Ahh thank you I’m glad you liked! Uh, I think it would probably
depend on the situation tbh, re: his children (all four of them): the
possibilities left open by the lack of any position voiced on Elladan
and Elrohir, but giving them names that invoke their heritage and
ability to choose; plus one of his big worries about Arwen being that
she personally won’t react to dying well (and he’s right, she doesn’t – but where does this worry come from),
and also depending on how much you can attribute Aragorn’s beliefs and
words in his peaceful and fearless death scene (”more than memory”) to
his upbringing. And the difference between those who are definitely
going to die anyway, and those who might possibly choose not to. It
seems probably pretty tangled, which only makes sense.
But if
you want me to just address the bit about the Numenoreans’ opinion of
human death, I do think of Elrond as strongly of the belief – in
both the philosophical and the more metaphysical sense – that the
gift/doom of men is a good thing, but that he can’t have an informed
opinion as he is not subject to it, he can only know what it’s like to observe it and what people like Elros have told him. I would say that, as
for many elves, but with a unique additional layer of entanglement, it’s
the best and worst things about being immortal while adjacent to humans
– getting the chance to know and love and remember so many different people and all their changes and all the human societal stuff I discussed here,
but also having to inevitably experience and accumulate the memories of
all their deaths and generational-overturn-based-amnesia and lost
chances and absences inherent in mortality. I’m thinking a widespread
thought among elves would run
something like “Oh, this thing reminds me that I know exactly how
Tindomiel would have reacted to it, and how much I loved her for it,
though
she has been dead for 700 years and cannot see it – but now my memory
of it will be entangled with her, and therefore all the richer.” Like,
he could say ‘uh here are xyz ways being immortal sucks’ but I
theorize he himself would totally accept all the downsides of
immortality for the sake of all the upsides, and would therefore
empathize with, if not necessarily agree with, people who felt the same but didn’t have the option?
(This is ofc guesswork.)
I guess I tend to think of him (and
Elros) being very invested in (though periodically struggling with) a
lot of the ideas adjacent to the Athrabeth, about there being a great
purpose or resonance in the different fates of elves and men – there’s also the significance that inexplicitly
underlies many of his words and actions, of Estel. And more personally, perhaps also in the more specific idea of a reunion after the end of the world – for obvious reasons. I should perhaps clarify that when I said he
would sympathize with the Numenoreans’ desires, I don’t think it would
be “yeah they’ve got a point, human death is worthless” I just mean it
in the “lol I am literallythe last person on earth who has any business telling anybody what’s the right thing to want regarding immortality.” Does that make sense?
Neither of them got to know the other as well as he would have liked. The first thing that either of them knew about each other was their conflicted relationship to the House of Feanor. This is the son who repudiated his father; this is Elwing’s child raised by his mother’s would-be murderers. In their blend of love and anger they’re far more alike than they allow themselves to assume – and they also never really talk about it, since they’re both, in very different ways, moving on; Elrond in his role as Gil-Galad’s herald and steward, engaged in the slow work of diplomacy and realm-building, Celebrimbor as the head of the Brotherhood of the Jewel-Smiths, creating and discovering and striving forwards. The subtle tension between Eregion and Lindon – neither Gil-Galad nor Celebrimbor wished to force the issue of who owed loyalty to whom, and Annatar had been welcomed against Elrond’s advice in particular – meant that they remained more distant than either of them wished.
Both of them always believed they would have more time.
In later years, wielding Vilya, Elrond does come to know his cousin. He had founded Rivendell, of course, long before he was able to use the Ring, which came to him stained with the blood of his King and kindred. But he finds that Vilya is particularly suited to the work: creating a haven against evil for the preservation of knowledge and the refreshment of the spirit, open to all. There’s something in the Ring and its history that answers to him, and through it he sees Celebrimbor clearly: his dreams and their weaknesses, the sorrow and the hope.
YO WHAT UP I haven’t drawn a person in like 6 years, but I spent a super satisfying vacation afternoon doodling stuff. Here’s Elrond, aka, some loremaster or whatever, visiting his twin brother Elros, aka, The Founder and First Ruling King of Númenor, the Land of Gift, Kingdom of the Men of the West. They’re not very competitive.
Got v distracted by Elros’s warm-climate royal sandals vs Elrond’s Beleg-approved curly elf boots.
The ridiculous Númenórean crown design is taken from one of Tolkien’s letters but I forgot most of what it looked like so it’s not quite right
Collecting cool shit from the mainland is super helpful to your brother’s people’s rich historical heritage! It’s not just for making fun of his job
i made a post about feanor being a huge fuckup and it has like 100 notes and there are at least 6 reblogs of it that are tagged #go big or go home. i understand
to be perfectly clear: feanor is go big; thingol is go home. every other elf falls somewhere between the two. it is the spectrum of elfhood.
books and cleverness 