The Settling Of The Greenwood
Mun Note: This is strictly headcanon, based loosely off what we already know and pieced together with local Avari enthusiast, @shutthegate, without whom my ass would never have gotten this done. (I promised this post two years ago, bless.)
This is not a discourse post, so please don’t make it into one.
This post is here solely to better understand the culture of the Greenwood as it is run on this blog and as Thranduil rules it. It is also to give me a frame of reference for what things were like in what time period so I can better paint a picture of what is happening in threads in any given timeline.
When Oropher arrived with his considerable company to the Greenwood forest, it already had a fair population of elves residing within it’s boundaries. The population was mostly displaced Nandor who had found refuge beneath the boughs and branches of the great forest, but among them were many Avari tribes.
Though the Avari had scattered following the siege of Angband, where they had stood united under a singular Hwen Lai chieftess, they remained united in their refusal to sail until Morgoth and Sauron were entirely defeated and all traces of them fully purged from the world. Several surviving tribes had been mingling among the displaced Nandor, for the forest was their home and they had no want for war against those with whom they had no quarrel. There was blood enough in the rivers as it was, and their focus around the time Oropher had arrived had been in reviving the Greenwood and her land.
To the eyes of the Sindar, there was no structure to be found. The Nandor were leaderless and afraid, the Avari were fleeting and seemingly few. Oropher did not consider his claim over the dominion to be a hostile takeover so much as a benevolent dictatorship. His people gathered the Nandor and spoke with them, gained their faith and allegiance. Making up the most of the populace as they did, the Nandor’s acceptance of Oropher forced the Avari into a difficult position. They had no wish to leave their forest, but nor did they possess the numbers to challenge both the Nandor and the Sindar that had collectively decided to take over.
Now, it should be noted that the Avari concept of kinslaying is much narrower than that of other elves; they do not count those outside of themselves as kin, so had they the numbers, Oropher’s easy assimilation could have been met with a sharp challenge and blood filled rivers once more. As it was, the Avari were forced to concede themselves to Oropher’s rule – it was a reluctant gesture and one that came with a wealth of bitterness to which the Nandor and Sindar were largely oblivious.
Due to the nature of their tribes, there were over nine dialects in the Greenwood at the start. In order to make matters simpler, Oropher imposed a law not unlike his brother Thingol’s, making Silvan – the language most broadly spoken among the Nandor presently residing there – the kingdom’s native tongue. The Sindar were encouraged to embrace the way of the Nandor, and the two nations mingled peaceably and with great joy on the part of the Nandor.
The Avari were not quite as pleased.
Forced to assimilate or risk expulsion and unwanted turmoil, for the want of temporary unity the Avari tribes placed themselves carefully throughout the kingdom. They adopted the Sindarin imposed pseudo-Nandorin way of life, spoke in their tongues, attended their social gatherings and appeared for all the world a part of the cycle. Princes and princesses of the tribes were settled into strategic corners as guards and even servants and personal attendants to the new Sindarin lords, for the Avari leaders were perfectly prepared to make use of Oropher and his people if they needed to – or dispose of them if they had to.
Some came to find genuine friendships despite themselves, though there was little overt loyalty from the Avari toward Oropher and his leading lords until the Battle of the Last Alliance. It was less for Oropher that the Avari marched alongside Sindar and Nandor – it was for their own duty and their own dedication to the defeat of darkness that they rode. Those who survived gained respect for Oropher in his death that he never truly held from them in life. The coming of King Thranduil was not something the Avari expected to be any different from the ruling of Oropher, but they had underestimated vastly the observance of the young prince, and his loyalty to the Avari they had carefully set around him.
Alongside his wife, the new King Thranduil caused something of an Avari renaissance, encouraging their languages and culture to be shared. This was met with reluctance and distrust, though with time and persistence it became clear that he meant well, despite his ignorance. There would be no uniting of the tribes under Thranduil’s rule, but there was a much more honest peace thanks to his considerable efforts to include the Avari in the kingdom and it’s overall decisions. The new council of lords consisted of representatives from all the tribes, several Nandor, and two of Oropher’s previous advisors. Amongst the lot of them, Greenwood flourished in a different manner from Oropher’s, and was more open to it’s neighbors.
Though Thranduil had isolationist ideals thanks to both his upbringing and his father’s way of life, he was aware that the Greenwood was a part of the world. Which is why he is very much canon divergent, as the spread of darkness throughout his forest would not be something for which he would keep silence; of course, considering the Council of the Wise was lead by Saruman, it could be most of his letters of warning simply got ‘lost’. Which could attribute to his less than welcoming treatment of Gandalf – but that’s a whole other meta, I’m sure.
For more Greenwood headcanons see:
Ranks & Roles: Oropher’s court vs Thranduil’s court
Ranks & Roles: Mirkwood Guard
