I would think that Narvi figured it out so early. She’s not tremendously observant when it comes to people, but hey. She is a genius, and this situation is not dissimilar to something… important.
And then she would have watched with some small amusement as every other member of the Dead Dwarf Peanut Gallery figured it out, one by one.
(She probably invented popcorn just for this purpose.)
😉 It’s totally undefinable, and I will never confirm whether it is platonic, romantic, physical or otherwise… because Mahal knows NARVI never ever ever would.
So it is completely open to all interpretation… and every single one is valid!
1. ‘Determamfidd’ is a mishmash of bits and pieces of my own name, and the word ‘determined’. It’s a reminder to myself to be steadfast in myself and in my goals. It’s a trait I admire, and wish to emulate.
2. Narvi is the Dwarf who made the Doors of Durin, the magic doors of Moria. We only know the name because of the inscription on the doors.
(These doors, that is.)
The inscription reads as follows:
“Ennyn Durin Aran Moria. Pedo Mellon a Minno. Im Narvi hain echant. Celebrimbor o Eregion teithant i thiw hin.”
(“The Doors of Durin, Lord of Moria. Speak, friend, and enter. I, Narvi, made them. Celebrimbor of Hollin drew these signs.”)
So this is how Narvi, a Dwarf of Khazad-dum, would have known the grandson of Feanor and one of the most skilled Noldorin Elves ever to live.
Well, in canon it’s not presumed to be anything, really. As you say, it’s most likely a working relationship.
In Sansukh, they are very close. But it isn’t known what the nature of their relationship was. I am not confirming whether it was platonic, romantic, or whatever.
This is quite deliberate, and I am doing it because this is how Narvi is (or at least, my version of Narvi). It’s a conscious character choice. She is something of an enigma, and she does NOT talk. About things. That hurt her. She holds things close and tight. She keeps her secrets.
This is quite a point of difference between her and all these other focus Dwarves, whose personal lives end up splashed all over the walls. Narvi could not bear such a thing. GOD no.
The closest she has ever been in the whole story to letting out anything personal is in Chapters 32 and 36… and each time it’s only one line.
Chapter 32
“I’ve seen good, innocent, true-hearted people hardened by the world,” Narvi said, and her eyes were dark and glittered strangely as she watched Pippin. “I’ve seen naivety punished and gentleness broken. It’s not a new tale.”
..
Chapter 36
Gróin and Fundin were, for once, sad-faced and silent: not a single bickering line passed their lips. Haban was tight-lipped. Narvi’s eyes were full of ancient rage and hatred, her hands clenched by her sides.
“There is nothing I would not do,” she began in a voice that shook with fury. Then she checked herself and stalked away.
“What-” Fundin said, scratching the back of his head, but Haban held up a swift hand.
“There’s not a single one of us,” she said quietly, “who can even come close to hating Sauron as much as Narvi does.”
…
So yeah, the relationship is never going to be defined. I am fairly sure that for Narvi, it would be indefinable anyway.
Nobody – nobody – hates Sauron as much as Narvi. Not Galadriel, not Gandalf, not even Frodo. NOBODY. She has so much hatred for him, so much anger, that sometimes she feels like she cannot possibly contain it. It feels like it spills out between her gritted teeth, seeping out of her skin or escaping upon her every exhaled breath.
And now, in the genre of TRULY random things I’ve podficced, here is a crossover between the Silmarillion and Star Wars, featuring Narvi and Celebrimbor as ancient Jedi. This little fic is by the wonderful @jedi-goldberry-with-the-force, who shares my extremely esoteric tastes enough to have written something that fits so many different I like into such a small package. @poplitealqueen, this one is for you, because you are the one that got me interested in crossing these fandoms over, and because I know things have been hard lately. I hope this provides you with some cheer.
Nearly five minutes of awesome, narrated crossover goodness
(psst @determamfidd you should check it out since you’re morphing into star wars trash AND it has female! Narvi ;3)
There are parts of Tauriel’s storyline that needle me… but tbh making it to Mt Gundabad in a matter of a couple of days is the very biggest one of them. Including a woman that would have otherwise just been yet another tall white skinny guyTM – and better yet, giving her opinions and actions and agency outside of falling in love – isn’t one of them in the slightest.
(DOES ANYONE ELSE JUST LOOK AT MAPS SOMETIMES, LOOK AT THE SIZE OF MORDOR AND REMEMBER THAT IT TOOK WEEKS TO CROSS A TINY BIT OF IT, REMEMBER IT TOOK THE DWARVES WEEKS TO GET THROUGH MIRKWOOD, AND THEN LOOK AT THE DISTANCE BETWEEN THE ELVENKING’S REALM AND MT GUNDABAD – THAT IS A LONG TRIP IDC IF YOU DON’T SLEEP IT’S GONNA TAKE A WEEK OR SO, DOES LEGOLAS HAVE THE EAGLES ON SPEED-DIAL OR SOMETHING, DO THEY CATCH A RIDE VIA A PASSING BAT)
I’m glad you like the notion, Nonnie! Here’s where I mention how the idea struck me. There is no gender-indicative pronoun used for Narvi in LOTR – though there may be one used elsewhere, i can’t remember and don’t really care, and here’s why:
I love Middle-Earth, and Tolkien’s incredible work, and especially Dwarves, okay, but I try always to be aware and acknowledge that Tolkien himself held catholic and patriarchal ideas about the place of women, and he was particularly repressive/dismissive when describing the place of women in his fantasy Dwarf society. As amazing as his achievements are, Tolkien failed women and girls back then. He absolutely failed to give equal – or even sufficient – representation. Women characters with spoken lines in LOTR can barely even be counted on two hands. There are NONE IN THE HOBBIT AT ALL. I can try and do something to change that: that’s the fun thing about transformative fanfic.
I am pretty sure if you re-read the above message you sent to me, you could pick out at least three reasons why I would write Narvi as a woman – not least of which is that there are quite enough men in this bloody universe already.
And so, yeah… I don’t really care if she ‘should’ be yet another man. She’s a woman to me – an impatient, sardonic, slightly haughty, incomparably genius black woman.
And tbh, my dearest Professor Tolkien, fuck the idea that women only matter to history because of the actions of their sons.
Aw Yiss 