The Thrall by Ithilwen

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Fanwork Notes

Faelathron, Corufaron, and Aphadon belong to me; Maedhros and the Ardaverse belong to Tolkien, and I'm grateful for the loan of them.

Fanwork Information

Summary:

A young Elf joins Maedhros's personal staff, and in the course of his duties discovers some disturbing facts about his childhood hero.  Graphic violence, disturbing themes.

Major Characters: Maedhros, Original Character(s)

Major Relationships:

Genre: Drama

Challenges:

Rating: Adult

Warnings: Character Death, Mature Themes, Violence (Graphic)

This fanwork belongs to the series

The Maedhros Saga
Chapters: 1 Word Count: 6, 277
Posted on 14 June 2009 Updated on 14 June 2009

This fanwork is complete.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Comments

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Thanks for the review!  I'm glad you enjoyed the story.  My post-captivity Maedhros is complex; most of the time he seems normal (heck, most of the time he IS normal), but he occasionally falls into deep depressions and fey, dark moods, and he's certainly far harder and less willing to extend trust than he was prior to his torture (as his execution of the thrall based on mere suspicion that the man may have been corrupted shows very clearly).  Thangorodrim did nothing good to him.  (If you like this fic, you ought to check out Ivanneth's wonderful story "Of Oaths" for a different look at a post-Thangorodrim Maedhros.  You can find it at ff.net and at HASA.)

Oh, Ithilwen, this is so moving. The description of how the Thangorodrim experience affected Maedhros rings so true, how he can function apparently normally in most respects but suddenly the depth of his suffering breaks through . His death wish is so very understandable and, how he must be thinking he is doing the runaway thrall a favor killing him as he could be released from all the terrible memories and suffering he is forced to endure. There is this wonderful sentence about his feeling "trapped by the terrible love of my cousin and my brothers" that so well describes the situation.  I've been enjoying all your stories but I found this one particularly moving.

I'm glad you liked it!  Thanks for the review.

I see post-Thangorodrim Maedhros as almost having bipolar disorder:  most of the time he takes pleasure in life (sometimes almost to the point of mania), but he's subject to unpredictable bouts of really black depression, and meeting up with the escaped thrall has triggered one.  I also think he's in part lying to himself about why he did what he did.  Killing someone is a lot easier if you can tell yourself you're really doing the dying person a favor by ending their suffering than if you admit to yourself you're really carrying out a cold-blooded (even if necessary) execution.

Love this!

 I got where Maedhros was coming from with the 'mercy', or thought I did but you wrote it more beautifully than I imagined.  I liked the honest (mis)understanding of Faelathron just saying what he saw - murder - and then feeling appalled as he realised what it really meant. I know I've made snap judgements before and then had them called (not quite on this level mind you) so it had resonance for me.

 Anyway, you know I love your stories. More, please!

I'm glad you liked the fic!

What Faelathron saw is indeed the question at the heart of this fic.  Maedhros had several reasons for doing what he did, and it's unclear to me at least just how much his action was driven by mercy and how much by harsh necessity.  Faelathron was right when he noted, though, that if death was indeed a mercy, it was one which Maedhros was willfully denying to himself.

Oh, I have been stalling commenting upon this terrific story, because I had hoped to give it the remarks that it deserved. I truly loved your original character Faelathron. His observations are fascinating: the combination and evolution of hero-worship, through disillusionment, and finally a form of understanding are well done.

Maedhros, of course, is hard to write. We are told in the texts that his spirit never completely recovers from his experiences, but his deeds tell us of a complex character with a capacity for mercy, despite the requirements of fulfilling an oath that cannot be undone, and an incredibly competent organizer and real leader of his people from his father’s death until he takes his own. If there is anything that leaves me cold it is flat characterizations of Maedhros. This one is anything but flat and forces the reader to think.

It is sometimes hard to read others differing interpretations of characters one has spent a long time thinking about. Yours is close but still not exactly the same as mine, but I found myself to completely able and willing to suspend any disbelief and accept your particular characterization and appreciate it. I would highly recommend it to anyone who wants a serious look at Maedhros. Once again, however, the real star of this story for me is the engaging Faelathron. I adored him.

Oh, I'm glad you liked the story so much, Oshun!  Coming from someone who writes Maedhros so well, your praise means a lot.

I had a lot of fun writing Faelathron.  Accepting that your personal hero has serious flaws but going on to admire him anyway is something I think most of us can relate to (what adolescent isn't disillusioned in that way eventually?).  And it only made sense to me that there would be younger Elves (and probably children as well) living at Himring beside the older, battle-hardened warriors, and that they might romanticize the earlier great Noldor battles in the past, as well as the heros of those battles such as Maedhros, because they don't yet understand the full costs of war.