Open Up The Door by Tyelca

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Fanwork Notes

For the Middle-Earth Museum challenge. I chose the linked flute as inspiration, but this story is more like a literal walk through an ancient historical site than a focus on a specific object.

This takes place after Elwing and Eärendil present the Silmaril to the Valar and beg for aid in Beleriand, but before Eärendil first sets sail with Vingilótë 'with the Silmaril on his brow'.

Title taken from the song Rise Up by Imagine Dragons.

Fanwork Information

Summary:

Shortly after arriving in Valinor, Elwing needs to understand. Taking her husband Eärendil with her, she enters the abandoned manor where Fëanor used to live.

Major Characters: Elwing, Eärendil, Finarfin, Sons of Fëanor

Major Relationships:

Artwork Type: No artwork type listed

Genre: Drama

Challenges: Middle-earth Museum

Rating: General

Warnings:

Chapters: 1 Word Count: 5, 364
Posted on 6 April 2018 Updated on 6 April 2018

This fanwork is complete.

Table of Contents

Open Up The Door

Comments

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This was so heartbreaking! So tragic!

I didn't want Elwing and Earendil to take another step past the first room because of all the history they were disturbing. I felt they were desecrating sacred ground. I love the Feanorions, and I can, in a sense, comprehend Elwings need to understand them.

Beautifully written.

Thank you for sharing.

It's admirable that Earendil and Elwing felt they had to try, even after it was all out of their hands. 

And the descriptions are so clear and three-dimensional; it's really as if you're taking us through a Feanorian museum (or a Feanorian Marie Celeste).

I like the glimpse of Arafinwe, too.

 

(Is Nerdanel dead in this story? I am trying to remember whether you've written about her.)

Trying to understand was all that they could do - the rest was indeed out of their hands.

A Fëanorian Museum is the vibe that I was going for - unintentional and personal, but so very telling.

Nerdanel is not dead, but I seem to remember her moving back to Mahtan's place after the First Kinslaying? I'm not sure; but that's what happened here at least.

This was such a melancholy walk through the abandoned house - but such a lovely read. Elwing's desire to understand the family that hurt her own family so much is understandable, and it pains me a little that she did not find what she was looking for - although I suppose she may in time come to realise that the humanity and love and life she saw in the portraits and musical instruments, the comfortable furniture and the carelessly discarded cloaks aren't contradicting their later deeds, but simply part of the same condition. Maybe she can find closure after all. I hope so.

Loved your vision of the House of Feanor, abandoned but retaining its original character. I could picture the house very clearly, and it felt very true to my mental image of the Feanorians in happier times. I also loved the composure and bravery you gave Elwing. Brava.

Thank you for the kind review!

Elwing, and many other people, see the Fëanorians as one-dimensional monsters, and Elwing learns the hard way here that that's not true. I think Elwing is a very complicated woman that was broken in her childhood (Second Kinslaying) and didn't ever realize it, since everyone suffered from that disaster. This is her attempt at taking the first step on the path towards healing.

As for the house, I imagine Fëanor and Nerdanel kept politics etc far away from their personal life - hence them not living in the palace. So I imagine their chosen/build home to be very 'homy', perhaps the First Homely House, as Imladris is the last left in Middle-Earth?

This is really great. I love the spooky-but-kind-of-sad atmosphere of the abandoned house, and you've really captured the feeling of Elwing's cognative dissonance, knowing all of these normal things belonged to people she can only think of as monsters. I really hope she can find some kind of closure, even if this didn't help very much.