the most fiercely squabbling factions, because almost every variation of Elven kindred came out of the First age liking or at least grudgingly respecting Finrod)

skipping the obvious next in line for a moment to talk about Fingon

In an ideal world, Fingon would never have been king

Yes, he was swayed by the idea of exploring new lands and ruling them in his own right - but he was also in his elf!mid-20s and still living with his parents or at least firmly under their dominion, and that of his grandfather and the Valar. Of course so many of these people wanted to get away to somewhere more independent, royalty and not! And it’s inescapably noticeable that when he got to Middle Earth, all his notable acts were as his father’s field general, not as Lord of Dor-lomin - a fief later given to Men anyway - and the great alliance formed during his brief tenure as High King was the Union of Maedhros…

Fingon could be a decent king, if he had to be, but only in the unexplored post-story way that often happens to protagonists after they save the kingdom and get the girl, where in your practical heart you know that they wouldn’t really be able to enact all the reforms one might dream of...

Because Fingon’s proper role in a story isn’t kingship - it’s to be a Hero. He climbs the dark mountain and rescues the missing prince, with a song, a knife and a prayer. He leads the defeat of the orc army and he figures out how to fend off the dragon. He is valiant and a loyal friend; all who meet him know it immediately and cannot help but love him for it.

And for both of these features he challenges the Enemy at his door and so dies, and the High Kingship of the Noldor in Beleriand dies with him

Turgon

...because I love Turgon, I do. Turgon’s natural state is to be an upper-middle-class dad, mayor of a medium-sized town whose re-election is never challenged, who often takes afternoons off to take his daughter to doctor appointments or soccer games. Turgon should get to wear the most expensive jackets in the Land’s End catalogue. Turgon, I think, was a much happier, open person before Elenwë died on the Ice, and he never forgave the Fëanorians for her death, not unto the end of Arda itself. Turgon is a cat person but he’s best friends with a dog person (despite...hiccups) (to Finrod being a dog person; not to their best-friendship)

And Turgon was a great ruler of Gondolin!

But the only reason the Quenta Silmarillion acknowledges him as a High King is that the Quenta Silmarillion was told mostly by a Gondolindrim

Gil-galad

Like Finarfin, Gil-galad spent much of the Second Age trying to pull endlessly fractal factions of elves into a coherently, or at least non-violently, co-habitating community. Finarfin, however, gets to deal with this mostly in continuous drips and drabbles as people re-embody; Gil-galad had this problem ALL AT ONCE from Day One. One day when Gil-galad re-embodies, they’ll amicably debate who had it rougher

Gil-galad also, like Finarfin with Finrod, 100% cheated by sending Elrond to deal with the most fractious factions, because almost every elf left in Middle Earth at the start of the Second Age was vulnerable to Elrond looking authoritatively Disappointed in them. (Gil-galad was vulnerable to Elrond looking Disappointed in him, albeit not so much the ‘authoritative part. Disappointing Elrond was emotionally tantamount to a capital crime.)

Gil-galad was also very good at managing this chaos in his own right, without alienating anyone and even with generally endearing himself to everyone

Despite [checks wordcount] 21k and counting of AU to the contrary, my preferred Gil-galad headcanon is that he was Just Some Guy from Nargothrond who stepped the fuck up after the city fell. He unofficially led and represented the Noldor in Balar and then more officially during the War of Wrath, possibly while deliberately misleading a wide variety of people with a wide variety of implications about his parentage...and afterwards there was a whole public ceremony where Celebrimbor, Elrond, and Galadriel all declared him “king” and “cousin” and the question never really arose again during his reign.

HOWEVER my TRUE Gil-galad belief is expressed in @herenortherenearnorfar’s excellent fic “Five Gil-Galads Walk Into A Bar”, which proposes that no matter what his parentage, Gil-galad would always turn out roughly the same, because the Noldor (and etc. Second Age elves) needed a king and so he became one.

And he was good at it

But when he re-embodies, he content to leave the High Kinging to someone else, and simply take over managing the sub-kingdom of Tol Eressëa (where they welcome him gladly)

(Potential honorable mention: Lalwen

Lalwen, whose characterization is of course based entirely on headcanon, might be Queen of Tol Eressëa for a few thousand years, unless Finrod gets stuck with the job - but I think he more likely centers his life around Tirion, while ofc traveling a great deal?

Lalwen doesn’t want to be queen of anything, but she’s the only member of the House of Finwë who survived Beleriand while remaining in good standing with the Valar—good enough to come home, at least. She can do admin, or at least, she can competently delegate admin. She can do politics, second only to Fingolfin in the family for it - she’s no rhetorician nor speechifier, but she has very good people skills. She wants to help make her people’s, all people’s, lives better wherever she can, and she gets along alright with most varieties of Beleriand veterans, and she’ll do her duty if her little brother asks it... But she just does not want to be the one In Charge. She’s so happy when Gil-galas re-embodies.)

And at last, the poor little orange meow-meow of the First Age…Maedhros

Maedhros is ideal High King of the Noldor, or at least, he would’ve been. First let me tropily ramble a bit:

Just as Fingon should never have been King, Maedhros should never have been forced into such a protagonist-y role. It broke them both. In a story that wasn’t a tragedy, Maedhros would’ve been the tier-1 supporting character whom the hero rescues in Act 1 and who then has a compelling but not central character arc, and at the end we know we’ve won because we’ve put him on the throne while the hero retires to the country and/or runs off to have more lighthearted adventures with their new spouse (and/or stays and marries him, @Fingon if you must.) He’s the Jonathan of Conte. The Roy Mustang. The Rhy Maresh (Shades of Magic trilogy, V.E. Schwab, strong rec.) And then in the next-generation series, he’s a Reasonable Authority Figure who’s secretly badass.

Unfortunately, of course, The Silmarillion is not that story.

But there is, I swear, a Better Timeline out there somewhere wherein they just had more time before Morgoth Ungoliant struck. A timeline where Fëanor and Fingolfin had the opportunity to test a tentative truce without the worst circumstances in the world forcing it into overdrive and then breaking. A timeline where that went about as well as expected (ie, poorly), and Finwë soon put up his hands and said, “Alright, you know what, oh my beloved sons you are both demoted; I’m going on extended vacation and Maitimo is ruling Tirion in my absence” - and it would’ve worked because Fëanor would’ve been pleased that it was at least his son (Nelyafinwë indeed, ha!) and Fingolfin would’ve been satisfied that a) it wasn’t Fëanor, who is infuriating AND objectively bad at the job, and b) at least Finwë was treating them equaly for once

And moreover it would’ve worked because canonically Maedhros is the chief inheritor of Fëanor’s crowd-rousing fire, and he also shows Fingolfin’s practicality and responsibility (and tendency to suicide in extremis), and Finarfin’s ability to humble himself in the name of peace for his collective people...an ability to build eclectic but solid alliances best otherwise demonstrated by Finrod and maybe Finwë himself...let’s mine the raw headcanon and say Lalwen’s stubborn loyalty and determination to make everyone get along, and Findis’s possession of a firm moral compass...

It’s just that, of course, the loyalty and responsibility got twisted somewhere along the way, until the moral compass was first shoved to the bottom of a bag and then tossed out entirely, while his blazing spirit carried others along with him, and the losses from that meant that when push really came to shove on humbling himself for a greater cause, he couldn’t see a glimmer of hope that it would work, and...

Maedhros vibe as a king IS “beloved, must-respected, distinctly older brother who won’t start fights but will end them”

The difference between Maedhros as king and Fingolfin as king is mostly that Maedhros has a slightly greater natural affinity for it, especially the crowd-rousing - he’s got that Fëanorian 20 Charisma while Fingolfin is rocking a mere 19. Practically, there’s very little difference - way less difference than, say, Fëanor is happy with, in terms of how his eldest son and eldest half-brother do politics and project management. But Fingolfin is just slightly more studied at it; Maedhros has had to practice, of course, but he more does (older brothery) kingly things as an unthinking default

As mentioned in another post, I like to think that being a naturally skilled healer has always gone hand in hand with leadership in Arda, and Maitimo was no exception, but Angband and Thangodrim just Broke something in him and he never used Song nor any particular craft to heal anyone ever again...until, perhaps, after much healing in Mandos.

I think Maedhros’s surrender of the crown was clever politics, but also pure practicality in that he was well enough to snark about Thingol, practice clever politics, etc, but he wasn’t well enough yet in body or spirit to handle the job of High King of the Noldor as all their fractious fractions settled into a new life of siege warfare in a strange land. But he got better, and in the wake of Dagor Agraleb, there was a conversation like, Fingolfin: You seem very well again, nephew. Maedhros: I am, thank you for noticing, Uncle. Fingolfin: Are we going to have a problem about that? Maedhros: Fingolfin: Maedhros: Maedhros: No. Maedhros: But, weirdly thank you for asking.

...But if everyone gets re-embodied eventually, changed forever but newly healthy in it, and has until the end of Arda to gravitate toward the personal ideal forms of their lives...well, for entertainment’s sake, I like to think that Maedhros come out of Mandos very determined to be nothing but a responsible older brother, publicly deferential vassal, and world’s best one-handed house-husband...but these people over here could also use some Responsible Older Brothering...and these people over here...and Fingon doesn’t want to sit in this committee but someone sensible ought to...if no one steps up and manages this new bridge project, it’s never going to get done...Uncle, have you tried this to make the bronzesmiths and the pewtersmiths stop fighting...

One day late(?) Fourth Age, Maedhros is trying to pick the perfect jewelry to match today’s court outfit and Arafinwë pokes his head in to be like, “here, try this” and hands him the High King crown. Maedhros says, “Oh, perfect– wait–” Arafinwë is already sprinting away shouting, “No takebacks! Eärwen and I will be on the beach!”

BUT I also think that sometime in the late Second Age, the semi-meritocratic, ever-insquabbling (like infighting but pettier) artisan guilds of the Noldor, + some political philosophers, give rise to the idea of general democratic elections for high office. So it’s probably a little more complicated than that.

#the silmarillion #finwe #feanor #fingolfin #finarfin #fingon #turgon #gil-galad #maedhros #lalwen #feanor and feanor's kin #eldar #headcanon accepted #ficlet #i DID start bullet-pointing more info about noldorin election politics but i think that'll be separate

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last-capy-hupping · 2 years

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I thought that I’d make a post with random trivia details for my modern Silmarillion AU, Anywhere With You, which focuses on Russingon. Feel free to ask for more, and I’ll answer it as long as it doesn’t contain spoilers.

Warnings: some vague discussions of Maedhros’ relationship with Melkor, which was abusive, and some non-graphic discussion of various characters’ sex lives.

1) Fingon claims to be 5’10”, but he’s more like 5’8.5”. Maedhros is six and a half feet tall and can’t tell the difference.

2) Fingon, Turgon, Aredhel, and Argon are all major sporty kids. Fingon plays soccer, though now only as part of a club, and enjoys running and rock climbing. Turgon played football up until he got into the masters section of his accelerated bachelors/masters program in architecture. This allowed Fingon to finally become buffer than his brother. Fingon is not at all smug about this. Aredhel plays softball and volleyball and loves going rock climbing with Fingon. Argon plays high school basketball and has already made the varsity team, even though he’s only a sophomore. He’s already close to Turgon’s height, and he will be taller. All of the Fingolfinions can ride horses and shoot (guns and bows).

3) Quenya is basically this verse’s version of Irish. Fingon is the Americanized name for the semi-legendary St. Findekáno Astaldo, this world’s version of St. Patrick. Fingon’s birthday is March 17, 1999. Even though the lines of Míriel and Indis are completely desperate in this verse, Fëanor, Fingolfin, Finarfin, and Nerdanel are all basically Irish. Anairë is Ghanaian, and Ëarwen is Greek/Cyrpiot.

4) All of Fëanor’s sons have their Quenya names as their middle names, while Nerdanel gave them Sindarized first names. She deliberately combined “Maitimo” and “Russandol” for her first son’s name because he was the prettiest baby she’d ever, and she totally wasn’t biased.

5) Maedhros (b. May 1, 1995) was an extremely well behaved toddler who was very good at self-soothing. He loved being read to, memorized a few children’s books before he was able to read, and used to build elaborate block towers. He loved being a big brother from the start and only tried to return Maglor to the baby delivery place once, after Maglor lost his copy of Goodnight Moon (his favorite book) and destroyed his block formation, a replica of the semi-legendary city of Tirion. Maedhros immediately regretted this and climbed into Maglor’s crib to apologize to him. There is video of this. For a solid three years, Maedhros believed that baby Celegorm was his punishment for not appreciating Maglor enough. Maedhros had an awkward, gangly teenage phase that swimming helped him overcome. His high school team encouraged him and other swimmers to push their bodies to the limits of endurance (getting out of the pool to puke was not an uncommon occurrence during practice), which explains his running habits. His best stroke was the butterfly, which he can no longer do properly due to his rotator cuff injury. He’s had two surgeries to correct some of the damage done by Melkor and to keep it from dislocating easily.

6) Maglor (b. 1997) was very handsome from the time he was a teen and never had acne problems, but he was also a short, skinny band geek. This is why he didn’t believe that Malthenes, his tall, beautiful blonde classmate with a teen modeling contact, was into him. Maedhros had to convince him that Malthenes was serious and drive him to the date. Maglor was a child piano and violin prodigy, and Fëanor encouraged this until it became clear that Maglor wanted to be a professional musician instead of a lawyer. (Fëanor would have also allowed him to become a doctor, but Maglor was always a squeamish boy.) Fëanor blames Malthenes for this because he knows that he raised Maglor to be more reasonable and responsible. Maglor is shorter than his girlfriend/fiancée and thinks that that’s super hot. Malthenes is 5’9” and suspiciously slightly taller than Fingon.

7) Celegorm (b. 1999) was an extremely rowdy, energetic child who broke everything in sight, especially Maglor’s things. He used to smash Nerdanel’s work when he got his hands on it. At the age of two, he gave six-year-old brother Maedhros a permanent hairline scar when he smashed a clay pot over his head. Maedhros made the mistake of trying to take it away from him. The injury required eight stitches, and Celegorm was extremely proud and kept bragging to the hospital staff. (No babysitters were available, so Fëanor and Nerdanel had to drag all four of their kids to the ER.) Celegorm grew up into a rowdy teen who only avoided expulsion by ensuring his high school football team’s continued success. (Maedhros still had to attend some meetings on his parents’ behalf while he was in college and Celegorm was a high school junior/senior.) Celegorm switched to rugby in college because it had more booze and more queerness. He is proudly bisexual and aromantic. He also got his wolfhound Huan from his grizzled elderly mentor (aka Oromë) at the local shooting range in Formenos, Maine. Fëanor is shocked/pleased that Celegorm got a real job, but he’s embarrassed that his son lives in “government housing,” i.e. a park ranger’s house in the national forest outside Alqualondë where he works.

8) Caranthir (b. 2001) is a mathematical prodigy who graduated high school two years early, the same year as Celegorm. He also completed college in two and a half years. He recently got his CPA. He enjoys investing, and frequently tries to influence Maedhros’ investment decisions regarding his own trust fund from their grandfather Finwë. Caranthir is also Angrod’s ex boyfriend. According to Angrod, Caranthir has the best ass that he’s ever seen (“you could serve coffee off of that thing”), and that’s totally the only reason that he’s upset that Caranthir abruptly dumped him over text messages, Finrod. Caranthir is currently dating Haleth. He fell in love with her at first sight at the gym and decided that he had to break up with Angrod immediately and pursue this gorgeous female body builder, who (to Angrod’s despair) has better biceps than anyone Caranthir has ever dated. Caranthir is absolutely devoted to his girlfriend and she to him. He is also her 24/7 sub, which is why he proudly wears the leather collar that she gave him along with his fancy suits. Caranthir is the only son whom Fëanor will not randomly visit because the last time that he dropped by unannounced, Caranthir answered the door wearing the collar and nothing else. He’s very anxious and finicky and carries around a fidget cube. He also helped Curufin uncover Melkor’s tax crimes and blackmail him into leaving the country so that Maedhros would it have to testify against an ex at an abuse/sa trial.

9) Curufin (b. 2004) is also a genius and started taking community college courses early. He is currently looking into the most prestigious college programs available. Fëanor was so impressed with his son’s affinity for computers and coding that he pulled him out of school to homeschool him personally, based on a special curriculum that he designed. He has never dated because he’s too busy, but he’ll probably got out with his father’s business partner’s daughter at some point because Fëanor thinks that they’d be a good match and Fëanor knows him best. He is a very skilled hacker and got into Melkor’s device to steal back all digital copies of sensitive media that Melkor was using to blackmail Maedhros into staying.

10) Amras and Amrod (February 2009) are twins. Amrod is shy and Amras is outgoing, but they support each other in everything. They are particularly devoted to Maedhros, who served as a sort of third parent to them while Fëanor and Nerdanel went through a divorce when they were toddlers. Amrod was scared of storms and loud noises and used to sleep in Maedhros’ bed for “safety” as a child. Amras and Amrod have a twin language, and Maedhros is the only one who knows some of it. Both twins are major fish, amphibian, and reptile enthusiasts, and Fëanor has allowed them to have their own massive aquarium as well as a reptile room. They’ve been promised an iguana as their Winter Solstice present from their father.

11) Fëanor is a brilliant, charismatic local real estate developer and builder from Formenos, Maine who followed in his wealthy father Finwë’s footsteps and became mayor of the small city. He is the only child of Finwë and Míriel, both of whom are still alive and married in this universe. He is so beloved that the citizens voted to abolish term limits so that he could keep running for mayor. Fëanor also owns a local lake resort, as well as a ski resort in the northernmost parts of the Pélori Mountains (my version of the Appalachian Mountains). He also makes jewelry as a side hobby. He and Melkor, a estate developer and a successful political from the neighboring town of Avathar, got into an intense rivalry when Melkor attempted to bankrupt him and buy out his businesses and lands.

12) Nerdanel is a world-renowned sculptress and the only child of the independently wealthy Mahtan. She and Fëanor bonded over their shared ambition and passion for crafts. They married straight out of college and had Maedhros a year later. Nerdanel loves her sons dearly but grew tired of putting up with her husband’s neuroses. She divorced him and moved to Tirion, New York (named after the semi-legendary ancient city) when the citizens of Formenos almost universally sided with their beloved mayor.

13) Fingolfin is the older son of Indis and Ingwion, who are not cousins in this verse. He inherited his parents’ love of fine wines and the Northern California countryside. He and his wife Anairë bonded over their shared love of art and wine and managed to secure investors to buy and start a vineyard in Valmar. They’re currently very wealthy and successful, and they have enough money to give all of their children generous allowances. They’re extremely indulgent and supportive parents who are so happy to have such happy, good-looking, athletic, and academically successful children. They didn’t openly push traditional gender roles on their kids, but they always rewarded and praised their sons for being tough, resilient, and generally traditionally masculine. Also, they never made their kids so much in the way of chores.

14) Fingon was the happiest, friendliest baby ever, and well-meaning but clueless adults often made jokes about him flirting and being budding ladies’ man. He was also an extremely friendly, easygoing; and popular kid from elementary school until basically the start of the fic. He was really smart and never had to work too hard for good grades and academic success. He did well in college and generally got away with partying and procrastinating because he works well under the pressure of impending deadlines. He is also a bit of a fuckboy.

15) Finrod is bisexual, though he’s more likely to be attracted to men than women, and homoromantic. He’s in a very happy QPR with Amarië, who is in the same boat. He’s a very happy writer and budding journalist, who also makes good ad revenue off of his anonymous online blog, where he discuses and opines upon the relationship dramas of his friends and family. His most popular series deals with Andreth and Aegnor, though his cousin Fingon’s stories are forming the basis of a series that’s garnering loads of interest already.

16) Angrod is totally over Caranthir, Finrod!

17) Aegnor is in a high drama, constantly on-again/off-again relationship with Andreth. He’s scared of going out of the honeymoon stage and stupidly keeps breaking up with Andreth, even though he loves her. Andreth keeps taking him back because she loves him and he’s gorgeous and goes down like a champ.

Anyway, if you’ve got other questions, feel free to ask and I’ll answer.

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melestasflight · 1 year

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For the Silmarillion ask game: This may be a repeat, apologies if it is.

🗡️ Defend your favorite war criminal (or make them worse - I'm not your mom).

🔮You can reach into the Beyond and ask the Professor to settle one (1) debate for you. He won't even waffle on the answer, honest. What do you ask him?

Thanks for the ask @antares0606!

🗡️ takes a deep breath, ok here we go: Fingon, for the worse!

I love Fingon to death, he was my favorite character when I first read the Silm and remains as such after all these years. He is my High King of the Noldor, I would follow him to the Nirnaeth Arnoediad.

But! He is flawed in a way fandom often underplays honestly. Let us start with Alqualondë. It is not only that he rushed in, not stopping to learn what is going on, it is that he killed the kin of his best friends!

... and with Fingon stood as they ever did Angrod and Aegnor, sons of Finarfin.

... [the sons of Finarfin] were as close in friendship with the sons of Fingolfin as though they were all brothers.

Yes! And then, Fingon goes all savage against their mother's people. I cannot fathom how they manage to find a way back to each other after that.

To go on, as much as I can never get enough of Maedhros' rescue and howl like a whale every time I reread it, I must recognize that Fingon the Golden Prince of the Noldor, the one who urged them on across the Helcaraxë, ditches all and goes to Thangorodrim. Without telling anyone! To reunite the Noldor? Perhaps, or maybe because of his own personal motives. He does seem to side with Maedhros even to his own detriment. There's more, but I'll stop here before I loose it.

All of it to say, yes, I make Fingon way worse. It is these flaws that make him a compelling character to me. He is a murderer, a ruthless war Lord who drives hordes of Orcs into the Sea and chases dragons across Ard-Galen, but he is also a loyal friend (loyal to a ridiculous degree), a friend to Men, he is generous, selfless, an inspiring leader, a good son, a hero. And these contrasts add so much depth to him that gives me so much thrill to think about again and again and I think I'll never tire of it.

🔮 Huh, so many questions, the Professor would never hear the end of it. But here's one and we come to Fingon again: Thorondor. Why help Fingon? Is this Manwë's will? Is the Eagle acting independently? Doesn't it go against the Doom of the Valar? Please, sir, tell me: are the eagles the hope I should latch on? The thing with feathers? Or are they just a narrative tool to crush my soul all the more at the end?

Ask game prompts

#thanks for the ask!#asks #I got real emotional writing this #fingon #maedhros #thorondor #aegnor #angrod

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sallysavestheday · 6 months

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For the love your fandom asks: 3,5 and 7?

Thanks for the ask! I'm having fun with this list.

3. A character that fandom has helped you appreciate. Finarfin! I have become very fond of him as a complex and conflicted youngest, faced with picking up and moving forward everything his elder siblings have cast off. He has a very particular kind of courage, and an unexpected, slowly-building, absolutely overwhelming rage that finally, finally Gets the Job Done. What's not to like?

5. Something you see in fics a lot and love. Shades of grey. Tolkien's work quietly highlights the difficulty of knowing good from evil, the challenge of clearly articulating who is right and who is wrong, and the complexity of "heroism." I appreciate that the fandom has continued to play that out across familiar canon scenarios and with characters and in moments that Tolkien barely touched on. There are lovely contemplative people in this fandom.

7. Your favorite tropes to read/write/draw. Not tropes, per se, but let's call some of them 1) unintended consequences of desperate acts; 2) hush, I love you; 3) varieties of healing; 4) my animals and I are some sort of metaphor; 5) oh, yes, you can definitely tell I am the eldest; 6) I am not the eldest and it sucks.

#asks and answers

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that-angry-noldo · 2 months

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3, 8 and 9 for ashes!!

(fanfiction ask game)

3: What’s your favorite line of narration?

hmm not sure if i have a line exactly but i think this passage counts

Finarfin's mind was shielded, a wall of limestone, a castle of ivory, strong and impenetrable—but Maglor saw greater crumble. His voice was a running river, a soft mist, an ivy seizing the slightest cracks; he sang, and Finarfin struggled to keep awake and alert. Maglor sang of night and stars, but it made Finarfin trash wilder; sang of sun and wind and blue sky, and it made him fight fiercer.

a small director's cut: the reason Finarfin was not calmed by usually "calm" images was because of how war warped his perception - it is stated through the fic that he finds night and darkness uncomfortable and borderline frightening, while sun and clear sky usually meant impossible conditions to exist in armour as well as thirst and other struggles.

8: Did any real people or events inspire any part of it?

i think a great deal of choice/act/regret discussion in chapter 6 was me projecting some of my own stuff i worked on in therapy (shoutout to my therapist for telling me that i can apparently choose not to do things?? wild)

9: Were there any alternate versions of this fic?

chapter 6 was meant to be the chapter where finarfin started softening up to maglor and they talked about the twins and nerdanel, but i couldn't work it in, and it became about oral tradition & an impact of a single person on the narrative & choice and regret.

thank you!! send more, these are fun

#ask game #ashes #ty!!

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crownlessliestheking · 1 year

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⭐ pick any fic!

In honor of your Freudian analysis post, I kind of have to pick this fic, which is Feanor and Indis on the most awkward road trip pilgrimage to Nienna.

I don't really know what made me write this but it doesn't matter. Past me was onto something. I just think there's a lot of ways you can write Indis, and while I do have a special place in my heart for a very pious Indis, I...do not think this is necessarily compatible with her children's views (Fingolfin and Finarfin certainly fear the Doom, but Fingolfin is proud enough and perhaps angry enough that he keeps on going despite it, while Finarfin returns and rules), which she may well have influenced significantly. I like an Indis who works to get what she wants, but who, as someone who loves both Finwe and Miriel, cannot possibly have it all. AND. As someone who loved Miriel, her grief is not lesser than Feanor's, just different, but of course you can't ever tell that to a child who's lost his mother, who's feeling the impact of the first kind of...willing death like that to hit Valinor. Indis, to me, is not trying to replace Miriel so much as she's guiding Feanor a little from a distance, especially when he's younger, but as he gets older and more resentful, as he starts to argue with Fingolfin, I think their relationship sours even more. She loves him in her own way, maybe; if not for who he is then because of a voice always whispering to her, hey. This is Miriel's son. This is Finwe's son. But she has her children to think about too, so this fic is more...a transition, an exploration of what maybe could have been before things went south, and also the ways in which Feanor severely misunderstands her. He could never stand to be like her, if that makes sense? But he is, a little, in this fic.

And I think Indis' faith is shaken too, after Miriel does not come back, but she understands the choice in a different way. Their respective meetings with Nienna sort of end on the same note, with both of them having a bit of their faith shaken away, with them both understanding that the Valar do not (in Feanor's case) and cannot (in Indis' case) really get what it means to be an elf, what it means to be them. I'm always trying to figure out what the Valar do, what their role is, what devotees to them do -- and in fact which of them do and don't have devotees, and I think in YT Valinor, Nienna is not really the most popular.

Also, half of the title (Heir of Grief) is a Homestuck reference; it's the fourth song off [S] Collide and if you want to listen to it, it's on bandcamp. (It's not actually my favorite song from the comic, but the name fits and I do really like it.)

Thank you for asking <33

#nienna #feanor #indis #my fic #ask game

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maironsbigboobs · 1 year

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Hehe silm for the fandom ask please? :3c

Send me a fandom and I’ll tell you my:

blorbo (favorite character, character I think about the most): Beleg mother-fucking Cúthalion.

scrunkly (my “baby”, character that gives me cuteness aggression, character that is So Shaped): Finarfin my special boy

scrimblo bimblo (underrated/underappreciated fave): Thingol I'll always defend you king

glup shitto (obscure fave, character that can appear in the background for 0.2 seconds and I won’t shut up about it for a week): Andróg

poor little meow meow (“problematic”/unpopular/controversial/otherwise pathetic fave): ... Eöl.

horse plinko (character I would torment for fun, for whatever reason): All of the above, of course. With love.

eeby deeby (character I would send to superhell): Brodda I guess fuck that dude

#wisdom of the strongbow #herinke9

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theneverfadinglands · 2 years

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Finarfin and Earwen: I already talked about Finarfin in the Finwë family Artbreeder edition. Let's move to Earwen. I love her gentle features and big eyes. She looks like very nice person. Don't let her gentle appearance fool you, she is mother of Galadriel and queen with great inner strength. I think I like her so much, because she look calming like water, gentle shores. I can imagine how great she would look with pearls in her hair, sailing on her ship in waters of Valinor. She is the backbone design of all Telerin elves, including Círdan. I bred every Telerin elf with a little bit of Earwen in them. Later when I was creating Angrod. I decided Earwen look more like her mother, than father.

Finrod: I hope @selenite85 like him. I think he look kinda like Tom Hiddleston, doesn't he? Maybe with a little bit of Robert Plant? He is bred out his mother, Círdan, Finarfin and random elvish factors. I always imagined him with more narrow face and intense eyes. He is a muster for all his siblings, I always added a little bit of Finrod to them. He was quite easy to make in comparisson with trouble makers of this family - Galadriel and Angrod. Anyway, I love him, he look exactly like he does in my mind.

Angrod: His design is based on Olwë. I wanted him to look very much like his grandfather. It was therefore tricky, because he is influential for entire Telerin royal family. He took me longest out of all people and I burned out a little bit, runing out of ideas and creativity. I used Earwen, Círdan and proto-Olwë to bred and then I randomized him until I was more or less satisfied. I might remake him at some point. I had problems with Arafinwëans, because I had clear idea only about Finrod and then I tried to engineer the others from him and their parents + Círdan. First I tried to make him with gold hair, but it somehow seem wrong and I changed it to silver. I like it much more and I headcanon him as silver haired from now on.

Aegnor: I had no idea how he looks like, but he was very easy to do. Once I had Angrod and Finrod I mixed them together with Earwen and Aegnor was here. It's my second favorite design after Finrod. I can imagine him lying on meadow next to Andreth in their short time together. He looks like the most romantic one. He reminds me of some knight from Arthurian legends.

Galadriel: She is fierce, wild and opinionated. Remind me of Fëanorian family (don't tell her this), because they are also so opinnionated and never look just right! After hours of frustration I settled on this design. Her hair is a little bit too gold cor my liking, but I love her distant and fierce eyes. She look regal and I can see her as formidable oponent and loyal ally. I always wondered how she was as a mother. Motherhood never fit with her in my mind. The more I look at her, the more I like her.

Orodreth: I created him to be sort of ambigious, he can be son of Finarfin or Angrod, depends on what do you prefer. Looking quite alike to Gil-Galad he can pass as his father easily. Under him is Finduilas. His wife doesn't have any name in canon and I wasn't sure how she should look like, so I just bred Finduilas randomizing Orodreth and adding random elves to the mix. Maybe I will return to wives with no names later.

Bonus: Círdan

He was quite easy, mixing his son Gil-Galad with a little bit of Earwen and proto-Olwë. My only complain is he looks kinda like a man. I think it's the bread, weird to see elf with one. Took away some of the ethereal quality. I think he also look quite romantic - looks like it's trait of Teleri. Romantic Arghurian knight vibe. Where Fëanorian trait is certainly angry bitch vibe.

#arafinweans #tolkien #silmarillion #finarfin #earwen #finrod #angrod #aegnor #galadriel #cirdan #orodreth #finduilas

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tolkien-feels · 2 years

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ask game: 3 and 5 for any of the following that you have thoughts abt! (Some of them are not really textual friendships and more wishful thinking haha) finrod&Turgon, finrod&luthien, Galadriel&luthien, finarfin&fingolfin. (Can you tell the arafinweans are my favs 😅)

ANON PLEASE BEFRIEND ME YOU'RE GOING FOR ALL MY FAVORITE UNPOPULAR RELATIONSHIPS!!!

Under a cut for length, because I'm doing all of them as a token of friendship 🥺

A random headcanon I have of them

Finrod & Turgon

I think I have mentioned the comedy potential of Finrod & Turgon: Adventures In Having Sisters Born In The Same Year, haven't I? I'm pretty sure I have so I'll pick something else. They both like maps and architecture, and between them, they must've drawn schematics and artistic sketches of every inch of Eldamar. They actually have plans to build the prettiest settlement in Aman, but they're too perfectionist about it and never get to the end of the project before Exile.

Finrod & Luthien

Is it too horrible to pick as my headcanon that the only reason Luthien doesn't get very Shaken when she learns of Finrod's death is because Beren needs her to not fall apart? Okay if that's too horrible, I'll go with: Luthien assigns herself as Finrod's guide in Doriath and he has so many questions about Menegroth that at some point she actually laughs at him, which is a diplomatic faux pas but Finrod finds very endearing.

Galadriel & Luthien

You know how Galadriel has her little apprenticeship under Melian? Luthien looks at that and goes "It's free cousin!!!" Well, they're once removed, but that's the closest thing to a cousin Luthien has available and she's loving it. Galadriel, who associates cousins with varying degrees of headaches, is pleasantly surprised to find Luthien has almost as many braincells as her mother. They never become very close friends because they don't share many interests but they consider each other family and act accordingly.

Finarfin & Fingolfin

Fingolfin is very protective of Finarfin. You think fanon Maedhros is intense about being a big brother? The Fingolfin of my headcanons is Worse. In all ways but literal, Fingolfin is standing between Finarfin and the world. By "the world" what I actually mean is Feanor. In return, you know Galadriel's infamous hatred for Feanor? She got that from her father, he's just quieter about it. Finarfin also has all but cut ties with Finwe over the blatant favoritism of the guy making his brother's life a living hell.

A scene I wish we had of them

Finrod & Turgon

I know Turgon has closer kin than that, but I actually feel Finrod might have been the one to comfort him and Idril immediately after Elenwe's death, and I would like to see that.

Finrod & Luthien

Well what I actually actually want is for them to interact during the Leithian saga, but that's not something that can happen in canon. Something plausible that would delight me would be seeing them comparing notes on songs of power. Would also work as foreshadowing. Tolkien missed an opportunity there :/

Galadriel & Luthien

Any. Literally any. The POWER Galadriel and Luthien would have together, oh my god. If they're hanging out with Melian, I think books could not physically contain the awesomeness! If I had to choose just one thing, I would like to see them talk about beauty. Not because they're beautiful, but because they're The Most Beautiful of their peoples, and they both fall in love with men who seem to value them for other reasons. I feel like they might have some Thoughts about this, and I feel you could have a... Finrod and Andreth kind of debate where they discuss all sorts of topics going off this premise. The Debate of Luthien and Galadriel, with notes on the relationship between hroar and fear. Or something.

Finarfin & Fingolfin

Okay, Feanor pulls a sword on Fingolfin and Fingolfin goes see Finarfin and......??? I'm begging Tolkien to have a whole chapter about that!!

#ask game #tolkien reading day festivities #please talk to me anon!!!!!!

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diversetolkien · 4 years

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I also think with the string of police brutality going on in relation to anti-blackness and rebellion against the state, it would be interesting to generate discussion on how Tolkien’s view—at least in relation to The Feanorians—is very reminiscent of the protest going on.

In general, his view isn’t good. But I don’t expect it to be considering who he was, and what time he came form.

I’ve discussed how the struggle of Feanor and his sons, and their attempt to rebel against Valinor for their property is very similar to the Civil Rights movement. We see Feanor being demonized for wanting the right to his property and in the protest going on right now, we see people being demonized for wanting to survive, and being punished for rising up.

And if you’re familiar with black history (which many of you may not be, but I don’t expect you to and that’s okay), it was very much about property rights as well.

This is why Feanor has always been one of my favorite characters, especially as an African American activist. He embodies rebellion and achieving his rights by any means necessary. The narrative has demonized him for this though, and while I would like to say it’s due to the burning ships, but we all know it started when he refused to give up his rights.

It’s scary that people reduce his character to , “Angry elf who’s being selfish for not giving up his rights.” Because of how privileged it is to think that giving up one’s rights is something that should be expected of a citizen.

Tolkien acceptable elves were always at the foot of the Valar, or at least in close contact with them either directly or indirectly and received privilege due to this (ie: Finarfin, Galadriel and her brother crossing the ice and being welcomed into Thingol’s realm and for the most part avoiding the ‘action’ for the majority of the narrative (for the most due to primarily Finrod)).

And if we’re taking it bit further, the Nolofinweans (Ardheal, Turgon, Fingon) could be seen as allies, because they were not given preferential treatment, and stood by the Feanorians for as long as possible. (And I very much wanted to include Idril here, but her narrative is very anti-black).

All in all, it’s interesting how dynamics of oppression and privilege play out in The Silmarillion, and how those who ‘rocked the boat’ the most are the most demonized and traumatized within the narrative. It says a lot about Tolkien’s views on societal uprisings.

Anyway, the Feanorains (this includes Nerdanel) would most definitely be at a BLM protest with the Nolofinweans behind this.

*Before you try and tell me that said post is a bad analogy because of ALL that Feanor did, please understand that I can acknowledge he did awful things while also finding similarities to my people and my culture in his character, and that there are other minority/ethnic groups who’ve skinned the story of the Noldor and Feanor to their culture, and they are not expected to explain why they do that.

#silmarillion #the silmarillion #Tolkien #feanorians #feanor

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allthatglittersisnotgoldrush · 3 years

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Author Interview: Victoryindeath2 (by TolkienGirl)

Thank you @thelonelybrilliance!

1. What fanfic trope do you think the AU has a unique spin on and why?

So seven card stud is the best and funniest strip poker/crossdressing fic you will ever find.

Definitely love how we grow the found family trope, particularly in regards to Maedhros and Gwindor, which I shall say more on in the question below. It is our own platonic version of the ships passing in the night trope—Maedhros and Gwindor are never mentioned as having met in canon, let alone spoken of in any way that might hint at their having any basis for friendship. I myself have never read any fics where there was any sort of bond between them. However, all of the authors love canon Gwindor greatly, and he fit so well into our plans and now has became more important and dear than we could ever imagine, so much so that I have to stop and remind myself that Maedhros and Gwindor are not brotp in canon. It’s honestly one of my favorite departures from the original Silm!

2. What are your three favorite friendships between people who are NOT related to each other?

My most FAVORITE friendship between unrelated characters is unquestionably the friendship between Maedhros and Gwindor. Maedhros gives Gwindor hope, freedom, and another little brother to love and guard, and Gwindor gives his Russandol the older brother he never had, good simple understanding without judgment, a care that doesn’t yield to Maedhros’s judgement of himself and fights against Maedhros’s frequent (understandable) self-pity and self-hatred. They could not have made it out of the thrall camp without each other, nor saved as many people as they did. Even now, Maedhros is one of the few solid good things Gwindor has to steady himself with as he tries to adjust to a world where he is not a slave, Maedhros is the person who turns Gwindor’s words back on him to say, you must think better of yourself! And Gwindor is now, as he was back in the thrall camp, the hand that Maedhros can bear to cling to when he is most hurt, frightened, and sad.

Ah...sometimes I like to dream about Gwindor getting to be an older brother figure to Mae back in Formenos and city days...the things that might have changed for the better...

There are many other good friendships but two in particular stand out: Finrod and Beren and Haleth and Luthien. Beren has lost his whole family and people, has suffered injury and been an outcast, thrown out of Doriath, separated from the young woman he loves, and here comes Finrod, some pretty boy from back East who has lots of noble ideas in his head, probably an awful lot of naivety at their meeting, but also a brave, loyal, laughing heart. So far we haven’t explored their friendship in as much detail as some relationships, but rest assured that....it will feature heavily in the future. I really hope that we can drop in little stories of their early friendship as we go along. For now, the fic Clarity has some of my favorite moments between them! I am very excited for the future with them!

As for Haleth and Luthien—well they are such contrasts aren’t they? Haleth, grim, younger than Luthien but more versed in the cruelty of the world, and Luthien, bright and eager to go out into the world and find Beren, unafraid for now of what it might have in store for her and her loved ones. They are both strong-willed, determined young women though, and I adore every moment between them. Haleth, always bringing what word she can of Beren to Luthien, protecting her secret, teaching her to fight, being slightly taken aback at the thought that yes, Luthien is her friend. And Luthien having nothing but respect for Haleth. The most recent fic between them was honestly the sweetest, cutest thing!

3. What is a “missing scene” that you wish could be written into the AU during the past year (1852)?

You know what I would want? A little scene between Fingolfin and Finrod, set after Maedhros has been rescued and Fingolfin is very tired and Finrod tries to tell him to go to bed or something and then Fingolfin confesses that he misses his brother Finarfin very much and then probably apologizes because of course Finrod must miss his father greatly and he shouldn’t have brought up the subject but Finrod is like, it’s okay, and then encourages Fingolfin to tell stories about their boyhood together, and it’s all sort of soft and sad and healing for the both of them <3

4. Which character has made you cry the most as a reader and/or writer?

As a reader? Ahahaha Maedhros wins by a long shot. I cried so many times during his Angband days, but also in fics both in Mithrim and Formenos, when he was younger and had no idea of what was in store for him. Shoutout to any soft scene between him and his brothers, particular him and Maglor. Give me them holding each other or playing with each other’s hair while being sad and I just—weep. I am not so good at regulating my emotions lol

As a writer, well, I don’t usually cry over my own works, but recently I got very emo when re-reading of the armature and the reinforcement (let us move lightly). It’s hard to see young happy recently-married Feanor and Nerdanel, with baby Maitimo on the way, and to know how Feanor will change and their family will fall apart in years to come. Also, I played myself by having the actor Lee Joon Gi in mind as a model for young Feanor’s mannerisms :/

5. Update us on the state of Caranthir’s kitchen and garden.

If this is a poorly concealed “where the heck is that fic you have been promising us,” well, I stick my tongue out at you.

Jk I’m gonna go work on it after I finish these questions lol. Let’s just say that with everything happening right now, Caranthir has probably been stress cleaning the kitchen, and it would be immaculate if it weren’t for certain people being difficult. As for the garden, if you think its crooked layout does not bother Caranthir at least once per day, you would be wrong. I’m sure that in a month or so he is going to want to dig the whole thing up and get out little stakes and strings and drive everyone crazy by being extremely particular about the makeover.

Bonus: Describe what would happen if Gwindor met Feanor

OH MAN OH MAN. GWINDOR WOULD FULFILL MY FANTASY OF GIVING THAT MAN A FIST TO THE FACE

I mean look I have this strange love for Feanor and he is tragic in many ways and I mourn his loss and the person he could have been and sometimes was, but also—

He was a terrible dad. As we have all seen. As Gwindor has sussed out and had some confirmation of. If the Gwindor of right now could go back in time and meet Feanor sticking needles into Mae, I’m pretty sure he would have murdered him then and there, or at least, beat him into the ground and then been like, hello Nerdanel, ma’am, I am your eldest son’s guardian angel in the flesh and I am moving in with you to be a barrier between him and his dad and if he so much as looks at Mae wrong I will throw him in his own forge fire.

If the Gwindor of right now could meet a resurrected Feanor—things would be bloody and Feanor would be told what for in the strongest of terms probably while being shoved against a wall, an arm against his neck, and then Gwindor would be like cool now that you understand just how terrible of a person you are and how you should probably burn in hellfire, you can go to Maedhros and beg his forgiveness and tell him how is a much better person that you ever were or could be and that it is up to him to ask you to stick around even though I, Gwindor, would prefer you to never see him again, but like, Maedhros probably wouldn’t want that so I will have to deal and you will have to shape up or I will ship you out

GET YOU A FRIEND LIKE GWINDOR

#author interviews #gold rush AU #the silmarillion #q&a #I talk a lot about Gwindor in this and that is right and just

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ambarto · 4 years

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Finwean Ladies Week Day Two: Lalwen

Headcanons again today, and this time I’d like to talk about my headcanons for Lalwen, which I think I have mentioned a little in the past but what better occasion than @finweanladiesweek to ramble about all my thoughts. I can tell you Lalwen is definitely one of my favorite characters to think about.

Lalwen was what we could call a biologist. She was fascinated with animals, and in particular with all the kinds of bugs, spiders, and various little creatures that crawl on the ground. She liked other animals too, although still of the small kind, and usually animals most people don’t overly like (think lizards, snakes, that kind of stuff). She maintained that those small and often unseen parts of the ecosystem were much more fascinating than the macroscopic world of large mammals and birds. She described many species, and while animals were her favorite field of study, she was also the first in Valinor to posit that mushrooms were not plants, which was a rather controversial statement at the time.

Out of all her siblings, she was the one who got along the best with Feanor. She was quick to brush off any unkind words he might say, and had a sharp enough tongue to put him back in his place. She actually rather enjoyed talking with him, as he was also a scholar, and could keep up with her discussions of the efficiency of spiderwebs even if it wasn’t really his field of study.

Regarding her other siblings, Lalwen’s favorite was Fingolfin. They argued a lot, but it was usually the kind of sibling spats that got forgotten quickly. He was always the most willing to engage with Lalwen’s interests, and to go with her on rides exploring Valinor. Findis and Finarfin, on the other hand, both had a fairly different temperament than Lalwen, and different interests too. While all four siblings loved each other, usually Findis and Finarfin stuck in one corner talking about one thing, while Fingolfin and Lalwen sat in another talking about something else.

Despite being a Princess, Lalwen’s presence in the politics of Valinor was almost non-existent. She learnt early on that all the occurrences of court didn’t interest her, and if she could avoid being present at any given occasion she did. Findis used to scold her sister much for this, calling her irresponsible, as she thought as members of the royal house it was their duty to engage with politics. Fingolfin, on the other hand, usually enabled his younger sister, thinking that there was no need for her to be as involved as the rest of their family.

Lalwen was always, and especially in her youth, a very restless spirit. Already as a child she was the kind of kid who was always outside and running around, and would hate having to be in the house for an entire day. Growing, she became that sort of girl who her parents almost never saw, so much she spent with her friends, and partying, and going on trips. And since she was old enough to travel on her own, she would so often take her horse and leave Tirion for days or weeks, or sometimes months too, to explore all there was to see in Valinor. It was because of this restlessness that she followed Fingolfin out of Valinor - the idea of an entire other continent she had never seen before was too big a temptation for her to stay behind, no matter how much her mother begged.

In Beleriand, she never had a land to rule over, because she never had any interest in ruling. Not only the various details and politics involved were things she had no interest into, but governing would also mean that she’d have to spend most of her time still in one place. For the most part, she made herself a home in Fingolfin’s lands, but would often travel around. It actually made her brother worry himself sick, as Lalwen had the tendency of leaving whenever and without sending letters or word of where she was, until six months later she would write him saying that she was staying in Himring for a while and also did Fingolfin know about this cool worm she had found?

She survived the Dagor Bragollach, but not easily. She was wounded on the field, and was carried out unconscious as Fingolfin’s forces retreated. She lost her hearing in one ear, and one of her legs was wounded in a way that left her with a heavy limp. The impaired mobility in particular wasn’t easy for her to deal with, as it made traveling so much harder. Not that she had much wish to entertain herself, not right after her brother had been killed. She remained in Fingon’s lands until the Nirnaeth Arnoediad, at which point she instead moved to the Falas with Cirdan, and later followed him to Balar. While she couldn’t fight on a battlefield, she had developed a great knowledge of poisons thanks to her studies on various venomous animals, and she helped develop cures for many of the poisons Morgoth used in his weapons.

After the War of Wrath, Lalwen decided she wouldn’t stay in Lindon under Gil-Galad. Part of the reason was that by then she had seen so many of her loved ones die that it brought her genuine pain to be around Gil-Galad and remember that he was almost all the family she had left, let alone have people call her ‘Princess’, as if the title meant anything by then. There was a loneliness in Lindon that could only be cured by being more alone, or at least, not with people who would constantly remind her of everything she had lost. But also, Lalwen’s desire to explore had never really stopped, and by then she had learnt how to deal with her disability, so she took a horse, and left.

Eventually, after much traveling, she realized that she was turning into an old lady, as Men said. She had traveled through all of Middle Earth, much of Harad, and had even decided to go look if she could Cuivienen a couple times, and she was growing tired of always being moving around. When she was a girl, that would have been the ideal, but after many thousands of years Lalwen found herself wishing to find a place to settle in. Not to mean that she would never travel again, just that she would have liked to have a nice house to go back to and rest, and know that there were people she knew waiting for her there. That being said, she also still wanted nothing to do with politics, not to mention that everyone else seemed to be handling things well, and she didn’t feel the need to upset any political balance with her reappearance. In the end, she decided to settle in Greenwood at some point during the Third Age. She did come clear to Thranduil about who she was, and he allowed her to stay so long as she did not cause trouble, which was alright by her. Other than him, very few people knew or suspected who the eccentric Noldo with a cane and a lot of opinions about taxonomical classifications was.

Lalwen had had through her life many romantic stories and affairs, and definitely more than many would deem appropriate for a Princess. With some Elven ladies, occasionally she’d fell in the bed of a mortal, and maybe once or twice in that of a Dwarf. The longer she lived the more she found old Valinorean ideas on marriage and courtship and so on rather stuffy. That being said, she had never really ruled out a wedding altogether, and the day she realized a Silvan hunter of Greenwood was starting to mean a lot to her, she decided maybe she was old enough to leave her amorous adventures behind and get herself a wife. Fortunately, her lady didn’t mind finding out that Lalwen was a mostly forgotten Noldor Princess, and Lalwen’s proposal was accepted with enthusiasm.

Eventually, Lalwen sailed back to the West with the Last Ship, together with Cirdan and Celeborn. She had seen as much of Middle Earth as there was to see, and while she did love the land, she had long since started thinking back about her homeland. Her wife, while not Eldar, had also started to get weary of a land that was more and more mortal and less and less suited for Elves, and decided that like many others of her people she also would have liked to follow the gulls.

Now, Findis, firstborn of Finwe and Indis, Princess of the Noldor, sister to the High King Arafinwe, known poet and debater, was as a general rule against violence, but when she saw her sister hop off a ship after six thousands years of no contact with a wife and apparently uncaring of having basically disappeared, her fist might have just happened to collide with Lalwen’s nose.

#finweanladiesweek #my headcanons #irime #lalwen

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arofili · 4 years

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For the character ask: all the children of Finarfin

How I feel about this character:

Finrod: charming slutty blond twink with a heart of gold. maybe that’s too much fanon and not enough canon but you can tear that characterization from my cold dead hands tbh. like yes this is King “I Killed A Werewolf With Nothing But My Teeth And The Power Of Love” but he’s also Prince “I Rap Battled With Sauron And Lost” and Lord “I Befriended Men and Dwarves Before It Was Cool”

Angrod: of all his siblings i think he’s the most… Angry Boy. he has a temper, but he’s also married with a kid (I subscribe to the Orodreth Angrodion version of canon). i think he’s the ‘oh my god why can’t any of you be NORMAL’ brother. BOTH his mother name and his father name are derived from the word for ‘iron’ - he’s got an iron personality, very strong-willed and stubborn. i also hc that he’s the only arafinwean who has Earwen’s silver hair.

Aegnor: a hopeless romantic. the dreamiest arafinwion (and that’s including artanis!). very particular about his hair (which is a WILD canon detail that i love sjdfhdk) but also has terrible fashion. his head’s always in the clouds, he’s a daydreamer, but he’s also incredibly loyal and a really good friend. he almost always listens to his heart over his head - and the fact that he and andreth never marry is the One Time he listened to logic over emotion, and that haunts him forever.

Galadriel: almost as much of a genius as Feanor and almost as humble about it, which is to say, not at all. she’s proud and stubborn and full of herself, especially in her youth - she’s also gorgeous and smart and right a lot of the time, which doesn’t help her ego. by the time she’s become Lady of Lothlorien she’s been through a lot and is much more humble and wise, but i think that comes not just from her experiences but also from being married to Celeborn the Wise. i think he balances her out very well tbh. (my favorite Galadriel characterization EVER is from this fic by @nerdanelparmandil, check it out!!)

All the people I ship romantically with this character

Finrod: I ship Finrod with anything that moves tbh….. I see him as super super gay, he and Amarie were mutual beards which is why she didn’t follow him to Endore. i am a Known Slut for Finrod/Turgon in particular, they’re kind of endgame for me, but also @raisingcain-onceagain has converted me to Finrod/Edrahil!! And while the Nargothrond Disaster Trio are in no way shape or form HEALTHY, i really really enjoy Celegorm/Curufin/Finrod content, that dynamic is delicious. i can also get down on Maedhros/Fingon/Finrod, though not really in a serious way. PLUS Finrod/Beor is very good, as is Finrod/Barahir and Finrod/Beren(/Luthien if we’re feeling spicy), and you KNOW he got busy with some dwarves! I just think he’s very free with his feelings and desires, especially after coming to Beleriand, and he takes full advantage of his freedom and position of authority to get what he wants. (not necessarily in a weird power dynamics way, though he’s into that kind of kinky shit too probably, i mean more in ‘it’s my kingdom i get to make the rules and i say No Homophobia and No Slutshaming’) - and I’m super happy to multiship with Finrod, there are verses where he’s fucking everyone and verses where he’s pining over Turgon and verses where he never even thinks about anyone other than Edrahil and etc etc etc. there’s probably even verses where he and Sauron get up to some funky shit!

Angrod: I don’t have a lot of headcanons about him and Eldalote. She has a Sindarin name, so maybe she came with him to Middle-earth - or maybe not, and he just missed her so much that he wouldn’t shut up about her and so her name was Sindarized to Edhellos. Either way I think they had a very strong relationship that ended in tragedy one way or another. I’ve also seen some fun Angrod/Caranthir enemies-to-lovers stuff, which I can get into, but I think Caranthir is aro so it’s not really my main hc.

Aegnor: i mean how can you NOT ship him and Andreth??? that relationship is just….so tragic and heartbreaking and beautiful. I like the theory that Gil-galad was their child, and he was given to Orodreth to raise because Andreth couldn’t care for an elfling and Aegnor couldn’t publicly claim a son out of wedlock. But also verses where they are just tragically pining after one another are beautiful in their own way. My headcanon is that the thing keeping them apart was less about the war going on and more about Aegnor fearing to lose her - but then he actually dies before her, and Andreth has to live with that pain. (idk if that works out timeline wise but. yeah)

Galadriel: Meladriel is very good and I enjoy that - I’ve also seen some great Galadriel/Luthien and even a Galadriel/Feanor fic I enjoyed. BUT overall i really love that she chose to marry Celeborn, a wise “dark elf” even when she’s completely out of his league - he balances her very well, and I don’t buy depictions of her walking all over him. she cares about him and he’s really good for her!

My non-romantic OTP for this character

Finrod: I ship Finrod/Turgon but also WHAT a great friendship they have!! I love that they go adventuring together :) And Finrod, Maedhros, and Fingon are so fun to imagine growing up together! Plus there’s his relationship with his nephew Orodreth, who he clearly adores, and also the fact that he’s still buddies with the Feanorians even after the first kinslaying (at Alqualonde! his home! where his mom is from!) and he’s so excited to meet new people from the Sindar to the Edain to the Dwarves. Finrod’s just EVERYONE’S friend and i appreciate that!!

Angrod: ….what if he and Caranthir used to be really close, like they are similar ages and grew up together, but then Something Happened and they started hating each other later on. that would be Very fun. also, he and Aegnor were lords together over the same land and died together, which implies they were very close - close like Celegorm and Curufin!

Aegnor: Again, he and Angrod were Best Bros which is great. I also think he’s probably beloved by Andreth’s people, he’s just this huge elf man they all kind of adopted and he’s so honored that they love him so much!

Galadriel: Melian!! obviously!! she stayed in Doriath specifically to learn from her, which is super neat. and then Gandalf in the later ages, i love whatever they have going on in the movies especially. i also think she and Celebrimbor had a weird rival-friendship i the second age, they’re both geniuses but from opposite sides of the family feud…except the family feud has killed pretty much everyone BUT them, so they come together to mourn that.

My unpopular opinion about this character

(this turned into more of ‘what are their negative personality traits’ than ‘unpopular opinions’ but whatever…)

Finrod: i’m sure he did his best but….when he was king of nargothrond he was still gallivanting all over the place. orodreth was probably More In Charge from before he was officially king…

Angrod: he’s a grade-A asshole. just a dick. mean as shit and holds grudges forever. really annoying to be around.

Aegnor: a dumbass. always listens to his heart and gets in trouble for it, until the one time he listens to his head and regrets it forever.

Galadriel: would make an EXCELLENT villain. ‘all shall love me and despair’ ? come on yall. if it had been HER versus sauron instead of Finrod (and…considering she was probably friends with Luthien, it very well could have been) i think she may have won, and im just imagining Sauron working for her, and the second and third ages going very differently with her being a Queen who everyone loves until they look back and realize she’s been corrupted and turned evil.

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

so i think canon did mostly a good job with them SO some of these are some AUs!!!

Finrod: …if he had managed to convince Celegorm and Curufin to help with the Silmaril quest–the war could have ended before the Nirnaeth, maybe. or at least gone very differently.

Angrod: im gonna physically fight tolkien over giving us practically NOTHING on the wives of various characters - tell me more about Eldalote you coward!!!!

Aegnor: JUST MARRY ANDRETH PLEASE. i’m a slut for interspecies relationships and the fact that this one is male elf/female human is SO good and frankly unprecedented in Tolkien’s works. PLEASE i need more!!!

Galadriel: FUCK that evil!Artanis AU would be REALLY cool and sexy, wouldn’t it?

#silmarillion #finrod #angrod #aegnor #galadriel #long post #silm #arafinweans #arafinwions #ask games #thanks anon!!!!#anon #answers #my meta #silm meta

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warrioreowynofrohan · 4 years

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i just read your entire blog from beginning to end. i kept on saying 'ive read enough time to do something productive,' but there was just so much good stuff :) the 'great divorce' analysis of feanor made me grin like a loon and i just never stopped. anyway. i was wondering about your thoughts on fingolfin, he's been my favorite silm character since i first muddled my way through the book ages ago but he gets very little online love and ive often wondered why

Wow! That’s extremely flattering, thank you very much!

My basic reaction to Fingolfin is the typical one of: EPIC. BADASS. The Duel of Fingolfin and Morgoth is one of my favourite passages in The Silmarillion. And there’s wonderful dramatic irony in Fingolfin being the one to fulfull his brother’s boast of Such hurt will I do to this Enemy of the Valar that even the mighty in the Ring of Doom shall wonder to hear of it. [Note to self: future post on Fëanor and his gift for misinterpreted foresight?] If Fëanor were a different kind of person, he’d be pleased by Fingolfin managing to hurt Morgoth, but given his deep resentment for his half-siblings (which could only have gotten stronger when he learned that Fingolfin had become king) it likely only increased his bitterness, as if this accomplishment were yet another thing Fingolfin had taken from him. In contrast, I think Tulkas and Oromë were very impressed, and among the first to congratulate Fingolfin when he returned to life.

Beyond that, Fingolfin strikes me as someone whose life has been very heavily characterized by duty and who has had to put aside his own feelings and desires. During the Return, he doesn’t want to leave Valinor; he ‘marches against his wisdom’, because he has promised to follow where Fëanor leads and because his people need steadier guidance than Fëanor can provide. He has been the de facto king of the Noldor for the last seven years, and that must give him a strong sense of responsibility to his people. He goes even though he’s leaving behind hus wife and, eventually, his younger brother; there’s no choice he can make that won’t involving losing some of his family, since his children are determined to go.

Why doesn’t he turn back after the burning of the ships? In part it’s because he doesn’t want to abandon his children, or to drag them back to face the judgement of the Valar (Fingon and Aredhel are both Kinslayers; given her impulsive, determined personality and her friendships with the Fëanorians I have no doubt that Aredhel fought on their part. I don’t think Fingolfin himself is a Kinslayer, as the Silmarillion never says he was and it would be a rather major omission.) In part it’s pride and rage. It’s one thing to turn back after the Doom, as Finarfin did, out of the knowledge that you’ve done wrong. It’s another thing to have been willing to do wrong, to have wanted to use the stolen ships, and to turn back only because you were denied the opportunity. There’s no morality or conscience in that, only pure humiliation. So he goes on.

And after he arrives in Middle-earth and Fingon rescues Maedhros, Fingolfin has to put aside his anger and the growing rift in his family and choose reconciliation. And he pursues it wholeheartedly, working to build cooperation not only between his followers and the Fëanorians, but between the Noldor and the Sindar (and neither the younger Fëanorians nor Thingol are making that eany easier!).

(Fingolfin knows what it feels like to have your parent choose between children; he had to experience has father responding to Fëanor’s death threats by choosing Fëanor over him. What does it cost him, I wonder, to have to choose between the wishes of his own sons; to have to tell Turgon, I know your wife is dead because of them, but we’re working with them anyway?)

I’ll conclude with some headcanons on Fingolfin in the Halls of Mandos. I think Fingolfin would be very slow to forgive Maedhros after the events of the First Age, if indeed he ever did. Precisely because he did sincerely forgive Maedhros after the rescue from Thangorodrim, and trusted him as they worked together over the later centuries, and had confidence that even after Fingolfin’s death Maedhros would continue to do what was best for Beleriand. The second and third kinslayings must have come as a horrific betrayal of that trust. (In addition to Maedhros getting Fingon killed! Maedhros, Fingolfin and Turgon are all strongly of the opinion that Maedhros is to blame for Fingon’s death; Fingon is equally vehemently of the contrary opinion.) And having give that trust before and found it to be so terribly misplaced, why would Fingolfin ever be inclined to offer it again?

(I have extensive opinions on which characters - family and otherwise - forgive Maedhros and Maglor, and when, and how; it’s a very complex and emotional process and makes up about 90% of my post-Silm headcanons.)

One more Halls headcanon, this one slightly less sad.

I think that after his death, Finwë doesn’t appear to or talk to most of his descendents in the Halls for a long time, largely out of embarassment over his parenting decisions and their consequences. (I’m getting this partly from The Leithian Script and partly from one of his lines after his death indicating that he thinks Indis wouldn’t really want to see him again, given how everything turned out.) He tries to talk to Fëanor, but Fëanor’s wrapped up in his own thoughts and not really percieving anything outside them.

But Finwë loves his grandchildren, and at some point in the Second Age he tries to talk to Aredhel. She’s having a very bad time of it and has been deeply unhappy ever since the Fall of Gondolin and the news of what her son became, and Finwë does know what it’s like to wonder how many of your childrens’ decisions are due to your parenting. So he tries to comfort her.

And Aredhel just explodes at him. AFTER A THOUSAND YEARS OF SILENCE, YOU’RE COMING AND TALKING TO ME? ME?! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW MUCH MY FATHER HAS WANTED TO SEE YOU? HOW MUCH TIME HE’S SPENT LOOKING FOR YOU? YOU LEAVE ME ALONE AND GO TALK TO HIM RIGHT. FREAKING. NOW OR SO HELP ME -

Finwë is quite taken aback and stunned enough that he actually does go talk to Fingolfin, and Fingolfin is extremely happy to talk to his father and has some valuable perspective to offer on how, after everything he and his people have seen and done in Middle-earth, sub-par parenting decisions barely even register on the list of things a person could be ashamed of. After you’ve left the bodies of your people scattered across the Ice - after you’ve had to order men into battle - after you’ve had to turn away thralls escaped from Angband because you don’t know if they’re sleeper agents - your perspective on what constitutes a difficult decision starts to shift.

The outburst also does Aredhel good because it’s the first time since the Fall of Gondolin that she’s given any thought to the well-being of anyone other than herself or Maeglin, and is thus a major step forward in reaching outside her own unhappiness and starting to heal.

#tolkien #the silmarillion #fingolfin #finwë #aredhel #maedhros #character analysis #character thoughts #headcanon #kingship

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