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The third kinslaying.
Found family is out ! Kidnap family is in !
Day 28. Unavailing.
"But his search was unavailing, and of the fate of Eluréd and Elurín no tale tells."
Love kidnap fam? Hate it? Ambivalent? Great! Your thoughts are wanted.
I am collecting survey data as part of my research on the "Living Legendarium", i.e., how the legends of Arda, from their earliest drafts by Tolkien to the posthumously published Silmarillion edited by Christopher Tolkien to the creative engagements by fans, are inherently indeterminate and mutable, inviting many and diverse interpretations.
This portion of the study focuses on the various ways that fans of the Silmarillion understand and imagine the relationship between Maedhros, Maglor, Elrond, and Elros: the "kidnap fam".
The resulting paper will be presented at Mereth Aderthad on July 19 2025 and published afterwards on the Silmarillion Writers' Guild.
COMPLETE THE SURVEY until June 27, 2025.
Even if you're not completing the survey, reblogs are appreciated!
One thing that I think gets overlooked sometimes when we talk about the SoF during the time period in the text between the Nirnaeth and Sirion (especially when we talk about the Third Kinslaying) is the fact that they have also been displaced from their lands and homes ever since the Bragollach for some of them and definitely entirely so since Maedhros lost Himring to Morgoth's forces during the Nirnaeth. We have little to no indication in the text that they have any sort of home base/settlement/fortress/etc at this point in the story aside from a brief mention of Maedhros at Amon Ereb just post Nirn in the geography chapter. And I'm not sure if the text specified a fortress/building or if he was just in that general area. Point being that any time they are mentioned, the text describes them as "gathering from their wandering hunting paths" or something similar. It doesn't give me "we have a strong place that we are based out of to draw back to" vibes. I'm pretty sure they just spend like 60+ years just being nomadic post-nirn, pre-sirion. Honestly, I'm surprised they even had enough followers left to mount attacks at Doriath and Sirion at all.
It really just makes the Third Kinslaying sadder to me. It's two groups of people who have lost everything (from their perspectives) aside from the Silmaril and the hope it provides them and yeah one of them is the cause of that loss for the other but the desperation is so so clear in both of them. I'm just sad about it.
The TRSB 2025 reveals are coming up soon and @slashmarks has written a fic for my art piece!
AO3 fic link: peace somewhere around the bend by slashmarks: https://archiveofourown.org/works/68753941
AO3 link to TRSB 2025: https://archiveofourown.org/collections/TolkienRSB_25/works
I also made more paper-cut art for each chapter, from the writer's suggestions, which are below the cut....
What I hate the most about Fëanorian apologia is how the onus is always put on the victims who suffered from the Fëanorians. The Fëanorians are never held accountable for their crimes.
It’s always,
“Olwë and the Teleri should’ve just heard out Fëanor and handed over their ships to the Noldor.”
And not,
“Fëanor should’ve respected Olwë’s refusal and found another way to get to Beleriand, instead of slaughtering the Teleri and stealing their ships.”
It’s always,
“Thingol overreacted to the First Kinslaying, and he should’ve just trusted the Fëanorians.”
And not,
“The Fëanorians should’ve shown more respect to Thingol and actually apologized for slaughtering Thingol’s kindred in Alqualondë.”
It’s always,
“Thingol should’ve put aside his grievances and joined the Union of Maedhros.”
And not,
“Maedhros should’ve apologized to Thingol for Celegorm and Curufin trying to abduct Lúthien if he was serious about having an alliance with Doriath.”
It’s always,
“Dior could’ve avoided the Second Kinslaying by handing over the Silmaril.”
And not,
“Regardless of the Silmaril, the Fëanorians were wrong to attack a severely-weakened kingdom and murder innocent people— including leaving six-year-olds in the woods to die.”
Its always,
“Elwing could’ve avoided the Third Kinslaying by giving up the Silmaril.”
And not,
“The Fëanorians should’ve waited for Eärendil to return so that both parties could resolve this civilly, instead of jumping straight to slaughtering a settlement of refugees.”
It’s always,
“The Fëanorians were right to commit mass-murder because property rights are more important than people’s lives.”
Never,
“The Fëanorians were so obsessed with getting the Silmarils back that they prioritized those jewels over innocent people, and their victims have every right to hate and mistrust them.”
Why is there so much victim-blaming??? Why are they being blamed for the choices of Fëanor and his sons???
Regardless of who the Silmaril belongs to, the Sons of Fëanor always had a choice to do what’s right. They were never forced to commit mass-murder, they deliberately made the choice to commit mass-murder. If they’d treated the Sindar with a bit more grace and respect, perhaps they could’ve come to some kind of solution together. If they’d taken responsibility for their crimes and made proper amends, perhaps the Sindar would’ve been a bit more willing to ally with them.
They don’t do any of that. They expect the Sindar to just blindly respect them when they haven’t done anything to earn it. And then they wonder why most of the Sindar hate their guts.
All of the consequences the Fëanorians face are ultimately on them. Not their victims.
So please, let’s just tone down the victim-blaming already.
