Noldor Hair Headcanons (4/4)
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | On AO3
There isnโt anyone left who knows how to do Maglorโs Mourning Braids, but they are described in a lament for Fingon thatโs still doing the rounds, so Elrond and Elros make their best try. That style is henceforth known as Elrondโs Mourning Braids (because Elros gets forgotten by the elves a lot after he dies, letโs not lie to ourselves).
A decade of nothing but Mourning Braids really hammers in that Elrond and Elros werenโt just hostages.
It doesnโt do a lot for their reputation, but they donโt particularly care.
Bit by bit, Elros adopts mannish customs after making his Choice, and even goes so far as to cut his hair above the shoulder. Elrond is pre-grieving his brother too much to be properly shocked about this.
(Itโs still long enough to braid. Itโs fine. Itโs not like his brother is leaving him on purpose. Or rejecting him. Elrond knows that.)
Everyone thinks Elrond should wear his hair in the Sindarin custom but he refuses to give up his Noldor braids. Elros braids his brotherโs hair until he leaves for Nรบmenor.
Elrond and Gil-galad do each otherโs hair through the Second Age. Because theyโre the last of their family and the only ones to keep to the old traditions. Not at all because theyโre close. Of course not. Wouldnโt be proper. (They spend two hours at it every morning alone in Gil-galadโs chambers.)
Elrond revives his Mourning Braids on his 500th birthday.
Celebrimbor learns about dwarven hair culture. Itโs Very Different but kind of similar, in that fancy hairstyles are a status thing. (Or really, long hair/beard is a status thing and then you have to do something with it because otherwise it catches everywhere.)
Narvi isnโt in fact the first dwarf to touch elven hair, but thatโs only because Finrod had a very extended concept of family.
Annatar magically braids his own hair, when he even bothers (his hair doesnโt even singe in the forge if it falls into the fire). This hurts Celebrimborโs sensitivities, but he adapts to Annatarโs ways, and adapts again, and adapts, until he really canโt.
Sauron cuts off Celebrimborโs beautiful dark braids full of dwarven beads and ties them to the spears of his personal guard. Elrond never quite manages to get that image out of his head.
At war again, Gil-Galad invents locs. Well, re-invents them really, because Silvan elves have worn them forever, but heโs the first Noldor to do it. (He has Fingonโs hair texture. Does that mean heโs Fingonโs son? Who knows. Heโs not telling.)
Itโs only after Gil-galadโs death that Elrond teaches himself how to braid his own hair.
But he wonโt wear his hair loose.
(The first style he masters is Maglorโs Mourning Braids.) (It really shouldnโt be because itโs Intricate but Elrond is nothing if not stubborn.)
Imladris has a full salon, like the Noldor palaces of old.
It doesnโt get that much use, to be honest.
Erestor learns to braid really tiny braids into Glorfindelโs hair, so that he never wears his hair fully loose but it still looks like itโs loose. Everyone else thinks itโs ridiculous. Glorfindel thinks itโs the best thing. Elrond watches them with a knowing smile.
Celebrรญan wears her hair half-loose in the Sindar style until she marries Elrond. It takes him several years to find the strength to ask her to do his hair, but she lets him do hers and he sneaks in more and more braids until they settle on a mixed-style. When he finally allows her to do his hair, Celebrรญan makes her mother grumpily teach her proper Noldor braids.
Elladan and Elrohir only wear practical Sindarin braids for the day to day, but they delight in doing each otherโs hair in complicated styles for feasts and ceremonies. Elrond cries the first time they accidentally replicate Maglorโs favourite hairstyle.
Arwen is a little gremlin who squirms out of her parentsโ lap when they try to braid her hair. Sheโs also inherited even more of Melianโs hair than Elrond, so even when they manage to do a braid, itโs gone in a few hours.
It takes years after Celebrรญan sails, because theyโre all grieving, but eventually Elrohir offers to do his fatherโs hair, and Elrond lets him. They donโt do it every day, but itโs a large step in their recovery process.
By the way, Thranduilโs thing for flower/leaf crowns isnโt a Sindar or Silvan practice, itโs just that he wanted to be Fancy but Not In a Noldor Way, thank you very much. Heโs also very vain. His servants do his hair.
Little Estel is very cute, has very silky hair for a man, even of his line, and makes a great doll for the twins to play with. He likes his hair touched A Lot.
Arwen learns about that early on. Sheโs a very good silver smith. Aragorn now owns a lot of hair jewellery. He canโt make a braid to save his life, but thatโs fine, because Arwen canโt wear them anyway.
In the North, he wears his hair like Elros, cut above his shoulders. Once he becomes King, he lets it grow to his waist. Heโs the first Man since Tuor to casually wear his hair in elaborate Noldor braids. He accidentally sets a fashion.
Arwen also does รowynโs and Faramirโs hair regularly. The first time is for their wedding. รowyn isnโt a fan of the unpractical Fรซanorian styles, but the Nolofinwรซan battle braids look incredibly good on her.
Wandering on the coast for two ages, Maglor no longer does anything with his hair. It doesnโt enjoy the salt at all.
When Elrond finally finds him, he almost has to cut it all off. Instead, he spends weeks carefully untangling and moisturising Maglorโs hair until he can finally braid it in the old style for him. Maglor cries.
Elrond cries too. He cries even more when Maglor sits them down on the floor and braids his hair like he used to.
They sail together with the other Ring bearers, and thereโs a lot more crying when they find Celebrรญan, Gil-galad and Maedhros waiting for them together.
Celebrรญan is wearing her hair in one of the Fรซanorian styles that can be done one-handed.
Galadriel isnโt entirely happy about that, but she sees Finrod and forgets about it.
Thereโs some more crying.
Fingon is also there (the amount of gold in his hair is a bit blinding, not that Elrond will ever tell him) and also wearing a one-handed braided style.
There are some fights over who gets to do Elrondโs hair in the next few weeks.
Celebrรญan wins most of them, because sheโs inherited Galadrielโs viciousness, but she lets everyone have a turn.
Elrond would like to know why he doesnโt have a say in it.
(He does. They would never touch him if he didnโt want to. Theyโre just very happy to see him.)
He does go to visit Elwing and Eรคrendil in their tower, and he goes with his hair down, because heโs a peace-maker at heart.
But in Tirion, he always sports the most complex hairstyles, just barely coming short of overshadowing the High Kingโs (mostly because his hair is still too silky for it to hold well), because his family all want to outdo each other.
He earns the reputation of being the most beloved of all the Noldor.
Some visuals & more in my art tag
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