Comments on Some Good Must Come

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And much good did come of it. I hope Amrod got to look at the tapestries in Mandos and see just how much good his saving the twins did. Maedhros and Maglor are so understanding too. I'm not really clear on whether Amrod died because he couldn't bear to be apart from Amras or because he was also injured. But the beauty of this was that I don't think it mattered and could be interpreted either way to give different perspectives on the story.

Thank you so much for reading and commenting; I really appreciate it. That's such a lovely idea about the tapestries!

Someone else who read this had the same query about Amrod's cause of death, interestingly. I'd felt fairly sure that it was grief (certainly that's what he thinks - the phrase 'died of a broken heart' comes to mind - and maybe it's not even just about Amras, but the pain of kinslaying and other losses, when in my view he's already fragile). But maybe the point is that he doesn't even realise he's wounded, because the pain of loss is so much greater? (Although the Noldor are doomed to be slain by grief as well as by weapon...)

Oh, goodness, this made me legitimately teary at multiple places (somehow the hardest for me was, “He was, but I don’t think he’s hurting now.” 😭). The whole story is so thoroughly imbued with regret and despair and disbelief, and yet it’s also got such clear moments of acceptance and surety and hope. That’s such a tricky balance to achieve, but it makes everything in the story so much richer. It makes sense that Amrod would be having a moment here of reevaluating where he and his brothers have been, what they’ve done, what they may yet still do, and it’s fascinating how he’s sort of on multiple sides of things. He acknowledges to himself that their actions have made orphans of these other little twins and that even children aren’t safe from the chaos that they’ve wrought, while also being so certain that he can trust his big brothers to do right when he asks it of them. And for the big brothers, I really appreciate the way that this story can hold the multiple truths that they were responsible for some truly heinous acts while also being capable of kindness and care, especially for one another. A lot of fandom representations seem to pitch them all firmly into one side or the other, but of course people who do awful things aren’t always wholly awful and the love that Maglor and Maedhros have for Amras and Amrod is very palpable and believable here. You and I have talked kidnap fam before, and this recontextualization of it as the fulfillment by M&M of a commitment made to their own twin brothers really works for me as a plausible explanation for why and how they decided to take this on. It gives specific purpose to that first choice that can then set up the really beautiful longer term “and love grew between them” dynamic without it seeming so (to me) sudden and at odds with a lot of their other behavior. And perhaps even more importantly, I really appreciate any time something good and hopeful can be wrested from the worst of situations (I believe in real life that sometimes things happen that are just thoroughly bad and there is no silver lining, but I also believe that we need to be able to find silver linings at times in order to then make surviving the thoroughly bad things feel possible!), and for Amrod to use the death of Amras (and then himself) as the means by which Elrond and Elros can be saved (and then, by extension, so many other people by the role that Elrond in particular goes on to play!) is a lovely way to drag that sliver of good out of the bad. This was really, really moving and thought provoking and gives wonderful texture and depth to Amrod that he lacks in the canon!