The Price of War by Elrond's Library
Fanwork Notes
For the September 2025 Challenge Jumble Sale
For Sale: shoes, plain, brown
Pick a major event in the history of Arda, then create a fanwork about a character who was not directly involved in that event and what that character was doing at the time (Behind the Scenes challenge). Use one of the Orctober prompts to shape your story of that character.
Challenges to Tag: Behind the Scenes, Jumble Sale, Orctober
Orctober prompt: A watchtower upon the shore, a humble hump of rocks. The summer surf grasps with the hands of the drowned People. The winter is no better. The ice mutters, it cracks, it screams. It crushes itself in desperation upon the shore, the sea cold upon its back.
- Fanwork Information
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Summary:
Galadriel and Celeborn witness the end of the War of Wrath.
Major Characters: Celeborn, Galadriel
Major Relationships: Celeborn/Galadriel
Genre: Hurt/Comfort
Challenges: Behind the Scenes, Jumble Sale, Orctober
Rating: General
Warnings:
Chapters: 1 Word Count: 379 Posted on Updated on This fanwork is complete.
The Price of War
Read The Price of War
Ominous feelings of dread deep in her fëa drew her to the mountains, back west. She travelled with her husband, swords strapped to hips, packs full of lembas and not much else. The mountains rose, and they travelled in quiet companionship, not daring to guess what the dread could mean for them, for his people, for hers.
They saw the smoke before they crested the summit of the mountains. Galadriel could feel the bustling city of Dwarves below her feet, could see evidence of their occupation of this land in the tower that lay in ruins, the precisely hewn stones in imprecise piles, cracked and broken, growing lichen in shades of grey and green and blue. Celeborn lay his pack against a rock, unable to take his eyes off the lands he had been born to, that they had both come to know, to love.
All was ash and dust, fire and smoke, death and destruction. Where once the land had been full of green, healthy trees and lush grasslands, only patches remained.
Galadriel stood, a silent witness, as the land shook itself apart. Celeborn fell to his knees, a small noise of distress seeming to slip out from behind his teeth that he failed to catch in time.
“The land will drown,” Galadriel whispered, barely aware she spoke aloud until her beloved looked up at her, shock and grief and pain etched in every line of his face, his shoulders. “This will be the price of war with a Vala. Death, to every root and tree, bird and beast, Eldar and Edain and Khazad. They will succeed without us.”
They stared, as if hoping that somehow the landscape would shift, would turn back to the lush tree-filled forests they had begun their courtship under. It did not.
They camped under the stars, watching, waiting. For what, neither could say. Summer waned and cold winds began to chill them in earnest.
It was Celeborn who spotted them first, a river of golden armor and horses and carts, as an entire continent of people migrated east. Survivors, beyond all hope of survival.
“Come,” she smiled, proffering her husband his sword. “Let us go to them. I will shirk duty no more, if you will be by my side.”
So well done!
So well done!
A compelling take on this…
A compelling take on this version of Galadriel's whereabouts!
Poor Celeborn, I really felt for him!
The ending, with at least some survivors emerging from the destruction, is a real relief.
Celeborn's grief is so profound!
Celeborn's grief is so profoundly conveyed here! To hear the lands so dear to him are gone is one thing, but utterly devastating to actually witness the destruction. I'm glad he has Galadriel to bolster him through this experience ... and I can quite see how much he would have contributed to making Lothlórien so beautiful.