#galaloth

Ehehehe... this kind of question is the reason I come to tumblr :)

I’ll take them one by one, let me think: Astoeth had a betrothed but he died in the War of the Last Alliance and she instead dived deep into her work, losing her desire for romance. Sidhen married Mara Hollyleaf of Bree. Melilot married Isumbert Burrows and Adamanta married Mirabella Cotton, her childhood friend. Toram had his sights on someone but he died before professing his love. Dûion is smitten with Naeriel and she loves him in return, but we know already that it ends in heartbreak. Giznik married Milna of Ered Luin. Calendon married a woman of Dol Amroth, and Hav and Bron married Dunlending people respectively. I’m not sure Lileyn ever married, but she might’ve with a fair-headed lad of the Rohirrim. 

I am actually amazed you caught on such a detail. His nandorin name only the nandor know, but his name as the sindar know it was Hvaeros, a very botched attempt at translation if you ask me. He was a nandor of little renown, unmarried and childless. Same as Lothrin, he once shared a passion both for the blade and for the lore of the world, but in an unfortunate battle he became invalid. His right leg was injured to the point he couldn’t use it anymore and had to employ the help of crutches to move around. In a culture such as the one in Lothlórien, where the elves live in Telain in the trees, you can imagine the daily hurdle Hvaeros had to undergo. He could not fight anymore, so he channeled his time into maintaining Lórien’s library and training any promising scholars. 

The life of the eldar is a long one and Hvaeros had to learn to live with his disability. Perhaps it was a reflection of his younger self that he saw mirrored in Lothrin that prompted him to take her under his wing. He taught her of the history of their people and the avari, what geography he knew of Rhovanion and the lands to the east and even some short linguistic lessons. 

Lothrin often opted for his company as she felt that for once there was a quende that had no expectations of her. Lothrin’s early years have been steeped in familial dramatics and she felt the library was the one place of quiet in her life. With Hvaeros things were always simple. It was nothing more than a mentor-student relationship. Her mother wished for Lothrin to follow in her steps and become a singer, while Lothrin wished for nothing else but to follow her brothers and become a border guard, which she eventually did to her mother’s dissatisfaction. 

Did Bilbo regret his journey to the Lonely Mountain?

I’d say no. It changed him entirely. He definitely wasn’t the same gentlehobbit afterwards, but I bet he wouldn’t trade it for all the mithril in Middle-earth. I have the same thought regarding Adamanta. Take back all the years of adventuring with the rangers, travelling the lands bordering the Shire and the experiences she had? No chance. 

Andriel of the Noldor was born in Imladris after the fall of Arnor. Lothrin met her in one of her many visits there and they were fast friends, for both of them were alike in mind on many matters. Lothrin greatly admires the strength of Andriel’s fëa and the fact that she is able to channel that strength into the material world through her pursuits as a Lore-master. More often that not, it is the Noldor who can use the power of the voice or that of the fëa to influence the material world around them, as exemplified by Galadriel and Finrod Felagund. Many were the times when Lothrin simply watched in awe as Andriel fought with her staff and conjured bursts of light. Whenever Andriel visits the settlements of the dúnedain, it is a most welcomed and pleasant surprise.

Of course she knows Eradan, all the rangers have various levels of friendship and acquaintance with Lothrin. Although, she hasn’t had the pleasure of journeying by his side often, as he usually patrols the eastern side of Eriador. That changed closer to the War of the Ring, as by WitN canon, Aragorn ordered a close guard on the Shire and many of the dúnedain had a permanent home in Sarn Ford. In the years leading to the War of the Ring, Lothrin would often travel between Annúminas and Sarn Ford and she quickly learned of Eradan’s exceptional skill as an outdoorsman. 

For everyone else, I have a post about the fate of my immortal characters here.

I’ll make a bullet list:

As it may be, from all her friends Sidhen died last. First, Toram died on Pelennor, then Maradan died some years after Annúminas was rebuilt, happy and content in Bree, Melilot and Adamanta died of old age in the Shire and her wife Mara died 40 years after they were wedded, well into her 70s. Her brooch was inherited by her niece, as Sidhen had no children. Sidhen’s sister married a scholar and had 3 children: 2 daughters and a son. The son became a scholar too, like his father, the first daughter became a crafts-woman and the second was interested in the politics of the kingdom, so she worked towards getting a seat on the council of the north. She was the one to inherit her aunt’s brooch and wears it proudly. It is quite sad that Sidhen had to live more than 20 yeas alone on her farm east of the Shire, after the death of her wife. She passed peacefully and was found somedays later by one of her hobbit neighbors from Buckland. They informed the Mayor of the Shire, who informed the Council in Annúminas, who in turn informed Sidhen’s family in Esteldin, who finally travelled and buried her in a small ceremony. 

Melilot didn’t have any children as she is ace and told her husband long before their marriage that she has no wish to raise one. Adamanta married her childhood sweetheart and decided to adopt, as I’m pretty sure after the Scouring of the Shire there must have been some orphans around. Everything that the sisters had, went to the child. Both of them died happy and content in Oatbarton.

Giznik died quite old, but sadly not by a natural cause. He was part of the dwarven expedition that was trying to salvage whatever possible from the ruins of Nogrod and Belegost. Both cities lay destroyed long into the Second and Third Age, the taint of the great enemy still present on them. While mining there, Giznik inhaled some poisonous spores from some ancient relic of the enemy, and died shortly. Neither his wife, nor his children had a chance to say their goodbyes. He was buried with all the reverence of a dwarven hero. Lothrin, who lived in Lindon at the time, was informed of this development, but sadly by the time she travelled to the northern parts of Ered Luin, Giznik had long been buried. She paid her respects to her friend and his family. 

Balna was a famed jeweler and she had many a great apprentices throughout her life. Her dying wish was to be cremated and her ashes turned into a most beautiful jewel. Her apprentices turned her into a splendid diamond, that was the crowning beauty of a golden necklace. The necklace was long worn by the dwarven royalty of the Orocarni mountains. 

Calnedon suffered greatly towards his old age due to his aching joints. The fact that he was living in Dol Amorth didn’t help much either, as the sea salt present in the air only worsened his condition. He lived well into an old age, but one day slipped on some seaweed-covered rocks near the beachside and hurt himself greatly. He was rushed to the infirmary of Dol Amorth and managed to say his goodbyes to his children and wife before dying of internal cranial bleeding. 

Lileyn fought her entire life for the betterment of the relations between the Rohirrim and the Dunlending, but sadly died into her 60s due to a stroke. The first stroke she had, she managed to survive but the second stroke proved to be fatal. 

I was actually thinking about this the other day, more specifically on the fact that during the war of the ring Eriador was left more or less defenseless. Quite funny that the moment the Grey Company is formed and the best fighters the dunedain ride south, is the moment the pieces fall into place for something like the Scouring of the Shire to happen. Sidhen was offered the choice to ride but she denied vehemently, being firm in her conviction of staying behind. Toram did not however. Such, a parting of friends happened.

Sidhen, alongside the last remnant of dunedain forces stayed behind and watched how ruffians, then half-orcs started coming in the Bree area then slowly moved into the Shire. She watched how little by little the hobbits lost their land, their food, their pipe-weed, then their freedom. Sadly, Sidhen is but one woman and for a long while the only thing she could do is move with the skill of the rangers through the shadows, pass bits of information from one Farthing to the other, bring food if possible. A lot of her fellow rangers were busy in the North-Downs, at the northern and eastern borders, Angmar to the north and the Ettenmoors to the east. Feeling the malice of Sauron, goblins, orcs and trolls became a lot more active and the dunedain did whatever they could so they wouldn’t pass into the Lone-Lands or Bree-land. 

During the final battle of the Scouring, while Frodo and the others were busy in Bywater, Sidhen and the sisters were leading the rebellion in the Northfarthing. Oatbarton is home to the Cotton farms, one of the biggest sources of food in the Shire, so Sharkey’s lackeys had their eyes set on them. Sidhen fought and killed, as she knew how to use a sword and daggers, Melilot fought and tried to incapacitate as many as she could through non-lethal means, but Adamanta? Adamanta knew how to use a bow, the duty of the Bounders demanded that she must. Each arrow that the loosened felt heavier than the last, and in one heated moment of the battle, she was accosted by a ruffian. Sidhen threw her a knife and before Adamanta knew... she had stabbed him. The sight of life living him, the blood dripping off the knife, marked the hobbit-lass forever since.

When the nation-wide battle was finally done, the whole Shire breathed relieved then a sorrowful festivity to mourn the dead followed. Both Melilot and Adamanta received commendations for their efforts from none other than the mayor of the Shire. Melilot smiles and gives thanks, but Adamanta is deeply uncomfortable. The events of the Scouring stayed with her for a long time after. It was the event that made her lose the innocence all hobbits have, same as Frodo did when he was stabbed by a morgul blade, and Merry did when he attacked the Witch-king, and Sam did when he fought Shelob, and Pippin did when he gazed into the Palantir. 

Sidhen on the other side, sweet Sidhen is used to her thankless duty. Bitter and dark were the days that followed the war of the ring. When the Grey Company finally returned, as it is tradition among the dunedain, she was handed a star-brooch, a brooch that each ranger has adorned on their cloak. With dread she discovered that it belonged to Toram. Toram fell on Pelennor Fields. His mother was long dead, as she was of the middle-men, and his father was so old, he couldn’t remember the name of his son. Sidhen was the closest thing to a relative Toram had, and Sidhen decided to bury his body in the Trollshaws, close to the settlement he was born in. The dunedain had lost so many in the war, that the years following were nothing but mourning. Commendations? A reward for their effort in the war was the last thing the northern dunedain had on their minds. The dead had to be buried and mourned first. Then everyone got busy with rebuilding Annuminas.

As you mentioned my ocs at Pelennor, Lothrin rode to Pelennor and she was the one to bring back Halbarad’s brooch. Council was held and they decided to bury his body in the Shire, near Sarn Ford. 

This is something I’ve never thought about before, so thank you for giving me this opportunity. Since this is untreaded territory for me, I’ll just talk about what my speculations are.

Lothrin and Giznik met at an early point in both their lives, with Giznik being 61 and Lothrin close to 500. Giznik at 61 was way younger than Kili is in the Hobbit and Kili was already considered barely a young adult, mostly a teenager. Lothrin was close to 500, so she was even younger than Tauriel who at 600 was once again barely considered an adult. Through a modern equivalent, the way I imagine Lothrin and Giznik’s relationship is just two 16-year-olds getting into fun shenanigans through the mines.

Concerning elf-dwarf relations, most of the tensions have already been ironed out since Eregion and Khazad-dum had such close trade and diplomatic ties, so much so that their lords Narvi and Celebrimbor were such bffs that they made the door to Khazad-dum together. That’s truly inspirational. If the lords of the realms were such good friends, I can totally speculate that friendships between more “commoner” dwarves and elves were also more common. 

One point I would like to address is that one of the big complaints coming from the Hobbit movies was that: Kili and Tauriel’s friendship cheapens the one of Legolas and Gimli. This is one of the dumbest things I’ve ever heard. You don’t hear anyone saying Celebrimbor and Narvi’s friendship ruins Legolas and Gimli’s bond, or the same thing but concerning Caranthir and the dwarves of Nogrod. I stand firm in my stance that the more examples of friendships between dwarves and elves in Middle-earth, the better.

So, by the time Lothrin left her realm and journeyed to Khazad-dum, the relations between dwarves and elves have been pretty strong for quite a while. Eregion and Khazad-dum collaborated a lot on a diverse range of projects from jewelry to construction, so the presence of a Nandor elf from Lindorinand didn’t raise any questions. 

The way the two met was quite straightforward. The elven embassy in Khazad-dum thought that who better to introduce a young elf to dwarven culture than a young dwarf? Giznik was assigned to Lothrin and that’s how their friendship started. There was however some tension coming from Giznik’s father, Asnaz. Asnaz was quite unhappy that his wife Gizna (who was a diplomat) had disappeared while en-route to Eregion some years ago and no one was able to find her or her entourage. 

Asnaz grew more bitter and bitter and blamed the elves for the disappearance of his wife. He resented that his son had an elven friend and this situation escalated to the point that right before the destruction of Eregion, Giznik and Asnaz fell out and Giznik left Khazad-dum forever, never to return. He traveled north with Lothrin and the refugees of Eregion, helped at the construction of Imladris, then moved to Ered Luin where his descendants dwell to this day.

In short: very, very mixed feelings. This is one of the major themes of her characterization, her coming to terms with the diminishment of her culture. Pertaining particularly to Lothrin, this is one of the reasons behind her title: “the Lady of Twilight”. Throughout her life she always seems to be bound at a crossroad, whether it’s her allegiance to the race of men or to the race of elves, or her allegiance to either the Noldor and Sindar or the Silvan and Nandor. This is one of the reasons her relationship with her parents isn’t the best. Lothrin’s mother, Ireth was very good friends with the maiden Nimrodel and shared Nimrodel’s thoughts and opinions when it comes to the high population of Noldor and Sindar that immigrated to Lorien. You can’t imagine the pain Ireth felt at the news of the loss of Nimrodel. 

Ireth felt betrayed by the choices of her daughter, her choice to leave Lorien and dwell with the Noldor and Sindar in Imladris and Lindon. Ireth continued Nimrodel’s legacy and was one of those that opposed the naming of Galadriel and Celeborn as Lorien’s rulers. Little by little nandorin was spoken no more and by the time Frodo Baggins came to Lorien, the elves there spoke Sindarin only. With Ireth being a minority, there was nothing she could do about the occupation, aside from her herself moving somewhere else. But why should she move? Lorien has been her home ever since she was born there in the First Age. Lothrin’s father tried his best to support his wife, but his thoughts were more tempered. He thought Lorien was lucky to have strong rulers who saw to the prosperity of the land. Yet, he too was saddened at the fact that Nandorin was not spoken anymore and many of the clothes and customs that he grew up with were no longer worn or performed. 

Lothrin keeps her culture alive in whatever way she can. She will speak Nandorin with her parents whenever she comes home. She will bear the clothes of her childhood and don the markings. I imagine Nandor culture must be very tied to nature. They didn’t have the teachings of the Valar so they never built palaces of stone or armor of metal. I imagine they would wear flower crowns (hence Lothrin’s name), pelts, light linen and don face markings. The closest example of how I imagine the nandor would look like is the character of Tanya from Arthdal Chronicles (x) (fantastic fantasy series by the way, if you wanna give it a watch) 

Lothrin mourns the loss of her culture, but at the same time, she’s lived for so long in Lindon and Imladris. She cannot fault the Noldor and Sindar for seeking a safe home for themselves. She learned so much from their cultures as well. She holds lady Galadriel in esteem and understands that she was chosen as a ruler by her people. Yet it is also under Galadriel’s rule that the forest changes, unnaturally so. Her people change as well. 

As for Thranduil, Lothrin doesn’t visit Mirkwood very often but thinks that Thranduil is a good ruler for her Silvan kindred. Thranduil seemed from the very beginning really invested in adapting to the Silvan culture as soon as possible and leaving his Sindar roots behind. Perhaps that is why the elves of Mirkwood are called “less wise and more dangerous”, as they refused to bend to the influence of the Noldor and Sindar. Thranduil really seems to care about his subjects as he organized “feasts of Starlight” often and from the narrative clues we’re given, he seemed to have kept the original culture the Silvan had.

One more point for Thranduil and against Galadriel is that in the Fourth Age, when Galadriel lost the power of Nenya, she just left for Valinor and abandoned Lorien, which withered. But Thranduil? Thranduil pressed on and not only did he usher the elves of Mirkwood into a new age of prosperity, but their perseverance created Eryn Lasgalen, the last and biggest colony of elves in Middle-earth. All the elves of Lorien went to dwell in Eryn Lasgalen and together formed a majestic and prosperous colony of Silvan and Sindar elves. The colony was so great that even Lothrin went to dwell there late in the Fourth Age. Thranduil is a ruler she truly respects, as he’s always been there for his people and put them first.