The Men Who Would Be Kings by SurgicalSteel

| | |

Fanwork Notes

Thanks to Pandemonium for linguistic assistance with a particular curse used by an original character in this piece.

References my stories 'The Far Side of the World' and 'Survivors of the Downfallen,' both of which are archived on this site.

Fanwork Information

Summary:

In the late Second Age, a merchant from Belfalas comes to an agreement with new arrivals from downfallen Númenor.

Major Characters:

Major Relationships:

Genre:

Challenges:

Rating: General

Warnings:

Chapters: 1 Word Count: 2, 576
Posted on 12 April 2009 Updated on 12 April 2009

This fanwork is a work in progress.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Comments

The Silmarillion Writers' Guild is more than just an archive--we are a community! If you enjoy a fanwork or enjoy a creator's work, please consider letting them know in a comment.

I absolutely love the conflict you have here between Umbar and Gondor. I like Avareth a lot actually. I can understand why she would have some misgivings with the Faithful after what happened to her betrothed. To think how many people lost loved ones to the the King's Men and all the other horribleness happening in Numenor. I love the political intrigue, the arguements, all that is very well done.

I got a huge kick out of the insults you used in this. I like how you looked into using something that made sense for Middle earth.

Thank you very much! I've got a bit more material written and in the process of being written on this time period - my thinking is that the Numenorean colonists in Pelargir and Umbar and other havens would have developed their own cultures and relationships with native peoples prior to the Downfall, and might have not been happy at the newcomers shaking things up. It's been fun to write, and I'm really glad other people are enjoying reading it!

Rather late I found this wonderful take on ther arrival of the Numenorians with all their imperial expectations and the clash with a population that had prospered on their own. Original point of view but very logical.

BTW, was the source of your creative insults Argentine? When I first read about the parrot, I couldn't help noticing the Argentine flavour - I don't know of any other Spanish speaker who swears by the female genitalia. You might consider adding "la concha de la vaca" (if there are cows in Umbar) and more original "del mono" (yes, male monkey!).

Thanks very much - when I wrote this I was wondering about the Numenoreans who'd settled in Middle Earth and whether or not they were really all that happy to see Elendil and sons. I thought it might be almost like if England suddenly went kablooey and someone from a cadet branch of the royal family showed up in Australia and said 'here we are, we're your new rulers!' Not everyone would necessarily be happy to see them.

Or if Spain blew up and what was left of their royal family tried to take over almost any country in Central or South America. ;)

The creative insults - the two attendings I worked with most closely as a surgical fellow were originally from Argentina and Venezuela. The Argentine gave me 'la concha de la verde lora' and the Venezuelan gave me a few others. ;)

Glad you enjoyed!