#let galadriel be a grandmother

[hollowwhisperings]

Justice For Celebrian!

Celebrian is a Character of Absence in Tolkien's Legendarium: we never truly meet her and yet her absence lingers throughout the text, affecting most every major actor of the Third Age (the eldar most of all).

How-so it this? Through this: the devastating grief, unspoken yet doubtless, of those who knew & loved her.

For Celebrian was this: to Celeborn & Galadriel, their daughter and only child; to Elrond, the Great Love of his life; to Elladan & Elrohir, a mother whom they failed to quickly rescue; to Arwen Undomiel, the mother whom she was never to meet again for choosing the Path of Man.

Celebrian was the Lady of Imladris, the princess in all but name to Lothlorien. She was kin to two Ringbearers and yet neither Ring could save her. We know only that she was gentle and beloved, by some of the most crucial players in the events of the Second & Third Ages of Middle-Earth.

Why Celebrian is Absent

Celebrian's status as one "beloved" by the eldar creates a formidable motive in their hatred of The Shadow. For the means by which Celebrian was "absented" from Middle-Earth was entirely of Its Reckoning: in the 2509th Year of the Third Age, Celebrian was "waylaid by orcs". She was "captured and tormented" until she was, at last, found and rescued by her twin sons.

This Fate is one of Horrific Implication, one that Tolkien's Appendix B avoids elaborating upon (beyond her "receiving a poisoned wound").

Fans have Imagination Enough to consider what Hurts could be beyond even Lord Elrond's means to Heal, beyond any of Galadriel's many powers, beyond the careful comforts found in Imladris & Lothlorien. Whatever befell Celebrian by the creations of Sauron, it left her so wounded that Sailing West (& thus Away from most everyone she had ever known) was her only Hope for recovery.

"Justice" within the Legendarium

The Fate of Celebrian was yet one blow more in a long list of Personal Grievances borne by her Kin against Sauron. The vigilance and ample assistance of Celebrian's Kin during the War of The Ring was undoubtedly inspired, in no small part by her Fate & subsequent Departure.

While Elrond & Galadriel would doubtlessly have aided The Fellowship without this most recent grievance to drive them, the otherwise reclusive eldar of Imladris & Lothlorien would certainly have found Celebrian's Fate "inspiring" enough to take arms once more, "postponing" (or hastening) their Leave of Middle-Earth to seek Justice for their Lost Lady.

"Injustices" in Adapted Works

The Injustices that adapted Tolkien works have done unto Celebrian are many: they have erased her very existence (TROP); they have denied her her Epic & Untold Love Story with her Husband (TROP, again); they have Lessened the person she chose to love by making him a Minor Antagonist (both of PJ's film trilogies); they have stolen the kinship between other characters that they share for her existence (PJ's trilogies imply her existence but fail to utilize its possibilities, many of them comical: Elrond is Galadriel's Son-in-Law; Gimli's Championship of "Grandma Galadriel"; Arwen's Looks being inherited not from Celebrian but from Elrond; etc).

The effects the Live-Action Adaptions have had on the Modern Tolkien Fandom are also Significant: Hugo Weaving's portrayal of Elrond is the most commonly known, despite its OOC-ness; the relationships between Celebrian's Family are unrealised or dismissed; the "Last Homely House", a title probably earned by Elrond & Celebrian both, is considered falsely named; the Many Incentives for Galadriel to Hate Sauron & to have ALWAYS Hated Sauron are... forgotten to enable a "will-they won't-they" romance(???).

To erase Celebrian is to remove from the Second Age one of its silliest love stories: she & Elrond were silently pining for each other for almost 2000 years! This surely amused her mother, who had become afflicted with Sea-Longing some few years prior, & caused Conflict at the Court of King Gil-Galad (for, by wedding Celebrian, Elrond's Claims for High Kingship of the Eldar would become even stronger). The politics are, perhaps, the primary purpose of the would-be couple's long silence: audiences do not know as the potential of their love story has had little attention dedicated to it.

Injustice to Celebrian exists also in the mischaracterization of Elrond: what impression must an audience have, afterall, of the one to love & be beloved by someone so antagonistic to those most in need of "The Last Homely House"? The hostility, the begrudging "hospitality" exhibited by the Elrond of PJ's film trilogies tarnishes not only Elrond but the Legacy of Celebrian as that House's Lost Lady.

(It also creates some varyingly minor/major Plot Holes, such as Elrond's ability to host a Council of the "Free Peoples" in the first place. If his hospitality is so poorly to non-elves, why on Arda would he so frequently be sought for counsel? Furthermore, the Elrond of the Third Age has made himself a Healer: how many elves of this Age would ever need his skill?)

More, varyingly serious charges of "injustice" to Celebrian are sure to follow: my discontent began in the rendering of her husband into a petty antagonist; it has been reignited upon my learning of Amazon's choices in its adapting of the Second Age. Mostly, however, my rallying cry is made in jest: "failures" of adaptions to make Elrond sufficiently pretty for his wife; the lack of "Celebrian/Elrond" content in tumblr feeds; melodrama over how many elven names start with "Celeb".

#celebrian #tolkien meta #silm #house of elrond #elrond meta #galadriel meta #justice for celebrian #let elrond be hot #let galadriel be a grandmother #let gil-galad have headaches over the political clustercluck possible were elrond to ever admit to pining for celevrian #srsly how stressful must it been for gil-galad when maglor tagged him as elrond's new guardian? #maglor: i found this in a cave plz look after them #gil-galad: the missing princes of doriath??? #elrond&elros: so when will you be abandoning us for a silmaril? #gil-galad: oh no they have anxiety #i wonder how elrond reacted to hearing galadriel gifted gimli three strands of her hair #srsly the guy was abandoned by parents over silmarils THREE TIMES #and then people started calling his daughter evenstar & luthien reborn #i imagine that celebrian spent most of her kids' early childhood pointedly telling them that she loved them more than the stars #and keeping her mother from going around in her recreated swanboat #galadriel sending the fellowship off from a swanboat while singing in quenya was peak pettiness at the valar #her exile was lifted so she just went all in with noldolante references #celeborn: why are you like this #galadriel: do you remember where i put that tunic with a star of feanor on it #galadriel powerhoused through the entire exile powered by spite & thirst for celeborn

[tanoraqui]

queenship under siege and there's a WHAT in this mountain?! (LotR)

[re: badly described WIPs fics I almost certainly will never actually write - in the lead with 17.5% of the vote as of midnight 3/3/24]

I know I’ve said this before, because I do love it so, but:

The only reason, the ONLY reason, I would ever want the Arkenstone to be a Silmaril is this: the day after Aragorn leaves Rivendell with the Fellowship, Elrond summons Arwen to his study and bids her to go to Erebor.

"What?" she demands. "Surely I am needed here, or out in the wilds, marshaling the Rangers - "

"Your brothers will manage that, after they escort you," her father insists. "You must go to Erebor, and ask Dain to let you open Thorin's tomb, that you may look upon the Arkenstone. Gloin will help you - I spoke with him ere he left. Don't let anyone else know your purpose - as far as the world is concerned, I am sending my only daughter to a safe stronghold until Mordor is defeated."

"Are you not?" she cries. But he will explain no more than, "I think the jewel may be important to our oncoming war, but I wish you to assess it unbiased" - and he gives her two letters to read only once she's made her own judgement of the jewel.

So Arwen goes. The Misty Mountains are crawling with orcs, but in cloaks woven by their grandmother, she and her brothers slip through with only a few close calls. Elrohir and Elladan don't know why she's going even a little, save that their father bade it and (he said) their grandmother supported it. The problem with having Elrond for a father and Galadriel for a grandmother is that, while technically they may each be wrong at times (allegedly), in agreement they never are.

It's nice to have what may be one last journey with her brothers, at least. All three of them know that Elladan and Elrohir will soon be in battle alongside their cousins the Dúnedain, and for all Erebor's strength, it will soon be under attack. Rivendell might soon be under attack. Lothlórien might soon be under attack.

The twins leave almost as soon as the three of them arrive; they have other work to do. Dain barely protests letting Arwen mildly exhume his cousin in order to assess the famous jewel - he doesn't quite like letting an elf(ish person) near the Heart of the Mountain, but he is very worried about the black-armored army lurking across the River Carnen, and respects the wisdom of Elrond and his immediate kin.

Arwen sees the Arkenstone sitting calmly in the hands of of the fallen king, and she sees it clutched in the burning hand of a no-longer-king, fallen free from a twisted iron crown, stolen over a king's bloody body, hallowed by a Queen, forged in a fire like the world never saw again... It glows softly; its light matches that of the small crystal that hangs around her neck now, one of a set of three.

[Here me out: Galadriel made three: one for Celebrian and Elrond as a wedding gift, jointly from herself and Eärendil; one for thw twins upon their birth, and one for Arwen upon hers. Celebrian left hers behind when she Sailed; Galadriel gives it to Frodo.]

The letters are from Elrond and Galadriel, respectively. They say much the same thing:

I'm so sorry to spring this on you, and to make you a guardian of this secret

If the Ringbearer's quest fails and the Enemy regains his full power, please take the jewel (as freely giving by the dwarves if at all possible) and use it however you can to save everyone and everything that you can. (Elrond's says, "My parents will help as much as they can. Do not hesitate to ask for their or any other aid." Galadriel's says, "If you seek Undying Shores with mortals in tow, for succor or for more active aid, hold the Jewel high and beseech first Ulmo and his spirits, and then every single kin-relation you have, no matter the connection. Once you rouse the general populace, then approach the Valar - though don't appear to delay.)

Galadriel's says, "Círdan knows to potentially expect you." Elrond wrote, "If you see your mother before I do", stopped there and blotted it out.

Neither of them needs to say, We will hold the line, to buy you as much time as we can. Both say "I love you", "I'm sorry", and variations on, "I know you can do this."

Arwen made the Choice of Elros several decades ago: to live among Men as a Man, to take up queenship of a people at the start of a new Age of the World and rule until most of those she loved most had passed and it was time to follow as a Man. Now she faces the Choice of Elwing: to leave most of those she loved the most for dead and flee with Silmaril in hand and only the hope of the impossible to save a doomed continent.

(Or, if she was optimistic, the Choice of Lúthien: to face down the Lord of Death and demand back one single most beloved [for Aragorn could not live while Sauron triumphed], and steal him away for many peaceful decades ere doom fell entirely, their own best efforts done. But Lúthien had been, in her glorious way, very selfish, and Arwen was not.)

The reason I haven't started writing this fic and probably never will is that I have a perfect sense of what I believe kids call the vibes - the mood, the tone, themes, the visual and emotional aesthetic - and none of actual, like, events of the story.

It's about Arwen's final trial of leadership and diplomacy, before she (hopefully) takes up a throne of Gondor, being living with Dwarves for three months under threat and then fact of war. Helping in the infirmary. Participating in strategy discussions, because war isn't her area of expertise but she has participated a few times, in her nearly 3,000 years of life. Mediating as a neutral party on inevitable conflicts between Dwarves the Men, especially in the last week and a half when they're under high stress while besieged together with two kings dead in the field.

Carrying a torch in the deep corridors of the Mountain because she's Mannish enough not to see naturally in the dark. Standing extra watches because she's Elvish enough to see well in starlight, especially if the Star in question is her grandfather; and getting scouting reports from the local thrushes, because they're talkative and Melian's heirs have always had a knack for the speech of birds.

Busying herself with sewing a banner for Aragorn, with jewel-stars and a crown of mithril and gold - for her elders have appointed her as their last hope, and she shall hold it for them and for all the people she can save if in the end she must; but her Estel fights in the field. The night the armies of Mordor cross the river to strike at Dale, she stands on the summit of the Lonely Mountain and calls a friend among the Eagles, who takes the finished banner in her talons and bears it south to where Arwen's brothers and cousins ride to Aragorn's side.

(She shares dreams with him sometimes - but she must keep secret a thought that beats in her like a heartbeat, and he must devote all his thought to the quest and the war. So they don't speak much.)

It's about the crushing weight of history and legacy and the very practical matters of running a kingdom in duress. It's about multicultural exchange. It's about love and hope and a hundred different OCs, most of whom will never be recorded in history books even if they die heroically or steal siege-stores to sell on the black market, or simply live and thus deserve to do so. It's about hard work and mortality.

It's about how 77 years after the Battle of Five Armies, Dain II Ironfoot swings his axe until he falls defending the body of Brand King of Dale, son of Baird son of Bard the Dragonslayer, and their people all take refuge in the Mountain together; and Arwen tends the wounded with the Songs she learned from her father and the neat stitches her mother taught her for first cloth, then skin; and she walks among the frightened people - none of them remotely her people; Dwarves and entirely common Men, mostly descended from easterners migrating slowly west - and knows that if these are all she can save, she will gladly die or live as she must in order to do so; and the people hearken a little to see her pass by with starlight in her eyes and on her breast.

And then - after an eternity of painful anticipation, after what feels like no time at all - the Shadow passes, and the wait and tension abruptly lift.

They very much do still have to go defeat that army before the gates, though.

#my fic #lotr #lord of the rings #arwen #arwen undomiel

[annoyinglandmagazine]

Years Of Imitating Mastery, Have Only Made Me A Better Thief

Summary: There was a look in his eyes, a sorrowful longing that he was more familiar with than he would like to be. He didn’t look like Nimloth, not really. Or Elrond and Celeborn angst for Day 3: Extended Family @tolkienfamilyweek

Celeborn had avoided him thus far; nothing obvious or malicious, he was always perfectly civil, but over time it was hard to ignore that when they brushed past each other their eyes never met, that he always seemed to filter out of a room when the others present grew too thin to act as buffers between them, that he didn’t seem fully at ease when Elrond’s gaze rested on him on the rare occasions they did exchange pleasantries.

It didn’t bother him. It didn’t. He had dealt with far worse rejection than the polite avoidance of some distant relative he’d never known. It wasn’t as if Celeborn seemed to distrust him, he had never seemed wary when Elrond was to lead beside him in battle (which was more than he could say for certain Sindar). Occasionally disapproving to be sure but that could easily fall into the category of people who questioned the ethics of letting someone his age fight at all, which he did not mind on principle considering those people were probably right.

On one occasion he could have sworn he saw him flinch momentarily at the eight pointed star on the hilt of his sword when Elrond had been sharpening it over his knee; he had a right to that of course, they all did. It was no one’s fault, not really, it just was.

He rifled through his journal, leather dyed forest green with thick swathes of creamy paper, different shades, textures and scents betraying the way he’d been clipping things into it once the original piece had run out some 30 years previously. He’d have started using a new one, he could certainly afford to, but this had been the first thing he’d been given for no ostensible reason other than that he may like it (he’d gone with Maglor to gather some supplies and he’d assumed it was a ledger for official matters yet he’d come home to find it resting on his pillow. It had been seven silver coins, he remembered that still). He liked to have some reason to carry it around with him so he could remind himself that for reasons beyond his understanding he had been loved by those who were not meant to be capable of it.

At present he was searching for a particular section, the notes he had accumulated over a few particular Avari dialects, as if the few minutes before he needed to be the picture of composure and a fountain of diplomatic knowledge by the High King’s side would give him anymore conversational skill in some of the only languages he had never heard spoken. Still he could not take his page of verb conjugations into the banquet so best try while he could.

‘I hope I’m not interrupting?’ Elrond stifled a sigh and shut the journal on his desk, resigned to his fate of not understanding everything said in discussions for the first time since he came into Gil Galad’s service.

He turned to meet the gaze of his visitor ‘Not at all, was there something you needed Lord Celeborn?’

Rather than an answer he got another question, he should have been used to it after living with elves so long but it still grated at his edainic sensibilities. ‘Are you content in Lindon?’

Well what was he to make of that? Could it be political somehow, Celeborn and Galadriel had seemed pleased enough with Gil Galad’s position but who could begin to parse the web of complexities of their manoeuvrings? ‘Very, my lord. Gil Galad has been exceedingly welcoming and there is no one more worthy of my loyalty.’ Perhaps a little on the defensive side but not nearly as confrontational as he had the slight reputation for being at times.

He did not seem to take offence, smiling, ever so slightly unsure, and pausing before speaking again in a tone almost too gentle to be heard, ‘I’m glad to hear it. You remind me greatly of your grandmother, you know.’

There was a look in his eyes, a sorrowful longing that he was more familiar with than he would like to be. He didn’t look like Nimloth, not really. He’d seen paintings of her, talked to others who had met her, never had any similarity been apparent or commented on. Everyone always said the same thing, Luthien dominated leaving only the barest trace of anything else to be found by those who saw only what they wished to see. Elrond decided to be kind and turned to compose himself by fixing the braids bound above his head, hair black as a void, thick and wavy, as far as you could get from the smooth curtain of silver depicted on the statues of Celeborn’s long lost cousin.

He was interrupted out of his musings by Celeborn hesitantly moving forward to stand in front of him. ‘I- thought that you might like to have this. I guessed that you might not have many things from Doriath.’ In his outstretched hand was a hair clasp, beautiful in its elegance, emerald green coloured glass shaping interlocking leaves and blossoms.

He spoke, only confirming what Elrond already knew, ‘It was her’s.’ This was all he had of her and he was giving it away to someone he barely knew, someone who had never met the elleth he was clearly mourning deeply.

‘Really, lord Celeborn, I cannot accept-’

He placed it into his hand and gently closed Elrond’s fingers around it as if they were delicate, more delicate than the glass itself, liable to be snapped if handled too roughly. Celeborn had seen him rip an orc’s arm out of it’s socket once. He got the feeling that he had tried to forget that, it would complicate matters, make it harder to pretend he was that pale silver haired girl laughing among the trees and muddying her dresses by playing in the riverbanks trying to drag him along with her with childish pleading. Elrond wished once again that images and snatches did not cross from others to him so naturally. Without the confirmation he could have pretended as well.

‘Please. It is yours by right.’ They stood there for a moment, both uncertain but Celeborn hiding it a great deal better.

‘Would you like me to show you how to use it?’ Celeborn smiled at him. It was a nice smile, fond and soft, one you would give a favoured nephew of about ten, not an estranged cousin raised by your worst enemies and trained in all manner of brutal warfare. One he might have given an Elrond raised in the Havens of Sirion, a sweet and naive youth who had never come into being. Is that who Celeborn was choosing to see before him? The perfect Sindarin prince who had died many times since the siege of Sirion, who had perhaps never existed in the first place but who could know now?

Elrond nodded slowly and sank down in front of his mirror obediently; Celeborn gently pulled out the gold pins holding his hair in tight braids about his head and found the brush to slowly smooth out the kinks. Did he breathe easier when the Noldorin patterns were no longer visible or was it just Elrond’s imagination prescribing motives to kindness because that at least was familiar to him. He thought he could feel some satisfaction as the last one unwound; the mark of his ‘captors’ gone from an ellyn Celeborn wished to see as one of his own people.

He found himself wishing for one terrible moment that he could be who Celeborn so clearly wanted, that the complexities could be so easily brushed away with fond and comforting strokes. That maybe if he was Celeborn would stay for a few moments longer; he was gathering his hair in his hands and plaiting pieces of it back from his face patiently, genuinely trying to show him how so he could replicate it. He remembered hearing somewhere that Celeborn and Galadriel had a young daughter and thought fancifully if this was how he was with her. He’d had many families already and it seemed unfair to ache for another when all that he touched burned away in his palm. He wanted nonetheless.

It had been long since he’d felt someone smoothing his hair so gently and the warmth of the gesture made him ache and want to claw desperately and seize at this warmth that seemed so close to genuine affection until he looked up at Celeborn’s face and something in his eyes made the hopeful smile growing on his face falter. He had that far off gaze again, the melancholy one he’d known earlier that told him he was not truly here. He was in Doriath or in Sirion, with Nimloth, Luthien, Elwing or perhaps with a son that belonged to Elrond’s mother and no other.

As a solitary tear slipped past Celeborn’s cheek and was quickly brushed away he decided with a growing weariness that Celeborn needed this more than he did. Elrond was kind above all, a conscious decision for kindness’s sake and a selfish, childish impulse that still believed that if he was more obliging, more helpful, more sweet, more loveable they would stop leaving. One day. When Celeborn was visiting he wore his hair like he’d shown him and dressed in flowing silver, grey and white, certain brooches, necklaces, circlets and weapons left pointedly in his chambers.

He spoke Sindarin perfectly of course, when he sung in it there was no trace of who had taught him to do so. Maglor Feanorian was, rather ironically, entirely forgotten when he sang, no one questioned where he might have learned to manipulate the nature and possibly, some murmured, people around him despite how obvious it should have been that there was one particular bard infamous for using those exact techniques. After all with his ebony waves down to his knees, bright eyes and distinct otherness that could only be Maiarin why should his skill at Song be worth commenting on?

He still smiled brightly when Celeborn kissed his forehead in greeting or complimented and offered advice (generally very good when not affiliated with the Kazhad in any way) on his diplomatic endeavours. The snatches of that girl were never far from Celeborn’s mind when Elrond smiled. Was this all he was, a poor substitute for a thousand different people, a corrupted reflection from a mirror of other people’s regrets? Was it even right to resent it when as Celeborn’s hands had started running through his hair for one moment he’d closed his eyes and wished them to be those of a kinslayer? Even as the warmth he craved lingered in his chest it was replaced with a gnawing emptiness, even greater than before. But Elrond was kind so he smiled as if nothing was amiss.

#Tolkienfamilyweek #silmarillion #tolkien #Lotr #lord of the rings #elrond peredhel #celeborn

[istaricelebelasse]

Arwen is less sure of herself. Less sure of her place in the world, more willing to doubt.

She listens to her family; to her father and brothers, to the one she would marry. They tell her to sail, to leave the shores of the only home she has ever known, to return to the mother she has not seen in centuries.

(Her grandmother says nothing. Galadriel cannot see the path her only granddaughter will take, but she is selfish enough to hope that they will not be forever parted.)

And if everyone is saying one thing is it difficult not to listen.

Difficult not to agree.

She sets a single foot into the boat and something tears inside her. Something solidifies just as something breaks.

She freezes, doubt taking hold. For a moment she thinks about turning back, about returning to her home and waiting for news of her love.

But those who travel with her are prepared. They distract her, bring her into the ship, and do not let her doubt.

It is only when they pass the Isle of Himling, when the last of the shore fades and Arwen knows that she is sailing over the once realms of her kin that the doubt truly takes force. That she finally changes her mind.

It is too late.

Sand as smooth as pearl and scattered with jewels awaits her. As beautiful and as final as her grandmother’s songs said.

A crowd waits for her on the docks. Family she has never met, family who were only legends and bedtime tales to her and her brothers.

(How many times had they played at being Finrod and the wolf? How many times had they played War of Wrath and fought over the roles of their grandparents?)

She greets her mother first. She tries not to resent just how relieved her mother is to see her.

She knows that Celebrian had feared that Sailing would mean never seeing any of her children again.

More family gather around her and it takes every single one of her grandfather’s lessons not to spit and snarl when they try to say how glad they are to see the Choice she made.

(Galadriel never taught her how to hide. She showed her how to slip a blade between ribs with a smile, how to weave enchantment and horror and hold herself as a Queen.)

And then Arwen sees her great grandfather, a mortal in a land of immortals, and something that was broken inside her starts to heal.

Tuor was allowed to sail, for love of an elf-maid, for deeds of valour, as a favour to the Valar.

And if Tuor was allowed to sail, what is to keep her Aragorn from sailing?

Arwen takes her grandmother’s lessons and begins to plot.

(For it was not only the Noldor tales which she had played as a child.)

#arwen undomiel #lotr #silm #tolkien #galadriel

[arafinweanappreciation]

Oh no, you just summoned many Orodreth fans with your wonderful post. That's me lmaoo. Can we also get a baby Orodreth interactions with his family/relatives? I'm thirsty for that shit.

there are many worse things that could be summoned lol. demons, the ghost of feanor, discourse blogs... anyway

like most kids, orodreth likes to be Included in Grown-Up Activities. most of the time this is adorable and harmless and just results in him sitting next to finrod in the library with a picture book, attempting to help turgon with city planning with his building blocks, or "assisting" various members of the household staff (who do genuinely find him helpful sometimes). other times it is less harmless and results in a pack of panicking adults chasing him across the beach because he has decided to join his grandmother on a swim well beyond the shallows

he's the only child in the family at that time (other than celebrimbor, who he doesn't meet until much later), so he gets kinda bored. this occasionally results in him terrorizing the pets. and mousers. and the hunting dogs. edalote is at her wits' end. angrod mostly thinks it's funny.

he inherited his mom's eyes, which in any other family would be barely anything to comment on. problem being that edalote has these piercing purplish-silver eyes and it's very disconcerting. galadriel will be reading to him and them look up and find him staring into her soul.

he LOVES oranges and there are a few orchards right around aqualonde, so most seasons angrod and edalote will take him down there to pick some. angrod in particular likes to hold him up to let him help.

his other favorite thing is having his hair brushed and/or braided. being raised in a large extended family, he has no problem walking up to the nearest adult and demanding exactly that

aegnor isn't super good with little kids so he has no idea what to do with orodreth before he can hold a conversation or play catch. he has some notion that he wants to be the fun uncle, esp since he and angrod are super close, but what is he supposed to do??? just??? hang out???? is that something toddlers do??? someone please help him

eventually someone mentions that it's good for kids to get tossed around some bc it helps with their development and aegnor is DELIGHTED. this is how he, argon, and fingon end up playing catch with their nephew. as in he is the thing being caught. this is what finally causes angrod to go "wait nO-" for once in his life

orodreth also ends up being the subject of some linguistic experiments by finrod. this is why he can read at an almost prodigiously young age. this is also why he has such a weird vocabulary

Earwen takes him to explore tide pools once and it Does Not End Well. he still hates crabs

He keeps getting all kinds of outdoorsy/jock-ish stuff as gifts (toy hunting bows, tack about the right size for a small child on ponies, riding boots, etc) but he shows very little interest in doing anything outside besides playing pretend and helping finarfin garden

[legitimatesatanspawn]

What if Beren and Luthien were genderbent?

Ooh, that's an interesting question.

Now, forewarning: this is just a bunch of theories and personal thoughts on the matter so don't take this as canon. It is rooted in what we do know of the families involved and a bit in how social structures work in the setting, but in this case it is completely me talking out of hand about this.

Names. This is a big thing to me because I love names and this will help me keep the idea separate from canon. Luthien is Quenyan for "flower-daughter" so let's go with one of the Quenyan suffixes for males… Luthion sounds good if a bit too on the nose. Another option for flower are Lot/Loth from Ninquelótë, Númellótë, and Vingilot. So Lótëmon? Now Beren was named after his maternal grandfather, but since I don't know his grandmother's name we'll go up the tree for his great-grandmother Adanel. I'm guessing his mother Emeldir got naming rights to go with Beren instead of him getting named after Bregor. Admittedly Lotemon and Adanel might not roll off as easily as Luthien and Beren but they work for this post.

Brief Discussion of Upbringing: Beren and Luthien Beren, or Adanel now as this will be easier. While Artanis (or Galadriel as we know her) is the biggest Noldorian female who stands out in my memory with the next one being Nerdanel who was the wife of Feanor who deserves her own loredump post, the laws of succession in Numenor which in turn are basically spread to the civilizations of Man to varying degrees in the known lands of Middle Earth are cribbed off of those of the Noldor. Which is why I'm bringing two Noldor elves up here. Basically titles go paternally to the nearest male descendant although in the case of a female eldest child she still receives family heirlooms as her birthright. (Doesn't make up for it but whatever.) Although I do remember there being a case where there were several older daughters onto whom one of the Numenorian kings tried to pass the title to but their grandmother spooked them like some grammas tend to do, so they refused and the title went to their younger brother. Now here's the fun bit: Beren's mother (much like Luthien's Melian) Emeldir is a BAMF. Her name and her title both basically were "the man-hearted woman". So Emeldir without doubt kicked ass, lived to at least 50 going by the events surrounding Dagor Bragollach (the Battle of Sudden Flame), and I like to think she raised Beren to understand important stuff like consent and a refusal being just that. So while I think that "Adanel" would be treated just as Beren would, she wouldn't get exactly the same equal treatment. But given her mother, her father would likely try anyway. So Beren's life as a woman would be largely unchanged. Luthien, or as she'll be here "Lótëmon", is still the only child of Thingol and Melian. Still half-maia, still likely beautiful and fairer beyond everything. Still probably has a thing for tall, broad shouldered, and golden-brown half-feral people spotted in the forest. Maybe a little more leeway when it comes to things and hopefully not kidnapped (which would mean no Huan) but considering he'll still be Beautiful and how beauty is often coveted in the setting… I suspect that "Lotemon" will also live largely the same life.

Quest and Future Rather than demanding the Silmaril as the brideprice, perhaps it is instead just a proof of strength or resoluteness or something. Again, Thingol would've probably thought Beren/"Adanel" would actually be able to do it but the sheer balls to go through with it and return with that damn bold claim of it being indeed still in hand when they return… The knockoff effects for the future will be different though. Luthien and Beren's story was fairly unusual and set the stage for an elf choosing a mortal, and a mortal pursing something dangerous in the name of love. A man may be viewed as brave in some societies/civilizations by their fellow men while a woman instead deemed foolish for the same actions which is disgusting but there it is. A woman using beauty to bewitch her enemies would be 'sexy' while a man doing the same would be different and perhaps seen as underhanded. Although it would be one of the goodside counterparts to Sauron's wiles and paint the idea that cleverness such as that is not always in service of selfish cruelty. It's possible that instead of singing of Luthien's beauty they'd be singing of "Lotemon" and his cunning. There's also some slightly different implications of the mortal woman dying and waiting for her love who when he joins her has to fight for the right for them to stay together in death or in life. This also means that Thingol taking in Turin would have a few more connotations of replacing his lost son instead of caring for a second child who is different from his daughter. So maybe Turin would be even more eager to run out to fight since he doesn't want to be seen as a pale shadow to "Lotemon".

TLDR Different names, slightly different upbringings, somewhat different after effects, but since the Song is a thing and the Silmarils are still a big big thing with the characters then the story would likely stay largely the same.

#lore dump #lore post #the silmarillion #tolkien #beren and luthien #beren #beren erchamion #luthien tinuviel #thingol #overthinking again #melian #genderbend #gender bias #turin #turin turambar #why do i overthink things #overthinking #i could had just said i think they'd be the same #but noooooo #i thought i posted this #hope you see this anon

[laoih]

Some thoughts on the newly released images of Amazon's "The Rings of Power"

After the recently released covers for Empire Magazine, we know also have images from the article in HD – and I have want to briefly write a few thoughts about them. There is good and bad in these images, but for me the overall tendency is still negative.

But let's go into details, and start with the Harfoots:

Compared to the Hobbits in the Shire, these images indeed give the impression of a society from an earlier time in their development, and a more simplly structured society. The Harfoots aren't supposed to be the Hobbits from the Shire, and the images show that. In that regard they look fine. From a design point of view my main issue is are the leaves in people's hair, and Sadoc's hair looks ridiculous.

Content-wise it's more difficult. I love Tolkien's Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, but I have no interest in the Harfoots, especially not in the Second Age. Maybe the show will make me care about one of these characters eventually, but so far these images don't spark the tiniest interest.

In addition to the other four images with Harfoots, a fifth was included and it's just too much. I'll happily that the design of these lamps is beautiful, and the lightning could be nice with the sun shining through the trees – but it's already a bit too yellow, and the character designer here just looks weird. It already feels like a scene that you'd skip in a hypothetical rewatch.

Then there is the human Halbrand:

Just like the first time we saw him, it's remarkable how I just feel nothing about him when I see this image. The only thing I noticed once again that his clothes seem weird; this time it's because there seem several suns printed on his shirt, and they don't seem to be drawn (too similar and symmetrical). That feels off, but maybe that's just me.

Next up is Arondir:

This image has good lightning as well, and it looks kinda cool because Ismael Cruz Córdova looks cool. However, the character design itself still baffles me – the short hair on Elves won't ever agree with me and I would have loved to see how cool this shot would have been if Arondir would've had long hair. In addition, the more I look at the clothes the more I get a kind of Roman style from them that I'll discuss further below, and that's not a style choice for the Elves I appreciate.

In the image with Arondir, Bronwyn and Theo (I assume), and while Nazanin Boniadi is a beautiful woman the character design doesn't do anything for me either. As for Theo – it's an unlucky still for him, the facial expression just makes him look kind of goofy. I wonder what made them pic this still.

Now we get to some characters that are actually know from Tolkien's writings. Let's start with the two characters that disappointed me the most in terms of character design – Elrond and Gelebrimbor:

Elrond's character design had already been released before, so it's not much of a surprise. However, the image strengthened my belief that I just can't get used to the character design. For Celebrimbor I feared the worst, and unfortunately these fears were confirmed.

Neither Elrond nor Celebrimbor look anything like I imagined these characters to look, and based on the reactions I have seen many fans share the sentiment.

Both with unusual short hair, and Elrond seems too young while Celebrimbor is too old. Elves are supposed to look ageless, and after a little while you won't see much difference between them anymore. Peter Jackson's movies did that right: Legolas and his father Thranduil basically look the same, age-wise. The same goes for Arwen and her grandmother Galadriel.

Not so this show: for someone being at least about a thousand years old (as confirmed by the Empire Magazine article), Elrond looks way too young – something caused by the weirdly modern character design because the actor would otherwise have the right age. Celebrimbor on the other hand looks older than any ageless Elf should look, and nothing about him resembles even closely the image of a famous smith and craftsman.

Both character designs lack the inherent beauty that the Elves should have in general. There may be a statement in this somewhere about beauty, but if the show's creators don't want to depict Elves as beautiful, maybe they should have picked a different series altogether. This beauty is simply a prominent feature of the Elves when compared to Mankind.

To summarize my rant: Elrond and Celebrimbor are two very important characters in the history of Middle-earth, and in my eyes the show butchered their casting and character designs completely.

So, what about Gil-galad?

Oh, where to begin? Many fans seem happy about this character design. Unfortunately, I'm not.

It starts with all the gold: Gil-galad is famously associated with silver as his heraldic device shows silver stars on blue. Then there is the golden wreath: the wreath itself looks crude and lacks any Elvish elegance or finesse, and reminds me way too much of Caesar. It also looks uninspired and makes me miss Thranduil's leaf crown from Peter Jackson's The Hobbit.

Truth to be told: I'm not happy about the casting either. In this image, I don't see the last High King of the Noldor, I rather see a friendly but naive neighbor questioning his Caesar cosplay in the mirror.

The article writes:

"Also different is Gil-Galad, the last High King Of The Ñoldor in later years, slightly less sure on his feet as this less-seasoned Second Age ruler."

What later years? Gil-galad has had the time to be High King of the Ñoldor for at least thousand years, and he has lived through the First Age. With Elendil already in the picture at this time, there aren't many more seasons he'll get!

Another still with beautiful lightning – however, the details are once again frustrating. The weird golden wreaths are repeated here, and especially with the short haired Elves this looks even more like a meeting of Caesar cosplayers now. Then there is the dumb idea to dress these characters in long wide robes with even longer capes, only to add plate armour on top of it. What are they supposed to do like this? At best this is purely ceremonial, because this is neither pleasent to wear nor is it practical to fight in. I can't stop scratching my head because it doesn't make any sense to me.

In this image now, I like the atmosphere. The forst with the golden lamps, it looks beautiful. I just wish we could edit out the characters in it, because it reminds me once again how disappointing the character designs of Elrond and Celebrimbor turned out to be, and how Benjamin Walker doesn't seem kingly to me at all in what we have seen so far. In addition: why are some of the female Elves in the corners veiled?

To end on a positive note: you can hardly go wrong with landscape stills.

In summary: most of the character designs are disappointing for me, and the majority of the actors seem miscast so far. This is not to slight the actors – I'm sure they are good actors and will do their best, but I based on what I've seen so far I don't think they fit Tolkien's characters as I imagine them. Of course everyone will have their own version in their heads, but I think from what we see they don't seem to fit what little we have of the characters' descriptions from Tolkien, either.

Overall, the style and the atmosphere just don't feel like Middle-earth so far. They made the point often enough: they don't want to copy the movies in order to avoid being compared to them. Well, they are still being compared with them – simply because the movies, in a way, managed to capture a feeling that felt like the world Tolkien was describing in his work, while the Amazon series tries to update the show with modern looks, fantasy-atypical elements and and overall to strong emphasis on look-we-are-doing-our-own-thing. Bringing new ideas to the table is fine. However, subverting so many expecations in such a huge way may not be a good strategy. Game of Thrones had to learn that about their series final season plot. Maybe Amazon's The Rings of Power has to learn this about the series' design – but based on their interviews it's doubtful they ever listened.

#LOTRROP #LOTR ROP #The Rings of Power #Rings of Power #LOTR on prime #Elrond #Celebrimbor #Gil-galad #Arondir #lotr rop critical #random thoughts

[runawaymun]

Ok, but do you know what daddy!Elrond means? It means grandmother!Galadriel and grandfather!Celeborn and I just… IMAGINE! Galadriel would become the mother figure in your life after Celebrían sails to Valinor and would be all sweet and soft (and totally look into her mirror and tell you a thing or two, even though she probably shouldn't do it. But she can't help it, she just wants the best for you!). And Celeborn wouldn't be any better. He simply can't say no to any of his grandchildren. Whenever you had to leave again, he would have the most heartbroken smile on his face. He's really awful at saying goodbye and wants you you to stay forever. But of course, he lets you go again.

I just... I love dad!Elrond Imagines but I can't help but wonder what Galadriel and Celeborn would be like as grandparents. 🥺👉👈

🥺👉👈

asldgkhjkl no no no I am so late this has been in my inbox for such an embarassingly LONG time but!!!!

Galadriel is a very Warm grandmother, okay? She’s the kind of grandmother that’s casually adjusting/fixing your clothing and hair. Warm forehead kisses. Shoulder squeezes. Little spells and incantations woven into goodnight, sleep well, which will make sure that your dreams are pleasant. Very Safe. She already Knows Everything but is very content with empathy and secretive smiles. If you want to Tell Her then you can, anything. But She Knows, but like in the most comforting way possible.

Celeborn IS bad at saying goodbye!!! and he spoiled Cel and he’s even worse with grandkids. He will literally let you get away with murder. His goal in life is to be the Fun Grandpa and he absolutely is. He’s also the kind of grandpa that is nice to curl up against, rest your ear against his chest, and just chill while he tells you some story that happened 1000s of years before you were born. He has a very nice storytelling cadence that’s super calming. 

Also constantly wants to stuff you with sweets. He just Does. Galadriel finds it rather exasperating (affectionate) actually. 

#galadriel #celeborn

[djinmer4]

Scholomance Random Thoughts

(Wall of text, you have been warned.)

What if the prophecy is much more drastic?  Cast down enclaves is the start of it, we don't hear the end.  What if the real prophecy is that El ends up destroying magic entirely? 

Why would that be a possibility (other than my love of TV Tropes)? Let's say El does manage to break the enclaves' power by destroying mawmouths (going by the theory that mawmouths are connected to enclave creation) and providing everyone with Golden Stone enclaves.  She's already managed to trap a significant portion of the world's mals, in an area where they'll be food to either Patitude or Orion, so it doesn't seem that farfetched that she could accomplish her dream.  How long will that effect last?

In the book, they say the mals will be back to the same levels in three or four generations.  What one idiot has done, can and will be copied in the future.  The same will happen with modern enclaves, after all, once a spell exists it never goes away and there will always be people willing to sacrifice others for their own benefits.  Maleficars, Todd Quayle, heck it happened already the first time.  People had the Golden Stone enclaves and switched to the modern version because those enclaves were bigger (and possibly came with even more perks).  Once enough of that happens, how long will it take for people to come up with another Scholomance, and who knows if that one will turn out as benevolent as the one in the book?  Most constructs head in the opposite direction, it's almost a miracle that the Scholomance actually did give their children back at all.

What would be El's motivation?  Disgust at the current practices, nurtured into her by her mother.  The fact she lost bother her father and her lover to the results of those practices.  A hero complex almost as big as what other people think Orion's is.  And finally, just the sheer interest of safety for the future generations.  There are plenty of terrible places in the world, but the world average survival rate for children is almost certainly higher than 5%.  Forcing everyone to be mundane (and immune to mals) might actually improve everyone's life expectancy.

Other evidence?  If it had just been that El was going to break the power of the enclaves, I think her paternal family could have put up with that.  Especially given her great-grandmother's (I think I got the generation right?) penchant for forseeing happy futures.  If El breaks the enclaves (probably violently) but creates the Golden Stone enclaves to take their place, I'm pretty sure her vision would have included the last part.  They're currently not in an enclave and they're strict mana, I'm sure waiting a little longer to be able to get their own safe space when El grows up would not have been an impossible challenge.  And while breaking the enclaves would not be great for others, I think it would come down to net benefit and they could also accept that, maybe even using Deepthi Sharma's vision as a way of getting other enclaves ready and smoothing the transition.  If nothing else, they probably would have taken time to try to calm down and come up with a solution because they really, really wanted both Gwen and Galadriel.

But instead, they try and kill Galadriel the very same night.  What if the vision ends with something about her destroying all magic forever, permanently?  Maybe something that sounds like she ends up killing all magic users perhaps?  And there's no silver lining to that one because Deepthi can't see into a time where magic doesn't exist.  As far as they would know it's not just a way of life, it would be a complete apocalypse.  No idea if any of the wise-gifted ones would even survive without their magic (or if Galadriel kills them all before hand).  Wouldn't that be worth breaking their principles and killing her?

#random thoughts #the scholomance

[redheadedfemme]

The Ones Who Walk Away From Enclaves

This is the third book in the Scholomance series, which is basically Harry Potter's Hogwarts turned inside out and into a horror story. In this one all the cards are laid on the table, all the hints and portents revealed, and we find out who and what Orion Lake is, how the wizard enclaves were founded, and exactly why the extradimensional Scholomance school to protect (however imperfectly) the wizard children was necessary.

It's a lot. But it's also the best book of the series. This is first and foremost due to the fact that the protagonist, Galadriel Higgins, is grown up, knows what she has to do, and will let nothing stop her from doing it. She first sets out to rescue Orion from the monster-filled school before it drops into the void (if you've read the second book, The Last Graduate--and you had better; this one won't make any sense without having read the previous books--you know it ended on a breathtaking and maddening cliffhanger, and this story picks up immediately after). This happens about halfway through, and we still have many more revelations to go. Galadriel, or El, is reunited with her father's family and finds out the secret of her great-grandmother's prophecy, which has hung over her head all her life. She sets out to unravel the wizards' way of making enclaves once she realizes the blood and lives of murdered children it has been built on, and the climax takes place in the broken shell of the Scholomance. El, as the only wizard who can kill the monstrous maw-mouths, has to go up against (of course) Orion Lake, who has some rather horrifying revelations of his own in this story. It's a tense, wonderfully written ending, and I could not put it down.

The themes running through this story include the power of community and found family, as at the end it takes a great many people--friends El has made and accepted into her life--to help her defeat Orion's inner maw-mouth while also sparing his life. Even afterwards, when she still has a lifetime's worth of work ahead of her to restructure the enclave system, there are many others who will come along to assist.

One note on the book's structure. The only knocks I had against the previous two books were the way they were written: many fat paragraphs mostly holding the protagonist's inner monologues. That is still true here to some extent, but in this book we have dialogue! And actual conversations! It made the story much easier to read.

This entire series could be summed up as "HP told from the viewpoint of a dark, angry and immensely powerful Hermione," but it goes to some unexpected places and winds everything up in a most satisfying manner. As far as I'm concerned, it's a keeper.

#book reviews #books read in 2022

[61below]

Arwen is canonically a Little Miss Murdermittens, so I am intensely proud that her namesake is living up to her legacy

#arwen #arwen the bobcat #arwen undomiel #gdi tolkien #(my favorite part of the movies was that they let arwen Really be a badass) #((ffs she was trained by her grandmother GALADRIEL so i guarantee that she didnt JUST do needlework #needlework is having the patience to stab something ten thousand times trust me its a martial art

[mihrsuri]

Honestly, I really really do not like movie!Elrond. That is my salty fan opinion. (He is Not My Cake/Elrond). 

#lil the tolkien dork #like honestly jackson Elrond would not be like 'women? who are they?' because I mean GALADRIEL IS HIS MOTHER IN LAW #LUTHIEN IS HIS GREAT SOMETHING GRANDMOTHER #(one thing in the books is that I get the sense that yes Arwen was absolutely part of the fight too - maybe not with swords but she was) #(also no honestly EOWYN EVERYONE) #(also his grandmother) #(actually the women on both sides of his family let us be honest)

[tanoraqui]

Trick or treat!

(Ongoing notes for the unwritten further installments of Maker’s Marks)

Haldir: [saying some shit about blindfolds]

Celebrimbor: Is this seriously how kin are treated in Lothlorien now? Absolutely not. I nearly just fought a balrog. I’ll fight Celeborn myself. Let’s just go.

[idk how the intro conversation goes, actually. It’s about the Oath, mostly. Elrond forewarned her. She’s SO sarcastic, but sympathetic]

I get 3 conversations with Galadriel probably? Fairy tale rules

1. Celebrimbor: STAR-GLASSES? THREE OF THEM? Why and h o w?

Galadriel: Idk if I should tell you?

Celebrimbor: [about to shout in offended craft-elf; catches himself and deflates sadly]

Galadriel: Jk! I asked.

Celebrimbor: You…asked.

Galadriel: I was trying desperately to make just 1 for Celebrian and Elrond’s wedding, I hadn’t rested in 4 days, and I ended up just singing a request to Eärendil directly to send some down. Between us, we managed to build a temporary bridge and channel it in.

Celebrimbor: . . .

(Celebrimbor: So, Arwen…Luthien’s Choice, huh…

Galadriel, with the tone of a loving, proud grandmother who has been told off on exactly this subject: Elros’s Choice, I think)

2. Celebrimbor: [resting his head in her lap, either kneeling or length-wise, grieved beyond tears]

Galadriel, stroking his hair: Elrond said you were doing…better than this.

Celebrimbor: Elrond understands the pain of loving a monster. I was already accustomed to that. But Elrond is too young for… It’s all gone. Artanis, it’s all- Two thirds of the Greenwood is dead. Númenor is fallen. Lindon is a ghost. Our Eregion is barren. Even Khazad-Dum is dark! Shadows of regret indeed we are. Was it all for naught? Was it all for naught?

Galadriel: You have missed a great deal of joy as well as grief in your time away - much of which Elrond has known as well, Tyelpë. Do not think him unwise just because he didn’t know the bright dreams we once held, as candles against the Darkness! But…yes. Yes, we are all fading, even the dwarves and ents and halflings with us, and what dreams we have not achieved on these shores will not be achieved at all - not by us, at least. A second race cometh after, remember! I think you will like the new Minas Tirith. But that…is that. And maybe that’s okay.

Celebrimbor accuses: You don’t actually believe that.

Galadriel: . . .

3. Celebrimbor is drawn sharply to the balcony one night just before they leave, not sure at first what has woken him - until he realizes Nenya, previously just out of sense, is screaming in revulsion and longing and there is a storm building elsewhere in this haven, bright and beautiful and it threatens to twist all the wards into its hurricane scream of defiance at all who would tame it, be they long-fallen burning eyes or glorious, righteous, distant powers or maybe Eru himself. Celebrimbor thinks he should reach out but no, this is not his to interfere with, and he’s not sure he has the defenses against it anyway—

Far quicker than it had built, it stops. Nenya is gone again. The Girdle of Galadriel turns away a distant, burning glare like a hand brushes a fly off her shoulder.

Celeborn, unnoticed beside him, releases a breath. He, too, is holding himself back from reaching out to Galadriel, afraid and understanding, but he weeps with relief.

“She passed her test,” Celebrimbor says, reassurance for both of them.

“Yes.” Celeborn dries his eyes. “Indeed, I fear that when your work is done, she will be more eager to go than I. I…do not know that I can leave these trees yet.”

#Celebrimbor #Galadriel #lotr #my fic #ask meme #executeness

[annoyinglandmagazine]

The Rings of Power Should have been a sitcom

I love the second age and I feel like if it had been turned into a workplace sitcom like Brooklyn Nine Nine or the Thick of It it would have been incredible.

That’s the theme song that plays over an intro that shows all the characters in battle mixed up with going through there everyday life in court.

They could have a running gag of everyone being sort of terrified every time Galadriel comes to visit. Gil Galad scrambling to make it look like they have everything under control so she doesn’t decide to intervene. She is politically at least a few millenia ahead of everyone and has a tendency to talk to them like their exceptionally smart children. She is involved in power plays with everyone simultaneously and is usually winning.

The Gil Galad who’s the father joke is brought up frequently. Elrond seems to know something but he’s not talking. After several episodes it becomes apparent that Gil Galad hasn’t got a clue. Almost very week they will be trying to convince everyone that it’s someone entirely different. They once suggested Oropher.

Elrond refers to every single person by varying familial titles on different days. Some days he’ll start calling Gil Galad brother and people will be thinking, shit is our king a Feanorian, and the next he’ll be calling him uncle. He does this the most with the Numenoreans and makes them all very uncomfortable because why is this random elf acting like we’re at a family reunion? They generally think that elves just have weird diplomatic customs.

Elrond and Celebrimbor having really disturbing feanorian inside jokes that freak everyone out. Elrond just generally has a sense of humour that freaks everyone out. His occasional jokes about his childhood just make everyone more and more concerned because they really don’t know as much about him as they should. The aggressive throwing of knives at family trees doesn’t help.

The worst kept secret in Middle Earth is that Maedhros and Fingon were together. ‘Elrond you can’t let the minstrels play a song implying the high king and the leader of the Feanorians were fucking!’ ‘But they were!’ ‘That’s not the point!’

They keep trying to hide Elrond and Celebrimbor’s Feanorian loyalists in the closets whenever Galadriel’s around.

No one is straight. They are the queer friend group. Elrond and Gil Galad spend so much time flirting most people assume they’re together. It is occasionally alluded to that Galadriel may have had a thing with Elrond’s great great grandmother. This is never addressed.

On the rare occasion where they all work together they are unstoppable. Galadriel intimidates, Gil Galad charms, Celebrimbor knows a guy and Elrond is probably the heir to their throne.

#Silmarillion #headcanons #sitcom #second age #lindon #galadriel #celebrimbor #elrond #gil galad

[galadhremmin]

So I thought of a fun AU last night... you see, Celeborn is a fairly irrelevant character. Galadriel might just as well have ended up with someone else while in Doriath.

What if she fell in love with Dior instead.

Set any odd feelings about difference in age aside; Nimloth likely was much older than Dior as well simply due to the fact that it takes Elves longer to grow up, and of course Lúthien is much older than Beren.

And Dior-- Dior falls for the radiance of Valinor in her hair, her sharp mind, her pride. Her pride. Which was always one of her chief failings; which set her against Fëanor before there was ever as much of a reason for it. Her fondness for her cousins is not much greater, not after Alqualondë. Not after having faced them with bloody swords, her sword dripping blood of its own, but spilled in defense.

And now she is Queen of a realm, as she always wanted, to order as she thinks is right; because Dior loves the way her mind works, he knows how close she was to Melian, how much she learned from her. Perhaps the two of them together-- he with his Maiarin blood bathed in the radiance of the silmaril and she with her brilliant mind and her hair like the shimmer of the Trees absorbing and reflecting that light-- can restore the Girdle.

If they have time. And they need time. Melian's mourning was a natural disaster. No matter how much Galadriel learned of her arts, she does not have her power; and Dior knows less of her arts, though he has a little of it. They work on the Girdle together. It is slow work, and they cannot do any while apart. The power and the knowledge how to conduct it. Together. It is slow work.

The first letter arrives too soon.

Maedhros, heir of Fëanor, demands his father's work. The wording is polite but the tone haughty; there has never been much love between the two of them, and Dior he knows not at all. He and his brothers, he says, were willing to let Lúthien keep it while she lived; and her Doom stayed their Oath. The power of the gem to heal the land she could have for the rest of her life in return for her valiant deeds. But, he says, those days have ended. And her deeds were not yours; nor was the jewel ever Thingol's to demand. It is the blessed outcome of a cruel request meant to mock Beren. And the jewels, of course, were stolen goods. Though more than goods. Silima is as a body to their spirit. They are alive, and they are not yours, cousin; your hair did not go into their making. They are more than beautiful to us. They are our Doom, our leash, and our last link to our father's spirit. Give us the jewels, Galadriel. Or you will see Alqualondë again.

Dior pales beneath the splendour of Nauglamír. Her brother's necklace. Her brother, who wouldn't have died if it weren't for her damned cousins. She puts her hand on his trembling hand. Refuse them, she says. They don't deserve to have this. They are already doomed, and I foresee the jewel would reject them for what they did to our kin in the Swanhaven. Reject them, my King. But do it slowly. They will want to keep talking; they are my cousins, and some of them are still capable of feeling guilt. In the meantime, we will rebuild the Girdle. In the meantime we will grow strong.

Dior's hand stops trembling beneath hers. He is young, but he remembers the beauty of Doriath before the Girdle fell; his grandmother's arms around his own. He remembers his brave mother, his father, the way the Feanorians treated them; Maedhros' respect for Lúthien's rights comes not from nobility but fear, he thinks. His mother was very powerful. He is young, but he has grown into an adult at the pace of an adan. He is an able swordsman, fast, strong, starting to get a feel for Song, and sometimes, sometimes there is a hint of something more, and he can almost grasp it, like the fluttering of many wings--

They just need a little more time. And they need the jewel. Doriath will rise to its former glory again, and the then, with his new human ideas and Galadriel's innovative Valinorean ones-- will bloom into something strange and new, a little paradise beyond the sea, and this time from the start without prejudice. Perhaps, in time, they might even lift the ban on quenya without consequence. They will welcome his father's people, and Edain and Sindar will grow close and exchange their knowledge and love in ways not yet seen before.

This will take a long time, you know. This is not the Kingdom as it is now, full of brambles and with many patches now entirely unprotected. The Green elves don't always feel treated fairly, and have kin friendly with Fëanor's hunter twins; some of the grey elves fled into the Girdle after the Flame and changed their speech, but not their memory of Thingol.

Letters are exchanged. Galadriel is uncompromising as always. Dior, bathed in the light, grows confident and proud. The letters become shorter, and one day they stop altogether.

.

They arrive in the night, before the first bird starts to sing.

And when they leave there is no one left to sing of them.

#dior #doriath #galadriel #maedhros #feanorians #the depository of plotbunnies #2nd kinslaying #the silmarillion

[aziraphales-library]

Hi!! Do you think you could find some fics where Azira and Crowley raise the antichrist together? Or any child for that matter, just them raising a kid. Please and Thank you!!

Hello! We have some Crowley and Aziraphale raise the Antichrist fics here. And today I have some more mixed bag Crowley and Aziraphale raise a child fics...

Ground Control by nieded (T)

In which Crowley kidnaps the Antichrist as a baby--or so he thinks--and ends up with Warlock instead. Basically, I wanted a story where Warlock got a happy ending. Here it is.

Or: Aziraphale closes the shop earlier and earlier until they’re spending all day together, every moment. They take Warlock to the art museum and have a Star Trek marathon. Warlock loves The Next Generation but still reserves a special place in his heart for Spock from the original. He hangs a poster of the Vulcan next to David Bowie, his stern face in direct opposite to the cocked hip and flair of the rockstar. They go good together, though, the spacemen. If they lived a different life, Crowley thinks, he’d swoop Warlock up and take him to the stars. He’d show him Alpha Centauri, a system comprised of two large suns in orbit around each other, and a third circling them both.

That’s you, he’d say to Warlock, and the other is Aziraphale. He’d point to the two stars in the centre drawn to each other. And that’s me going around you both.

Crazy Ineffable Thing (Called Love) by TawnyOwl95 (E)

“You’ve lost the children!” “We’ve lost the children.” “The children have been lost.”

Pepper Galadriel Moonchild-Fell does not want to be sent to live with her distant, career driven mother. Adam Crowley does not want to be shipped off to military school by his slightly satanic grandmother.

They both think that their fathers should stop being idiots and fall in love already.

No one is going to listen to a pair of eleven year olds though. A plan is required.

A plan that will throw their fathers together on a high-stakes rescue mission where they will be forced into dangerous, intimate proximity. They must rise to occasions, overcome bullshit and, oh my god, there will only be one bed to do it in!

soldier, poet, king by RJam9 (T)

Eleven years ago, the Antichrist was born, set to bring upon the end of the world in due time. He was suppose to be delivered to the Order of the Chattering Nuns the night of his birth by the demon Crowley.

And that’s what happened. Well, what everyone thinks that happened.

In reality, Crowley snuck the baby home to a lovely little bookshop in Soho, where him and an angel by the name of Aziriphale lived. The couple decided that instead of letting the boy be raised by humans who didn’t understand his destiny, they would take over custody of him themselves.

That was eleven years ago. Now, the day of Adam C. Fells eleventh birthday is coming to, and with his parents and friends by his side, Adam hoped he could face his destiny and not let the world die, since he quite likes the Earth and doesn’t want it to end.

Well, expect for the fact there’s a lot of other players in this game running about, and thing don’t go exactly as planned. That’s alright, I guess. You’ve got to work with what you got.

(aka, another Aziraphale and Crowley raise Adam AU)

Bittersweet Genesis (or How to raise Antichrists, By A.Z. Fell and Anthony J. Crowley) by WeAreStarStuff (T)

Another Crowley and Aziraphale try to raise the Antichrist fic. Crowley has a change of heart and decided to take the Antichrist with him to see Aziraphale. Only problem? When he gets back to the hospital there’s another baby in the room. Oh well. Plan works just as well with two.

Second chances by ylc (T)

Crowley finds an abandoned newborn baby. Under other circumstances, he would have come to Aziraphale for help, but after a careless comment from the angel, their relationship isn’t at its best. The solution then, is quite clear: Look after the baby himself.

It takes heaven and hell to raise the Antichrist by dont_stop_imagine_mccartneys_celery (G)

If Good Omens was a Rom Com Sitcom!

In which Crowley stays just a little longer at the hospital of the Chattering Order of Saint Beryl and witnesses how the nuns misplace the Antichrist. He decides that he will take matters into his own hands and runs off again with the Antichrist, that is believed to be the exchanged baby of the American Cultural Attaché's wife. In lack of a better idea he brings the baby to his archenemy and dear friend Aziraphale and they agree they have no other choice than to raise the son of Satan themselves. That way they have the chance to let him grow up well-balanced between heaven and hell. Surprisingly, (for them, but really not the readers) the little extension of their family lets them only grow closer.

- Mod D

#good omens #ineffable husbands #kid fic #mod d