Don't Lose Your Head by daughterofshadows

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Fanwork Notes

Warnings for headless Fingolfin (no graphic depictions of violence occur in the story) and ghosts.

Fanwork Information

Summary:

After his death, Fingolfin does not go to the Halls of Mandos.

Major Characters: Fingolfin, Rochallor

Major Relationships:

Genre: Fixed-Length Ficlet

Challenges: Dip the Ladle

Rating: General

Warnings: Check Notes for Warnings
Chapters: 1 Word Count: 101
Posted on 15 July 2023 Updated on 15 July 2023

This fanwork is complete.

Don't Lose Your Head

Soooooo this is a bit of weird one.

Inspired by the following quote for the Dip the Ladle challenge

“there passed through the portals a perilous horseman, the mightiest on middle-earth in measure of height”

My mind got stuck on the horseman bit, decided that obviously this HAD to be about headless horseman Fingolfin (after all, he even comes with a canonical horse buddy!) and then this happened.

It's cracky, it's exactly 100 words according to MS Word, and really, it would be much more fitting for a Halloween fic.

Read Don't Lose Your Head

Long years have passed since Fingolfin and Rochallor died, and still minstrels sing about their passing.

Here is what they do not tell you.

Sometimes, when you stand at the seashore, staring out towards those western lands Fingolfin hailed from, a horse will emerge from the water.

And on its back a rider, mighty, brave, and headless.

Water sprays around them as they gallop across the waves, foam clinging to their ghostly forms.

They say horse and rider are looking for something and that is why they still roam the world.

What it is?

Who can say.

Perhaps Fingolfin’s head.

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Very shivery! I can see Men hearing bits of First Age lore and song and tale and stitching bits together to get this. 

 Oh gosh, this made me think that poor Fingolfin can't be re-embodied without his head, so he haunts the Lands Under Wave. Although admittedly that doesn't really fit with how Mandos etc. works, but then I read Lferion's thought that it's a Mannish legend, and it all made sense — they really don't quite understand how re-embodiment works. (And have some grizzly ideas about it!)

I love how spooky this is, followed by the tonal shift in the last line 😁. It's great. As Lferion suggested, I can totally imagine an old Edainic grandparent telling this strange tale to their grandchildren, making them chuckle with surprise at the end.