Resilience by Independence1776  

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Fanwork Notes

This was written for the Potluck Challenge and Festival of Lights. For the former, I used Four Words (ribbon, mirror, fortune, instinct) and Maglor Can't Catch a Break (Maglor in History: Witnessing historical atrocities). For the latter, I used the Hanukkah card and the following prompts: jelly doughnuts, candles or lamps, light, flame, from generation to generation.

Warning: the historical atrocity is the aftermath of Kristallnacht.

Fanwork Information

Summary:

A Jewish Maglor escapes with twins.

Two double drabbles, set several decades apart.

Major Characters: Maglor, Original Character(s)

Major Relationships:

Genre: Drama, Family, Fixed-Length Ficlet

Challenges: Festival of Lights Fest, Potluck Bingo

Rating: General

Warnings: Check Notes for Warnings
Chapters: 1 Word Count: 419
Posted on Updated on

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Resilience

Comments on Resilience

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So good that Maglor was available to get at least those two twins out. 

I am glad they prospered, despite the loss and danger of their childhood.

I loved the description of the whole collection of lights together.

Aww, wandering chazzan Maglor! I really like that idea. And winding up as foster-father to another set of twins. I really like the way he quotes "one life saved is a world saved" to himself as he saves the few people he can.

Is there a reason Maglor picked Avner for his Hebrew name? It's fine if there isn't, I'm just curious about it!

I got here through the monthly challenge and I'm very glad I did. For a long time I've had the headcanon that Maglor had a relationship with Jewish communities in Europe starting from the middle ages and that he connected with them over themes of exile and grief. What you do here with it is turn his story into a meditation on cycles of loss and hope. Maglor over and over finds himself in a place where a terrible destruction is happening. He can't stop it. All he can do is save another pair of twins. 

The 'one life is a world' idea has a particular resonance here because Elrond and Elros are the only survivors of the royal families of Doriath and Gondolin in Middle-earth and they themselves each build something new. These girls are also escaping a doomed place and Maglor is with them as they build what comes next.

I'm also thinking about how Maglor converting to Judaism takes him out of Tolkien's Catholic framework for thinking about sin and redemption and maybe opens up other possibilities.  He doesn't seem like he considers himself damned anymore, maybe because damnation is not part of his worldview now.

Avner=father of light. Or: the light of my father. Clever. I bet he got that name from a rabbi who figured out a way that somehow he can fulfill his vow by doing good deeds and bringing light to the world. Something something the light of the menorah reflects the eternal light which was present in the Silmarils, by lighting the menorah you regain that light...in any case I love that he is surrounding himself with light that has religious meaning to him.

Anyway you put a lot to think about in a few words here.

(I'll take a prompt?)

 

Thank you! It is a little humbling to receive a comment almost as long as the story itself.

What you do here with it is turn his story into a meditation on cycles of loss and hope.

Honestly, that's one of my favorite things about writing Maglor in history: he isn't limited to the despair the Silm gives him at the end.

He doesn't seem like he considers himself damned anymore, maybe because damnation is not part of his worldview now.

Yeeeesss. Maglor has done literally unforgiveable crimes but he does not have to define himself by them. Plus, I do think the oath was fulfulled when Maedhros and he regained the two Silmarils, even though he chose not to keep it.

I think Maglor chose the name because of both who Fëanor was in the beginning and who Maglor himself is now. He would not have been able to convert without a lot of self-reflection and understanding.

Thank you again!

Your prompt: https://unsplash.com/photos/brown-tall-tree-during-day-time-nXgivuqiZHs (ID: sunset light shining on pine trees in a forest, a pine-needle covered path disappears into the underbrush in the middle of the picture.)