Unrequited by Michiru

Chapter 1

Sometimes, Ingwë dreams.

He dreams he has a raven-haired son with nimble fingers and an agile mind, who learns persistence from Finwë, his uncle, and kindness from his aunt Indis. Ingwë teaches his son gentleness, to keep his spirit of fire banked to not destroy those he loves. In his dreams, his son is grown when they travel to Lórien together, welcoming his son’s mother from her sleep in Mandos…

These things can never be; Ingwë is not such a fool as to believe them possible. Awake, he does not permit himself to think of them.

But sometimes Ingwë dreams.

Chapter End Notes

Word count: 100

Remarks: Morgoth’s Ring and The War of the Jewels make passing references to Ingwë having at least one child. Despite this vaguely canonical evidence to the contrary, I have always seen Ingwë as a solitary king and really quite a lonely person. The idea of his love of Míriel came about in my head as I was looking through the Tolkien Gateway’s timelines; it tells us that the Vanyar were starting to leave Tirion by the Year of the Trees 1140, but that Ingwë waited until YT 1147 to leave. As always, I advise taking the Gateway with a grain of salt. (It identifies Ingwë as Indis’ uncle and gives no citation, whereas The Silmarillion page 66 just calls them “close kin” and Morgoth’s Ring page 207 identifies him as her brother. Anything I write follows Morgoth’s Ring.) Regardless, I found the idea of the gap interesting and wondered what could have influenced him to stay and what finally drove him to leave. That, coupled with knowing Indis harbored feelings for Finwë despite his marriage to Míriel, brought about this plot bunny.