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But some of them had returned here, and Lord Celeborn and Lady Galadriel had reluctantly granted them permission to settle in the hilly lands in the north of Eregion. Their settlements (assuming that they indeed existed) were marked on no maps, and paid no taxes; they had not been seen in Eregion's cities in ten yení. 


OK.  I'm officially intrigued — hooked, if you will.   

This is a great premise, and I love the voice of your young scholar.

As many others here (I suppose), I as well am kind of an aspiring scholar (not a good one, mind you).

Retelling histories and new vantage points have always been a passion of mine (right now writing a BA thesis on how Qin Shihuang, the first Chinese emperor, was not all THAT bad) and the same applies to material culture and culture history. so I'm pretty much falling in love with the narrator already; and as for the Kinslayers, I have had a soft spot for those since I first read the official historical accounts, a long long time ago...;-))

You *so* got me hooked...:-)

I'm delighted to hear that I got this reaction! The SIlmarillion is such a fantastic book for imagining alternative vantage points, because there's just so many questions that the official narrative leaves unanswered... and I, too, have a soft spot for the Kinslayers. Who doesn't?

Exactly. It seems like the only mention of their followers is the "cruel servants of Celegorm" (and you'll get my take on that in a couple chapters), but there must have been more. And I remember thinking the first time I read the Silmarillion that their story had to be pretty fascinating. 

That was fast! And I continue to be delighted. Your scholar's dry humour is perfect, and it seems he's found a great interview partner to answer some of his questions... though not necessarily as quickly as he'd hoped. I loved your re-telling of the Darkening - it really must have been a significant moment that defined the loyalty of Fëanor's followers, but I've never given it much attention in that light (no pun intended). In conclusion: Great work! I'm looking forward to what else you're going to uncover. :)

It's great to hear that you're still enjoying the fic! (Getting an enthusiastic response to the first chapter actually made me absurdly nervous: suddenly I had something to live up to.) I've always felt like the Darkening gets too little attention in Silmfic. It must have been psychologically shattering, which makes for some great story ground. And it was a lot of fun to write about. 

This is great. I really like your exploration of your Feanorian narrator's point of view and the interesting and worthwhile points you are able to make that way--and also the way your scholar's comments counterpoint her narrative, often injecting a note of caution, sometimes underlining.

You've also thrown out a number of tantalizing hints that really whet my appetite for more!

You updated! o/
This was intense, just like the last chapters. You really bring the despair and fear and urgency of these times across, and you're doing a great job of explaining how one thing and another added up until the Oath, or Alqualondë, or (soon, presumably ;)) Losgar happened. I for my part am completely convinced by your Fëanorian follower. (But of course, I've been a defender of Fëanor to start with...)
It's also utterly fascinating to me that you pay so much attention to the time passed and distances covered, because that is something that I've so far pretty much ignored - the Silmarillion reports it all in a couple of paragraphs as if it just happened in a rush and a couple of weeks, and I never bothered to look this up on a timeline to see just how long it actually took for the Noldor to get into gear and leave Aman for good.
In conclusion: I still love this story to pieces and think it should be compulsory reading for Silmficcers.
Thank you for this new chapter!

Wow, thank you! The timeline was the first thing that really made me start thinking about the Silmarillion as a biased historical document. The text repeatedly insists that Feanor was rash and impatient but that's not at all consistent with events the way they're actually portrayed. Not to mention the question of how the Elves knew everything there was to know about tactics by the time they arrived in Beleriand.

I think the repeated insistence of the Silmarillion that they followed him in a moment of brief insanity, "as if besotted with wine" is a rather lame excuse, considering that they followed him for two Years (20 years!)

I used to ignore the timelines entirely, until I got into a fascinating discussion on another Tolkien site about how the Noldor were so capable and militarily sophisticated by the time of the Dagor-nuin-Giliath, and this seemed the most plausible explanation. If it also happens to lend itself to a more favorable view of the Feanorians... well, that's just a bonus!

Terrible choice of words on my part. Of course, no one has an obligation to read another’s work. There is the question of courtesy in this case, however. I said the day before or so that I was going to read it (writer to writer—like a wizard’s pact) and I broke that promise—because I was busy, distracted, crazy as a bag of cats, but mainly undisciplined and, I think, anxious. So many stories have a great concept or a great beginning and then the promise isn’t fulfilled. I am reading the next chapter now and I should not have worried. It is even better than I had hoped. (By the way, I figured out who you are now! I am slow about that with so many different pen names floating around.) Anyway, I am keeping notes. This chapter is fantastic. Filled with fabulous details. I'll write more later.

I'm sorry about the different pseudonyms! Different things available on different sites, etcetera... I suppose I never expected to have enough of a reputation anywhere to matter, but this fandom has thoroughly sucked me in. (And if there are wizard's pacts involved, all the better).

 

 

Stone monuments of One-Handed Maedhros the Terrible, bloodied sword in hand?

 

I love that part.

 

Also because every muscle in my body was aching with exhaustion, I badly needed a bath, and I was going to be sick if I ate any additional lembas.

 

I also believe, contrary to old school LotR fics that Elves get achy, exhausted and filthy. And lembas would be fine for a day or two and then after that it would be a case of keeping one alive, but not enjoying it.

 

Love the next observation also!

 

(I wondered only briefly. Self-doubt is virtuous, a characteristic of a healthy and skeptical mind, but it should not be crippling.)

 

Noldor style (shamelessly retained—very Feanorian):

 

The houses were also stone, well-built and decorated with the unapologetic frivolity that characterizes everything – calligraphy, architecture, jewelry, weapons – our people possess from before the Darkening. 

 

And the this is stunning:

“. . . and I desperately need to speak to some people who were with the sons of Fëanor – you know, all the way until the end.”
She turned around and started walking away.
‘There are none.’
‘I’m sorry?’
‘They were alone at the end.’ Her voice wavered just slightly.”

WOW! beautifully put! Incredibly moving in its simplicity. (I know talent in writing means nothing without hard work—but you are very talented. The light touch here is worth more than a page or two explaining.)

She reached out and plucked the leather-bound book from my hands, flipping deliberately through each blank page, leaning in to enjoy the scent of new parchment. “Lord Maedhros would have appreciated this, you know. He was a scholar before it all began. An acclaimed one.”

I had not known this.

Typical of how people would forget who they really were before all of the trouble.

I knew, of course, that Fëanor’s rebellion was against the Valar; I knew there was a philosophical element to it. But that was not what I wanted to hear about. Objecting, though, earned me a sharp glare and an invitation to leave. “But if you want to hear this tale from me, you will have to listen to it as I tell it, without interrupting.”

I think I love this woman.

-------

“We had learned all we could from them. We had surpassed them in the areas where we could – Fëanáro’s work, of course, comes to mind, but he was not alone – and in the other fields, where we could not surpass them, we stood ever impatiently at their shoulder – for who would tell the Star-Kindler that her stars do not move as they should? Who would tell the creator of the world that under certain conditions the elements did not behave as he claimed?

I love this so much. Exactly how I have imagined it would be. Wondering for myself how much the Valar knew and would not share and./or how much the Children learned and surpassing masters and the Valar lacked the curiosity to follow, until it was too late.

  “In later days, you know, when everything had fallen to ruins and it was absurd – utterly absurd – that we had once worried about growing bored of eternity, we used to debate who would have lead the rebellion if Fëanáro had never existed. Findaráto was the favorite, of course. Though personally, I always thought that it would have been his sister. ”

I swallowed and disguised my consternation by scribbling furiously. That would cause some debates in Ost-in-Edhil. .

I love, love, love this! I want to have that argument/discussion with someone. Just not on Tumblr—my brain would explode.

  and it was as if he encompassed us, as if every objection that we would think of in a thousand years he had already thought of, and improved upon, and presented in its strongest form and then rejected. And yet he was not distant. He was not jealous. He was rarely rude… 

Brings tears to my eyes. I have had two models for Feanor—both geniuses and very close to me in my personal life--and this totally works for them also.

 “They felt… that… and rode toward it?” my brother whispered, and then, as if taking heart, somehow, from their bravery, he jumped to his feet and went to join them.

You’re kicking in an open door here for me. I love it. There is that courage that took my breath away and made me fall in love with The Silmarillion.

  She had the strangest accent I had ever heard: measured, precise, so that even though she was pronouncing everything completely wrong she left you with the disconcerting impression that it was you who had no comprehension of the language.

Perfect. I love how she has commanded his respect with ever insisting.

I have to take another break. But this is lovely. Onto to chapter two at the earliest possible moment… Babysitting now.

 

Wow, thanks so much for the detailed review! This is the first Silm story I ever wrote (and the first piece of writing I ever made public) and so it means a lot to think someone else enjoys it (especially someone whose writing I respect as much as yours! I've put a lot of thought into the character of the sort of people who would stand by the Feanorians through three Kinslayings, and it's difficult to convey at all and especailly difficult to convey at enough of a remove to make for a good story and not just an impassioned rant about my favorite characters. But I'm very glad you are enjoying the story.

I've seen some people argue it was zero! I personally estimate a few hundred Feanorian survivors of Sirion, but most of them would be Beleriand-born. The Amanyar would have been taking the most dangerous forward positions. They'd have been in the close personal guards of the sons of Feanor, which must have been wiped out near-completely in the Nirnaeth and probably also in Doriath and Sirion. Aaaanddd all this will be properly cited and justified in the Appendices. I'll try to save it for there. 

 

And yes, I think Doriath and Sirion are impossible to understand without the context of a people who have (in many cases literally) watched every single person they know die. Not that it justifies anything - and I'm writing this story at a double remove so I can explore their justifications without, hopefully, buying into them - but the Bragollach and Nirnaeth must have been shattering on many levels - and I don't think their losses stopped afterwards.

Oh just from this prologue I am entranced and invested! Because the Silmarillion is most decidedly NOT from the perspective of the Fëanorions and has very obvious bias against them! I am excited to read the rest of this and so intrigued at this idea of writing it from a scholarly research perspective. And kudos for realising Celebrimbor might not be the best one to ask!

"Stone monuments to one handed Maedhros the Terrible!"   Oh but there should be--not of Maedhros the terrible but of Maedhros the Talll, Lord of Himring, who kept watchon Angband.

I love the defiance of naming the town Uttermost East--a Doom laid on them but one they would nit hide from or deny but call it by its name and stare it in the face defiantly. And the beauty of Noldorin architecture-even in the desolate place it was. You can take the Noldor out of Valinor but you can't make them stop being Noldor!

 

"they were alone in the end," is such a devastating  sentence.

I love that the book makes her think of Maedhros. Oh! How can they have forgotten Maedhros the scholar? 

In my headcanon this is why Maglor lived and abided in Middle Earth--so someone would live on who knew them as they were. The family of brilliant artists, scholars, hunters, artisans, philosophers, musicians, linguists--who loved each other deeply and who thrived on intellectual pursuits, debate and knowledge. 

 

He did not start it, he captured it. This is it. This one sentence. 

Nothing left to fight over except status. The monotony of perfection. 

What I have always thought--no one would have followed someone so loyally if he had not been worth following. We are told how amazing Fëanor is--creative, beautiful, gifted beyond others. And truthful, loyal to his people, familiar with their names, lives, concerns.

They rode towards it. They felt that and rode towards it? if that does not define their valor I don't know what does.

oh it does my heart good to hear those words about Tyelko.

oh the guilt. They had run and Finwë had stayed, alone. And it wasn't just his people, who had sworn Oaths of fealty to him, who felt they had betrayed and abandoned him. That guilt overwhelmed his grandsons as well, no doubt. Even if they had been at their usual pursuits they weren't there when he needed them. 

and greater than all--Fëanor's grief and guilt. 

And the fealty of the people who loved him and felt they had utterly failed him. 

I am really moved by this telling. 

The Valar in silent contemplation/mourning--so utterly useless and out of touch! No clue how to empathize with the Eldar. No clue how to comfort, encourage, sympathize. Crops dying, a family again devastated by death, a people who lost their supposedly immortal King to a Vala--one they had released back to freedom. Infuriates me. 

So did Fëanáro. When he spoke, it seemed that we ceased to breathe; when he paused, we drew in air as one. One being. One people. I could see us, for a second, as he saw us – resilient, courageous, and capable of defeating Morgoth, taking back the Silmarils, building anew. This is such powerful imagery.

they were not there. They did not feel it.  Yes I can see this making a difference to them. But I can see how interrupting this moment was so jarring and upsetting to those who lived through it.

an angry frightened crowd is a power all its own. true words.

very affecting chapter. 

I love the details of Fëanaro and his sons among their people--reassuring them, assisting them, caring for them as true leaders should.

This passage just breaks me because it is so true! Caricatures of who they were. Not a three dimensional picture: 

there are times when I think that the greatest tragedy of Beleriand is how it flattened people. The twins? Hunters. Curufin? Sneaky. Moryo? Rich and ill-tempered. Tyelko? Had a dog. Macalaure? Singer. Maitimo? Maitimo Nelyafinwë, the most beautiful of Finwë’s grandchildren, who remembered the names of everyone he’d ever spoken to, who carried our crying children and lulled them almost instantly to sleep, who taught our sons to swordfight when the host paused for rest – a single word of praise from him would have my brother glowing for a fortnight – Maitimo, who had written books on every topic known to Elves, who let my little sister try on his copper circlet once when she asked, who insisted our neighbor ride his horse when she injured her ankle – Maedhros the One Handed. That’s how they remember him. Am I right?”

this is what I see Maglor staying behind to remember--his father and brothers as they were. To him, to their followers, who there were aside from the oath and strife and misery!

 

This section is brilliant also. Giving us the idea of what they people think, how they regard the Valar and the House of Fëanor and why they were willing to follow, to leave, to fight, to defend.
But my father jumped to his feet and nearly overturned the tent. “That,” he hissed at his wife, “is what the Valar are hoping for. They say we cannot defeat Morgoth – well, they’re damned right that we cannot defeat Morgoth if they deliberately sabotage us every step of the way. They know that Fëanáro is right; they are too cowardly to attack him directly, so instead they strike at the loyalty of his people. They ask if we’re afraid to die for him, and then they see to it that we will. We will not turn back. We will cross the ice, if our King commands it. We will swim the damned ocean, if our King commands it. We will show the Valar that the Noldor cannot be so easily turned from our path. We will not be manipulated like a rabble of children!”

and this--it never seemed right to me that the Teleri would offer nothing.

They would not ferry us across the sea for any price. They would not loan us the ships. They would not aid us in building our own. 

Finwë and Olwë were friends. The house of Finwë had ties to the Teleri. Fëanors gems were in their king's crown. Why not help? Fear of the Valar? Then help to get Fëanor's host out and on their way. Forcing them across the ice was cruel and unnecessary--Fëanor was eternally blamed for doing that to Fingolfin; it's not much different when Olwë forces that path on them by denying aid. They could ferry them across, lend the, some ships, show them how to make their own--Noldor ingenuity would like result In speedier construction and efficiency! 

“Would the Teleri think their ships worth killing for? Worth dying for?” I would have stared at you in wide-eyed astonishment… it was Valinor. Nothing was worth killing for. Nothing was worth dying for. This is so sad--nothing had been so far--jewels laying on the beach, skills and treasures traded freely. It's such a fall from innocence, a world turning into something unrecognizable. I do not think it was one sided--Teleri killed Noldor too. Nolofinwë's host coming upon that sight--I can't even imagine their dismay and fear but they plunged right in.

this is such a valid point. They regretted it, the suffered for it--but what of the Teleri who also were now kinslayers? 
Alqualondë. They ask, did you feel sympathy for the people you slaughtered? Yes, of course; such pain as I suffered that day I would not wish even on Morgoth. But has anyone asked them the same.

another stunningly powerful chapters that addresses all the right questions. 

Holy crap, I cannot believe I found this again.

 I thought I had dreamed this story up but when the pandemic gave an abundance of free time, I began wading through the SWG and stumbled across it again.

 

Its just as good as I remember it and I'm loving finding all these new little details in the text. Like , the narrator mixing Quenya and Sindarin and her use of the"Th" in her Quenya pronunciation. I also really wish I could read the Loremaster's treatises on child-rearing in Middle Earth cause that is right up my alley. And the way he justifies his questions and his desire to hear things from the bad guy's side is amazing especially when he writes down the excuses of the elves he meets trying to find the Feanorians. "It doesn't mean I want to join them becaus eI'm interested in them but its for science! You know, to better understand how wrong and bad they were." That type of mentality.

Your retelling of the Darkening had me shaking and I could feel how suffocating the darkness was. And The hope that Feanor inspired and the courage was perfect. The bit about the vows and the grief they felt when it had been failed left me crying.

And the line about how Beleriand flattened people is so spot on. I could keep going on but I've rambled enough.

 

 

Also, I've fancast Ben Winshaw as the shit stirring Loremaster and Julianna Marguiles as the Feanorian narrator. I see them in my head as I read.