Will Overruled By Fate by oshun

Credits, Appreciation and Notes

Credit and Appreciation:

Thanks to Pandemonium for what she called her "gentle pruning;" as usual, thanks to IgnobleBard for his constant encouragement and willingness to read the whole thing and catch typos and argue with me about word usage; Lissa also caught typos and other inconsistencies and was willing to share with me her love and knowledge of Haldir, Lothlórien, and non-Noldorin elves in all of their names and permutations (Lindar, Silvan, Avari, Sindar, Teleri, etc.). I owe inspiration for the tattoo sequence and the methods the Avari used to fix Beleg's tattoo to Jael's story "King Stag." I almost did not give credit to Dawn Felagund for the conservatory of music in Alqualondë, taken from her wonderful novel Another Man's Cage; it is so much a part of my adopted canon, that I nearly forgot it is not in the original texts. Thanks to the others who read and commented on this story in its draft form, including Claudio, Moreth, and Jael.

Author's Notes

You do not need to read these notes unless I wrote something above that annoyed you and you would like to argue with me, or unless you really enjoy geeky musing over the process used in the bending and twisting of canon.

This was strange story for me to write. It is somewhat of a crossover between Lord of the Rings and Silmarillion canon. The difference between writing a Silm fic or an LotR fic is less for me the question of knowledge or adaptation of the canon since I first wrote LotR stories and have gradually shifted to focusing on The Silmarillion, but that, in the process, I have discovered the accepted conventions between the two communities of fanfic readers tend to differ somewhat.

Elves, Men and human nature: One LotR-centered reader/writer questioned my use of the expression "human nature." I left it anyway. For all practical intents and purposes Elves are human (true they are enhanced, refined, semi-immortal); yet, they look like extremely attractive Men, they bleed when they are cut, and are able to produce fertile offspring when they interbreed with Man. Tolkien himself affirms this in his Letter #153, where he states: "Elves and Men are evidently in biological terms one race."

I use man or woman in reference to male or female Elves. The mortals are referred to as Men, capitalized.

Descriptions of Aman:

I have assumed that the descriptions of Aman in The Silmarillion could read as having been exaggerated or mythologized. For example:

Alqualondë: "Many jewels the Noldor gave them, opals and diamonds and pale crystals, which they strewed upon the shores and scattered in the pools . . . . And many pearls they won for themselves from the sea, and their halls were of pearl, and of pearl were the mansions of Olwë at Alqualondë . . . ." The Silmarillion, "Of Eldamar and the Princes of the Eldalië"

and

Tirion: "There they dwelt, and if they wished they could see the light of the Trees, and could tread the golden streets of Valmar and the crystal stairs of Tirion upon Túna." The Silmarillion, "Of Eldamar and the Princes of the Eldalië"

Eärendil in Tirion: "He walked in the deserted ways of Tirion, and the dust upon his raiment and his shoes was a dust of diamonds . . . ." The Silmarillion, "Of the Voyage of Eärendil and the War of Wrath"

I played around a bit with making these locations seem slightly less fantastic and more inhabitable by the characters of this story as I interpreted them, while noting that Haldir was aware of these descriptions from the tales he had read of Elvenhome. On the other hand, I am not of the school of writers who believe the Elves lived in some sort of cleaner version of the European Middle Ages, or that the race of beings who were capable of creating the Silmarili would not have hot running water. So, Haldir gets to take a hot bath.

A café on the main square in Tirion? Indulge me on this one, please. (IgnobleBard said it best: "What is this Montmartre?") However, nowhere does it say there was not a fountain and that is Oshunverse. Already used it in another story. Doesn't a Royal Mail Coach seem very Noldorin though?

The Poems:

"A Farewell to False Love" by Sir Walter Raleigh
Poem from Hero and Leander by Christopher Marlowe

Language questions: I am presuming that Haldir has taken the trouble to learn some Quenya before coming to Aman. I also presume that Haldir and Beleg speak Sindarin to one another, if there were mutations Beleg would have mastered them by the period of this story.

There was a discussion over a reference that I made to the name of the city, Caras Galadhon, and the name of the Elves, the Galadhrim, the common element being the word "galadh" (tree). I appreciate Claudio's and Lissa's input on that question. I decided to let the sentence stand, although it may or may not be correct. I think it is a question of which came first the chicken or the egg; Claudio thought the name of city and Elves who dwelt there would not necessarily be related.

Fanon/Hair: My reference to ancient Elves and the concept of associating long hair with virility is fanon, which I think I may have invented (probably not, but I don't recall having seen it done before). My inspiration is canon, however: "All the Eldar had beautiful hair (and were especially attracted by hair of exceptional loveliness)." ("The Shibboleth of Fëanor," The Peoples of Middle-Earth)

Haldir is neither strictly movie or book-verse; his title chief of the Marchwardens of Lothlórien is actually modeled on Beleg's title in The Silmarillion account of the tale of the Children of Húrin. I do not think I could ever write Haldir without being influenced by Kenaz's "Marchwarden: Son of Guilin" and "Marchwarden: Hidden Hero." Clearly he is not her character, aside from his personality differences, his status has been perhaps ever so slightly advanced to give him greater access to some of the more illustrious characters of The Silmarillion.

Beleg is about as close to canon as I could bring a character in a slash romance (at least my personal and biased interpretation of canon). In preparation for writing this story I devoted my usual monthly character bio space to Beleg Cúthalion .