Something New by Grundy

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Fanwork Notes

Written combining the Laws & Customs challenge with the Archetypes Matryoshka challenge. (Focusing more on the 'customs' side of Laws & Customs...)

Content warning: childbirth (not graphic)

Fanwork Information

Summary:

It's an important day for the royal family of Gondolin.

 

Major Characters: Glorfindel, Idril, Írimë, Maeglin, Tuor, Turgon

Major Relationships:

Genre:

Challenges: Archetypes, Laws and Customs

Rating: Teens

Warnings:

Chapters: 1 Word Count: 1, 820
Posted on 5 July 2020 Updated on 5 July 2020

This fanwork is a work in progress.

Show all chapters on a single page

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Comments on Something New

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Eleven months really should've been enough time to talk logistics, Tuor! At the same time, it's quite feasible that either of them would assume that their own customs are "natural", and therefore universal, and therefore there is no need to talk it through. This is a nice look at the sort of cultural assumptions people make out of ignorance, not malice, that make an outside observer facepalm and want to shout at them "Just communicate, will you?!" - Ahem.

I really liked how at home Maeglin feels in this piece, just excited to be an uncle and worried about doing something wrong out of inexperience, exchanging jokes with Idril and encouraging Tuor. Makes my heart bleed to think of what is going to become of him.

I'd also like to thank you emphatically for the use of the birthing stool instead of the modern hospital bed birth that's so prevalent in fantasy (and even historical) fiction! :D

 

This is adorable, and such an interesting look at their family dynamics, and also different customs between elves and men. It makes a lot of sense to me that they might not have realized their ideas of how a birth should go might not be universal, but oh, poor Tuor ^-^'' 

“Mother’s on the stairs, and if it weren’t for the child coming earlier than expected, you’d probably have had Turvo camped out here days in advance so as not to risk missing a moment.”

I don't doubt a second he'd do it.

And rip Tuor who had a culture shock. From 'men aren't allowed in here' to 'semi-public birth giving', things escalated quickly (I'm sure Maeglin would argue close family does not make it public).

“Catch?” Tuor asked in a strangled tone. “I’m expected to catch?”

The baby that slid on the hospital floor in Tim Burton's Big Fish was Eärendil! 

Tuor was apparently too shocked to repeat his earlier nonsense about eleven months being late.

Biological differences strike again! Beren and Lúthien must have gone through fun times, with that Maiarin blood thrown into the mix.

Does Eärendil get to keep the same scowl when he slays Ancalagon?