#anyways it’s Vital to me that elrond (and elros too) be a Little Bit Feral and have just the Slightest weirdness about him

[pacificgasandelectric]

having some Thoughts N Feelings abt elrond & elros + the historical practice of rulers taking children from the families of their tributaries or even their (nominal) allies as hostages

primarily that (1) the Politics of the Fëanorions having the heirs of Fingolfin AND Thingol AND All Three of the Three Houses as their hostages is like… soooo overlooked and underutilized in the fanworks I’ve seen

and (2) i think it would be rlly funny and also fucked-up if most elves are Totally Scandalized And Horrified by this Weird Human Behavior of “hostage-taking” if/when they see it happening in the second & third ages as human settlements & societies in M-E grow & develop, while Elrond is just like, “this is Normal, what are you Talking about”

#mine #silm #like the story can’t Not be informed by that practice/history to some degree but it’s also a weird fucked-up edge case bc like #at the point when m&m have e&e it’s like. the Entirety of their close family is either dead or absent or absent and Presumably dead #so e&e are functioning less as incentive for their immediate family to act a certain way & more as an all-purpose deterrent #to aggression or retaliation against the fëanorians by any remaining sindarin or noldorin forces who take issue with all the Crimes. #anyways it’s Vital to me that elrond (and elros too) be a Little Bit Feral and have just the Slightest weirdness about him #in terms of his expectations for How Stuff Works—bc there’s no way he’s getting out of his Canonical Early Life w/out being a BIT fucked up #(elros is equally Weird ftr but the atani don’t care as much bc they’re more adaptable than elves and also elros is The Literal King #so there’s nobody of high enough rank to judge him overtly and also i think the numenoreans are like His Weirdness Is Our Weirdness #ALSO also i think early numenor should have a patronage/fosterage system within the nobility that isn’t Officially inspired by All That #but isn’t NOT inspired by it either. which is yet another thing that could come full circle and develop (back) into being #more traditional hostage-taking For Assurance Of Loyalty And Good Behavior as the years wear on and numenor gets corrupted. anyways) #for the record i fall in the middle on the hostage-taking reaction spectrum. i think it’s fucked up to a degree but i also Understand it #as a political tool and i think i’m more forgiving/accepting of it than ur average second- or third-age elf would be #so i think elrond’s blasé reaction (which i have made up) is like. indicative that he does still have some Issues in terms of like #conceptualizing personal relationships and family ones & recognizing that uh being removed from ur family and raised #by their political ‘enemies’ may in fact have Certain (Negative) Emotional Impacts on ppl. (possibly bc he doesn’t Want to think abt it) #(bc that would force him to do some certain Unplesant Introspection and life is hard enough for a half-elf without giving urself #further Emotional Damage by trying to unpack the Absolute Mess that was ur childhood and adolescence in the midst of an apocalypse) #but that’s neither here nor there and these tags are long enough already #oh wait i’m not done going back to (1) i know we all imagine maedhros being Fucked Up in the aftermath of the Nirnaeth + kinslayings BUT #do you genuinely want me to believe that maedhros—THEE political luminary of beleriand—was Not thinking abt The Politics #when maglor pulled these two fucking kids out of the wreckage of sirion and was like ‘i’ll be sad if we kill them :(‘ #imo it would have been IMPOSSIBLE to forget that they are the heirs of Absolutely Everyone and depending on his thoughts on the future #maedhros Must have had at least a couple of Plans for these kids ranging from ‘assure my people’s safety Whoever i have to kill for it’ to #‘protect two of the Extremely Few uncontroversial political leaders the elves have left & make sure theyre Competent for when they do lead’ #however Wrecked he was by It All i dont think that the politics part of his brain Ever turns off & it might have been kicking into overdriv #at that point in order to Not think about the Everything Else that was happening. ok NOW i’m done #sorry for tag rant it’s just that i have Thoughts and they are Correct but not organized enough to make it into the Actual Post