#malach aradan

[hhimring]

Scout of the Third House

@tolkienocweek For the theme of "Relationships" I wrote a frame story for an older poem of mine that features an original character of the House of Hador. The frame story features this character interacting with Hador Lorindol. (Other canon characters are referenced.)

Imrach was very old, his hair like ivory, but you could still see he had been strong once. His family loved him well and took care of his needs, but did not listen to the tales he had to tell. They set him to mind the small children, instead, who were too young to hear about the past. Imrach did not seem to object, but Hador could not understand—such a wealth of experience, but nobody else seemed to be as fascinated as he was.

Hador’s father would have preferred it if Hador had not been interested either. And, certainly, the disapproval of Hador’s father and his friends had something to do with the opinions of the rest of their people. Hador’s grandfather and his great-grandfather had not seen eye-to-eye about Elves, the War, and probably a number of other things. Imrach remembered the time when Great-grandfather Malach had served at the court of the High-King of the Elves, the last one alive among them to do so.

Hador went through his routine daily tasks quickly. Here, this wooden bucket needed repairing. That could be taken along so that Father would have no reason to reproach him with idleness. And he could help Imrach keep an eye on the toddlers, too. Although Imrach loved the children, Hador thought that the duty of watching over them was beginning to tire him.

‘Have you come to listen to more stories, Hador?’ Imrach asked with a smile.

‘You were beginning to tell me about your adventures as a scout,’ said Hador, settling on a stool at his feet.

‘Ah yes,’ said Imrach.

But for a while he said nothing, his eyes dreamy and far away.

Hador was a little disappointed, but far too polite to push. Meanwhile, he had to rescue the cat from the attention of Imrach’s great-niece before the cat could scratch her in self-defence. Then he went to work on his leaky bucket.

Suddenly, above Hador’s head, Imrach began to chant softly:

Those were tough times I had of it, up north, scouting out orc holes amid rock and ice, the fumes the Ered Engrin belched forth, constant danger, lack of rest—not nice, but what got to me was going it alone, for months never seeing a friendly face, until I shed tears, cold to the bone with more than wind chill—yes, a sorry case— but, oh, when I turned home south again, how warm a welcome, such praise and gifts, I received from my own Lord Malach then, that, remembering, my heart still lifts, and more—the Elven King himself, of high fame, poured mulled wine for me, spoke my name!

Hador sat there with his mouth open.

‘The High King Fingolfin himself served wine to you!’

‘Only the once. It was a great honour, Hador.’

Hador’s father was of the opinion that the Elves thought too highly of themselves, but Hador felt it was a great honour, too.

‘I wonder whether Fingolfin remembers me,’ said Imrach. ‘He might. Elves are like that, Hador. At least, some are.’

Imrach died the following year. But when Hador at last, against his father’s wishes, travelled to Barad Eithel to see the Elves for himself, he found that Fingolfin indeed remembered Imrach and had a store of tales about his great-grandfather, too.

[anira-naeg]

[arofili]

three houses of the edain ❂ house of hador ❂ headcanon disclaimer

         Malach was the elder son of Marach, and the second leader of his House. The elf-lords of the Noldor welcomed the Edain into Beleriand, and many young men joined their households, eager to learn from the Eldar. Among them was Malach, who as a young man left Estolad for Hithlum and entered the service of High King Fingolfin. He spent fourteen years among the elves, learning their languages and the craft of war, and earned the name Aradan from his liege.          Though Fingolfin was reluctant to let such a faithful vassal go, at last Malach returned to Estolad and his family. There he married the woman Zimrahin, who bore him two children: a daughter, Adanel, and a son, Magor. But soon Malach yearned to return to Hithlum, and discovering that many of his people were eager to move further west, he bid farewell to his father and brother and led a great number of Men to the vales of the southern slopes of Ered Wethrin. There he reassumed the elvish name of Aradan, and Zimrahin took the name Meldis, while their children had been named in Sindarin from their birth.           Adanel was a wise-woman of her people, having learned lore and healing from her mother. She had been half-grown when her father took her family west, and missed the land of her birth and those among the House of Bëor whom she had befriended. When she came of age, Adanel wed Belemir, a descendant of Bëor, and bore him five children, the youngest of which was Beren, father of Emeldir the Man-hearted. Adanel preserved the old legends of her people, including one telling that Men had once been immortal but had fallen into mortality when some of them chose to worship Melkor rather than Eru, and passed these tales down to her husband’s young kinswoman Andreth.           Magor, meanwhile, remained in Ered Wethrin with his father, and when Aradan passed on to receive the gift of Men he inherited the leadership of the House of Marach.

[kareenvorbarra]

zimrahin

This is just a little bit of fic I wrote years ago about Zimrahin, Malach Aradan's wife and one of the early Edain women who's basically just a name on a family tree. Of course, names of family trees are some of my favorite characters, because my brain looks at them and goes "it's free real estate" and I pretty much do whatever I want with them.

I originally started this story for a Silm fandom event that happened......seven years ago now, yikes, which was called Edain Summer. Juliana and I organized it, and only a handful of people participated, mostly people we were friends with at the time, but we used it as an excuse to create detailed headcanons about every Adan we could find. This fic was supposed to be kind of a companion for our headcanon post, which you can read here if you're interested, but I could never think of an ending so I just never posted it.

The short version of my Zimrahin headcanon is that she's from an influential family in the House of Marach (which won't be called the House of Hador until later), and when Malach returns from Fingolfin's court, their families arrange a marriage between them, as Malach's father wants him to settle down among his own people again. Zimrahin is nervous but optimistic, and they end up being well-matched and happy together.

The whole thing is only about a page, so I'm going to post it all under the read more. There are also a couple sentences of notes in brackets at the bottom.

Zimrahin’s marriage to Malach son of Marach took place only two months after his return from Hithlum. Ordinarily even an arranged match would take longer, giving the couple a little more time to get to know each other, but Zimrahin accepted her parents’ decision with few misgivings. She had known Marach her whole life, and he had always been kind and generous - if Malach was anything like his father, he would be a good husband.

It was difficult not to be shy of him, at first. He was ten years older than her, and had seen and done so many things that she could not even begin to imagine. He dressed differently, in fabrics finer than anything their people made, and the way he held himself made him seem taller than most men. He smiled and spoke to her with an easy courtesy the few times they met before the wedding, but she could not completely shake the impression that he was a bit strange.

He seemed confident and sure on their wedding night, treating her with a consideration that went a long way towards calming her nerves, and she was able to relax and enjoy herself. Afterwards she did wonder how many elven women he had bedded during his time in the High King’s court, but that wasn’t the sort of thing you brought up after being married for a day.

They spent a great deal of their time in the early days visiting Zimrahin’s friends and acquaintances, as she helped introduce Malach back into his own society. Her family was large and powerful, second only to Marach’s own among their people, and she knew everyone of note in Estolad. Malach was as personable and charismatic as his father, but he did not have Marach’s instinctive knowledge of the people here and how they thought and behaved, their friendships and factions and feuds. As such he was very grateful for her help, and praised her good memory for names and details.

When they were alone, she asked him about the elves, both in an attempt to learn more about her mysterious husband and because she was genuinely curious. Sometimes he took a few moments to respond when called by name, which he assured her was only because the elves had called him something else - Aradan. It meant “noble man” in their language, and Zimrahin thought it suited him well.

It seemed to Zimrahin that she became pregnant almost instantly after the wedding, so quickly did time pass in her busy new life.

[he starts calling her Meldis at some point, and she thinks it’s super sweet when he tells her it means “dear one” - he also teaches her some Sindarin]

[is Adanel’s name Sindarin? Magor is definitely not, it’s probably an old family name - maybe he’s named for Marach’s father, or Zimrahin’s. Maybe in Zimrahin’s family, the eldest daughter is traditionally educated in the manner of the Wise, so from her daughter’s birth Zimrahin intends for her to be taught by her own older sister.]

[arofili]

three houses of the edain ❂ house of hador ❂ headcanon disclaimer

          Marach was the leader of the third and largest group of Men to cross the Blue Mountains into Beleriand. Though originally his people led the way, they were so numerous that they needed to move slowly to keep together, and thus were passed by the peoples of Balan and Halthor. Indeed, Marach’s people had begun their journey long before the other Houses of Men, and it was in part their march that inspired the others to turn westward. Several generations passed between the start of their journey and its conclusion, enough that the original purpose of their travel had been lost, though not their resolve to continue.           The leadership of this people at first belonged to the man Legen and his ancestors, but when Legen was killed in a hunting accident before they ascended the mountains, his partner stepped forth to fill his role, for their sons were far too young to inherit the position. This was Marach, and though at first some were uncertain of his capability to lead while also caring for sons only five and two years of age, Marach soon proved himself to be firm, wise, and worthy of their loyalty.           Though the Green-elves of Ossiriand had turned away the other Men who entered their lands on the far side of Ered Luin, they were intimidated by the tall, warlike people of Marach and dared not confront them. Yet despite the loveliness of the forest, Marach did not wish to tarry long in Ossiriand, for he had heard that the people of Balan, kin to his own folk and speakers of the same tongue, had found a green and fertile land further down the Dwarf Road. He led his people to reunite with their distant kin in the land of Estolad and settled to the southeast of the lands of Baran, son of Balan, who now led his father’s folk.           After some years, many of Marach’s people desired to journey further west, but Marach was content in Estolad and would not lead them hither. Instead his elder son, Malach Aradan who had served the Elvenking of Hithlum in his youth, took a majority of their people to the southern slopes of Ered Wethrin. Marach remained in Estolad until his death, his younger son Imlach at his side