#edain lore

Fic by @eilinelsghost; Art by @anerea-lantiria For @tolkienrsb 2023

Fic Rating: T; Art Rating: G Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Anárion & Elendil, Finrod/Bëor, Hiril/Hathaldir, Hiril & Rían, Hiril & Beleth, Andreth/Aegnor, Andreth & Adanel, Bëor & Belen, Belen & Finrod, Belen & Baran, Bëor & Baran Characters: Anárion, Bëor, Finrod, Silmariën, Hiril, Hathaldir, Rían, Beleth, Andreth, Adanel, Aegnor, Belen, Baran Word Count: 16,914

In Nargothrond in the First Age, Bëor wrote down the oral tradition of his people to pass on to his younger son, Belen. Throughout the rest of that age and the next, his descendants preserve this book through grief and joy, war and cataclysm, from the highlands of Dorthonion to the fall of Númenor, and reencounter the mythology of their people in the ongoing dance of memory and immortality.

Atanatári: (Quenya) The Fathers of Men Issë: (Quenya) Knowledge, Lore

"Belen [was the] second son of Bëor the Old, to whom the wisdom of Bëor (for Bëor himself had been one of the wise) was chiefly transmitted." - Introductory notes to the "Athrabeth Finrod ah Andreth," Morgoth's Ring, page 306

The Edain creation myth in Atanatárissë by @eilinelsghost is so inspiring! Here's my rendering of the page she describes from Beor's book of lore, an heirloom handed down through the generations from second child to second child. Do yourself a favour and treat yourself to this fic!

In the beginning of time there was the Dark. Within the Dark dwelt Melishk, the goddess of earth. And within the Dark dwelt Guënid, the god of water. Long they danced in the time ere forms were bound, long they wound together in the shapeless mingling. Each pressed into each, seeking ever to lessen the substance wherein they lay separate from the other, until from their union was wrought clay, there amid the timeless spheres.

Thence from the clay of their unity were wrought six forms, limbed and visaged in the fashion of Men. Then Melishk said to Guënid, “Now let us call forth our sisters to aid us, now let us summon hence our brothers for succor. Let us make within the dark a habitation, that these figures we have shaped may be filled with our breath and live, that within them we might dwell forever as one. From earth and from water have they been ordered, from earth and from water have they been formed, and within them shall earth and water walk ever in the bond of unity.” Then Melishk set forth hills rising up from the soil, upon its face she smoothed valleys and fields. And Guënid swiftly did follow her there: to the heights where he rushed down in torrents; to the valleys in sluggish, wide calm; to the fields where his tendrils spread through her loam.

At that time Fon rose up from his slumber and fire came forth within the world. He passed over hill and field and vale, till he stood beside the gods of water and earth and looked on the work of their mingling. Heat he gave unto the six waiting figures before him and receiving such, their clay limbs eased into flesh. Then Luftu soared through the timeless spheres and with the wind of her presence she laid breath within them. Iuthap awakened too at the call of her sister and illuminated the bare world about them. She set her lips to the face of each figure and sight came into their eyes. Then she leapt laughing into the firmament to take up once more the gods’ dance in the sky. At the last, Satheweis arose from the silence and his singing followed Iuthap’s dance through the air. He brushed his lips across each waiting mouth and at once speech came forth from their tongues. Thus were our people born from the Darkness, our tale called up from the Silence. Remember its measure and call out its rhythm: We are the sum of the parts of the world. We are the meeting of earth and of water. We are the fire and light. Ours, the song of the Dark.

*anérea does yet another happy dance* Here, have another snippet from Atanatárissë by @eilinelsghost, this time in the wake of the Sudden Flame:

Hiril drew the girl in against her, stroking the hair back from her forehead as her mother would have done. Rían still held the little holly sprig clenched in one hand and was tracing the leaves with the fingers of the other as her tears gradually eased. There had been a border of holly drawn about the pages of this story, Hiril recalled, its tendrils wrapping around the writing so that it encircled the tale within its guard. Outside the holly lay a menace of creatures, maws gaping and teeth reaching toward the twisting leaves.

I am utterly blown away by the fic @eilinelsghost has conjured from my original TRSB sketch— I'll be posting a few teasers of the art and snippets from her fic during this week leading up to full reveals of both on Sept 9th:

The wonderful descriptions in @eilinelsghost's fic for my TRSB art has in turn conjured so many images in my mind, so I am very excited to share a little more of her marvellous TRSB fic Atanatárissë with you, which features glimpses of a few key moments in time for some of my favourite Edain characters (who justly deserve so much more love and attention than they usually receive, imo — see my tags), linked through time by a book of ancient Edain lore:

Silmariën felt her spine tingle again as she read over the words. Here it rested now upon her own hand, loose even about the thumb where she wore it, those twin serpents twisted together with their golden crown. Another relic. Another life made tangible across the chasm of years. Another anchor holding this island fast to its roots.