but at what cost

'I would go with you to the end, into the very fires of Mordor.'

[lost-hope-but-funny]

Introduction, because someone is a forgetful bitch menace:

- TLoTR, The Hobbit and The Sirmarllion nerd, thank you very much

- that's all (pspspsps my ao3 and my discord server about linguistics and fanfiction of Tolkien in general)

[oldolonde]

Good morning to people who are turned into birds as they jump from sea cliffs, sad beach cryptids, bad bitches who live in hidden cities, one-handed tragic figures, spirits of fire, victims of shipwrecks, people with great hair, receivers of ominous dreams and foresight, werewolves who thought they were the worst in the land but weren’t, unnamed wives and sentient malevolent swords

[tar-thelien]

Moodboard I just made for reference to draw Radagast.

Less crack than Saruman´s and actually more serious...

[nynevefromthelake]

On the lake Mithrim

[zishiyao]

The Sentence of the Valar

Before the radiant decree of the Valar, Fëanor receives his banishment from Tirion, defiant beneath the fading light of the city.

[gemsoflasgalen]

maedhros has his mother’s hair

speedpaint below the cut | support me on kofi!

[blue-to-blue]

maedhros

[iceyvovo]

Fingolfin: Just because your pain is understandable, doesn’t mean your behaviour is acceptable. Feanor: Just because you can string logic together, doesn't mean it has anything to do with me.

Fingon: Just because your behaviour is unacceptable, doesn’t mean I don’t love you. Maedhros: Just because you love me despite my behaviour, doesn’t mean it's an admirable choice.

Celebrimbor: Just because I’m blood of Feanor, doesn’t mean I’m going to make terrible life decisions— Annatar: *waves*

[peasant-player]

@sadsilmarilsoup drew the three Icons aka Fingolfin,Finarfin and Feanor making all the young elves pants at the ball drop~

I tried to make it visible that Fingolfin and Finarfin are younger as to Feanor and I laughed thinking about how many ppl must have told Fingolfin "you look just like your brother when he was younger"- when he is pouting

[yuviur]

"'Want me to sing you a song? Would that help?" "....mhm"

@tolkiengenweek day 1: family

[sweetteaanddragons]

Sorry to bother you but are you still planning to continue "You're still young"? I just love the concept of de-aged Elrond and Maglor reuniting with him

Great question - and I'm so glad you enjoy the story!

The short answer is that yes, I do intend to continue it; it's just been an unusually busy summer for me. (I got married! Very exciting, but organizing a wedding does cut into fic writing time.)

So I don't know when I'll be able to write the next chapter/wrap things up, but I very much still want to - just like I still want to continue "I See Your Wife with a Man Who is Haunting" and the "Raise Them Well" series, but I don't have a timeline on new chapters.

[sweetteaanddragons]

So, this ask ended up stirring up my desire to continue "You're Still Young" . . . and as a result, the next chapter is here!

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

One thing that had kept me from continuing this fic earlier was that I had a partial draft of the chapter that was just not working. I managed to finish that draft last night only to be unhappy with it, and I at last realized what the problem was: I was trying to write it from the wrong PoV. So I fixed that today . . . but I hate getting rid of anything I've written, so here's the same chapter but from Gil-Galad's perspective and with slightly edited dialogue at the end, if anyone's interested.

Gil-Galad was not surprised that Maglor Feanorian could look like Doom personified. He <em>was</em> surprised he could manage it while half starved, sitting on the ground, and holding a child.

Clearly, he had underestimated the man.

“I sent them to you to be <em>safe,</em>” Maglor hissed, and his voice sounded like bones rattling. “And you failed them.”

“It’s not like we didn’t try to talk him out of it,” Gil-Galad protested. “It was his choice to make!”

He realized the moment the words left his mouth that this was the worst possible way to phrase things.

Elrond let out a choked cry. Maglor clutched him even closer to his chest, even as his face went pale as death.

Not for the first time, Gil-Galad considered the possibility he might yet provoke Galadriel to kinslaying. Thankfully, it seemed they were not yet at that point, because she turned her glare from him after a moment to answer Maglor. “Eonwe gave them a choice,” she explained. “Elros chose mortality. He lived to a prodigious old age.”

“And you <em>didn’t talk him out of it,”</em> Maglor repeated.

“Nor did you!” she shot back, and this was . . . probably not helpful. The guards around them were shifting in discomfort to be caught in the middle of all this, and more importantly Elrond, while stronger in fea, <em>still hadn’t eaten in days.</em>

“We were supposed to stick together,” Elrond mumbled miserably, and as good as it still was to hear him talking, this didn’t seem an encouraging direction to take things.

. . . it was too late for Elrond to go back and remake his choice, wasn’t it? Just because he didn’t remember making it once didn’t mean -

On the other hand, his grandmother had famously talked Namo into letting her make a choice when she really shouldn’t have one at all, so they would <em>not</em> be testing that any time soon, thank you very much.

(His own dead were lurking uncomfortably close in his mind. They had been supposed to stick together, all of them; it was the only way to survive.)

(If they had succeeded at that - )

(But they never would have succeeded at that. He could have wandered with their descendants still if things had gone better, but no matter how well he had fought, he never would have been able to stay with the ones who had raised him. Not forever.)

He shoved that thought into the dark where it belonged and turned to the most important matter at hand.

Maglor had gone paler yet and was clinging to Elrond like he was afraid Namo was going to personally come and rip the child from his arms. “Not there,” he was telling Elrond. “I know what it is to stay by a brother, but that is the one place we cannot follow them. Stay here with me instead.” His voice was quieter now, shaking with weariness, but there was still a thread of pleading power in it.

Elrond curled into the embrace, but something about the statement had caught him. “Maedhros,” he said, brow furrowing. “Where’s Maedhros - ”

Gil-Galad cut in quickly. “You’ll eat something now, won’t you, Elrond?”

Elrond’s face dropped back to stubborn blankness, but Maglor took up that line of concern immediately.

“You’re too thin, little one.” He started patting his ragged pockets. “We have to make sure you grow - ah!” He pulled a corner of lembas from his pocket. 

Its wrapping looked remarkably similar to the lembas Galadriel had brought with her.

Galadriel pointedly refused to look in his direction.

“You eat it,” Elrond mumbled stubbornly into Maglor’s tunic. 

“I don’t eat until you eat, you know that.”

Ah. Blackmail. He should have thought of that.

“How long has it been since you’ve eaten?” he asked helpfully. “You’re looking rather thin yourself.” He tilted his head consideringly. “And after giving Elrond so much strength . . . are you sure you can stand? You don’t look well.”

Elrond unburied himself from the shirt enough to peek at the bones jutting from Maglor’s wrist for himself. His hand started for the lembas but wavered.

“I eat after you’ve eaten,” Maglor repeated. “I promised you, remember? You know I never break a promise.”

<em>That</em> got a look from Galadriel. Gil-Galad was too busy holding his breath.

“I want my brother,” Elrond whispered.

Maglor shrugged. “Then I suppose I’ll be going to see mine too.”

Elrond bit his lip. “Then Maedhros would be alone. You know he can’t be alone.”

Gil-Galad was very, very grateful that Elrond was still staring at the lembas and not at Maglor’s face.

Elrond’s hand snaked out lightning quick to snap off the smallest possible corner of lembas. He shoved it into his mouth almost defiantly.

Gil-Galad sagged with relief. It wasn’t much, but it was lembas baked by Lady Galadriel herself; for a boy of Elrond’s size, it would be enough.

“Thank you,” Maglor said gravely, accepting the remaining bite of lembas that Elrond was shoving at him. 

Elrond watched to make sure he ate it, but he was already fading; the burst of energy after so long deprived of anything to sustain him was taking its toll. Maglor hummed softly as he swallowed the lembas, and Gil-Galad wasn’t surprised to see Elrond drop off entirely; even some of the guards swayed a bit where they stood.

Only when he was soundly asleep against Maglor’s shoulder did the man look up again. It was with a very different expression on his face.

“I’ll come quietly as long as you swear not to execute me until he’s safely back to himself.”

He said this very much as if he expected it to be contested and, exhausted or not, was prepared to fight to the death for the point.

Oh, <em>that</em> would go over well with Elrond. <em>Welcome back! So glad to have you back to your normal self! How did you survive? Well, that’s a funny story . . . here, let me show you the decapitated head of the man who saved you as a sort of visual aid . . . </em>

Not to mention Celebrimbor’s reaction. <em>And</em> the Feanorian faction.

That would be one way to get out of being king. He’d be assassinated within the week.

“No one’s executing anyone,” he said. “Or kinslaying anyone. We are all just going to handle this like calm, reasonable people.”

Maglor considered this. Nodded.

Then said, in an entirely calm and reasonable tone of voice, “How long has my nephew been in the hands of the Enemy?”

<em>”What?”</em> Galadriel hissed, eyes flicking to Gil-Galad as if he would possibly conceal this news.

“I can feel his power in the binding on Elrond’s fea,” Maglor said, still in that infuriatingly calm tone of voice. “It is woven in with the power of the maia that once tortured my brother. I assure you, I know the scars of that power well. You will not convince me it was done by his choosing.  So I ask you again: how long have I once again been failing to rescue my kin?”

Gil-Galad decided, like a calm and reasonable person, that he was <em>not</em> going to abandon everything to go stab Annatar in the face.

He was going to make sure Elrond was recovering. He was going to find Celebrimbor wherever the Enemy had hidden him.

And <em>then</em> he was going to stab Annatar in every place he could reach.

[akitasenseidraws]

headcanon: Maedhros is so tired because he lies awake at night worrying about how his brothers are always doing stupid things that could get them killed. And Maglor always helps him with music playing and possible cuddles.

And imagine Maglors shock when Maedhors was the one doing the stupid thing and getting himself captured by Morgoth.

[akitasenseidraws]

was Maedhros protective/possessive of maglor? And what is their favorite thing to do?

I mean he was protective/possessesive in the sense of "that's my little brother" so the line was always blurry. I think his feelings didn't change with time, they just got more intense.

anything really, as long it's the two of them. I like the thought of one of their favourite things being riding their horses through the Gap, I think that's what Maglor looks forward to the most when Maedhros visits 🥲

[akitasenseidraws]

did maglor did express that he wanted to be a dad to maedhros? i can bet that after looking out for little brothers that he'd want little ones of his own.

No I don't think so, the whole play pretend we're family thing got triggered after they acquired the twins. And that was unintentional. Maglor tried to keep his distance with the boys the way Maedhros did, but like... someone had to take care of them and so he slipped into that "caretaker/mommy/daddy/brotherwife" role.

[akitasenseidraws]

possibly silly question, but re: your Maglor headcanons, you have said a couple times that he's the 'son who should have been born a daughter'. do you mean he's transmasc? closeted transfemme? nonbinary? not trans at all, just gender-nonconforming? (Maglor is a fave of mine, which means I'm always throwing genders at him, so I was curious about your thoughts)

Maglor is a fave of mine as well lol. I haven't really put that much thought into it, but yeah something like that. I mean in universe he wouldn't know what to call himself, not even necessarily be able to describe how he feels, he'd be like "I should have been born a daughter" to Nerdanel and she's the only one who like, "gets" it? (I think he'd be comfortable to talk about this stuff really only with Nerdanel and Maedhros). Of course he'd still try to present as male, do what is expected of him etc, but there's still this lingering feeling that that isn't what he wants. So he puts on feminine, or female clothes, presents more feminine and that makes him feel better. And since he's a singer and artist his brothers and parents don't think much about it and don't mind him doing it, because he's always been like that they're like "oh yeah our Makalaurë, he's always been the gentle one out of his brothers"

On a side note, I love when people explore the fucked up "we're playing family" dynamic between him and Maedhros and the twins. Brother-wife indeed. Elrond growing up and looking back on his time with M&M and being like "wtf was that"

[akita-sensei]

Maedhros hiding his face in Maglor's lap for comfort post Thangorodrim is something that can actually be so personal

[akitasenseidraws]

they're exchanging brotherly hugs