morcondil

doriathweek day one - Melian the Maia

A Tolkien fanfic — prologue posted 2/16/2020

Summary — The Fell Winter: blizzards sweep the plains, wolves attack settlements of Men, and Mirkwood burns. Cast from their home, the survivors of a woodcutters’ colony seek refuge with a stranger named Beorn. One of the exiles, a widow with three children, finds herself drawn to this enigmatic savior. Yet though they are safe within the wild man’s hall, the winter is long and treacherous.

Warnings, tags, etc — Tolkienesque violence, eventual F/M romance, bear shapeshifters and canon(!) anthropomorphic dogs and ponies

His parents were drowned in the Brandywine when he was twelve (and I will never be over the fact that despite no hobbit ever having killed another in the Shire, Sandyman is still out there spreading rumors that they murdered each other)

Lived in Brandy Hall from twelve to twenty-one (roughly 8-14 for us, I think, if you accept hobbits grow up more slowly). 

It’s implied that he was largely lost in the shuffle of all the Brandybucks, left to his own devices; now, this is implied by Hobbiton hobbits, with their strong anti-Buckland biases, but it doesn’t seem out of line with what we know of Frodo.

Stole mushrooms from Farmer Maggot several times in his teens–or no, I’m sorry, he was caught several times, which implies he may have committed more thefts than that–until he was finally Scarred For Life and avoided Maggot for thirty years until Pippin insisted they should go see him.

Farmer Maggot remembers young Frodo as “one of the worst young rascals of Buckland” and says he was “always a reckless lad,” which intrigues me greatly.

He went into the Old Forest once, “long ago”–I assume during these years, but I’m curious how Merry knows, considering he was seven when Frodo moved to Bag End.

Bilbo adopted him when he was twenty-one, in a very Bilbo-ish way: “You had better come and live here, Frodo my lad,” said Bilbo one day; “and then we can celebrate our birthday-parties comfortably together.” I love this bit.

Side note: Bilbo “had no close friends, until some of his younger cousins began to grow up. The eldest of these, and Bilbo’s favorite, was young Frodo Baggins.” This means Frodo was his first close friend in the Shire. Also, I don’t think it’s unreasonable to guess his other friendships with the “younger cousins” came through Frodo? Which gives me Feelings.

When Frodo moved to Bag End, Sam was nine; Merry was seven; and Pippin didn’t exist yet. (Folco Boffin was eleven, and Fatty Bolger was also nine–Frodo, like Bilbo, has no friends his own age. This kinda supports the idea he was isolated in Buckland…)

Please imagine Tiny Sam and Tween Frodo becoming friends.

At some point Frodo met Gandalf for the first time, and I would like to know whether it was before or after his adoption.

Frodo and Bilbo clearly were really close, which I also love.

Frodo was the only person in the Shire even allowed to see There and Back Again, let alone read it (Merry managed to sneak one quick look because he was a child spy, but that’s it).

More than that, Bilbo made sure to tell him the true story of how he got the Ring, which is not what he put in the book and which only Gandalf knew (after badgering it out of him and straining their friendship in the process). “He told me the true story soon after I came to live here”–meaning he trusted a young tween with this. “No secrets between us, Frodo,” he said. Yeah, uh… no kidding.

Bilbo also shared his songs with Frodo & Friends, as evidenced by all the times one of the hobbits starts singing a Bilbo-made song. (There are three I can think of off the top of my head.)

Bilbo taught Frodo a little High Elvish, which is just… super cool, and a little insane to think about from the perspective of anyone who doesn’t know Bilbo personally. There are just random hobbits going around speaking the Ancient Speech of the Elves?? Okay then.

When Bilbo left, Frodo was thirty-three; Sam was twenty-one (and already doing most of Bag End’s gardening); Merry was nineteen; and Pippin was eleven. (Folco was twenty-three and and Fatty was twenty-one.)

Frodo misses Bilbo a lot. Like, I don’t even know how many times he suddenly Misses Bilbo during the first five chapters, but it keeps coming up. I’m very much looking forward to hitting Rivendell.

all the tolkien ladies ♥︎ celebrían

“How was your journey?” she asked, and “How do you like Mordor?" 

bullet points: the only thing you write is bullet point fic. or short fic. it’s good writing, it’s just never as long as you want it to be. you envy those who can write 50k epics at the drop of a hat. and they, in turn, envy you.

WIP Central: you last completed a fic in 2009. your folders are full of nameless fics crying out for attention. you cannot open them without a surge of guilt. in spite of this, you open another document, and begin another fic.

word counter broke: this one, you tell yourself, will be a measly 2k. it is not. you watch in creeping horror as the counter climbs first to 5k, then to 11k. you still have six major plot points left to go. the fic is expected to clock at 23k but knowing you, will reach 50k. you have a sequel planned. there is no end in sight.

It’s Femslash February, and your mods come bearing 28 prompts for every day of the month on the theme of bodies. Make fic, make art, make fanmixes, meta, cosplay or anything your minds will come up with, with any rating and Legendarium femslash pairing you like! 

Tag your contribution #sllfemfeb and post it up on the corresponding day (or after), or submit it to us. You can also upload it to SLL’s AO3 Collection.