#feanorian minions

[silvantransthranduiltrash]

You know what i think is an interesting concept?

The elves know war, but like specifically one 1 kind of war with the occasional stray into another kind.

And that is, elves (from what we’ve read) know war against 1 evil enemy. Like, a war where they are indisputably the good guys.

But continues war where there are 2 sides that simply disagree with each other? They don’t know how to go about that!

The closest they’ve come is the feanorian massacres, but even then it’s more like a few very direct instances of battle rather than a full scale war.

Furthermore, the war they are used to is against a god, essentially, and it’s deformed, damned minions. Not against a different government with normal elves or anything.

There also hasn’t (really) been an instance of civil war or violence breaking out due to discrimination. Cause there’s lowkey discrimination amongst elves in tolkein, but it’s not erupted in an actual war, yk?

Idk, i just find it fascinating how these successful elven generals and war heroes know about counter strategies and army manuevering, but at the same time wouldn’t really understand the use of say suicide pills/espionage/assassination. Things that you can use to get inside the enemy’s domain and turn the tide against them there.

I’m not saying that elves are bad at combat or war, but it’s more limited to direct confrontation than anything else. And they probably have dipped their toes in on the other ways to do it, but, like i said, it’s rather limited as (other than the feanorian bs) from what we’ve seen (i’m only refering to what’s written and not what we might believe the silvan and avari and other elves have done) the elves are, generally, a pretty united front and they aren’t inclined to turn on one another.

It’s not that the elves are naive or don’t know how the world works, but there’s definitely an area of how war works that they’ve barely discovered.

#lord of the rings #lotr #silmarillion #the hobbit #lotr elves #what do i even tag this as? #food for thought #tolkein meta #noldor #vanyar #teleri #sindar #war in tolkein #elves simultaneously have a lot of experience and undeniable blindspots in regards to war #it’s such an interesting contradiction though #even when there was celegorm and curufin’s coupe #it was pretty non-bloody

[shrikeseams]

Considering more faithless first age elves.

I've written before about the idea of deeply disillusioned and slowly deserting Iathrim. But also, finwian minions who are over it! Who are deeply disillusioned with finwian bullshit and unjustified ainur high-handedness and unwinnable battles, who dissappear off across the mountains or into the woods, or into some distant falathrim settlements.

Just. The idea that the only elves who betrayed or deserted their lords were either 1) under evil feanorian influence or 2) turning on their evil feanorian lords feels like elvish propaganda.

More Iathrim who watch Thingol & family's obsession with noldoran trinkets and say fuck it, this isn't why I chose him as king.

More foolish young calaquendi who get one good look at war and fucking high-tail it outta there.

#Tolkien #Maybe mixed bands of noldoran and iathrim bandits lurking just east of the mountains #san shoots the breeze

[feanorianethicsdepartment]

fëanorian folk song genres

unnecessarily bloodthirsty campfire singalong

song about how awesome the high king is, censored to the point it could conceivably be about fingolfin

i love you but you were killed by orcs and now i will not rest until every last spawn of the pits of angband writhes in agony beneath my feet

our somewhat abstruse academic disagreement has led to three deaths and multiple riots, this is a perfectly logical progression of events and also you’re still wrong (an old noldorin classic)

friendly ribbing about those cold-bloods in himring/lunatics in the gap/megalomaniacs in himlad/bean-counters in thargelion/psychopaths in ossiriand (delete as appropriate)

significantly less friendly ribbing about those pansy-ass followers of fingolfin

unmasked hostility towards thingol and his stupid girdle

fuck the valar in general and morgoth in particular

i like you, you like me, let’s set something on fire

extremely cheerful ditty about what happens to those who betray the cause

my fëanorian could totally beat up your fëanorian

i killed more orcs than you in that battle, prove me wrong

the old boss was an awesome guy (citation not needed)

attempt to adapt sound of entire valinorean chamber orchestra to three beaten-up lutes and a whole lot of gumption

calling morgoth a whiny little bitch for seven hundred stanzas

when the silmarils are reclaaaimed~

#silmarillion #feanorians #feanorian minions #my terrible headcanons #that last one tends to come off as slightly more megalomaniacal without context #but only slightly

[tolkien-feels]

Feanorian Week Day 1: Maedhros

If you haven't seen me mention it - I'm not even tagging these because they will be extremely casual posts, but here's a headcanon for each prompt:

Kingship

Childhood

Maedhros is an unusually tactile elfling. He wants to take in his hands everything he finds interesting, and he's got favorite blankets before it should even be possible for him to differentiate between materials. As he grows up, this makes him a touchy-feely child in a way elves usually aren't. He mostly outgrows this, but in his childhood this is actually very useful for his parents. Even very young, Maedhros has a strong tendency to not speak up when he something is upsetting him, but Feanor and Nerdanel are both very aware that when Maedhros suddenly gets very cuddly for no apparent reason, something is Wrong.

There are ten thousand reasons why he gives up his crown. It is repayment of a debt he can't possibly ever settle, it is atonement, it is what he believes is right. But it's also the lesser of three evils. He can retain kingship as he recovers, and endanger his people because he's quite aware he's not in the headspace to be fighting Morgoth. He can allow Maglor to keep kingship, and just about advertise to the world he's unfit for leadership, as well as leave Maglor open for accusations of taking up power he should not have. Or he can yield to Fingolfin, and leave the door open for the union of the factions of the Noldor, which might help them in the long term, if not get the Silmarils, at least get revenge by defeating Morgoth. He's extremely aware he is betraying his father, and he's rule lawyering the hell out of Feanor's dying words, and no accusation by his brothers is worse than the things he's accusing himself of even as he speaks to Fingolfin.

Torture

Maedhros has a very, very hard time remembering what exactly he has and hasn't told Morgoth and his minions. (Not that Morgoth was after information, but two birds with a stone, right? If you're going to torture Feanor's son anyway you might as well see if he says anything useful.) After his rescue, wondering what exactly Morgoth knows and whether he will act on any of this intel is a major source of anxiety for Maedhros. In time this becomes an obsession with attempting to read Morgoth's mind, not too different from Denethor's obsession with Sauron's plans in LotR. Occasionally Maedhros even attributes to Morgoth knowledge he can't possibly have learned from Maedhros because Maedhros himself didn't have said information at the time, and nobody can tell whether this is just Maedhros acting on trauma or if Morgoth did something to his mind or spirit.

Adjusting/Coping

Maedhros never learns coping strategies as much as he sort of... doesn't allow himself to do anything but keep going. He basically represses as much as he can, and what he can't, he turns into rage on the battlefield. He doesn't give this too much thought, until Elrond and Elros enter his life. To be honest, he isn't sure if in this situation he's Fingon or Morgoth, savior or captor, but the boys are clearly terrified. Elrond at least accepts Maglor's comfort (though boy does it have Stockholm syndrome undertones), but Elros responds well to nothing until Maedhros takes him under his wing and begins to teach him how to rage his way out of fear, which is sure A Choice. Elros can barely lift a sword, but he already sleeps with a knife under his pillow, and Maedhros is in a downwards spiral of self-loathing for teaching Elros all the things he wishes he didn't know himself.

Unity

Growing up, Maedhros assumes his role as an adult will be to be his father's second-in-command, and that his father will never attain kingship. He also assumes he will be more useful as a generalist than specializing in anything, and he further assumes he will cover for the few things his father isn't good at, chief of which is building consensus even after persuasion fails. Obviously this isn't how it pans out, but after the Nolofinweans get the crown, this turns out to be a very valuable skillset. As a politician, Maedhros shines when the king requires him to figure out how to bring quarreling groups together, be it in large scale or just stubborn infighting. He knows exactly how to offer as little as possible to get back as much as possible. This particular skill is one of the reasons why when Fingon becomes high king, Maedhros functionally becomes his chief advisor, though they never make it an official role.

Beauty

Throughout the peaceful days in Valinor before Formenos, Maedhros considers his beauty to be almost akin to a craft. If he has been blessed with beauty which brings joy to Aman, he will hone it like any other of his gifts. It's not a matter of vanity, he needs no attention or compliments, but he does enjoy delighting people with his looks, so for events where he knows people will be looking at him, he carefully considers every element of his appearance. He's not striving to outshine anyone, but he does want to be pleasant to look at, much like a minstrel strives to be pleasant to listen to in performance. You could accurately say he subcreates his own appearance, seeing his own body and demeanor much in the same way his parents look at metal and gemstone, as quality raw materials to be transformed through talent and effort into something that increases the bliss of Valinor, even as subcreating is also a form of self-expression for them. (That gets so sad so fast once you get to Angband, so let's not.)

[tanoraqui]

reverse fic rec: everyone who writes or enjoys return-to-Aman fic where the Feanorian Noldor are still slightly insane in support of their lord(s) should read the webcomic Girl Genius. You WILL enjoy the mad scientist–minion dynamics. Also it’s a sprawling tale of adventure, family drama turned bloody, morally grey characters only, inadvisable (but glorious) creations, inheriting legacies, metanarrative, so-close-to-canon-polyamory-I-can-taste-it, and, I neither kid nor exaggerate, at one point a pirates vs. ninjas vs. werewolves fight on a flying ship.

#the silmarillion #girl genius #that last isn't relevant to the silmarillion at all; i just love mentioning it #feanor

[sorrowssinger]

feralandfair

Ummmm, It would probably depend on whether or not he challenged Gilgalad for the crown?

... I feel like I should point out that this is Noldorin succession and politics not Sindar, and that no orgies are not part of the succession rituals either.

forgemaiar

|| the rite of succession would have already been official by the time Turgon got there and not everyone would get news of his return at the same time, so it's either Gil stays on the throne or you waste valuable time on messy politics and divide your people's attention when there's kind of a wAR going on, so for sake of ease and safety Turgon would probably still count as ex-king ||

True, I feel like Turgon would just leave Gil-Galad as the High King rather than stir up trouble by announcing his survival at such a delicate point. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’d abdicate to Gil-Galad until such time as he decides he no longer wants the crown or he dies than takes the position up again.

#Away from the Fortress || OOC #Also imagining Turgon fighting alongside with the Feanorians makes me happy #like Morgoth was afraid of Turgon #and his minions were afraid of Maedhros #just putting the two of them together would be awesome

[the-tater]

EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE NEW DARK LORD

Do you have any friends or family who have gone missing recently? Been feeling hostile eyes staring at you while alone frolicking in the woods? 

Well, good news! 

We here at The ‘Tater understand your fears and have come up with a handy-dandy list of everything you need to know to keep you and your loved ones safe(r) from the returned Dark Lord Morgoth! 

(Oh, and all those symptoms? Definitely due to Morgoth’s interference. Not our fault, I promise!) 

1. DO NOT GO ALONE AND UNARMED INTO THE WOODS

It’s Spring, the flowers are finally blooming now that the Sun is here, and birds are chirping in the woods. We get it. You want to frolic. So does your significant other or one night stand. But is getting a helping hand worth the eternity of pain and suffering you both will feel after Morgoth captures you? We think not. 

2. IT’S NOT A KINSLAYING IF THEY’RE ORCS!

Look, we understand. “Orcs were once Elves!” “They didn’t have a choice!” “Maybe they aren’t fully corrupted!” “Aunty Mindi, is that you?” and so on and so on. 

The question here is, do you think that the chance of you maybe being the one exception for redeeming an Orc* is comparable to the chances of you dying a horrible death or worse? No? Then stab those Orcs like there’s no tomorrow! Otherwise, for you, there won’t be. 

3. TRUST YOUR NEW NOLDORIN NEIGHBORS

They have centuries of experience fighting with Morgoth! And if most of them happen to be over minor civic infractions, at least it’s better than ten thousand years of absence! 

So go out, find your friendly neighborhood Feanorian warrior, and trust in them to guide you to a new and better tomorrow! It’s either them or the Orcs

4. DO NOT GO NORTH

We’re not saying you can never head in any direction that is vaguely North, just that you are more likely to run into Orc patrols or other assorted nastiness the further North you go. You’re better off leaving the Northern defence to your friendly new Noldorin neighbors! 

Recruits can sign up at the fortress of Himring. Armor and survival not included. 

5. SHUN STRANGERS

...or old friends suddenly showing up, or strange malformed humanoids claiming to be from the Southeast. You never know who has been influenced by the Dark Lord! Do not trust “escapees,” no matter how trustworthy or traumatized they seem, and definitely do take everything with a grain of salt!

(protip: if it’s ugly, it’s probably the Enemy!) 

6. RESIST THE ENEMY

Sometimes, despite your best efforts, you can’t help being captured, kidnapped, or otherwise inconvenienced. When that happens, you should do your best to defend your friends and family who are still free. Lie to your captors and sabotage their best efforts. If you can, pretend to be an Orc until you can escape. Definitely do warn the local populace about these unfriendly invaders encroaching upon their territory and make sure you have not been secretly suborned by the Dark Lord or his many minions. 

And remember, an honorable death fighting against the Dark Lord’s hordes is a much preferable fate to the shame of living under his shriveled, burnt fist! 

“I can guarantee that these are completely factual and useful pieces of advice,” local scientist and shapeshifting demigod Gorthaur the Cruel said when asked for comment. “The Dark Lord is never going to see through any of this, and neither are his Orcs. So definitely do follow this advice!” 

Orcs, escapees, and the Dark Lord Morgoth were not asked for comment. 

-

*It is not you, unless you’ve previously shown exemplary persuasive skills or the favor of the Valar. 

#guest column #guest article

[lidoshka]

There's an AU headcanon that @inkstranger  wrote about Maedhros being a baker, and I think about that more often than it's probably healty...

Because I love to imagine Maedhros actually owning a bakery (after having worked many years on someone else's cake shop, he eventually got enough money to have one for himself) and finally, finally having tables and chairs adecuate to his height... which means of course that when he actually has minions employees he probably has a bunch of stools, crates and small laders to help them!

I also added Elros to this image because for some reason I imagine he's more attached to Maedhros than anyone else and he probably wants to be a baker when he grows up.

  (So as I said, @inkstranger wrote this headcanon, and she has more ideas from that particular universe, but I cannot find the link to that particular post and I am too lazy to look in her archive...)

(and now I'm thinking it might not be her so...help?)

  Also, remember that from March 20th, 2017 to March 26th, 2017 we will be celebrating Feanorian Week in tumblr! We will celebrate and appreciate the Fëanorians, and their parents, Nerdanel and Fëanor! feel free to add your own fanworks with the tag #feanorianweek

More info HERE!

#mis trazos #Tolkien world #silmarillion #Headcanon #au #headcanon accepted #Maedhros

[feanorianethicsdepartment]

not much of the former fëanorian host remains in middle-earth past the war of wrath, but there are some survivors. sure, there’s a lot who’ve had enough of this shit and go home, and a lot who want nothing to do with their old allegiance on account of all the murder, but there are still some who keep the old loyalties alive. more than you’d think, really; there was something glorious in east beleriand during the siege, and even those who left when things started turning dark still remember the years when they were heroes

and hey, now their enemy is gone, and the brilliant future they once dreamed of is suddenly tantalisingly possible. once again, the last of the host gathers around the last of the house, quieter than before but still blazingly determined. there is considerable debate as to who exactly the last of the house consists of - the celebrimbor discourse is acrimonious and violent as it ever was - but a few centuries into the second age the host has reached a new status quo, a new division. those who stay because, despite everything, the old hopes and the old ambitions still resonate within them, go to ost-in-edhil. those who stay because they have already given everything they are over to the cause, go to lindon

or, to put it another way, celebrimbor gets the ones who want to actually do something good with their lives, and elrond gets the nutbags

#silmarillion #feanorians #feanorian minions #there is a certain subset of nutbags who are lowkey waiting for maedhros to come back and lead them to dominion over middle earth #they aren't allowed to talk to elrond #my terrible headcanons

[feanorianethicsdepartment]

So obviously the entire Feanorian Host as a whole is a bit intense about the cause, but I feel like there’s different levels of devotion between their individual followers.

So my question to you is, from least to most intense, which Feanorions followers are the most cult-like and why?

the cultishness absolutely varies by region! i'm being a little facetious when i call them an out-and-out cult, but fëanorian minion culture certainly has... tendencies. the isolationism, the way loyalty to the group supersedes absolutely everything, what they do to those who 'betray the cause,' not to mention how absolutely psyched they get at the opportunity to do murder. still, the precise way that manifests, as well as how intense they are about, does change a lot depending on where you are in east beleriand. surprisingly it doesn't track that much with how tolerant of outsiders each subdivision is, which is most evidenced by:

the gap: maglor and his cronies are easily the most xenophobic part of the host, which is both a cause and a consequence of them having probably the least regular contact with non-fëanorians out of all the armies of east beleriand. paradoxically, this gives them very little incentive to go full cultist; much of the deliberately off-putting stuff the rest of the host does is partially to distinguish them from the outgroup, which isn't something you need to do when everyone you deal with is either part of the gang or an obvious enemy. they still do the elaborate facial deformations, they still have a bit of a Thing about fire, but the thing that's holding them together is much less utter devotion to the cause and much more the organic friendships and kinship bonds between riders

there's a few other reasons why the folk of the gap are relatively less culty. the gap is sparsely populated to begin with, and most of its population is at least semi-nomadic; it's a lot harder to cultivate that kind of obsession when everyone's off doing their own thing most of the time. while the gap doesn't have the highest headcount of mithrim sindar - as stated above, its population is tiny even by east beleriand's low standards - it has more mithrim sindar as a proportion of the population than anywhere else in east beleriand, and the culture of the gap has this big mithrim sindarin focus on community and clan to counteract the noldorin tendency to sacrifice everything for grand ideals. the general lack of new recruits from outside the host only serves to intensify all of this; the riders of the gap fight together because of the spiderweb of social and personal obligations that link them all together, not necessarily because of the cause (though that is still a factor, i want to be clear.) this fairly isolated society held together by individual and familial bonds stands in stark contrast to:

himlad: the thing about celegorm and curufin's people is that they're up against the fuzzy border between east and west beleriand, between maedhros' definitely-not-a-kingdom and the finarfinians' section of fingolfin's defensive line. as such, they're more or less constantly in contact with the outside world, coordinating troop movements, sharing information and resources, recruiting from the same sindarin populations. there's still a clear delineation between the fëanorians and the fingolfinians, partially because there's a lot of mountains between their major centres and partially because this lot actually do have an other to define themselves against and thus a reason to emphasise their own identity, but there's a lot of chatter and petty squabbling and philosophical discussion and a steady regular connection to the outside world counteracting the worst of the cultishness. unlike pretty much any other part of the host, the himlad minions never really lose the sense that they belong to a greater community of elves

which explains what they do in nargothrond. i don't believe that literally every single one of their followers abandoned celegorm and curufin, but i'd buy it was a lot of them, maybe even most of them. it helps that it's specifically the finarfinians their lords are betraying, the people they've - perhaps not fought side by side with, but who definitely always had their backs. even without that, though, the very existence of that relationship means they're used to working with people from outside the host, getting to know them, empathising with them, which is a pretty hefty counterbalance to the specific the-whole-world's-out-to-get-us undercurrent of internal propaganda. by no means was it an instant switch, or an easy one; after finrod got ousted there was a ton of interhost politicking and debate and the occasional brawl as everyone tried to figure out what to do. but the fact that the question was even open says a lot, i think. that probably wouldn't have been the case even in:

thargelion: caranthir’s domain is the most heavily populated part of east beleriand, and the settlement at lake helevorn is the closest thing it has to a city. a significant portion of that population aren’t fëanorians by even the loosest definition; they’re dwarven traders or miscellaneous humans or sindar far enough from the front line of the siege they can just keep on with their lives the way they always have. the fëanorians (and here, more than anywhere else, that’s a fuzzy category; this is the easiest part of the host to join, and the easiest to leave) are mixed in with all these groups, negotiating supplies, managing tribal levies, patrolling the roads, state stuff. out of all the subdivisions of the host, the thargelion minions are the hardest to distinguish from outsiders.

to keep their ingroup coherent, then, they actively mark themselves out. the minions in thargelion are probably the loudest about their collective identity and the cause and the joy of bathing in your enemies’ blood and all that. they have weird midnight rituals and purpose-built meeting halls and elaborate coded language, and while being overly tyrannical about it would be bad for business there’s definitely a sense that they form a tightly knit core which looks after its own above all else. that image is somewhat complicated by the aforementioned blurry edges of the thargelion host - is the sindarin bureaucrat who’s never touched a weapon in her life but plays a vital role in the military administration a fëanorian? is the noldorin freeholder who pays very little attention to the day-to-day minutia of the war but keeps his sword sharp for the hour it is needed? - but the alliance of old soldiers at its heart is a clear and palpable thing, especially when you can feel its eyes. when their hackles aren’t up the minions are perfectly happy to mingle socially with the other peoples of thargelion, though, which sets them apart from:

himring: on the frontlines of the siege of angband, with all the nightmares of the north pressing directly on their spirits, maedhros’ followers stoke the flames of their devotion high. the warriors of the cold fortress are less showy about their fervor than their counterparts in thargelion or even himlad, but the ardour underlying it is markedly more intense; they don’t have much in the way of over-the-top rituals, but they have vast amounts of ironclad unspoken rules they follow unwaveringly. they’re polite to outsiders, sometimes even welcoming, but you never forget that you are, in fact, an outsider, and that himring and its satellite forts form an internal world others can never quite see. even to other fëanorians, they come across as aloof

their fervour also tends to manifest as a deep personal loyalty that borders on reverence towards maedhros himself. all the brothers command respect, of course, they’re all magnetic personalities who draw people in and bind them together, but maedhros’ minions are on a whole other level. they mythologise him, tell stories of his deeds like he personally holds the line against morgoth, treasure the slightest contact with him, hold being called to his direct service as the highest honour of all. most of the new recruits to the himring host are brought in by the vast pull of maedhros’ reputation, from all across beleriand and even from the north. but no matter where they came from, they all understand that they will fight and live and die together beneath the banner of their lord. which is a bit weird, even by fëanorian standards, but they’re nowhere near as bad as:

ossiriand: amrod and amras’ henchelves are considered by the rest of the host to be notably psychotic, which is saying a lot. the minions of ossiriand are utterly terrifying, absolutely fanatical about the cause, the most bloodthirsty murder cult in east beleriand. you’d think the green-elves they share their territory with would act as a calming influence, but in practice the two groups mostly avoid each other, because the green-elves naturally prefer to stay away from these nutbags. you’d think being away from the front lines would lessen the need to solidify their identity through cult nonsense, but in practice it gives them the free time to go full gonzo. most of the horrible rumours you hear about the fëanorians in the rest of beleriand are either specific quirks of the ossiriand minions, or most egregrious in the ossiriand minions. they have an orc pit

or so they’d have you believe. the fëanorians in ossiriand effectively serve as the host’s intelligence division, scouts and spies and saboteurs. a lot of their work is clandestine by its very nature, and they tend to be pretty secretive about what they actually do. half the things you hear about them are probably disinformation, lies they’re deliberately spreading to make themselves sound scarier. hopefully, at least. as anyone who’s chatted with an ossiriand minion knows, they are both eagerly awaiting the fulfilment of the oath, and already preparing for what will come after

(this paradigm does break down after the siege is broken and the union of maedhros fails and the dregs of the armies of east beleriand wind up stuck in the same ever-shrinking territory. still, i think the origins of the survivors are... interesting. the people of the gap were almost completely wiped out in the bragollach, the people of himlad mostly jumped ship with celebrimbor, even the people of thargelion took heavy losses in the nirnaeth. but the people of himring stood firm around their lord, and the people of ossiriand were never really frontline fighters in the first place. minions from the more cultish parts of the host tend to survive longer, and in greater numbers. i feel this could have... consequences)

#ask #whotookliterallyallthenames #feanorian minions #maedhros #beleriandic politics in a nutshell #my terrible headcanons #post nyanyannya askbox clearout #like by the time elrond and elros show up most people are too tired for cult bullshit #(except that one guy who quintupled down as a coping mechanism) #but the attitude of the cult still permeates the camp #cults aren't about silly rites after all #they're about relationship to the outside world. and control #this was a lot of fun to write! had more headcanons than i thought i did #feanorian-state-in-east-beleriand-worldbuilding is a weird special interest to have but holy hell do i have it #feel like i could pinpoint the stereotypes each part of the host has about the others now #but yeah i think all the 'positive' aspects of their culture fell away as the cause became unreachable #leaving only the really nasty stuff

[feanorianethicsdepartment]

look i appreciate the drama of maglor and/or maedhros personally finding the twins at sirion. elrond and elros cowering together in a closet until they’re dragged out screaming by a pair of blood-soaked nightmares who were loudly threatening their mother and then shrieking curses at the sea... a+, i love it, great setpiece, nice traumatic memory. there’s just other ways it could have gone, and i’m not talking about the cave thing. f’rinstance -

the sun is setting on an awful, awful day. the streets are strewn with corpses, fire rages in the distance, but it sounds like the fighting is mostly over. three fëanorian goons roam the backalleys together, all that’s left of their squad. all of them are tired, all of them are injured, all of them want this horrible day to be over

something rustles in a building they’re passing, and the guy on point ducks inside to handle it. the other two are expecting the brief sounds of a struggle, the sudden sharp death cry. they are not expecting him to emerge with two screeching children under his arms

(the following conversation happens against a backdrop of crying, struggling, and attempted escapes)

goon 1: kids!

goon 2: kids?

goon 3: why do you have kids

goon 2: did trevadrion bring his children to war again

goon 1: no they’re not ours. they’re :almost gets hit in the face: elwing’s. i think

goon 3: you think

goon 1: guy who was defending them was all ‘you shall not lay your hands on another of lúthien’s line!’ before i killed him

goon 2: :kneeling: they do look kind of turgon-y

goon 3: :reflexively spits:

goon 1: so what do we do with them?

goon 3: leave them here, we don’t need the weight

(all three goons abruptly remember what happened to the last guys who tried that)

goon 2: ...or we could take them with us?

goon 3: sounds like a plan

goon 1: where are we going to put them

(maglor is completely unaware of the twins’ existence until he hears sobbing in the baggage train. he half-thinks they’re a hallucination for the first couple of days)

#silmarillion #elrond #elros #third kinslaying #feanorian minions #my terrible headcanons #not quite kidnap fam but a prelude thereto #look just because you're an evil raiding band doesn't mean you know what the fuck you're doing #sirion was a shitshow on all sides tbh

[feanorianethicsdepartment]

celebrimbor has this tendency to come off a lot less fëanorian than he actually is

admittedly that’s partially because of the stereotypes. if all you know about the house of fëanor is the murder, a lot of celebrimbor’s blatantly fëanorian characteristics - the mad science, the conspicuous lack of a braincell - look like personal quirks rather than family traits. it’s also partially because celebrimbor may not be a slavering hellbeast, but he is an unstoppable maniac, and he’s seen enough of the damage unstopped maniacdom can do he’s actively trying to rein it in and not cause too much collateral damage

but it’s also because celebrimbor does a lot of stuff that seems on the surface to go against fëanorian logic, but if you actually dissect why he did the thing the reasoning is extremely fëanorian. certainly he’s working from a fairly different interpretation of fëanorian rules than his uncles used (and even that’s half because he’s not doing a war) but he still thinks in the same way they did

and honestly, the rules he’s working from aren’t as different as they seem at first glance. like, everyone who went anywhere near east beleriand back in the first age knows the fëanorians were xenophobic as hell. how aggressive they were about it varied from region to region - thargelion was better than himring was better than himlad was better than ossiriand was better than the gap - but there was always a tangible barrier between the fëanorian host and the rest of the world. compare that to how welcoming celebrimbor is to folks from all over middle-earth, and the obvious conclusion is that he’s completely ditched that aspect of their culture

but that’s not quite how it works on the inside. some people pinpoint noldorin cultural chauvinism as the root cause of fëanorian isolationism, and while that certainly was a thing, it wasn’t a super critical factor? it was more that they had an enormous us-against-the-world mentality, with solid barriers between ingroup and outgroup that might be permeable on an individual level but definitely not on a societal one. combine that with the incredibly defensive mutual protection networks so key to their functioning, and you wind up with a situation where - okay, it is an exaggeration to say the fëanorians viewed the other free peoples of beleriand with as much hostility as they did the capital-e enemy, but it’s not nearly as big an exaggeration as it should be

here’s the thing: celebrimbor does not disagree with this analysis. he does divide the world into an ‘us’ and a ‘them,’ and does consider ‘them’ to always be a potential threat to ‘us,’ possible to work with but never to be fully trusted. it’s just that he defines ‘us’ as every single non-morgoth-aligned incarnate to ever dwell in arda. he’s so welcoming to people and ideas from the most far-flung places because as far as he’s concerned they’re all on the same side, all seeking to create the same beautiful world. ask anyone who was there at the time: no matter how nasty they were to outsiders, within the fëanorian host there was this great all-encompassing feeling of community. celebrimbor just applies that to absolutely everyone he’s ever met. even craftspeople he’s feuding with, or foreign powers with questionable relationships to ost-in-edhil - he’ll disagree with them, yes, argue his points as hard as he can, but there’s never a hint of the flagrant disrespect that characterised half his uncles’ interactions with their ostensible closest allies

even annatar, a maia and thus technically part of the outgroup, is given a chance. celebrimbor is determined to not automatically see an enemy where there could be an ally, and so while he initially defaults to mild suspicion once annatar has proven himself Cool celebrimbor enthusiastically classes him as part of the team. at first it looks like it’s paying off, he was right and his dad was wrong, they’re going to be best friends forever!

and then annatar betrays him, and fëanorian culture has a thing about traitors. some of the gwaith-i-mírdain inner circle are expecting to have to talk the notoriously conciliatory lord of ost-in-edhil into fixing this problem with swords instead of words, but instead celebrimbor’s putting the old minions back into war mode and gleefully expositing about how he’s going to rend sauron into his component atoms as painfully as possible

#silmarillion #celebrimbor #feanorians #feanorian minions #sauron #gets just the one name tag because fuck him #my terrible headcanons #celebrimbor is extremely feanorian in the leadup to the war with sauron #he's still super chipper about it which just makes it creepier #in the following millenia debate will rage as to whether this was the bad genes reasserting themselves #or just him emulating an (admittedly extremely well tested) model of doing war #tyelpe is the sweet sunshine child of the feanorian set #it's just that he's still of that set

[feanorianethicsdepartment]

the thing about occasionally living in the same city as a half-feral kinslayer is you really, really don’t want to piss him off. maglor might be the least volatile fëanorian, but he’s still a fëanorian, and it’s still possible to rile him up into a murderous rage. that doesn’t happen often, especially in rivendell, but it does happen, and people who've seen him actually angry never feel comfortable in his presence again. there’s a reason lindir runs screaming out of the room whenever maglor walks by

so yeah, the population of rivendell have certain unwritten rules for interacting with maglor. topics to avoid, tells to watch for, things like that. he tends to give off a decent amount of warning signs before going full nightmare, and he can be a surprisingly fun guy to be around if you can get past the creepiness, but even so, best practices. some subjects are more ridden with pitfalls than others - it’s generally a good idea to just avoid mentioning maedhros - but the one thing that’s guaranteed to make him shoot several notches up the imminent threat scale is people insulting elrond

thing is, what maglor interprets as an insult to elrond isn’t necessarily what you’d expect. criticising elrond’s decisions, for example, is something maglor actively approves of, to the point where if you’re too effusive in your praise he’ll assume you’re up to something. after all, fëanorian culture is at its most basic level a (more) violent militarised fork of noldorin guild culture, and while the armies of east beleriand were a lot more hierarchical than the tirion artisan associations they never really lost the tendency for everyone to always be arguing with everyone else. it was utmost loyalty that held them together, not blind obedience; backtalk and quarrelling were common in their command meetings, and their ideal leader/subordinate relationship was a lot more sarcastic than people generally assume. as far as mags is concerned, so long as they have actual concerns and aren’t just trolling, elrond’s flunkies being willing to point out his mistakes and having their own opinions on important matters is a sign of a functioning command structure. since elrond’s proven himself fully capable of managing dissent, taking those opinions on board can only lead to a healthier rivendell better able to stand against its foes

claiming that elrond isn’t maglor’s son, on the other hand? that’s a vicious personal attack. elrond’s place in the fëanorian succession is less secure than it might otherwise be for various reasons, and his part of the host tends to respond to the ensuing discourse incredibly defensively, which of course means knives. maglor doesn’t react nearly as badly to the intimation that his son isn’t good enough to be part of the house as some of the minions elrond inherited from him, but if someone so much as implies it his mood invariably takes a turn for the worse, and outright saying it is the fastest way to get on his shitlist

#silmarillion #maglor #kidnap fam #feanorians #feanorian minions #monsterdad days #my terrible headcanons #to clarify: calling earendil or elwing elrond's parents doesn't count as denying he's maglor's son #elrond's I Can Have Two Dads policy is very clear: elrond can be an heir to the houses of feanor and fingolfin and thingol all at once #maglor isn't entirely sure why his son hasn't taken the obvious next step and declared himself king of every elf in middle earth #but supports him nonetheless

[feanorianethicsdepartment]

and while i’m on the subject, i don’t see any big mystery in why the fëanorian followers stuck around when the kinslayings started. i see the fëanorian state in east beleriand as kiiiind of an isolationist murder cult, where outsiders get aggressively side-eyed at best and absolutely everybody has a body count. mostly of orcs, but #OrcsArePeopleToo, and the skills gained therein seem... transferable. and we all hate doriath anyway, right? fuck those guys, they’ve had this coming a long time

and after the second kinslaying - where else are you going to go? morgoth’s dominion over beleriand grows by the year, small groups of deserters will get picked off in no time. going over the blue mountains is the longest of long shots and balar and sirion will never welcome kinslayers. and anyway, the people you love are here, the people you’ve fought alongside for literal centuries, are you seriously going to abandon them to their doom when the road turns darkest? no, staying with the fëanorian host is probably your best option for staying alive, no matter what you think of what the bosses are doing

#feanorian minions #second kinslaying #i feel like some of the minions who went turncoat at sirion were taking their literal only chance to leave #beleriand is scary and full of nightmares and at least the host's steel remains sharp #dwarves are probably your most realistic alternate option but they've (1) probably got their own problems #and (2) may not be the most kindly disposed towards elves as of late #this doesn't exonerate participation in the kinslayings but it does explain it #if you're going to die you might as well die together yanno?

[feanorianethicsdepartment]

easterling: so then the elf nearly ran the guy through with a cavalry spear for implying we'd run away from the battle

easterling: y'know, like elves do

hadorian:

hadorian: the fuck kind of elves do you know

#silmarillion #feanorians #feanorian minions #beleriandic politics in a nutshell #my terrible headcanons #they are just. extremely murdery all of the time #honestly if all the elves around you are different subtypes of blood psychopath #convincing you to betray them probably isn't the hardest sell in the world #cf ulfang

[feanorianethicsdepartment]

fëanorians: :frothing at mouth: burn... destroy... kill...

other noldor: oh, those wacky fëanorians!

sindar: excuse me what the FUCK

#silmarillion #feanorians #feanorian minions #beleriandic politics in a nutshell #the other noldor aren't as bad but they have a very weird definition of acceptable behaviour #my terrible headcanons