Putting this in an ask because comments have a word limit :D
I LOVE the two conversations with Lúthien and Turgon at the start of part 30 of TFS. It’s clear what Maedhros is *trying* to do - make things better for two people he loves before he leaves, to assuage the guilt of leaving - but what makes it great is that Lúthien and Turgon are both trying to tell him the same thing, and he is not listening. It is not HIMSELF that is a danger, it is the Oath, and he is unable or unwilling to recognize that he can be free of it, which is why he doesn’t get what he’s looking for from either of them.
The Lúthien one really stands out because Maglor doesn’t *seem* particularly tormented by the Oath; Maedhros seems to be projecting his own preoccupations upon Maglor. To the extent that Maglor still seems concerned about the Oath, it’s mostly on Maedhros’ own behalf.
It’s just…the way he’s willing to walk straight into Sauron’s grasp rather than grapple with the realizations that are in front of him!
It’s fantastic characterization.
Thank you so much! Part 30 had a very clear structure in my mind: Maedhros talks to Lúthien about Maglor, he talks to Turgon about Fingon, he talks to Fingon, he talks to Maglor – and he does, I think, feel in some way as though he’s setting his affairs in order before he leaves. (He does not have any expectation at this stage of ever seeing Fingon or Maglor again, also.)
There was a post going around a while ago about how some stories are tragedies because “it didn’t HAVE to end this way” and some stories are tragedies because “it was always GOING to end this way”. What about, I asked myself the other day, walking home from work in the rain, a tragedy that isn’t inevitable – but its protagonist thinks it is? Because I really did want part 30 to feel like a tragedy in one act; and Maedhros, who both canonically and in tfs is almost defined by this utter inability to recognise the shape of the narrative he is caught in, was naturally the central figure of it. I do think this is one of the saddest instalments of the entire fic. It was very hard, emotionally, to write.
So, yes, Maedhros doesn’t listen. He’s too convinced that There Is Only One Way The Story Goes, and convinced also that he is the main character of it: “You do rather think everything is about you, don’t you?” says Turgon, and Maedhros’ immediate internal response, which he decides not to say aloud, is Well it is. And he’s been proven right about Sauron lurking in Dorthonion, and proven right that going public with his relationship with Fingon after centuries of secrecy is a bad idea, which only reinforces his belief that he is right about literally everything. This is… not true, to say the least.
As for the Oath: Maedhros’ current thoughts on it are, in a large part, driven by his conversation with Maglor in part 28, just before the battle.
“When it is won,” he says again, “we might try, perhaps, to rid ourselves of our shackles for good.”
Maedhros stills. “What do you mean by that?”
“You know what I mean, Nelyo,” Maglor says quietly. “The Oath. I do not know if we can free ourselves of it, but I know we must try.”
Maedhros gives him a long, thoughtful look. “Is that what you want?” he asks.
“More than anything,” says Maglor. “Oh, Nelyo, I am tired of being bound. Aren’t you?” He thinks of Menegroth and struggling with all his will against the Oath’s compulsion; and he thinks of Lúthien, who told him he need not regret forever.
Maedhros’ hand goes to the stump of his right wrist. He says nothing.
“I am beginning to believe it possible, at least,” says Maglor.
“All right,” Maedhros murmurs. He sounds resigned more than anything else, although in his eyes is the distant, calculating look Maglor usually associates with his brother the strategist, poring over war-maps and diplomatic correspondence.
Maglor: I want to be free of the Oath
Maedhros: clearly what he is saying is that we need to go after the other two Silmarils and although I do not yet know how to do that or particularly want to do it my precious baby brother must have anything his heart desires
(Also, incidentally, the precise thought that went through Maedhros' head when Maglor asked him if he was tired of being bound was, verbatim, Káno, I am always bound.)
So although Maglor isn't tormented by the Oath exactly, he has been spending a lot of time this arc quietly thinking about it (in fact, he's been thinking about it pretty much the entire fic). And, as Lúthien says, there is a lot that Maglor understands and Maedhros doesn't: namely, that they can be free of the Oath, and that there's a distinction between that and fulfilling it. More on this in the next arc, probably. But Maedhros has fully failed to grasp any of this, even though Lúthien basically spells it out for him when she asks him if Thingol's Silmaril is really what he wants. So instead he goes off and makes what one might reasonably call a Bad Decision.
He's so stupid. He breaks my heart.
