Cutting Ties by Himring

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Fanwork Notes

SWG prompt: Amandil's parting words to his son Elendil:

"But it is most likely that you shall fly from the Land of the Star with no star to guide you; for that land is defiled. Then you shall lose all that you have loved, foretasting death in life, seeking a land of exile elsewhere. But east or west the Valar along can say."

(The Silmarillion, Akallabêth)

 

Also written for the prompt "Cut: Ties" at Tolkien Weekly and to go with Oshun's recent bio of Anarion.

 

Warning for the fall of Numenor (grim enough in canon!)

Fanwork Information

Summary:

Anarion, son of Elendil, on his way into exile.

Major Characters: Anárion

Major Relationships:

Artwork Type: No artwork type listed

Genre: Fixed-Length Ficlet

Challenges: Song of Exile

Rating: Teens

Warnings: Creator Chooses Not to Warn
Chapters: 1 Word Count: 197
Posted on 9 September 2017 Updated on 9 September 2017

This fanwork is complete.

Chapter 1

Read Chapter 1

After the monstrous storm and the long uncanny silence, they heard a distant rumble. Anarion saw his father's ship move from its position and realized Elendil had cast off. Whatever was coming, there was not a moment to lose.

‘Go,’ he shouted to the captain of his ship.

When the man hesitated and another sailor slowly moved to draw up the anchor, Anarion leant across, drew his sword and began hacking at the anchor-rope. There came a surge, the rope tightened and then gave.

Then the sea rose and swept them away and the sky fell on them.

 

Numenor was lost to sight, and so was Elendil's ship.

His grandfather's words kept ringing in Anarion's ears as the seas tried to swallow them: ‘Then you shall lose all that you have loved.’ He gritted his teeth. In the ship's cabin, his wife was attempting to nurse his son.

They struggled against towering waves and the black gale until they thought they had indeed tasted death in life. But at last the storm abated. They even found Isildur's ships again.

‘Not all that I have loved! Not all ties are broken,’ said Anarion—and stepped ashore in Pelargir.

Chapter End Notes

2 x 100 words according to https://wordcounttools.com/

 

Oshun's bio of Anarion is here:

http://www.silmarillionwritersguild.org/reference/characterofthemonth/anarion.php

Comments

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I liked the use of the quotation from Amandil and the Akallabêth very much. I also like his wife nursing baby his son and that reminding him that he had not indeed lost everything.

Thanks also for the link to the Anarion bio!

I almost chose to write a piece about the ships of Elendil's people sailing to Middle-earth. I'm glad I chose something else! (Hope to post mine in a timely manner tomorrow!)

This is one of those cases when the drabble (or double drabble, as the case may be) medium is especially effective. It works perfectly without long descriptions, a few evocative hints - the distant rumble; the sky falling on them; "Númenor was lost to sight, and so was Elendil's ship" - are enough to convey the idea of desaster approaching, then hitting with full strength. And then, fortunately, the suggestions that life will nonetheless continue, making this end on a note of promise. I liked it very much!

Thank you very much, Lyra!

Tolkien has some very evocative descriptions in this passage himself. The "black gale" is his, but I mostly didn't use them, for the reasons you say!

The Amandil quotation has always resonated with me really strongly, but when Oshun's bio reminded me that Anarion had one-year-old Meneldil with him, I felt impelled to argue against the totality of loss it seems to imply, in the name of hope and life continuing...