Comments on A King Unkinged (For the Love He Bore Feanor)

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It is really good to get a glimpse into this very little written about episode- and I love the manner Feanaro takes his telling off- half listening and meekly. Ha! But most of all this little moment betwen Maitimo and Finwe. his alarm at the tisane first and then completely failing to recognise what is actually going on here. I'd like more of this -hope you are writing it!



Thank you very much, ziggy!

I seemed to have read more detailed treatments about the Fingolfinians's reactions to Finwe's departure from Tirion than about the Feanorians's reaction to his arrival, so I chose to focus on that here. 

Glad you like that moment between Maitimo and Finwe! There is a bit of Maitimo's point of view on this period in "Bindweed" (in an early outline, those two fics were meant to become one single story), but it doesn't explicitly mention Finwe's arrival. Maybe I'll manage to take another look at those two together one day!

(I hope all is going well for you. I did take note that you have been updating "Shadows" and hope to catch up again with that!)

i like how Finwë completely fails to convey any anger. 'not pleased at all', thats what you say when you sit down to watch tv and you have to stand up again to get the remote...

he's so 'thats my boy !'

but of course Fëanor isnt sorry either, so already its serious-feuding-hillbillies.

meanwhile back in town, the new sheriff Fingolfin has all the kudos of grace under attack, and innocence with divine approval. Melkor must have been hooting with laughter...

i think i'm trying to say how convinced i was by your words, nicely done !

(except tisane...) (that is not anglo-saxon, oooh no. the Norman conquest has not been forgiven in a thousand years. especially by Tolkien...)



Oh yes, I'm sure Melkor was hooting with laughter (when he wasn't dodging Tulkas and Orome, that is)!

As for Finwe--I saw in your Nerdanel story (very well-written, by the way) what your take on the relationship between Finwe and Feanor is (apparently?) and so I realize that you're coming from a rather different direction here.

To be honest, I was thinking of "not pleased at all" more on the lines of pronouncements like Queen Victoria's "we are not amused", which did have people around her, including her family, pretty much shaking in their shoes. Except under the current circumstances, for Finwe, it's not as effective as it might have been, formerly.

The "tisane" was deliberate, a conscious risk I took, although I was aware some readers might have difficulty suspending their disbelief. It's definitely not Anglo-Saxon, certainly (but then "herbs" or "tea" aren't either, and I wasn't particularly keen on anything like "wort drink", which might be the closest Anglo-Saxon equivalent). I sometimes do use words that readers might consider anachronisms to remind readers that although Noldorin culture in Aman is very different from ours, clearly, it's also very different from what they experienced later in Beleriand (which is one of the subjects that Finwe and Maedhros are discussing here). For an in-universe explanation you could say that this is directly translated from Quenya, so to speak, rather than transmitted to the reader via later versions in Westron...

Thank you very much for reading and commenting!

 

I'm so very glad the story works for you!

Yes, at this point, Finwe and Maedhros are communicating better than Finwe does with Feanor or Fingolfin, and yet they are still talking past each other, to some extent.

Also, that they are talking about Feanor behind his back is a measure of their fears; it is something they would have avoided doing before things got so bad.

I  believe that Feanor's fears of losing his father's love are genuine and deep. That leads me to think that he would not have expected Finwe to follow him and might well have been amazed at Finwe's arrival.

Fingolfin's words before the council are, taken literally, a declaration of loyalty. But, taken as a political act, they are a semi-public accusation of weakness and favouritism, and fannish interpretations often seem to take their cue from this. But if Finwe, at least by his own lights, was doing his level best to deal with a really tricky and dangerous political situation, he might not have appreciated Fingolfin's outburst, and not just because of Feanor's reaction. (I'm not suggesting Fingolfin wasn't sincere, you understand!)

I love your Finwë, equally displeased with everybody involved but nonetheless deciding that he'll join Fëanáro in his banishment - without glossing over his deeds. Not that Fëanor gives the impression of taking his father's words to heart, but at least they were spoken!

I liked the atmosphere of "incompleteness" (for lack of a better word) you've created here, with everything still in a make-shift state, Tyelko wondering who the new arrival might be, Nelyo haunted rather than relieved by the reprieve from society. And of course, a son of Fëanor wouldn't speak of tea when there's no tea in it! That was a nice detail. :D

Thank you very much! I'm really glad you like this take on Finwe. I believe he is sometimes read as weaker, at this stage, than he is likely to have been, given what else we know about him. It doesn't seem quite consistent for him to just turn into Feanaro's doormat at any point.

Feanaro isn't deliberately ignoring his father's words, I think, but is too disturbed and affected by paranoia by this time to fully absorb and process them: he is responding in the confused way that Maitimo later describes him reacting to the revelation about Melkor's activities, too driven to think things entirely through anymore.

Maitimo is dealing (or rather failing to deal) with his anxieties by sitting up in the night and compiling a guide to northern flora as a begetting-day gift for Findekano. This comes into a related story of mine, "Bindweed". So he has been retreating into precision and classification. Hence, partly, his use of "tisane". That's the bookish approach that Finwe points out in him and thinks so impractical.

Finwe is right, but also underrating his son and his grandsons. They certainly do not have a clue what Beleriand is going to be like, but nevertheless they have already had more hands-on practice in dealing with different environments than he is willing to allow for. Thus, the tisane is quite safe and Maitimo has actuallly been going out and talking to locals to do his research, etc.

And still, none of them are really prepared for what is coming, of course!

I really liked this, as it seems more in line with how I think of Finwë. It has always seemed to me that as presented in the text, his joining Fëanor in Formenos apparently without further comment could only be read by nearly all involved as condoning his eldest son's actions. That he explicitly said otherwise but Fëanor chose not to hear it (or perhaps more that he heard only the parts he wanted to hear) makes a lot of sense, as does the idea that Finwë himself failed to grasp the gaps between his grandson's thinking and his own.



I loved that you wrote Finwë, and loved that for once he wasn't showed as an horrible parent or week person, as the fandom too often does nowadays. To have a Finwë who is strong, who does not accept the fighting around him and still tries to be kind (once he done giving the well deserved dressing down) was hugely refreshing.

I also like that Ingwë was mentionned, even if it's just a line, since he is Finwë's friend and it's good to see that!

Your study of Fëanor's behavior and perception of the events, I found spot on. He sounded lost, anxious, and yet still prideful. All the seed for the disasters to come are here and we know Finwë will not be enough to stop them...