Explain This by Elrond's Library
Fanwork Notes
- Fanwork Information
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Summary:
Melkor demands an account of Mairon’s failures.
Major Characters: Melkor, Sauron
Major Relationships:
Genre: Drama, Fixed-Length Ficlet
Challenges: Allusive
Rating: General
Warnings: Violence (Mild)
Chapters: 1 Word Count: 110 Posted on Updated on This fanwork is complete.
Explain This
Allusive Prompt: caught between a rock and a hard place
Four word Prompt: golden, light, speak, alone
Read Explain This
“Speak.”
“How am I to speak, Lord-father?”
“Swiftly, before my patience wears thin and you find yourself in a worse position than you already are.”
“Melyanna-sister’s nightingale daughter and one of the golden Hounds of Oromë-father’s train came, seeking a thrall.”
“You were wounded by a girl and a dog.”
“Oromë-father’s hounds are not insignificant foes, Lord-father. And Lúthien Tinúviel is a permaia, with power unaccounted for. She's an aberration of the Music, to be sure, but one that –”
“Enough. Your failure cost me, though you may count yourself lucky she took only one of the last vestiges of light.”
An interesting combination…
An interesting combination of prompts and a neat way to respond to them!
You gave these two a really distinctive style of communication here, especially Sauron's use of relationship terms to refer to Ainur.
It seems to be alluding to the earlier concepts of the Maiar as children of the Valar, but here it sounds a bit more like honorifics, perhaps.
Reading this again, I am struck by....
....how cringingly apologetic Sauron is, including the attempt to elevate Lúthien and Huan's power, power that Melkor doesn't acknowledge. They and Beren managed to take one Silmaril away, and could have had more (if the curse of the Noldor hadn't struck Curufin's knife). Perhaps that deflection is why Sauron is so quickly forgiven.
I really love that the Valar have parental epithets, and the Maiar are referred to as siblings.
♡
Oh, this very awkward, not to mention embarrassing, for both of them. The different ways they address each other is also very telling.
I like that Sauron thinks of…
I like that Sauron thinks of Melian as his sister, and it's funny how much Melkor doesn't understand what that means about Luthien's power.
I like Mairon’s verbose…
I like Mairon’s verbose explanation just after Melkor has asked him to do it swiftly. Melkor’s description of the situation is much shorter and lacks all the excuses Mairon weaves into his.
💎
I wouldn't acknowledge that I fell asleep to the same girl's lullaby either, if I were Morgoth! ;)