Finrod: 30-Day Character Study - Study Days by cuarthol

17. Affiliations, Part Two

Affiliations, Part Two. Think about a group your character belongs to--perhaps a cultural group, a profession, a family or clan, or any other group of affiliated characters. Spend at least a half-hour exploring that affiliation in any way you choose, whether reading and researching the group, writing or drawing about the character's relationship to the group, collecting links and resources, writing meta or head canons, or anything else you can dream.

Finrod feels very constrained by the sense of being his father’s eldest and heir and therefore must not do anything to suggest he is not a proper and legitimate prince of the Noldor.  Without this constraint he would be far happier following more of the Telerin customs, but this would mean bringing even more negative attention than they already receive, being both the grandchildren of Indis and the children of Eärwen - twice over not Noldo enough.

Finrod and his siblings walk a fine line between cultures and societal expectations due to their station.  This is most evident when Finrod won’t even defend himself or his family against the accusation of kinslaying for it would mean having to accuse those who actually did the act and bring further strife between their houses.

He tries very hard to fit into the shape he is expected to take, and it does not always suit him entirely.  He builds a homage to Menegroth, not Tirion; he embraces his friendship with Thingol and Círdan; he follows the drive to exploration and adventure - these all hint at his connection to his Telerin nature.

That is not to say he does not see himself as Noldo, he certainly claims the kinship without hesitation, but he leans further into it than his natural inclinations would otherwise cause.  He cannot simply pretend that the political alliances to his cousins is so easily pushed aside, nor does he want to deny his Noldo blood.  He just wishes it did not feel so very heavy to carry.

Interestingly, he does not really consider himself Vanya at all.  Not that he rejects it or looks down on it, he just doesn’t consider it being part of him, exactly.  The parts that Indis influenced balanced pretty evenly between Fingolfin and Finarfin and their children, so he tends to just accept that as being part of his Noldo side.  He never spent much time in Valmar, and Indis was rather quiet about her heritage in terms of claiming it openly rather than quietly doing as she had always done.  The Vanya influences tended to go unsung, and he never spent enough time among them to really pick up on the similarities.

His Elvishness doesn't really become a thing he notices until he begins to interact with Dwarves, and then really hits home when Bëor comes to live with him, and later in his dealings with his kin and Andreth in particular.  It's a slow process, but one in which he becomes keenly aware of the ways in which he is an Elf.

It wasn't as stark with the Ainur, though there was clearly an understanding of the distinction between them, but he still spent most of his life among other Eldar, with the Ainur being somewhat set apart and clearly above.

With Dwarves and Men there is a greater sense of equality between them, despite the beliefs of other Eldar, and so the differences are much more apparent.