Strange Beginnings by Urloth

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Fanwork Notes

Fanwork Information

Summary:

The elves were content and dwelt long under the stars of the forest Cuiviénen. After many years with many groups and cultures multiple and different rites of passage and ways of living will evolve. 

Under the ever dark sky a child awakens in the forest and knows only that she is young and her name is Míriel.

Major Characters: Elu Thingol, Finwë, Ingwë, Míriel Serindë, Original Character(s)

Major Relationships:

Genre: Drama, Experimental, Het, Romance

Challenges:

Rating: Adult

Warnings: Mature Themes, Sexual Content (Moderate)
Chapters: 1 Word Count: 7, 187
Posted on 27 November 2011 Updated on 27 November 2011

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Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Liberties taken with most chronologies for the amount of time between the awakening of elves and the great migration.

Comments on Strange Beginnings

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I'm always delighted to find Cuiviénen stories because they offer such interesting takes on the prehistoric Elves, and yours definitely didn't disappoint. I was a little confused about the reasoning and ability of abandoning children to the forest and wiping their memories, but it makes sense as a sort of rite of passage, and especially considering it a mirror of the origin story in the Silmarillion. Finwe the innovator struck a chord with me as well.

All in all, I enjoyed this a lot, and the formulaic nature of Míriel's knowledge (and some other details) interspersed into the text gave it a nice touch of repetition and an oral narrative - very fitting for the era you picked to write about.

Cuiviénen fascinates me and I have it on the brain along side Early!Míriel and Early!Elves in general. Thank you very much for your words. I know the reasoning behind the rite of passage does not make sense, I intend to come back to this one day and flesh it out a bit more and give a proper explination for it (which I had, then forgot completely and still can't recall) but at the time of writing I had gotten so sick of seeing this story I just posted it as is in the hopes it would leave me alone (haha, no it hasn't). 

Thank you again!

What a vivid, creative picture of the Cuiviénen era.  I think it was a good choice to view these things from Miriel's eyes, as she will end up bearing her child and fading away in a world and culture far different from the one she's come to know.  Hers and Finwë's refusal to accept "because it's always been that way" as a reasonable explanation is endearing (I love characters that question), and seems very appropriate to the progenitors of a particular Noldorin family line.  I liked the complex use of the cloaks, too.

(About the rite of passage - For a moment I thought it was rather horrific, but it occurred to me that perhaps the first generation, who really did awake in the forest with no prior memories, might have assumed this experience was a normal, healthy, and required part of life..)