#the silmarils

[greenwoodxelf]

What's the moment in The Silmarillion that you like most?

[elves-as-things-my-friends-said]

Fëanor, after making the Silmarilli: I finished it, and it should last the rest of my life. It had better, because I won't do it again.

[greenwoodxelf]

I start reading The Akallabêth and it’s one of my favourite parts in The Silmarillion. My other favourite part is with making of the Silmarils and Fëanor.

[greenwoodxelf]

The other elves should’ve given back the Silmaril to Maedhros and his brothers. I mean, the Silmarils were made by their father, so they should’ve inherited them if Morgoth’s hadn’t stolen them in the first place.

[greenwoodxelf]

[greenwoodxelf]

Fëanor isn’t the wrong one in The Silmarillion. He creates the Silmarils and the Valar don’t really pay attention. Then, they banish Fëanor because he expresses some things and also Melkor spreads lies. So the Valar banish him. Manwë lets Melkor free and when Melkor attacks and destroys the trees, they suddenly ask Fëanor for givingThe Silmarils. But at that time his father was slain my Melkor and the Silmarils are stolen.

The Valar don’t agree with Fëanor doing something against Melkor who is now Morgoth, they want him to stay and to do nothing. Sure, Fëanor rush things but he is right though.

[mozart-the-meerkitten]

Anyone wanna hear my weird Silmarillion AU I made up randomly one night because I'm too tired to write but I want to express my creativity in some one and rambling about AU's usually works?

So what this AU hinges on is that the Silmarils are to some degree sentient and slowly become more and more so as time goes on. I'm sure this has been done before and I feel like it's supported by the fact that other "inanimate" objects in this world can be sentient (ie. the Rings, especially the One Ring, and you could argue that's specifically because Sauron put a piece of his soul into it but you could also argue that since Feanor was incredibly passionate and imbued the Silmarils with light from the Two Trees that could easily have the same result. The Silmarils also seem to be aware of evil vs. good intentioned bearers since they burn Morgoth, the Feanorians, and that wolf that ate one with Beren's hand but do not harm Beren, Luthien or Earendil, so they must?? have some awareness???).

Anyway, so the Silmarils are sentient. As they gain more awareness they are subjected to seeing all the horrible things Morgoth does since he's their primary owner for most of the First Age, and it terrifies, overwhelms, saddens and traumatizes them.

*And then* Beren and Luthien liberate one. At first it does nothing, but after their adventure is over and they've had it for a while and they're going about living their mortal lives and raising their son, all of a sudden the Silmaril transforms... into a little girl. The Silmaril picks this form because it seems to suit it best, since it has very little knowledge of the world outside Angband and because it's felt helpless for so long.

All the Silmarils, in fact, once they are liberated from Morgoth, turn into little girls and call each other "sisters". Also they're named after the three Bengal kittens I lost because this is my AU and I can do what I want but it works out because they have nature names.

The first one is Tulip, because I think it'd be hilarious for her to interact with the Feanorians, which we'll get to. She appears to be about six years old and has silver hair and gives off a soft glow. She fits in quite well with Beren and Luthien's family so they just kind of??? raise her as their own child. Except she doesn't age and gains knowledge very slowly, despite being smart and clever. Basically I don't think transforming your consciousness from a gem to a small child is without issue. Tulip is very bright and cheerful but tends to be forgetful and need things repeated often. She is plagued with nightmares of what she witnessed in Angband and visions of what her sisters still see. She starts off very shy and timid and it takes her awhile to open up to her new family, but once she does she becomes quite bubbly.

When Dior moves to Doraith Tulip goes with him and ends up very close to his three kids. If anyone asks Dior will tell them that is his sister and they end up very confused but his family is even weirder than most so most people don't question it too much.

The Feanorians first encounter Tulip when they sack Doraith looking for the Silmaril that's said to be there. I think their first interaction with her should be seeing a tiny, glowing child wielding a sword too big for her as she tries to protect Elured and Elurin (who might also have silver hair, adding to the confusion) and possibly baby Elwing. I'd like to think she's trying to duel Celegorm to the death when one of the saner brothers like Maedhros or Maglor gets there and is like "???"

Tulip reveals to them that she *is* the Silmaril they're looking for and they're... yeah, that rocks them a little. She only agrees to go with them if they let Elured, Elurin, Elwing and their caretakers stay in Doraith and leave without further bloodshed.

Thus begins the Feanorians quest of trying to figure out how to take care of their father's jewel who has somehow turned into a small child. She quickly develops Opinions about them. She likes Maglor, Amras and Amrod the fastest, because she loves Maglor's songs (he's also canonically a decent parental figure) and Amrod and Amras are the babies of the family you *know* they act more childish sometimes and they're more likely to play with her. She also warms up to Maedhros pretty quickly after she suddenly recognizes him as someone she saw in Angband and then Maedhros finds himself commiserating over being held captive by Morgoth with a mystical six year old. She, surprisingly, doesn't have a problem with Caranthir and doesn't mind that he's grumpy and he definitely takes her (without telling anyone) to visit his dwarf friends at least once and causes absolute panic amongst the other brothers in doing so.

She dislikes Celegorm and Curufin on account of she heard bad things about them from Beren and Luthien. They have to work very hard if they want her to like them even a little. Eventually she gives them a second chance, but it takes awhile.

When, eventually, Earendil sails across the sea to get aid from the Valar (which should still work because he still represents both kindreds) and the giant battle that reshapes Middle Earth happens, Tulip insists her new family help, so the Feanorians do end up fighting in the battle. Tulip does too. I imagine she works like an insanely powerful version of Frodo's starglass, where she blinds the enemy with light. I think she can also burn people she touches if they have evil intent. She's also got a sword that all her big brothers taught her how to use. And since she's a Silmaril... she can't be killed. So you have this tiny, glowing, unkillable child running around the battlefield causing havoc.

When the other two Silmarils, her sisters, are finally freed, she reunites with them and, as I said, they also take the form of little girls. However, while they still glow their hair is black, which I'm going to tie to a difference of how they were freed and that Luthien had some sort of purifying effect on Tulip. The other two Silmarils are named Violet and Pine. All three children choose different fates. Tulip wishes to stay in Middle Earth because she has come to love it. Violet chooses to go to Valinor so she can try to heal. And Pine decides to go with Earendil on his eternal flight between the two places and visits her sisters.

The Feanorians are judged and tried by the Valar, but not as harshly as they would have been since they have 1. committed less atrocities, and 2. have Tulip as a defender who urges those wronged by them to try and forgive and for the Valar to have leniency.

An argument could be made that the Feanorians still end up adopting Elrond and Elros since their dad leaves and their mom turns into a bird and tries to follow him. In which case just imagine them running around playing with three tiny girls who happen to be sentient jewels. Idk, I just think it'd be cute.

To drag this through to LOTR, Tulip primarily travels back and forth between Rivendell and Lothlorien by that point (she has also been to the Shire and Gondor and loves them both). When the Valar decide Stuff is Happening in Middle Earth and they send the wizards to deal with it Violet decides to go along as well and reunites with her sister. They are either in Rivendell or Lorien when the Fellowship goes through and they insist on going along (Galadriel still gives Frodo the starglass and when he shows it to the girls they're delighted and inform him that it's their sister's light and add THEIR lights to it, increasing the potency of the starglass significantly). The girls end up with different groups in the Fellowship and help however they can, and since LOTR focuses on the importance of hope *a lot* they end up helping quite a bit.

okay, I'm tired and it's now past 2am so I'm gonna go to bed I hope you enjoyed Whatever This Is. Do not tell me about any inconsistencies/wrong stuff you notice because if they exist then at some point I'll realize all on my own and be horrified. :)

[edennill]

I've come to the uncomfortable conclusion that whether or not any supernatural qualities were involved, the Silmaril certainly was the thing keeping Sirion safe for a long while – because why would Morgoth mount an attack against them as long as there was a chance of the SoF doing it for him?