#oh Dad's dead? Maedhros is New Dad

[victorie552]

I headcannon that after 3rd Kinslaying, and especially after Elrond and Elros left them in whatever fashion, Maedhros was a total dick to Maglor.

You know how sometimes old or sick people are nice to neighbours/nurses/strangers, but are horrible to their primal caretakers? That's them.

People aren't dicks to their caretakers just to be dicks - it's because they are often frustrated with themselves or their situation and don't know how else to deal with it or they can't deal with it the usual way. It also happens because, paradoxally, they feel safe around their caretakers - you can be a dick because you know they won't leave just because of that.

And boy, did Maglor cast himself in a role of caretaker (let's not kid ourselves, he wasn't qualified, and with his own problems to boot), and BOY, did Maedhros resent him for it. He did not NEED help, he did not DESERVE help, he's not another kidnapped child MAGLOR, I'M the older brother, I should take care of YOU YOU WRECK, WHY DO I ALWAYS HAVE TO BABYSIT YOU GROW UP ALREADY and leave me Nothing is EVER your fault, even when you left me to Angband as you should Why would you care now, it amounted to NOTHING before, it's WORTHLESS

And about half the time Maglor just takes it, actually likes it even. Mostly because of his guilt complex about how he deserves it, but also because Maedhros is only like this with him - he's trying his best to pretend to be fine and be a leader to few followers they have left, because they deserve better and that's the only thing he can give them now, and their brothers are all dead and would always be Too Little to act like that around them anyway. Maedhros would behave himself even around Fingon, to make him think rescuing him was worth something. So by being a dick to Maglor, Meadhros sees him as an equal, a safe haven. Maglor basks in that.

But obviously no one could just take such abuse like it's nothing, and Maglor is a Feanorian too, is prideful and stubborn, with his own laundry list of complains about Maedhros, and also unwell, and also thought of a new insult while lying awake at night and just wants to yell too. So half the time Maglor yells back and their yelling matches would bring orcs to tears, with hate and blame dripping from every word. I don't have enough imagination to picture it realistically, and actually I don't want to, it's too heartbreaking.

And sometimes, one or the other just starts crying. They don't talk about these times.

After some time, their arguments and insults are just a noise, something to repeat endlessly to the point of boredom.

By then, what actually hurts are the words that were not meant to harm.

Example 1:

Maedhros: 'did an all-night inspection of their stores cause he couldn't sleep' I found a herb you always liked to wash your hair with.

Maglor: 'doesn't remember last time he washed his hair, no less scented them'

Maglor: 'choked up' Appreciated.

Example 2:

Maedhros: 'feels like he's dragging Maglor to damnation with him' You could go with the twins, you know.

Maglor: 'doesn't want to upset Maedhros today so decides to pretend as if that was actually an option' Vanyar would probably like my singing but you know they would get mad at you for having better battle plans than them.

Maedhros: 'now KNOWS he's dragging Maglor to damnation with him'

Maedhros: 'dying inside' Of course they would.

When love hurts, it's easier to be a dick.

#maedhros #maglor #silmarillion #silm #barely related but it plays into my headcannon that when nerdanel didn't went with them and feanor died #maglor and maedhros became New Mom and Dad for the rest of Feanorians #not even with any creepy context from them it was an automatic process #oh Mom left Dad Maglor is similiar to her guess Maglor is New Mom #oh Dad's dead? Maedhros is New Dad #boom problem solved #when Maedhros was unwell after Tears Celegorm got to be Dad for some time #it's so unhealthy when you look from the outside #it's unrelated to anything except Maglor as New Mom resents any mentions of abandoning the others #Maglor is NOTHING like Nerdanel #THIS mom won't leave anyone thank you very much #and then Maedhros stays in Angband for 30 years lmao #so unhealthy #angst I guess #I feel it went in different direction than it started but eh

[qrovidcore]

what was the one thing @potatoobsessed999 and i were not supposed to do?

come up with another silm au.

and what did we do?

came up with another silm au.

anyway, because neither of us will ever write this but both of us WILL make pleading faces at the rest of the fandom until someone writes it for us we both independently started typing it up in bullet points Immediately after talking to each other about it and then had a spiderman meme moment about that, we present to you:

Would You Rather Fight 1 Morgoth-Sized Morgoth Or 1000 Noldor-Sized Noldor, And Why Is It 1 Morgoth-Sized Morgoth

in which

morgoth is, presumably, about 5% smarter, and keeps his mouth shut about the silmarils when he shows up to formenos to convince feanor to leave with him

or, at least keeps his mouth shut about the silmarils long enough that feanor does not say his girlboss line and slam the door in his face, and actually considers his offer

fine, says feanor, i do want to leave aman actually, but i’m bringing my seven angry sons and also my dad and also maybe a few hundred of my most loyal followers with me

(not that finwe would trust morgoth as far as he could throw him, but also is finwe letting his kid run off after him by himself? oh hell no, he’s going too)

i did say presumably smarter

because morgoth is probably not counting on all of this, he probably just wanted to kill feanor and get the silmarils and get out before the rest of the valar, who have at this point caught onto his shit, are able to toss him in the void about it

fine. morgoth does not have time to argue about this, so now he’s helping a few hundred feanorians cross the helcaraxe. This Is Fine^tm.

they probably all survive the ice okay, but of course morgoth turns on them and starts trying to kill them all the second he’s in shouting distance of angband.

because finwe’s job is to go down fighting morgoth when he should probably not be fighting morgoth, finwe goes down fighting morgoth.

because finwe’s job is also to die and emotionally devastate feanor in the process, feanor Sees.

and goes after morgoth himself.

and because feanor’s job is to die avenging his dad and then proceed to haunt the narrative, feanor, much like in canon, gets got.

at which point morgoth steals the silmarils and also the sons of feanor, and then runs back to angband before the valar can get across the ice to come throw him in the void.

because morgoth is busy trying not to let the valar catch him and throw him in the void, a decent number of feanorian followers escape. they have a very tiny baby celebrimbor with them!! no worries!! all babies remain okay!!!

unfortunately, the valar get there too late to do anything. fortunately, news does get back to the rest of finwe’s kids that suddenly a feanorian host, including feanor himself and also the high king of the noldor, have disappeared with morgoth across the ice? yeah that’s probably not good right.

yeah that’s probably not good right, say fingolfin and finarfin, resigning themselves to going marching over to middle-earth to rescue their stubborn older brother and also maybe to convince him that they do actually love him

not that that last part will ever happen. not when they just get there to find him dead.

because feanor is not there to go petition the teleri for boats, this job now falls to fingolfin and finarfin. without feanor there, the first kinslaying never happens. with finarfin there, the teleri can perhaps be talked into giving the noldor an uber ride.

the fact that the darkening also never happened, and therefore everyone is not panicking quite as much, does help also.

anyway, fingolfin and finarfin’s hosts show up just in time to find everything gone fairly to shit.

the sons of feanor are in angband, you say? maedhros is in angband, you say? well I’m going to angband then, says fingon.

this is definitely not as controversial, since there was never a boat burning either! but also it’s angband and clearly this is stupid and dangerous and Fingon Is Going Alone.

or so fingon insists

you see, aredhel and finrod probably never hung out themselves much, but they were both close with celegorm and curufin. they absolutely all used to go mud wrestling together on the weekends. and shared grief sure does have a way of bringing people together, and so they bond over missing their favorite cousins.

and, much like merry and pippin, end up Planning A Conspiracy^tm

and so this is how fingon, finrod, and aredhel go marching into angband on a mission to Get The Sons Of Feanor Back

unfortunately, none of them know how to find a good entrance to angband.

fortunately, they do find maedhros, who does know how to find a good entrance to angband.

maedhros’ rescue happens just like in canon, because maedhros’ job is to be a Symbol^tm, so of course he’s strung up on a mountain so that the rest of the feanorians will despair about it (separating him from his brothers so that maglor can do his job of despairing about being in charge in any capacity is also important). maedhros’ rescue happens just like in canon also because maedhros is frodo and fingon is sam, and if we are doing fellowship parallels then We Are Doing Fellowship Parallels, and who could ever take their singing rescue away from them <3

maedhros, dying of blood loss: i know where my brothers are and i’m going in with you.

fingon: maedhros you are dying of blood loss. no.

maedhros: yes.

fingon: no.

maedhros: yes.

fingon: fine.

and so fingon proceeds to lug a dying but stubborn maedhros down into angband. who, to his credit, is helpful in finding his brothers.

they’re probably all still alive because they’re useful (curufin, for smith reasons) or because it’s fun to make them despair. in any case, the team gets them out, and the rescue is going well.

well enough that amrod delays in an attempt to try to steal back the silmarils

instead of dying in the hopes of not having to reclaim the silmarils, amrod dies for the hope that such a thing is possible.

the others get out alive.

amrod’s death is what prompts the remaining sons to finish the job and get the silmarils back.

but! there is no oath! and there is no family feud! the finweans all reunite and successfully begin to plan an attack.

and well, there was no first kinslaying, or any kinslaying at all actually. thingol’s on decent terms with the feanorian survivors who wound up around/in doriath, and has no reason to distrust any of the noldorin leaders.

sure, there’s no humans involved yet, but also that means no traitors yet.

so the union of maedhros is much smaller, but also. it’s stronger. by a lot.

AND it happens like right away.

morgoth doesn’t have time to invent dragons. morgoth doesn’t have time to know what HIT him. a thousand angry noldor are In His House and they have a thousand angry sindar with them and morgoth folds in about five minutes tops.

and this is how a united front of angry finweans could’ve overthrown morgoth in a fun family weekend road trip. thank you for coming to our tedtalk.

#this is what we did tonight instead of homework we’re valid and our ideas fuck severely give us attention <3 #lotr #i don’t have an official silm tag and im not making one now #all my tolkein stuff is staying in one place thanks #FINE. #on second thought. because actually i AM begging someone to write this so that anna (a writer) & i (not a writer) dont have to #it can have a fandom-searchable tag <3 #the silmarillion #the paranoid android speaks!

[feanor]

nerdanel takes a page out of finwë’s book: a very long bullet point fic

fëanor is dead

he will stay dead forever, so says mandos

nerdanel’s children, on the other hand, are alive (and were reborn as children and are now teens/young adults and celebrimbor is older than his dad which is weird but also kind of helps them get along better?)

and alive with them is a man

i will not deign to give him a name

he is not fëanor, he is nothing like fëanor, so i don’t like him

anyways

nerdanel likes this man

she likes him a lot

and he likes her a lot

and they’re... seeing each other, which is to say they’re courting but in a way that makes her family suspect that something is up but not 100% certain

well, not 100% certain until she actually up and tells her sons ‘i think i may be falling in love with Man. is this... is this something you seven think you could come around to?’

they ask politely to convene as a group without her to discuss. she agrees and understands. she’d do anything for her boys.

the boys discuss

it goes something like this:

“what” - maglor

“what should we do” ambarussa

“i... don’t know.” maedhros (not a good sign)

“i mean... i want to to be happy” - caranthir

“yeah but like... she seemed happier with dad? maybe it’s just my bias because they’re our parents. speaking of, what about dad?” - curufin

“maybe we should tell him?” - celegorm

“tell him what? oh, hey dad, mom’s getting remarried probably and you can do nothing but grieve because you’re literally dead, we thought you should know.” - maglor

“we could... i mean, look. do we all agree that we don’t like Man as a potential step-father?” - maedhros

“yes.” - everyone else

“i vote we tell dad and go from there.” - celegorm, and an agreement is made

so they say to nerdanel “this is a lot to process for us. we’re going to need some time to adjust to this new development.” and she says “i understand, take all the time you need.”

boys trip to mandos! time to tell dad that the love of his life is falling in love with some other dude

“i don’t like the word step-father.” - curufin, on the way there

“me either.” - everyone else

“now we know how dad feels about indis.” - celegorm

“ohhhhhhhh. yeah now i understand.” - everyone else

they get to mandos

they bang on some doors and maedhros is very persuasive

fëanor’s spirit meets them halfway. he’s on the Dead Side and they’re on the Alive Side

“whats up, boys. miss me that much?” - fëanor

“we have a problem.” - caranthir

“what is it?” - fëanor, thoroughly intrigued

“mom’s getting married and we son’t want her to!! we don’t want a new dad we like you!” -amras

“nerdanel’s WHAT.” - guess

“no, no. mom’s not getting married. she’s just falling in love with another dude. she’ll get married in like three years, probably, if it works out with Man” - maedhros

“sorry, WHAT. who is MAN????” - guess

“mom’s new boyfriend” - celegorm

god, poor fëanor

“nerdanel... oh, man.”

“we thought we should tell you.” - curufin

fëanor’s spirit sits down and takes a deep breath

“okay.” he says

“wait, what?” - sons 1 through 7

“i mean... if he makes her happy, i guess.”

“who are you and what have you done with curufinwë fëanáro.” - celegorm, caranthir

“haven’t you heard? according to the sindar, my name is fëanor now. and i’m pathetic also, according to the sindar.”

“the sindar literally know fuck all about anything, they’re the dumbest people ever??” - maedhros, maglor, celegorm, curufin, everyone who’s ever interacted with the sindar ever

“c’mon dude we need you to like, stop mom from getting engaged because we Don’t Like Him” - maglor

“look. kiddos. i’m dead, permanently. i’m no help to anyone, much less nerdanel. if she loves this man, she should be with him.”

“she should be with you!” - amrod

“that’s not what she wants, though, is it?” - fëanor

they leave fëanor in the halls and decide to accept that their mom likes Man

they still don’t, though.

he has less of a temper than fëanor, unsurprisingly, but he’s a lot more violent when he is angry

not towards them, but he’s smashed plates

for seven men with ptsd it’s really not great

but yknow what? dad is right. mom is happy.

(amras won’t tell them that Man took it too far one night when he was at home alone with him. curufin doesn’t talk about how violent Man is when curufin is acting too much like fëanor. they don’t want to hurt nerdanel)

celebrimbor and curufin have a lot of talks about the whole situation. it helps them bond.

so nerdanel and man get engaged or whatever

yayyyy i guess

the wedding comes up really quickly

nerdanel decides she wants maedhros to walk her down the aisle

they get as far as the ‘does anyone object’ bit

fëanor’s timing is, as per usual, perfect. he walks in with a swagger and raises his hand. ‘i object.’ he says.

Man walks up to him and tries to punch him in the face

fëanor trips him and sidesteps.

“really, ‘danel? i thought you had taste.”

nerdanel remembers what it is to truly be in love, or some romantic shit because we Know fëanor is her man for life

“you said you weren’t going to do anything, dad.” - curufin, trying to be dry but relief is flooding his face

“yeah, and then i thought about it some more and decided that giving up hope of reconciling with my estranged wife was fucking stupid. what’s that bruise behind your collar?”

“hm? oh, i don’t know, it’s probably from when i tripped a few days ago. how did you get out of mandos?

“okay.” the look says ‘we’re talking about that later, because i don’t believe you for one second’. “i was able to convince some of the maiar to get me some tools and then i broke out. it was awesome and well worth it.”

“anyways,” continues fëanor, “i believe my very presence annuls all legal rights to this marriage. and i hope that, maybe this can become a vow renewal?” now he’s looking straight at nerdanel, and he’s got hope in his eyes. “i know there are so many ways i’ve wronged you. and i am sorry. i want to spend the rest of my life making it up to you.”

nerdanel says “alright. fine. i think the boys like you better, anyways”

fëanor laughs. “they’d better!”

boom wedding vow renewal

cut to like three months later, Man is in Elf Jail because fëanor is still Lawyer AF curufin broke down and told fëanor that man hurt him because of how much he resembled fëanor, who promptly lost it and instantly regretting not breaking his fucking arm at the wedding

fëanor and nerdanel are happy!

the end

#tw mentions of abuse #feanor #nerdanel #sons of feanor #maedhros #maglor #celegorm #caranthir #curufin #ambarussa #my fic #i guess #bullet point fic #i used dad and mom simply because it was easier #anyways fëanor and nerdanel are endgame and i don’t accept criticism #the end!

[thelioninmybed]

So do you think Turgon ever sent word out to dad that Aredhel was dead or that she'd had a son? Fingolfin (probably via Fingon, who heard it via Maedhros, who heard it via C&C some decades after the fact- elves are likely terrible with doing things in a timely manner I can only assume) would likely have known at some point she had resurfaced, right? But could do so little. Why do things get sadder the more you think about it?

“Are they certain?” Fingolfin said softly. The letter was spread upon the desk, pinned beneath his hands as though he feared it might take flight. 

“So they say.” Fingon was already stood scrupulously to attention but he straightened his back just a little more.

His father’s face was very still. “And what proof do they bring?”

“Only their word.”

“I suppose that counts for more than I would like. It’s been three centuries without news and now I must hear I have my first grandson from Celegorm of all people.” Fingolfin was not given to fidgeting and Fingon tried to ignore the way his fingers traced, over and over, the scrawled tengwar of the letter. “Did- did she look happy? Did her son? Why did Maedhros not say?”

“'I think he would have mentioned if she was unwell,” Maedhros said in the flat, careful voice he reserved for speaking lord to prince. 

“That’s not a good enough answer. You know it isn’t.” But Fingon did not draw back from his arms so that he might see the truth upon Maedhros’ face. He wasn’t sure he wanted it. “How do we know he saw her at all? Why would she be in Nan Elmoth? And with child? None of it makes sense and he said he only saw her from a distance. It could have been any woman in white-”

Maedhros drew him closer. Fingon let him. “Say what you will of Celegorm, but his eyes don’t lie.”

“His mouth does.” 

“He loved her too. Fingon, I would not have brought this to you were I not convinced,” Maedhros said, this time in his real voice. “Your sister is alive. As is your nephew.”

“Nephew. Nephew! By all rights that boy-” Celegorm cut himself off with a snarl of frustration and a toss of his hair. 

“Do you think her held against her will?” said Maedhros. Already he was composing a letter to their uncle and already he was developing a headache. 

“Could anyone hold Aredhel did she not wish it? Oh, she wishes it. Playing Queen of the Sindar in her little fiefdom, raising that brat while we all these years we’ve feared and searched.” He went to spit, caught Curufin’s glare and turned it into an awkward, hacking snort. 

“I’m sorry,” Maedhros said. “This is good news though - both that our cousin lives and-”

“That we have a foothold in those woods. Yes, we know,” snapped Curufin. “We can read the implications as clearly as you.”

Almost as angry as Celegorm, Maedhros noted. “Go North,” he said. “Find something to kill, and then go to her as an envoy. Such an alliance would be invaluable and she trusts you.”

“She did once,” said Celegorm. He flashed his teeth in something that was not a smile, ducked his head in something that was barely a bow and stalked from the room with Curufin at his heels. 

#Aredhel Is Alive But Everyone Is Still Sad The Fanfiction #fanfic #Fingolfin #Fingon #Maedhros #Celegorm #Curufin #...this might take place in the Gleam of White universe #Anonymous