An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien, The Hobbit - J. R. R. Tolkien Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death Characters: Gollum | Sméagol, Déagol (Tolkien) Additional Tags: Murder, The One Ring is Bad News, Tolkien Gen Week - Freeform day 4 of @tolkiengenweek - solo!!
Smeagol earns weregild for the death of his friend Deagol. What it was exactly it is for the reader to discover.
before reading this piece it’d be profitable to know what ‘weregild’ is: in other words, ‘man price’ or ‘blood money’ - a treasure that had to be paid by the murderer to the family of the murdered as a compensation for the ended life or other harm. this practise was important for the Germanic cultures, including the Anglo-Saxon tribes.
the careful reader might remember that the idea of weregild is actually present and very relevant in LOTR; i’ll put the passage in end notes for you to check later if you want (this is the only depth of this ff so i want to stress it XD)
i was inspired by the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgJyMOeuNPQ that plays at the ending of the “Two Towers” by Peter Jackson.
this story was written for day 4 of Tolkien Gen Week (theme: solo). the prompts had to be twisted for the purpose of what i wanted to convey, but it still fits the major premise of a character being alone - even though the scene does not present the habit or a ‘favourite hobby’, it does allude to a struggle Smeagol went through.