Kingless by Anne Wolfe

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Fanwork Notes

Inspired by the photo prompt of a sprout growing from a stump.

Fanwork Information

Summary:

An elf of the Laiquendi considers the future, after the death of Denethor in the First Battle of Beleriand. Drabble, written in first-person POV.

Major Characters: Original Character(s)

Major Relationships:

Genre: Fixed-Length Ficlet

Challenges: Restoration and Rebuilding

Rating: Teens

Warnings: Character Death
Chapters: 1 Word Count: 100
Posted on 20 August 2022 Updated on 20 August 2022

This fanwork is complete.

Kingless

Eglador was, before the First Battle, the name of the lands which would become Doriath.

Read Kingless

We have taken the dead to their homes, high in the trees that their blood has fed. I myself carried our king, for none of his kin remain.

Now we are kingless. Some have fled to Eglador, in the train of Thingol; of them I will speak no more.

There is now no king I will follow, whether of the Powers or the elves.

For my part I will return to the rivers, and I will have no part with the wars of Thingol, or any other king that may arise. And many of my people are minded the same.

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Such heavy losses--after such trauma it is not surprising that they felt they could not continue as they had been.

But while the kingship and their losses cannot be restored, still in another way they are trying something new.

They have lost so many people! No wonder they don't want to have anything more to do with the war.

To me, they feel angry towards those who followed Thingol. Which is understandable in the situation. It could look disloyal and like the easy way to accept a new king so soon.

Thank you for commenting!

The question of whether to follow Thingol is one where I'm personally somewhat sympathetic to both sides. The promise of supernatural protection from Melian would probably be a very appealing one in a continent reckoning with the return of Morgoth. But on the other hand (as the narrator of this piece thinks) Thingol is the one who called Denethor's people into battle, and Narrator strongly resents that Thingol gets to return to Doriath as king when his actions have caused the Laiquendi to lose so much.

It's very remarkable to me that the Laiquendi experience a single battle in the war between the elves and Morgoth before they decide to have no more part in it. A group of semi-pacifist elves who have consciously decided not to be led by a king can seem rather out of place in the Silm, but I suppose that's part of what makes them so interesting!