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ebaeschnbliah · 1 year

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'Your quest is known to us,' ...

... said Galadriel, looking at Frodo. `But we will not here speak of it more openly. Yet not in vain will it prove, maybe, that you came to this land seeking aid, as Gandalf himself plainly purposed. For the Lord of the Galadhrim is accounted the wisest of the Elves of Middle-earth, and a giver of gifts beyond the power of kings. He has dwelt in the West since the days of dawn, and I have dwelt with him years uncounted; for ere the fall of Nargothrond or Gondolin I passed over the mountains, and together through ages of the world we have fought the long defeat.

'I it was who first summoned the White Council. And if my designs had not gone amiss, it would have been governed by Gandalf the Grey, and then mayhap things would have gone otherwise. But even now there is hope left. I will not give you counsel, saying do this, or do that. For not in doing or contriving, nor in choosing between this course and another, can I avail; but only in knowing what was and is, and in part also what shall be. But this I will say to you: your Quest stands upon the edge of a knife. Stray but a little and it will fail, to the ruin of all. Yet hope remains while all the Company is true.'

And with that word she held them with her eyes, and in silence looked searchingly at each of them in turn. None save Legolas and Aragorn could long endure her glance. Sam quickly blushed and hung his head.

At length the Lady Galadriel released them from her eyes, and she smiled. `Do not let your hearts be troubled,' she said. 'Tonight you shall sleep in peace.' Then they sighed and felt suddenly weary, as those who have been questioned long and deeply, though no words had been spoken openly.

`Go now! ' said Celeborn. `You are worn with sorrow and much toil. Even if your Quest did not concern us closely, you should have refuge in this City, until you were healed and refreshed. Now you shall rest, and we will not speak of your further road for a while.'

That night the Company slept upon the ground, much to the satisfaction of the hobbits. The Elves spread for them a pavilion among the trees near the fountain, and in it they laid soft couches; then speaking words of peace with fair elvish voices they left them. For a little while the travellers talked of their night before in the tree-tops, and of their day's journey, and of the Lord and Lady; for they had not yet the heart to look further back.

`What did you blush for, Sam? ' said Pippin. `You soon broke down. Anyone would have thought you had a guilty conscience. I hope it was nothing worse than a wicked plot to steal one of my blankets.'

`I never thought no such thing,' answered Sam, in no mood for jest. 'If you want to know, I felt as if I hadn't got nothing on, and I didn't like it. She seemed to be looking inside me and asking me what I would do if she gave me the chance of flying back home to the Shire to a nice little hole with-with a bit of garden of my own.'

`That's funny,' said Merry. 'Almost exactly what I felt myself; only, only well, I don't think I'll say any more,' he ended lamely.

All of them, it seemed, had fared alike: each had felt that he was offered a choice between a shadow full of fear that lay ahead, and something that he greatly desired: clear before his mind it lay, and to get it he had only to turn aside from the road and leave the Quest and the war against Sauron to others.

`And it seemed to me, too,' said Gimli, `that my choice would remain secret and known only to myself.'

'To me it seemed exceedingly strange,' said Boromir. `Maybe it was only a test, and she thought to read our thoughts for her own good purpose; but almost I should have said that she was tempting us, and offering what she pretended to have the power to give. It need not be said that I refused to listen. The Men of Minas Tirith are true to their word.' But what he thought that the Lady had offered him Boromir did not tell.

And as for Frodo, he would not speak, though Boromir pressed him with questions. `She held you long in her gaze, Ring-bearer,' he said.

`Yes,' said Frodo; `but whatever came into my mind then I will keep there.'

`Well, have a care! ' said Boromir. `I do not feel too sure of this Elvish Lady and her purposes.'

`Speak no evil of the Lady Galadriel! ' said Aragorn sternly. 'You know not what you say. There is in her and in this land no evil, unless a man bring it hither himself. Then let him beware! But tonight I shall sleep without fear for the first time since I left Rivendell. And may I sleep deep, and forget for a while my grief! I am weary in body and in heart.' He cast himself down upon his couch and fell at once into a long sleep.

JRR Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring, The Mirror of Galadriel

#the lord of the rings #the fellowship of the ring #the mirror of galadriel #jrr tolkien #lothlorien #caras galadhon #galadriel #celeborn #frodo #sam #merry #pippin #aragorn #boromir #legolas #gimli #movie pics #peter jackson

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the-timelord-a-tardis-stole · 1 year

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"For the Lord of the Galadhrim is accounted the wisest of the Elves of Middle-earth, and a giver of gifts beyond the power of kings. He has dwelt in the West since the days of dawn, and I have dwelt with him years uncounted; for ere the fall of Nargothrond or Gondolin I passed over the mountains, and together through ages of the world we have fought the long defeat."

So this is more of a Silmarillion thing but is Galadriel saying that she came to Lorien before the fall of Nargothrond and Gondolin? Bc if she was far from the events of the Silmarillion for all that phase of the Silmarillion, it changes how I see her a bit

#its the difference between her being at 1 kinslaying or all 3 #lotr #silmarillion #lotr newsletter #my stuff

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finarfiniel · 4 years

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tag drop!

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cycas · 4 years

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My First-Age Timeline of Galadriel

My idea of young Galadriel in Aman is a woman who was very able, and very confident, and almost the youngest of a very gifted, competent and enormous family. She was convinced she could achieve so much, if she had space to do it, if all her older siblings and cousins didn’t do everything first. Hence the ‘Man-maiden’ name: she wanted to do everything the men did, and more, and she was pretty damn successful at it too, winning races and wrestling matches all over the place.

But also, terribly naive. I imagine her rather like a rather sheltered American teen who dreams of going to idk, Europe perhaps, and fixing All The Problems by explaining everything that everyone is doing wrong, so that everyone claps. Lots of ideas that come from a well-intentioned place, but are never, ever going to work.

The Timeline.

FA 1 : Galadriel arrives in middle-earth via the Ice, fights in the Battle of the Lammoth. The Ice and then the battle come as a shock. The sight of Angband is a shock. Alqualondë was bad enough, but nobody then really knew what they were getting themselves into there. On the Ice, even being able and confident and talented wasn’t enough, but at least the Ice didn’t actively want her dead.

The Battle of the Lammoth is her first battle where she faces enemies that don’t know who she is, don’t care at all, and want her either dead, or, preferably, a slave working in their master’s mines.

Middle-earth is much bigger and more terrifying than she was expecting. Fëanor is dead, and that’s a shock too: she thought he would be always there to be hated, not just blotted out of the story and gone.

FA 6 : Galadriel goes to Doriath, talks to Melian and Thingol, learns of the First Battle of Beleriand, hears more about Angband, hears that escaped thralls can’t be trusted, and really gets an idea of the scale of what they are facing.

Galadriel is not a quitter: she sets up in Doriath and starts studying with all the power of her formidable brain everything that the Sindar and Melian have learned and made that might give an advantage.

FA 20 : Mereth Aderthad. OK, only a couple of the Sindar go to Fingolfin’s party but Galadriel is Noldor, I’m sure she was there.

FA 67: there is a certain coldness in Doriath after the Kinslaying at Alqualondë is revealed. Galadriel spends a few years in Nargothrond. Probably helps Finrod build the place. Also visits her brothers in Dorthonion.

FA 100-ish Galadriel goes back to Doriath, because Doriath has Melian, and Melian’s Girdle is a step up from any defence the Noldor have. (I think this may also be one reason that Curufin is stationed in Himlad. He can’t talk to Melian directly, because kinslayer, but I bet he’s trying to reverse-engineer the Girdle) Also, Doriath has Celeborn, who is Hot.

Sometime during this period Galadriel meets her first Dwarves in Doriath (where they have been weapons trading for ages, and clearly visit regularly given that Thingol commissioned them to set the Silmaril in the Nauglamir.) She hears tales of the Dwarf-kingdoms of the East.

FA 310 : Finrod and Men discover one another. Pretty sure that Finrod would want to introduce his family to his exciting new discovery, so Galadriel meets Men shortly afterwards, and learns about their long journey out of the East.

Finrod, being the head of his house in Beleriand and a king, can’t really get away with leaving the War and Nargothrond for long enough to cross the Blue Mountains into Eriador and properly explore the potential allies and dangers that might lie there.

But Galadriel can.

In LOTR, Galadriel says : “... ere the fall of Nargothrond or Gondolin I passed over the mountains, and together through the ages of the world we have fought the long defeat.”

? FA 350 : during the Long Peace, Galadriel crossed the mountains and explored Eriador.

Galadriel left Beleriand at peace (more or less.) Her eldest brother held the greatest lands of all the princes of the Noldor, her younger brothers held Dorthonion, Doriath was well protected by the front-line Noldor kingdoms, particularly Dorthonion which was directly between Doriath and Angband.

FA 455 Dagor Bragollach.

Galadriel’s brothers Angrod and Aegnor die, Dorthonion falls, Finrod tries to dash north to help them but gets caught by orcs in the Fens of Serech, and only escapes with the assistance of Barahir. Tol Sirion, the northern defense of Finrod’s lands, is taken, and becomes the Isle of Werewolves.

I think Galadriel was still in the East while all of this was happening, and it was a while before she got the news. When she did, she came back to Beleriand, but didn’t arrive before:

FA 465 Quest for the Silmaril: Death of Finrod Felagund.

Since no mention of Galadriel in the tales of Beren and Lúthien, or of Túrin and the death of Finduilas and the fall of Nargothrond, possibly she didn’t get back until:

FA 502 : Death of Thingol, Melian goes into the West, Doriath sacked by Dwarves from Nogrod.

There is a mention somewhere of Celeborn helping to rescue baby Elwing from the Second Fall of Doriath, though, so I think they must, at latest, have returned for:

FA 506 Second Kinslaying at Doriath.

FA 538 I think that she was on Balar with Gil-galad rather than at the Havens for the Third Kinslaying (which had few survivors) and was probably part of Gil-galad’s rescue mission.

FA 545 The Host of Valinor arrive, start of the War of Wrath.

I can see no reason why Galadriel wouldn’t take part in the War of Wrath. The Edain fought. Elrond was at the fall of Thangorodrim.

Fighting Morgoth and saving Middle-earth is why she came. She has a personal grievance against him by this time not just for her grandfather, but for Angrod and Aegnor, and particularly against Sauron for the death of Finrod.

And there’s this hint in LOTR:

“If our folk had been exiled long and far from Lothlórien, who of the Galadhrim, even Celeborn the Wise, would pass nigh and would not wish to look upon their ancient home, though it had become an abode of dragons?”

IE: “Remember when you insisted we had to visit Menegroth one more time during the War of Wrath, and there was a dragon in it?”

FA 587-590 Beleriand falls, the Host of Valinor depart.

Even if Galadriel didn’t see her father during the war, while he was leading the Noldor host, surely she must have had a chance to do so at this point, since she seems to have discussed going back to the West.

At this point, either Galadriel was still under the Ban, OR she refused to leave Middle-earth. I think both. Eönwë offered her the chance to recant, to apologise for her rebellion, the same way that her father did when he returned to Tirion, and then live on Tol Eressëa.

I think Eönwë also offered the same option to Maglor and Maedhros, and possibly something very similar to Sauron.

So, I don’t think she refused out of pride, exactly. I think it was more that after losing so much, and after her father had led the Noldor army through the War of Wrath, she was still given the same option that the people who killed Nimloth were given, and also the person who chained her brother in a dungeon and threw werewolves at him.

Under those circumstances I would have told Eönwë to fuck off too. Particularly given what Sauron did next.

#galadriel #I was going to do all three Ages but this is long enough for now.

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quiet-sunny-corner · 4 years

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In the Fellowship of the Ring chapter “The Mirror of Galadriel” Galadriel tells the fellowship that

“...together through the ages of the world we [Galadriel and Celeborn] have fought the long defeat”

and BOY HOWDY does that hit different. The long defeat huh. What a way to perfectly describe the journey of the elves mr. Tolkien.

#lurr talks #lurr blabs lotr #lotr #lord of the rings

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elesianne · 4 years

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A Silmarillion fanfic, chapter five – last chapter

Story summary: Through all the struggles and triumphs of the Noldor, Angrod and Edhellos hold on to their love and their faith in each other.

Despite the title, there is more than romance in this fic.

Chapter length: ~1,900 words; Rating: Teenage audiences

Some keywords for the whole fic: romance, family, some fluff and angst, mild sexual content, the Noldor and their fall and their triumphs, canon compliant

A/N: A gentle reminder that there's that Major Character Death at the end of this chapter.

AO3 link (first chapter here)

Chapter V // The long defeat

He has dwelt in the West since the days of dawn, and I have dwelt with him years uncounted; [---] and together through ages of the world we have fought the long defeat. – The Lord of the Rings, Mirror of Galadriel; said by Galadriel about Celeborn, but Edhellos might have said the same about Angrod

The first time that Edhellos visits Doriath's king and queen with her husband, she is made to feel fairly welcome despite her being one of the Noldor. Artanis, Galadriel as she now wishes to be called, is glad to see her and at once introduces to Edhellos the man who gave her her beautiful new name. Edhellos is happy that her sister-in-law has finally found a man she deems worth loving. He does appear to be worthy of Galadriel's fierce-wise spirit; if not otherwise, then by his adoration of her.

The second time Edhellos accompanies Angrod and his brothers to Doriath, hidden, bitter truths spill free from her husband's lips after provocation by Thingol, and they receive confirmation from Melian the Maia's lips just how much of the Prophecy of North applies to them too.

The prophecy lies heavy on them, dark and inescapable, as Edhellos with Angrod and Aegnor rides home in silence and in shame that angers them all for it is mostly for the deeds of others. Yet they rebelled too and they must pay the price, whatever it will be.

It takes many peaceful years in the cool sunlight of Dorthonion for some of that weight to fade from their hearts.

With Thingol's ban on Quenya, Edhellos grieves the loss of her name in her first language. It is the name that her mother gave her, and she always treasured being Eldalótë, flower of Eldar. She only ever hears it from her husband's lips now, whispered or cried out at private moments.

'You have followed me through every danger, my Eldalótë', Angrod says at one of those cherished moments in the quiet and warmth of their bed where they lie side by side. The roaring flames in the fireplace do well at banishing the cold and dampness that plagues Dorthonion for much of the year.

He traces his hand down her side, leaving it to rest on her hip. There is a small scar there from a poisoned orc-spear that tore through her armour. Angrod bears a larger one on the side of his neck. Strangely, after two great battles, the strike that caused that wound was dealt by a small scouting party of orcs with foul weapons, forcing Edhellos to face the possibility of life without him.

But the wound healed, and Angrod is no less fair for the scar, and he is stronger than ever.

Edhellos blinks and returns to this moment. 'I would follow you through more', she murmurs.

'You may have to.' The set of his jaw is serious. Edhellos knows his worry and feels it too: they believe that apart from the high king, the other rulers of Beleriand don't take the threat of Morgoth seriously enough, rejoicing and trusting too much in the time of peace.

'Then I shall.' Edhellos tips her head up to kiss him softly. 'Do not worry at moments like this, my beloved. We can do that in our council room.'

'Mm. I shall follow your wise advice.' Angrod kisses her back, less gentle, and tips her on her back and settles above her. 'And I find I am not yet weary, my faithful wife with soft lips and silken hair.'

Edhellos raises her hand to gently touch that twisting scar on his neck, and then to his short hair that frames his face as a gleaming curtain. 'How fortunate that I am not tired either', she tells him.

Angrod's smile is the sunrise. 'Let us tire each other out, then.'

Time passes, and things keep changing though the peace lasts. Orodreth marries a lovely Sindarin girl with serious eyes and a silver-bell voice. Soon after their first child is born, Finrod completes his great project in the south and moves there, handing control of his watchtower on Sirion to Orodreth.

Edhellos has not cried since the Ice but she cries when she says farewell to her son and his wife and their child with grey eyes and golden curls, dear and sweet. It is not a dreadful farewell – she intends to visit often, though the ride down from the highlands down to Sirion is arduous – but it tears at her heart like few things could.

Dear Aegnor stays, at least, the last one left of Edhellos and Angrod' family which once felt so large gathered in the high halls of Tirion or the white-sand beaches in the Bay of Eldamar.

Finrod, the eternal wanderer, discovers the Secondborn whose coming was one of the reasons for Fëanor's rebellion. They do not seem like much of a threat, fleeing the threat and shadow of Morgoth and his followers. Finrod in agreement with Angrod and Aegnor gives one group of Men, faithful to Finrod, a corner of Dorthonion to reside in. Their lord Boromir sends several young, keen ones of his folk to Minas Avras to learn new skills under the tutelage of Angrod, Aegnor and Edhellos' people.

Edhellos gets to know those who stay to serve them. How strange they seem at first with their unfamiliar speech, how fleeting their lives.

Yet how much joy and grief they contain in those short lives – how many births to match the swiftly arriving merciless deaths.

Once Edhellos gets to hold a young baby that is the ninth child of its mother. She marvels at the tiny fingers and toes, as perfect as those of any child of the Eldar, and at the mother, who seems tired but not utterly drained in spirit.

There are none among the Eldar who have fathered or mothered nine or even eight children. Edhellos cannot but regard the Secondborn, and especially their women, with respect. She is glad that her people's skills can help them live longer and healthier lives. How many more dangers there are to them in the world!

And how dangerous one of the Edain's strong-hearted, wise-hearted women can turn out to be to a man of the Eldar.

One day Aegnor leaves with a few of his men to ride a long patrol around Dorthonion, as he often does. Two weeks later he returns, changed.

Edhellos comes to welcome him home when she is told that he is back. She finds him stabling his horse.

'Welcome back, Aegnor. Is all well in our land?' Aegnor turns to him, and Edhellos blanches. 'What is wrong, brother?' She rushes to his side. 'Have you been hurt?'

'I have been dealt a strike from which I will never recover', he answers.

'Where?' She can see no blood or bandages, no breach in his armour.

'In the eastern highlands, at sunrise.' Aegnor busies himself with his horse's tack and doesn't look her in the eyes. 'And again at night on the shore of Tarn Aeluin.'

He will not speak more until the evening when he and she and Angrod are gathered for dinner in a private room, servants sent away.

Aegnor tells Edhellos and Angrod that he met a mortal woman who at once touched his spirit. A few short days they had spent together before Aegnor continued on his patrol.

'She would have come with me but I told her that I cannot bind her to me. Not at this time of untrue peace which may end my life at any moment, and should it spare me, we would be torn apart by age.' Aegnor stares into his wine. 'Yet I will never be free of her. I touched her hand and she…'

'What did she do?' Edhellos begs. Beside her, Angrod sits frozen.

'Nothing but be beautiful in the light of the sun and the scent of heather, and bright like the stars in the dark of a moonless night. The night, the night I said goodbye there was a star caught in her hair', is all that Aegnor can speak before staring, silent, into the fire for a long time. Eventually he says, 'I have turned away from her and I shall never see her again in life – not by intention, not by chance; that much is given to me to see. But the memory of her –' His bitter-sweet words fade away.

'The memory of her you shall always have', Edhellos says quietly. She embraces Aegnor's still, stiff form and takes Angrod's hand, and they leave Aegnor to his memory and silence.

Her heart chilled and heavy for Aegnor, that night Edhellos burrows as deep into Angrod's arms as she can before they fall to rest together.

'We were so fortunate, my love', she speaks into his chest. 'We found each other young, and there happened to be no obstacle in our way. Our boring love story, as Maglor and Fingon called it long ago, is the best thing I could imagine happening.'

'I know.' He sighs into her hair. 'Even if Morgoth should break the siege tomorrow and slay us, we have had centuries to love each other. Aegnor didn't get a single moment of love unsullied by heartbreak.'

Edhellos almost cries at that, and Angrod holds her so tight within his arms that it is as clear a demonstration of grief as tears from him would be.

The brightness of Aegnor's eyes is ever dimmed since that day apart from in the heat of battle when it is more fearsome than ever, as if he were avenging the loss of even more than before.

'We must flee now, my lady, if we ever will! The enemy is drawing near', one of the guards calls to her, coughing from Morgoth's foul smoke that for the first time reaches even their highlands.

Angrod and Aegnor rode to battle earlier, leaving Edhellos to lead the defence of their home in case the enemy overruns Dorthonion. She looks wildly around her, a painful band constricting around her heart at the sight of her beloved home and her brave people.

She is no great fighter but she is a princess of the Noldor and she has forged herself a heart of a warrior over the centuries nonetheless. She can see the tops of distant pines red with fire. There is no safe route to flee to the lands of their allies, and Edhellos will not lead her people to hide in dark caverns and wait to be hounded out of them.

'We will stay and fight to defend our home', she tells what remains here of her people, and her heart rises to a battle-song at the sight of a fierce will rising into their eyes.

They stay to fight a battle that appears hopeless, as is the wont of their people. As she draws her bow at the sight of the enemy approaching, she prays that at least her son and his family will be spared this onslaught of fire and fell creatures, or that he can fight it off. Orodreth was only a child when they fell under the Doom; children should be spared such judgement.

Her prayer will most likely go unanswered, but pray for her child she must even if she can expect little aid from the Valar she turned her back on.

She wonders how Angrod fares in the battle he rode to.

When only hours later Edhellos' armour is pierced by a foul black sword, and all the world is red with fire and pain, she doesn't know if all the pain is hers or if she has been given the strange mercy of drawing her last rasping breath at the same time as her ever-beloved.

A/N: I want to warmly thank everyone who has followed (or read in one go) this fic about some less-known, less popular Silmarillion characters.

I enjoyed writing Edhellos' story in spite of its sad ending. I might write one or more side stories or sequels, though I'll write and post some more Lothíriel/Éomer fics first, as well as one little sequel to Your spirit calling out to mine.

Special thanks to all who have reblogged or commented. I appreciate fic reblogs greatly because they are so rare, and I love hearing what readers think of my fics.

#reblogs are appreciated esp because this is the last chapter and I know some ppl only read finished fics #(which is very understandable. we've all been burned by gorgeous wips that were never finished haven't we)#silmarillion fanfiction #tolkien fanfiction #angrod #angrod's wife #edhellos #eldalote #eldalotë #eldalótë #everbeloved #my fics #elesianne's fics

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elvesofnoldor · 4 years

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not to rant about highly idealized and highly romanticized and therefore unrealistic and fairy-tale like medieval fantasy elven royalties aka shits no one follows me cares about yet again, but like, these days im so into the concept of tolkien AU in which aredhel and luthien fell in love and married each other. it’d messed up the entire timeline in his universe cause it can probably prevent the doom of mandos from coming to pass, prolong first age, therefore utterly change second age and third age and the events of lotr and the hobbit but do i look like i give a shit abt events of lotr and the hobbit? i care more about a story in which two gay women’s love for each other and desire to live free of men in their lives save the day, mend two divided people and possibly prevent the doom of angry god from coming to pass. Also it’s bullshit that Aredhel’s entire story is about how she got lured to live with this abusive asshole man and that man killed her and her son brought ruins to her people, like, she deserves better and this AU would give her a better story. i also know this au’d make beren and Eol irrelevant and Maeglin non-existent but these are three men and tolkien’s universe is already crowded with men, so if an AU can make more women important and gets rid of some unnecessary men then i’d say that’s a good AU.

Also, Aredhel and Luthien’s relationship would be like, the elven huntress (Aredhel) and the elven Maiden (Luthien). not to bring in dragon age lore, but they’d be like, the Andruil and Ghilan’nain we (dragon age fans) deserve. except that, unlike Andruil and Ghilan’nain, Aredhel and Luthien are good people aka NOT tyrants and slavers (lmao).

just, Imagine luthien, princess of Doriath, taking a liking of aredhel when she spots the handsome warrior princess from the woods of doriath when aredhel tries to gain passage through her father’s kingdom. That has the same vibe as morrigan watching female warden in her animal form and finding her “formidable”, and i REALLY dig this vibe. Imagine luthien, curious about a noldor elf--whom she never really get to know--uses her magic to open a passage for aredhel to enter Doriath when aredhel is being pursued by vicious giant spiders and greets her once she reaches safety. Imagine the two princesses learn of each other’s different elven cultures within the woods of Doriath, falling in love with each other in each other’s company. Imagine Aredhel, while enjoying luthien’s companionship, still longs to once more rides on open grassy plains (which was the reason she left Gondolin in the first place). Imagine the sheltered luthien, having heard Aredhel’s tales of adventure at Tirion and dwellings of noldor in Valinor, wishes more than ever to see the world and the noldor realms outside the cirdle of her mother Melian. Imagine Aredhel proposes that both she and Luthien leave Doriath together so that both of them can see the outside world, and Luthien hesitating out of fear of her controlling father’s wrath. Imagine Aredhel saying something along the lines of, “must we live in the shadow of fathers and brothers in our life? Must we ignore our heart’s desire to abide by theirs? is that the life you wish to live forever?” to pursuit Luthien to leave. Imagine that Luthien still hesitating after that and Aredhel decides to find her way out of the forest. Imagine luthien, forlorn from the absence of her dear friend whom she discover that she held too dear to her heart, comes to her mother in the time of doubt and heartache. Imagine Melian, having known about Aredhel’s presence by her daughter’s side this entire time, helps luthien to get out of forests of Doriath with Aredhel despite her own distrust of noldor elves (due to the first kinslaying they committed), because she wants her daughter to be happy above all and deep down she think it’s wiser if the two divided people can be reunited. Imagine Aredhel, the white lady of Gondolin and Luthien, the princess of Doriath, finally settles on a land of their own somewhere on beleriand, say, the land where havens of Sirion would be, or lindon. It’d be a land under the Luthien’s magical protection, guarded by the rider/warriors Aredhel gathered throughout the years. Imagine the land that Aredhel and Luthien rules later becoming a place of haven of refugee for elves and men alike fleeing from the lands that morgroth’s minions now occupied. Luthien doesn’t get roped into a quest for silmaril, and neither does finrod so finrod doesn’t die. Finrod’s kingdom probably still falls and gets sacked out of some other reason but he survives. Thingol still died from some sort of dispute with the dwarves--even thought there is no involvement of Silmaril, but Doriath doesn’t get invaded by anyone. Melian doesn’t abandon Doriath after Thingol’s death, and rather she stayed for her children (dior and luthien) and Doriath is still safe under her rule. Maybe Gondolin stills falls because of some other reasons, maybe battle of unnumbered tears still happened in some form because Morgorth’s minions are encroaching on noldor realms either way and noldor elves would suffer from heavy losses anyways so it’s kinda unpreventable that maedhros would want to unify everybody for a final strike against him. But say, fingon doesn’t die from the battle despite the heavy losses because finrod’s host and elves of doriath are present at the battle and their involvement allows fingon to retreat successfully. Instead of fingon, celegorm curufin canrathir and the ambraussa twins died in the battle of unnumbered tears. The noldor elves held their own for longer and the first age is like at least a decade if not a hundred year longer but War of wrath still happens at the end of the first age. However, more noldor elves that suffered in the war of jewels against morgorth survived, and most of them had the strength and willingness to fight in the war of wrath when finarfin’s host finally comes to their aid from the west. With the host of valar and finarfin’s help, the noldor elves gathered the three silmarils from a defeated Morgroth. Maedhros and Maglor either gather the silmarils themselves or they were given the silmarils but neither of them want anything to do with the silmarils anymore. Now that they have fulfilled the oath, both of them allowed the three silmarils to be taken back to Valinor and two trees were reborn on valinor upon their breaking, and now it makes more sense that valinor still counts as the undying lands. Maedhros doesn’t kill himself, maglor doesn’t sing in grief by the sea forever and all the former noldor lords who survived war of jewel and war of wrath brought their people to the land/haven under Luthien and Aredhel’s rule and protection, whose realm still stand because of luthien’s magical protection and her mother Melian’s additional help. Elrond and Elros doesn’t lose their mother, but Earendil still went on that journey to find the valinor and brought the valars’ aid to middle earth and become a star in the sky so they don’t have their father. The twins still grow close to maglor either way, and maglor, pitying the fatherless twins and missing his youngest twin brothers, still cherishes the twins as if they are his own children. Tears are still shed, bloody battles are still fought, and the noldor (and in this au, sindarin) elves still suffered heavy losses, but there is catharsis at the tale’s end. More people survived, more people get to leave for the west, and those who fought against morgroth for thousands of years get to participate in the war of wrath. Noldor elves still left middle earth en masse at the end of first age and second and third age, but there are more noldor realms on middle earth than eregion by the time second age comes. Elves would still all left middle earth by the end of fourth age. And maybe a few noldor elves like Maedhros and Maglor are not pardoned to return to valinor or simply wishes not to return out of shameor pride (in galadriel’s case), but they helped in the war against sauron in some way and eventually all redeemed themselves in the eyes of valar from helping to defend the men of middle earth against sauron, servant of morgroth and were allowed to return eventually, at the end of third age. imagine the friendship between fingon and maedhros brought hundred years of peace between their divided family, and the love between luthien and aredhel brought two people divide people together and brought hundred years more of peace for all of their people.

#luthien/aredhel AU is like. silmarillion as written by gay girls #gay girl is me but i didn't come up with the idea of luthien/aredhel. another person did. very legendary of them #yolanda talks #should put this long post under read more but idc #i read silmarillion for the first time at the age of 13 and it took me 10 years to flesh out a fix it au but HEY

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