Two Tolkien things I wrote

[bunn]

In Avallónë by the Sea
5923 words of Maglor and Finrod rambling on about poetry, harp manufacture, first age Beleriand, Mandos, the current political situation in Tirion, hobbits, and whether kinslayers can be trusted.   Not sure why I wrote it tbh.  There must be some reason.  Perhaps it will lead to something less rambling later?

To sheep other sheep no doubt appear different
A trader out of Wilderland travels down Anduin to Osgiliath, and makes a stop at Lorien.  Also everyone is called Beorn.
500 word thing inspired by this line from Lord of the Rings, where Aragorn says “... light boats used to journey out of Wilderland down to Osgiliath, and still did so until a few years ago...”  and then Boromir gives him a weird look because his definition of 'a few years ago' is a lot shorter.   

Comments

[anna-wing.livejournal.com]

Beorn Beornson (all of them) made me laugh and laugh. I don't remember that line at all, I must go and re-read. Something that's very clear throughout the book is how non-human Aragorn is, in many ways, as a result both of his peculiar heredity, and of his upbringing and career. But that seems to be true of all the men who managed to involve themselves seriously with Elves/more-or-less Elves. Tuor was raised by Elves, and Beren had been literally fighting a guerrilla war single-handed for a decade before he met Luthien; his grip on human socialisation must have been rather minimal.

Maglor and Finrod are lovely too. Thank you very much! I suspect that Maglor is using his worry about the Oath as a displacement activity, to avoid a lot of potentially awkward situations (such as taking charge of the Feanorian Quarter).

When I saw the reference to sea-glass I wondered instantly, where is that from? Middle-earth surely wasn't manufacturing it in such quantity...Then you answered the question. Excellent. I am sure that Celebrian knows. I am not sure what point exactly she is making but I am also sure that there is one, somewhere.

[bunn.livejournal.com]

It must be so odd to be Aragorn and move from being young and short-lived among the elves to being ancient and long-lived among men! I imagine Beorn Beornsson being a bit like one of the early Rus, trading down the rivers from Scandinavia to Constantinople: you'd think the first sight of Osgiliath would be similarly awesome.

I think you are probably right that Maglor is displacing lots of things, since this version of him has definitely made avoiding unpleasant thoughts into something of an artform, but it also seems not unreasonable for him to genuinely not be able to feel confident that he won't do something else appalling. I read Maedhros's canon argument for them not to surrender in that way: that they don't really have a choice any more and might find themselves compelled to bring war to Valinor.

[bunn.livejournal.com]

... although admittedly, he has managed to not do anything appalling for 6000+ years, but then he wasn't living next door to a silmaril.

[anna-wing.livejournal.com]

And of the three major Elf(ish)-human marriages, the Aragorn-Arwen one was the only one where they had to live among humans afterwards for the rest of their lives. Luthien and Beren lived by themselves or among Green-Elves, and Tuor and Idril were mostly among Elves except I suppose a short time in Sirion among a mixed population. The psychological stress for Arwen, especially, must have been considerable. Although the people of Gondor must have had their own issues. I'd wibble a bit if my co-Head of State was an ancient creature of legend and the grand-daughter of the Evening Star.