Kintsugi in Andunie by Himring

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Fanwork Notes

For an image prompt from the SWG Restoration and Rebuilding Challenge.

Also for the tolkienshortfanworks prompts in August: art or craft found in unexpected places; diary entry.
 

Fanwork Information

Summary:

An elvish visitor from Tol Eressea to Andunie in Numenor mends an old pot.

Major Characters: Original Female Character(s)

Major Relationships:

Genre: General

Challenges: Restoration and Rebuilding

Rating: General

Warnings: Check Notes for Warnings
Chapters: 2 Word Count: 365
Posted on 27 August 2022 Updated on 28 August 2022

This fanwork is complete.

Kintsugi in Andunie

You might possibly want a warning for indications of a bit of internalized cultural cringe.

Read Kintsugi in Andunie

‘Please, you really do not need to bother with this, Your Elfinness!’ said the merchant’s wife anxiously, although a moment ago she had been so upset by the breakage. ‘The pot does have sentimental value as a family heirloom, but in your eyes the workmanship must appear so primitive…’

‘From Ladros, House of Beor, probably from a workshop in the time of Bregor,’ said the elf from Tol Eressea, smiling slightly at her new title of Elfinness, ‘in its own way as great a rarity as the sword of Thingol and the axe of Tuor that are displayed in the palace of your king, this pot.’

Carefully, she picked up the pieces.

‘There is nothing wrong with the craftmanship: simple but elegant. And it is a clean break. I will happily mend it for you! And, if you wish, I will mend it in such a way that you will not be able to see it was ever broken. But if you will follow my advice, I would prefer not to do it like that. I think it would be more respectful of such a venerable object not to disguise the mending or erase its history…’

‘Whatever you say, Elfinness,’ said the merchant’s wife, clearly overwhelmed.

Cemnare, formerly of the Havens, before that of Tol Sirion, and long ago a student of Nerdanel, set about fixing the break. The family almost valued the evidence of genuine elvish mending more than the original heirloom. But that, too, changed over the ages…

Chapter End Notes

This part is is fixed-length (250 words in MS Word); the epilogue is not.

.Cemnare's name means "potter" in Quenya.

 

In Unknown Waters

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From the Captain’s log:

27 August 18_. 6 PM. Latitude: _ degrees _ minutes. Longitude: _ degrees _ minutes.

Today we cast our nets to a greater depth than we ever had ever before. I had been hoping for new kinds of sea life, but instead what we brought up with the kelp was a strange pot. Apparently, it had been broken once and mended. The cracks were filled in with a substance that looks like gold. Otherwise, it looks completely intact, astonishingly so. The first mate, who reads a lot, says that they mend pottery in Japan this way. For all I know of pottery, this one could be Japanese, but, if so, how did it get here?

Comments

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I appreciate Cemnare's appreciation of the rare mortal pottery. It does make one wonder how much of the Elven craftsmanship really is superior to mortal work, and how much is just self-depreciation and the assumption that Elven work must naturally be better. (I'm also as amused as Cemnare by her newly coined title!)

The captain's log adds an interesting dimension. The idea that the pot, now mended, survived well beyond the people and even the lands where it was used, is delightful. And of course I always love it when artifacts from Middle-earth (or Númenor for that matter) reappear in our times, or close to our times anyway.

Thank you!

In this particular situation, both Noldor and Edain have suffered major cultural attrition during the Wars of Beleriand, but because of the longevity and accurate memory of the Noldor, cultural continuity has been disrupted more on the side of the Edain, across the generations, even though this family accomplished the unlikely preservation of the pot. Thus, the Edain are strongly influenced in their ideas by all the help they needed and received from the elves of Tol Eressea in the settlement of Numenor. And when such a bias exists, then it is easier to confuse simplicity with lack of sophistication. 

More generally, it gets complicated because on some level, some of the time, the Elves simply represent the artistic impulse in humanity. But still when it comes to actual people, I imagine that there are at least some areas in which a talented and skilled Mortal would well be able to hold their own. Think of Aragorn reciting that Rohirric poem and Legolas listening appreciately, maybe?