Tengwar: To The Letter by cuarthol

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Fanwork Notes

Compilation of prompt fills, type and length may vary per chapter.

Fanwork Information

Summary:

For the Tengwar prompt challenge.  To be updated as new prompts are completed.

Current up through 'Hwesta Sindarinwa'
(see also bonus chapter þúlë)

Major Characters: Original Character(s), Original Female Character(s), Original Male Character(s), Aegnor, Andreth, Angrod, Avari, Celeborn, Celebrimbor, Celegorm, Círdan, Curufin, Daeron, Eagles, Edain, Elwing, Ents, Fëanor, Finduilas, Finrod Felagund, Gil-galad, Gwindor, Húrin, Ilwen, Indis, Mahtan, Mîm, Nellas, Nerdanel, Nuin, Telchar, Thorondor, Tilion, Zimrahin

Major Relationships:

Artwork Type: No artwork type listed

Genre: Experimental, Fixed-Length Ficlet, In-Universe Artifact, Poetry

Challenges: Tengwar

Rating: General

Warnings: Check Notes for Warnings
Chapters: 34 Word Count: 3, 746
Posted on 15 April 2024 Updated on 16 May 2024

This fanwork is a work in progress.

Table of Contents

Calma (lamp)

What need of more light?
(No warnings.  Drabble)

Ungwë (spider's web)

One thing more to ask.
(No warnings.  Drabble)

Alda (tree)

Somewhere in the Forest of Brethil...
(No warnings.  Drabble)

Númen (west)

An Avar considers those who left before his birth.
(No warnings.  Drabble)

Unque (hollow)

An Angband escapee.
(References to captivity and injuries.  Drabble)

Aha (rage)

Exiled without recourse.
(No warnings.  Drabble, Poetry)

Essë (name)

Felagund, who knew no fear.
(References to death.  Drabble)

Essë nuquerna (name reversed)

It'll get you every time.
(No warnings.  Drabble)

Parma (book)

Cultural exchanges.
(No warnings.  Drabble)

Quessë (feather)

Unsung heirlooms
(No warnings.  Drabble)

Yanta (bridge)

One fear.
(No warnings.  Drabble)

Formen (north)

Not every Dwarven craft was shared.
(No warnings.  Drabble)

Silmë (starlight)

The sunset was a surprise, too!
(No warnings.  Drabble)

Silmë nuquerna (starlight reversed)

Sunset brings another surprise
(No warnings.  Drabble)

Lambë (tongue)

Thank you, Anérea, for the amazing inspiring twist on this prompt!
(Warning for unbearable cuteness.  Drabble)

Anna (gift)

A battle of wills (with a body count)
(Warning: references to dead animals.  250 words)

Hyarmen (south)

Excerpts from a damaged journal, recovered from the wreckage of an Elven ship found far to the south.  Determined to be one of the seven which Turgon asked Círdan to build to seek aid from the Valar.

(No warnings.  In-universe artifact)

Ampa (hook)

First impressions
(No warnings.  Drabble)

Óre (heart)

She was sitting in a tree...
(No warnings.  Drabble)

Umbar (fate)

Mother to mother
(No warnings.  Drabble)

Anga (iron)

Master and apprentice
(No warnings.  Drabble)

Anto (mouth)

To go is to leave
(No warnings.  Drabble)

Arda (world)

If only it had been so simple
(No warnings.  Drabble)

Vilya (sky)

Before even the sun
(No warnings.  Drabble)

Anca (jaws)

I have learned you
(No warnings.  Drabble)

Malta (gold)

The last
(No warnings.  Drabble)

Noldo (one of the Noldor)

The last son
(No warnings.  Drabble)

Nwalmë (torment)

Out of darkness
(References to torment and blood.  Drabble)

Vala (one of the Valar)

Beautiful indignation
(No warnings.  Drabble)

Rómen (east)

↑ This side up
(No warnings.  Drabble)

Súlë (spirit)

'Till the end of all things
(No warnings.  Double drabble.)

Þúlë (bonus chapter)

Newlywed
Warning for gratuitously dropped þorns
(But actually no warnings.  Drabble)

Hwesta (breeze)

A different point of view
(No warnings.  Drabble)

Hwesta Sindarinwa (breeze, Sindarin)

Lord of the Falas
(No warnings.  Drabble)

Comments

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I'm loving these! Particularly taken with poor Tyelpe: backward stamps and scary bridges, oh no! And Kurg. Moments of joy in misery deserve their little bits of light. Looking forward to the rest. :)

Hahah omg brilliant! They are such a cat person - dog person duo. Poor Curufin waking up to a whole ass warg carcass. Bit much, Tyelko.

LOL!  

I confess, I am absolutely a cat girlie, but I am also realistic about cats.  They are little menaces to local wildlife, and I have stepped in their unfinished "gifts" and it was awful, but when they curl up and purr on you it's just so magical.

I love dogs, too, but I'm okay not having one.  I would not be okay not having a cat.

"-wind, ever the wind-" ... Oh, they were in my part of the world all right, certainly at that point!

Half bird-half people indeed! I'm glad they at least got to see these delightful tuxedo-clad creatures (whose antics remind me of Buster Keaton) before they landed finally in Mandos.

Very clever device, the remnant of the manuscript.

 

<3 So glad that it resonated!  I was thinking (even if Hobbits weren't around yet) that an Elf might look at a penguin and think in descending height: Elves, Men, Dwarves, Hobbits... this is just another people, sure why not.

This has made me want to explore this idea more :)

Such a clever response to this prompt.

And... you've hit a chord with him mistaking her mien to be aloofness (I've been astounded to discover, many years on, that some people thought the same of me, meanwhile all I felt was insecurity and uncertainty!)

And... there's an odd kind of security and reassurance that comes from vulnerability, and running (or swimming!) naked in the wilderness... well, I'm with Galadriel here — and Celeborn, once he comes to his senses!

Sometimes it just takes a bit more of a nudge to get two people to interact where they might not have otherwise.  I won't say Celeborn had no experiences to relate to hers, but perhaps not in a way that he could recognize at the time (especially since the Finarfinians seemed to keep the bulk of that story to themselves)

But yes, a wild romp through the woods must kindle something if there is anything there to be kindled!

Penguins!! This one is so unique, how you made me feel with fragments... And then grin at the thought of elves encountering cute penguins.

Love this take on Celeborn and Galadriel! It makes sense that he'd be wary of her, and that she'd come across as haughty. It puts Celeborn in a stronger light, too, not instantly smitten (and yet, he was, when he didn't know who she was ;)... Love that also)

Oh. Nellas 🥺. In a way she escaped being ensnared in his doom though never being properly noticed, and yet that's somehow not comforting.

Still loving all of these, and what a range of characters, scenes and moods!

Very sad for those lost mariners, but at least they got to meet penguins.

And that is a very neat and interesting twist, with Celeborn and Galadriel.

Oh so good! Knowing she would lose *one* is especially sad given she loses all of them. And the way space works here, journeying north to Elwing's tower as the Noldor once journeyed in Exile. Fascinating!

Mahtan! 🥰. A craftsman of the Noldor who does NOT get enough representation.

And Finduilas and Gwindor 🥺. I was just thinking of them this morning. This is a very touching moment.

Umbar: I enjoyed guessing who the first mother is (until the end, I was not thinking babes in Valinor,  and at first wondered whethe Elwing had a premonition about Elros here!) and... ooof, it must be so hard being either of these mothers! And a lot to talk, and cry, and feel angry and sad, and (hopefully) ultimately forgiving about!

Anga: just love that this is about Mahtan, and Aulë, and their pure joy of the craft!

Anto: oh, tragic Finduilas! Indeed, it is possible to understand someone else's motives, and even condone them, while feeling absolutely devastated.

Arda: Ahh! True friendship! And good intentions on Gil's part, but then, what happened to those intentions, Gil? Ai! Too difficult to know all that was going on from so far away. And Celebrimbor, with that fear of falling like his grandfather (and father!) before him... heartbreaking!

 

Thank you so much

With Gil-galad and Celebrimbor, arguably Celebrimbor's failing was in being too trusting rather than in (necessarily) pride.  And I love that he sends the rings away, and while that was of course the most obvious way to keep them safe, it is worth acknowledging that he understood that *was* the best way to keep him safe, and that keeping them himself was not.  

I love that since they are rings, he *could* have kept all 3, he *could* have worn all 3, he had 10 fingers - but I love that almost by design they were meant to be worn by 3 people, not one.  That might be my own bias but I love that his creation was meant to be shared rather than hoarded.  I think he did learn from Feanor's fall, even if he fell himself.  Not making the same mistake doesn't mean not making whole new mistakes.

I really have feelings about them LOL

<3

Oh for sure, Celebrimbor made his own errors (how often do we (people in general, some I know personally) compensate for our parents' failings, only to swing the pendulum to the opposite extreme!) Which is all the more heartbreaking because it comes from a place of such good intentions and hope. (And yes, now you mention it, the whole idea of his creation intended to be shared is just so opposite to what Fëanor did with his; the minds amd machinations of Melkor and Annatar being so different?)

But Gil, promising to not let him fall, and failing his friend in that... but I forget now: Elrond mistrusted Annatar, and was it Círdan or Gil-galad as well? Because perhaps he had no idea what kind of trouble was brewing ... but then again, I guess Celebrimbor didn't actually fall in his morality or ethics, it was actually more a case of being too trusting/gullible. (Again, contrasting Fëanor.)

Such a creative use of the prompt. I often wonder about the fates of Arien and Tilion. This gives a joyful bent to his choice, I like that. I also like the Valarin in there.

I like the idea that this was something that he not only wanted to do but finds delight in.  I think there was something about him being in love with Arien which may be true but I like that he had another motivation than just chasing her. :)

This one is really powerful. Vengeance changes nothing, really. Mîm is ultimately a sad figure.

Love this: "... now largely consumed within the later delvings of Nargothrond, and wailed." The idea of their former home being swallowed :(