Bringing Trouble to Barad-dur by Aiwen

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Fanwork Notes

Disclaimer: this story is based on The Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion, and Unfinished Tales, all of which are written by JRR Tolkien. I am writing this purely for fun, and make no money from it whatever.

While this story takes place during the War of the Ring, I believe it has enough Silmarillion content to fit in here.

Fanwork Information

Summary:

In the Halls of Mandos, Celebrimbor and Gil-galad receive a unique assignment: go as ghosts to Barad-dur and distract Sauron from his war against the free peoples of Middle-earth. MEFA 2010 Humor Incomplete 3rd place winner.

Major Characters: Celebrimbor, Dwarves, Elves, Gil-galad, Mandos, Men, Nazgûl, Orcs, Original Character(s), Sauron, Witch-king of Angmar

Major Relationships:

Artwork Type: No artwork type listed

Genre: Drama, Humor

Challenges:

Rating: Teens

Warnings: Mature Themes, Violence (Mild)
Chapters: 22 Word Count: 23, 942
Posted on 7 January 2015 Updated on 26 October 2016

This fanwork is a work in progress.

Table of Contents

An Unexpected Assignment
Lost in Barad-dur
In the Den of the Enemy
Derailing Diplomacy
Through the Palantir
The Writing on the Wall
The Great Ring Robbery
A Challenge Offered and Accepted
But Will it Do Any Good?
Sauron Strikes Back
Bring on the Dancing Nazgirls!
Echoes of an Unquiet Past
We Make a Good Team
More Writing on the Wall
Mistaken Identity and Other Confusion
Back to the Main Mission
Mishaps and Mayhem
The Battle of the Pelennor in Barad Dur
The Witch-King's Mother
A New Hope
A Taste of His Own Medicine
The Dark Lord Goes Mad

Comments

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I'm glad you like their personalities. This is the story where my version of Gil-galad acquired a personality of his own. I find him a bit hard to characterize, as you are absolutely right that we don't know much about him from the books. It ended up being a combination of deductions from Unfinished Tales, what was required for the stories I was writing, and how he developed in my head. Celebrimbor, on the other hand, leapt into my head almost fully-formed and never looked back.

I seem to remember reading in some footnote somewhere that Sauron loved mithril and collected a large proportion of the world's supply. It fit, so I stuck it in. Oh, the poltergeists have barely begun their work. I can (Almost) feel sorry for Sauron by the time they're done with him.

Thank you, Aiwen, for bringing such welcome entertainment during a day when I am stuck at home fighting a cold.  If laughter is the best medicine, then Bringing Trouble to Barad-dûr is double-presription strength!  This is terrifically funny!  I love the premise, the characters, and all the little details:  distaste for fish, Sauron's potential allergies. ghost-Celebrimbor and ghost-Gil-galad floating about and through things, Celebrimbor causing metal-fatigue and reminding Gil-galad that he knows a bit about Rings, Sauron's duvet and porcelain teacups (my DM - a dark lord who appreciates creature comforts - approves heartily) and well, so much is so funny!

Great story, and I can thank my mild nasopharyngitis for allowing me some quiet time to catch up here on the SWG.  Bringing Trouble to Barad-dûr is a real treat!

AH HAHAHA!  This continues to be darkly hilarious, and major kudos to you for your ability to write what really is a slap-stick scenario so adroitly.  I could envision all the hootworthy shenanigans. :^D

He hurled the Ring into the privy hole and floated to the ceiling to watch.

*Snort*  Now that is a strategy to make Ring retrieval considerably more troublesome for the Dark Lord.

I'm glad you liked that. I've been reusing some of the original characters that have already appeared with the idea that it will be more interesting to see fewer, more developed characters than hordes you only see once. This isn't the last you'll see of the Ambassador, although I don't think he'll be turning up for quite a while after this. He really isn't cut out for dealing with the likes of Sauron or the Nazgul.

We don't really know much about the Nazgul, including the Witch King. His parentage came up because I asked myself what canon character seemed most like they could be Sauron's kid. I came up with Angmar, and since this story partly follows the rule of funny, I included it here.

As for daddy issues, well, this is somebody whose magical powers and immortality are tied to his father, and who is second in command to his father. Everything Angmar has that he values is in some way or other tied to Sauron. Under those circumstances, he probably cares a lot about what Sauron thinks of him. It's a matter of survival, whether he loves or hates his father. I suspect he'd feel both emotions, so tangled together he can't tell them apart.

I remember this fic fondly from FFN and I'm very glad you're posting it here! This fic is utterly delightful. It makes me smile all the way through. And it manages to cover all sorts of absurd situations while still feeling in-character! (If Celebrimbor were sent into Barad-dur as a ghost with limited telekinetic powers, I feel that going into Sauron’s torture chamber and sabotaging all the torture instruments by giving them metal fatigue is exactly what he would do.)