#kinslayings

[feanorianethicsdepartment]

i somehow doubt that the noldor didn't tell the sindar about the first kinslaying out of malice. they weren't rubbing their hands with glee, cackling and mwa-ha-ha-ing, they weren't trying to sneak into the sindar's good graces to betray them all or whatever the fuck. i think it was more -

it can't have been deliberate. they were the children of a world without death, part of a culture that holds slaying another elf as the worst crime a person can commit, only one of them had ever raised a weapon at someone else in anger before. i think here, before their doom proper even began, the idea wouldn't have even occured to them; if it did, it would have been dismissed out of hand as obviously insane. i suspect what happened is that fëanor came up with some ridiculous cockamamie plan to steal the ships - literally to steal them, like they were going to sneak into the harbour, climb aboard the ships, and sail away without anyone noticing somehow - and of course they were discovered almost immediately, and then -

the sky was dark for the first time in almost all of their lives. as far as anyone knew, the entire world was ending, and a ton of people - on both sides - had grabbed sharp things in case of giant spider. everyone was on the edge of panic, negotiations had conclusively broken down and yet nobody was backing down, the valar were conspicuously absent, nobody could see worth a damn without the trees, nobody really knew what was happening -

that, to me, doesn't sound like the army of professional soldiers the noldor aren't yet massacring innocent fisherfolk. that sounds like the kind of situation where, if they had guns, someone would have fired a shot, and no one would ever find out who

it's chaos. the noldor somehow get out of there with the swan-ships, but not a single one of them could tell you how it happened. they don't even really start processing what they've done until they're already fleeing up the coast in a disorganised mob, and then...

children of a world without death. born to a culture that holds kinslaying as its highest taboo. there is no possible way the realisation they had just barrelled over every ethical law they had didn't hit them as hard as the trees going out

so no, i'm not surprised they didn't volunteer this information to the sindar. i mean can you imagine opening relations with thingol with this partially it's the guilt, partially it's the shame, partially it's the fact that the first thing they did on their heroic quest to reclaim their stolen masterworks was somehow actual kinslaying, that's gotta do a number on your self-image, partially... i think they were still having trouble processing it, especially early on. how do you come to terms as a culture with having done something like this, when nothing like this has ever happened before?

(and maybe - they're never going back, right? mandos was pretty clear they'd never be welcomed in valinor again, and the teleri probably aren't gonna come chasing after them seeking vengeance. whatever... that was (because they don't have a name for it, not really, everyone who knows about it was either there or learned about it while the blood (don'tthinkabouttheblood) was still drying, how do you even give a name to such a crime?) all its consequences are on the other side of the sundering sea, and chances are they'll stay there)

(so maybe. maybe if they don't mention it. maybe it can stay back in valinor, with the valar and tirion and everything else they'll never see again)

(maybe, it'll be like it never happened at all)

[nighttimepatrons]

I know you wanted me to stay But I can't ignore these crazy visions of Alqualondë

[queenmeriadoc]

I was like

“Do the elves have crimes?”

And then I remembered

[silvantransthranduiltrash]

The real tragedy of the kinslayings is that it’s just so fucking stupid. It’s about 3 shiny jewels. And that criticism goes for both sides.

[stilltrails]

I also wonder just what the other Noldor thought of the Kinslayings? We know Fingon and Turgon participated (or at least Fingon) in one, and Turgon participated in his own lil’ kinslaying by throwing Eol off a cliff and threatening to do the same to Maeglin, who was innocent at the time...

We know Aredhel loved the Sons of Feanor even after Celegorm tried to force himself on Luthien. And when the Feanorians destroyed Doriath, there was no pushback from the existing Noldor groups, like at all. 

When Sirion was destroyed, Idril who would have known exactly who the Feanorians were and what Elwing wearing the Silmaril meant, did not advise her against wearing it and left her alone. She also didn’t petition against her cousins, or seek early aid from Lindon. She left Elwing in knowingly a vulnerable position, when she was directly related to the people responsible for the kinslayings. 

Lindon never actually made an enemy of Maglor or Maedhros, knowing they took Elrond and Elros and never brought them forth to pay for their crimes. A normal kingdom would have had them both arrested and tried for what they did, but Lindon just took Elrond and Elros and left. 

They were punished by the the Valar (hallowing of the silmarils, Eonwe’s long ass speech

Noldor groups in Middle Earth during the kinslayings just didn’t seem to care all that much, unless they were related to the Teleri, like Galadriel. But Noldor groups neither reprimanded the Feanorians or offered aid to them. Lindon tried to, but was slow (and Lindon is not fully Noldor). 

I’m not saying the Noldor didn’t care, but I wonder if their views on the Sindar had anything to do with it. 

I say this because Eol spoke to Turgon in front of an entire kingdom about how the Noldor had stolen Teleri land and killed his people. Turgon humiliated him for that. And Idril was sitting right there. Idril leaves Elwing in perhaps the most vulnerable position and offers no advice or stands on her daughter-in-law’s behalf against the impending doom. Earendil leaves to find his parents, successfully evading the kinslayings (sounds like a set up but okay). Maedhros laughs at Thingol. And Aredhel still hangs out with Celegorm and Curufin despite how badly Celegorm treated a princess of Doriath, as if it does not matter who she is. 

The Noldor elves left Valinor hanging onto Feanor’s words. They left for the same reasons he did, and understood just how fucked up it was that the Valar let one of their own kill their king AND steal the Silmarils. I’m not saying the Noldor are excusing the kinslayings, but I also think the Noldor have all agreed to stay out of the way when they happen, even if it means death of innocent people. 

I think they would do anything to see the Silmaril in the hands of the Noldor because the Silmarils are and have always been a Noldor sign of resistance against an oppressive structure, and damn anyone who does try to take it from them. 

[saurons-rings]

Feanor: Everyone is fighting a battle you don’t know about, be kind

Fingolfin: You literally invented kinslayings

Feanor: And?? That was my battle, be nicer

[thepinkseat-askthemoonbunny]

Ranni simps 🤝 Fëanorian fans

“You fucked all the shit up. But it was awesome.”

[softlysilverfountainsfall]

Aragornsrockcollection's recent post about Maglor knowing the kinslayings/murders are wrong but doing them anyway begs the question of why.

Is it cowardice? Not cowardice in battle or against the enemy, Maglor clearly has the courage for that, but is he too much a coward to go against his family, the oath, the weight of his father, his brothers? If so, again, why? Is family loyalty so important to him? Is he just used to bowing to strong personalities? It he actually, genuinely, deeply afraid of the consequences of the oath or of his family?

Does he really want the Silmaril back that much?

Is he just too deep in the sunk cost fallacy? Actually, this one is probably demonstrably false, at least by the end of the War of Wrath, given that he tells Maedhros "but less evil shall we do in the breaking" (and even after this he kills the guards in the Valinorian army's camp).

Does he temporarily convince himself of---something---just long enough to get through the battle and then feel bad? That it's justified, that if he participates he could hold back his brothers/followers from the worst (if he thought that he was definitely wrong, see the second and third kinslayings).

Is Maglor, the strong-voiced, the great minstrel, the composer of the Noldolante, just too deep in his own guilt, his own tragedy, his own Doom to look up and realize that he can stop?

Does he (even unconsciously, especially unconsciously) think less of the people they're attacking; they're the other, they're not his family and he and his family are so much more important than other people's lives? What about when his family and people keep dying during the kinslayings too?

Is it something else? I don't know! What could he have told himself to justify something that he knew was wrong? (If we all knew the answer to that for our choices, the world would probably be a better place.)