Hey Nonnie!
the reason is that every time I update Sansukh on FFN, I am sent a couple of anon hate messages from a ‘guest’, who virulently hates Thorin Oakenshield and mentally ill people. As a mentally ill person who loves Thorin Oakenshield, I am uninterested in their abuse and their victim-blaming bullshit.
Still wavering on deleting that account, tbh.
Awwww, thank you! Glad you liked Glorfindel! He is SUCH fun to write!
PRETTY MUCH. :DDD
Though – Laindawar isn’t awkward, heh – he is a small, graceful, deadly little package. He won’t get blurty or clumsy when he is wrong-footed. He’s more like ‘stares at you like a falcon stares at a mouse.’
Ooooh, I’ve answered this before, but in a really higgedly-piggedly fashion. Check out my Laerophen or my Laindawar tags!
Summarised: Laindawar and Laerophen get on very well with each other. They are both loners, and neither feels the need to press the other for attention or amusement or whatever. Also, they were quite close in age.
We see that Laerophen tried to be as martial and physically adept as Laindawar – not gonna happen, sad tall baby. He still holds a small amount of resignation towards this. He can’t really see that the things he can do are just as impactful. He doesn’t need to be as amazing a warrior as Legolas and Laindawar to do great things. Case in point: Erebor.
(something to note here: I am a middle child. I feel this In My Bones.)
Both Laerophen and Laindawar are incredibly protective of Legolas – and he confuses them a bit. He was an unexpected gift, born centuries after both his brothers. He is just so unlike them in temperament.
Dunno if you’ve been a part of or been intertwined with a family in which there is a massive age gap between siblings, but again, I myself am. There’s a big distance in comradery between the sibs with the age-gap – you can love each other dearly, know all there is to know about each other, but there’s an unavoidable remoteness there. You’re never quite on the same page, even when you’ve reached adulthood. You never quite lose that gap.
Laerophen is astonished and delighted by Legolas, constantly. His younger brother pulls him out of his layers and solitude, makes him a part of a tiny community of two. We see that in Midwinter. Laerophen would be alone more often than not if it weren’t for Legolas. Yet Laerophen cannot be as social as Legolas can, he must retreat at times. He can’t keep up with Legolas’ pace for too long before burning out.
Legolas is also one of the few people who know that Laerophen can be funny.
Laindawar is proud as FUCK of Legolas. His muindor and he share the same spirit of adventure, and also a love of weaponry and combat. Laindawar was probably happier than Legolas was upon the day his younger brother out-shot him at the Autumn revels. He is known to boast of Legolas’ archery in a way he won’t ever speak of his own swordsmanship. But he can’t be as affectionate as Legolas, he cannot be as open with himself. It’s just not his nature.
When Legolas was small, his brothers took it upon themselves to teach him different aspects of the world. Laindawar taught him weaponscraft and woodsmanship, and Laerophen taught him histories and stories.
There we go! Hope that’s interesting!
Hey Nonnie! *dives on you and smooches and hugs you back* Thank you, dear!
ohboy, not really – not heaps, anyway. I have a name for Thrandy’s mum – Haedirn, which means ‘Silent Watcher’, and I have done a sort of stream-of-consciousness headcanon on the spot about Oropher before… but I haven’t really fleshed anything out.
Here’s my little thing on Oropher!
And now here’s some off-the-top-of-my-head ideas on Haedirn: She was a Sinda, from Doriath. I sorta want her to be an historian and a scholar??? (that’s where Laerophen gets it from, perhaps) Also sarcastic af. Shithouse at archery, but great with boats and water, basically half-fish when you get her into a river. Terrifying with a spear or a quarterstaff. Not so great at following instructions – tends to ignore, improvise and ‘improve’, a bit of a know-it-all. Loves willows and reeds and mangroves and other water-dwelling trees and plants. Warm low contralto singing voice, smooth and rich as honey.
(Thranduil’s name means ‘Vigorous Spring’ – in the sense of a fast-flowing river best guess, there’s some etymological argument. I like to think she gave it to him, singing in that low sweet voice, the sound of the wind in the river-rushes.)
There we go! Hope you like!
Hi Nonnie! Sure thing – also alskdhgflajhsdgflsajh aaaaah I am so stoked you want to know more, that is just THE LOVELIEST, you are the LOVELIEST <333
OKAY! Laindawar! And Thranduil! Here we go!
So, Laindawar is the oldest. He was close to his grandfather Oropher and grandmother Haedirn (”remote watcher”). He was a young prince when the Greenwood was at the height of its beauty and strength.
He was a slight and short child who fought grown elves with his fists and teeth when he heard even the slightest hint of criticism towards his family. He became a slight and short adult – and the best swordsman in the whole of the Greenwood, a relentless tracker and a stupendous hunter. He was happy, and proud.
Then Dagorlad.
Away marched Oropher,
Haedirn and Thranduil and Laindawar, leaving Laerophen as regent in the Greenwood.
Only Thranduil and Laindawar returned.
Laindawar watched his father go through hell on that terrible day. It is Laindawar, better than either of his brothers, who understands what Thranduil has sacrificed and endured to keep their people safe. He understands why his father chooses the methods and policies he chooses.
He is also eternally, quiveringly, desperately chasing his father’s approval. He has it, of course. But Laindawar chases it regardless: he will be a better warrior, he will keep the forest safe, for that will please his father, he will kill thousands upon thousands of spiders, and perhaps his father will smile.
He doesn’t chase Thranduil’s approval necessarily for the sake of his own ego – Laindawar’s ego is plenty healthy, though it’s always nice to get a boost – but he does chase it for the positive reaction from Thranduil. He wants his father to be less sad and wounded, he wants him to be happy.
What does Laindawar do when faced with a problem?
Thranduil, for his part, has always seen Oropher so clearly in Laindawar’s face. It is a good thing that Laindawar is taciturn and stern of expression, because if he were more animated in his features the resemblance would be agonising. He is absurdly proud of him, loves him to death and beyond. Thranduil TRUSTS Laindawar. He trusts him to know his mind, and to support him. This is no small thing: Thranduil has walls that are MILES HIGH. He is so, soooo guarded. SO GUARDED.
He tries to tell his son this, over and over. He hopes it will cause Laindawar to understand that he loves him regardless, that he is proud of him regardless. That he can relent once in a while, that he can rest.
Laindawar sees these positive signs/reactions as confirmation that what he does can make his sad, bitter, angry father happier, and so redoubles his efforts.
As I’ve said before: LAINDAWAR HAS -3000 CHILL.
I’m dying. That is glorious. Oh my god.
This is the circlet Gimli makes for Legolas, upon their 40th anniversary. Yes.
!!!!
AHHHH THANK YOU NONNIE THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU SO SO SO MUCH THANK YOUUUU
Hey Nonnie! Yes, it is always okay to ask a question 🙂 I am so sorry I am a slacker when it comes to answering promptly. Nggh. Sorry.
Oooh, okay – that’s a new one! Yes, Thranduil finds relating to Laindawar and Legolas much easier than he does to Laerophen. Laindawar is similar to him in spirit, if not quite so wounded in soul. Legolas is open and giving and merry, and is content in the company of others.
Thranduil absolutely loves Laerophen, absolutely is proud of him and respects him, but they’re very different creatures at heart.
Thranduil is reserved by nature and habit, but he is not an introvert like Laerophen. It would have seemed to him that there was two sides to the child: the one that was at ease, the one that was engrossed and excited when he was living in his books and in his own head, and then the one that was stilted and awkward and clumsy around others, the gawky prince in the public eye, the one that blurted things or stood like a scarecrow when he didn’t quite know how to react.
He would have tried to make Laerophen more at ease, bringing him out of the outward business of royalty as much as possible, giving him small opportunities to practice… but children always and forevermore learn best by example. And so Laerophen took on as many of his father’s mannerisms as he could, as a defence mechanism. We see that best when we first meet Laerophen: how stilted and stiff he is, how poor he is at dealing with so many people. He is unnaturally cool at first, and – every so often – he blurts something a little ridiculous. He gets into stupid arguments with Bomfris, he allows Dain to take the lead, to act as though he is older that Laerophen is. He is NOT COMFORTABLE. But he’s trying desperately to put on a veneer of ease and calm and elegance. (it doesn’t work)
Even so, Laerophen is still better at relating to others than Laindawar is. Laindawar retreated to his forest trails and his swordscraft, where Laerophen loved his books and following the path of his inner thoughts. Laerophen has learned to relax a little and be himself more naturally with others, possibly through the unquestioning approval of a scamp of a Dwarf child. He even gathers the courage to speak out against his family on one memorable issue :)))
yes, Laerophen is more confident now! He’s taken his own measure, both as a friend and a defender, and discovered that there is more in him than he realised. It is a good feeling!
Thranduil isn’t grateful to the Dwarves of Erebor yet – not even for standing between his forests and the Orcs of Gundabad and the Northern Wastes. He’s a little preoccupied by the whole ‘LEGOLAS AND WHATTHEWHATTHEWHAT’ situation at this point.
But he is most definitely noticing that his awkward giraffe of a second son is more comfortable in his skin amongst the Dwarves of Erebor than anywhere in his own kingdom. (the scene in the recent sneak-peek confirmed and drove this point home!)
I am also 300% Bofur in this scenario, tbh! We are all Bofur :)))
god yeah, Gimli and Legolas need ALL the luck.
heheheheheh, my grumpy terrier Elf, I am v fond of him. He is so prickly and terse, heh. Thank you, Nonnie, I am glad you like him!
AHHHHHHHHH I WANT THAT TOOOOOOO
Aw Yiss 