Black and White by Lingwiloke

Fanwork Information

Summary:

Maeglin realizes that during his visits to the dwarves he felt less of a stranger than during his time in Gondolin.

Major Characters: Maeglin

Major Relationships:

Artwork Type: No artwork type listed

Genre: Drama, Poetry

Challenges: B2MeM 2017

Rating: Teens

Warnings: Character Death
Chapters: 1 Word Count: 2, 836
Posted on 28 March 2017 Updated on 28 March 2017

This fanwork is complete.

Chapter 1

Written for B2MeM 2017. Prompt and Path: “Black and White” - Blue Path, Square One./Wildcard: “Complete any prompt from the blue (four dots) path” – Green Path, Square Two.

Read Chapter 1

Black and White

 

 

 

They say I was born to darkness

 

I thought to prove them wrong

 

 

 

I think of the time I left the twilight under trees for a different dark

 

for halls of stone, kings under mountains

 

whispers in the halls of ever-night, secrets waiting to be found

 

treasure chamber full of wonders.

 

And after-

 

ember-glow, molten heat of creation

 

low rhythm of the forge, heart-beat of the earth

 

gruff voices, full of warmth and ringing laughter

 

honest work and honest men and women

 

strangers, all, when I came, but when I left

 

my brothers, sisters, below the stone.

 

 

 

With high hopes

 

I came to your city on the hill, glaring bright

 

white-washed walls, streets of glass and marble

 

clean, cold, every stain displayed

 

in stark relief.

 

A frigid city, frozen in time,

 

your people never truly left the ice behind.

 

Stranger in a city of strangers

 

poisoned secrets hidden in plain sight

 

towers climbing into

 

empty sky

 

and I

 

fall

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*