If you are scrolling through Tumblr trying to distract yourself from something you don’t want to think about, or you’re looking for a sign. It is going to be okay. Just breathe. You are alive and you matter.
i reblog this everytime i see it because i always need it and figure others do toom
thinking about Aredhel—she goes to Celegorm and Curufin’s lands and stays there for a while waiting for them to come back, then gets bored and wanders off and eventually comes to Nan Elmoth (and we all know how that goes) but I was thinking: what if Celegorm went after her? He tracks her to Nan Elmoth eventually, and…
Eöl’s sorceries are powerful, but Celegorm has Huan with him and is blessed by Oromë, so I don’t think he gets nearly as turned around as Aredhel was. He finds her and Eöl, murders Eöl and burns down the forest behind him rescues her from his enchantments, and sends a letter to Maedhros going “found Aredhel, might have caused a diplomatic incident, also I may have a son now.”
Maeglin quietly and shyly watching Curufin from the door of the forge (because Eöl didn’t like to be disturbed and Maeglin’s still kind of new here and people are scary) and Curufin, who was raised by a smith and raised a smith as well, starting to teach him on sheer force of habit. (Celebrimbor is an excellent big brother to Maeglin.) Maeglin loves the dwarves, Maedhros gets an excuse to visit Azaghâl, trade is blossoming,
Thingol grits his teeth but Fingolfin has successfully convinced him that if he raises a fuss about Celegorm killing Eöl then they’ll raise a fuss about the abduction of the High King’s only beloved daughter, and also there are many Sinda here who have grievances against you for raising the Girdle and leaving them to die, so you’re not going to ask too many questions about Eöl’s death in that tragic fire. Aren’t you glad Celegorm was nearby to rescue his wife and young son. Aren’t you. Say thank you, Thingol.
#turgon eventually: where’d aredhel go?#fingon breaking down his door because morgoth’s tortures can’t compare to his elder brother powers:#where have you BEEN i’ve been worried SICK i am SO MAD at you right now (bear hugs turgon)#fingon: also we have a nephew he’s so cute look at this painting of him with his pet mole - @eleneressea
In all honesty, without the murder grand finale (or I guess a different murder grand finale) I suspect the whole incident convinces Aredhel at least that Gondolin would benefit from a little less secrecy and tells Fingon and Fingolfin the path in freely. (The only way Fingon can get enough height to bear hug Turgon properly is with a running start leap. He does not do it often, but when he does it is a sight to behold.)
The only lessons Maeglin (noted for manipulation and ambition) loves more than time with the dwarves or Curufin in the forge is time with Grandpa. 😌 And Fingolfin is thrilled to have such an adept little protégé. He’s writing sly little letters of his own to Thingol in no time at all!
Maedhros: grumbles at Celegorm for causing a diplomatic incident
the incident: actually ends up *improving* diplomatic relations among the Noldor
I had completely forgotten that it was in Nan Elmoth that Thingol and Melian met, and that Thingol explicitly suffered an enchantment after wandering in, and that the enchantment still lay upon the forest when Aredhel entered it, years later; and it probably lasted until the breaking of Beleriand at the end of the First Age…
And now I’m entertaining a headcanon that the forest is Beleriand’s Bermuda Triangle – Thingol and Aredhel are the most notable missing person cases, yes, but there are many others who have gone into the forest or even just strayed too close to its borders and allegedly have never been seen again; travelers and merchants and hunters, all disappearing. It gains the reputation of being haunted or cursed (not in the horror-and-madness-walked terror of Dungortheb kind of way, but more in a less severe, urban legend kind of way); a bedtime story to frighten children; just enough for the more superstitious folk to willingly add a day or two to their journeys to avoid it, just in case, but not enough for the more pragmatically-minded to resist scoffing at the notion and thinking it absurd, leading to many arguments. Perhaps it becomes a favorite spot for dares among the younger elves, challenging each other to spend a night under the shadow of its trees Eol having to chase all these damn elflings that have started appearing off of his lawn, grandma-style
And even after Beleriand sinks under the waves, the rumors persist that there is an area upon the sea – many days out and almost a direct shot westwards from the northernmost reaches of the Ered Luin – where ships simply vanish. And if sailors of those vessels ever do reappear, drifting into port on wood that should be long-rotted or suddenly, inexplicably, finding themselves standing behind a market stall or sitting on an inn stool, they do so with no memory of what occurred; only the haziest dream-like recollection of deep twilight and birdsong.
animated fantasy films just don’t make fucked up evil castles like they used to
[ID: king haggard’s castle from the last unicorn (1982), the horned king’s castle from the black cauldron (1985), and maleficent’s castle from sleeping beauty (1959) /end ID]
