The Fics that Hooked Me: a rec list by Anérea

To See A World by Nightwing6

This is my all time fave Legolas and their friendship is just something I want to snuggle into. I was gripped from the start and have re-enjoyed it a couple of times. It's unfinished and yet that doesn't matter, as it's kind of like an "end of Book One".

Pre-LOTR. Injured and alone, Legolas and Aragorn are forced to take refuge in a wintry foreign land. But when darkness encroaches from within and without, they learn that refuge can become a deadly trap.

The Sword of Elendil by gandalfsapprentice

This was the "more Lord of the Rings" I'd so fervently longed for ever since I'd read the last sentence of the Appendices in my tweens. It was a such a magical experience to be able to read a behind-the-scenes backstory of these characters I'd loved and thought about for so long.

A tale of the young Aragorn facing the challenge of his new name and identity: what does it mean to be the Heir of Isildur? A story of personal growth, friendship, love and betrayal. A canon-mindful AU.  Adult themes and battle scenes. Winner, Second Place, Longer Works, MEFA 2010.

The Splintered Light series by thearrogantemu

All of the fics in this series are brilliant. These are the fics that introduced what I'd long wanted (what happened to characters after canon) but thought I'd never get to read (not having realised that fanfic was a thing!)

I somehow landed on the last fic in the series first and started with The Very Wine of Blessedness followed by And What Happened After (both Hobbits and Finweans in Valinor) and then went on to gobble everything else in this series more or less in order (Beyond the Western World with Finrod doing the boy scout thing with a freshly re-embodied Curufin, and Though All Whom Ye Have Slain Should Entreat For You where a very pissed off Thingol confronts a calm re-embodied Maedhros) as well as the fix-it AU series for These Gifts: To Morning Through the Shadow. Oh, and Gandalf's history through the eyes of Frodo in When the Fall is All There Is.

Just writing this up has made me want to go a read these all over again!

The Tempered Steel by Lyra

Simply excellent! This was the first post-Angband recovery fic I read, and it's just Wow! And still my fave of the era. 

The story of Maedhros' captivity in Angband, his rescue and his recovery is in the Silmarillion treated in a few paragraphs. This is a fleshed-out account of the events that may have befallen between Maedhros' imprisonment and his return to his old life... as far as that is possible.

Another Man's Cage by Dawn Felagund

This novel basically transformed my image of the Fëanorean family and gave me a lot more empathy for their later battles - the internal emotional and philosophical battles they each fought within themselves as well as with each other and the world at large.

In the Time of the Trees, during the Bliss of Valinor, the young family of Fëanor experience the everyday triumphs and tragedies of life in paradise. But as Fëanor's genius blossoms and his sons grow into their roles in Tirion society, tensions build that will sunder the House of Finwë and drive the House of Fëanor to open rebellion.

And after reading it I meandered through other fics in Dawn's collection of excellent writing and novel concepts, including The Fall of the House of Fëanor (her collected stories about the House of Fëanor from their early days in Aman until their demise) and her Republic of Tirion series (Fifth Age Aman. Finally left to his own devices, Finarfin has decided to show his own radical streak, unkinged himself, and established representative democracy in Tirion against the will of the Valar. Adding to the crazy, all his exiled, slain relatives are beginning to return from Mandos ...) 

(In the years since I've increasingly come to know and appreciate Dawn's non-fiction writing as well, and am rather in awe of her talent.)

Doom, Gloom and Maedhros by Himring

Beware Himring's drabbles, most of which pack an emotional punch far belied by their diminutive size! This is truly a treasure trove of ficlets! After initially dipping in to a few short stories, I realised I needed to go right to the beginning and read them all cover to cover. Many I have returned to to reread; many I don't need to reread because the imagery and emotion she evokes has taken up permanent residence in my mind!

Maedhros saga, with main focus on Maedhros' life in Beleriand but spanning all the way from the Time of the Trees almost to the end of Arda. The series is Maedhros/Fingon and the development of their relationship is one of the main interests of the saga, but other stories in the series look at Maedhros's interactions with his brothers, uncles, cousins, friends--basically whoever he is known or can be assumed to have interacted with. The series spans different genres and the stories can differ widely in mood, rating, etc.

There is just so much excellence here, it's very hard to pick faves, but if I had to pick just one, it would have to be No Way You Can Fall. And The House that Fingon Built. And Chained. And Unchained. And... oh, you see what I mean!?

Pandë!verse collection by pandemonium_213

Audio is a real boon to me at times, so when I discovered this amazing podfic thing, Pande's reading of her foundational fic Trinity (Fëanor, Sauron and Oppenheimer) was one of the very first. Some time later I clicked on a rec for Driftwood (in the Second Age, Elrond travels to meet a stranger recently ashore) but only later realised it was the same author. I got pulled into the Pandë!verse so hard and fast after that, I simply couldn't get enough and scavenged every scrap I could find on various archives. She was also the first author I gathered up the courage to contact, just to say how much I enjoyed her creations (well before I discovered Discord), and her OC Mélamírë was also the first fanart I painted.

If I have to choose favourites (which is really really hard!), I would pick The Writhen Pool (When the Istyari of Second Age Ost-in-Edhil deny her a place in an important new initiative to be taken up by the Gwaith-i-Mírdain, a young master smith struggles to make her mark in the man's realm of the forges.   An opportunity arrives when the smith is offered a commission that will present challenges of both mind and heart.); The Apprentice (An ambitious young Noldorin man of Ost-in-Edhil lands a coveted appointment as an apprentice to the most skilled master smith of the Gwaith-i-Mirdain); The Elendilmir (Sequel to The Appentice, set in Rivendell after the fall of Eregion); Winter's Drums (The grisly banner having served its purpose, Sauron enlists the assistance of his soldiers and bodyguard to bear Celebrimbor's corpse to its final resting place in the foothills of the Misty Mountains); and Orcling (A young Mélamírë  sets off on a little expedition of her own, intending to return by sunset. However, she makes a discovery that turns what she intended as an afternoon's adventure into something far more harrowing and that challenges what she has been taught.)

Footsteps in Time by Keiliss

My first Celeborn and Galadriel fic, set in the early years from Doriath to Balar.

Kei's writing is so strikingly visual it's almost as if I can see every fold of a gown, every vein in the leaves in the background. I am always entranced by her fics, and will always come back to read them again and again. (I am also extremely honoured that she was inspired to write for my art in the inaugural Scribbles and Drabbles.)

I read Star's End after Footsteps, and it is the first fic that made me sob. I still sob every time I read it.

I can confidently rec all of Kei's fics, even though there are some that I have yet to read. (I'm sort of saving them so I'll still have something new of hers to enjoy.)

And Now Each Night I Count the Stars by BloodwingBlackbird

This was the fic I had no idea I needed until I read it. I had previously never given any thought to Mags after he wandered along/jumped into the sea, but when he wandered into my awareness along with Halbarad in the late Third Age, I found myself wandering Middle-earth for a few days with them and this couple have taken up residence in my mind. 

This is the s tory of one particularly grouchy son of Feanor, who has decided to leave his seaside moping and throw in his lot with the Rangers of the North. It features one murder son and his various issues, one very chill ranger, one elf who is doing his best to deal with his abandonment issues, lots of long conversations by firelight, bad decision making and even worse fashion choices. It's an unconventional ship, but that's what they said about the Titanic (probably) and that turned out fine!

Now with a complete sequel too: The holes they leave.