#Just because they weren't chomping at the bit to commit more war crimes doesn't mean they didn't still do it

[imakemywings]

There’s another draft (“the Draft”) of The Silmarillion where Amrod and Amras (then still Damrod and Diriel) primarily lead the Third Kinslaying, with Maedhros and Maglor offering “reluctant” aid, and this is fascinating to me because it offers, frankly, the most characterization of the twins we get anywhere in the Legendarium.

We know almost nothing about them and I think they often get the treatment of a youngest sibling or set of twins by the fandom which is that they’re kind of cheeky and run a bit wild but are generally amiable and comedic. The picture painted by this brief mention in the Draft is very different. It presents a much darker side to the twins which perhaps existed before, or perhaps developed only after they had been apart from their brothers for a long while in Middle-earth.

Generally I still picture Maedhros as the “leader” but the idea of Amrod and Amras driving the effort to attack the Havens at Sirion even after the events of the Second Kinslaying is quite juicy. Not only are they the champions of this effort in the Draft, Tolkien describes how they “ravaged” Sirion. They were fearsome in their efforts to regain the Silmaril, perhaps to the point that their own willingness to violence led to their deaths there. This was not “just as much violence as we need to get what we want,” this is characterized as wanton brutality, which to me smacks of revenge for the deaths of their brothers.

They would have also been likely to know that the Gondolindrim--the remnants of their cousins’ people--were there as well, but clearly this did not stay their hands, if they knew it.

There’s something narratively fascinating about the twins returning from their travels and sojourns abroad in the wilds of Middle-earth as people their brothers don’t recognize anymore, in becoming drivers of the violence that’s now taken three of their brothers. Was it an act of revenge, primarily? Did they see themselves as avenging Celegorm, Caranthir, and Curufin on the refugees of Doriath? Was it about the Silmaril? And if it was, was it about retaking something that belonged to them, or avenging their father’s murder and robbery, or just about having something to show for all the years they had been chewing over that oath?

(I come again to the fact that Melkor still possessed two Silmarils, but the Feanorians chose to pursue Luthien’s--and again I think Amrod and Amras were not out for the Silmaril, but for revenge.)

And as to Maedhros and Maglor--why allow the twins to talk them into this? Did they see no other way and so considered it a necessary evil? Was it just that Amrod and Amras were willing to suggest that they all saw as the only path? Were they unwilling to let Amrod and Amras go alone, for safety? Did Amrod and Amras convince them it was necessary to avenge their brothers, or that none of them would be at peace without Luthien’s Silmaril? And what were Maedhros and Maglor’s feelings on it in the long run, when it became clear what a mistake they had made?

I know this part didn’t make it into the published Silmarillion, so it’s deuterocanonical at best, but being as it’s basically the only evidence we have of what Amrod and Amras were like as people, I can’t help but return to it. What were the twins like? Going off this, every bit as terrifying as the rest of their brothers.

#amrod #amras #the silmarillion #tolkien tag #meta #one more book club post before the end of break #thank u to everyone in the chat for letting me ramble #also just to be super clear this is not meant to act like Maedhros and Maglor are any less culpable #Just because they weren't chomping at the bit to commit more war crimes doesn't mean they didn't still do it #they partook in the ravaging of the refugee camp at Sirion #mine