#amlach

[outofangband]

Guys, I’m recovering from a concussion again so I apologize if this is a bit disjointed

The story of Amlach has always been so deeply unsettling to me.

Amlach was a grandson of Marach (of whom Hador also descended) who was among a small group of men in Estolad who especially distrusted the elves. Of course, he's most famous for something that he did not do.

There was a council of Edain representing those who wished to follow the elves and those who didn't. In the words of the novel, "there arose one who seemed to all to be Amlach son of Imlach". This figure gives a speech against the Eldar, claiming "all of this is but elvish lore, tales to beguile newcomers that are unwary. The sea has no shore. There is no light in the west." He goes on to seemingly doubt the existence of Morgoth himself, or at least to claim that he is but a monster roused to life by the Noldor's greed (actually that line kind of reminds me of the one about the dwarves digging too deeply in their greed). As he speaks a shadow of fear falls upon the hearts of those listening and some flee completely.

However, Amlach returns later and states that he had never attended any council or said anything like this. "Then the elf friends said: you will believe this at least, there is a dark lord and his spies and emissaries are among us and fear us and the strength that we may give to his foes". Indeed, Amlach does believe this and is so distraught at an agent of Morgoth impersonating him (including to Bereg, a friend and sympathizer to him!) that he says he will hold a personal grudge against Morgoth till the end of his days and goes to enter the service of Maedhros.

The philosophy discussed is obviously fascinating and I do want to get into that more in a later post but even beside that, the idea of a servant of Morgoth successfully taking the face and voice of a figure including to those known to him is so frightening! Amlach is a fairly minor figure but it makes this event perhaps more disquieting in what it implies. Far, far away from the Iron Mountains and Angband, a minor leader of men who doubts the Eldar is identified, planned around, and successfully impersonated and we as the reader are no wiser to who truly appeared at that council. I have a post somewhere about mimics and shapeshifters in Angband which I enjoy for the horror potential but this canon example, with no blood, no torture…

Note: part of the dialogue that we are to believe Amlach actually did say is this “we took long roads desiring to escape the perils of Middle Earth and the dark things that dwell there for we heard there was light in the west. But now we learn the light is beyond the sea.”

This is clearly echoed later in the full story of The Children of Húrin when Sador says “It may be that we fled from a fear of the dark, only to find it here before us with nowhere to fly but the sea" which I went into a lot here!

[meadowlarkx]

1 - "On a time of autumn he came in the dusk of evening, and drawing near he saw as he thought a light at the window; and coming warily he looked within."

2 - "But there arose one who seemed to all to be Amlach son of Imlach, speaking fell words that shook the hearts of all who heard him."

Late but heartfelt submission for @tolkienhorrorweek Day 1, "seeth all things crooked." I love the eerie illusion of these Silmarillion moments with Gorlim and Amlach. Although in canon the vision of Eilinel at the window is starving and worn, I have always tended to imagine her alluring and well-groomed, a symbol of the home Gorlim and the Bëorians have lost.

[silmkinkmeme]

Prompts 2022 Fest - Week 15

Maedhros mythologies

Prompt Rating: T

Additional Tags: Folklore

Prompt: I'm thinking about Amlach, the Man in Silm who experiences one of Morgoth's illusions and then (because he now has a grudge against Morgoth & co) makes his way to Himring to fight with Maedhros. I'd love to see some exploration of Maedhros' reputation in Beleriand (I'm most interested in Himring era here, but if you wanted to go earlier or later that's OK too.) Maedhros "lore," songs, stories, Chuck Norris type jokes, or any combo of those would be amazing.

Bonuses (free bingo card to pick and choose lol):

-Speculation about what Maedhros was like back in the West

-Speculation about what happened in Angband or otherwise to make Maedhros Like This

-Joking complaints about Maedhros' exactingness in terms of logistics or discipline

-Loyalty and/or Maedhros as a heroic figure

-Maedhros has scarring or other visible changes in aspect from his captivity

-Amlach could be a great character to serve as the POV or entry point here, or you could just sketch out anything on the theme, however small, without it being "grounded" in real events per se!

In terms of other content, gen or any Maedhros ships you like are good by me to include one way or another; I would just like the focus to remain mostly on Maedhros and his reputation(s). I am also OK with reading allusions to rape/noncon if you want to include them--you definitely do not have to, but I wanted to get the blanket permissions out of the way!

Ao3 link | dreamwidth link

Cw:incest Curufin/Fingolfin degradation

Prompt Rating: E

Warnings: Chose Not To Warn

Prompt: What it says on the tin!

Basically for whatever reason they have sex, and Fingolfin uses it to dominate him and take his anger out on Curufin. I'm open to anything- I don't have any DNWs but I do have one must have:

Trans Curufin; Fingolfin gets off on knocking him up and ruining Feanor's favorite son.

(Wether or not he gets pregnant with Tyelpe is up to the writer!)

Other then that feel free to go hog wild with it :)

dreamwidth link

Celebrimbor/Narvi

Prompt Rating: E

Warnings: Major Character Death

Prompt: A number of prompts for these two, whom I love!

Aging Narvi has Celebrimbor by his side in Khazad-dum. Maybe he reveals Celebrimbor his name in Khuzdul, maybe he's already dead or is dying and Celebrimbor is dealing with dwarven funerary customs. It'd be cool if the idea of the dwarven soul being able to return to the body (like Durin) was used here.

Celebrimbor and Narvi make things together, invent some science, or work themselves to exhaustion and then recover by chilling alone for a while. Maybe they sing to the stones. Or they're skinny dipping in the river, or in a subterranean pool.

Including some politics with Durin would be fun, but that would likely turn this into a much longer fic, so don't feel compelled. Short and intense or slice of life is also fun and cool.

Male Narvi and Celebrimbor son of Curufin please.

Bonuses:

- dwarven customs and politics, inclusion of the Gwaith-i-Mirdain

- creation as a sense of sharing

- mention of the family history with dwarves (Maedhros and Azaghal, Curufin and Telchar, Caranthir and dwarves)

DNW

- Annatar or silvergifting mentions

- Celebrimbor hating his father (complicated feelings okay, hate no) or with very low self-esteem/no ambitions

Ao3 link | dreamwidth link

Fingon/Maglor, any context

Prompt Rating: E

Warnings: Chose Not To Warn

Prompt: I'd love to see basically anything with this ship. I think it'd be fun to play with Maglor's insecurity about Fingon having been the one to heroically save Maedhros/other feelings of perhaps tension between them, but a purely fluffy dynamic or already established relationship is all good too.

Very optional bonuses:

- Smut w/ toppy Fingon

- Emotional hurt/comfort

- Some suggestion of/setup of Fingon "saving" Maglor or Maglor "saving" Fingon

- Maglor attempting to keep up an exterior appearance of carelessness/poise/wtv that is quick to melt away

Inclusion of Maedhros or one or both of them having relationships with Maedhros is fine with me but definitely not required! Trans hcs, genderbend, a/b/o also fine.

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To see all 497 prompts, please visit the kinkmeme's Ao3 collection. Don't forget to give some love to the authors of our 211 works. Check out also our Prompt Post 1 on dreamwidth for prompts and fills not posted on Ao3, to ask any clarifying questions to the prompters or just to squeal under the prompts you loved.

[anira-naeg]

[russandolly]

this is still one of the funniest parts of the silmarillion. morgoth made a catfish account using amlach’s pictures and tweeted a bunch of bullshit and amlach said “BITCH next time i see you it’s ON SIGHT”

[welcomingdisaster]

thinking about amlach again. like the whole doppelgänger thing that happens to him is incredibly creepy but his response to it is arguably also buckwild.

someone comes to your town and takes your face. everyone mistakes him for you; your closest friends and family accept him as you. he speaks out in a way that angers and upsets you, to evil purpose.

you hear this and you leave the place behind and go to the service of an elf-lord, to join a war where you are likely to die, never to come back to your people or your home. does someone there still wear your face?

[tar-maitime]

back to back, birds of a feather

For @maedhrosmaglorweek Day 3: Himring and the Gap Prompt: Fealty and loyalty

“But my lord...” Amlach swallows hard, then dares to continue his question. “How did your sister come to be the head of your House?”

It is not that it is unheard of among Men for a woman to take up leadership. Lady Haleth of the Haladin is probably the best-known instance - and she went into battle, too, as Lady Maedhros does. But  Haleth had taken up leadership after her father and brother had fallen and there was no one else available. Lady Maedhros has six living brothers, the eldest of whom Amlach had mistakenly addressed as head of the House of Fëanor until Lord Maglor, surprised, had told him he had the wrong person.

Fortunately, Lord Maglor does not seem offended by the question. “The Eldar, for the most part, do not divide the duties of male and female as Men do,” he says simply. “My sister is the eldest of us, and of a mind to lead, and so the headship is her right.” He pauses. “And in truth, even if it were not her right by the custom of our people, I would still cede the command to her, for she is made for it and I am not.”

Amlach considers this. It is not a perspective he had ever thought of before. He has no sisters, elder or younger, but those of his friends who do would not, he thinks, take so easily to such an arrangement.

“Does it not chafe you, to be thus under your sister’s dominion?” he ventures, since Lord Maglor has been so gracious with his queries thus far. “Or does she deal more easily with you, since you are kin?” Or perhaps, he thinks, Lady Maedhros holds no real power at all, and is merely a figurehead while her brother is truly in charge, but he does not say this aloud. 

Lord Maglor laughs, shaking his head. “My sister does not dominate, as you put it. Those who give her their loyalty do so gladly and freely, and while she commands, she is no slave driver - that is the work of the Enemy in the north. As for me, I would hardly describe myself as subjugated to her. She has my loyalty, and I have hers, and it is the same with our brothers, though they are further off and more difficult to manage. And I begrudge her my loyalty no more than I would if she were my brother, if that was what you meant to ask.”

Amlach ducks his head slightly, a little ashamed at having been seen through.

Lord Maglor claps him on the shoulder, and offers him a small smile. “Come, rest from your travel a while. When my sister returns, you shall meet her, and judge her character for yourself.”

Amlach, his thoughts still adjusting, follows, now more curious than ever about the strange Lady of Himring.

[outofangband]

follow up to my post about the cultural understanding of Morgoth for the elves and how it evolved, here is one for the humans, especially the early humans (I promise it is not all CoH related though of course I do talk about that.)

for some, Morgoth falls into a few categories he's rarely viewed in by elves; namely, a lie or ghost story made up by the elves to justify their sieges in Beleriand. I find it really fascinating to see

We see a lot of this in the story of Amlach which I talked about here in more detail; Amlach was a member of a culture that would later become the Hadorians, and he publicly doubted the existience of Morgoth until Morgoth sent an impostor to take his place in a council.

(Sometimes I wonder if Morgoth, having such a complicated relationship with fear himself, couldn't stand the idea of this population not believing in him and thus, not fearing him. Amlach and his kin believing the elves made up or exaggerated Morgoth, or at least that Morgoth's war was only with the elves, could have been used by him.)

But the incident at the council shakes not only Amlach himself but most of his kin. And Morgoth enters the minds and stories of the Edain where he will remain.

I once more must quote this exchange about the early humans who came over the Ered Luin to Beleriand.

“Were they afraid?” said Túrin.

“It may be,” answered Sador, “It may be that we fled from a fear of the dark, only to find it here before us with nowhere left to fly but the sea.”

At the time of The Children of Húrin, this fear has been present for so many generations, its absence is no longer remembered.

Then we have Húrin himself, who, after the death of his young daughter, goes outside to literally shake his fist at the sky and yell at who he (correctly) believes to be the culprit; Morgoth, the Dark Enemy, the being who has haunted the lives of his people and his allies, who’s forces burned Morwen’s family and home to the ground and nearly killed him and his brother at a young age...he’s never known Morgoth as anything other than a villain. Distant as a distinct entity though his forces and destruction are not and always evil, always a threat. On that note, for Morwen and her people, the evil of Morgoth is an even more immediate evil, one that as taken their home, is responsible for the massacre of her people

Anyways the similarities and differences in the views of Morgoth between the humans and elves is so fascinating to me.

Note: I didn’t go into the humans who Morgoth more successfully manipulates to his side because I think that should be delved into in a separate post