Tag: headcanony things

that thing about elves being able to grow beards just makes me imagine some how [ inset implausible thing here ] gimli being around when Legolas reaches his third life cycle…. he’d do it just to make gimli gawk at him

I imagine that Gimli would find it very distracting. 

HOT DAMN HUMMINA, ELF

(but Gimli’s own beard would still be the most magnificent, ofc…. oh my god. I sense even more competition in their future!!!)

Hi! I absolutley love Sansukh! I want to read it more than I want to read the actual books half the time. Everything about it kills me and I love it. I was just wondering, how did you come up with Legolas’s brothers? And um will we ever find out everyone’s dark names? (Especially the Ri Brothers and Dwalin cause I love all the dwarves but especially them and I think you already told us Kili’s so I don’t think I need to ask about him.)

Alaksjdfaljshdlasjdhfa THANK YOU SO MUCH NONNIE Oh my goodness, my face is scarlet. 

Ahhhh okay! Well, the idea behind Legolas’ brothers was born out of a half-formed idea from an earlier one-shot fic, From One Age to Another. When I was writing Chapter 16? I think it is? of Sansukh, all of a sudden there they were, nearly fully-formed. 

Plus, Legolas as a character is given some new dimensions when he is given more family members, because it gives him more relationships. And his brothers themselves roughly embody some possible Elven attitudes: Laindawar is aloof, disdainful and martial, a believer in Elven superiority of might. Laerophen is brilliant and learned and introverted, a (former!!!) believer in Elven superiority of intellect. There’s more to them than that, of course, and Legolas shares some of these beliefs at first. It has been interesting to play with how Thranduil’s own attitudes might have been adopted in different ways by THREE different offspring, rather than just the one. Resentment towards the other houses of the Elves, for example, or attitudes towards the other peoples of Middle-Earth. 

It also makes Legolas the youngest of three, and I personally like that dynamic for him. He has a lightness and a recklessness and a… spontaneous gaiety in the books? If you know what I mean? He’s singing all the time, or making ridiculous pronouncements (”I go to find the sun!”) that feels less… responsible? Staid and sober? Than a Crown Prince would seem. 

I feel like I am not putting this well!

I ALSO wanted a representative of the Wood-Elves at each place of battle, to be our Elven focal point. I consciously arranged it so that we would be able to see one of the sons of Thranduil in each location, their attitudes being challenged by whatever they confront. So, Laerophen at Erebor – the bookish, awkward outsider in a realm of Dwarves. Laindawar in Mirkwood – in his element, defending his home guerrilla-warfare style, but having to deal with pesky posh Galadhrim and a bloody Brown Wizard. And of course, Legolas at the epicentre of it all.

IDK, it happened and I ran with it! 🙂

Oh, dark names! I had fun with these! Yes, we have a list of them already! Here’s the list, and here’s the meanings of some of them! And here’s my dark-names tag for you!

(yep, I have done the whole Company, and so Dwalin’s name and the Ri Bros are there!)

Aragorn meeting Thorin in Arda Remade though, and being like, wow you’re my hero, Bilbo used to tell stories about you, they often gave me courage on my own adventure to reclaim my kingdom

The grey-eyed man was silent upon meeting the Dwarf-Lord. Wordlessly, he bowed low.

The Dwarf seemed puzzled. “And who am I, that the King Elessar should bow to me?”

“No longer Elessar, here,” the Man answered, head still bent and eyes lowered in respect. “All Kingdoms are washed away, the earth purified by fire. No crown has followed me into this new life. But I know you by your manner and bearing, Thorin Oakenshield. Bilbo often spoke of you, and Gimli also. Your tale gave me courage to continue when I would have turned aside.”

The Dwarf smiled. “Then I am glad. For what greater gift could I give than hope?”

And the Man, who had been Hope to so many, smiled in return and lifted his head to meet the Dwarf’s gaze. “I believe I understand what you mean.”

The Dwarf’s eyes were knowing, wise beyond their years as he turned to look out at the new world, shining and gleaming with the dew of a new morning. “If not you,” he murmured, “then who would?”

one day Gimizh gets to go on an adventure outside the mountain with his uncle Gimli. He sees a tree. It is so big. He must climb it. ‘Gimizh no!’ Gimli says. ‘Gimizh yes!’ he cries, already attached to the tree trunk like a limpet. ‘I will conquer this foe!’ ‘your mother is going to kill me’ Gimli says.

Gimris: You left my son where.

Gimli: He’s perfectly safe!

Gimris: Gimli.

Gimli: Well, you know the beech-trees on the southern slopes, the ones with the nice wide climbing branches… that are just a liiiiittle too slight to bear a fully-grown dwarf’s weight…?

Gimris: you orc-breathed SIMPLETON, YOU CAN’T LEAVE A CHILD UP A TREE!!!

Gimli: (backing away, eyes wide and hands raised) But it’s his kingdom now, he’s proud as can be, he did it all by him…! Gimris, ach… no, wait… I’m…!

Gimris: (dangerously) I’d run, if I were you, nadad. Because if I can catch you, I AM GOING TO PULL EVERY HAIR FROM YOUR CHIN.

Gimli: (runs for it)

{Meanwhile, up a tree}

Gimizh: An’ I’m the boss now, so you do as I say. King Gimizh of the tree!

Random Squirrel: (throws a nut at him)

Ooooh, what about elven aging?

Hey Nonnie!

Again, LOTS is known about Elves – Tolkien loved his Elves OH SO VERY MUCH, after all!

Here’s a good run-down on Elven aging and the life-cycle of an Elf 🙂

Summarised, though, it goes like this:

– Elves have a gestation period of around 1 year.

– They celebrate their conception day, rather than their birthday (which must raise awkward questions for their parents, I assume…)

– They look around 7 years old (compared to a human child) when they are in fact 20 years old.

– Their minds, however, develop VERY quickly. So, we’re talking childlike geniuses here, I suppose?

– Puberty is anywhere between 50-100.

– They have however reached adult height at 50, so I assume their puberty is mostly filling-out/broadening etc. 

– They’re an adult at 100. 

– They live forever, huzzah! Unless killed/heartbroken/silmarils. 

– They appear to have ‘cycles of life’ – it’s unclear what is meant by this, but it is said that in an Elf’s third cycle of life, they can grow a beard. (HEY CIRDAN, NICE FACIAL FUZZ)

how do you think dwarven aging works? like–are they babies for the same amount of time as men and then age slower like elves do? do they reach physical maturity before they come of age? I’m trying to wrap my head around age equivalents and it’s not exactly working. especially when I try to think of Dain at Azanulbizar.

Hey Nonnie!

Hoo boy, I have written a LOT on this in the past: here’s some of my ramblings, here’s some more, and some more, and some more, and some more. There’s nothing really definitive in canon, and what there is is a little contradictory.

Basically, it boils down to this:

– We know that around 40-45, a Dwarf would be physically grown – or close. (Dain was 32 at Azanulbizar, and Frerin was 48…)

– However, Gimli is too young to join the Quest for Erebor, and he was 62.

– This suggests that they are bodily mature far earlier than they come of age?

– Emotional maturation generally continues for a longer period of time than physical maturation, at least in humans.

– Kili is 77 at the time of the Quest, and he is the youngest.

– With all this taken into account, I headcanon that Dwarves ‘come of age’ at 70 years old. They’d grow quite quickly – Wee Thorin is 37, from memory, and he is nearly as tall as Gimli… though he is the equivalent of 12 years old emotionally and intellectually.

(believe me, I teach 12 year olds WAY taller than me.)

Then they’d enjoy a long adulthood, very resistant to change and age and disease (Mahal made ‘em hardy, after all!)… before they crumbled comparatively swiftly at the end of their lifespan.

Question: I know Oin is somewhat psychic, with the reading portents aspect, but do you think there are other dwarves who can do things like that? Burning chicken bones and reading the answer to questions in the cracks, or messages in the clouds like in ATLA? Or even ones, rare though they are, who can /see/ those who have died and sometimes help counsel those who have lost many loved ones and provide closure?

Hhmmmmmmm, excellent question, Nonnie. I had to put on my thinking-cap. Here’s what I came up with!

I think it’d be tremendously rare, tbh? Dwarven ‘magic’ tends to be far more physical and/or mechanical: invisible doors with super-tricky passwords, that sort of thing.

I haven’t ever seen ATLA, sorry!

The stuff we have on portents (which is film-verse only, and not from the books) is also pretty thin on the ground:

Gloin: “Aye, Oin has read the portents, and the portents say: it is time.”
Oin: “Ravens have been seen flying back to the mountain as it was foretold. When the birds of the old return to Erebor, the reign of the beast will end.”

The ravens are mentioned again at the end of AUJ:

Oin:  A raven. The birds are returning to the mountain.
Gandalf: That, my dear Oin, is a thrush.
Thorin: Well, we’ll take it as a sign. A good omen.

Not much to go on!

Using these two bits of info, I guess that Dwarven ‘portents’ are very much based on the actions of the natural world. I also guess that any reading of signs would probably be done by Dwarves who have either been taught familiarity with ravens or other birds, or have spent a LOT of time outdoors, enough to be familiar with the habits and migrations of animals (Oin is very learned and is also an apothecary: he has to collect plants, after all!)

I don’t think that any living Dwarf can see the dead ones except under INCREDIBLY EXCEPTIONAL circumstances – hence, in Sansukh, Gimli only sees Thorin in Galadriel’s mirror or upon the Paths of the Dead.

Mandos rules the Halls of the Dead and has only ever changed his mind once (Beren). The mists between Middle Earth and Aman are impenetrable, and there can be no returning. The Halls of the Dead are even more inaccessible – they’re a world removed within a world removed. None can see the dead, unless they are horribly cursed (the ghouls of the Dwimorberg, the wights of the Dead Marshes, the Nazgul, the Barrow-wights), and thus still residing in Middle-Earth. 

Again, in Sansukh, the only reason Thorin’s Gift works at all is because of a loophole (the

Olórë Mallë), Gimli’s extraordinary perceptiveness, the pool of Gimlin-zaram, and the compassion of a Vala – Aule himself.

When it comes to being comforted, Dwarves would know that after their deaths they are gathered to Mahal’s Halls and cared for there. They have absolute and personal proof of his love for them, after all – their dark names. 

leaving all this aside, though: it has to be said that the idea of a Dwarf medium has a certain Pratchettesque humour about it

It’s the Return of the Bride of the Monster of the Night of the HEADCANONPALOOZA!

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10

(this is what happens when I am too busy to get to tumblr for a few days, whoops – sorry sorry anons!!!)

BOFUR WOULD HAVE THE BEST GRANDUNCLE JOKES. 

*battle flashbacks at the mention of Frozen* oh god, babysitting scars, I bear them… 

Balinith toddling over to the shelf and declaring “BU!’ and choosing one and bringing it back to his parent to read it to him, until there is a pile fifteen books high beside Dwalin or Orla… aaand probably chucking a wobbly when it’s bedtime, because ‘NO NO NO MORE BU!’ 

(this is actually what the Dwarfling is doing RIGHT NOW. Her favourite is ‘Where is the Green Sheep’ by Mem Fox!!)

And hells YES – Gloin would be full of AMAZING advice (mostly the kind that sounds complicated, but in essence always boils down to ‘teach ‘em to be good Dwarves, and then trust ‘em to be good Dwarves’.)