Comments

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You set up the contrasts so well here--darkness and brightness, depth and height (and in the end, falling), warmth and cold, friendliness and reserve.

It's a harsh view of Gondolin, of course--after all, in some ways Maeglin was shown great favour. But he may have seen it so--and some of it has the ring of truth.

And I like this take on Nogrod.

Aaah, I'm sorry for the late reply, I somehow completely missed your comment on here!

I agree with you - this is very much Maeglin's perspective on Gondolin, which I see as coloured by both his own fears - if you are worried about being an outsider already, it is easy to see every whisper and look as malicious and aimed at you - and by his expectations: I imagine the Noldor, at least the "upper classes" as somewhat reserved and focused on etiquette, more than Maeglin perhaps was used to in a much smaller Avarin/Sindarin household, and with Aredhel around, who I imagine as not being that much a fan of courtly etiqutte either. Which does not make them bad people, or loveless ones, but might seem unintentionally cold or even hostile to one not used to it. (Though obviously, that's a lot of fanon ideas here - we sadly don't exactly know very much about life in Nan Elmoth and what Maeglin was "used to", or if there are sources, at least I've not come across them yet.) I do think Turgon, and as a consequence, Gondolin, did have a problem with maybe being a little to isolationist and attached to the status quo - frozen in that sense - which eventually contributed to their downfall through their choice to ignore Ulmo's warnings.

Alright, I'll stop rambling now XD Thank you so much for commenting! I'm so happy you liked my version of Nogrod *bounces*