I can only imagine how fun it’s for Lothrin to have lived among mortals for soooo long like their languages keep. on. changing!!
Lothrin just having to learn new languages every hundred years....
*dunadan knocks on the door and enters her study*
“My lady, Lothrin. One of our scholars unearthed this document, but we are unsure of its contents? We believe it might be the language of Rhudaur? 1100 TA, perhaps?”
“11th century Rhudaurian? Ah, no - It’s 14th century as the language changed drastically after Angmar conquered and annexed Rhudaur. You see it in the addition of accents on some of the letters.”
or
“What, I’ve just learned the language of the Perian and they already have regional dialects?? It’s only been a couple hundred years?!”
Elven languages change so slowly since their speakers tend to kinda be the same people, you know? But humans and hobbits? They’re not constrained by such silly rules.
The northern dunedain are heavily outnumbered, outskilled, and outmatched. This fact is well known. None of the dunedain chieftains that followed the fall of Arthedain would ever even dream on taking the Angmarean forces head on. One of the professions I wrote in Lothrin’s bio is “strategist” and I was thinking of developing that a bit. Now I would strictly like to mention that Lothrin is quite harsh when it comes to battle plans and will always suggest guerrilla tactics whenever possible.
One of the things she is most keen on is that everyone and I mean everyone is trained not in “one on one” combat but in “one vs. many” combat. The major disadvantage the dunedain suffer is that their numbers are always dwindling while the enemy always has time aplenty to replenish their numbers. Whenever briefing sentries and the like she will be keen on 6 principles:
If you are in a group, always keep the element of surprise, always rely on stealth, traps and ranged attacks.
If your group has been discovered, do not get separated! Separation means the enemy will find it easy to corner an individual, and pick the members of the group one by one.
If you are separated, do not engage in combat! Always run or try to find a safe advantageous point to launch an attack.
If you are unable to run, try to find a way to separate your attackers. Use any means necessary to confuse them.
If you are forced to fight against multiple enemies, call upon the training that’s been given. There are tactics in fighting two, three and even four enemies at once, depending on the species and armor of the enemy.
There is never only one orc. Orcs always travel in packs. Do not target a lone individual as there is always a second one prowling around.
How do you think they’ve managed to survive for so long? Guerrilla tactics kept them alive. Lothrin was also quite keen in trying to implement the “attack from the trees” style of combat the silvan elves of Lorien and Mirkwood use but sadly humans aren’t made for quickly climbing trees. Not that it stopped her from setting up a training course in Evendim. Just imagine a patch of forest trees with ropes and man-built telain hanging high. There were some injuries. Ok, there were many injuries. Lothrin can sometimes be found hanging on ropes through the trees, trying to still retain her balance.
This is perhaps a strange question, but where does Lothrin keep her writings? I am imagining that she has written quite a few tomes, books, scrolls etc. over the years. Is it all kept in Rivendell or does she perhaps have a library of her own near Lake Nenuial? Perhaps kept at various courts across Middle-earth like Arnor?
You are correct with all of your guesses! They were kept in Annùminas at first, since that is where she had indeed completed the majority of her scholarly work, but with the depopulation of Annùminas, the Fall of Fornost and all that, the originals were swiftly brought to Rivendell for safe-keeping. After the dust had settled following the war, Lothrin took to copying them, rewriting some of her tomes and distributing them across the main settlements of the northern dùnedain, since the knowledge within does belong to them.
But in the same way a sword from Gondolin ended up in a troll cave in the Trollshaws, so do copies of her work end up in peculiar places. I'm pretty sure some of those copies must have ended up in the library of Minas Tirith at some point or the other.
Her newest works however are kept in Evendim, but not in Annùminas but a bit to the north. If you play Lotro, then you must be familiar with the keep of Tinnudir. That's where her main study is and she has this room full of artefacts, tomes and scrolls. She's trying her best to keep them safe and dry, but Evendim is indeed a very humid area.
I do think towards late Third Age she branched out of writing strictly about the edain and the quendi, after all the khazad and the hobbits have their own incredibly interesting histories and customs.
Sunflowers. // Great friendship is there between the hobbit-folk and the wandering rangers, and when a hobbit-lass is rescued by two of their number, a reward is due for their tall deed.
“Another lass appeared before them. Older she was and learned she seemed and her gaze held thirteen autumns. She stood quiet, and in her eyes there was an echo, a call to the times when her kin had lived east of the Hithaeglir. For she held a love for books and scholarly pursuits, and often would she walk the fields of Oatbarton, scouting for any piece of history that she may touch and see.
Sorry if I'm bothering you! But you mentioned Glorfindel in the tags and now I'm curious: does Lothrin know him in any way? I've got to know if my favorite canonical character ever got to interact with my favorite OC. :)
They trained the twins together! Swordfight, bow and arrow, even riding!
It is Lindir who spins tales in the Halls of Fire most often, but on the incredibly rare occasions when Glorfindel is in an reminiscing mood, he will sit down and tell tales of Beleriand and of Gondolin. Guess who sits front of the front row? Lothrin wouldn’t miss those evenings for anything in the world!
Can you imagine asking someone who lived there about the beauty of Gondolin? Lothrin was a bit flustered in the beginning, but in the end she mustered the courage to ask him about her hero, Ecthelion. Glorfindel laughed serenely and told her everything there was to know of the House of the Fountain and its leader.
Also, one thing she always wanted to ask him was - how was it to die, be reborn into Valinor then sent back to Middle-earth? She had this whole debate with herself, but in the end decided against asking him. It might be a bit of a rude question, you know?
From the way I “feel” the canon, I do think unlike the twins, Glorfindel would most often venture deep into the Trollshaws and the Ettenmoors, but no further. The presence of one of the mightiest high-elves might attract quite negative attention from the forces of evil. Not that Lothrin didn’t ask him countless times to join the twins into a venture through the north. The presence of a warrior of legend would drive fear into the hearts of the enemy.
Who did Lothrin train under as a scholar? Someone we know, or perhaps someone whose name has been lost to history? Her being skilled with both lore and blade really suits the world of Tolkien I think.
I am actually amazed you caught on such a detail. His nandorin name only the nandor know, but his name as the sindar know it was Hvaeros, a very botched attempt at translation if you ask me. He was a nandor of little renown, unmarried and childless. Same as Lothrin, he once shared a passion both for the blade and for the lore of the world, but in an unfortunate battle he became invalid. His right leg was injured to the point he couldn’t use it anymore and had to employ the help of crutches to move around. In a culture such as the one in Lothlórien, where the elves live in Telain in the trees, you can imagine the daily hurdle Hvaeros had to undergo. He could not fight anymore, so he channeled his time into maintaining Lórien’s library and training any promising scholars.
The life of the eldar is a long one and Hvaeros had to learn to live with his disability. Perhaps it was a reflection of his younger self that he saw mirrored in Lothrin that prompted him to take her under his wing. He taught her of the history of their people and the avari, what geography he knew of Rhovanion and the lands to the east and even some short linguistic lessons.
Lothrin often opted for his company as she felt that for once there was a quende that had no expectations of her. Lothrin’s early years have been steeped in familial dramatics and she felt the library was the one place of quiet in her life. With Hvaeros things were always simple. It was nothing more than a mentor-student relationship. Her mother wished for Lothrin to follow in her steps and become a singer, while Lothrin wished for nothing else but to follow her brothers and become a border guard, which she eventually did to her mother’s dissatisfaction.
Despite his disability, Hvaeros was not a bitter ellon, but was quiet and reserved. He moved to Eryn Lasgalen in the Forth Age and such as the fate of most nandor and avari is, he faded when his time came. He had silvery hair and brown eyes.
How does a day in the life of Lothrin, Lady of Twilight, Sage of Annúminas and aid to the Dúnedain look like? More uneventful that one would expect. In order to better paint a picture of her daily schedule, I shall be using LOTRO canon, thus using the geography and settlements presented therein. Secondly, this schedule is applicable between the years of TA 2500 and TA 3019.
Lothrin’s usual residence and where she might be found most of the time is the keep of Tinnudir, in the heart of Evendim. Though depending on the season, she may move to the encampment at High King’s Crossing, the farms in Barandalf or the camp in the heart of Annúminas. More often than not, when not in Evendim, Lothrin can be found in Sarn Ford, Esteldin, Falathlorn or Imladris.
Mornings
If residing in Tinnudir, Lothrin is usually the first to stir awake, way before dawn. Elves sleep but a couple hours a night, usually about two to four, and can go entire days without rest. Early in the morning, she will rise and make a start on the chores of the day. Tinnudir, a keep of such size and the surrounding land are always in need of hands to tend to them.
She will quickly leave the keep and make her way to the animal pens. While LOTRO doesn’t show this detail to us, I strongly believe there were animals raised on the island. She will release the chickens and ducks from their coops, collect the eggs, feed the cows, goats, sheep, horses, and pigs and if time allows milk the cows and goats, then clean their spaces. If she is not present or otherwise occupied, someone else will take care of these duties.
With a big chunk of the early morning gone, she will either help in the kitchens to prepare the meals of the day, or simply eat and be on her way. Depending on the season and food situation, in the morning or noon she may either go alone or take some company to cross the lake and hunt in the hills of Evendim. Evendim is home to a big population of bears, so bear meat is plenty available to make stew or rugs from.
Afternoons
With the time-sensitive chores out of the way and still plenty of daytime left, when in Tinnudir and not otherwise occupied with administrative duties, Lothrin’s hands would ever be busy with spinning thread or sewing clothing, as tailoring is one of her hobbies. In medieval societies aside from food, the two most important resources people needed were thread for cloth-making and wax for candle-making. The process involved in cloth-making is long and laborious, so everyone was urged to give a hand: from picking the plants, to dying the thread, to spinning it, to sewing the cloth itself and more. Making even one piece of a garment may take anywhere up to three hundred hours, depending on the complexity of the piece.
If the weather is otherwise not foul, Lothrin will join the dúnedain in the small gardens surrounding Tinnudir and tend to the vegetable plantations. What gardening needs to be done wholly depends on whether it is planting or harvesting season, but she loves the harvest best and all the work that comes with the season. One may always find her carrying entire baskets of vegetables, and helping with the making of jams, sauces, pickled vegetables and more. If strong arms are needed, she will help with woodworking and the upkeep of the various buildings, mainly repairing rooftops, as the dúnedain do not possess her elven agility and ease of movement. On more than one occasion messengers would find her high atop a roof, hammering nails.
Evenings
One regular activity she pursues in the evenings is patrolling the roads up to the King’s Crossroad, for any signs of trouble. If all the other sentries are away on errands, she will gladly take their posts and stand guard the whole night. If present in Tinnudir, she will help with serving dinner to the whole encampment of roughly fifty people, then either tell a story or leave for her study and pursue various scholarly duties in candlelight. As she is the sage of Evendim, every couple of years she rewrites her various notes on the life of the northern dúnedain. She has kept meticulous notes that date back to the inception of Arnor, detailing genealogies, customs, lineages and more. Her various manuscripts have been a treasure to the modern-day dúnedain, mainly with helping them remember their customs and their lineages.
Tinnudir is a keep with various floors. The ground floor is home to a small library, a study, a storage room, the kitchens, and some sleeping quarters placed around the inner pool. The upper floors are accessible through an inner stairway and are home to more sleeping-quarters and storage rooms. On the third floor rests the Study of Lothrin, a room filled to the brim with treasures of ages long past, scrolls and books, weapons, armour and in the middle of it all sits a desk, where Lothrin does her scholarly work. The room though cramped, is luminous.
If the evenings are calm and quiet, she will delight in teaching the dúnedain children their history, with as much detail as she can muster. She will speak of the marble columns of the throne-room of Elendil, of the beautiful gardens at the heart of Annúminas, of the various gatherings the nobles of Evendim used to have, of all the kind and brave working-people who fought so fiercely for their kingdom.
Deviations
The schedule presented above may suffer alterations depending on a myriad of factors. If orcs have been spotted in the area, Lothrin will join patrols and guard the borders. If the harvests have been lacking, she will hunt more and gather whatever plants and roots available for eating. If the coffers are emptying, she will join in the making of various products to try and trade them in Bree or the Shire. If the day allows and no pressing matters are ahead of her, she will often train herself, then train some of the younger dúnedain in close, then ranged combat. She is a strict but fair teacher.
Seasonal Work
If the summer weather is especially kind, she would often be found at the farms in Barandalf, in south Evendim. The farms are the main source of food for the dúnedain of Evendim, so tending to them is of utmost importance. The farms, though small, are close to hobbit lands, so trade often occurs. If the farms are otherwise staffed, and the sentries are away on various errands, she will stand guard at the bridge of High King’s Crossing, inquiring the business of any travellers that wish to pass into the heart of Evendim. If the day is particularly slow, she may talk to the others and try and tend to the bridge, although she is no stoneworker or architect.
Although, she has long pled to the dúnedain that maintaining Annúminas is of utmost importance, the dúnedian are simply too few and too far spread to tend to a city the size of Annúminas. If present within the white-city, when not reminiscing about the past, Lothrin will help the sentries stationed there to maintain a road throughout the city, free of rubble. If otherwise unoccupied, she will scout the various half-flooded buildings for any objects of importance.
If at Sarn Ford, she will act as a sentry and report to the on-field commander. Though her visits to Esteldin are rare, she will more often than not come for administrative business or high-councils, thus partake less in the day-by-day chores.
One of the big advantages elves possess is that they live for thousands of years. The lifespan of Lothrin, as of the War of the Ring is equal to that of fifty to a hundred human lives. In modern terms, in takes one human one lifetime to become an absolute expert in whatever domain they choose, can you imagine what we could do with fifty lifetimes? Lothrin, as an elf, had millennia of time to hone her skills, and thus can lend a hand to whatever needs doing.
She will do anything that needs doing from more household oriented activities like sewing, cooking, baking, soap-making, wine and beer-making, house repairs, cloth beating/washing, childcare, makeshift barbering, to more scholarly pursuits like candle making, writing, chronicling, teaching, book-binding, sending messages, to more administrative pursuits like tax-keeping, act as a clerk, act as a judge, act as a baliff, hold council, to more agricultural pursuits like bee-keeping, cattle-raising, farm-management, hunting, animal-skinning, bird-plucking, to more military pursuits like commanding guerrilla troops, maintaining armour and military strategy. Though it is worth mentioning that just because she can do something, it does not mean she can do it as well as someone whose job is only that specific thing like a full-time farmer or woodworker.
I hope you enjoyed reading this and that this small essay shed some light on my character.
What do the other Elves make of Lothrin's dedication to the Rangers and the race of Men?
Uh oh, that’s a very touchy subject. You gotta have like level 5 friendship clearance to unlock the backstory™ behind this. Or you would have, if you were one of the residents in Middle-earth. (Just joking)
Trust me when I say, this is something she will not talk about with anyone. Even her best friends Astoeth and Naeriel only know little about her feelings on this matter. She simply refuses to answer, if ever asked. It’s a very hard subject for her to talk about for various reasons.
It honestly depends on the elves in question.
The elves of Imladris not only agree with this endeavor, but wholeheartedly support her. It was at her behest that Elladan and Elrohir started their campaigns in the north. She was also a great influence behind Andriel’s friendship with the ranger Eradan. Her unfaltering dedication to the northern lands inspired the Imladrim elves and greatly helped in the number of skirmishes they led in Eriador.
The elves of Lindon are indifferent to this situation. Maybe indifferent is strong, neutral is best said. The elves of Lindon have always been isolationist, with only very limited campaigns outside their borders (the rescue of Arvedui and the Battle of Fornost coming to mind). They still care about tidings from afar, as Cirdan and Elrond are good friends and messengers go between the two realms all the time, but they prefer to keep to their own. Singular Lindon elves might travel to dúnedain settlements to help.
The elves of Lórien are a whole other cup of tea. There’s a lot of history to get into, so I’ll just go step by step. Out of all the elven realms of MIddle-earth, I would say the elves of Lórien have had the least human contact ever. The elves of Imladris are in constant contact with the dúnedain, those of Lindon have both the dúnedain and the humans settled around Ered Luin, those of Eryn Galen have the men of Dale and Esgaroth and those of Edhellond had the men of Dol Amroth. Who do the elves of Lórien have? I remember from the books that Haldir while courteous to Aragorn and his dúnedain kin, was also very distant and kept his interactions to a polite minimum. The men of Rohan say that Lórien is cursed and that Galadriel is a witch. This belief couldn’t have come from nowhere, surely?
What you have to keep in mind about Lórien, is that it has been one of the most affected elven kingdoms in the wake of Sauron’s destruction, only surpassed by Eregion. Lindon and Imladris have been relatively sheltered due to their location. It was Lórien that had to bear the brunt of Noldor and Sindar refugees that came from Eregion, it was Lórien that had to comfort dwarven refugees and double their military skirmishes when the Balrog destroyed Khazad-dûm, it was Lórien then Eryn Galen that lost almost all of their population in the War of the Last Alliance. The point that I’m trying to make is that Lórien is a land that has been hit with near extermination, they now care terribly about their youth.
How does Lothrin fit into this equation? Well, if you remember from her bio, her elder brother died in the War of the Last Alliance, alongside a great number of Lórien elves. I cannot begin to describe to you the grief that followed the end of the war. Lothrin followed her younger brother home and delivered the news to her parents but did not stay. She departed for the northern lands, and that’s when she found lake Nenuial and Annúminas. By leaving both her parents in their time of grief and her land in its time of need, Lothrin committed a cultural taboo. But I understand her reasoning, leaving was her way of dealing with her grief and war memories. Years later, when the elves of Lórien heard what she had been up to, some of them named her Adasser “Lover of Mortal Men”, as she chose humans over her own kin. Relations between herself and her homeland have slowly but surely cooled. She still visited Lórien, but her mother especially was ever upset that her daughter chose not to remain home and guard her birth realm. Combined with the fact that the Nandor culture was slowly being replaced with that of the Sindar and Noldor, made Lothrin feel a great cultural disassociation from her own homeland. Of course, both her and the dúnedain are still courtly treated as Lady Galadriel is kin to Lord Elrond who in turn is one of the great supporting forces behind the dúnedain, but Lothrin is ever wary of talking about her home. She feels more or less like a stranger there.
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