Why is Iestil reborn in Middle Earth and not Valinor?
// Hey there nonny! (and sorry for the late reply, I was traveling last week so I finally have internet) Gonna answer this in ooc, because it’s probably the only way to explain my reasonings behind it and give you a general idea of what my thought process was (SORRY FOR THE WALL OF TEXT LOL) but the reasoning for Iestil’s reincarnation in Middle Earth surrounds my fic Last Farewell (gonna abbreviate it to LF for simplicity sake;; also on a separate note lol this blog was originally supposed to be a place to dump headcanons for LF, but it somehow turned into an askblog HAHA) and will be explained more once I get around to writing it. (I have a bit of writer’s block with it right now though– rip me but I have an inkling of how I want to end it) But the topic mainly deals with Mandos and more importantly what happens to a soul after an elf dies. My idea of having a non-canonical reincarnation lends a page from the Silmarillion. As far as Silmarillion goes the only elf (and I guess human too if you count Beren) to be reincarnated back in Middle Earth was Lúthien because Mandos was moved to great pity from her song. (Though it did involve other members of the Valar bc of Beren) Iestil’s reincarnation is more or less is also an exception that I made which will be explained more in later chapters in Last Farewell as stated earlier. The summary that I have on my Ao3 account alludes to this, saying: ‘Only once has Mandos been moved from pity. And only once has he been moved from compassion.'(But once again, the reasoning behind it will be covered more in depth as I continue writing LF, whenever that may be.)
When I was originally writing LF, I knew I wanted to write something that revolved around the Mirkwood couple so obviously the topic of elvish reincarnation came up since according to the movie, Thranduil’s wife was dead. I deliberated a lot with this after doing research about it since elves technically are supposed to go through the Halls of Mandos and get reincarnated in Valinor. But in order to have a Mirkwood couple fic, they kinda need to be in the same place for anything to happen, so i decided to explore some of the other options (very few) that I had regarding elvish reincarnation. lol It was a decent amount of research but I figured reincarnation in Middle Earth was probably the only plausible way of writing a somewhat dramatic story with a twist because if I wrote something starting from when Thranduil journeyed to the Undying Lands, then that’s kinda boring because it’s literally like a reunion which leaves everything pretty left out to dry. (the story would literally be oh hey reunion, oh hey let’s embrace, and then BAM, the end– very boring if I do say so myself) I also wanted to explore sides of both Legolas and Thranduil’s persona in my fic as well. Because Thranduil never stopped loved his wife even after all those years, I wanted to see how far I could push his character through the multiple facades that he had to wear in order to cope with his grief. And on the other end, I wanted to explore more of Legolas’ inner struggles with his relationship with Thranduil because ultimately I think it was his mother’s death which made the father-son relationship so distant. By adding Iestil back in the picture in Middle Earth, I feel like it give me A LOT more content to work with because it create a lot of disruption to what was otherwise something not really explored in terms of ‘what ifs’ in Middle Earth.
There, of course, is always a twist. The subject of reincarnation for Tolkien is kinda wishy washy since there were a lot of draft phases from what I read about how elvish reincarnation worked. But ultimately (I think) the way it was supposed to work was that souls which have passed through Mandos could either remain ‘houseless’ or be ‘re-housed’ in the same body before death (I think this was noted as done through special permission of the Valar tho). Ultimately, it’s the connection of the soul and body is what is important for elves; and one soul is intended for one body and one body alone. I wanted to challenge this a little to explore what would happen if a soul did not return to its correct body? Would there be a disconnect? Would the body simply fail? Or does the soul overpower such a dissonance?
Now, I know it seems as if I’m trying to take on a lot as far as canon stuff goes (pretty sure 50% of my fic will be non-canical lol) but I really wanted to see what would happen if such a thing occurred. In Iestil’s case, when she first gets reincarnated to Middle Earth, she is without a memory of who she is – a dissonance of her soul which does not belong to the proper body. And because she no longer possesses that feeling of completeness, as far as she is concerned, her goal is to find out who she is and her purpose of returning to Middle Earth since her persona of having a strong sense of self still resonates within her soul. (Which in a sense can imply that the Valar was involved in this soul into the wrong body mishap, but I won’t go spoiling my story line because it’s not 100% thought out yet haha)
And so we have LF three story lines of the Mirkwood family all into one fic that will eventually overlap:
Iestil: To discover who she is and what her purpose of returning to Middle Earth. What is the origin of that sea of black that plagues her mind? And could she fall in love once more with the same elvish king which she had wed so many centuries ago? Or perhaps, there is little love between a Woodland King and a mere elleth who doesn’t even know who she truly is. (Her development is centered more around self discovery and platonic friendships that she makes along her journey)
Thranduil: After recovering from his blindness from his own selfishness at Erebor, how far is he willing to go for the sake of his memories of his family? This is a person who has lost everything he holds dear– incredibly fragile, yet full of many facades which he displays to the world. He would do anything to get his family back, yet at the same time he knows it is impossible. His wife is dead and his son chose to leave him. So what would happen when he crosses paths with the very person he had cherished the most once more? Will the very foundation on which he had built around him start to crumble when he realizes that maybe there is a chance that his wife is still in Middle Earth? (This, I found rather interesting topic to explore because it’s like will Thranduil still love the same person even if the soul is the same but the body isn’t? It really challenges all perceptions and ideals of elvish love since I believe it’s the soul, not necessarily the body that is connected.)
Legolas: On a path of his own, to escort a ring bearer with the Fellowship while battling his own inner thoughts. While a part of him does regret leaving his homeland behind, he often thinks of what it would have been like if his mother was still in the picture. And the root of this thought? It was from Thranduil’s departing works above Ravenhill (in the movie) when he said the “Your mother loved you,” quote. I feel like that resonated with Legolas and having Thranduil finally showing some emotion sparked this suppressed thought of just what if things were different.
And that’s it. So long story short, Iestil’s reincarnation in Middle Earth was unintended, but it was done for my fic (LF) purposes to keep things interesting. (LOL which is probably a really lame reason, but I swear I thought things over a lot before deciding about it) So while yes, it’s more of a non-canonical exception, it was the only option that kinda fit in terms of; it being somewhat plausible, and it allowing me to write a decent fic that won’t fall flat. But yup! That’s the general reasoning behind why I chose Iestil’s reincarnation to be Middle Earth and not Valinor– hopefully that wall of text made some sense. (The actual in depth reasoning behind it will be expanded upon in LF. I already have a rough idea about how i want to end it– I just have to solidify several headcanons and finish writing it … eventually lol) But thanks for reading! :D (Needless to say, I have a lot of headcanons bahaha) //