I Have Found Words To Describe My Characterization Of Xornoth
So I decided I'm gonna tell you. All of it.
So firstly, I headcannon Xornoth as transmasc. Scott seems like he would remember if he had a sibling, and obviously the lore changed from some weird past life thing to just "Yeah, we were brothers". So my idea is that he only transitioned after he ran away, so Scott never knew.
This lines up with my idea of how elvish works as a language. It's one of those non-latin, every character and the way you pronounce said character can change the entire meaning of the phrase, two letters can mean an entire page worth of English text kind of languages. Like Korean and Japanese. So I think no matter what Xornoth changed his name after the demoning.
But what does his name mean? Well, I think his original name (deadname) was something like "Zaenethe" and I think it meant something along the lines of "Child(feminine) of the glades the gods rest in." So when he changed his name, he chose something that represented his new role as Exor's champion. So I think Xornoth means like "The blade of the deep gods of chaos war and the nether." Or more appropriately translated? "Crusader".
So Scott knows nothing of this "Crusader" because all he knows is his sister "Daughter of Rivendell". And it took him a minute to connect the dots. Also this very much relies on the idea that their parents were transphobic.
But let me fanfic for a second.
But I have something even better. Imagine this: Scott's parents had a prophecy. Their first born son would change Rivendell forever. So they wanted a son. More than anything. And then Zaenethe was born. Imagine it. You spend your entire life as the stepping stone. Your parents spend all their attention on your brother, and yeah, it's not his fault. But that doesn't stop the hurt. And eventually you wonder why you've never felt right in the dresses they haven't replaced in your closet since you were a teenager.
And one day you find a cave, with a circlet holding two tall horns on it. And a voice that tells you you're great. And that it could give you the strength to show everyone just how great you are. Or burn it to the ground if they refuse to see it. Would you turn that down?
Xornoth is the eldest son of the Smajor family. He should have been given the attention his brother was. Instead he will change Rivendell forever. By erasing it.
But we could take this further.
Xornoth knows fate in and out. He's delved into the history of magical sciences and religion, spending every moment he could spare trying to figure out if he should've been his parent's prodigy, instead of his brother. And he found more than he bargained for.
Aeor and Exor have been fighting for almost eternity. Aeor will do anything to spite his brother, and vice versa. He knows about the eternal winter, his role in the state of the nether... the runeblade. The twin souls.
Scott is Aeor's scapegoat, the way Xornoth sees it. What is supposed to be the champion of a god is planned to be thrown away so that Exor will lose a champion. Scott is nothing more than a means to an end to Aeor. Xornoth hates that. Sure he resents Scott some, but both of them suffer here.
So yeah I have complicated feeling toward stagblings and Xornoth in general.
