#tyelcano

"I am guarding the High King of the Noldor in a major event of war. It better be important!"

Okay I know this is probably super spoilery because of the Seven Gates, but I'm really curious how you imagine Tyelcano's eventual post-war fate (if he survives the shitshow at all that is, but he feels like an elven Chuck Norris to me so how would he even die). It must be horrible for a character like him to watch all the -finwë kids & co. die off one after the other, so does he decide he's had enough and just sail back to Valinor? Or does he prefer to stay around, retiring from public life and dispassionately watching shit go down again and again while living a quiet life farming weed with Anardil and Radagast in Rhun?? He feels like a wartime character who lives to protect/serve other, but what does he do when those others are all gone and the war is over?

If the spoilericitiness of this humble ask is overbearing, than can you at least share some random wholesome personal details about mr. Tyelcano please. Like has anyone ever dared to call him Celgon and who helped bury the body. What is the most awkward thing he ever did. What is a food that he hates. What is his favourite animal and why tf is it a koala. Thank you.

asdgfkgjkfdjhl thank you for asking! you made my day! 🥹💗 I could go on and on for a decade but I'll try to keep this somewhat brief (I made notes, haha)

Tyel's fate at the end of 'Gates': Yeah... revealing it would be waaaay too much of a spoiler at this point, not exactly because of what happens but because of the how and the why. There are only a few chapters left, we're getting there, I promise! 😆 (and there are two other fic novels that I want to write about our guy before I die anyway).

whatever his fate will be (👀) one thing is for sure: he made a very heavy promise - dare I say oath? - to Feanor that he will protect his sons, and the sons of his sons (...) as long as there are any of them left. So if he survives the Nirnaeth, he'll have to level up in kinslaying; if he survives that, he'll have to fight in the War of Wrath; if he survives that, he'll have to try and serve Tyelpe, even if he sends him away; and if he survives that... well, poor guy. If he lost everyone, that would cause him quite the existential crisis; but I don't think he would sail to Valinor even then.

When he first appeared in my writing, he was dumped on Elrond's doorstep like a piece of historical debris by one of the so-called Wandering Companies after the events in The Hobbit. He didn't have an elaborate backstory back then; he was just a random guy, an afterthought, a narrative tool to explore Elrond's past. I just knew that he was Lord Kinslayer, mysterious and cool, cold and distant, feared by everyone (minus my then-protagonist who was way too annoying to fear anybody), but occasionally revealing himself as a noble character. The problem was that he very quickly became more interesting to both me and my readers (that is to say my three friends) than said protagonist... and basically that is how I've gotten into Silmfic instead of between-The Hobbit-and-TLotR fics.

Here's some other random stuff about him from my notebook:

This is kind of obvious, but: every time Anardil calls him Lord Mopey, it is (diegetically) meant to be Quenya, and it is meant to, in fact, sound like an epesse 😆 I have several possible translations for it but I haven't decided on the final version yet. Just none of them sound catchy enough.

The name 'Tyelcano' is not his initial ataresse or amilesse, it was given to him by Finwe -- but socially, it works like a self-chosen name, everyone calls him that.

it is definitely due to the influence of Morgoth that he became a swords-master in Valinor already (one among the first) -- but that sort of backfired as he went on to instruct most of The Enemy's greatest Enemies at some point (there was a whole subplot cut from 'Gates' when Turgon picked up the sword again and asked him several times to (re)instruct; but the same subplot with Anardil was more important plot-wise so that one had to go).

he and Celegorm could absolutely NOT stand each other from the start and neither of them could even exactly say why; they only grew somewhat close during the Siege of Angband (I could write a whole other fic about that).

until the Bragollach, he always took a great amount of care of his clothing and general appearance (there are also traces of this trait in 'Gates', like when he wears his best robes just to ride out from the Himring, LOL)

he doesn't really like camping or travelling, but he gets used to it through the centuries

he is a very good lute player, but he thinks he sucks

he is unbeatable at chess, save by one person: FINROD. no one understands how.

he is extremely curious, sometimes too sure of his own knowledge, but also very tempted by the unseen (again both upper- and lowercase) the unknown and the unheard, a trait often exploited by his enemies.

he is not a good archer: by Elven standards, barely passable in fact

he has a sweet tooth, but he is very good at hiding it

he is ridiculously soft for children (you could argue that he raised a small army of them)

meticulously organizing stuff and keeping hyper detailed lists of every household thing under the sun is definitely a coping mechanism for him

he actually also appears in the first fic I ever shared on Ao3 (in that version he survived the Nirnaeth, and in fact levelled up in kinslaying).

in that version of the events, he later also participated quite actively in the education of Elros and Elrond

the most awkward thing he ever did was, I think, to try and reconcile Feanor and Fingolfin before the exile to Formenos. Yeah, shit didn't really work out. He deserves that cringey star-shaped clip art of a participation trophy, though.

a food he hates would be... anything sour, I think?

a 5 minute sketch of Tyel, just because I can.

An army of ten thousand strong was being trained for war, and Laurefindil made sure himself that no one was enlisted without mastery of arms. Additionally, every soldier had to have had at least some field experience as a scout, a guardian of one of the Gates, or a battle survivor.

It made perfect sense of course: unspeakable horrors could escape the Iron Prison at the Enemy's will, but the mere fact that Anardil had already seen such horrors did not make him more capable. No swordsmaster would train him, knowing that they would need to start from the beginning.

Unless...

That unless was the reason Anardil had dragged himself out of bed long before Anor had risen. He walked out to the training fields, feeling quite inept in his loose tunic and slippery boots. Plenty of battle-hungry Noldor were out there already, of course, graceful, alien, and frightening to his eye.

It was easy to spot Tyelcano among them. Anardil was surprised to find him alone, sharpening his sword on a whetstone. He wore a full set of chainmail, vambraces, and high leather boots, and a helmet was placed on the ground next to him.

Was he about to fight someone with a sharpened sword?

Has he finally lost his mind?!

"What kin shall you slay this fine morning, if I may ask?" Anardil told his friend as a manner of greeting. "By the Powers, you're sparkling."

My contribution to @gondolinweek , day 5

Being,

1,3k words of Pengolodh’s Overthinking (and me realizing I ADORE his POV, but no, we CANNOT have more POV-s in The Seven Gates, we just CANNOT...)