Tag: balinith

Is Balinith autistic or in the spectrum?

Yup! From the notes of Chapter 30:

Balin Dwalinul – the second of the three sons of Orla Longaxe, General of Erebor, and Dwalin, Field-Marshal of Erebor. Young Balin is only 21 years of age at the time of the War of the Ring. Balin has Aspergers, and though Dwarven society is accommodating of the needs of neuroatypical people, the siege is creating situations which are uncomfortable or even painful for someone with Aspergers, such as continual loud noises, disruptions to normal routine, and an atmosphere of constant high tension.

Balinith is an intensely curious, easily bored little fellow, with a nicely witty way of puncturing Gimizh’s more idiotic notions. For more about my smol “FOR SCIENCE!!!” baby, check out my balinith tag here!

Frerinith is really the only not salty-natured person in his family. He’s a little sugar donut in a box of salted nuts.

AWWW c’mon Nonnie! they’re all a mix of both sweet and salt! Frerinith is a bossypants and can throw epic tantrums when he doesn’t get his way, after all (yellooooo, toddlers). Wee Thorin is the softest soft on the inside, behind all the sighs and eyerolls. Balinith is a sensitive little soul, and sees bloody near everything. he’s the first to notice when someone is low. Orla is the warmest-hearted woman, god, is she ever. That cool, stern exterior is just that: exterior. And Dwalin… well. 

Frerinith is the most outwardly sunny, certainly! Happy chirpy lil thing.

I forget, did you ever tell us what Gimizh’s craft is going to be when he grows up? Is causing mayhem a craft? (What about the Dwalinuls?)

Uhhh, not really… but I know what they’re gonna be. Under the cut for SPOILERS HEY

Gimizh. Oh Gimizh, my tiny happy mayhem child. 

Is going to inherit the lordship of the Glittering Caves (from Gimris, who takes over briefly after Gimli um. retires?). He’s an awful administrator, but he makes friends as easy. as. breathing. Under his rule, he extends the friendships of the Dwarves further than any before – the Elves, the Men in Rohan and Gondor, you name it, they love him. He’s also FABULOUS at trade and contracts and deals… mostly because he can spot a trick three light-years away. Thanks to his youthful experiences during the Ring War, also, he is a very good judge of character. He’s that Head of State that organises the GIANT PISS-UP and ends up the last one there, singing arm-in-arm with some kinglet or prince he’s never met before. And he’ll remain life-long friends with them too. 

(and he’s also the Head of State who forgets where his assigned rooms are when visiting, and ends up wandering around and poking his nose into everything because ‘it’s all so interesting! Oh hello, d’you work here? What’s that, can I have a go? Nice, thanks! And how old are your kids?’)

Craft-wise, he ends up being a fairly decent warrior (like his idol UNCLE GIMLI ZOMG) – though he is actually better with a bow or a broadsword than an axe. He also ends up being a very good baker (mostly because he missed Barur’s cookies). But yesh, a beloved and incredibly friendly – and yet terrible administrator, absolutely awful at keeping track of things. Absolutely awful.  

Guess who is a good administrator. 

Frerinith. 

Our emphatic, bossy, confident little tyke already has a certain ‘THINGS SHOULD TOTALLY BE DONE THIS WAY’ attitude. He’s going. to. be. tall. He’ll be a lanky stringbean, as Dwarves go, not strong and bullish, like his older brothers… but he’s no weakling or pushover, watch out for that clever legal and administrative mind of his!!! He’ll still be a sunny, cheery fellow, but people soon learn to fear that open, guileless grin – HE’S FOUND SOMETHING OUT, HE KNOWS SOMETHING, OH DANG. 

(He likes making clocks in his spare time. Ooooh, yes, the fiddlier the better. ) 

And so we come to Balinith.

All that reading and study and fascination with the natural world and its workings pays off in a MASSIVE WAY. He builds on the writings of his Cousin Oin, to the point where Dwarvish medicine rivals that of the Elves (and easily surpasses it, in some areas). He collates all the botanical and medical writings of every race he can get: Hobbits, Men, Elves, even Orcs (that cordial they gave Merry, for instance? THAT FASCINATED HIM FOR YEARS after he heard the tale… what the heck was in it???) He categorizes all. ALL. the native flora of the White Mountains, and examines it all for medicinal properties, and the best way to prepare it for different conditions. A mammoth undertaking, and a truly awe-inspiring achievement.

Young Dwarves beg to be taught by Balin Dwalinul. Aglarond becomes renowned as a center of learning as well as beauty. Thanks to him. 

And the oldest of the crew? 

Wee Thorin will NOT be ‘Wee’. NOT AT ALL.  He’ll be shorter than Frerinith… but he’ll fill the doorway. He’s going to be built like a mack truck. 

If Gimizh is a cheery and vivacious Thorin Oakenshield (laugh inserted here lmao), then Wee Thorin is his Dwalin, his closest friend, advisor and right hand. Wee Thorin’s first kills came when he was in his thirties, after all. that’s like, Dain Ironfoot levels of badassery. He is a consummate and professional warrior, a bodyguard and voice of reason. Bulking enormous behind any desk or conference table, his arms huge and his mother’s long-handled axe on his back, tattoos on his cheekbones and all up his neck, a sardonic and outwardly-stern counterpoint to Gimizh’s cheery, happy-go-lucky, sharp-eyed-nosy-sticky-beak method of interaction… 

…who also knits. Delicate lace knitting so fine that it feel like clouds to the touch and can be pulled through one of his earrings with ease. Wee Thorin will be one of the best knitters in all of Middle-Earth. To be gifted a piece made by him for your new child? BEST. GIFT. EVER. 

(there’s also a MASSIVE SPOILER that goes here for Wee Thorin, but I’m not letting it out of the bag juuuust yet…)

Very few people know that Wee Thorin is the softest softy to ever soft. He really is his parents’ child. 

(He never does quite escape that ‘wee’, either. The Dwarvish Little John, really.)

So, yeah, that’s (part of!!!) what I am planning. There are still some things to be ironed out, but that’s the overall direction I am heading with them! This is probably a LOT more detail than anyone ever wanted (how very unlike me lol), but I couldn‘t really talk about their crafts and interests without talking about where these crafts and interests take form. 

Mizim makes cupcakes with the Trouble Troupe and lets them decorate two each. Wee Thorin’s look nice enough, a solid effort. Balinith’s are Very Precise and show good line use. Gimizh is all “how much icing can this cupcake support?” Frerinith ate a bunch of icing and put something that vaguely resembles smily faces on his cupcakes.

pfffft sounds like a recipe for total disaster. 

Gimizh would have gotten into a fight in under two minutes over hogging the icing bag, no doubt (he would have kept piping it into his mouth, the little grotty thing)

Imagine … the Trouble Troupe helping Dori cook. Balinith is measuring Very Carefully. Gimizh is a mess, flour everywhere, all sticky. Wee Thorin is happily helping. Frerinith has abandoned cooking for snacking on the fruit/jam/sweets.

Wee Thorin would probably be trying to pry Gimizh out of whatever it is that he’s stuck in, lmao. And Frerinith would be ‘telling’ everyone what to do, very importantly, while Balinith cheerfully ignores him and Dori tries to turn a blind eye to the CHAOS