#and hey maybe gondolin does end up surviving

[sesamenom]

more from the reverse gondolin au

#silm #silmarillion #reverse gondolin au #idril #lomion #celebrimbor #lomion is so fun to draw #featuring celebrimbor with his weird himlad hairstyle #realized i forgot to color his mouth oh well #they made the Three ahead of schedule and single handedly fixed the entire feanorian-nolofinwean feud #thinking abt idrils house of the mole being more focused on protection compared to maeglins mole #if the fall comes (bc aredhel is not quite as cautious as turgon) idril and the house of the mole already have escape and backup escape pla #and reinforced fallback points inside the city when the wall is breached #growing up w eol and foresight means idril always has plans and backup plans and alternate plans and contingencies for those plans too #meanwhile lomion is well equipped with nenya to counter balrogs & fire drakes #idril is the sort of person who hardens inward to defend herself & her family #maeglin hardens outward to preemptively counter perceived threats #despite having an exponentially better late-childhood than maeglin #lomion is still very much traumatized from being orphaned at the Lammoth. #he probably freaks out when rog (his mentor/father figure) leads the hammer of wrath at the gates. #when their positions are switched lomion bonds better with the rest of gondolin #and either never gets nabbed by morgoth or gets promptly rescued on his way to angband. #idril plans for the worst because growing up in nan elmoth #the situation usually ended up being the worst she could predict #so morgoth doesnt have the extra intel #lomion has friends and one of the Three #and idril has an even better prepared version of the Secret Way #and hey maybe gondolin does end up surviving

[veliseraptor]

A wholesome thought: AU where Aredhel survives? Or alternately a Will-Scott-survives AU because I am thinking about all of my dead faves today :(

oooh, I’m going to go with Aredhel surviving because I like that idea. I think it would...make a lot of small differences that might add up. 

for one thing, it would change a lot for Maeglin. Aredhel is so central to Maeglin’s life, and also part of the reason I headcanon him fixating on Idril is because of the trauma of losing Aredhel, who was really...the only person he had to love before that. so he latches on to the next person to show him kindness because he’s desperate for it.

but with Aredhel there, surviving, that’s not the case - it keeps Maeglin more balanced, more grounded, and more able to integrate than on his own. 

I think it would also keep Eol alive - she’d just have Turgon pitch him out of the city rather than off a cliff. ymmv on whether this is good news or not. 

also I’m picturing Aredhel and Idril’s relationship in this getting to develop and deepen, and the strength of that because I love the idea of them being very close. 

I think also Aredhel would be much more inclined to listen to Tuor when he shows up like “hey, y’all are going to be in trouble if you stay here” and in this AU I think Turgon would be...more willing to not dig in his heels. because I think part of the reason Turgon does dig in his heels is because he’s lost so much (everything, really, except his daughter and his nephew though his relationship with Maeglin is...complicated), so he holds on to the one secure thing he has (Gondolin). and in a situation where Aredhel pressed him he might be more willing to let Gondolin go to save his people. 

especially if it was Aredhel and Idril tag-teaming, which they would.

of course Gondolin is doomed to fall, but in this AU even if Maeglin still ends up being taken, I think that would shake out differently too. I can see him actually...not giving up Gondolin, maybe. 

which might mean he’d just die. ouch.

I think basically if Aredhel stayed it would make a big difference both for Turgon and Maeglin especially, in keeping them both steadier and more grounded, and thus making some of the Gondolin disasters less horrible. it would still be doomed to fall, but there might be fewer casualties.

...if I were to go tragic, though, if Maeglin died and it was a situation where the evacuation was close to the coming attack, I can still see Aredhel deciding to stand and fight to hold them off - and if that happened, Turgon would stay too. 

and then I made it sad.

#noldor are the best dor #aggressively headcanons #five headcanons meme #stripedroseandsketchpads #conversating