A Gift for a King by Dawn Felagund

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Fanwork Notes

Fanwork Information

Summary:

Just after Fingolfin's birth, Fëanor makes a gift for his father. For Oloriel.

Major Characters: Aulë, Fëanor, Fingolfin, Finwë, Indis

Major Relationships:

Genre: General

Challenges: Gift of a Story

Rating: General

Warnings:

This fanwork belongs to the series

The Fall of the House of Fëanor
To Give in Return
Chapters: 1 Word Count: 2, 924
Posted on 4 January 2008 Updated on 4 January 2008

This fanwork is complete.

Table of Contents

A Gift for a King

For Oloriel, who asked for "young Fëanáro and the early days of his apprenticeship with Aulë." Since much of this time will be covered in my novel-in-progress prequel to the monstrous Another Man's Cage, then I choose a slightly different voice and mood than I usually use for Fëanor at this age.

Also, I am assuming here that Finwë is among the Unbegotten Elves. I am aware of the arguments against this point and have intentionally chosen to do things differently for reasons I won't elaborate upon here. However, I'm happy to discuss it elsewhere; just ask!

Comments

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Oh this was heartbreakingly beautiful. My first impression was ... he is so much alike Celegorm (well in the AMC verse) around that age: restless, wanting to do interesting things and being active instead of listening to boring lectures.

I loved the touch on illumination, hehehe.

But this bit Dawn, this bit really placed me in Fëanor's perspective as in I could so see him doing this:

I fairly hung out of the carriage in awe, and my tutor--trusted to accompany me as my guardian--often had to hold me from tumbling out of the window and into the street by the seat of my robes.
 

 I could picture him in awe and hanging in there ;) And the moment you start to write that he enters the halls, the tension becomes so palpable. I so felt for him, being caught sneaking away:

"I am too old for many things," I muttered, and tears stung my eyes, and I regretted terribly the gift that I had made. It would mean nothing to him; I knew that now. Better that I had relegated myself to cleaning the floors in the forges. Obediently, I clambered back into my seat and obediently ate the extravagant, tasteless food put before me. 

Well, after that I had tears in my eyes, especially when you worked towards the final bit. I felt so glad to see that Finwë felt a bit neglectant of not giving attention to his son. After all, even teen Feanor craves for attention too. That was just beautifully portrayed. 

 

Being an older sister myself, I often heard that I should be wiser or that I was too old to do this or that. And I remember feeling jealous of the love and attention my parents turned to my brother, seeming to have forgotten me. I can understand Feanor's feeling of being abandoned, disappointed or even rebellious. And I love how you portrayed him in this story: a youth that wants to tell his father that he loves him and that he still needs to feel loved :)

Excellently done! Thank you for sharing. 

Lovely with the point of view being young Fëanor's. I really liked how you got into his thoughts and grievances with those around him. The list of misdemeanors rattled off by his tutor was priceless.

It is easy to forget how unique and difficult his situation was--and due to Finwë being High King it played out in front of the entire populace. I think it becomes far easier to understand and empathize with Fëanor when you go back and really think about his childhood or write about his youth. It put many things in perspective for me when I started to write about his early years--especially how other events later played out and it increased my awareness of what a huge loss it was to Fëanor, Nolofinwë and Arafinwë personally and the Noldor as a whole that this rift existed in the first place.

i thought his gift and Finwë's response really showed the bond and love they share.

(I just realized I never replied to this! I'm sorry!)

Likewise, I began to really connect with Feanor's story when I considered what it must have been like for him as a child, in such a unique situation--and a thorny one even in societies where remarriage is permitted and common--and, to make matters worse, in the "Deathless Realm" where all is supposed to be happy and, well, deathless ... but clearly that is not his reality. This story was much fluffier than I usually write, but the issues are there nonetheless.

Thank you, belatedly, for reading and commenting! :)

I laughed my ass off reading about Feanor, the child from hell!  But I am an older child too and sometimes felt like him after my younger sister and brother came along - that I was no longer loved or needed and that I was too big and clumsy - like I didn't FIT anymore - just like poor Feanor!

 

But there were so many other things I loved about this story - Finwe's obvious love for his oldest - the half-wit Indis - and the suspense in waiting to find out what the gift was!  It was a great ending.

 

A wonderful read, Dawn!  Thanks so much.  As you can tell, I am trying to catch up on all your stories!

Thank you, Jenni, for reading and commenting! :)

I am an oldest sibling as well. I remember being jealous of my sister when I was younger. I used to call her "butter tub" and was constantly vigilant for everything she got that was better than what I got, or every way she was treated that was better than how I was treated. I was definitely channeling that common experience here! :)